Fall is Fabulous!

I know it comes as a shock, but you may not have noticed that it's been like a thousand years since I have been on here. I don't know what is wrong with me, but I take 100% responsibility for my absolute lack of enthusiasm for posting. This was supposed to be a sacred keepsake of baby book type memories for my kids where I could put cherished pics and cute stories. I won't promise that I'll get better or that I'll be more diligent, because it hasn't worked out too well for me so far. I will say that here is a post, and hopefully I'll get caught up soon. We have been on a whirlwind of fun Fall outings since school has started. Here is a small glimpse with more to follow somewhere in the future. Enjoy!

James and I decided we wanted to take the kids bowling for the first time at Main Event here in Lewisville, and it was HUGE hit. They had this great ramp which pretty much made everyone a perfect bowler so YAY Main Event :-).


Even Hannah had to get in on the action

As we progress (ever so slightly) in gymnastics, Hannah felt that she needed a special outfit to enjoy her bouncing, tumbling, and such. She showed off for Daddy the night before her next class.
She is quite the bouncer. She LOVES the bars, but she has gotten SO much better on the trampoline during our short time at ASI. It's so fun to watch!


Scarlett and Hannah had to have matching outfits of course, and one of their favorite parts is getting stamps on their feet after class. It's the little things that make life so fun, huh?

I left the room one day only to return to Daddy and Hannah having a tea party in the living room. I'm sure this is the first of MANY in our future.We made our annual trip to the Garland Labor Day parade this year, and the kids had a BLAST. It's the perfect size parade for this age, and they LOVE getting beads and candy.



We took our first trip to Sandy Lake Amusement Park with the kids. James remembers going there a lot as a child, and he swears that they have the EXACT same rides. That's a bit scary to think about. Hannah wanted to ride EVERYTHING, and we had a fabulous time!

This is just one of those memories that I want to remember. Greyson LOVES taking a bath in Grandma and Grandpa's sink. It's hilarious that he still fits in this thing, but the sink is HUGE! He has been bathing in Grandma's sink since birth, but they did upgrade to a larger sink recently. I'd like to think that they did it so he could keep playing with his measuring cups while Grandma gives him a bath :-).


Greyson's second season of Blast Ball started, and it was interesting as always. Greyson loved playing in the dirt more than he liked hitting the ball so that was always a challenge.

He had his biggest fan cheering him on as always.


I had one of those days when I wanted to pull out Greyson's old Halloween costumes and give them a try. Greyson still fits in last year's costume since we got such a big size, and Hannah tried on Greyson's 1st costume when he was a skunk. Let's just say that Hannah doesn't like being a stinky animal. She was LIVID, and of course, being the excellent mother that I am, I took out the camera and got some pics before taking off the offensive item. Here is Buzz (aka Greyson) attempting to comfort the very mad stinky skunk. HILARIOUS!
I don't like this Mommy!
She does like wearing the Buzz goggles though.
Greyson decided he wanted to put on his zebra costume from when he was Hannah's age -- it totally still fits ;-)!

We traveled to our favorite pumpkin patch up in Argyle with some friends from our Mommy group. The have this great train that you ride out to the patch. It was a big hit!



Anders and Greyson loved playing on the seesaw.



This was the best shot I got of the kids together. That's pretty sad. They were NOT in the mood for posing, but this gives an excellent picture into most of my day's adventures. I am a referee 24/7.
I decided to send the kids out to the backyard on a nice day to enjoy the outdoors while I prepared dinner one day. I walked out the door to check on them (I leave the windows open so I can hear any screams so don't freak out), and this is what I found. They are such the nudists, right?
We went to another fab pumpkin patch out in Celina with the Mommy's group another afternoon. They had a petting zoo and everything! We hadn't been back to this particular patch since we went a few years ago with Cody. It was EXACTLY the same, and we had a great time!
I thought he was going to let this goat kiss him, and I seriously think he would have if I hadn't told him not to do it.
These sheep were serious!
Hannah just kept shouting, "DODDY! DODDY!" In her mind, they're all dogs!

Until next time...

End of Summer Round Up

The summer is officially over, and school has begun. It's back to reality and time to say goodbye to our swimming fun until next year :-(. We've had a blast, made some great memories, and we're ready to take on the Fall (if we actually have one this year). Here is just a small fraction of the fun things we did in the last few weeks.

Hannah is quite the Handy Mandy. I was in the shower one morning, and I came out to look for her. She was over at the tool bench doing some work. This is just HILARIOUS to me! This is what happens when you leave Hannah alone for less than 5 minutes.
Apparently she is thinking of pursuing a career in dentistry :-).




My attempt at getting the kids to craft together. It was VERY VERY VERY messy. Hannah discovered a new love of painting.
Greyson loves his baby sister, and they frequently enjoy cuddling on the couch while watching "Olivia." Hannah demands "Weah" constantly.
Her fashion sense never ceases to amaze me. She has now added Daddy's dirty socks to her favorites list.


We had some friends over for aplaydate in the backyard one hot summer day. Hannah decided she would be cool and lounge on the porch with the Moms.

