Amy Scott's Thoughts

Hanging with the lovely birthday girl!

Last night we said good-bye to 2013. Everything sneaks up on me these days. Probably because I’m focused on Owen and my new life as a parent. It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. My mind isn’t ready for 2014, but alas, it is here regardless.  Not only is this time of year full of many holiday gatherings, it’s also full of many birthday gatherings. My sister and brother-in-law were born one day apart. We celebrated Andrew on the 30th and April on the 31st. April gets a good deal in the birthday department because it morphs with New Year’s Eve to make for one big, long birthday celebration. Following tradition, we had Chinese for dinner last night. Very tasty! We then went back to our house for strawberry cheesecake. We played one game as a family before my parent’s took off. They have not joined us in waiting up till midnight in many years. April & Andrew had received Monster’s University for Christmas and they brought it so we could watch it. After the movie, we played dominoes and the birthday girl beat us all. Good job, sis! Once the game finished up, we had a few minutes to pour glasses of sparkling apple cider and wait for the countdown to the New Year at the Space Needle, which we always watch on television. I will admit that I was pleasantly surprised that Owen stayed down for the night despite the noise in the house and outside. Many of our neighbors were setting off big fireworks throughout the entire evening. The fireworks also had our poor Toby dog on edge. He is not a fan and this year they seemed to be non-stop.

Toby, Jeremy and I ringing in a brand new year!

It’s hard to believe that today is the official first day of the new year. I don’t even have a calendar to put up! Oh well! I’ll get on that soon… I have no idea what 2014 has in store for me. I’m not a big fan of making resolutions. I’m a naturally driven person so resolutions don’t feel necessary to me. I do have a few things that I hope to see in happen 2014, but nothing I feel like putting a deadline on. As always, I hope to grow deeper in my walk with the Lord and continue to let him mold and guide me through the new year. Everyday following after my Savior takes me into new territory. I hope am faithful to follow. Jeremy and I have talked about taking a couple of trips this year. We are getting our enhanced driver’s licenses this week so that we can cross the border to Canada and we’ve been talking about a road trip to Yellowstone. Whatever 2014 holds for us, I’m sure it will be good. God has been so faithful to us and I’m excited for another chapter in our lives to unfold.

Happy New Year!

The General Christmas Chaos!

Oh yes! Another Christmas blog! This last Sunday we gathered at Jeremy’s parent’s house for Christmas with the Scotts. This was the first time that all of our families have been together since the babies have arrived! We had 4 adult couples, a 3 year old, a 1 year old and 3 infants under 3 months old! And 1 big golden doodle! That is a full house! Christmas started off with stockings. Santa delivered them earlier and Nana & Papa held on to them for the rest of us. My mother-in-law got creative this year and hid all of the adults stockings around the house and gave us clues to find them. My stocking was located where Debbie stores her pots and pans. Jeremy’s stocking was found where Debbie stores her linens. The humorous part is that his parents move stuff around their house often so Jeremy had no clue where their linens were stored. I’m pretty sure he was the last one to find his stocking!

After stockings, we enjoyed a brunch breakfast together. I don’t think we were all at the table at the same time, but that is probably going to be the norm now with so many nursing babies. Oh well. It was very tasty and we all got to eat at some point. Presents were next on the list. It’s so much fun watching the kids open their gifts. It was a bit chaotic at times and we constantly had to ask “who’s next?”, but that is what Christmas morning gift opening is all about – flying wrapping paper and excitement.

The Next Generation of Scotts!

Lord of the Rings Risk kept the boys occupied for a big part of the afternoon. The girls chatted and fed babies. Many diapers were changed and the afternoon meal was prepared. Carson and Brinley played with their new toys. It was a low-key afternoon with the football game on in the background. Owen wore his Seahawks onesie to represent for the team. Jeremy’s aunt stopped by to see the newest Scott and we asked her to get a family photo. Let me tell you, that was quite the task! Carson decided he didn’t want to do a photo and eventually Owen got warm and started to meltdown. I don’t think we got a single photo of everyone looking at the camera at the same time. I have a feeling this will be the way of family photos for the next decade. It’s real life and now we have it captured in megapixels.

