Four Little Schmidts

Random Moments that I love!

2011-08-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

These pictures have to be some of my favorite ever! The other morning, Miley rolls out of bed as the kids are walking out the door to school. After I said good-bye to the older three, I turn around to see Miley in the back yard with her bubbles. I love the hair that is always a disaster in the morning, but the T-shirt and polk-a-dot undies are just too adorable.

This is me and Coleman after school, waiting for Mckenna and Caden to get finished with running club. Coleman found my camera in my purse and went crazy taking pictures.

Saige now likes to wake up early, so if Chad is running that day, he will take her in the stoller with him. This is her after one of her 6 mile trips.

I always complain after dinner how I can never get the kitchen completely cleaned up since there is always something that gets in the way- mostly Saige getting on top of the dishwasher or climbing the stairs, she still doesn't know how to get down from. So one evening Chad needed to mow the lawn and he decided to take Saige with him. I was very impressed and as you can see it kept the other kids occupied just watching. I did get the kitchen cleaned and I told Chad we could make a habit of this.

1st Day of School

2011-08-24T20:34:00.001-07:00

It certainly didn't feel like it should have been the first day of school the first week of Aug. but at the same time, it's nice to have them back on a schedule and no complaining about nothing to do.

Trip to the Springs

2011-08-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

We were originally going to Colorado Springs to go to their Zoo. But then we became cheap, and decided to go to the Garden of the Gods again. You can't beat seeing beauty for free!

Even though we weren't far from our own beds, there is something kids love about sleeping in hotels!

Saige loved the Hotel room, but mom did not! All Saige wanted to do was crawl all over the germ filled hotel room floor, looking for someones (even more dirty) shoe to play with. I vowed to never go anywhere again until she walks.

We looked up on the internet for a breakfast place that might have organic, gluten-free selections and this Loftys came up. It was not at all organic or gluten free, and it was a one man show, while he took smoke breaks inbetween serving us. I guess you could say, it was an experience. The kids just thought it was cool going out to eat, since that does not happen very often, especially with all of us together.

Miley relaxing by the side of the pool.

4th Of July

2011-07-05T17:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't want Saige outside crawling around the fireworks (and she won't sit still) so we put her inside behind the glass door. She still had a gread view without the danger.

(The kids are always asking for kisses from Saige, but she isn't that willing to give them out)

This was our first 4th of July without going to see family. So this time we had to entertain ourselves and actually buy our own fireworks. At Shauna and Joes house they always make a breakfast outside with all the neighbors. We did have bacon, pancakes and eggs together, but not with the neighbors. Our neighborhood did have a little get togther at the park with Cold Stone Icecream, and the firetruck came and sprayed all the kids. They loved that- but I didn't have my camera.

We went and saw Cars 2, then came home and barbequed. We didn't want to stay up late at the city fireworks, so we did our own show in the backyard. I didn't get many pictures, and the ones that I took didn't turn out very good, but the kids did have a good time, you'll just have to take my word for it, but they did miss their cousins.

The Play; "The Tourtise and the Hare"

2011-07-05T17:45:00.000-07:00

Mckenna tried out again for the Missoula Play that comes a couple times a year. They tryout Monday- then if they make it, you practice tues-fri. then have two performances on saturday. Mckenna was in the group called "the troup". The funny, slightly snotty group that aren't really in the play, but more like the narrators on the side. She had so much fun! She liked having singing and dancing parts and had fun getting to know the other cast members. She did awesome! It's weird seeing her up there on stage-she looked so much older and we can't believe how grown up she is.

CRAZY HAIR DAY

2011-07-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

The kids go to this camp 3 days a week where they have some kind of theme. This was as crazy as they got on crazy hair day- as you can see, Miley didn't go too far out. When Mckenna got to camp, the leaders all had the color hair spray and she loved that! Mckenna is one of the co-leaders of the three year old group and she is doing an amazing job. Everyone is so amazed at her there and is so impressed with what a hard worker she is. The little kids love her and call her "Ms. Kenna".

Mileys Dance Recital

2011-07-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Miley has loved dance this year and couldn't wait to go on stage. During the dress rehersal, she was the only one who knew the dance and she knew it well. Every single other girl just stood there. When the actual performance came, some of the other girls actually did it too, and their whole group was pretty entertaining, but we were very proud of her.

Her moods are kind of unpredictable, and a little bipolor like- hence the first picture of her being very moody, but then she came around and had a great time. We really do adore our little MYMY, she keeps us on our toes and is so much fun to be around.

PHOTOS

2011-06-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

Our sweet friend Coryn took pictures for us and she did a fabulous job, but we always seem to have bad luck with the weather, which affects the kids attitude and patience. I had these huge 36 in. balloons that I thought would be fun for the kids, but we didn't get any real pictures with them since it was so windy and cold. The next day we took Mckenna out and did some more with the balloons- but they shrunk half the size. (I did this posting on two different days, so I accidently put some picutres twice.)

Mckenn's 10th Birthday!

2011-06-12T21:13:00.001-07:00

Mckenna has always loved Cupcakes and she likes to watch the show "Cupcake Wars" and decided to do something like that for her birthday party. We didn't really have a competition with it, but the girls got into two groups and came up with their own ideas for different cupcakes using any of the ingredients we had out. They all did such a cute job and they did everything on their own. One of the best ones was the lemon-pineapple, with little slices of pineapple on the bottom of the cupcake and chunks of pineapple in it, with vanilla-lemon flavored frosting. Then they did a chocolate, peaunt, pretzel one with pink frosting and a malt ball on top. We also did some Minute-to-win it games which they were surprisingly good at, so it didn't last too long. She has sweet friends and they all had a good time. Happy number 10 Kenna-bug!

Colemans Field Day- Graduated from Kindergarten

2011-06-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

It was so fun to watch Coleman on their field day, one of the last days of Kindergarten. We can't believe how far he has come in the last couple of years. A couple of months ago, they told me he doesn't even qualify for services from the school since he has been doing so good. He is excited to be a First Grader now! He is a sweet, smart boy.

