Welcome Home Drew!

The move from college is over, and Drew is home for the summer!

We had a great trip up, and since most all of the other students left campus after finals were done on Wed ... we pulled right up to the building and found a spot near the door of the dorm building. We were loaded up and headed off to dinner in just over an hour. As we pulled out, I commented that it was just too easy!

As we were leaving, we made a stop at "Sesquicentennial Plaza" on campus to find the memory brick that we had put in place for Drew's great-grandparents.


They were Carthage College students in the late 1920's, and it's amazing that Drew is completing his freshman year on the 80th anniversary of his great-grandfather's graduation from Carthage. Of course at that time it was located in Carthage, IL (it's namesake) and the campus moved to Kenosha, WI in the 1960's ... but there are many reminders of the school's past on campus.

Drew was awarded one of just two Alumni Scholarships given to the class of 2012 for the story of his great grandparents time at Carthage, and so he really wanted to remember them with a brick on the plaza. In this photo, Mitch and Drew are standing just behind the brick.

If you click the photo for a full size view, you can see a little more of the plaza in the background.

Now he's back to home life for awhile. Time to go back to work and make some $$ for next year, and also he'll take a summer class at the local community college. He has to graciously bunk down in a family room location since our bedrooms are all full until after Beverly's departure on June 9. We'll do fine, and we'll shuffle around again in a couple weeks when it's time for her to go. Can't believe how fast this school year has gone!

That looks familiar ...

As I was watching the local news tonight, I spotted our boat in a story about the flooded river and our marina,

http://www.week.com/news/local/45863627.html

Then I found it in this pic on the tv station web site too! The comments at the end are interesting ... boating has always been a family activity for us. That person must need to get a life! ;-)

Flooding on the river ruining our plans? Who's boating this weekend anyway ... we have a kid to move home from college! HA HA Kenosha bound tomorrow! It will be great to have Drew home for awhile.

Beautiful Weekend!

After a wet and rainy week, we had a beautiful weekend!

Went shopping for the spring flowers and got them planted with the help of the girls ...


And the kids played outside and had a great time all weekend.

TJ has been having fun with the "kiddie" baseball bat and smacking the ball "to the wall" with it. Looking forward to his first game, coming up on May 27!

We received three big boxes from the mailman on Saturday, more lovely gifts for us from Beverly's family. So that was exciting to open them up and see what they contained! TJ was especially excited to get a real favorite thing of his, a remote control hovercraft! And mama was happy to see more of the beautiful porcelain statues that I admired in Guangzhou but talked myself out of buying and bringing home!

By this time next week, most all of Drew's belongings will be back in Tremont and he will be on his way home from his freshman year of college. He has finals Monday and Tuesday and we'll go up at some point and bring most things home and leave him with the essentials. He has to remain on campus to sing with Carthage Choir at next Sunday's baccalaureate and commencement. Hard to believe his first year of college is over, and he's already looking forward to summer classes, summer job and a special summer trip to his fraternity's annual conference!

Middle School Band Concert

TJ has been talking for weeks and weeks and weeks about the songs the 5th grade band was working on for the spring concert ... and tonight, we finally got to hear them!

He was so excited to join the band this year as a drummer, and really took well to playing the snare drum. He has had the chance now to move up to the bass drum ... which is taller than he is on stage, ha ha.


You can see him in this picture ... sort of ... standing behind the big red bass drum!

He was proud to carry the beat of "We Will Rock You" and had a great time. It was fun to see him, and great to have another son involved in the great music programs at our school.

Prom Night in Tremont

Beverly is off to her first prom tonight with a group of friends! There are a couple other pics on her blog, just click on the name,

Ten Months in Tremont

And then our Hunan princess decided since we were going out to dinner ... she, too, required a pretty dress, some of mommy's dangly earrings, and her hair in an up-do ...

It is Finally Spring and I Have Proof!

After a long, cold, snowy winter ... followed by the first month of spring on the calendar being cool and wet ... we have finally turned the corner to beautiful weather!

