Scharf family

Edmond Children's Museum

2012-01-03T12:37:00.000-08:00

For our last day of Christmas break Landon wanted to go to the Edmond Children's Museum. We invited our neighbors to come along and they all had so much fun playing pretend! They were a bunch of kids who lived in a train and sold tickets to other kids who wanted to come along for a ride to different stations. The little ones had fun to. Ella loved picking the vegetables from the garden and playing in the teepee! It was a great way to end our break!

First Family Bike Ride

2012-01-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Day we decided to take the family out to Mitch Park for our first family bike ride. The girls still can't quite reach the pedals on their bike, but they are pretty good at scooting around on them. We all had a great time, despite the cold weather and ended the trip with some play time at the park!

Oklahoma City Zoo

2012-01-03T12:14:00.001-08:00

My neighbor Tracy and I took all the kids to the zoo this week and between the two of us we had 9 kids with us! It was a beautiful day and all the kids did great! We had a wonderful time!

Ella's first playdate

2012-01-03T12:09:00.001-08:00

Our neighbor watched three boys during the week and they came over to play the other day. Ella and Brady had a great time playing together and it was the first time I have seen Ella play with someone close to her age!

Christmas Day

2011-12-29T18:29:00.001-08:00

We had a great Christmas with just our little family. We missed our family very much, but enjoyed our time together as a family. We got up Christmas morning and opened our stockings and presents from Santa. Then we had Monkey bread and an egg casserole for breakfast. We went to church, where the kids had a big birthday party for Jesus! When we got home we opened the rest of our presents, the girls took a nap and then got to go outside and ride their new bikes! We had a yummy dinner with all the kids favorites- steak, green beans and macaroni and cheese! They were spoiled with presents from grandparents, aunts, uncles and even some friends here in Oklahoma! The girls love their new dollhouse and their bikes and Landon and Kyle have had a ton of fun with their new Wii! It was a wonderful Christmas and we are very thankful for all God has blessed us with this past year which brought about some major changes in our lives!

Christmas morning

2011-12-29T18:21:00.001-08:00

Santa Came! Landon was so excited Christmas morning and came to wake us up- well Ella and I had been up since 4:30- poor baby is teething and was not a happy camper. The twins were still asleep at 7:45 so I told Landon we could go wake them up. We went in and found them both asleep in Valerie's bed. It was pretty cute to see them snuggled up together in bed!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve we finished baking our cookies and decided to take a family trip to a convalescent home. We were missing our grandmas and grandpas so we decided to go visit some that were maybe missing their grandchildren. It was an incredible experience. We got there are lunch time and so the kids were able to go around to the tables and pass out cookies to everyone there. The twins loved it and were calling everyone grandma and grandpa and giving hugs and high fives. Landon was a little more shy, but enjoyed passing out the cookies. A lot of the residents there were dimentia patients and most didn't have any family coming to visit for Christmas. They loved our children and it was a wonderful experience to see the smiles on their faces!

Happy Birthday Ella!

2011-12-22T13:13:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet blessing Ella! We celebrated Ella's birthday on Tuesday with the kids from our neighborhood! It was a small celebration but she loved her new doll, glowworm and carseat! She was so excited to open presents and wouldn't let go of her glowworm all night! She loved her cake, but was quite dainty with it! The twins got a kick out of watching her get messy! We missed celebrating with all our family, but had a very special first birthday celebration with our Ella bug!

Gingerbread Houses

2011-12-22T12:58:00.001-08:00

We had lots of fun making Gingerbread Houses this year! It is so fun that the twins are old enough to make their own this year. They loved it! Our neighbors Madysen and Kayleigh came over and helped and really enjoyed it as well!

Waiting to see Santa

2011-12-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

I took all 4 kids to the mall to go see Santa. The girls were excited while waiting in line and Valerie actually sat on Santa's lap for a minute. Olivia cried and wanted nothing to do with him. Landon was excited, of course and I don't think Ella knew what to think. We were unsuccessful at getting a picture of them on Santa's lap, but got a few while waiting in line.

Best Friends

2011-12-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

Olivia, Valerie and Kaylin have so much fun together and come up with the strangest forms of entertainment! This is Ella's new carseat box that they sat on and played for about 20 minutes!

Reading time

2011-12-22T12:43:00.001-08:00

My girls love to sit and look at books. This is so different from Landon- he never just sat and read books by himself. We got out the Christmas books and they have loved looking for Santa and baby Jesus in all the books!

Christmas pictures

2011-12-21T14:04:00.001-08:00

My precious babies! We weren't successful in getting everyone together in a picture, but got some pretty cute individual pictures! Merry Christmas!

Snow!

2011-12-12T12:41:00.001-08:00

We went over to Diane's house and she had some artificial snow powder that the girls had a ball with! They started out playing great with spoons, bowls and finding little treasures in the snow. As time progressed they decided that they needed to take their clothes off and attempt to sit in the snow! All three girls had so much fun and ended the afternoon taking a bath together. I have to say that I find it a little ironic that we live in Oklahoma and are still playing with artificial snow! I am ready for some real snow, but not too much, just enough for a white Christmas!

Saturday morning

2011-12-03T09:59:00.001-08:00

We are having a much needed lazy Saturday morning today! The kids were all snuggled up on the floor in front of the Christmas tree watching Rudolph and it made a great chance for me to play with my new camera!