We did get one all-family game in. The highlight for me was Carson snuggling on my lap for the beginning of it. Earlier in the day he was very vocal about wanting to have quiet time in Nana & Papa’s bed with Aunt Amy. Oh my! Snuggling in the recliner watching African Cats was a little more up my alley! Once the game was over it was time for another round of family photos. Trying to get pictures of the grandkids together and the grandparents with the grandkids and the boys with their boys. There were lots of camera flashes!

It was a great day to spend with our newly expanded family. Adding three babies to the mix is a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see how the chaos grows as the kids grow. These are wonderful times and memories being made. It’s so exciting to be in this phase of life with our family. Merry Christmas!

Hanging with the Reid crew!

This week we had round 2 and 3 of our Christmas celebrating. Round 2 started on Christmas Eve and was spent with Jeremy’s side of the family. The festivities began with a candlelight service at church and then a family gift exchange to follow. Owen didn’t get a candle this year at church, but I’m sure he’ll be ready for one next year. Okay… maybe not! He was fascinated by the candles though. The Christmas gathering took place at Jeremy’s aunt and uncle’s house. Family members all brought yummy goodies to share and a $15 gift card for an exchange. As usual, it wouldn’t be a family gathering without a game. This year, Jeremy’s uncle came up with one where we couldn’t say the words “I” or “No”. Everyone had three cards and if you got caught saying one of the words you had to give one to the person who caught you. There were prizes for the top three cardholders as well as who had the best poker hand with the cards. Jeremy was up in the top contenders and walked away with a McDonald’s gift card. I know you’re jealous! Actually, we already used the gift card to get breakfast on the 26th, but more about that later! I quickly gave away my cards to Jeremy since the game was too hard on my brain. It’s very difficult to not use the word “I”. You could say things like “Me really likes this dip” or “Amy thinks this game is hard”. Either way it sounded strange! The other activity of the night was phone caroling to a few relatives that couldn’t make it to the large gathering. There were some humorous moments to the caroling. I’m not a huge fan of public singing… I gave that up in high school with my choir days, but I sang along for the sake of the family. We even had a carol off with the Carroll branch of the family. We sang to them and then they sang to us. This went back and forth until the Carrolls finally stopped. This year’s gift exchange took on a fast food twist. There were lots of gift cards to places like Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, etc. Jeremy walked away with the Wendy’s gift card and I brought home my own gift – a Kit Kat and a Target card.  The only downside to the night was the house was super warm and Owen got overheated. He is such a hot baby. There were a couple meltdown moments from the kiddo, but overall, he did great. He certainly had a lot of new sights to take in as well as some new family members to meet. Jeremy’s cousin did a great job of calming Owen and putting him to sleep. That’s always a good thing!

Mommy & Owen

Round 3 was Christmas Day spent up in South Hill with my family. Things didn’t start at my Grandma’s house until noon so that meant that Owen got the sleep he needed to recover from the big day before. We made it up a few minutes behind schedule, but we weren’t the last to arrive so I considered that a win. This year, the kids all exchanged presents. It was a lot of fun to have Owen participate! He was super spoiled and even got a few extra presents from other family members. Just like the day before, there was a $15 gift exchange for the adults. I got a Starbucks card and Jeremy got movie tickets! Not a bad deal. The funny thing was my mom and dad brought the gifts that Jeremy and I contributed this year, so I had to ask my mom if I liked what I brought.  The day was mostly spent chatting and eating. Owen finally got to meet the whole family since there were a few that he didn’t see at Thanksgiving. My Uncle Jim did a good job of snuggling him to sleep for the first part of the afternoon. Once again, the curse of the overheated baby played out and Owen was super warm and not so cuddly as the day went on. We eventually had to bid my family good bye so we could release Toby from his crate after a long day. After Toby had a little time with us, we took off to say a quick hi to Jeremy’s parents. Owen wanted to wish Nana and Papa “Merry Christmas” in person.

