But WHY MOMMY

I love this question. I think it is the first thing I hear out of my children's mouths. I once heard that Thomas Jefferson asked his mother a lot of questions too. Maybe it is a sign of smarts...or maybe not.
We have had a good week. Cold cold cold, but I had a lot of work and the kids always really enjoy school. I took them ice skating this week. Alma was very good for being on the ice for the first time. Ivy just let me drag her around like a rag doll. She thought it was a blast. I had forgotten how much I really enjoy ice staking. I am not really good either, but most of the time I manage to stay upright. I think that this may become a weekly activity for the rest of the winter. It is definitely something to look forward to.
last weekend we went to a friend's birthday party. It was such a blast. We played RockBand2 on the Wii. I have to admit, I really like the singing. And they have some pretty awesome songs.

Here is a picture of my closest friend here, Lisa Smith and I at our Christmas party in December.

Happy New Year!

Better late than never, right?

This is a picture of the girls in front of the tree at bedtime.

We had a wonderful holiday season, and I am so glad that we are finally getting back into our routine.
Christmas was great. We stayed at home and the girls were so fun. We had a blast opening presents, playing with presents, sleeping in and enjoying each others company. I didn't bother making a big Christmas Dinner this year. We had so many left-overs from a big meal we did two nights before.
In Stettler, we celebrate the night before the night before Christmas (the 23rd). The whole town gets into it. The theater plays a Christmas movie for free and the local train gave free rides. There was a big bonfire and ice skating. We watched "Elf" at the theater and went on the train . It was great. Then we got together with some friends and had a fancy ham dinner and played games. I think we are going to try to keep that as a tradition.

here we are at the train station.
This is my friend Lisa, her girls and my girls.

For Christmas Eve, we made a Gingerbread house, scattered "reindeer food" on the front lawn so Santa's reindeer had something to snack on, then we read "The Night before Christmas" and the Christmas story from Luke. It was great.

New Years was really fun too. We got together with a bunch of the branch and played games etc. We were all having so much fun that we missed the count-down.
Now we are all back at school and work and enjoying the freezing cold temperatures. A few nights ago our furnace went out. luckily it was only minus 20 (a lot warmer than it had been the week before) and the repair man was able to get it up and running again the next afternoon.
We also had some electrical work done and I am very grateful to know skilled people in our branch that are willing to help out.
Speaking of our branch, I have received a new calling. I am now the Nursery leader. I am excited, but I will really miss the Relief Society. Our nursery is very isolated, and you don't get a lot of opportunity at church to mingle. But I am am thrilled to work with the little ones, and the best part is of course snack time.
And now for the lighter side...
I wish that I had a recorder and I could make a list of all the funny things said in our house. Things like "Stop riding your sister" and "mommy, when I get to be a mommy, we'll be the same age" I love three-year old logic. I'll try to keep a better record of the funnies at the Scott household.

what - no pictures?

Ok, So I was going to post this a few weeks ago...but I was having problems getting the pictures, I figure I'll post it anyway and then put a new one up as well...

(flash back to December 18th)
So here's the thing. I'm not a big picture taker. I see all these other blogs with tons of pictures on them and I feel a bit guilty, because I don't have tons of pictures of my kids or, well of anything. I don't have my camera around 24/7 and I miss a lot of really funny stuff. I could have my kids blackmailed for life if I started toting a camera. Hmmm... maybe it's not such a bad idea.
Things are going well. I have a cold, but it hasn't caused me too much grief yet. I've been pretty steady in the work department, I know it's going to get crazy in February, so I'm trying to store up some energy now.
We have been working on our night-time routine with the girls. No more diapers. So far in the last two weeks I think we have had one completely dry night. yay. I'm trying to stay positive.
I had the girls write letter to Santa last week. Alma asked for a toy cat and a big dark brown bunny. Ivy asked for a real live pink unicorn, a real puppy and a toy Santa. We mailed the letters to the North pole and yesterday both the girls got letters from Santa. It was so awesome. Santa rocks. By the way, so far Santa has only been able to find - you guessed it - the pink unicorn. I'm going to have to go to the "big city" tonight and do some power shopping.
Speaking of the "Big City" I had a request from a friend for some pictures of the town that I live in. I thought about going around town and taking some photos, but it is really cold outside. Last week we dipped down to -37 degrees with the wind chill. For you US folks that's around -35 Fahrenheit. bhrr.
Anyway, instead of taking my own photos, my super-smart husband suggested I just get the pictures from the town website. Here is the link if you want to see more of our little town.
http://www.stettler.net/default.cfm
Here is a picture of the Christmas tree the the town puts up in the middle of Main street the beginning of December every year:

