Thanksgiving!!!!

...and yes! This will bring me up to date.

Jonah's class had a Thanksgiving program instead of a Christmas program this year. Jonah and all the kids were really cute! ...except the little boy who wouldn't stop picking his nose (no, not Jonah!).

We spent Thanksgiving day in Radcliff at the Schandings. We always have a great time with David's parents, siblings and spouses, and all the little nieces. Jonah calls them "the girls." "Are the girls going to be there?!" he always asks.

I can't decide what's funniest about this picture: David sneaking into the photo, the goofy expression on Jonah's face, or the ultra serious look on Bella like she's practicing her super model pose.
David's brother Greg brought all the cousins traditional costumes back from Afghanistan where he was stationed with the Air Force. They put on a lovely parade.

Of course Jonah had to strike his warrior pose.

The weekend following Thanksgiving we drove out to my aunt's house in North Carolina to eat even more turkey. Here's a photo of Jonah with some more cousins. I don't take very many pictures of adults I've noticed.
I'm so happy to now be caught up! Now maybe people will stop harrassing me.

Next up by request... Our skydiving experience!

Who's That Man?!

I'm almost caught up! I only have that glorious holiday Thanksgiving left. It will be a long blog, so I'm going to take a little break. On any typical night here at the Schanding household we have some light hearted entertainment to pass the time. Most of the time, Jonah is at the center of this whimsical fun. Tonight he decided to play mail carrier dress up in David's honor. As you can see...

Safari Man!!!!

and Kung Fu Mail Carrier!!!!

I hope you enjoyed our silly family fun!

A Christmas Story

Jonah and David have many things in common including their love of sports, board games, dogs, and that little holiday known as Christmas. I'm not sure which one gets more excited. They sort of build each other up into a little ball of frenzied holiday cheer. Both of them are already conspiring to catch Santa in the act next year. David reminds me of Clark Griswald in his joy of putting up the Christmas lights. He went all out this year...

We continued our traditions of visiting Santa at the local mall, driving around to see the Christmas lights, and also added a Christmas song dance competition that was a blast. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the dance competition.

We actually woke up before Jonah this year which was quite astonishing.

Is this from Halloween? No, Jonah got the Darth Vader voice changer from Santa and he
loves it!
We couldn't have had such a great Christmas without all of our wonderful family and friends!

New Year's Eve Celebration Kiddie Style

We had a pretty wild and crazy New Year's Eve celebration here at the Schanding household. ...at 7pm. David wanted Jonah to be included in the festivities, so we had a mock countdown to 7 o'clock that night. Then we acted loud and crazy, banging on pots and pans and shooting toy guns. We even had some bubbly apple cider on hand to complete the festivities. May seem to some as pretty lame, but we had a great time. Happy New Year!

Way Out West

Boy! I'm like super behind on this thing. I don't think the once a month thing is going to work. I can't remember when it's been a month. Maybe I'll update it every weekend. First I've got to get up to date. I think I'll start with the more recent past and work back through the holidays. I hope that sounds good to everyone.

In the most recent past, we were able to take an unbelievable ski trip vacation in Steamboat Springs, Colorado during the first week of January, thanks to the kindness and generosity of my mom and her husband. I don't think David and I really believed we were going until we actually stepped off the plane (which we had to catch 7am New Year's Day but that's another story in itself) in Colorado. This is the view from the condo where we stayed with my mom Sandi and her husband Lewis and my 2 brothers, Jason and Jon.
We were also able to spend some great quality time with my Aunt Deb, Uncle Brian and cousins Shannon and Stephanie, all of whom live in Colorado. (David fact: His family lived in Colorado for several years. They moved to KY when David was 5 or 6) I kept waiting for all of us to be together to get a group shot but then we were never all together at the same time. Darn!

Here's David and I hitting the slopes.

While David and I would ski, Jonah would go to snowboarding school. He was really excited to learn. The first day in CO, my brothers and Lewis rented snowboards but turned them back in after about 30 minutes, saying how incredibly difficult it was. David and I totally expected to pick up Jonah from the snowboard school ready to throw in the towel. But no, he couldn't wait to go back the next day!

Jonah's mastered the ski lift.
Oh oh! Is he going to fall?
He's got it!

What a cutie!
There you have it! Thanks for sharing our most excellent Colorado adventure. (We also visited some Colorado hot springs which were amazing. Hopefully, I'll photos soon to blog.)


***I have to give a great big Schanding thank you to Amber and Phil for being so awsome to babysit the pups while we were gone. We can't thank you enough!! ***

Whoa! Time Just Flies By!

