Hannah is 4!

We celebrated Hannah's birthday at the beginning of the month. It was sort of a drawn out birthday celebration with a party over the weekend and her actual birthday on a Tuesday. She had a hard time with the concept of the party being on a different day. 

We also had lots of family visiting, including my mom, aunt, and mother-in-law. Needless to say Hannah got all the love and attention she could handle!

For almost a year she had been asking for a princess cake. I searched around and found inspiration for a castle cake. It was really pretty simple, only one color of frosting and lots of candy. And since it was for Hannah, it was a chocolate cake. 

Here's Cora, Hannah and Ali running around outside.







I wasn't very on top of things with my camera, but I managed to catch Landen cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and 3 of the 4 Schulz girls.

Family Update

"Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!"

Psalm 27:14

This verse was given to me in January by a sweet friend in the midst of one of my biggest trials; trying for another baby and having to wait on the Lord for His timing. It all started back in January of 2010 when we decided to start trying. Since I had no trouble conceiving with Hannah (we were sort of shocked at how fast it happened), we assumed that would be the case with baby #2...not so much. I was so anxious to get pregnant, because I was entering my 30's and I wanted our kids close in age.
With every month that went by I felt my dreams slipping out of my hands. Yes, we were praying, but I wasn't really trusting God. I was clinging so tight to my dreams and plans and wanting God to bless those, instead of surrendering to His plans. I began having blood work done to check hormone levels, and after getting the results my midwife suggested going on clomid, a fertility drug. I told her I was willing to do anything. Once again, me trying to do it in my power and not seeking God for what He wanted for us.
In the midst of all this, several good friends got pregnant and had their babies earlier this year. While I was happy for them, I was constantly reminded of my struggle and inability to get pregnant. And isn't that how the enemy likes to work? As God is doing a work in us and refining us through a trial, the enemy works overtime to point out our weaknesses and distract us from staying focused on God. I had to constantly remind myself that I can't compare our family to another. God has unique plans for each of us. And so Hebrews 13:5 became a verse to cling to: "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'"
By May of this year, after 6 months on the clomid (with lots of hot flashes) and no baby, I was an emotional mess. I really felt God telling me it was time to stop. It was affecting our family and we all needed a break. I needed to finally surrender to God and be willing to accept whatever His plans for us, even if that meant not having another baby. It was difficult for me, but I felt a peace about it. The very next day, my mother in law called and said as she had been reading through a passage in Isaiah that morning she just kept thinking of me and needed to share that scripture. She knew we had been trying for a baby, but didn't know that the day before we had made the decision to take a break. The verses are Isaiah 54:1-10, it's long so I won't write out the whole thing, but it was God's word specifically for me that day.
"Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child!...Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left...Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame...For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is His name...'For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you...with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,' says the Lord, your Redeemer."
I can't tell you what a comfort that scripture was and is to me, it reminded me that God knows and cares about my situation and has not forgotten about me.
So finally in August, Chris suggested that we try again, and the Lord has faithfully answered our prayer! I am about 12 weeks pregnant now and due in mid May. I am overwhelmed by God's faithfulness, and through this whole trial have learned how much more I need to trust God with my dreams and be surrendered to His plan. Once I let go of my agenda, He was able to do His work. Please continue to pray with us for this baby as it grows. The first trimester was rough but now that I'm feeling better I'll try to update along the way. Praise God!
Here's the peanut at 8 weeks, the head is on the left and body on the right with nubs for arms and legs.

Dance Party

We had family down for Chris' birthday in September, and Hannah was especially excited to have her cousin Stellan stay for a sleepover. Here are the girls performing for us.

Back to School

Hannah is now in her second year at Eastminster Sonshine Preschool. This year started off slightly better than last year in that last year she had an assignment to bring on the first day and we finished it that morning. No first day assignment this year, however I did manage to forget to send her with apples one day, and the next week forgot to dress her in the color of the day (I think it was blue, and she was in all pink, typical Hannah). But we're (I'm) doing better and did remember to send snack on the right day and keep up with all other "dress in a certain color" days.

