Pumpkin Carving

This week we carved our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. The kids had so much fun. Daddy and Sydney were a team and Mommy and Parker were a team. They helped draw the faces for their jack-o-lanterns and then scooped out the seeds. At first, Sydney thought it was yucky but then she decided she loved it!! Parker on the other hand pretended to like it(I think we got him so excited about doing it that he thought he needed to like it).

Here she is getting the hang of it.

After we were done with the jack-o-lanterns, we baked pumpkin seeds and ate them. YUMMY!

Here are the finished jack-o-lanterns. Sydney's is on the left and Parker's is on the right.

Our refinished pool

I totally forgot to share pics of our refinished pool. The pictures don't show just how pretty blue it is. Check out our turtles. One for each of us and the kids will tell you which one is each of ours. Daddy's is at the bottom leading the way, then Mommy, then Parker, and Sydney is on the top step.

Aunt Brandi's Birthday

We went to Ocala to ce;ebrate with Aunt Brandi for her birthday. I won't say what birthday it was....but if you look at the cake you will get your answer. As always, good times.
Uncle Johnny's surprise for Aunt Brandi was a dunk tank where he told her she had to be dunked one time for each year! Parker wanted to go in the dunk tank too.

In the Gladiator Ring....it's on!

Grandma and Grandpa visit

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt came to visit this past Saturday from New Port Richey. Uncle Joe Joe, Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Heather, and cousin Sadie came over too.
We had a great family dinner, a walk to the park, and the adults finished the night with some Wii fun!
Wish we took more pictures.
Grandpa dancing with Sydney.

Pumpkin Patch

This weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch.
We met up with the Cushs and other Schmidts.
The pumpkin patch is actually a farm. The kids got to pet horses, goats, and bunnies. They got to bounce in a bounce house and swing on the tire swing shaped like a horse. We even enjoyed a picnic lunch. It was lots of fun.
We didn't buy a pumpkin here because they were way to pricey. I went to Aldi's afterward and picked up two for $3.29/piece.

Little Mommy

Sydney continues her "little mommy" ways.
She has started to help dress Parker. She likes to put his socks, shoes and jacket on for him.
When Parker fell down last week and skinned his knees, she said, "I brush you off Parker. You're all better now."
My mom told me today when she was laying the kids down for their nap, Sydney had to get her stool so that she could cover Parker up for his nap.

Sea World Spooktacular

So our Sea World passes continue to pay off.
We went to Sea World Spooktacular and had tons of fun. It doesn't count any more money and the kids get to Trick or Treat all over Sea World.


On this trip, we arrived early so we could eat Count Von Count, Elmo and some other Sesame Street characters.
If you remember, for the kids birthday present we took them to have Breakfast with Elmo. They enjoyed it then but boy did they enjoy it now. Nana came with us this time too.





My cutie-patootie





Realized after seeing this picture that Sydney needs a new Elmo shirt and some new shorts. Both are way too short!

Surprise got them both to look in the same pic.

He will not look at me when I take his picture!!!

Sydney and the Sea Princess.

Mady(Christina's little one) giving Sydney a hug.

Sydney couldn't wait to meet Abby Cadabby.

So we went to the Count's Spooktacular show. During the show, Elmo went backstage for a bit. Parker asked, "Where did Elmo go?" Then he answered his own question, "Elmo went to go peepee in the potty."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

GiGi and Aunt Jan visit

Aunt Jan and GiGi came to visit us the week before the moved to North Carolina. They came and stayed overnight so we were able to share some extra time with them.
We are REALLY REALLY going to miss being able to hop in the car on a weekend and drive over for a day or night.
`

GiGi reading bedtime stories.

Cuddle time with Aunt Jan.

Piggyback rides. Fun!

Pottytraining Update

Sydney is consistently "trying" to go several times a day. She is rewarded with a sticker. After three stickers, she gets a toy.
Parker is doing great..most mornings, he wakes up dry and then goes on the potty several times throughout the day. He has started telling you when he needs to go but he is doing great!

Parker's Imagination

So what if he plays with his food.....
The other day at snacktime, Parker was eating raisens. He told Nana he had made a letter "P". Nana looked down and sure enough there he had made the letter "P" with his raisens. He then proceeded to make a giraffe with his raisens and once again it actually did look like the giraffe.
Then he was eating a bagel and he took some bites out of it and then he told Nana he made an airplane....guess what?? It looked like an airplane.