I have to document one story that happened a little while ago, which written down, might not do it justice on how funny we thought it was at the moment, but this is an example of how litteral Coleman can be, and doesn't understand sarcasm all the time.

We were on our way to Inta Juice to get a treat, but before we went there, we were going to stop at the Good Will to drop off some things in the back of our van. The kids of course noticed we were going a different way and asked what we were doing. Chad said we were going to the GoodWill where you could give things away that you don't want any more, and you can give away one of your kids too. So he askes, "which one of you should we drop off?" and Miley immediately yells "Kenna, Kenna"! We were all laughing and Coleman just starts crying and yelling NO! When we drive up, Chad opens up the back and says, "come on Kenna, lets go," and sweet Coleman was holding on to her for dear life. It took a minute for him to calm down and for us to explain to him we weren't going to give her away. The funniest thing was that Miley didn't know we were joking and she very willingly would have given up Mckenna. I'm sure Miley would miss her after a while- Mckenna really is a sweet sister to her (most of the time).

U2 CONCERT

2011-06-12T20:23:00.000-07:00

This was the first time we left the baby for a long period of time with a babysitter- but we were glad we did! We got tickets last minute, and as you can see, we were pretty high up, but they were actually pretty good seats. It was fun just to be there and hang out together.

Butterfly Pavilion

2011-06-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is Coleman hiding in the stroller when we went into the main part of the Butterfly Greenhouse where they were flying around everywhere. It was pretty comical seeing the adults almost acting scared of the butterflys. One even landed on Grandma Schmidts sleeve and it didn't want to leave.

CADEN'S BAPTISM

2011-06-12T18:46:00.000-07:00

Caden had a nice baptism, with both sets of Grandparents there to support him. I gave the talk on baptism, Grandma Kraudy gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, Mckenna played a version of "When I am Baptised" on the piano for a musical number, and Grandma Schmidt made Chocolate Balls for dessert! Caden was excited and only needed to be dunked once. We can't believe he is eight! It seems like just yesterday he was our bushy blonde little boy toddling around in his Superman costume asking for Coke and really for any food that he would come by. He still likes to eat, but he is not so blonde anymore. Luv ya Caden, we are so proud of you!

Saige and Yummy Food

2011-04-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love this baby food! I don't even know what Rutabaga is, but I figure it's healthy and Saige is definitely the healthiest eater in our family. I had to document this since I'm sure one day Saige will say she doesn't like spinach, or whatever else and I'll have proof that she ate it and I have to say she does like it. Mckenna still doesn't believe me that she would eat a big bowl of peas, or green beans almost every day when she was 2. Now those are probably her least favorite things.

Spring Break in Utah

2011-04-08T21:36:00.000-07:00

This was our little vacation to St. George and to Sandy. The kids had a good time getting away and just hanging out. They did really pretty good in the car- Saige was put in the very back/middle so Mckenna and Caden could entertain her which worked out great. And they got to watch some of their favorite shows including "Despicable Me" and "Tangled".

Kenna and Saige

2011-04-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

Mckenna wanted something new with her hair, so she cut some bangs. And she did ger her braces of a little while ago, at least her first phase of braces is over. She will most likely need them again in a couple of years.

She is a wonderful big sister! She is so good with Saige and it's so nice to have her help so much.

Miley and her Outfits

2011-04-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

Miley is all about "her kind of fashion" way over any comfort. This is honestly what she comes down the stairs in some mornings. It could be freezing and snowing, but she wants to wear her swimsuit, or some other costume and there is no changing her mind. She will have goose bumps on her arms and I will say, " You look cold, don't you want a sweater or something"- and she'll say, " I'm not cold mom, I'm just fine."

Coleman's 6th Birthday

2011-04-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

Coleman has never really had a birthday party with friends, since he just hasn't cared about things like that, or couldn't really communicate it to us. So this year was a lot of fun since he wanted to go to the jumping place. It was a place that he and his friends could just run around and play and it's a place where Coleman seems able to be a little more social since he is doing something he really likes to do. The most popular part of it was the Boxing arena! The boys just stood in line waiting their turn to duke it out. There were some real knock downs and little nervous moments where you were sure some kid was going to end up crying, but they did really good. They all had a lot of fun and even the gluten free/dairy free cupcakes went over well.

Mckennas Play

2011-04-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted much at all since Christmas, so this is my catch up of radom stuff that has happened.

Mckenna tried out for this little community play that they do a couple times a year. It was a spoof on Sleeping Beauty. They try out on a monday, find out who makes it that night- practice every day after school tues-fri. then put on two shows on saturday. Mckenna was at least hoping to be in some chorus or group thing, but she got the part of Sleeping Beautys dog. Believe it or not, it was a coveted part. She had some speaking parts, and of course she had to stay in character and bark a lot, but the fun part was that she was in almost the whole play since she was with Sleeping Beauty. I was surprised at how good the play was for these kids to put it on in a couple of days. Of course the big main part was played by one of the directors and they all did such a good job. She had so much fun, she has been begging me to get her in some other kind of plays. Next time she says she would like to be a person and have more speaking parts and soon some solo singing parts. She has come a long way since her preschool perfomances when she would see me and run down to me crying and hiding her face.

SNOW

2011-04-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

In some ways it's sad to say that we have had very little snow this year. I don't miss driving in it, or bundling the kids up multiple times to go out, just to have them come in 10 mins later covered in snow. But it's a little weird now that it's April and I think it has maybe really snowed 4 or 5 times. Oh well, I'm still ready for spring and summer now!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

2010-12-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

We are always a little behind the times with any electronics- so this year we finally decided to get them a Wii. They have had a lot of fun today with it. Mckenna and I have done the Just Dance II game and I've realized how much dance talent I've lost. The boys love Mario Bros, and I'm pretty sure Chad beat everyone in boxing.

