Thankful Thursday

photo from www.origins-photography.co.uk

Thankful: feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

In the darkness of our economy's downward spiral it is hard to find things to be thankful for. But we need to find the light and take a step back . Look at your life and evaluate the things that you do have. Take stock in the things that don't cost money such as Family. Be thankful for the opportunities that you may have with your family. The chance to help mold a young mind. Teach a child right from wrong. Even smaller matters such as teaching patience and compassion disguised as teaching your son how to ride a bike. These are all things we should be thankful for.
Here are the things I am thankful for today:

• I am thankful that I live in a country where I am not persecuted for disagreeing with others on issues that matter most to me such as religion, political views, Economical views. I can create a web page, blog, newsletter, or article expressing my likes or dislikes of our current leaders. I can read my Bible in a public venue without the fear of being bludgeoned to death or taken to jail.

• I am thankful that I am able to stay at home and raise my children.

• I am thankful for music. It is the fuel for my body and mind. I liken it to a drug(the legal kind) one that changes a bad mood with one cord or a lyric that takes your mind to a place that you thought you would never go.

• I am thankful for the chance to vote for the next leader of my country. I must admit this will be my first time voting in a presidential election(though I have been eligible for the past 2) I feel that I have the facts and I have done my homework and I am prepared to make an educational decision.

These are just a few of the things that I am thankful for today. It is much easier to be thankful and re evaluate your life than it is to be hateful and spiteful.

What are you Thankful for today??

An Ear full

I remember when Jakob was a little baby and I would look into his crystal blue eye full of wonder and question and think to myself " I wonder what that little mind of his is thinking" and "I cant wait till he can tell me whats on his mind"

Now granted Jakob was a late at entering the world of talking. He was the ripe old age of 3 before he really started to make sense. But he hasnt stopped since. Every waking moment is a question or a statement or a sound.
I am blessed that my child is a forward thinker and love that he has an inquisitive mind. But add to it a very advanced in language 2 year old little girl and thats where it gets fuzzy.

Katharine has been talking for about 6 months now. When I say talking I mean full sentences and 23 hours a day. She has taken a page out of her older brothers book and has began asking questions all day long.

Dont get me wrong, like I said I am glad my children are inquisitive but these questions are just down right annoying. Here is an example of a few:

"Mommy, Are you eating bread?" Jakob says smiling .

Mommy replies, "Jakob, can you see the bread in my hand?"

"Yes" He answers

"So why would you ask me if I was eating it if you can see me eating it" Mommy quips annoyed.

"Mommy, are we in the car?"

"YES JAKOB, you know we are in the car"

And so on and so on. And Katharine has taken his lead and does the same thing.

Question question question.
Give me some relevance.. Ask questions that you can actually learn things from. "why is the sky blue"

"where do babies come from" That sort of thing, dont ask me the obvious.

Along with them testing their questioning skills, our very vocal 2 year old also has taken up tantrum throwing.

This isnt a newly acquired skill she has been throwing tantrums since she was in the womb I think but usually they were for things that actually warranted tantrums(yes such things do exists)

Lately though she has been throwing a tantrum anytime she doesnt get her way or I tell her no.

I think its quite humerus and tend to ignore her. It usually works. About 2 minutes later she is up and on to the next thing with no worry in the world.
Last night it was bad timing though. As soon as D walked in from a hard day at work Kit Kat was screaming her head off. Not something you wanted to hear when you first walk in the door. So dinner was a bit stressful last night.
I know that this phase will pass and I ll be looking back years from now yearning for this time to come again. But is it wrong of me to want a little peace in quiet sometime?

Jakob got a pair of ear plugs at the air show.. I think I ll put them to good use and wear them around the house :D

Family Fun pictures

Party crafts: crowns and puppets!Singing happy birthday to Ash and Micah

Lily showing off her Tutu

Uncle D and Preston

Preston liked this whole Cake thing....

Just a few of the party guest.

Kit Kat and meKit Kat and her crafty crown new cousin Evyn, Kate and myself

Kisses for baby Evyn

Attempt at getting a pic of all the Great Grandkids....
Kate modeling one of Js hats
J and Jakob coloring during a family BBQ

Preston and Lily (cutest babies EVER!)

Kit Kat and her daddy

Looking pretty(notice how she sits..OOOUCH!)

D multi tasking

Princess Katharine"Hey thats a nice pumpkin you got there sis"
Kit Kat with piggy tails!!!

Ash, lily and Preston

My Handsome boy..

My babies

Best buds

Thats most of the pics from the Canucks visit. Stay tuned for my review of the Wings over Houston airshow and pictures.

Canadians, hearts and family fun

As some of you may or may not know. My sister in law aka my best friend and her family moved to Canada over the summer. Not just Canada but the furthest Eastern tip of the continent. Talk about trying to get away from it all.
So the reason for my latest blog absence was a good one. The canucks(what we will call them from now) Came in on the 10th. We had already had a busy couple of weeks planned for them but we also had a family emergency at the same time.
My father in law had congestive heart failure and was in the hospital. First off.. how amazing is God that he planned for the Canucks to be down here while dad was going through all of this.
Dad was scheduled for Open heart surgery and came through it wonderfully. He is at home resting and doing great.
We also had our Cypress Calling baby shower. Where we shower mothers in crisis pregnancies. This always is an amazing opportunity for us to witness and to show Gods love.

