Friday

We are soaking up the last bit of warmish weather before the cold front hits this weekend. It was BEAUTIFUL out. Our friend Sarah and Grif came over to go for a trail walk and play at the park. Laura and Tru met us there later.

Slowly walking

William is loving walking backwards. Yes, it makes for a long walk but for a tired little boy and a great naptime.

Madeline thought this was a perfect photo spot.

We had to wait for Will to catch up.

Hurry up buddy!

The slide was a hit today. Grif and Maddie practiced climbing up and it and they would each call for the other one to help them. It was pretty cute. Tru loved when all cheered his big fast slide down.

How cute is that little Grif peaking out behind?

Poor lonely odd man out William.

We headed home for lunch with Nick. Will took an amazing nap and Madeline and I just played around. I then counted up my dishcloths for my MOPS steering and I am 2 short. I must get to knitting tomorrow!

We had our Friday night usual of Mexican fiesta and then we dropped Madeline off at church for a fabulous Christmas party. They heard the nativity story, learned a finger play, sang song, made a craft, and decorated cookies. They even brought home a beautiful book! While she was a church the men and I did all our grocery shopping. It sure is easier with helpers to load and unload. Here is the ornament that Madeline made.

Then Nick and Madeline made fudge!

We are headed to bed because we must get up early in the morning for the USO Santa Express!

Thursday

Oh what a nice day to stay in our PJ’s all day! We got so much house cleaning, laundry, and MOPS things done. I needed a day like today.
We started our day with Advent and me working on my BSF homework. Mary is feeling John leap in Elizabeth's tummy.

Will played with spoons during all this fun.
Then Team Schindler made our to do list and got to work. Madeline loves to cross things off our list. I told her she could only cross off if she helped.

The laundry pile never ends. So while I folded Will jumped into the empty bathtub and played. Happy as a lark for over 30 minutes!
Madeline got dressed. She loves the days when we don’t go anywhere because she can choose her own outfit. (I use the term outfit lightly.)

Frito chili pie for lunch! A fan favorite.

Will had a bit of a melt down when Nick left and he learned we weren’t headed down to the park.

We put him down for nap (he never fell asleep) and I made bread.  Yummy hot bread with butter.

I sent a few MOPS emails confirming speakers for next semester and worked on thank you gifts for the 25 nursery workers!  Wrapped my last 4 presents and put them under the tree. Then the UPS man delivered this.  It is our new tv stand, but only if we decided to the keep the new tv. Poor Nick can’t decide what to do - but the big mess everywhere from all the stuff moved around is about to drive me NUTS!

Is it a bad sign when the UPS man knows your sons sleep schedule, every family members name, and says see you tomorrow when he leaves. He also asked if I still enjoyed my steam mop he delivered a few months ago he might gets his wife one. We had yummy BLT’s on fresh bread with Kale chips. Then is was relax by the fire, play ball and build with Legos. What a fast day! I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday!

Wednesday

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day in O’Fallon. It started with a very sleepy head.

I had to go in and wake him up for BSF. Madeline and I were already dressed and ready to go!

William loves to brush his teeth. If I hear water running upstairs he is either fully dressed and in the bathtub or brushing his teeth.

We then headed to BSF. No pictures of the kids because we were a bit late and the other children were all ready there.

My view.

My notes.

Then we were supposed to have a visit from my hair lady. Yes, she comes to my house! But she called and said she had the flu and asked if I wanted to reschedule. I said yes but another week with these roots is going to drive me nuts!  To make the best of it we headed to the neighborhood park.

Then the day got SAD! Someone had left these at the park.

Madeline asked if she could bring them home I said no they were not ours. When we reached our driveway I noticed that someone had something behind her back. I guess that is why she walked behind us the whole way home. I told her I was putting Will down for nap and I would discuss this with her after. While I was upstairs she wrote her name on all three. She then told me upon my return that yes they were hers because her name was on them. I gave her the I don’t believe you look and the story changed to this…

When Grandma Linda was here I got them and took them to the park and left them there.

Let’s just say the rest of the afternoon involved truth corner, crying, wailing, no tv and a nervous little girl waiting for dad to get home.  She is now grounded from her favorite ipod  and you would of thought we told her someone had died. She does have a bit of drama in her.

We sure needed some advent after all that. We caught up with Gabriel and the announcing of the good news to Mary. Then we worked on painting Mary and Elizabeth. We will finish putting that together in the morning when it dries. Madeline takes the water in watercolors very literal!

We enjoyed waffles, bacon, poached eggs, orange Julius, and homemade hash browns for dinner, or as my friend Sarah says Brinner.  Good night all and I hopeful that tomorrow will be a relaxing stay at home kind of day!

