No Luck

So, we bought a car tonight. Finally. It has seemed like a long journey to figure out what to do about the hole in the engine of the Subaru. We finally decided not to fix it and look for a new/used car, and then the hunt for the right car for us seemed like it took FOREVER. Just as I started to get really frustrated, we found it. We ended up with an Equinox. I love it and Matt likes it. (He just wishes it had more cargo space to haul things around. I can't blame him. He's a guy and guys like to haul things.)

We came home and I was feeling great about the car decision, put Sophie to bed, and started some laundry to get ready for our trip to WI. As I was down in the basement, I realize that the furnace was turning on and off repeatedly. My initial wonder turned into panic as I quickly realized that our furnace has done this before. Yep. It's busted. Again. Some luck, huh? We can't seem to catch a break.

I called my folks to tell them about the car and subsequently about the furnace. They gave the usual parental advice and as we hung up, my mom said, "Well, good luck." Sorry, Mom, but we ran out of luck a while back...right before the engine got that hole.

Our Latest & Greatest

I'm not a very good blogger. Sorry about that. I love reading other blogs, but feel like I don't have much to say or share about our lives. Anyway, maybe it will be my New Year's resolution to be better about that. Maybe. I watched Julie & Julia the other night and was so impressed that Julie started a blog not knowing if anyone at all was reading it. Sometimes I feel like it's not worth blogging, because I don't really know if anyone is reading. Is it worth it? Are any out of town people reading this thing and enjoying updates about our family? Are you out there?

Anyway, for the sake of keeping this blog alive, I'm going to give you a few Schaefer family updates and up load some recent pictures we've taken. Enjoy them...whoever you are!

Updates:

1. Our Subaru has a hole in the engine, so we're scrapping it and cutting our losses. We're heading out this afternoon to look at some cars. Wish us luck!

2. We're headed to Wisconsin to see family over Christmas break. Should be a good time had by all. We're excited to see everyone ooh and ahh over how big Sophie is getting. She's changed so much since we were there in August. Most notably...she walks & talks a lot more now. She's going to be the life of the party, I'm sure!

3. Sophie has her first cold. Last night she had a 101.5 fever. My poor baby. I am, however, so thankful that she made it 15+ months before getting really sick.

4. Yeah, I can't think of anything else. See, I'm not so good at figuring out what you guys want to know. So...I'll let some pictures do the rest of the talking:

Sophie is big enough to have blankets & baby dolls in her crib now. This was a big step for me; it was like a "coming of age" moment in her life. :)

Speaking of getting big...she can now climb up into the rocking chair in her room. (Please ignore the hideously old and worn chair...I got it for $5 at a garage sale when I was in college.)

She is definitely a climber. She loves climbing in and out of her toy box.

She'll just sit in there and play with her toys.

Just had to throw this one in. She's such a clown.

Sophie put the star on top of the Christmas tree this year. (Not really, but it makes for a cute photo, right?) She was sleeping when we set up the tree and put the lights on. When she woke up she came out and was so cute as she explored the tree and "helped" us decorate it.

Sophie with her aunt Joy.

Sophie has her first cold, which is why her nose is all red in this picture. We gave her a pretzel to munch on and she took it over to the pillow on the floor and just hung out there eating her snack. When did she turn into a little kid?! Matt and I can't handle that our baby girl is slipping further away every day. Her expression here is priceless. Speaking of priceless expressions...check out this one:

This is one of those photos that will show up at every family get together when Sophie is older. Priceless.

Tagged for a Cause

I've been tagged...but it's okay, because it is for a good cause. It's the season of giving, you know.

My friend Jen's husband works for Habitat for Humanity (HFH) out in Colorado. Now, I don't live in CO, but I know that Dan's job means a lot to him and that it does a lot of good for A LOT of people! That makes me smile. So HFH is doing a fundraiser so that they can reach out to even more needy families. It’s called “HFHSVV Five Dollar Difference” and it goes like this - five minutes of time to donate five dollars and pass it on to five friends. The goal is to reach $15,000 by the end of the year.

So I thought about it and decided that $5 isn't really much of a sacrifice for us right now and that it was feasible. If you think that you and your family could spare $5, please consider donating.
I'm supposed to tag 5 people, but if you are reading this, just go ahead and consider yourself tagged.

