Reese Sleeping

The other night I went to tuck Reese into bed and this is how she was sleeping. I laughed so hard I almost woke up the girls. Then of course, I had to get Cord so he could see and also take a picture.

She loves her monkeys.

Reese and Riley's Christmas Tea

Reese and Riley's preschool had a Christmas tea. It was a little party where the parents go to the school, the kids greet you, they sing a few Christmas songs, and then they serve you punch and cookies. It was a fun way for them to practice the manners they have been learning this past month at school.

It was a cute. The little program was great. In fact, Riley listen so well to the manners lesson when she picked her nose during the songs she put her entire arm in front of her face so no one would notice (see following picture). The girls had a great time and it was fun to watch them be in charge of Cord and me.

Riley

Reese

Riley

Riley


Riley politely picking her nose.

Reese and Riley

Monday at School Reese and Riley celebrated their half birthday. I know it isn't even close to their half birthday, but with the holidays and the parties it was the closest day. They have been so excited for weeks about their half birthday. It turns out they thought it meant another birthday. They were a little disappointed that there wouldn't be presents or birthday cakes. However, that was all forgotten when they realized they got to take the treat to school to share. After much debate and discussion the two of them decided on doughnuts. Not just any doughnuts their favorite ones from the local gas station.

They had a great day and were so proud of their birthday crowns.

Nap interupted

Cole has had a pretty rough week between being weened from nursing to finally cutting teeth. Yesterday, was no exception. He was very tired and cranky when I put him down for his nap. After a few minutes of crying he finally settled down and went to sleep, or so I thought. Instead, Ella had gone into their room and decided to make Cole happy. She gave him a few toys. When this got Cole to stop crying Ella figured the more the merrier. So she loaded his crib up with all of the toys we have in their room and of course her stuffed elephants.

A few minutes later I heard Cole screaming. So imagine my surprise to find him surrounded by toys.

After a few snuggles, an emptied crib, and a locked door Cole finally got the nap he needed.

Seeing Santa Claus

Saturday night Santa Claus came to visit the party at our church. The kids were so excited to tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Here are the pictures.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Why Little kids have such good immune systems

Today, when I wasn't paying attention Cole crawled off to explore the world. Well, he was able to discover a new frontier. One of the older 5 sisters didn't shut the bathroom door. He discovered a great place to play. I went and got my camera to document this silly little antic. When in the middle of his video shoot he decided it was also a great place to get a drink of water. AHHHHH!!!

I have washed and sanitized his hands several times now, but I just can't figure out how to clean that sweet little mouth. It just makes me sick to think about it.

My little Army guy grows up

Cole finally is crawling. The past few months he has been doing this cute little army crawl. I thought I would post a video of how cute he looked when he was scooting around.

I am one lucky woman!!!

Today started out pretty rough. Poor Cord got the brunt of my emotional meltdown. When I call him at work before 7:40 a.m. he knows something is wrong. The everyday stresses, topped with me not feeling well, freezing cold weather, a teething, sick, and not sleeping baby, the early morning rush to get the girls on the bus, and three cranky and sick girls crying for breakfast even before their eyes were all the way open. I was ready to crawl back in bed before the day had barely begun.

The long story short. A few hours later, as the chaos was about to swallow me up. The doorbell rang. As I rushed to the door with a crying baby on one hip, Ella telling me the injustices of the world on my other side, Reese and Riley racing each other to open the door (of course one of them fell and got hurt), and Tate talking nonstop about what she did at school. I opened the door to this old man with a big mass of something covered in bags. It turns out my dear husband had sent me flowers. What a guy. Suddenly my day became fabulous. I am one lucky woman.

Here are my beautiful flowers.

Thanksgiving

Okay, so I have been lagging behind in my blogging. I keep thinking I need to sit down and type something profound about Thanksgiving and all that I am thankful for. Alas, my profoundness has fled and I am stuck with a basic update.

We had a great Thanksgiving. At first, I was disappointed we were not going back west to be with family for the holidays. I love being with my family for the holidays. This is the first year that we will not be going back for either Christmas or Thanksgiving. So in order to make it truly feel like the holidays, I decided it was time to start and continue some traditions for our little family.

One of the tradition we continued was pie night. The night before Thanksgiving the kids get together at my parents house and help my mom make ALL of the pies (usually in the high teens or twenties). After all of the pies are done we all sit around and get to have a piece of pie and play games, or a do a puzzle. Well I decided that it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving with out pie night. However, I didn't think it would work to invite all of my friends and neighbors over to make pies, so I decided to make the pies ahead of time and have them over to eat pie.

So Tuesday night and Wed. morning I made 3 Pumpkin pies, 2 Key Lime pies, 2 lemon meringue pies, 2 french silk pies, and 1 lime chiffon pie. I love to cook, but pies are not my specialty. But as Cord says if it has sugar and butter in it you can't go wrong. Luckily they turned out okay.

Our first annual Schrader Pie Night went great. We had 36 people, half of which were kids. Thank goodness for basements (finished or not) it is a great place for all of the kids to run and play. We also had the Peanuts Thanksgiving DVD playing (thanks Mike and Carrie). It was a fun night. There was plenty of pie for everyone and it was just fun to be with friends and neighbors. It is definitely a tradition that we will continue.

We had Thanksgiving dinner at a friends house the next day, and it was wonderful. Lots of really good food, great company, lots of laughs, and of course more pie. It was a great day.

Although we weren't able to be with family. I am grateful to have such great friends and neighbors that made it such a great holiday. It reminded me of the few Thanksgivings we had in Arkansas. The one advantage to being far from family is your friends and neighbors become your family.