Flowering trees

















Pretty birds at the feeder
















Fresh top soil in the pots,
awaiting flower plantings
















Moss growing in the fish pond
















Flip flops as common attire
















Bike rides
















And nothing says spring like ... little league!



Welcome spring and good weather. We have missed you!

Relay for Life

Drew is particpating with his fraternity in a Relay for Life event ... here is his event info and a link to his donation page. I know many of us have the organizations that are close to our hearts that we support ... no guilt or begging on his behalf, but if you are interested in this event, you can make a donation to help him meet his goal on his page. Thanks for considering it! Here is his message:

A message from Drew Scott regarding the Relay for Life:

I have committed to participate in the Relay For Life at Carthage through Delta Upsilon. I have learned that this year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer”. I know that some of those people could be people that I care about. Instead of being afraid of that, I have chosen to do something to fight back against this disease and I’m asking for your help.

Will you consider making a donation to my Relay For Life efforts? $1 or $5 ... no amount is too small to help. To donate online now, click the link below to visit my personal page.

By making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating right, exercising and not smoking we can reduce the chances of getting cancer by as much as 50%! I’m asking that you consider taking this challenge to fight back against cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices and supporting my fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back! Eliminate it!

Click here to visit my personal page

Click here to view the team page for Delta Upsilon

Better sit down, this is a rare photo!!

You may have never seen this kind of photo here ... and you may never see it again!

It's an Easter Miracle! :-)

With pride, I show you a picture of the ENTIRE Tremont Scott family ... from those who you see regularly to the one who is usually away at college ... and even the mama who is ALWAYS on the other side of the lens ... all in one photo!!



Thanks to Grandpa Scott for doing the photography duty today! We shared a very nice holiday dinner and afternoon with Grandma & Grandpa!

We didn't really have the traditional Easter Dinner with ham ... we opted for smoked turkey, ceasar salad, veggies and jello ... but everyone enjoyed their favorites and it was a great day. After the meal it was egg hunt time, and here are a few photos of the action! Grandpa and Dad hid the eggs, so it included climbing trees and checking all around the cars to find the loot!

Be sure to check out TJ's enormous carrot in that last pic (you can click on the pic for a full size view). He found that at the store and HAD to have it to go along with his dinner today! ha ha

It was really great to have Drew home from college for the weekend, and to have the whole family under one roof!

There are pictures on Beverly's blog of digging into the Easter baskets and the dinner table, check them out here!

Ten Months in Tremont

Easter Egg Hunt

This morning the kids were up early and ready to head to the community Easter Egg Hunt! It is sponsored by a community group that Mitch is part of, and always a nice activity for the kids. In addtion to finding eggs, they always have a chance to get their picture taken with the Easter Bunny, and our own local "Miss Tremont" ... who this year happens to be a good friend and classmate of Drew's.Abby lined up with the kindergarten/1st grade group, and TJ headed off to meet up with the 4th/5th graders. Can't believe it will be his last year to participate, as he'll "age out" next year! Seems like yesterday Drew was young enough to take part and TJ was just a baby!

After the countdown, they were off! They got lots of yummy chocolate eggs and a few plastic ones with other goodies inside. When the egg hunt was done, Abby was straight off to the monkey bars. That girl can swing along the full length of the bars without stopping, and goes back for more. She has so much coordination and strength, I really should put her in gymnastics!

After the majority of the kids had combed the area and some people were leaving, we told Beverly anything was fair game if she saw one on the ground ... and sure enough, she found probably a half dozen small chocolate eggs! I did put a few pics on her blog too, here ... Ten Months in Tremont

Siblings Weekend at Carthage

TJ and Abby had a great time in Kenosha this weekend visiting Drew for siblings weekend!

Abby spent most of her time with me, but did get some quality Drew time. We had dinner together Fri night, then TJ spent the night in the dorm Fri & Sat nights and had a great time. Saturday they had some planned activities and tye dyed shirts, visited a museum and the Jelly Belly factory, and had a late night movie.

Sat night Drew and Sarah came to the hotel for awhile to swim with Abby, and that is about the only thing I got pics of this weekend, other than the shirt TJ made!

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