Happy Halloween!

Busy week here at the Schneider household. On Monday, Craig's buddy Paul came to visit. Craig and Paul were in the navy and room mates out in San Diego. We haven't seen Paul since we left San Diego and now he lives in Brazil. So he was in the states this week catching up with family and friends and we were excited he came for a visit. No one was as excited as Nora and Charlotte. They absolutely loved having Paul here. They are sweet southern hostesses and they loved showing "Mr. Paul" their playroom and artwork!

So we did some touristy things while Paul was here such as bringing him to the Shirley Plantation and Williamsburg. Paul is also has a photography business in Brazil so he and Craig were a bit competitive taking pictures of the girls. Craig, of course, taught Paul all he knew, but I think Paul may have taught the master, but don't let Craig know I said that!

I bought Nora and Char some stuffed horses in a touristy shop and they are holding up their horses so the real horses can "see" them. So cute!

Big day at school on Thursday. We had a Halloween parade and class party. I was the room mother for Nora's class and I got the kids playing musical chairs, hot potato, and they got to decorate their own cookies. I think Nora loved having me there. She got to hand out the stickers to her classmates after the game and she had a big proud smile on her face. I loved that!

Here is Charlotte walking in the parade. She is a fairy princess. She is wearing Nora's ballet costume from her dance recital and a cool pair of wings!

Nora and her teacher Mrs. Niemaseck. She's a really fun teacher and Nora likes her a lot.

Now this is Mrs. Bradley and the girls adore her. She was Nora's teacher last year and Charlotte's this year. Char is a big ham around her!

Today we carved our pumpkins and I will write a new post tomorrow with pictures as well as trick or treat pictures.

Happy Halloween!

Sunday endings

We ended our busy day with some sneaky putt putt on the golf course. The girls are taking a quick golf lesson here from their dad.

Charlotte is mesmerized by her dad's awesomeness at golf.

Nora enjoying Nature more than the sound fundamentals of a golf swing.

No golf carts on the horizon. Quick, let's get on the green and get some golf on!

Yes, Dad is practicing his chipping and he did take the shot with the kids standing next to the flag. No... he did not hit them, but he did get a stern talking to from the hot tempered Irish woman who almost did get hit while taking this picture.

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch today! We got there at 9:45am and stayed until 1:00pm. We were pretty smart this time and brought bags to carry our pumpkins. We didn't have our man with us to carry our pumpkins, so I had to make due with some shoulder bags.

The girls were having a blast playing with their friends. We rode out on a tractor to the patch and ran to where we saw the biggest pumpkins and grabbed three we saw there. We had to dash back to the tractor because it was taking off with our friends on board without us. When we were on the ride I saw a truck pull in and start unloading more pumpkins in the patch. I didn't realize they have to refill it all day. I would have hung around because the pickings where kinda slim on our time in the patch. Nora and Charlotte were totally happy with any pumpkin they got, it was their greedy gus mama who wanted a ginormous pumpkin!

We fed the goats, went through a small maze in the barn, and played on the playground.

It was getting packed and school buses were dropping off loads of kids and then a large busload of kids coming to use the playground had smocks on with the name of a certain school in our area that made all the news because they had to shut it down for a week because of some highly contagious virus going around.

Immediately I go...."Nora & Charlotte follow me!!" I led them off the playground to a place far away to have a snack and play with a couple of their friends. Better safe than sorry in my book!

So it was only about 50 degrees or so today and I COULDN'T get my children to wear a jacket!

Their little bodies must have that fine Yankee blood running through it because most of their southern brethren were decked out in jackets, winter coats, and some hats & gloves.

Strange because last year at this patch it was so hot getting our pumpkins, we were sweating our tails off.

So we've got a busy weekend planned with some shopping, religious ed., and our neighborhood harvest festival.

Also a big shout out to our favorite fashion guru/baby clothes hider on her birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIECAT!

