My sweet birthday boy!

My boy is growing up; I hate this realization. The other day he fell asleep in my bed and as I went to lift him up I immediately felt his long dangling legs. It shocked me when they reached down to the tops of my knees! He is growing up way too fast. Carson being my only boy, he is doted on by many women. And yes, he knows it. But because he is my only boy I feel I need to relish every stage of boyness that he goes through. Last year it was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Scooby doo; this year it is anything super hero, and disgusting. This birthday is a momentous birthday for all my children. Turning 4 provides them with their first official birthday party; with theme, friends, the whole lot. So here is a quick recap of the week of parties for this adorable, fun-loving, hyper and squeezable little boy:

On his actual birthday we decided to have family over! Yay, family! We have never had family around for birthdays and since Harvey's two sisters have just recently moved here we can now include them in all the fun. From the very second I told Carson about his upcoming birthday he has insisted that we have a "spider man cake." So in an attempt to put the arts and crafts on a cake, I failed miserably but I made the boy very happy!

And the baby sister was pretty pleased too!

This is Rylie using her charm on Papa. At this rate she will have Papa wrapped around her little fingers. Just like her daddy!

Here is proof that he gave my cake a big thumbs up! And cousin Jasher couldn't resist the taste!

A few days later we had the big birthday party. Themed, "The Jungle Expedition." Here are a few decorations. I loved the vines. We just made them out of paper grocery bags and they created a pretty real effect!

First off the kids had to prove they were true jungle explorers by making these jungle hats and applying bugs to them. If anyone has the magazine "family fun" this may start to sound familiar! Then they had to eat typical jungle food, dried ants, worms, beetle wings, snake eggs and crocodile teeth.

Next we played, "pin the tree frog on the leaf!" Fun stuff!

This is the table, I wish Harv would have got the chandelier above. It was decorated with vines and leaves, it looked so cute! We had a pinata, that I made out of grocery bags and labeled "expedition supplies" which they blasted away at and then I put the inside treats into these take home bags labeled "supply rations." You can see those on the table. We also had a really fun snake hunt in the middle of all this.

This is Carson attempting to blow out the candles. He had some trouble with this one. He tried about 6 times before it finally went out!

All in all, it was a great time! I think Carson had a great birthday and I have come to the conclusion that boys parties are definitely fun to plan. Happy birthday my big, gorgeous and forever and always, baby boy!

It doesn't have to end...but West Virginia?

As I was rummaging through some old pictures and trying to collaborate to make the Scott Family 2008 photo album; my heart began to get heavy.

As I skim past pictures of England's treasures; I also come upon our adventures in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain. I ask myself, is it over? All those once in a lifetime cultural experiences, are they over?

I wasn't ready to call it quits, the thirst for travel still raged within me and within 1 month of being back in the United States, I found myself getting antsy. But instead of booking trips to European wonders I found myself little intrigued by the States of which I have seen before. Where could I possibly go to ease my urges?

A couple more months roll by and Harvey approaches me with a trip to our new brother-in-laws hometown in West Virginia. West Virginia? I fear my eyes have been opened to the wonders of the world, will the treasures of West Virginia be able to hold my fancy?

As I concede to go, I do so with reluctance. As my brother-in-law shows us around his hometown I watch him and observe pride swell within him. He is so proud of his roots and the beauty of his home State. I decide that I am going to try to see West Virginia through his eyes, to figure out what could possibly hold such pride. As we drive around my eyes caught hold upon this...

And this...

It is beautiful! As we get out of the car and stroll around I learn new facts of the great American Civil War. I learn that hundreds of men died in the battles on the West Virginian mountainsides. I observe bullets with teeth marks of the wounded victims when anesthesia was not available and chomping down on a bullet to counteract the pain had to suffice (which is where the term, "bite the bullet" came from). As I look down those steep mountains I envision the great and terrible battles that took place. But as my war education came to an end, we continued to travel throughout the countryside and that is when we found this hidden treasure:

Where these precious babes were able to play.

So what can be concluded from this mini-adventure? It isn't over, it will not end. The Scott's will continue their adventures, but for this chapter in their lives they will just be their Grand American Adventures!

The house!

Forgive my pathetic attempts at taking pictures. With things still in boxes and chaos everywhere and no internet; my iphone has proven itself worthy and pulled through like a champ. However, it can't beat my camera. So forgive the quality and I will get better pictures of the house on here soon!

The House!

The biggest reason we bought this house was for the land! Not very often do you find flat acreage in VA, but we managed to find a few. So here is a partial view of our 3.5 acres. Sav's dream is to one day put a couple of horses on it!

This is a partial front view of our property. This is what we will see when we sit on our front porch on those beautiful Spring and Fall mornings!

Our back deck which will overlook the above pic of the land!

We are so excited about our new house. We still have so much to do in terms of household projects and decorating (anyone want to help! This is a talent I do not possess!). But we feel extremely blessed to have all that we have, especially in times of financial crisis. We have come to realize that not only does God take care of the big details but he even takes care of the small ones. After all we have been through in the last few weeks; I am left with no doubt that God has a plan for each of us. Even if it means we end up in a small town in Virginia!

We get internet this week! So I will be updating more regularly soon!

Movin'

Sorry for the long delay in posts! We are right in the middle of moving into our brand new house! After waiting on a final decision regarding Harvey's job; on Monday we received good news from Rolls Royce (he is still an employee!) and by Wednesday we had the moving van here with all our stuff!!! So we have been rigorously moving our stuff in. Pictures and details, soon to come!