Alfred Hitchcock and the birds

Around 4:00 today we looked out in the backyard to find that it was swarming with birds, creepy birds. These pictures hardly do justice and if I weren't such an incompetent estimator I could tell you about how many there were, but I can't. Sorry! I think maybe they got lost on their way to some place more exciting. I've never seen so many birds so close up and hopefully won't any time soon. It was truly a creepy sight!

A winter night's fun

After dinner last night I busted out the paints and mini canvases. Can you say home alone and desperate?

Stella behaving herself while Brooke and Luke paint.

Brooke initially was very distraught over the fact that we weren't painting on paper. It only took a minute of convincing her how neat and special it was that she got to make her own "art" to hang on the wall. Where we will hang them I haven't decided. A closet is looking good about now. :)

Yes, that would be paint on my son's lips. The kid that won't eat (fill in the blank) eats paint and play doh! I must have told him to not eat the paint at least 5 times and then gave up. Have at it buddy!

In all it was a pretty painless activity and when it was over I whisked them off to the tub and then my favorite part...bed! Don't judge me until you've been home alone in the winter for multiple days (and nights) with 3 small monsters... I mean children. See being a pilot's wife isn't so glamorous. :)

My not so miserable baby

I love this picture! My neighbor Stephanie took this last week when we had a little play date at her house.

Stella being so big is amazingly sturdy and strong. It may sound like an exaggeration, but she has almost been holding her head up since birth!

Her favorite spot to sleep and suck her hands. I'm afraid we have a thumb sucker in the making and below you can see all the pacifiers we have and you can tell we don't use them because they are all in one place!

In the past few weeks I have found myself muttering under my breath "miserable baby" multiple times. I meant in lovingly of course, but still Stella and I were miserable. By that I mean Stella cried and I was miserable. Or on a really bad day we both cried, all ending in misery. You get the idea? Mark and my mother pointed out that I haven't blogged much this month with the fewest posts since October after Stella was born. Well I've been miserable (if I haven't mentioned already) because Stella was not napping longer than 45 minutes at a time and then crying. If you've ever had a fussy baby you're not likely to forget nor would you forget if you had a baby that only napped 45 minutes at a time. The combination of the two is exhausting and therefore I was mostly too tired to blog. I thought after one very fussy baby (Luke) that surely we'd have an easy one. Doesn't that seem fair? We'll don't hold your breath because it might not happen to you either. My neighbor said if we have a fourth child (yes, I did say four and yes, I am still on board with this plan as of today...now tomorrow might be another story!) we can't say we didn't know. I am happy to report which is also why I am blogging about this that Stella this week has shown much improvement. Thank God for that because Mark has a five day trip this week and we are getting a new roof! Since Sunday Stella has taken at least one long nap a day (one out of three isn't so bad). This one long nap has helped me maintain my sanity. Also helpful is that my mom figured out last week that when Stella wakes up crying from her nap to open the shade and amazingly enough she stops crying and will happily swing for another 15 minutes in peace while I scurry to finish up what I was doing. She has been smiling A LOT, cooing and starting to laugh. I love that! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is helpful after having one fussy baby to know that the crying will stop at 4 months. You'd have to see it to believe it but it's true. In one more month she'll stop crying in the car and sleep more in her bed. Well, it's been 45 minutes and apparently this isn't one of Stella's long naps...Gotta go!

Oh little town of Bethlehem...

Mark pretending to be brave around the camel who was spitting on people trying to take its picture.

Brooke and London admiring the sheep in the stable with Mary, Joseph and the pretend baby Jesus.

The Townsends Ben, Stephanie, London, Clay and Asher (sleeping like an angel in the stroller)


We had a wild Saturday night (for us anyway) involving dinner with our neighbors, The Townsends and a trip to the Creation Museum. The weather was perfect, well maybe a tad bit windy for December 27th, but 65 degrees will do. At the museum they have a Christmas exhibit that tries to mimic the road Mary and Joseph traveled on their way to Bethlehem. It was cute with people in period costumes along the path (aka "the road") which included stops to see the baby Jesus (not a real baby) and a petting zoo complete with a camel. We all enjoyed the lights, except maybe Stella who was missing her bedtime and crying. Everyone else was very well behaved and had a great time. Even better it was free!

More Christmas Cheer

Our Stella Bella looking beautifully large in her Christmas outfit from her great aunt Nan

Mark's brother Kevin and wife Megan in from Zurich

We had a late night because we didn't arrive at Mark's parents until 4:30 and didn't have dinner until 7:00. Luckily after opening presents until 9:00 we didn't have to drive home. We all spent the night at grandma and grandpa's. It reminded me of the Christmas's when we lived in Houston and came home to visit because we always slept at the Glaser's. It's a lot of fun for Brooke and Luke because there are (young) cousins to play with. We stayed at my in-laws until after dinner on the 26th. It was so nice just hanging out (I even got a nap!) before we had to head home and unpack the zillions of presents we got. Mark was excited that he got an ipod and I was thrilled that my in-laws got me a jogging stroller and a label maker (yeah, I have problems). A great time had by all!

