Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful couple of days ... yesterday we had Grandma & Grandpa Scott here to share the afternoon and then dinner ... and then we went to Christmas Eve services to hear Drew sing "Immanuel." The candlelight service was beautiful, and it is always special to hear Drew sing on Christmas Eve.

Today we were up (not too early, 7:30 am!) opening Christmas gifts. Now the kids are having fun enjoying their new things and we are relaxing and enjoying a holiday home from work!

Here's a short Photo Show of the kiddos on Christmas Day ...

http://www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts

Merry Christmas!

Madrigal Singers/Christmas Concert

A couple pics of the Madrigal Singers from the THS Christmas Concert ... Drew is on the far left, at the top of the risers!


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The Christmas Tree Angels Have Smiled Upon Us!

This is the story of "The Year We Almost Didn't Have a Christmas Tree" :-)

First, some background. We have a 24 year tradition (before kids!) of tromping around the Christmas Tree farm to find THE perfect Christmas Tree to grace our home during the holiday season. And over the last 17 years of the kids being part of the tradition ... it is just one we would never give up. No trees selected from parking lots for us, no artificial pines gracing this house. Must be real, must find it and cut it down, must drag it back to the tractor and then tie it to the top of our vehicle and drive it home!

That being said ... this year was a bit difficult. We have found our tree in previous years through sleet and rain and blinding snow, through cold and frigid temps, but this year the problem was a busy schedule! We always wait until the 2nd weekend in December so as not to have a "withered pine" in the house by the holiday. On December 1st, a snowstorm dumped about a foot of snow on the area ... and of course, on the trees at the tree farms. The second weekend they were still covered in snow and ice ... and we had to travel to Canton Fri-Sat-Sun for TJ's basketball tourney, plus be in Tremont Sat night for Drew's Madrigal Dinner and on Sun for Drew's Christmas Cantata. The weekend was shot.

But the Christmas Tree Angels heard of our plight and smiled upon us! First, they granted us a rearranged family Christmas gathering from this weekend to Dec 31-Jan 1. Our family holiday was supposed to happen today ... but just try and get 3 busy young families together, it is conflicts to the extreme! So thankfully we were rescheduled, and this weekend opened up for the big tree adventure!

But of course, Mitch worked this morning and TJ had a basketball game this afternoon ... which is where the Christmas Tree Angels smiled upon us again when the game was cancelled! A free afternoon. But what about that foot of snow from two weeks ago?

Oh the Christmas Tree Angels would not let a "little" snow get in the way! Over the past few days, the temps have been in the mid-50's and the snow is completely GONE! And today was a balmy (for Dec in IL!) 58 DEGREES! So we ventured out in light jackets and boots to handle the mud from the melting snow, and the Christmas Tree adventure was a big success! Found the perfect tree, Mitch got the cutting underway ... and then TJ got the honor of cutting it down the rest of the way! It is in the house, and since Drew had a Christmas party to go to tonight, we will decorate it on Sunday. But it's here! Enjoy our Photo Show of the big adventure ...

http://www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts/family

THS Madrigal Dinner

The THS Madrigal Dinner was a great success, and tonight was the final performance for this group of hard working kids! Enjoy the photo show ... Drew is pictured with Sara, and then again with Taylor and Cori.


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A Snowy Friday!

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The kids are getting a rare snow day from school today ... but found some time to enjoy a little play time outside! I stayed home but Mitch braved the roads ... lots of drifts around the house, as you can see in the pics!

Congratulations, Drew!!

Drew was so happy to hear today that he made the IHSA "All State Chorus" and the "Honors Chorus" with his vocal audition! This is an advance from the District Music Festival he participated in at WIU a few weeks ago. Now he will perform with the two chorus groups during the IL Music Educators Association at their annual conference ... which, conveniently for us ... is in Peoria! Congrats Drew, we are very proud of you!!

