Feb 20 - President's Day Lunch

The kids don't have school on President's Day, but I have to work. It was a little hard for me when everyone is home but me, so I suggested that they come have lunch with me and that we could go on the Cheeny Creek trail. I usually leave for lunch around 1:30. As I hadn't heard from anyone about whether they were going to actually come, I headed out and started my walk along the creek.

About 10 minutes into the walk, I got a call from Eric saying they were almost there. I trotted back to the head of the trail to meet them, catching them as they turned onto Fishers Pointe Blvd. Eric had purchased McDonald's and we went to the little fishing doc to eat lunch.

Eating burgers and sharing some bread portions
with the fish below.

Rolled up their pants and dipped their toes in the pond.

I love spending time with my family, even if it was just for 30 plus minutes.

Feb 2017 - Bipolar Indiana

This "winter" has been anything but. Usually, the hard part of winter hits in February with its ice storms and car burying snows and wind chills. This year, 2017 has been a much more mercifully taunter, throwing Spring in our face one day and then sending the cold and snow on the next. I think we've had three, maybe four days since December when the grounds were covered in snow. Yes, Indiana is currently suffering from a climactic bi-polar disorder.

Here are photos I submit as evidence.

Feb 8 

Not much snow,
but snow none the less.

Feb 11

I was playing catch, of sorts, with the boys. I threw the ball and then...

...the wrestling began...

...and the year's first coating of mud commenced.

Then, whoever was victorious in capturing the ball,
which may have meant ripping it from the rival's grasp,
tossed it back to me for another round.

Please take note of the short sleeves, shorts, and bare feet. I'm not complaining about the warmer winter weather. This does explain and support my statement diagnosis regarding Indiana's climatic bi-polar order and why I can't put away summer or winter clothes at any period of the year. :)

Nate Turns 11

Having a birthday during Christmas break can be difficult. You don't get to bring treats into your class on your birthday or get an out of uniform day. Nate, for the last two years, has wanted to have snow on his birthday. We live in Indiana, so the likelihood of that is minimal. I think there were some snow flurries the night before his birthday, but that's as close as he got.

We opened up presents on his birthday. Below are a few of the pics I took.

Happy birthday boy!

COOL! A Lego shuttle!

Presents and paper,
 Must be a good day.

More Legos!

He did invite two friends to spend the night on the 7th of January. He wanted to have one of his friends that is a girl sleepover and had a hard time with why we wouldn't allow that, even if she slept in another room. The boys slept in the living room, were up way too late and then I made crepes for them in the morning. Surprisingly, they didn't eat as much as I thought they would.

By 11:30 we headed out the door to Indy Island, and indoor pool with slides, where they would play for about two hours. That is where Nate's friend Hannah joined us. They all seemed to have a good time and I enjoyed some time in the water.

We were home by 2:30, had some quick cake and ice cream and then adults started showing up to take kids home. When all was said and done,

Nate was exhausted.

The three younger ones were on each other from the rest of the day. Nate said he didn't have any fun because Graigry took over everything at the pool and then Graigry talked about how Nate ruined his time with Robert during Graigry's birthday and then....I was done.

New birthday rule of 2017 - ONE family birthday party in the summer, and THAT IS IT! I had been trying to let the kids do what they want with a few of their friends over the last two years and there has always been complaining afterwards, or comparing to a siblings' festivities, and so I told the kids, I wasn't going to try to let them have their own special event. We can pick one day in July, when we don't have any birthdays, they can invite two friends over and we'll have a cookout, maybe try to get the pool up, and that will be it as far as coordinating birthday and friends. if they can't be happy for each other and grateful for what they have received, it's not worth the stress, money and time.

The three younger ones protested, of course, but Xela and Ro were all for it. I told them if they could prove throughout the year that their attitudes had changed, maybe I would change the policy, but for the time being, we'll have one invite-your-friends birthday party, celebrating the kids together. Other than that, on your birthday, you can open family presents, have a special dinner and dessert.

Christmas Break Outings

One of the joys of Christmas break from school and work, and not having a set routine, is that we can go and do things as a family. Sometimes these outings are just outside in our yard, other times it's going somewhere. We enjoyed both during that week.

Fun in our Backyard

Neta on her Christmas blades

Xela catching the Christmas remote control car

Practicing with the Christmas bb gun in the backyard
(I don't think they hit the target)

Family Fun at the Canal

Ducks hoping there are bread crumbs in route

Just hanging around
the downtown canal

"Here fishy, fishy!!"

Thumbs up on our outing

Finally, a rarity at the Scott Zoo...

Going to the Theater!!
And a new release - MOANA!!

The kids LOVED the reclining seats and we sang the songs all the way home. Disney has that effect on some members of our zoo. :)

...and a Happy New Year!

We hung around the house for New Years, munching on stuff, doing puzzles, playing games and building a fire. It wasn't anything spectacular, but we were together waiting around for midnight and the banging of pots and pans.

Eric started a fire around six and it got BIG! He put a hollowed out stump on the pit that was just smaller than the pit itself. I got a few cool pictures while we were all out by the fire (Ro had gone to a friend's house for a few hours.)

It starts. Eric put a hollow stump
on our concrete fire pit.

TA-DA! It's the kids!

Behold! The FIRE!

New Year's Firey Face

Nate got a 3D pirate ship puzzle, which he started to build and then asked for my help on. Once I got started, I didn't want to stop. Have you done a 3D puzzle? Apparently there are a couple of levels of difficulty and this pirate ship is the harder level, which I didn't know until I was almost done and looked at the box. No wonder it was so frustrating! I was determined to finish it before midnight and I did!!

