One last note for tonight...

William was hanging towels up in the bathroom, cleaning up. William left the bathroom door open. Earlier, William used the bathroom and did not flush.

Kate likes to play in the toilet. Kate found the door open. Kate walked into William's room with a drop of water next to her eye. Mom wondered.

Mom felt both of Kate's hands to see if one was wet. The first hand was dry. The second had was wet. Mom noticed that Kate had a dark colored spot on her white sweater. Mom realized what had happened.

Mom yelled for Dad. Kate smelled bad. William hid under a blanket. Dad cleaned up Kate and her sweater. Dad and Mom still love William and Kate. (See previous post...) :)

Well, tonight as Kevin was getting the kids ready for bed, somehow he ended up laying down and singing songs with William. (Apparently, he had William and Kate dancing as he sang their favorite Wiggles songs.) Then, they started singing primary songs together. After I finally finished up what I was doing, I took Kate in with me and joined in on a few. Just as we were getting ready to lay Kate in her crib, William says, "Wait. Just one more song for Kate. I am a Child of God." (William LOVES to sing primary songs and know MANY by heart.) We sang that one last song, William gave everyone a kiss on the cheek, and into bed they went. (Though it was a good while until everyone finally got to sleep...)

*CHEESE ALERT*

I know this is going to be very cheesy, but, it was such a wonderful feeling to sing together as a family, and I really knew in my soul that I loved being a mom and taking care of my children, that there isn't anything better in life (EVEN though Kate has learned how to say "MOMM-Y" instead of Mama, and says it incessantly to the point of insanity). We are thankful to have the blessings of the gospel in our life. To know who we are, where we came from, and why we are here. There is a plan. (It's always nice to know that.) We know that the church of Jesus Christ has been restored on this earth. We learn so much from his example and from the scriptures, both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. There are parts from both that I love. I know that I can do more in my prayer and study, and I hope that we can visit the temple even more often. I hope that we can be good examples to our children, and I hope they will grow to gain a strong testimony of the gospel. I also hope that we will be able to share the plan of happiness with many of our close friends and neighbors. I know that there is no other way to gain the same peace and happiness in this life.

Okay, I guess I'm all done. I truly love my family. Cute pictures coming soon...

Ahoy, mateys! William had his 5th Birthday on May 3rd, 2007 and he invited all his friends (both young and old) to a Pirate Party on Saturday, May 5th. Yes, that is a pirate cake, and while at first I toyed with the idea of making a pirate ship from Family Fun magazine, I quickly settled on this pirate instead. It was my first ever attempt at cute cake making, and I truly felt like this was the ugliest cake I had ever made until the final beard crumbs went on. I definitely wouldn't quit my day job, ha ha, but I think it turned out all right with lots of room for improvement... :) (It was REALLY hard to try and make red frosting, and no I couldn't find it at the store.)

We had eye patches, water balloons, squirt guns, and finally a pirate ship pinata (a pinata ship we altered and decorated ourselves). Everyone had a great time, including Willam, unless you ask him. Then he will tell you how much he hated me telling everyone to go after the birthday boy with squirt guns and how I told daddy to dunk his head in the water cooler. Of course, I told him that we loved him and we were only playing with him, and we won't do that next time. (I think... :))

Don't forget to check our web albums. http://www.picasaweb.google.com/gschellman There are plenty more pictures of William and his friends. This was actually his third birthday celebration (not planned), and we will have more birthday pictures up soon as well. I can't believe he is 5!

Kate is full of personality. Here are some of our favorite photos.

Kelly, one of Kate's aunts, was recently in Hawaii (poor thing) and brought these necklaces back for her sisters. They weighed a ton, but she put them all on and wore them all over the house. Kate had someone else in mind for them, but she did get to keep the dress. :)

What a sense of humor. Here she is joking around with a squirt gun left over from William's birthday party. (She knows something good when she sees it...)

Here she is lounging around like she owns the place (at Chris and Lori's). I don't know where she get its... (And thank you again, Shaunna for the dress...) :)

Another favorite picture of my two kids. I can't believe how much I love them.

Like I said, Kate LOVES to hide in cabinets. Here is her favorite spot, the computer desk in our room. (Kevin keeps his computer under the desk.)

I had to write this down before I forgot.

Kate LOVES:

1. Brushing her teeth. The other day, we found her in the bathroom, on William's stool, toothbrush in hand, moving it around her mouth with a BIG smile on her face.

2. Wrestling on the bed with dad and William. Yes, she does fall on William or mom/dad to wrestle us.

3. Hiding in cabinets. She thinks it is sooo funny to crawl inside an empty cabinet and close the door all the way. I appreciate how long it entertains her, and all we have to do is laugh and say, "Where's Kate?"

4. And finally, Lightbrite. The other day Kevin and I were doing dishes, and we could not find Kate ANYWHERE in the house. Our house is not too big, 1 story, 3 bedrooms, and I went around a few times looking for her in her normal haunts, calling her name many times, but could not find her. I told Kevin that I really could not find her, and I was starting to get worried. Finally, I walked around the counter looked down, and there she was, inside William's cabinet turning his Lightbrite on and off, playing with all the little pieces. She was in the kitchen the WHOLE time. She had easily heard me calling her name looking for her. She was silent. Luckily, she had her binky in her mouth and had not decided to taste the little pieces.

Like I said, she is really funny and cute. :)

It's been over a week, so I thought I better blog. We haven't been up to too much, although William did have Kindergarten Round-up and LOVED IT! They gave the kids bandanas to dress up like cowboys (round-up), and had the kids doing activities in one room, while the parents had orientation in the other room. Nothing spectacular, but I really like their program for teaching kids how to read. William is actually ahead in much of the K curriculum, especially Math, but the teacher and principal seemed confident that he will keep learning. (We have been doing K Home School off-on this past year because he was bored at home...) We did attend an expo for the Lawrence Virtual School as well, to consider all our options. I really liked the curriculum, and while I may do it in the future, for now after much thought and inspiration we decided to go with K at Prairie Park. We will likely do some extra History/Science at home since William LOVES it and there is not much in K. Kindergarten will be fun.

We also had Kevin's 30th Birthday on April 16th. I am working on transferring those pictures soon. William's 5th Birthday is actually today. I can't believe that he is turning 5 and going to school next year. I will miss him! As cute and fun as they are when they are little, I really enjoy spending time with him at home, and he is very helpful. (Of course, there are other times... :)) He's growing up so fast, and only getting older. Time does not stand still. He is going to have a Pirate Party on Saturday. I HOPE the weather will dry up for the park.

Kate is very much her own person. For those of you who know her, she is very smart and knows what she wants. She is now 15 months, and this is one of my favorite ages. She does so many funny and cute things. She loves shoes, playing with them, and trying to wear other people's shoes around the house. She loves necklaces, and cuddly things. She is definitely a girl. Thank you to Shaunna Lahman for passing on such cute clothes and beautiful dresses. It is really a blessing to our family. We can probably afford to have more kids... :) (I am not pregnant.)

Lastly, I am planning on running my first 5K this month. I need to turn in my pre-registration tomorrow... It will be running along the levee in Lawrence. Hopefully, not too many hills. I will be running to finish and challenge myself, but not to meet any certain time. I really enjoy the personal challenge.

That's all I can think of for now. I will be posting pictures of Kevin's and William's Birthdays soon. I will try and keep more up to date. I am getting better, right? I actually, blogged again since I said I was going to.... :)

Gaia