Basketball Tourney

TJ played in four basketball games this weekend in a tournament in Pekin ... they had a great time, but I think they are all pretty tired! The games were more in the evening (5pm, 7pm, 8pm) so at least we didn't do a lot of basketball running right in the middle of the day. It was nice to have the long holiday weekend ... and now it's back to work! Here's a pic of the 3rd grade team just after their loss in the final game ... they were plotting last night to all wear their medals to school today! HA TJ also received one of the medals because he played in the final 4th grade game. They were a little short on team members, and he was happy to help out!

Three Years Ago Today!

Create Your Own
It's hard to remember what life was like before Abby joined our family ... but I have no problem remembering what the day was like 3 years ago today, November 17, 2003 ... the day our referral from China finally arrived!

After all the paperwork and waiting, it was finally time to learn who the little girl was on the other side of the world who would soon join our family. It was exciting and surreal all at once ... a bit like being in labor with the boys, and every bit as emotionally draining ... but with much less physical discomfort. At least for Mama! And finally, late morning the call came ... it was official, a baby girl in Zhuzhou City, Hunan named Guo Kui Yan would be our daughter! She was 9 months old and her report from the SWI said that she loved to be outside and got especially excited when motorcycles passed by the orphanage gates. Which was a direct match of her new daddy's home study report that talked about what he enjoyed most ... being outside and riding his motorcycle!

We knew this little one would change our lives, but how do you ever truly prepare for the blessing of a beautiful child to enter your life. The next few weeks would be a blur as we went through the motions of enjoying the holidays and preparing for our trip halfway around the world. Our last Christmas as parents of two boys, which I tried to enjoy as much as possible ... but thoughts of that little one 8,000 miles away made the holiday bittersweet.

Three years ago today Abby didn't know we were about to turn her world upside down, but it was one of the best days of our lives. This morning as she snuggled in bed with me just before it was time to get moving, it seemed like yesterday we received that call. But so much has happened and she has changed so much ... it also seems like an eternity.

Enjoy the slide show with the first 3 pics we saw of Abby with her referral, taken about 4 months before they were sent to us when she was 5 months old ... mixed in with 3 more recent photos. It is a special day!

A Basketball & Music Kind of Weekend!

The 3rd grade boys basketball traveling team kicked off its season this weekend with games on Sat & Sun ... TJ is so excited to be part of this. Sat morning we had to meet up with the team early to get uniforms all set, and that was a big moment for all the kids. Sun morning TJ had his uniform on by 7:15 am. I think he is just a tiny bit excited about all of this.

Small slide show from the games, but tough to get good pics of these fast-as-lightning moving targets! :-)

The music part of the weekend came with Drew on Sat ... he was gone from 5:45 am until 8:30 pm at the IHSA District Music Festival at Western IL University, singing in the District Chorus. Two students from THS were placed in the District Chorus, and we are very proud of him. No word yet on the status of who made the All State Choir or Honors Choir ... will post as soon as we know!

Back to Reality!

Dang, it's cold here at home!
:-)

We arrived home from Cancun about 10pm Friday night ... of course we hopped off the plane in Peoria in our shorts and flip flops and shivered all the way home!

It was a great, relaxing week for our family in Mexico. A little rain, but mostly sun, sand and warm days! We enjoyed the resort and its awesome pool ... and took a couple of side trips. One day we took a free hotel tour that took us by bus through the Hotel Zone, where we got to see lots of beautiful hotels and also some that are still recovering from Oct 2005 Hurricane Wilma. Hard to imagine what this area must have looked like a year ago! Then we took an incredible boat ride out to Isla Mujeres, where we lounged on the beach and ate lunch ... then hopped back on the boat for the second stop and some straw market type browsing.

Our second trip a couple days later was back down to the Hotel Zone by bus for some shopping ... yes, I did actually get Mitch to agree to go shopping, but only because it was a rainy day! It was a good souvenier stop, and TJ finally got the ukelele he had been begging for all week!

Smooth flight home, although we did have a bit of turmoil when our landing was aborted at O'Hare due to a plane in our way (yikes) and we did a hard, fast UP ... back to the sky and land of circling planes! After a few loops in the sky we gave it a second try, which was successful ... but a bit much for Abby and she experienced the joys of air sickness. UGH! But after her feet hit the ground, she was just fine and did great on the short hop from O'Hare to Peoria.