New Camera

2011-12-03T09:55:00.001-08:00

I got an early Christmas present! A new Canon Powershot G12 camera and I love it! I took these pictures just as Kyle got home and Olivia was so excited to see him! Now I need to learn to edit photos on the computer!

Ella is 11 months old

2011-11-27T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ella is now 11 months old and such a joy in our lives! She is so happy and smiley all the time! She has officially started crawling and is now all over the house! Olivia and Valerie love when she follows them around!

Halloween

2011-11-27T11:33:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Halloween this year! We took the kids to a fairybook forest where they had all the storybook characters dressed up in different places on a trail giving out candy. The kids loved it! Especially the twins thought it was the greatest thing ever! Then we went to a carnival at a church here in town which was insanely crowded. On Halloween we took the kids trick or treating for the first time ever and had a great time!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-27T11:19:00.001-08:00

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch this year! The twins loved every minute of it and it was so fun to see them enjoy it all for the first time! All three girls had their first rides on a merry-go-round and they all loved it! We had a great day!

Our first family of 6 photo!

2011-10-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

The zoo

2011-10-05T14:31:00.000-07:00

I took the girls to the zoo today and the highlight was the lorikeets! They just flew around and landed right on us! The girls weren't quite sure what to think of them, but had fun watching them. Ella loved them and kept trying to reach out to them!

What a mess!

2011-10-05T14:29:00.001-07:00

I was on the phone for a few minutes this morning and came out to find this! The girls had gotten in to my lipstick and colored all over the wall, the toilet and the bathtub!

Family Park Day

2011-10-05T14:24:00.001-07:00

The weather has finally been nice here so we took a Sunday afternoon and went to a really nice park here in town. We went for a short walk on the trail, played at the park, fed the ducks and went fishing. We took our neighbor Dillon with us and all had a great time!

Oklahoma State Fair

2011-10-05T14:18:00.001-07:00

Diane and I took all 7 of our children to the State Fair and it was quite the experience. It was warm and exhausting but the kids had a lot of fun. The two highlights were getting to be a farmer for a day and the bubble show. Landon got to go on stage and try and blow a bubble with bubble gum and then blow all kinds of other bubbles. At the end they blew tons of bubbles and the kids all got to play in them.

Ella is 9 months old!

2011-10-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Ella is now 9 months old and weighs 13 lbs! She is super tiny and not even on the charts for her weight. She has her bottom two teeth in and babbles constantly. She is easy going and a very happy baby!

Landon's first soccer practice

2011-09-08T12:29:00.001-07:00

Landon is playing soccer through the YMCA this year. This is the first time he has ever done any kind of team sport and he is not so sure about it. He said it was too hot to practice- which it was very cool considering how it has been. They did a lot of standing around waiting for their turn, which he doesn't like, so we will see how the season goes. He really wanted to play so I just hope he likes it!

Lots of Girls!

2011-09-08T12:19:00.001-07:00

Diane bought all the girls matching shirts for their birthday and so we attempted to take pictures with all the girls. We got a couple cute ones- it sure is hard to get 3 two year olds and an almost 4 year old to cooperate for pictures all at the same time!

Enid Children's Museum

2011-09-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Valerie

Landon and Olivia

Landon and Cooper fishing

Lexi and the twins

Olivia

Kaylin and Ella

Lexi and Valerie

Landon had Monday and Tuesday off school for Labor Day and so on Tuesday we drove down to Enid which is about an hour and a half away. Diane and I went with all our kids to the children's museum. I took our neighbor, Lexi with us and we had a great day! The kids loved the museum, there were lots of creative play areas! A store, restaurant, doctor's office, castle with an underground tunnel, art studio and workshop. They also had an area for little kids, which Ella loved being able to play in the ball area! There were only a couple other kids there so we pretty much had the place to ourselves which was great. It gave the kids more freedom to move about to different areas without us having to worry about them much. They also had a giant wooden castle playground outside which was a lot of fun for them as well and the weather was finally nice so it was great to sit outside and watch them follow Lexi around the playground!

Happy Birthday Landon!

2011-09-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

For Landon's 5th birthday we went to Pelican Bay Water Park! He has been asking to go there all summer and we finally did it! It is a waterslide park that has a beach entrance swimming pool with fountains and a little slide in the middle. They also have a spray park next to the pool! Landon's favorite was the lazy river. He has become such a little swimmer this summer and had a blast. We even saw one of his friend's from school who happened to be there at the same time, so that made it extra special for him!

Grandma and Grandpa visit

2011-09-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Scharf came and visited us for a week and while they were here we went to the Science Museum again. The kids loved it, as usual and we had a great time showing Grandma and Grandpa all our favorite things to do!

Landon's First Day of School

2011-09-07T15:04:00.001-07:00

Landon has officially started kindergarten! He was so excited for the first d ay of school! Although, he may not look so excited in the pictures, because he did not want me to take his picture! He went right into his class, put his backpack away and sat on the carpet to look at a book. His sisters on the other hand were not so thrilled at leaving Landon at school. All the way to the car they cried for Landon! Landon started riding the bus to school on the second day of school and now rides it to and from school. It's great to not have to get everyone in the car twice a day and he loves it! We switched him into a different class after the second day of school because we were not thrilled with his kindergarten teacher. The principal was very understanding and got him moved to a wonderful class with a teacher that loves her job and loves her students!

