Alive and Kicking

Our lives truly have not ended since Tom came home...in fact we have had some great times in the past almost three months (I can't believe it's been 3 months almost).  We've been so busy that I guess I just lost the blogging bug.  Plus, half the reason I used to blog was so that Tom could keep up on things and now he is here.  Tonight I finally got around to looking at some of your blogs and it inspired me to at least put something here.  It is truly so much fun to see everything that everyone else is doing.  It makes our lives seem rather dull in comparison, but I know that will not be the case when someone else gets to look at what we are doing.  The latest craze at the Schell home is the new pet Tom and the kids went to get last weekend.  (When I say kids, I mean it...Tom's sister and kids were visiting over the Memorial Day weekend and he took all 5 of them plus Reili and Amberly on an hour drive to pick up our new pet.  My HERO!)

Drum roll....they bought a ball python.  Amberly and Reili (and I must say Daddy) can't get enough of it.  Reili named him Michael (which as Tom pointed out is sort of ironic considering he is a snake and all.  He thought Lucifer would be more appropriate).  Well...I'll have to recap the last few months later, but this will have to do for now.

Don't Blame us, Blame Facebook

It's been a month since I got home and I've loved every minute of it.  I go back to work tomorrow, finally, but I thought I'd post a few things since it has been a while.  Here's a video from when I went to Reili's school to surprise her:

Here's a video of Amberly when she came home from preschool:

Of course, Wesley didn't remember me, but it only took a couple of weeks before he was my buddy again...  The kids wore me out...  They all wanted to spend time with daddy.  This is just an example:

My Favorite Decoration

Just before Tom came home I was able to finish (with the help of my wonderful friends) a project I had been working on for a few months.  It didn't really take a few months to do, just a few hours but somehow I could never get a round to finishing it.  Now it is my favorite decoration in our home and I wish I had done it sooner.  The picture has been up for several months (and part of my blog for even longer), but I finally got the vinyl lettering done a couple weeks ago and didn't post it then because I didn't want Tom to see it until he got home.  I love the saying...my friend saw it somewhere but it read "Land"  instead of "Home".  It definitely fits with the picture perfectly.  I love it!

Guess Who's Back?

Wednesday I was able to take a trip to St. Louis to pick up Tom.  It was so great to be together again after so long.  We were able to stay the night and then came back to Rolla on Thursday afternoon and reunite with the kids.  They were so surprised and happy.  I only got them on video, so we will have to see if they will upload.

My first glimpse of Tom at the airport in St. Louis.

So happy together!

MWC Swimming Championships

Last weekend I was able to drive down to Oklahoma City to attend the Mountain West Conference Swimming Championships.  My niece Annie swims for the University of Utah and I have lived away from the family for so long that I have never been able to see her swim.  I took a much needed break from our kids (thanks to Rachel) and took my friend Kari along for the ride.  We had a great time watching the events, shopping, eating, staying up way too late, playing cards, and even seeing a movie (a rare occurance for me).  Annie did great coming in 3rd in the 100 breast, and 2nd in the medley and freestyle relays.  All in all the weekend was a great success.

Kari and I pose in the stands between events.

Annie gets ready for the women's freestyle.

Annie soars into the pool during the women's freestyle relay.

The U of U swim team sings the fight song at the end of every evening.

Annie and I after the meet ends Saturday night.

Joe (my brother), Julie (his wife), Jane, and Annie at the team dinner at Earl's BarBQue after the meet ended.  The team rented out the whole restaurant and we filled it.  Yummy!