Creativity at its best!

Zak and Josh decided to shave their heads.  This is nothing new for Josh, his head is always shaved but I don't think Zak has shaved his head since he was about 10 or 11 years old. 

After he shaved it, I guess he thought it was too boring so he asked me to put some lines in it.  I'm not savvy to using clippers/shavers but I took a deep breath and went for it.  But we didn't stop there....oh no.....we decided he needed a star on the other side of his head.  There was NO WAY I was going to try and free 'shave' a star into the side of his head so we got a washable marker and drew it on his head first and then I at least had a pattern to follow.  This was the result. 

This might take some practice, but it really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Next time we'll get a little more creative or try writing ZAK  in his hair.  Maybe we should have done something like this:

OR

OR

Ppppfffffffsssssshhhhhh....like Zak has THAT much chest/facial hair......

Bangs...

It is Schneider tradition to spend the 4th of July at Uncle Jerry's farm in Auburn, WA.  Most years it's a weekend long event and the entire family camps by the river, swims in the pond, sits by the fire and eats.  This year was no different other than we didn't camp with the kids (Ryson and Riley ended up camping one night but the rest of us decided our beds sounded better).

The kids had a GREAT time in the pond.  The weather for the 4th was actually amazing so the water was a welcome relief.  Zak even got in regardless of the fact that he forgot to bring a swimming suit (hence the boxers in the somewhat provocative pic--I don't know why Blake is MIA).

You have NO idea how long it took Riley to talk himself into this, but once he did, he LOVED it!!!



  Over the weekend, we encountered another kind of 'BANG'.  Bella has been BEGGING for bangs for about 6 months.  The last time she cut bangs, all she did was pull them back because 'they were always curly'.  She was over at a friends house playing and her friend wanted her to have a late night but she was so excited to have me cut her bangs that she decided to come home instead.  Before I proceeded to cut, she gave me my instructions, "ok, now I don't want bangs, I want BANGS, like serious BANGS".  It was pretty funny.  She was happy with the end result.

Isn't she beautiful?  She is growing up so fast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Tomorrow is my husbands 33rd birthday.  He REALLY wanted to go camping on the beach somewhere but when we started looking (a week ago), nothing was available.  He had reserved a Yurt at one point but then after reading all the rules and how they don't allow pets, opted to cancel the reservation so that Bree could tag along.

We decided we are going to head  to Moses Lake.  His Uncle has a house on the lake (one that flooded during the winter when the pipes broke so there isn't a kitchen at the moment so we will be living out of a cooler for the next three days).  Fine by me though since the Moses Lake house is SUPER relaxing.  You walk right out the back door, down the side of the mountain to the lake.  There is a dock and a big grassy area where you can just lay out and soak up the sun.  Seeming how we've had a total of 17 hours of 75 degree weather in Seattle this year, I assume we will return pretty pink and peeling when we get back.

I know I've said it before, but I REALLY am married to the man of my dreams.  I couldn't ask for anyone better.  Someone asked me once what it was that made me fall in love with Josh.  My answer was, there isn't anything NOT to love.  It's pretty cheesy, but we really do go together like a hand and glove.  We are quite different with a lot of things, I think, but it still works.  He is the most (as his cousin Shaun would say) lackadaisical person you could ever meet, I'm kinda high strung.  I don't think I've ever seen the guy stressed out a minute since I've known him, I probably wouldn't know what to do if I wasn't feeling a little stressed out.  He puts everyone at ease and makes everyone feel like they are the most important person on the planet, from what I've been told, I'm hard to get to know.  He's probably one of the most stubborn people I've ever dealt with, and well, maybe we have that in common. 

It still amazes me that I found him and that he actually chooses to spend his time with me.  I love him and I hope he has a GREAT birthday, even if we aren't exactly camping on the beach!! 

Introducing Zak

(Add your own beat box music here)

start it off with a zak, next comes the michael schneider. i set you free if ur trapped with my words call me mcgiever.
sink like a rock in a pond, the names james. james bond. im smart like double oh seven so no offense if your blonde.
ur not someone im fond of, i make u crash like a honda, i took this cake out the oven then covered it up in fondon.
im still cool even though im to young for club hoppin. practicaly perfect in every way call me mary poppins.
im a youngin and im beating you, like football im receiving truth through the words that i spit you cant even compare me to you.
girls are stuck to me like glue I say your name theyre all like who? Never mind ur not missing out on anything cool.
I spit rhymes and you druel. Im the king and you’re the town fool. If there was a contest for who was worse then zak ude definatly rule.
end it there, I love you too. you’re a did and I still do. So compare me to you like a jack hammer to plastic tools. TRICK…. Swag.

