Fell off the edge of the world but now I'm back

I have been really bad with keeping up on posts. I can't believe it has been two months. So much has happend in the last two months and there is so much more to come.

Where do I even start??? I guess it would be Halloween since I am SOOO far behind. For halloween we did a "Tinkerbell/Peter Pan" theme. Caitlin was Tinkerbell of course (because she is obsessed with tinkerbell), Samantha was Rosetta (tinks good friend...watch the tinkerbell movie to see), Tyler was hook (or a scary pirate), JC was Peter Pan (doesn't he look good in costume?) and I was Wendy.

From October 09

We went to a trunk or treat at our church a couple nights before halloween and then headed over to Cabelas for their annual trunk or treat on the 31st. It was alot of fun as usual.

From October 09

Next up.....

THANKSGIVING:
For Thanksgiving we stayed home with our little family. I think this is the 4th year we have done that. As usual JC made an awesome smoked turkey (I know it looks burnt but it is just smoked) and it was the juciest turkey yet yummmmmmm.

"Thanksgiving"

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We were also dog-sitting for a friend and the kids had alot of fun having a dog to play with for the day.

NEXT.....

CHRISTMAS TIME

WAIT!!! Reverse, go back, we can't start celebrating Christmas until after December 1st because that is JCs B-day....so HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!! We went to Carinos to celebrate JC turning the big 3 2 :) and I can still rub it in since I am not 30 yet...hehe. Just wait until it hits. I can't wait! So after Dec 1st we offically start celebrating but.... our decorating and celebration was slowed down a litle by the chaos in the house. Tyler got sick with the flu and we did not think much of it until the 3rd day he woke up with his eyes blood shot. I brought him into the Dr that day but his fever was gone and they did not see any problem with him going back to school so away he went. (I am mixing the timeline up a little since this all started in NOV but it does lead into my point I promise :) ) Well on the evening of Thankgiving Tyler started to get this weird rash on his legs, we thought they were just bug bites at first so we did not do anything about it. After we had dinner we realized it was getting worse, so we had him take a warm shower thinking that it may be an allergic reaction to something he was exposed to outside. Well....once he got out, it was worse.

From Nov 09

The pictures do not show how awful it looked. He had a ton of red spots all over from his waste down. They were dark purple in the middle and swelling quickly. We decided to take him to the hospital and many worrying hours later we finally discovered that he had something called Henoch Schonlein Purpura (HSP). This was a relief after thinking that it may be somthing called Kawasaki disease, which is much more life threatening and more difficult to manage. The HSP started going away but crept back the following week (1st week in DEC) which is why I am mentioning it here. In the meantime both Samantha and Caitlin had caught the same flu virus that triggered Tyler's HSP and we had someone sick in the house for weeks straight. After Caitlin was over the flu I started to feel sick and ended up with Strep throat.

Needless to say, the Christmas decorating was delayed a couple weeks but it did occur :) Here are some pics and Caitlin got to do the honors of putting the angel on the Christmas tree.

"Picnik Show"

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We also went to the church Christmas party and go to see Santa but those pictures didn't turn out that great so I decided not to add them.

And a few days later we headed out to Utah to spend the days before Christmas with my family. As always, it was a whirlwind trip, packed with alot of things to do.


The kids were very excited to see the snow and they got to go sledding with their cousin Annalise, along with making a snowman and snow angels.

From Christmas 2009

We got to see the lights at Thanksgiving point.

From Christmas 09

Caitlin and Anna had fun riding together in the car and seeing Santa. After Santa left to see the people in the next car Caitlin said...That was great!! She was so enthusiastic about Santa this year...it was alot of fun.

From Christmas 09

One of the best parts of the trip was meeting my new nephew Greyson Carter Stott.

From Christmas 09

Lauren delivered this large 9lb baby on the 17th (the day we arrived). I heard she was amazing and we were so grateful to be able to enjoy the first few days of his life with my brother and his wife. I know they will make amazing parents and am so proud of both of them.

We celebrated Christmas with my family a few days early since we were coming back on the 23rd to spend Christmas day at home since JC could not join us on the trip (due to work). You can see the picture of our fake fire on the TV that we used while we un-wrapped presents. Doesn't it just make you want to get a cup of hot chocolate?

From Christmas 09

Another highlight of the trip was G-ma and G-pa taking us to go to see The Princess and the Frog (the new Disney movie). The girls were spoiled and had these cute outfits my Mom bought for the girls that were all princess and the frog. They wore them to the movie and thought they were the hottest thing in the movie theater (I thought they were pretty cute too but of course 2 out of 3 were my own kids so...I may be a little biased).

From Christmas 09

On the last day, we had pictures taken of all the grandkids together since we had a new addition to the family.

