New Christmas 2006 Photoshow

We have had a wonderful Christmas so far! The boys and Anna were all bursting with Christmas excitement! Yesterday we spent the day at Barry's parents house and the kids always have a blast playing with their cousins and opening gifts. Last night we went to the church that Barry parents and my parents all go to. Logan sang "Sweet Little Jesus Boy". Anna was noisy, so she and Mommy had to leave, but we did sneak in the choir room to hear Logan sing. He has a wonderful voice...and so does Brandon!

Santa came today and, of course, we were up at 6:00 to see what he left. Anna stayed asleep until 7:30-7:45 and I wasn't about to wake her up. She was very tired from being up late and her stuffy nose isn't helping things. She was very excited to see what Santa had brought, too. We had my parents and Grandma over here for Brunch. They brought the boys a giant game table. Air Hockey is my favorite!

After Anna's nap we went to my parents house and finished up celebrating with them and also my sister and Paul. The kids never did seem to tire of opening gifts and Logan is already plotting how to spend some of the money he received from all of his Grandparents. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and ate the delicious cake that Brandon and his Grandparents made for Jesus' birthday. YUM!

We are pooped and my house is completely trashed. Darn... Santa didn't leave a certificate for a maid to come in and clean! It will be in a state of chaos now for a while, but the kids will enjoy playing with their new toys, etc. The house can wait!

Happy Holidays! It is chilly here, but certainly not a white Christmas! It is spitting a tad bit of rain and since it is about 33 degrees, who knows.....maybe some white snow will appear and stick.

Here is a photoshow with pics from yesterday and today.
http://www.photoshow.net/schmidtfamily5

Can you believe it?

It will not be a white Christmas this year...that is for sure! It was 53 degrees yesterday and it felt a little odd to be seeing Santa! We thought we better get that in. Brandon was getting a little worried about not getting his "list" to Santa yet. Even Logan humored me and sat on Santa. We thought that was the ONLY way little Anna would be interested. Anna did fine. Logan had quite a long list and Anna played shy and agreed that she would like a new doll for Christmas when Santa asked. Then she said a DORA. Her favorite.

Today's weather will be 56 and it is still a blizzard out in Colorado!

53 Degrees and seeing Santa! NO SNOW HERE!

Merry Christmas!

Winter has officially arrived!

What a night! We did not get much snow, but we had the wind and freezing rain. No school today, so the kids have already been out in it. We lost power for a while in the night, but luckily we have it now....unlike my sister and thousands of others. It is supposed to be very windy again tonight and cold. YUK! Luckily Barry returned home from work at 10:30 am when the lobby's of the Credit Unions all closed. Is Spring here yet??

December 1, 2006 Snow Day!

Anna pics!

One thing for sure...we always get great hand me downs from Faith. Most of you know that Barry's sister also has a daughter, who is 5, from China. Anna is almost 3 now and we get lots of goodies from Faith's closet. While we were waiting for our referral for Anna, we received a picture of Faith in this same outfit. I thought it would be fitting to take a picture of Anna in it, too! Cute. Luckily, Anna plays along most of the time with her mother's love of picture taking! It is hard to catch her some days sitting still long enough for a picture. Thank goodness for the digital rebel!

Cutie Pie!

Thanksgiving Weekend Pictures!

Schmidt Happenings!

Not too much happening here since I got home from Marco Island! I came home on Monday and within 2 hours of hopping off that plane, I had Anna at the doctor with a throat infection. She would not eat or drink much for days, but did come out of it by Thursday. The doctor was thrilled that Anna had gained weight! She is up to 26 pounds and 36.5 inches. Such a tall one. I was able to go to the parent visitation day at Brandon's school and then on Friday, Brandon was sick, too. He had way too much energy over the weekend, but did have the same type of infection as Anna. It was weird. I am just hoping that Logan stays healthy and does not get it at all!

We found out that Barry's dad has lung cancer and we are just trying to figure out what all that means and what type of treatment and surgery will be necessary.

Tomorrow Barry and I will celebrate our 14th Anniversary. Hard to believe. We have actually been together since I was 15 years old in 1987 and we got married in 1992!

Trip to Marco Island

No..... this is not me up there!Michelle and Heidi decided to parasail!


