24 days of Christmas -cliff notes style.

So I have been feeling like a little bit of a scrooge when it comes to holidays. I will blame it on my love for laziness. But since I want my children to have fond memories and traditions that they remember repeating, I thought I need to DO something. I saw a bunch of cute ideas for advent calendars on Mindi's blog (she has links to quite a few- check them out). I know I am starting a few days late but I thought this could be easy enough even for me to pull together. It was. I just got 24 green envelopes and glued 24 already cut red mittens on them and labeled 1 -24, representing the days in December (for those of you that don't know what an advent calendar is). I filled the envelopes with pieces of paper. On each paper are activities to do to celebrate the holidays together. Examples: Watch a Christmas movie, drive around and look at Christmas lights then come home and have hot chocolate, read a Christmas story, make paper snowflakes.....etc. For more of these ideas see Jordan's blog here. The best part about this is that I can switch the activities around however I want so if I don't feel like: making cookies and taking them to someone I can switch it with the: sit by the Christmas tree and stare at the lights together in silence. Nice. It all depends on how energetic I am feeling at that moment. This I can totally do. And if your kids are like my kids, anything that you get to open, read, and then do is the most exciting thing ever, even if it says: kiss your dad under the mistletoe.

Need a Hopeless Romance?

Have you ever finished reading a good book and thought, "I wish I wasn't done reading"? I do. You know, when you read through it too fast that it's over too soon. Yep? Anyway, here's a solution. I found this blog- My Super Hopeless Romance. It's about a girl who is in love with her best friend and he doesn't know it. It is cute, a definite chick-flick: all about loving, hoping and wishing for that love to be returned. It's written kind of like a book, but you can only read one post at a time (or at least until you catch up to today's post). She updates daily (usually). Go read. And remember what it felt like to really want that one perfect guy to like you, because you like him.

Daylight Savings= 1 extra hour of.....

So Daylight Savings, loved it before I had kids. Now, not so much..... until this year. On Sunday the kids slept in, so I got to too. Nice. Then today they woke up at 6:40 a.m. Not so nice. I finally decided to drag myself out of bed and noticed that the kids were : dressed, with beds made, and breakfast already eaten all before 7:30. With no need to head off to school until 8:30. What to do with the extra hour? Chores. Yep. My house was cleaned; picked up by Clayre, vacuumed by Parly, laundry sorted by Kate, and mopped by me all before 9. How great is that? Daylight Savings has a whole new meaning for me now.

Here are a few pictures of Halloween 2008:

Maggie Moo Cow

Clayre as a bride (yes, same costume Parly wore last year),
Maggie as a cow (great action shot),
Parly as a boy (that shirt was Shayne's when he was littler),
and Kate as a Fairy.

A little Short Getaway.

So I'm back from my weekend away. I went to my older sister's Mom's Out weekend again this year. Great time! Lots of yummy food. Movies. Talking and laughing. I also worked on a project this year. Which I stressed over each step, but they turned out superb. Here are a few pictures.

Me, Laurie (sister's mother-in-law), Emily (sister)

Table set for dinner

Food/Yummy

Movie time

Bedtime. One room was full of bunk beds. Good times.

Here is my project. Silhouette of the girls. They turned out great:

Happy?

So it has almost been a month since my last post. Sad. But how about something to make you happy. How about pictures from the Happiest Place on Earth. That's right. Disneyland! We went on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of last week. Advice: Go to Disneyland on Tuesday. It was awesome! The line situation is ideal. We went on Space Mountain 5 times, Thunder Mountain 4 times, and Splash Mountain 3 times. Each time Parly, Clayre, and I went on a fast rollercoaster ride we got braver and braver. One arm up, then both arms, and for Clayre finally screaming. She was always so stone faced and she finally started to let loose. Great fun.

I had a blast because Shayne does not enjoy any rides that basically move, so I got to run around with Parly and Clayre while Shayne mostly hung out with Kate and Maggie.
Favorite rides:

• Parly, Clayre, and myself loved California Screamin in California Adventure. With Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain a close 2nd and 3rd. Clayre also loves the Tower of Terror, which Parly and I braved but Kate didn't quite make it all the way. Opting out a the last second.
  
