Thanksgiving 2013

We had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving as the Shripka's and Granny and Grandpa all made the trip out to see us.  The kids loved being together, spending time making inventions, posting diagrams of them all the way up our stairs, seeing Longhorns, shooting a bow, launching rockets, climbing on our wall, playing football, and swimming in a pool that was still a little bit too cold.  We had a lot of fun and are so thankful that everyone made the trip.

For more photos, click on the photo below.

Halloween 2013

This year the kids both requested costumes that aren't available in stores, so I got the opportunity to get creative and make them (thank goodness for the internet!).  Tyler was Steve from Minecraft and Megan was Milli from Nick Jr.'s Team Umizoomi.

We spent Halloween night having dinner at our friends' house and then driving around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating (we're still getting used to this new form of trick-or-treating; you mainly see groups riding in hayrides or in the back of pick-up trucks).  It was a lot of fun!

For several more photos from the pumpkin carving, TKD Halloween party, and trick-or-treating, click here: https://plus.google.com/photos/111368886757968637183/albums/5947107803117582177?banner=pwa

Easter 2013

Well, since the Easter season is almost over, I thought I'd finally get around to posting our pictures.  We had a wonderful day with another outdoor egg hunt and a very fun dinner with the Raney's.  Enjoy the pictures by clicking on the photo below.

Christmas 2012

We had a very relaxing and fun Christmas break!  Although we were sad that Granny and Grandpa couldn't come, we were thankful for the power of technology (Skype) that allowed us to still share the fun together.

We got to spend time with the Raney's twice, played lots of games (Monopoly, in particular), rode our new bikes outside (something we're not used to doing on Christmas), built lots of Lego creations, made way too many cookies, watched caterpillars turn into butterflies, played golf, and had a wonderful time overall.

For lots of pictures, click on the photo below.

We're so thankful...

...For being able to spend Thanksgiving 2012 with Granny, Grandpa, the Shripka's, Burke's, and Chernesky's.  Though it was a short trip, it was packed with a lot of fun.  Click on the top photo for more.

Halloween 2012

Our Halloween (or should I say Halloweens) was great this year.  A party at the gymansitics "parent's night out," trunk-or-treating with the Cub Scouts, and learning how to trick or treat in our new neighborhood (most do it in cars or golf carts...and everyone sits out at where the street meets their driveway) made for lots of candy collection and a good deal of variety.  Tinkerbell and the ninja had a lot of fun.

Click here for more pics.

Merry Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas in Palatine!  We got to spend Christmas Eve with the Chernesky's and Burke's at Navy Pier and Christmas with the Schmidt's and Shripka's.  It was a great respite in the middle of our move from Virginia to Texas.  I somehow lost a lot of my pictures (maybe it had to do with packing our lives and driving across the country), but click on the collage below for those that I still have.

Thanksgiving 2011

We've had a very eventful month culminating in a wonderful celebration of Thanksgiving with Granny and Grandpa including a celebration at Ty's school, a Capitals game (which they won in overtime), a trip to Old Town Alexandria, hikes in the woods, lots of fun around the house, and of course, turkey.

Click here for more.

Halloween 2011

A princess, a pirate (again) and lots of fun. For more, click on the photo.

Summer catch up

How did it get to be August already??

Our summer has been packed with a lot of fun, heat, water, friends, and laughs.

Click on the photo below for more pics. Why do our kids already look like they're teenagers?

Easter 2011

For more pictures, click on the photo above.

Christmas Vacation 2010

We've had a wonderful past week and a half celebrating Christ's birth and taking some much needed time off. We were blessed to have Jeff's parents travel to spend Christmas with us. Jeff and I were both able to take the time off which allowed us to get some sleep (the kids started sleeping until about 7:30 each day!), get some house projects finished (thanks, Jeff!) and spend fun family time together (even including Ty's first trip to the ice rink...which ended about 20 minutes after it started when Ty had a bit of a spill). For more photos, click on the photo above.

Thanksgiving 2010

Wow-it's been a while since I've updated this. I figured I better talk about Thanksgiving before Christmas is upon us. We had a wonderful trip to Palatine and then on to Kalamazoo.



Click on the photo below for more photos.

Halloween 2010

We had a great celebration of Halloween this year, complete with our neighborhood party, our annual pumpkin carving (Ty named our double-sided jack-o-lantern after himself again), a school party, and trick-or-treating with about 10 families from the neighborhood. Click on the photo below for more pictures.

Happy 4th of July 2010

We had a great day last weekend going to the Fairfax parade and fireworks. Ty and Megan also had their first experience with sparklers and kid-friendly "fireworks." For pictures click here or if you need a laugh, watch the video below.

July 4th "fireworks" from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

A very happy Easter, part II

The afternoon and evening of our Easter was full of surprising fun too.

First, earlier in the weekend, Jeff had promised Ty that they could go fishing in the creek behind our house. So after rest time, they went out in our front yard, dug up some worms, and we all hiked down to the creek. In about a half hour, they had caught 4 "whoppers." Enjoy the video below and click here from more photos.

Ty and Jeff catch a whopper from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

After the fishing trip, we came back and saw our neighbors from the two houses next to us. Since no one had any plans for Easter dinner, we decided to all gather over at our house. One neighbor brought a ham, we made some steak, and the other neighbor took care of the drinks. The last-minute celebration was a great time for both the adults and the kids.

A very happy Easter, part I

Last week we had a wonderful celebration of Easter. Saturday we had our neighborhood egg hunt and our annual coloring of eggs. Sunday, we went to church and then discovered that the Easter Bunny hid the eggs (filled with goldfish crackers, of course) and baskets outside since we've been having summer-like weather around here. Ty and Megan had a great time! For more pictures from the weekend, click on the photo above.

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas week, opening presents at our house on Dec. 20th and then a few days later driving 13 hours through the night (easier with the kids) to Palatine, IL, arriving at 3am on Dec. 24th. Our 3.5 days in Palatine included 2 Christmas celebrations, our nephew Drew's birthday party, Megan and our niece Lily's baptism, and some indoor sports in Libertyville. Then we drove back (12 hours)and arrived home at 5:30am on the 29th. It was a whirlwind, but we had a great time. For LOTS of photos (thanks to the Shripka's for many of them), click on the collage above.

When preschoolers perform

A couple of weeks ago, Megan and Tyler had their holiday show, complete with performances of 4 original songs and a surprise visit from Santa. Below is the night captured on video. If you only have the time (or desire) to watch one of them, I suggest "Using Rudolph's Light". Ty has improved since his first show (at 15 months) during which he stood like a statue and stared at everyone without opening his mouth. However, I think the greatest entertainment value comes from his classmates to the right of him. If you want to see some photos of the event, click here.

2009 Holiday Show: S-A-N-T-A from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

2009 Holiday Show: Using Rudolph's Light from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

2009 Holiday Show: I have a little Dreidel from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

2009 Holiday Show: Play the drums, It's Christmastime from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Tyler talking to Santa from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Just like Macy's (okay, not really)

The day after Thanksgiving, Tyler, Megan, and I ventured out to Reston Town Center for their annual Thanksgiving Parade. Although it was a little chilly, we enjoyed seeing the floats, entertainers, and Santa and Mrs. Claus. For more pictures, click on the photo below.