Random Pictures

2011-09-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

The girls love to swim and have gotten so independent this summer!

We are attempting to potty train the girls!

Ella can officially sit up on her own at 8 months!

Olivia and Valerie love Ella and fight over who is going to hold her!

Valerie and Ella

Yes, our hands are full, but we love it!

Valerie loves to play dress up!

Look at me sitting up!

Valerie playing with Ella

Homemade paint!

2011-09-07T14:46:00.001-07:00

I was watching Kaylin and decided to have the girls help make paint. It was a great idea and they had a lot of fun, but I am fully convinced that my girls can not paint without making a mess of themselves! They started out painting the cardboards, but before long they were painting their hands, arms and hair! They had fun, but I think I am still finding paint in my kitchen!

Our Neighborhood

2011-09-07T14:36:00.001-07:00

Yes we have a lot of kids in our neighborhood and they all like to play in our tiny house! I love that they all feel comfortable in our house and enjoy playing together. This night, I had a total of 11 kids in my house ages 8months to 12 years! They were all playing "house" together and cracking me up. Dillon and Cayden the older boys were the college kids who were race car drivers coming home from college for a visit. They spent their time driving Landon's remote control cars around the house. Lexi was the mom, Bailey was the teenage daughter. Landon was the baby and the others were all the kids- including two sets of twin babies- the twins' baby dolls! I enjoyed watching them all play together!

Happy Birthday Olivia and Valerie!

2011-08-03T19:05:00.001-07:00

We took the family to the Oklahoma city science museum for the girls' birthday! We all had such a good time and I was impressed with the range of things for the kids to do there! We even went to a science show on explosions which was really neat! After, we came home for naps then opened presents, had dinner and special birthday cookies. We finished the day with swimming at the pool so the girls could play with their new swimming princesses! The girls got the start to their dollhouse furniture- we are getting them the furniture now and then the dollhouse for Christmas, they also got princess dresses and shoes. It was a great birthday for them! I can't believe my baby girls are two years old! They have grown so much and are blossoming into wonderful little girls. It is so much fun to watch them interact with eachother and begin to grow into their own individual people!

Chocolate pudding

2011-08-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

We had chocolate pudding for snack the other day and the girls had a little too much fun! Valerie is my messy child and loves to put stuff all over her! Olivia is a little neater, but has fun making Valerie messy!

Ella's 4th of July

2011-07-04T17:25:00.001-07:00

Ella's first 4th of July was lots of fun! She was such a trooper even in the heat of the parade! We even got Landon to pose for a couple of pictures which almost never happens!

4th of July!

2011-07-04T17:14:00.001-07:00

Olivia
Valerie

Valerie

Olivia

We got up early 4th of July morning and went to the parade in downtown Edmond. The girls were petrified of the sirens and loud motorcycles, but enjoyed the rest! Landon loved the whole thing, especially the Star Wars characters. It rained the night before so the morning was cool and just started getting too hot as the parade was winding down.

The girls had their first ever lollipops today and loved every second of it! Their faces were covered in blue. They also got 4th of July cookies for dessert after dinner which was another special treat for them!

Ella's jumperoo

2011-07-04T17:10:00.001-07:00

Ella is now 6 months old and is just starting to learn to jump in her jumperoo! She enjoys being in it and her big sisters love to help her bounce! She has started eating her first baby foods and loves them all so far!

Shaving Cream fun!

2011-06-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a fun with shaving cream day! We put it in our little pool and went wild with it! It made the bottom of the pool really slippery, so the girls weren't so fond of actually being in the pool, but loved playing with it from the outside! Landon had a ball and was all into slipping and sliding and being the shaving cream monster! It was Landon's idea to add the slide and once the shaving cream was all dried up we added water to the pool and they all slid in to clean off! It was super fun and an easy, messy activity to clean up!

Backyard Painting!

2011-06-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

I was watching Kaylin the other day and decided to do some painting with the girls. I put butcher paper up on the back fence and let them go at it! It was a fun idea and they really did enjoy it, the problem was that it was too windy and I couldn't find Kyle's staple gun to secure the paper so it kept blowing away! The girls didn't seem to mind and decided to paint themselves instead! Then I cleaned them all off in the pool!

Oklahoma Zoo

2011-06-02T11:25:00.001-07:00

We went to the zoo again on Wednesday with Diane and her kids. The kids had a great time, we however were a bit hot! We each pushed a double stroller, so I didn't have to wear Ella all day since it was ridiculously hot! She however, we found out when we got home was coming down with a fever and was miserable all day! We saw a few animals, played at the park and in the children's zoo and were home by 1:30. This hot humidity is a new thing for me and I think I prefer to just stay inside!

First weekend of summer!