Sydney rides a tricycle

I couldn't believe it!!! The other day I took the kids out on their tricycles. My mom takes them out almost everyday. Well since we had the pool resurfaced we have been in the pool almost every night so it had been a few weeks since I had seen them ride their tricycles. Parker's is still just a little too big so he can't quite reach the pedals but he sure gets around real quick.

What a surprise it was to see Sydney just zooming around. Check her out....

What they are up to these days....

It is so incredible to see Parker and Sydney developing such a strong brother/sister relationship.

They are actually playing more and more together these days. They use their imaginations so much. They are so much fun to watch. This week's imaginative play for Sydney is her putting Parker to bed...she sings our naptime song and then brings him all his things for bed, a bedtime story, blanket, pillow. She tells him he has to close his eyes and go to sleep.

Like any brother/sister realtionship as much as they love each other, they love to fight with each other. Whewee! Growing up as an only child, this sibling rivalry is a HUGE learning curve for me.

Parker has gone thru a biting phase a couple of times. There was a couple weeks where he was biting her every single day. Thankfully he has taken a break...hopefully a permanent one.

Now dont feel sorry for just Sydney, she starts her fair share of things. She likes to head butt.

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They are so smart. I know, I know everyone says that.

It is so cool though you tell them something or read them something once and they store that info and surprise you with it later.

They surprise us daily.

These days they know their address, their birthday, their full names, how to spell their names.

They identify all colors and shapes, many letters and numbers and can tell you some letter sounds too.

They can sing so many songs and love to say all the nursery rhymes.

Parker can name the President and Vice President of the United States.

They both know the America bird is the bald eagle.

Sydney can tell you what neighborhood she lives in.

Girls Day

So Mommy and Daddy were going to have a date night on Saturday night! Woo hoo! It doesn't happen nearly enough.
I decided to treat my self to a pedicure.
The nail salon where I go is where I have gone for many years(although not very much since the kids). Anyway, the girls there have known me before, during, and after pregnancy. One of the girls actually has her youngest son about a week before P and S were born.
The times I have been in there since the kids were born they always ask why I dont bring the kids in. I always reply with sometimes Mommies need a break too.
Well this last Saturday I decided to leave Parker at home with Daddy and take Sydney along with me. As soon as we walked in the girls went wild over Sydney. Mimi(the girl who had her son a week before Parker and Syd)picked up Sydney and stole her away. It was surprising how receptive Sydney was as she is usuallya little apprehensive with strangers. Mimi gave her a mini-mani/pedi. She was too stinking cute.
Then afterwards she came and sat next to Mommy. She was sooooo good and so cute and definitely the hit of the salon.
We won't be making this a habit but it sure was a good time.


I have painted her toe nails quite a few times now but she has never had her fingernails painted. See the little flowers??? She usually likes to have her tootsies painted yellow---her favorite color, but she went with orange for fall this time.

Can you see how comfortable she was being pampered??

Some video....

Jesus Loves Me

Here is some video of the kids singing Jesus Loves Me. Too cute!

Funny Moments

***********PARKER**********

After saying prayers one night, Parker asked, "Where did Jesus go?" I told him Jesus is in Heaven. He sat back for a couple seconds thinking. He then proceeded to tell me, "Jesus lives in a castle in heaven. Jesus is a boy. Jesus is a with arms and legs and two eyes and two ears. Jesus is boy like me. Jesus is a boy who lives in a castle in heaven with his Daddy".
~
A few weeks ago, Parker woke up yelling for me in the middle of the night. I ran in there because it isn't often he wakes up screaming. When I went into their room, I asked him if he had a bad dream. He then told me, "No I dreamed about scuba diving."
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We went to visit GiGi and Aunt Jan in Sarasota a couple weeks ago. GiGi, Sydney and I went into the shoe store. My mom, Aunt Jan, and Parker went to a Dollar General. When they were walking down the toy aisle there were some Halloween decorations. There were some skulls. Parker eyes wide asked, "What is that?" Aunt Jan said, "Thats a skull." Parker said, "I don't like skulls..they're scary"(well he says sary). He proceeded to tell me later that he saw some skulls and that they were "sary" and they had long hair and no body.

