SEASON'S GREETINGS

Another year has almost come to a close once again, and I ask myself, “Where has all the time gone”? I feel that in a blink of the eye, we find yourselves entering a new year. My children are no longer babies, and Joey's gray hair is getting much more noticeable. We have gone through way too much this year, just like any other year, which reminds me that this will be the first edition of my Christmas letter, therefore I need to go back to get everyone caught up in the Schuman household.

Abygehl- (Ms. Schuman) will turn 3 on the 7^th of December. She believes she is wiser beyond her years, as to when asked how old she will be, she replies “5”. She started potty training and although we haven't yet figured it out, I do see the light at the end of the tunnel. Aby is also a VERY big help around the house, whether it be picking up a mess or making one. She is always willing to lend a hand. I recently enrolled her in ECFE classes, which she loves! She plays, sings, and runs around with kids her own age. Aby enjoys her brother (most days), Dora, her dolls, dresses, baking and being outside. It is fun to have someone for both Joey and I to shop with as she likes clothing and Fleet Farm.

Elijah- (Mr. Man) runs the show around here. He started walking when he was 10 months old, which made me nervous, but he needed a way to catch his sister, and now the two of them run laps around me. He turned 1 on the 6^th of October, and continues to grow and learn. Along with Aby, I also enrolled him in ECFE classes. He gets the chance to run around and make friends, but he mostly cares what he can fit into his mouth. Last week it was a paint brush with green paint on it. Boys will be Boys, which I am finding out the hard way. He LOVES his sister, trucks, climbing on everything and being outside. The boy never seems to walk but runs everywhere he possibly can. He is a joy to have around!

Joseph- currently is still working with H&R construction out of Dalton. He continues to very much enjoys fishing and hunting. He was even lucky enough to bag a 9 point buck this year. Our freezer is over flowing with game meat. Joey is a wonderful father and we can't wait till he gets laid off for the winter.

Erin- continue to be a stay-at-home mom, working Friday evenings at BINGO and causal at The Cottages in Fergus. I also graduated from college in April with an Associate Degree. Everyday is a new adventure for me. I am consistently trying to find activities and outings for the kids and I. We managed to make it to the Chahinkapa zoo, multiple parks, and lakes this past summer. I was also able to attend 2 scrap-booking retreats this past year, which allowed me to have some much needed time to myself.

The Schumans- At the beginning of 2010 we finally sold our home! We had to move into my parents house for almost 2 months before we could move into our current house. We were able to find a 4 bedroom home with a family room that was more then double the square footage of our old home. We have the joy of seeing wildlife everyday, which includes 5 deer who live in the woods behind our house.

We hope this letter finds everyone healthy, and in good spirits. Another year in the books, and this family is looking forward to what 2011 has to offer!

Love the Schumans- Joesph, Erin, Abygehl, and Elijah

Playdough in the making

I recently enrolled the kids in Early Childhood classes in our town. I remember going to them when I was little with my mom and knew that if I still had those good memories with my mother then my kids would hopefully be caring these memories with them and share them with their kids (which I don't want to think about yet).

At class last week, we received a recipe for Home Made Play dough. A little nervous at first about making it, we ventured out last evening and gathered our supplies.

The recipe is as follows:

ECFE's Favorite Playdough Recipe

2 cups boiling water
(including any food coloring)

Add:
2 Tbsp oil to boiling water
1 Tbsp powdered alum

Add Alternately:
½ Cup salt
2 Cups flour

Playdough needs to be kneaded to work out flour lumps
(Keep hot mixture away from children until cool)

We made both Orange and Red. Now the recipe doesn't say when to take the mixture off the burner, so for the Orange we left the pot on the burner but turned it off, and for the Red we removed the pot from the burner. I don't think there was much of a difference besides the red might have cooled a little faster. But there you have it. A fun activity to do with the kids!

*Note: I found my Alum at the grocery store. They had 2 different brands, 1 was $2.98 and the other was $1.09. I went with the cheaper one and it worked fine.

The Orange doesn't look orange, but it works!

-Young Schumom

The weather outside is frightful

We (my kids and I) find ourselves in the middle of a minor snow storm. The dish is out, so I figured (while the kids are playing well together) that I would try and attempt to get caught up on my blog posts. I am not very good at making sure I write something every day or even every other day. I value my free time with no little ones around. I have a lot to do around my house considering I am a stay at home mom while my husband is gone during the week. So everything from Monday morning till Friday evening is my responsibility. Did I mention we also have 3 dogs... ruff, ruff, ruff. Therefore, when it snows outside I am the one that should clean the walk, and such. But thankfully we moved to a location that is considered “country”. I use “ “ because everything else around us is town. (I didn't make the rules, I just deal with them.) So any who, we don't have sidewalks and the mailman drives to our mailbox, so if I don't get out there in time, no need to worry about anyone failing... ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! To conclude, I wanted to leave feeling warm, cause when I look out the window at the coldness all around me, I want to think of warm times. ENJOY!

