Alaina's 1st B'day!

Birthday Girl not so happy about waking up 1 year older!


You guys shouldn't have sang for ME!



And I get CAKE TOO!



We took her to the zoo for her 1st b'day!



Checking out the giraffes with dad




One Dirty Rhino!





This Guy really liked Daddy for some reason...



My little Joey!


Ky and his buddy Dan


The Schnake Girls!




Caged Animal!



She May look nice, but SHE BITES!





My other Joey!



Ky & Cora on the Carousel


Eating some birthday treat cupcakes with Danny

What's this?

Washing my hands...washing my hands...

Seriously...you are going to let me play with this!?

I wonder what it tastes like?

Hey! That's pretty good!

Opening gifts...

Grandpa playing with Piggies...

Another present!

Mommy & Daddy's gift....I LOVE SHOPPING!

We all woke up to Alaina's b'day cries. I stumbled into the room with my eyes half opened and snapped the beautiful wake-up b'day pic you see above.

Of course she perked up once she was fed. If Alaina's crabby-give her some food. It works almost every time!

We had decided that we would do the same birthday day as Ky had for his first birthday--so we were off to the zoo! It was also my playgroup day so we had playgroup join us--though I took very few pics of them-I was too focused on my baby! I can't believe she is one!

I need to add that Alaina started walking the Saturday before her birthday--so she was very excited to be able to show off some of her new skills--though the shoes made it a bit tough. In fact at one point when I went to change her diaper, she took off her shoe and tossed it 2 stalls down! YUCK! It was very gross retrieving her shoe from under the toilet!

The kids really enjoyed the animals. Sadly, the goats were closed so Ky was unable to pet them. He was bummed. Instead I took him for a ride on the Carousel and that seemed to make up for it--until he wanted to go on the train. I told him no, he chose the carousel. It was just too much trying to do these rides with 2 kids. (Daddy was with us in the beginning, but then he had to leave for a work meeting.) After that the kiddos enjoyed cupcakes in honor of Laina's b'day.

The rest of the day was the same old hum-drum. On Saturday we had Alaina's b'day party where all relatives were invited. Ky was especially excited because he figured he would get to blow out the candle--since "Alaina's a baby, she can't blow out the candle."

We had a lot of family at the party, the Schnake's were well represented. Uncle Kirk & Aunt Barb came as well as Rob's mom & Jan. Alaina was a little nervous at first with all the people, but quickly warmed up to the crew. For her birthday dinner we had Chicken & Eggplant Parmesan. She ate like a champ as usual.

Her birthday cake was in the shape of an ice cream cone. It was a vanilla cake made with bing cherries---and it was GOOD! We figured that best represented her this year since she has an intense love for ice cream. We gave her a special smash cake smothered in whip cream and let her have at it. She first poked at it and then began painting her high chair with the whip cream. Her next step was to wash her hands with the whip cream. Finally she tasted it. At that point, she picked up the whole cake and shoved it in her mouth---and she did not put it down. She was quite the little piggy.

It was a rather large cake so I didn't want her to actually eat the whole thing. I was happy to see it fall apart and grabbed the pieces and tossed them out so she didn't eat the WHOLE thing.

After the mess of cake she "opened" some presents. We had to help her get started, but she did finally start enjoying the ripping of paper. In fact I think she enjoyed that more than the presents themselves. As far as gifts she got some clothes, a rocking chair (which she loves--and was perfect timing since hers just fell apart), a doll, and a couple of other things. Rob and I bought her a shopping cart since she LOVES to push things. We also purchased her & Kylan and dishes which they will get a Christmas to go with the shopping cart and kitchen. Otherwise for our kids first several birthdays we put money into their college accounts. We figure it is the best investment at this age since they get toys and such all the time from others (not to mention garage sales during the summer.)

To wrap up this blog--I can't believe my baby is one! WOW. The time really flies. I still remember them placing her in my arms and just being amazed that I had my dark haired little girl (that is now strawberry blond). While I knew I was having a girl (even before the ultrasound), I just always found it hard to believe I would have a girl. With my personality and family history, I just assumed I would have all boys. She has been with me for one full year and I marvel at my beautiful angel! It has been a great first year. I am sad that it passed so quickly and at the same time so excited to see who she is becoming. She is beautiful inside and out and I am thankful that God gave me the privilege of being her mother. I love you Laina!

Walking Walking Walking!

Here she is taking some of her first steps....
My first video upload! I am so EXCITED!