Here's what to do:
Click the picture below. Donate 5. Send to 5 more friends. Then, leave a comment on Jen's blog page, cause she'd like to keep track of how far this can go. Plus, if you comment, she'll even send you a copy of her fun Christmas mix CD that she likes to call, "Christmix 2009". Piece of cake!

click here to donate!

Family Photos

Erin Duggin took some fall photos of our family recently. I am in love with them for so many reasons...here are a just few:

1. I think Erin is amazing and so talented. She always captures the perfect moments, like this one:

2. I LOVE fall!! I love fall weather and fall colors! It is my favorite season and it just makes me happy to have some family photos during this time of the year.

3. I bought the dress Sophie is wearing in the pictures for her 1st birthday, and I think it's so cute on her, so I'm glad we have some great photos of her in it! :)

4. I've always been a fan of fields. Yep, you read that right. I love fields. I love the patterns made by the tractors; I love fields of grains that turn a deep red in the fall; I absolutely LOVE fields with one single oak tree in the middle (there's a great one on the way up to the rural town where I went to college), and I especially love fields of tall grasses in the fall...which is perfect, because that's where this photo shoot took place...by happenstance, actually.

So, if you want to check out the rest of them Click here and enter schaeferfam as your password. I think you'll see why I love them so much!
Thanks Erin!!

My Big Brother

I have to give a little shout out to my brother. Click here and here for some cool stuff he's featured in. (The video takes a while to upload.)
As we were growing up, I always said he'd be the next Frank Lloyd Wright and that students would learn about him in their art history and architecture classes in the future. I do believe he's well on his way.
Sooooo proud of you big brother!!

More Cute-ness!

She refused to put this apple down. Don't worry...we were watching her closely.

Her bangs were in her eyes, so I put her in her first pseudo "pony-tail."

A visit to Kansas

We went to Lawrence for Poppy's birthday mid-October. She's four and I can't believe how fast it has gone! As always, it was great to see my brother and his family!

My parent's with all the grandkids.

Poppy & Oskar adore their Uncle Matt (I mean, what kid wouldn't?!), and that warms my heart!

I love how this pic captured Sophie banging on Oskar's head.

It doesn't get much cuter, folks! This one's a keeper.

Swings in the new house while it's under construction. How fun!

Grandma & her girls.

Poppy & Oskar think it is hilarious to make goofy faces for pictures. It was a challenge to get them to just smile.

My brother was able to take a break from working on their house to have dinner with us Saturday night...which explains the paint all over his face.

We hit the pumpkin patch Sunday morning. It was COLD, but fun! Oskar was on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin, and Poppy collected about 10 of them before she chose her favorite.

This was the best one we got of them with our pile of pumpkins. After about 30 mintues of searching, Oskar finally found one he was satisfied with. He's got his hand on it in this picture.

Back That Thang Up

Let's back up here a bit.

When we got back from Wisconsin, I only had about a week before heading back to work for the school year. Sophie was moving around like crazy at that point, and you could totally tell she was going to take her first step very soon! I prayed and prayed that she would take that first step before I had to go back. I even sat her down and made her promise that I'd be there when she did it. TWO DAYS before my first day, we were in the church nursery and she reached that major milestone! I was SO relieved that I was there for it and that our sitter didn't have to lie to my face to avoid telling me she did it while I was gone.

Then school started and the craziness began. First of all, this transition back to work was definitely harder than my transition back in December. Sophie is so much fun now and we had such a great summer together. It was much more difficult to leave her all over again. To make matters worse, after three days back with our old sitter we decided it was time to switch daycare situations. We found a friend who said she was willing to help out for the year. Well, two weeks later she decided it wasn't working out for her, so we were back at square one. Matt was still job searching at the time, so we decided he would stay home with her. About 2 days into that he got a job! MAJOR PRAISE! We are so excited, but it put the pressure on for finding a new daycare. Needless to say, all of that was very stressful. Thankfully, we had a week or two before Matt started, so we had a little leeway. Matt starts this Monday and on Friday we finally found a great fit for Sophie! We are praying it works out as well as it seems that it should and that Sophie transitions smoothly.

In the midst of all of the daycare drama, my school thought it was a good idea to rearrange my schedule and the classes I teach on the THIRD day of school. Yep. You read that right. School had already begun and they gave me a brand-spankin-new class to teach. Freaking awesome. Not really. I pretty much feel like a first-year teacher all over again. I'm teaching 2 preps I've never taught before, along with my tried and true 11th grade English.

