New Baby Pictures!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and saw a squirmy, healthy baby. He or she weighs in at about 3/4 pound and looks great. Here are a few pictures of the newest Schneider-in-training.

Waving hello
Tiny feet - one in each frameProfile shot

Gumby Baby - Folded in half with feet next to head

Here we have the big brother in training "rocking" his baby Elmo in a dump truck. Gotta use what you have, right?

What's In A Name?

After much coaxing, pleading, and promises of playing Cars Movie with him, I've finally gotten Christopher to start practicing letters. We worked on two the first week and three last week and this week. On Monday, he wrote his name (well, the first part of it) all by himself for the first time.
Needless to say, Mommy was very pleased and Christopher wanted to know if we could play tractor tippin' now. I have a feeling I'm going to be the homework Nazi in a few years...

LOOONG Ago Legoland

Many moons ago, back in May, we took a day trip to Legoland while we were in San Diego. The boys loved it and it was perfect for the under 8 crowd. They did have some stuff for the bigger kids, but we mostly skipped that. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

It was downright chilly when we got there and predictably, Christopher was in a funk about it

Dinosaurs seemed to make things better, though

Digging for dinosaurs! I think this was their favorite part of the whole day and we came back at least 3 times.

Standing on the brown squares made the fountain start and that instrument play music. Christopher thought this was the neatest thing.

Taking a little break to build legos, of course!

Cruisin' with Dad

Fascinated by the saxophone, again.

Christopher got to drive his own Lego car! He made it almost the whole way around in the 2 or 3 minutes they had...

Patrick meeting a good friend

I promise we'll do something interesting enough to take pictures soon!

Apple Pickin'

Last weekend we went out to Apple Annie's orchard in Willcox, about 1.5 hours east of here. It was a great time - the boys got to pick apples and peaches and have ice cream and fudge after lunch. And Grandma, Papa, and Daddy got to taste wine on the way home. What's not to like!


I now have enough peaches for a cobbler and a crock pot of apple butter cooking as we speak!

Really funny action shot!

Better pic of Christopher and Daddy
Patrick got in on the act too

Look what I got, not that I'll actually taste it...

Uncle Mark, the Pied Piper of Little Boys

Were you talking to me?
Waiting patiently for hot dog lunch

Funny name for a winery

No Babies in This House

Here we have the face of a boy who has pooped on the potty!

He even went on the big potty with the little seat - no baby potty for this big guy. For his efforts, he was rewarded with his very own Bertie the Bus. He is now running around screaming GO and BUS at the top of his lungs.

First Day of School

Two weeks ago Christopher started 4 year old preschool. He goes three days a week for three hours a day and Mommy and Patrick get some much needed alone time (at least until March rolls around). He was not at all pleased about going the first day, being pretty sure he would not like anything about school. So I did what any Mommy would do, I plied him with doughnuts covered with chocolate frosting and dinosaur sprinkles! At the end of the day, he announced that he didn't like anything they did inside, only outside playtime. He has since changed his tune and seems to enjoy himself, although he still doesn't have much to tell about what he does in class. He did get to be line leader last Thursday, though, and that was apparently cool enough for a mention!

Enjoying his super-healthy first day of school breakfast

Standing out front for the customary first day of school picture

Done humoring crazy Mommy - time to be silly!

I'm still not sure where the last four years have gone, because I'm pretty sure we brought him home from the hospital last week.

So Far Behind...

that I don't even know where to start. I still have pictures from our trip in May to San Diego, and we took another trip in July to Pennsylvania. Oh, and Christopher had a birthday and started school. I think I'll catch up with the recent stuff and then fill in with older pics when I run out of new stuff!

Dolphins and Whales and Rays, Oh My!

The second day we were in San Diego, we went to Sea World. It was quite a day! We were there waiting when they opened at 10AM and we left when they kicked us out at 6PM. Christopher fell asleep on the way to dinner and had to be coaxed with ice cream for dessert to get him to eat anything. While on our tour of the seas, we saw all sorts of creatures:

Apparently he didn't trust Mommy and Daddy to find fun things to do.

Christopher insisted we take his picture with the creepy eels.

The boys both got to feed and pet the dolphins.

Just for Paul - SHARK TEETH!

More shark teeth, and Christopher showing us his big teeth.

Handsome men on the skyride.

Petting/manhandling starfish. They were pretty hearty.

We have so many pictures of the Shamu show and underwater tank that I'll make those a separate post. I sort of feel like the guy who used to make you sit and watch his vacation slides. I think I'll have to stick something else in here soon!

San Diego Day 1 - Driving and Beach

The first day of our great San Diego adventure we drove there, getting settled in about 4PM. As soon as we got out of the car, the boys wanted to go to the beach, so we put our things inside and headed out to the water. Luckily it was all of a 50 foot walk to the sand, so we got to walk down there quite a bit.









It was too cold to swim, but we got the kite up for a little bit and then headed down to the park area with a carousel and roller coaster. The boys were fascinated by the roller coaster (but too short), but they loved the carousel. Patrick refused to sit on a horse, though, and had to sit with Mommy on the bench.

Then it was off to dinner and back to our little condo for some shut eye. See Patrick below lounging on the chaise (not his actual bed).

Fell Off the Wagon...Again

So I fell off the blogging wagon again - are any of you really surprised? I decided to sit up here with my photo editor extraordinaire (Christopher), while Patrick has his speech visit and put together a few posts. To tide you over until I get the San Diego pics ready, here is Patrick doing a little reading at the coffee house the other Sunday morning.

Picnic Table Lessons

Since I know several of you out there (Jen, Cindy, and Mom - coincidentally the only ones who read this blog) are planning on making picnic tables, I thought I would post my lessons on this one - things I will do differently on my next project (under-table drawers for the train table if you were interested).

1. Let the wood age in the garage for a week or two. I don't know if our little corner of He!! is drier than kiln dried (entirely possible, especially today) or what the deal is, but the table we so painstakingly leveled now has one short leg again. I don't know if the leg is short or the top warped more, or what. I think letting the wood sit for a few weeks and do all its warping and craziness beforehand might have helped.

2. Make sure the pilot holes are large enough. I assumed the 1/8" pilot on the countersink for my #10 screws was enough. Maybe it would have been for a burly carpenter, but this 105 pound mama needed a little more help. After the fact, my dad told me to go down two drill bit sizes from the screw size. This would've made assembling the top MUCH less frustrating.

3. Take your time finishing. As much fun as it was to let the boys help prime, I should have given it a really thorough sanding after. I missed some of their multitude of paint drips and they can still be seen on the finished product.

Just because I can't give you a post without a picture, here is Christopher enjoying ribs the other night. Mike had tears in his eyes at this beautiful sight.

A Picnic Table (Finally!!!)

When Grammy came to visit us, she bought me (that's right - MOMMY) a miter saw for my birthday and we put together this super cool picnic table for the boys. It went reasonably well, although I do have some lessons learned that I'll share later. I finally got it painted so I'll give you what you really want - pictures with cute models!

Grammy and her best bud doing a bit of light sanding

Patrick checking for square, or something like that

My super-efficient paint crew

Lest you be worried, Patrick was not upset about the amount of paint he appears to have ingested. He was actually angry that I told him we were done and took his paintbrush away.

All painted and looking good
With some handsome models

I think I'll make the lessons learned the next post. Suffice it to say that although the table is far from perfect, it will be hosting MANY picnic lunches for Mommy and the boys and I have plans for some more woodworking projects.