Hello all! I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I might have to make this a once a month blog. Let's see. What have we been up to? Hmmmmmmm. Well, we had a very enjoyable Halloween.

Here's the house. I love those Mexican lantern things. They were very popular in Florida.

I took Jonah trick-or-treating while David passed out treats at home. Jonah and his buddy Joseph from down the street were two very scary Darth Vadars! Jonah is the one on the right.

We were able to attend an awesome Halloween party given by our friend Amber(one of the wedding photographers). David and I were Mulder and Scully from the X-Files. (Thanks for the photo Phil!)

My little cousin Taylor(one of our flowergirls) had her third birthday. Happy birthday Taylor! (Doesn't Jonah look like he's got some sort of naughty idea in his head?)

Jonah and I visited the dentist. Not very exciting I know, I just happened to have my camera there. No cavities. Yay!

...and last but certainly not least, a very cute photo of Flash and Chase.

Bouquets and Birthdays

First, I must brag on my hubby. This past Monday at work, the receptionist called me down to the lobby, for what I had no idea. Imagine my surprise when a gorgeous bouquet of flowers was there waiting for me! David had them delivered in order to surprise me on our one month anniversary. Wasn't that too sweet? (Okay, everyone say "Aaaaaawwwwww!" and no gagging sounds!)


On October 7th, my dad hit the big 5-0. Jonah and I were able to make it up there that weekend for an awesome dinner and party. There were lots of getting old jokes of course. David, Jonah, and I put a funny ad in the local paper where he lives in Parkersburg, WV. His wife, Sandy, had 50 flamingoes put in their front yard.


Who would have guessed my dad is a Transy fan? Well, not really. He's a huge fan of classic monster movies, so he gets a kick out of Transylvania University. Did you know their mascot is a pioneer? I don't get it.


Happy Birthday Pops!

Tiger Cub

Jonah joined cub scouts this year! He absolutely loves it. The first graders are known as tiger cubs. I took Jonah on his first cub scout camp out a couple of weeks ago. We had a blast.


I took Jonah to his first cub scout camp out a couple of weeks ago. We both had a blast. David went to the Bengals game.


Jonah got to shoot a bb gun. He was thrilled of course. He was the only scout in his group that knew all the parts of a gun. I was pretty surprised that he knew them at all.


We also got to participate in a fishing derby. Unfortunately, I couldn't even figure out how to bait a hook.


Luckily, these nice guys from our pack taught both Jonah and I how to bait a hook. Thanks to their help, Jonah caught five fish! He was pretty darn excited.


On Columbus Day, Jonah and the scouts were in a parade in downtown Lexington.


This is Jonah with his best bud Joseph who lives on our street.


David and I got to ride in the hummer limousine that pulled the scouts' float. This was David's first time in a parade and my first time in a limousine. Did you know they charge $200 an hour for those things?!


I don't know about you all, but I thought these clowns at the parade were just right down scary!

Jonah the Athlete

I don't know who is a bigger sports nut, David or Jonah. We had Jonah enrolled in soccer and t-ball last fall, but that was just too much running around for mama. Now we rotate. He plays t-ball in the spring and soccer in the fall. He wants to give basketball a try this winter.


Here's a t-ball photo from last spring. Although they don't actually pitch in t-ball, pitcher was Jonah's favorite position. Baseball is certainly his favorite sport.



This fall Jonah is on the Lions soccer team. He plays defense most of the time.












If anyone would like to attend a game, we would love to have you. Contact me for game times.

Honeymoon, family style! Part II

So where were we? Oh yes! We had arrived in Cave City, KY and checked into the fabulous Wigwam Motel. And what did we do first upon arriving in Cave City? See a cave, of course!

The famous Mammoth Caves to be exact. We all very much enjoyed the caves. We even saw some bats!

Ranger Rick presented an awesome tour full of fascinating facts.
See how intently David and Jonah are listening?

Next, we took a river boat tour. It was very beautiful and peaceful. Not as interesting as the caves, but nice.


That night we went out for a nice dinner in Bowling Green. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of that special night to share. But next time you see David, be sure to ask him about our dining experience in Bowling Green.


On our final day in Cave City, we dared to visit Dinosaur World!
Without a doubt, this was Jonah's favorite experience of the whole trip, besides the dinner in Bowling Green. The place was filled with everything you would possibly want to know about dinosaurs, including life size dinosaur statues. Jonah even got to participate in a fossil dig!

















I do have some sad news. Jonah got eaten by one of the dinosaurs.

Haha! Just joking!

There you have it! That wraps up our honeymoon, family style!

Except for the drive home....