Still sick

Still yuck on this end. Even NyQuil is failing me. Ah...the big Q is not giving me any salvation. But this is providing some laughs.

Obama is in Richmond today. People were lining up last night to get in the coliseum to see him. Have to watch the news at noon. That's the time he's expected to talk.

Friday AM

Both girls have that wet hacking cough this morning. Good times. Charlotte is especially SENSITIVE this morning. We've already had several interventions to protect Pinky. It's all love all the time for Pinky even if it gets a little intense.
So I got a paparazzi picture of my favorite little dog tormentor. She was not pleased to say the least. Time to recite Prayer of St. Francis....it's going to be a long day!



Fun times last night at a dinner for Catholic Charities in NYC last night. Good to know they both have a sense of humor. Here are the videos on MSNBC, it's really funny. Hillary looks like she's going to fall off her chair laughing at McCain's jokes!
On another note, I wish McCAin would stop making
faces like this, I'd feel better about this election.

Cougar Alert!

Album out November 18

Palin Power!

Beautiful WARM day for a Palin Rally. We were standing in the way back near the news vans and near 10 protesters who kept trying to get on camera. Beautiful skies by the way. I have a lot more pictures and it was really was a gorgeous day!
Charlotte the photographer taking a pic of her toes for the event. Looking good! She shreds her hand wipes and then decorates her shoes with them. Maybe a phase, but she's running with it.!
Looking good mom and dad at least from Charlotte's prospective. Or at least big red giants! We were asked to wear red to keep VA red this November.
Little Nora so proud holding our tickets! This is when we first got there and we didn't have the crowds around us YET! Two pictures below a hasty photo editing so maybe you can see Palin. She's in the center with Todd, a snow machine champion, and Hank Williams Jr. He sang the national anthem and a song dissing the liberal media. I can't remember how it went but it was pretty funny.

My girl on the ground and my girl in the sky. I had Char on my shoulders in the beginning until she started screaming she had to SIT DOWN during the Pledge of Allegiance!
This photo should have been at the top. Sarah making her entrance on the Straight Talk Express. The whole place went wild when the bus pulled in. We were hooting and hollering and chanting USA and SARAH. I heard DRILL BABY DRILL but that didn't extend to our area.
We kinda left after Sarah started speaking because it was getting hot, the girls were VERY restless and thirsty, and we had dance at 4:30 and Sarah didn't start her speech until 3:00. We got some yard signs (already up!) and bumper stickers on our way out. All in all a very cool time for all. If you want to see pics from Richmond Times click here and watch the slide show. You'll also hear Hank's song about McCain/Palin.
Good news....at end of dance parents were invited in to watch some dancing and Charlotte danced! Last time she became very shy when all the parents crowded in to watch the kids and left her place to stand with me. This time Nora and Charlotte both were tapping and were fantastic!

Weird weird weird

There are a lot of people in VA with No teeth.

First.... another tree guy stopped by to see if he could take down the dead tree we have already paid another toothless guy to take down. Where is he by the way, we paid him in August and still no show?...says he's waiting til the bees that inhabit the tree are dead.

Second....Craig informs me Tuesday night at 11pm, he put some furniture that we currently have stored in our garage on Craigslist. Sure...whatever.
Wed. am calls start bright and early for Nora's crib set. Strange guy from Williamsburg calls and says he's on his way to check out our desk, He keeps calling back to ask dumb questions...who's the maker, can you fit a keyboard in the middle drawer....etc. It was weird... so next time we put some stuff on, it has to be on a weekend so he can handle the weirdos.

Third...We decide to go out for ice cream after dinner on Friday night. We want to try this place in Colonial Heights that advertises custard. We love custard...we think we're getting Abbotts, but it's all a lie!! All they are serving is freezer burned ice cream out of Costco buckets with burnt hot fudge. I would have turned around right there but we were being harassed by another toothless weirdo who liked our Hummer. He told Craig his family invented the hummer and dug out a crusty wallet to show Craig his ID. So I didn't want to take my family out into the dark night with this whack job who's begging Craig to let him look at the truck's engine. So I order us these stale ice creams to keep us in the shop and hopefully this homeless guy will leave us alone. He finally disappears and we're left with expensive gross stinky ice cream.

