A year in review

I got this idea from Musings of a Housewife. I thought it would be a great way to recap the year.

The idea is to post the first sentence from the first blog of each month and also post a memorable picture from the month. We did not start the blog until February so my sentences will start from there.


January
Our first snow of 2007.

February
We're going to give this a try.

Dad is finally back from the Middle East. Yea!

March
We just returned from a Spring Break trip to Crown Paradise Club in Cancun.

Geocaching in Mexico, look out for iguanas. Really!

April
This a poem that Emma wrote last summer and I just love it and want to share it with you.

Laura with her friends at school.

May
Ten years ago we lived in Enid, Oklahoma with our first adorable little baby girl.

Andrew's 8th birthday party.

June
If it is between 2:30 and 4:30 PM any weekday afternoon, you can most likely run into me at our local Sonic.
Emma's donation to Locks of Love.

July
Well, it is my turn to pick the music for the week.

Emma going off the high dive.



August
It is hard to believe we have been in Oklahoma for a year already.


Frogs in the pool?

September
"That's not fair!"
Laura with one of her many Webkinz.

October
Last year one of our kids was required to keep a journal in class at school.

We were dining on Mexican food in San Antonio during Fall Break.

November
This past weekend was the much anticipated tobyMac concert.

At the tobyMac concert holding up cell phones.

December
It has been so long, I almost forgot how to post.

This was the night Laura's class sang at church in the Wednesday night service, her coot!

Enjoy and we will see you next year!

E18

I would love to post some pictures and tell you about our wonderful Christmas. Unfortunately that will not be possible.

We got home from church on Christmas Eve and I told the kids that I would love to take some pictures of them before they got their PJs on. They went over to the tree and posed and were even happily cooperating. The bad news was that my camera was not cooperating ...AT ALL. All it said was E18 on a black screen. I was so bummed. I proceeded to get our SLR out, the good news was it had film in it and next came more bad news. The lithium batteries were dead as a a doornail and it was after 9PM on Christmas Eve, ugh!!! The little kids were cute and said that maybe Santa would bring me a new camera, "highly doubtful" I thought.

Adam being the sweet husband that he is went out to hunt for some batteries after we got the kids to bed so that we would have a camera for Christmas morning and day, thankfully he had luck at a local drug store. I told the kids it would be like the old days and we would eventually see the pictures, once we finish the roll and I get around to getting them developed.

We had a wonderful Christmas and just enjoyed being together as a family, last year Adam was in the Middle East so this was not something we took for granted. Laura got the guitar that she was wishing for and the whole family is enjoying a new Wii. I am predicting a trip to the ER sometime in the near future due to this new crazy device.

There is good news about the camera. It was a gift from my mom about a year and a half ago and she had purchased the 2 year service plan, so it should be back in service in the near future. Until then my blog posts will be mostly text.

Imagine

This year the kids all had to opportunity to be in our church's Christmas production called "Imagine Christmas". When we were taking the kids to one of the many practices during the month of November Adam was recruited to play the part of one of the shepherds. Andrew thought this was great because he was going to be a shepherd also. Emma was a part of the kid's choir and also was in two different choreography pieces. Laura however stole our hearts as she often does. She was a Holiday Barbie in the toy parade and then danced with one of the Dads in a Christmas waltz. It was too adorable and she grew quite fond of her partner. They all had a great time and I loved supporting them behind the scenes. This was Adam's first theatrical experience and he had a great time. The best part was that we met a lot of great people from church. In the end the true meaning of Christmas was communicated in way that people could relate too. We wish you could have all seen it.

Christmas cards?

If you are anything like me you are getting a mailbox full of Christmas cards every day. It is fun to get in touch with old friends and catch up through the holiday greetings.

When we first got married Adam and I discussed whether or not we would send out the annual Christmas letter. I personally am not a big fan of the braggy, my life is so perfect, blah, blah, blah letter. Sometimes those letters seem so fake to me, do you really buy it? It almost seems phony and embellished. Are people really going to write about what a horrible year they have had or how they have been fighting with their spouse nonstop and they feel like they can hardly get out of bed some days, I don't think those people send out annual letters. On the other hand, a letter peppered with humor and candor, that is something I can appreciate. With that as our goal, our standard was set back in 1995, I would take care of the picture/card, addressing, etc and Adam would write the letter and try to keep it real. It has worked beautifully ever since.