Tell me about it......stud

For those of you who know me well, you know that my all time FAVORITE movie is Grease.  My Grandma was horrified to find this out since this movie was pretty 'raunchy' back in the day (Still is.  More so than I realized).

Either way, I have had a fascination with this movie from the first time I saw it and I think I am coming to discover why.  Drum roll.......... I TOTALLY relate to this Sandy character. 

My whole life I've had this inner struggle with this girl that I am and know I should be and this other person that is buried down deep (the inner diva I suppose) that is just clawing to get out. 

98% (probably even more) of the time I am like the first picture.  I follow the rules, I do what I'm supposed to, I'm logical, organized, and in control.  However, for this other little fraction of time,  I would LOVE to just break out and do something COMPLETELY out of the norm.  This scares me a little bit, but just a little, because I know the rational side of me would NEVER really let this Sasha Fierce get out of hand, but I wonder when this inner me is going to show herself.

I think I had a small taste of this person (second picture) when I decided to leave my first marriage and take my life in a completely different direction.  This was not something that the rational me EVER would have done.  Not only did I leave my marriage, but I left my ENTIRE life, everything that I knew to be normal and routine.  I quit my job of 10 years, moved to Seattle, left my family behind, got married to the man of my dreams, became the instant mother of 4 more children and moved 4 times in three years.  (I'm still recovering from all of this by the way!)

I know I will not be going to that extreme ever again, but I feel this inner person scratching to get out more and more lately.  I try to rationalize these thoughts away by trying to convince myself that now is not the time and that things are stable and good but I am ready for a change. 

I am tired of my job, my weight, not being able to spend more time with my friends and family.  I am ready to take my life back and do something that I want to do.  I feel as though I'm wasting a lot of my time on this good earth-sitting idle at a place that brings me nothing but stress and frustration. 

I have confidence in myself that I'll do whatever it takes to keep my life in check no matter what direction I go, I just haven't quite mustered up the courage to take the giant leap.  The giant leap called change....

Where are the others???

I noticed today that I'm a few blogs in and I have yet to mention anything about our other four kids.  Zak, Bella, Riley and Blake.  Although I'm sure I will have more than enough to say about these four as I get better at this blogging stuff, it has been quite an eye opener for me to see how little time we really get to spend with them.

We spent the 4th of July weekend with them and I will post more on that once I get the pictures to go along with it.

These four live in Puyallup 90% of the time with their mom.  We miss them so much when they are gone.  Things are not complete at our  house.  It is so sad to talk to them and interact with them so little.  Rarely do we talk to them outside of our 'every other weekend' allotment.  It is hard to keep up on what is happening in their lives when we see them so seldom.  It seems as though we play catch up for the majority of the time they spend with us. 

Summers for Josh and I are bitter sweet.  Ryson leaves for 9 weeks every summer and only seeing the kids every other weekend makes for a pretty quiet household.  However, we try to use the time to enjoy each others company, to relax and do the things we want to do.  It's like being Newlyweds all over again.  We spend our summers working in the yard, camping, watching movies, going to dinner, hanging out with friends, etc.  Our friends always laugh and say that a couple with 5 kids shouldn't be able to do the things we do but we would trade it all to have all of our little chicks back in the nest.  There is a void when they are all missing.

Being a blended family certainly comes with it's challenges and not having your family intact is one of the biggest struggles we (as parents) deal with.  We do the best we can and make the most of the time we have and try to enjoy every second we have with all 5 of our kids, but we sure do miss having the freedom to come and go and plan as we please.  I find myself saying "Wow, how nice would it be to just pick up one day and go somewhere without having to get it cleared with 4 other people first?"

Scout Camp

Ryson went to Scout Camp June 27- July 2nd.  I couldn't believe how long the week took to come to an end.  He leaves to UT every summer but when he's there I at least have access to him via phone, texting etc.  He's never been gone for that amount of time when I haven't been able to talk to him at all. From the looks of it though, I don't think he missed me the same way I missed him!