Tessa's Masterpiece!

Tessa is one of those kids where, if you can't find her or she has been quiet too long, she is DEFINITELY up to something! Well, she outdid herself this time. Chris, the girls and I were having a nice time playing games and talking, when I asked..."hey, where is Tessa?" When I called her name, I heard a muffled, "Yeeehh?" I checked my room - clear (my purse was still intact), her room - clear. I opened the bathroom door and my jaw dropped. There she stood with this surprised, caught-in-the-act face. You can see it all in this picture, but she had taken a dry erase pen and drew all over the walls, tub and cupboards! And she had taken my jewlery and thrown it all over the floor. I couldn't speak.

After my silence, I did get the girls to help me clean up. They were real troopers.

The Girls got Haircuts!

While Chris was gone for a 5 day basketball tournament up north, the girls decided to surprise him by getting thier hair cut. We enlisted Gramma to do the dirty work. I must say, she did a pretty darn good job!

Kamryn's Thanksgiving Concert

Kamryn's 1st grade class had a Thanksgiving Feast. Here she stands ever so Kamryn-esque. Both Chris and I were able to go and see her perform.

Our Nebraska Trip!

Well, the time had finally come! Early Thursday morning, November 15, Chris drove Addison, Tessa, and I to the San Jose airport. We left at 3:00am and arrived there around 5:30am. Our flight took off at 7:40am. I was a little anxious to travel all by myself with my two little one, especially Tessa because she would be on my lap the whole way.

Well, after a 2 hr flight, we had a 2 1/2 hr layover in Denver. How do I keep a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old busy for two hours? Thanks to the advice of my friend Dorina, I stocked up on all kid necessities at the Dollar Store and the $1 isle at Target. Plus we walked all over the airports and rode the walking sidewalks several times. The next flight was another 2 hrs and we arrived in NE at 5pm. The girls always seemed to fall asleep just as we began to land. So i had some sleepy heads on my hands. As we got into the Omaha airport I got a text message from Chris asking me to call him ASAP! I guess Kamryn had tripped at school that day and had banged her head on a desk pretty badly. By the time she got on the phone, I was crying, she was crying, and now Tessa was crying and Addi was crying cuz she couldn't get her shoe on. I was a mess, the girls were a mess....it had been quite a day!

Relief came when Leah showed up and wisked us off to her farm outside Lincoln. I haven't seen my cousin in about 5 years. It was great to see her again and get to know her kids. Leah and her husband Anthony have 4 kids, Emily, Abigail, Anna and Isaac. We spent a lot of time outside on thier farm: swinging, catching a chicken (thanks to Emily!), petting and watering the horses, and just exploring. Addison even got to help the girls build a fort in the woods. Now that is not something she does everyday.

On Friday, we drove into Lincoln and went to the Children's museum. The kids had such a blast exploring and pretending away (Leah and I had fun being kids again too). We headed to my cousin's bakery (Leah's brothers), La Quartier Baking Company for lunch. I was amazed and how beautiful his setup was, and the bread was amazing! Seth is pictured here, I never did get a picture of John, he is the founder of the bakery and Seth does the books and helps in the store. They make a great team!

Saturday we slept in and played around the house and farm. In the afternoon, we headed to my uncle and aunts farm out in Henderson. It was about an hour drive and the babies were able to sleep. This is the farm where I visited as a kid and where Leah grew up. There are lots of memories here and I'm so glad I could bring my kids to see it. We went for a long walk and Addison helped Emily and Abigail pick up dried corn from the fields for the sheep and horses. It was a beautiful evening as the sun set.

Sunday was the wedding reception for my cousin Seth and his new bride, Sarah. She got to put her wedding dress back on to stunn us all. She looked beautiful!

We drove back to Leah's home Sunday night. I made the mistake of giving Tessa a tiny drink of some cold coffee and she was wired til 11pm. I will not be doing that again! On Monday, we drove into Lincoln to look at all the beautiful old houses and we took the kids to the park. They had a great time playing and swinging. We headed back to the bakery one more time for a fabulous lunch and then it was off to the airport.

Back in the airport the girls were excited to see Daddy and Kamryn. Addison had a hard time leaving Nebraska. She kept saying she wanted to live there forever and ever and ever....Maybe the midwest is in our future?
Kamryn asked if we would take her next time we got to Nebraska. So the can-collecting continues....

Happy....Harvest?

Well, Chris and I decided to create our own family tradition for Halloween night. We've gone back and forth on the dressing up part for a while now, and we don't really want the kids to have all that candy anyways....so we came up with Family Night. We had a few moments of disapointment, but with a few distraction techniques, they soon forgot all about trick-or-treating. We all met at the pumpkin patch and picked out a good sized pumpkin (which they gave us for FREE!) to carve that evening. After a few pictures, we went and got something to eat and headed for home. We carved our pumpkin, roasted up the seeds and then got settled in with a nice bowl of popcorn and watched The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. All 3 girls stayed up for the entire movie. It was a late night, but well worth it. The girls had a great time and we look forward to next year.

Pismo Trip

Well, we finally were able to get away as a family to the coast, thanks to a football game that Fresno Christian was playing in Cambria. What a great excuse to get away for a couple of days. Ericlee and Dorina Gilmore invited us to stay with them at his Grandparents house in Pismo so we took them up on it. Dorina and I took the kids on Thursday afternoon and got settled at the house, while Ericlee and Chris came in the evening after a cross-country meet (Ericlee is the FCS Track Coach). It was a wonderful drive down and the kids loved exploring the new "cabin". Dorina made excellent fish tacos and other goodies (with Addi's help) for us all and we got the kids in the bath and sleeping....ahhh...now we can breathe, right? I guess my body decided to completely let down and I started getting the body aches. Well from the moment that Chris and Ericlee walked through the door I was sick with the flu and bedridden for the entire weekend. We left on Saturday afternoon to get back for another football game Chris had to coach, and I found myself with a full case of strep throat. Thank goodness for family all around us. My dad took me to the walk-in emergency clinic and then I was quaranteened to my room. It wasn't until the following Tuesday that I finally came out and felt well enough to join the living. I'll tell you what, Mommies just aren't allowed to get sick!

