Great Scotts

Defending our territory...

2012-02-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

If you know Tyson and I, we HATE cats. There is nothing worse than a cat. Well, ALL of our neighbors happen to be cat people, or we have lots of ferrel cats in the neighborhood.

Well, whatever the case may be, we MUST defend our territory.

Merrick does a fine job.

FYI: Friends, if you have cats, we won't shoot yours, but we will also never pet them or acknowledge their existance.

FYI: PETA, no animals were hurt in the making of this post or ever. Merrick is not a very good shot, but he sure turns them into scaredy cats!

Cinderella

2012-02-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Berkleigh loves baby Quincy. SO much. But I think she is having a hard time adjusting to the lack of attention she gets from me now.

So, I try to do things just with her... but sometimes I STILL need to get things done.

Good thing she likes to play Cinderella.

We play it once a week when I have to sweep and mop the floor.

Sometimes I think I am brilliant. :)

Sundays

2012-02-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

I am starting to really enjoy Sundays. We have church at 12:30 now instead of 8:30. (So much nicer!)

It is nice to wake up when we want, and we have started reading scriptures with the kids on Sunday mornings as well as at nights. I am trying to be like my mother in law, and when they had late church she spent her mornings preparing yummy amazing breakfasts for the family. She had so many fun recipes!

Well, I have been sleeping in, so the breakfasts aren't that amazing, but I did make this from pinterest.
Yum.

photo/recipe credit here

This past Sunday, we made a tower out of our Duplos. We wanted to see how tall we could make it.

I remember doing it with my brothers when we were younger.

Well, I will let the pictures tell the story!

We also spend time playing games as a family...

loving on these yummy rolls...

and there is always some snuggling going on...

which usually turns to sleeping...

the joy of pinterest and new kicks

2012-01-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

I really heart pinterest.

I like that when I am nursing, I have something to look at... it might look like I pin a lot... and I probably do, but I only do it when Quincy is eating. :)

I think pinning for pinning sake is a waste of time. Really? I pin a lot of things I would like in a future home, and maybe one day I will have it, but most likely I won't. Am I going to craft ALL those things? No, and who has the money for that anyway...

It is kinda like craft blogs... do you really put all that junk up in your house that you make? Or do you just craft it for blog sake and then throw it away? Some of these craft bloggers have to be Hoarders. For sure.

Anyways, off on a soapbox...

I do love pinterest.

We talked at a Girls Night on Friday, that we shouldn't "just pin"... so I have created a DONE IT! board, to show myself that I actually have done some of the things I pin.

The best part of pinterest though?

That my mom sees what I like and randomly sends me/kids packages with cute things like these new kicks for Quincy.

Then? I get to go to pinterest and repin something into my DONE IT board without actually doing it.

It is seriously the way to go!

Thanks mom!

Other things I have been able to put in my DONE IT! Board...

S'more hand pies...

um, yes make them this weekend!

Easy and delicious!

I tried to take a picture of mine, but it doesn't do them justice.

Photo/recipe credit.

and these which I have talked about...

Carmelitas.

oh, mamacita... make them this weekend too!

Photo/recipe credit.

To sum up.

There are lots of great ideas out there on pinterest.

A lot of bad ideas, and a lot of wasted time....

But, these desserts were not wasted calories, and MOM keep making things I pin.

I love it!

no rain=adventures

2012-01-28T09:59:00.000-08:00

We have had a couple really pretty, but cold days...
and we have tried to take advantage.

1. Late night movies in our teepee with friends.

2. Walking downtown Salem.

3. Quincy falling asleep in her stroller during a walk.

4. The greatest antique store! I found a door I want!

5. Snow shoeing in the library kids discovery room.

6. Juicing lemons for dinner.

7. Finding cool alleys to take family pictures.

8. Starting the birth month celebrations a few days early!

9. Pretending to be Vikings in the kids discovery room at the library.

Now you wanna come, right?

At 2 months Miss Q has more facial expressions...

2012-01-26T16:40:00.000-08:00

than Kristen Stewart...

At two months, she is a very expressive little girl.

Here is the proof...

Here is Kristen Stewart in EVERY expression...

Her 2 month stats as of yesterday, January 24, 2012...

Weight: 9 lbs 15 ozs ... 24%

Height: 22 inches ... 25%

Head Circ: 39 cm ... 54%

(She is skinny, kinda short, and really SMART. That is basically what that means. :) hehe)

We love her. She is an easy baby. She sleeps ALOT, and can put herself to sleep.

She put herself on her own schedule, which luckily for me is JUST the schedule I wanted for her.

She must have read Baby Wise. She whimpers at 9 ish, and I swaddle her, and she falls right to sleep, and sleeps until 12. She wakes up and hangs with us for awhile, Merrick and Berkleigh play with her, we try and make her smile, and then she whimpers again around 1:30-2:00 ish, and she gets swaddled and falls back asleep until 5 ish.

She sleeps about 9 hours at night. I can't complain. We are getting there. She wakes up at 5 ish, but I wonder if Tyson wasn't leaving for the gym at that time, if she would sleep longer.

She likes to be on the floor kicking her legs, but after awhile she lets you know she wants some love.

She gives smiles all the time, she coos like a champ, and her strawberry blonde hair is starting to grow, and blue eyes are still blue. I know they can change. Berkleigh's changed at a little over a year, but neither Merrick or Berkleigh had this blue of eyes, and they weren't as fair skinned, or light haired as she is.

Can't wait to see!

bed bugs

2012-01-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

I am loving pictures of my bugs all cozy on my bed. They looks so cute, and like they love each other all the time and never fight... I will let you believe that that is true.

This little snuggly wuggly loves being nestled right up next to our Euro pillows...

rain rain

2012-01-20T16:56:00.000-08:00

Remember this cutie?

Here he is now.

Death by rain.

Lots of rain.

Lots of Salem is closed due to flooding.

Our poor snowman, myself, and the rest of Salem would like the rain to stop.
We have been stuck in our house, not that it hasn't been nice. We have read lots of books, played games, made yummy treats and stayed in our jammies for a couple of days...

Yesterday we painted. I had wanted to kinda recreate something I saw on pinterest for V-day.
So the twins watercolored too.

Merrick and Berkleigh found an unfinished still life. I probably stopped it cause it wasn't good. If you are reading Laura, don't look to close. I will be embarrassed. hehe

Anyways, Merrick and Berkleigh tried to repaint it on their own...
I like theirs better than mine.

We had lots of fun painting together. I need to whip out the paints more cause it was super fun.

handmade Christmas

2012-01-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

I love making things for my loves. It is one of my love languages I think. I made a couple things this Christmas, and I was surprised I even got them done with a newborn hanging around our house, but Miss Q is such a great sleeper (during the day) that I was able to get them done!

I made Merrick a Dinosaur Tail...

{tutorial found here}

Berkleigh has wanted a doll bed for awhile. I finally found one at IKEA for cheap.

Three cheers for IKEA! hehe

I painted the bed, and made the bedding.

I started the pillow awhile ago. Berkleigh wrote her name super cute at preschool one day, and I always wanted to remember it like that. The E's are to cute... So I traced it, and stitched it on some muslin.

Then I turned it into the pillow and left it unstuffed for 6 months... (lazy)

So.. I finally finished it!

Then I whipped out a quick quilt and she was ecstatic!

I made our stockings! I have been wanting to make stockings like this for SO long, but I just haven't done it. My mom helped me whip up a pattern (she drew the sock) and then taught me how to quilt my own red fabric cause I didn't like the quilted red at the fabric store. (So like me, but I wanted them to be perfectly how I saw them in my head)

And they are, and I love them!

I am proud of myself. I did piping for the first time! I quilted my fabric for the first time! I thought up this little stocking in my head with the help of some random picture online, where the stockings weren't even featured but just barely seen in the back of the photo, and then I added my own personality too them.
They make me smile, and I am so excited to have 5 stockings for each person in our family!
No more fuzzy grocery store stockings for Merrick and Berkleigh!

This is a HUGE thing off my to do list!
Makes me so happy... I might just keep them up for a little while!

Bridges of Marion County

2012-01-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

Apparently Oregon has lots of covered bridges.

I thought it was just an East Coast thing, but there are quite a few in Oregon.

We went to one on Saturday before the big Snow dump of 2012.

(Doesn't that sound like a lot of snow? It really wasn't but it sounds good.)

It was a beautiful bridge and I just keep thinking how many fun places you could have photo shoots in Oregon. This being one of them, and then when we walked into the bridge, someone was having their senior pictures taken...

Right next to the glamorous covered bridge was the poor sad mossy one.

