Emily's Wedding Day!

Julia LOVES the princess treatment.  We start our day off early with hair/makeup appointments.

She asked to have her hair done just like mine -- didn't it turn out super sweet!?

Emily gets some final touches to her wedding day makeup.

Off for pics by the arch!

Pure sweetness.

Bridesmaids and flowergirl.

Julia and Melissa.

Julia and Gavin do a practice run down the isle.

I love this pic of Emily and her dad.  

Ry asked for a pic with Emily.  He was anxious to get in a dance with the beautiful bride!

My parentals.

Gettin' a little crazy at the reception with Daddy!

High school girlfriends.
Katie, Kristin, Em, Erica, Amanda, Beth

Em and I.

Mat and Beth

A Week In Review

Daddy is working in Colorado all week, so we all look forward to our nightly skype calls!
Night one with him away proved DISASTER.
I thought I heard someone in the house around 12:30am and called the local police. They sent two really kind officers to come out and search for me.
4am, Julia woke me up (because her covers had fallen off. grr!) and I checked for a text message that Jeff had arrived at his hotel.  And didn't have one. Called his hotel to find out he hadn't checked in yet. Fun times NOT in the middle of the night! (He did make it..his flight had been delayed and by the time he arrived in Denver his car rental company had closed.)
= Groggy Monday for ALL of us!

Papa and Grandma Schuette stop by for a visit with the kids.  They always enjoy using Pop as a  jungle gym.  I'm not sure how much longer this is going to last--he is a GREAT sport about this...but they keep getting heavier and heavier!

Grandma gets her lovin' too...

With Ry now at school, Jul and I are adjusting to our "girl" time alone during the days.
She might just like shopping as much as her mom!
We spent a few hours here finding bedding for baby sister and nabbing some things for Jul for Christmas, which the staff did a great job of covertly wrapping up for me so she didn't even notice!

THIS is what homework time looks like at our house.
Daddy is SO going to have to take over this activity.
Because it usually ends this way when I am in charge, "Well, we'll sleep here  at this table if we have to, but we aren't getting up until you do this!"

Us girls spend another day shopping for light fixtures for the basement...my paparazzi Julia got a pic of me...I'm taking a pic to send to Daddy for his opinion.

I wonder why Ry's lunch box is so heavy...he has been sneaking them home.   So. Uncool. He tells me he NEEDS them to build a tall tower and wonders why I am throwing the out every day.
This is our second rock "incident" with rocks for the week.  I get a call from the school nurse on Thursday that Ry has a little playground rock stuck in his ear.  She can see it with her otiscope, but she is afraid she'll lodge it in further trying to get it out.  On the way to the pediatrician's office, I am giving him the full inquest about HOW this happened.  Apparently, when you are in the 1st grade, it's a great idea to try and have your friends bury you alive.
This is SO not what I imagined life to be like as a mom. =)

On a "fun" note, the basement is moving along quickly...crazy to think this was all unfinished concrete just weeks ago!

And we end the week celebrating Emily's upcoming wedding!

1st Day of School

My big 1st grader!!
(And baby sister!).

Julia and her friend Lexi.

Nicolas, Andrew and Ryan.

And they are off!
(sniff!)

I asked Julia what we are going to do all day while the kids are in school.  

Play Barbies and watch movies is apparently at the top of her agenda.  

Missouri Botanical Gardens

Julia and Ryan pose at Missouri Botanical Gardens for a last bit of summer fun.
Countdown until brother starts school: 1 day!

Awww.

The settlers.

It's nothing short of a miracle none of the kiddos ended up in the fountain!
Jake, Ryan, Julia and Andrew.

Sneak Peek!

Our sweet girl at 33 weeks.

Zoo + Stacy's Birthday Dinner

In an effort to try and squeeze in more summer activities before the kids head back to school, we headed to the zoo this afternoon. (That AND the fact the temp today was expected to be just a high of wonderful, glorious 80!)

The kids had fun in the Children's Zoo brushing the goat's hair.

We met up with our friends and neighbors!
Ry and Nicolas share a seat for the train ride.

Lexi and Trina chug around the park.

Juls decides she needs to share a bench with me "in case I am scared."

After our zoo fun we head to Pho Grand to celebrate Aunt Stacy's birthday!
The kids are excited to share special cards they created just for her.
Happy Birthday, Stacy!

Spiderman!

THIS is who greeted me first thing this morning.
Ry is going through a costume phase.  Well, it's lasted on and off over a year, so perhaps it's not a phase?
I've finally had to make the rule "no sleeping in costume!" after we'd put him to bed in pjs, I'd return a few hours later to check on him and find him sweating in full costume.  So..weird!?
Sometimes, when we are driving somewhere, we will arrive and I'll turn around to tell them to hop out, and our favorite superhero is peering back at me. Crazy!  =)

Transportation Museum

In a moment of insanity, errr good mothering, Krista and I loaded up all the kids for an afternoon adventure.

Fun at the Transportation Museum!

Choo! Chooo!