2011-06-02T11:04:00.001-07:00

We had a very fun Memorial Day weekend as a family! Saturday morning Kyle and Landon got up to go get dohnuts, which has become routine since we moved here and came back with a plastic pool for our backyard! The kids played in it all morning and had a great time! Saturday afternoon I took Landon down to our community pool to swim. Then Sunday we decided to take a drive to Tulsa to check out some more of Oklahoma. We ended up having lunch in Tulsa at a Pizza place called Joe Mamma's and then stopped at Lake Heyburn which was about halfway back home. It was a fun day to get away and have fun together. Then Monday Kyle was off work so we took the kids to the Oklahoma city zoo. We had a good time. They have a great playground for the kids to play in and a very fun children's zoo with a creek for them to play in and fountains to cool off. We got to see a baby elephant that was born a couple weeks ago- she was so cute. It was pretty hot, but very windy which helped keep us a little cooler.

Muddy mess

2011-06-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

Olivia and Valerie love to play in the mud! I can't send them outside without them coming in a total mess! They love to dig and are starting to not put it in their mouths as much!

Landon's Field day

2011-06-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

picking up marbles with his toes
Landon's friend Colby that lives across the street.

jump rope

frisbee toss

On Landon's last day of school they had a field day over at the high school which is right behind his school. They had the whole field set up with games for the kids to play- they had a great time despite the extremely strong winds! A wonderful end to the school year!

Ella is 5 months old!

2011-06-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ella is 5 months old and a very happybaby- most of the time! She is very smiley, loves to play on the floor, when her sisters aren't attacking her and is very good at holding herself up. We tried giving her a few bites of rice cereal and it didn't go so well- so was not so interested in it. She is the firest of my children that has been only breastfed and she is quite spoiled compared to the others! She will only go to sleep if she has been nursed first and tends to want to do so just to be comforted. She won't take a pacifier, has stoopped sucking her thumb, so that is her only source of comfort. She is a very good sleeper though and sleeps 11-12 hours at a time at night. She takes 2 naps of about an hour or so each and loves watching her siblings play! She is a very good baby and very much loved part of our family!

Landon's Pre-K Graduation party

2011-05-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Landon had his Pre-K Graduation party at school today- I can't believe I now have a kindergartner! It was a lot of fun, they had a bunch of fun outside activities to do along with making their own ice cream sundaes! They had graduation hats and each got a diploma! Landon and I made a letter P wall hanging for his teacher that he was so excited to give to her. I am so thankful for these two months of school that Landon was able to be a part of here.

My little preschool

2011-05-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

I was watching Diane's girls the other day and they were all getting restless so I decided to get out the watercolors! With all 5 of them at the table and I was holding Ella, I felt like I had a preschool at my house! Although things get crazy with all our kids, I am so thankful that we have friends to be crazy with!

Girls' room

2011-05-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

I finally got to decorating the girls' room this week. I bought letters to spell each of their names and decorated them and hung them above each bed. I arranged their room so that all 3 girls can fit in one bedroom- although Ella is still sleeping in a crib in our room at the moment- I don't trust the twins to not throw things at her in her crib! Eventually though she will be in their room, but her clothes will have to stay in our room for now- that room just isn't big enough for it all! I am very happy with how it turned out and had fun decorating my little girls' room!

Lunch time!

2011-05-18T11:19:00.001-07:00

Ella

Valerie

Olivia

Landon

I just moved the girls from their high chairs to booster seats at the table! I was tired of cleaning trays and was ready for them to be at the table with the rest of us, plus it is almost time for Ella to be needing a high chair! They loved being at the table and eating lunch with Landon today and are now quietly sleeping in their big girl beds! I can't believe how fast they are growing up- weren't they just babies yesterday and now they are definately toddlers?!

Baking Cookies

2011-05-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Valerie

Valerie, Landon and I made some chocolate peanut butter cookies the other day. Olivia was still napping, so I decided I could brave baking with only one toddler. We had a lot of fun, made a huge mess and some really good cookies! This was Valerie's first baking experience and she loved it! We even took some fresh baked cookies to share with our neighbors! I love living in a neighborhood where we know and like our neighbors!

Mother's Day

2011-05-18T10:46:00.001-07:00

I was able to go to the Muffins with Mom party at Landon's school for Mother's Day! It was very special to be on the mom side of a school event, rather than a teacher! They made cute handprint cards for us, served us muffins and sang some very cute songs as a class! I am so thankful that Landon was able to get into this class for the last couple months of school. His teacher, Mrs. Towns is very sweet and Landon loves her! I am also very thankful for Diane being here and able to watch the twins so that I could be a part of this with Landon. It has been so nice to not only have a best friend in this far away land, but a wonderful babysitter! Kyle and I have been on a couple dates already since we have been here, which is so nice for us to get to spend time together and get a little break from the kids. So there is still a ton of stuff we miss about California, but life is settling in here and I am getting used to the idea that I live in Oklahoma!

2011-05-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

We found toddler beds for the girls at a garage sale this weekend and I was very nervous about trying them. I put them in their room last night, but left the cribs in, just in case. They went right to sleep and did not get up once until I came and got them this morning! I hope it remains this easy, because we are taking the cribs out today and putting one in our room for Ella, who is out growing her sleeper. I can't believe my baby girls are all getting so big, so fast!

Dresses made by Grandma Scharf

2011-05-02T08:59:00.001-07:00

Olivia

Valerie

Grandma Scharf made dresses for the girls and Kaylin. While Kaylin was over one day I, put them on all the girls and they had so much fun playing in them! It was very cute to watch!

