8-31-08 Week in Review

Well, we're back to school!! Sunday night it suddenly hit me! I realized I hadn't made sure all their laundry was done or that we had everything together for the morning. I had a ton to do to get ready. Monday went great except that I woke up every 10 minutes between 4:30 am and 7 am. That's not counting the half hour I took at 6 am to drive Dade down to the bus stop. We had about a 20 minute wait but since we weren't sure when the bus was coming we went early. During all that waking and sleeping I kept having crazy dreams about taking Dade to the bus. In one of them Ryan's dad showed up at 5am to watch the kids while Ryan drove Dade down and I walked (guess I needed the exercise). There were about 20 elementary school kids waiting with him at the bus stop. It was weird, most of my dreams are. Corben was VERY excited to get to school and "not be bored anymore". I love that he loves school. The house was quieter than usual (though not quiet) without the boys but it sure was a ton easier to keep clean!! The boys came home and both loved school. Several kids commented on Dade's new voice. For dinner we met Ryan's family out at Golden Corral. I really do enjoy the time we spend with them. The boys loved that they had so many options to choose from and Corben found out he loves breaded catfish!

Tuesday I couldn't sleep again. I guess I'm worried that the alarm won't wake me or maybe that it's going to wake up Sylvie so I have to be awake to turn it off before it scares her. I had Dade walk to the bus stop but tried to listen for it so I'd know he made it safely. Of course, I couldn't stay awake and ended up having more weird bus dreams. Let's see, the bus came but as it was pulling up Dade ran in the house because he forgot something. So I'm yelling for him to go and suddenly the bus drives down our street and stops in front of our house to wait for him. I think Wow, what a nice bus driver..and yell to Dade to hurry up. Then the bus leaves. A few minutes later it arrives back at our house after dropping off the other kids and the bus driver comes up to help Dade get his school books together. For some reason Dade's room was covered in Disney characters and I laughed because now the bus driver knew Dade liked Disney. See, my dreams have been weird this week! So then, I'm so tired from all this up and down that I oversleep and only leave Corben with 10 minutes to get ready when I wake him up. He's not a morning person but I managed to get him and the girls in the car and to school before the bell rang. YEAH! Anyway, the boys had another great day at school. So far so good.

Wednesday Dade overslept and only left himself 10 minutes to get ready. Luckily with my constant waking I was able to get him up before it was too late. I told him about Another crazy dream I had where we started excavating the rock and found out that it held the remnants of a medieval castle and some skeletons. I also found a bracelet that was silver, copper, and gold and shaped like a snake. Then I found old documents deep inside the rock that told the story of King Jared and one of his sons, Ed. The bracelet belonged to the Queen who had died when Ed was born. I was trying

to find a way to preserve the documents and keep them from the open air so my mom was helping me look for ziplock bags. Anyway, I apparently thought this dream was so cool because when I got back to the house and went back to sleep before getting Corben up, I dreamed that I was telling someone about my dream. See....weird. Anyway, after getting the boys to school I headed over and took some pictures of my friend's new baby girl. The kids were going nuts so we didn't get as many shots as I would have liked but we did get some really cute ones. Wednesday night, Dade had court of honor with Boy Scouts. He got his Nature badge, his Fishing badge, and his Environmental Science badge. Way to go, Dade!

Saturday we just hung around the house getting chores done and yard work done. Ryan took the girls outside for about an hour and I got some fun pictures. They'd been out there for 45 minutes before I did and since it was so hot out they were dripping in sweat. They didn't seem to care a bit, though!

Ella running to greet me!	Sylvie going for a ride.	Ella dancing
Ella got dirt on her and was upset.	Sylvie loves to hug Ella!	Ella running from Daddy
Sylvie loved running around	Ella played in the rocks, as usual.	So did Sylvie
Sylvie has really gotten the hang of walking.	Who needs a playset when you've got rocks?!	Ryan was swinging Ella around and throwing her up in the air!
She was really loving it!	(I laid on the ground for this shot.)	Ryan didn't realize he was throwing her up so high!
Ella jumping over a dot on the ground.	Sylvie's "concerned" face.	Sharing Ella's love of rocks!

Making sure no one's sneaking up behind.	Just hangin' out.
Running...	Thinking...
And finally....just two more	pictures of Sylvie!

We got some more chores done and then headed out for some more time in the yard. Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE my yard?? We put the girls in the pool and the boys played with the newly fixed go-cart. What an enjoyable evening!

Okay, now that I've flooded you with pictures, I'm done. I'm posting this Saturday night because I've found I enjoy not being on the computer on Sundays. Enjoy!

Almost to 2000!

So you have to comment and tell me if you're the 2000th visitor. No, there's no prize, just the joy of knowing you're the one!

The Book that took up all last week!....

