For the LOVE of PETE

I've been saying that ALOT lately..... for one thing I'm trying DESPERATELY not to cuss as much... and saying FOR THE LOVE OF PETE.... is long... there are lots of vowels and it does make me feel a little better especially since my friend Sally said.... "This Pete fellow sure has been getting a lot of love".... It makes me smile .... and makes me wish I had a really good friend named Pete.....

But the reason I've been needing to avoid cussing is because people have really been annoying the crap out of me the last few days.... NO i'm not PMSing or Prego.... just once again I am amazed at how people can take something beautiful & simple.... and turn it UGLY and complicated.
Ok so let me give you some background, I'm the president of My son's PTA.... I've been getting alot of information from the National PTA on ways to get fathers more involved in our school. There are TONS of articles that talk about the importance of a father's involvement, the way it effects the child's view of school, the child's self esteem, the grades that a child earns...... litter ally their a million articles on the web that will basically tell you that but in much greater detail and much more eloquently than I.
So in one of the above mentioned articles it gives ideas on things a PTA can do to help get fathers involved.... one of many ideas listed was a father daughter dance....... Oh how cute... little girls dancing on their daddies feet.... getting a dressed up ..... getting pictures taken....... and just feeling like they are the center of the universe.... or at least the center of their Daddies universe..... It was that simple.... that innocent........
Well I took the idea to the principal and she was totally on board with the idea.... I researched DJ's..... looked into decorations..... and made up signs & Flyer's to put up at school. When i was typing up the flyer it occurred to me that not all little girls have a Dad.... so not wanting to exclude them I put ON THE FLYER..... All the ladies are invited to bring their favorite "fella" be it Dad, Step-Dad, Grand-Dad, Uncle, Brother...... I thought that would cover it all.... and then i decided that the cost of a ticket may keep some girls from being able to come, So i created some Gift certificates/vouchers.... that teachers could give anyone that they felt might need it..... I was feeling so darn proud of myself..... Doing something for all the little girls at my SONS school... thinking about how fun it would've been to do something like this with my Dad or Step-Dad as a kid..... So I made the copies and passed them to all the teachers.... hung up the sings around school..... All was right with the world
Then Yesterday it ALL blew up in my face.......... apparently people are "UP IN ARMS" that I'm excluding little girls who have same sex parents.... it's not fair for them to not get to go..... UH????? Say What? Of course they can go, bring who ever they want...... it's not like that.... and then today someone was upset by my choice of using the term "fella"................ Uh again HUH???
FOR REAL PEOPLE.....................GET A GRIP!!!! Surely this isn't the first time that this little girl has noticed that she has two Mom's and no Dad's.......... and I thought I covered the whole line up of possibilities...... she doesn't have a positive male role model in her life willing to spare two hours to take her to a stinking dance??? If that's the case this little girl needs an opportunity to create that relationship...... Did her Mom's really think that this would NEVER come up in her life? ... and as far as the term Fella................. REALLY??? You have a problem with the English word fella because apparently it can be translated to mean something similar to girl on girl............ The whole Gay angle is NOT one that I thought would come up in this scenario....................Never even crossed my mind....... FOR THE LOVE OF PETE..................... actually Pete's getting so much love.... go talk to Pete about all this cause I'm just OVER IT!!!!

We Miss Our Abbey & Amelia!!!

It's been officially 6 months since the Gibbs moved to Utah,.... Yes Leah & I have been out there and Ben & Danielle have been here twice... but it's just not enough. Especially not for almost 3 and a 4 year old.

Abbey and Amelia come up in conversations daily, we have a conversation at least 1 a week about how long it takes to get to Utah either by plane (1 long day) or by car (4 long days) ... they are always talking about how we are going to go out there after the baby comes (due in march) and who Ethan thinks should be named Millie and Leah thinks it should be Hannah. Leah has also solved our housing dilema and says that when we move out of this house to find a bigger one, we can buy one down the street from Abbey's new house. There are LOTS of big houses out there by the BIG mountains!

I think it's amazing that even though it's been months since they've played together (Ethan hasn't seen them since they moved) they still talk about each other all the time. I know they seal families in the temple... but do they seal friendships too?

I think GOD knew that our families were meant to be together for all eternity and so we've been sealed/baptised through Kool-aid, snotty noses, lots of laughter, and just as many tears, and our strong faith and trust in each other... or the fact that we know WAY too much about the other to ever let the other get to far away.... for fear that we'd sell the rights to the others story and become a Lifetime Original Movie! ( I think Patrick Dempsey would make a great Ben)

We know adjusting to Utah hasn't been so easy at times, it hasnt been easy getting use to you being gone either! I'm still trying to find Ben a job back here in Ohio! There's been more than just a few days that I've wished I could just walk across the street and find 4 of my most favorite people in the world.... But we also know that everything happens for a reason and We are trusting that The Big Guy knows what he's doing!

