Cooper's Dance

The girls were listening to music in the basement and here's Cooper's reaction to it... Note the courtesy goodbye wave he gives me with his right hand.

Same old same old

It's a good morning. Birds are singing. Sid the Science Kid is on. Dishwasher is already going (major accomplishment). My non-science kids are naked (have I mentioned before how much they like to be naked?) and playing "kitchen", bringing me all kinds of delicacies like chicken soup and toast along with a fork and knife to help me eat them. Cooper has spotted me and is crawling at top speed towards me so that he can push some buttons on the computer. ;klsdh See? I'm thinking we're going to have a good day. I'm proposing a nature walk this morning, followed by some lunch, a nap (for Coop) and, if it hits 75 degrees today, some swimming in our pool (the blow-up kind). I promised Cate that when the temp reached 75 then they could swim. She's been chomping at the bit ever since. Yesterday when I picked them up from preschool the van's thermometer was registering 76 degrees but by the time we got home it had dropped to 72 degrees. Major disappointment. Then this evening I have our last MOPs meeting of the year. MOPs is always a great time. So, yeah, I think it's gonna be a good one. Of course, it's only 9:00 am so any number of things could throw us off course. But I'm gonna be optimistic today!

Life has been good in Schwakeland. We've all been cycling through with the cold that Cooper had. I got it first, then Cate, then Scott came down with it last week and I think Clare is on the verge. But it's not a major cold, just a bothersome one. We've been enjoying the good weather, taking walks, working in the garden, riding bikes/trikes/scooters in our cul de sac. All good and fun things. We went to Scott's cousin's wedding this weekend in Waterloo. This was the first one the kids have gone to and the girls were enthralled with the bride and her beautiful dress. Who of us can't remember getting to stay up late and dance at a wedding reception when we were little. It's so much fun!! Of course, when we were kids we never noticed what complete BEARS we were for then next 3 or 4 days because we were so needing to catch up on sleep. That's for those grown-ups to worry about.

There ya have it. The lowdown on us here. Good times. But I'd better go now. Clare is badgering me to let her have the computer to play some games on http://www.pbskids.org/. It's starting already! We're gonna have to have a couple of computers when these kids are older just so mom can have some time on it!

Enjoy your week. More pictures soon.

Wet Kids and Kisses

Hi all (all 3 of you that is). Today is dawning bright and sunny after a weekend of rain and clouds. But the rain did it's job on this dry April and everything is really starting to green up! The kids and I were outside enjoying the 55 degree cloudy weather yesterday. I was dutifully raking leaves and pulling off the old foliage from last year so that my newbie plants would be able to find the sunshine today and hopefully take off! The girls, who have already declared it summer and will wear nothing with long sleeves and must be severely coaxed into long pants and socks, were running around practically naked, having a ball. Coopy was exploring our entire back yard - all 1.1 acres of it. That boy is so curious! Rocks on the steps? Nah, doesn't hurt my knees one bit (he's still crawling folks but the walking is one step closer every day). Mulch? Yum! Leaves? I'd better have a few hundred in each hand. Wet mud? Forgetaboutit! Too fun! And don't get me started on the rainwater in the birdbath. Thankfully, mommy remembered to make everyone wash their hands before we came in for a snack (I'm usually painfully unaware of dirty hands).

Remember on my last post about everyone being healthy? Yeah. That very night I came down with a humdinger of a cold that I'm just now getting over. I assume I caught what Cooper had since we're still in the wide-open-mouth-kisses stage (him, not me). I can't complain. Soon Coop will learn to keep that wet drooling mouth closed and do the 'proper' kisses and I'll be done with those enthusiastic, all-loving, drooly wet expressions of his sweet love for me.

Well, I've been promising the girls since yesterday morning that we'd make cookies and the time of reckoning has come. I'm off to do some super-mom baking with my kids. I hope you all enjoy the sun today!

Good to Go

Since the croup incident, we've had a relatively normal week. Cooper continued to have cold symptoms and developed an ear infection which was very predictable. So at his 15 month well child visit we didn't get the shots but got a prescription for antibiotics. He's recovering from that nicely (antibiotics are my friend). And he's growing like a weed. Big head, just like all the other little one's. None of the other kids or adults came down with any severe cold so that's good. Healthwise - we're all good to go.