• Shayne enjoyed Soarin that is also in California Adventure.
  
• Kate said she like the Star Tours and Peter Pan and the Fish Carousel (in California Adventure), and the Rocket ride.
  
• Maggie's favorite ride? Probably playing on and around any stairs or railings. Kate and Maggie also seemed to really like the parades.
  

Lots of fun. Lots of laughs. Lots of memories.

Pictures above: Maggie enjoying her favorite rides.

One of the rides Shayne braved, Splash Mountain.

All the girls on Alice in Wonderland ride. Clayre looks like she is sick. Not so.
She was probably just bored. Clayre likes fast and falling rides.

Kate and Maggie on the Fish Carousel in California Adventure.

Parly, Kate, Clayre, and Maggie.

Also in October. Shayne and I ran the St. George Marathon again. It was Shayne's 10th, he is now in the 10 year club. Amazing. Even with the rain I was able to run my best, coming in at 3:32. That made me happy. Until next year.

Teeth and IOU's

Parly was so excited when a neighbor boy kneed her in the face. Why? Because it popped out her lose tooth. Tooth = Tooth Fairy = Money. Parly already knows about the real "Tooth Fairy" read about that here. So after all the kids had been in bed a few minutes, Parly came down to our bedroom. "Mom. Dad. I was thinking that since you don't have a lot of money right now, it would be okay if I didn't get anything from the Tooth Fairy this time. I will just keep my tooth. And it's okay... because it came out in a fun way." Wow. Sooo sweet. She left the room a little teary eyed. I of course had forgotten that she had even lost a tooth so was happy for the reminder. And Shayne told her not to worry that we would take care of it and that it was nice of her to think of us. A little later with the lights out, Shayne asks if I remembered to put something under Parly's pillow. Ah, no. What is wrong with me, seriously? I get up. Neither of us has any cash or change. So... Parly got an IOU from the Tooth Fairy. Now before any of you send us money to payback Parly for her tooth... Shayne does have a job now, no more redundancy...just no cash at the moment.

Back to School = Scott kids chores

School has started so that means the Scott Family is back to all it's routines. One of those routines is daily chores. I love that my kids are getting older so their chores actually help me, which means less for me to do...yeah! Each child must get dressed and make their beds before coming down for breakfast. Parly usually gets the cereal and milk out for everyone, so if I'm not running that morning, I'm still asleep. So nice. Lazy, yes. But nice. Parly and Clayre also get their lunches and backpacks and drinks all ready before school and THEN they can watch a T.V. show before it is time to walk to school. My life is too easy.

Another chore is at dinner time. Kate has to, gets to, set the table every night. Then Parly and Clayre take turns clearing the table and making their lunch for school the next day. (One does the lunches while the other one clears the table, then the next day they switch). It's easier for them to do the lunches then, because if we have some kind of leftover that they want then .... okay let's just say the real reason.... It's easier for me, because I don't have to worry about them rushing to make it in the morning and bugging me while I am still sleeping. There.

In addition to these daily chores the girls have to put away their clean clothes in their closets and drawers (this is usually just once a week). And my favorite is when one of them is grounded from T.V. or friends. I can then give them more chores, like; sorting the laundry piles, picking up shoes and toys left on the floor, taking out the garbage's, emptying the kitchen misc. basket. This is a small basket that I keep on the kitchen counter so when ever I find toys and things of theirs that go upstairs I just throw them in the basket and when it gets full I send one of them to clear it out and bring back. Genius. I am the Queen of making less work for me to do. Of course they must clean the bedrooms and playroom from time to time as well.

Now you may be wondering what little Maggie does for chores. Yes she can't get herself dressed in the morning or make her bed yet, she sometimes helps Kate set the table at night but this is not her designated chore. Maggie actually came up with this one herself. She has always had a fascination with cockroaches. Before viewing, note: rolly (meaning rollypolly) = cockroach



Yes, Maggie's chore is to find the cockroaches every morning so we can throw them away. She is very very good at it.

