Little No Turns 7!

How do I even begin to describe my little No? I'm not going to bother trying but will rather quote various lines from that famous song the nuns sing about Maria in the movie "Sound of Music" except I will substitute Noah's name.

     How do you solve a problem like Noah?
     How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
     How do you find a word that means Noah?
     A flibbertijibbet! A will-o'-the wisp! A clown!

    Many a thing you know you'd like to tell him
    Many a thing he ought to understand
    But how do you make him stay
    And listen to all you say
    How do you keep a wave upon the sand

   Oh, how do you solve a problem like Noah?
   How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

   When I'm with him I'm confused
   Out of focus and bemused
   And I never know exactly where I am;
   Unpredictable as weather,
   He's as flighty as a feather,
   He's a darling! He's a demon! He's a lamb!

   He'd outpester any pest
   Drive a hornet from its nest
   He could throw a whirling dervish out of whirl.
   He is gentle! He is wild!
   He's a riddle! He's a child!
   He's a headache! He's an angel!
   He's a boy!!

All these lines describe Noah to a tee but this is my favorite:

     I'd like to say a word in his behalf...
    Noah makes me laugh!

And laugh we do - ALOT! He is crass, gross, hilarious, silly, a pure entertainer, and such a little ham.  Kids swarm to him like moths to a flame. He is like the Pied Piper and others just follow him! He makes me so mad one minute and then has me laughing hysterically the next. I adore and love this little guy so much and don't know what our family would be like without him.

Birthday morning balloons!

Noah wanted donuts for his birthday breakfast.

His favorite are the ones with pink frosting and sprinkles.

Noah's favorite present this year was that his Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer were here to celebrate his special day. Oh, and that Ipod he got. Yes, we are cheap parents. David had recently received a new phone for work so I got his old one so we passed down my old, cracked phone to Noah to use as an "Ipod" for the games. He didn't seem to mind that it wasn't brand new.

Later that evening we had a family party and Noah got to open the rest of his presents. He sure loves his Grandma!

And Star Wars legos!

Gifts from siblings are always great!

And so is a Scentsy gorilla to add to his monkey stuffed animal collection!

Noah was soooo excited to get his favorite Orioles player's jersey (even though he keeps calling him Wieners).

My little soldier! He loved the dress up and struck the pose perfectly for the picture.

Blowing out candles! So hard to believe he's seven!!

7 Fun Facts About Noah:
     1. Best Smile Ever!!!
     2. Noah is a great storyteller and can really tell some whoppers. Thank goodness for his "lying" face because sometimes I need to know if he's making something up.
     3. Noah is an entertainer through and through. He has no problem getting up in front of tons of people and dancing, singing, or hamming it up and isn't the least bit embarrassed.
     4. He loves motorcycles and always insists that I drive very slowly as we pass the motorcycle shop so he can check them out.
     5. Anyone who knows Noah knows that he wants to be a soldier when he grows up and he gets very excited whenever he sees a soldier in uniform. As we drove through the base on Memorial Day his excitement was overflowing and he kept yelling out, "Tanks! Vehicles! Soldiers!" He is always bringing home books about soldiers from the library and he spends hours poring over them and pointing out all the specifics to me.
    6. Noah is a little artist and goes through tons of paper as he draws pictures of his favorite subjects which include knights, soldiers, and Star Wars guys.
    7. Noah is definitely not my healthiest eater, much preferring candy and snacks to a nutritious meal.

Noah's Favorites at Age 7:
     Animal:  monkey
     TV Show:  Chima
     Movie:  any Scooby Doo
     Color:  green
     Food:  pasta
     Fruit:  strawberries
     Vegetable:  carrots
     Sport to Watch:  baseball
     Sport to Play:  soccer
     Sports Player:  Matt Wieters
     Sports Team:  Baltimore Orioles
     Dessert:  pumpkin pie
     Candy:  Hershey's cookies and cream bar
     Book:  any Scooby Doo
     Song:  Take Me Out to the Ball Game (too cute)
     To Do:  hike
     Toy:  Legos (shocker)
     Holiday:  Halloween
     Season:  fall
     Restaurant:  Panera
     Place to Go:  Medieval Times (we were driving there as he answered these questions)
     Scripture Hero:  Samuel the Lamanite
     Temple:  DC
     To Be When He Grows Up:  Medieval Times Worker and a Soldier
     Best Friends:  Ava, Fin, Jacob, and Kellan
    