We also had to fit in some play time so we had play dates with some of our mutual friends. It was so awesome having my Sis in law here.
We even braved the mall with 4 kiddos under 4 and a teenager!! And guess what? The kids were angels. We were at the mall for at least 5 hours and God bless them those kids were just perfect. I was so shocked and inspired that I just might put my fear of going to the mall by myself with the kids behind me and venture out one day. Though Christmas is coming soon so I may have to put that brave move on the back burner for while.. I am inspired but not stupid.

Every year in October our family rents a beach house in Surfside(near Galveston) And we stay there for about 4 days just enjoying each other company and basking in the beautiful weather and family fun.
Well as you know Ike came through 6 weeks ago and he made other plans of our beach house.. like construction plans.
But thats ok.. the Schoens did not fret. We relocated our family fun to the Grandparents farm.
But after Dad was put in the hospital and scheduled for surgery we decided against it.

That did not mean there would be no family fun for the Schoens.
We had very important birthdays to celebrate!
So Last Saturday the whole Family and close friends came together at my other sister in laws house and we celebrated The twins 1st birthday, Ashleys 14th birthday and Micahs 10th birthday!
As usual it was awesome seeing the family. And as usual we brought back with us a little party favor disguised as a Stomach flu!
Sunday morning before the sun came up I was in the bathroom and I ll spare the details but it was not good.
Then D woke up the same way.
I was the only one that was vomiting, lucky me. Until the kids started getting sick that night!
It took 10 days, Loads and loads of laundry, baking soda and lots of elbow grease by the time that little party favor left us. But thankfully we are all healthy now! I cant wait to see what we will catch at Thanksgiving ;)
It was a busy time with the Canucks here but it was the best time and I cant wait till they come down again in December. I miss them dearly!
I will post pictures in a new post..

Win a New Bedroom Contest!!

There is a fabulous Blog bringing mothers together called 5 Minutes for Mom, and they are blessing someone with a whole bedroom set!!

The Photo contest theme is "Sleeping Angels" And though all babies are at their sweetest when they are sleeping.. My sweet Jakob has dropped his nap so in honor of what used to be I am entering a picture of him when he was 12 months old sleeping like the sweet angel boy he was I mean.. is ;)

If I win I would get the Summer Breeze for Jakob. He is in dire need of a new bedroom set.. and with Kit Kat on the verge of needing a big girl bed it would be PERFECT!!!

Finalist will be announced on the 5 minutes for mom website on Oct 15th at that time voting will also begin.

If I am a finalist I will be sure to let you know so you can vote vote vote!!

Make sure to check out 5 Minutes for Mom for more details!!

Also thanks to Aunt Staci for letting us in on the goodness!

So without further ado..

My Sleeping Angel

Overwhelmed?

Overwhelmed: to affect deeply in mind or emotion

So many of us mothers know the above word all to well. We are do everythingers. We are mothers, wife's, daughters, friends, enemy's, care givers, chauffeurs, chefs, teachers all of these things and many many more and we are expected to do them without complaint and with a smile on our face. And as women we do them because it is our job.
I was watching my dvr'd shows and came across Oprah. I am not a fan of Oprah's personal beliefs or philosophies but I do like the inspirational story's that she has on her show.

This one in particular ripped my heart out. It is a story of a mother doing what we as mothers do. She was a teacher at a school her husband was was also working and they had 2 little girls. They were your typical, busy family.
The husband usually dropped both children off at Preschool and Daycare but one day he had a dentist appointment and asked the wife to drop the youngest age 2 at Daycare. She agreed and was on her way. She was running early so she stopped to get some supplies for her class and headed off to school. She did not realize until 8 hours that the unthinkable happened.

She had left her 2 year old daughter in the car in the middle of August. The baby died of a heat stroke.

Now as a mother my first thought was "how could you just forget your baby" especially mine because they make their presence quite known. But her baby was sleeping and never made a sound and she was completely overwhelmed with life and the daily hustle and bustle that she forgot that her daughter was in the car.

We live such busy life's and sometimes forget to stop and slow down. We on many occasions drive to a destination and once we get there think to ourselves " I don't remember how I got here" Because your mind is running in a million different directions.

Here is a statistic for you, 33 children have died this year from being left in a car. 33! All because the parent had other things on their minds.

This does not just apply to those that drive children places and may forget them it applies to all of us who are so OVERWHELMED with daily life that we don't pay attention to the things that matter the most to us.

John Lennon wrote one of my favorite songs called Beautiful Boy(darling boy) And my favorite line in that song is:
"..Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans"

That is so true. We all need to slow down, stop trying to be super mom or super employee or super wife and just be you.

• Slow down!


• Pray or Meditate


• Read a book


• Take a nap


• Write a daily to do list(with realistic goals)


• Phone a friend(that's what they are there for)

Life is a beautiful gift and we need to take time and, Pardon the cliche, smell the roses!