Mckenna finally has her own dock to put in her room for her ipod.

I don't know of anyone that has worse morning bed hair than Miley. It actually looked worse right when she got out of bed. Some days she will hardley let me comb it, so I try to make her wear a hat.

The boys have been talking about Harry Potter legos for months now, so good thing Santa brought them.

Everyone looks like a deer in headlights, but they loved their gifts from Santa!

The boys getting ready to play the Wii.

Saige of course woke up a little later than everyone else- so she got some things for her crib and carseat. Funny how we had these exact same toys with Miley then got rid of them thinking that we wouldn't need them.

This was after the kids put on a little Nativity performance for us. It was a little rough, but if we try it again next year, we won't have a real baby to play Baby Jesus. Miley was Mary who rode in on the donkey which was played by Chad. Caden was Joseph and held Miley's hand. Coleman was a wise man who brought a gift and Mckenna was the Angel (wearing Mileys fairy wings.)

Miley turns 3 and other stuff

2010-12-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Miley is now 3! She is full of spunk and is a little bit of an emotional rollar coaster which scares me a little for years to come. But we wouldn't have her any other way- she makes us laugh all the time and can be the sweetest thing ever. She loves and adores her baby sister Saige. She has never once acted jelous or like she doesn't want her around. She loves to wrestle and chase her brothers. She likes Mckenna to do her hair and paint her nails. She likes anything that has to do with Princess', barbie, or if it's pink.

We had gluten-free/ dairy free pizza and cupcakes. Even Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt said the cupcakes were delicious. I think the pizza is pretty good, but for the others who can have gluten and dairy, they ordered Papa Johns.

It looks like she has a third eye in the middle since I dropped part of the humidifier out of the closet and she happened to be standing under me. The sharp corner went right between her eyes. Chad took her to the instacare and they glued it shut. The glue looked purple after, so she liked that.

SANTA

2010-12-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

This was the first year that all the kids have sat on Santas lap! There has always been someone too scared to do it. Coleman was very excited and couldn't stop talking. And Coleman asked for Legos, "Big Ones". Miley brought him a picture she drew and asked for Shoes (what else). Caden was hesitant and embarrassed and asked for an Ipod nano (which was not on his Christmas list). Mckenna felt a little too old to be doing this, but was a good sport for the other kids. Mckenna wants money so she can go shopping herself, and her own Ipod dock for her room. I can't believe Christmas is a week away!

Life Since #5

2010-11-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

These didn't turn out too good, but at least I have something of her in her dress that she wore for about 30 minutes.

Our sweet friend Dacy from Virginia made some vinyl lettering for the girls rooms. They really liked it! Thanks Dace!

Halloween at the church party.

This is Miley inbetween not needing a nap every day. A lot of days end up with her asleep anywhere around 3:30 or 4.

Grandma and Grandpa Kraudy came to see the new baby, and I'm sure they didn't mind seeing the rest of us too.

I thought I would add to the blog since it's now been 2 months since Saige was born. I guess not a whole lot has changed, and sad to say I have hardly taken any pictures of Saige. We didn't even take her blessing pictures on the day of her blessing since I had to be to church early. Chad got everyone ready and there. Everyone asks me how it is now having 5, and I tell them it's not too bad since Mckenna is a huge help, and Chad doesn't really travel now, so having him home in the evening is a life-saver. I probably give in more to things, like letting Caden play his DS for longer than he should, Mckenna watching too many "Good luck Charlie" shows, and even right now the kids are watching ELF a week before Thanksgiving since Miley has been asking forever to watch it and I got tired of saying no. I guess you could say we are ready for the Holidays.

Saige's first photo shoot

2010-10-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

I asked a friend of mine Jamie, to take pictures of Saige, but her camera was in the shop. So she asked a friend of hers, Rachael to come with her and take them instead. They are both just starting their business of photography and were so excited to take on their first infant photo session. Our only down fall was that Saige was two weeks old. That morning they were coming to my house, Saige woke up early at 7:30 instead of her usual 9:00am and I knew we would be in trouble. She decided to be really awake for the first time. But even though things would have gone a lot easier if we had done it earlier, she was still pretty good, and Jamie and Rachael did an awsome job. I was debating whether to make actual birth announcements, which are nice, but then just get thrown away, so this will probably be it. Plus this way I get to put a lot of pictures up instead of just 2 or 3. The only thing I don't like about it is that the photos on the computer look a lot more washed out than they are on paper. A lot of it depends on your computer.

Anyway, I really had fun with Rachael and Jamie and would recommend them to everyone.

Little Saige, and she is really little!

2010-09-16T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry about this first picture- it's a little gross, but I accidentally uploaded it and I can't figure out how to delete it. Oh well, that is the miracle of life.
Saige was born Sept. 14th @ 1:50 pm
only 6lbs, 4 0z. which is our smallest baby. Now that we came home she is only 5lbs. 14oz. The pictures of her face make her look kind of chubby and big. But for as skinny as she is, she does have some chub on her checks and chin. And for a Schmidt baby, she has a lot of hair! Everything went very smoothly and I have to say, probably my easiest delivery. The nurses called me the one push wonder, since she came out in (2 pushes really) and they called Saige their potatoe bug because she would roll up and over in a little ball whenever they tried to wrap her up.
Most of you may be surprised by our name choice, because the vote for her name was Scarlett. It was most likely going to be Scarlett until she came out. Even the nurses were pulling for Scarlett, but there was something about her that it just didn't seem to fit her. So as I was about to check out of the hospital, they made me fill in the birth certificate. You may not want to say Saige Schmidt too quickly 3 times, but our hope for her is to get married some day with a better last name.
She looks like a mix of all the other 4 kids, depending on the moment you look at her. I don't think we went out of the mold too much. So far she is a real sweet heart, but I'm sure she hasn't truly woken up to life yet. All the kids adore her, Miley is so proud to be a big sister!
We are happy to be home and welcome the craziness that I'm sure is about to start, in about 20 mins. when the kids get home from school for the first time since we got home from the hospital! Wish us some luck!!

