A Cold and Dreary Day

Today was just a dreary day, with fog covering everything until late in the afternoon. I took the above pictures during the middle of the day which shows the gloominess of the day. We had rain off and on and, although it wasn't really cold, there was definitely a chill in the air. When Savannah got home all she wanted was some hot cocoa to warm her up.
Although the trees are pretty much bare now, we decided to do a fall leaf craft for our Family Home Evening activity tonight. We had collected some fall leaves last week and stored them in some heavy books. Tonight we took those out, painted them colors like brown, red, orange, and yellow, and then used them as stamps to create leaves on a piece of paper. The kids had a blast and I even joined in for the fun. We didn't get a picture of our final artwork so I will include that at a later date.

The Cutest Fat Rolls in the World

Noah at 7 months. We sure do love our little chunker!

Fall Photo Shoot

Leave it to me to wait until all the leaves have fallen from the trees to attempt to take fall pictures of my kids. But the lack of fall foliage was not the only obstacle I was facing. First and foremost was the weather. The temperature outside was in the 30's so I had to get the pictures taken quickly so my kids didn't freeze. Second, and this was the most difficult, was Xander. Xander is quite the character and he can be pretty stubborn most of the time. He refuses to wear sweaters, saying they are "icky". I was actually able to get him into a sweater but he refused to take off the fluorescent green shirt he had on underneath. Oh, well...he's three. Most of the pictures I took didn't turn out that great but I did like a few of them. Savannah is always so easy and ready to pose; I got one of Xander that was really cute. But Noah was far more interested in the leaves than in looking at the camera so I wasn't able to get his face in most of his pictures.



My favorite of Noah and Savannah.

My cute little Xanderman.

Cold Weather

Thanksgiving Day had been absolutely beautiful, clear skies and low 70's. But by the evening the winds had picked up and blew a cold front right in. Friday was still sunny but the temperature did not get above the low 40's. Savannah had spent most of Thanksgiving Day outside playing so she did not quite understand why I was fussing about putting on a jacket, hat, gloves, etc. just to go outside and play. But she quickly found out what a 30 degree drop in temperature can mean...she and Xander only played outside for about 20 minutes and then they were back inside!

Xander loves to help with any chore (except cleaning up his toys!)

Tonto, the Friendly Indian

David was such a good dad and was telling the kids about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. They were very interested, soaking up all the wonderful information he was giving them. They were especially interested in the story of Tonto, the friendly Indian who taught the pilgrims how to fish and plant corn and all of those survival techniques that were so important. I was pretty amazed at David's stories as well because, you see, I had no idea that the Lone Ranger's sidekick was the Indian responsible for helping the pilgrims survive. Silly me...I thought for sure his name was Squanto. After I was able to stop laughing I pointed out to David his mistake and we had a pretty good laugh about it together. I just hope that the name "Tonto" doesn't stick in the kids' minds whenever they think of the first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving is always a pretty lazy day around our house and this year was no exception. The weather was absolutely beautiful, clear skies and low 70's. David tried his hand at cinnamon rolls and boy, did they turn out delicious! I usually don't like cinnamon rolls but these were sooo good and were perfect for our Thanksgiving breakfast. Savannah spent most of the day playing outside with the neighbor kids and Xander, who has "found" Star Wars spent most of the day inside watching Star Wars movies and playing with his Star Wars guys. He has been carrying around the DVD movies and his favorite Star Wars guys, Darth Maul and Darth Vader...why am I not surprised?

David playing with Noah.

Xander and his Star Wars guys.

Savannah and our next door neighbor Cali.


It has always been a Schaeffer family tradition to have turkey throughout Thanksgiving Day. I can still remember waking up on Thanksgiving morning to the wonderful aroma of cooked turkey, thanks to my dad who would get up in the middle of the night to prepare the turkey (in the tradition of my grandpa Gabe) and put it in the oven so that it would be ready as soon as we all woke up. David and I have tried to carry on that tradition in our own home and the past few years of middle of the night turkey preparation have made me appreciate my dad's sacrifice to get that turkey in the oven...it is extremely hard to get up at 2:00 am. Unfortunately for us we have not had much success in cooking our turkeys and last year was the worst - we had to just trash the whole bird. So this year we decided not to chance it and David just cooked the turkey according to the directions that came with it. We also bypassed the early morning preparation and started cooking it mid-morning. So, no early morning turkey this year which was a bummer but at least the turkey turned out just fine.


We gathered around the table for our Thanksgiving dinner around 5:30. The kids had been snacking most of the day so they weren't that hungry and didn't eat much. But all of the food was so delicious and David and I stuffed ourselves! The turkey tasted wonderful and we were lucky to have some of our yummy bleu cheese spread for it...mmmmmmmm! We had yams AND sweet potatoes because David and I like them prepared two different ways, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, Martinellis, all the traditional Thanksgiving fare. It was a nice Thanksgiving but next year we hope to spend it with some of our family.



David makes the best pumpkin pie but only he and Savannah were able to eat some. I was too stuffed but Savannah told me that, although she was stuffed too, she had one spot left in her belly and it was for pumpkin pie.

Learning to Drink From a Sippee

Noah watches the other kids so closely and was very anxious to try his hand at the same drinking cup that he has seen Xander use. The first step is figuring out which end to drink from.

