Catching up!

So many things to blog about! But I gotta catch up - so here are random pictures and activities mostly from the month of May that we wanted to share with everyone!

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Uncle Tyler and Aunt Kelley stopped by with a pet.... Taylor called her friends!!!

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Aubrey received the Presidents Award at School!

Hannah's End of the Year Luau...

Jack had one too!

A fun overnight camping trip with friends...

Jack's Nature Ranger field trip to the park and zoo....



The end of a great baseball season...

Aubrey's friends - they have to go from "the biggies on campus" - to "sevies"

On Memorial Day we got our picture taken with a true hero!

Then we enjoyed a barbecue and traditionally set up a tent for Dad and the kids to sleep in all weekend. (My time to stretch out in my bed - and not to worry about being woken up by snoring!!!)

Aubrey's Sixth Grade Camp...

Father's and Sons...

End of the year orchestra concert...

A picture of Anela I couldn't pass up to share...

and finally - a new do and contacts for me..... still trying to decide of I like it! :)

I've been in a "blog fog" lately - and there's so much more to post! I haven't even checked out everyone elses - I WILL do better, I WILL do better, I WILL do better...

Fun Family Times

Visits from California loved ones are always exciting, big news. They are the highlights of the kids year for sure! We just love those days spent with family we haven't seen in a long time. The days always fly by, so we try to make the very most of them!
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Unfortunately, my pictures didn't turn out well, but I'll post what I did get.

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Jack was a protective cousin, making sure Beck didn't become Gunner's chew toy!

This was my favorite day - Easter at the Makaafi's house. It was fantastic!

Between the big, bright blue eyes, green candy that looks like a boogar, and the drip of saliva on the chin..... this is a classic.

Uncle Chip trying to steal a kiss...


Such great buddies these two are!

Grandma had fun choosing a new shirt to match each grandchild's personality - they were part of the egg hunt this year. Oh how grateful I am to my mom who told the easter bunny not to worry about anything this year - mom, that was the best!!!

What do you think....who looks like who here?

This day however.....ugh. What the heck kind of weather was this at a baseball game?!? Ridiculous... but made for a great picture!! They were such troopers - smiling even though their cheeks were numb!

We are so glad Kelley will be having a baby in September cause we have a hunch we'll have visitors again! Double the excitement for September!

Surely the best part about living in Idaho are the visitors we often get - Only three short weeks till we get more!

Our New Addition

Have you ever taken a trip that completely changed your life?

One month ago... we did.

Remember THIS?

Well, after saving and saving.... finally their work paid off!

It was all planned! The day of our eight hour road trip to Oregon to pick up our puppy was finally here. The excitement of Christmas morning even felt incomparable!

First stop - to buy a collar for Gunner. We all agreed that red would be his color after seeing all the pictures that the wonderful breeder had been sending us the past eight weeks.

Now, there was nothing to stop us.... well.... except for the coolest looking slide at a park in Oregon!

AND some beautiful scenery .....

After that, we just couldn't get there to meet little Gunner fast enough!

Once there, we were taken on a wonderful tour of Thornwood Labradors. Imagine forty-five beautiful English Labradors all extremely excited to see us! It was quite overwhelming!! It was hard for everyone to wait.... but finally the time came. Finally, it was time to meet the puppy who would be coming home with us to stay!

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It was love at first sight... for everyone!

The kids didn't want to go to the hotel that night without Gunner, but we all knew we had to. We had fun that night, talking about what it was like to meet him and what it would be like - life with a dog. (I don't think they had a clue what this was really going to be like!)

You can imagine how excited everyone was to wake up and get ready the next morning, the day we actually took Gunner home!

The drive home was great because Gunner was so calm, just trying to figure out what the heck was going on!

Every hour, on the hour, we stopped so Gunner could pee. We have read that he needs plenty of praise when he pees outside..... well, he definitely isn't short of praise around here!

