Gavin's Thanksgiving Program

Mr. Gavin recently had his very first Preschool program. The kids were so cute! The teachers showed us things they have been learning, and they sang Thanksgiving songs.

Gavin's Indian name was Red Arrow

Miss Lexi waiting to hear the kids sing!

Gavin's turkey and Indian drum

We love Gavin's school! Gavin especially. His teacher called last week for a conference and said that she enjoys Gavin so much. "He is so sweet and kind, and I wish every child were like him," I believe were her exact words! She said he gets along with all the children, and everybody loves him. He is also right were he needs to be with everything they are working on, including writing. He can write his name, although they are working on getting him to use lower case letters. He is much more comfortable with all upper case. The "music and movement" teacher reported that he has trouble skipping. Not too worried about that one :-)

Here is the video of the program. Mrs. Prather, the leader of the "Integrity Time" segment is Gavin's teacher.

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I hate that Gavin was right behind the podium, you couldn't see him very well. Did you like Lexi's rendition of the ABC song? I guess she got tired of not being the center of attention.

And in true holiday spirit, I would like you all to know that I am thankful for YOU! All our family and friends. We are so blessed to have all of you in our lives!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Changes for the Schnacks

I can't believe summer is over! Gavin started pre-school last Monday. He's going Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's. I LOVE his school. I can't tell you how many times I teared up at orientation just knowing that my baby boy is growing up, he's going to have SO much fun at school, and that the staff is going to love my precious boy. It's great to know that he is in such a loving, nurturing environment when I drop him off. I think Lexi kind of misses her brother because before we are even out of the parking lot, she asks, "Is it time to pick up Gavin yet?"

Here is Gavin on his first day of school! I meant to get more pictures of him when we got there, but my battery died. I'm lucky I got this one!

Miss Lexi started climbing out of her crib, so we decided that it would be a good time to convert to a toddler bed. That was about a week ago. Since then, naps have been very few and far between, and bedtime takes a while. The terrible two's have become the torturous two's. Lord help me!

At least she's cute!

Gavin the Photographer, Character Breakfast, and More!

So I finally uploaded all the pictures from Gavin's camera that he got for Christmas. (I know, I know, I'm a horrible mother). All 750 of them. Most of them got erased, like the 250 that he took of the TV while he was watching a movie one day. But, I have to admit he had some pretty interesting shots in there. It's fun to see his world, through his eyes!

Lots of pictures of his toys!

He loves the fun frames and effects

Lots of pictures of himself!

He likes to take pictures while we're driving in the car.

This is a picture of a picture :-)

This morning we had breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy Duck, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and lots of Princesses. A local restaurant did this as a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Lexi was excited to dress up in her "pretty, pretty dress." Gavin wanted to dress up too, so he wore his fireman stuff.

Enjoying some chocolate chip pancakes!

Gavin ran up to Woody and Buzz as soon as he saw them and gave them both big hugs.

Ariel

Snow White

Tinkerbell

Gavin traded his fire hat for a cowboy hat.

Sweet girls! Lexi and her friend Lily.

And I just had to share these pics...baby's first ponytail!

Well, that's all for now!

Cute Videos for You!

So the other day Lexi was playing with Gavin's doctor set. She said she was doctoring Hank. I explained to her that a doggie doctor was called a Veterinarian. So she started saying "I a veterinarian." Cutest thing ever. But of course when I get the video camera out, she forgot the big word and became a "green" doctor. Oh the life of a two year old!

Gavin has been having a blast this summer in all of his summer camps. Last week he went to an arts and sports camp. He played soccer for his sports block, and had a music class for his arts block. On the evening of the last day of camp, they had performances for the parents. It was Gavin's first experience on stage! Me being the emotional mother that I am, got tears in my eyes. He's getting so darn big!

Enjoy the videos! Sorry for the shaking videography during Gavin's performance, Miss Lexi decided she wanted to be the camera man!

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This one is for Grandma Mary, who for some reason couldn't see the videos in my last post:

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Happy Summer!!