There was a night after work when Matt and I had put Sophie to bed and we were sitting out on our patio, when I realized that I had NEVER been so stressed out in my life. My baby was being jumped around from place to place and not dealing with all of the transitions very well at all, she was getting 3 new teeth all at the same time, my life at work was a disaster, Matt was hitting dead-end after dead-end with the job search, and the only thing that could solve all of my issues would force us to declare bankruptcy. Quitting my job just wasn't an option...but it sure was tempting.

Now that Matt's working (or about to start), we have a great daycare option for the school year, and things are settling down at work, I finally feel like I can exhale. And that's a good feeling.

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA lately. Life has thrown a few curves and I've had a hard time keeping up. Regardless, I have lots to post about. Not sure when all that will happen, but just know I'm still here and haven't given up on blogging...yet. Hopefully life will slow down soon and I'll be able to catch all of you up on some things I want to share. Primarily, Sophie's first birthday and all of her new tricks. Stay tuned...

Wisconsin '09

We had another great trip to Wisconsin this year! It was hard to believe that last year they were throwing me a surprise shower. My, how life has changed!

We left St. Louis just as the weather was about to turn hot and hit Wisconsin right as they were having a nice cool week. It was great. It could have been a bit warmer for hanging out at the beach, but we enjoyed some long walks in the sand and nice runs in town. We got a jogging stroller recently and have been LOVING it! It is so great for rough trails and uneven sidewalks. It just rides right over everything. Sophie loves it, too!

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the trip is that Matt's dad bought a boat! So fun!

Grandpa bought Sophie a baby life-vest and went out in the boat twice while we were there. We all took turns driving. Even Sophie:

When we first put the life-vest on to see if it would fit, she threw a fit! Did not like it at all! But that was in the house, and once we were out on the boat, she must have understood its purpose, because she did not mind it a bit! She didn't laugh and have a huge smile out on the boat, but she didn't scream and cry either. She was very serious the entire time and seemed a bit nervous.

We tried to keep her occupied with food, which seemed to have worked.

On the last day there, we had Sophie test the waters of Lake Michigan for the first time. The lake was FREEZING cold, but she loved it! She actually cried when Matt pulled her out of the water and started walking back in.

Every year Matt goes into the lake, no matter how cold, and goes all the way under. He wasn't sure he was totally submerged the first time, so he went twice. Here's the series of shots to prove he went under. He's nuts! I'm telling you, that water was SO cold!

Going out.

Going under.

Coming in.

One day we went into town and bought Sophie her first little hair bow. It's not actually a bow, it's a little pink flower, and it is SO cute! She didn't even pull it out. I was impressed seeing as how we've never stuck anything on her head before.

Matt's dad and grandparents LOVED playing with Sophie and were so good with her. It was fun to see their reaction to how big she is now. The last time his grandparents saw her was at Christmas. She's a lot more fun to interact with now.

Until next year...

My Happy List

When I opened up my GoogleReader after a week of vacation with no internet, I had 43 blogs to read. I started going through them today and came across this post. It made me think about the things that make me happy and I decided to make my own list here on the blog to let you all know that I'm not a complete "Debbie Downer." I do need some cheering up, however, so hopefully making this list will help my mood.

15 Simple Things that Make Me Happy (in no particular order):
1. Juicy watermelon
2. Early morning jogs
3. My memory foam pillow
4. Watching a thunderstorm roll in
5. The sweet smell of honeysuckle
6. Sophie hugs & cuddles
7. Sappington Farmer's Market
8. Chacos
9. Ice cream
10. Fresh veggies from our garden
11. "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"
12. Dreaming about our future with my hubby
13. Good worship music
14. Old quilts from relatives
15. Coffee houses & art galleries

Ah...much better. What are the simple things in life that cheer you up?

5 Things...

...before I head off to bed:

1. Sophie is 11 months old today! I can't believe she'll be ONE in a month! AHH!

2. We got back from vacation in Wisconsin today. Fun trip!! Will post more about that soon...so make sure you check back.

3. I caught a cold on our trip. Not feeling too hot right now. Boo. Looking forward to my own bed tonight.

4.

(Just a sneak peek from our trip.)

