Guest Post from the Boys

Mommy's little helper

So technically, he mostly just spread crumbs around everywhere, but there's really not much cuter than a two-year-old who wants to help clean up.  Today he said, "We need to clean this place up.  It's a mess!"  Who are you?  Oh yeah.  Justin's son. 

All you need is love...

So, I never got around to my Christmas cards this year.  I guess I should say last year since it is already April.  Clearly, I'm a little behind.  Having a baby in November, I kind of assumed that Christmas cards wouldn't happen, so I had planned on doing Valentine cards instead (again, if you notice that it is already April, I clearly didn't get around it that either...).  I had this wonderful idea that I would make a card that said "All you need is love" with an adorable, loving picture of my two boys on it.

Well, I pulled out the camera one afternoon to take aforementioned adorable picture, and here is what I got:

Maybe the caption is still appropriate.  Clearly these two both need something.  Getting their picture taken wasn't it.  Oh well, I tried.  I even had our Scott Family Top Ten list all ready to go, and since I'm no longer fooling myself that I will ever send out a card with it, I'll just include it below.  You can pretend that you received it in the mail...back when it was still 2011:

It is never too late recap last year—especially if you are busy with a new baby when the more traditional holiday cards should be sent. 

1. We ventured South—to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  We discovered (to our surprise) that the South was pretty much just like the North with a few more ya’lls, yes ma’ams, bbq joints, and Crimson Tide fans .  Thanks Roz & Thad!
2. We ventured West (twice)—to beautiful Provo, Utah.  Highlights of our trips inluded skiing (Bethany is still better than Justin), marathoning (guess which one of us did this—finishing in 3:21:21), and bonding with family.
3. We ventured across the Pacific—to Laie, Hawaii.  We had an amazing two weeks in Paradise.  We camped on the beach, swam with sharks, snorkeled, had fun with family, and proved that Colton was a super traveler (after 14 hours on our laps, fellow passengers still thought he was cute).
4. We ventured Mid-West.  It turns out that if you are interested in fireworks, Omaha is the place to be for the fourth of July.  It also turns out they have an awesome zoo.  Guess which Colton liked more…
5.  We ventured into the “mountains”—to Shenandoah National Park.  While it doesn’t compare to the Wasatch mountains, we had a great time with the Piersons playing games, going on hikes, and touring Luray Caverns.
6. Colton learned to talk.  Some of his favorite phrases, “I wanna play dat game,”  “What dat mean?”  “I wanna run in circles!” “Bast mean!” (fast like McQueen) and our favorite “I got two wedgies” (said at the end of every diaper change).
7. Colton learned to run.  We’re predicting a future marathoner considering that he regularly runs the 1.6 miles from our house to the park.  (He liked to point out regularly on these runs that mommy is not fast like McQueen.)
8. We ate a lot of sugar.  You know it’s a bad sign when Colton’s favorite things to draw are cookies, cakes, and ice cream cones.  (New Year’s resolution 2012—eat a little less sugar.)
9. Justin built a wall.  Our house has officially changed from a four bedroom to a five bedroom, and our guest room is no longer separated from the storage room by shelves full of stuff.  Nice work Justin!
10. Bethany built a baby.  We welcomed Brian Justin Scott to our family at 4:21 am on November 2, 2011.  He weighed 8 lbs 4 oz (a mere 3 lbs more than Colton), 21 inches long.  He has proven to be the world’s most agreeable baby, and we love our sweet little guy!

Merry Christmas & Happy Valentines Day!

Love,

The Scotts

Same Same?

I think that Brian's individual features are completely different than Colton's.  However, in comparing the two, I would say in Colton's words, "Hey, look!  Same same!"

And while we're on the subject of family resemblances...maybe it isn't just Grandpa Cole that Colton looks like!

Best of 2011

Here is my photo essay, which I will entitle, "We did cool stuff this year."  The pictures should prove it.

Look!  Sometimes we take pictures of someone other than Colton!  This was outside a barn-type building in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.   Photo taken by the one and only Roz.

In February we found ourselves in Utah (thanks to a recruiting trip for Justin's work), and Grandma Louise was kind enough to watch Colton so we could spend a day skiing.  I am still better than Justin.  Just so that you know...