This weekend I celebrated my 41st birthday. Whoo hoo. Friday evening found me with my girlfriends having a scrumptious dinner at Redstone. mmmmmm. On Saturday morning (my birthday) my mom came up and we spent the day shopping. Ikea, General Store for lunch, S.R. Harris fabric outlet (LOVE that place!), DSW and Marshall's. We had a great time together and got some fun stuff.

Yesterday was cold, rainy and blustery. We had been cooped up in the house all day and the city bill needed to be paid. So I had this FABULOUS notion to throw the two older kids in the Burlie and Coop in the babyseat and bike into town (about 2 miles) to pay the bill. But I first had to get down the bike and the Burlie, both of which my husband chose to store on the ceiling of our garage!! So I had to get up on the ladder and retrieve them and may I just say that my bike is stinkin' heavy!!! That was a workout in itself and it left a few bruises to proove it. Then I found helmets for all the little one's and myself. Got pants, shoes, coats on all and strapped them all in. I was a bit nervous about Coopy in the babyseat since the last time he was in it the bike tipped over and knocked the wind out of him! Thankfully, my extra nervousness paid off and he was safely on board (along with the other 2 in the back) with me riding. Normally a 4 mile bike ride would be nothing for me but let me just tell you about the cards that were stacked against me. 1) We live in a very hilly area -getting into town was a breeze, coming home...not so much. 2) And by breeze, I mean very brisk breeze (see the beginning of this paragraph) which was helpful on the way there, and on the way back, again not so much. 3) This was my first time on a bike this year and not only did I have to haul my own body around but 3 little children who together added 110 extra pounds as well as the burly which was probably an additional 10 to 15 pounds. Let me just say that by the time I got home, I thought I was about to expire! I had coughing fits the rest of the day from opening up the farthest reaches of my bronchial tubes in my efforts to get air into my body up that last agonizing hill. But it was all good. I figure if I do that enough times, I'll have thighs of steel!

Today dawned sunny and beautiful. I hope we can be outside a bit today. If any of you have followed the link on this page to Stellan's blog then you know that sweet Stellan is in a very risky surgery right now to try to fix his little heart. I just saw a twitter from Mckmama that said it's been 3 hours with no news whatsoever. Please be in prayer for her and Stellan today.

We are all so very blessed. I hope you have a blessed day as well!

What a weekend

I'd like to say that I had a great weekend. Alas, I cannot. Saturday dawned with the promise of a beautiful sunny warm day. I know, because I saw the dawn at 6:00 am from my car window in an attempt to get my son to sleep by driving him around after being awake much of the night. My poor baby developed a bad case of croup on Friday morning which worsened during the night. We put him to bed and just as I was finishing my last post, he woke up crying. It took about 3 hours to get him settled enough to sleep. Then it was fitful for a couple of hours and more awakeness until dawn. Every time he started crying, his throat would close up until he was just squeeking trying to get some air in. We spent a good amount of time outside in the cold air that night. So the next day after lunch (and some sleep on my end), I decided to take him to urgent care to see if they could prescribe some steroids so that our next night would be better.

Once in urgent care he again started crying and the doctor, who two minutes earlier was treating me as though I was an idiot mom who was over reacting, suddenly decided Coop's breathing (or lack thereof) warrented an ambulance trip to Children's. A few minutes later, Cooper stopped crying and his breathing returned to normal...well, not normal but back to the slightly constricted/raspy breathing he'd been doing before. We did, however, go by ambulance to Children's where they advised us to stay overnight for observation should he have another rough night. They gave him the steroids I was hoping to get for him and that night in the hospital he slept very well with no constricted breathing at all. It wasn't all bad. I did learn a fabulous brownie pudding recipe on the Barefoot Contessa on the TV in the ward.


Croupy Coopy in his hospital gown (from my cell phone).

So Scott had to rush around on Saturday with the girls to bring us some stuff in the hospital, and grab our car which was still at Urgent Care. And he had to make up the Easter baskets all by himself (I LOVE doing that kind of stuff). The girls looked for their baskets in the morning without mommy or Coopy there. Coop and I got home shortly before 11:00 on Sunday morning. I showered quick while Coop took a nap then we headed on over to my brother's for Sunday dinner of yummy ham and cheesy potatoes. Then, thankfully, our church had a 5:00 pm Easter service which we were able to attend. It's just not Easter without going to church!

And last night, Coopy, after a very crabby (which I hear is a side effect of the steroids) and tired day, slept very peacefully in his own bed surrounded by his own stuffed animals and blankies and woke up, still with croup but happy and on the mend. It will be an Easter to remember, that's for sure!

