Kayla's First Birthday

A few weeks ago we celebrated our niece's first birthday in Austin! She had a Hawaiian Luau. Jonah had a great time!

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Entering Unfamiliar Territory

Well, tomorrow is my last day with my company! Yes, I resigned from my position as a Project Manager with 3M! Working from home and no travel was wonderful but the stress of my project load was wearing me down so it felt like the right thing to do! This means that I'm exploring two new unfamiliar territories. The first being the unfamiliar territory of the unemployed! Oh wait..actually I've been there and done that several years ago when one of the companies I worked for filed for bankruptcy and closed! But it was okay because it was during the telecom crash of Dallas and everyone was unemployed! So, the real new unfamiliar territory is that of being a stay-at-home mom (aka SAHM) Side note - it took me forever to realize what that acronym meant when I started reading posted comments on baby websites!! I may look at doing some part-time work or if another remote position becomes available I may take it because if you know me you know that I love to spend money which means I spend all of my own money and most of Josh's too! Wish me luck and I'll keep everyone posted on how it's going! I've been having this recurring nightmare that Jonah wakes up one morning and goes "What?!?! I have to play with you all day again?!?! Geez...When do I get to go back and play with my friends at school?!?!"

Visit from Mary and Gus

My good friends Mary and Gus from California were in town visiting so Jonah and I met up with them for lunch. I used to work with Mary at Perot Systems and she was our "road mother" when we traveled and always took care of us! I just love her to death and we always had the best time hanging out! She is orginally from Scotland and like me loves wine so what better place to live than near Napa Valley in California. She has since retired and her and Gus are traveling around visiting friends and enjoying retirement! I'm already looking forward to retirement. Is 30 too young to retire?? Anyway, this was the first time they had met Jonah and of course he loved them too! Within a few minutes he and Gus were hanging out checking out the bread selection at the restaurant! It was great to see them and I'm looking forward to their next trip back to Texas! Or who knows..we may just have to make a trip out to California!

I scream, you scream, even dogs scream for ice cream!

Playing Catch Up!

Okay, I've slacked a little in the last few weeks on updating our blog and let me tell you have I heard about it from the Fam! So, here's a quick recap of what we've been up to:

1) Jonah attended his first birthday party for his friend Reese who just turned 1! He had so much fun playing that I had to post the picture of him after we got in the car and started heading back home! He was worn out.
















2) It rained off and on all weekend during Memorial Day weekend so we didn't get a lot outdoor time but we finally managed to make it to the park for about an hour so Jonah could swing and play outside! He had so much fun! He loves being outside and throws a little temper tantrum when you bring him back in!














3) Uncle Jerod and Lauren came over to visit












4) Lounging Around in the Laundry Room












It's almost embarrassing to show this picture but I was sitting at the kitchen table on my laptop and noticed Jonah had gone into the Laudry Room and shut the door. After about 30 seconds I didn't hear anything coming from the laundry room so I decided to go check on Mr. J and when I opened the door this is how I found him! Glad to know that our very large pile of dirty clothes looked comfy enough to take a nap on!

6) Our very good friends Bryce and Shannon and their son Ryan finally left Las Vegas and moved back to Texas and guess where they moved to?? McKinney!!:) We are very excited that they are here! So this weekend Shannon brought Ryan over for a playdate with Jonah! They had fun playing cars and blowing bubbles and trying to escape out the window!













7) Wet Wipes Scandal













Hey Mom - I'm out of wipes. Could you get some more???

Well, that's it for now but we have a busy month of June ahead of us and I promise I will make more timely updates to the blog!

Sunny Sunday

Hope you all had a good weekend! Since the weather was so nice yesterday, Jonah and I took our blanket and toys outside and played for a couple of hours!


Kisses from Riley!

More Kisses from Riley!












Afterwards we came in and Jonah had his favorite snack! Mac N Cheese!

Old McJonah had a farm...E-I-E-I-O

A couple of weekends ago I took Jonah to my parent's ranch for the day in Fairfield! He had the best time feeding the cows, riding on the mule, feeding the fish, watching the peacocks, feeding the chickens, and riding on my dad's tractor and bulldozer! Jonah roamed all over the place and was covered in dirt! He's definately all boy! He even managed to fall right in the middle of a cow patty right before dinner! It was actually pretty funny! After we cleaned him up, we had an outdoor picnic with my family to celebrate my Dad's 70th birthday! Mama Sue cooked up an excellent Southern meal of fried fish, hush puppies, and all the fixins'! We had a great time hanging out with my family and look forward to our next trip to the 5R Ranch! Enjoy the pics!

Fun in the Sprinklers!