Sometimes we just have fun around the house.  It turns out that putting pajamas on your head and around your neck is fun.

In April we made our way to Hawaii.  This picture was taken outside the Laie, Hawaii temple.  I kind of adore Colton's long, wavy hair.

In April we also participated in the Runamuck 5K.  Justin came in first.  I was just happy to come in at all (considering that I'm not a runner in general, and I was 16 weeks pregnant).

In June we made our way back to Utah so that Justin could run the Utah Valley Marathon.

It was a lot of fun...for those of us cheering from the sidelines.

On the way back to the car, Colton decided he would help Justin push the tree.  I can just imagine Colton saying, "Dad, I don't think this tree is going anywhere."  (This might be my favorite picture of the year.)

In July we went to Nebraska to visit Justin's parents.  Colton (and Justin) showed off their sour face during our visit to the Omaha Zoo.

At the end of July, we made a spontaneous trip to NC to meet up with Justin's siblings.  We forced our children to be photographed in their diapers.  They'll probably hate us for this someday.

Justin told me that there weren't enough pictures of me in our "best of" album, so here I am resting on a couch in NC.  

In September, we spent a weekend in Luray, VA.  I love this picture because it shows was a good hiker Colton is, and really emphasizes my 7-month bowling ball.  

Colton got all wet playing in the waterfall, so after the hike, we took his pants off him and let him eat cookies.  And then we took a blackmail picture of him to use sometime in the future.  Why are diaper pictures so darn cute?

In November, we welcomed Brian into our family.  This was definitely the highlight of the year.

I love my boys!

Who needs a real photographer?  Just take 200 pictures and you're bound to get at least one that turns out okay.  This is that one!

We like to start our kids out early on the road to complete sugar addiction.  Brian seemed pretty excited by my birthday cake.

In December, Justin's family came to our house for Christmas.  Colton had a great time playing with his cousin Sadie on our slide in the back yard. 

We also enjoyed a trip to temple square in DC to see the lights.

Is there anything cuter than a baby with Santa on his bum?  (Okay, Justin's pretty cute too!)

So that was our year.  Thanks, 2011, you were great!

I think we'll keep him...

Well, after two and half weeks, we have decided that we still like Brian, and I think we'll keep him.  It turns out that he is quite the angelic baby, which is good because Colton gets really concerned whenever the baby cries.  He's very sensitive to others' suffering...

Here are some recent pics:

We remembered to take a picture of the whole family before leaving the hospital.

I love my boys!

Colton likes to make sure that Brian has his binky.

So peaceful...

Brian rarely cries, so we were surprised to hear him shreaking.  We found that he had managed to get one arm out of his sleeve and through the neck hole.  Though stylish, he didn't seem too fond of the off-one-shoulder look.

I was attempting a very artful photo shoot of Brian in a basket, but as you can see, he was not a fan.  He just about did a head dive off the front in order to get out of it.

I think he's awfully cute!

Blue Num Num

I had this brilliant plan to be a basketball for Halloween (assuming that I was still pregnant), and I would make Justin and Colton matching basket ball jerseys.  It was going to be awesome.  But then I became convinced that I probably wouldn't make it to Halloween...so I didn't make the costumes.  And then it became apparent that I probably would make it to Halloween, but I really wasn't in the mood to make costumes, so then I had to improvise.  And by improvise, I mean go to the party store and find a costume for Colton.

So what did I come up with?  Well, I found a sweet blue M&M costume on sale for $9 bucks.  We had a winner!  It also seems appropriate because Colton and Justin actually have a little game that they play where Colton says that he's a blue M&M (pronounced "num num"), and Justin pretends like he's going to try to eat him--so Colton runs away.

The best part--by far--of Colton's costume is his cute little skinny legs sticking out the bottom.  I know he's going to hate me  someday for dressing him like this, but it was just too darn cute to pass up.  (And we did put a covering on his legs before sending him out in the cold...)  Ironically, when Halloween actually came, I thought I was in labor, so he actually went trick-or-treating with Michael and Julie.  Good thing I didn't make the basketball outfits!