Who decides what bridges are covered and which are not? :)

And you can't just go to a covered bridge and expect two 4 year olds to be happy about it...

Luckily for us, there was a park Right next door.

With one of these bad boys...

I didn't go near the Merry Go Round. I fell off one and got stitches under my eye when I was 4, but it didn't stop my other three kids...

They don't look like they are going fast, but they are going this fast:

And that was our adventure for Saturday!

randomness

2012-01-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

On Sunday morning I picked out our clothes for church (after our snow day) and realized I dress all of us in purple. What does that mean in mood ring language? Cause that is how I must have been feeling.

Quincy is so yummy in this dress, and she looks just like Berkleigh.

Guess who is growing up and becoming a big girl.

She just sat in that bumbo while I made dinner.

Bumbos were made in heaven, I am sure of it.

And doesn't she look like she has cankles?

It is just too cold here for her not to be wearing socks, but she is too small for her socks to stay on...

so we resort to functionality over style.

Could it really be the 16th and we just had our Time Capsule FHE?

Tonight we opened our time capsule from 2011, read what we wrote, had a good laugh and wrote this years Time Capsule papers. Seal the bad boy up and we are good until 2013.

Somethings did not change:

Berkleigh is still obsessed with Rapunzel.

Merrick still LOVES transformers and dinosaurs, BUT somethings changed A LOT...

How Merrick and Berkleigh write there name CHANGED a ton. I know it had, but putting them next to each other was really cool for them!

And their drawings have changed. I love that their people now have bodies not just legs coming out of their heads.

And the surprise of the night, was what I wrote on my sheet under: "What do I want to be doing this time next year?"

My answer:

"I want to be pregnant or bouncing a baby on my knee!"

YES, ACCOMPLISHED!

For our FHE dessert, I made these:

Uh, to die for. Literally, you could die

1/2 C Heavy whipping cream

3/4 C brown sugar

3/4 C butter

bag of chocolate chips

32 caramels melted down...

But worth every single calorie. Please make them, eat one, and share with someone, cause you will have clogged arteries fo sho from eating these.

So after eating those delicious Carmelitas we had to have a dance party...

Merrick the robot and Berkleigh the dancer.

She seriously cracks me up.

I videoed it on Tyson's phone.

I will bless you with that video tomorrow.

Can't wait!

All BEFORE 10 in the morning...

2012-01-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

When it snows, build a snowman...

Don't mind our amazing snow clothes! Remember we just moved from the sunniest place on earth.

(PS. Grandmas, Merrick and Berkleigh do have socks on under those broken rain boots.)

and maybe have a snowball fight...

and try to catch a snowflake on your tongue...

and a little sledding (on a snowboard)...

and then come in and have some hot chocolate...

All BEFORE 10 in the morning!

"A good thing to wake up to..."

2012-01-15T09:26:00.000-08:00

That is what Tyson said when he woke me up at 7:45 this morning, pulled me out of bed, and pushed me toward the window...

Cute bedheads wishing they could go play...

I love that Tyson's surf board leash is still outside from the last time he went surfing...

New blog header

2012-01-14T01:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, the last time I changed the header was like 1973.

Kidding, I don't think blogs were around then, but the twins were only 2 ish the last time I changed it.

I updated. New baby, new photoshop and new photos means it is time to update.

I haven't ever really bothered cause everyone reads blogs through Google Reader these days, but for those of you that do come to the actual blog, now you won't be so bored with the same ol' header.

Dear Lisa,

2012-01-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

You are a great friend!

Thank you for the wonderful package.

It brightened up a "inconsolable constipated baby", "disobedient son", "drama queen daughter"

kind of day.

We miss you!

Thanks friend!

Love, Jen, Merrick, Berkleigh, Quincy

Did yo know those toys could be played together? Prince Charming came swooping in via hang glider to save Snow White from the Evil Queen.

thumb sucking

2012-01-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

I was doomed from the beginning with Berkleigh. Before I even knew her, she was sucking her thumb in womb. I sucked my thumb, and apparently my mom did too, for a long time.

So when she debuted with Merrick back in '07, I thought it was kinda cute when she would pop that thumb in her mouth. Really? It is cute.

I tried to get her to use a pacifier instead, but she liked her thumb, and I didn't push it anymore.

Well, 4 1/2 years later, it isn't so cute.

We have tried everything...

THUM

(She just sucked it right off without even a squint of the eye from the soreness.)

TAPE

We taped her thumb, she peeled it off.

BANDAIDS

We wrapped bandaids around her thumb, she pulled them off.

DEVICES

Ok, so we didn't go there, but when I was finding pictures I thought this was hilarious.

FABRIC

I fabriced up her hand something fierce. I tied knots...

She got it off.

TAKE AWAY BLANKET

I tried to take away her blanket, but she wasn't being bad...
so we gave it back. It didn't help anyway, and she loves her blanket.

A week or so after Quincy was born, Berkleigh was munchin' on that thumb, and I was so frustrated. I would take it out of her mouth, and she would put it back in.
Tyson noticed my frustration and decided to use google images to prove a point. My point.
He found pictures of braces (well, actually head gear, it is more scary).

We told Berkleigh that she would look like that if she didn't stop sucking her thumb.

She was mortified. She cried.

We dropped the thumb sucking issue after that, more so because we had Quincy taking up our attention, than because we didn't care.

On the way to California for Christmas, it was getting dark and Berkleigh and Merrick were watching a movie. (Prime thumb sucking time)
But she wasn't.
She had her blanket and was rubbing her favorite corner.
(prime thumb sucking behavior)

(This was a super fluffy blanket. She has worn of ALL the wooly stuff!)
But she wasn't sucking her thumb!

All of a sudden, (think of whooshing sound as all the memories come back to me, like in the movies)
I thought about the previous three weeks, and I couldn't think about one time when I saw her sucking her thumb.

So, I asked, "Berkie, Do you suck your thumb?"

She got a scared and horrified look on her face and said, "No, cause I don't want braces."

And that is how a habit that was really hard to break, became really easy.
Head gear did the trick!
Tyson was hero of the day, I only wish we had thought of that earlier!
It all ends happy, except for Berkleigh. She may have stopped sucking her thumb, but she will still need braces (especially if she has my teeth), just hopefully we stopped the thumb sucking before her teeth got bad enough to need head gear.

Today

2012-01-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

6:10 am

Quincy woke up ready for breakfast.

6:40 am

Berkleigh climbed into bed with me.

7:40 am

Merrick climbed in bed with us.

(There was four in the bed and the little one said...)

7:50 am

Fix breakfast while twins played legos and had some bow and arrow practice.

Twins eat breakfast.

I run upstairs and pick out clothes for them.

8:10 am

Do Berkleigh's hair.

(One of my new years resolutions, more on that later.)

8:30-10:50 am

Preschool.

Quincy's nap.

I was kid free, what did I do? Pinned stuff and messed around on photoshop.

Nice.

11:00 am

Made jam with the twins

11:30 am

Made batter for our dinner crepes.

While Merrick and Berkleigh played, and Quincy got some much needed Vitamin D.

We get it when we can, which has been almost everyday!

12:00 pm

Made lunch and packed it for our picnic with dad.

1:00pm

Quincy's nap.

Merrick and Berkleigh and I made alphabet magnets.

Tutorial here.

3:30 pm

Took Quincy's first "month" picture... uh... two weeks late.

6:30 pm

Twins went to bed.

Quincy got to soak in the hot tub.

What a busy busy day!

I got our "New Years/birth announcement" finished and sent to the printers!

Sorry you didn't get a Christmas card from us, New Years cards are on their way.. soon.

Oh and I did lots and lots of laundry. Today I feel like I accomplished lots!

little girls

2012-01-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

Oh little girls are fun to dress!

felt flower headbands...

handmade onesies...

little bracelets...

jeggings...

trumpette socks...

there are so many possibilities and so many cute things in the world!

I have more fun dressing her than I do myself!

REALLY?...

2012-01-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

Do people REALLY put these on their children?

Can the weather REALLY be this cold when I was just in 77 degree weather last week?

Has our society REALLY come to this?

Apptivity, Really?

Is she REALLY comfortable?

Doesn't my iPhone stopwatch stop when I close the app?

(Apparently not.)

Who REALLY advertises this?

In this book on different kinds of families, did the author REALLY have to put this picture when talking about brothers?

Did I REALLY say no to Tyson when he wanted to buy this?

All pictures taken from my iPhone.

Beef and Cheese

2012-01-09T12:53:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is over, so I don't know why I keep posting about it, but this should be the end.

I just really needed to document this so I wouldn't forget...

We introduced the twins to Elf this Christmas.