Summer Wrap Up

In July we daytripped to San Juan Capistrano to celebrate Grandma Jean's 90th birthday. It was great to spend a day with all the Mayes family, even Uncle Bruce from Spain and Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dean from Arizona. Here's Grandma with her 4 kids.

Hannah was all ready to celebrate her great grandma's birthday. And below is how she looked on the way home, all partied out.

We took part in the Ventura Pushem Pullem Parade on the 4th of July. It's really just a mass of people walking down Main Street. There are more people in the parade than watching it.

Hannah and I also took a quick trip up to the Bay Area for the annual Switzer Family Cream Can Dinner. Hannah got to see all her cousins in one short weekend. On the way up we stopped at Nono and Nona's house. Here they are with all their grandkids.

At the cream can dinner, Hannah got to play with her other cousins, Emily (visiting from Indiana) and Kolton, along with a whole lot of other family.

On the drive home from that adventure, we stopped at one of our favorite places, the Avila Valley Barn, to feed the animals, eat some ice cream, and pick up some fresh produce.

And to wrap up summer, Hannah took her first swim lessons. She's not swimming on her own yet, but getting the concept of kicking her feet and moving her arms at the same time.

The Start of Summer

June started with a trip to the Bay Area to visit lots of family. Hannah was very excited to fly on a plan again, she even pulled my luggage for me.


We got to meet our new nephew Kolton, David and Kristl's little man. He did what babies do best and slept almost the entire time we were there.

Hannah's Mimi treated her to a day at Pixie Playland. All the rides are sized just for her age, and there were maybe 3 other kids around. So Hannah had her pick of rides, and for a while had an employee following her around to whichever ride she chose and would start it up for her. Daddy got her dizzy in the tea cups, and Aunt Megan and Mimi took her for a drive.

Another highlight of the trip was going to a Giant's game! It's been years since we went, and this was Hannah's first game. A BIG thank you to my parents for getting the tickets. The game was the day before my birthday, and I got my name up in lights thanks to my dad and Carol. Unfortunately, I didn't see my birthday message before the screen changed. At least I could order a print of my message, so it's now up on the fridge. And this is what Hannah did for about 5 innings, down the slide in the left field coke bottle. Her Papa was very gracious to take her so Chris and I could enjoy the game. And after I took this picture, my camera battery died. Bummer.
About the 8th inning Hannah finally figured out where we were ("Daddy, we're on TV!") and was then yelling, "Go Giants!"
After the game Hannah got to run the bases, which was just as fun for me and Chris since we got to walk down on the field with her.

We also got to spend some time and Grandpa Bud and Grandma Carol's house. Grandpa and Hannah raced down the stairs.

After dinner they treated us to some soft serve ice cream in downtown Pleasanton, and we got to enjoy a rainbow.
Also in June Chris got the sod laid in the backyard. We now have a finished, wonderful yard to enjoy. Hannah took the picture below.
And this one is just a random everyday picture from a day at home, but I think it's pretty darn cute.

Pray for Levi

Today I put a link in the Friends and Family section of the blog to a site called Pray for Levi. He is the two year old son of some friends from college, Dan and Kara Ryska. Levi has a brain tumor and is going in to surgery on Friday. Please check out their blog for updates, and please join me in praying for Levi.

May Days

I promise that someday I will be better at staying current with this blog. We've had some fun times this spring and summer, here's what we were up to back in May.

Hannah's preschool had a spring art show. The walls were covered with creations from the kids. We now have a large storage box under Hannah's bed with artwork. In case you can't find her in the sea of kids, she's the one in the middle with her arm straight out.

We also took a field trip to the beach with Hannah's school. The kids played in the water and explored the tide pools...and got very wet. I learned a wonderful new beach tip. Before you hop in the car with sandy kids, put baby powder on their hands, feet, etc. and rub. The sand comes right off! Amazing.

Another quick trip to Cayucos. Hannah got a day of play with her cousins Stellan and Preston.

Mimi and Papa came down for a visit for Mimi's birthday, Aunt Megan's birthday and Mother's day. Chris and Mike (Papa) made dinner for us on Mother's day, including this yummy angel food cake with strawberries.

Of course we've been excited about baseball season

And we got our new patio poured (thank you, tax return!). This is Hannah and Tucker enjoying the new patio one morning. Since this photo, the rest of the yard was completed with plants and sod. I have an album of house pictures on fb.

