Free Stuff

I can't help but join in on the bloggy carnival taking place over at Bloggy Giveaways.

I am giving away a set of 10 personalized cards made by my talented friend Stacey.

Here is what you need to do to enter. Go on over to her site, check out all of the great cards that she has designed. Leave me a comment telling me your favorite style. She will personalize the cards with your name, initials, etc.

You do not need to have a blog to enter. If you do not have a blog just make sure to leave me your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you are the winner. You must have a US mailing address or APO or FPO to win.





I will randomly choose a winner on Saturday February 2nd at midnight CST. I will post the name of the winner on Sunday.

Go on over to The Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and check out all of the other great FREE stuff.

4 things

Musings of Housewife posted a meme and I decided to follow suit. I needed something easy to get the blog ball rolling again. I thought this would be the perfect thing...here it goes.

Four jobs I have had
1. lifeguard
2. bank teller
3. camp counselor
4. GAP sales associate

Four places I have lived
1. Northern Virginia
2. New York City
3. Dallas
4. Southern Maryland

Four movies I have watched over and over
1. Coming to America
2. Fletch
3. Parent Trap (new one)
4. Master of Disguise

Four shows I watch
1. Amazing Race (my favorite)
2. Biggest Loser
3. American Idol
4. 1 to 100

Four places I have been
1. Dominican Republic
2. Mexico
3. San Diego
4. Seattle

Four favorite things to eat
1. Filet Mignon
2. Cheese Fondue
3. anything chocolate
4. fajitas

Four places I would rather be
1. Hawaii
2. on a Carribean cruise
3. any Disney Theme park
4. any beach really

Four things I look forward to this new year
1. meeting the newest member of our family
2. finding out where the Navy will be sending us
3. hopefully more time together as a family
4. celebrating 13 years of marriage

If you want to join the fun consider yourself tagged. Leave a comment if you are playing along so we can come read your four things.

Little Baker

I have never been much of a baker. I would much rather cook than bake.

I think one of the reasons is the whole measurement thing. I tend to eyeball when I cook. That looks like about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar or a cup of chopped celery. The recipe will not be ruined if there are a few extras, it may even be better than the recipe. Recipe, shmecipe...I see recipes as rough guidelines with room for creative expression, plus you can always add a little something as you go if need be. For this reason it is never great to ask to share a recipe I will not be able to give you exacts.

Well as you can image this does not work in baking. I have made some very unique things over the years( some edible, some not) and I am sure it was due to the fact that if you do not have the exact ratio of baking soda, salt, etc things just do not work out. The other reason I do not love to bake is that I know most of the delicacy will end up passing through my lips directly to my hips. Sure I bake when I need to, birthdays, class parties, etc but it has never brought me too much pleasure...until recently.

Emma and Andrew share my lack of enthusiasm for baking. They may seem excited initially but become quickly bored by the monotony and tedium of the whole process and while I am up to my elbows in batter they have moved on to better things.

Well, not little Laura, she has a passion for baking. It has been so much fun. She has always enjoyed helping me in the kitchen but over the Christmas break her passion for baking has been shining through. It started with cut out sugar cookies, we must have made hundreds and I am not even exaggerating. We sent a whole box in with Adam to work. We made special airplane cookies for him to share with those in the Maintenance department. Laura wanted to call him during the day and see what the consensus was on the cookies. Were they moving quickly? Did people seem to enjoy them? Did they appreciate the mountain of frosting and multitude of sprinkles on top. It was so cute. Of course they loved them. A building full of hungry men, many of them single, is a great place to pass off baked goods for rave reviews.

For Christmas Laura got an apron, I realized this is helpful with all of the flour and an overeager five year old. Yesterday we both donned our aprons and make a batch of snicker doodles. These are Laura's favorite cookies, as well as Adam's. She thought they were the best ones ever and we had such fun together. She couldn't wait to serve them to the rest of the family and she was beaming with pride.

I have even changed my position on baking. When Laura is with me and we are doing it together, it is a lot of fun.

Here she is after licking the batter bowl after we made a Chocolate cake recently.

I won!

I just got an email from tobyMac.com and I have won an autographed CD library. Can you believe it?

I ordered something from tobyMac.com and apparently that put me in a drawing I was not aware of and I am the winner. I think the kids will be so excited. I will update you when it arrives. Some more good news....I will be able to take a picture and upload it to the blog because my camera came in the mail yesterday and it seems to be as good as new.

There is so much to update you on from Christmas but there is not time today. I will tell you that my mom got me one of the best presents I have ever received....a housekeeper once of week for the next six months or so. Is she awesome or what? I feel like a princess, thanks Mom. That is more than a pregnant mother of advanced maternal age could ask for. :)

Have a great weekend.

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.