It's been a hot summer already! We've been cooling off from the 100 degree temps with lots of water activites:

Gavin is enjoying Vacation Bible School this week, and so is Mommy! I forgot how easy it is to just have one child! G-man is in for a great summer with all the summer camps we have him signed up for. Starting next week he will be doing a "Spy Kids" summer program every Tuesday morning, and the last week of June he is doing a Sports and Arts 3-day camp.  Miss Lexi was a little unsure about not having Gavin around the first day we dropped him off. She kept saying "I wanna see Gavin," and was quite cranky. But I guess she got used to the idea, because today we had a great girls day together! Here's a little video of our dance party we had this morning. Make sure you have your volume up so you can hear her sing the "We Did It" Dora song!

Oh yeah, and it's worth mentioning that Lexi is now paci free! She only ever took one when she went to sleep, so I wasn't too concerned with taking it away from her. But, lately she's been chewing holes in them. We only had one left, and when that one got a hole in it, she didn't want it anymore. She'd say "paci broken." She asked for another one, but I told her we didn't have any. The poor baby was heartbroken! Luckily it only lasted for a couple of days. Now when it's time to go to sleep, she'll still state that "paci broken," but she's not upset over it anymore. Yay!

Happy Summer y'all!!

Oops, I did it again!

The Schnacks are busy people, people! I know I promised more frequent posts, but, once again I have let everything pile up. Let's see...in the past few weeks we have had Easter, Mommy ran a half marathon, Lexi turned 2, Grandma Mary came to visit, we made a overnight trip to New Orleans, and Gavin had his first T-ball game! Whew, I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

Spring time brings lots of fun activities around here. The weather is great, and there are lots of family festivals. The kids enjoyed several Easter egg hunts as well as some fun Easter activities with our MOMS group. Easter itself was pretty uneventful for us with no family around :-(

I am very proud to announce that I finished my first half marathon (13.1 miles) in 2 hours, 1 minute, and 20 seconds. I placed 36th in my age group of about 150 runners, and 199th overall out of 700 runners. I thought I would be ready to be done with running for a while after it was over, but it just left me pumped up for more!

Up next...Little Miss Alexia is 2!!! Wow, how time flies. We had a little party for her here at the house. Our backyard was turned into "The Minnie Mouse Cupcake House." So appropriate for a little girl who adores both Minnie Mouse and cupcakes!!  The kids decorated "minnie" cupcakes to take home, made bubble art, and played in the back yard. We finally had a party with no rain! A first in the 3 years that we have lived here!

Grandma Mary made her bi-annual trip to see us, and we had so much fun! We made an overnight trip to New Orleans, did some sight seeing, took a carriage tour of the Quarter, went to the zoo, and ate lots of yummy food! Lexi really enjoyed her first beignet, especially the powdered sugar :-) Mommy and Daddy got to go out on the town to visit Bourbon Street, and saw 50 Cent and Robert De Niro! A good time had by all!

Last, but not least, Gavin had his first T-ball game on Saturday. Pure cuteness. Baseball is a little more complex for a 4 year old to grasp than soccer! But, Gavin did great. I was especially impressed by his base running. Most kids didn't understand to run to the next base after the ball was hit, but Gavin did awesome! He was quite speedy, and even slid into home! The poor kid was stuck in left field for the first inning, but still ran into the infield to try to get every ball hit :-)  I think the coach recognized his desire to get the ball (as most kids just watched it go by) and put him at 1st base for the second inning. It took him a few plays to figure out that he had to stay at 1st and not chase after the ball, but he eventually got the hang of it. And he got to chase the ball plenty because the kids are learning to throw every ball they get to first. And at this age, there is no catching going on :-)

Here is a montage of pictures from all of the above craziness. We are not about to slow down, as we are leaving for Wisconsin on Thursday!

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So it's been awhile...

It has been a long, long time since my last blog! We have been so stinkin' busy, I have lost all track of time! Let's see, what is new with the Schnackenberg's?

Oh yes, Greg and I turned 30! Man, I can remember being a teenager and thinking that 30 was OLD! I wasn't going to let the big 3-0 slip by, especially since our birthdays are so close together. However, I knew HE would never go for a big party, so it would have to be a surprise! And what better way to celebrate than to make it an 80s theme in honor of our birth year? Greg was so completely surprised, and was such a good sport! We had so much fun, and it was definitely a night we will never forget. I already posted a lot of pictures from the night on Facebook, so here are just a couple of my favs!



My friend Elizabeth captured us when we walked in and saw everybody waiting for us!

The fact that my mom, sister, and niece came from Wisconsin made the night even more special!



