Happy Halloween!

Tonight was the annual pumpkin carving with Dad. Julia wanted to have a scary face and showed Brent the look she wanted on her pumpkin including the crinkled up nose. After carving her pumpkin, she was so disappointed and sad.....She didn't like that look.... and wanted a scary, smiling pumpkin instead! Jacob found his face he wanted to carve in a newspaper. And Abbie's pumpkin had to have circles, a rectangle, and triangles for the mouth. Happy Halloween!

"Indiana Jacob Jones"

Last Friday, about 20 minutes after we got home from school, Jacob said he had this great idea. He said he wanted to swing from the trees like on tv. I didn't know what he was talking about so had him explain a little more what he was thinking.
"Mom, you know that commercial where that guy Indiana Jones swings through the trees? Well, that's what I want to do." Trying to be a little persuasive and get him to hold off on his idea until Dad got home (thinking maybe he'd forget about his idea).....really didn't make a difference. He had this idea and was going to figure it out. He proceeded to tell Abbie and of course Abbie was hooked into the plan. Not too long after, I looked out and saw them with a big rope, a ladder, and some good teamwork.
So if you drive by our house and see this rope hanging from our tree....just picture "Indiana Jones" himself.... swinging from that tree.

Pre-School or Homeschool

Abbie has become quite the "little teacher" since going to Kindergarten. She plays school all the time - before breakfast, when she walks in the house after school, after supper...... And Julia has become a great student for her class. She has Julia line up to go to "music class" or has Julia sitting in a circle for story time. Whatever happens in Abbie's class at school happens in Julia's class at home. Most of the time we have one ear tuned into what Abbie is teaching Julia which is quite comical at times.

The other day while Abbie was at school, Julia wanted to color. When she was done she said she needed to write her name on her paper. We knew Julia could say the letters for her name but didn't expect to see this written on her paper. I was quite surprised that a 3 year old could write her name like this when never being formally taught. It looks like we may not need to send Julia to Pre-School next year as she's being home-schooled by Abbie this year.

Never a Dull Moment

As you may have been able to tell there is never a dull moment at our house. Have you ever tried to wrestle with your five year old daughter while your 3 year old daughter is using you for a slide while at the same time throwing the football to your son who is practicing 'dive' catches into a pile of cushions?! Well, that was the scene at our house tonight right after dinner. Frankly, there is not much else that is better than to retire to the living room after dinner to be a live 'jungle gym'.

Speaking of another "dull moment".... we usually have a pile of DVDs and CDs resting on the top of the stereo receiver for quick access that the kids watch or listen to. Last week, I went to use the DVD player and the tray would not open. It kept stalling and displayed an error that I had never seen before..."LOCKED" I thought what the world could be locked. About that time I was beginning to notice how clean the top of the stereo receiver was and a helpless fear set in. My first question was to Abbie to see if she knew where all the DVDs/CDs went. She didn't know but Julia piped right in and offered up that she had proudly put them all "inside".

I finally had time this evening to take apart the stereo system and pull out the DVD player at an attempt to retrieve the swallowed DVDs. After choking on the dust from the back of the player, I finally got the cover off and found 14 DVDs/CDs stuffed into a 5 disc changer. There were two discs that were somehow stuffed under the rotating tray and I had to take the tray apart further to rescue them. The kids thought it was funny and I did too, AFTER, I retested the player and realized I wouldn't have to replace it.

Thanks to Julia, I now know a little more about the inner workings of a DVD player AND the area behind the stereo is a little cleaner now.

5 Boys!

Congratulations to my sister Ellie and Kenny on their new addition - Ty. What a special blessing from God. We are so excited to see him and cuddle with the little guy. When that topic comes up in our house it seems like we have a little disagreement as to who gets to hold him first.

The other night Abbie was praying before she went to bed and in the middle of her prayer she said, "And God, please be with Ellie and her new baby and let's see....there's 1-Kenny, 2-Zach, 3-Nick, 4-Ben, and 5-the new baby. That's a lot of boys for Ellie to take care of so she might need some help."

Ellie - we know you'll be able to handle those 5 boys most days, but on days like... well, you know....just remember Matthew 19:26.