Then we proceeded to watch it probably every other day until Christmas Eve...

Well, the twins started quoting it every where we went.

We were at the grocery store and Merrick bust out, "I'm singing, I'm in a store and I'm singing!"

There were lots of giggles, and I could not control myself. It was hilarious!

Then at preschool, they had Santa come. Berkleigh told me that he wasn't the real Santa because he smelled like beef and cheese.

Really?

Oh how I miss you...

2012-01-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

We have a beach, and compared to other people in the country, it is still pretty close to us, not 5 minutes like in Huntington Beach, but close enough that we can go on a Saturday and spend a couple hours and be home without it being a HUGE long day event.

I really love the Oregon Coast. It is beautiful and has a lot of things to explore that Southern California beaches do not have.

I love Southern California beaches because they are sunny and warm, and you can run around in your swimsuit and be totally warm and happy!

I MISS THAT!

One of our favorite beaches is Cresent Bay. Oh it is so beautiful...
Beautiful rocks, lots of scuba divers, sun, palm trees...

Quincy's first beach day, and she slept right through most of it. Hey it is relaxing!

We made sand angels and had sandy toes...

Did a little yoga...

Ran a few laps to the water and back...

Got to spend time with daddy...

Running in the waves...

We took some family pictures...

Some cuteness...

And I LOVE these pictures...
Daddy and Daughter

smiles

2012-01-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

There comes a point, for me anyways, when the newborn stage almost wears me out, and then they smile. Oh those blessed smiles. I could just sit with Quincy all day and try to get her to smile at me.

The funny thing too, is that I have to make an utter fool of myself to get a smile out of her right now, but oh is it worth it, and all of a sudden I have new realms of patience, energy, and no need for sleep after I have seen that smile.

These aren't the greatest pictures of her sweet smile, but cute still the same.

I know you can't see her smile, but can you just see her little sparkly eyes!

I was so bummed when I missed her mouth in this picture, but her eyes light up when she smiles.

I interpret this picture as : "Mom, what are you doing? You are acting a fool!"

Ok, but you are pretty funny, so I will smile at you anyways.

The best part of her smile... she take a couple really shallow breaths like she has so much joy inside her she can't even contain herself, and then the smile comes, and then the cutest little coo you have ever heard.

I am in LOVE!

the Betrothed..

2012-01-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

We had a DAY long playmate where Quincy met her boyfriend Deacon.

She is lucky, she has like 14 boyfriends... but I am pretty sure Deacon is her favorite.

She would cry when she was around him... it was all those butterflies in her tummy! :)

Tyson went surfing with his surf buddy, Kang, while we hung out with Kristy and her brood, and then Tyson went on a "man date" with Tom that night to see Mission Impossible AND Sherlock Holmes, and the kids and I still hung out with Kristy and her brood...

We got to Kristy's house at 11 am and didn't leave until midnight!

It was fun and just like old times.

Aren't they cute together.. Deacon is 1 week older than Quincy.

It was fun to be pregnant with my BFF.

And here we are...

We were lucky and got to hang out with the Haights a couple of times. Tom took our family pictures. Unfortunately the FOG rolled in 5 seconds after we got to the beach. Haha... Tom will have to have another crack at it next time we are down... but he got some good ones in the 5 minutes we took pictures.

I have the worst luck. I always want to take fun pictures these cool places, but I don't get my act together in time, and then they have the most hideous Christmas decorations. We couldn't get that candy cane out of the picture, but I love our little family!

But what do you do when the fog rolls in? Ditch the picture idea and go to Cafe Rio! Yum.

It was fun to hang with our friends!

The Holidays...

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

We have been gone for a week and a half to the great state of California, where the sun shines, and the weather is warm. It was glorious!

We spent Christmas with family.
We had fun at our Christmas Eve talent show with the Thackers...
Doing the Nativity...
Mary and Joseph with Baby Jesus
(supposed to be Quincy, but she needed to eat, and wasn't going to be a very happy baby Jesus.)

Reindeer Food on the lawn and cookies for Santa...

Staying up late working on Christmas...

Waiting at the top of the stairs until grandpa says Santa has left:

Opening presents with the family:

Merrick and his Santa presents... BIG KID LEGOS!

Berkleigh with her Santa presents...
BIG GIRL DOLLS!
(Santa didn't know if I was ready for Barbies, but when you get a black Friday deal for this box of dolls knocked down from 69.99 to 39.99, Santa just bought it. hehe)

Tyson and I didn't get each other anything because we both got our presents earlier..
Tyson got his bike (true Oregonian) and I got my new sewing machine...

Quincy presents and daughter/ daughter in law presents:

This present was SO special, but our friends got this large Rapunzel doll for their cousin for Christmas. Berkleigh asked her little friend Tessa where they got it, and then proceeded to tell me EVERYDAY... "Can we go to the Disney Store, Tessa says it is by Costco. I want to get that Rapunzel doll."

Well, Merrick got it for her for Christmas, and she was SO excited. I love these pictures of her
opening it...

Played Ultimate Frisbee at the park.. um, I haven't moved that fast in 9 months. Great exercise, and I wasn't even sore the next day!

And a Quincy that didn't know what to do with the warm weather!

Celebrated the New Year eating and watching movies!

Before Christmas

2012-01-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

There are still a few things I wanted to document from before Christmas before I get to much into the new year.

We were really lucky to have a spider living in our Christmas tree. It is supposed to be good luck. I think it was cause we had a great Christmas!

I am missing laying Quincy down on her boppy looking up at the Christmas tree lights. She would lay there for at least 15 minutes and then would just fall asleep...

Having a baby at Christmas is magical.

I love seeing Christmas lights reflected in little kid eyes!

Sorry, kind of a blurry picture, but that was because I was in a hurry. :) I had so much to do before Christmas, and I can't believe I finished it all! I even did all the stockings!

This picture sums up day before our trip chaos... laundry, sewing projects etc!

Hope you had a fabulous Christmas and a wonderful New Years!

We did, more posts to come!

A different set of twins

2011-12-23T15:05:00.000-08:00

1 month old

2011-12-21T15:00:00.000-08:00

Ok. How is Quincy already one month old! I mean really?

Time has gone by so fast! Maybe the lack of sleep just blurs everything together.

We wouldn't normally have gone to the doctor's at one month, but Quincy has thrush.

(Happy 1 month Quincy!)

I was excited though because she got weighed!

I always wonder...

She weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz.

(Atta girl! She gained 1 pound in 2 weeks!)

Here are some things we have learned about Quincy in the last month:

1. Quincy LOVES to sleep.

She is a great napper and if I get my act together at night and feed her, burp her, and change her before I fall asleep or put her to bed, then she will sleep for at least 5 hours.

She has just started to "wake up" a little more, and is fun to talk to for 10-20 minutes before she crashes again. And when I mean crash, I mean crash...

You better believe there was a huge drool spot on that burp rag...

I took this picture because I have one of Berkleigh just like this...

2. Quincy loves a good shower. It is my favorite moments with her, and her favorite moment of life, period.

She closes her eyes and makes little fun coos when she has warm water falling on her.

I get jealous when Tyson wants to shower with her. :)

Look how yummy she is, and her little naked self all cuddled up in my arm is just to much cuteness for me to handle.

3. Quincy loves to have "wiggle" time on her new play mat my friend made her.

She will wiggle and not make a peep and stare at the Christmas tree lights for a good 30 minutes before falling asleep laying there.

4. Quincy loves her brother and sister. When they take time out of their "busy schedules" to sit and play with her, Quincy can't take her eyes off of them. She isn't smiling yet, but I know she is smiling on the inside. :)

5. Quincy loves her accessories. She has so many fun headbands and bows that I am loving to put on her! She also loves this super cute bracelet that her grandma gave her!

Don't you just want to eat her up? I sure do...

Three children is not easy, but the minute I heard Quincy's little cry in that operating room, I could not imagine life without her. After a month, I can almost not even remember our world before she came. She is such a sweet, snuggly piece of cuteness!

photobombing

2011-12-19T20:43:00.000-08:00

I found a tutorial on pinterest on how to take amazing tree pictures, so while working on it one night, Merrick and Berkleigh took advantage of the photo bombing opportunities.

I think the tree pictures with crazy kids are more amazing than without...

They are so funny!

Festivities

2011-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

I have decided three children is hard, or I am not used to it yet! :)

SO, we have continued to have lots of Christmas fun, I just don't take as many pictures, OR it just takes a long time for me to post them...

Here is some of our fun!

Tyson's Birthday!

Tyson is such a good dad! Merrick and Berkleigh are constantly crawling all over him. They drop whatever they are doing when they hear the garage door open, and they always want to go to daddy's work to see him. We love our daddy!
Happy Birthday!

