Mama's 11 Days of Christmas!

Let the fun begin! Mama is off for the next 11 days to enjoy her time at home with the kids! Lots to fit into that time, including getting ready for Santa, hearing Drew sing on Christmas Eve, an always fun Christmas morning, our 25th wedding anniversary on the 26th, family Christmas with the Scott's in Canton on the 29th-30th, New Year's Eve and New Years Day. And I'm sure I forgot something! Here's my to do list that doesn't include a 40-hour work week on top of it!

Mama's 11 days of Christmas is full of fun you'll see ...
Eleven days to be home,
Ten gifts that need wrapped,
Nine loads of laundry,
Eight rooms to vacuum,
Seven people for Christmas Eve dinner,
Six sleds a sliding,
Five mouths to feed!
Four gallons of milk,
Three hungry pets,
Two wired kids,
And a teenager sleeping until 3!

Merry Christmas!!

Dashing through the snow ...

TJ and Abby had a great time sledding down a small hill on the side of our house today ... hard to recognize the princess all bundled in an old (but warm) coat of TJ's, but she's in there!

7-8 Inches of Frosty Fun!

I'm guessing on the snowfall piled up on the patio table from my nice warm kitchen, but it looks like about that to me.

Winter Wonderland!

We waited for the snowiest day to go to the Christmas Tree Farm ... and we picked a good one! Lots of fun tromping through the frosty stuff to find the perfect tree this morning! Enjoy the slide show!

The Tremont Trio -- Elfed!

Did this last year with Abby's pic and it was too funny to resist putting the whole gang in action this year!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1379866252

THS Madrigal Dinner

Last night was the final performance of the Madrigal Dinner, and it was very special to see the kids and also King Drew! They put in many hours of rehearsal and preparation for the event, and it was great to see a full house of about 200 people despite the freezing rain and ice!

The after-show cast party was held at our neighbors, so it was great that Drew was not on the road ... but we also didn't want the other kids on the road, so we invited all of the boys to stay at our house overnight and the girls stayed with our neighbors. It was a late night for them and they had lots of fun ... and there were bodies strewn everywhere in our house this morning, kids on couches and couch cushions on the floor for makeshift beds ... but a good time had by all. Their cars were pretty icy and several had to work at even getting their doors open, but Mitch helped them with the window scraping and all were on their way home safely by about 10am.

I can't believe this was Drew's last high school production ... it has been wonderful to watch him in various events over the years, and I will miss that part of having a high school student in the house!

We Loved Negril!

Our trip was so wonderful and so relaxing ... and so warm it was hard to come home to snow! HA

We stayed at the Riu Tropical Bay in Negril, and it is definitely on the list of our most-loved places to vacation. A very beautiful resort on a calm and turquoise crescent shaped beach. There was lots to do, but we chose to spend most of our time soaking up the sun in our lounge chairs. It was great to have a few days to relax and celebrate our upcoming 25th anniversary.

The Riu staff was incredible, and we really enjoyed getting to meet some of the people of Jamaica. They are hard working and kind, and made sure our stay was as comfortable and enjoyable as they could. There were several resorts on our beach area but the whole place was very laid back and relaxing. We wandered down the beach to another Riu property where we had exchange privileges for the all inclusive services, and we stopped at some tents/shops of locals selling their goods. Wandering down the other direction, we came upon a nude beach where people were really, ahem ... letting it *all* hang out. Back to our beach!

Each night we enjoyed a great dinner and then a show put on by the Riu staff. The last night's show was similar to a Lion King story, and really neat. Our room was very nice and the grounds of the Riu were beautiful.

Our trip home was a bit longer than we anticipated due to mechanical problems with our plane out of Negril ... so American Airlines had to put us up for an extra night in Chicago on the way home. We arrived home Friday morning instead of Thursday night, and came home to (yuck!) a couple of inches of snow on the ground. But for as nice as our time in Negril was, it's really hard to complain about the trip!

There is a photo show here of our trip, and lots of beautiful pictures. We will have lots of great memories from our anniversary trip, and we look forward to returning to Negril sometime soon.

http://www.photoshow.net/tremontscotts/2007_travel

Trip Time!

We leave early Sunday morning (Dec 2) for our trip to Negril, Jamaica to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary! So there will be a brief intermission here while I sun myself on a lounger and enjoy some fruity beverages with paper umbrellas!

We are staying at the Riu Tropical Bay. Negril is famous for its laid back attitude and gorgeous sunsets, and I am ready for it all!

We're back Thursday night with all the details to come!

Congrats, Drew!

We found out today that Drew was named to the Honors Chorus, which is selected by the Illinois Music Educators Association. This is the 2nd consecutive year he has earned that designation, and it means he will perform with the Honors Chorus during the IMEA Convention. Honors Chorus represents approximately the top 2% of voices in the state as determined from vocal scores at tryouts a few weeks ago. He received the highest vocal score in the District, and will be part of the IMEA All State Concert in Peoria in February ... on my birthday. I can't think of a better gift for mom than to see her guy sing with the best high school vocalists in Illinois!

Four Years Ago Today!

Four years ago today was one of the happiest days of my life ... equal to the day my two sons were known to me, and the day I was married ... it was the day we received Abby's referral and finally knew we had a daughter!

I waited for the call all morning. One of the families in our group got her call, and then it was over an hour before our phone rang. But it finally did.

My hand shook as I wrote down the information. Girl. Guo Kui Yan. Born January 24, 2003. She's 9 mos old! Zhuzhou Children's Social Welfare Institute, Zhuzhou City, Hunan.

Now today she's sitting on the family room floor in her cute little princess pj's and sorting through the Halloween candy that is still left but she's not allowed to eat at 9:30 in the morning.

Enjoy the slide show of the first 3 pics we saw of Abby, taken when she was about 5 months old ... compared with 3 recent pics. That little baldy has grown a beautiful mane!