And here is our local steam train. I think there are only a few left in North America, so this is actually pretty cool:

One of the 7 wonders of Stettler is the Threshing Machine (yes we are that rural):

And last but certainly not least is Main street

So that is my little town...I love it here.

This week was Christmas Program week for the Girls. Alma's was last Wednesday and Ivy's was yesterday.
Here's Alma at her concert:

And here are the girls posing after her concert. They are so darn cute!

And this was taken at Ivy's concert. It was so funny because she was quite upset when she opened the gift from Santa and found that it was a book, not a pink unicorn. "I don't like it". I think she was pretty mad at Santa, but was too shocked to say anything to him. I had to explain that the book wasn't the only gift from Santa this year...he would come to our house for Christmas too. That made her feel a bit better.

I better make this quick, because it's late and I am tired and my eyes are red from not enough sleep and I realized this morning that if i don't start getting more rest, I'm going to look like the walking dead and start getting wrinkles and that would just depress me.
Anyway, I'm still running on all cylinders. I keep waiting for things to slow down, but something always comes up. I wrote a 12 days of Christmas poem for our Branch Christmas party. I based it on my own life (not quite, but that's how I feel sometimes):

On the 12th day of Christmas my Relief Society said to me
Let's make 12 dozen chocolates
eleven crafts
ten minute talk
nine memorized scriptures
eight scrapbook pages
seven books to read
six children crying
five visiting teaching routes
four jell-o recipes
three baby blankets
two primary lessons
and don't forget your family home evening

Only for me right now, it Christmas baking, Christmas concerts, Christmas cards, visiting teaching, etc. etc. etc. Lucky for me though the baking and the shopping are mostly done and things are starting to settle down.

We had a wonderful time at our Branch Christmas party on Friday. Good food, good friends, and the decorations turned out great. Instead of asking Santa Clause to come for a visit, we had a visit from the three wise men (our branch presidency) and they did a great job. I'm just glad I don't have to plan another party until...well January at the earliest.

We have also started night time potty training. so far we have a 0-3 record, but I am going to stick with it. I just have to remember to go up and get them to the potty before I go to bed. Speaking of...maybe I better cut this short and get upstairs now.

I'll post pictures and fun stuff soon

My Alma girl

Of course the most exciting news from this week was Alma's 5th Birthday! We had a lovely little princess party for her and 5 little friends.

We painted our fingernails and got dressed in princess dresses and had a lovely princess cake. I am so proud of this cake - I did it all by my self, and it actually turned out pretty adorable.

My little girl is growing up so fast. She still loves the cuddles, the bed time stories and the stuffies to sleep with but, she is growing and learning faster than I could have imagined. We got her report card this week. A report card for kindergarden. Wow. She is doing so well in school. This week was also the primary presentation in our branch. She was so cute. The littlest one up there. and she said her lines so well..."the Doctrine and Covenants teaches me how to live the Gosple", and "I can help my family by taking care of my little sister". It brought tears to my eyes.
I have found that she has a remarkable memory. She can recite whole poems that she learns at school to me when she gets home. I usually only have to tell her something once and she gets it. However, If it's something that I want her to do for me...well that's another thing all together.

Being busy makes me happy. No, really. I think I can accomplish a lot more when I'm under pressure - As long as I know that there will be a break at some point, I thrive on busy-ness. I know that in two weeks, I will be ready for Christmas, the cards will be sent, gifts given to teachers, all the parties will be done and I will be able to sit and watch Christmas movies and read books all day long. As long as I can make it through the next two weeks!

Of course part of the busy was going to see Twilight. Yes, I am a fan. My name is Becky, and I am addicted to Twilight. I know that it is geared to teenage girls, but I was one once, so that makes it alright. Not only did I buy and read all the books and go to the movie on the first night, but I forced all my friends to read it too. And sometimes I told random strangers in the stores to read the books. I figure I'm just a romantic at heart, and I can't resist a good vampire love story. I just hope that the next movie will have a larger budget, so the cinematography will be a little better. I did love looking at the beautiful scenery. It made me miss home a little.