There are some of you who I only know through the blog. Well, it only seemed right to send you the virtual version of our Christmas. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Merry Christmas. It has been a busy year for our family. It seems each year gets busier. This year more than any other we’ve found it necessary to place clear boundaries around our family time. In an effort to do this we’ve taken trips together and we’re more likely to let the answering machine pick-up than answer the telephone.
The most exciting news from our family is that Charlotte is pregnant. She is carrying another little princess and is due in late April. Charlotte and I laughed when the doctor told her some of the differences she’d find having a baby at an “advanced maternal age.” She doesn’t look to be advanced to me. In fact, she looks better than ever. This experience will be much different than when Emma was born nearly eleven years ago. We’re excited for the changes a baby will bring to our family. Each family member’s excited for a different reason but we’re all excited for the new relationships this child will bring into our family.
How are we busy? We’re busy with all that comes with having a ten, eight and five year old. Emma has now played two seasons of volleyball and loves it. Andrew played basketball, soccer and flag football this year. Laura enjoys gymnastics and all three kids enjoyed having parts in the two musicals at our church this year. We’ve found there’s always more we could be involved in but are trying to teach the kids you can’t do everything. We hope they learn that there are times when though something is a good opportunity you still should say no. Learning to say no is part of keeping things simple.
We’ve found there’s no better way to spend time together as a family than away from our daily lives and on vacation. Over spring break we took a trip to Cancun, Mexico. We had so much fun laughing and enjoying time together. We swam, we went geocaching, we saw iguanas, we swam with dolphins and much more. After Emma kissed a dolphin we learned that Emma is allergic to dolphins or the fish they eat. We still laugh and joke about different occurrences from this trip.
Over the summer we went to Colorado and spent a week in the Rockies at Spring Canyon in Buena Vista. We know we’ll have fun on a beach vacation, but weren’t so sure what to expect in the mountains. The beauty of the Rockies did not disappoint and we were quickly won over to all of the fun outdoor activities. We also stopped through Colorado Springs and after a frightful drive up Pike’s Peak Charlotte and Emma won’t make the drive again.
Our year wasn’t about trips, though it may sound like it. The year was about relationships. Though we can strengthen our family during our daily life, it’s often tough between all the distractions. We’ve found trips to be the best way to enjoy our family and bring us closer. I’m thankful Charlotte and I agree on the priority these trips take in our family.
If there aren’t enough details about the Scott family here check out our family blog, 50 Toes, soon to be 60 Toes, found at www.charadam.blogspot.com. We started it this year and have found it’s another way to keep everyone up to date on our daily happenings. It has been another way to strengthen relationships. Those of you who know Charlotte know she makes friends quickly; the cyber world has proven to be no different. It took no time at all for her to make “blog friends” from across the globe, literally.
We’re not sure where we’re headed in the next year. The possibilities range from Hopefully Hawaii to Oh-no Omaha. Wherever the Navy sends us we’re thankful we’ll be together as a family and we’ll continue to make great friends. Although we are together this Christmas we think often of those serving all over the world to protect our freedoms and the families they leave behind. Have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy some quality time with your loved ones.

What about your family, do you send Christmas cards? Do you do the annual letter and pictures or something different? I would love to hear about your traditions for the holiday greeting.

Christmas Tour of Homes

BooMama sponsored a holiday tour of homes earlier this week and I thought it would be fun to join in.

The idea is to take people through your house and tour some of your holiday decorations and what they mean to you. I have even updated my play list and you can listen to some Christmas music while you come check things out.



Let's start in our family room. Here is our tree.

It is a little crowded with ornaments but they all have stories and significance so how do you eliminate any? We contemplated starting a second tree but then thought we could squeeze them all on...and that is exactly what we did. It is so fun to get all the ornaments out each year and relive some of the fond memories that many of them bring. Here are just a few:

We try to get an ornament in each place we live. This Santa is made from a Maryland Blue Crab shell, it is totally unique and reminds us of our time in Southern Maryland.


Here is an ornament from our first of many tours in Oklahoma. It is also where Emma was born.


This is from a fun trip we took to Disney World one year right before Christmas.

Each year a certain family member gets me a special ornament to commemorate that particular year, they are so special. The kids love hanging each and every one.

We have our stockings hung and ready to be filled. It seems I have accumulated a few angels over the years, I don't collect them but it is fun to display them together.



Years ago my grandmother started a collection of White House Christmas ornaments for our family. She has sadly passed away and this will be the third Christmas spent without her, but I love getting these ornaments out and thinking of her. I have continued my collection in her memory.

In the last few years my nativity scenes have come to mean the most to me. I love this one that I got about five years ago. One of the Wise Men was decapitated during early December but thankfully Adam fixed him all up. Good as new...for now anyway.