Bread Making Day

Dorina and I decided that we should have a bread-making day and try out some of our bread machine recipes. I needed to break in my bread machine anyway and Dorina had some recipes she wanted to share with me. It was a great day, though busy and with many distractions, especially with 2 curious toddlers and a helpful 4 year old at our feet. Addi was a huge help adding ingredients and then helping Aunti Dorina stir the homemade soup she made for lunch. Yum, Yum! We didn't get all the bread made that we had expected, but all in all, it was a very pleasant morning spent with great friends!

Pumpkin Patch

On one of our recent Wednesday outings with Dorina and Meilani Gilmore, we went to the Pumpkin King pumpkin patch. We had a great time making our way through the maze of pumpkins and then through the actual hay maze. Addi aand Tessa each picked out their own mini pumpkin and we left with a few good pictures to remember the day.

Flower Girl Fun!

In the beginning of October, Kamryn, Addi and Tessa were honored to be apart of CJ & Amber Haydock's wedding. They floated down the chilly isle barefoot in these beautiful white gowns. Tessa didn't cooperate and was too shy when it came to...well anything that had to do with the wedding. Kamryn and Addi had a terrific time playing with the 4th flower girl, Victoria, Amber's cousin. All in all, it was a beautiful wedding!

Kamryn turns 6!

Well, our big girl turned 6 this month! We discovered that among the many things she has been able to accomplish, she grew a whole inch in the past month! Our 'little' girl is really growing.

In discussing Kamryn's birthday plans, we started with a list of all the friends she might want to invite. Well, that list was 20 strong! How would be be able to cut that list down? We couldn't. So Chris & I came up with a great idea on how to party with 20 1st graders and make it manageable. Thank goodness we've got connections. We had a sports theme and invited all her friends to the gym at Fresno Christian for games, pizza and cake.

We asked that each friend wear their favorite teams jersey or hat...and most participated. It was fun to see everyone get in on the fun. Chris and I were the 'Party Refs' and we had a jersey made for Kamryn with her number - 6 - on it and her name on the back. I can't believe we didn't get a picture of just her that day! I guess we were a little overwhelmed.

We played soccer, freeze-dance, and tag, then it was time for pizza, presents and cake!

Kamryn also asked for a pumpkin cake...so I did my best.

All in all, we had a great time with family and friends and it was a birthday that even Kamryn's friends were talking about for days after. Happy Birthday Kamryn!

At the Park with the Gilmore's

It was a girls afternoon out for the Schultz' and Gilmore's last Wednesday. We packed a little lunch and ventured out to feed the birds. There were lots of places to explore Oso De Oro park and the little girls had a blast. The birds were very close and very big! I couldn't believe how close Tessa got. Sometimes that girl has no fear.

At the Pa

Cheer Camp!

Kamryn and Addi participated in the FCS Cheer Clinic this past month. They thoroughly enjoyed learning cheers and jumping around with thier friends. As much as I thought Addison would enjoy this cheering experience, it was Kamryn who really surprised me. She got totally into each cheer and memorized the words to each cheer. We took plenty of pictures and were so proud of our little girls. Is Fresno Christian Cheer in our future? Oh, and if you are wondering why Kamryn's hair is bright RED, it was a surprise to me too! There was a Kids' Carnival happening at the same time and when I arrived I found out she had visited a booth where they can paint your hair. A couple of other girls visited it too....as you can see. It made for great pictures.

The two cheerleaders in the pictures are some highschoolers that really took to Kamryn and Addi. They became fast friends.

Some Firsts

I just had to share some firsts in our household:

1. Tessa's first hairdo...PIGTAILS! (or 'pink'tails, as Addi likes to say). For any mom out there with little girls, you know what I mean! I was so excited about the fact she let me do it and then she didn't even try to pull them out once. She actually wore them all day. This was such a highlight for me...

2. Also, Tessa is showing interest in using the potty. I can't believe it, she seems so young, but I guess I'll go with it. Her little cousin, Ty Long, is 25 months old and he just started training, so Tessa thinks she must too. Slowly but surely.

3. Kamryn (in the dark navy blue) and Addison are cheering in a football game! The went through 3 days of "Cheer Camp" here at Fresno Christian Schools, and then will be cheering during halftime on Friday night. They are both very excited. Addison wore her special cheer outfit all week. I had no problem picking her out of a crowd.

We are so proud of all our girls!

We did it!

Addison and I have been working very hard over the past month to raise money for her plane ticket to Nebraska. My (Jen's) cousin, Seth Quiring, is getting married in early November in Chicago. He and his bride will be having a reception in Nebraska in late November. I thought this would be a great opportunity for Addison and I to go and visit family. So how did we do it? We set out to collect $200 over a span of 12 weeks, beginning August 1st. It seemed a daunting task, so to keep track, we created a chart to plot our progress. Thanks to family and friends saving thier empty cans and bottles for us, ...and a few football games, we managed to collect the full $200 in the month of August! Addison is elated and looking forward to our plane ride. Now her goal is to collect a little extra to be able to bring some "Nebraska Tshirts" home for the family. Thanks to all you who helped donate your trash....it was definitely our treasure!