guess who's two!

what surprises me the most about mackenzie turning two is my mixture of emotions. understandably on her first birthday i was a bit melancholy....but i thought by now i'd be over the bitter sweet truth that her baby days are fleeting fast, but i am not -- and yet, i love the little gal she is and is becoming.

this year, i've learned a few of mackenzie's favorite things. chances are if you've spent time with the little miss, you've encountered a handful of the following:

tunnels
airplanes
elmo
hats
her family
books
clifford
praying for everyone and everything
watching herself in the mirror
helping cook
snow
her best friend, ellie
visiting the library
stickers
eggs
pretending to drive the car
nemo
swings
playing in the dirt
being chased
raisins
animals
dressing herself

greeting people (repetitively)
kitty
going to the park

a day with mackenzie...

today was a funny day. it was just mackenzie and i, nothing too eventful...but here were the highlights:

first stop, last minute christmas shopping. mackenzie did really good through most of the store...until she started yelling, "poop! poop! poop!" in the shoe aisle (okay i was looking a little for me too). i pasted a smile on my face and scurried to the bathroom. as we were making the last round before heading to the register, she started patting me and saying "mommy's boobies" (over and over). i pasted the smile on again, while removing her hands and shaking my head at her. she didn't catch the hint.

on the way home we sang christmas carols. mackenzie loves to sing, but mostly she just shouts the last word of each line...for example:
"jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way..." (me)
"huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh WAY..." (kenze)

i made stroganoff for dinner. it was too salty, but i'm not one (especially pregnant) to turn my nose up to food. we've been teaching mackenzie to clear her plate. which is pretty tricky, considering there is a good fifteen feet from the table to the sink. tonight as she lifted, on tippy-toe, her plate into the sink- she dumped ALL the leftover stroganoff over her head. it dripped from her hair and she stood shocked with her mouth open, justin and i laughed....i laughed so hard i had to cross my legs.

then, we were getting the sticky little one into the bath and i noticed a killer diaper rash. probably the worst she has ever had. it was obviously painful. mackenzie kept pointing to her red, chapped buns saying, "mommy kiss it! mommy kiss it!". she chanted it over and over until i finally blew her little buns a kiss. she reluctantly excepted it, giving up on the idea of mommy kissing her hiney.  

i tucked her in tonight, and sang our night-night song. i asked her who she wanted to pray for. she said her hat. i giggled through our prayers.

what a day with my girl!we thought it would be funny to bury her last night in all the wrapping paper, after opening presents with momo and papa..oh, and this is the hat that got prayers tonight...

christmas at the scott house...

i am not sure if it the christmas season, or the pregnancy hormones (i've  been pregnant two out of the last three christmases), but i get a little crafty fever. check out some of my not-so-martha projects below. regardless, my home is decked out and i am lovin' it. it is especially fun to watch kenzie experience this holiday season. she is so impressed with every christmas tree, ornament, snowman, snow globe, stocking, and the nativity seen. she refers to baby jesus as baby moses sometimes, but despite her confused theology it is a joy to celebrate with her!

 cousin henry and mackenzie at the christmas tree farm. 

 kenzie with mommy (and baby). 32 weeks along, in case you were wondering.

 this year's craft project. mooberry friends, do those letters look familiar? a little borrowed die-cut action from school. all the christmas cards we receive will hang from the ribbons.

 

the card holder plus baby moses...i mean baby jesus 

 these knit stockings are an ongoing christmas project. notice ellie's is the only one with her name. justin's has a "D" for daddy...but mine and kenzies are still a work in progress. justin also reminded me baby will need one too. i will start baby's next year!

 another christmas project from years past. it is a cute polka-dot pattern. this year i added the fuzz balls. so cute!

Merry Christmas!

From our house to yours!

kitchen progress...

our goal was to have a functioning kitchen by thanksgiving...and we did it! which is great because otherwise turkey day would have been at sheri's this year.


updates:

quartz counter tops were installed Friday

cabinets are still a work in progress...

water is running

boxes are unpacked

appliances are in and working




still left to do:

backsplash tile

lights

trim

 

chairs

a month ago we dropped off two chairs and 9 yards of fabric with mr. duck. really, that's his name. he has an upholstery shop in north portland and a friend recommended him to me. he does amazing work! he will tell you so himself. today we picked up our chairs and as promised, they are perfect.

chair one: this was something i had tried to recover myself. and it looked okay at best. but when we decided to redo mackenzie's big girl room, it was the perfect time for a do-over on the chair too.

 chair two: this was my grandfather's chair. originally it was beautiful. however, my grandmother decided to redecorate in the mid 90's and had this classic chair redone in a very ..err...well, ugly print. so when i got this chair the first thing i did was start looking for fabrics. i think it turned out pretty darn good.