3 and a 8

In the words of my free spirited, fun loving, candy craving, five year old daughter, Abbie..

Abbie: "Dad, I know how old you are today!"

Me: "Oh yeah, how old?"

Abbie: "It's a 3 and a 8."

Me: "Oh really"

Abbie: "Yep, and that's really old!"

Me: "Thank you, Abbie"

I have noticed the past few years the joy of having a birthday has picked up with having kids. Growing up, mom always made sure we had a knockout birthday party with a cake to match. Having a birthday in the fall, I always remember inviting friends from school to play football in a pile of leaves. For some reason, the only real gift I can remember from a school kid was an Elvis record. I don't know who invited that kid but he wasn't in attendance the following year.

As we get older through the 20s and early 30s, we kind of just open the cards, with the money falling to the counter, and we go about our work lives as another day. Don't get me wrong..thanks for the cards..I read and appreciate every one..especially ones with money.

But now, having a passel of kids (Abbie counts as two), generates an excitement that is bursting at the seams as they try with all their mite to keep their little bundle of surprises from spilling out. It is so fun to watch. You can't help but go back to your youth and return the excitement. This year I got a bag of Jack Links jerky for hunting, a very large Hershey bar (mostly for them to share with me) and a pair of silky SDSU gym shorts to match Jacob's. We had a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Julia just ate the frosting off of her piece. What joy in simple things. The best part of my birthday is being surrounded with my wife and kids.... And pheasant hunting always just a day or two away.

Abbie was learning James 2:10 for AWANA, which says "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." Abbie's version was this, "For whoever keeps the whole law and stumbles at just one point is guilty and out of the game." As Mom kept trying to correct her, she replied, "Well, it's basically the same thing, Mom."

I am thankful to God for His grace to "keep me in the game" for 38 years.

Happy Birthday Brent!

When we turned the calendar to October, we were sharing some things with the kids at supper one night that would be happening during the month. School Conferences - Columbus Day (No School!) - Hunting season - A new baby in the Kleinsasser family - and Brent (Dad's) birthday on the 16th.

When we came to Dad's birthday the kids just lit up with excitement. The conversation picked up quickly as all the kids wanted a say about celebrating dad's birthday: his cake, his presents, and his party. Jacob said, "Hey dad. Who are you going to invite to your party? Are you going to invite that guy Mike from work who you went golfing with this summer to your party?" Brent quickly assured Jacob he'll take a small party with the kids to help him celebrate.

So this afternoon was spent with the kids planning and preparing for the "big day" tomorrow. They were so excited when he came home from work eager to share what they had been up to. Abbie was dropping hints all night long. Although your party might be small - we know it will be memorable and exciting! As Abbie says, "I know how old you're going to be. The first number is a 3 and the second number is an 8. And that's Old!" Happy Birthday Brent!

Picture Worth a 1,000 Words

So earlier this week I shared a story about kid's imaginations and my little brother writing up a customized Sunday School lesson on a chalk board in his room. I stated he wrote God=Good and the Devil=Bad. Well, leave it to mom to have found pictures of the event to set the record straight. This is circa 1984.

Mom, how many boxes did you have to go through to find this and what else do you have in there that I should know about?

Thank you Aaron for preaching the Truth!

Little Singer

One of the joys of kids is watching them play 'pretend'. Watching them act out everyday situations into their play time is amazing to watch. If you don't think they are watching your every move, guess again. A parenting tip I learned years ago was that 'more is caught, than taught'.

Our girls love to play pretend with Abbie as the leader. Lately, it's been Abbie as school teacher with Julia as her captive pupil. Julia sits quietly listening to Abbie expound everything she heard her teacher say that day and then is handed a stack of papers to work on. Another recent pretend play time was called barrel racing and involved a stick horse, a long plastic bat, play belts for harnesses, and spatulas for "wappers", as Julia called them. Imitating their time with riding Aunt Missy's horses, they put 3 frisbees in the living room and took turns "wapping" their stick horse around the frisbees to see who could go the fastest. It was all fun until a horse gets tripped up suddenly by a chair leg or other unforeseen obstacle.