We also have this nativity that is very child friendly and all the kids love to rearrange it on a daily basis. Andrew hid the wise men the other day when he learned they were not actually at Christ's birth but instead came later when he was a young boy. Baby Jesus will often be placed where the angel is now, you never know where these figures will end up. I plan on always keeping this so that little hands can explore the nativity, plus I just love Little People in general.

This year a dear friend of mine that lives in Hawaii sent me this and I love it. It is made from a coconut, how cool.
Maybe I should start a collection of nativities? There seems to be a theme of collections here, hmm.

I hope you enjoyed the brief tour.

The Silence is Broken

It has been so long, I almost forgot how to post.

Any of you who know me, know that I am an all or nothing kind of girl. When I am on I am on, when I am off, I am off. As you can see I have been OFF on the blog.

It seemed that the longer I went the harder it was for me to post. I am the typical first born over-achiever that puts tons of pressure on myself to do all things perfectly...this has been a hindrance to my blogging at times.

It has been busy the past couple of weeks. All three kids and Adam all had parts in our church Christmas program, which was a fun but busy time of rehearsals and performances. Just as that was finishing up, we got hit with a huge ice storm that crippled our state. Since then I have been doing all of the things moms do during the Christmas season; shop, wrap, cook, shop some more, bake, wrap some more, cook nonstop, you get the picture.

I have said all of this to say, " I am back". In order to keep realistic expectations for myself and not neglect Adam and the kids in the process, I am going to try to blog at least once a week. Surely, I can do that. I am thinking this will keep the pressure off. If I get the chance to blog more than once a week, GREAT.

I have missed all of you and am glad to be back. This is like therapy.

It's a ......

Girl.

We had our ultrasound this morning. We have seen the ten little toes that will soon be joining our family and it appears they will be dressed in pink.

Of course we were thrilled to see a healthy little baby doing flips in there. Due to my advanced maternal age we even got a state of the art ultrasound complete with 3D. It was a relief to see all of the proper organs, limbs and the little feet and hands.

Life gets so busy at times I forget that we will have a little baby in our midst in five short months, today it seemed real.

It is time to start playing the name game.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have been pretty busy here and have not had time to keep up with the blog recently.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. It is my first time to ever host Thanksgiving at our house. I feel like such a grown up now. I have done many things ahead of time so I will have plenty of time to hang out with the kids in the morning before our guests arrive. One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving morning is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a child I lived in New York City for a few years and have wonderful memories of watching the parade, curbside. While we were living back on the East Coast we had to opportunity to visit my family in NYC and take our kids to the parade on two separate occasions, it was a blast.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year I am especially thankful for the members of our armed services that are serving all over the world and praying that they know how much we appreciate them and their families and the sacrifices they make for our freedom.

I leave you with some photos of our toes from Thanksgivings past. Have a great day.

NYC 2003

NYC 2005

On the Road Again

Have minivan...will travel.

I do not know what we did before we had our entertainment center on wheels. I am telling you, the DVD player with cordless headphones, the Navigation system, etc. I am not sure if I will ever go back. We decided to take to the open road, and there are a LOT of those out here, and drive to Big "D". The male members of the family were off to cheer the Midshipmen on to victory against the University of North Texas and the girls were to embark upon the shopping Mecca better known as the Galleria with one particular store in mind...the brand spanking new American Girl Boutique and Bistro.

We had our normal Saturday breakfast of pancakes cooked by Dad and then we were all fueled up and ready to face the day. I have to share something so sweet about Laura. Every time she eats pancakes and they are not cooked by Adam she repeatedly tells Adam how they were good, but NOT as good as his. I think it is his TLC and no one could ever make pancakes that even compare... which is why I don't even try.

We headed down I-35 to make our way to drop the boys at the game and as we were driving a large group of motorcycles passed. As they were passing we noticed that many of them were wearing Navy jackets, Adam then realized it was a large groups of Chiefs(senior enlisted) from his squadron. We beeped a waved and figured they were heading to the game as well. A little while later we stopped for a potty and snack break. As we pulled up to the gas station we noticed the group of bikers were there as well. We went it did our business, bought a few things and chatted with the Chiefs. When we got back in the car they had parked their bikes, mostly Harleys next to our minivan. As Adam started the car he started to chuckle, I asked him what was so funny. He said "Here I am in my minivan and look at them all leather clad and bad on their bikes". I shared a chuckle too. I really should have taken a picture of the scene, it was funny.

We made it down to Denton to drop the boys at the game. It was fun to see so many Navy fans WAY out this way. We even saw a few middies that were donning their new Stetson hats with their SDBs, although they were clearly breaking uniform regulations, they were in the spirit of the West. The boys had a great time at the game and Adam ran into many people he had not seen in recent years including some of our favorite readers of the blog that hail from the great state of Texas.

