Snow Day!

We had a snow day in Reno! I know! Here's Gretchen gazing out on the freakin' freezing magical sight.



We bundled up & ventured outside.



Oh man, it's cold! Gretchen's super swank coat is not enough to make up for the frigid temp!



Gretchen bucked up & got used to the freeze. She got a little brave.



She's a big kid. She takes it in stride.





Then Ella & I scooped up snow & made a snowman. Colby called it a midget, but Ella said he was wrong. It's just a short guy snowman. I said that Colby needs to be more sensitive to what he teaches his kids. Ella said, "Yeah, it's not a midgelet. It's just a snowman." Also, my SoCal heritage (and lack of all winter skills including but not limited to - driving in the snow, scraping windshields, remembering gloves, and making snowmen) is on display in full force here.



We are very very VERY excited to have Britton & Matia & their parents here today. Ella was waiting ALL DAY for them to come. She asked about every 5 minutes if they were here yet. We're glad she's not asking anymore. We're glad they made it here safe & sound. And we're glad our new baby cousin wasn't born in Winnemuca.

Today is Gretchen's birthday. She is ONE YEAR OLD TODAY! So far she's spent the day going to church, eating oranges, following her sister & cousins around the house, and wearing bracelets. Tonight, after a lovely turkey dinner, she'll blow out candles (oh wait, we have candles, right? She might be blowing out a tea light...) open presents, and barking at the dog. It's a full day. We'll document & report back.

Devin and Kira had little Malorie on Dec. 16 at 8:22 am. She is a healthy 7 lbs. We are excited to add her to our five other grandchildren.

New Picture For The Family Photo Wall

Shea, I promise we'll change the background, I just need Krista to log in. Till then....

Kallie's 1st Birthday

 

Because It's All About Her, That's Why!

Incident #1

A few days ago I asked Ella to come down for lunch. Instead of happily obliging, she threw herself down at the top of the stairs and sobbed.
"What's wrong!?!" I asked (not really concerned as drama is frequent around my child).
"I never got to see Santa deliver presents!"
"Santa doesn't come till all the kids are asleep. Santa comes and brings you presents every year! You don't get to see Santa. If you see him, you won't get any presents!"
"But I want to see him!"
"Are you worried he won't know what you want for Christmas? Is that why you want to see him?" (Because in order to get the drama to stop, you must find the root of the problem & solve it).
"Yes" (big sniff, tears rolling down cheeks).
"Ok, we can write Santa a letter to let him know what you want. What are you going to ask him to bring?"
"A ball for Cooper" (Cooper is Aunt Amber's dog. He visits every Sunday. He eats balls.)
"So if we write a letter to Santa telling him you want a ball for Cooper then you'll come downstairs and eat lunch?"
"Yes."
Problem solved. And she got to tell him herself at the party, so we didn't even have to write him a letter...

Incident #2

"Ella, did you get my book from upstairs?" I asked?
"No, Mom, I forgot."
"Can you please go get it?"
"No, I'm a Magical Fairy. Magical Fairy's don't get books."
pause.
"Stop laughing. Mom. Stop laughing."
pause.
"Mom. Stop laughing or I'll turn you into a frog."
Said to baby sister, "Jump little frog!"

Beware the wrath of Magical Fairy Ella. And she doesn't get books. Magical Fairy s don't get stuff.


Incident #3

After Book Of Mormon Stories recap, Ella style, "The Book Of Mormon was brought to you today by the number 7 and the letter L."


In Other News

Yesterday was Ella's party at her preschool. It was pretty cute, all the teachers manned "stations" where the kids could do an activity (make Christmas Cards, ornaments, play a dreidle, etc.). Moms & Dads got to come. Baby Sisters got to come. But the big draw was Santa.

Here Gretchen is thinking: Crap, I'm not cool with this...




No subtitle needed:


Gretchen escaped to a different room while Ella played maraccas for her teacher.


And then she made out with her friend in the phone booth. Altogether, a typical day.

Christmas Exchange

We drew names. It was totally random. Krista did it.

The budget is $30 - $40.

Colby is buying for Angel
Apryl is buying for Krista
Angel is buying for Colby
Shea is buying for Tyler
Amber is buying for Meghan
Tyler is buying for Amber
Meghan is buying for Apryl
Ian is buying for Shea
Krista is buying for Ian

Comment on this post with your wish list. Or don't. See if we care. You'll get Celine Dion CDs. Ha ha.

So what did you think?

I don't even have to ask. You loved it, right? What am I talking about? TWILIGHT! Hello!!! So the glittering was a bit cheesy. So Bella stumbled through all her lines & didn't make us understand why Edward would fall for her. And the special effects left something to be desired. But helloooooo, Edward is hott.

Here we are, waiting in anticipation. OMG, I can't wait! SQUEEEEE!



Quick! Let's document this moment!



To think, we're surrounded by 12 year old girls who share the same obsession!!! Let's text all our friends about it!



Wait, is that.... Grandpa?



Yes, he's contemplating the events in his life that lead up to this moment (somehow talked into attending the opening night of a teenage vampire romance movie...) (And unfortunately I didn't get any photo documentation of Amber & Liz, who got to the theatre 90 minutes pre-show to save us a sweet place in line. Yes, there was a line.)