For now we'll just keep planing trips to Utah and keep coming up with reasons for you to come back to Ohio!

We Miss you like crazy

My new favorite day...

There is no Rhyme or Reason to why it works with us, it just does. We make each other laugh more than we make each other cry. We work together more than we work against each other, we disagree but still listen to the other's side. And at the end of the day I rather get a hug from him than anyone else in the world! I just love this guy and it's a good thing because I'm hoping to live to be 95 years old... that means I'm stuck with him for 61 more years.

Here we are the new Mr & Mrs.

It was a great day! We had pictures taken downtown and we got to stay at the Hyatt on Capitol Square. They upgraded us to the Presidential suite so we had a GREAT view, a whirlpool bath, a sauna and I'm not sure If I'm spelling it right but it also had a bidet. Not to mention the enormous bed with 15 pillows on it! It was AWESOME.

Then we went down to Lindey's were everyone was wrapping up their cocktails and appetizers.We had the ceremony & reception there.

My sister was the Maid of Honor, and Theo's best friend Jason was the best man. The kids were our fabulous ring bearer & flower girl. Leah was a little nervous and had my sister carry her in, Ethan just flat out refused, but Alex was a trooper and did a great job! My Dad walked me in to the song "turn around" it's a oldie, but when I was in High school my step-mom Jean pulled me aside one night and told me to listen to a song that was playing on my little brothers Lullaby tape and it was Turn Around, she asked me to play that song at my wedding. I thought she was on crack at the time, but she's been gone almost 10 years and I'm so glad that the ONLY song played at my wedding was the one SHE had asked me to! I also got to wear her Mother's ring, a tradition my sister started 9 years ago. Two other sentimental pieces were a bracelet that my little brother Justin gave to me my senior year of High school for my prom and told me I could wear it when I got married too! And My Grandma McCord's rosary was wrapped around my flowers.

So I had all kinds of little memento's reminding of me of special people

The actual ceremony was just about 10 minutes long, our good friend Tim Lee performed the ceremony and I think he was a little nervous and accidentally call Theo.... Leo.... but he had no idea he had done it until his wife brought it to his attention later in the evening. But perhaps the funniest and most "US" moment was when we were exchanging vows and Ethan decided that it would be the perfect time to do ... 1....2....3... Wheeeee..... and have Mom and Dad swing him... it's so fun and how often does he see us just standing around holding hands.... It was a classic "schmierney" moment and I can't wait to bring that up at HIS wedding in 30 years! :)

Here are some pictures of the kids, even though these are great shots, they just couldn't capture how adorable they were from the suits & dresses to the "fancy shoes" they just STOLE the show Me and Alex my handsome little guy!

How Cute is Ethan in this one?

We didn't get ONE picture of him smiling the entire day! Little stinker! But he looked so cute in his little 3 piece suit!!! Here's Princess... Yes I got Leah a crown, if you could've seen her face when i showed it to her, you'd understand why. She was just so excited and honestly she was ADORABLE all day long!

I could post ALL the pictures from that night there were so many great shots and there are SO many details I feel like I'm leaving out, but I'll say it was just a great day .... actually it was my favorite day of all time because all the people I love the most were in one room at the same time and I got to hug each and every one of them!!!! How much better could it get?

Our December to Remember

What do you say to a mother of three kids, who is the president of the PTA, is planning a Huge Holiday Bazzaar at her son's school, has a bachelorette party, turns 34, then gets married the next day and is having christmas a week later .....

You say hello Crazy lady have you taken your crazy pills today?!?!?

Obviously I did not take my crazy pills, because it has been a crazy month!!!

The Westgate Holiday bazaar

Was a huge success! We made over 2K for the PTA! Here are the kids in their new choir vests that the PTA just bought for them this year! Its was a fun night and ALOT of people came to enjoy the evening! Can't wait until next year when I'll feel like I have a clue as to what I'm doing!