From Christmas 2009

It was so cute to see all of them in their black and red together. The 1 year olds were not so thrilled about it, but I still think they turned out cute.

I know this is a pretty long post so I will try not to draw it out any longer, but the last thing I wanted to add was the news we found out just before going out to Utah.

WE ARE MOVING BACK TO NEW JERSEY!!! I was offered a promotion on the condition that we move back and we decided to take it. So....here we are off on another adventure. We are still trying to figure out details of when, how and where in NJ we will be living, but we are excited to be moving back and will really miss the friends we have made here in Austin.

We are still here!

So I know I have been really bad about posting lately...it has been over a month :) It is just that crazy time of year with school and upcoming holidays.

I made a visit out to OH/KY last week to visit my Mom and Sister. We had a girls weekend and it was so much fun.

It is nice to get a small break every once and a while and just to girl stuff. I also got to see my cute niece Annalise. She is so energetic. It was so beautiful out there, we do not have many fall colors here in Austin so it was great to see the gorgeous fall colors.


We also got a new car this month. I wanted to add the ode to the wonderful Toyota Camry. The car had 309,000+ miles on it and I am sure it would have gone another 30,000 or more if I was willing to dump the money into it, but since I was able to take advantage of a state cash for clunkers program I was glad to have a down payment not out of my own pocket (atleast for the moment) and all I had to do was trade in the Camry :) So here is good bye to the most realiable car I have ever seen...



We got a Pontican Vibe and it wasn't exactly what I wanted because I was hoping for something with a third row seat but everything with that feature was more expensive then I was willing to pay. I was going to take pictures of the new car but it has been raining so much that everytime I go to do it there is rain. Mantha took some pictures from the inside though (this is all I have for now):


Samantha has had this new obsession with using my camera without telling me. Apparently the other day she actually brought it to school with her. The way I found out was when they wanted to play with the pictures on the Wii and I went to look for my camera and couldnt find it where I left it. She then comes out of her room with it and when we open them up to look at them, these are the picture I see:

"Picnik Show"

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Well to end this post I thought I want to add this great picture I took of Caitlin in her high chair the other day. She loves to be the "class clown" of the family and does anything to get a laugh.

Schools In

Well it is that time of year again. School is starting, no more late nights, back in a routine and much cooler days (I have not looked forward to cool days like this in a while).

We were all really looking forward to Samantha starting school this year. She was so ready to learn and socialize and I was so ready for her to be able to do that.

Mantha's classroom (doesn't she look like her gma Stott):

This picture is the kids first day of school, loaded up with the ridiculous long list of items they are supposed to bring to school. I can't believe my baby girl is in school.

But not to fear, Samantha is not one who has ever been afraid of much especially not to defend herself. Within the first week of school she already had two notes sent home because of biting. The first time she claimed that the other child had been teasing her and made her mad so she bit them and the second time she said the other kids made it up and she didn't do it. Either way she was not going to let them get away with it. :)

We had to talk to her about not taking matters into her own hands and speaking to an adult if someone else is being mean. But we decided that Tyler does not help the situation. She also had an incident on the bus where she scratched someone and Tyler encouraged her, so both of them were in trouble. JC says that when Tyler has someone picking on him he is just going to start saying "You can't touch me....do you know who my sister is?"

Tyler is very excited to start school again this year and meet all new friends. Here he is in his classroom:

Well now we just have 1 left at home and she spends the day with a friend from church while I am at work. She really is the princess of the castle and rules the roost. She was upset that she couldn't start school along side of Samantha but has enjoyed seeing her friends Brandon (2) and Seth(3) (my friends kids) everyday.

This was a picture Samantha took of us when we all went to get flu shots last week. Yeah for flu season :)

The day before we had flu shots JC was already sick and I ended up coming down with the flu the next day. Within two days Samantha was sick too. I don't mind getting it now though as long as we do not get it later in the season.

Good times, Sunshine and Summer Time almost over??? :(

As the summer is coming to an end I am happy to say that we had an enjoyable week away from home. We got together with my family last week in Las Vegas. We have been planning this trip for months and were all so excited with anticipation for this trip. We rented a large enough house to fit all 18 1/2 of us (the 1/2 is for the little boy in Laurens tummy). The house had a pool and a nice game room so we opted to spend alot of time there.

It was so much fun to be able to see everyone and actually meet Lill and Will for the first time(they are my niece and nephew, they were born within weeks of eachother and are both adorable).

We celebrated Caitlins birthday while we were out there. We decided to go with a luau theme and made the cake with The little Mermiad. JC made some great food and we had a good first night in this great house.