WAIT!?! Is that Edward? Oh no, it's not. Crap.



It's him! It's him! (I think I was laughing = shaky camera. Or do vampires move to fast to be captured by my Canon PowerShot?)



But this week wasn't all slightly embarrassing obsession over teenage vampires. We also had some fun time with the girls. Including Ella descending from her room in this lovely outfit:



Top to Bottom: Dalmatian Print Beret, Purple Flower PJ Top, Flower/Camo PJ bottoms, Hello Kitty Slippers. She knows what looks good. It's an innate gift.

And we took the girls to the "zoo" (AKA the pet store). Here we are in the "Reptile Exhibit" looking at chameleons. Yay fake zoo!!!



Now I'm going to leave some extra space for you to scroll down & enjoy the view....
































So what have YOU been up to?

Auntie Amber's BACK!!!!! And other random events....

Auntie Amber is home!!! Woo hooo! She went to Croatia. She went to Venice. She went under the Tuscan sun. She brought us back some eycalyptus shampoo & conditioner. She got a pretty purse, cute shoes, a nice dress, and a super cool ring & lots of other stuff. We just watched Twilight movie clips for about an hour. We missed her.

A few weeks ago Ella went to see HSM3. I forgot to post of picture of her in her Gabriella wig, dress & "T-for-Troy" necklace. She wore the wig for approximately 2 more seconds. (It didn't make it through the movie.)


"Oh my gosh, Troy is SO IN LOVE with me!"



If you think this is cute....

And you think this is cute...

...Then you definitely need to watch this:




Ella went to a birthday party at Chuckee Cheese's on Tuesday. They were both VERY IMPRESSED with Chuckee. Not at all creeped out. Not nearly as much as their mom. Note matching shirts - thank you Target.




Yesterday Auntie Amber & I took Ella on a pinecone hunt. We found 2 bags worth. We're going to make a wreathe. But not today. Today I will be sitting a lot & eating a lot. Not moving or being crafty.


Cooper liked the woods too.




Note Ella's sweet checkered pants.


Ella was really in to the rocks. She found a new pet rock that's been dubbed "Rocko". Rocko joined her at a birthday party yesterday, was clutched in her little hand as she fell asleep in the car, joined her when we babysat last night, and slept in bed with her.

That's what WE'VE been up to. How 'bout you?

What The....

Look at what Krista found when she was going through old photos:

Top: Brittany Taylor

Middle: Krista-The-Cute-One, Amber-The-Hottie, Jayci

Bottom: Jamie, Angel-The-Party-Animal, Colby-How-Did-He-Get-Roped-Into-Doing-Something-"Stupid"-Like-This, and Noel (yes, that's him, just with his hair in his face)



And the other gem we found:

(Some super sweet ones from Colby's wedding reception. Becky & Illiyana with Noel)

We need to pick names for Christmas. We'll do it Thanksgiving Weekend & let y'all know. If you want to manipulate the selection process, send an email to Krista or Apryl & we'll make sure to "fix it".

Dancing Queen

We know how to kill time...

Happy Belated Halloweenie!

Happy Halloweenie!

So this is our first time ever blogging so if we totally screw it up, mercy please.  We had a great Halloween with very warm weather so the kids were able to hit more houses and get more candy than ever!  



We went out with our close friends the Atkinsons.  As you can see in the image, Matia was always the last to leave, gracious princess that she was.  One house we went to makes warm donuts every year!  We now have plenty of candy to add to our food storage so we won't starve in a nuclear holocaust.  Guess we need to add some toothpaste to that. 

We unfortunately do not have a picture of Angel in her great witch costume yet but they do exist so we'll post one when available.  Love ya all!  The Schotts.

Happy Halloween!

We had a GREAT day yesterday. First off, it was Nevada Day (where we celebrate the freedom to play slot machines in the grocery store. Thanks Nevada!!!) Grandma, Grandpa, AND Daddy were all home to play. We did some chores in the morning & then around 2p.m. we couldn't put it off any longer. We had to start getting ready. Ella has been excited about her Ariel costume for WEEKS, so we put that on & got her hair all pretty.



The pearls in her hair are from a vintage thrift store necklace that fell apart. Plus some new jewels from our stash.





We went outside to take pictures with baby sister. Baby sister would be excited about her costume if she knew how cute she looked.



Ha ha! Something is hilarous! Maybe baby's eyebrows?



Dread Pirate Gretch commands you to give her candy!!!



OH MY GOSH! We're really get to carve pumpkins?

Yes, dear, we do. This is a "Baby Witch" pumpkin, design by Ella. She's available for commissions.



Dad helped with the hard parts.



Then we went to our friends house & had a lovely dinner of stuffed pumpkins (which the kids all thought was gross but the parents all thought was divine) and home made bread. By this point Ella & her BFF decided to switch costumes. We thought maybe they'd switch back...



But they didn't...



Left the Right: Snow White, Ariel, Towel Monster (her idea, very creative), Capn' Jack Sparrow



Arrrrgh, I want to get candy!



The other dad was a SPACE MAN. And yes, he made his costume. And yes, it was awesome...



The "practice" trick-or-treat. Ella is so happy. She get's candy at every door? AWESOME!!!



OBEY THE DREAD PIRATE GRETCH!!!