Christmas Light Parade with friends...

(Rachel, I am sad you never found us!)

It had to be 30 degrees outside... It was SO cold!

Making Gingerbread houses with friends...
I didn't want to go ALL the way to Costco to pick up a gingerbread house, and I had seen this cute one at Trader Joes. It was easy, simple and fun to put together, but barely had any candy. That was fine cause I always want to do a house, but while making it, I am kinda over it.. :)

Dear Santa,

2011-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

We started our Dear Santa Book. I have wanted to do this for a couple of years, and we finally got it started this year...

Every year, we will write our Santa letters in our Dear Santa Book. Elf takes it back to the North Pole after we have written our letters so Santa knows what we want. Then Elf brings it back with a letter back from Santa.

One year, my mom sent me some "Santa Letters" I had written when I was 10 yrs old. It was really fun to see what I wanted SO bad, and to see my handwriting and spelling. I had since lost those letters... well they aren't lost, they are just some where very special, and I thought it would be fun to have a place where we can record what we want every year, and it will in some way become a little family journal.

The kids wrote their Santa Letters the other day.

Obviously they needed help, but they did write them. :)

I can't wait to see how their interests and handwriting differs as they grow.

Berkleigh's says :

"Dear Santa,

I have been good.

I want princesses, Rapunzel and a stocking."

Merrick's says:

"Dear Santa,
I have been good.
I want a dinosaur, legos and truffles."

Quincy says:
"Dear Santa,
I have only been alive for 1 month, so of course I have been good! I want a toy to suck on in my upcoming developmental stage and clothes cause it is cold here!"

Really, I don't know where the truffles came from, but we do have refined taste here at our house. Santa will have to decide if Merrick meant the mushroom truffles or chocolate...
We will keep you updated.

(Ps. Merrick was demonstrating independence and did not want his picture taken. Ok kid.)

Some more of Finn Tree

2011-12-17T22:58:00.000-08:00

Merrick and Berkleigh found Finn Tree drying off after a nice bath in the sink,

reading a book all about himself,

driving our car (Let me just tell you how hard it is to drive with and Elf you AREN'T supposed to touch on your steering wheel...),

so used to the cold Arctic air, he hid in the fridge to cool down for the day,

and really hid in the Christmas tree.... we were afraid we wouldn't find him until he moved again!

Tummy Time

2011-12-12T22:55:00.000-08:00

Berkleigh is such a big help with Quincy. She loves to hold her and play with her. When she cries in the car, Berkleigh sings I am a Child of God to her.

Today, during Tummy Time, Berkleigh decided to join Quincy. It was too cute.

Mom

2011-12-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

My mom left.

Boo hoo.

We are slowly getting used to this three kid business, and learning how to deal with a little less attention from mom...

Thanks for coming Mom. You did lots! Thanksgiving, watching to kids, helping me with my sewing projects, and doing EVERY art project available on Pinterest with the twins! :)

We love you, and we hope we didn't wear you out too much!

The Pope

2011-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

We laughed so hard!

Doesn't she look just like the Pope?

Away in a Manger

2011-12-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Last week, we went to the Creche Exhibit at our church building. It is definitely not as crazy as the one in Orange County, and didn't have a live nativity, but it was fun to continue on the tradition and to make sure we are teaching our children the true meaning of Christmas.

We spent most of our time in the Children's room where they could dress up as Mary, Joseph, a star or a cow, and they got to hear the story of Christ's Birth through the voice of a shepherd.

They loved it!

I don't believe that Mary had a HUGE pink flower in the middle of her forehead, just sayin'.

I LOVED these two nativity sets. They spoke to me...

What a special night, and to have just had a baby and to think of having to go through that pain in a stable surrounded by animals... What a humble birth.

Trimmed

2011-12-05T23:37:00.001-08:00

One big happy family, minus the child who didn't want his picture taken and the little one who needed to eat 20 minutes before this picture was taken.

Quincy with her first ornament. She has such great fine motor skills, she put it on the tree herself.

hehe.

The little Elves... in their Christmas pajamas...

PS. We found a spider residing in our tree. My mom says it is good luck to have a spider in your tree. Anyone know the story behind that?

And so it begins...

2011-12-05T14:38:00.000-08:00

I have always liked having Merrick and Berkleigh matchy match a bit for holidays. I never knew the other realms of pleasure that come when you have two girls and a cute little boy!

Today, Quincy went to church for the first time. I was picking clothes out last night for the kids, and I noticed there were some similar colors in all their church attire! Then I got a little carried away!

Oh no... this might turn into an obsession.

Finn Tree is back!

2011-12-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

We tried something a little different this year. The last couple years, my great neighbor Kristy, would knock on our door and leave Finn Tree there with some presents... well, Kristy is my neighbor anymore, at least not physically, but in my heart she is. (haha cheese)

So this year, Finn Tree came on December 1st and decorated our kitchen and made us yummy snowman pancakes and brought our Christmas pajamas.

(Good thing Grandma was here, cause I am feeling quite unmotivated at the present time, maybe because I am up 2-3 times a night nursing Miss Q.)

Here is the spread...

And I love that Finn Tree came riding into our lives on a teal reindeer. That is style my friends.

And where was he when we woke up yesterday morning?

Well, zip lining from the stairs to the window of course.

And this morning?
Finn Tree is begging us to get into the Christmas spirit! He started to put the lights on our tree before we got up this morning.

Oh Christmas Tree

2011-12-03T20:55:00.001-08:00

I have been waiting for this day... when I can again chop down my own Christmas Tree.

Our 2nd Christmas together was spent with Tyson's family up in the Utah mountains. We had to be snowmobiled to the cabin and we had a blast. That was my favorite picking of the Christmas Tree ever because we got all bundled up and hiked through waist deep snow to find the perfect tree, chopped it down, took it home covered in snow, and decorated it with popcorn and cranberry chains AND snowflakes cut from newspaper.

This year is a close second. No more Home Depot! No more expensive trees!

A really farm that closes at 5 pm because there is no electricity!

We went this morning at 8 am (It was freezing!) because we were heading to the beach for the afternoon.

What fun! Any tree on the lot, didn't matter the size was $20, except for my favorite and must have, the noble fir, and those were $35 any size. (Which just goes to show that they ARE the best tree.)

Tyson is ready to hack away at a tree!

Which one? What is tricky too, is that who knows how tall they actually are!

And our tree in our living room right now sure is big. :)

My mom had the best deal. She got to care Quincy, and therefore had the personal heater.

Here is the special tree! That will make all our Christmas dreams come true this year!

Ahh! My handsome lumberjack! I made him wear that shirt for this specific occasion so I could call him that.

Tyson was not the only lumberjack in the neighborhood....

And off it goes! Our 8-9 ft tree is headed for our home...

and before we can decorate, we need like 12 more strands of lights.

hehe

What a fun trip to the pick our tree!

BBB

2011-11-30T17:27:00.001-08:00

stands for the BEST BIG BROTHER!

For the first time since birth (no joke), Quincy was awake for more than 10 minutes.

I put her on the floor by Merrick and Berkleigh to just hang out with them while they read books.

I left the room for 1.2 seconds and came back to Merrick reading to Quincy.

Super cute, and life is starting to seem more normal.

Well besides the freak out sesh once a day or so when I see three children in their carseats, or three children at the dinner table and realize how can I possibly be old enough to have three children!

hehe.

100 years of Experience

2011-11-30T16:19:00.001-08:00

My aunt and uncle who live in Washington came down with my 100 year old grandpa to meet baby Quincy. It was so fun to see them, and it was so special to see my newborn who was born in 2011 be held by my grandfather who was born in 1911.

He has seen so much and experienced so much, and he sat and held a little newborn just starting that same journey through life.

It was pretty special, not many people get to say they were held by their 100 year old grandpa.

I really wanted to see the difference in my grandpa's worn hands and Quincy's brand-new hands.

I love this picture of Q's feet! I am obsessed with baby feet!

Four Generation pictures... Gotta Love them!

Sup!

2011-11-29T09:52:00.001-08:00

Quincy Tate

2011-11-27T22:17:00.001-08:00

Sorry it has taken so long to post this. I have just been having to much fun loving on our new little QT.

Quincy Tate Scott

8 pounds 2 ounces

19 1/2 inches long

November 21, 2011

We went in to the hospital after saying goodbye to the kids and grandma.

We took this fab picture before I stripped down to my amazing hospital gown.

We loved our nurse. She stayed with us from the minute we got to the hospital, through surgery prep, during c section, and throughout recovery. It was like having a friend in the surgery with us.