I love this pic! Laura and I singing "I Love Rock and Roll"



I have also been crazy busy with The Cake Momma! I think this is the first week I haven't had an order in almost 2 months. I entered in a Cupcake Competition last weekend, and my vanilla cupcake filled with strawberries, topped with white chocolate buttercream icing won me $100! Here are some of my projects of late. Click on the Cake Momma badge on the left to see the rest of my gallery on my Facebook page.

We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade again this year. Always a good time!

One tired out parade go-er.

We finally got our foundation fixed...YAHOOO!! Now, hopefully Greg will be able to sleep at night. None of his worst fears happened: our floor didn't buckle, and pipes didn't burst. In fact, everything works much better now: the garage door works again, and the dishwasher and shower doors don't stick anymore! Crazy how functional your house can be when it's level!

They poured cement and installed jacking pads to lift the north end of our house 2.5 inches! 

I think we had about 6 gigantic holes.

Damn the Yazoo Clay in Mississippi!!

Let's see, what else? Oh Yeah! Diddle diddle dotty, Lexi's using the potty! I thought she was ready a couple of months ago and started the potty training process. BUT, I was wrong. She had no problem sitting on the potty...she would do that for hours as long as she had a book to read (as you will see in the video)! But, she never tee-teed (southern term). Nope, she would do that in her big girl underwear seconds after she got OFF the potty! I decided that she was too young and said forget it. I started sitting her on the potty again a few weeks ago, and this time it was like magic! It all clicked and she got it. She has been wearing big girl underwear ever since, and has had very few accidents! Yay, no more diapers!!!! Here is a video Greg snuck in and got during our first potty training attempt. Don't mind her totally non matching outfit, that was probably her 3rd or 4th change of pants that day!

Well, I think you are now caught up on life with the Schnacks. I promise I will try to update more often!

Greg Earns Dad of the Year Award, and Gavin the Soccer Stud

Gavin played his first soccer games on Saturday! We were all very excited, yet disappointed because Greg was in California for some training, and was going to miss it. He was due to get back Saturday afternoon, after Gavin's games. Minutes before we were getting ready to head to the field, I glance out the window and saw Greg's car pulling in the driveway! He went straight to the airport after training ended Friday afternoon and pulled an all-nighter at the airport trying to get on a flight that would get him home in time for Gavin's games. Definitely Dad of the Year in our book!

Gavin LOVES soccer, and I have to admit, I have never been more proud of the kid. He was the most focused, well-behaved kid at his first ever soccer practice on Friday night. When all of the other children where goofing off, Gavin had no part of it. I have never seen him listen so well in his life! He had so much fun at practice, I didn't think he would even sleep that night because of his excitement for his games the next day. And what a day for soccer...74 degrees and sunny!!

Ready to play!

Practicing!

Game time!

Enjoying some fruit between games with his new friend John Dean.

Shaking hands with the other team...a new concept for these boys!



So, I thought I was a competitive person, but we actually saw parents bribing their children to score goals by paying them dollar bills (on the field!) and using candy. These boys are 4! I'm sure it will only get worse as he gets older....

Gavin did a great job (no bribes needed)! He scored the very first goal for his team, and ended up scoring a total of 3 goals, and one own goal :-) Here are some highlights from the games. I would have loved to put the whole video on here...the kids trying to take the game 20 yards off the field, tripping over each other, etc...they are just so cute! You will have to excuse my videographer skills...it turns out it's quite hard to video and watch the game at the same time! Which is why I was filming the grass when Gavin scored his second goal... Also note Grady's mom encouraging Grady to "get the ball" when Gavin had it...Grady and Gavin are teammates! Grady's parents happen to be the ones bribing with candy.

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After Gavin played his two games, his coach asked if he would stay and play another with a team that only had two players show up.  Two girls. Gavin was more than happy to play another game. WOW is there a difference between boys and girls! The first play of the game one of the girls started crying because the other team scored a goal. After that she didn't want anything to do with the game. The other girl didn't even start with an interest...she was at the sideline talking to her mom the whole time. So, it was Gavin against the other team. The poor kid didn't stand a chance, but he played his little heart out none the less. After the game he told me he was sad because the other team kept beating him. My sweet, sweet boy! Greg and I are so incredibly proud of him, and we are all excited to see what the rest of the season brings!