Easter

2011-05-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

It rained here on Easter Sunday, but we were able to do an Easter Egg Hunt at Diane's Home Owner's association on Saturday. The girls loved picking up the eggs and putting them in their baskets, however Valerie had a tough time since she had a basket in one hand and a cookie that she wouldn't let go of in the other! It was a fun time.

Friends

2011-05-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

Our house is constantly overflowing with children here! We have neighbors all around who come over almost every day after school and Diane is here with her 3 children. Many nights I am feeding 5-6 children for dinner. Landon loves having friends around and the girls get very excited when Kaylin comes over! It is a joy to watch them all interact and play together!

Ella

2011-05-02T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ella is four months old and developing quite a personality. Her brother and sisters love her- sometimes a little too much! They can all get her to smile and giggle! Last week she discovered her feet for the first time, which was very cute to watch. She has decided she doesn't like pacifiers, but sucks her thumb all the time! She is a joy and a great addition to our family!

Park by our house

2011-05-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

The kids love being able to walk to the park around the corner from our house. It is small, but it gets us out and some excercise. I can never get Olivia out of the swing and Valerie hates them. Valerie loves the rocking car and climbing the stairs to the slide. Landon loves it all, especially if some of his neighborhood friends are there to play with. He is becoming quite the social butterfly!

Our New House!

2011-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Our Bedroom
Our Bathroom

Living room with door leading to the backyard

Living room with door leading to our bedroom

Hallway with kitchen to the left and kids rooms to the right

front door straight ahead

Kitchen with opening looking into the living room

Dining room with window looking to the front yard

Landon's room

Landon's room with windows looking to the front yard

Olivia and Valerie's room

Kids' bathroom which is between the two bedrooms

Kids' bathroom

front of the house

backyard and Landon's trampoline which has made us very popular with the neighbor kids

back patio

The girls love the freedom of going out in the backyard whenever they want! It is so nice to have fences and not worry about them around water!

Ella was 3 months old yesterday and has been such a trooper through all this. She is so easy going and is really starting to smile!

We made it to Oklahoma! These past two or o months have been quite the whirlwind! But we are getting settled and trying to get established here. The drive across country with 4 little ones was quite the adventure, but we made it relatively smoothly. We drove for 3 12 hour days and stayed in two hotels. The kids were troopers even though they all got sick on the drive. Olivia threw up before we even made it to Turlock on the first day and by the time we got here they all had fevers, runny noses and coughs! But we made it with only a few major meltdowns.

We have been here 2 weeks today and the house is just about all unpacked. Landon started Pre-K at the elementary school this week and loves it! His teacher Ms. Towns is very impressed with how well he has fit into their class! We went to a church called Faith Bible Church this past Sunday and really liked it. Landon joined their AWANA group on Wednesday night and loved that as well! We will try a couple other churches, but have a feeling this is where we will end up. It is really close to home, a good size and very friendly people. I talked to the pastor on Wednesday night and he knows our pastor in Modesto- Rick Countryman. Small world!

Our neighborhood is wonderful! There is a 5 year old boy who lives across the street and him and Landon are constantly at each other's houses. There are also a couple 7-9year olds who love to come jump on our trampoline. The park is around the corner along with a community swimming pool. We even have a 12 year old girl across the street who loves me and even came over yesterday to tell me she had a very stressful day and got in a fight with her friends and now has no friends. It was neat that she felt comfortable with me already and wanted to come talk to me about it. There is a 16 year old girl next door who has already offered to be our babysitter as well!

Kyle switched jobs already and his now working for the union on a big 50 story building that should be a 2 year project. He is doing really well and loving being back at work. So, we are getting into the swing of things here and I think we will really like it. It is so comforting having Kyle get up and go to work every morning and knowing we will be able to pay our bills our self this month! God is good and he has provided for our every need and even many of our wants! Our house is a bit small for our big family, but it will work for now and we are cozy and together, which is all that matters! I miss my California friends like crazy, but am looking forward to making new ones. I even went to a moms of twins club playdate this week and am excited about getting to know other moms of twins!

Life is good!

Finger Paint

2011-01-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

Valerie

Olivia

I let my girls fingerpaint this morning and it was quite an adventure. Can you tell the difference in their personalities by their painting techniques? Valerie had it everywhere and kept trying to eat it, while Olivia painted nice and neat!

Cousins!

2011-01-24T15:36:00.000-08:00

Naomi

Valerie

Olivia

Ella

All 6 cousins!

Building boats with Grandpa

Cool fort Landon and Natalie made with Daddy!

Building castles in the backyard

We had a great weekend with cousins Natalie and Naomi! My sister and her family came to visit and so did Grandma and Grandpa Parker. We had a great time together celebrating a late Christmas even though my children all came down with pink eye and a cold a couple days before they all came. Despite the sickies we all had fun and hopefully noone else caught our germs!

Christmas!

2011-01-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderfll, but very busy Christmas! Kyle's parents were here at our house on Christmas day and then my mom and step dad came on Monday and stayed until Wednesday, then my dad came on Friday! It was wonderful to celebrate with all our families and to be home and all together for Christmas!