They were busy on the mother baby floor that day, so we had to wait for an hour or so to go in to have Quincy. It was nice to just sit and relax and let the adrenaline leave the body.

Finally ready and all gowned up and walking to the operating room.

While getting the spinal, catheter and IV drugs going, the nurses asked me what I had done on my final week before the new baby. I told them we had a girls night at Breaking Dawn. The doctor was in the room, which I didn't think he was there yet, and said he had seen it too, and promised he wouldn't bite through my uterine wall with his teeth. What a weird conversation to be having when actually getting a c- section.

And then we heard the gushing of fluids, and the most beautiful cry. She was ready to come, and I couldn't control my emotions. She is finally here, and our family feels that much more complete.

Dad, Mom and Quincy

Add caption

While I was being stitched up, Tyson got to go with Quincy for her first tests! She passed with 9's and got to hold her daddy's hand for the first time, and weighed in at 8 pounds 2 ounces. She looked so big compared to the twins!

How amazing is that sucking reflex tongue!

We were off to recovery where I got to hold Quincy for the first time. She looks so much like Berkleigh!

Smitten Daddy in recovery with us!

It was just us three for 2 hours.

I love seeing Tyson with this QT, and that face? I just want to eat it!

Merrick and Berkleigh and Grandma came during Quincy's first bath!

I love Merrick's face in this picture.

Merrick has been so excited to give Quincy her little squeaky giraffe, and Berkleigh has just been so excited to hold her sister and to "stay in a family forever".

Quincy is pretty lucky to have such great older siblings. They already take care of her and give her lots of loves!

I love this picture.

Not because I look extremely tired, but because our three kids are in the background together!

What would make this picture perfect would be if Tyson were sitting next to me.

Merrick's face says it all.

My mom loving her time with her new grand daughter!

Our First Family picture...

where I could possibly not look any worse. :)

But, you take what you can get, right?

While my mom was holding Quincy, Berkleigh touched Quincy's hand and she grabbed Berkleigh's finger. Berkleigh told my mom, "Quincy is grabbing my finger tight because she loves me so much."

How cute is she.

Dressed in her first outfit, and ready to work out...

We got to leave the hospital early and in time to be home a day early so we could be ready for Thanksgiving!

Proud dad ready to put Quincy in her carseat, and ready to go out in this crazy weather!

Ready for her first car ride!

Ready to go home and be with the rest of our family!

We had such a great experience and we are excited to be home and trying out this whole family of five thing! As for the question I hear all the time< "Is it easier than with the twins?"

The answer is, "Yes, I believe it is!"

Today is the day, and we have been busy!

2011-11-21T12:18:00.001-08:00

Well, baby girl is coming today.

Check for a post later to see what she looks like and what her name is...

We have been blog absent so we could do lots of things for baby girl.

This is what we have been up to:

*Helped the kids wrap Miss _'s present.

*Finished Christmas ornaments. Which I did a long time ago, until I remembered that I was going to have another child by Christmas... so I needed to finish Miss _'s ornament.

*Finished a couple of onesies I have been dying to create but haven't had a sewing machine to finish them with. My friend just had her baby, and loaned me hers until my new one comes in the mail...

*Finished hair bows I have been working on.

*Washed baby linens.

*Finished Miss _'s new wet bag.

Her name is embroidered on the doilie but you can't know it yet...

*Making carseat tent. My mom is doing it as we speak!

A WORK IN PROGRESS.

*Cleaned the carseats.

*Packed my hospital bag.

*Updated my mom on what I want for Miss _'s blessing dress.

Inspiration came from this BHLDN wedding dress.

I can't wait to see what my mom comes up with!

I have already:

cleaned the fridge

cleaned the bathrooms (which need to be done again)

cleaned the oven

Tyson will be posting some baby love later in the day! Check back!

And wish us luck!

pregnancy laziness

2011-11-15T09:51:00.000-08:00

I have a post 3/4th of the way written, but when I start working on it, I am reminded of what I actually have to do to "nest" and get ready for baby.

So I am taking some blog pregnancy laziness excuse and putting it to good use!

Maybe later today it will show itself... maybe it won't, but I feel like I have good reason for it.

hehe

BIIATM: Fourth of July (7/4/11)

2011-11-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

BIIATM: Stands for Because it is a Thankful Month...

You will be seeing more of these!

We are sure thankful for the wonderful country we live in, and the freedoms we have!

Even if we miss our sunny California, we moved to somewhere just as beautiful but in different ways, where great opportunities are awaiting us!

I laugh at this picture when I think about how big I thought my belly was! Oh man, it is way bigger now.

We had such fun with our little family and our neighborhood family.

Seriously that is what that neighborhood was too me. We always had BBQs outside, hung out there all day, went on bike rides, went to the park, stayed in our pjs all day and hung at each others houses...

But on our last 4th of July in Huntington Beach, the city where Huntington Beach beats out Christmas in favorite holidays, we did everything we could possibly think of!

We rode our bikes to the parade, watched it, played at the park, watched Berkleigh trip on the one piece of concrete in the whole grass covered park and bloody her knee up somethin' fierce.

She did look cute though.

And so did he...

A-Merrick-A

That night we headed to the pier for fireworks with our awesome little neighborhood. It was fun to ride our bikes down, and to relax on the beach while watching...

We sure miss our friends, family, bike rides and our little coastal community.

37 Weeks

2011-11-07T09:01:00.000-08:00

I am 37 weeks today, and 4 1/2 years ago, I would have two brand new babies and my world would be rocked. The twins were born at 36 weeks 6 days.

I am really treasuring this in utero time, even though my back feels like it will break. I love feeling Baby _ _ _ _ _ _ kick. She is active, and it scares me a bit to know what her personality will be like once she makes her appearance.

Baby _ _ _ _ _ _ 's due date is November 28th, but I get to have her on November 21st.

We have 14 days left! Really, I don't know where the time goes...

We are really excited, but then I feel a little sad at the same time that our family will change. I know for the better, and I really can't wait for her to come and join us, but we have been really comfortable in our little family of four... for way to long. Berkleigh prays every night that when Baby _ _ _ _ _ _ comes that we can all still be in a family. We have talked about it LOTS but I think she thinks that she will be replaced. Not gonna happen kiddo.

We went on a little adventure on Sunday. It seems that Sunday is always the most beautiful day of the week. No rain and the sun out, but we try and keep Sunday special.

We decided on a new park in a tiny town outside of Salem called Independence.

It kinda just turned into a photo shoot cause it was really to cold to play.

Tyson loves the Willamete River. It winds and flows through Salem and up to Portland, and everywhere else. We cross it all the time when we are driving.

Merrick and Berkleigh do love Baby _ _ _ _ _ _, she performs for them constantly! Always rollin' and a movin'. They love it.

We love our family, and we really can't wait for Baby _ _ _ _ _ _ to join us on the 21st!

We will feel more complete!

Because it is a Thankful Month (6/20/11)

2011-11-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

When we moved to Oregon, our computer had died, and we weren't going to buy one in California, when we could buy it with no sales tax in Oregon! I kept borrowing my neighbors, and then I felt like a mooch. Then we moved, and had no internet for a month... and by the time we had saved up for our computer, life had happened, and I missed blogging some really special things that happened in California!

Because it is a Thankful Month, I thought I could finally go back and blog those special people and times we had in California before we moved...

Father's Day

We are so thankful for Dad! He works SO hard so that we can have a nice life. He is a great example of hard work, spontaneity, and fun to our kiddos. He is a spiritual leader in our home, and makes sure we have family home evening and prayers.

And tonight, he went on a Man Date with his friend Cory and all the kids so that I could sit at home, relax, and have some girl movie time.

Everyone should with for a father/husband like him!

My friend found this tutorial online somewhere. I thought it was a simple and yummy (Tyson's favorite candy) to show him we love him!

You know you are in Oregon when...

2011-11-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

I have compiling these pictures for since we moved here. Notice that most of the pictures the sun is present!

1. You know you are in Oregon when your recycle trash can is bigger than your actual garbage can.

This is actually really cool, but I have to start being better at recycling. My trash fills up so fast, and I have to wait a week before the trash guy comes!

2. You know you are in Oregon when you see VW bus complete with canoe, bikes, and tye dyed curtains.

Coolest car ever.

3. You know you are in Oregon when your milk from Costco comes in containers like this.

Weird, Tyson calls it space milk.

4. You know you are in Oregon when someone else pumps your gas.

Love it.

5. You know you are in Oregon when at storytime there are more people in tye dye than one single color.

This is so different to Merrick and Berkleigh that they actually asked why everyone was wearing rainbow shirts.