5. I'm sad. I'm sitting here at 8:45 watching the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance," with tears streaming down my cheeks. No...not because I love the show so much, and not because I'm getting all choked up at the amazing talent, but because I just realized that one week from today I'll be sitting here having spent my first full day back at work. I only have one more week with my baby girl. I know, I know...don't be so dramatic, Katie. But I love being a full-time mom and it all just hit at once, and I can't help think about how much I'm going to miss her until next summer. (Again, I know this is a bit dramatic, but remember...I have a cold and everything is amplified when you're sleepy and sick.) By the time she's one I'll only have worked for 6 months of her life (because of maternity leave, Christmas break, spring break, and summer break.) I know this is a huge blessing, and that one of the great things about my job is the time I get off, but still... Teaching is exhausting and time-consuming, Sophie's a grump by the time I pick her up in the evening, and I just know she's going to take that first step and reach all kinds of milestones that I'll miss. I'm not going to be there for all of the "firsts" and it just makes me sad.

And on that note...sweet dreams of summer bliss are calling out to me.

Family & Friends

We went on a family hike the other day and Sophie loved it! My mom found a backpack carrier at a garage sale for $5 and it's awesome! About 15 minutes into the hike, we heard a rumble in the sky. Airplane or thunderstorm? Since there was barely a cloud in the sky when we parked and started hiking, we figured airplane. A few minutes later another distinct rumble. Definitely NOT an airplane. So we turned around, picked up the speed a bit, and kept our eyes on the sky. Definitely darkening. A few hundred yards from the car we felt sprinkles and right as we started buckling Sophie into the car seat the sky let loose. Perfect timing! We managed to get a few pics in beforehand:


Today we had a lovely visit from Lauren and McKinley. Sophie slept, McKinley ate; McKinley slept, Sophie ate; Sophie slept, and then finally they were both UP! We got to have some play time on the quilt and then we went for a nice long walk. Our girls love being outside! Here are a few pics of our cutie-pa-tooties side-by-side:

My apologies, my little climber, and a birthday shout-out!

Okay, so the Sophie's lucky break thing was a gimmick and I fell for it. There really is $5000 to win, but the voting process is ridiculous and is a scheme to get people to register for a stupid website or something. Anyway, if you voted, thank you. If you got to it and thought it was a waste of time, I totally don't blame you. I had no idea you had to register, then check your e-mail, then go back to the website, blah blah blah. Annoying.

So...to make it up to you, the start of today's Wordless Wednesday (which isn't really going to be wordless), is of pictures of my little nugget. I've just got to say, I fall more and more in love with her every day. I didn't think that would be possible, but it is. She is just so G.R.E.A.T and such a blessing to our lives. So, enjoy these:

In the past few weeks, Sophie learned how to climb stairs, which transpired the love of climbing on ANYTHING. The following pictures are a progression of her latest love of climbing on the block pile. Enjoy.
"Here I go."


"Hmm...I might want to take one more block with me up here."


"Woah...gotta get my balance."

"Finally...seated on my throne. Now I'm going to kick back and chew on a block."

****************************************************

Okay, now moving on to a post that is way over-due! My friend Erin celebrated one of those milestone birthdays last week. Not only was the birthday itself a milestone, but also the fact that she achieved a HUGE goal of losing 20 lbs by that said birthday! (Click here to read about it on her blog.) Anyway, there are numerous people out there who think Erin is awesome and several of us wanted to show that to her with a little surprise get together. We enjoyed some delicious desserts and I'm sure she savored each bite, seeing as how she deprived herself of that kind of thing to lose the weight! Erin, you deserve it and we're all thrilled for you! Congratulations and Happy Birthday (last week)! Here are some pics of the gang as we enjoyed our friend and our sweets!

She is very excited about the mountain of goodness in front of her!

I must say, Erin pulls off the sweet smile you have to hold for the entire duration of the "Happy Birthday" song VERY well! I always feel incredibly awkward in those moments.

This was how Erin satiated her sweet tooth all of those months of dieting with WW.

The group.
Beth is to the left of Erin, and she organized the whole sha-bang. Erin was totally surprised!
On the far left is our friend Sarah who just had her baby girl, Charlie, last night!! Congrats Sarah and Scott! We can't wait to meet her. (She was 2 days away from her due date in this picture, but Charlie decided to wait another week to make her grand entrance!)

And this is where I'll cut myself off. Sorry for the long post. You may not return to your regularly scheduled day.