I had a wonderful trip to Marco Island with some wonderful gals that also have daughters from China and used our Lifelink agency. We had a great time relaxing, eating good food and shopping a little bit, too. It was so peaceful there! Thanks to Michelle's parents for letting us stay there! It was such a heavenly place! Here is a link from our trip to a photoshow that I made.
http://www.photoshow.net/schmidtfamily5
I came home to a wonderfully clean house, flowers and cards from the kids and Barry and......sick kids!

Anna and her Antics again!

She really does get into everything! Yesterday it was the chocolate cake after breakfast. And as you can see, clothing is still not an option for her. She got it off the counter and dug right in. She also wanted to pop her own popcorn again, but Daddy stopped her. My boys just never got into stuff like her! She is such a busy little bee these days. She has learned to say "Sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to do it". The first time she said that it was so cute. Now...not so much. She is constantly into something and often tells on herself. She will say "Look what I did NOW, mom!" She talks nonstop and will tell me when she is in big trouble or when the boys are, too. She is a real hoot.

Oh...I leave Wed-Monday for Marco Island with some of the mom's in our China travel group and also another mom that used Lifelink Adoptions. We cannot wait. I have NEVER left Anna overnight, so let's pray that it goes well for Daddy. The boys will be fine, but Daddy will have to help with church, homework, laundry and everything! I CAN't Wait! Florida here we come!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

WE LOVE FALL IN OUR HOUSE! We love the great weather, the leaves and weiner roasts. Last night we did the annual pumpkin carving. It was nice to have the boys pick out an easy way to decorate their pumpkin, as opposed to the past years where Barry picks out something for himself and it takes 2-3 hours to carve it. Granted...it is awesome when he is done, but......

Tonight we went to the Booseum and also the Boo at the Zoo. The Children's Museum wasn't too exciting so we walked across to the Zoo and the weather was perfect. It was a fun night.

Fall Fun!

Get Your Own! View Slideshow

Overland Missions Children

Saw Madonna on Oprah this week talking about the adoption of her son David from Africa. I then saw this great video on another blog. Neat.

Anna's Antics!

She is at it again! Today while I was in the bathroom...I wasn't gone THAT long! I did put a few clothes away as I got upstairs. Anyway.... My creative little 2.5 year old climbed up on the counter, got out a bag of microwavable popcorn, opened it up. She climbed down off the counter, put the popcorn in the microwave with the correct side up. She closed the door and pushed the popcorn button. Voila...popcorn! I came down the steps right after she pushed the button. I wanted to laugh and did somewhat inside, but I had to scold her, too. All she had to say was "I hungry, Mommy!" She never even ate more than a few pieces of it after it was popped! She just likes to stay busy and find things that she shouldn't do!

Not much that an inquisitive little 36 inch girl can't do when she puts her mind to it.

Enjoying Fall!

We have been enjoying Fall lately. Yesterday was beautiful and we actually cleaned out the garage! We also caught our first little critter of the season...I will call him Martin the Mouse...or the dead mouse! I just get very irritated that every Fall the little buggers come visit.

Maybe I should also say that we have been hibernating this weekend! It has been very cold and windy here today! Almost bitter! Anyway, we didn't do a whole lot this weekend. We went to the Grocery Store with my mom for a kids day and they all enjoyed that.

The boys didn't want pictures taken this weekend, but of course, Anna was cooperating!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a good time at the Pumpkin Patch on Sunday. We met another family from our China Travel group...The Wright's and a mom who is also going to adopt from China met us, too and brought her daughter and niece. The weather was beautiful and we had a nice afternoon.

Pumpkin Patch 2006

Daddy and his girl!

Thought these were just so sweet that I had to post them! You will rarely, if ever, find any pics here of this mommy!

Right now Anna is quite attached to her Mommy, but she still holds a special place in her heart for her Daddy.

18 months with us...2.5 years old!

18 months with us!

Today something strange happened. Barry and I had gone to Logan's parent teacher conference. After I got home and got Anna from the neighbor's Anna started her stripping...this is very common. All of a sudden she says....."I'm from China!" She then proceeded to march up to her room and got into her closet and pulled out an asian outfit to wear. She was as proud as could be as she got into her little outfit. Ironically, the outfit she chose was one someone was getting rid of and it came from Japan! Anyway, it all of a sudden hits me and I start getting tears in my eyes! Today marks the 1.5 year anniversary of the day that we got Anna! WOW! Did she know? I had forgotten myself!

Has it really been 18 months since the day that we walked into the Civil Affairs Office in Nanning, China on April 4, 2005? I can't believe the changes in Anna and all of us since then. She has brought so much joy to our lives. The boys love her to pieces and she adores them, too. Sometimes I just sit in amazement and remember all that she went through to find us as her forever family.