Today has been spent unpacking and getting laundry done ... reorganizing for the work and school week ahead! I have created a long photo show from our trip that you can see here ...

http://www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts/2006_travel

If you are longing for a little sun and warmth right now, these pics might do you good! I'm going to enjoy them for awhile, and hope they get me through the wait for Spring Break in Destin! Check out the new countdown clock at the top! HA

Glad to be home, and so glad to have shared this wonderful week together as a family!

Adios, Amigos!!

Create Your Own!

We will be Cancun-bound on a 5:50 am flight Fri ... and Thurs night is going to be a zoo ... so I'm going to sign off now to be sure it gets done!

Ahhh, the Moon Palace. We have been here 2x before, and it is paradise for the way we like to vacation. You won't likely find us running around theme parks or museums, we are beach lovers and use our vacation weeks as total family relaxation time. Not much better place to do that than the Moon Palace ... all inclusive so we put our wallets in the safe when we arrive and don't take them out until we leave, it has the largest swimming pool in Mexico, swim up bars, 10 restaurants, some free watersports for the kids, lounge chairs that sit IN the water in the pool ... and it is supposed to be about 88 degrees there so that sounds great too!

School is out Fri, and then Drew and TJ will miss next week. Our district allows 5 days each year for vacations, and we appreciate that because there is no better way our kids can spend this week than with their family.

I'm not planning to even try and find internet access on vacation, just planning to relax ... so you probably won't see any pics til we return! Enjoy the slide show!

TJ and the traveling team

TJ was so excited to find out yesterday that he will be part of the "Future Turks" 3rd grade boys traveling basketball team! They will play 25-30 games in the next 3 mos or so ... so it looks like we'll be on the go. Most Saturday games are away (Pekin, Morton, Washington, Illini Bluffs, Canton, Danvers) and most Sunday games are at Tremont High School. They have 3 tournaments I think ... Canton, Pekin and Knoxville. He'll miss a couple practices while we are gone, and the first game is Nov 11. Go TJ!

Busy around here, so just a fun post!

Seems we are all burning the candle at both ends around here ... not much time to post or take new pics to share ... so I thought I'd post this just for fun!

Found this on youtube.com totally by accident, it's a one minute street scene from a busy intersection in the city where Abby spent the first 11 months of her life, Zhuzhou City, Hunan ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11EavVXIvms

Brings a smile to my face recalling the crazy driving and relentless traffic in China. Hard to explain how crossing the street is life threatening! :-)

The kids are busy with activities and homework ... especilly Drew as he finishes up his English III term paper (2000 words). TJ is going to try out for the 3rd grade traveling basketball team this Sat, so hopefully we'll have some pics and good news about that soon! They will play 25-30 games all over it sounds like, so more running for the Scott family.

Abby is enjoying her new activity at school ... the Boogie Bus. Once a week she has a half hour dance lesson on an old school bus converted into a dance studio, and it drives up to her preschool for the kids to enjoy. The first few weeks they learned pom pon routines, and now they just switched to tap dancing. They provide all the props and shoes, so it's pretty easy for mom to get her some extra activity during her school day.

Not long before Cancun now ... we are READY!!

Happy Birthday Drew & THS Homecoming

A whirlwind few days here as Drew celebrated his 17th birthday (seventeen!) on Friday ... and then it was also THS Homecoming time! Drew spent many hours over the week helping with the Junior Class homecoming float and getting Student Council activities together, which included getting the gym ready for the dance. Thursday night was a community pep rally and he sang with Madrigals and played with Band ... and then on Fri was the parade. Our band is very casual, so the director let them march in their band t-shirts and hold off wearing uniforms until the game that night. Sat night was the dance, and he is now crashed from his long week! Enjoy the photo show, below, which has some shots of the band in the parade, the float he spent hours on, marching at the game, and Drew and Sarah heading off to the dance!