(Every time I try and get a picture of this, they don't wear their tyedye, and when I forget my camera... everyone is decked out... so taste the rainbow.)

6. You know you are in Oregon when every where you drive you see a breathtaking view!

(This is from a street just one up from our house.)

6. You know you are in Oregon when there is a Peace Walk coming down your street.

Coolest thing we have seen. I made Tyson keep driving past so I could get a picture of these guys. They were banging drums and all!

7. You know you are in Oregon when your tap water tastes like Aquafina.

So good... that is all I can say!

8. You know you are in Oregon when blackberry bushes are the state weed. Yes all the ground brush/bushes you see are blackberries.. Who complains? Free blackberries!

End of September/ beginning of October does start to smell a little fermented though.

9. You know you are in Oregon when community gardens are right around the corner from your house, and you can rent a plot for $35 a year! How awesome! We have room in our backyard though, so we won't be doing that this year.

10. You know you are in Oregon when it smells like Christmas trees year around.

There are a million Christmas Tree farms around. You can get Christmas trees for SOO cheap here. We could buy one for every room in our house and still have saved money from buying a tree in California!

Picture from google images

All Hallow's Eve

2011-11-02T19:19:00.001-07:00

We had stew and Wassail which is a Scott family tradition, and then headed out trick or treating!

We went to a trunk or treat at our ward building, and then went to some great neighborhoods with Calvin and Hobbes and the butterfly and caterpillar.

We had a great night, but this was our first FREEZING Halloween! I don't know if I can handle it.

Halloween 2011: A Life Cycle

2011-10-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Got it?

EGG on a leaf to CATERPILLAR to COCOON to BUTTERFLY

Tyson just got a sheet from goodwill to wrap around himself, and I painted a leaf, cut out a hole and stuck my white shirted belly through it...

It worked out for all!

The caterpillar and butterfly.

I bought the wings for Berkleigh, but I made that caterpillar costume with no pattern.

Just eyeballed it and I can't believe it turned out at all.

Berkleigh has wanted to be a butterfly for awhile, so when I found the Monarch wings, I just had to... and the rest fell into place!

Merrick getting into character. He kept telling me, "Take a picture of me eating these weaves (leaves)."

We love our little bugs!

A Day Costume

2011-10-31T11:28:00.000-07:00

My friend and I threw a Mustache Bash for three of our friends having boys... we made these shirts for them, and I found it in a stack of borrowed maternity clothes from one of those friends...

So, Baby girl's Day costume is... BOY with mustache!

But what will she be tonight?

I have to finish my costume so I can take a picture. :)

More Randomness

2011-10-31T10:38:00.000-07:00

Poor thing. B got a cold sore on her tongue. This is the only (very dramatic) way of eating dinner without it hurting.

October 27, 2011

Sunny and beautiful, and having one of many picnics with dad outside at the park next to his office.

This is Merrick's position while reading books. If he is quiet, he is usually reading our weekly library books in this exact position.

Berkleigh NEEDED Halloween fingers! She came up with the idea...

New Preschool

2011-10-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

I don't want to get on my soap box about preschool, but I was paying too much for basic daycare. It was annoying. I have a vision of what a preschool should be, and that is probably because of my background in teaching... I think that if I want a preschool to run exactly how I want it too, then I would have to teach it and move my friends I did preschool with in HB up to Oregon so that we could team teach and our children could play together again, but that is just too expensive. :)

We heard about a preschool through the high school... hmm. Two of my friends have kids at that preschool, so I crossed my fingers, and called. They didn't start until the 18th of October, but it was the 19th when I called. Luckily, the teacher was nice enough to take both my kids, even though they only had one opening.

Yes! It has been the best experience so far, and they love it.

Yesterday they had their Halloween party and they each got a pumpkin to decorate.

Berkleigh's is on the left, and Merrick's is on the right.

Berkleigh named her pumpkin Tinkerbell, and Merrick named his Elephant.

Then they wrote stories about their pumpkins and here they are:

Berkleigh's Story...

Once upon a time, there was a pumpkin named Tinkerbell. She was very sad, because all the children were out having fun on Halloween and he just had to sit and watch. But finally, one Halloween night, Tinkerbell's wish came true and he came to life! Here is her story.

She was a princess and went in a castle all the time. Merrick's pumpkin came over to save Tinkerbell from the castle's MEAN Dragon. Merrick's pumpkin saved Tinkerbell!

The End.

Merrick's Story...

Once upon a time, there was a pumpkin named Elephant. He was very sad, because all the children were out having fun on Halloween and he just had to sit and watch. But finally, one Halloween night, Elephant's wish came true and he came to life? Here is his story...

He ran and jumped all around and played with all the elves. He ate all the candy as soon as he got some from trick or treating. Elephant was an ant for Halloween.

The End.

Oh, the imaginations of a 4 year olds.

We Picked'm so we have to Carve'm

2011-10-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

We have great friends in HB who plan a great pumpkin carving party every year.

Well, we could be sad that we don't live close and don't get to participate, OR we could make our own fun.

That is what we did.

We invited 5 families from our ward over for FHE. We ate pizza, the most amazing carmel corn that had chunks of snickers in it, and drank LOTS of root beer.

Then we carved our pumpkins.

It was great fun with new friends, but we still miss our old crew!

Hope you guys had fun carving yours, HB buddies!

The head bone's connected

2011-10-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

to the neck bone...

I tried to copy this awesome skeleton from Potterybarn kids.

It turned out cute I thought, but the most fun part was not hand stitching all those bones... ugh,

but letting the twins put Mr. Bones together and try and figure out what bones were connected to what.

We also had a playmate with our friend Tessa. She came over and we made sugar cookies.

Look at the amazingness that is the sugar coma they created. yuck.

The Great Pumpkin Race

2011-10-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

My cousin and his family live up near Portland. I feel bad, because I am not used to having family close, and so I never remember to hang with them.

They really aren't siamese twins, just to let you know... hehe.

Well, they called this weekend, and wanted to hang at this great pumpkin race.

We jumped at the chance and drove 40 minutes away to the site of the race.

This race is pretty amazing. They have the HUGE pumpkins, carve out the innards, and then dump them in the lake to canoe in. It is a pretty funny race with people in full Halloween costumes.

We really enjoyed ourselves!

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

We went to a real live pumpkin patch. We had to break the pumpkins off the vines, and there is an infamous patch where they sell ALL pumpkins, no matter what size, for $1. Awesome.

But, it was kinda far away, and so we just went to a family farm 8 minutes from our house which sold pumpkins for .18 cents a lb. We got 4 beautiful pumpkins for less than $5. That is still a great deal!

We went twice. First time, was Friday night with our friends, the Maughans.

It was dark when we met them there, so we didn't get to pick our pumpkins (which was a bummer, but awesome too, cause I love knowing that I didn't have to go to some kind of carnival in the Mall parking lot to pick our pumpkins out of a pile, and that once the night hits, the pumpkin picking closes because there are no lights on the farm.)

We did get to go through all the hay mazes and hay pyramids!

The second time we went was Saturday night just right before sunset to pick out our pumpkins...

I love the farms in Oregon!

Merrick and Berkleigh wanted to pick one for Baby _ _ _ _ _ _. So we decided on this semi green one, because it wasn't ripe yet, and neither is she... :)

It was a great day on the farm.

Spooky Halloween FHE

2011-10-23T17:20:00.000-07:00

We decided to read all our spooky Halloween books for FHE.

In the dark.

With flashlights.

Homework

2011-10-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

Merrick and Berkleigh had their first homework assignment. They had to decorate a pumpkin for school.

This is what they came up with.

Its that time of year again!!!

2011-10-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

The stuff has been bought, can you guess what our family themed Halloween costumes will be this year?

I am pretty proud of what I came up with... I had to work in the pregnant belly...

and I am excited!

Ok, so what are your guesses!???

(PS: if you know cause I have told you... don't give it away. )

Our First Field Trip

2011-10-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

Merrick and Berkleigh had their first field trip yesterday. We went to a pumpkin patch.

We hopped aboard a tractor pulled hayride and rode through the farm to the pumpkin patch.

Then we ran through the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins!

They each found their perfect pumpkin.

Hmm..

Here it is!

Then we got back on the tractor, and headed for the apple orchard.

Where they learned the REAL way to pull an apple from the tree!

Then it was time for the corn maze!

If we got through the corn maze we got FREE apple cider doughnuts and fresh apple cider! Yum. Glad we made it!

It was a great field trip, and it was only 4 dollars a kid, and 2 dollars for me...

More Halloween haunting Days

2011-10-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

We have been busy, and it just gets busier...