After we dropped the boys we were off to the American Girl Boutique and Bistro to make our lunch reservations. It was an easy drive and Lola led the way, she is the voice of our on board navigation system. It was fun to see the excitement in Laura when we arrived. Although we have been to the NYC American Girl store numerous times, Laura was too young to remember or appreciate the visits. She enjoyed walking around seeing all the dolls, babies, books and various other accessories for sale. They each brought some of their own money to be able to buy a few small things. We made our purchases and headed up to the Bistro for lunch. One of the fun things about eating there are the doll chairs that are provided so that your doll can sit up at the table with you. We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed some girl talk and just being together. As we were heading out we went to the restroom where we noticed something new that we had not seen at the AG store in NY. Each bathroom stall had a doll holder so that you would not have to set your doll down on the dirty floor....clever, I tell you.

We had a little more time before it was time to go back to get the boys so we spent a little bit of time walking around the Galleria. It was fun to walk around and pick up a few things we had been needing. It was also fun for me to be back in the Galleria where I had vivid childhood memories of ice skating in the rink inside the mall. They had big signs that were celebrating the mall's 25 year anniversary, that sure made me feel old, but I clearly remember when it opened. Yikes!

We drove back up to get the boys and heard all about Navy's victory, the flyover of Hornets, the post game fireworks, and all of the fun that they had. We told them all about our trip to the AG store, the fact that Emma almost lost her purse(with her military ID) in Old Navy, and the fact that we found some "bargains" at the mall.



It was a fun day for all. I only wish I had some pictures of the boys to post. Sorry, they did not have a camera with them.

Freak Show

This past weekend was the much anticipated toby Mac concert. As you know from previous posts safety usually comes first around here...because of that we came armed with earplugs. Better to look dorky for a few hours than to have long term hearing loss. :) I think we all ended up taking them out by the time Toby took the stage. The opening bands were good but we were all ready for the headliner. Laura was such a trooper she was awake and singing along for much of the concert but at one point fell asleep on Adam's shoulder. He laid her down on one of our seats and she slept for the rest of the show, but she still had a great time.

The rest of us sang and danced along to some of our favorite songs and had a blast. The kids were commenting on how the music shook their chest...ahhh nothing like your first rock concert.

In the end we had a great time and with the looks of the audience should be preparing for many more of these evenings.

Happy Halloween Y'all

We are totally pooped and our tummies are full of sugar. We had a night of fun that started at church and then ended with some trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Here is a picture of our princess, hillbilly and Elvis(this is an encore, it was just as popular this year).



It is time to go raid the kids' bags in search of chocolate...

Road Trip

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Last week the kids had a couple of days off due to Fall Break so we decided to hit the road. Sea World was on our list of "must see" places and thanks to Anheuser-Busch we could all get in for next to nothing.

I want to publicly thank Anheuser-Busch for their continued support of active duty military families. Each year every active duty member is eligible for up to 4 free tickets at the Anheuser-Busch park of their choice, what a treat. They even had a short segment at the beginning of the Shamu show to honor military members and their families, it was very meaningful and made the kids beam with pride. We tell them all the time that they are sacrificing for their country too by having to spend so much time without their dad. The support from large companies in such a tangible way is so appreciated, it means a lot.

So we loaded up the minivan, which by the way we have no idea how we lived without it, and headed south. After a couple of outlet malls, snacks, and numerous potty breaks we arrived in San Antonio. Our hotel was within walking distance of El Mercado, the Mexican part of downtown, so off we went to feast on Adam's favorite food, MEXICAN. Yumm!!! We had a great meal then let the kids run around at a local park before we went back to the hotel for a quick dip. Is it possible for kids to stay in a hotel with a pool and not swim? Not ours. It seemed awfully hot on our drive down there but when we were watching the news that night we realized San Antonio had a record high temp that had stood since, 1895. It was 93 degrees that day, whew it wasn't my pregnancy hormones after all.

The next morning we were off to Sea World. We got there right when the gates were opening and didn't stop until the park closed. The big kids rode the roller coasters time and time again with Adam. Laura rode all of the rides she was tall enough for. I rode a couple of the kiddie rides and took pictures of all of fun. I knew that my delicate condition would prevent me from riding many rides but I still had a great time. The shows were right up my alley and all of the sea animals were impressive, especially Shamu. When the park closed we headed back to our hotel and crashed.

The next morning we got up and had a leisurely start to our day. On the way out of town we stopped by the Alamo, the kids had been there before but we realized that the last time we went Emma was Laura's age...weird, it didn't seem that long ago. I may try to post an old picture of that.

