School celebration!

We went to ChickFilA today after school to celebrate. Jace, Emma and Bailey are all in the same class and Grace is in the 4yr old class. TOO cute!. (Stole this pic from Allison's blog...). I just LOVE Jace's expression...1 boy to 3 cute girls? ;)

First Day of Preschool!

Today marked Bailey's first day of preschool and Taylor's first day of PMO (Parents morning out). Bailey awoke to find a special present from Daddy...Special Agent Oso (for those of you without toddlers this is a show on Nick Jr) AND chocolate chip pancakes! She was so excited. Here she is feeding Oso some food too :)
Kisses!

Bringing Oso in the car with us (he has been to the potty, ChickFilA, and naptime with her today already)

Above is Bailey's new backpack! Bailey had a wonderful first day and even learned "deep and wide...deep and wide...there is a fountain flowing deep and wide..." today.


And, last but not least....my sweet Taylor. She will go to PMO only on Tuesday mornings, but she did great! No crying at drop-off and the teachers just went on and on about how sweet and easy-going she is. They are very proactive with her food allergies, which makes me feel safe dropping her off!

A Interesting read.

I'm about halfway through this pretty interesting book. It is about a newlywed couple that is very educated (think MIT) that chooses to live very similar to the Amish for 18 months. No electricity of any kind...working every day farming and cooking to provide food and shelter. While only halfway through, it has made me think of the impact of all the technology in my life and how it probably makes me "busier", but surprisingly less productive.

Ever had.....

one of those days you were tired of hearing your own voice saying "no"?
we've had one of those days!

Taylor has ran into the dramatic 1 year old stage. She gets super frustrated over anything..... Bailey is being a typical almost 3 year old :). I love my kiddos, but man...I am tired of discipline sometimes!

On a happier note, we met Taylor's and Bailey's preschool teachers this week and loved them all. Super excited to see how the year goes!

To: Happy (early) Birthday Bailey. From: Grandmas and Grandpas

Bailey loves her new tent and tunnel

She also loves her new "Abby" and "Emma" dolls that she puts clothes on. She calls them Grace and Emma after 2 of her favorite friends :)

She has learned all of her lowercase letters in just 20 minutes while we played with her letter puzzle!

Dear G and G's:

Thank you for my great gifts. I can't wait to see you very, very soon! I love you and miss you all.

Bailey

PS- That is Silly Goose to Pappaw P.

All better!

Bailey has been on antibiotics for 24 hours due to strep throat and feels MUCH better.
Taylor has been doing better too. Her rash is almost gone!

After several days of the girls not eating/drinking well, these pictures make my heart smile! I am so thankful that we seem to be able to join the land of the living tomorrow. We get to meet Taylor's "MDO-mothers day out" teacher tomorrow and Bailey's preschool teacher on thursday!

PS- Happy Birthday Mom! Hope it was a great one...look forward to seeing you very soon.

Sick girls..

Taylor started feeling bad on Thursday early morning...fever started first, then diarrhea.
Late friday, this rash started to appear on her face and then has graually spread to all over her body. Fever and diarrhea acted like they went away, then late friday. Boom...everything was back.

Now...Bailey has had a fever for 12 hours. Taylor is doing better (no fever), but still has the rash. We will be heading to the doctor first thing tomorrow, though my gut tells me this is just some weird virus. I am fairly certain it is Roseola. This virus has a very long incubation period (12 days) before you start exhibiting the fever/rash. It is common in kids 6mo-4yrs. Some kids have rash, some do not. It looks like Bailey might just be getting the high fever part of the deal. Good news? It is self-limiting. Bad news? Can take up to a week before the rash goes away. Diarrhea is not usual with Roseola.....and Taylor is the only one with that. She may have caught a GI bug and Roseola! Poor girl :(.

We are praying hard that they both get better soon. I am weary and exhausted by worrying and getting broken sleep. I think the toughest part of it all is not having Daddy home to keep Mommy sane!

Jace and Bailey

Pulled this from Allison's blog...SO precious!

I want to be just like my big sister!

Tales has been waking up an hour earlier then Bailey most mornings... The other morning I was trying to finish my devotional and she had me put on Bailey's new backpack. She just loves all "bags!" She just walked around and around thinking she was the best thing since sliced bread (this would have never happened had Bailey been awake....can you say jealousy!)
"Bailey" wanna-be :). Don't you love this pack? I got it from garnetthill.com and it came with a free matching lunchbox! It is her bday present/first year of preschool present.

Look, It is Snickers!

The many sides of Bales and Tales....

