Great Weekend at the Wilderness...

We headed up to the Wilderness Resort this weekend in the Dells to celebrate Christmas with my family.  We had a great time.  It was fun enjoying the waterparks while it snowed outside.  We had a great dinner, opened presents, and got to see Christopher, my 23 year old in his footy jammies!  We ate too much food, and rode the rides, enjoyed the lazy river, and had fun watching the snow fall while wearing our bathing suites!  I am not sure who enjoyed playing with the nerf guns more the big boys or the little ones.  I will post some pictures of the weekend when I get them!  It was a great time! 

Back From the DEAD!

Okay...So it's been awhile since I posted anything...It's been a busy couple of months!  I am sorry and I promise to do a better job!  Here are some pictures from the last two months...

Kids with our Pumpkins...Goofy kids! (Elijah, Kale, & Rylee)

Halloween 2010

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook

Jen & Jesse's Wedding

Planning...

So I have been trying to do my best at planning out meals!  It's so much easier when I get home to know what I have to make in the house.  I don't have to dig through the cupboards trying to piece things together, I just grab it and go.  It's also a lot cheaper too.  I can buy stuff on sale, use coupons etc.  The only bad part is taking the time on the weekend to plan and shop.  I saw this thing on the internet today that was talking about how there is a family in Arizona or somewhere like that, that calls themselves the cheapest family in america!  They go shopping once a month and buy in bulk, then they freeze and divide up things for meal the rest of the month.  She plans out 30 days of meals!  Her average bill is about $350 bucks to feed a family of 7 for a month!  Here I am thinking I am doing a great job shopping and planning out one week at time.  I guess I have lots of room for improvement!  Ha Ha! 

Rylee's Soccer - Fall 2010

Rylee waiting for her team mate to throw the ball in to play.

Rylee throwing the ball into play.

Game time play.

Rylee is playing Soccer again this year.  She seems to like it.  I am helping coach her team again this year.  1st/2nd Grade soccer is a lot different then Kindergarten soccer was.  We play with goalies and real size goals.  They play 7 on 7, and actually have positions (instead of just all the kids bunching together).  Since both 1st and 2nd graders play on the same teams, and our team has 9 1st graders and only 2 2nd graders on it, we are struggling to score goals.  But I think the kids are having a good time.  I know that Rylee would like to score a goal, we have 3 games done and 3 games to go.  We are hoping that one of these days we will score, but she likes to play!  I am glad that my co-coach is a soccer player, cause I am learning along with the kids!  Go Lime Green Gators!

Fontier Town...

Eli & our Town

Using some of the presents the boys got for their birthday we built our own Frontier Town.  The kids played for hours with the trains and Lincoln Logs!  It was a blast!  Mommy had fun too! 

Ladies Man...

Eli & Lexi

Eli & Ella

Eli is going to be our Ladies Man...Look out all you Dad's with Little Girls (Kris & Kato)!

Birthday Party

Eli's w/ his Tractor Cake

Eli opening Presents

Kale with his "Puzzle" Cake

Kale opening presents

Saturday we celebrated the boy's Brithdays!  It was a lot of fun!  The kids we so excited about everyone coming and of course all of the presents!  They had a great day!  They have been playing with the new toys since.  It's been very peaceful! Thank you to everyone that came and made their Birthdays' special!

Jen's Shower & Bachelorette Party

College Gang @ Shower - Jodi, Jen, Stacey, Amy

Jen w/ Bridesmaids (Amy, Jenny, Jen, Zickert, Johanna)

Jen & Amy @ Bachelorette Party

Jen telling me to come dance!

Jodi & I

Jen, Deanna, and Jodi - Group Hug

Jen & Jodi...Jen may have been drinking?

We had Jen's shower & bachelorette party this weekend.  It was a very nice time.  First we had the shower earlier in the day, and then the Bachelorette party at night.  We ate lots of food, drank lots of booze, and had a great time!  We danced, did a scavenger hunt, and celebrated!  It was fun.  The only bad thing...Recovering on Sunday!  AHH! 

