Off to Kindergarten!

Zach and Ryan waiting at the bus stop 


"But everyone is already on the bus, it might leave without me!" 


Zach is off to school. He's excited and I hope prepared for his first day:) He sat with his friend Isaac on the bus. I'm sure that made him feel at ease. He looks a little nervous in the picture, but that's because it took a long time to get a picture where no one was in front of him and he was nervous because he was the last one on the bus. He was all smiles and waving once he found a seat. The windows on the bus were tinted, so you can't really see him in the picture on the bus. Trust me though, he was happy:-D

Oops

I guess I must have gotten distracted while I was doing my weekend post. I left out the rest of Sunday! After church we went over to Mrs. Brenner's house to see our friends, Andrew and Julie, who were visiting from Washington State. Landon and Katie were there too. I was the only one not expecting a baby! Katie and Julie look great and seem very happy about their growing families. We didn't bring our camera, so I'm hoping some one will e-mail me some pictures and I then I can post one:)

My Precious Little Baby is One!

I feel like something should be inherently different about this day. Like there should be some big parade and the world should stop for just one minute to admire this perfect little being that we created. And yet, today seems like any other day. Ryan is not even excited that it's his birthday. The world doesn't seem to notice, it continues as normal. A few cards came in the mail for Ryan. This is special, don't get me wrong, but inside I feel like jumping up and down. It's funny how special this day feels to me, but how it seems like any other ordinary day at the same time. In some ways I can't believe Ryan is one. Has it been a whole year already?! Yet I feel like he has been part of my life forever. It's similar to how I felt when I got married. He's such an important part of my life now I can't imagine life without my little monkey or his daddy. The connection is so deep it's like they are both part of me. The fabric of my being is so intertwined with their's that it's hard to know what I would be without them. I hope and pray I never have to find out. There is something special about the bond of a mother and child that can't be explained in words-I rejoice at his little victories and accomplishments and agonize over decisions that might affect him;I want to pick him up and hold him so close all the time and I just melt when he lays his head on my shoulder; I want to weep for joy just thinking about him sometimes; an unconscious smile lights up my face when I think about that little grin or his adorable little laugh; His smile can make me happy even at 5am(thank God this doesn't happen too much any more!);I can easily spend an hour just watching him play and explore; hide and seek is my new favorite game because I love the way his face lights up when he finds me. Love is a funny thing, indescribable and yet unmistakable.
Me and Jay a year ago yesterday 

Ryan, Jay and me a year ago today! 

Zach's First Day of School

Zach had his first day of school today. It was gradual entrance day, so Jay and I went with him. He seemed to do well, but he kept talking without raising his hand(at least we know he's not scared). His teacher seems really nice. Tomorrow he will ride the bus and go to school all by himself! Yea Zach!
Zach's first day of school 

Kindergarten! 

Happy Birthday, Ryan!

Ryan is ONE YEAR OLD TODAY!
All together now-
Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear Ryan,
happy birthday to you!
The birthday boy reading morning stories:-) 

My baby is one! 

Weekend

This weekend was interesting...it had it's ups and downs, but mostly ups. My brother, TJ, called me from the desert. He seems to be doing all right. Working very long(and far too under-appreciated)hours for our country. My mom and dad left Thursday and e-mailed that they are home safely on Friday. Zach's Aunt Bee and Uncle John took him to the State Fair Friday. They seemed to have a good time. They stuck around for dinner and had a nice visit after. Saturday didn't start out too great, but ended on a good note thanks to our friends Craig and Nicki for coming over and saving the day:) Sunday has been a very good day. This morning we went to early service(quite an accomplishment for us). We decided we were ready to be baptized by immersion and formally join the church we've been attending for about a year now. We love our church. We feel accepted and challenged at the same time. That is a hard balance to strike I think, but it is very important for us to grow in our faith. We feel like our baptism is a great reconfirmation(since we have both had declarations in our past) of our gratitude, love and dependence on Jesus Christ as our Savior and were so happy to share it with our faith community. I'm so glad to have had parents who laid a great foundation of faith for me since I was a child and great people who encouraged and challenged me along the way. I'm especially thankful for my husband who has been a great role model and partner for me in my faith journey and I know he will continue to be my greatest asset as we both continue to grow.
How's that for a mushy post;)

Wall Update

I finally had some more time to work on Zach's wall. Here are some pictures:)
Whole picture 

New stuff 

Catching up

You may have noticed that my entries have been short and sporadic. I guess that's what happens when you stick 4 computer addicted people in the same house with one computer! It actually wasn't that bad...we were busy a lot. My dad especially was busy taking out our gigantic tree. I went with my mom to visit her family. She also did some visiting without me.
I've been pretty obsessed with the Olympics...we watched it every night on vacation and I've watched at least a little bit every day since. The end of the women's soccer game was very exciting! Gymnastics is always a favorite for me...I thought Carly was just the cutest thing ever. I loved her teammate that was ALWAYS smiling too, but I don't remember her name. I was unusually interested in swimming this year too. It has been a good Olympics, Go USA!
Vacation was good. I got to relax, at least a little bit. Jay and Zach had fun canoeing and going to the water park. Ryan got his first taste of the beach(pun intended). He liked the ocean a lot. He played in the sand a little bit, but his favorite thing seemed to be running straight into the water. It was very cute. It was also amusing to watch him walk on the beach. He wasn't used to walking on a slant, so he was very unsteady and toppled over sometimes. He liked the beach though...I think he had fun. We went to Fun Land and Ryan rode his first ride, the carousel. He really liked it. He was all smiles. He was very interested in the mechanics above. He is like his daddy and his grandpop(or as he says Pop-pop) he wants to know how everything works! He was smiley and fun most of the week. He was a big hit with all the family...they were great with him. I was surprised how good my cousins were with him...they are going to be great with their new sibling. We missed having everyone there, but it was nice to have my parents for the first time in years. It was a good week.