It's a Good Friday

One problem with having a birthday in April is that sometimes your special day lands on a somber day...Good Friday. It's hard to know what to do when your birthday is on Good Friday. It's the day Jesus died on the cross. All the suffering he went through...I mean brutal suffering... for us. So that we could one day be called children of God. And that's just the documented suffering. What happened those 3 days he was dead? I'm thinking there wasn't anything Good about it. So it is definitely a day to reflect, be respectful of the sacrifice made on our behalf. Doesn't really seem appropriate to be gorging on birthday cake and tearing open presents.

But on the other hand, there is a reason it is called Good Friday. The hope we have, the grace we've been granted, the love that is ours, all are the result of what took place that dark day. It is Good! God is Good! So in the spirit of the Goodness that is ours, I choose to respectfully say Happy Birthday to my ever-giving, sweet, "wonderful", loving mom, Terry. I will celebrate with you on the day where it is entirely appropriate to celebrate...Easter! Happy birthday Mom. I love you!

Against the Law

It should be against the law for kids to be sick when it's nice outside! Poor Coopy woke up with a fever this morning and isn't feeling very good. You know they feel crappy when they won't even eat a pancake. He doesn't have any other symptoms either so I don't know what's up. I'm hoping it's not mono like Clare had a couple of weeks ago. She had high fevers for 8 days and no other syptoms until day 5 at which point she developed a very sore throat and her lymph nodes swelled up. I'm hoping we don't have the same with the Coopster.

And Clare developed a cold sore yesterday...her first. Scott gets them and we were hoping the kids wouldn't get them. But alas, it was not to be. We're all going to the doctor today to make sure everyone is okay. Not a fun way to spend a beautiful sunny spring afternoon. But it can't be helped.

We're all looking forward to Easter this weekend. The girls are going gaga over all the candy they are going to get. But I keep reminding them that the candy and the Easter bunny are just extra stuff to the real reason for the holiday. Jesus died and rose from the grave 3 days later! It is the pivotal moment of all of christianity - the reason we believe. I hope we never forget the amazing and awesome sacrifice done on our unworthy behalf.

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!!

A Few Pictures

Mr. Cooper at 14.5 months. Almost walking.


Sweet Clare at the park. She had mono in this picture but was without a fever at the time.



Like the hat? Grandma and Grandpa Schwake got it for him....in Ireland, as you can see.

Catie eating cereal. It's hard to get a real smile like this these days...most pictures it's that forced smile.

Brownie batter rocks!!! And I'm the queen!! I'm cool like that.

Sisters. They stopped fighting long enough to capture this photo.

Notice anything?

No, you aren't at the wrong blog. I was getting a bit bored with the old look. Thought I'd change things up a bit.

Welcome to the new and maybe improved MommaMissy blog!

I'm discovering there are a lot of cool things you can do with blogs that I've never even tried before. So I thought I'd wing it. I'm flirting with the idea of learning how to customize my blog and do lots more neato stuff with it. Like fancy-schmancy slideshows. And Buttons! But then I'd probably have to get a little better at maintaining my posts. Hmmm. Dilemma. My little one's are already fed up with the amount of time I spend on the computer. I'm afraid there'd be mutiny on this bounty if I lingered longer online (how's that for alliteration!). We'll see how it goes. For now, I'm trying to do more but smaller posts with fewer pictures.

And to that end...

Hubby returned from his ice-fishing extravaganza in Canada. He was gone for six days. I was praying daily for patience and strength and thankful that he timed it well with my...ahem...female cycle. Let's just say, had he taken the trip two weeks later, my kids would have had ringing ears and VERY early bedtimes. As it was, I held it all together pretty well. But we were all extremely happy to see Daddy again. And once again am ever so grateful for the wonderful man God put in my life.

Kids are doing great. Cooper is thiiiiiiiiis close to walking. He's taken to crawling on hands and FEET in hopes of getting to his destination a bit faster. Cate is bored with everything and has suddenly developed an aversion to all food. Clare had a nasty bout of mono a few weeks back but is fully recovered and back to her hijinks. However, she has this very mature and wise nature about her. It's a strange but beguiling mix. Attley is all shaved up and ready for the warm weather.