2010-06-03T19:45:00.001-07:00

We finally tried to update some pictures of the kids. The girl Jessica that took the pictures is great -but we just happened to go out on a morning that looked nice, but when we got out there it was extremly cold and windy! I thought about just doing it another day, but it is such a pain getting 4 kids ready for pictures, that I decided to take our chances. Considering the circumstances and how miserable the kids were, they didn't turn out too bad. We weren't able to even take very many since one or more would be crying or whinning inbetween because of how cold they were. I figure they grow up so fast, we will just be taking some more pictures sooner than later! Before we know it the new baby girl will be here and we will need to take new family pictures with our FINAL edition.

All of a Sudden- it's summer!

2010-06-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

This is Miley after jumping in the sprinklers eating her lunch. That curl that goes right infront of her eye is unruly! It won't go anywhere else, I may have to trim her hair soon. I know I should be greatful that she actually has some hair finally.

Colorado weather is a little crazy! They say you can go 10 minutes one direction and find totally different weather. Well it's been pretty cold and windy here for a while, and it never really felt like spring, then all of a sudden last week it's 90 plus degrees and the kids are jumping on the tramp with the sprinklers. The kids last day of school is tomorrow, but for the last week we have been in summer mode.

Poor Mckenna fractured her radius last week at school falling off the monkey bars. She never even cried, she just went into class and when she sat at her desk, her teacher saw her looking white as a ghost and asked her what the matter was. She told her what happened and then we came and got her. It didn't look too bad, but she wouldn't move it. So Chad took her in and she will have a cast for the next 4 weeks. She gets the cast off the day before we go on our vacation. The positive side is that we will save money on piano and swim lessons, but it probably about evens out with the copay to the ER and whatever else we will owe on it.

Grandma Kraudy got the kids the butterfly thing that comes in the mail and you can watch the little icky things become catipillers and then make their cacoon. They all hatched out the other day and we let them go outside. One even sat on Mckennas finger for a while before it flew off.

2010-03-30T16:49:00.000-07:00

Maybe I don't blog very much, not just because I don't have much time for it, but because our lives are not that exciting and I don't take great pictures. Even when we went on our trip to St, George, I came back with maybe 3 pictures and some video. So these pics are just a hodge podge of life at the Schmidts-again not that exciting for the public.

Update on the Fam- Mckenna is seeming older and older. She is good friends with some girls in the ward that are 2yrs older than her, so they hang out all day on saturdays, have movie nights and have even gone to the mall (with a mom). She is doing great in school, just started piano and likes it, but doesn't always love practicing since it's with her dad and she says he is mean. I am a witness that he really isn't mean, she just doesn't like to be told what to do and that she is doing something wrong (by her parents).

Caden will be 7 and he is so excited- counting down the days. He tells us that he doesn't need much for his b-day, just a DS game and a legos. So that is exactly what he is going to get. A couple weeks ago when we were at this school award thing, we were eating our donughts by Caden and a little girl from his class came up to sit by him. Her mom called her back to sit with her, but she said "no, I'm sitting by Caden." She sat there touching his shoulder and trying so hard to get his attention, but Caden was so embarrassed, he could hardley look at her. Chad and I were laughing so hard and I tried to give him the que to be nice, but I think the girl was a little too forward for him. She sat there anyway for the rest of the time eating her donught and chatting away at him.

Coleman just started soccer class, but is torn from wanting to play soccer and playing at the park next to the field. He is doing great in school and has come leaps and bounds from last year. He loves playing with his friends and especially his brother. He loves the trampoline and riding his scooter.

Miley started potty training the other day and is a champion! She had two accidents and has gone on her own ever since. The easiest I've ever had it with a child. She is very picky about what she wears, that she mostly goes out in her little pink swimsuit with a tutu on it and her hair isn't done. I've learned to pick my battles with her and the clothes thing is one thing I wouldn't win.

Like Father Like Son

2010-03-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

Our little Caden cracks us up more than anyone! He really is the sweetest boy I know and has the cutest sense of humor. On the 100th day of school celebration, he took 100 legos taped onto a poster board and came home with this 100th day of school packet. As we read through it, I was surprised to see his answers to some questions since he is a six yr. old little boy- but if you hear what Chad tells them all the time, it makes sense. Caden is the one who will save up his allowance until he has 20-30 dollars and buy something good. Mckenna and Coleman spend it at 5 or 10 on junk. Cadens dad was so proud.

Christmas with Family

2010-01-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

At the very last minute, we decided to travel to Utah to be with our family. We feel bad that we didn't see many of our friends, since we didn't have much time. We were lucky enough to see Susy and Clark and their cute kids at the movie theaters. It's because of Susy and Clark that Chad and I met and they reminded our children that they wouldn't exist without them! We are truly thankful!!

It was so fun to be at Grandmas House, see the cousins, go the Cabelas with Grandpa, going to Cafe'Rio, do a little shopping and of course EATING! Chad and I took advantage of Grandma and Grandpa and went out a couple of times on dates. It's the best thing knowing your kids are in good hands and not having to pay them! Just being with the beautiful Grandkids is pay enough- don't you think? Thanks again!

Christmas

2010-01-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

It's not Christmas at our house without the Grinch!! Our real favorite Christmas show is ELF, but for some reason, Miley loved the GRINCH! Good thing our kids don't understand the little bit of naughty humor in the movie.

Miley LOVES Shoes

2009-09-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

When Miley was only maybe 7 or 8 months old, I put her first pair of black patten church shoes on her, and her face lite up like you couldn't believe. She was so excited about them, she didn't want to take them off. Now that she is almost two, her shoe fettish is only growing. I do give into it a little, because little girl shoes are so cute. Chad asked me the other day why she has 15 pair of shoes, but as you can tell by the picture, 15 is way off. These are all the pairs of shoes that do fit her right now and she takes turns wearing all of them!