Tales...a little focused
Bales...wearing big girl Ming Ming (The Wonderpets) panties!

Meet Mr. Turtle float...Bailey's new best friend. Turtle goes to the potty with us, eats, sleeps and swims :)

Tales is often not far from her...paci and blankey!

It is all about the accessories!

Pete's hat... Check. Sunglasses... check. Hairbow..check. Dora bandaid...check. This is how you will often see Bales these days!

Watching Special Agent Oso in their special chairs :).

Taylor reading

Taylor all ready for school and starting to read! She just melts my heart :)

Taylor 15 months

My sweet, little fairy is now a big 15 months old! She is such a daily delight to me and Bailey. At 15 months Taylor, you are:
- 30 inches tall (30%), 22.5 lbs (50%), 46cm head (50%). Perfect in every way!
- Are beginning to talk more every day. Your favorites are: Dadda, Momma, juice, UP!, What's that?, Nemo, Mermaid, kittycat.
- Love to do anything big sister does. You are now eating in her old booster seat at the table and love being a "big girl".
-Love, LOVE books. You will still seat and "read" by yourself several times a day and love to be read to.
-Music and dancing is a joy for you! You like to sing "5 Little Monkeys", "Wheels on the Bus" and "Open, Shut them".
-You still are very allergic to milk (even cheese :(), egg and peanut. We are praying that these become less severe as time goes on.
-Your favorite foods are pasta with olive oil, any and all meat, all fruit.

We love you sweet Taylor!

Schneider Family Homecoming!

I had the honor of going with Allison, Jace and Sydney to take pics of Jason coming home! I just LOVE homecomings. It has been a long (and very busy) 7 months since they have been whole...

Here are the girls waiting..

Hugs

It took awhile, but Jace finally warmed up to his Daddy :)

Whole again! Yahoo!!

We miss you DADDY!

Success!

Dear M & M's,

I am not quite sure if I should give all the credit to you. You see, Bailey has been struggling with potty training for a LONG time. I started praying about it a little while ago, even though I felt like a weird thing to pray about. I read somewhere that M & M's worked for her child and since it was one of the only things we hadn't tried I bought 2 packages. Oh me oh My! Within 3 days Bailey went from having accidents every hour to going all day accident free!!!! Praise the Lord.

Thank you,

Bailey's Mommy.

PS- Isn't it funny that when we FINALLY place a struggling situation in God's hands, he does a better job then we could ever hope to? When will I ever learn to place everything in his hands first?

CRUISE DAY 4: Cozumel

Pier

This was my least-anticipated port of call. I have been to Mexico several times now (West coast, Cancun/cozumel, and a couple border towns).....it is safe to say that I never left anything there that I had to go back for :). I have gotten sick there and overall just not had great experiences. Because I refused to actually eat in the country, we decided to do Snuba (a combo of snorkeling and scuba) for a couple hours and then head back to the shipt o eat lunch. It was a great plan- we had a blast SNUBAing (I always thought I couldn't clear my air, but I did well after a few "wrong" tries!), made it back to the ship to change/eat and then went back out to do a little shopping. Thanks Cozumel for a better experience!

Going to Snuba!

CRUISE Day 1-3: Grand Caymen

So, YES. I am a procrastinator. We got back from our cruise 2 months ago and I am just now uploading the pics to the blog. BUT, our lives have been through a whirlwind in those 2 months....so I need some grace on this one :).

We have desired to go on a cruise together forever, but with 2 babies in 2 years with 2 deployments mixed in there, it just never was able to happen. God worked out all the details, and we were able to enjoy a 8 day, 7 night cruise in May on Blair's pre-deployment leave. My parents kept the girls for 4 days and then Blair's parent's kept them for 4 days. Thank you guys...this wouldn't have been possible without you!

I don't have any pics from leaving Tampa or our day at sea. Honestly, I just think we vegged out and relaxed by the pool most of the time. It took us a day to adjust to "de-stressing" from all the pre-deployment work we had been doing.

Day 3: Grand Caymen.

This is the town of Hell. Yes, we've now been to Hell and back :). LOL.

Seven Mile Beach. We just layed in the sun for awhile and rented a snorkling kit and saw some awesome fishies!

Turtle Farm

They had a ton of turtles, but I declined to get "hands on" !

Our driver, Rita.

Welcome to Grand Caymen! We took a tender boat from the cruise ship to shore.

Overall, we were a little disappointed with the Caymen's. It is really touristy. It was nice for a day, but we won't be going back for a full vacation.

Our cruise ship: Carnival Legend

Formal Night! My handsome husband on our balcony.

Me :)