Haircuts and another toothless child!!

A big couple of days at the Schoch house! Monday was haircut day, the mop of hair that Jack started referring to as "his pet" HAD to GO!!!!! Now I must admit I like him with the longer hair, but he won't take care of it, so it's just a huge frizzy afro on top of his head :( Harrison needed a cut, and Olivia thought a trim sounded like a good idea! We went to this fun place called snip-it's to get their hair cut. What a awesome place for kids to get their hair cut!! Olivia didn't want to leave :) Here are some before and afters.....

And Harrison lost his first tooth last night, he wiggled this thing out in about a week!!!

One quick pull was all it took :)

I just love the look on his face, Harrison doesn't do well with blood!! I'm not sure he realized it was going to bleed, but I think he went into mini shock..haha!! Makes me laugh every time I look at it!!

Here are some pics for your viewing pleasure

Christmas 2009

Snow in NC

How cute is this baby??

Tim's Birthday

Olivia at her spa birthday party, can you say DIVA!!

Front porch post

I thought while I was sitting out here on my front porch watching the kids play I would blog!! I was looking into Disney and I found a pretty good deal. For all six of us, which is a lot :) For three nights, four days, basic park tickets and dining plan the total was $2,157. This is by far the cheapest I've ever got it down to, usually it's around $3,000. So my question is should I go in May or in October hmmm...the only thing with May is that I think my sister in law might be bringing the kids down for spring break and we might all be going to Myrtle Beach in April. That and in October Jack will be in middle school, what do you guys think??

I need some help in the weight loss department too!! I put on around 10-15 pounds stressing about moving and moving, yes I'm a huge stress eater!! I'm not doing it now, but now I'm left with the after math of it!! I won't fit into any of my shorts if I don't loose the weight and go down a size..yikes!! And I've probably only have like two months until I will be needing to wear shorts!! What have you done that works for you?? I have started watching what I eat and walking or doing my Wii active everyday, hopefully this will help and I'll start to loose some of the weight.

Just a great day!

Sorry to sound corny, but it was just one of those great days with Max. One of those days you stop and think how great your kid is and how lucky you are to be a Mom!! I tend to get caught up with just the everyday stuff and don't always realize what a amazing kid Max is. He is so sweet, kind, loving, cute and just plain funny!

We had a beautiful day here in NC, 65 and sunny. Max and myself and lunch with Tim, and then walked around, he threw penny's in the fountain and gave us plenty of hugs and kisses. It's so nice to have time with just my little man, I really enjoy and cherish our time before all the big kids come home from school.

So I guess while sometimes I get on a quest for more, I just need to realize that being home with these kids is such a blessing!! More will come, but for now going to the park with Max makes for a great day!!

Stuck on repeat

Lately I've been feeling like I need something more. Something to get me out of my funk. Something new. Something different. Every day for past 11 years my life has been about taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning and running errands. Now I'm not complaining I love being a stay at home mom, I appreciate that I get to be here for them and take care of them. I'm just starting to feel like I want something for me, something that doesn't involve cooking, cleaning and changing dirty diapers!! A lot of women told me that when I get in my 30's things will change, well I'm starting to believe it now!!

This is how my day goes everyday...

Wake up at 6:30 am
Tim and I get the kids ready for school, he takes them hopefully around 7:00. This being said Olivia usually throws a fit 3 out of the 5 mornings about her socks, her jeans, her shoes...ugh.
Attempt to be a good mom and play with Max
Take a shower
Swear that I'm going to work out today
Leave to give Liv her shot around 10:30
Get home around 10:45, talk to Tim for a little bit and hang out some more
Make lunch around 11:00-11:30
Put Max down for nap around 12:00
Clean up a little..yuck
Say to myself "I should take the dog for a walk or work out", think about it...90% of the time I end up sitting on the coach reading a book, watching TV or getting on FB or blogs.
Go pick up the kids from school around 1:30
Help them with homework, pick up after them, listen about their days
Around 4:30 start to make dinner
Eat dinner at 5:30
Eat and clean up usually is over around 6:30
Finish up any homework, read with the kids, give kids baths, comb hair, dry hair, pick up the laundry that they left on the floor from putting their pj's on
Try to get the kids in bed around 7:00 so they can read, and I can take turns reading with them
Hopefully around 7:30 we're tucking them all in and saying our good nights
Pick up a little more
Sit on the coach and watch a show with Tim
Fall asleep on the coach around 9:30-10:00
Wake up and do it all over again