We did alot of fun things while there like a Scavenger hunt on the strip:

Golfing in Mesquite:

(and Tyler had a little accident falling off the golfcart)

Swimming as much as humanly possible:

And sewing 20 baby blankets/40 burb rags to donate to the hospital that Annalise spent time in the NICU when she was born:

Ellie (my sis-in-law) made some cute tutu's for the girls and we had alot of fun taking pictures of all the girls in their tutu's.

All in all, it was a very fun week that went by way to quickly. Just one more week until school starts and another adventure begins.

From las vegas vacation 2009

Summer Time!!!

So I know I have been really bad about posting. It just seems that summer is so busy and we are having to much fun enjoying the sun. So where do I start when I am nearly two months behind???

June was crazy. We finished up school for the year and I am looking forward to sending two kids to school starting this fall. Tyler enjoyed the first grade enough that he may be doing it again. The school district is going to test his reading and other items before school starts in August but at this point the decision is to have him do first grade over again. This was a really hard thing to hear as a mother but I think in the end it will be best for him and he will be more confident in school and around his peers.

This month for JC has been a physical rollercoaster. A few weeks ago he called me to tell me that he wasn't feeling well and tried to ease me into the fact that his blood sugar was through the roof. He decided to go to the ER and they tested his Glucose level somewhere around 550. I can't believe he was still standing at this point but they gave him some insulin and kept him there for a few hours until he was at a more normal range. He ended up going back in the next morning to get another insulin shot because it was still high but he finally came down a few days later. We are glad he is ok and now we have been trying to find new ways to eat healthy and cut the sugars out. I have become a real fan of Splenda and am trying to learn to bake with it. We have been doing a ton of swimming this month.

We have had plenty of record breaking temps this month so we love to spend time at the pool. The kids have become such confident swimmers and it so fun to watch them improve so much in such little time. Kids are amazing that way. Caitlin loves to swim under the water which amazes me for a two year old. For Fathers day we made this cute block puzzle by suggestion from Kelsey. The kids had fun painting and I think I spent just as much time cleaning up from it as I did actually making it. But that is the point of Fathers day gifts right?

And you can't forget the Fathers Day Cake :)

We also went to a kids day at Cabelas. The kids always enjoy the fishing.Samantha particpated in the pie eating contest and was pretty close to winning. She is such a competitive little stinker...she was so mad that she didn't win.

For the 4th of July I was a bad mother and did not take any pictures but our friends did so when I get those I am planning on posting them. We had fun spending the day swimming and BBQing. It ended in a bang as usual with plenty of pyrotechnics by Dad and a few close calls :) Well, we are only 3 weeks away from our annual Stott family get together and I am getting so excited. I have not had a real vacation day off all year and am excited to get together with my family, relax and play hard. I get to see my cute neice and nephew Lillian and William who I have not been able to see since they were born and I am excited that my kids will have 3 cousins to play with this time...too cool!!! Well this is all I can think of that has happend this month, I am sure there has been more but am so behind I don't remember it all.

Visit from Gma Netta and San Antonio

I know I have been really bad about posting lately, but you will have to forgive me as it has been a busy month. My Mom was in the hospital for a couple weeks after a routine procedure gone bad and we were all stressing over that. Not more than two weeks after that happend I took a trip out to the NJ office and spent a week between Philadelphia and NJ.

It was a great trip, I enjoyed the time I got to spend with Kelsey, Kevin and Annalise and look forward to seeing them again in August. JC and the kids survived without me for a week and the house was even clean when I got home :)

The day after I got home Renetta (JC's Mom who lives in Oregon) came down for a visit. She had been up in Dallas watching Steve and Jens kids (JCs step brother/sister in law) and she came down once they returned from their trip. It was the first time since we have been married that Renetta came to stay with us and we got to just enjoy her being here. Last time she stayed with us when Caitlin was born, but there was so much going on all I remember wanting to do was sleep :)

It was so much fun having the kids get to know who "gma netta"was, webcam just does not do the same.

In the midst of all of this it was also Tylers b-day. My little boy is 7 now, I can't believe it. So we celebrated Sunday night with his favorite dinner "Dads famous enchiladas" and delicious chocolate cake. Famous in our book atleast :) Tyler was happy because it all ended in getting new wii games.

Tuesday we decided to take a trip down to San Antonio. And we are so glad we did. We have been living here in Austin for a year and a half and this is the first time we have been down there to actually visit the city and enjoy it's great history and beauty. We took a stroll around the Riverwalk:

(I know these pictures just dont do it justice, but it was so pretty, once of these days I will get my camera fixed :)

We also got to see the Alamo:

After the Alamo we had to get a cool me down snack. We all got ice cream out of the vending machine and Caitlin liked to wear it as much as she liked eating it:

We finished the evening off with a great dinner at a restaurant on the riverwalk and later read a bedtime story about the real Davy Crockett and how he ended up being one of the many men who gave their lives at this famous battle. It was a fun day and I am glad Renetta was here so we had a good excuse to go down there.