This morning as I was going through the sunday adds, she sat up on my lap and said, "show me the shoes." I didn't know she even knew there were pictures of shoes in the adds. This is a picture of her when I got her box of shoes down and she went through almost all of them trying them on.

Back to school, and Fall is Coming!!

2009-09-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

As much as I love my kids, I was so excited for school to start, and so were they. I'm sure they think their teachers are much nicer than I am. Mckenna and Caden have great teachers and are doing great. Coleman goes to the same preschool as last year and seems to be doing better all the time. Now I have a little more time to spend with Miley, and she already loves to go shopping and of course loves target to go up and down the "baby isles" as she calls it.
Caden is now taking a break from Karate' and is going to start basketball in a couple of weeks. Mckenna took a break from singing lessons and is just doing ballet and jazz. I am going to start this little mom and tot class with Miley and Coleman will be able to go to it too. Coleman has in -home therapy once a week and therapy play group twice a week plus preschool 4 days a week, so he is pretty busy. No wonder people look at me and think I'm crazy to have 4 kids, there are too many things to pay for and keep up with , and I only let my kids do one thing at a time right now.
The kids are already deciding what they want to be for Halloween. The thought of going out and buying new costumes for all of them, just seems a little much. Coleman actully seems to care about being something this year, so we can't get away with getting out an old ripped up dress up and see if he'll wear it. So Chad told Mckenna he would pay her $10 if she would wear her recital costume which was a cowgirl. She doesn't really want to wear it, but likes the idea of getting money then asked if she could be a cowgirl Zombie and we could put scary make-up on her and make her look like she rose from the dead.
Then Chad told Caden he would pay him 10 dollars to wear his Karate' outfit- (so he is thinking about it.) Chad will do about anything to save money! We may have to buy Coleman something, since we really don't have anything that fits him. Miley of course already got her Tinkerbell cosutme for $20 since that is all she talked about and she is the baby in the family!!

summer stuff

2009-07-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

We love that Shauna is our little photographer anytime we see her! Getting pictures of Mckenna and Caden isn't that diffucult, even thought they don't like it, but getting pics of Coleman and Miley is almost impossible.

The girls!!

The three cute boys- they had a little bit of a "love, hate" relationship, but hey, it's family and three little boys, what else can you expect.

This is Miley enjoying Joes annual 4th of July neighborhood breakfast.

Caden and Miley are best buddies! Miley is constantly asking him to play with her and he is a sweetheart and always does. "Cade" was the first name she said, after mom and dad.

Mckenna is into taking pictures now- this is her work.

This is Luke and Coleman, drying off from getting soaked in the pond and showing off their huge muscles.

Coleman is not too into taking pictures, which may be why I hardley have any of him. I was holding him down in this one.

This is Cade on our deck of our room in Vale!

This year Coleman has done so well and is liking things he never did before. He was pretty terrified of getting in a pool and we just started him in swim lessons a couple weeks earlier and now he loves it! We are so proud of him! He even liked the fireworks this year and he will swing on a swing for the first time!!

Miley loves shoes so much! We went by a store that had shoes out on a table and while I was browsing, she had already taken one and was trying it on!

I can't believe we've been in Colorado for a year now! I guess I'm in a pretty good habit of updating the blog every 3 months! Props to those who keep up on blogs much more than that!! I haven't even put up anything all summer and now school starts Aug. 7th. I like that their summers arent' too long and I think we are all in a way ready for summer to be over. I know I'm ready to have some hours all by myself again, or at least with just one or two, then enjoying nap times more.

We did go on one little trip, to Utah. Everyone who lives away from family knows that most of their trips are to go see family. But as Leah reminded me in her blog, when you go anywhere with kids, it's not a vacation, it's a trip! Chad and I are ready now to go on vacation after going on a trip with kids.

We do love the 4th of July with family! Mighty Joe makes his neighborhood breakfast in the morning of pancakes, sausage and eggs and all the neighbors come join in the front yard. This year wasn't quite the same since my dad got pretty sick and we ended up not even seeing him or staying with my parents. We love them dearly, but didn't want to take the chance of getting whatever he was suffering with for 10+ days. We did fireworks in the circle with all the other neighbors, then went to their back yard to see the "Stadium of Fire" fireworks.

We stayed at Shauna and Joes house and the kids had fun playing with their cousins and just doing whatever we came up with that day. We went to Sundace and let the kids play in the pond, went to movies, the park, out to eat to Cafe' Rio mostly and just hung out. We didn't stay at my parents house, but we did at least meet up with my mom and my sister and her family for a day. My mom took all of us to see the new Ice Age movie and we went to Ryans to ride horses and then to Cafe' Rio again. Thanks to everyone for having us!

We ended up leaving early to come home since we didn't go see my mom and dad and we went stopped off in Vale on the way home and spent a night there. Chad goes there all the time and stays at the Marriot for work. They always upgrade him to a suite so it was nice with 4 kids. When we first got there we were so excited and had such a nice room we both thought, "we should stay here two nights!!" Then after a couple of hours of swimming and dealing with kids, we both thought one night was just right. The next morning we walked around the beautiful areas, but the kids didn't seem to enjoy it that much. The whole time Chad and I were talking about how nice it will be to come back without the children. For some reason they didn't appreciate the fancy shops and expensive restraunts. There was this big pirate ship they played on and that was their highlight. Man, from the way I'm typing it sounds like I don't like my kids much. So don't take me wrong, I adore them all and love them to pieces!!

Disneyland- Seaworld- and Cousins

2009-04-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

This is Edgar, with Miley and Mckenna

Aidan, Liam and Caden at Liams play

Mckennas favorite fairy is Faun, because
she loves animals too.

Visiting Mickey at his house. You can tell
how excited Coleman was. He wouldn't
stop covering his eys.

