WELL, CRIMINY!

Here's the other niece who hasn't
had the opportunity, yet, to complain
about the utter lack of pictures of her
on our blog so, before she gets the chance
here's a picture of Shelby Ann
in her cutie-pie, cammo outfit
that Auntie J bought her this summer!
I love you too Shelby!

Has ANYONE noticed that there isn't a single picture of Ashley Lauren on this freakin' blog?

I have a lot less flattering pictures of the particular
niece who issued the complaint that titles this
blog entry BUT I thought that I'D BE NICE
and put this pretty picture up in response
to said complaint BECAUSE who wants
to see a picture that's all mostly a big, gaping
hole of a mouth anyways.
I LOVE YOU ASHLEY! Is your last name Schantz?
You're the BESTEST baby carrier EVER!

Uh...just GUESS what we're doing at our house...

Guess what Isaac got today?
Go ahead...guess!
You'll NEVER get it! Hee, hee!

Pee goes in the potty!

Here's his little "Throne".
He must've went to get a magazine.

Oooh...let's put our ONLY paci (momma can't find
the other two dozen cuz I keep hiding them) in the new
potty and then try peeing standing up like daddy!

After all the fun, he tromped around without his diaper
for 20 mins or so not having actually peed in the potty and
hosed down the kitchen floor with urine like a swiffer wet jet.

Have I told you that I hate potty training...

More Snapshots from a Country Reunion...

Foam Rockets!

Purty Cousins to Pack a Fella Around...

Uncle Gary and Aunt Sally's Party
is always REAL Ringer!

(Okay, so, sidestory...Eli is running around going
places, doing stuff and ducks in front of the horse-shoe pit
during a game which immediately launches at least
two or six, maybe all of my uncles into the
Standard Needler Horse-Shoe Safety Lecture.
Crack me up! Do you know HOW many times I heard
that growing up?

Anyways, so, he and I had a talk.
It went like this...
Me, "Hey Eli, why did they tell ya not to cross in front
of the pit?"
Eli, "Well, I guess because I might get hit."
Me, "Yeah, and what might ya get hit with?"
Eli, rolling eyes and stating with the "duh mom" tone,
"A horseshoe."
Me, "Yeah and what are they made of?"
Eli (more duh tone...hate that), "Uh...metal?"
Me, "Yeah, and what happens if you get
hit with a flying piece of metal?"
Eli, "I'd probably get knocked out?"
Me, "Yeah, so what should you do?"
Eli, "Stay away from the horshoe pit?"
Me, "Yeah..."

So, totally cool...I got to give the lecture!
Thanks for letting me tell that. :))

Leapin' Lizards!
Phillip's Buddy for the Afternoon

This is my Zoe-Bug slap telling me off because
she DID NOT want her picture taken.
Her mother, my baby sister, was trying to
get her to lighten up.
She had been playin' HARD all afternoon and
was a "grouchy pickle" as she likes to call
everyone else when they're cranky.
She's even cute mad.

The Big Red Ride

The Big Red Ride at Uncle Gary's!
This pretty baby is a Massey-Harris 44 Special
refurbished by my Grandfather Jerry Needler
and some of my uncles not long before he died.

Tractors are serious business where we come from...


We're goin' for a ride, goin' for a ride.
Sit right down and buckle up!
We're goin' for a ride!

I'm NEVER getting off!
I'm gonna DRIVE it!

And...he didn't get off AND nobody made him.
Now, you gotta understand that there's at least
TWO picnic tables worth of cousins
sitting on every available surface,
some on the laps of others eating watermelon
WAITING for their turn to ride.
Here he is on ride #2 with cousins
Phillip and Jimmy Gerald.
He's a lucky little bloke...

Isaac LOVES tractors. The funny
thing is that he keeps calling them vacuums.
HEY...THEY'RE BOTH NOISEY!

The Schantz Cousins all together...FINALLY and The Saga of the Stuck Finger.

Our boys finally get to meet their baby cousin

Caleigh Grace Schantz...
Aren't they all terribly cute!
What's super funny about this picture
is that Isaac has his finger stuck in the window
of a matchbox car!

