Switch Witch

My neighbor & friend Renee does the coolest thing for her kids with Halloween.  It's called the Switch Witch.  On Halloween after the kids get back they get to pick out a little bit of candy that they want to keep.  Then they leave the rest in a spot for the Switch Witch to come while they are sleeping.  She simply switching out the candy for a toy.  BRILLIANT!  What's a great idea to make sure the kids don't get too much candy.  We're going to try it out this year and Jaycee is pretty excited about it.  So am I.  I plan to take her good stuff and save it for when we need a "sugar" and then the rest is going in the garbage.  I'll post how it goes.

October Rain Brings Visitors :)

Wouldn't you know that here in Washington we went through a dry spell from June until October and the minute we have family come in town....in comes the rain.  But despite the rain we had a fun time.  We ate some yummy meals and our new favorite at Red Robin.  We went to some fun places in the rain and shine.  We played games-Jim and Pam were guilty!  We crossed our heart and hoped to die  ha ha.  We talked about what we'd do "if I had a million dollars"  ha ha.  Some threw up from car sickness.  Girls played with barbies and had sleepovers.  Dog poop was found on shoes-gross!  Pears were eaten off our tree.  Rhett was obsessed with my phone.  But the best was the JOY of having family drive over 12 hours one way to visit us.  Thank you Dalynne and family for such a great week and we can't wait for our next visit! 

It was Kenna's 3rd birthday on 10/12 so we celebrated on Sunday.  That frosting from Harmons was delicious!  Happy Birthday Kenna.  Hope you love your zooble.

 On Tuesday night we had a Tupperware/Paparazzi party so we decided to get everyone out before the parties and took a visit to Multanomah Falls.  Everyone was quite excited to see the falls.  It was a bit chilly but glad we had coats and boots.  The group pic minus Hadi & I

 Ah...so cute!

 The girls.  Aren't they adorable!

 Love my little family

 Dalynne and Kodes

She was such a good baby all week

 Wednesday we got a little bit of a late start with staying up so late the night before but we still snuck in a trip to the beach.  It was a PERFECT day.  60 degree weather with a slight warm breeze.  The tide was clear out so it was actually nice we got there a little late.  Rhett was able to find 12 sand dollars!  Hadi loved the beach and at one point she went face first into the sand to get a taste.

 Happy 10 year Anniversary guys!

 My beach girls! 

 Jaycee loved the beach as usual.  At one point she was doing beach-angels.  haha

We did get to go to our favorite seafood restaurant in Astoria and had some devine surf & turf.  All the kids loved the food.  We were tuckered out when we got home. 

 Thursday we decided to take a trip to the Portland temple.  They have a new visitors center so we went through that and the kids got to color temples.  Also we had fun walking around and enjoying the beauty of the Lord's house.  It's even prettier inside!  

The girls were taking pics and they have learned to pose.  ha ha

 These 2 girls were inseparable.  At one point both Rylee and Jaycee were crying because they couldn't ride together in my car.  They got along so well.  Rylee is just a little doll and so sweet spirited. 

 My beauty

 My little blue-eyed Hadi

 Jaycee thought it was cool that she could climb up and touch the temple. 

 Friday Craig took off the day and we took the clan to the Ape Caves @ Mt. St. Helens.  Unfortunately it was raining so they couldn't see the actual valcano but we did still go down into the caves.  Here is Jaycee outside the caves playing in the lava rocks.

 Little Rylee moo

 The Merrill family down in the cave.  It's really hard to take pics because you literally can't see anything down there. 

 Our family :)

 A picture of a spot down in the caves.  It was pretty creppy when it was so dark and couldn't see anything and just could feel dripping water.  It was a perfect spooooky adventure for Halloween.

 Yay we made it back and out safe and in one piece

 Mountain man Craig showing us the way

 Playing games on the weekend nights.  Love me some Office Clue

 Rhett being silly

 Saturday we did manage some more good weather to go feed the ducks by our house. 

 The girls trying to find which duck to feed

Sunday came a little too quick!  We had so much fun and already planning for another trip.  

Love you Merrill family.