We took butcher paper and I traced their bodies, then Merrick and Berkleigh got to create a Halloween version of themselves...

Merrick still would rather run around or read a book, but Berkleigh really enjoys coloring. She is the artist in the family.

Merrick created himself as FRANKENSTIEN and Berkleigh created herself as a WITCH.

I love that this witch even has a ring on her finger. :)

We also made these yummy skeleton cupcakes because we were "Booed"... so we had to make a treat and take two treats to two different families in our ward. Doorbell ditching has to be the funnest and funniest things ever, especially when you are almost 34 weeks pregnant with two 4 year olds, and your husband isn't home from work yet.

I couldn't find a food pen anywhere so the skeletons did not receive faces, but they were fun to make and weren't a total fail from this pinterest picture I found.

(The one with a face is with a sharpie, and we didn't eat his head!)

We went on an Autumn drive...

There are trees changing colors here, and it is beautiful!

Plus, it was a beautiful day today!

And we made spiderweb eggs the other day.

Merrick and Berkleigh thought they were so spooky!

Halloween is so fun!

On Saturday while Tyson was at the BYU vs. OSU football game...

( I won't tell you how jealous I was I didn't get to go...)

Anyways, my friend Raegan and I got together with the kids and decorated Halloween haunted Gingerbread houses. It was great fun... um... to eat all the cinnamon devil heads. :)

It works out perfect. One of my friends has two boys, and one has two girls, so with Merrick and Berkleigh we have 3 boys and 3 girls when we get together.

You can't really see it, but Berkleigh's has a pumpkin patch and Merrick's has a graveyard in the backyards.

Funny Sayings...

2011-10-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Today, we had to run to the store to get a birthday present for a party we are going to one weekend, and we were wandering the store and Merrick saw a helicopter...

Merrick: "Mom, look a ha-da-copter."

Mom: "A what?" (I knew what he said, but I was kinda teasing him)

Merrick: "Mom, its a ha-da-copter!"

Mom: "A ha-da-copter! wow!"

Berkleigh: "No mom, a Heeeelll- i- cop-ter."

She slightly swore, but I knew she didn't mean it, but it was funny how much emphasis she put on that first syllablle.

Later that day we had to get one more ingredient for dinner from the store which I forgot the first time... and I don't have two amazing neighbors that have everything anymore... :)

So we dropped by Safeway, and Merrick and Berkleigh were sad they couldn't go home and play. I had promised them a treat with dad that night, so they asked what we were getting....

Mom: "I was thinking of Rootbeer Floats."

Berkleigh" "What is a root beer float?"

Merrick: "Yea, what is it?"

Mom: "You know, a spicy drink with ice cream in it.."

Merrick: "Oh, yea. Yum, lets have that."

Mom: "Berkleigh, what do you think?"

Berkleigh: "Yea, I think I want a LIGHTBEER float."

Uhhh... maybe not!

So funny.

Best Friends!

2011-10-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

I love that Merrick and Berkleigh are buddies. What am I going to do when baby _ _ _ _ _ _ is at home by herself and her older twin siblings are at school. She will actually ask me to play with her. :) Don't get me wrong, I love to play with Merrick and Berkleigh, but I also love that they play together for HOURS.

Here is some proof. They built this huge city, and then played and played.

I took pictures in between playing on the computer and getting dressed.

(Yes, did you hear that Kristy and Megan... I GET DRESSED!)

I didn't get the camera out in time, but the next day, they made Rapunzel's kingdom. They had a castle on the hill (bucket) and stairs leading up to it, and then lots of smaller structures around the castle, and a tower off in the corner. They played for a least two hours, and most of the time, I just sat and watched.

I wish I had a picture of it, it was amazing.

I am thankful for twins, and I Love thinking that Heavenly Father knew that they needed each other so he sent them together.

I kinda wish everyone could experience twins.

I feel very lucky.

The most beautiful Day...

2011-10-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Was today.

If we keep having fall weather like this, than I might not care if it rains from November to April...

It was absolutely GORGEOUS today, so we took advantage!

We had a birthday party this morning, and Tyson went surfing...

When Dad came home we went on a bike ride. Yes, I went, ALMOST 8 months pregnant.

We wanted to go on a little autumn bike ride, and it was joyous.

We had a picnic lunch.

We walked downtown Salem in the beautiful sun.

We then went to the capitol for the first time and walked around.

The air was crisp, the sun was out, the leaves were crunching under our feet.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

(Tyson was trying to mimic the statue on top of the capitol, which you can barely see, which makes this picture even funnier.)

Not such a great family pic, remember I had gone on a bike ride, walked ALL around downtown Salem, and then walked to the capitol when this picture was taken. I was exhausted.

the only clouds we saw today, AND some beautiful flowers.

We came home and made Mummy pizzas.

(which didn't turn out like they usually do, cause I used regular motzeralla instead of string cheese, and I didn't have olives, but the kids didn't know the difference!)

More Halloween Fun

2011-10-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

(So this post has been written for like 3 days... and I am tired. So I am posting it, but I don't know that it will happen everyday... We shall see. :) )

Yesterday was pretty rainy. The sun did come out for 45 minutes or so, and that was refreshing, but I have to admit, I haven't minded the rain so far. It feels cozy and fall-ish and I am loving it.

We did a craft I found on Pinterest.

We made these awesome skeletons out of Q-tips.

Super easy and the twins loved it.

Today, the sun came out! It was out for most of the day. I can't tell you how much I love it when it is around 60 degrees and sunny. It is beautiful!

We waited to do our Halloween fun so we could play outside and have a picnic with Dad!

Our Halloween fun today was reading Anno's Counting Book.

If you haven't read it to your kids it is hours of entertainment. Each page has a number, and if you look closely in the picture there is that number of everything. On the 7 page, there are 7 adults, 7 kids, 7 train cars, 7 houses with 7 windows, 7 sheets hanging on a drying line, 7 sheep, 7 trees... but you have to find them, because they aren't all next to each other... anyways,

You get the picture.

Anyways, we read the book, and then made our own counting books with a Halloween theme...

They turned out super cute!

Merrick's Counting Book of Ghosts, pg 2

Berkleigh's Halloween Counting Book of witches, pg 3

32 weeks

2011-10-03T20:32:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time like 5 years ago, I was pregnant with twins, and we were SOO excited.

So excited in fact, that Tyson made me take a picture of myself EVERY single day for the whole pregnancy, then we made it into one of those morphing movies...

Anyways, I didn't take one everyday, cause that is absurd, but I did take ALOT of pictures.

I don't have the video on our computer anymore (cause it died), but it is on my external hard drive AND we have a burned copy for posterity sake.

Lucky them.

And lucky you, because I found this beauty...

In this picture, I still had 4 weeks until they were born, so this was 7 weeks before the twins due date.

Look how tired I look, AND I was still teaching school.

Anyways, this time around, I can't even believe that I am already 32 weeks pregnant. Moving and being pregnant is no fun, but it sure does make the time go by fast! I have like 7 weeks until baby girl makes her debut...

These are the only pictures I have of me as documentation that this is actually occurring.

Central Park, New York City

March 25, 2011

5 weeks pregnant

Crystal Cove, Newport Beach, CA

June 2, 2011

14 weeks pregnant

Great Orange Park, CA

June 13, 2011

16 weeks pregnant

Huntington Beach, CA

July 4, 2011

19 weeks pregnant

Silver Falls, OR

July 28, 2011

22 weeks pregnant

Seattle, WA

August 2, 2011

23 weeks pregnant

Newport Beach, CA

September 1, 2011

27 weeks pregnant

Laguna Hills, CA

September 9, 2011

28 weeks pregnant

Salem, OR

October 3, 2011

32 weeks pregnant

(I forgot to take a picture until JUST now. You get me in my PJs)

Oh boy, I still have so much to do. Time needs to slow down so I can get it done, or speed up so my mom can get here so she can do it for me. haha.

Love you mom.

Days of Haunting

2011-10-02T21:25:00.000-07:00

(Why am I doing more daily fun with my kids? I love it, and I need to do it or the next little while will go SOO slow waiting for this baby.)

It is finally October.

Wanna know a secret? We have had our decorations up for 2 weeks!

The kids asked, and I obeyed.

We are treading in dangerous water when Merrick and Berkleigh are as excited to decorate for holidays as I am...

It was the middle of September and we turned on Pandora Halloween Music and went to town. I think my neighbors think we are crazy!

I made this advent calendar last year with my HB friends, and I was so excited to actually use it this year! The last 2 days the kids got to eat the candy out of number one/two pockets and got to read the fun things we would be doing each day.

Today's fun was to make ghost smores and mummy dogs with our friends while the menfolk were at the priesthood session of conference.

