It's a boy!! Samuel John

Nicole had her baby and he is the cutest little boy!

Samuel John

He was born at 5:07 am
March 29th

7 lbs. 6 ounces
18 1/2 inches long

Baby Samuel

Me with Samuel at 6:00 am. That was early!!

Shane with Samuel

Madison and Shane with Samuel

Madison, Ben (Nicole's son), Corey (Nicole's step son), Samuel, Shane and Alia (Denise's Baby)

Congratulations Nicole!!
You did a great job and Samuel is absolutely beautiful.
Enjoy every minute with your bundle of joy. We love you!!

It's a girl......

When you saw the title I know you were puzzled because
I am not pregnant and Nicole is having a boy.

But.....

Our puppy was born yesterday!! :-)

We finally decided that it was time for us to get a dog.
Our kids are old enough now and we are ready to get a dog for them. We haven't chosen which one is ours, but one of these females will be ours. We are still trying to decide the name. Shane and Madison wanted Sandy and I wanted McKenzie "Kenzie" and Eric doesn't care. So on the way to swim we had a discussion about the dogs name. I told Shane and Madison that we can name it Sandy, but I would call it Kenzie. Then after a little more discussion Shane said "I have an idea Madison. We can name our next dog Sandy and we can get a yellow lab. Yup that's what we will do." Eric Said "next dog?". Shane said "yup". Eric then said "I don't think we are getting another dog." Shane said "yup we are getting a yellow lab so we can name this one Kenzie and the next one Sandy. Then Madison said "You can name it Kenzie, but I am calling her Sandy". Does that sound familiar or what?

So long story short I am not sure what we are naming her, but we will have a puppy in 8 weeks!! The kids are very excited to meet their puppy!!

"Rules for Shane's Room"

Isn't he cute?? He came up to me yesterday and said "mom, I have made some rules for my room." Knowing his age I knew it was going to be something about no girls allowed, but I let him finish. He said "NO girls allowed in my room only boys". I said ok.
Then I went to his room and this is what I found.....

YES!! You are seeing it correctly he wrote on his door. My first thought was how cute!! He is growing up so fast. He can write He and She. My second thought was how in the heck am I going to get this off of his door. I said "Shane you can have rules for your room, but they need to be written on paper and then taped to your door". He said "mom, I am so sorry". I said that is ok, let's go in the kitchen and we can hang a sign on your door. I then said "when did you learn how to write he and she?" He said "in class today". While he made the sign I used the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to get the ink of the door. Of course it worked. I love those!!
Here is the updated door.....

We then went to swim and he lost his tooth in the changing room. When we got home I said Shane you have a problem. You said no girls in your room so when the tooth fairy comes she is going to think that she is not allowed in your room. He said "OH NO!!" I need to change my sign.
Here is the updated sign....

It says "she", but he wanted to write next to it "Tooth fairy and Madison only", but he didn't have enough room. I was still sad that I wasn't allowed in. He said "mom you are a girl!!"
He is growing up to fast!!!

ERIC

The only reason why I am doing this post is because it is a great picture of my man.
He is such a great man, dad and husband!
I Love You!!!

SNUGGIES!!

Eric has been wanting a Snuggie for a while. So I got him one for Valentine's Day, but it came today. The kids have been looking forward to it coming. So it was on the porch today when we got home from work/daycare. Shane and Madison ran in the house got the scissors and started going to town. The Snuggie comes with a free book light. They both opened it up and put it on. I got a few pictures of them right when they put them on. They are so happy.
They couldn't wait for Eric to get home so he could see. I think that I am going to need to buy one more because Madison now wants one.

I can still use my Oregon blanket. I don't need a Snuggie. :-).

In case you don't know what a Snuggie is it is a blanket that is like a robe, but instead of puting your arms through the holes around your back it goes in front so that your arms don't get cold when you are on the couch.

Here is Madison and Shane with the snuggies on siting on the couch.

Here is Madison with the snuggie on and the book light reading one of her many princess books.:-)

Eric, the kids like the snuggie as much as you do.
The kids took them to bed tonight so I will have to post a picture of Eric in his snuggie later. Sorry Hun, I know it was your present. He is such a good sport!!

Valentine's Day

I love holidays!!!

I woke up before my family and made signs and got their Valentine's surprises out.
Here is what my wonderful family woke up to.

I cut it down this year from what I usually do, but they enjoyed it.

Then the fun started....
We watched Alia for Mike and Denise and they went to Portland for a romantic Valentine's get away. We had her for a little over 24 hours. She is so fun and not to mention adorable!! She was a very good baby. She slept 12 hours at night. That is my kind of 10 month old. We had a blast with her.
Thanks Denise and Mike for letting us watch her!!!


Alia on her First Valentine's Day at the Schwake's!

Madison and Alia playing.

Me snuggling with Alia. Madison wanted to take our picture.

Shane and Alia. Shane loves her so much. I thought that she would be old news when her parents came to pick her up, but Shane was acting like she just got there. He LOVES her!!!

Alia being a goof and having a blast with the train table.

Alia right after she woke up. Look how happy she is.

We went to Papa's Pizza for the heart shaped Valentine pizza deal like we do every year. Alia loved the egg that Madison got out of the chicken machine.

I told the kids if they went to bed good when Alia was here that they could help take care of her in the morning. (I don't bribe them...;-)) Madison wanted to change her diaper like she does her baby. So here is Madison trying to change a 10 month old's diaper.
It is little different then her babies. Alia is alive and moves. :-)

She needed a little help from Shane. It was so cute to watch them.
Shane was trying to talk to her while changing her diaper and it sill wasn't working.

So finally he had to really help.
Just like a man to not dig in hands first right away!!!

Then it was Shane's turn. He wanted to feed her her morning baba.

Shane feeding Alia her morning bottle.

We had a great day with her. I hope that we get to watch her again soon.
It is fun having a baby around.
When she left it was amazing how we missed her. Love you Alia!!!

My baby lost his first tooth!!

Can you believe that Shane lost his first tooth? It fell out at daycare on January 30th. The tooth fairy came and gave him $5. He was so excited. I still can't believe that my baby lost his first tooth. :-( I love that little guy so much and he is growing up right before my eyes. It was a big step for him and he will tell you all about it if he sees you. He has 3 more loose teeth so I am sure that the tooth fairy will be visiting our house again soon. ;-)

Shane's new tooth fairy box that he painted at Madison's party. The tooth is in there but we couldn't get a good picture of it. That is where he had it for the tooth fairy. I told him that it is supposed to go underneath his pillow and he told me no way would he do that because the tooth would fall out of the box. He told me that he wanted it on his dresser. What ever makes him happy I will do.

Shane with his missing tooth. It is hard to tell that it is missing due to the fact that his permanent tooth grew part way in before he lost his baby tooth.

Shane, Madison and Alia chilling on the couch. Don't they look so cute.
They both love Alia so much!!!

Alia was over the night the tooth fairy came so here we are and Shane is reading us a bedtime story. I still can't believe that he is reading. Like I said he is growing up too fast!!
Can you believe how big Alia looks in this picture?