How to spend your Saturdays.

This weekend I got to run a 1/2 Marathon. We were up in Logan for a last minute thing and since most of my family (mom & dad, sister & brother-in-law, sister-in-law) were all doing it, it being the Top of Utah 1/2 Marathon, Shayne and I decided to join in. It was a lot of fun. Yes, running a 1/2 marathon CAN be fun, though mostly it is just good when it is over. It was during the race that I learned what shin splints are the hard way...hell. They are hell. But because of them I persevered, learned how to be mentally tough and ended up finishing strong (because they didn't hurt as much on the flat or uphill parts). 1:42 was my time. This was a personal best, so that is good. Everyone had a super race. My mom who hasn't run a 1/2 marathon in her life also persevered, she walked the last two miles with a broken foot. Well the verdict is still out on that but definitely a stress fracture. Only my mom would continue with pain like that. It made my measly shin splints seem more like a bothersome blisters. My mom is incredible. I unfortunately did not get this amazing attitude, maybe it skips a generation...which I actually hope is true...with 4 daughters...hummm. Anyways, I myself am a complainer. My mom IS NOT. I should be more like my mom.

Since so many of us were running in the race and the few of my family members that weren't, were watching all the children (that in itself worth a first place medal), we did not get pictures of the event. I will however post some from the Spudman Triathlon that a number of us did a month ago. That also was a great race. If any one is thinking of doing a triathlon (Olympic distance) this is the one to do. It is a FAST one. The mile swim is downstream. The 25 mile bike and 6 mile run are both very flat courses. It was a lot of fun. I did this race before I was married, and got a time of 2:29. 11 years and 4 kids later I got 2:32 . I didn't think I would even come close to my old time, so I was pleasantly surprised. Hopefully I will feel the same way about my St. George Marathon race this year. Fingers crossed for a personal best and no hellish shin splints.

Elise (sister-in-law), Isaac(brother), Christian (brother-in-law), Sadie (sister),
Baby CJ (nephew-did not race), Steve (dad), Me

Me

Here's one from the TOU 1/2 Marathon:
(My sister Sadie just sent this to me. Thanks Sadie.)

Shayne, Maggie (did not race), Me

Me (racing to the finish)

Thanks Liz or rather her husband Jared for taking this keeper.

Passing Notes

Parly loves to write us notes. We have gotten quite a few over the years. She usually writes them when she is angry and upset, or sad and remorseful. Well, we got one from her the other night, right after putting the kids to bed. And this is what it said:

1. I cant go to sleep one tinsie wincey bit.
2. It is light out side.
3. And I'm ready to Dance.

Shayne and I were dieing. So funny. So Shayne caved and let her stay up a little longer with us. This is when it's fun.

I'm out saving lives!

I just found my new calling. Now that Shayne has been made redundant, see his post about that here, we have had to find creative ways to make money, you know to feed our children and pay the bills. This morning I was on my way to my new "job" and a friend of Shayne's pulled up beside me at a light. He rolled down his window, and noticing it was me driving the truck said, "Where's Shayne?" My reply, "Someone's got to pay the bills!"
So for now I am a working mom. What is my new job? I give plasma. Yep, I go and sit for just over an hour while they take my blood out of my body, separate the plasma, and then put my blood back. Very fascinating, I know. It's kind of rough. Actually not. Easiest money ever made.

I have found some interesting benefits to "working" at BioLife, besides the saving lives and getting $50/ week (if I go twice/week), I get my iron and protein checked each and every time I go there. I have a history of low iron and when I am running lots I sometimes get too low. I spent $170 a month ago to check that iron, and find it was normal. Ugh! Now I can do it for free. Awesome. Another benefit? I have an hour in my day with uninterrupted reading time. After getting Breaking Dawn, I was dieing to go give plasma, so I could get reading without the girls bugging me about dinner or Shayne giving me the eye. No guilt.

