Nate turns 7 - December 30, 2012!

My Nate the Great has been such a blessing to our family! There is no mistaking when he is upset, but generally, he is one of the happiest, easy going, want to make sure others are happy kind of kid I know. We love him lots!!!! As you can see, he has kept those dimples that we've loved since day one.

On birthdays, I ask the kids how they want to decorate their cake. Here lately, we've been using toys to create a scene of some sort. I frosted the cake and then let Nate decorate with left over candy and, obviously, some Legos. They enjoy it and it's fun to see what they can come up with.

Make a Wish!!!

 

Ready! Set!! Rip!!!

Legos are always a hit at the Scott house.

He also got a Darth Vader transformer, Bionicle, and a
small Captain America Lego set.
Thank you Grandparents Hibbert!

Nice face Dude!
Up in his room playing with the new goods!

We let Nate stay up a little later than normal as it was his birthday and there wasn't any school tomorrow. He put some of his things together with Mommy and Daddy. That was another something fun for him, especially when everyone else had to go to bed. What kid doesn't like that!!

Christmas 2012

Only six months behind, but while I have a few spare minutes, I thought I would put up some pictures. It was a little rough having to go back to work the next day, but I very much enjoyed some hang out, relax and play time with the family.

The stockings are hung on the stairway with care.



Our Winter Wonderland ready for Christmas morning.



Christmas Eve, Nate and I hid in my room and made snowflakes to hang from the ceiling. Eric hung some from the fan so when the fan was on, they spun. I needed some personal kid time and making snowflakes with my Nate the Great filled my heart and made a memory (for me at least). Some of the snowflakes turned out really cool too. One of my favorite you can see on the right most side. I wish I'd taken pictures of some of them. Xela has been the photographer for quite a few activities lately.

My mom sent some 3D kind of glasses
that made Christmas lights turn into snowflakes & snowmen.
COOL!!!

Remote control cars are always a hit!

Everyone got a lego minifigure.
How appropriate that one was Santa!!

A gift from the big sister - Polly swimming pool.
I love how the kids want to give their things to each other.

 

Aunt Diane & Uncle John sent a set of books
for Nate to read. We've finished three of them,
I think. I'm glad he likes to read!

 

The overalls were a TOTAL hit!
Eric was all smiles and wore them for about a week straight.
The tool was needed, but not the one he would have picked.
It's the thought and effort, right?

Xela ripping into something.

Daddy putting a necklace on Aurora.
I think it was from Gma Hibbert, but I could be wrong.

I got Kinex for the kids, a present they could share.
I think I played with it more than they did.
Look at the cool chopper & 4-wheeler I made!
 

Eric was SO EXCITED to get overalls.
He put them right on and wore them
for about a week straight.
I did good on that gift!

Hex bugs!
They had fun building different mazes and watching
whose bug would vibrate it's way from start to finish.
I like having toys that they can play with together.
They came up with some interesting designs,
some included drop offs and traps!

 

It was so nice to have a day that was just hanging with the family, no work, no place to be, just relax and enjoy the day. That's how Christmas should be. There weren't a ton of presents, but we all had an enjoyable day together. (I'm noticing the date on the overall picture says 12/24. It's wrong; it was 12/25.)

 

I had to go to work the next day, which was kind of a bummer for me. It's the first time in a LONG time that I haven't had all Christmas break with the kids. However, it did workout that there was a big snowfall/blizzard during the break. Indianapolis was buried and work was called off unless you had to be there because roads were bad & other business/day cares were closing. Then one day I woke up with a fever and I slept almost the entire day. It worked out well because I had just been upgraded in pay scale to full time with paid time off. I was grateful for that Christmas blessing!

Christmas Ornaments

Every year I try to find a new kind of ornament for the kids to make to add to their collection. When they move to school and get married, they will have quite the collection of ornaments to take with them, that is for sure!!

I did a little online searches and found some felt ornament ideas and went with that. I had to supervise with the hot glue and the cutting of the tree patter, but other than that, the kids let their creative imagination design.

Some went a little overboard with the beads

Others were a little better at their design pattern.

They designed their tree, putting everything
where they wanted it.
Then we worked to glue it down without
burning ourselves.

We hot glued a piece of ribbon on the back
to be able to hang them on the tree.

They enjoy making stuff and I enjoy watching and helping. I also enjoy that it is stuff that doesn't get left out to be thrown away. It is shown on the tree for less than a month and then disappears for 11 months!!

Gingerbread houses - a Christmas Tradition

For two years running we have made our own gingerbread for the houses. Eric makes the sheets of gingerbread cookies as he is the one that wants gingerbread and not just graham crackers (I'm not a fan of gingerbread). We found a pattern and cut eat of the kids their walls and roof and then put them together.

Nate, Neta & Graigry adding landscaping to the houses

We use left over Halloween candy and what ever else I may have purchased or Grandma Hibbert may have sent in packages. Sometimes the kids are creative, some times they just want to get all the candy on their house. Sometimes they start out organized and then start taking so long that parents tell them they have so many minutes left and then they slap stuff on. Then we have to find places to move the "neighborhood" until demolition begins. These pictures were taken Dec 24, 2012

Candy house 2012

Kermit the Frog here to welcome you!

Graigry is a fan of using suckers
for property lines

Aurora always has a reason for
to her design choices.

Proud property owner!
Can't wait for demo!!

After mid-January the kids have to pick off whatever candy they want to keep and it goes into plastic bags to be eaten over the next three to four months.

Christmas Concerts 2012

Every year, every grade has their winter musical performances. Xela took some good pictures of the younger three at their concerts in December.

Awesome face there buddy!
Unless they were supposed to be clapping,
Graigry had his arms folded in almost all
the pictures Xela took.

Nate enjoys singing in his concerts.
(except when they sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in kindergarten.
He sang it, but he held his arms up in an X in front of his chest as
his sign of protest. It was great!)

Take note: Neta is in the 2nd row!!
That's an accomplishment for a Scott kid.
She practices her songs all around the house days before.

Love my Neta-Bear!

That week may be taken over with concerts, but it's fun to watch them. I wish I had decent pictures of Xela playing her clarinet and Aurora with her flute, but again, I used my phone, which is second rate to a digital camera.

July 2012 - Summer of Demolition

While I was at work, the kids and Eric got to demo a duplex to make it into a single house. They spent most of their days knocking out plaster walls, ceilings, ripping up floor, etc. Demo is not my favorite thing, so I didn't feel too bad that I missed out on this.


Hard work shows on her forehead.

With plaster falling everywhere,
it's always best to have a mask.
They were coveted items.

Eric also took out two trees in the back yard that weren't doing anything for the house. One afternoon, it was heavy trash day, and the big boon truck picked up big tree chunks and put it in the truck to haul to the landfill. Kids were pretty amazed watching it (from what I'm told and as I could tell from some of the pictures).



THANK YOU MR. BOON TRUCK!

They stand all amazed and grateful
they don't have to haul the chunks away.

Here are a few photos from their July 2012 efforts.

This is Aurora's
"I'm so happy to help" face

Scott kids can make a toy and
game out of anything!

"My turn, Xela!"

Nate, your focus needs more focus.
Taking a break in the shade.

Neta's calling it a day!

The kids are good workers, generally. I don't know any other kids that spend their summers (notice that was plural) helping their dad demo and rebuild houses to rent out. And in 2012, we didn't have a pool to cool and clean off in. I've got some really good kids.