    
    
         

My Beautiful Flowers

David got laid off at the end of January. Yes, total bummer. But what I was not expecting was the amazing month we had following his lay off. The last time he was laid off we had three months of nervousness, stress, good days, definitely some bad days, lots of time together, and lots of time worrying but we did survive and did make it through. This time around was a completely different experience. I can honestly say that neither of us had a bad or dark day. There was never a stressful moment, never a worry that things wouldn't work out. We felt supported and blessed the entire time he was out of work and even had an amazing faith-promoting experience that I will always cherish. Our Heavenly Father showed us time and time again that He is aware of us, knows our needs, and loves us tremendously. Who knew that such a trial would end up being such a great blessing in our lives but it definitely was. At the very end of February David got a new job, a job that he is extremely excited about and one that will challenge him. The only hard thing about this job is there is some travel involved and the days away from me and the kids came quickly. David spent much of March and April away from us, placing me in a single mom status. Thank goodness the kids are older and not as much work, other than the driving them around to various activities. One day while David was away these beautiful flowers arrived with a note telling me how much he loves and appreciates all that I am doing. He is the best!

Aren't they beautiful?

He doesn't buy me flowers very often so I was thrilled to get them!

March Madness, Baby!

March Madness is definitely one of our favorite times of the year. This year, however, I was still in the throes of my horrid sickness so, unlike previous years where I study my brackets for several days leading up to the start of the tournament, I barely had them filled out and sent in by tip off of the first game. (I am going to forever blame my poor performance on that!) Also, David was once again out of town for the first day of the tourney so we really didn't have a fun kick off lunch or dinner or anything like what I had wanted to do. Oh, well. This year we did have the kids join in the fun and they all filled out their brackets with their favorite teams emerging victorious. Normally I just let them pick whoever they want, with no helpful hints or direction, but I could not let Xander choose to have BYU in the Final Four. I just couldn't! After assuring him that they probably wouldn't even make it past the first round and that he really needed to change that pick, I got an earful from him as he angrily erased them. He told me that he was going to be so mad at me if they did make it to the Final Four. I laughed and told him I was not worried, not one little bit! And thank goodness for him that he did make that change because guess who went out in the first round, like always?
Overall I was pretty impressed with the kids and they actually did a great job on their picks. Savannah even got one of her regions completely correct all the way to the final four. Amazing! Xander ended up winning out of our kids but it was pretty close.  And all the kids did better than me. Yikes!
Grandpa sent each of us a certificate for participating in the family March Madness Tournament as well as some prize money. 

For the Schaeffer family tournament David came in first place in the round by round so he was obviously very pleased with himself...and his winnings!

The most important thing, though, is that we all had a great time watching the games together and talking a little smack with our loved ones. Who doesn't like to be called a crack head by their brother-in-law just because one is able to make a huge comeback and tie for third with him.  It's all done with such love!

Third Place

Xander's soccer team had such a great second session of indoor soccer, remaining undefeated the whole season, beating every team by a margin of at least 6 goals, until the last game where they ended up tying the 2nd place team. Then, in the first game of the playoffs, they lost 2-1. Unfortunately the team they lost to, which was ranked 6th overall, was a team that had actually divided their team into two teams so they would have more games to play throughout the season. For the playoff game they actually took the best players from the two teams to play against us. Technically it was a legal move but ethically, well, maybe not so much. Still, our boys could have won if they had brought their A game but they didn't. The aggression and speed which had been displayed all season were definitely missing. After losing their first playoff game they came out with more fire for their next game, winning that which propelled them into the game for 3rd place. Thank goodness the hunger and desire was still there and they easily won that game, securing 3rd place for the season. Not too shabby!
One last pep talk by Coach Kevin.

Enjoying some end-of-season cupcakes!

A great indoor season finally comes to an end!

Jewelry Bar!

Although I was still feeling pretty crummy the Friday after St. Patrick's Day, I just did not have the heart to cancel Savannah's fun Origami Owl Jewelry Bar Party that we had planned. She was having five of her friends, plus their mothers, over for a night of charm building, eating yummy treats, and chatting. I still don't know how I got through the night but it was well worth it because Savannah had a ton of fun with her friends.
Putting their charm bracelets together!