Could there be more benefits? Believe it. It was there that I learned I was gifted. Gifted, really? Yes. How so? I think I can safely say that I was born to give plasma. I have the perfect veins for it. They are huge . I didn't know this really until now. Almost every time I go, the person sticking me with a needle comments on how large my veins are. They are surprised that a small person like myself would have some so big. Super. No need to panic with the needles when even a half blind person could stick me in the right place. Good. And for some strange reason this new discovery has made me feel special. I get a weird satisfaction knowing that I am the perfect candidate for plasma giving. And it really feels good when you find that one thing you were meant to do in life. Mine happens to be saving lives, an hour at a time.... and without a medical degree. My self-esteem has never been better.

I've been biten!

So I am back. I was on a sort of mini vacation. Laundry piled up, kids ran wild, food was a bother, sleep not a requirement, and I hardly left the house. It started as soon as I picked up the first book of the Stephenie Meyers Vampire series, again. That's right, I reread all three of the books, Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, to get ready for the last and final book of the series, Breaking Dawn. Well I finished Breaking Dawn last night at 1:30 in the morning and I was too jazzed up to sleep. Too bad it was too late, or earlier rather to call anyone and discuss. I so looooooved it. I have heard from others that not everyone feels this way. They are idiots. This was my favorite of them all. Stephenie Meyers is pure genius. Just when I thought I had it figured out she shocked me and I couldn't have been more pleased to be wrong. She is an amazing story teller! And instead of finishing my vacation sad and wishing it could have been longer, I was thrilled, happy, and a little exhausted.

What could be better than Karaoke?

When we were in Pine Valley with Shayne's family, McCall brought the funnest (is funnest even a real word?) game. Sing Star. It's kind of like Guitar Hero, so people say, I've never personally played Guitar Hero. You pick a song from a list of all kinds of music genres. The screen will then show the music video, the words, and rates you on your singing abilities. Pretty much how well you can sing on key. You can also compete against one another. Oh... and it records your singing so you can play it back afterwards. Scary. Yes, scary but holding that microphone and belting out the latest Brittney Spears song next to Shayne, well that just feels right. We all had a blast! And if you were wondering who was the better singer, Shayne or myself? Be surprised... it was Shayne. Watch out Brittney!

Picture time

We just got back from my sister's in California and then left for a Scott Family reunion at Pine Valley. Lots of fun. Cousins. Food. Games. Driving. And now laundry. Since Shayne and I are so cheap we took advantage of having a lot of cameras around and tried to get a new family picture, one that includes Maggie who will be turning 2 in a week. Here are some of our options:

This one turned out pretty good. I love Maggie sucking her thumb here.

We are all kind of squinting though.

Not bad but I think we were all looking at different cameras.

I love Kate in this one. It is not a family-picture-taking-session
without one or more of the girls in tears.

Here's Maggie (crying).

This one is probably my favorite because everyone is smiling soooo big.
We may have a winner. Or we will try again when we head up north in another week.
Sadie get your camera ready.

What's it like with 2 less kids?

Great. We sent Parly and Clayre to my sister's house in California for a week. They are having so much fun and will probably not want to come home with us when we go out to get them in a day or two. They got to go on an airplane by themselves. They were not at all nervous and thought it was all pretty exciting. But not as exciting as the fact that my sister got stuck in traffic on her way to get them for 3 hours one exit away from the airport. It all worked out though, my brother-in-law, Dustin was in the area and got them and took them to lunch while waiting for Emily. They have enjoyed swimming, picnicking, shopping, movie watching, playing with their cousins, driving around in a golf cart, and even getting a haircut.

At home Kate and Maggie have also had a lot of fun. They are bosom buddies now. We let Kate sleep in Maggie's room and after the first night of catching Kate trying to get Maggie out of her crib (at Maggie's request) they have done very well together. Kate has taught Maggie some more dance moves and how to attempt a cart wheel. Kate: "Parly and Clayre are partners. And Maggie and me are partners."

