Will the real Robey Schantz please bark?

--Got these pics today AND OHMIGOSH!
CUTIE, CUTE, CUTE!
We think he's either the one on the left
or the one in the middle!
We get first pick and we can't wait!
We're so excited!!!!!!!
OOOOH! OOOH! AND...
We found out that we go get him
May 21, 2007
Only 12 more days!!!!

Robey and His Brothers at 4 weeks old...

We don't know which one he is yet...
but we can't wait to meet him!
Just three more weeks and he'll be all ours!

Here comes Robey!

One of these little guys is gonna be
the new little hairy-man romping around at our house!

In honor of Ripley, we've chosen
another name that starts with a "R".
Robey

Isaac goes around talking about him all the time.
They were born April 9, 2007 and
we go bring him home over
Memorial Day Weekend.

I find that profoundly fitting since
we still have Ripley so close in our memories.
As we jump into love with another dog-friend,
we can only hope that Robey is as much fun,
company, and joy as Rip was.

Wa-hoo! A new puppy! What fun!

Okay, it's just NOT fair

Here we are AGAIN...
on the red couch sick (well, Eli is) with the
cozy little boy blanket that Oma made for Daddy.
That blanket sure gets puked on alot and
well, it's just not fair!
Eli has had more than his share of viruses this year!
He's had the stomach flu, TWICE and now
he has strep throat. As I write this he's missed
three days of school, been to the doctor AND
to the ER! He's fevered and thrown-up and can't hardly eat,
poor guy...we try to make it quasi-pleasant for him (even though
we hollered at him for not making it to the bathroom to puke)
with lots of ice cream and movies and computer games
but a temp of 104 degrees and a rotten little brother who
HAS to do EVERYTHING you do is NO FUN!
He'll just have to eat more ice cream.

The Best Stinkin' Spot to Read

I wonder why this is
The Best Stinkin' Spot?

Happy Easter!

We're bad parents...we can't keep them in their beds.
Easter was EARLY this year!

Shhhh! Be quiet Mr. Easter Bunny!
I know Jesus is alive but I'm still sleeping!

He's not been awake for 2 seconds and he's found
the nummy beans and wants them for "bekfast."

Bountiful Baskets and Bunny Ears!


Beautiful Boys ready for church.


What Handsome Men!

Later at Nana and Paw's house for the
Annual Easter Photo Shoot...

Kristen and Shelby (Poor Eric had to work)


Matt and I


Me, Momma, Daddy, Lisa and Kristen
My Family and Me!

Our Easter Blessings from Our Savior, Jesus.

Nana's special dessert...Bunny Cakes!

A bug-booted blockhead

You BLOCKHEAD, Charlie Brown!
Although, if Isaac were a Peanuts character...
He'd definitely be Linus.

He's wearing his bug boots here that are for the garden.
He thinks they're cool because they're like Zoe's.

AND THEN...

mE and the boys got The Stomach Flu
just in time for Eli's and my birthdays.
We celebrated March 3, Eli's 8th, by opening
presents in bed and having a Sprite.

He's not looking too rough here because
he REALLY LIKES opening presents.

Isaac, on the other hand, looks perfectly ill
(he had the flu first and was well over it by now)
because it's NOT his birthday and the
presents aren't his.

He did, however, manage to get his hands
on his brother's cool new hat...



It all worked out fine however
because everyone just came up the next weekend
for a make-up party.

Whose a ham?

Whose the cutest thing ever?


The big boys and bosom buddies spent all
of their time with the video games before coming
down for...


Cheeseburgers and Cookie Sundaes!


Happy Birthday Eli!


Make a big, BEAUTIFUL wish!
Momma prays that all of your best wishes come true!
I know mine did when I got you...


Oooooh...pretty birthday flowers for me from
the fella with my favorite "two-lips"!
Heehehehehehe!

The Freakin' Lederhosen Pictures for Oma.

This REALLY stinks...