Me? I'm doing good but I am frustrated with my overall health (which is code word for my weight). I am trying to do all things pertaining to my health better. Relaxing more. Exercising more. Eating less and better. Cutting out sugar (the biggy). And....it get's me nowhere. Which is to say I haven't lost any weight. Somehow, we have in our minds that if we do all things better then SOMEHOW we will lose weight. But it's not happening. So I'm going to see a hormone doctor. I'm quite convinced my body is starting to want to close up shop in the fertility department soon. While I do not want to actually produce anything (i.e. anyone), I do not want cobwebs growing on all my equipment, either! So we'll see what they say and see if there's anything I can do that I haven't thought of yet. I'll keep you posted.

I'd love to hear what you think of the new layout. Or anything else you'd like to say. And if anyone has any tips on cool things to add to a blog, let me know that too.

Until next time....

Spring please come!

The Schwakeland express is humming right along. We're getting on one another's nerves. We need warmth. We need spring. We need some physical separation from each other. Run in the grass. Swing on the swings. Listen to birds singing. Breath. March in Minnesota is a crap shoot. But I can feel it coming. That elusive spring. That smell of warmth to come. We get a day or two here and there of warm weather. But no, we don't get the whole shebang. If it's say, 58 degrees out, you can be sure there's a wind. Or rain. Or something that makes you remember that it really isn't "nice" out yet. And you can be equally sure that the next day will dawn grey and cold. I hate spring. Let me re-phrase. I hate spring in Minnesota. All spring I am just wishing it was warmer. All spring I live in dread that the next day it's going to snow. Not until June, when you know it's going to stay nice outside, do I relax and enjoy the last 10 or so days of official springtime. I'm sure spring is quite nice in other parts of the country. But not here. It kinda bites.

But really, if that is the extent of my bad times (and it is), how amazingly blessed am I?! My husband makes enough money that I can stay home with our 3 kids. How easy it is for me to complain about being home all the time. My neighbor doesn't have that luxury. My husband has a job. A friend of mine's husband lost his in November with no prospects in sight. My husband loves me and our marriage is rock solid. It's easy to gripe about your spouse here and there. But I have a friend whose spouse just decided they wanted to move on. How do you begin to process that? I am healthy with no sign of cancer or any other major illness. Sure I complain about aches and pains. But what is that to facing colon cancer which has moved on to liver cancer and dealing with chemotherapy side affects while trying to raise two kids and hold down a mortgage? Yeah, I know a guy who is dealing with all that and then some. And I have three beautiful and HEALTHY little children. Maddening at times, yes, but I'd rather that than the alternative. How about a mom who is watching her 5 month old baby boy suffer from a fast-racing heart that the docs can't slow down who is now showing signs of heart failure? That's one of our MOPs moms. It's all extremely close to home. And, yet, in most of these cases, these people are not only enduring, they are helping the rest of us deal with their own hardship. These are the people who are not living on their own strength, but on God's. Their optimism, their total dependency, their bold strong faith completely humbles me. I wish I could say I would fare as they would in the same situation but I fear I wouldn't. I think I would crumble. The hard stuff is not fun or easy. But it's a call to all of us, whether we're going through the hard stuff or not, to put on our A game. To not dip into the 'poor me' pool. To not be too proud to fall on our knees and beg for God's mercy and lean into His strength, His wisdom, His vision. And if we could somehow do this BEFORE the hardship strikes (for it will strike - no one is exempt from it) just think how rich our lives would be!

Back in the Swing

You know that commercial about the kleenex where the mom is saying "Touch glass, touch shoe, touch, touch, touch"? Maybe you've seen it. She's touching things all day long then at the end, she grabs a tissue (I forget the brand, I guess their marketing ploy failed on me), then everything stops and she says in a soft sigh, "Feel". That's what my day feels like except instead of touch I clean...."Wipe highchair, wipe counter, wipe dish, wipe nose, wipe bottom, pick up toys, pick up clothes, pick up kids, pick up food, pick up toys, clean clothes, clean toilet, clean window, clean language, clean children, ....." But when I get to the end of my personal commercial I say with a soft sigh, "Rejuvinate" as I jump on my new elliptical machine. Yes, we got a new/used elliptical machine and I'm so happy! I've used it everyday except one since we got it and apparently I'm in a much better mood. Scott told me the other night that I was always crabby when he got home in the evening until we got the elliptical. A) I'm totally bummed that it took an entire year for him to bring up the fact that I'm perpetually crabby, and 2) I'm very thankful I'm aware of it now and have an outlet. Anyway, I'm super pumped that we got it and Scott has even hopped on it once!

