Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas pictures by Devon!

Here are our 2008 Christmas portraits, done by my friend Devon of Photography by Devon!
http://www.photosbydevon.zoomshare.com/


I love these two shots!


This was the best shot of the whole session - unfortunatly there were no corresponding
stellar shots of the little ones together...
still a GREAT picture of C and E!


Here's our little family! Merry Christmas from the Scotts!
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Our silly pictures!





We all got very silly at the end of our photo shoot with Devon. Personally, I love these!
I know my mom will think they aren't that nice... tongues out and all...
But when I am old, and the kids are busy with their own lives,
I know that these will bring me genuine joy and a plethora of memories.
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Friday, November 21, 2008

Coincidence?

Last night, Shiloh took his first steps. Finally. We were all very excited to see it happen. Cymbre picked Shi up with glee. He was pretty thrilled with himself too. It seems like walking should be no big trick after all these months of Knee-Walking he's done. He is also free-range on the stairs now, which is a huge comfort since we do a lot of up and down all day and our stairs are wood.

So here is the weird thing: We have 4 children. 3 of them have started walking at EXACTLY 15 months and 1 week. Cymbre did take a few steps at 13 months but sat down and did not take up walking as a means of conveyance until 15 months, 1 week. Eli preferred to crawl and would not walk and hold hands or stand on his own until 15 months, 1 week. And now Shiloh, who has been knee-walking for quite a while, not willing to stand on his feet or do the hand-holding walk thing either, just started cruising for real a few weeks ago and has now taken steps at 15 months, 1 week. Seems like a really strong genetic predisposition, doesn't it?? Nothing else about all the children has lined up like this - not gestational age at birth, not rolling, crawling or standing, not age of wanting first solid foods, not weaning age, not age of first using the potty, not ANYTHING that I can think of - just the walking.

Allegra walked before she was a year. Every family has to have a wild card and she is definitely ours.

Don't you love it when they give you something to think about??

Sunday, November 16, 2008

We've got PERSONALITY!



Just some cute pictures of the kids at a recent trip to the Children's Museum.
Shiloh with a spoon he is evidently thrilled about, Allegra dressed as a bee and feeling very cranky because one of the friendly volunteers tried to talk with her, Eli and Allegra dressed as firefighters and ready to save the world, and Cymbre learning to play the piano - with a helper in the background.


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Fall at the zoo with friends!


Shiloh is still my sweet buddy in the sling.
We headed to the zoo to meet up with a long time friend and his kids. We had a great time in the lovely fall weather.

Mini Chad and Mini Matt become friends!!
Okay, so Eli doesn't look THAT much like a mini-Matt but this guy is the spittin' image of his daddy and I just couldn't get over it. Eli has requested to play with his new friend again soon. =)
Our wild bunch was curiously resistant to the group picture.
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Saturday, November 1, 2008

Halloween!


Here's Allegra - as a tree,
Eli - as a knight in shining (duct tape) armor,
And Cymbre - as a princess.
This year Matt and I went to a costume party fundraiser for the Holland Area Arts Council. For that reason, the kids got to have fun with their babysitter while we went out dressed as The Incredibles.
We took Shiloh along since we did not know if he would be happy that long with the babysitter. He normally nurses twice during the time we planned to be away. And it ended up being really fun since we designed all of our costume ideas around having him along.


Here is our baby super hero. He loved having the mask on and for the most part he didn't even grab at it. When we showed him in the mirror, he just giggled and grinned. He's such a fun little friend!!


As it turned out, we won a prize for our costumes: they said it was for sweetest but the trophy says funniest. Matt was incensed that they did not take our crime fighting seriously. Actually, we spent much of the evening laughing at his silly foam muscles.


Shiloh was THRILLED with the costume trophy and claimed it for his own, clutching it in his car seat all the way home.
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Friday, October 24, 2008

Cymbre's big show!

Cymbre was in the CARE ballet "Tales of Hans Christian Anderson" last weekend. She danced as a Lily of the Valley in the tale of Little Ida's Flowers. It was a great experience and a great show!


Cymbre with some of her loyal fan base. =)

Cymbre with her friend Rose (a daisy).
They were both rodents last year in "Carnival of the Animals."

A special part of performance week with CARE is the warm ups the whole cast does together. This is one aspect of the CARE experience that really cultivates a feeling of being a close family or team between the kids.
http://www.careballet.org

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Thursday, October 16, 2008

Fall fun at Meijer Gardens


Trying to get a picture of my kids has become harder than it used to be... but here's one attempt!


We visited the gardens this week with my parents and my little sisters and brother. This outing was actually in celebration of Noah's "gotcha day" or the anniversary of his adoption. He's been in our family for two years now and what a blessing he has been!
Happy Gotcha Day, Noah!!


All the big kids thought these stepping stones were just fabulous and used them as running and jumping stones... until Allegra got knocked down. Such is her lot in life...


Here they all are!
Harmony, Cymbre, Allegra, Noah, Shiloh, Destiny, and Eli
Cute as bugs and just as wiggly too.
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Shiloh wants to say...




thank you to SaSa for the cozy Hanna suit,
and thank you to Aunt Stacy and Uncle Justin for the stylin' Hanna hat.
He feels that organic cotton is appropriate apparel for optimal comfort while carrying out all of the mischief he's been planning.

=)
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Monday, October 6, 2008

Our deck!!


All the men in the world who love me. =)

These pictures show the deck ALMOST DONE!
It's actually done now (in real time) and it's fabulous!!
THANKS, DAD!!
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Photography lesson??


The only way to get a picture of Allegra on her carousel tiger (with Shiloh, of course) was to let Cymbre take the picture. We have some work to do.
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Public Museum Field Trips


We've been frequenting the Public Museum of Grand Rapids lately. They have a "Whodunit?" exhibit right now that the kids really like. You get to take a close look at some tools of forensic crime labs and be the detective in a "murder." Cymbre likes the computer that lets you choose individual features to try to come up with composite sketches. We tried to make one of Shiloh but it was really difficult, especially since there were really no baby features to choose from. Eli likes the fingerprint demo. He has simple loops on all his fingers. Cymbre has some whorls. Allegra particularly likes the blood spatter comparisons. Go figure.


We watched a documentary about Apollo 13 recently so this Apollo command capsule (once used for search and recovery drills) was very interesting to the kids. They desperately wanted to go in it.


The gorgeous antique carousel is always a hit. Allegra has even started to enjoy it this year and likes to ride the tiger.


Here they are in "Olde Grand Rapids" with their imaginary provisions from the shops. Cymbre has a crate of milk. Eli has a bag of groceries. Allegra, who loves all things cake and cake related, has a handful of candy.
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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

One Day Pet


Last week on a library and playground walk, we found a grasshopper. It hopped out of our way and I pointed it out to the children. We studied it for a bit. Then came the inevitable question: Can we bring him home??
Well, sure. He can be a One-Day Pet.

And so home he came. First Cymbre tried carrying him in her hands but found it better to carry him in the fabric of her dress. All three of them made a soft spot for him in our "One Day Pet Jar."
They showed him around the house (in his jar) and watched him all day.
This is the wisdom of the title "ONE DAY Pet," that since it is in the name, they can't possibly forget how long he's staying for.
Right?

After they had gotten to know him, I asked what his name was.
I thought perhaps they wouldn't have thought of naming him.
Ha.
I thought perhaps they would go with Grassy, Hop, Hoppy, Hopper, Greenie, Buggy - something like that.
Ha.
Without missing even a beat, they answered, "We named him John,"
Okay, then!
Farewell, John! May you live long and hop much!
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