Our little Rosie! Can a stuffed animal be considered as a tax deduction?

Caleb is obsessed with stuffed animals. He absolutely loves them, and treats them like family members. He has a few favorites, but lately Rosie the Chipmunk has been at the top of his list. For well over a month Rosie has gone everywhere with him. She's been to church, the dentist, shopping, and most recently to Chicago.

Caleb had a minor heart attack last week when he realized he left Rosie at our Chicago hotel. We went back to look for her that afternoon, but couldn't find her anywhere. We called the hotel and asked them to be on the look-out for a rosy cheeked chipmunk and luckily Rosie turned up the following day. Apparently, Rosie decided to see what it was like to be a maid for the day. The staff at the hotel was kind enough to box her up and send her home to us. I have a feeling she wasn't much help to the hotel staff so they decided to give her a pink slip. Too bad for them, she's pretty cheap labor!

Rosie showed up in the mail today, and after all the hugs, kisses, and happy dancing, Rosie was promptly placed in a long time-out. Caleb reprimanded her and made sure she understood she was NEVER EVER again to be a stow-away in a strange hotel without her family to protect her. He most definitely did not appreciate her trying to extend her vacation longer than the rest of us by hiding under the bedspread while we were checking out. I'm crossing my fingers she got the message because I'm not sure we could get through another week without our Rosie!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

My baby turned 4 today! It doesn't seem that long ago that I went into labor with him 3 weeks early. It was a great surprise for Kevin and I especially since all my babies have been born on scheduled C-section dates. Caleb was still born by C-Section, but on HIS time-table rather than the doctors (which of course meant we had to call in the entire team of doctors and nurses at 2 a.m. Needless to say we were surrounded by quite a few blurry eyed people that night!) Caleb is a terrific little boy. Stubborn, but sweet. Energetic and full of love. Curious and independent. Happy and loved by so many.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Your family is so lucky to have you here.

We started off his birthday celebrations on the 3rd of February after our little preschool gathering. Since I was the teacher that day we just had everyone stay a little longer to enjoy lunch, cupcakes, and games.

Aaahhh...The Cake! I'm not much of a decorator, but I can throw stuff on top of a cake like the best of them! Just keep me away from frosting bags....horrible would be the best word to describe my talent with those. Caleb was intent on having a Construction Truck Cake, and luckily this turned out to be pretty easy to make.

A little game of stick the nose on the lion...or giraffes foot depending on your preference.

Logan S., Caleb, Logan M., Kaylie, Abigail, Kara

Even with that big of a blow notice that the flame isn't even flickering? It took a few tries, but I think that must mean extra wishes!

How old are you Caleb? F-O-U-R!!

For whatever reason Caleb's biggest wish this year was to get a garbage truck. I'm not sure why, but apparently Santa forgot to bring one on Christmas morning so his big brother Kyler managed to find him one for his birthday. My son has such high aspirations!

Me and Kevin's $7 post-Christmas find. Alright, so truth be told I got this more for me than for Caleb, but I remember having one growing up and it brought back good memories. Caleb has been playing with it all morning though. He sets up all his stuffed animals around Teddy Ruxpin and has them listen to stories as if they were at the library reading time. Of course Caleb leaves the room to play with his garbage truck, but so far no animals have complained.

Caleb's excitement when he first realized his garbage truck was tucked away in that package.

This was his other highlight of the night. My parents got him this little camera and before bedtime he snapped over 100 pictures. Mommy will be checking out the delete button a little later while Caleb is napping.

Happy Birthday, Nonny!

What a weekend it was. My grandma Ruthie (Nonny to all of us grandkids) celebrated her 84th birthday this past Sunday. My Uncle Frank and Aunt Donna graciously opened up their home to the 27 relatives who all gathered to party with her. We had a massive feast, cake, presents, and a wonderful time catching up with each other during the time we spent there. My mom, Brooks, and Kelcee even flew out from Utah!! What a treat it was for my family to see them again.


Warning to all of you...I let my little man Kyler have the camera and he took quite a few pictures.
(However, he somehow missed any good pictures of my cousin Frank with his wife Cheryl. The only one turned out dark. Not to mention the fact that Cheryl was strategically concealed behind a vase of tulips...hmmm, coincidence on her part? Kyler took a bunch of me too, but I had the delete button at my disposal! I would have gladly hidden behind a vase or two all afternoon if possible.)

Kyler discovered a little too late that there was not 1, not 2, but 3 full tables of people in the Scarpino household that day. He did a good job though so here are a bunch of my relatives on my mom's side of the family.

In hind-site, as I scroll through this entry, I probably should have made a slide show to showcase the photos. Since I already uploaded the pictures though I decided to just go with the flow. Don't let your finger get to tired as you scroll down looking for an end to this seemingly never-ending blog posting! I was having a little too much fun looking back through all the pictures.

Nonny managed to blow out all her candles in one gusto blow!

Caleb and Audrey tried to "help" grandma with the opening of her presents!

My Uncle Cal

Jordan with my sister Kelcee

Daddy and Jordan

My "little" brother Brooks with my beautiful grandma.

He manages to make everyone look tiny!

Great Grandma Ruthie with a "too cute for words" Audrey.

Audrey had a magic ability to quiet an entire room simply by being cute and turning all eyes towards her.

My Aunt Joni with my mom. Can you see the family resemblance?

My Cousin Cara's very sweet baby, Ezra

Ezra's Lunchtime!


Aunt Trudy, Gina and Elizabeth

Frank with my cousin Katie and my grandma

My cousin Joe and his wife Kellie
Kellie's head is hiding my cousin Callie's little baby bump!