**************SYDNEY***************

Both of the kids really enjoy swimming, but swimming is probably Sydney's absolute favorite thing to do and she is an incredible swimmer.
Well, we just had to get our pool resurfaced and retiled. One night last week, while I was making dinner, Patrick was sitting out back and letting the kids play with their toys. They were driving around in their Cozy Coupes. Parker went to Patrick, "Daddy I need gas money for my car." Patrick proceeded to pretend to give him money. Then Patrick says, "Hey wait a minute, Daddy needs money for our pool." Sydney gets out of her car, reaches in her gas tank and then walks over to Patrick and says, "Here Daddy, money for the pool".
~
A couple weeks ago, my mom fell down while she was walking with the kids. Of course, she didn't want the kids to get upset so she didn't let on that she had gotten hurt. Well Sydney was rlly bothered that Nana got hurt. She is a Nana's girl. She kept telling her, "Nana you be better..I love you, Nana."
~
The kids have great imaginations and they like to pretend play. A couple weeks ago, Parker pulled out one of his stuffed animals and laid him down. He said, "I am giving him a diaper change." I handed him a diaper and he flopped it on top of the bunny and walked away. Then Sydney came in and said she wanted to diaper her bunny too. So I gave her a diaper. She laid the bunny to the side and proceeded to carefully place the diaper just so and when she had it 'just' right she picked up the bunny and put the bunny on top and proceeded to diaper her bunny. She did such a great job. She now diapers all of her babies. It is sooo cute. She is such a little Mommy.

NC Vacation-September 2009

What a GREAT vacation! It never gets old and this time it felt very overdue.

One of our very favorite places to be...North Carolina. No where else like it for us. It sure feels like home. The weather was great.

We drove Friday night and arrived early Saturday morning. The kids rode well and went right back to bed when we arrived. Of course they were up at their usual time but that was ok. We decided to go the Apple Festival in downtown Hendersonville. It was packed! People everywhere. There was some good entertainment and good eats! You can't beat fresh apples dipped in hot caramel. YUMMY!! If you check out the slideshow or the attached video you can see the homemade ride that Parker braved. Sydney was not at all interested. We had to ask a little girl to sit with him so he wouldn't fly out. You should have seen the driver of this thing whipping these kids around.

The kids loved the bench that Papa told them he made just for them. He called it their music bench so that is where they played the new harmonicas MeeMaw got them. We were invited a couple times to Miss Ann and Mr. Don's cabin down the road and they live on the river. The kids took advantage and went for a swim in the buff. Too funny! Lots of hangingout and hiking in the outdoors.

We spent another afternoon at the hands on museum.

One of our last nights there we went to La Strada's Italian Restaurant on Lake Lure.

Afterwards the kids got to roast marshmallows for the first time and eat smores.

On our last full day, Patrick, the kids and I took our regular drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we were up in March part of the parkway was closed and we had to take a very long and very scenic route to Mt. Mitchell. Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Lat time we made it up there, it was 32 degrees, zero visibility and the wind was whipping. It seems everytime we have tried to make it up to the actual peak there was just no visibility to to do it. Well this time we were able to take a direct path there and when we made up there it was about 56 degrees. we not only made it to the top but we also decided to take a hike when we were up there. The trail was listed as an easy to moderate trail. It was just the four of us on the trail. The silence was remarkable up there. And the smell...oh the smell..it smelled like Christmas trees all around us. We hiked almost a mile and the kids didn't complain or asked to be picked up at all.

Who knew two 2 1/2 year olds could have sooo much fun hiking. :)

We didn't see until after we came out of the trail that the sign said Black Bears active in this area in the day and night time. Its the little sign down below.Good thing we didn't run into any.

Patrick's Birthday weekend--Salt Springs

We made another trip to Ocala for Patrick's birthday weekend. We were there to spend some QT with the extended family....MeeMaw and PopPop Roberts and Aunt Brandi and Uncle Johnny.
As always a great time was had. Fun, food, swim, sun.
How lucky we are to be surrounded by truly wonderful people...thanks to God and RyRy. :)

Siesta Key

Found out a couple weeks ago that my Grandma(aka GiGi) and Aunt Jan will be leaving Florida and relocating to North Carolina. We are all very sad about this but understand the need to get out of Florida. We plan to make it up to North Carolina one day too. It will definitely be different to not be able to just hop in the car and drive a couple hours to see them. My Grandma has lived in Florida my whole life and has always been no more than a few hours away. The kids really love spending time with GiGi and Aunt Jan so we will have to make an extra efforts to get together when we are on vacation up there. We will also have to upgrade our camera so that we can meet up on Skype.



A couple weeks ago Aunt Jan went to North Carolina to look for a place to live. We made a trip down to Sarasota to visit with my Grandma for the weekend. We made a trip over to Siesta Key to watch the sunset. It was beautiful.





What a GREAT visit!!!