Belle the Guinea Pig

Belle is stepping out of her doggie comfort zone and has become a guinea pig! Kylyn has been having so much fun playing vet - taking Belle's temperature, giving her vaccinations, listening to her heart and wrapping up her boo-boos. Belle has been such a good dog putting up with all the poking and prodding! I'm not sure she is having as much fun as Kylyn, but she is pretending!

133 lbs of Pumpkin!

We have our work cut out for us this Halloween! We have 5 very large pumpkins to carve - 133 lbs of pumpkins to be exact! The girls worked very hard picking out (and pulling) the most perfect pumpkins. We plan to carve them on Halloween morning just before donning our costumes, making homemade pizzas and heading out to trick-or-treat. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the snow holds off until the festivities are over!

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Merek stole the cookie from the cookie jar!

Oh yes, much like the chocolate chip incident, Merek swiped the cookies off the kitchen counter and hid in the playroom gobbling up cookies when no one was looking! After some suspiciously quiet minutes, I discovered him thoroughly enjoying himself! Hmmm... I wonder where he gets his sweet tooth?

Not quite like it was planned...

Merek's big birthday bash didn't go quite as planned... instead of celebrating at the water park in Grand Forks, the kids were all home, sick in bed. They came down with "flu-like" symptoms one after another like dominoes - first B, then Merek and finally Kylyn. It knocked them all out pretty hard, so there was no way they could have made the trip to GF.

Bob and I didn't have it quite as rough... Makee and Paca came to the rescue and stayed home with the kids, while we went up to UND to the hockey games. We ended up having a great time, but not without feeling just a wee bit of guilt!

Of course we couldn't let Merek's "DinaSIR" cake go to waste. We sang happy birthday and gobbled down a few delicious pieces before making the road trip.

"Loooook Snoooo"

I can't believe I'm already posting pictures of snow! Merek woke up to dusting of it the day after his birthday and stood at the door pointing curiously at the white stuff. After we reminded him that it was snow, he started chanting "Loooook Snoooo"!

The kids couldn't wait to break out their winter gear and wanted to get outside to play in the snow. We still hadn't gotten Merek any boots this season, hence the froggy rain boots. Good thing it wasn't too cold. All I could keep thinking was if we already have snow at the beginning of October, this is going to be a LONG winter!

Family Pictures - Take 2!

We finally completed the kids pictures. The second time around we didn't have to fight the rain (just 3 squirrely kids) so we were able to get a bunch of cute shots! I've used a few to decorate the new blog background and then I added a few more below. I'm so pleased with how well they turned out!

Merek Turns 2!

Merek officially joined the Terrific Two's Club on Friday! We are of course celebrating Schwartz-style, with several different parties...

The festivities began on Friday night with a bonfire/barbecue at Makee and Paca's house. Merek managed to eat two whole cupcakes - one for each year of his life!


Then on Saturday morning the family had our traditional rainbow pancake breakfast complete with candles and presents!

Here Merek is opening up his Home Depot Workbench. We are hoping he learns how to use his power tools quickly so he can help Dad with some of the home improvement projects around the house, including repairing the sheet rock where the kids pulled the curtain rod out of the wall while twisting up in the curtains, or repairing the ceiling above our kitchen table where the kids over flowed the bath tub, or unclogging the toilets that have had countless rolls of toilet paper stuffed down them. (If only he could fix things as fast as they break them!)

Watch out where you are pointing that drill buddy!

Finally, we will be having Merek's "real birthday party" (according to Kylyn and Brielle) up in Grand Forks at the water park this coming weekend. Our family will be partying with both sets of grandparents and some of our UND friends. The girls can't wait to get flushed down the toilet bowl water slide and Mom and Dad can't wait to watch the Sioux destroy the Gophers in hockey!

Garbage Day!

Yes, it was a big day at the Schwartz House yesterday... Garbage Day! The kids (especially Merek) love to watch the big orange truck with the skunk on the side, stop at each house to collect the trash.

Oh, one of life's simple pleasures!