Our train lover was CRAZY happy to be here!

Julia: "Ryan, who are you going to marry?"
Ryan (ignoring her): Silence.
Julia: "Ryan!! WHO ARE YOU GOING TO MARRY?!"
Me: "Ry, your sister is talking to you."
Ryan: "Aggg. I am not going to marry anyone!"
Julia: "How come?"
Ryan: "Because I am going to have a busy job on a train, and I won't get to see those kids too much."

So. Not. Kidding.

...the air conditioner went out today.

...beginning next week, you will be able to reach me at the hospital psych ward!!!!?!

Life As We Know It...

..has sorta been a train wreck.  Seriously.
I'm having trouble keeping up. TGIF!
In the last 7 days:
- Learned baby sister's cord is wrapped around her neck 3-4 times. My OB actually said, "But don't panic."  Yeah, right.
- Sought the advice of multiple others in the medical field about what this means.
- Broke down in tears on several occasions hearing the advice.
- Had a plumber come and tell us the water heater is about to go out and we need a new one. ASAP.
- Been without water on and off for hours at a time as the the basement plumbing is completed.
- Been without internet or home telephone service on and off the last 5 days?!!?
- The washing machine broke mid-cycle..full of water, soap and clothes!
- Learned how to siphon water with the garden hose out of the washing machine.
- Went to the hospital for a non-stress-test after not feeling baby move for a morning.
- Hospitalized for pre-term contractions and given 2 injections to try and stop these.
- Got in a tiff with my OB because he keeps telling me to "not panic about this cord!" and refuses to keep a closer watch on her as others are recommending.
- Hosted a Premier Design's Jewelry Party (FUN!)
- Had to lay down multiple times because I just didn't feel like I could get enough air in my lungs to be standing.
- Called about a zillion maternal-fetal OB practices BEGGING them to take me as a third-trimester patient.
- Was turned down by about a zillion practices as soon as they heard about the cord issue. (Liability, schmialability! Grr!)
- Was asked by my goofy Ryan why I am talking to so many Drs on the phone, was it to save our baby from dying? (Possibly the most serious I've ever seen him be).
- Wanted to HUG Chantel a nice nurse at Dr. Webb's office who said I could come in for a consultation after I harrassed her three times on the telephone!
- Learned yesterday after this consultation and ultrasound that she has (THANK YOU GOD!!) unwrapped herself all but once! While we were watching her on the ultrasound she was trying to bat the remaining cord away from her neck/face.

My hero. Ok, it's not really Batman, but when you let your 6 year old son loose with the camera, it comes back with photos of train sets and super heroes. =)
My hero this week has been the hubby.  He's managed to:
- restore our internet and telephone service after a trip to Best Buy (which seriously, shouldn't be called Best Buy...it should be "More-Expensive-But-You-Get-It-Faster-Than-Ordering-Online-Buy."
- FIX the washing machine after ordering two parts online. THIS was amazing to me..someone who grew up in a house where we fixed NOTHING.  When something broke, we didn't TELL my dad, mom just called the repair serviceman out or bought a new one.  So, when Jeff and I first got married I really doubted some of his handyman abilities, but time and time again I have been shocked and impressed.  The perks of the engineer mind and the savings of $2K!
- Texted our pediatrician (LOVE DR. STAHL!) while I was hospitalized about what we needed to do next and took charge.
- Didn't even make a face when the nurse said I needed to be on "pelvic rest". Sorry babe!
- Made tough decisions about staying with my regular OB or "breaking up" with him to head to a specialist seem like black and white when I was in agony.

Next week is going to be a breeze.  It HAS to be after this week!

Basement Finishing, Part 1

We'd always planned to finish out the basement someday, but our plans got moved up in schedule a bit when we learned we were expecting baby sister earlier this year.

The room to the right here will be Jeff's office. He'll be getting kicked out of his current home office in about 7 or so weeks.

Future wet bar.

Family room/playroom.

Built in shelving/tv straight ahead, storage behind, bathroom and workout room to the left.

3,2,1!

Ry and Uncle Patrick ready to launch the rocket!

Juls thinks it's pretty cool too. She ran and caught this one on the way down.

A boy and his toy.

Love!

Blastoff

Ryan had a memorable afternoon learning to blow things up with the rocket and launcher Uncle Patrick and Aunt Crystal gave him for Christmas.

Happy Birthday To Me!

It was a full birthday day. I dropped the kids off at Kids Bible Camp in the morning and headed to the OB and got to hear our sweet baby girl's heartbeat.  Then Jeff and I went for a fancy-schmancy lunch at my favorite sandwich shop, Jimmy John's (I'm a high maintenance girl, ha!).  Then I picked up the kids, we spent the afternoon together, and headed to the KBK carnival in the evening for fun and games (hot!).  Jeff then headed to his softball game, and the kids and I couldn't head home until we stopped in The Cupcakery for some celebratory cupcakes!  

Always surprising us by her food choices and mature taste buds, Juls chooses the lemon cupcake...