An all time favorite, though, is pretend church. I can remember playing church growing up and I even remember a picture of my little brother drawing a Sunday school lesson on a chalk board, in his room. The lesson proclaimed "God=Good" at the top and the "Devil=Bad" at the bottom. Our kids are no different. Usually with the girls standing on the fireplace step singing and Jacob standing on the floor preaching. The girls love to stand on that ledge and belt out anything that resembles a church song. They pull out song books from the piano bench to make it look official, even if Julia is holding hers upside down.

Julia has been carrying this pretend singing over into the actual church services and will often times be heard belting out "her own version" to keep up with the others. Today was no different except that she started putting up her hand as a microphone to copy the worship leaders on stage. It was too much and I just had to get out my phone to take a picture. Obviously that action was "caught" because it was never "taught" to her to do that.

What will they pretend next?

Julia hammering out her version of 'Blessed Be the Name'

Fall Saturday

Today started with Jacob's soccer game. It was a brisk, cool morning so the girls broke out their gloves and hats for the first time this Fall. Jacob's team won 5-1 and are still undefeated with 2 games left to play.

My favorite girls!

Trying to score one for the team.

After the game Vicky, Abbie and Jacob went to Sioux Falls shopping while Julia and I stayed home, hanging out, watching Incredibles, and working a little around the house. When they got back we went on a little hike to look for leaves for a school project for Abbie.

Julia helping Dad get the popcorn popper out for an evening snack.

Jesus Is My Friend

Found this hilarious video on YouTube. The kids love it. This may have been the start of rock and roll in church. This is truly a classic! Check out the electric guitar player. Enjoy.

Candid Camera

Jacob got a lesson a few weeks ago in class about security cameras that the school has to keep them safe. As an added measure their teacher also preceeded to tell the students that there might just be one in their room that would be watching them when she couldn't see them. This was a brilliant move on her part to attempt to keep crowd control at all times. The imaginary video camera has provided many interesting 'candid' conversations with Jacob.

Jacob came home the first time and asked if we had known about the tape from the security camera in their room. We said not yet but maybe sometime. He said well if you do see it you might see me messing around a little bit but not too much. About once or twice a week Jacob will come confessing something in the hopes to stem the tide of any trouble that may come his way if we see something.

A recent conversation this week went something like this:

Jacob: "Dad, if you see the video tape today you just might see me messing around a little."

Me: "Oh yeah, like what?"

Jacob: "Oh, Ezra and I were shooting pencils back and forth during reading time but I think Ezra did more than I did."

Me: "Did your teacher see you when you were supposed to be reading?"

Jacob: "No, that's why she has the camera."

Dad: "So what are you going to do next time Ezra wants to shoot pencils?"

Jacob: "Well, I keep looking for the camera so I could know where it was and try not to be on it."

He for sure knows there is a security camera down by the bathroom area so he told us when we see that video tape to make sure we notice that he washes his hands every time he goes to the bathroom.

I'm glad there weren't any security cameras back in our day, imaginary or real!!

Now What?!

We finally released the family blog..now what?! We're glad we could give Uncle Skipper another web site to check in his spare time. Skip, just save those 'special' comments for that LivingOnLiquid guy.

I must say cousin Tom was some of the inspiration on starting this blog. I figured if he could do it then how hard could it be. His beloved Cubs wasted away their great season by a 3 game sweep in the playoffs. I found this amazing video clip of this etch a sketch guy doing a tribute to the Cubs. I remember having an etch a sketch, as a kid, and could barely draw a straight line. After trying to draw a picture of a simple house it would always turn out tilted over as if it were blowing over in a hurricane. But this guy figured something out so here's to you Tommy and another try next year! If the music is playing, you can scroll down and click the 'pause' button on the left side.

If you're like me, you've been semi-glued to FoxNews the past 3 weeks watching in disbelief of the financial situation. I was in NYC the night before Lehman Brothers announced bankruptcy. I was in a hotel and turned to CNBC and caught the start of their breaking news about Lehman. I walked over to 49th and 7th to see all the commotion. They are (were) a great customer for the company I work for and a project I had helped manage. As I stood on the sidewalk in front of the building, I was wondering how much of history was I witnessing first hand. The four lane street in front was reduced to 2 as there were several news satellite trucks and hundreds of people all around. Many employees were going in and coming out with boxes of their stuff.