The three Scott boys

(Left to Right) Elizabeth, Gina, Callie, Audrey, David, Joe, Kellie

My cousin Elisabeth and my grandma

Kyler, Gina, & Brooks

Caleb's new best friend, Uncle Frank. He knows just the right tricks to entertain a 3 year old! He's a big kid at heart!

My Aunt Donna

Thanks for all the delicious food and the good times we had!

The move is finally done!

The house

Part of our master bedroom.

One side leads to the master bath and closets.

The other side leads to a sitting room/ office.

Caleb is always hanging out in me and Kevin's room!

My sweet boys.

They were troopers during this whole moving ordeal!

Kyler in the dining area


Jordan & Kyler getting ready to go this morning.


The boys new bathroom.

Caleb & Jordan's Room

They still get to share.

Good thing like seem to like each other!

Caleb hanging out in my room again.

I feel like such a slacker lately when it comes to posting. I promised Kevin I would post about his ummm "29th" birthday, but obviously that didn't happen. Then I told myself I would post about the exciting New Year celebrations, but Kyler was the only member of our family to actually stay awake until midnight while the rest of us snored away the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. My next grand plan involved chronicling our latest move from the packing to unpacking stages, but than an overly busy me forgot to take even a single solitary photo of the event, so here I am now without much to say, but still feeling the need to blog.

I did promise my parents I would send them a few photos of our new house so today I blew the dust off the camera and snapped a few shots. That's about as good as it's going to get for me this week, but I finally see some relaxation coming my way. I can feel it sneaking up on me and I will gladly welcome the sensation of not needing to go non-stop all day long. What a relief. It's finally time to relish in our whopping 20* weather outside (a pure heat wave compared to the sub-zero temps we had all last week...and let me reassure everyone that makes for a very COLD move!! I'm pretty sure this will be our first and last January move!) Plus today I can gaze out my windows at a sun that is finally glistening outside. Aaahhh...beauty at it's finest!

Christmas '08

Santa's Treats
Not the traditional Sugar Cookies, but Walnut bars are sooo good!

Jordan lovin' his mom
and vice-versa

The boys got all of us books.
Kevin and I loved it!

Kyler's main wish was a laptop, but mom squashed those dreams
when she told Santa NO WAY,
but he happily settled for a new MP3

That's A LOT of excitement bottled up in a 3 year olds body!

My Cookin' Caleb with his new kitchen.
Hours of fun have already been had.

Jordan made a handmade calendar at school that was a favorite present of mine!

The highlight gift of the year.
Thanks to my parents for the Wii and to Kevin's parents for all of the games.

Caleb and his new kitchen phone. A lot of folks are calling in their orders.

This is the HAPPY DANCE!

Kevin & Tami

Christmas Eve laughter

Merry Christmas everyone!

A brother seeking revenge on the younger sibling.

I feel completely behind in my "blogging" world, but the past couple of weeks have proven to be very busy. Between school cancellations, Christmas celebrations, birthday parties, preparing for a new year in the primary, and an upcoming move this January, I have been swamped!

We did have an incredible Christmas week though. Kevin was busy with work most of Christmas Eve, but when he made it home that night we read the Christmas Nativity, had our usual roast beef sandwich with lots of other goodies, set out our cookies for Santa, sang a few carols, and tried to get to sleep so Santa could make his annual visit. "Luckily" hmmm hmmm...for Kevin and I, Caleb decided that this was the year he was going to catch Santa in our yard. He kept insisting he heard reindeer out on the lawn, and our little 3 year old was up well past midnight waiting for the magic festivities to begin by keeping his little nose pressed tightly to the frosted window. He couldn't grasp the concept of "He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake..." In his mind Santa really, really wanted to wish him a personal Merry Christmas while his older brothers were dreaming of sugar plums (shaped in the form of Wii games and Webkinz animals). It was a Christmas miracle when his tired body **finally** fell asleep and mom and dad could start dreaming of their own sugar plum fairies.

By 3 a.m. we heard our older boys waking up. We knew it was coming from years past, so Santa has gotten a little better at leaving a small gift for them to open under their table-top bedroom tree that they are allowed to open without having to bother their overly tired mom and dad. The boys are also able to go through their stockings, but then back to bed they go until sunshine actually filters into the night sky around 7:00. Caleb was of course wiped out this year, and it took him a minute or two before his eyes were awake enough to realize Santa actually came while he was sleeping (thank you Santa for coming even though our little tyke tried to catch you in action), but boy when he walked into the living room and saw his kitchen ready and waiting for its own little chef, Caleb became the life of the party once again. All Caleb wanted from Santa this year was a kitchen and food , and happy day, **he got it**. Oh wait, I almost forgot....this year while sitting on Santa's knee at the mall, Caleb also requested a juice box in his stocking. This would, of course, ensure him that he wouldn't need to stop opening presents for a measly thing like eating breakfast. Well, Santa remembered the juice box, and made sure all his brothers got one, too. What a smart Santa, and we were successful at opening His presents before I made us all stop for a bite to eat.
I like your way of thinking Caleb!

After the boys played with their new loot for a while we opened up our grandparent gifts. This included a Wii and Wii games, which was by far the highlight of gift opening celebrations. We played the rest of the day and into the night. Thanks to all the grandmas and grandpas who made this Christmas break outstanding with mini-golf, car racing, and bowling . We're still a little obsessed with all the fun that little box is bringing us.

We hope you all had an outstanding Christmas as well. Now, it's time for me to pack it all up and move it to a new house for next year.