The Great Scotts: March 2009

The movie stars!

One night, Tina was over and the girls were showing off for her.

Christina created this costume all by herself!

(Don't you love the missing tooth!)

Caroline is singing some Hannah Montana songs and making up her own moves.

Christina's performance!

Blue and Gold Banquet

Since Jacob is in the Cub Scouts now, we get to participate in lots of new fun activities. Jacob and his dad had to make a cake for the banquet. Jared had made a cool template at work of the Cub Scout logo, but when they used it on the cake, the frosting stuck to it, and it ruined the design. So, they just did the best they could at the last minute, and Jacob won the Cub Scout pride award for his cake.

Jacob cutting his cake!

Jacob getting his cake award!

Jacob earned his Bobcat, and here he is pinning me.

Jacob being shy, not letting his picture be taken.

The long awaited visit...

It's been three years since we've seen my sister Angela and her family. We were thrilled when they announced they were coming for a visit! So they braved the 30 hour drive across the country with three kids, and unpredictable winter weather. They made it and we had a great time. She is eight years younger than me (albeit taller and brighter), and we are constantly lamenting that we don't live closer. Wouldn't it be great if she could take my kids for the afternoon, or I could make dinner for her one evening so she wouldn't have to! So we keep dreaming, and try to pack in three years worth of visits into a few days. We definietly wore the kids out, but at least we made lots of memories, and took lots of pictures!

Jen and Ang

(Of my three sisters and I, our husbands are always joking how we look so much alike, they are scared to come up behind us, in case they've zeroed in on the wrong sister. Angela's husband is always saying that he can tell when she's talked to me on the phone because she starts sounding like me. How is that exactly? Maybe if I start saying words like "bag" and "pack"...)

Angela with her girls Madeline, Hannah, and Elizabeth, and with our Caroline.

Madeline the cutie (who happens to really look like our other sister's daughter). When Madeline arrived at our house, she was terrified of Goggles, our boxer dog. It didn't take long for her to get over her fear, and develop a serious friendship with him. Instead of running from him, she was rolling over him, laying on him, and sharing her food and toys with him.

Elizabeth the princess. She was thrilled to find we had a small treasure trove of princess dress up and dolls to play with. After being around us for a few days, she started to feel more comfortable with us. At one point, she was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking for the other kids. She asked me, "are your people upstairs?" I had a good laugh about that.

Hannah the wonderful! Hannah is simply a small clone of her mother at that age, and we love to laugh about the fiesty genes being passed on. Hannah was thrilled to have Jacob around to play with (as you'll see in the video later on).

Caroline and Hannah getting ready for bed.
(Although they were ready for bed, it still took an hour to get them to stop jumping on the air mattress, and settle down enough to go to sleep.)

Elizabeth, Caroline, Hannah, and Christina

A local church by us has an indoor playground that saves us on cold days when kids just need to run around and play. Here's Caroline doing the monkey bars.

Hannah Banana (as we love to call her).

We had lunch one afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Christina, Caroline, Elizabeth, and Hannah

Jacob and Grandpa wrestling.

Angela worked at Baskin Robins/Dunkin Donuts through high school and it's a favorite treat for all of us. One morning they bought us a doughnut breakfast. Who knew 2 dozen doughnuts could go so fast!

We took everyone out one night for Panda Express at the mall, and then on the carousel. The kids had a great time. Unfortunately we shouldn't have sent Angela's husband Scot on after eating, because going around in circles was just too much for him!

Our mall also has a little play area, so after the carousel, we headed down to play for a little while. Here's Jacob playing hide and seek.

Caroline climbing the teddy bear.

Sadly, their time came to an end and we had to say goodbye. Here's Hannah with Jacob and Tiny in the morning, before leaving for school.

Caroline telling Hannah goodbye before she heads to preschool.

Scot Angela, Hannah, Madeline, and Elizabeth
(Hopefully it won't be another three years before we see them again!)

Jacob, the infamous tiger!

Angela, ever the fun-loving aunt!

More Winter Fun!

Before school started back in January, we took the kids to the ice skating rink at the university for an evening of family fun. By the end of the night, everyone was skating better and no one wanted to leave.

Christina

Caroline using a little helper.

Jacob the cool!

Me without the monkeys using me to keep them from falling.

Jared and the girls.

The annual Daddy/Daughter Princess Ball

Our park district has a princess ball every year for dads and daughters. The girls went with Jared last year and had a great time. So this year, I signed them up early. I took the girls to the fabric store to pick out the fabric for their dresses. I am not a great seamstress, but I prayed a lot while I was making them, and they turned out pretty good! The girls looked beautiful. They saw several of their friends, ate dinner, made crafts, and danced. There was even a special visit from Beauty and the Beast who performed for them.

Daddy's girls!

Christinabelle

Carolinarella

Sisters and Princesses!

Dancing together...

Christina and Caroline with their friends Emma and Nicole

Winter Fun!

In January, the kids had two days off of school because it was so cold. But (most of us) are native to the freezing temperatures, and don't mind it so much. So we took the kids sledding at the park down the street. Jacob wanted to try out the snowboard he'd gotten for Christmas, and the girls just wanted to sled. We lasted about 30 minutes and had a great time!

Jared, Jacob and Tiny