Amy Scott's Thoughts

Not only am I welcoming 2025, but also 39. January is a month for change! It also tends to be a quieter month after the hubbub of the fall and the holiday seasons. The second half of our Christmas holiday was spent at home with Graham feeling under the weather. The first week back to school was intentionally mellow as we adjusted back to our normal schedule. Quietly welcoming the New Year has some merit. We had lots of time together a family. Jeremy and I took care of projects around the house. The boys watched some new movies while being restful. We played new games and read new books. Now that Graham is feeling better and we are back to the school groove, we’ve had a few more outings and celebrations.

To wrap up our Christmas break, we took the kids to see Sonic 3. The boys watched Sonic 1 & 2 after Christmas while resting. The boys jump at the chance for ICEEs and a movie on the big screen. We promised the kids we would go ice skating in January, so we made that happen last Friday. I haven’t ice skated in years. I was super nervous how it would go and how sore we would all be afterwards. I was positive I would hold on to the wall the entire time. I’m thankful to report that by the end of our skate, we were all skating independently without the wall!! We weren’t graceful or stylish skaters, but we did better than I expected and we had fun. It was definitely a family adventure!

The other highlight of the month so far has been celebrating my 39th birthday (last year in my 30s, wow). I love the excuse to gather with friends and family and eat all sorts of yummy treats. In fact, birthdays are often about the food for me! I enjoyed some of my favorite meals and favorite desserts. Lots of cake, donuts, and cookies! I took advantage of birthday freebies at Starbucks, Chipotle, and Crumbl Cookies. My family humored me and let me explore IKEA as my birthday outing. We didn’t purchase anything. It was more of a daydreaming visit, but still super fun. I love that place!

Now that January is here, we are back to school, church, co-op, piano lessons, play dates, and family dinners. Our monthly calendar has more margin and I’m enjoying the extra wiggle room to rest and recover from the holidays. I love making a big deal out of birthdays, but I’m also okay that the celebrations are in the rearview mirror. Time to settle into the cozy, winter, stay-at-home vibes that call to me in January.

All the signs of September are here! Back to school, apple and pumpkin treats, fall decorating… and a big shift in our family schedule – hunting season! For as long as I’ve known my husband, he has spent a good chunk of September in the woods with a bow in his hands. He has shared his love for archery with our boys as well. Jeremy’s hunting days start early and can end late, but he lets the boys tagalong on the evening hunts if it works in our schedule. They love the adventures with Dad and I love quiet evenings at home with a book. It’s a win-win!

Another very September activity is upon us – soccer season! We haven’t participated in organized sports before. The main reason we’ve avoided sports is the schedule. It just feels a bit too much for our family. Thankfully, there is a local homeschool group that meets only once a week for soccer. It’s a little over an hour of soccer drills and scrimmaging. We invested in soccer gear and showed up to the fields for the first time last week. At first, the boys were super nervous. Doing new things can be intimating, even for me! Once they were on the field, they were all smiles. They left saying how they can’t wait to go back and they’ve mentioned that sentiment multiple times over the week. I’m so glad it was a positive experience for them. I finally joined the ranks of being a soccer mom!

Around the house, we’ve been playing Clue and Labyrinth often. They are the current go-to games for our family. Owen just happily finished up the How to Train Your Dragon book series. Graham has been my blackberry picking buddy around our property. Jeremy has been kind enough to assist us grabbing the blackberries we cannot reach. Owen has jumped in a few times to help us, too. It’s been a family effort! I made a blueberry cobbler this week and I plan to make a blackberry crisp soon with our freshly collected berries. I also have a hoard of frozen raspberries I need to start daydreaming about! Yay for berry season!

Our homeschool co-op shifted it’s format this year. We went from meeting weekly the last couple years, to twice a month (at least for the fall, maybe for the whole school year). With adding soccer this fall, the change in our co-op schedule gives us some extra margin. It’s been appreciated. Our co-op met for a social gathering at the start of September and again yesterday, for a nature walk around a local lake. It was a gray day, but perfect for fresh air and exercise with friends. My heart was especially happy as we walked through spots on the trail with leaves falling gently like autumn confetti. So pretty!

There you have it! It’s definitely September! It’s been a good back-to-school transition. We’re loving our homeschool activities and the boys are enjoying the nature adventures with Jeremy. The first official day of autumn is this coming weekend, but we’ve been living in fall mode all month long. Good times!

We got back from the our beach vacation on a Monday and dove into our new school year that Wednesday! It was a quick flip from summer vacation mode to school mode. Thankfully, we get back into our school year groove fairly easily. Our daily flow has served us well and I haven’t had to tweak it much year to year. Back-to-school feels a lot like falling back into a familiar routine. We’ve got this! It’s always neat to see how the kiddos have grown year to year with first day of school pictures. As a homeschool family, we don’t have “school picture day” like public school. I try to get a good photo of each boy on the first day of school to use as their version of a school picture.

I realize that the first day of autumn isn’t until September 22nd and we started school at the end of August. We are technically still in the summer season (and the weather in the PNW reflects that). There is something about the start of school and Labor Day weekend that triggers all the fall feels for me. I don’t have a ton of autumn décor, but it all comes out at the start of September. I find it’s a visual switch to a new season. Pops of orange are found in my throw pillows, kitchen hand towel, and tablecloth. I added pumpkin hand soaps in orange bottles to all the bathrooms. A few pumpkin and thankful decorations are out. By decorating for the fall season early, I don’t feel bad heading into Christmas mode by the middle(ish) of November. Many think it’s wrong to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I am not one of them. Autumn gets to shine to for 2.5 months at my house. Christmas is welcome to have a solid 1.5 months of display time!

While I revel in fall colors, I also adore fall flavors! I’m one of those crazy pumpkin spice lovers and I’m proud of it! Just yesterday at Costco, I stocked up on pumpkin quick bread mix and pumpkin muffins! Yum! I also did a baking project this week with my favorite sugar cookies. I made apple cookies (vanilla in flavor, apple in appearance). October is the perfect month to showcase pumpkins and September feels an apple month to me. I have been eyeing some blackberries at the end of my driveway as well. After this heat wave passes, I hope to do some berry-picking. All I need is enough blackberries to make a crisp and my fall taste buds will be happy campers!

October is by far my favorite month of the year, but the hints of autumn that come in September also make my heart happy. We had a lovely summer, but I am ready to shift gears into school mode again. I am so grateful for the opportunity to homeschool my boys. Right now with Owen starting his 5th grade year, I would just like to freeze time. Elementary school as been the absolute best and I am not ready for this window of time to pass. I have a feeling I will remember our elementary school homeschool adventures with fondness for the rest of my days.