Well, now I'm on to other fun adventures. I am planning a little skit for our Relief Society and need to come up with the 12 days of Christmas relating to the Relief Society. My best thinking spot for this kind of thing is on the floor in the girl's bedroom. Unfortunately, right now it is occupied with a plethora of Barbies and Polly Pockets, so I guess I'll have to wait my turn.

Cheese!

Last week Ivy says to me: my name is Cheese.
ok, Cheese - lets go run some errands. We went to Walmart. I was talking to the gals I know so well. And Beth turns to Ivy and asks, so what's your name? Cheese. Oh - what kind of cheese?
White Cheese.
I have to mention that Ivy really loves cheese. She would eat it day and night if I would let her.
Speaking of my daughter Cheese, we got her playschool photos this week. What a cutie!

On a different note...my wonderful husband had a birthday this week. I have realized that Graham doesn't share my love of birthday parties (or just being in the spotlight for that matter). So this year I decided that Graham should have a birthday HE could enjoy. I did not give him a card, or a present. I did however, make him his favorite meal (shepherds pie) and instead of buying a fancy bottle of sparkling cider, I bought a 4 litre jug of chocolate milk. I think it made him happy. I know the chocolate milk did. The girls made him home-made birthday cards. Very understated. Very Graham.
I do get to go overboard next weekend for Alma's birthday. and Thanksgiving.
We did our family photo for the year. We decided (in other words - Graham decided) that we would try to get a good picture with our camera instead of going into a portrait studio. I think we did pretty good..

.

Here is Alma and Mommy sharing a special moment

ok, and now the real one...

Not too bad for us amateurs!

I got a haircut the other day. I'm liking it a lot. Graham says he like the curly hair better, but I think it's fun to try something different once in a while. Her is me with no makeup and only three hours of sleep (I worked an overnight shift the night before)

Our great haul for Halloween

I never learned how to juggle.
That's why, when I start working a lot, other things fall behind, like blogging, cleaning the house, and feeding my family. oops. (that's a gummy worm in Ivy's mouth)
We had a fantastic Halloween party on the 30th. Everyone went as a superhero that they made up. It was meant to reflect your personality in some way. We had the Control Freak, Captain Vegetable, Alternate reality girl, and Captain Cartography (that was Graham). For some reason my friends though my name was rather fitting - Spazztastica. There were so many good costumes. We had so much fun, good food, good music. I just love it when a party pulls together so well.
Alma had a Halloween party at school on the 31st. She wanted to be a fairy princess, so I got a pretty pink dress up dress and a crown of flowers and little pink shoes and of course her wand - she must have looked adorable, but because the kids were not allowed to wear their costumes until after lunch, and she took it off before I picked her up from school, I never saw her in it. After school she told me she wanted to be a pink fish for Halloween. Ok - pink fish it is. So I put Ivy in a Fairy princess costume and Alma with a big pick fish on her head. It lasted for about 5 minutes until she said it was too hot. We went to Daddy's work, and to the Stettler mall, where the girls both got about three pieces of candy and then they crashed. They were done. "I don't want to go trick or treating - I want to stay home".

Our little pink fish - swimming on the carpetThe girls in front of the house

and now were done.

Fine, stay home, I really don't need the extra candy in the house. We got bad Chinese food from the grocery store and watched the new Tinkerbell movie. Maybe we can always do Halloween this way. less cavities - right?
I just got Alma's first school photos. She is so adorable - I was really impressed with how well they turned out. Ivy should be getting hers soon too.


Oh, yes, and we finally got a new camera. Our old one would have cost about $600 to fix, which is more than the new ones anyway, so we bit the bullet. I really love having a husband that figures out all the best deals so I don't have too. I would go to the nearest store, pick up the cheepest camera and call it good enough. not Graham - he is a spreadsheet guy. Sometimes it drives me a little crazy, but I like that he really researches to get the best deal.
Well, thats about all. until next time Nanu Nanu (for all those Mork and Mindy fans out there).