Mostly Merry Christmas

I would love to say that we in the Scott house have had a picture perfect holiday season over the past few weeks. But in all honesty, it has been pretty rough on me! For the past four weeks someone in this house has been sick. This is the main reason I hate winter! It started with Molly having an upper respiratory infection. Then it moved on to me with bronchitis and a sinus infection. It took me almost two weeks to start feeling better. Then the stomach bug went from Madison to Molly and back to Madison again. I was amazed at how well the girls handled being sick. We had two trips to Massillon planned and had to rearrange our travel plans both times. Madison and I stayed home and Duane took the other girls so that they could have a family get together with the Scott's the first time. Hopefully we'll be able to make the second trip tomorrow if this stomach bug comes to an end. In the midst of taking care of sick kids and being sick myself, I still had to shop for gifts, wrap gifts, grocery shop, cook, bake and make ornaments in addition to my regular duties. Luckily we were all feeling well on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Even though I was faced with lots of disappoints and added stress, I was reminded of the true meaning of Christmas in church on Christmas Eve surrounded by my family. I woke up to a beautiful Christmas morning, in my home that I love with my family that I adore. The girls were so excited to open their gifts. They were so happy and grateful. We enjoyed being lazy all day and watching the girls play with their new toys. I love that over the past years we have been able to carry on many of our own family traditions with our girls and make many new traditions too. Although it has been a difficult few weeks, this time has also been filled with many joyful moments and wonderful memories! I hope everyone is happy and healthy during this holiday season.

Decorating the Tree

Every year for the past 11 years, we have gotten our x-mas tree from the same place. It's a family tradition. Several years ago when I was pregnant with Madison, she kicked me when we were looking at a certain tree. So that was the one we brought home that year. She chose it for us. We all loaded up in the car after church on Sat. and went to find our tree. Like every year it was frigid outside. Everyone was bundled up. The girls all insisted on wearing their Santa hats. They looked adorable! We ended up choosing the first one we looked at. Partially because it was a beautiful tree and partially because we were freezing. The next evening I had high expecations for decorating our tree all together as a family. It was going to be a wonderful time together. In actuality, Mallory broke 3 ornaments, Madison had a melt down because she had made one of the broken ornaments, they all fought over the ornments, they were up past their bed time and I was ready for a stiff drink! When it was all said and done, everyone sat in the living room together happily and enjoyed our beautiful tree. This time the finished product was more important than the process of getting there:) You really have to give up some control and let the kids take the reins during times like decorating the tree. It's not an easy thing to do when you're a control freak! I can remember back to when I was a kid and we were decorating the tree. My dad would always get frustrated with me because I put the tinsel on wrong. Every year it was the same thing. "Amy you lay the tinsel on, you don't throw it!" I still have flash backs. It was a very tramatic experience for me. Just kidding! You can see who I get my perfectionist side from though. I remember decorating the tree my senior year of high school. It was the most fun we had had in a long time. We played x-mas music and danced around the living room. I think we all cherished that time because we knew it would be my last x-mas living at home. These little Scott girls will be there before I know it. So for now, they can throw the tinsel on the tree. I'll just wait until they go to bed and fix it then:)

COSI

A few days after Thanksgiving we meet our niece Brooke and her mom Beth at COSI. We hadn't gotten together in a long time so we thought it would be fun to catch up and let the girls have some fun together. I can't believe how much my niece has changed! She is a kindergarten now. When you go a long period of time not seeing a child, they seem like a different kid! She is still her same spunky self with lots to talk about. But she is a lot taller! I loved just listening to her talk. She is so adorable! I can see similarities between her and Molly and Madison. She is competitive and likes to try things out like Madison. They both wanted to do every thing first. Madison liked to point out that she was older and wiser:) Molly and Brooke share the desire to push buttons. Molly has made a sport of it with her big sister. We had lots of fun and the day flew by to quickly. It wish we lived closer to them. I wish we could be more a part of her life. I want her to always know that we love her and think about her so much. Time gets away from us in our busy lives. We just have to remember to make more time for the people that mean the most to us. Hopefully we'll be together again over the holidays.

Father Daughter Dance

My husband is such a wonderful father! For the past three years, he has gotten dressed up, worn uncomfortable shoes and danced the night away with his daughter at the Girls Scouts Father Daughter dance. While many dads stood on the side lines for most of the night, he spent 90% of the time dancing with his daughter. One of Duane's least favorite things to do is dance. But he did it for his little girl. They looked so adorable! Madison was in kindergarten the first time they went. She is growing up so much. Last year I got them each a corsage and a boutonniere. Duane said they got smashed with all the crazy dancing so we decided to skip the flowers this year. While they were at the dance Molly, Mallory and I had a pajama party. They deserved a special night too. Molly can't wait until next year when she is old enough to go. There will be no chance for Duane to escape the dance floor with two dates:) I'm sure he'll live up to the challenge. This was another one of those times that made me think back to when I was a sophomore wearing my boyfriend's senior letterman jacket at school. Now he's taking his oldest daughter to a father daughter dance! Certain experiences like that make me look back at where we started and appreciate this priceless journey that we are taking together.

Thanksgiving

This year we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner. Almost the entire Scott clan was here. It is a lot of work but very motivating when you are going to have a house full of people. There was not a drawer, cabinet or closet that I have not cleaned out over the past 3 weeks. We also updated lots of our pictures and added some new collages that I love. Duane patched a hole in the downstairs bathroom from when we had some plumbing work done over a year ago. We got so much done and it felt great! I made sure the girls felt included too. They had been talking for weeks about the "Big Thanksgiving Party" we were having at their house. They decorated place mats and treat bags and helped me make pumpkin bread. The house looked good but I had never laid my hands on a turkey before so I was under a lot of pressure. I had a lot to live up to. Duane's mom or Aunt Barb usually cook Thanksgiving dinner for his family and it's always over the top wonderful. My family is full of good cooks as well. Duane's aunt and uncle showed up just around the time we needed to get the bird in the oven. I had my hands up to my elbows in stuffing and really had no idea what I was doing. Aunt Barb came to the rescue. After we got the turkey in the oven we had a great time catching up. Thanks to Barb my new favorite drink is an appletini. By the time the rest of the family got there, we were full of spirits! When it was time for dinner everyone pitched in and we managed to have an outstanding dinner, if I do say so myself. At least I thought it was good. I told everyone to lie to my if it was bad. It definitely was a team effort. All of the kids got along so well. It was nice enough for them to play outside some. We had plenty of room. I think a good time was had by all. I know I had a great day. It was worth all the effort. I really enjoyed having everyone at our house for Thanksgiving! I know that this sounds totally clique, but getting my house ready and having our family here with us really made me reflect on how fortunate I am. I am so truly blessed and grateful. I tend to always look ahead at what comes next. But lately I have seen the importance of living today and stopping to smell the roses. Especially since times goes so fast and today is gone before you know it. I have so much to be thankful for! That includes everyone who read this:)