Now I do understand that the life of a stay at home mom is neither fun or exciting, but come on!! I want a reason to put on a dress or a nice outfit, I want a reason to look nice for something! I want my kids to say something more than "you just stay home all day, you don't have a real job". I love them for that by the way ;) I have to do something for myself, as hard as it might be I'm just going to have to do it. So I was thinking maybe I would try to open a small photography business, I do love to take pictures. Maybe now that I'm down here and settled I really need to try to make D Boutique work, God knows that would make me happy. I'm not sure what I want or what I need, I just need a change. We've considered having one more, getting pregnant this spring, but with that brings more of the same. While I would LOVE, LOVE to have one more, I won't do it if it means I'm giving up something for me. Sounds so selfish of me doesn't it, but I figure I better start being a little selfish or I'm going to be a shell of a person.

I feel like I need to hit play on my life, and stop saying I'm going to do this or I'm going to do this, and just do it. Make myself happy. I desperately want to loose weight, the only thing that is stopping me is me. I just need to do it :) Maybe being in your 30's is a wake up call, saying life is short if you want more now is the time to do it!!

I swear I'm addicted to reading people's blogs, and I get bummed when they don't post for awhile!! Yesterday I thought I wonder if anyone feels that way about mine, I'm sure one or two of you would like to know what we're up to just as much as I love to read about your up to!! So I'm going to try much harder to blog more frequently!! I need to post some pics about Christmas and Liv's birthday, but I thought right now I would just kinda catch everyone up on what's going on with the Schochs!!!

-Jack made it to the district spelling bee, and made it to 4th place. This was a big upset for us, he knew the word, but misspoke a letter and then spelled the word right. It still doesn't count so he was out :( He knew ever word that was given, but I think his nerves got the best of him. The good news is that he has a few more years to win it!!

-We drove to MI after Christmas for a week, we had a great time visiting friends and family!! It was a busy week running around everywhere so the kids could visit friends and we could spend time with our family. We were very ready to come home on Saturday though!! It was a cold gray week, and although my kids thought they missed the snow, they didn't want to go out and play in it!! The night we got home Olivia hopped on her pogo stick, Jack on his rip stick and Harrison on his scooter :) Olivia walked in the door and kissed the floor!!

-I have finally completely settled in here, by this I don't mean that the house is 100% put together (I still have some painting and decorating to do). I mean that I know I made the right decision by moving here, and I am happy that I get to call this place home. I love that I wake up to the sun every morning, that is one thing we noticed while we were in MI, (there was no sun) it stayed dark much later in the morning than it does here. I love that there is so much to do, so many places to take the kids, that they get play outside everyday, that I live 2 min's from school, and I LOVE the people here everyone is just so nice!! It's nice to finally be able to say that this was a good move!!

-I've decided that it's time to go to Disney!! With the large house payment gone, we can finally start to save some money for a trip, I am so excited!! We haven't gone since Harrsion was like 6 months old!! I'm hoping to be able to go in the spring, but if that doesn't work out then we'll defiantly go in the fall!!

-I've also decided that I need to start learning more about photography and hopefully start a small business here. I love to take pictures and I'm looking forward to learning more about it and hopefully making a little extra money doing it!!

Life seems boring right now, after the craziness of deciding to move and moving...and I'm loving it!! (I'm planning on posting some pictures when I put Max down for a nap today!!)

The past month or so in one HUGE post....

So, I have totally neglected my blog and a few of you decided to let me know it!! :) So here we go, this is what's been going on with the Schoch Family!!