Young Schumom

Out of the mouth of a schu-child

We stopped at my work tonight to pick up my pay check .

Aby asked, “Mom is this where all your friends are?”

I said, “No baby.”
In the mean time, a gal walked out and said she would watch the kids while I ran inside so I wouldn't have to bring them in with me the 1.2 seconds I would have been in there for.

I came back to the car, said thank you to the gal and hopped in.
Aby said, “Mom, well you have at least one friend!”

Oh Ms. Schuman, how you have stolen my heart. You were a blessing the day you were born, you are MY best friend, my sweet baby girl!

Not Me Monday

*I am potty training our two and a half year old, so when I ran out of pullups (and refused to put her brothers size 3 diaper on her) I certainly DID NOT put an extra thick pad in her underwear just in case she potted during nap time.

*I would NEVER forget to empty her potty chair, and then find my son in playing in it.

*To avoid the embarrassment of my daughter wetting herself in public, I DID NOT use a thin pad in her underwear to catch any dribbles. Being the mother I am, I would have had many extra pair of pants along, because I LOVE doing laundry everyday!

*Also, I WOULD NEVER allow her to run around a friend's son's first birthday party with just a pullup and t-shirt on cause she wet through everything else, NEVER!

*I would have NEVER put a swim suit bottom on her because I ran out of clean underwear. That would NEVER happen because I LOVE doing laundry.

A few firsts

These are a few of Mr. E's firsts (first ice cream cone, ride with daddy, and eating spaghetti)

Oh Mr. E
how you can be

such a boy!

Not Me Monday

*Our garage is rather full of stuff, so when it was pouring out when we got home I DID NOT pull into the garage pushing some items out of the way with my vehicle so I could at least get my door open so we could get out without getting wet.

* I certainly DID NOT allow our 2 ½ year old to take off her shoes, socks, and pants so she could stick her feet in the water yesterday, (which I might add was a pretty cool day)
:side note, hubby checked the water out first and said it was really warm

* Then after, I DID NOT allow her to ride home with nothing on her bottom because she would not put on a new pull up... NEVER! (we are potty training)

*I DID NOT beg my husband to stay home from work because I didn't want to be left alone with the little ones all week long.

NOT to break any rules...
BUT

I DID go g-saleing this past week and found some amazing deals!

Fun in the sun 2010

This summer I have taken FULL advantage of beach time. Last year I was pregnant, and my daughter was only one, which made it difficult for “fun” water time. Even though we did make it swimming last year, nothing beats the number of times we have gone out this year. My children love being outside and being able to run and have a good time. They sleep so good after a day outside, it is a win win for both.

I found a picture of Ms. S from our fun in the sun 09 when she was a year and a half. My has she changed!

Then

Now

What is with the mouth?

I am so excited to report that with all this fun in the sun time, I have tan lines. I have not been this tan in over three years, which is hardly dark by most peoples standards, but to me nice and brownish. I am so happy for these lines... (just to let fellow readers know that yes I am tan from the sun, but also from some sunless lotion I put on) but none-the-less I have lines!

Thats all for now, I hope that this fun-in-the-sun filled post brightens your day!

-SCHUMOM

A little prayer goes a long way

I am was so pleased that when I logged on this evening, I found two comments from people I do not know that found my “Not so me Monday” posts interesting. After digging in a little deeper to one of these posts I came across a little boy named Tripp who has a rare skin condition called EB. EB causes sores/blisters anywhere an a child's skin were rubbing occurs. My heart went out to this child whom does not deserve what he has been given. His mother expresses how strong he is and that nothing seems to keep him down. I just wanted to take a second to pray for Tripp in his journey of life.

to read more visit-
http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com/

Not Me Monday

* I did not forget to pack extra diapers for the kids at my mother's house, so when my son ran out of diapers my mother did not put a pink pull up on him.

*I did not allow my daughter to play in the sand box naked in the back yard, because I did not want to do extra laundry.

* I did not use the famous line “Because I said so” at Walmart today.... esssh.

well thats all I have for my first ever "Not me Monday". More to come, keep checking back :)

time goes on...

Even though I am NOT-

*nine months pregnant
*finishing my last semester of school
*putting a house on the market
*trying to keep a clean “show-able” house
*working full time

I am-
*Playing mommy to two ADORABLE kids and loving every second of it

Looking back to last year, I didn't know how I was going to make it through the next day being a single mother (during the week) to one, busy, 1 ½ year old, keep a clean home, finish school, all while carring a wiggly baby. But I made it through it and have a SOLD house, a COLLEGE degree and a BABY boy.

On that note of things that have changed because of the moving time. I took my daughter who is 2 ½ to a movie this afternoon. She sat through the whole thing. I was so proud of her, not to mention how nice it was to spend mommy and daughter time.