baby names

my due date is just around the corner. our house is in chaos. my to-do list keeps growing instead of shrinking. and if i hear another comment about the size of my belly i might really lose it. seriously, the things people say when you are pregnant.

but i thought i would take a minute and share the names we picked out. i am getting so excited to know if it is a boy or girl...and for the record mackenzie says it is a girl.

our girl name: addison joy scott

our boy name: benjamin edward scott

what do you think friends? boy or girl?

colorado

justin and i spent wednesday through sunday in colorado. it was just what we needed before baby scott #2 arrives. we flew into denver and spent the night. from there we headed to buena vista, about 2 hours from denver, for a younglife marriage retreat. i don't think i have laughed so much in years. it wasn't the retreat that was so funny, i was mostly entertained by my husband... the the dumb and dumber lines that colorado inspired.

denver

we spent the night at the four seasons. it was the first time in months i actually fit into the tub!

all the locals we talked to recommended snooze for our breakfast spot. i am pretty spoiled in portland with all our amazing breakfast places, but this spot was a-mazing! justin ordered the pineapple-upside-down pancakes. yum.

this was taken after a bit of road rage by my husband, which i thought was pretty funny.  

another amazing denver restaurant. it had a really creative menu, local food, and it was all scrumptous.

we spent the day downtown, it was so fun to be in  a new city...but it was cold!

 buena vista

younglife's trailwest lodge

the view from our room (mt. princeton).

our sweet suite

 we tried to do a little side trip to a little place called aspen, but the hwy was closed. so close.

our favorite quotes from the weekend:

• I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this
• A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen. 
• No and I DON'T CARE!
• Uh yea, we are in the Rockies. Jeez!



Halloween and kitchen update

halloween was a blast. we made a quick trip to bend to visit the fam. kenze had the time of her life. my favorite part was when she'd try and give the person a hug after they had given her candy.

kenze the cow, avery the ballerina, and peyton the flower fairy

trick or treating at papa's house. kenze hugged and kissed their dog.  

nana the cowgirl, kenze, and papa mike the crazy hippi guy 

 go giants! we copied teri's husband rob's pumpkin...it was such a good idea for a pumpkin  

evelyn, katie, kenze and i at the old mill.  

kitchen updates: as for the kitchen, well we are further along than the pictures show, but i didnt want to skip sharing any of the process.

the wood floors turned out perfect. we still have to stain it.

the kitchen color, hard to see it here but we love it. it is a greenish gray called "forest khaki".

steve and justin putting the cabinets up

coming soon, cabinets and appliances!! woot woot!

labels

i like to label things. it must be the teacher gene or something, but life feels a little simpler when things are labeled. i wanted to label kenze's new toy bins with little chalkboard labels but couldn't find them anywhere. i wasn't really up for another DIY project, but i thought why not? at this point it is a drop in the bucket. 

DIY chalkboard labels:

(spray paint and labels from paper zone, colored chalk fred meyers)

labels, chalkboard spray paint, chalk

 first, spray labels allowing them to dry for 24 hours before use (i did two coats)

next,  write and stick

(it would have been easier to place them first, i smudged the chalk when i was placing them)

maybe i'll use the rest for a little chalkboard in her room?

ol' mcdonald had a farm

halloween is just around the corner. i love halloween. the colors, the costumes, the candy.

mackenzie is going to go trick or treating this year for the first time...after much deliberation between costumes, we've decided on a cow. ellie (the dog) is a chicken and justin and i are to be farmers. it's gonna be great.
here is a peek at some of the potentials...

option 1 "scuba-kenze"

option 2 "paper bag-kenze"

final decision "cow-kenze"

family

a few years ago i met my sister. let that sink in for a minute.

and this weekend we were visiting her and her cute family in california.

at the house

(the cousins minus jordan, he's too big for that table)

(they had such a ball together. jason, kenzie, peyton, jeremy, and avery)

(the backyard was a hit)

(painting pumpkins)

(just to prove we did more than take pictures of the kiddos)

(look at miss peyton. what a kissable face. i did in fact smother the poor child with kisses all weekend.)

soccer game

(jeremy kicking the ball, he made two goals. i think he was trying extra hard since he had the biggest fan club at the game)

 (mackenzie at half time)

(jason drawing pictures in my planner during the game. he gave me three notes that said i love you on them. what a sweetie!)

 

pool:

(this is my sister teri and her husband rob. i had to crop the pic because they were in the hot tub and i don't know how she'd feel about me posting bathing suit pics of her on my blog. so now they look naked. )