Ella Hope

2011-01-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

Ella was born on December 23rd at 12:44 pm. She weighed 6lbs 10oz. She is perfectly healthy and we were both able to come home on Christmas Eve! We are adjusting to life as a family of 6 and everyone loves her! The twins are surprisingly gentle with her and are constantly coming up and giving her kisses! Landon loves to hold her while he is watching cartoons. Ella completes our family and we now have our LOVE children. Landon- Olivia- Valerie- Ella

December 2010

2011-01-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

Santa came to Landon's school!
Landon's gingerbread house

Valerie and her baby doll

Olivia searching for a Christmas tree.

Valerie at the tree farm

Landon's Bike-a-thon

2011-01-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

Landon had his first bike-a-thon at school to raise money for St. Jude Children's hospital. It was a fun day and he loved getting stickers all over his bike!

PumpkinPatch

2011-01-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

We went to a couple of Pumpkin Patches this year. The girls even enjoyed it this year!

Big Girls

2011-01-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

Valerie
Olivia

Valerie

Olivia

My girls are growing up. In August they both started pulling themselves up to standing. In September they both started walking pushing things and riding push bikes/cars. Olivia started walking independently towards the beginning of November and Valerie towards the end.

Buzz Lightyear

2010-08-30T16:43:00.000-07:00

Landon got this buzz lightyear costume and Buzz Lightyear for his birthday and has had so much fun dressing up and playing with them!

Birthday Party!

2010-08-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

We got a great deal on this bouncy house and they let us keep it for 24 hours! Landon and Natalie had so much fun jumping and playing after everyone left!

The slip and slide from Aunt Becky and Uncle Cliff was a huge hit at the party- especially with Kyle pushing all the kids down it!

Olivia enjoying her cupcake

Valerie enjoying her cupcake

Olivia

Valerie

Birthday girls eating lunch

Landon enjoying his cupcake

We had a wonderful combined birthday party for Olivia and Valerie's first birthday and Landon's fourth birthday! We invited all our friends and family and had a huge party! We rented a bouncy house, had a blow up pool, slip and slide and BBQ! It was a great day and we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating with everyone! Landon of course had a ball and loved playing with his friends all day. The girls loved all the attention and their first taste of cupcake! Thank you everyone for helping us celebrate a very special year with our wonderful children!

Vacation Bible School

2010-08-30T15:19:00.001-07:00

Landon and his new best friend Alissa
Egg race

Bible story coloring

Masks!

After the first day Landon got up on stage and said his Bible verse in front of the whole Vacation Bible school! I was so proud of him!

Landon had the opportunity to go to Vacation Bible School for a week at a church in Waterford! He absolutely loved it and did so well! He memorized every verse and was a great listener! He is so ready for preschool!

Bodega Bay

2010-08-12T11:54:00.001-07:00

While we were at Alliance Redwoods we decided to drive out to the beach for the day. It was an absolutely beautiful day! This was the first time any of my children have just spent an afternoon playing at the beach! Landon loved the sand and after awhile even braved touching the water in the ocean! He loved flying his kite with Cooper and building sand castles. The girls had a ball in the sand and probably ate about half the beach! They loved feeling the sand in their toes and playing with the shovels. This was the day before Kaylin's birthday and two days before Olivia and Valerie's birthday so we put them all in their birthday girl shirts and tried to get pictures of them, but with Kaylin walking now it was hard to get them all in one spot at the same time. It was a great afternoon and one we will all remember!

Alliance Redwoods

2010-08-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

Kyle was gone on a Men's retreat for a week and so Diane and I took the kids out to Alliance Redwoods for the weekend. We stayed in one of the brand new Yurts and the kids had so much fun! It was a bit of a crazy adventure with the two of us and 5 children- 3 of them under a year old! The biggest adventure was taking them all into the dining hall to eat 3 meals a day, but we survived and Landon and Cooper had a ball! It was a great time for the boys to make memories at mine and Diane's favorite place!

MOPS Scenic Nursery Tour

2010-08-12T11:04:00.000-07:00

We had to opportunity to tour the scenic nursery in Modesto with out MOPS group. They taught the kids about different types of plants and trees and walked them around the nursery. Then they all got to plant their own pot of flowers. It was a great tour and the kids all had a wonderful time!

4th of July

2010-08-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

We celebrated the 4th of July on the 3rd and had a BBQ with Kyle's parents and Mikey and Jana. Then we went up to Lake Don Pedro to watch the fireworks. We waited a long time before the fireworks started, but Landon made a bunch of new friends and had a great time playing. The girls played in their pack-n-play and we played games. We had a great spot right above the water and could see the boat they were launching the fireworks off of. Landon got a cool light saver to play with and all three of them loved the fireworks. Olivia only lasted through about 3 of them and then slept through the rest, but Landon and Valerie didn't take their eyes off the fireworks the whole time!

MOPS Chevy's tour

2010-08-12T10:14:00.000-07:00

We got to tour Chevy's with our MOPS group and see how they make tortillas, go into the refrigerator and eat bean and cheese burritos. They asked the kids questions about the tour afterwards and Landon won a Chevy's hat. He was so excited and had a great time!

MOPS firestation and police station tour

2010-08-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

This summer we have had the opportunity to participate in several MOPS outings. This was one of the first to the firestation and police station. Landon of course loved them both and talks all the time now about wanting to be a policeman or fireman!