Christmas was really good. We had the girls preschool Christmas program about a week before Christmas. They were adorable and sang so well. I managed to engage the kids in a fun Christmasy/wintery thing each day of December leading up to the 25th. I put 24 activities on a card and placed them in envelopes and numbered them all. Each day we would open one and do that activity. It really helped us to do those things that we always have good intentions of doing but never get around to. Like making a gingerbread house, taking a car tour of the lights in the neighborhood, having hot chocolate while listening to christmas music. I will definitely do it again next year. Christmas eve we had my mom and dad over for a delish prime rib dinner. Then Christmas morning we woke up at the crack of dawn to open the presents. We then spent the afternoon down at my parent's house in St. Peter. It was a really nice holiday. New years I went to a neighborhood party while Scott stayed home with the kids - his treat to me for working so much through the Christmas break. But I was home at 10:00 to watch the ball drop with him.

Scott and I were able to get away up north for our sort-of-annual trip. We've gone many years except when I had a newborn or was too preggers. We stay in a super-rustic cabin that has no electricity and no water, just one wood stove. We bring Attley with us and he has a great time. It was just the thing we needed to relax and reconnect.

Then this weekend, we celebrated Cooper's first birthday! I can't believe that my little boy is already one!! He's such a sweet boy, always smiling. I'm pretty sure he's going to be my social child. He seems to like everyone and has no problem in crowds, at all!

One year ago....

Cooper today!

Immediately after Cooper's birthday, we celebrated the Schwake-side Christmas. The girls were so excited that they got to open presents the same day that Cooper did. And they had a ball having their cousins over. Scott's brother, Dustin, brought his Wii and we adults played quite a few rounds of Guitar Hero.

We're in the planning stages of Cate's birthday party. She's going to have 5 friends over so I need to figure out what to do with all these little girls for a couple of hours. I think it will be really fun for her (and for me). Scott is off this weekend for his annual winter camping trip. It's promising to be below zero which is how they like it I guess.

That's about all. Hopefully next time I post the snow will be melting!! Enjoy the rest of winter! Here's how we Schwakes take the edge off of the long winter. :)

Merry Christmas 2008

Hi friends. Well, two major holidays have passed and snow is on the ground since my last post so I guess I won't be winning that speedy blog award this year. The main reason I don't post is that it takes me forever to download all the pictures from my camera because I'm a superfreak about naming and organizing my photos. And then I have to compress the ones I want to add to the blog. And then when I actually get to the blog, I write a disseration! So I've decided that I'll keep the words short and just hit the highlights. Here goes.

Halloween was a ball this year. Catie really figured out that the goal was to get as much candy as one can carry in a plastic pumpkin. She was cruising way ahead of Clare so we had to do some split duty. Coop came along for the ride in our wagon and was a good sport.

Clare's behavior got worse since the last report but has since rebounded to be much better. And remember that bad habit I had of laying down with her at bedtime I mentioned in the last post. Yeah. When I finally decided to stop I had to put her back to bed 66 times in one night!! Someday her persistence and strong-will will serve her very well....I just keep telling myself that.

Cooper is crawling all over and pulling up on things (mostly me). He has also started repeating a few words. "Uh oh" is the all time favorite, being said many times a day (and at night). "Thank you" and "peekaboo" have shown up and so has "mama" of course. He's super cute!

All the kids got their hair cut!! Cate and Clare went for cute bobs and Cooper got the standard short boys haircut.

Catie lost her first tooth at Grandma Cheryl's house over thanksgiving and was given $1.00 by the tooth fairy.

We had a good time decorating the tree and the house for Christmas. Scotty has outdone himself with the outdoor lights this year. Unfortunately the lights on our tree keep going out! Very frustrating. I guess I'll have to restring the entire thing.

Well, them's the highlights. We're really enjoying our Christmas season this year. The girls are really into it and so am I. Coop's a bit oblivious, but he still likes all the lights. We've mailed our letters to Santa, baked cookies, watched Christmas movies...all the fun stuff. It's been great.

I hope you can all find the time to have fun this season and truly enjoy Christ's birthday. Blessings to you all and Merry Christmas!