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This is a big swarm of praise around him!

Poor Gunner had no privacy - the kids all watched intently till he peed - okay, we all did.

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Even when he ate, nobody could take their eyes off of him! During the drive, everyone sat in the official "hold Gunner" chair for 1/2 hour at a time. They could all hardly wait their turn to stare at and snuggle with him!

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Introducing Gunner to his new home was really fun for the kids (and chaotic and crazy too)!

Welcome to your new home Gunner! We really think you will love it here with us!

After such a looooooooong day.... what we all really needed, was sleep.

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And if you think that really happened.....THINK AGAIN!!!

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It has been one month since we welcomed Gunner into our home. It has been wonderful, terrible, difficult, exciting, frustrating, fantastic, and exhausting. After four children, I can honestly say, that these puppy days have been just as overwhelming as those newborn days. But I can also honestly say, that I KNEW it would be this hard, and thank goodness I had been mentally preparing for almost a year now. I would have gone completely insane by now had I not!

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So, it's a new world for the Schultz's. But you know, perhaps the most interesting view about this whole experience, is right through Gunner's Eyes!

Notice Anything Different?

Metal Mouth....

Brace Face.....

Tin Grin.....

Yep, we got one of those now!!!

AUBERINO.... AUBS..... AUBREY MAY..... - SHE'S 12!

The birthday fairy struck again.....

A second child to be old enough to be in YW - the church's youth program. Seems impossible!

We had a fun family get together for the two March b-day girls - The kids always look forward to gatherings with cousins!

We usually let the kids have a "real" party on their 12th. Aubrey thought and thought about what to do...

My husband is brilliant. He came up with a "Downtown Picture Scavenger Hunt"

Brilliant because a) - the girls had a blast and b) - IT WAS FREE!!! Aaahh - I love that word. That, in my opinion, is brilliant!

We drove the girls to downtown Boise - we realized last minute that we couldn't responsibly fit 7 girls and Chip and I in the van - (can you imagine that conversation between the girls' and their moms?!) so thank goodness Aunt Kelley was available - not only was she a driver, but she also took Taylor, Hannah, and Jack to the mall during the pizza part of Aubrey's party. Again, brilliant!!

Once downtown, we gave the girls a map (beautifully hand made by my talented map maker of a husband) and the coolest list of pictures they had to get with Aubrey's camera. Chip and I thought they'd be apprehensive about asking complete strangers to take their picture. Uh.. think again!

Here are just a few:

A picture of all the girls in sunglasses...


A picture with everyone's hand on a big bell... (they had to find the bell somewhere downtown)



Aubrey with a cook...


A picture of all the girls with the capitol in the background...

And the one that made me, Chip and Kelley laugh so hard - They had to get a picture of all of them in front of City Hall. The first people they saw was a sweet senior couple taking a leisurely stroll downtown. Without hesitation, all seven of them ran full speed to ask them to take a picture. So, the nice man did... BUT... the girls weren't happy with it because they did not see the words "City Hall" in the picture. So, they asked him to "get down a little" and take another picture. Well, he didn't just get down a little - he down a lot! After the girls stopped giggling, Aubrey went to get her camera from him, and he asked for help getting up....

When he walked away, he had dirt all the way down his sleeve... we felt so bad, but couldn't help but laugh about that all night!! But at least he got the picture they needed!! He was such a sweet man. The girls are trying not to burst out laughing here...

After downtown, they came home and had fun being 12 year old girls. The conversations of 12 year old girls are quite entertaining, to say the least.

Perhaps the ride home was the best part! Yes, we did squeeze for these few minutes in the car - ssshhhh.... we aren't telling!!!

Aubrey always has us all in stitches - a special girl she is indeed! Sure love you Miss Aubrey May!

Taylor's 14th Birthday Couch

Actually... this is her 12th. I came up with the idea when she was turning three. The birthday couch fairy really looks forward to birthday couch creating...

