We are having a wonderful start to fall so far. I turned 30 on October 9th and Chris turned 32 on October 16th. Chris went to the Titans Broncos game for his birthday present and I went to the Chihuly glass exhibit and The Cheesecake Factory with my mom for my present. It was a great time for the both of us.

The kids are doing great. Alana is doing so well in school. Skyler seems to be getting past her behavior issues.....some days anyways. Brayden is such a mischievous little stinker. He loves to climb and get into EVERYTHING! Oh well, he's a boy and we have gotten used to it. He keeps us entertained to say the least. Ashtyn is also doing so well. She is four months old now and weighs 15 pounds. She is still sleeping through the night, which is wonderful! She just got over her first ear infection and seems to being doing really well now.

We went to Oktoberfest in Nashville and the only pictures I got were of Alana and Skyler on the ponies. They really enjoyed that. They also played in a bounce house, went through a petting zoo, got balloon animals and ate an okay lunch. The meal wasn't great but we had a funnel cake for dessert and that totally made up for it.

Ashtyn can now get her feet in her mouth!

Silly Braydo!

The kids played in some shaving cream the other day and they had a blast. Skyler made the biggest mess by far, but it was easy to clean up.

My mom came to town last weekend and we went to see a Chihuly glass exhibit at Cheekwood Botanical Garden. They have his pieces lit up at night and we thought it would be neat to go at night. Well.....so did every body else. It took us an hour to drive the last half mile into Cheekwood. The line of cars was ridiculous and we just had to wait our turn to get in. Then we had four kids and two or three of them were in two strollers we brought with. We didn't realize that it was going to be so packed with people or that it was going to be so dark in between the pieces. It was really hard to drive strollers on the paths with all the people and in the dark. BUT....his stuff was very beautiful and I'm so glad we went. I didn't take too many pictures while we were there, but these are the best ones we got. His glass pieces were incorporated into the gardens with the plants and they were in the water and they also just stood alone in the grass. Very beautiful!

My favorite....but not such a great picture. The boat is on water, if you can't tell.

We also went to a pumpkin patch and had a hay ride and pet some farm animals. Here's grandma and our kids.

They set up hay bales and turned them into a tractor. Pretty cool!

Skyler on the hay ride.

My boys: ) Ashtyn slept the whole time.

The Schmit family is doing well. Everyone is healthy and happy....most of the time. Skyler is still being a stinker for us half the time. She can be such a sweetie on second and then a screaming mess the next. She's very dramatic. I thought Alana was dramatic, but Skyler has got her beat. But she is having more good days than bad lately, so hopefully this may be the slow turning point in this nasty phase she has been in......we hope.

Alana is doing great in school and is loving it! She is such a social butterfly and loves being around everyone. Her 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. McWhirter. I've spoken to her a few times and she really seems great. Alana likes her, so that is what really matters: )

Brayden is such a sweet little boy but he can be such a punk some times! He's different from the girls at this age. He acts so much like a boy and does such boy stuff and loves daddy's things. Especially tools. He loves tools! Any time we may leave a screw driver around, he finds it fast and then fixes stuff. He seems so smart for his age, too.......compared to what we can remember with the girls. He is such a talker now, too. No surprise since his daddy and big sisters are such talkers. He doesn't say many words when he talks, but he just babbles on and tells you all about whatever it is. So cute!

Ashtyn is a sweet girl. She has been sleeping through the night for about 3 or 4 weeks now. Most nights anyway....she has woken up a few times in the middle of the night to eat, but she goes right back to sleep. She gets a bit crabby during the day, but it's nothing we can't handle. She likes to be held and we just can't hold her all the time!! She just has to wait some times and she just doesn't always want to wait. She's gonna be just like her sisters!

Chris and I are doing well. Our lives consist of working and keeping up with the kids. They sure keep us busy! Here are some pictures from the last month. Enjoy!

Sweet baby Ashtyn - 3 months old

Silly Brayden!

Alana is part of a group at school called Reading, Running, Responsibility. She meets once a week for an hour and a half after school and she jogs, reads and learns to be responsible. Once a month they meet at a walking trail down the road from us and run a mile. They all run a half mile down and turn around and come back. Dad ran with them and pushed Skyler and Brayden for the first half mile and then Skyler got out and ran the second half non stop! We couldn't believe she could do it but she sure did. Alana also ran the mile non stop. So did Chris: ) Alana is the one in the middle with the white shirt and purple shorts.

Skyler has a captive audience while she eats her snack.

Just woke up!

Bray likes to chew on the corners of his blankies. He shares corners sometimes, too: )

Ashtyn has followed in her sibling's footsteps and loves her blankies from Gramma. She loves to chew on them.....and she loves the really old swing just like her siblings.

Bray got stuck in the stroller: ) Yes, I paused to take a picture before I got him out. Terrible, I know.

Bray loves to wear this mask. He's so funny!

Sleepy baby.

Big sister Alana and Bray chewing on his blankie: )

These small pictures were taken with Chris' new phone. We couldn't enlarge them but we are still working on it.

Sweet baby Ashtyn.

Bray moved from the crib to a toddler bad tonight! It took him a while to stay in his bed and fall asleep, but he did. Hope the rest of the night goes well.

Ashy's new bed: ) Loves the mobile already.

Happy Birthday Alana! She is 7 years old today! I say this every year, but time has sure flown by. She started 2nd grade yesterday, too! She is such a big girl! It is amazing to watch her grow up and see how she has changed over the years. Brings tears to my eyes....happy tears of course: )

Things are going well here for us. It's hot and humid, which is to be expected for August, but it doesn't make playtime outside fun. We sure can't wait for the cooler months ahead.

Below are some pictures from the last month or so. Enjoy!


Sweet Ashtyn after a tubby: )

Brayden likes to ride the Barbie jeep. Silly boy: )

He loves this mask!

He also loves chewing on the corners of his blankies made by gramma.

Water time!

Alana's birthday breakfast. Pancakes with fruit and Reddi-Wip.

Lazy day.

She did this all on her own. Too cute: )

We can get her to smile quite a bit now. I finally got a picture of her smile: )

Alana's Barbie cake.

Rainbow cake.

Opening gifts.

Ashtyn was memorized by the table cloth. Lots of bright colors.