Angels speaking

Last weekend, I had the privilege of participating in the American Cancer Society's local Relay for Life. Although I'm still pretty tired (not sleeping for 36 hours will do that to you), it was an extremely meaningful event. I got to participate with 3 other women from my neighborhood and together we raised over $4000. Our families came to play during the afternoon, and I got to call Bingo and lead a Fear Factor event at 3am. To view some pictures, click on the photo above.

The most meaningful parts of the event were again the Survior Lap and the Luminaria Ceremony. During the Luminaria Ceremony, those who have lost their lives and those who are currently fighting the disease are remembered as luminaries bearing their names circle the track. Every participant in the Relay lines up on the track lighting each other's candles and we all do a lap together by candlelight. Since losing my mom and dad, it's always been a pretty emotional moment for me, and I was so glad to have my friends there supporting me.

Even though the Luminaria Ceremony was special, the part of this Relay that I'll never forget came during the Survivor Laps. I was telling Megan and Ty to clap for the Surviors as they walked by and Ty asked me why we were clapping. I told him that the people walking had cancer in the past and now they were better. He looked up at me and said, "Mommy, the cancer society worked!" A few minutes later, when we were walking together with the survivors, suddenly he shouted out, "Mommy, you did it! You saved people from cancer!" Sometimes I swear that my parents are speaking encouragement through my children.

A sweet riddle

A few weeks ago, we were driving to the store and Ty had a MagnaDoodle in the back of the car. He kept asking me to look at his drawings and I kept telling him that I couldn't look because I need to keep my eyes on the road.

His solution was to start telling riddles about his pictures that I had to solve in order to figure out what he drew. Here's my favorite that he made up:
"What has blond hair, blue eyes, and loves his Mommy?"

The champs

Last week, one of Jeff's roller hockey teams won the championship game. Ty was thrilled to actually get to go on the rink and touch the "big trophy." And yes, Jeff's wearing the same hockey jersey that he did when he was 12.


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A dizzying video that makes me smile

Megan is finally talking (and choosing to walk on her feet instead of her knees about 75% of the time now). As you can see from the video, she's learned to say "cheeeeeeese" unprompted any time a camera comes out. Other words in her vocabulary:

• Mommy
• Dada (she's becoming quite a Daddy's girl)
• Ty-Ty (more like Tyyyyyyyyyyy-Tyyyyyyyyyy)
• shoe (which she loves to take off)
• uh-oh
• no (which she says anytime you ask her a question...even if she means yes)

But my favorite sound that comes out of her mouth is the deep belly laugh that she frequently lets out.

Warning: This video is likely to give you motion sickness.

Megan swinging and laughing from Teri Schmidt on Vimeo.

Cathy visits!

Two weeks ago, we were treated to a special visit from my sister Cathy, who drove 3 hours from Lynchburg, VA to see us (after flying in from Houston). We had a great time sharing our home and our neighborhood with her. Thanks for making the long trip, Cathy!

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.