O' Christmas Tree

How to pick the perfect xmas tree. You don't want it to be too big or too small. This is the hard part just trying to decided. Everyone wants something different. Landon wanted a tree that had long needles and really full looking. I like the trees with short needles. Logan wanted something outragous. Just scrolled down and you will see what I'm talking about.

In Logan's eyes he found the prefect tree. Hello, look at the size of this tree. It's Jumbo size. Even if we went with this tree, I'm not sure it would even fit inside our house. The poor kid was devasted when he realized he wasn't going to get the tree of his dreams. I think this tree would take up the whole living tree. So, we moved over to the next row of trees.What type of tree to go with takes alot of arguing. We decided because we don't have any family coming for Xmas this year to go with the cheaper xmas tree. We really like the Noble Fir tree but not for the price they wanted $125.00. Yikes...to expensive. So, we decided to go with this Fraiser Fir. Only $35...they said they would even deliever to our house for free but we decided to just tie it down instead ontop of our van. I'm not sure if you can see Logan's face clearly or not. The little guy was so excited that we finally decided on a tree. He still wanted the big tree but he was happy to settle with the more partical tree.

I'm still not sure why they putthe xmas tree in a big plastic bag. The wind did a good number on the bag. Well, we finally managed to make it back home and the tree was barely on the top of the van. So, the tree is currently in the garage. It's going to be a couple of days before we have it all set up decorated.

Oh, one more thing...make sure to bring cash. Leroy somehow forgot to bring cash. The guy was really cool about it. He let us still take the tree home. The guy said he felt like he could trust us. So, Leroy's going have to stop by tomorrow for the tree.

So, I guess the xmas season has official started at the Scheele's household!

Conquering Fear

A couple of weeks ago...at the Slaughter Pen Jam. The kids took part of the bike and cross country race. Landon wanted to ride his bike down this very long dirt course. The guy incharge refused to let Landon try it out. Landon was reduced down to tears. The little guy is 7 yrs old but is on the small size. Well, later on that day of the bike race. Landon ended up crashing his bike on a different short course. He swear he would never go back. Well, I loaded up the boys and the neighbor kids and we headed out to the dirt park. Landon claimed at first he didn't want to go back but it didnt' take him long to change his mind. He really wanted to try this course. I told him if he did I would take him and his friends to Diary Queen for icecream cones. The little guy was nervous but he did it. He was so proud of himself and that he was able to earn the reward and treat his friends to icecream.

This is my favorite picture of the day. My little guy is such a stud muffin. I just want to squeeze his little tushie.

What I Love About Fall

After spending the morning at the dirt park with Landon, Logan, Aaron and Micheal. We decided to hit up Dairy Queen and make a quick stop at Kingsdale Park. On the way back to the van, the neighbor boys discovered this huge spot of leaves. It's actually the ditch along the parking lot completely full of leaves. The boys had so much fun playing the leaves. Gotta love cheap entertainment for the kids.

Just jumping in leaves with friends.
Logan age 5-All smiles and hav'n lots of fun!

Landon age 7-Look at that smile!

Xmas Apron

getting into the xmas spirit a little bit early for me. I'm not one to start celebrating before Dec. 1st. I picked up this cute material at hobby lobby and made this cute xmas apron. I managed to change up the pattern. I decided to add a lining on the back side of the apron. It took me from start to finish about three hours. I'm going to be working on another one for xmas gift. My sewing skills are improving by the minute. Oh, I can't wait...xmas to get here. Oh, ya it will be in just a couple of days. I'm very strict about not doing xmas stuff until Dec. 1st but this year I'm starting a little bit early.

Front side

Back Side

Baby Love Light

I picked up this doll last year at a garage sale. The lady told me it was her daughter's doll when she was little girl. She was a little bit sad to be selling it but Leah loves it. The main reason why she likes this doll is that she can play with the dolls hair why she's sucking her thumb. She has this thing with twirling hair and sucking her thumb at the same time. Its kinda cute.

I still have a ton of left over scraps. I decided to make her a dress. I'm going to finish it up by making a matching hat and bloomers to go with the outfit. Another inexpensive gift.

Also, my good friend came over and help me make all the pattern pieces. I couldn't of done it without her help. Good things about having awesome friends.

A Perfect Gift...for a girl!