No Wormies!!!

I just had to share a recent experience with Caitlin. I have to warn you, if you have a weak stomach or get grossed out easily do not continue reading. Also, I decided to refrain from adding any pictures to this post so not to realy gross anybody out.

We have been working on potty training with Caitlin and just like any of my potty training children, after using the potty they have to show off their latest accomplishment. Caitlin is funny because she likes her privacy so she makes you leave when she is using the potty but then drags you back in after she is done.

So a few weeks ago she calls me in to check out how great she did with using the potty and I go in to give her high fives, do a little potty dance and then get ready to clean it out (the best part haha). Well when I go to clean it out I discover that there are things moving in her poop. So of course I have to bring it out and show it to JC as he gives me this look like.....why are you showing me this? And if you have ever had any experience with this, then you already know what I am talking about.....they were Pin Worms. This really grossed me out thinking about worms crawling around inside of her.

None of my kids have ever had this before but I have now discovered what a pain they can be. It is hard to get rid of their eggs and they have hatch cycles so you have to take the medicine in cycles as well. And apparently kids usually get it from playing in the dirt or basically eating dirt. So my little dirt eater brought some worm friends home with her.

We have finished the whole process and luckily no one else got them and they have yet to return but the funny thing that inspired this post is. Caitlin again used the potty recently and then drags me in to see it and while we were analyzing her great deed, Caitlin says "look Mama, no Wormies!" Ahhh she just cracks me up.

Needless to say, we are happy for this experience to be over and Caitlin is missing her little worm friends, but I am sure she does not miss how irritating and itchy they were :)

Easter + some

To start off, I have some bad news.....well atleast I think it is :)

I dropped my camera a couple weeks ago and it is no longer working. Won't even turn on :( So now I am having to rely on my crappy camera phone until I can figure out how to replace my digital camera that I loved so much.

So get ready for some poor quality pics............

First off we had a good easter. We went to this Easter event they had at the local park where there were Pony rides, facepainting, inflatable jump houses/slides and of course an easter egg hunt. It was a chilly morning (for Austin) but we had fun none the less. We went with my great babysitter (Dawn) and her family, a.k.a. Mom #2 to my children. It is funnny to see Caitlin and her 2 year old Xavier play together. They are so close in age and have such similar coloring that they often get mistaken for twins. This is a cute picture that Dawn took of them:

Then the rest of the afternoon we dyed eggs and I made some sugar cookies for my little nursery kids at church. The cookies ended up taking me a little longer than I thought but they turned out really cute:

Easter Sunday was good, we ate ham, cause thats what you do on Easter right? Actually JC smoked the ham in the smoker and it was really, really good. Also we had an old friend over for dinner and it was great to see him again. I will have to post pictures of the kids in their easter clothes later. We used JCs film camera to take pictures so when ever we get around to developing them I will scan them in and post them. Feels so old fashioned doesn't it :)

Samantha started her cheer class a couple weeks ago and is having so much fun with that. Here is a pic of them stretching/warming up:

And my cute baby boy is not looking like a baby any more :) Here is a picture he recently had taken at school. Dad and him were proud that he is sporting his eagles jersey as I was upset that he sent him to school with a football jersey on for picture day, but I will have to admit that it doesn't look bad.

Samantha Turns 5!

We had Samantha's birthday party this weekend. It ended up being a pretty busy day after attending a baby shower, going to Ty's baseball game, coming home to prepare for the party and then actually having the party.

Here are some highlights from the party:



Annalise (Kevin and Kels) gave her some heely type shoes which she is excited to learn how to use:

Grandma Stott gave her dance clothes and is also paying for some cheer classes that Mantha wanted to take. She is looking forward to starting next week.

Miss Dawn (Mantha and Caitlin's babysitter/Mom #2) gave Samantha a backpack for when she starts school this fall. She is very excited about this.

And her friends Rebecca and Jesse gave her some My littliest pet shop toys:

After eating dinner, presents and pinata. We decided to head over to the pool for a little while. I didn't think anyone would want to swim since it ended up being about 65-70 degrees that day rather than the forecasted 80 degrees, but that didn't stop the kids (and JC) from jumping in the cold water.

After coming back from the freezing cold water we sang happy birthday and ate the barbie cake:

To end the day Tyler ended up losing both front teeth. And this picture kind of says it all.......JC and Caitlin feel asleep at 9pm on the couch. We were all exhausted by the time the day was over.