My Bachelorette partyI have to say this was a pretty calm one! We had a great dinner at Brio at Easton and finished the night with a drink at a neighboring bar! I have 2 picutres from that night, this one is of my friend Amy.... it's particularly funny to have a picture of Amy at a bar because shes Prego and mormon! She made the comment that this is where ever pregnant morom girl should be... at a bar!!! But I love the evening! Thanks to everyone that made itMy 34th Birthday

The older I get, the less excited I am about turning another year older, but I have to say this one was pretty cool! I get to spend it with my little brother, My Dad and Connie, and even my sister came down. We ordered a pizza and played Wii with the kids. Leah actually kicked Justin's butt in Wii bowling! Mr & Mrs. Schmidt

So this one deserves it's own blog, and I'll get there, but here is a preview, I'll just say for now that the night was perfect. The kids looked adorable and I married my favorite person!!! The Jolly Fat man Rides again

Santa found his way to our house once again.... Lot's of wheels in the living room this year! Ethan got a "motorcycle" and rode around with his new helmet for most of the day!Alex also got a snazzy new bike! Leah also got some fabulous new things..... but darn it I'm tired just typing about it.... so you can imagine how pooped we are! It's PJ's week at our house! and I'm so thankful that the kids have another week off of school! Hope you had a great December too!

Remember our PUPPY???

Back in April we adopted a Black Lab Mix puppy from Pets Without Parents Animal Shelter. He was adorable and so little and although I knew he'd get bigger, I had no idea.....

This is a picture from the day we brought him home.

This is a picture I took of him last night.... and he wont be a year old until February....

The Vet thinks he's a Black Lab mixed with either a Great Dane or a Mastiff.....

uhhhh. we need a bigger house & a MUCH bigger Yard!!!

Our Girls Only week..... well and Ben too!

Leah & I decided that we had been away from our BFF's for TOO long and before we knew it we had two round trip tickets to Salt Lake City Utah. We packed our bags and left all the boys behind . Leah was so excited about her first plane trip, even if we did have to be up at 4am! (ugh!) but her she is with her boarding passWith a short lay over in Texas, we found our selves in Salt Lake City before TOO terribly, imagine a 4 year old stuck in a tiny seat for over 4 hours and the anticipation of seeing your best friend... She did great and as we were getting off the plane she SAID "come on People I gotta go see my Abbey now!" but she said it in such a sweet way that people actually laughed and stepped out of her way.... we were almost running to the baggage claim area and I know we both had big goofy grins on our face..... we came down the esculator, around the corner and finally.....

ABBEY............... AMELIA!!!!!! I"M HERE!!!!!!!!

Leah grabbed her stuff and said "lets go see your pink bedroom".

I have to say that Utah is Beautiful & we did so much stuff! Here's a picture of Ben & Danielle on one of our hikes. around Mt. Tipanogus. Yes those are Binoculars around Ben's neck... Yes...they were about 100 years old, weighed 25 lbs and really didnt work, but boy did he look cool!!! :) We ofcourse went to church on Sunday and I, having recently learned how to sew a bit, made the girls matching skirts to wear to church! They were so cute all matching and I posted this one because of Ben.....

He's taking the first of MANY pictures of 3 little girls lined up infront of their front door. While we were visitng they found out that they are expecting their 3rd little girl!

I see MANY matching skirts in this mans future!

Here's the REALLY cute on of all 3 girls!

We were there for an entire week and this is the ONLY picture I got of all the girls together! Someone pointed out last night at card club that they moved the end of July, they've been back here once already, we've been there once, and they are coming back in December for the wedding.... it probably does seem like a bit much, but when you lived at each others house for 4 years.... the time in between seems like forever!

We had such a great trip and loved being with the Gibbs again! Can't wait until they come in December, and then we'll have to go out and see the new baby when she arrives.... and then... I'll have to think of another excuse to bring them here again in the summer.... better make sure I've got a credit card that earns frequent flyer miles!!!

Tali- Bean

I wanted to take a minute and pay tribute to a very cool dog! Tali - Bean

If you are lucky, you too have had a chance to experience the joys & heartaches of having a dog as part of your family. This little boxer, Tali Bean and her mommies, Julie & Laura live just two doors down from us. We've gotten to know them all really well and just really enjoy their company. Well about 2 weeks ago Tali got sick and they couldnt figure out what was wrong. Over the weekend they finally discovered that she has cancer. She's been in alot of pain and there isnt anything that they can do for her, so they had to have her put to sleep.

I'm sure for those of you who have lost a dog, can remember all to well how heartbreaking it is to loose your best friend. Dogs are such a constant source on unconditional love. you can tell them all your deepest darkest secrets, they are always happy to see you, they dont care what you look like, or how you smell they are just happy to be with you.
I'm sure Julie & Laura are SO incredibly sad tonight

So if you would, the next time you see a guy on a bike... bark at him... thats what Tali would have done.
And remember to tell the people and pets that you care about the most that you love them. infact go give them a hug right now!!!

There's one more Doggy Angel in heaven tonight.
And Tali if you could give my dogs Cocoa, Muffin, Sandy & Rojo a big slobbery kiss from me I'd appreciate it! :)