First Day of 1st Grade

Jonah had a great first day of 1st grade. He was super excited about being in class with several of his friends and classmates from Kindergarten and I was very excited about his teacher Mrs. Gahan. I have heard wonderful things about her. I can’t believe my little guy is in 1st grade. Growing up too fast!!

Meredith had a great first day in her new class at Preschool. She was happy to be in the “big girl” class with all her friends. She is learning so many new things and amazes me everyday with her vocabulary, her sweet disposition and how independent she is.

Scenes from our weekend

We had such a fun weekend! Meredith had her first dance class on Saturday morning. I have been waiting to enroll her in dance from the moment I found out I was having a little girl. She looked absolutely adorable in her pink leotard, pink tights and ballet slippers! I'm so glad she had fun at class. She came home and showed her Daddy and Jonah everything she learned.

On Saturday afternoon we had Meredith's belated Princess Birthday party. Her birthday is on April 2nd but we had something going on every weekend up until now so I made sure we reserved this weekend to celebrate her special day.  All of the girls came dressed up in their favorite Princess attire and we had yummy desserts from my favorite bakery, The Layered Bake Shop, in downtown McKinney. Then the girls took a ride on a real Cinderella carriage. Everyone loved riding around the neighborhood giving the princess wave to all the neighbors that came outside to see the horse drawn carriage.

     









On Sunday we celebrated Father's Day with the best dad ever, Josh. The kids and I made him breakfast, he went to the gym and spent the rest of the day playing with Jonah and Meredith. I could not ask for a better father for my children. We are all so lucky to have him in our life.

I also have to give a special shout out to my own dad who I love very much. I am also lucky to have such a wonderful father in law, Edd. The kids really love their Papa and Opa and always have fun when they spend time with them!

Weekend Recap

We had a pretty low key weekend since Josh had to leave to go out of town on a business trip Saturday night.

On Friday Jonah and I spent the last day of his spring break shopping for his new shoes, new cleats for tball, and more spring/summer clothes. I am glad that my son has an opinion on what he likes to wear and doesn't mind going shopping with me. That night Josh grilled steaks that I picked up at Whole Foods and I made roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese. I bought this Malbec at Target and after one glass it kind of grew on me but not sure that I would buy it again. I prefer more spicy red wines. After her bath, Meredith asked me to braid her hair so I decided to put several braids in and let her sleep in them so it would be wavy the next day. It turned out so cute and she loved it!

On Saturday morning when the kids woke up they found a note and a few surprises from the Lucky Leprechaun. Jonah had built a leprechaun trap earlier in the week but unfortunately we were not able to catch him. He did however make a small mess in the family room stacking pillows up so he could reach the tv, eating a bowl of lucky charms on the couch and then leaving green sprinkles and green foot prints in the downstairs guest bath!

Saturday night after Josh left, the kids and I made pizza and watched movies. On Sunday we slept in until 11am, had brunch outside on the patio and then headed to tball practice. After practice we spent the rest of the afternoon at our friend Kelly's house. The kids played outside and we had a glass of wine to bid farewell to Spring Break 2012.

This week kick's off Jonah's Birthday week! I can't believe he is going to be 6 years old on Wednesday!

Pesky Pneumonia

I blogged last week that I wasn’t feeling all that great. Well, I finally went to the doctor and I had pneumonia. Ugh! So he loaded me up on steroids, antibiotics and breathing treatments. Oh, and he told me to get lots of rest. Hmmm…okay. That wasn’t going to happen. Josh went out of town Thursday morning to a Delt Division Conference in Tennessee so that meant it was me, the two kids and the pesky pneumonia that kept me cooped up all weekend. While my kids did a great job being my helpful little nurses, on Saturday they were dying to get out and run around so I mustered up the energy to drive them to Adventure Kids to play for a few hours while I came back home and slept some more.

Yesterday I started feeling a little better but not a 100% so my sweet friend Jennifer took Jonah to his first baseball practice of the season and Meredith and I took a long nap.

Unfortunately when you are sick the house doesn’t clean itself, the laundry doesn’t wash itself and the kids are still too young to fend for themselves for food. Of course if they had it their way Jonah would eat his weight in cheese sticks and Yogurt and Meredith would live on Goldfish and Hershey Hugs. I can’t lie and say they didn’t eat quite a bit of that over this past weekend. Maybe even pizza a few times. But I lost count. I’ll make it up this week with healthier food, I promise!

While I was laying in my bed on Saturday, the kids were playing around in our bedroom and in the closet. I hear Meredith’s sweet little voice yell from my closet “Mommy, is this your Princess dress?” I got up and walked into the closet where she had stumbled upon my wedding dress. I said “Yes, that the dress I wore when I married Daddy!” She looked at it with the biggest smile on her face and said “I want to wear it!” So, I put it on her and she immediately went to my jewelry box and found my mom’s pearl necklace. While she was sitting in the floor in awe of her white princess gown, I grabbed my camera off the table and snapped a couple of pictures. Even when I am sick my camera is never too far away! I really love this picture! I can’t wait to show this to her when she is older and even on her wedding day!

As I was taking the picture, Jonah said, “That’s what you wore on the day you married Daddy?” I said “Yes!” and his response was “That’s just weird!” Gotta love the boys!