Active Kids

Mmm...popsicles! And this is why we only eat them outside!


Mom...I'm too tired for lunch.....


First time Alaina ever fell asleep in her high chair


She crawls on EVERYTHING now!

Got on the rocking chair herself. She loves to Rock!

Uncle Ry & Ky in the pool

Uncle Ry & Alaina

Aunt Steph & Alaina

Ky testing the waters

Playing in the pool at home.

At Olbrich beach

Throwing rocks at Olbrich beach

Capital in the background.

Slow down! Stop! Wait! Come Here! --the top six words currently in my vocabulary--and no not for Kylan--ALAINA!!!

Alaina is such a mover! I can not get a good picture of her. She doesn't look at the camera and she is always trying to take off. Have you noticed the pics of her from the last month or so have not been so good? UGH! I remember going through this with Kylan too but not nearly so wildly! She climbs everything! She disappeared one day--and I turned to Rob and said, where is Alaina? Turns out she had gone upstairs ON HER OWN! (Oops! Yes, now we always remember the gate!) And not only can she go upstairs, she can go down them by herself. It took us forever to teach Ky how to go down stairs. I actually feel pretty comfortable about letting her go downstairs by herself--however I don't. She just seems to young to be so capable.

Kylan was much more timid about things...and he didn't go out of the room you were in. Alaina, she is totally opposite. There is a whole world to explore and no one is going to stop her! She loves stools---yeah, we keep those put away. She will move stools and small chairs so she can climb up them and onto things. Her baby doll stroller she loves to crawl in--though it doesn't really support her so this has become a concern.

She is also into winding things around her neck...A really bad combination with the "going out of your sight" and climbing up things. The other day she toddled into the room with the Nintendo game controllers wrapped around her neck! She was very proud of herself. When I vacuum, She goes for the cord and starts winding it around her neck. Oh God--please let this phase pass quickly! I have tried to hide all cords or strings of any kind from her. And yes, Ky's Yo yo (not that he could yo yo) has been put away.

Alaina is also picking up on words. She was saying book and truck the other day. She loves "uh-oh" and will purposely drop things just so she can say it. She plays with her hair when she is tired, which is nice because now I know when I need to put her down (since she isn't really taking a morning nap anymore.)

Ky on the other hand just spits out funnies all the time. Here are a couple of good ones:

"There's a turkey on Alaina's nose" (referring to a piece of lunch meat on her nose at lunch.)

"I so love you"--this is one of my favorites from Ky.

"My baby is in my tummy--I feed it by eating food" (we have tried to explain that only girls have babies in their tummies--but he is convinced there is one in his.)

"I can carry this because my elbows are big and strong"

"My arms don't have enough weight to carry that!"

He is also starting to say some embarrassing things around people he notices--in front of them. Here are a couple of those:

"Mr. Clay is missing teeth."

"That man looks like he has a baby in his tummy"

It depends on the situation to how I react. I didn't know the man with a baby in his tummy--so we just kept walking and I didn't say anything to Ky--maybe I should have? Yeah I probably should have, but it is hard to explain to a kid his age that you don't point out odd things about them out loud in public. And well Mr. Clay is missing teeth. I just changed the subject quickly.

The pics in this blog are from the end of August. We went to visit Pops & Debi for a day. The kids had fun in the pool. We also had a couple last good days out in the backyard. I went to the beach one day with them--but ended up leaving rather quickly because a bunch of drunks showed up. (it was the morning!) Ky then had a tantrum. UGH! It is hard to explain the reality of life to a child. Can't you people be drunk in the privacy of your own home? Why do you have to pollute our beaches where us mother's have to protect our children's eyes and ears from your vulgarity. Ok--enough ranting. This is the first time I have ever encountered that sort of situation though with my kids.

Next blog I will cover Sept up to Alaina's birthday. That will be a cool one--I will put some movie clips up of the kids! I love my new camera! SO COOL! Stay tuned!

90 Minutes in Heaven

I just got done reading this book by Don Piper and just had to type a little blurb on it. I highly recommend this book to EVERYONE. WOW--a man's experience in heaven and how it changed his life. I am going to keep this book on hand for those I know who have love one's who are dying. This is a great assurance to your final destination--and could be life changing for those who do not believe in God. It also has changed my perspective on things and makes my time on this Earth all the more important.