Kale's 2nd Birthday

Kale enjoying Cake on his 2nd birthday!

Kale playing with Train! 

Kale turned 2 years old on the 10th of September!  It was a fun night.  Tim & Emily came up to help us celebrate.  We ordered fish and Kale opened his gifts from Mom & Dad, and Rylee & Kale.  He really liked the fact that Mommy let him eat 2 cupcakes!  He played with his new toys.  Then later in the night, he decided to wear Rylee's Minnie Mouse ears and play trains...Don't judge...Like the saying goes...It's my birthday and I can do what I want!  Happy Birthday Little Man! 

Tim & Emily's Wedding

Tim & Emily 09-04-2010

Exchanging Rings

Trent & Mark

Judy, Tim, & Emily

Kale Playing Baseball

Tim & Emily had a great day for their wedding.  It was a nice ceremony, and fun celebration!  Everyone enjoyed the food and fun!  Trent got a little teary when he gave the "bestman" speech, and we all enjoyed a champaigne (or sparkling grape juice) toast after they got married.  It was a great time, and we are so excited to welcome Emily to the Schneider Family! 

Elijah's 4th Birthday

Eli opening baseball on his birthday from Mom & Dad

Cheese!  Eli with his cake.

We celebrated Eli's 4th birthday.  Grandma Sharon was down and made him a cake.  He opened his present from Mom & Dad.  He also got a tractor from Kale & Rylee.  It was a fun night!  He was very excited to celebrate being 4 years old.  He got phone calls from several people and really enjoyed them.  He is getting to be such a big boy! 

Olbrich Gardens and the Zoo

The whole Gang in the Olbrich Tower

(Mom, Sally, Rylee, Dad, Chris, Eli, Kale, Mikki & Cash)

Mom and Dad in the Gravel Garden @ Olbrich

Eli and a cheesy smile

Rylee, Eli, & Cash on the Stone Elephant in the Thai Garden

Butterfly!

Chris & Sally...in serious Conversation!

Dad & Mikki on one of the paths.

Rylee @ Olbrich (after Grandpa splashed her)

Kale Exploring @ Olbrich

Yesterday, We headed to Olbrich Garden's with the family.  Chris did his internship there this summer, and several of us had never been there.  So we decided to go visit, and take the kids.  It was a great HOT day.  After the tour of Olbrich and a nice picnic lunch, we headed to the Zoo for a bit!  It was a nice day!  I think everyone had a good time.

Visit w/ Grandma & Grandpa Schneider

Rylee and Grandma Schneider "crafting"

Rylee, Grandpa Schneider, and Eli going out to see the cows.

On Tuesday we headed down to Hollandale to visit Grandma and Grandpa Schneider.  We hadn't seen them since Christmas, so it was a very nice visit.  The kids went with Grandpa to see his cows.  Which Eli & Kale we afraid of.  Grandma and Rylee did some crafts (tried to make a corn necklace).  We caught up with them, and played.  It was a great afternoon.  The only issue we had is that their road is under construction and if it wasn't for the nice guy in the Bulldozer we might not have made it to their house.   He had to clear a path for us to get in the driveway.

Splash?

Rylee's Big Spash!

Eli's little Splash!

Wisconsin Dells Vacation 2010

Rylee, Kale, and Trent on the "Duck" Ride

Elijah on the Train @ Mt. Olympus

Kale and Rylee in the Caboose!

Rylee & Eli on one of the Waterslides

Rylee & Eli on the Roller Coaster - (Rylee with Hands up!)

Trent & Kale on the Bumper Boats

Rylee driving the Bumper Boat

After Dinner @ Restarant...Rylee the Pirate riding the Gator!

It was a very fun couple days!  The kids had a lot of fun, and Mom and Dad got wore out!  We found out that Eli is a water monster, and Rylee is a dare devil.  Eli will go up and down the waterslides all day if you let him, and Rylee loved the Roller Coasters!  I had to go on the big ones with her, and she loved them!  Kale was too little for a lot of stuff, but still had fun in the play area and lazy river.  He also loved the Train! 

Choo Choo!