Mommy time

Only 4 days until I head to Chicago for my annual girls' weekend. This year, because of fuel prices, we've decided to take the train. We leave the St. Paul Depot at 7:50 am on Friday morning and arrive in Chicago at 3:55 pm. Yes, it's a long time but when your main objective of a weekend like this is to catch up with your girlfriends, eat some good food and rest (along with some major shopping), then it's the perfect solution. We'll be picking up our friend Gwen as we travel through Milwaukee. Not much of an agenda after that which is simply sublime!

This month has been somewhat of an exhausting one for me. Clare has suddenly come up with some major separation anxiety...just in time for her first year of preschool. We've had some major ordeals at carline. But she's getting much much better. Clare has also chosen this month to eliminate her naps. Actually, I chose that after a long deliberation. I hate nap-dropping season. If you let them nap then they usually can't fall asleep much before 2:00 in the afternoon and then they're up past 9:30 most nights (which I just can't tolerate...note the heading of this post - sacred). And if she didn't get a nap, she was just a monster! When Cate dropped her nap, she just got whiney and tearful. Clare gets mean. Hitting, kicking, sassing, and overall naughtiness are the norm. Very stressful for everyone in the family. The only good thing, is that she zonks out in about 5 minutes. Of course, mommy needs to lay with her for this to happen. But what's 5 minutes. I'll break that bad habit after her body normalizes to the change. Which is already happening, thankfully. We give her a nap every 3 or 4 days which is working out pretty well.

So, Clare has been a major issue this month. Cooper has been super cute but is teething and learning to crawl which means he's been up at night a bit. Generally I can handle it now that I'm not as sleep deprived. We had him dedicated on the 2nd at our church. He looked so handsome! We had a little brunch here afterwards to celebrate.

And our Cate has been a dream. She's in that really great stage where she's really compliant, good natured and fun to be around. Gives me hope for Clare in about a year or so. But poor Cate is fighting some virus - she's had a fever for 4 days now which means, of course, waking mom up at 3:00 am when the ibuprofen wears off. 6:30 comes early folks.

I did get a little mommy time yesterday when I got my hair done. Finally! A full foil and decent cut which took 3 hours. My stylist was making me a little nervous. I was watching in the mirror as several times she forgot which color she was working on (I was getting highlights AND lowlights for you hair afficianados). Needless to say, I have a huge chunk of super bright blond right on the top of my head, which I actually like but then right near my bangs, it looks like there was no color added at all. Very drastic difference. I'm hoping I can get in on Thursday to have it fixed. If not, I'll have to strut around on the Magnificent Mile looking like I CHOSE to have my hair look like this. If you start seeing half blond/half mousy hair all over Chicago and on Oprah, you'll know who started that phenom!

MOPs started this month as well and was a big hit. I think everyone is starting to form some really good relationships. My friend and our coordinator, Paige, is doing a fabulous job.

Attley had his 2 year post amputation check up a couple of weeks ago and checked out completely fine! No signs of any cancer in his lungs or anywhere else. It seems he is one of the 5% that has beaten the odds.

Scotty has been busy helping his folks close up the cabin at Webb Lake. And busy with ....garage stuff. He's always tinkering on something. And when he's not, he's GLUED to CNN and anything to do with the presidential race. And any past president - he's been watching those PBS shows on the presidents all month. Last night was Lyndon Johnson. Me? Not so much. Although it is pretty easy to get sucked into it all.

Anyway, I'd better get dinner going. I'll post more after Halloween. Enjoy the beautiful fall!

Crispy

I'm loving the new crisp days and nights! Many of you may think I'm crazy but I love when summer turns to fall. I love not having to have AC going constantly and instead throwing open the windows. I love all the mums and all their beautiful colors (I planted 3 more just last week). I love needing to grab my fleece jacket in the mornings and evenings, getting out my sweaters, wearing my slippers. And pretty soon, that smell is going to start wafting through the air. You know, that smell of falling leaves, the smell of harvesting, the smell of apples. Oh, and I LOVE going to apple orchards and getting pumpkins. And, of course, the glory of the riot of colors in the trees and fields. Let's face it, I'm in love with fall. To me, fall signifies new beginnings so much more than January or spring. I think it's because fall is when we all started (or are starting) school...a time to see friends again, to hunker inside and pull out those projects you put away last spring. New clothes, new school supplies, new experiences. A chance to start fresh. Yes, I know summer is awesome and the soon-to-be-here winter can get long, but fall is where it's at for me.