Caden- looking out at the docked
boats, near our hotel by seaworld.
I liked the name of the boat.

Coleman being carried by my sister Kristi into
Seaworld. He was fine once we got there, he just
didn't want it to be like Disneyland.

Our favorite- Shamu! Chad and Mckenna got
splased by Shamu 3 times on the 3rd row. They
were drenched and it was not the warmest day.

Kristi, Haliegh, and Miley

Mckenna with her new little
Shamu in a purse.

ALL the boys went on the river boat ride.
Even Coleman was okay with it.

Coleman, Haliegh and Liam waiting for the
dolphins to swim back by them.

Coleman, Jeff and Haliegh...waiting.

Mileys first real ride! Elmos Flying Fish!!

I'm telling this a little out of order, but oh well. To make a long story short, lets just say Disneyland wasn't the best place on earth for Coleman. He acted excited to go when we would talk about and show him stuff on the computer, but once we got there, I can't count the number of times he asked to go back home. Because of our sweet little boy we got the fast pass for all the rides and thankgoodness we did, he would have never made it waiting in line for hours for each ride. He did go on about all the rides he could, but during and after each ride, he seemed very stressed and wanted to go home. At about 4pm we were done with what we wanted and went out for dinner. I went back to the hotel with the boys and Miley and Chad took Mckenna back to Disneyland until 11pm. We told Caden to go with them, but he was just excited to stay at the hotel and play with his starwars ship he got after the star tours ride.

Everyone was very happy to get to my sisters house the next day and just play with cousins and relax. To say that my sister and her family are busy, is an understatement. They are very involved with this cool community theater and they do wonders for it!! It was a lot of fun to see Jeff in "Leading Ladies" and Liam was in "Treasure Island" the next day. Plus my sister does most of the costumes. And Jeff is not only in one play, but helping direct Treasure Island. We just sat back in awe of all they take on, but it looks a ton of fun and well worth it for them in the end.

I don't think I even talked to Caden the whole time we were there. He and his cousin Aiden were constantly playing something and kept them selves busy day after day. Mckenna had a great time with Haleigh. There is an age difference, but you would almost not even know it with how well they got along and Haleigh is so funny and mature for her age.

Miley was pretty obsessed with their HUGE dog Edger, who stayed in the backyard the whole time, but she wanted to see him at the door or she would say over and over again, "dog, dog, dog, dog, ..."

Coleman was as happy as ever just playing with all their starwars toys and watching Phineas and Ferb on the disney channel.

SeaWorld was probably the best for everyone since they were with their cousins and it was much more relaxed and less people. As you can see in a picture, Coleman was not happy as we were walking into Seaworld since he thought it was like Disneyland. What kid screams and cries going into Seaworld? But once we got in and he got a map, he was just fine. Now he loves to talk about the killer whales and dolphins.

Thank you Kristi and Jeff for having us, we had a lot of fun. Can't wait to see you in Denver soon!

California

2009-04-06T20:43:00.000-07:00

Our flight into LA was smooth and on time. We get our luggage and go out to get on the bus to our car rental place. We wait outside for Chad for at least 30min. only for him to come out and tell us that we are at the wrong car rental place. ( I have to give Chad a little slack since he travels all the time and gets numerous car rentals at different places). Anyone could have mixed up Budget with Dollar car rental, they are very close in their meaning. I think I took the bulk of our pictures while waiting another 30+min. at the next rental car place. Coleman was content playing with his eve and wall-e toys in Mileys stoller, Caden as usual just goofed around and played with Miley, and Mckenna seemed as annoyed and impatient as a teenager.

FUN at Shantil and Nates

2009-04-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

We flew into LA and went to my friends house, Shantil, who I haven't seen in 7 years. The best thing was going to their house and it felt like it had only been 7 days since I'd seen her. The kids had a blast from jumping on the tramp, climbing the steep rock hill in her backyard, playing with snails (yes, it't the girls playing with snails), and who knows what else they did when we weren't looking. Thanks so much Shantil and Nate for having us, it was a highlight of the trip!

Playing Catch Up...again.

2009-04-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

Chad and I had the chance to go to Hawaii for a work thing he had. He only had to work a couple of hours for some of the days. We didn't do a whole lot but relax, hang out, and find the best food places to go to. It's funny how most of our vacation was centered around food. From the almond cookies at this Japanese restaurant, to the garlic shrimp in those run down huts with flies all over them.

We are not very good at taking pictures when it's just the two of us. Neither one of us wants to ask someone to take our picture and we don't like taking pictures by ourselves. But we did try to get a few. Like the close up? It's us taking a picture of ourselves!

Playing Catch Up

2009-01-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

A friend of ours took some pictures of the kids a while ago. Group shots are almost impossible now a days, so it's safer to go with individual pictures.

I never even documented Mileys first B-day! We can't believe how fast the year flew and now she is walking around with a mind of her own already! We made pizza for her b-day dinner which was good, but no one seemed too excited about the organic gluten free cake and icing I made. Miley just picked around at it and only Coleman ate his whole piece. I guess that was okay since I made it gluten free for him. I really didn't think it tasted too bad!!

Caden is a snow shoveling machine! Any time it snows, he is right out there, wanting to be like his Dad. Dad shovels the front and Caden is responsible for the back patio. I have to say, he does a pretty good job for a five year old.

I can't believe it's the new year and the kids go back to school in a couple of days. The break has seemed like forever, but in a good way. I've loved having no where to go in the mornings and just hanging out. Chad has actually been around the whole time and I don't know what I'm going to do when he is gone next week monday through friday! Chads parents came to visit and were with us on Christmas and it was nice to have them around. They entertained the kids, made them cookies, took them to Target, and took them outside to play. It kept the kids fighting to a minimum. I was terrible at taking pictures, mostly because I didn't want to stress about it and just wanted to actually watch the kids open their presents etc... But also my camera is not doing well. It seems like no matter what I do, the pictures are not turning out like they used to. Chad says it's because I may have dropped it one too many times. Even though I have no recolection of dropping it, it may have very easily happened. To say I'm a "little clutsy" is an understatement.