A new teacher at church paid Taylor a visit - she's simply the best.

And a sweet friend made a clover cake for her.

A day of fun surprises and her favorite things.

I guess it doesn't matter that I don't feel ready to have a 14 year old - I mean nobody asked me how I felt about it first!

Thank goodness she is delightful. We love her to peices.

Let the Season Begin...

Do ya think Jack was excited for his first baseball practice?

This was a dead give away.

Let's Go To the Hop! (and the Monster Truck Jam)

What a great weekend we had!

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Friday night:

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I don't think Chip and I would have gone to the Stake 50's Dance just because. But I wanted to support our good friend who put the whole thing together. And what do ya know, we had SO MUCH FUN!! We had a blast with friends, and Chip even won the costume contest for the guys!

It was hilarious.


Saturday:

Chip and Jackson never miss the Monster Jam!! Jackson wanted so much for me to "experience" this event - I tried to talk them into it being a special boys day together, but it was pretty important to them that I go along....

Thank goodness for earplugs.

It WAS fun - and pretty exciting! But I think this is one of those "if you've seen it once...." type of things for me. The announcer's voice is still ringing in my head - he made me laugh the whole time. The whole rest of the day, Chip and I couldn't help but talk like him...

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(Imagine a low, deep, loud, growling voice)

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"WHAT SHALL WE HAVE FOR DINNNNNNNERRRRRRRRRRRR?!?!"

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"GRIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLED CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE SANDWHICHEZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!"

Day at Camel's Back

We have lived here for four and a half years and had never been to Camel's Back Park here in Boise. But I think in the last month, we have been there three times!! This is where we went on their most recent day off of school.

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First, we climbed the famous (or infamous, however you look at it!) hill.

Aubrey was first!

Hiking down the trails on the other side is my favorite part!

Off to the playground - we had never seen one of these - it was really bouncy and fun!

The big open field there is perfect for frisbee, playing fetch with the dog, soccer, etc. All Jackson wanted to do was play soccer with his sisters. After rolling their eyes and dragging their feet - I got the girls out there. Guess who had the best time ever?

Then..... it happened. Check out the next picture - see Taylor's left knee? Take a look at where it's headed.

Right. where. it. counts.

Yeah. That pretty much ended our day at Camel's Back.

Valentine's Day 2009

Having Valentine's Day on Saturday this year was GREAT! Our day was fantastic.

The Plan: Mom and Dad go out for breakfast - then Mom and Dad take each child out on a separate date to the place of their choice for an hour and a half (not exceeding $5!!) It turned out even better than we thought it would be - one on one time for the kids with Mom and Dad is rare. It was great for everyone.

Jack was first. He chose - without hesitation - hiking up the famous hill at Camel's Back Park. I'm glad we did that first, because that was really hard!! But it was amazing!

See that hill behind us? Yep - that's it!

Hannah had to settle for her second choice since her first choice was the Labor and Delivery Unit at the hospital!! Newborn babies are her favorite. But her other great love is animals. So off to Zamzows and Pet Co we went! The two stores are on opposite ends of a huge parking lot, so walking to and from was half the fun! She visited with all the dogs that came in to the store, looked at all the small animals, and loved "imaginary shopping" for Gunnar - the puppy we hope to get this summer.

Dad and Hannah had fun with her shadow!

Aubrey is a girl after my own heart. Dark chocolate is her favorite! She had a tough time deciding what to do, so she went with our suggestion. We picked out the most delicious looking peice of dark chocolate at Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory, and then walked down to Idaho Ice World and watched a hockey game. That was fun!

Like Jack and Hannah, Taylor had no difficulties choosing where she wanted to go - her friends have been talking about a brand new store at the mall - "Forever 21" - so we went to see what all the hype was about. Chip was having too much fun embarassing Taylor, so I told her I would blog these next few photos of him to embarrass him back!

Taylor with her brand new torquoise nail polish!