The girls are off with their daddy scoring gobs of candy in Carver's annual Steamboat Days Parade. This has to be the biggest shortest parade of all time. There are so many entrants to this parade that it takes well over an hour to finish. Considering that the parade route is literally 4 city blocks long, you can imagine how many floats, bands, firetrucks and candy throwers are present at this parade. It's become a Schwake family tradition. I'd be there too except this is Cooper's naptime and, as I've said before, I'm the sleep nazi. I will let very little interrupt my childrens' naps. Although I admit that I've slacked off a bit with each successive child. Still, sleep is so important for them, plus I'm the one who ends up dealing with a crabby off-the-wall baby/toddler when they don't get enough. I guess that means it's really all about me. Oh well.

My sweat Clarebear turned 3 on August 26th (I was in the hospital with her when Katrina hit New Orleans). She had a fun family party with cousins and grandmas and grandpas, a kid party and the aforementioned chucky cheese excursion. She was in her element. I can't believe she's so grown up!

I am so happy to report that I am officially done with my stupid garage sale. I probably shouldn't be calling it stupid since I raked in over $700!! (Hello Chicago!) But I've been dreading it all summer. We had accumulated so much junk and had so many clothes that I was saving for this sale. I was completely dreading the organizing and pricing of so much stuff. And I was right to dread it...it stunk doing all that work. But Grandma Terry pulled through and came to my rescue with the kids so that I could concentrate on it all week. Now I can relax and look forward to my annual trip to Chicago with my girls (friends Sharla, Nan and Gwen, that is). And this year, I'll actually be able to SHOP!! I won't be broke or pregant. Yippeee!

Speaking of the Chicago girls, we were all able to be together for Gwen's birthday a couple weeks ago. It was a surprise to Gwen which made it all the more fun. We had a great dinner on the deck at Bayside. Then later Gwen, Sharla and I went to see Mamma Mia at the Excelsior Dock. We thought we were going to be the only one's in the theater but at the last second another couple came in. We warned them that we would be breaking into song many times and would probably even get up and dance a couple of times. Thankfully they seemed to be a fun-loving duo and even clapped when we danced during the final part of the movie. It was way fun.

The girls have preschool orientation tomorrow and officially start on Wed. Cate is really looking forward to it. Clare says she is but I'm not sure if she totally gets it. This will be her first year in preschool and she's starting younger than Cate was when she started. Plus, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of another separation anxiety phase. She's wailed the last two times we've dropped her off for Sunday school which, up till recently she never cared one whit about it. So we'll see how it goes this week. I'm hoping she'll just be too excited to care much one way or the other.

Cooper has popped through his first two teeth! Thus starts the year-and-a-half journey of that super fun ride called teething. I'm hoping they get a bit better than these two were. I was so hoping that Cooper was going to be the amazing sleeper that Clare was. Clare NEVER woke up for something as silly as the pain of teeth erupting through swollen and extremely tender gums. She never woke up for practicing new things like sitting or rolling over or crawling. She only ever work up when she was sick with an ear infection (and it was near bursting) or when she puked. I'm sure if she could stay sleeping through the puking, she would have found a way. No, Cooper is, unfortunately taking after Cate in that area and waking for every little thing. That's not to say he isn't a great sleeper because in most respects he's awesome. He takes two 2-hour naps a day and sleeps 12 hours straight through ....when nothing is going on. But he will wake numerous times for pain and practicing. So, I at least get a few weeks in a row of uninterrupted sleep before I'm up numerous times a night for several nights in a row. Being that Scott has to go to work and design things that people will build and that cost millions of dollars, I generally don't make him get up with Coop until I've already been up 3 or 4 times. And it's not like it's a huge burden for either of us when Coop does wake up. Generally you just have to go in and pop the nook back in and he'll nod back off. So, I guess I shouldn't be complaining. That's what I signed up for when I decided to have kids, right?

MOPs is starting up again soon. We just finished our fall training session where I had to do a short bit of training for which I felt completely inequipped. But you know what they say...God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called. So I'm going with that in mind for this entire year. I have a feeling I will get lots of chances to work on my many failings this year as I try to lead this group of women that God has called into His service. Pray that I catch on quickly.

I'd better go get something done before the troops return. I hope you all are enjoying the fall as much as I am. Here are some pictures of the girls I was taking this morning before church to try to get a nice current picture of Cate for her Preschool class. There were some really cute one's in there so I thought I'd include them. Catch ya later.