It's A Girl!!

Early Sunday morning we got "the call."

"You may not want to go to church this morning," says my brother.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!

Today was the day!

And to think that this baby was going to be kind enough to come on my day off...

I should've known better.

After a very long day of waiting for the phone to ring that my brother and sister-in-law were on their way to the hospital, I FINALLY got the go ahead...at 8:30pm.

Oh boy. I was in for a LONG night.

I called into work that I would not be there the next day, packed my things, and off I went.

Prepared this time!

(With Harley's birth, we were there all night and I was freezing most of it. I also longed for a pillow!)

I approached Room 5...

And set my things, blanket and pillow included, next to Scott's...

Scott came prepared as well...cooler...candles...snacks...and computer for Shawna's favorite Pandora channel.

It was so nice in that room...dim lighting, relaxing music...I almost wanted to crawl into bed with her;)

Look familiar to any of you mom's?...

Shawna got her epidural about 9:45 and Scott got a little nap in.

After 15 minutes of pushing, my rockstar sister pushed out another big baby!!

Scott got to "catch" the baby and announce that it was a "Girl!"

Abigail Rae was born at 12:24am, March 26.

Weighing 9 lb, 9oz...21 inches long.

PERFECTION!



Very shortly after, my parents were called in to meet their new granddaughter.

They were smitten at first sight:)

And how could you not be?!?!

Apparantly I'm smitten too, because the next day I couldn't wait to get out, do a little shopping, and get back to the hospital!

It was a LONG night with only 3 hours sleep, and I needed some rest! Fortunately the boys went to school as usual, and my MIL took Emma Kate as planned for a typical working Monday.

So after a few of my errands I was able to get home for some sleep before picking everyone up.

Let me tell you a little something about myself...I have longed for a niece almost as much as I have always longed for a daughter.

And my nephews are pretty darn awesome!

But something sparked in me when that little girl was born the other night.

As I watched her come into the world, I had visions of all the girly things to come in our future!

Visions of Emma having a girl cousin to play tea party and dolls with.

(Even though she usually can con one of the boys into doing so!)

Visions of mani/pedi's and shopping.

And I haven't stop smiling since.

Mostly I praise God, of course, for a healthy baby.

And for the bonding my sister-in-law and I have done these past 9 months.

And for the fact that they live so close.

Welcome Baby Abby!

And thank you, Scott and Shawna for allowing me to be a part of such a special moment.

Number 93 Has Won!

Last night we attended the annual school auction for Connor's elementary school.

We've been to TWO auctions before, those of Dominic's Junior High, which were put on by the Leadership students, and might I add...were very nice.

This one was different, held at a local hotel, with very fancy dress attire, which I was surprised by.

Actually there were many things I was surprised by!

Firstly, I was surprised by how much this little number got us in "trouble!"

(OK maybe it was me...that got us in trouble...ehhh...We'll blame it on the number.)

The evening started with the Silent Auction.

I was all ready for this...I'm a pro!

I wore my comfy heels to allow for some stompin' to get my bids in at the last minute.

(Second surprise: Those moms can dress up! I didn't even recognize a lot of them from their normal sweats and tossled morning hair...to, well, as Heidi could relate..."prom dresses!"

I felt under dressed in my dressy jeans and shimmery aqua top.)

Jeff just stood by, watched, and laughed as I fought my way through, and teasingly fought for what I wanted.

Third Surprise: We won all 3 of our silent auction bids!

Oops...didn't plan that one!

I guess I got a little too excited;)

So we won the ice cream package, complete with Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone gift cards.

We also won the movie and dessert package.

(4 movie tickets and 4 gift cards for frozen yogurt.)

 And lastly...6 "free" bowling passes, shoe rental included!...and a gift certificate to one of our favorite restaurants.

Finally it was time to settle in for dinner and the Live Auction.

This part...I'm not such a pro at.

But we were ready for some fun, sitting at a table with one other couple, who we knew, and 3 others, I have never seen before in my life...except I think I may have elbowed one of the ladies during the silent auction;)

After 2 glasses of wine, and the announcement that the Live Auction was going to begin, I got our "Number" ready to raise in the air, joking that we could jack the bid up higher early on.

"Let the bidding beg..!"

I raised my number high in the air and couldn't get it down before hearing,

"We have 100...200...thank you Number 93...Do I hear 300?"

"300?"

"300?"

Me: For the love of God...someone please bid 300!

"Sold to number 93 for 200!"

You may be laughing now...

but just wait...

You may ask, "What did you get for 200 dollars?"

Are you ready?

I got Preferred Parking for the whole 2012-2013 school year.

"What does this mean," you may ask.

It means, that there will be a parking spot right next to the office, with a plaque on the fence above...

that reads,

"Reserved for

the

Schwab Family"

Oh yeah. You still may be laughing.

But who will be laughing when I roll up on the first day of school

in my Swagger Wagon with Bible Tunes bumpin' on the stereo, sportin' my shades, and roll open

the sliding door to let Connor out for school.