It was super loud, super messy, and super fun!

The only downfall was the rain. Yes, it started raining today, and although I loved it... it put a damper on the fire pit experience in the backyard. We enjoyed an inside BBQ though!

We had so many kids at our house, that I forgot to eat a smore... can you believe it?

AND I didn't have my camera out, that is why these are grainy. Love the iPhone camera, even if it doesn't produce amazing pics.

So when Tyson got home and kids were in bed, we had a ghost smore date night!

Yum!

Our second Day of Haunting, our card was a little more mellow because it was Sunday.

We made pumpkin bread and cinnamon butter...

To die for.

Ps. I love Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread mix. Go get some today!

Seriously, that cinnamon butter was so good. It just melted all over that bread and seeped cinnamon into the holes of that pumpkin bread. It was tasty!

Happy October!

Conference Weekend

2011-10-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

SATURDAY:

We thoroughly enjoyed our conference weekend. I love this time of year because we get to be a family and have a reason to stay in and get inspiration from the leaders of our church.

Today though, we took a little break during the middle of the day, and drove to the Portland Temple for a picnic. The temple sits in the most beautiful little "forest" (you know to us Californians, it is definitely a forest), and is so white, that when the sky is cloudy, it is hard to tell where the temple ends the heavens begin...

We also got to watch a little of conference on Dad's iPhone.

It was a great family outing!
We came home and got ready for our friends to come over for our first Day of October celebrations...
That is another post though!

SUNDAY:
We had vanilla yogurt with freshly picked blackberries, and Egg Pizza.
It is easy and unique, and fun to have every once in awhile!

And we relaxed while it rained and watched conference all cuddly cozy in real Fall weather.

We colored, and did puzzles, and listened to conference.

It was a perfect weekend.

Pioneer Woman...

2011-09-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

No, I don't mean, Ree Drummond.

I mean this lady...

This is a statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma where I grew up.

So naturally, I have taken on some of those pioneer attitude through just living in the small town where this pioneer woman resides. (Right?)

I honed in on those pioneer attitudes yesterday by doing a couple of things...

1. I made homemade laundry soap with a friend. Bytheway, if you would like some soap, I have 5 gallons of it... just let me know. hehe

2. We picked blackberries and then made blackberry jam!

I think she would be proud!

and maybe Ree would be too.

hehe

Fashion/Craft Blogs

2011-09-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have a guilty pleasure. I like looking at fashion and craft blogs. I am sure a lot of you out there do the same. I get inspiration from both, but one thing I can't understand is where the authors of those blogs find the time to create a look or a craft, find a unique place to photograph that outfit or craft, and still go to work or be a mother.

It bewilders me. Personally, I would rather play with my kids.

Anyways, my friend Jenny (who owns a blog that is private, which is a shame cause she is HILARIOUS), did her own take on the "fashion blog". I loved it. She got all fancied up and took pictures everyday where different outfits... It was classic.

Anyways, I am taking a spin off that by doing one about my kids...

They hated it. We didn't get very many outfits cause Merrick was over it.

So here are a few, but seriously, I still wonder how these people have the time...

Anyone that actually knows me surprised that Berkleigh's hair is actually done in these pictures?

And my favorite, is the ripped pants that I love on Berkleigh and have had for two years, and still can get rid of them. She just looks so cute in them! Skinny jeans are the way to go for kids, cause you can buy them big and they still fit, and they look cute rolled, and then when they grow, unroll them. Best $15 I have ever spent at H&M for Berkleigh. :)

Berkleigh has suede boots my mom got her. Um, they go over her knees, she needs to grow a little, but seriously?? I want to eat her when she wears them.

Unposted Summer

2011-09-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

We have so many pictures that were never posted of our summer...

Riding bikes at the park:

Playing at the park and getting some lovely Vitamin D!

Going to storytime and playing at the library's discovery room and checking out books...

Watching ladybugs eat aphids...

(It was pretty amazing!)

Playing Transformers in our backyard.

My brother drew a car on this box, and then Merrick popped his legs out the bottom so he could be a car and a transformer. Ingenious...

Daddy/Daughter = Mommy/Son Dates

2011-09-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Our stake had a Daddy/Daughter Campout.

Berkleigh was excited, and Merrick was super bummed.

Here is the goodbye hugs and the leaving of Daddy and ... daughter.

While Tyson and Berkleigh were here and doing this...

Setting up camp and watching the sunrise over this beautiful river.

Going to Detroit Dam and learning to fish.

Merrick and I were doing this...

(I was trying to figure out Instagram)

We ate ice cream while watching "parts" of Transformers. Like the part with Bumblebee and thats it. We watched it in ummm 10 minutes.

We looked at all the crazy spider webs and spiders outside.

Merrick slept in the teepee on the floor in my room.

No way this 31 week pregnant body was gonna sleep on the floor all cramped in that teepee.

And while waiting in the morning for Tyson and Berkleigh to come home, we went to Great Harvest and had some apple juice and cinnamon rolls.

Then after Tyson and Berkleigh got home, we headed to the beach with some friends.

Where Tyson surfed, and we played in the tide pools, on old dead driftwood trees and found sea life.

We raced home from the beach so I could go to the RS Broadcast. It was awesome, and then a little GNO with some girls in the ward.

A very productive and busy day. Just the way we like'm.

Doctors...

2011-09-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Merrick asked me to read him, "There's a Wocket in my Pocket", so we sat down and read it. After we were done, Merrick said, "You are wrong mom, Dr. Seuss didn't write this book, Dr. Peffely did."

You might not see the humor in this, but Dr. Peffely is who Tyson works for...

you know, a real doctor.

The other funny side of this is, do we talk about him that much that Merrick even knows his name, or is he the sponge we thought he was, and we should watch what we say... about anything.

What kind of information are they getting from us?

First Day of Preschool!!

2011-09-20T11:38:00.001-07:00

I dropped the kids off at preschool today. I know they have been to preschool before, but this is different because it is at an actual elementary school, I don't have to teach EVER, and it isn't a waste of money like the last one I tried to send the kids to.

I always take pictures of the kids on their first day of "school", but this year I saw this fun idea on pinterest: to take a picture of your child with a chalkboard with their handwriting on it, so you can see how they improve every year for school pictures. I am excited about this.

We didn't get very many great pictures in classroom, because they were so excited that they couldn't stand being with me anymore. hehe

Here we have our cubbies, and Berkleigh coloring...

Merrick playing with unifix cubes and counting...

And outside their classroom door! This is gonna be great!

the harvest on the first day of Fall

2011-09-19T10:32:00.000-07:00

I can't wait until we have our own harvest in our backyard. We got to Oregon too late to have a true harvest. Nothing would have really grown so well, or on time. We have this super cool community garden a block from our house. We took a walk on to see the harvest.

It really is the coolest place, and you can get a HUGE plot for $35 a year!

We walked down to the garden, and we were amazed at the difference from the last time we went!

Last time it was hard to find some fruits and veggies, this time the plants were collapsing under the weight of the produce.

Watermelons! Cantalopes!

peas and tomatos!

Yummy Berkleigh!

Pumpkins and cabbage

onions and corn

Oregon is really growing on me...

haha

Is this a Magamuffin?

2011-09-19T10:26:00.000-07:00

I did Berkleigh's hair on Saturday. After I brushed it, I cleaned out her brush. I gave her the little hairball to throw in the garbage, and she grabbed it and asked, "Mom, is this a 'magamuffin'?

Translation:

Magamuffin=Ragamuffin

I laughed so hard.

When I brush her hair and she has snarls and tangles, I always tell her she is looking like a ragamuffin... and to a 4 yr old, when you brush your hair, apparently you are brushing out the ragamuffins.

date night

2011-09-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

We trade date nights with our friends. They watched our kids last night so we could go out on the town. As I type, our little friends are over while their parents are out on the town. It is a good switch up.

We went to this "word of mouth" hamburger joint called Willamette Burger Company.

It was probably one of my favorite hamburgers of all time, and Five Guys just opened, but I still think I will go to WBC over Five Guys any day!

Tyson got the "Old McDonald". On the menu it said that every farm animal participated...

Fried egg (chicken), bacon (pig), patty (cow).. It was a big burger too, and Tyson was messy!

Look at these homemade tator tots. It is pretty much fried mashed potatoes.

Then we walked around downtown Salem. We thought it would be more happening than it was, but we had fun looking in the windows, enjoying the crisp night air, and heading to the beanery for some Mexican Hot Chocolate. mmm

(Here I am at ALMOST 30 weeks...)

It was a great little date night, and we need more of those before this baby comes!