When we were little there wasn't a Lifetime Indoor pool or Mommy and Me Swim classes. We had the city park pool but no one ever went there because there was that one boy sitting in the corner of the pool and the water by him was always warm! Yuck! We had the country club but that meant that our parents had to get dressed, drive us there, and then we always ended up running up a huge bill on my parent's tab. In our defense swimming makes you very hungry and thirsty!

So, when all of those options were out we resorted to throwing on our swimsuits and turning on the sprinklers. We had more fun and spent hours jumping over the water, running through the water with your eyes closed, with your eyes open, your mouth open. We made up a ton of games with that water hose and that sprinkler! I firmly believed we learned a lot of critical thinking skills playing in that water! It was a blast!

Well, on Sunday at Jon and Amy's we turned on the sprinklers and let Kayla and Jonah loose. They had so much fun! Enjoy the photos!

Weekend Warriors

Josh and I took last Thursday and Friday off. Thursday we had tickets to the Byron Nelson but after we took Jonah to school that morning we ended up crawling back in bed to take a little nap and woke up at 3pm!! We couldn't believe we slept so long but it was much needed rest! We went out to a late lunch and that was pretty much our day! Friday we packed and headed down to Austin and stayed with Jon, Amy and Kayla on Friday night and then went to San Marcos on Saturday for Josh's fraternity reunion. At the Delt House while the guys were having their meeting Jonah and I had a picnic outside with our friend Kristin Deitch and her 6 month old son Cooper and 4 year old daughter Madison. After that most of the guys headed to the Tap Room for drinks. The Deitch Family and the Schneider family headed to the Outlet Mall and did a little shopping! Afterwards we all met back up at Outback Steakhouse for dinner. When we got back to the hotel Jonah and I crashed and Josh went back out with some of the guys!

Sunday was Josh's birthday! We went out for lunch and then unfortunately he had to go to San Antonio for a conference so he left to go down there and Jonah and I went back to Jon and Amy's. I decided that I wasn't going to try driving back to Dallas with a 1 year old without any help. So, I waited until Jonah fell asleep at 8:30pm! That way he would sleep the whole way home. I'm surprised he never woke up even with me singing my heart out to Josh Groban!! He must have been really tired! LOL. We finally made it home around Midnight! It was a long and tiring weekend but we had a good time!

The Fluke Invasion

Our good friends Jeff and Sarah Flukinger came up from Houston to visit and we had a great time! We are very excited because they are having a baby boy in August! So, Jonah will have a new friend to play with! While Josh and Jeff headed to the gym to pump some iron and I had access to a babysitter (aka Gran), Sarah and I headed out and had lunch at La Madeline's (love the tomato basil soup!), did a little shopping at the outlet mall and then treated ourselves to a spa pedicure! We all ended the day by going over to Johnny and Sarah's house for a few cocktails and dinner! We had a lot of fun! Now if we could just talk Jeff and Sarah into moving to Dallas ;)

New Addition

We have a new addition to the Schneider family!

Meet Bob!














Bob is a goldfish that Jonah won at school. We brought him home and Lauren was nice enough to bring over a fish bowl, rocks, fish bowl decorative accessories, water stabilizer, and a fish net! Then Jonah and I went to Walgreens and bought Goldfish food! So, looks like we have a new pet. When we first asked Jonah was his goldfish's name was he said "Ball" but that seemed to confusing so we decided that his name would be Bob!

Spring Fling

These are pictures from the Spring Fling at Jonah's school. Josh, Uncle Jerod and Gran were all able to attend! It was fun playing outside and seeing all the activities!

No news is suppose to be good news right??

So, our week hasn't been too exciting! Oh, except that our friends Johnny and Sarah moved back from Houston to Frisco! We were very excited about that! We stopped by to take them dinner on Sunday and Jonah had a good time playing with Reese and Ashton! We are looking forward to hanging out with them again now that they are back! They are not across the street like the old days but Frisco is only down the road and a much shorter drive than to Houston!

This is funny so I have to share! On Monday night Jonah and I were outside practicing walking in the grass (him not me!) and Jonah had the home phone in his hands. He had been on the phone earlier with my mom and as usual hung up on her. So as he is walking the phone rings and I take it from him thinking it was my mom again and look at the caller ID and it says City of McKinney. It was after 7pm so I thought that was strange. I answered it and the voice on the other end says - Hi, This is the McKinney Police Department and we just received a 911 Emergency call from this number. Is everything okay?? I look at Jonah who is still walking and oblivious to what he has done! I apologized, explained what happened, verified our information, apologized again (luckily she laughed!) and the call ended! There is probably a $500 fine in the mail on the way to our house as I type! But how did he manage to dial that exact number?? I mean he's dialed some numbers that I was sure were going to call someone in Yemen but I was surprised that he was able to dial 911 and hit the talk button! Anyway, it's definately one of those stories I'll remember!! I'm just glad they didn't send someone out! That would have really been embarassing!