Now that I have it the right way, how do I get the juice out?
Okay, this isn't working...this is much harder than I thought!
Ahhh, success at last!

Thanksgiving Celebration

Tuesday Xander had his Thanksgiving celebration at school. He came home wearing his Native American feather hat so I had to grab some pictures.

Photo Shoot

One night the kids were playing around with the camera, taking pictures of the many things of interest to them...their toys, the TV, the wall, etc. So I decided to grab the camera and take some pictures of my favorite subjects...my kids!



What cute kids, if I do say so myself!

Savannah Sings

Today I got to experience one of the most wonderful events of my life and I hadn't expected it to be. Today was the Primary program in Sacrament Meeting and Savannah sang a solo part and duet for the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". We are not a singing family by any means so it came as quite a great shock to David and I when Savannah came home one Sunday announcing that she had a solo part in the program. For the past 2 weeks she has been working on the song with the help of the Primary chorister because I have NO singing capabilities whatsoever. As we drove to church this morning I was singing it with her so she could get some final practice in and I was worried that I would ruin her hours of practice because I sing so poorly. But as she stood up there and started singing "If the Savior stood beside me, would I do the things I do?" the tears started to come. As I looked at my precious little daughter and heard her sweet little voice I just couldn't help getting emotional. I hadn't expected to feel such love and joy at hearing her sing; it was incredible! She did such a tremendous job and David and I were both so proud of her.

Party Day!

Friday to Saturday David was off with the scouts on an overnight camping trip which left me alone with the kids...yes, what a shocker! Anyway, Saturday morning Savannah and Xander went to a birthday party at this new bounce place that has opened up. The kids had an absolutely fabulous time but I did NOT! For two hours I had to lug around my 23 pound baby and tend to Xander's sensitive nature. Xander is Savannah's little shadow and most of the time she doesn't have a problem with this but there were a bunch of her old preschool friends at this party that she wanted to spend time with. Xander was having a hard time keeping up with them and would get upset easily. After an hour and a half of bouncing around on all the different apparatuses the kids ate pizza and cake in one of the smallest rooms I've ever been in and it seemed even smaller after shoving almost 50 kids into it. Most of the parents stayed outside of the room but Xander kept "needing" me to get him food, drinks, napkins, etc. Some of the other moms helped me with Noah but I didn't want to just pawn him off so most of the time I was carrying him and my neck, shoulders, and back are feeling the effects today.




Savannah coming down the slide with her good friend Jacob

The second party of the day was an easy one...it was right next door. The party was a combined celebration of two birthdays and the acquisition of a meteorology degree. Our neighbors had tons of people over...I was amazed at how many people they were able to fit into their townhouse. The thing that got me running home, though, to get my camera was the pig. They brought in this huge roasted pig for dinner! I am not a pork eater (and many of you know why!) but I just had to get some pictures of it. Surprisingly Savannah and Xander weren't that grossed out about it and Savannah was even willing to pose in front of it. They had a bunch of other good food but I didn't eat much because David and I had gotten a babysitter so we could go out to eat and do some Christmas shopping.

Our Little Poet

A couple nights ago Savannah came into my room, announcing that she wanted to read a poem she had written. When she was done I asked her if she had done it at school, thinking she might have copied it from something they had done there. But she said she had gotten it from her own brain. It was so cute that I thought I'd include it on our blogspot. Here is Savannah's Ode to Pizza:
I love pizza
Yes, I love pizza
I love you
pizza
Yes, I do.
She also wrote several other poems about being five and more pizza. She is so creative and will disappear for hours into the basement where she creates her poems, books, pictures, crafts, etc. Most days she will have her two friends from next door come play and she always has them play school with her in the basement. Of course she is the teacher and she has them doing their sight words and making crafts. This week they made a Santa Claus and a Haunted House that the girls got to take home. I suggested that maybe they should go play in Savannah's room where the Barbies and Polly Pockets are but Savannah said they could do that AFTER they have school. What an imagination!

Yee Haw!

Check out this site to see some great country dancing starring me and my kids! Unfortunately I could not figure out how to save the site so you can just click on it...you're going to have to write it down and then type it in. But it's pretty funny and worth the extra work.

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/2491134


The second site is one of David and I fighting off those icky Democrats!

http://www.jibjab.com/starring_you/receipt/2483044

Gummy Eyes

The other night the kids decided to have fun with some of their Halloween candies...gummy eyeballs! Xander couldn't quite get the hang of it but Savannah looks great!

Noah Gets a Much Needed Haircut

In recent pictures you might have noticed that Noah's hair had gotten completely out of control. It was way too long and spiky and all over the place. I tried to gel it down but after about 2 minutes it was back to looking crazy. I've been asking David to cut it for about a month but he's been so busy that it hasn't been done. (I would have cut it myself but I know my limits.) Sunday I threatened David that if he didn't cut Noah's hair this week I was going to start styling it with clippies and barrettes. Savannah found that extremely funny but David...well, not so much. The threat produced action. Monday night Noah got his much needed haircut and boy, does he look so much better!


This is not fun!

Okay, maybe it's not so bad...

Looking so cute and chunky.