BEAUTIFUL BABY BOY

2008-12-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

I remember pretty vividly the day Coleman was born. My water broke in the middle of the night, my sweet friend Dacy who was on call, came over to be with my other two kids. And it was a blizzard of snow outside. It took us at least double the time to get to the hospital. Everything went well and easy, just like the other two and we went home with Coleman having a little jaundice. The next day we took him to get tested for his jaundice levels and he ended up having to stay in the hospital two more nights under the lights, where he screamed most of the nights. Before I was going to take him home, I was on the hospital bed with him and had a moment with him that I knew I wouldn't forget. It was a just a powerful feeling that he was a very special little boy who Heavenly Father sent to us. I know that it doesn't sound much different than what any mother would have with her new born child, but I knew it was different. At least different for me compared to the births of my first two.

He grew up very normal and right on target developmentally, but he was a little more fussy. He loved books and could tell me what everything was, his animals, colors etc.. After he turned two, I remember thinking he wasn't quite where he should be. When I showed him toys he would sometimes ignore me and he just liked his certain things. I would joke around with Chad saying that I think he's deaf. But then again, that can be very "boy" normal. He just kept getting bigger and more and more tempermental, and I started to think he was just a little immature for his age. So when I went in for his 3 yr. check up, I told my pediatrition my concerns. As I watched her try to interact with him, he never looked at her and it took a lot of effort to get him to do what she asked. Physically he was right on target, but socially not so much. My doctor said, " I think he is fine, but did autism cross my mind?.., yes." The words hit me in the gut, thinking that there was no way. When I brought him into this same office when he was two, I filled out this paper about Autism and if he had any signs. I remember marking no for every one of them and the same doctor said, "oh this is just routine stuff to ask, but I can tell that Coleman is totally fine." After that I trusted her to catch him up on his shots, and he got 4 jabs, 6 immunizations. He did have a fever for almost a week and his legs were swollen, but hey, they say that is normal.

My pediatrition sent me to a Developmental doctor and I started to go through our school system to have him tested. The first school testing I took him to was not good. They took him in by himself to do the tests, and when I came in, the first thing they said was that they were very concerned. He couldn't tell them what shapes or animals were that they asked, but I thought to myself, "he knows those things at home." I could hardley hold back my tears when they were talking to me and when I left, I just cried and cried in the car. At least Chad was the strong one. His attitude was that Coleman was going to be fine no matter what the outcome. It was who he was and he came that way for a reason. He was the same sweet little boy who we loved, no matter what is development problems were.
After all this stuff started happening, I would see something about Autism somwhere every week. One sunday, I opened the newspaper, and the Parade magazine cover page was something like, "AUTISIM, is there any hope." I threw the paper down and went into the other room and cried. After that cry, I haven't cried about it until now that I am typing this.
We took him to the Developmental Pediatrition, he had us do a test, and after 4-6 weeks time, Chad took him back to the doctor for the results. Chad called me on his way home, told me that Coleman was High Functioning Autistic and the doctor gave us some papers and pretty much sent us on our way to do the work ourselves. By that time, I was almost relieved to know what we were dealing with and now I knew what to research. Coleman started preschool, and after the first day of screaming the whole time, he did great after that. The teachers were great and had such high hopes for him. We moved to Colorado shortly after, so the transition throughout the summer and getting moved in was a little rocky for Coleman.

Now he is in school again, and is doing so well. Academically he is advanced and we laugh at how he knows just as much or more of things than his 5 yr. old brother. He of course needs help socially and things like waiting his turn are not easy, but I think he functions pretty well. I don't think Coleman is a whole lot different until I get around other 3 yr. olds and see how they talk and how freely their conversations run. Little Colme has a pretty scripted vocabulary.

We found a DAN! doctor and after weeks and weeks of collecting urin, stool, blood, hair, and more and more blood, we will have a lot of knowledge of what is going on in his body. We meet with the doctor in a couple weeks to go over everything and we will start the Vit. B12 shots. I'm excited to see him continue to get better and better.

I have been thinking about writing about this for a while now. Mostly to get things documented and I knew the process of writing things out would be good for me. A while ago I was talking to my friend about different trials people go through and how we stand in awe about what people deal with in life. She asked me how I felt about Colemans autisim, and if I felt it was a trial. I honestly never really viewed it as a trial. Especially when I think about how much more other families have to deal with. Starting a gluten and dairy free diet will not be easy, but really very trivial to what things could be. I feel really blessed beyond measure for what I have. I have four beautiful children and a husband who really acts like the mom more than I do. He not only works hard in his job, but comes home and can make up for anything I have missed in the craziness of the day. He reads to the kids, helps them with their homework and still finds time to play, wrestle, jump on the tramp, and then run them to Karate or mini-poms. We truly have nothing to complain about, but all to be grateful for. I appreciate all my family and good friends who helped me throughout this process with Coleman. For all those who watched my other kids while we had doctor appointments and who were there just to listen. THANK YOU!

HALLOWEEN

2008-11-19T13:15:00.001-08:00

Since things have been a little crazy and with Chad being out of town, we didn't get around to carving pumpkins until about one hour before we went out trick-or-treating. Everything was a little rushed and Mckenna didn't do well with our rushing to get ready and taking pictures, that she had a melt down. So bad that we threatened her to miss some trick-or-treating time, which just made things worse. I was tempted to tell her that she wouldn't go at all, but I couldn't be that mean. She was so emotional, she ended up telling us she didn't want to go at all. I took the boys out down the street and came back for Mckenna but she just walked with me and refused to go get any candy. I guess that was her way of showing us who was in control! The boys went down the other side of our street and when they passed our house again, they ran in to show dad their candy and they said they were done. I think this was the first year we came home without buckets full of sugar. It's probably best, since Chad and I are the ones to steal most of it away. Mileys favorite part was sitting by the door playing with the bowl full of candy. She litterally played with candy bowl most of the night. She didn't get anything open, so she didn't know what she was missing out on.