April Review

My sister Megan and I made a quick trip up to Mom's house to help host a baby shower for our sister in law Kristl. It was a lot of fun but a little tiring only going for one night. David and Kristl are now the proud parents of Kolton David Mayes, born May 13. This was the first time I took a trip without Hannah. She did pretty well, but had a few melt down moments. I think Daddy appeased her with donuts and cheeseburgers.

See any family resemblance? Any at all?

My mom and Mike worked hard to get the backyard ready and ensure that 99% of the patio was shaded. Success!

I took my architecture licensing exam the day before Easter, but we managed to fit in some cookie decorating that evening.

So there's the April update. In the midst of all this, my company was again participating in the Ventura Corporate Games. I played darts (we got 3rd) and horseshoes, and ran the 5k again.

What's Happening? Or maybe, What Happened?

I apologize for the 2 month lapse in posting. I'm not sure what happened. Oh wait, I know. I took another grueling architecture test (and passed!). Those things suck up all my free time. So I'm happy to get this post in before I start studying for my last test.

Let's back up all the way to March. Hannah finished her ballet class, which she loved. Next we are going to try gymnastics, the kid loves doing summersaults.

We need to work on our plie form a little

So proud of her certificate, it's now hanging on her bedroom wall.

At the end of March, Chris finished recording the worship CD that our church just put out (you can check it out here). So we celebrated by taking a family trip to one of our favorite places, Cayucos. Spring is such a beautiful time on the Central Coast, the hills were bright green.

We spend lots of time at the swings on the beach

My mom-in-law met us there and Chris and I got a date night. After dinner we went to Montana de Oro, a spot we went to frequently while in college to watch the sunset. I have a picture similar to this from 2004 when we were dating.

Pancakes

I was inspired by my friend Kacy to go on the search for a healthier pancake recipe. I wanted to try her recipe, but I didn't have almond meal so I started poking around (Kacy, I will try your recipe sometime, if I can remember to pick up almond meal next time I'm at TJ's). I found this recipe below in my Taste of Home Cookbook. I doesn't sound too healthy when you read through it, but with a few modifications it gets better. They turned out really great, especially with blueberries added.

1/2 C. plus 2 T. quick cooking oats (I had rolled oats, and ground them up in my mini food processor first)

1/2 C. whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat from TJ's)

1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/3 C. packed brown sugar (I used 1/4 C.)

1 egg

2 T vegetable oil (I used unsweetened applesauce instead)

1 C. buttermilk (I've used non-fat plain yogurt, or 1 T lemon juice plus milk to make 1 C; let sit for 10 min before adding)

Combine the oats, flours, baking soda, salt and sugar; set aside. In a small bowl, beat the egg, oil and buttermilk. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

*At this point, I had to add some milk to get the right consistency, maybe 1/2 C? I didn't measure it.

Pour batter by 1/3 cupful onto a greased hot griddle. Turn when bubbles form on top; cook until second side is golden brown.

Let me know if you try this, if you like it, and any modifications you made. Enjoy!

Snow Day!

We took advantage of the President's holiday and finally made it up to the snow. It was sort of a spontaneous trip...weeks before we had been talking about going to the snow that weekend, but didn't actually make plans until that Monday morning. I am not the most spontaneous person, so as a result of not making a packing list or preparing ahead of time, I forgot my ski jacket, beanie, and a nighttime diaper for Hannah (yes, she still wears 1 at night, don't judge me! One battle at a time...)

Anyway, we didn't want to drive up and back in one day, so we did some research and stumbled upon the Pine Mountain Inn, our new favorite getaway! It's about 15 miles past Fraizer Park, off Hwy 5. We drove up Monday afternoon and got there in time to check in and have dinner. We even got to bring the dog! It was a fun night of just hanging as a family watching movies. The next morning we got all bundled up and headed down the road about 5 miles to a snow play area. Hannah LOVED sledding, and Tucker loved all the freedom to run. Maybe next winter we can get her on skis. :)

Movie time!

Getting ready for the snow

First run of the day

Love these two

This is what Tucker did for most of the time, just run

Yum!