Hannah's first black eye of her life. She was heartbroken, and Mommy was ticked since it was at Greyson's hand (or rather his sippy cup attached to his hand).
We went on a safari :-)


Hannah turned 18 months so I decided to be the photographer and take the pics myself. It was a billion degrees as usual, and she was not really into it. I had planned on going to this beautiful field of wild sunflowers, but when I went to take the shots the field had been plowed to build a new supermarket. We were all dressed, and I knew I had to do something so we just drove into the neighborhood and found this little area. We had Great Grandma's basket from my wedding as a prop, and we made it work!

Life got much better once we went over to the fountains. This was WAY more her style :-).


Here is Greyson's first day of school. He's such a big boy now, and he's so excited to have his friend Anders in his class.
Drop-off
Hannah insisted upon carrying his nap mat to class where she subsequently threw the biggest fit ever when I made her leave - good times!
I've been feeling bad lately as I look back on what Hannah has been able to do in her first year. I remember James and I taking Greyson to Gymboree, Baby Signs classes, music classes, etc, but we have never done anything just for Hannah. She seems to just tag along to wherever Greyson needs to go. The girl needed to do something of her own so we enrolled her in this little Mom and Tot Gymnastics class. She's taking the class with her friend Scarlett, and it's so much fun!She loves jumping on the tramp
Listening to Coach Jason while he gives out stamps and stickers :-).


I am so excited for pumpkin patches and Halloween. Yeah for Fall!

St. Louis Trip

My Mom took the kids and I to St. Louis for the Schneider Family Reunion (my Grandpa's family) back in July. It was a special birthday treat, and we had such an amazing time filled with special memories that will last a life time. It was bittersweet as the last time we took a trip for the reunion all together was actually Greyson's first trip ever and Grandma (my Mom's Mom) was still alive. She passed away very unexpectedly just 4 short days before Hannah was born. I have so many memories from that trip, and I wanted to kind of recreate and build upon that with Hannah along for the ride.

Waiting to board our flight. We HAD to get Hannah a little travel backpack so she could be like Greyson. It was a GREAT investment, and she was thoroughly thrilled.


Boarding the plane
We went to this great place called the Magic House where they have TONS of fun kid stuff to do like work in a grocery store
Serve up ice cream
Work on cars
Hannah decided she needed to get her hands dirty :-)

The basement of the place was set up to recreate all of the different scenes from Huckleberry Finn. Here is Greyson ringing the riverboat bell. He LOVED this!



The ONLY shot of him in the Huck Finn hat. It was not a popular item, but of course I had to get a photo in it.
Hannah was equally thrilled with it
Working the electrical plant. Run for your lives!

He loved counting money and "filling out deposits" at the bank
Catching fish
Playing house
We saved the water for last, and it was a HUGE hit. They (and both of us) were SOAKED!
She of course had to hoard all of the little cups


The Schneider family reunion was held in the basement of the old high school (Alton High School on the border of Hartford and Alton, Illinois) where my Grandma and Grandpa actually went. It's not the school anymore, but it was so neat to see life come full circle with my kids playing on the playground (a new one). Hannah and I swinging on the bench swing.
On the way back to St. Louis from Hartford we took a wrong turn and ended up driving right by the Arch. Greyson was totally amazed by it so we thought we'd just take a detour and see what happened. We thought we would just drive by it since it was late afternoon and no one had napped, but we drove by a line of carriages waiting for riders. Greyson decided it looked like fun so we went for it. It was PERFECT!

Greyson loved "Chuckie" the horse.
We decided to push our luck even further by driving to this awesome park in the middle of downtown St. Louis. It was literally like a whole city block with fountains, sculptures, a huge digital TV screen, flowers and more. We don't have anything like it here, and I was SO envious of it. I wish we had something that neat here in Dallas, and it was FREE!

Greyson was in love with this "piano on the ground"
The fountains went on FOREVER. They had more fountains that went into big pools that the kids could swim in as well.
The kids could climb and touch all of the sculptures. It was perfect for exploring.
I thought this picture was funny since you can see my Mom, Hannah, and I on the big video screen while we take this picture of Greyson lol.
Hannah and I walking back to our car through the streets of St. Louis. What a great memory :-).

We took the kids to the Butterfly House, and it was a huge hit.


Hannah was beside herself with glee.
She picked up this flower and was just inspecting it.
Greyson had to get down on the ground so he could be at one with the butterflies. Some kids would run through there and go from one butterfly to another but not our little boy. He found one or two that he liked, and he just copped a squat right there on the path so he could enjoy them thoroughly.
The butterfly bench.
He was so interested in the exhibits where they showed different bugs and such.
After all that quiet exploring we decided to walk across the parking lot to the park so the kids could let off some steam. We could not get them to stop swinging to save our lives. We were pushing them for what seemed like a life time, and it felt like it was a billion degrees out while breathing through a wet blanket .
We attempted to stop pushing them with the hopes that they would be done, but this was their response. Life was OVER!
Joy again!

The trip back! Hannah was pretty good during the flight excpet for the last 20 minutes during the descent. She was going NUTS, and everyone kept staring at me and mouthing "I'm so sorry." I was tearing up, because it seemed like she was in utter despair. It made me think that a 12 hour car ride may be a better idea for our next trip.
Back at Love Field with all of our luggage. Hannah crashed out hard in the last few minutes of the flight, and she didn't wake up until we got home. She was so worn out from all of the crying.
It's official. I have like a thousand more pictures for this post, but they are on my Mom's camera. She is traveling constantly so I'll post now with the hopes of adding the pics of some of our other St. Louis adventures later. I am too far behind to keep waiting.