I have enjoyed a lot more time to myself, especially in the afternoons when Kate would go off to play with friends and Maggie was napping. Books, movies, and naps myself. Nice! The downside to no older girls around? No extra help. I actually had to get up and get Kate breakfast, that was always Parly's job. Boo. And on Saturday, Shayne had to wait until I was home from my long run before he could go on his. Normally Parly could be in charge for a little while if I was running a little late. Sorry Shayne. But of course we miss the little brats, and it will be nice to have them home. I'm just glad they got to have so much fun.

What's a little spilled milk? Okay actually, what's a lot of spilled milk?

Wondering what I have been up to? How about what my kid(s) have been up too....while I was swimming, biking, and running. That would have been last Saturday at the Summer Games Triathlon. I am currently training for the Spudman Triathlon in July, so I decided last minute to go and do the Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 10 K run) in the summer games triathlon. A pre-race before the "real" one. It was a lot of fun, if you can believe it. And I was very glad I did it.

Shayne felt that taking all 4 girls out in the heat for 3+ hours to watch me didn't sound all that enticing, so he kept them home. Here's what happened at breakfast:

I guess Kate wanted to get the milk out by herself. She dropped the whole gallon on the floor which broke open and well.... the picture pretty much says it all. Let's just say I think I had it a lot easier that morning.

I love Kate's face in the picture, actual real remorse. And thank you Shayne for cleaning it all up before I came home.

Step lightly chunky!

So, Clayre and Kate hate tuna fish. Parly loves it. I was tired of making two different kinds of sandwiches for lunch, so I told them that they were going to eat it, that I wasn't going to make anything else for them, and that oohhhh look the tuna sandwiches are cut into cute little bite size pieces. Well? Yum mom! Can I have more, please mom? (Okay, so they probably didn't really say please here.) More? Really? Wow. Simple.

Another lunch sandwich my kids started to complain about was the good old Toasted Cheese. Easy. Yummy. Something else besides PB& J. Well, after a while when I would make it I would get... uhnnn, again? Can I just have more chips instead?, and No thanks (actually probably NO! here.) So then I started to cut the toasted cheese into strips and serve it with homemade marinara sauce.... okay, not homemade just whatever store-bought spaghetti sauce we had. I told them to dip the cheese strips into the sauce and wa-la. They loved it! And still do. So another tip on how to be the Laziest and Greatest mom ever at the same time: CUT. Cut. And, yep just cut. It makes everything taste better. How? Who knows? Just do it!

Lazy mom pulls through.

So Parly had to do a report on an animal for school. I was gone when she was assigned this, so my little sister and her husband stepped up. They talked her out of doing it on a dog or a cheetah saying everyone would choose those and convinced her to choose the Three-toed Sloth. Well she got busy and found a lot of cool facts about this sloth with the help of her very eager and internet savvy Uncle Christian. Then she transferred all the information onto a poster board, by writing row after row of sentences, leaving a little space for pictures. While I was away in Boston, I received a voice mail from Parls telling me all about her report and said that I would have some good ideas for her...I guess my mom told her about my history of creative school projects.

So, I mapped out a plan for Parly's poster and then told it to her. She was a little sad that she had already written out a whole poster, but she thought the new poster sounded funner and wanted to do it. Here is how it turned out:

She wrote all the cool facts on the leaves. And the sloth hanging from the tree is made out of fuzzy brown paper to make it more life like. Good job, Parly!

Well Clayre watched Parly doing her project, thought it looked fun, so she decided to do one herself. She choose a deer. Shayne was so loving that Clayre wanted to do a project that wasn't even assigned...because it meant more work for me. I hate more work! But I couldn't really tell her that she can't learn and share information about a deer just for fun.... could I? No, not even I, the laziest mom ever. Here's how Clayre's turned out:

Note: the small deer on the bottom, again made out of the fuzzy paper, but Clayre added the white dots and white belly herself. Genius. Also her information she wrote around the poster so some of it ended upside-down. I asked her how people were going to read it and she said that they would just turn the board around. Genius. So cute. Good job, Clayre.

A++++ all around!

Wow. What can I say? Hard. Hard. But amazing! I will try to highlight the good and the bad of my race.