Here's a link with more info on the book.

http://www.revellbooks.com/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?sid=0477683E4046471488BD7BAC8DCFB004&nm=&type=PubCom&mod=PubComProductCatalog&mid=BF1316AF9E334B7BA1C33CB61CF48A4E&tier=3&id=D64BEA0B056647D0A73B0DD5D31F2830

Book Review: Intimate Conversations by Alicia Britt Chole

"When something is centered, it cannot be reduced to a task." (Chole, pg. 37)

Wow! What a haunting statement. I, queen of task lists, have been put in my place. God often is not centered in my life. I have gone about with my attempt at daily Christian and Bible readings and once completed moved on to my next task. I have prioritized God, and yet not centered him. It is time to make some changes. Thank you Alicia Britt Chole for pointing this out to me in your book Intimate Conversations: Devotions to Nurture a Woman’s Soul.

I love how God uses other people and their experiences to speak to me and help me to grow. I have gleaned so much from Chole’s devotional. The author took such real moments of parenting and just general living and turned them into reflections on what our relationship with God should be. She asks thought provoking questions and sheds new light on verses I have often read over, but not delved into. Here are a couple of Chole's eye-opening quotes from a few of my favorite devotionals.

“From their (great prophets such as Jeremiah, Moses, Elijah, Paul) perspective, suffering did not invalidate God’s faithfulness; suffering is where they experienced God’s faithfulness.” (pg. 134) I never thought of it that way. Sure enough, now that I reflect on my past I have ALWAYS seen God’s faithfulness when I have been suffering! He has never let me down and has always revealed himself.

“Our motivations can make the simplest task holy or the most impressive deed dead. Our attitudes can make the smallest act worship or the grandest offering bankrupt.” (pg. 74) I need to be reminded of this every day. No matter the task, as long as I have the right attitude, I am worshipping God. Suddenly, those daily monotonous tasks I do every day, have now become important again. Thank you Alicia for reminding me!

In Intimate Conversations, there are 52 devotionals that are easy reads (about two pages.) Chole follows up by asking some journaling questions, which help you better think about how the devotion affects your personal life and what you can do to become closer to God.

Being on a short time frame to read and review this book I had to quickly read through it, but now I am already working back through the book from the beginning with my husband at my side. We have been reading a devotional each day and discussing the journaling questions together. This not only has given us time to really dwell on the devotion, but also to grow in our relationship with God and each other. It also has given us accountability as we discuss things we need to work on in our lives.

While this is a wonderful book, I do not believe that this book should be solely for women. There are some mothering moments but, fathers can also easily relate. Rob was actually a little worried when I showed him the book and told him that I wanted to start using it as our night devotional (perhaps it was the purple cover :) ). We are now on our 12th devotional together, and he enjoys it as much as I do. I highly recommend this book to any parent who wants to have a closer relationship with God.

Available September 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

7 Years!

Wine tasting!

Enchanted Valley B&B

Deck off of our room

Beautiful country

Yeah...interior decorating can't get much worse than this...

First stop Wollersheim!

Grapes!

Shhh...wine at rest...

How cool is this!

Kerrigan Brothers


Awesome sink at Kerrigan Brothers

Ledgestone Winery

Trout Springs

The cool Floor medallion at Trout Springs Winery

The ROOST!

Random sign in Appleton==that is an interesting new breakfast menu....

Yup...He is definitely King of the Mountain...

For our seventh anniversary Rob and I decided to go on a winery Tour of Eastern Wisconsin. I have told Rob before that I wanted to spend a few days traveling through the state and stopping at wineries and staying at B & B's. Rob suggested that we do it this anniversary.

Nana came around 5 on Friday (to watch the kids) and we were gone by 6. We stopped on the way out at Papa John's for a pizza. We were planning to drive straight to our first B & B and eat pizza in our room and drink a bottle of wine we had brought along. (Pretty much all the wineries were closed by 6, but we didn't want to waste our first night out!) Our first B & B was near Mazomanie. We picked this B&B because we wanted a place close to Wollersheim (our first winery) and because of the neat description and good reviews.

This B&B said that it only had 2 rooms, but the rooms had their own private decks. Breakfast is made with garden produce and served at the time you would like on the deck. We thought this sounded like a neat place--where we wouldn't be with a lot of other couples and we could enjoy the beautiful countryside. Unfortunately it was freezing cold, so it turned out that we didn't want to spend too much time on the deck.

