January 18, 2001 - April 13, 2009

It is a very sad day at the Schaefer household. Today we had to put down our little man, Rudy. I truly feel like a part of the family is missing. I fell in love with that 80lb pit bull the minute I met him, and if you know anything about me, you know that's pretty miraculous. I hate dogs, but I love and adore my Rudy.

It came pretty unexpectedly. He hadn't been acting like himself since Saturday night. Matt took him into the vet today and called me at the beginning of 7th hour at school (the last class of the day). Luckily, I have a co-teacher that hour, so I was able to leave right away, go pick up Sophie, and head to the animal hospital. On the way there, we talked about our options and agreed, with many tears involved, that it was Rudy's time to go. There wasn't much else we could do...or afford to do. Even if we could keep him alive, it was only a matter of time before he could get worse. I was glad to be able to hold him and sit with him one more time. He had been non-responsive all day, and Matt said that when he heard my voice in the waiting room asking where to find them, he lifted up his head and started wagging his tail. That pooch sure did have a big heart, and man-oh-man was he loyal. We're going to miss him so much.

My Big Brother

Back in February we went to Lawrence for Oskar's 6th birthday. I posted briefly of that visit here, but I promised to show pictures of my brother's house and I have a few more of the birthday boy.

One of his presents had to be hauled on the bed of my brother's truck. Oskar is opening it with Poppy anxiously waiting to find out what he got.

Yep, it's a go-cart. Pretty cool. Oskar LOVES cars and anything with wheels, so he was pretty much in heaven for the rest of the day.

Sophie's cousins sure do love her. I think this picture would be a great ad for Amy's clothing business. They are all wearing her clothes (other than Oskar's jeans.)

Okay, so I don't mean to brag, but...my brother is amazing. He's an architect/carpenter/builder/artist/genius, not to mention a very loving husband, father, and uncle. While we were there, we stopped by the house my brother designed and is building for his family. He has designed and built many other buildings and homes, but all of them were constructed under the needs/wishes of his clients. This is the first time he's been able to really show his own style without constraints (other than financial limits). We got the official tour, and I can't wait to see it when it's finished. He's pretty much designing and building everything by himself (down to making the windows and doors), so it's going to be a while before they can move in. He works on his other projects for clients during the day and goes to the house every night & on the weekends to work on it. (Needless to day he's getting a little burned out, so they're off to Jamaica for a week on Sunday for a much needed family vacation at the beach.) Here are some pictures of his masterpiece!

This is the front of the house. On the right side (behind the bobcat) is the garage, and everything to the left is the living area.

Scott is explaining something cool about the house to my dad & Matt here, but I was taking a picture, so I missed what he said. I'm sure it was pure genius. :)
This is the section of the house you could see in the last picture. (The garage is to the left.) It will be the kitchen & living area. The open spaces to the right are going to be filled with huge windows looking out to their backyard/courtyard.

This is looking from the courtyard into the room (kitchen/living area) from the last picture. To the right is going to be Amy's studio "wing". To the left (which you can see better in the next picture) is all of the bedrooms (there will be 3 of them).

Again, this is from the courtyard looking to the left at the "bedroom wing" of the house.

This was taken from the kitchen/living area towards Amy's studio "wing". That's my dad and behind him will be those huge windows looking out to the courtyard.


A good friend lives next door to the house Scott is building. Scott designed and built their house, too. This is their kitchen. It's pretty representative of my brother's style.

This is the friend's living room area. The house is heated primarily by the wood furnace you see toward the back of the room. The floors are concrete and have radiant heat.

So as we continue to visit and see progress on the house, I'll be sure to post more pictures. My brother has wanted to be an architect since he was six years old. It is SOOO cool to finally see his dreams coming true. I love you, big brother. Go enjoy Jamaica! You deserve it!

My Friend Erin

Our dear friend, Erin, took more pictures of Sophie this past weekend! They turned out SOOOO great! Check them out at http://erinjustthething.blogspot.com/

If you like her work and would like to have your family photographed, Erin is holding a mini-shoot day on April 18th. Not only will you get AWESOME pictures taken, but the proceeds go to a great cause. Here's what Erin has to say about it:

"The cost is $100. You will receive a 30 minute session and 10-15 full res images on disc. ALL of the proceeds from these mini shoots will go to the Kairos Christian School. (The school was started by a local woman who's mission is to be able to offer a quality education to the children who's families cannot afford the traditional schools. When I clicked on the link and saw the sweet faces of the children I melted. I knew I wanted to do something to help. So this is the idea that I came up with.) Its a win win people! You get great photos of your kids and we can help this school help the kids of Antigua. The mini shoots will be held in Lafayette Park from 9:00 - 3:00. Call me or email me if you would like to reserve a spot. Lets fill up those slots and raise as much money for them as we can!"