The 3D and 3 hr to build pirate ship

Graigry made a balloon dog
while waiting around for Jan 1

The other project I was determined to finish during the break was my quilt. I had been working on this thing for about three or four years. It is just smaller than a queen sized sheet and fits wonderfully on our queen sized bed. I was so happy to finish it! It's been on our bed keeping us warm since January 1. I have noticed there are two squares that I need to sew back together, but other than that - done! That's the second jeans quilt I've made and I don't plan to make another one for a few years.

Merry Christmas...

I always try to take one week off at the end of the year so that I can spend time with the kids during Christmas break. It's one of my favorite times of the year because we are all together without much of a "have to do" routine.

So for Christmas, it was on Sunday this year, so we didn't open presents until after church, after lunch. We invited the sister missionaries over as well as the senior couple serving in our ward, the Reeds. That was a lot of fun. I usually don't get to sign up to have missionaries on holidays because their meals have already been taken care of, so as soon as I saw that Christmas hadn't been reserved, I booked it on the missionary meal calendar. Then I thought it would be nice to have the Reeds over as well.

Our upside down tree with
presents below

It's always a "white" Christmas at the Scott house

Now, quick backstory: I had made some scarves for the sisters and calendars with the Indy Temple for each sister and then one for the Reeds. I purchased three stockings and hung them with our stockings and put our traditional fruit snacks, pudding, chocolate oranges in them. I wasn't sure what to get Brother Reed for Christmas. He certainly didn't need a scarf.

As I walked around the stores over the two weeks before Christmas I carried a prayer in my heart that I would be guided in what to pick. I asked Eric what he thought and his first thought was a hat. I thought some more and the thought occurs to me that everyone needs a good pair of gloves during an Indiana winter. Gloves, that is what I was going to get.

On Christmas Eve, Eric had to make a run to Ace for something and still thought we should get Bro Reed a hat. As we walked in, there was a rack full of gloves. I stopped and tried some on. They were soft on the inside and I hoped that a  men's large would fit. I told Eric I wanted to get gloves instead of a hat. Eric seemed, to me, to be a little disgruntled at my choice, but "if that's what you want to get him, then do it!" So I did.

Forward to Christmas day. Lunch was done and the missionaries hung around while we did presents. I first passed out their stockings. They kind of opened their gifts at the same time which made sense as they were getting the same things. Then it was Bro Reed's turn. I put his gloves in a Great Value plastic ware box. When he opened that up and pulled out the gloves, he was excited and looked at his wife with a smile on his face before telling us his story.

Early that week, they had picked someone up to take him somewhere he needed to be. As this guest was being dropped off, Brother Reed asked if there was anything else they could do for him. He said he could really use some gloves, so Brother Reed gave this gentleman his gloves from inside their car. Bro Reed hadn't replaced those gloves yet and now, he didn't have too.

That was my Christmas miracle this year. It's a memory I will alway cherish. (I wish I had a picture to show you?)

"And I wanted to get you a hat," said Eric with a tear rolling down his face.

I love those moments when you KNOW that God is in the details of your life and when you see the evidence of being an instrument in His hands. I think I'm going to have missionaries over for Christmas more often. :)

Eric had missionaries take turns passing out presents to the kids, which they then opened. I was so busy enjoying things, I didn't snap many pictures. When presents were done, it was time for the missionaries to go.

A Girl & her Amp
(last year was a microphone)

One sister missionary talking with Neta
while someone else opens a present.

A girl with her tools
(Xela got sculpting tools)

1...2...3...Open!
(That's how you open a family present)

Playing Klask at Grandma Scott's house
(that was the present above from my sister)

Eric got a new felt hat;
Here he's opening a box of pillows

Our present Graigry

I love being able to spend the Christmas break with my family!

Makings of a Christmas Card

On the way home from picking up the girls from Herron on the one Tuesday that it snowed in December, we were talking about the warm weather we were hearing about in Florida and comparing it to the recently fallen snow in Indianapolis. I was trying to figure out what kind of a Christmas card we could put together and then Xela and Aurora came up with a Frozen/Olaf based theme. When we got home, as the three younger kids were at piano, we staged the following two photos:

The hot & the cold
are both so intense,
put them together,
it just makes sense!

Xela created Olaf and then got in her summer clothes to lay out on the "beach" with her new snowballed friend.

Aurora decided to play the part in Frozen when Olaf said:

"I can't feel my legs!
I can't feel my legs!"

It was fun to cover her in snow and then take her boots off. I would dare say that Xela was colder than Ro though. 

When the younger ones got home, we ate dinner and then I had the younger ones pose for some Olaf pictures while the older two were at piano.

"Little Brothers!"

In case you can't tell, that is a forced smile; he just wanted to play and not take a picture.

"Hi! I'm Neta and
I like warm hugs!"

Yes, we scalped (so to speak) Xela's Olaf and put his face on the upright snowman. 

Now, Graigry's photo was a little more difficult to pose and in order to get it, you'd have to know the movie. I wasn't familiar with the phrase that Xela and Ro picked and then they showed me a clip (what did we do before youtube?). That said, the Olaf phrase they chose was perfect, considering Graigry's head injury history.

"I don't have a skull .... or bones."

Not everyone received a card because I'm that good about sending out hard copy cards and letters. Sorry folks!