Momma and Daddy have been helping Grandpa Will
clean up his house to get ready to move and
Lo and Behold they found the priceless
heirloom lederhosen that Daddy and Uncle Dan
had their pictures taken in when they were little.
These lederhosen were a gift from Aunt Hilda and
Uncle Ray when Daddy and Dan were little boys like me.
Oma likes us to have pictures taken in them and when
Eli was little no one could find these lederhosen so
she went out and bought a whole new set.
Well, everybody is so excited to have found the
original pair and they all want me to have my
pictures made in them
BUT...
I don't WANT to try these things on.

I want to play my cars in my jammies but
they're making me take pictures.
I'm a sad little German boy.

No, I won't smile. "No like it say cheese. Play Cars!"
I'm mad.

Okay FINE...here's your freakin' smile
now leave me alone!
There's no way in heck you're getting the little
matching socks and hat on me now!

zOe & mE, gUS...

zOE AND me have lots of fun and we get to play
all the time now...

We're as good as can be.
When everyone asks us what we're doin...
We say, "Nuthin..."

Zoe SURE loves me and I love her too...

We sure look sweet, you'd never know that
we're fightin', bickering, squabbling, smackin, playin',
lovin', hollerin', and kissin' cousins.

We say our prayers.


We pile up like puppies...


We're bedtime buddies!


We both have cute belly buttons!


We mess around when we should be sleepin'.

Paw would stick his finger out and say,
"No-no" just like this...

We get in tons of trouble but we sure have fun!

AND THEN...The Big mOvE...

We got the best new neighbors!
They live so close that they can just walk over anytime!
It's great fun having family live nearby.
Matt and I have never (in 15 years of marriage)
experienced living near family.
We've been busy with having them around to
do things with A LOT.
Zoe, Ashley, Phillip...Lisa and Tom
are now part of most everyday.
It sure is hard to have all that fun with them
AND BLOG. ;)

It all started with this...

Okay so...people KEEP asking why we've not posted to the blog
since February...well, it started with this.
Isaac threw his paci one frosty February afternoon and
we took the opportunity to nip the end off and "try" to
wean him from it. He got the nipped paci back, proceeded
to stick it in his mouth, whereupon a strange and extremely shocked
pall washed over his little face and THEN he furiously and
rather adamantly declared that his paci was "boke" and then
demanded "new battawies" for it. His frustration and, at times, rage
continued for a few days and his faithful paci, however broken,
was always in hand. After a couple of weeks, his need to carry
it around diminished. Isaac and his beloved paci
officially parted ways.

Little did we know that this milestone would also mark
the beginning of Isaac's unquenchable thirst for exploration and
experimentation. It's taken most of the last two months for us all to
adjust to his comforting friend being gone and to learn how to best
keep Isaac safe while encouraging him to maintain contact
with the floor. He has discovered an inordinate fondness for climbing
and we'd be quite proud of his advanced capabilities if it didn't
FREAK us out so much to find him scaling up a basket of
towels to the top of the washer!

He attempts this activity almost daily, and however much
he proclaims that he is NOT climbing up the side of the washer,
it is a dead giveaway to hear his little hands, knees and feet
SQUEEEEEEEK back down the side of it when we holler,
"ISAAC ARE YOU CLIMBING?"
"No momma!" He's a big fibber.

Eli's First Real Snow Fort

The Portcullis

The Trenches

The Artillery Bunker

Patrolling the Perimeter...

OH, wait...heck. How'd that sneak in there!

That's not a tough guy snow fort picture.
Eeeewwww that's a frosty momma kiss picture
taken in the enclaves of the fort's major buttress
(we couldn't decide whether or not to use fort or castle lingo
so we mixed em' up). Anyhow...this is the major buttress or
lookout tower. We're sitting on the steps of it which
turned it into the major "butt-rest."
We laughed and laughed about that and I got a kiss for
helping to build it. I think the words, "best-mom-ever" were
even uttered! You just HAFTA blog that! Especially since
I'll be boring ole mom making him read again next week.

Atop the Major Buttress
aka The Fort's Summit!