Christmas 09

We had a great Christmas this year. We are truly blessed to have such a great family and friends. I wish we had been able to see everyone in our family, and hope that next year we will be able to. Finn got really into the whole Santa thing this year and was amazed that Santa sent him a letter, a video, and gave him his Christmas wish- a dragon castle. He is so sad that Christmas is over and is refusing to let us take down the Christmas tree.

Ski School Dropout

We went to visit my Dad in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a couple of days. Finn was so excited to see snow and build a snowman. Rick and and I got to go out to dinner on the Square while my Dad watched Finn. The next day we took him skiing. We weren't sure what to expect- and when we got there we enrolled him in the Ski School. We weren't allowed to stay and watch, so Rick went snowboarding while I hung out in the cafeteria (no skiing for me). I went back after a few hours to check on Finn, and he was clearly distressed. His ski instructor said that he followed all the instructions and skied with everybody, but was crying the whole time. We didn;t do a very good job preparing him to be left alone with strangers all day. We pulled him from the class, and Rick skied with him for awhile. Finn did well, and loves being in the snow. He never complains about being too cold. I think he will be able to do a full lesson next year, and maybe try some of the bunny slopes.

Christmas Caroling

Finn went caroling with his school the week before Christmas at the Vista Oaks Retirement Center in Lakeway. He had been practicing his songs for weeks, including "Holly, Jolly Christmas", "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer", and "We wish you a Merry Christmas". He did a great job singing with his classmates when he got there, and loved all of the attention that he got from the senior citizens. Hwent up to each and every one shook their hand. He was quite the little politician. Afterwards, they had their Christmas party. Attached is a video of him practicing his carols, one of him performing, and pictures of him greeting everybody.

Finn is four!

I am in complete denial that my sweet baby boy turned four this week. Last Saturday he had a birthday party at Extreme fun, a bounce house play land. He had a bunch of friends come and bounce with him. He picked his party theme to be Toy Story, one of his all time favorites. He had so much fun with all of his friends.
On his actual birthday, we took Finn to go get donuts for dinner. We went to this donut stand called "Gordoughs" that has gourmet donuts. I got a maple bacon and strawberry and cream cheese donut. Rick got a candaian bacon and jalapeno donut, and Finn got donut holes covered with blue icing and raspberry sauce. They were delicious, but definitely not a dinner that we will be having again nay time soon.
I am so sad that Finn has grown up so fast, but so proud of the sweet and funny little boy that he has become.

Thanksgiving

We had a little bit of a different Thanksgiving this year. We stayed in Austin and had my Dad and Will over for a Thanksgiving lunch. I did most of the cooking, but my Dad brought the turkey and a meatloaf. I think this was Finn's first time to start to understand the Thanksgiving story,and he serenaded us with his "I am Thankful" song that he learned at school. Finn had a Thanksgiving lunch at school that Rick and I both attended. He and his classmates sang two Thanksgiving songs to all of the parents, and then we had a nice Thanksgiving lunch. The video of them singing is attached- it's pretty cute. I had the whole week of Thanksgiving off, so Finn and I got to spend a couple of days camping with my Mom and Doyle in their new travel trailor at Mckinney Falls State Park. I relly enjoy camping if I am not in a tent and have access to showers, tv, and internet. We had a great time this week and we definitely have a lot to be thankful for!!!

Soccer

Soccer season is over and I think Finn enjoyed it. He liked running around on the field with his teammates, but I don't think he ever quite got the kicking the ball thing. He is fine with letting someone else get the ball into the goal. He does however, kick the ball if someone else has already kicked it in. Then he will proclaim "I won!" It's pretty cute to watch all of those three year olds on teh Blue Lightning team play. Someone is always crying or kicking the ball into the wrong goal. I am very proud taht Finn was never the one crying, he was always a trooper and willing to go out on the soccer field (even if he he was bringing his comb with him and fixing his hair the whole time).I think Finn may enjoy it more next year when he is a little bit older.

Halloween

We had so much fun on Halloween this year. Finn really got into it, and had so much fun picking out his costume and going trick-or-treating. We went to a pumpkin patch and two Halloween carnivals before the actual day. Finn picked Underdog as his costume. Although I'm sad that I don't get to pick out his costumes anymore, I thought it was cute that he picked a costume that wasn't completely mainstream and still a little fuzzy and cute. A lot of people didn't know who his costume was, and called him "Superdog." I guess they missed the big cinematic masterpiece with Jim Belushi and a beagle that Finn forces us to watch all of the time.
We went trick-or-treating at my friend Katie's neighborhood. Her daughter Addison went trick-or-treating for the first time, as a cute little ladybug. It was good times!

Happy Birthday October babies!

Better late than never! Happy birthday Dad, Mom, Erin, Aunt Susan, and Leslie. Here is a message from Finn!

Happy Birthday Addison!!!

Can't believe you are already 1 years old! We had such a good time at Addison's luau birthday party!

Happy Birthday Rick!

We celebrated Rick's birthday last week by going bowling at DartBowl. They seriously have the best food ther- very unexpected. I made Rick an Xbox controller cake and Tera, Scot, and Jaxx joined us. We had a good time, especially Finn. Finn is officially the world's slowest bowler. He got to have the bumpers up, but barely pushed the ball, so it would take like 5 minutes to reach the pins. Im pretty sure that his score beat mine though. We had a great time- happy birthday Rick!

Babies!!!!

There is a baby boom going on. My good friend, Andrea, had her second son on August 29th. His name is Maddox Alexander Braxdale, and he is a little cutie. Congratulations guys!

My friend Allyson found out she is having a baby boy, due exactly one month before our baby. Hopefully, they will be good buddies.

We found out that we are expecting a baby girl. We are in shock, but very excited. Rick is already thinking up ways to scare off any future boyfriends that she might have. Finn told us all along that he was going to have a baby sister, and he is right. Let the shopping begin!

I have attached one of the ultrasound pictures. She had her hands over her face the whole time. Rick hopes that means that she will be shy.

Whats New

I know it has been forever since I have posted a blog, so I will try and catch everyone up with what has been going on in the Schwarz household. I started my new job teaching at an Elementary school, and Finn started going to the childcare center for teacher's kids. i think he likes it- he has started making friends and his teacher says that he is doing great. I am around 4 months pregnant now. I will find out in a month the gender of the baby, hopefully. Believe me, when I find out I will let everybody know.

We had a great final vacation in Rockport with my dad and Will. Finn loves going to the beach.

Finn had his last t-ball team and got a trophy (everyone did) that he likes to call the Piston Cup. He starts soccer in September with most of the same kids.

My grandma is back in the hospital so please pray that she has a speedy recovery.

I'll attach a bunch of random pictures.

Governor

We lost our sweet dog Governor this past week. He swallowed a ball, and had surgery to have it removed. The surgery seemed to go well, but his inestines ruptured the next day. Finn lost one of his best friends. We will definitely miss Governor!

Swim Lessons

Finn just finished up his swim lessons at the YMCA last Friday. It was a two week course and worked on getting the kids to go under water, learn swimming techniques, and learn swimming safety skills. Finn got to take his lessons with his buddy Aidan. On the last day of the class, they put the kids in a little raft and flipped it over to test their water safety. I asked Finn later what he is supposed to do in that situation and he told me you should wear the raft on your head like a hat. Not that he is going to be allowed on a boat by himself anytime soon! Finn did pretty well and I think that he had fun. I hope he will start weaning himself off his floaties soon!