I decided this year to focus on making homemade gifts. I already made two aprons to give away as xmas gifts. I had a bunch of left over material. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all the left over fabric. I came across this awesome blog called. Sew liberated blog which had this super cute kids apron pattern for free. I decided to give it a shot. Remember, I have very limited sewing skills. I did the whole thing without any help. I'm very proud of myself. I did change the pattern a tiny bit. I made the apron reverisble. She can wear it either way front or back. Leah loves it! I'm thinking about making two more for the boys. Here's the link to the sewing pattern.

http://sewliberated.typepad.com/Montessori%20Childs%20Apron.pdf

Start to finish: two hours

The Running Bandit

Due to being ill yesterday, I decided not to run. I decided to go down and pick up my race packet and t-shirt with the kids. I didn't realize that kids would be running in this run. I should of know it was called "girls on the run". I decided literally at the last second. To pin my bid number on Landon. We ran with him for the first couple hundred yards and we headed back to the van. I was very nervous about Landon running all by himself but he did an awesome job. I loaded up the other kids and we drove to the two mile marker. We decided to wait and see if we could see Landon running. I was so shocked when we saw him right away. Running in the front of the pack. We cheered him on and drove back to the finish line. We ran into a friend and were busy talking. I finally decided to head over to the finish line and watch for landon. I was shocked to see landon already in the finish line chute. The little guy had already finished. I don't know his official time but I'm sure its around 30 minutes. I figured he was running at 10:00 minute pace. Zero training...this kid has some serious talent.

Sewing

What I have been up to...sewing. My house is a wreck but I final finished my first apron. If you closely you will notice two different aprons but it's just one apron. I'm going to make one more for xmas present. So, I'm almost done with my xmas for the year. Logan took the pictures...that will explain why my head is chopped off the last picture.

I Know My ABC's

Several months ago, I tried to teach Logan his ABC's. He wasn't interested at all. I packed up all of my stuff and decided to leave it alone. Well, Logan decided he wanted to watch his Leap Frog videos for the past week. I decided to it would be a good time to pull out the school stuff again.

We did this activity where he has to match up the letter with the clothspin with the correct letter. It's what I call ABC's Clothesline game. Logan had so much fun...

Afterwards, I sat down with Logan and decided to test him on his ABC's. I'm proudy to announced that Logan knows 17 letters.

Here at the letters:
V, L, B, O, F, Q, T, S, Y, X, P, Z, G, U, N, C, M

Its All About The Journey

Tanyard Creek

Every season we manage to make it over to Tanyard Creek. The one place I love to go to clear my mind and spirit. The one place untouched...in it's natural state. The place were kids can run around and be free. The place that brings a big smile on my kids faces.

After, preschool we headed straight over to Tanyard Creek. Logan's very favorite special spot. He wanted to get his feet into the water but I told him "no". The little guy doesn't seem to have much sense when it comes to nature. He loves to get his hands and feet into it.

Little Miss Leah enjoying herself by throwing rocks such a tomboy. Nothing girlie about her. The girl has an arm on her. Watch out...boys. She's tough!

Of course, she's the first one to the bridge. No fear!

Best Friends and Worst Enemies

Searching for treasure...seashells and clam shells!

The loot which will eventually end in a huge fight with sissy.

Logan ended up dropping all of his shells. Leah decided it would be a good time to steal some of his. Logan was devasted. A huge fight broke out about the shells. You would of thought they were fighting over gold.

Don't ya, just love Logan's pouty face. Don't worry, we ended up going back and Logan found new seashells to collect. Oh, ya...Leah dropped all of her shells and had to go back to get even more. We left shortly after this little incident.
 

Slaughter Pen Jam 2009

This morning, the kids ended up waking up super early. You would of thought it was Christmas morning. The kids were up before 5:30am. The boys were so excited about going to their first ever cross country race and short track race.

I decided at the last minute to enter in the 6 mile trail run. Due to hurting my foot a couple of weeks ago. I haven't been doing to much running. I thought sure six miles is a piece of cake. Wrong...The course was so hard. I thought it was way harder than my half marathon I did a couple of weeks ago.

The Slaughter Pen Hallow trail takes place in the Ozark mountains okay maybe not like the Rockie Mountains but bill hills. We had to run back and forth slowly going up to the top of the ridge and running back down and across the cement path to the other hill on the other side. The course was confusing. One girl ended up taking the wrong path ended up running an extra three miles. Poor thing.

The course proved to be more challenging then expected. It was just awful. I wasn't as prepared as I would of liked to of been. I did trip at one point but didn't cause any major damage. Overall, it turned out to be a great run at the end. I managed to do it under one hour and seven minutes. I ended up placing in second place for my age group and received the coolest medal ever. I didn't take a picture of it but I will soon. I have a lot more details of this race but I don't care to spend to much time on it. Ask me in person if you want all the details.

Now, the boys were taking part of the kids cross country run. It was free...which I love. Landon loves to run. I'm not sooo sure about Logan but he goes along with it. Landon ran all the whole thing but Logan ended up running and walking part of it. The poor little guy ended up a little bit confused about the course but he managed to make it across the finish line. All the kids received medals for their efforts.

After, the cross country meet the boys had about two hours to practice before the bike races. The kids hadn't been to the dirt park in several months. The kids had the most found just riding their bikes on the dirt kid course. Landon wanted to practice on a more adult course. He was in tears when the guy turned him away. Landon's just going to have to wait another year. Logan was so funny. A couple of kids were running around on the course. He started to yell at them to get off of the course. He was very protective of his dirt course. Soon, it was time to stop practicing and get ready for the bike races.

