Happy Trick or Treating Day!

In our community, trick or treating takes place on October 30th, rather than on Halloween night.
Our little kitty, cupcake and Captain Jack Sparrow are ready to go fill their bags with loot!

Juls planned to be a pink Power Ranger, and in true girl fashion changed her mind at the last minute and decided to be a kitty.  I thought Daddy did a very shockingly good job with the makeup for the kids...a talent I never realized he had!!! Not too sure what to make of that, but... =)

Ry's pumpkin request: Captain Jack Sparrow, to match his costume choice.

I somehow missed getting a pic of Jul's pumpkin lit, but you can see it's a butterfly on the ground behind the kids.
Happy Halloween!

Sunday Funday

The peeps (or Daddy, anyways!) were busy today preparing their pumpkins for Halloween.
I'll post pics later of the finished product...I'm too lazy to go outside in the freezing cold, light them and snap a photo!
Ry's request was Captain Jack Sparrow, and Jul's a butterfly.
Em blissfully napped through the entire process, and I sat in front of the sewing machine waiting for lightening to strike, and me to know what I'm doing! LOL. I'm attempting to make the girls some pants I saw for sale that I thought "really, that can't be THAT difficult to make!"

Pumpkin Farm 2012

We took advantage of the great weather this weekend and  crossed the pumpkin farm off our list of fall obligatory activities to do with the kids.  

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amy suggested a new farm we hadn't ever tried out before. Pumpkinland didn't disappoint!

Baby Em sure has grown since last year's pumpkin farm visit when she was less than a month old!!

There was a corn maze that we all had a fun time trying to find our way out of. Julia kept collecting ears of corn along the way.  We were joking her since I left the granola bars in the car, we could always eat corn if we couldn't find our way out!
We ended the night visiting The Crossing.  When we asked what the kids learned, Ryan said "Don't talk when others are talking." And Julia said, "Don't lick the floor."  Sounds like never a dull moment in the kids ministry area! LOL!

Emerson's First McDonalds Playland Experience

Today was a half-day of school, so my neighbor Laura and I brought the kids to McDonald's playland to run off some energy.  Emerson wants to do what the "big" kids are doing, so I let her go in the play area for a bit.  It was a little crowded when we first arrived, and she had to be "rescued" out of there twice (reminding me really how nasty those tunnels are!), but had a great time!
Andrew, Emerson and Ry hanging out!

School Pics 2012/13

Ry-dog is a big 2nd grader this year!
His favorite love is Legos, followed closely by computer and Wii gaming.
He has taken more of an interest in sports this year, and is asking Daddy to pitch to him  more and more.

Princess Juls is in Kindergarten.
She likes school, but claims it "takes up too much time that I could be watching my shows and playing with my friends."
She is a social bug, and loves all things glamorous and with lots of sparkle!

Baby Em is in her first year of preschool.
She is still on the fence about being away from her momma for 3 hours.  In fact, the director had to talk to me today, and "something has to change" or our girl is going to make family history in getting kicked outta school.
She loves to dance, and is so proud of herself as she works on her walking skills.

Case in point: can you SEE this face?!!?
I'm unsure how much time we have to "not disrupt the class" the way she has been doing before our time is up.

Mom: Rescue me!!

Cookies and Almost Pumpkin Farm Sunday Funday!

Our Julia child loves to bake, decorate and create.  She whipped these candy corn cookies up today.

Then we headed to the pumpkin farm on this 65 degree weather day.
Daddy said it looked like rain, but weather.com only said 40% chance of that so we took our chances...
and literally as we pulled in the parking lot at the pumpkin farm it started sprinkling.

The kids try to convince us that we can just play in the rain, but fortunately, they  agree we should maybe come back another day.  Daddy suggests we go to the coffee shop for cinnamon rolls, but our crazy kids beg for the library instead, so that's where we end up.
Happy Sunday-Funday!

Emerson is 1! (And Happy Birthday, Aunt Krista!)

Today our  Emmie turned 1!

At first she wasn't sure what to do with her little cupcake,
but we soon learned that like the rest of the family, she loves icing! =)

Before her party, Ry and Jul had the fall festival at their school, hence
the tatoos and Juls "bruise" on her forehead from the Wacky Hospital.  

Aunt Amy and Uncle Jeff with our celebrity for the day and her tired siblings!

Great Grandpa Schuette

Present time!
Hold back your excitement, folks! =)

The birthday girl is starting to get very sleepy...maybe she'll just ride away in her new chariot off to bed...

Oh so tired, but there is more to open!

Em in her cute new Minnie hat Gram

And another new hat Gram made to match a sweater.
That Gram sure has been BUSY!

The birthday girl and her favorite cousin Colin giving her some lovin'.

"Mom, save me!!"

Happy Birthday Aunt Krista from your little birthday niece! =)

Em's Surgery

Little Em has been hoarse now since June.  Our ENT did one scope last month in his office to try and see what was going on with her, but ultimately decided he would need to do a more direct scope to determine what the cause of this was.  So this morning (happy early birthday, baby!) she was scheduled for surgery.  We had to arrive at 6am, which was insane, but probably for the best since she couldn't eat or drink anytime after midnight the night before.

Daddy working hard to entertain Em and help her forget about wanting a bottle while we wait for the anesthesiologist. 