Pekin Times Article 9-23-06

Fun! Today on the front page of the "Lifestyles" section of the Pekin Times ... a giant pic of Abby and her buddy Jenna, and a wonderful story about how China adoption brings strangers together with similarities we never knew we had ...

http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2006/09/23/lifestyles/lifestyles1.txt

There is no photo with the article, so my little model, Abby, is holding the paper up for you to see! :-)


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Basketball Buddies

TJ and Abby are 5.5 years apart ... they know how to push each other's buttons sometimes for sure, but they do enjoy a good game together!


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An Incredible Sunset

(click picture for a larger view)

Two posts in one day here, but I had to share this picture. Last night we were at the boat and heading to dinner ... and I looked up and saw the most incredible sunset I think I have ever seen. We see lots of beautiful orange and pink and purple skies out there ... but this sunset was a clear blue sky with orange "rays" of light beaming up. The rays went over our heads in a light yellow color, and then curved back down toward earth in the East and they were white. I didn't have my camera with me, but took this pic on my camera phone, so it's a little blurry. Quite a sight!

Great Day for a Picnic!

Abby and I went to the family picnic for "Our Children from China" in Pekin on Sat, and it was a fun day! She got to hang out with her buddy Jenna, who is also from Hunan and is in her daycare class. We were interviewed by a reporter from the Pekin Times and he took lots of pics of Abby and Jenna playing and eating lunch together, so we'll see if they make the paper tomorrow!

Here's a slide show from the picnic ...


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A Gorgeous Day!

Abby and I got home from work and school tonight and it was SO beautiful outside! We soaked a little bit of it up before daddy came home ... and I took advantage of the beautiful day to take some pics of Abby near the flowers and fish pond. Hate to think in a month the frost will take away our pretty summer flowers, but I guess that is part of the deal with the changing seasons!

Enjoy the slide show ...


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Butterfly Girl

(click picture for bigger view) I went outside on Sat and found Abby playing with this monarch butterfly that must have been caught up in the grill of my car. She was studying it carefully and ran to show it to me. Made me laugh ... is this the same little girl who used to totally freak out over anything with wings or legs that moved within 10 feet of her? ;-)

A beautiful weekend here. There is a touch of Fall in the air, for sure.

A fun holiday weekend!

We had a great Labor Day weekend, relaxing at the river. Beautiful weather, almost cool and fall-like. I have created a musical Photo Show with some pics that I took over the weekend ... just out on the water and misc sights from the boat, plus we had a gorgeous sunset on Sat night and so there are lots of pics of that as well. The Photo Show can be viewed here, under 2006 Labor Day Boating ...

www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts

Not much else on that site yet, but I hope to add more. All of the previous shows that I had created were lost in the great laptop crash of May 2006 :-(

Gilbert Update: It appears that this time, he may really have flown the coop. Hopefully, he's headed for home or already there. We released him on Saturday about Noon, and he sat on the roof for about 2.5 hours ... then flew back to the cage to eat. HA He was around through Sunday and then when we came home from the boat on Monday night, he was nowhere to be found. No Gilbert sightings today, so we think he has moved on. We're gonna miss the little guy, we liked him!

Friday Night Football Time!

September already? One sure sign is Friday Night Football around here! Drew plays in the THS band (alto sax) and so it's that time again. The good thing about being part of a smaller district is that they need ALL of the kids who want to be part of band to be there ... so you will look out across the band and see kids in football, cheerleading and dance team uniforms. No one has to choose sports or band at Tremont. Our band is set up to have lots of fun, and they don't do competitions or detailed marching. They are truly set up as a concert band, but get to have a little fun in the Fall with some marching.

Gilbert Update: He's a caged man again, and seems to be calm and happy. Not sure about releasing him today as originally planned since all the dove hunters are out in the fields around our subdivision. There are several sportsmen's groups who plant fields of sunflowers to attract wildlife for hunting purposes, and I'd hate to think of him landing there. I think he's going to remain behind bars for a bit longer :-)

Enjoy this slide show of the Tremont High School Marching Band!