Olivia, Valerie and Kaylin

2010-08-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

Olivia

Valerie

The girls are all growing up so quickly. I can't believe they are almost a year old. Olivia and Valerie each have 6 teeth, four on top and two on bottom. They love when their friend Kaylin comes to visit, but get a little intimidated with the fact that she is crawling all over the place and just starting to walk. My girls are trying to crawl, but have found it to be easier and faster to just roll everywhere. Olivia loves to dig her feet into anything, especially the mud in the grass. They both put anything and everything into their mouths and love to be outside!

Visit with Cooper

2010-06-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's rough being a boy and having your friend not want to play the same thing you want to play.

Getting all warmed up after a full day of swimming!

The boys had fun finger painting with chocolate pudding!

Our little swimming pool was a big hit this weekend with our over 100 degree weather!

The boys had a blast swimming most of the weekend!

Landon getting all geared up to go outside and ride his bike!

Landon and Cooper had a great weekend together. They had so much fun playing race cars, swimming and just being boys. They camped out on their blow up beds in Landon's room and the first night Landon came in my room at 1am to tell me that they were still playing and hadn't gone to sleep yet!!!!! They slept until almost 9am the next day, and went to bed a little better the next night. By Sunday afternoon they had had enough though and both were beginning to lose it. After they left Sunday, Landon layed down on the couch to watch a movie and fell asleep at 6:30pm. I put him in his bed and he slept until 7:30 the next morning! I say he was one tired little boy! I love watching him play with friends and am thankful that him and Cooper have so much fun together!

San Francisco

2010-06-30T15:38:00.000-07:00

Landon's snake he picked out at the Rainforest Cafe
Lunch at the Rainforest Cafe

The Academy of Sciences

The girls were fascinated with the fish at the aquarium.

San Francisco Zoo

The girls love thier side by side stroller so they both can see what where we are going.

Landon's first taste of cotton candy!

Seven years ago Kyle proposed to me in this spot- now we visit as a family of 5 soon to be six!

We had a great little vacation to San Francisco. My mom and Larry met us at the zoo on Wednesday and then we went to the Academy of Sciences and the Rainforest Cafe on Thursday. Landon had a great time, the girls were in awe of everything and seemed to really enjoy the whole trip. Unfortunately Kyle was sick, but was a trooper and ejoyed time with our family!

Swimming!

2010-06-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Valerie
Mommy and Olivia

We got Landon a pool for the backyard this summer and decided to take the girls for their first swim! They did not like it at all- they both screamed as soon and their toes touched the water. Olivia got a little bit used to it and even laughed when Landon took hold of her feet and made them kick. Valerie on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the water. We are hoping once the sun has a chance to warm the water up a bit they may like it a little more. Landon had a blast though and wanted to stay in there all day!

This and that

2010-06-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

The girls are now 10 months old and finally can sit up all by themselves!
They love being outside!

Olivia has just started sleeping on her tummy and hugging her teddy bear that she got while in the hospital in Oakland.

Valerie loves her big brother and her big brother loves her! It is so fun to watch them starting to interact and play together more now!

Three Generations of Fishermen

2010-06-11T08:55:00.001-07:00

My dad and my brother came up for a visit and it was so nice to see them and get to hang out for a day! Landon loves his uncle Brian and had so much fun showing them around his house and playing. My brother just had surgery on his shoulder so he had some time off work to come see us! We had a very enjoyable day together!

Messy girls!

2010-06-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

Valerie
Olivia

We fed the girls raviolis for dinner the other night and they loved it!!! They chowed down on them and made quite a mess in the process! It was a fun dinner, even though it was quite the task getting them and their highchairs cleaned up!

MOPS playdate at our house!

2010-06-11T08:21:00.001-07:00

We invited our MOPS group out for a playdate a couple weeks ago and had a blast! Landon loves having friends come out to his house to play. Him and his friend Anara especially had so much fun together. They played doctor with teddy bears in Landon's tents and collected clams from the creek. It was a great morning and one we were sad to see end!

Cousins

2010-05-11T20:15:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Larry pushing Landon and Natalie
Naomi, Olivia and Valerie

Train ride in Jamestown

Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Larry

Swingset in our backyard

Landon's favorite tree to climb

Catching a ladybug

Cousins!

Painting rocks

Daddy caught a lizard for Landon

Playing in our creek! It didn't take long for them to want to get all the way in the creek and before long they were both playing in the creek in their underwear!

My sister, her husband and two girls, along with my parents came to visit us this past weekend! It was so much fun having everyone together and watching the cousins play together. Her daughter Natalie is five months younger than Landon and Naomi is two weeks older than my girls. It was so much fun watching Landon and Natalie explore and play together. They had a blast and got along so well! We even got to take them up to Jamestown and ride the steam train, which is one of Landon's favorite things to do and he loved sharing it with Natalie! It was a great weekend full of special memories!

Fun with Friends

2010-04-22T09:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great time visiting Diane and her kids this last week. Landon and Cooper loved playing together and loved that they had matching shirts! We went to the park, storytime at the library and played at their house. My girls got to watch Kaylin crawl all over the place and hopefully inspired them to start crawling soon. We had fun putting the girls in the pool and filling it with balls, they had fun picking them up and trying to chew on them. It was a fun three days, but a bit chaotic with 6 kids in the house! They all enjoyed it though and Landon can't wait to go back!