Landon ended up meeting up with his friend Keegan from school. The two boys were so excited about getting together to race in the kids bike race. Landon did a great job around the first loop but the second loop ended in a huge disaster. He was riding his bike down hill and had to make sharp turn. He ended up turning to quickly and crashed. The little guy hit his handle bars. I thought at first he might of broke one of his ribs. The medics checked him but he appeared just fine. His friend Keegan went up to the official and gave him his medal. Landon was in complete tears about not being able to finish the race. He claims he never wants to ride a bike again. We will try again...Logan did great. He rode is bike in a different course. They had one kid go at a time. The judge timed all the kids. Logan went around the first time prefectly and stopped. He didn't realize he was soppose to go around one more time. Everything one yelling at him to go one more time. The little guy was so confused. He finally realized he was soppose to go one more time around. He did great. He received another medal for his bike riding skills. Overall, a wonderfull event for the family. We will be doing this each year!

MAUNAWILI FALLS TRAIL

This hike was very different from the other two hikes we did on our trip! The first two hikes were on the dry side of the island with very little vegetation. This trail took us thru the rainforest up to a swimming hole/water fall. The night before the hike it had rained all night long which meant extremely muddy trail. The hike information I found on the interent said this was an easy hike which was 1.5 miles up and back but it seemed to take us forever. Leroy wasn't too happy again with my choices in hikes. I loved it.
The nice thing about the hike was the views Ko'olaus Mountains. We were slowly making our way up into the mountains. We stop several times to just enjoy the view! I think the trail took us longer becuase we might of made a bad turn. The trail was hard to follow at times.
Once we got closer to the waterfall. We had to go down a narrow set of stairs to the bottom. We also had to cross back and forth several times across a stream. The water wasn't to cool but it was nice to be able to wash the mud off our feet.
We finally made it to the waterfall. The water was little bit on the cloudy side so we decided not to venture too far into the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. You're suppose to be able to jump from several places around the waterfall. We headed back down.
We decided to take another path back. We ended up coming to this really cool dead end. It looked like someone had set up camp with bamboo sticks and a rock pit for fire. Check out the slide show for pictures of Leroy standing inside the shelter. We turned around and decided to go back the same way we came in.
On the way back, we decided to take another trail back to the entrance of the hike. Leroy wasn't too sure about it but we had time to kill. We ended up in a place I think we overlooked in the first place. The hike back down went a lot faster. We came across this really old rock wall. We some how managed back to the car covered in Mosquito bites. If it wasn't for the extremely muddy trail and all the mosquitos it's actually really nice hike. So, if you're in Hawaii...it's definity a good hike for a novice unless it's been raining.

Ten For Tuesday

1. Two Halloween classroom parties, three times trick or treating, one hay ride, 4 carmel apples, and 10 walmart size bags full of candy. Three very happy kids!

2. Due to Halloween falling on Saturday, this was the first time taking all three kids trick or treating. Leah loved running up to the houses to ring the doorbell. She was very shocked when they handed her candy. She would say "mommy, that lady gave me candy" with a big smile on her face.

3. Landon being a little bit on the shy side decided to send Logan first to ring the door bell. Logan refused to talk so Landon would do all the talking. Leah of course isn't shy and didn't have any issuses trick or treating.

4. We live on the best street! The neighbor across the street gave the kids their own halloween bags filled with full size candy bars. Another neighbor gave them dollar bills, and they're even invited inside to show off their customes to an elderly couple. I was in the van but the window shades were up. I think the grandpa was in a wheelchair. Landon said they acted like they knew who they're but Landon didn't know who they were. The couple just lives down the street.

5. Finally around 8:00pm Logan claimed he was tried of trick or treating and wanted to go home. I was really surprised. The little guys were all tuckered out.

6. My biggest pet peeve is trunk or treat. It's was too easy. The kids need to go out and execrise their legs. So, I decided this year to avoid the ward t or t and just take the kids to real trick or treating. It brought back a lot of fun memories.

7. On Halloween morning, I took part of Fun Run with a bunch of sisters from church. Ever since my half marathon, I haven't been doing much running. I thought for sure I would have a really bad time but I ended up with a decent time of 28:20! I even came in second place for my age group. A big surprise. I didn't think I would place anything.

8. The boys took part of kids run. The boys were divide into two seperate groups. A younger and older group. Landon was the youngest kid in the older group. He did an awesome job. He came in fourth place. Logan ran with Leroy in the younger group and came in second place. I'm so proud of my boys.

9. This weekend the boys are taking part of Slaughter Pen Meet. The boys will be running in the kids cross country race and mtn. bike race.

10. This week I'm taking the no sugar challenge. I managed to put on a couple of pounds due to all the cookies and sweets. I'm working out twice as hard this week. I'm hoping to drop a pound or two!