"I know that sil-you-wet anywhere... it Mary Poppins!"

We had quite the surprise this past week, Tyson and each received this email on Thursday:

Tyson and Jen,

You have tickets to see Mary Poppins this Saturday at the 8:00pm performance. Orchestra, 11th row. Should be great seats.

Tickets arrive in my office, tomorrow. We can give them to you when you drop off the kids on Saturday.

Happy Birthdays!

Craig and Jackie

How exciting is that! So Tyson and I got all dolled up, dropped the kids off, and headed for LA for a date... and actual date!

Outside the Ahmansen theater...
Walking around before the performance...
We ate at this little hole in the wall Taco place. It was scrumptious, cheap and perfect! We ate outside by the fountain and Christmas tree. It was perfect!
I am obsessed with Mary Poppins. I love everything about the movie, Julie Andrews, and Dick Van Dyke. I had heard great things about the play, and it exceeded my expectations! It is the best play I have ever seen...

We got to meet Bert after the performance, and Tyson bought me a souvenir for a Christmas present... can you guess what it could be?

Thanks Craig and Jackie! That was a perfect way to celebrate our birthdays. Thanks you! Thank you! Thank you!

(Note, my birthday is in May, but in May my in laws got me a ticket to see No Doubt with my sister in law, but it was during my family reunion in Utah... so they got me a ticket for Mary Poppins instead.)

It still rings for those who truly believe...

We read this book yesterday on Saturday:


















Then we went to Goat Hill Junction, a little train depot that has free train rides every third Saturday of the month.

For December 5th, they turned it into the Polar Express. It was so cute. You got a golden ticket, got on the train and had your ticket punched,

and rode it to the "North Pole"...

where you got off to go make cookies,


drink apple cider and eat chocolate,

and go see Santa and receive a bell from his sleigh.

Then you got to go back on the train and head back home.

It was cute and the kids loved it!

The Tale of Two Trees

Before the story can be told in pictures, I need to show our turkey. Look how many feathers he had by the end of the month! We loved hearing about what you are thankful for and loved getting snail mail! Thanks for participating!
Ok, back to the trees.. first, I finished my advent calendar:

I love it! Here it is and below are some of my favorite squares... everything is handstitched.
Partridge in a Pear Tree

Santa Letter


So that took many hours, but what took less and was just as much fun was picking out our Christmas tree this year.


Just the perfect size for our family!

We ended up at the same Home Depot, I mean forest, as the Bowens our neighbor. It was fun to watch how different families pick out their trees..


Hitched to our car and ready to go...


Then came the lights..


Merrick and Berkleigh checked to make sure they worked before we strung the tree...




Then came the ornaments...






Happy December!

Tickled Pink

The post title is two fold:

I am...

and

it is the name of my friend, Kim's, new photography venture.

I don't know about you but I think she is AWESOME!















Thanks Kim! We had fun and I love them!

Christmas books...

Ever since I can remember, when the air turns cold, my mom goes out to find the perfect Christmas book for our holiday season. Now that I am married, I have carried on that tradition, with the help of my mother, who still buys us the books. :)

Every Christmas Eve before the egg nog, cookies, the reading of Christ's birth, and the acting out of the Nativity, we each pick our past favorite Christmas book, and then after we read all the books we picked, my mom brings out the NEW book.

Well, I have wanted this certain book for AGES! I always forget to get it before December starts, and then I think I will remember earlier the next year. Well this year... I REMEMBERED!!!

And straight away called my mom and asked her to buy it for us. :)

It came in the mail the other day. I wrapped it in cute polka dot paper. I then gave it to my neighbor to leave on our doorstep, tonight, Monday, FHE.

Here is how the evening unfolded...
A knock on the door:
(Don't be concerned with what Tyson is wearing... I can't answer that question.)

Door Opened and "pissmiss present" entered into the hands of two two year olds:


A little unwrappage happened and behold our new book!!!

The Elf on the Shelf
We read the book:

We named our Elf. Tyson wanted Finnegan, Merrick wanted "pissy" (our neighbor Kristy), and Berkleigh wanted "pissy Tree" aka Christmas tree, so we finally came up with the name Finn Tree. Awesome.

As parents, we hide the elf in a new place in the house and the twins have to find him.... and who wouldn't want to find him, look how vintagey cute he is!

... so excuse me, because I have a elf to move and hide.

traditions

I love family traditions. I love that Tyson's family has traditions, and my family has traditions, and we pick and choose the ones we love and make up our own...

Thanksgiving traditions in the Scott household are numerous and kinda wacky... check here and here for the last two Thanksgivings, or read below, because the point of a tradition is to do it every year. :)

We headed to the park to enjoy THE BEST breakfast burritos this side of the Mississippi, hang with the cousins, and play kickball. Now that we are starting to be outnumbered by little ones, the parachute came into effect this time around.

Then it is time to head back to the house to prepare for Thanksgiving...

I was in the kitchen with my mother in law making yummy hors'dervours...


while Tyson and Merrick set up the shooting gallery in the back yard...
Then we ate the glorious hors'devours while the rest of dinner finished.


But we were happy because we got to shoot things the way the pilgrims and the indians did. We like to be authentic.


Look at that determination...


Tyson tries to add a little something new to the mix every year. One year it was gasoline and candles. You shot the candle, and hope it landed in the gasoline.

Exciting times...

This year, my father in law found 4 cases of Caffeine free Diet Coke that was four years old at his work. He brought it home for us. How nice!

We would shake those bad boys up and put them up on the gallery. They would EXPLODE! Don't believe click on the below pictures for a better view.


After all the shooting and eating, we ate dinner! My SIL Kenz and I decorated the table... I loved it!

We used candles from Brianna's wedding and wrapped them with paper with letters spelling out:
We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Black Friday came, and I did some shopping in the morning with my sister in law. We got some GREAT deals! The boys put up the Christmas lights,
and we went to go see Blindside. (Which is an excellent movie!)

We are grateful for family and friends! We are glad we got to spend time with you, and missed most of you! Loves!

rewind: the weekend in pictures

We had a great weekend..and I got my camera back. :)

*went to the cutest 1 year old birthday party starring two of our favorite 1 year olds!

*went and watched the lighting of the tree at Fashion Island...

The twins were so excited... and then when it was lit, Merrick cried. I think he thought it was on fire. He kept asking what happened to the tree.

***AND my neighbor and I decided to start this crazy project! We want this advent calendar... but don't want to pay $69 for it, so we decided to make it, and I am excited to say that I just finished my LAST square. I had to stitch 25 squares with Christmas items on each of them...


















Here are a couple of my little squares. All felt, all stitched. no glue. Ahh.. feels good to be done. Now I am just waiting for my felt to come in the mail, and I can finish!