Mckenna Saves the Night

2008-10-26T20:53:00.000-07:00

While on our little vacation in St. George, Grandma and Grandpa S. were nice enough to let Chad and I go see Les Miserables at the Tuachauan (which I can't spell) It is a beautiful outdoor theater. It turned out to be a very cold night, into the
40's but who's complaining when you can wrap up in blankets and snuggle. Well the play was wonderful but the best thing was to get back to Grandmas house and find out how the night went. I knew Miley would not like us leaving her and I knew she would cry, I was just hoping it wouldn't be for the whole 3 plus hours. So when we came home, Yvonne told us how Miley was histerical for at least 30-40 min. She wouldn't calm down for anyone. Our aunt Pat was there too with her husband and none of the adults could calm her down. Finally Yvonne said to Mckenna that she had to take over. Mckenna took her into the other room, watched an Einstien movie and I guess they were in there laughing and playing. So after a while, Mckenna layed her down, sang her songs and came out to all the adults and said, "she's asleep now." Needless to say, they were all very thankful. Aunt Pat gave her a dollar and grandpa said he would buy her a razor scooter the next day. The boys got scooters too of course. Grandma said the boys were so easy, they came out after their movie and Caden said, "what time is it?" Grandma told him it was 8:30 and he said, "I gotta go to bed, come on Coleman," and off they went and put themselves to bed.
I think Ken and Yvonne may be up to watching the kids the next time we see them.

Going on TRACKS to the Mall

2008-10-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day to go on tracks and shop around at the gateway. My sisters girls are older so they can all fend for themselves and enjoy shopping. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time just being with everyone, eating lunch and watching then run through the fountain. But the shopping part was, well I guess you could say didn't happen. I waited outside each store with boys while they played with my camera and ran into the nice people walking around. Chad was happy that I came home without spending a dime!

Grandpas Football Game

2008-10-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

The kids had a two week fall break from school, so we thought we would go see one of Grandpas football games, Just in case retirement comes soon and we wouldn't have a chance to see another. It was a lot cooler than normal but we survived, well at least the girls survived until half time then we went to put the baby down to nap.
Caden and Chad lasted until the end they even WON! When I asked Caden how the game was, he said it was great and the best part was going to grandpas office after and getting candy!

The Difference Between Boys and Girls

2008-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

While we were at the Gateway with Grandma K. and our cousins, Mckenna and her cousin Natalee really wanted to get a build-a-bear. The mean mom that I am said no and I didn't want to spend that much money on a stuffed animal. So after some whining and tears, guess who jumps in and says they'll get it for her?... thats right, GRANDMA!!
Aren't they the best! The tricky thing is, there are a lot of grandkids there, so we have to convice the others to not want a build a bear, so Grandma only has to buy one for Mckenna and her cousin Natalee.
One perk of having an autistic child, is that he really doesn't care about a lot of things like buying toys or stuff. He doesn't understand the excitment of picking and stuffing your own stuffed animal. He just sat by the computers there and played on the keyboard.
So when I asked Caden what he would want, he said, "oh mom, I know exactly what I want, it's down by the gumball machines!!" I asked if he would rather have that or a build-a-bear, and he said he wanted to use his OWN quarter to get this toy by the gumballs. Well that was easy enough. I just love the simplicity of boys. The littlest things make Caden happy. Thanks Grandma for saving the day!

continuation of pics from the summer

2008-09-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

It's a sad thing when my legs are as white as Mileys legs.

Miley had a special place for Maddie. When mom wasn't around and no one could calm her down, Maddie could.

Coleman is usually terrified of moving cars and other fast things, but when my dad got the scooter out, all he wanted to do was to race it and to be as close as possible to the thing. He wouldn't actully get on it, but he thought he could beat it on his tricycle

pictures of the summer

2008-09-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm going a little backwards on this blog thing, but I wanted to post some pictures of everything we did over the summer. I don't think there is enough blog space for writing about everything, so hopefully a picture will be worth a thousand words. Thanks again to both Grandmas and Grandpas for putting up with all of us for so many weeks.

4 Generations

2008-09-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

We were happy to see our Great Grandma Holladay during our visit to Utah. We hadn't seen her in 3 years, so we had to get our 4 generation picture. We are so lucky to have a wonderful Grandma and Great Grandma in our lives.

Updates of Little Miley

2008-09-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Our little "mymy" as we call her is now almost 10 months old. Now that she crawls she is not so chubby any more. Chads sweet sister Shauna took pictures of her when we were visiting in utah. We of course think she is adorable, even with her very bald head. Thank goodness for bows!!

2008-09-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

After we took the boys to get their haircut, Mckenna kept begging us to take her to cut her hair and she wanted bangs. We met this cute girl in the ward that cut it for her and she loves it. She says she likes that she doesn't have any knots in her hair when she wakes up.

Zion National Park with Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt

2008-09-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

dinosuar museum with G. Kraudy and our cousins from California

2008-09-03T14:02:00.000-07:00

Splash Pads in St. George

2008-09-03T14:00:00.000-07:00

Starting New in Colorado

2008-09-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I figured there was no better time to start a blog, now that we have said goodbye to the beatuful trees of Virginia and have come to the much more open beauty of Colorado. We have made so many wonderful friends over the years and the more we move the more people we would like to stay in touch with. So since the rest of the world seems to have a blog (except Jene'), we decided to join in.

After we left Virginia we went to Utah for about 6 weeks. We had a lot of fun going to Zions National Park, Dinosuar museums, slash pads etc.. and watching a lot of the disney channel!! I'm sure the grandparents were in a way happy for us to move on so they could finally have some peace, clean and quiet.