In post-Christmas tradition, Jeremy and I took all our Christmas gift cards and cash down to Oregon for some good sales on the 26th. We didn’t go crazy, but we got some good deals that we are very happy about. We used our McDonald’s gift card for breakfast and a Red Robin gift card for lunch. At lunch, we realized that Owen learned something new. He can now grab things and take them to his mouth. This resulted him munching on a washcloth. Yum! It was a great day to spent time with just Owen and Jeremy after two big days full of people. Because most of the stores get crazy after noon, we were up and out the door before the sun was up and home by mid-afternoon. We take our post-Christmas shopping sales seriously!

Tomorrow is the last day of  the Christmas festivities. Jeremy’s immediate family will all gather to celebrate together. I’m very curious to see what Nana & Papa’s house will be like with three infants. Not too mention a 3 year old and 1 year old. It will be the first time all 5 grandkids will be together at the same time. I’m sure there will be much chaos, but the good kind! I can’t wait to see what the day has in store! Merry Christmas! Again!

Grandpa and Farmer Owen

Yesterday, we had our 1st of 4 Christmas celebrations! Jeremy and I have always been blessed to have our family close by. This means we try to make it to all the family gatherings during the holidays. The result is a lot of Christmas celebrating! We kicked things of with my immediate family this weekend because April and Andrew will be in Kansas for Christmas. I really enjoy spreading the Christmas cheer out over the month of December, so I have no problem celebrating any day. To me Christmas is spending time with loved ones, eating good food, sharing gifts and being grateful and thankful for our Savior. This can happen day! Not just December 25th.

There was a lot of deliberation on what Owen should wear. Since all his Christmas clothes are pajamas, we wanted to find an outfit that said Christmas, but wasn’t pajamas. I’ve been trying hard to make sure that his wardrobe gets used and that I don’t just cycle through the same easy pajamas over and over again. We decided on a red plaid shirt and denim overalls. Jeremy called him Farmer Owen. He is a cute little farmer!

Jeremy ready to document the Christmas magic!

We got to my parent’s house and did our gift exchange. Owen was exhausted from a full morning of church and no real good naps, so he passed out in the swing. He sadly missed the opening of his first Christmas presents. Oh well. At 2 months, I didn’t expect him to get too excited about Christmas. Jeremy and I on the other hand are very excited for Owen’s first Christmas. This holiday season we are able to document each moment with our new camcorder which was a special surprise gift we received this last week.  Jeremy stepped into the Dad role well and had the camcorder in hand ready to make the memories last forever. However, Jeremy opened the gifts for Owen so I took the camcorder and my own camera in hand for the big moment. Yes, indeed, I felt super “mom” like! Camera in one hand, camcorder in the other.

Owen is super impressed with Christmas

We had pizza for dinner which I know isn’t very traditional when it comes to Christmas dinner, but the Vitzthum family is a big supporter of the pizza industry. We love it and could eat it all the time. This pizza was special because it was cooked in my Dad’s new Traeger grill. It was a great experiment. The pizza took on a smokey color but the flavor wasn’t changed by the smoke. It was very tasty and I can’t wait to taste the other good things that come out of Dad’s new toy!

In a surprising turn of events, we concluded the night with a game of Apples to Apples. My parent’s aren’t really game people and April and I never grew up playing family games. Jeremy’s family on the other hand are game fanatics. They love games. It’s not a Scott gathering without a game. It felt kind of Scott like to conclude the evening with a game, but it just goes to show that people can grow. I don’t think my parent’s love game time but they did well. I won the first round of Apples to Apples and my mom won the second! Go Mom! The fun thing is I have a freakish connection to my sister so she kept picking my cards! She was the key to my success!

The first of many Christmas celebrations went well. I don’t think Owen was moved by the experience, but that’s okay. Next year I’m looking forward him being all into wrapping paper and bows. Fun times! We still have many family gatherings still to come. There is always a time spent with Jeremy’s immediate family, Jeremy’s extended family and my extended family. We sure know how to make the Christmas season stretch!