It really was a good day - didn't think of the idea till the day before, but it ended up being the best idea ever! Good thinkin, Chip!

Twenty Valentine's Days as a couple - we've had our ups and downs... but it's never been better than now - I am SO lucky!

I've been tagged!

Well, my friend Kris tagged me - and I'm afraid I'll get in trouble if I don't follow through! I was supposed to go to my FOURTH folder and post my FOURTH photo - here it is!!
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If you have never been to Red Fish Lake in Stanley Idaho - wait no longer - it's beautiful and wonderful and peaceful, and all of those good things. It's my favorite place ever. When I am in the dentist chair, I close my eyes, and I am there!

Consider yourself tagged.... cause this was fun! (everybody do it, but specifically I tag my sisters {in law too!} and my mom!)

Missoula Children's Theater

Thanks to my friend Summer Larson, who shares her passion with the community, Trail Wind Elementary has had the unique opportunity to have The Missoula Children's Theater come to our school. This was the second year. To say this is a huge feat is really quite an understatement! This year's production was Pinocchio.

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Auditions are held Monday - children who get a part practice every day after school. The main characters are there from 3:30 till 8:00 every day! They are then completely ready to put on a huge musical production on Saturday - two shows!! They have memorized songs, dances, and an entire script of dialogue in 5 days. Simply amazing!

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Aubrey was happy to get the part of "Scaramouch" - a puppet made by Gepeto. And Jack (of all things) got to be a Toy Soldier, made by Gepeto also. They were both thrilled.

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Children also have an opportunity to be in the "Green Show" if they didn't get a part in Pinocchio. (Again, this is all thanks to Summer!) I had the wonderful opportunity to help choreograph this show - it was really fun! Hannah was in the Green Show and loved it.

Yes, it is an absolutely crazy week. Homework and dinner is a nightmare. BUT - it IS only a week, and it ends up being totally worth it. It is an experience that is rare, one that is fantastic for the children, and one they won't soon forget.

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Thank you for making this happen, Summer!!

ChRisTmAs 2008

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We couldn't wait for Santa to come this year simply because we finally had a chimney for him to come down! And boy did he ever - he left his muddy hand prints on the tiles of the fireplace and he left the cover off! We couldn't believe it! We had no idea Santa had such huge hands!

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What I have loved the most about the last few Christmases here in Boise, has been taking our time - A LOT of time to open gifts, and enjoy each one thoroughly until going on to the next. We get up slowly, marvel and awe over what we see, read the answers to the kids questions for Santa, get super excited, rummage through our stockings, and have traditional cinnamon rolls before we open any gifts. Oh, and all hair has to be at least brushed, or I go crazy. :) A good hour (at least) goes by till we start - then we open a gift every hour or so - sometimes even more just to make our day last and last. This year, the kids even watched a new movie while mom and dad napped for an hour and a half, and we still had gifts to open! Then, we always save the gift from Santa until after dinner. We finish gift opening around 8:00. It's the best! We all have that to really look forward to, all day long. Christmas Day this way has become the only way for us - can't imagine it any other way - we LOVE it!

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It was a wonderful Christmas indeed.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

This year on Christmas Eve, we put away the boxes, and most importantly, the craziness of moving!
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We made cookies for Santa - two kids to a batch. Yes, that's a cake mix box on the table - don't knock 'em till you've tried 'em! They are delicious! To me, any recipe with more than 4 ingredients creates too much stress. These were perfect! An egg for each child - add some oil - stir. Seriously - no fuss. My kind of baking. Besides, we still had loads of fun in the process! I am still trying to forgive Aunt Kelley though - ever since she made "real" chocolate chip cookies with the kids, they tease me and nag me to do it again. Thanks, Kells.

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Anyway... after baking Cake Mix Cookies,

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Chip surprised the kids by telling them to bundle up - I think playing in the snow with dad is their favorite winter activity. Thank goodness, cause their memories of mom in the winter will have to be of me with a camera in my hands - through the closed window! I always get away with saying no when I tell them I will make hot chocolate and cup-o-noodle soup! My little trick...

