Abby's Contract........

Ok....we have discussed Abby's mouth before.....well now we have a contract that she agrees to "be good, say only good" or we can take her car away for 2 weeks!!!!

Here she is reading the "contract" to the Judge (I mean Dad).
The Judge is asking questions pretaining to the contract..... The Defendant......

The Contract is accepted......

I love our legal system!!!!

And I have to say so far....so good!

Happy 9th Birthday Ben........

Today....December 27th is Ben's 9th Birthday!!! We celebrated yesterday by spending the day in St. Louis at the Mill's Mall. We had a great day........

Hope you have a great day..........We love you Ben!!!!

Christmas Cookies.......

This was our first attempt at making Christmas Cookies. We had a good time. We decided next year we need a bunch of different shapes (so I will look at the end of year clearance stuff!) and alot of different icings.

Here is Gabe testing the icing.....
Abby getting ready to start decorating......

We always thought Ben had a "brown nose"!

The aftermath.......It was funny how much fun they were having until it was time to clean up....they all disappeared......

We hope you all have a Blessed and Merry Christmas.........

Gabe's 1st Grade Christmas Program

Gabe had his 1st Grade Christmas Program on December 11. It was very cute. The theme was the Elves Impersanators (I know that's spelled wrong?!).

Here is Elvis...Gabe is just to the left of Elvis in a red sweater with white strip.
There he is again...this time scratching his ear......

He got to play the triangles in the "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" song.....

This was three of the six 1st grade classes. They split it up because not everyone could fix in this little gym.....

He's on the end waving good night to everyone.....

BTW.....all these photos were taking by Ben!! He came with us and because we had to sit so far back he got right up front to take some photos. I think he did a great job.

Operation MOM Repo.......

OK....I know it's been awhile. I honestly did not think alot of people read my blog until I kinda stopped updating! I will try harder to entertain you guys with the "happenings" of our family. So without further notice....

Operation MOM Repo.....

Here's the story. Abby has a way with her mouth that sometimes is not very "nice". Since getting her license we can use this to our advantage and take her car away. One morning before school she started in again, refused to give over her keys and left for school. Now normally I would leave this kinda stuff up to Brian but since he was working I had to come up with something to get her attention right then......this is where Operation MOM Repo comes in. With the help of Ali (and Gabe, he was feeling icky that day), we drove to the Effingham High School and took Abby's car! It was so funny....and I think it got the point acrossed to her. She did not know anything until she came out to her car after school and the car was gone!!! :)

Ali and Gabe with "the key"....

Here is the "subject" for the repo........
Ali and Gabe putting in the key......So far, so good!

They got it opened!! Quick before we get caught!!

Ali with the successful repo!!!!
Sorry Abby but you are such an easy target sometimes!!! We Do love you!!!

The Benny Elf Below.....

This is funny......click on the arrow to get the video to play. Ben is going to kill me when he sees it! :)

Benny Elf

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Gabe and his Bowling Plaque.....

Saturday at Youth Bowling Gabe recieved a plaque for his first high game....102! You have to realize that this is his first year bowling and his average is about 30-40! All the others that got plaques had their photo taken so keep looking for it in the newspaper. He would not put it down (see all the finger marks?) all day....

Gabe's Lost Tooth!

Gabe FINALLY lost his tooth!! It had been hanging on for the last few days and he would not pull it or let anyone else. He was eating a BBQ chip and it came out! Now we have to wait for the one on the bottom to come out......Don't you like his new smile??

Blogging...Who said something about blogging???

Trying to keep up, I sometimes feel like this.....





















and......

Abby took these photos in the car with her cell phone (and no she was not driving).

Seriously, it's been crazy around here. We are constantly coming and going. Abby gets her license this Saturday and I will be ready to have help with the running around! She is doing great with basketball. Gabe FINALLY has 2 loose teeth! He thought it was cool until I told him he had to pull them out! I don't know what he thought was going to happen to them. There are two things as a Mom I will not do (clean up vomit (sorry) and pull teeth). These two things have always freaked me out. This week is Thanksgiving and we are going to get out the Christmas stuff this weekend! I am looking forward to it.

Happy 16th Birthday Abigail!!!!!

Today is Abby's 16th Birthday.....Her "Golden" Birthday

Now from the go-cart track to the city streets!! YIKES!!

Here is Abby celebrating her "fake" birthday on our trip to Florida!

Happy Birthday Abby......we love you!

A Few Fall Photos.....

Just a few photo to share......We have been busy this week with No School due to Veterans Day, Band Banquet, Brian and I had a presentation with the Effingham County Daycare, I am working on painting our dining room, several doctor's appts., Meet the Lady Hearts on Friday night and just plain stuff that comes with work and school....Next week proves to be more of the same. Girls Basketball kicks off so we are looking forward to watching Abby play this year. She is playing Fresh/Soph and also JV.

A little side note....Brian has his 6 month check with Dr. Floyd (his cancer doc) on Monday. Please say a prayer or good thought that everything still looks good. I can't believe that it's been 6 months of cancer free and that this time last year we were just beginning this chapter of our lives. Now on the to the photos...............

Here is Gyp-Z and Abby.....
Can you see Gabe??

He is having way too much fun.......

Playing in the leaves......

Ben and Gabe......

Meet the Newest Member of the Schuette Zoo.....

We picked up our new puppy on Saturday afternoon.....We finally decided on the name Gyp-Z (Gypsy). That's the way Abby wanted to spell it....Here are a few photos from the first night.
Shakes is looking up at us asking "Is IT going to stay??"

She loves attention and sitting on your lap......

In Honor of.......

Thank you for all those who have served or are serving our Country!!! God Bless you all!!!

A Rainbow......

We had some rain today but by 430pm the sun was setting in the west and a full rainbow was shining over Effingham.....

My photos don't do the colors justice....I have not see one this bright for a long time. There was even a point that it was starting a second rain band.....This photo also shows the wonderful power lines behind our house! :P

I had mentioned to Fr. Daren about a rainbow we saw once while attending a Cardinals Baseball game in St. Louis. Here is the stadium (see the Arch in the background?)

This one show that the rainbow actually came INTO Busch stadium.....You can also see the double rain band. This is one of my all time favorite photos I have ever taken......I love rainbows!! I used to have them all over my room when I was growing up (those and also my frogs!! :)

Halloween 2008......

We stopped at Dairy Queen cause they were having a "Costume Contest". For coming in the boys got an ice cream cone.........and guess what? They won! Ben and Gabe have a free 10" ice cream cake as their prize.....guess what we are eating this weekend? Here they are eating their ice cream....Gabe had to take off his costume so it looks like a robot joined them for a treat!
Visiting Ali at Walgreens......

Ben and Gabe......

Gabe as Mr. Roboto......

Ben as "Tony Hawk".....