My cute girl had a hard time choosing which ones she wanted because there are so many fun ones to choose from.

We even played a few games, including this charm transfer game. It was tricky!

The party was a total success and Savannah and I earned a bunch of free items. Here's my locket and charms I ordered for the spring. I absolutely love it!

And now Savannah is begging to have another Origami Owl jewelry bar!  I think we'll give it a few months.

St. Patrick's Day 2014

St. Patrick's Day 2014 - a day I will never forget though in some ways I would love to. It started off like every other St. Patty's Day. Xander and Noah raced to the traps they had set to catch the leprechauns. Bummer! Foiled again!

The kids ran around the house checking out the mayhem that the leprechaun left. That one pesky leprechaun...he just can not tone down the messes. In fact, each year he gets a little worse. I am definitely getting tired of his antics! The kids love it, however, especially because they aren't the ones who have to clean it up!

The other leprechaun, however, is so sweet and leaves fun little candies for the kids to enjoy. Yummy gold chocolate coins!

And guess what? We got lots and lots of snow!! Another snow day for the kids. Man, these leprechauns were really up to no good this crazy day.

David was leaving to go out of town for a week so he made the kids some St. Patrick's Day pancakes for breakfast.  Xander is always such a great little helper in the kitchen.

Lovely green pancakes.

As the day wore on I started to feel pretty crummy. Both Savannah and Noah had battled the stomach flu the week before so I was pretty certain that as soon as David went out of town, I would get it. I tried to ignore how I was feeling and hung out with the kids all day and then prepared our yummy traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage. Amazingly enough I did eat some though that certainly came back to bite me later on. After dinner we all settled in to watch one of our favorites, Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Within the first twenty minutes of the movie, Noah announced that he had lost his tooth!

To celebrate he joined the leprechauns from the movie and danced a wee jig!

About half way through the movie I announced that I was not feeling well and was going up to bed. Thank goodness the kids are older and can take care of themselves because the stomach flu hit full force and I was out of commission from that point on. I was up the entire night and as Tuesday came and then Wednesday and I was not feeling any better I started to wonder what exactly I had. After doing some research I surmised, from my symptoms, that I might have had viral gastroenteritis which is pretty common. The symptoms are very similar to the stomach flu but last much, much longer. I was down from Monday and finally stumbled downstairs Thursday morning to check on the condition of my house.  The kitchen was a scary sight but at least I knew the kids were eating!  Of course David was gone this entire time and every day when we would talk on the phone he sounded so dismayed to hear that I wasn't feeling any better. Yeah, I wasn't too happy about it either.  Thank goodness for Savannah and the tremendous help she was in getting the boys fed and off to school each day. I did not feel totally better until the following Tuesday, just over a week since it had begun. It was one of the worst illnesses I have ever gone through and I shudder when I think back on how terrible I felt during that time. And I sincerely hope that one day I will actually be able to eat corned beef again.

We Love This Book!

Moroni's promise at the end of the Book of Mormon is awesome but I also love Nephi's words at the end of 2 Nephi: "And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good. And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye - for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness." (2 Nephi 33:10-11)

In March we finished another reading of the Book of Mormon! It is not always easy to do our scripture reading each morning - we battle the clock, we battle grumpy kids, we battle Noah screaming from his room that he is NOT coming down to read scriptures because he wants to play Legos, we battle Xander refusing to read because of some odd reason, and there is always the battle over who gets to read first. Yes, it can be tough but it is so worth it! It is amazing to witness the understanding come into my children's eyes as we discuss different principles of the gospel; it is awesome to hear Noah tell all about Samuel the Lamanite over and over and over again; and it is well worth it to read their special testimonies of what the Book of Mormon means to them. I asked the kids who their favorite Book of Mormon heroes were and Savannah answered Ammon and Captain Moroni, Xander went with Nephi, and Noah picked Samuel the Lamanite (of course) as well as Captain Ramoni! (I'm pretty sure reading the Ramona books lately caused a little confusion as to Captain Moroni's name.) We are so grateful for the Book of Mormon!