When we got there we were greeted by an elderly couple. This B & B was their home and they rented out two rooms in their lower level. This couple was very nice but also very talkative and almost scary so. First of all, I should mention that we enter this house and it is a flashback to the 80's. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING was pink---ooh...except for the bright yellow couch in the family room. UGH! And I hate pink--but am actually more tolerant of it now since most baby girl clothes are pink. The couple ended up joining us for our pizza on the deck. Like I said they were very friendly, but weird. For example the lady suddenly asked us out of the blue if we liked Obama's health care plan. Hmmm...I want to have a nice stay--do I answer this question? Do I really want to talk politics with you? VERY odd. I was actually beginning to think that Rob and I would never be able to get away until eventually I think the husband got the idea and told his wife that they needed to turn in. YEAH! So Rob and I escaped to our pink room.

I have to say the pink room had the most comfortable bed--but it also had newly hatched spiders! EEKS!

The next morning they joined us for breakfast as well as another couple. Breakfast was good, but again conversation was strange. We were too happy to escape. This B&B was a bit overpriced, considering the accommodations, but I will say the views were breathtaking. I also think the owners just need to be more careful not to intrude on their guests. I think it was just an odd place--oh I almost forgot to mention that the wife had the place Feng Shui'd and she was very proud of it. Very odd....yeah, I don't think we will go back.

Wollersheim Winery was first on our agenda. It is funny that this HUGE winery is so close to us, and we have driven by it multiple times, yet we had yet to visit it. I have to say the first part of this tour was goofy--it was a video of an old man with an accent talking about how when he came to Wisconsin, he knew he could start a winery here. I loved going down in the cellar where all the barrels were. It was very cool to just see where all the grapes went and where they were processed. Of course, the tasting was excellent afterwards. SO much fun to taste and rate wine! My favorite there was a sunrise blush! YUM!

We then left to head North East towards Green Bay where there were 3 more wineries we were planning on trying. It was funny that we actually went back through Madison to get there. We stopped in Sun Prairie and grabbed a quick lunch.

Our first winery was called Kerrigan Brothers in Green Leaf. They had a lot of fruity wines. We really had bad timing with this winery as several bachelorette parties were coming in while we were there. The owner even apologized to us and asked us to come back. My favorite part of this winery was the sink in the bathroom. They used a roll top desk as a sink! HOW COOL! As you can probably tell now, i wasn't that impressed by the wine. They did have a tomato jalapeno wine--and I just thought that was gross--it tasted like drinking salsa. Kuddos to them for trying. BTW I learned there that it is against the law to ferment vegetables, so he actually had to add the tomatoes later...Interesting stuff.

Next we headed to Ledgestone also in Green Leaf. This winery seemed very upscale. It was located in the country and the outside of the building was not impressive, however the inside was VERY nice. Rob and I had fun tasting the wines here as well, but we did not really care for any of the wines. They had a Moscato at the end--and I love Moscato's, but it was not worth the price they were asking (and it wasn't their wine.)

From there we were off to Trout Springs Winery. This winery was actually a small building located next to the owner's house. There was no official parking area, kind of showing how they don't expect many people. The wine here was good! And Expensive. They personally bottle their own stuff though, so it was understandable why their prices were higher. After tasting, we ended up purchasing 2 bottles there. YUM! After we were done there we went back to an ice cream shop we had noticed down the street. Actually I should call it an ice cream barn, since it was located in a barn. Rob and I got some delectable creations. His was oozing sauce all over--the girl really made it yummy! We played a game of chess and then left (yeah it was a short game since neither of us are very good---I think Rob won.)

At this point we were off to the next B&B in Appleton. I was excited about this B&B. I had picked it based on the name "The Roost!". Doesn't that just sound fun!? And it was a beautiful place too. We had a fabulous room and the owners did a little chatting with us--however they also gave us space. Our room had this giant bed you had to have a step stool to get into...and somehow I managed to smash my knees on the side railing of the bed trying to climb down--OUCH! (I was too excited by the big bed.) So we went to dinner after checking in to the roost and I had Very sore knees--Seriously I had two large knots on my knees that turned into nasty bruises. For dinner we went to a local brewery (Stone Cellar Brew Pub). I ate a yummy burger and Rob had some pasta thing. The food was good. I ate a lot more than I thought I would. YUM!

The next morning we walked around Appleton. Shared drinks at a coffee shop and played some games. We then headed home. We needed to get home in time for Ky's soccer game and Nana needed to get home. So we hit 4 wineries in one day. Pretty impressive! We will definitely have to do this again. It was a great anniversary and I look forward to many many many more years with my wonderful husband!