9 month check up

Hadley had her 9 month check up this past week.  (we were about a month late...oops, I'm horrible at making appointments)
This appointment there weren't any shots but we did decide to do flu shots for both girls (Jaycee was an inhalation one) 
Hadi didn't like it one bit! 
Hadi is now a whopping 16lbs 10oz and ranks in the 8%!  I thought for sure she'd be heavier than that if you see what this girl can eat.  I'm talking a whole piece of pizza, rolls, fruit, crackers...you name it.   Any sight of food and she whines until she gets some.  Sheesh.  We still are nursing morning & night.  It's pretty cute because around 8:45-9 she'll get super whiny and if she's playing she'll whine and crawl to me.  I guess some may think it's strange I'm still nursing (she's 10mo on Friday) but I love it.  I love the bond that I get with her those 2 times a day.  Hadi def loves her nub, nub and whatever is food related.
She ranked in the 14% for her height although I didn't get the exact measurement.  I was a little concerned with her being so small (weight) but she's proportioned to her height so we've just got a little petite girl on our hands.  It's funny because we'll go out and people are always telling me how small she is.  I guess I'm with her all day so I don't notice. 
Hadley has also showed us that she's gaining quite the personality.  I've been working on waving "HI" with her and she finally does it now.  Also I love that I'll say "Where's Dad?  or Where's Jaycee"  and she'll search around the room until she sees them and then get the biggest smile :)   She hates the stairs!  She'll crawl to them and stand up and if I'm sitting a few up to try and get her to climb them she just cries.  She's climbed one so far but she cried the entire time.  She also won't use things to walk like her little stroller or lion.  She'll stand with them and the minute it starts moving she'll stop and sit.  I think they move too fast for her.  So needless to say, she has fear where Jaycee just took off and didn't care.  Hadi also learned to clap this past week.  It's fun to see her get so excited to see us interact.  And last thing is she now can officially drink from hard sippy cups and using straws.  I blame that one on Jaycee for leaving her things around and for always sharing her drinks. 

We sure love our Hadi May.  She's such a sweet baby and I could never complain.  Some mornings I find myself sleeping in  and I'll feel bad because she never says a peep to know she's awake.  So I assume she plays with her animals or falls asleep.  She does this every time she goes to bed so I have to check on her.  She loves her sissy and her little puppy.  She gets the happiest face when they are around her.  I can't imagine life without my baby Hadi and the loves and smiles she gives.  I'm so blessed.

Bacon Chicken Ranch Taquito

Some how I stumbled upon this recipe:

• 8 ounce(s) cream cheese softened 
• 12 strip(s) bacon cooked and crumbled
• 4 cup(s) chicken shredded
• 1 ounce(s) Dry Ranch Dressing Mix
• 2 cup(s) Monterrey Jack Cheese shredded
• 3 tablespoon(s) green onions chopped
• 20 whole(s) flour tortillas
• salt

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cover a large baking sheet (I use a cookie sheet) with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.
3. Mix together cream cheese, chicken, bacon, cheese, and green onions. Add in about 1/2 of the dry Ranch dressing mix and taste- add more if you want more of a Ranch taste (I ended up using only 1/2 of the packet). Mix well. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture into a flour tortilla and roll it up.
4. Place taquito seam-side down on the baking sheet. Repeat about 20 times (I had to use two baking sheets because all of my taquitos would not fit on one). Once finished, spray the tops of the taquitos with non-stick cooking spray (or you could lightly brush some olive oil on them) and sprinkle with salt (I like to use sea salt).
5. Place pan in oven and bake for 15-20 minutes (or until edges and tops are golden). Let cool for a couple of minutes. Serve with Ranch dressing or Blue Cheese Dressing for dipping (my husband also likes to dip them in "Salsa Ranch"- just mix equal parts salsa and Ranch dressing together). 

I made them tonight and they were awesome!  I did modify a bit by FIRST half the recipe (too much for us), turkey bacon, regular colby jack cheese, and whole wheat tortilla.  These are going to be a more familiar dinner item for us.  Mmmmm...and oh so easy.