My Wonderful Jay

Look what my wonderful husband brought home last night "just because" :) He is so thoughtful-he even made sure it had daisies because they are my favorite:):):) And the container is so cute!

What a good husband :) 

Birthday Party for my Monkey

In order to have the maximum amount of immediate family present we had Ryan's birthday party a week early. He takes after his mommy...he was very unsure when he was the focus of attention while we sang to him. He warmed up and enjoyed his guests a little later.

Happy Birthday Monkey! 

In Memorium...of our tree

Our tree is now a table for squirrels. It is all down now...the shade is gone, but the roots won't grow into our foundation or porch anymore. All in all a good trade off I think. It was a good tree, but it just didn't know when to stop, so like all of nature it has taken it's place in the great circle of life. BTW- if anyone needs fire wood come on by!
Our tree today 

My dad cutting up the trunk 

Good-bye Tree

After church early this afternoon I set off to visit family with my mom. My husband set to taking the tree in our back yard down with my dad. I wish I had thought to take a before picture, but here is the state of the tree when I returned around dinner time. You might notice my dad at the base of the tree. This should give you an idea of how tall the tree is/was. It used to be alot thicker too. They have been hard at work!

If you look closely you can see my dad this will give you an idea of the size of the tree 

Ryan and Grandma jumpin' waves ;-) 

Ryan's First Time in the Ocean 

Us with My Mom and Dad  

Annual Scheide Family Picture at the Beach 

We're Home :-)

Vacation was good...we are home now and no one got burned(not majorly burned anyway). I'll post pictures later.

Vacation!

Sing along [Vacation, vacation, we're going on vacation!]
I can't wait to spend a week straight with my wonderful hubby:) It will be so fun to get away and have no major responsibilities(except the kids of course!) I probably won't be posting for a while unless someone is generous with a laptop! So, I'll tell you all about it when we get back:)

Mom and Dad are here :-)

My mom and dad got in safe and sound last night. Ryan is still sleeping because he had to go to the airport last night and the flight was 3 hours late. It's very strange to be up in the morning without him. I'm sure he will be joining us soon.I'm thinking about waking him up at 9 so he doesn't get too off schedule, but I want him to get his rest. I really want him to get over this cold before we hit the beach. I'm going to go get started on my day.

Ponderings of this Mommy...

Why do babies eat paper?
How does every mom in the world think her baby is the cutest baby ever? And how is she right every time?
Is the world really getting more dangerous or are we just getting more aware?(or paranoid?)
Is my baby a genius and does it really matter?
What is it that bonds us to our babies so much that we'd die for them and how could any mom not feel it?
How can a sweet little baby's diaper smell so disgusting? And why doesn't my diaper genie contain the smell?!
How did babies of my generation survive given all the things we are forbidden to do that our parents did(tummy sleeping, solid food at 3 weeks, play pens, etc)?
Am I going to be one of those pathetic parents who lets my child run the house because I can't say no to him? (I'm thinking a big no on this one, but he is pretty darn cute and hard to resist)
How am I going to balance making my children feel special with making sure they are well mannered and well behaved?
Just a few thoughts I've been thinking...anyone else?

Lancaster County

We had a good time with the Dunnings in Lancaster County last weekend. We arrived Friday and met the rest of the family(minus Ben:-( ) for a Smorgasbord dinner. They had lots of variety...I think everyone enjoyed their selections. Jay got to eat seafood all weekend(he doesn't usually eat it because I don't like it). He ate other things too, but he really enjoyed the seafood. We also went to the duck pond and playground at the resort. We saw little baby ducks and "teenage ducks" at the pond. They were so cute. Jay's mom came to our room and stayed with the boys after they were asleep so we could go to the hot tub. That was great. We met up with Elizabee and John and played pool volleyball and sat in the hot tub for a while. Saturday we were up early and ate the smorgasbord breakfast at the hotel. We brought Ryan back to the room for a nap(incidentally I fell asleep with him) Zach went to the pond and fed the ducks and geese with Grandmommy. We met up around noon and went to a great sandwich place called Issac's. And proceeded to try to find "Amishville" as Jay would say. Little did we know that the Amish do not live in little villages...they live among the "English"(that's what they call anyone who is not Amish). We wandered around for a while looking for Amishville before we decided to go to a place called The Amish Village which is a tourist place that gives a tour of what Amish life is like(there were no Amish people there). It was really cool and I learned a lot. I won't go into all that I learned, but it was very interesting. We got back to the resort had another smorgasbord dinner and headed for the indoor water park with the boys. They had fun for a while. We went back and put the boys to bed and Elizabee and John came over to play hearts. Went to bed way to late and got up way to early. Had another smorgasbord breakfast and went back to the room for Ryan's nap. Went back to the pond. We hit a cool mini-golf course on the way home. I beat Jay:) The golf course had ice cream(this is Elizabee's dream course I think), so we all sat down and had a treat and then headed home. It was a fun weekend.

PA Getaway

We had a wonderful weekend in Lancaster county. I'll post more about it later, but here are some pictures:)

Ryan's first swim 

Zach on the frog slide 

Zach petting the draft mule 

Jay and Ryan at the duck pond 

A Little More Done 

Painting Update...

Here is a painting update as requested...
Well, Ryan is up from his second nap, so this is how the wall will look for a while...at least until tonight.
Whole Picture 

Sea Plant