Yeehaw! Craig finished the venting tonight for the range. He built that entire cabinet housing the vent out of pieces of the cabinets we removed. Pure talent that man! It was SO heavy! I had to help lift it in the house and up on the counter. I told him no way I could stand on the counter and hold it up on the wall while he screwed it in. Hence the ghetto stands we created to take a load off me! Heehee!

Boo hiss!!

Why do they let Kenley get away with this?!?

Her dress is so obviously a knockoff of Alexander McQueen's wedding gown it's beyond ridiculous!

She's been rehashing fashion from the forties all season long and her nasal voice and rolling eyes are very annoying.

I'm annoyed.

McQueen on left/Kenley on right

Yowsers!

GOVERNOR PALIN RICHMOND RALLY INFORMATION
WHO: Governor Sarah Palin
WHAT: McCain-Palin Campaign Rally
WHEN: Monday, October 13, 2008 Doors open at 11:00 a.m. EDT McCain-Palin Rally begins at 1:00 p.m. EDT
WHERE: Arthur Ashe Center 3017 North Boulevard Richmond, VA 23230

OH YEAH!

We're all going! I got this email yesterday morning, called Craig to see if he could take the time off and received an affirmative from him, then I printed our Tickets!

Very cool for Nora and Charlotte to go to this. I'm just excited that they are going to be able to be a little part of this historic election. Now I need to see if I can bring in a camera. I'm really excited!

Debate tonight!

Thanks to Aunt Sue Sue, the girls are totally styling at school again this year. Char's skirt looks like an old lady skirt that hits her in the calf, but it actually hits her knee.
Char was running around so her skirts and everything else she wears has a tendency to slide down on her little hips when she's active.
I've been working on all kinds of crafts lately. The girls and I have a lot of projects going on right now. When we aren't play dating, we're usually in the playroom doing our arts and crafts.

This layout of Lulu is not complete, but I love that picture of the BOOZY! LOL...how do you spell that nickname! I'm not sure who's foot was on her face. Who abused you Lulu? Will finish this later this week.
I've also been making these felt flowers and attaching them to barrettes for the girls to wear in their hair. I've also been making felt appliques for their clothes and sewing/gluing them on. Budget crunch time means mommy is only spending money on necessities and we've been altering some old clothes to reflect some new styles we like. Yeah...I'm thrifty (Craig) like that!

Debate is tonight.....I feel nervous.

Silly

Comic relief: Joe Depot!
By Michelle Malkin • October 3, 2008 05:03 PM
I need a chuckle. Don’t you?
Team McCain points out that in his quest to pose as Ordinary Joe, Beltway Insider Joe Biden rattled off the Main Street places he like to hang out:
“Can I respond? Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie’s Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years.” — Joe Biden
His local paper snorted:
“During the debate, Joe Biden gave several Delaware shout-outs, including Wilmington’s Union Street… Maybe, I heard this wrong, or misunderstood, but I think he mentioned Katie’s restaurant…… Wilmington used to have a Katie’s restaurant - way back in the day - and it was in Little Italy, as is Union Street, but I’m almost positive Katie’s wasn’t on Union Street. And it hasn’t been Katie’s in, well, years. Maybe he said Kozy’s - as in Kozy Korner?” — The News Journal
My friends at American Elephants snorted, too — and sent a pefect photoshop of Home Depot Joe:
He’s just like you and me…except he’s not.

I snorted at this too. I told Craig, Palin should have turned to him and asked him what the last thing he bought at Depot was. What a crock!

Anyway I pulled this from Michelle Malkin's blog. Good reading.