Here are some pics showing how we celebrate a non-busy week! We....

Play
Read
Listen to the rain and surf the internet (Note to self - looking at summer dresses at Neiman's puts Jonah right to sleep!)
Read some more!

These Boots were made for Walkin....

and that's just what Jonah does! Except he walks in Pumas, not boots, but you get the point! Yes - it is official. Jonah started walking everywhere right after Easter and does not want to do anything else! He goes from room to room and chases Riley all over the house! It's great, except now I really have to watch him because he's quick. I was so excited about him walking and now I'm already missing not being able to put him in his bouncy chair for a few minutes while I run to the bathroom. Now, he follows me in there! So long privacy! It was nice having you all those years!

Okay, this isn't the best picture to show off Jonah's new skills but we've been using the video camera more to capture him in full motion and as soon as I learn how to tranfer the videos off the camera to the computer I will add a couple of videos so you can get the full effect! It really is the coolest and cutest thing I've ever seen! They look like little penguins walking around trying to maintain their balance! He also shares a certain resemblance to his mom and dad during a few of our nights on 6th Street in Austin!

I'm Lovin It!!!

So, I finally broke down and bought Jonah his first Happy Meal from McDonald's complete with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toy! The event brought back such fond memories of my Dad taking me to McDonald's when I was three years old every Saturday and my Dad talking them into making a special Happy Meal just for me at 8:00am because they didn't serve lunch until 11:00am and I didn't want McDonald's breakfast. I wanted a Cheeseburger! (I was a sort of demanding as a child!!) Anway, I wasn't sure if he was quite old enough to eat one but he was hungry, I had not been to the grocery store, and Josh was playing tennis so hitting the drive-thru for fast food was our only option right?! Plus I was craving a Quarter Pounder ;) I also broke down and bought Riley a pack of Chicken Nuggets because even Dogs need a sinful treat every once in awhile! Let me just tell you that Jonah could be the new billboard for the phrase I'm Lovin' It at McDonald's. He ate the entire cheeseburger (plain of course), all of the french fries, the box of applejuice, and for good measure I added in a Gerber jar of peaches (so I can still be considered for a Mommy of the Year award!) He loved the cheeseburger and the fries! He actually said Mmmmm as he was eating the cheeseburger!! LOL! So, I have a feeling we may be visiting McDonald's again in the near future!



After Riley ate his Chicken Nuggets, Jonah thought his best friend might still be hungry so he shared a few bites of his cheeseburger and fries with Riley! Isn't that sweet?! Of course he wouldn't give any to the woman that went through 9 months of pregnancy and childbirth to bring him into this world after she finished her Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Supersized fries!!! I'm still a little bitter about it and it happened last week!

Flower Power

On my way to take Jonah to school this morning I decided to stop by and take a couple of pictures of him among the Lone Star State Flower - the Bluebonnet! I think every child that grows up in Texas has their picture made at some point in the bluebonnet fields. I've been on a mission to find a field near our house and thanks to a post on my MMM group website I found one down the street! So, even though it was chilly and an overcast outside, I decided to get a few pics before they are gone because I'm not sure how long they last! Now I'm on a personal mission to get even more pictures when it's sunny outside! Especially since I couldn't get Mr. Jonah to smile this morning! I guess he's not much of a morning person!!

Hoppy Easter!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

We had a great weekend! Saturday we relaxed and hung out at home for a change! It was great. We went to Lifetime Fitness and Josh and I worked out with our trainer. Since Josh and I are planning a vacation somewhere tropical this summer, I need all the motivation I can get to get my body swimsuit ready! LOL

We were planning on going to my parent's ranch on Saturday for an Easter Egg Hunt and Dinner and it ended up Snowing! Isn't that crazy! Only in Texas!!

Sunday we drove to Hico to spend Easter with Josh's Grandmother. We had lunch and then Jonah and Kayla played that afternoon! It was still too cold outside for an Easter Egg Hunt so they just had fun inside walking all over the place! Yep - both Jonah and Kayla are walking now! Very exciting!

Enjoy the photos and have a great week!


Jonah's Easter Basket
Jonah playing with his new Lego Building Blocks from the Easter Bunny!
What's in this egg?
I love my new blocks!
Reading my new bunny book!
Was Jon making Jonah laugh or was Jonah making Jon laugh??
Jonah and Kayla checking out the finger paint in Jonah's Easter basket from Jon, Amy and Kayla!




Jonah and Mimi
Mimi and Riley relaxing after lunch!
Bubbles!!!