Merry Christmas Schwab Style

My mom and niece Carly

My grandma (my mom's mom) and sister Michelle

Brooke and me

Stella and my niece Stephanie

On Christmas morning since Mark was still working I had to get the kids ready and to my parents house before lunch. That sounds like a doable task, until you try it. I was rushing around (I even had a shower and was ready before the kids got out of bed and I had all the presents in the car) trying to get kids breakfast and dressed in a timely manner. Before we were in the car we had tears (surprisingly not mine!) and bad attitudes all around. I thought of the line from Chevy Chases' Christmas Vacation movie where his wife tells their daughter "It's Christmas, we're all miserable...I have to sleep with your father." That's what I felt like but soon after arriving at my parents all the bad attitudes were replaced with Christmas cheer. We had a delicious lunch followed by a family weigh in (my niece wanted to see how much she weighed and before we knew it half of the family was weighing in too...yes, it is a little strange) and then some present opening. While Luke and Stella napped my mom, sister, my nieces and I played one of our favorite games Apples to Apples and then it was off to my in-laws where Mark was meeting us. More on that later...

Stick to what you know

Today was an inside day. We attempted to make chocolate covered pretzels to give to our neighbors but they didn't turn out as fabulously as I had hoped. The kids enjoyed the clean up (licking the chocolate out of the bowl) and I guess they are acceptable enough to pass as a homemade treat. I should just steer clear of things such as cake decorating and pretzel dipping because apparently I'm no good at it. But what I really love is to take pictures which is the other thing we did while we were inside.

I should have had trained monkeys as stand-ins because my children aren't all that cooperative in the picture department. Who can blame them really? I spend a better part of their lives behind a camera trying to capture every cute thing they do and I'm sure they're just plain sick of it. But I on the other hand love to sit in front of my computer cropping and "special effecting" the pictures I have taken. It's amazing how an ordinary picture can look interesting with a little help from photo editing software. I get so excited as the pictures download from my camera to see what potential lies within each shot. I was very disappointed tonight when I got the kids ready to go to Walgreens to pick up my latest creations when I saw from my garage that the streets were icy. One step out into the driveway confirmed my decision to just stay home. There's always tomorrow.

Poor Luke

All things yellow bring a smile to Luke's face.

My sister Michelle and Stella

Brooke and her cousin, Emily.

There's nothing like the convenience of a store bought cake courtesy of Grandma!

On Monday, December 15th Luke turned 2, but I was in Houston so Mark just pretended it was just another day. Poor Luke... We did have a party yesterday evening and he was none the wiser. In the morning we had breakfast (and serenaded him with a candle in his cinnamon roll) and tried to get him to open the 2 presents we got him. He's an odd boy because he kept saying "No, thank you." (polite, but still odd) What kind of kid doesn't want to open up presents!!?? Apparently ours, that's who. He didn't leave us hanging because after dinner and cake he was ready. He was excited because he got mostly cars to add to his collection. His favorite was a yellow truck. It matches perfectly with his other favorite, his yellow school bus. When Brooke and I were putting up the decorations she told me that I should have gotten school buses instead of the fire trucks. Great idea... but they don't make school bus birthday stuff (as far as I could find). Luke had a great time and that's all that matters.

Santa came to town

Santa made a special stop at our house last night because Mark will be working on Christmas morning.

Our new train. The jury's still out on who enjoys it more, Mark or the kids.

Brooke using her new play camera to take a picture of Luke's little Thomas play set.

Last night Mark and I were up until 12:30 AM putting the Geo tracks train we got for Brooke and Luke together. Mark did an amazing job setting up /designing the whole thing (while I stood by supervising) and as a result this morning we were both exhausted. (That's not exactly the project you want to take on after you have been traveling all day.) It was all worth it because this morning after Luke got his hands on the train, he temporarily wanted no part of opening presents. He eventually came around after he found the school bus in his stocking. I always say I'm not going to buy too much because they don't need it, but then after we open all the presents and I look around I pledge to do less next year. Yeah, I'm sure I'll remember that when I buy just "one last thing". :) In the middle of opening presents Brooke looks up and says, "Every girl loves a present!". So wise at such a young age! It was actually very refreshing to not have to go anywhere (like every other year) after we opened the presents. In fact, only Luke and Stella actually got out of their pajamas today!

While moms away, the kids will play...

On Tuesday while I was gone Mark took the kids to get haircuts and then to the museum. By the time they got back snow was covering the roads. So he did what any fun dad would do, he let them ride bikes! Best of all, when I got home the house was picked up! They all had so much fun I think I should leave them (Stella too!) more often!