Our girls...

Everyday you see it and you hear it, you see commercials and it's on the news. Our society's concept of beauty. And our girls are so affected by it even if we don't notice it. Mia said the other day that she wishes her hair was red like Kailee's after she overheard yet another person comment on Kailee's hair. It broke my heart because Mia also has just gorgeous hair!I saw this link on a website and although I am already a big fan of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, these three clips really hit home as I looked at my daughters and wondered what they are really learning about self esteem and "beauty." I only hope that they will grow up with the knowledge that they are beautiful no matter how they look and that we will have the ability to instill that knowledge and the conviction to do so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Z7UC94qwc&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytjTNX9cg0&NR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiquyNfkag&mode=related&search=

The Blue Santa Parade!

Every year Austin has the Blue Santa Parade. Our own little version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. During the parade they collect toys from the crowds for Operation Blue Santa which is a toy drive put on annually by the Police Dept., the Fire Dept., the National Gaurd, Austin Energy and Parks and Recreation of Austin. The parade was a lot of fun to watch, the kids enjoyed it and it was absolutely perfect weather for a parade! At the end of the parade the kids got to take their bags of toys to the Toy Truck and hand it to the volunteer. We were so proud of them for not being upset that they were giving toys away! What a joy it is to see our kids participate whole heartedly in an act of service for those in need!

For more info on Operation Blue Santa got to: http://www.bluesanta.org/

Gobble Gobble!

A couple photos from today. It was absolutely beautiful weather here-80 degrees today! So after our Turkey and fixings and our naps we spent a lot of time outside!

Just one more Thanksgiving thought before we call it a day....

We live we love

We forgive and never give up

Because the days we are given are gifts from above

So today we remember to live and to love.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Here were are once again at Thanksgiving. What a wonderful holiday this is! A time of reflection and a time to take stock and make us look at ourselves, our families and our many blessings. And of course a time to give Thanks for everything and everyone we have in our lives.

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since we moved from California and even harder to believe that it has been that long since we have seen many of you. This year will be our first Thanksgiving in Texas and truly our first one without extended family around and although that is hard we are thankful for those people who have become our extended family here and made us feel so much at home!

This year we have so many things to be Thankful for it is hard to even begin to list them! We have been truly blessed with so many things. And although we do not have everything we want, we have more than we need and for that we are truly thankful!

But we are most thankful for those things that are beyond our material things,

for each other,

our children,

our families,

our friends,

our church,

our faith

and

the love we share and that has been shared with us.

So Thank You All and Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

From the mouths of babes....

Hi everyone. I just want to take a quick minute to share a daily gift that Mia gives to me!

Just about every morning when she gets up Mia comes in and says, "Hi Mommy, I had a good sleep."

Then she says, "Today is a new day!"

What a wonderful thing to hear first thing in the morning after a rough night or a rough day before!

Her absolute joy in greeting the day as she opens the shutters and says, "Look Mommy the sun is out." reminds me how I ought to feel!

It refreshes my soul and renews my faith that yes, today is a new day and it can be better!

No Cavities!!!!

The girls both had their first visit to the dentist today! They did great and for anyone that knows them, you know they love to brush their teeth so the cleaning was a snap! Probably easier with the dentists bubblegum flavored toothpaste which Mia asked to taste more of after it was all said and done! Kailee did great. They had her sit on me and lay back in my lap during her cleaning. She did great saying AAAHHH and EEEE for the dentist! He said their teeth were great and that they had NO CAVITIES!!! Chase's appointment is on Tuesday. Wish us luck, it may not be so easy with him, but you never know, he's been full of surprises lately!

Summer in November!

So today the temperature outside was mid 80's! We wore tank tops and shorts and spent most of our free time outside playing in the sunshine! What a blessing to have mild winters! For those that know me you know I hate the cold! I am thankful for every day we have above 65 and for all these glorious days that the kids are able to spend outside enjoying themselves, riding their tricycle and cruising in the barbie jeep! It is days like this when we are all outside enjoying ourselves that I close my eyes, lean my head back and as I listen to the joyful and playful sounds of my children playing, I understand true happiness!

The Shriner's Circus came to town!

I can't believe I forgot to post about the circus! On Friday we went to the Shriner's Circus! It was free for the kids of Central Texas! Chase's class went as a field trip and I took the girls and my daycare kids and Billy! It was all of their first trips to the circus-Billy too! We had a great time! It had been so long since I went that I forgot about the fun and nervousness and excitement that comes with some of the acts! Here are some of those photos!

Just some more pics...

Boo the Ghost (aka Chase Schramm)

Fairy Princess Kailee

Miss Hannah Montana (aka Mia Schramm)

Hanging out in the backyard-Mia's chauffering her big brother around and Kailee's cruising behind in the trailer!

Our last few months--The Condensed Edition!

I guess I will start with July. We celebrated fourth of July at Old Settler's Park where they had an event. We did the traditional things, eating hotdogs, being out in the heat, the kids rode ponies and we walked around checking out the craft vendors. That night we watched the fireworks from our master bedroom window, we could see them above the roofline and the kids loved it! In July we also had a visit from Aunt Mandy which was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed having her visit.


August brought Kailee's second birthday. She loved having her party and opeing presents and of course her chocolate dirt cake! August also brought my brother Billy! Yes, he is officially part of the Schramm fam! He moved in with us and is doing very well. It is a little odd having a teenager (he's 15) in the house, it's actually pretty scary considering we really aren't that far off from our own children getting there! He's a huge help with the kids and has transitioned very well into living here with us and in the United States in general.
September seemed to fly by! In September we started going to church again. We found a church here that has a special needs ministry! They provide a one on one aide for Chase and he is able to attend a regular sunday school class like his sisters!
And then October was upon us and we had never ending events and birthdays! We were busy every weekend in October! Mia's fourth birthday was a lot of fun and she really enjoyed herself! Grampa and Uncle Shawn were also here in October! The kids had a great time with Grampa here and loved having him come visit them! Halloween was a blast! We celebrated at our church's Fall Fest which had canrival rides, bounce houses, a magician, kids entertainers and free candy! Todd and Billy took the kids around while I stuffed bags of candy with other volunteers. We got home early enough to have trick or treaters at our door and the girls very proudly handed them their candy. In October Mia also decided she had to be in the Christmas Play at the church! So this Sunday will be our first rehearsal, they have been working on the songs during sunday school but we'll see how it goes.

And now it is already the 7th of November-did you vote? I cannot believe that Thanksgiving is 2 1/2 weeks away and soon Christmas will be here once again! Where does the time go? It doesn't seem as though we've already been living in Texas for just under a year and yet here we are.
Well guys, that's it for now. We'll keep you posted on our goings on. Please keep us up to date with yours. We do miss you and although we may not be the best at keeping in touch we think of you often!

Hey Y'all

So because we aren't exactly great at keeping in touch and because some of you(you know who you are) aren't so good at it either we decided to join the 21st century craze of blogging. Ugh! Anyway, we figured this would keep you updated on what we're doing, how the kiddos are etc...and we would save ourselves from having to send group emails(cause we know you love them) or making the same calls over and over and over and....well you get the idea. So if you're reading this you have recieved hopefully the last group email telling you how to get to this blog! And if you're here and you didn't get a group email then we have no idea who you are!
I will be posting an update on what we have been doing shortly but it is almost three and Chase's bus will be here any minute so I must get myself outside into the beautiful sunny Texas Fall (it's 78 outside and blue skies for miles) and wait patiently for my son!