Here's a few of the kids playing at Lake Norman, around a week after Thanksgiving. They like walking the trails and playing in the sand here!!

This the only "after" picture of the house I have, I'm going to have to take some some so you can see how different the house looks now!! Below are the "before" shots, and yes it was awful!! There is still so much more I could do to this house!!

The kids first day of school!! Their school is GREAT, I absolutely love it there!! Harrison's teacher just won teacher of the year, and Jack's won it last year!! Olivia's teacher if from MI, and is just awesome, she young and fun and Olivia adores her!! Harrison if loving K, he's doing so well, and says he would like to go to school everyday!! Jack has finally found a school that challenges him, he's in all the advance classes, and just won the school spelling bee!! We're so proud of all of them, they are adjusting really well!!

Here they are on their new street...Quarrier Drive!! This subdivision is awesome, they've made a ton of friends!!

Here it is, not much has changed except I painted the front door.

This is our kitchen...YUCK..I hated the red!!! It's been painted a nice tan color and that awful light has been replaced too!!

This is looking from the kitchen into the family room, not really a great pic, but it's all I have!! These were all taken the week we moved in, because the next week it was painted chocolate brown, and there's not boxes everywhere!! There are these great little cubbie areas in front of the two windows on the side of the fireplace, they are Max's little hand out spots!! They're a decent size, just right for him to play and store his toys in!!

This is looking into our front room, and once again that awful green was painted over with a dark tan. We don't really use the couches up front, but I'm hoping to one day, maybe like sit down and read a book!!

This is the boys room, yes all three are in one room!! It's going really well, thank God!! It's actually a pretty big room and fit's all three of them comfortably, I even went out and bought three of those blue cubbies things for each one of the boys to hold their things!! They have a HUGE closet, that has two dressers, a book shelf and it's not even full. Harrison likes to play in there sometimes :) I'm going to paint the bottom gray, I just haven't got around to it yet.

This is Olivia's room, I haven't painted her room yet either..I need to!! She has a pretty good size closet herself, not quite as big as the boys, but big enough for her doll house, toy box, and here bitty baby stuff.

This is our room, it's way bigger than we need...but we've learned to live with it :) We moved the couch in front of our bed and got a flat screen for the wall on the left. It doesn't look too big in the picture, but it's the size of our garage and family room. On the right there is a hallway that has a walk in closet on each side and the bathroom is at the end of the hall. Tim and I have enjoyed hanging out in here, something we never did in our old room!!

Here's Jack on the flow rider at Kalahari, right before we moved here!

And Miss Livy Jane, who was great at it!!

Halloween, right before we moved. I don't know what I was thinking!!

The morning of Max's 2nd Birthday!! We celebrated with a big breakfast, and then headed over to Great Lakes Crossing, and had lunch at Rain Forest Cafe and played at Jeepers!! He had a fun day!!

Here's Max at his Birthday dinner with family. Yes I made my son a rainbow cake, I couldn't help myself the cake just looked too cool!! It was a really good cake, and I no longer feel guilty for making it :)

Max blowing out his candle!! He's such a big boy!! At his 2 year check up he weighed 24 pounds and was 32 inches long. They are a little concerned about his weight and would like to see him gain a pound or two. All my kids are small, but he didn't go up on his growth chart, he just kinda flat lined. I'm working hard to fattin him up!! He's still not a huge talker, but he's getting there!! Max is such a loving baby, he loves to give kisses and hugs to everyone. He likes to tuck in his brothers and sister at night, he gives them a hug and kiss says night night, and them blows them a kiss while he shuts the door. It's really sweet and melts my heart!!

I'll take some pictures of the house now so you don't think I left it that awful red and green!! Olivia is having a birthday party this Friday, a spa party!! And I forgot to post about Olivia's birthday weekend at American Girl, I'll have to do that later!!!

This now feels like home, I love it here!! Sometimes when we're out we say "I can't believe we really live here"!! Everything is so nice, and there is so much to do!! I no longer have feeling of being homesick, but I do miss my friends and family. While I may miss a couple of things, we're so happy here!!!