Oh time, how I love the changing of the seasons, but sometimes, I wish you could just stop, so I could “take it all in”!

Can I hear an AMEN!

Who would have believed three months ago that last night my sweet little boy slept from 9pm to almost 8am this morning. The calls from above heard how stressed and tired I had become and finally he slept through the night without waking once. Usually I have to go in his room, find his nuk (which in itself is a challenge because I always forget to grad by glasses off my bedside table), put it back into his mouth and turn on his light show. I refuse to give him a bottle when he wakes at 3am. I feel that he is big enough to manage without a bottle every five hours. And on that note, we went from a bottle every three hours, to three bottles a day. One in the morning when he wakes up, one before nap time and one before bed time. I thank the above because we do not get assistance like we did with our daughter. So formula is out of pocket. I just picked up three cans last week, because I had a coupon of course, and it was $64. It has been quite the journey with this little man, and today he is eight months old. I just can not believe how fast time can go by. I remember when I was eight months pregnant with him and it seemed forever before I was going to see him, and before I know it he is going to be eight-teen and heading of to college. Time goes by so quickly.

Schmom with her little schus

Oh how I love pictures, but as the mom, I am the one taking all of them. SO to me, a few with the kids is a joy!

Long time no type

It has been the longest time that I have managed to find some time to sit in front of my computer to type away about all the parenting issues I have found myself facing lately. Like for instance, just today while out in public, my two and a half year old daughter decided to was a good idea to start yelling. Not cause she was in pain or trouble just because she thought it was funny and might be a good idea. When I attempted (remember that this is my first child, so this is new to me) to discipline her, she hit me. Not once but twice. I was completely mortified because as a mother, I could feel all the other mother's eyes on me. Well that is all I have for now, because in the time it took me to write this, she got into my purse and took out the bottle of lotion I had it there and unscrewed the cap... Now I have a well lotioned leg.

Who's that cute baby!

How sweet it is to be in love by you!

It is hard to image that this little sweet face has been giving us so much trouble at night.

*Update 2* from sleep baby, please sleep

Advice-

Use the Ferber method. Which means, “let him cry himself back to sleep.”

Outcome-

Well, to say the least, we have half attempted this method. As most of you know, we are currently living at my parents house because our house sold (can I hear an AMEN!) and we don't close on our new most perfect house until the first of the month. Therefore, it is very difficult to “let him cry” when everyone in the house hold can hear him, including my 2 year old daughter. So in all our efforts to try to get a good nights rest I believe that our little man is testing us. I once again believe when we get in the new house everything will get back to normal. Well at least I can hope and pray that it will. I do have to add that he is only getting up twice maybe three times a night and all we have to do is put the nuk back into his mouth. All in all, that is fine with me, this way I can check on him and make sure everything is ok.

A fishy encounter

Her first time touching a fish, made her daddy proud!

*Update* from sleep baby, please sleep

Advice-
Try giving water instead of formula at night, that way “why wake up for just water”.

Outcome-
Work in progress. If you know my son, then you know that only giving him water at night will not hurt him what so ever. Even though in the fury of him crying one night, my husband said, “aren't we depriving him of food?” I believe my husband felt sorry for our baby boy and wanted him to stop crying. On most nights, the water only works until he realizes it isn't formula. Then he starts to get upset and cries. I have been regularly doing it for the past week. Someday we will get there.

Sleep baby, please sleep!

My husband and I are blessed with two healthy, happy children who are the joys in our lives. But like all children, they didn't come with manuals. We were some how lucky with our daughter that by the time she reached 2 months old she was sleeping through the night. She never wanted to suck on a pacifier and still to this day is perfectly content with her blanket. Now with our son... He loves his pacifier and loves any attention he can get from whom every is in the room with him. We are having a problem with him sleeping through the night. He thinks that he needs to eat every three hours. Because of the move and disruption in his “normal” sleep pattern, he has been getting up every morning at 3. And on some special nights, he thinks he needs to get up at 12:45 am and then again at 3:30. Maybe he misses my sweet face? My tender touch? Or the sound of my voice? Well to tell the truth, I miss my warm, comfy bed, and really wish he would love his pack-N-play just as much!

I have recently reached out and asked some mothers for some advice. I will try them and post later to as if they work. For now, my precious little baby boy and I will be letting our beds get cold and be seeing more of each other.

Can we borrow that box?

As of March 5^th, my little family became homeless. We sold our house and are currently living with my parents, which are now the “rents” until we can close on the most perfect house that we could find for our family. So wish us luck because the next three weeks will be interesting.

A little nursery rhyme

There was a young woman
Who lived in a schu.
She was a kindhearted mom
Who knew exactly what to do.

She raised her 3 children
With patience and love.
Never once did she give them
A spank, shake or shove.

Her children all learned
To be gentle toward others,
And good friends too
From their days in the schu

They learned this about living:
Kindness, not force,
Is the gift that keeps giving.