The Dr gave us several photos he took during the surgery. (Gross, but WAY interesting too!)  Can you see the little nodules she has on each side? One he is pushing down with his silver instrument and you can see the other little nodule on the other side.  These are what is causing her to sound like she smokes a pack of cigs a day.  This does cause her some stridor when she has a cold, but overall, since it's not a health issue, we will do nothing with these at this time.  We'll keep an eye on them to make sure they aren't growing each year, and if necessary, he can remove them when she's 4-6 years old.  Daddy says she will make a fantastic bar singer. =)

Dancing Queens

Juls and her friend Annie are super excited to start their new ballet and tap dance classes together!

Girls Weekend!

A big thanks to my hubby for realizing I needed a little weekend away and sending me to West Palm Beach to visit one of my favorite girlfriends!  Amanda and I had a great visit! The girl talk, hang time, walks on the beach, spa day, shopping...I loved every minute!

So fun, right!!?
We spent HOURS like this one day.
And the best part of returning home?! Emerson is now sleeping through the night!

Em's First Day of School

This sweet little angel started preschool today.
I'm more than slightly excited.
I have visions of getting to fold laundry before a child dumps out the basket
and (sorry, TMI!) of getting to use the restroom without someone sitting
on my lap or hanging on my leg! =)
Yeeea Haaaa!

Here are the sweet kids from her class headed to music time.
Cousin Colin is in the back row, closest to the camera..the little guy smiling.
Em still isn't sure what to think about this! =)

Sumer Reading Spectacular Awards

Today the school had a program to acknowledge the kids for taking part in the Summer Reading Spectacular.
I brought Ry up to school (he's been home all week recovering) so he could attend the assembly and get his award.
Annie, Julia, Ry and Andrew proudly let me take a photo with their awards.

Ry's Bike Accident

This afternoon started off to be a fun family adventure to the library.  When we were almost back to our subdivision, Ry had a bike accident.  Thank God for helmets!  We didn't realize the extent of Ry's injuries at first.  There was a ton of blood, but I know that mouth injuries do come with lots of blood, and the rest of his scrapes/road rash seemed fairly superficial.  Our little guy was having a tough time with balance, so Jeff carried him home.  By the time we had him back in the house, it was evident this was way more serious than we'd imagined.  He kept saying, "Where am I?" and "What happened?"  We would tell him, "You're in the kitchen at our house. You just had a bike accident." And then he'd repeat those same questions all over again.  So Jeff put Ry in the car and headed for St. Louis Children's Hospital.  Our FANTASTIC pediatrician, Dr. Stahl, called to let them know we were on our way, and texted me nearly every hour we were at the hospital for updates.  Did I mention how much I adore her??!
Thanks also to my amazing dad who made it over to our house in under 10 minutes to stay with the girls so I could hop in the car and meet the boys at the hospital.  I even forgive you, Dad, for feeding them cookies for dinner. =)

Juls is super happy to have her brother home.
Gram (and so many others, but I have been terrible with taking pics lately!)
stopped by to give our little patient well wishes!
At the hospital we learned he lost a tooth through his lip in the accident, and due to the swelling in his mouth (and hanging lip...seriously, not sure how I didn't manage to get a pic of that!!) we had to feed him liquids through a syringe the first few days post-accident.

Ry was ordered to stay home from school for a week to let his brain recover.  No video games, no reading, no thinking, no tv.  I was totally running out of stuff to entertain him!  So, after he was feeling better, I loaded him and Emerson up in the double stroller and we'd blow some time walking the neighborhood.
As the week went on, the memories that Ry had lost slowly started coming back to him, which of course, was a TOTAL relief to us!  Dr. Stahl assured me he was "classic concussion case" and that he should all come back, although he probably would never remember the actual accident.  It was sooo tempting though when he would forget something to start "quizzing" him to make sure he knew other stuff.  For example, one day he told me like three times, "Oh, Mom! Emerson has her front teeth!" as if that was something that had just happened.  Or, "Oh look, a Halloween magazine. I want to be Captain Jack Sparrow!" as if he hadn't already told me that 30 minutes before. Freaky!
So. Glad. He's. Back.
Crazy boundless energy and all!!!

First Day Jitters

I miss my mom.
I cried a little sad.
But I love it.

Ryan, regarding the first day of school.
I was flooded with emotions when he came home with this note..especially because I assume he is such a "big" boy he doesn't need me and I was so consumed with Julia's first day of kindergarten that he was very much overlooked. Jeff and I didn't even stop by his classroom the morning we went to check in on Julia! Geesch!

First Day of School 2012

This is one of my all time favorite pics of my monkeys.
Captures their personalities so perfectly!

My big 2nd grader is all smiles when he hops off the bus at school.
(Yes, they rode the bus and we totally followed them in the car!)
The sweet girl behind him is Eman. You might remember her from a post last year where she sent a note home with him declaring that he is her "BFF" and he is "so funny!" Love her!

Juls hops off the bus looking a little nervous.

And now she spots us - horray!

Someone is pretty excited to have a locker for themselves!

We are soo excited to have Mrs. Kraus in our lives again.
We were lucky enough for Ry to have her, and now Jul.
 I'm holding my breath she doesn't retire in time for Emerson! =)