One thing I love about Erin is her charitable and tender heart. She's not keeping a penny of what she could be earning for a lot of time and hard work. Like Erin said, everyone benefits from this...the school raises support, Erin gets to spotlight her amazing talent, and you get incredible pictures of your family to cherish for a life time! Go to her blog or website to contact her for more information or to book your spot!

Feb./March Update

Woah. I didn't realize it's been over a month since I last posted. There's a lot to catch you up on, so hold on to your pants.

Toward the end of February, we went to Lawrence, KS to visit my brother and his family. We had such a great trip! My brother is an architect and has designed and is in the process of building their house. The pictures are on my parents' camera, but let me just tell you that he is AMAZING! Their house is going to be incredible. I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I get them. We had a wonderful visit with them. Everyone is doing well. Amy is controlling her MS with diet and is feeling great! Here are some photos of our time with them.

I just love watching Scott with Sophie. He's a great uncle!


Our trips to Lawrence are always action packed! Oskar & Poppy are full of energy!

Another action shot.

Some other updates on our little Sophie:

1.) She is 6 months old! How did that happen?! Our little girl is getting so big!

2.) We have introduced solids and she is LOVING it! We started with rice cereal, of course, and have since added sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, and prunes. Now, if you're a mom, you'll probably understand the order of these things towards the end of the list. Sophie loved sweet potatoes, but hated peas, so we moved on to bananas. The bananas were a hit but then she got a little plugged up. Actually, a LOT plugged up. We're talking nothing coming out for nearly 4 days, which explains the prunes...which she actually likes a lot and certainly did the trick.

2.) Sophie is gaining more interest in Rudy every day. She likes to pet him and is definitely curious about what he's all about.


3.) Sophie enjoys watching the computer screen and TV. She could sit and watch for as long as we allowed her to, but we try to keep it brief!



4.) She has learned to get up on all fours, rocks back and forth, and is sure to be crawling soon! It's fun to see her learn new things every day with this. She's getting more and more adventurous.



5.) Bath time is still her favorite activity and you can't keep those toes out of her mouth!

6.) She sure loves her mommy & daddy and separation anxiety has definitely set in!!


And there you have it! Hopefully it won't take another month before another post!

5 Months

Sophie turned 5 months old on the 5th of February. I just can't believe how fast things are going. We started her on some rice cereal last week and she's loving it. I was secretly hoping that she would hate it and we'd have to wait another month or so, but she was showing all the signs that she was ready and she certainly was indeed ready.

Here are some pictures we took this morning at home. It's a beautiful day here in STL, so we're planning on taking a trip to Forest Park. Hopefully we'll have some pics to share of that later.

I like this one. Her expression is priceless.

Remember all the hair she was born with? Gone.

This one's just for fun.
Matt and I were invited to a surprise party for a friend and it was a black tie affair. We've never been to anything like that before, and it was pretty fun. Just to get all dressed up and go out on the town just the two of us was nice.

A milestone

It's official. Sophie is rolling over. She's done it a few times before in the past couple of weeks, but it was sporadic and unpredictable...and sometimes a bit assisted. No more, my friends. Whenever we put her on her back she immediately flips to her stomach. Her little arm will occasionally get stuck, but she figures it out eventually. When did our little girl get so big? She is so fun these days; laughing, giggling, and generally very happy and easy to please. We had a great weekend with her and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a snow day tomorrow.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Rudy & Sophie. He's so sweet with her. You can't really tell, but she's reaching up and "petting" his neck.

It's never a question where we'll find Rudy in the winter. This is his absolute favorite spot from the day we turn the heat on to the day we turn it off for the season. The most ridiculous/hilarious part of it is that he sticks his nose in as far as it will go. This shot doesn't capture it very well, but it is SO funny! Does anyone else's dog do this?!

All bundled up to go to church. Baby it's COLD out there!

This might be my all-time favorite picture that we've taken so far (aside from the pics Erin got of her). It's she stinkin' adorable?!?!

I love it so much, I thought I'd post it twice. HeeHee.