XO,

Monda

Weekend Happenings

Now that the surprise is over I can blog about our fun trip down to Austin this past weekend to celebrate one of Josh’s good friend and fraternity brother’s 40th birthday. His wife planned for all of his friends to surprise him and have dinner. It was such a fun night! We started out having drinks at the Omni hotel and then headed downtown for dinner at Eddie V’s. Great food with great friends! After dinner we went to 5th Street and had drinks (lots of drinks) at Beso Cantina. On the ride back to the hotel, I left my iPhone in the cab but my sweet husband surprised me with a new 4S when we got back home.

Eddie V’s

Beso Cantina

Me and my friend Sarah ( I think it’s time to have my hair done!! haha)

Me and the hubs

The Guys – Josh, Kyle, Jeff, Doug and Johnny

The kids had a blast staying with Amy, Jon, Kayla and Christian and even had a special visit from Opa who drove up from San Antonio.

It was a fun but quick trip.

Today, I started feeling really yucky. Jonah was out of school but I promised him I would take him to buy hermit crabs and a promise is a promise. So the Schneider family welcomes Anakin, Obi Wan Kenobi, Sponge Bob and Patrick.

Mr. President

My husband's hard work and dedication to his fraternity, Delta Tau Delta, paid off this past weekend as he was handed over the presidency for the Western Plains Division. He jetted off to Nebraska on Thursday and attended the division conference and reception where he received his presidency. I wish I had have been there to see it but I stayed home with the little ones!

I am so very proud of everything he has done! I know he has a challenging year ahead of him but if anyone can do it, he can! And he has my full support to help him reach his goals!

A Schneider Valentine

Lots of Valentine Day events around the Schneider house. On Friday, we had Meredith’s Valentine’s Day party at School and then  Jonah’s Valentine’s Day dance that night. On Tuesday we had Jonah’s Valentine’s Day party at school. On Saturday we received a Valentine’s Day package from Grandma filled with goodies!

That night we started a new Schneider tradition. Instead of fighting the crowds at a restaurant we decided to have dinner at home. I set out the china, Meredith decorated the table and Jonah made chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels. I picked up a bottle of wine and a bottle of pink champagne. We lit candles and enjoyed lobster ravioli, Caprese salad, calamari and garlic bread. The kids had pizza. They really enjoyed drinking their juice and milk from the wine glasses.

After dinner Jonah told me we had to have our “fancy” dinner every Valentine’s Day! I agree! I love starting new traditions!

		A Schneider Valentine VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Weekend Happenings

Last week seemed to go by extremely slow so when the weekend finally came around, I was looking forward to some fun and time with my husband and family

Friday afternoon Jonah decided to go on a mission to feed the birds in our front yard. He grabbed a loaf of bread and sprinkled pieces all over the sidewalk. Our sweet neighbor, Colleen, across the street saw him and brought over a bag of birdseed to give to him. He was so excited. He sprinkled it all over the driveway and the walkway up to our house. He came inside and was

ecstatic when he saw the first bird land the others that followed to enjoy the treat he left for them.

Then the proud mom moment came. He walked over to my desk, took one of his thank you cards out of the drawer, grabbed his marked and sat down at the kitchen table to write Colleen a thank you card. He added a few Star Wars stickers to the note and then asked me if he could run across the street to hand deliver it to her. Very proud of my sweet boy!

On Saturday I took Meredith to her friend Tatum's birthday party at Build-A-Bear. She had a lot of fun building her bear and then pushing her in a stroller through the mall with her friends. After the party I took her on the carousel a few times before heading home.

Saturday night we were invited to dinner with friends we met through Jonah and Meredith's school. Jonah and their son went to private preschool together and we have become friends over the last couple of years. We had such a great time and it was nice to have an adult night out.

Our first stop was at Landon Winery in downtown McKinney. We had their 5 Barrel Blend and it was fabulous.

Afterwards we stopped by the McKinney Wine Merchant and picked up a couple more bottles of wine for dinner since our restaurant was BYOB. The shop was so cute and they had so many unique wines that I had never even heard of. I am looking forward to going back and spending more time exploring! I also found out they also have door to door delivery. Um, how awesome is that?

We picked up a Shiraz and then this Grenache. I had never had Grenache before so I was looking forward to trying it out and I will say the flavor was fabulous. Smooth but with hints of spicy fruit and at $20 a bottle a steal.

Next up, we headed across the street for dinner at Gregory's Bistro (the same place I had one of my birthday dinners). We ordered the steamed mussels which were served in a Chipotle butter sauce and it was heavenly. We also had the cheese plate which is one of my favorites. For dinner, I had the chef's special which was pan seared scallops served with lobster mashed potatoes. Josh had the Chilean sea bass with lobster risotto and asparagus. Their food is so good you want to savor every bite! For dessert Josh had the chocolate creme brulee and I had the champagne with fresh strawberries.

It was such a fun night! Good conversation, Good food and wine and Good friends!

On Sunday Josh met one of his friends for lunch at North Park and surprised me with these from Tory Burch when he came home! He knows and appreciates my TB obsession. It's just one of the many many reasons I love him so much!