• Morning of the race: driving to the starting area to find the exits closed. Bad. Got out and walked from the exit to the start. Bad. Miles ran: 26.2 Miles walked before the race: 2. Definitely not fun. Plus as I was walking I realized I probably could have just flashed the police my race number and Shayne could have driven me all the way there. Oh well.
• Starting the race. Good. Very exciting. I mean I was running in the Super Bowl of Marathons.
  
• Miles 1-6. Good. Energizing. Lots and lots of runners. Nice down hill slope.
  
• Mile 7 + when I realized that they weren't going to have any sports goo or gel until mile 17 and I didn't pack any with me. Bad. Very Bad. Seriously, I was dieing. I almost begged some off other runners. I wish I had. Thankfully I was able to grab a couple of orange slices and bananas from people in the crowds.
• At each 5K I would run over a mat that would read my chip and electronically post my time and pace over the internet so family and friends back home could track my race. Good. That was cool.
  
• Hitting the half marathon mark knowing that the worst part of the race was still ahead of me. Bad. I don't like to complain. Well maybe I do, but this marathon was HARD! I have only run in the St. George Marathon which has significantly more downhill..long stretches of downhill and the second half lots of steep downhill. Not so in Boston. There is up, up, and even more up. I mean there is a spot in the race that is called Heartbreak Hill!
• Running through Wellesley. Good. This was just after the 1/2. It is a famous spot because of the noise. You can hear a ringing before you see anything and then there is a line of girls (Wellesley is a girls college) and they are screaming and yelling. It was SO awesome. I'll tell you the best thing I did was wear a sign that had my name on it. At the expo there was a station that was handing out large stickers and a sign that said wear your name, crowds like to yell out your name. I grabbed one. I kind of thought it would be dumb. But it was so great. When ever I was feeling crappy...which was kind-of a lot I would run close to the sides and people in the crowds would read my name and shout out encouragement. I cannot tell you how great it was to hear my own name yelled out....even when I knew it was from people I didn't even know. So when I ran through Wellesley, I ran over to the line of girls, they all had their hands out to give fives and for probably a quarter of a mile I gave constant fives and heard my name yelled out over and over. It was such a boost!
• Seeing Shayne (and Josh) at mile 17. Good. I was counting down the miles. Here I was really hating it and it was so good to see someone I knew and get a very much needed pep talk.
• Mile 17. Power gel station. Good. Finally! Advice to anyone planning to run the Boston Marathon : Pack your own gel!!!!!
• Water and Gateraid stations every mile. Good. These saved me. Mentally I was struggling. I was feeling weak and depleted. I just told myself to run to the next water station where I would grab a drink and walk through it. Again here I heard a lot of support from the volunteers reading my name and telling me I could do it.
• Mile 19-21. Bad. Here is where you just keep going up and then still have to run Heartbreak Hill (one of the steepest spots on the course).
  
• Mile 21. Good. Here is another great crowd spot. You run by Boston College. There were a lot of loud noise that really pumps you up. Plus only 5 miles to go.
• Mile 24. Bad. Only 2 to go. I knew I was going to be close to 4 hours. But my legs would not go any faster. It was here that I came to peace with that fact that when I told people my time at Boston it would have to be with a 4 in the front and not a 3.
  
• Mile 25. Bad. Missed seeing Shayne. He was there. And he is still not sure why he never saw me run by. Maybe it was because there were lots of runners...25,000?
• Mile 26. Good. Turning the corner and see all the crowds, all the runners, and especially the finish line.
• Mile 26.2. Good. Finished. 4:01.26.
  
• Mile 26.3. Bad. My calf cramped. But no worries a medic was near by and she stretched it out good.

So even though the race was hard. I am glad I did it. My favorite was definitely having crowds of people throughout the whole race. Their were a lot of people handing out ice, water, popsicles, orange slices, or sponges soaked with water. I even saw this little boy, who was probably 4, holding a half empty water bottle asking the runners as they went by if they needed some water. So cute. So great. Amazing experience.