Easter

2010-04-07T13:05:00.001-07:00

On Easter Sunday our church had a professional photographer set up in the lobby taking family pictures for Easter. Just on the way to church we were talking about going to the mall after church and getting family pictures taken since we don't have any yet- well this saved us a trip to the mall and a whole lot of money! They gave us a 4x6 picture right then and then put the pictures on the church website for us to do what we wish with!

Easter Sunday

2010-04-05T15:22:00.001-07:00

Grandma Scharf made the girls these super cute Easter outfits, complete with bloomers, dresses, hats and bunny shoes!

Landon had a blast finding eggs in our backyard after church!

Lake Don Pedro Easter Egg Hunt

2010-04-05T15:06:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning we went up to the Lake Done Pedro Easter egg hunt. It was freezing cold outside, but Landon had a lot of fun! They had a beanban toss game, a ring toss, a coloring table, and two crafts. Then they did hunts for various age groups. Landon was in the 3 and under group and was so good with the little ones. He helped some of them find eggs and was very cautious about not taking eggs that someone else was going for. I was very proud of him!

Coloring Easter eggs

2010-04-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

Landon loved coloring Easter eggs this year! He quickly decided it was easier to just dunk the eggs in the colors with his fingers instead of using the metal holder! Needless to say his fingers were black by the end of it all. He is getting so grown up and I love to watch his excitement as he discovers new things. We did a lot of color mixing with this project and learned which colors to mix to get other colors! Very fun evening, the girls even joined the fun by sitting in their highchairs and watching big brother!

Sisters

2010-03-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

The girls love looking out the windows in our bedroom and watching the birds- which works out great for me, because I can sit them there, take a shower and know they will be entertained for awhile!

Valerie's first cracker- she wasn't so fond of it, she just got mad, threw it down and cried.

Olivia's first cracker- she on the other hand loved it and chewed on it for quite awhile!

Spring BBQ at our house

2010-03-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we had several of our friends over for a BBQ and all had a blast! It was so fun watching the kids all play in the creek and the dads take them out in the boats. Just about all of them even caught a fish! It was a great day and we are looking forward to many more this summer!

Siblings

2010-03-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

This is Landon's new favorite place. He is always asking me to spread the blanket out on the grass between the two trees. All three of them loved laying out in the sun today and listening to all the birds!

Hiking

2010-03-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

We went for a hike behind our house the other day and it was so beautiful out! The wildflowers are starting to bloom and everything is so green and pretty! It was a perfect day for taking pictures! Landon had so much fun exploring and even Zoe came along. Kyle and I each wore one of the girls in a carrier and really enjoyed the afternoon together as a family!

Murphys Irish Day Parade

2010-03-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Olivia

Valerie

Landon and the Leprachaun

Feeding the animals

We went up to Murphys for Saint Patricks Day and watched the parade. Grandma Scharf made Landon a leprachaun vest and he had so much fun being a leprachaun all day! We got so many comments about his red hair that day and of course everyone loved to see the girls! It was a fun day!

Landon's first week of at home preschool

2010-03-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

Circling all the letter Lls that he can find on the white board.
Painting a ladybug

Playing and writing Lls in cornmeal

Practicing writing Lls on the white board

Gluing beans on and coloring a letter Ll.

All his zoo animals had to come to school with us this day!

Landon had a great first week of our little in home preschool. He loves the one on one time with Mommy and is excited to learn. We learned the letter Ll this week and he can now read his name, recognize and write the letter Ll and name words that start with L. We read stories, went on a listening walk, collected leaves for a collage and started working on making patterns with unifix cubes. We set up a corner of our office/guest room to be Landon's school and he loves getting dressed and ready for school. He calls me teacher during school time- all on his own accord and is always asking when it is snack time. I love doing this with him and am excited to see him learn so much in one week!

The girls are sitting up- sort of!

2010-03-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

We have just introduced the girls to sippy cups. I can't say that they have gotten much out of them, but they sure have enjoyed playing with them and chewing on them. They are both just about ready to completely sit up on their own. They both can do for about a minute before they topple over. I am getting excited to be able to sit them on the floor to play! This week they started getting their first teeth as well. Valerie had two pock through on the bottom and Olivia had one. They have been sick girls this week with RSV and have both been put on inhalers and Olivia is on antibiotics for an ear infection. Between them, Kyle and Landon all being sick this has been a long week, but we are on the mend and almost back to our healthy selves again!

Ballerina Girls!

2010-03-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

While Diane was here we put the girls in her purple tutus and took some pictures in my living room. I am so excited with how well they turned out! They are so much better than the ones I had professionally taken!

College Friends

2010-03-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

This week when Diane came to visit we drove up to Sonora to visit our friend Nichole. We are three went to college together and now between the three of us have 10 kids! All three of us have had girls in the past 7 months so it was fun to see them together and watch the older ones play- a bit insane, but it was fun!

My girls are growing up!

2010-03-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

The girls are now 7 months old and are catching up to where they would be if they were born on time. Valerie is in the 23rd percentile for weight and Olivia is in the 12th. Landon absolutely adores his sisters and wants to hold them and play with them all the time. They are starting to interact more with each other and laugh and smile at each other often. They are sleeping about 10-11 hours at night and are both happy healthy girls!