Oh yeah...who'll be laughin' then?!?!

So when Connor got up this morning, I didn't tell him I won him an Ice Cream Party for his class, or lunch with his teacher...

"Honey, I got you a parking spot!"

Lesson Learned!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Normally we aren't too into the St. Patrick's Day festivities...meaning I usually make the traditional dinner and a certain leprechaun comes during the night to turn the milk in the fridge and toilet water green, but that's the extent of it.

This year we did a little bit more.

I owe this to Pinterest, an idea I got from Mel Larson's "Elf on the Shelf," as well as Connor's seeing all the older kids' Leprechaun Traps at school.

So we'll start with what the kids found when they woke up....mainly Connor...he had the most fun with it...

The Leprechaun had come during the night, did his usual milk-turning-green-trick, and ate the candy in Connor's little house he built for him (out of a tea box.) (Connor decided he wanted to be "nice" and build a house instead of a trap.)

Not only that, but this year "he" took a dry erase marker and marked up some of our framed photos on the walls with silly faces. 

Then Connor noticed the cupcakes...

The night before, I had started making some Irish Car Bomb cupcakes. I put them in the oven and then we put Connor to bed. He did not see that when I had pulled them out, they had sunken and I had a hard time getting them out of the pan.

So they looked like this in the morning sitting on the counter...

Connor thought the leprechaun had done something...

to which I replied, "Oh My! He nibbled on all the edges!"

He thought that was hilarious!

(So did I.)

We then made some green pancakes...everything has to be green on ST. Patrick's Day right?!?!

Connor decided to flaunt his 10's hat he made at school...

And I decided to make another go of the cupcakes.

And was I glad I did! I have NEVER sunk my teeth into a better tasting cupcake!

It seriously...was the highlight of my day! I know...pathetic!

I got the recipe here.

They were a little labor intensive for me...but so worth it!

And for the kiddos we tried a Cake Batter Cookie Recipe I found on Pinterest that you can find here:

http://cookincowgirl.blogspot.com/2011/10/funfetti-cake-batter-cookies.html

(I couldn't get this darn thing to link right, so there it is!)

Those cookies are pretty amazing also...of course we made them green as well.

After spending all day cooking and baking, my hubby came home from work and my parents came over for dinner.

They stayed late and told stories of when they were younger and dating.

Connor even stayed up till 10:00!

This part of the day was my second highlight.

We are so blessed to have our parents live close and to see them often. The drawback is that we get so caught up in the day-to-day stuff, that we rarely hear fun old stories about them and our family.

Even Dom stuck around and listened.

We also had fun teasing my mom about how naive she used to be;)

...And I think we convinced my dad to get all of his old films of our family when Scott and I were little...I mean...films...like on reels that you play on an old projector kinda films...and put them on DVD so that we can enjoy them!

Can't wait to see that stuff!

Hope the leprechaun came to visit you too;)

Driving Me Nervous

One week ago today Dominic and I headed (for the second time) to the DMV for his driver's test!!

We waited nervously in line and then pulled the car around.

(I feel the need to take a moment to add that I, in fact, had a horrible stomach bug this day. It was all I could do to get dressed, let alone get kids off to school and be excited for a driver's test. Just goes to show that life never stops for a mom.)

After the initial blinker check, arm signals, etc...Dominic and the the "tester" took off...

leaving Emma Kate and me standing on the sidewalk. There he went, just like that. My baby taking his driver's test. Ok, Ok, I know he's not my baby anymore. Nonetheless, I was not prepared for this.

It's so crazy experiencing the whole "teenage driving thing" from a mother's perspective. I still remember my driver's test and the first time I drove alone. As a teenager, I thought I was invinsable.

As a mother, I worry!

He's a great driver. It's the inexperience and the other drivers out there that I worry about.

After a very long 20 minutes, he arrived back, parked in a different location than where he left from, and walked back to the building. The stinker had no expression on his face!

That's when the "tester" said to me "He did very well. Just step on up to this line and one of these people will process the rest of the paperwork."

Woohoo!

That's when my worry turned to excitement. (At least until he drove alone for the first time.)

He did it! He passed! Such a right of passage!

He didn't even scoff when I took a moment for some pictures:)

Now that's a stylin' kid next to a minivan ;)

He drove us to Starbucks for a celebratory drink (so hard seeing as how I gave up Starbucks and all sweets for Lent) before heading back to school.

Sunday he made his "maiden voyage!" We caravanned to church; he drove Jeff's truck and all of the rest of us rode in the van. He stayed later at church and drove home alone. And later in the day he came to me saying, "I really need some new mechanical pencils at Target." pause. "Can I go get some?!"

And there you have it! Off and running driving!

Now the search is on. The goal is to get Jeff a new vehicle and Dominic will inherit Jeff's truck.

My life will get so much easier! And a lot more worrisome!

Congratulations Dom!

And again...we are so proud.