I was just sitting here today thinking how much Anna has changed in one year. Last year at this time, she had only been with us exactly 6 months. She was still learning to understand English and was still getting used to us all! Now, 1.5 years later, we remember how she was perfectly planned just for our family.

Thought I would include a referral picture and also a couple of pictures of Anna's first day with us. Meeting her was such an amazing day. And it was on that day that 9 other girls from Guiping City also met their forever families. The neatest thing about adoption for me has been all of the new friends we have made. We know Lifelink families from various states and call our travel group "family"!

China Trip Link

We received our referral for 11.5 month old Anna on January 31, 2005. We were logged into the CCAA for only 5.5 months exactly and our paperwork took a little over 7 months to complete. We left for China that year on March 31 and returned to the US with Anna on April 14. She is now 2.5 and is a compete bundle of toddler joy!

http://lady-bugs.home.insightbb.com/index.htm

More pics of the kids!

2006 Guiping Girls Reunion

Posted some pictures on the slide show of our China travel group reunion that was held in Belleville this year! We had a wonderful time visiting with all of the families and seeing all of the 10 girls together again.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!

Well, this week Brandon came home from school and had lost his front tooth. It is always a sort of rite of passage when you are 7.5 and still haven't lost that darn tooth! You just twist and loosen it up so that you can finally show off that newest window in your mouth. After Brandon lost that tooth, I told him how cool it would be to lose the other one before the school pictures next week. The tooth was getting looser each day. Well, yesterday, I told him that if he pulled it out before Sunday night, I would give him two dollars. I really didn't think it was loose enough, but sure enough......he has a GIANT window in his mouth after working on it all night. Oh...and of course he has the two dollars, too. The tooth fairy came and gave him 3 quarters and forgot to take that tooth!

Of course, Anna has been upset all week trying to wiggle her teeth out, too!

Pics by the Big BRO!

Logan got a digital camera this summer and has a lot of fun with it. He often gets disappointed that it isn't as nice as my Digital Rebel, but he is only 10, right? He takes some good ones, though, when his brother and sister stop moving long enough.

I'm a big girl now!

Well, I did it! I got out the toddler bed! It was hard on me since Anna is our last "baby"! The boys were both out of the crib between 14-16 months, so I was determined to have Anna in the crib much longer. She has been climbing out for a while now, so it was time. She has been getting rather creative at night and often there are many "extra" things in the crib in the morning that were definately not there when she went to bed. Had to include one of her on the big potty, too! She is all big stuff now!

Photoshow Link, etc

I have been having fun making photoshows lately. They are so easy! Logan made one, too, of the trip with the Grandparents that he and Brandon went on in July.

The kids are all growing up so fast. Logan and Brandon are getting so tall. I see Logan maturing daily before my eyes and I am afraid that he will pass up his 5'6" mother by next year. Brandon is eating like a horse every day and could easily pass up Logan someday.

Anna remains to be a lean and tall 23 pounder! We measured her this week and she is around 36 inches tall. She continues to be so tiny around that the 12 month shorts and pants still can fall off. Too bad she needs a 2T in length. She lives in the Gymboree leggings since they fit so well! She was busy this summer potty training herself. Note that I said "herself". I really had very little to do with it and she has been nearly accident free from the start! Yeah...we got a raise!

Anyway, a link to the new photoshows......http://www.photoshow.net/schmidtfamily5

September Happenings

Well, the school year actually started in August. I subbed in the Special Education room at the school for 13 days. That is quite a change from my 3-4 times a month. It was an adjustment for all and Anna was certainly not used to it. She had a great time during the day either at the Grandparents or the neighbors, but I paid dearly at night. She let me know just how much she missed me!

The boys are now in second and fifth grade and Anna is 2.5. The new year is now seeming more normal now that my subbing is back to MUCH less. I am enjoying catching up on the house stuff and playing all day with Anna.

We had our second annual Guiping Girls Reunion and what a wonderful weekend it was. All ten girls from our China Travel Group were there, as well as my dad who travelled to China and also another Grandpa that went.

We had a great time at the zoo this weekend. It was a gorgeous day. Didn't take too many pictures of the "real" animals, but here are some of the Schmidt kiddos.

Here I go!

Ok, trying out the whole blogging thing! Bear with me as I learn all this stuff!