Now for The Saga of the Stuck Finger.
A poignant series documenting the near impossibility
of getting a good picture of a
group of small children...

Owie! Isaac's finger is stuck!
Eli is smiling for someone's camera...noticeably not mom's.
Caleigh sees something cool off to the side and goes to get it.

Isaac, "Maybe if I pray, it'll come out."
Eli is FINALLY smiling for MY camera.
Caleigh still wants the attractive mystery object.

Isaac, "NOBODY IS LISTENING!
STOP taking pictures! My FINGER is stuck!"
Caleigh is the youngest and the ONLY one on task. Sheesh!
Eli just LOVES to cuddle with Caleigh!

Isaac in the depths of despair...
Caleigh now aware of her fellow baby's plight
chimes in to get the attention of
all the negligent photographers...
Eli is EVER so attentive to little Caleigh's crying.
"What's wrong baby Caleigh?", Eli asks...

Oma to the Rescue!
ALL BETTER...
Now both Isaac and Caleigh are looking at the mystery thing.
What the HECK is over there anyways?
Look, Eli is STILL posing for the camera!

The Chocolate Caper

This just in...
Reportedly, the notorious Pantyhose Bandit
who has been repeatedly assaulting a local property
on Dupont Lane, has struck again this time
without his signature nylon mask. And there's
unconfirmed news coming in that
the perp has been captured!
Yep...that's right, captured.
It'll be good to get a real look at this bandit.

Officials on site state that they
had just left the area momentarily to
"let out the dog" and when they returned
they caught the bandit red-handed stealing
a highly-valued stash of premium chocolates and toffee.

There's no need for a trial, officials are saying because
the evidence is so hard...well and sticky.

Uh...what are you doing?

The Evidence

What Chocolate? I don't know what you mean...
The Interrogation

Wait...THESE aren't my hands!

I'm really sorry.
Do you still love me?

Actually Using Utensils...There is Hope!

He's got the fork...He's going in...

Will he do it? The anticipation is mounting!
The audience is a bundle of nerves...

AMAZING! We've never seen anything like this, folks...
I think that we're all just glad that we were here
to witness this momentous occassion.

Being big is exhausting!

Go Colts!

More shots from our visit to The Dome
for a pre-season game...
What Fun!

The Suite Life and The Sky-box...

--Burger and dogs...
Browinies, Chips and Popcorn.
What a spread!
Here's Eli sitting in the suite.

The Sky-box...unbelieveable...

It's fuzzy but if you look to the left, right on the sidelines,
hands on hips...that's Coach Dungy.

Peyton Manning #18 is in the upper right
with his ball cap on.

We didn't even care that we weren't winning,
we had so much fun!

Oooooh! Purty, purty, purty.

There was never a happier kid until on the way
home when he remembered that he missed out
on a lemon shake-up and a walking-taco at the
state fair and tried to complain. ROTTEN!
SO grounded right now. :)

Occassionally, Daddy's job is The Suite Life...

Oma came to our house to stay...

and PLAY!

The boys stuck to Jan like little ticks and
they all kept eachother SO busy that THIS is
one of the few pictures that I got of them all
three sitting still together on a misty Saturday morning.
Oma is the bike-ride grandma...

SOOOO Glad to be Home!

We hope that he's always this HAPPY to come home!
Yea! The First Day of School is over!

Big 2nd Grader!

The First Day of School!
Our BIG 2nd Grader...all sleepy...waiting for the bus.

Gus and his Bus...waiting for the BIG bus!
Isaac wants to go with Bubby!

Ripley Feels Much Better

She scared us to death on Friday,
we were worried that we might loose her
but we have good doctors and got
great meds and she's all better!
She especially likes her meds because we're
giving them to her stuffed in hunks of CHEESE.
Happy Dog...lots of wags...
Here's a picture of our old gal as she recovers.
Thanks to those of you who prayed for her!!

I TOLD you Phonics was boring...

--Works better than cough syrup...knock em' right out...
Look how BIG he's gotten! I don't believe it.