Tuesday

Tuesday has flown by!  Madeline and I woke up around 7 and did our Bible study and enjoyed breakfast. We kept waiting for William to wake up. Madeline fixed my hair like Cinderella and then played some Chutes and Ladders. (I lost both times.)  Finally around 9:45 I went up to check on sleepy head. I thought he might be sick so I checked him for a fever. He was fine. About 5 minutes later he woke up. I think I actually woke him up.  I fixed him a yummy breakfast and then we headed to the basement for our morning walk/jog of 3 miles. Yes, I love my treadmill, Jillian Michaels is my trainer and she is crazy!

Then it was bath time and shower time for everyone!  We got dressed quickly, made lunch for Nick. He went and ran at lunch and came home to chili dogs- that is why we run, right? To eat?  The kids and I  headed to base for a fun lunch date. Will loves his shapes so he now travels in the car with shape and color flashcards. Whatever it takes to keep him happy!

Here is our wonderful hostess Tara. This is our second station together. Madeline loves Tara!

We had yummy hot chicken salad!

Delicious corn chowder

 

Here are the fun ladies. Sarah and DeAshley are brand new mommies and are looking to make some new friends. Tara knew I did MOPS so she wanted us all to meet. Guess who I arm twisted into joining.   DeAshley’s mom Barbara is in the back. She brought yummy cakepops and if she lived here in town I would lunch with her more often. She is so FUNNY!

We laughed all afternoon. By the time we got home we just had time for an outfit change and then Nick was home! We hurried into St Louis. Here is Madeline checking out the Disney store princess section. I think she already owns it all!

Then it was Santa time! Madeline asked for a huge doll maybe like Belle and she really wished it would come to life. Good luck with that Santa. Will just cried out for his Mommy and blanket.

There is a super new yummy Mexican restaurant in the Galleria. VIDA- They emailed us another free guacamole coupon. They know how to hook the Schindlers. They even gave the kids free ice-cream at the end of the meal. Will just kept saying delicious yummy cold brrrrr ice cream. He did ask where the cone was a few times. He does like his ice cream.

On the way home we stopped at Pei-Wei and used a coupon they emailed us for a free dinner. We put it right in the fridge and that will be tomorrows dinner. I don’t know how I have lucked out with cooking this week but it is FABULOUS! Will fell asleep in the car and is now chatting it up in his bed. I have heard the words guacamole, chip, and beans. I think he wants me to bring the leftovers in his room for a late-night snack. Madeline was exhausted and fell asleep in no more then 5 minutes.  We didn’t get to our advent today so tomorrow will be double. My hair lady is supposed to come tomorrow. Please let today have been my last day with these roots and gray hairs! Night all!

Monday

What a full Monday!  Today was the big Mommy and Me MOPS Christmas party I have been working on forever! There were 92 moms and 125 preschoolers invited! I think we ended up with about 80 moms, a LOT of preschoolers and over 50 boxes packed with extra supplies heading to East St. Louis. It came together much better then I had even hoped!

Here is Jackie warning me that the church is working on the fire alarms and to not panic if they go off. Praise the Lord they never did!

We began with Mrs. Sharon telling the nativity story. My favorite was when she started by having the children sing the BIBLE!

Then the kids got to go to the different stations…

Picture Frame Making

Sugar Cookie Decorating (Thanks Mentor Moms for the help!)

Shoebox packing

Not pictured was the fabulous professional photographer who volunteered to take Mommy and Me pictures to go in our frames! I’ll add that when she gives me the disk later this week. We also set up childcare for birth-age 2 so that you could spend time with you older preschooler if you wanted. Wild Man Will got to enjoy the nursery but did join us for the picture. We then headed home and ate lunch and put Will down for nap. Madeline and I did our advent. It was the story of Gabriel and Zachariah.  They had us use a bubble from bubble wrap for the mouth. They said to pop the bubble but Madeline and I voted and decided if he couldn’t talk then his words were stuck in that bubble.

Yep, Will never fell asleep! He looks rested doesn’t he?

Then laundry folding time. (It never ends!)

 

Then it was take the couch apart and vacuum it day. It is the kids favorite because they to “test” the springs in the couch.

jumping

William is a blanket lover. He throws it back in his bed when he gets out but a few minutes later he climbs back up the stairs and gets blanket. He wants to take it everywhere. His favorite thing is putting it on his head like a ghost and running around the house. He must be able to see because he hasn’t run into a wall-yet. Every night I go in his room and take it off his head. Last night he had been mad and thrown blanket out at bedtime. So he took the fitted sheet off his bed and put his head in the little elastic pocket. Yes at 10:30 last night I was removing his head from his sheet!

Dinner was yummy smoked out briquette, beans, cranberry salad, and coleslaw.  Then I had to rush out and head to my Air Force key spouse meeting/ Christmas party. Yes I forgot to check the lens and it had a nice William finger print. Tomorrow will be better!

They had a million desserts!

Here is my friend Stephanie. We are also church friends and VBS friends.

We had a fun ornament exchange and I got a really cool old key. I think I have pinned a few projects that could work for…

Off to bed - Tomorrow might be Santa picture day…stay tuned.