When all was said and done we had a great trip...but as always, there is no place like home.










Here it is I found the photo, this was in January 2003.

Blast from the Past

This past weekend we took a little road trip down to San Antonio. I will blog more about this later. However, as we were driving along I got an inspiration for the perfect Musical Monday selection.

We were driving along feeding DVDs into the dashboard as often as necessary. The kids take turns choosing the next movie but at times there is arguing that one of the girls is not interested in some boyish film or that Andrew would rather not watch another Princess flick. Well, I decided to make it easier on everyone... I would choose. I merely mentioned watching "School House Rock" and there was a lot of moaning, "Mom, that is booooring". Adam was so excited he insisted that I put it on so we could all sing along. He then told the kids all about what Saturday mornings were like when we were kids and how much we LOVED these short episodes. For the next half hour or so we sang, "Conjunction Junction", "I'm Just a Bill", "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get your adverbs here", "Interplanet Janet"etc.... I could go on and on but I won't. I suppose if you weren't born in the early 70s you might be bored too. The funny this is the kids were singing the songs for the next day or so.

What does this have to do with my musical choice today? If you remember "School House Rock", you might remember this.

Pictures as promised

Big Night

Tonight is a big night for Emma and Andrew. They will be getting baptized at our church. The part that makes it extra special is that Adam gets to baptize them. They are both excited and it should be a special night for our family. Our church allows dads, grandfathers or other spiritual mentors to baptize during the Wednesday night service. This just makes it a little more personal, especially in a church the size of ours with thousands of members.

I know there are many schools of thought on baptism and when and how it should be done. Our church being "Baptist" believes in the good old fashioned dunking. The Greek word used for baptize in the original New Testament text is the same word that would be used to submerge, like dunking your donut into your coffee. So tonight Adam will have the opportunity to "dunk" Emma and Andrew and share a few things about them and then pray for them. We believe their baptism is not what saves them, instead this a public profession of the faith they have in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

I hope to post some pictures later tonight or tomorrow.

Music Monday

Thanks to Rocks in my Dryer for this link.

I can really never get enough of this song. This kid is amazing!

Shirley?

Surely, if this little girl can do this... how much more are we capable of?

Let this encourage and convict.

Some of my favorite things

Musings of a Housewife has inspired me this morning. It has been hard to think of things to blog about when I am feeling so tired and nauseous. Really, you would not want to read any of my whiny ramblings.

But this morning after reading about a Mom's favorite things, I was excited. I have some favorite things too!

First things first.

Diet Coke

Now that I am in a delicate condition I have switched to Caffeine Free Diet Coke, it is not the same but will have to do for the next six months. I will splurge every few days and get a Sonic Diet Coke, yum. Hey, Maybe that is why I am so tired, not as much caffeine. Hmmm...




Dyson

I have already devoted a whole post to this item but I can not tell you enough how much I love this thing. It makes vacuuming fun, if that is possible. I am always amazed and grossed out at what can be pulled out of my otherwise seemingly clean carpets. If you have kids or a dog and definitely if you have both, you NEED one of these.





Burt's Bees Lip Balm

I keep one of these in my car, my purse, my bathroom, you get the picture. I love the way it smells and feels and it really does a fantastic job moisturizing your lips. I have turned Adam on the this product and he even keeps one in his flight suit pocket. Apparently high altitude wreaks havoc on lip moisture. :) Just a quick tip, do not buy the lifeguard's choice with red cap unless you want your lips to have a subtle white frosty sheen. I bought this one for Adam once because it had SPF in it and I know all of those hours sitting in a cockpit you can actually get burned through the window. Well, one day at work one of his friends said, "what do you have on your lips?" Oops!




Reef Sandals

These have become my uniform for my feet. If I am not heading to the gym wearing my tennis shoes(why do we still call them that? I can't think of the last time I have played tennis. ) I am wearing these. I now have a black pair and a brown pair, I don't know why I need all of the other shoes in my closet when I wear these 85% of the time. Don't forget I live in Oklahoma where it is still in the high 80s in October.

Clorox Wipes


I LOVE these things. I keep one of these under all of the sinks and they come in so handy. Some of the most helpful uses of these. After little boys go #1, enough said. After kids brush their teeth and spit into the sink and there seems to be a cement of dried toothpaste lining the sink. Those are just a few but these things can clean up just about anything, quickly.



I really could go on and on but I think the top 5 is a good place to start. I am sure I will think of other things as the day goes by..

Better yet, what are some of your favorite things, products you could not live without?