I don't pretend to understand all of this. Trying to follow who did or didn't do or say what, when, and why is enough to make your head hurt. How can one understand it all with the media coming out with a different blame story or spin everyday. So now the $700 Billion 'rescue' bill is passed, now what?!Will the bill save the economy? That was the justification when it was trying to get passed. Now, since it's passed, there is still uncertainty on if it will do the job or not and that it will take awhile to really show any effects.

I was reminded the other day of what is it that I am trusting in. David wrote in Psalm 20v7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." That doesn't mean he wasn't preparing and planning his battle strategies but more importantly, he understood that chariots and horses(material things)have limited abilities compared to God's abilities. David also says he is trusting in the name of God. God's 'name' or reputation was that of thousands of years of history of Him providing for and delivering His people in times of trouble and distress. As He continues to do so today.

And so while I'll be watching and reallocating my 401(k), we're keeping a firm grasp that God is in control of it all.

September Madness

Saw this on another blog Neatorama. Click on the photo.

Julianna Isabella Rose

Julia is the 3rd installment in God's grand plan for our family. A fun loving, easy going spirit that certainly holds her own in keeping up with the other two. She loves popcorn and that is certainly a Schneider trait. Just wait until she learns there is a Weather Channel and FoxNews to go with that popcorn. She is known as the popcorn girl and the green bean girl..her two favorites. Not sure where the green bean love comes from but, hey, no argument here...kids need their vegetables.

To be heard above the others, she is often the loudest one in the room to get attention. After dinner she, and the others, loves to sprawl out in the living room with Dad to wrestle and play 'Hop of Pop'. In keeping up with the others, her independent side is quickly coming out at 3 yrs. old. She wants to go to the farm ALONE to have lunch with Missy ON the horse. She wants to wash her hair all by herself. Her favorite lines are "Let me do it." or "I can do it all by myself." Abbie has learned her match a few times as Julia has learned how to return the "pick'ns" See Child #2 Post.

My nickname for her is 'Baby'. She said to me a few months ago that "I'm not a baby, I'm get'n bigger" True my 'baby' is growing up but she will always be my baby.

Abigail Victoria

Abbie, also known as Ab or Peanut, is child no. 2. An amazing curiosity full of energy. A mixture of Uncle Skipper and Great Grandma Clara with a captivating smile. Always wondering who she can meet next. She would do anything for a mouth full of candy or gum...just like her Mother...that ovbiously comes from the Arhart side.

She started Kindergarden this year and is having a blast. She comes home from school and practices everything she learned on Julia. Julia may have indirectly started Kindergarden already.

A favorite Abbie story is a few years ago I drove over to school to pick up Jacob and had the two girls with me. After picking up Jacob on the way back, Abbie started to 'bug' Julia and I said, "Abbie, stop picking on Julia". It was quiet for about 5 seconds and I heard a quiet voice asking, "Julia, you, you like the pick'n? And before Julia could answer, Abbie proclaims, "Dad, Julia said she likes the pick'n"!!

First Day of School

This year at the State Fair she rode her Aunt's horse to a 4th place ribbon in the lead line event. The kids love getting to learn to ride the horses and how to do the different events. Thank you Andy and Missy for taking the time to let them ride.

Jacob-Buddy

Jacob is our hard work'n, all sport lov'n, fifth generation first born male. He loves to work on projects around the house and on the farm. You can always tell what season it is by seeing what ball he has in his hands kicking or throwing around.

This is the first year Jacob has been apart of organized soccer. His team is named the Warriors and his coach is from Egypt. During his first game, it was evident that he had brought his 'street brawl' style that he had come to learn from his school recess time. But he soon realized that there were real rules to this game and quickly adjusted.

The Egyptian led Warriors are now 8-0 with 4 more games left. There are two other big kids with Jake and a couple of speedsters and they all play well together. True to Jacob's style, soccer is now his 'favorite' sport. It seems what ever sport season we are in, that is his proclaimed 'favorite' sport.

GOOAAAL!