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The Pigeon Chronicles

Wed night we did a lot of Google research on homing pigeons and racing pigeons ... and found a way to track Gilbert's owner. I wished that we had caged him Wed night when we had the chance, thinking that would be easier to call the owner and tell him we had the bird ... not just that we saw the bird.

Thurs morning about 6:30am I was heading downstairs to the kitchen, and as I walked by the front door I heard a noise that was loud enough to stop me in my tracks ... a scratching and fluttering noise, coming from around the front door. I thought "no way" and opened the door ... and sure enough, there was Gilbert fluttering at the front glass storm door as if he wanted to come in! So we grabbed him and put him in an old cage we had, knowing he was safe and sound for the day.

I did track down the owner on Thurs morning, and he lives in Downers Grove, IL. He had taken 20 of his birds to DeWitt, IA on Sun for a 150 mile race. There was a strong head wind that pushed the birds to the South, and only 6 of his 20 birds made it home. He said he'd very much like to have the bird back, and asked how far away we were. When he realized it would be a 5 hour round trip to pick him up ... he asked if I would mind feeding him for a couple more days to build his strength, and then release him on Sat so he would fly home on his own. I said we'd give it a try, and he was very appreciative to know someone was caring for the bird.

Last night Drew was putting in some new food/water ... and Gilbert grabbed the chance to fly the coop when the door was open! He flew up to the roof and sat there for a couple of hours, and then flew off about 7pm. We hoped he was strong enough to make it home!

So this morning (Fri) there was no Gilbert at the front door. We thought he must be trying to make his way home. And then about 7am our dog started barking and I couldn't figure out why ... and there was Gilbert sitting on the table on our deck! We left the cage with food/water out on it overnight in case he came back, and he was having a little breakfast. HA He won't let us get close enough to him to put him back in the cage (smart guy) but is now roosting on the trellis above the hot tub. So the saga continues!

Home Sweet ... HOMING PIGEON??

Oh dear, my kids have fallen in love with a homing pigeon, also called racing pigeons I hear, that has taken up residence in our back yard!

Yesterday TJ called me at work, and excitedly told me that there was a "huge" bird with "orange and green tags" in our back yard that must be someone's pet! I was picturing more of a parrot until Drew got on the phone and said our neighbor had confirmed it was a homing pigeon. They watched it, took pictures of it, Googled for info about it, named it "Gilbert" and just had a blast. I got home and it was nowhere to be seen.

Fast forward to about the same time of day today ... and Gilbert reappeared! More pictures, tonight it let us pick it up, and we were able to get the numbers off the band to try and figure out where it came from. The band ID ties to a pigeon association club in Decatur ... so I have emailed the contact and we shall see what happens. Hopefully Gilbert will make another appearance tomorrow if we find the owner and they are anxious to get their bird back! Stay tuned ...

Back to School

New school year for the kiddos ... TJ started 3rd grade, and Drew is starting his junior year of high school. Where did the years go?

Not to be outdone, Abby moved up one level in preschool this week and is enjoying her new class ... complete with music, Spanish and dance! So glad the kids are back in the routine and enjoying their new classrooms and teachers!

Peoria Chiefs Baseball

I'm posting this a little after the fact ... but trying to catch up on a new blog site.

TJ had a great time at the Peoria Chiefs game on July 16, celebrating his 8th birthday with friends and family. It was hot-hot-hot, but we had a great time! We were lucky to be in a box suite where we could catch a break in the A/C while watching the game! There was a military helicopter on display that we went over to see ... and while the kids were sitting in it and Drew was checking out the cockpit ... BONK!! ... a home run ball hit the front of the chopper and dented it. Made for a great story, and fun memories of the day! Enjoy the pictures, below, from his special day!


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Our Trio at the River ...

We spend a lot of weekends at our boat, so I thought it would be fun to take the kiddos out for some river pictures.

This was taken by Jenny at Simply Charming Photography on July 4th weekend ... a little hot and hazy, but the pics turned out great!

If you are in our area and want to get info on using Jenny for pictures, just give me a call.