We have had a very busy summer so far. Two of my sisters (Erica and Sena) and their children (Sophie, Katie and Alex) came to visit at he end of July and then the kids and I followed them back to MN and stayed up there for a week. It was all so much fun. The kids did really well on the ride up there and back, which was great. Chris flew up to meet us in MN and drove back down to TN with us. I know I couldn't have done it by myself.

A lot of other stuff has been happening around the Schmit household. Alana lost her second tooth, she turned 6 years old and she started 1st grade. She has not been getting good remarks from her teacher because she seems to be talking too much in class. She sure is like her daddy. Let's hope she learns to be quiet soon.

Skyler has been enjoying more time at home without Alana. She gets to play with all the toys by herself! We have also started potty training this week. It seems to be going pretty well. Only a couple of accidents so far.

Brayden is such a character. He is very ticklish on his back and he just loves to smile and laugh. He started rolling back to tummy and now he can roll tummy to back. He started eating rice cereal and he will start on some veggies next week. He is also suffering from his first cold right now. Poor little guy. Let's hope it passes soon. Nursing doesn't work so well when he can't breath out of his nose.

Here are some pictures from the last month. Enjoy!



Alana, Skyler, Katie & Sophie in the pool.


Erica and Sara watching Katie, Sophie, Alana, Skyler and Lauryn in the pool at grama and grampa's.


Sena and Brayden chillin' outside.

Grama threw a tea party for the little girls while we were in MN. Of course we all had to dress up. Grama, me, Brayden, Alex and Erica.

This was not the best picture of the little girls. I wasn't positioned right in front of them. Alana, Brayden, Skyler, Sophie, Katie and Lauryn. You can't tell but Brayden dressed up too. He has a shirt with a tie on it and grama gave him that hat. Too cute.

Alana and her signature pose. All the girls had dresses, hats, beads and dress up shoes shoes to wear.

Skyler

Lauryn

Katie. I didn't get a picture of her sister Sophie.

Grama and her signature pose.

Alex looking lovely in one of my old prom dresses.

And this is Erica in a lovely yellow dress she found at the Salvation Army. I think she paid $15.00 for the dress. That is way to expensive for me.

I paid $0.99 for mine at the Good Will. I'm sure it was a very stylish dress 20 years ago......

Here was the table. Very lovely. We ate little little sandwiches shaped like stars, circles and hearts. I'm sure we will laugh for years about the holey bread, meat and cheese. Funny times. You just had to be there.

Lauryn's great grama and Sophie and Katie's grama and great grama's also came to the party.

And then the girls got to beat on a pinata. Skyler was first since she was the youngest besides Brayden.

Katie

Lauryn

Sophie

Alana

The little girls couldn't get it so Alex got a try. She got the head off but grampa had to cut it open to get the candy out.

Alana, Lauryn and Skyler relaxing and watching a movie.

Grama and Brayden.

Sophie and Katie were great and bringing Brayden toys.

The kids had so much fun on the zip line. The little ones rode in a big tub. It was a lot of fun.

The had animal overload at grama and grampas. The girls helped grampa work some dogs on the sheep.

Alana petting the sheep.

Petting the sheep.

Trying to pet the big cows.

Trying to pet the baby cows.

Petting the kitty.

Back home in TN and chillin' in the Bumbo.

Brayden's first bites of cereal.

He wants to grab the spoon a lot.

Alana's 6th birthday cake that I made all by myself. It was pretty good. It had a lot of frosting on it.

Huge Hannah Montana card that played her favorite Hannah Montana song.

She got lots of Barbie stuff.

Alana's first day of the 1st grade.