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(just for fun - that's Taylor's school right behind our fence! When she's running a little behind, she hops on over, and she's at school!)

Opening jammies after a traditional ham dinner has become a fun tradition for us - posing with them and taking their picture has become a fun tradition for dad. :)
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Of course the sprinkling of the reindeer food is a must!

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One Christmas Eve, about 9-ish years ago, Taylor decided to ask Santa a question and put it by his cookies. She figured this was a good way to get an answer straight from Santa himself! I believe her burning question was, "How many elves are there?" Santa's answer was "more than the stars in the sky!" She was dumbfounded. This started the tradition of asking Santa questions and putting them by the cookie plate. We have a priceless collection from over the years! I'm sure it is getting tougher and tougher to answer the questions as they get more creative every year! Next year we'll have to limit the questions to one per child - that poor Santa!

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We always end the night by reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" - page by page. This was the first year we could all read well enough to make it actually flow! It was kind of monumental for Chip and me - it was a moment that made us realize how time truly does fly.

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Christmas Day post next... then finally done with 2008!

A Party We'll Never Forget!

Although I know the Christmasy feeling is gone... I promised myself I would make these next few posts so we wouldn't only remember how crazy, chaotic, and even difficult our Christmas season of 2008 was. So, these next few posts will highlight the times that brought happiness and good feelings - those are the feelings we want to remember the most!

A big highlight this year was one very special Sunday. Hannah got a personal invitation from the Epilepsy Foundation of Idaho to go to a Christmas Party just for kids with epilepsy, and their families. Chip and I found out there was going to be a really cool surprise there. We were so excited and decided not to tell the kids.

On the way there, we told the kids there would be a surprise, and that we wouldn't tell them until it was time. All the kids thought the surprise was going to be Santa Clause -

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Yeah, he was cool and all, but nothing compared to what the real surprise was!

So while we waited, we participated in all of the fun activities there were for the kids, including

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Balloon animals...

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Face (or hand) painting...

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and gingerbread house building...

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I wish I had a picture of the kids reaction when they found out what the surprise was! Look what we got to do!!!
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A helicopter flight over Boise!!!
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Four people rode in the back, and one in the front with the pilot, which was supposed to be an adult, but Chip did what he does best, and somehow weaseled Taylor up there! She didn't want to, but later said she had the best spot - she got to wear head phones and talk to the pilot the whole time!

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Since there are six of us and only five could go at at time, I stayed on the ground and videoed, which was perfectly fine with me! But when everyone came back, Chip said I absolutely have to experience it for myself, so he found a family of four, and once again, did some good weaseling and I went with them!

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And I'm super glad he did! Who knew how awesome that could be?! Besides the feeling of hovering that isn't like an airplane at all, the sights were the best part! We flew right over the State Capitol Building...

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Chip's work - the Qwest Building downtown,
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and the best one - not only did we see the "smurf turf" at Boise State, but the football team was actually practicing when we flew over! That was probably about the time that Jack stopped trembling in fear over the "take off'." It was SO cool!!!

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I don't know if we will ever have this kind of opportunity again. It was amazing.
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It was so great to see Taylor, Aubrey, and Jack treat Hannah the way they did - they focused on her that day, knowing we were there because of her.
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In a conversation later that day, Hannah told Chip, "But dad, nobody there looked like they had epilepsy!" That made us wonder if she thinks she looks different to other people! She also said, "I had no idea other people had epilepsy!" It never occurred to me that she might think she is the only one. We talked a lot that day.
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I am so grateful to the Epilepsy Foundation of Idaho. I think Hannah feels very comforted in a way she might not have before.
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Hannah is amazing. She has routine blood tests next week. When I told her she said, "Yes! I LOVE the band aids they have there!"