So, Finally I can show you what was taking up all of my time. This is a book I made for my mother that she was gifting to her mom and my cousin, Monica. The 3 of them went on a Trek this summer across Canada and the U.S. Since they both received their books this morning I can now post a copy for the rest of you who asked to see it! Enjoy!! (If it's too small to see, just hit the Full Screen button on the right.)

The End

Pardon my Dust....

I'm experimenting with some new blog layouts and haven't quite got it right....white words are too hard to see!! Anyway, I'm sure to have it fixed soon!!........I hope.

8-24-08 Week in Review

What a busy week!! We started off Monday running as many errands as one could ever imagine in one day. I dropped off the wet vac we had to borrow to clean up the makeup....oh, I seem to have forgotten to share that story:

OK so for all of those of you who ever wanted/needed to know....L'oreal True Match foundation is NON-TOXIC and your 2 year old will not die or need anything more than lots of fluids if she drinks half a bottle thinking it's a little yogurt bottle - per Poison Control. Also...beware, Poison Control has caller ID and unlike years ago when they'd ask for your child's name and your name, address, etc. and you'd just refuse and hang up, NOW they say...so is this 555-5555 and is your name Schnegel-kins and is your address 5555 What-Ever-This-Street is? So of course I have to ask WHY they need this info...when I in fact KNOW it's because they're keeping a BAD MOTHER file on me and are just waiting to turn me into Social Services. They claim it's so that if I have to take my child to the hospital they can better communicate to the emergency room the exact situation...as if I couldn't tell the emergency room....and besides, she asked me AFTER she already knew that mine was not an emergency....hmmmm. ANYWAY, so I didn't know Ella was out of the gate and she got upstairs and into my makeup and when I found her she, the carpet, and Ryan's suit jacket were COVERED in makeup. Let's just say it took HOURS and a whole bottle of amazing stain remover and a professional wet vac to remove 90%.

Thus my next errand of dropping Ryan's suit at the cleaners, taking Corben to buy all of his scout stuff (pics to come if my camera will ever give them up), drop his shirt off to get the patches sewn on...yes, I did, no more hand sewing for me, I'd rather pay for it! ANYWAY, I hit all the stores, bought all the birthday gifts, and a million other things. YEAH!



Tuesday we headed to Fayettenam so Corben and Dade could spend time with their grandparents on Corben's birthday! They spent the day with family while I hung out with a great friend of mine from high school. It was a great day but as we headed home I noticed Corben was a bit sleepier than expected. By the time we got home he was out like a light and when I checked on him right before his party I discovered he had a fever of 103!! Talk about a bummer! Everyone came over anyway and just sang to
him from a distance. He didn't even eat any of his Dragon cake I made! Notice his cup has the poison symbol on it...we didn't want anyone to accidentally pick it up!

Needless to say, Wednesday was hanging out at home. Thursday Corben was feeling much better so we headed out to meet his 3rd Grade teacher. She seems very nice though she is very nervous about his Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome despite all of my reassurances. Corben is very excited to go back to school. Friday was the Schnegel Family Party where we celebrate everyone's birthday's for the month. This month it was Corben and Noah. What a fun night! Ryan and his brother Eric built a bon fire and the kids played outside all over the rock and out in the yard. The weather was perfect! We had a piñata in the shape of a dinosaur and the kids had a lot of fun with that (pics to come). We then had cupcakes, homemade pizza courtesy of Ryan, and opened presents. I don't think anyone could have done any better this year with gifts for him. He got a Clone Helmet with voice changer, real fossils, a volcano making kit, several plane model kits, a Monsterology book, a Dragonology game, a bug collecting kit, and so much more. He is one happy boy! Dade missed the festivities as he was at a Boy Scout camp out having a ton of fun. Corben got his first taste of scouts on Saturday morning at Cub Scout Day camp. He earned several belt loops and discovered he's good at marbles! Ryan spent the day helping his Dad put up siding on his house. It had been a long week so I hung out at home wishing for a nap. I was so tired I missed out on going out with all the Schneg sisters for a girl's night out! Oh well. So that's our busy week. We loved it!

Sorry, I'm trying desperately to finish digitally scrapbooking a book for my mom so this is all I can blog until then. Hopefully tomorrow I will be free again to blog blog blog, but until then......wish me creativity and the energy to finish this tonight!!!

Corben is 8 years old today!!

Well, it's hard to believe that 8 years have passed since Corben joined our family! It has truly been a joy. Corben was born August 19, 2000. He was 11 days late but labor wasn't too hard so I forgave him. He was the perfect baby right from the start. He slept and ate well and smiled all the time. He was so chubby!! Everyone thought he was the prettiest baby girl and constantly asked why I dressed him like a boy. Oh well, at least he doesn't have that trouble now! Corben has always been super cute and super funny. I cried when I had to send him off to Kindergarten because I'd miss all the funny things he said all day! Luckily now he's making his teachers laugh, too. We love our Corben. He is so funny and so smart. He loves to read and learn new things and can remember most anything he's learned. We love you, Corben!