A photo and a piano

I walked into Ashlyn's room the other day and saw this on the wall. She got these pictures out of The Friend and The New Era all on her own and put them on her wall. Gosh…I adore that girl. 

And BEHOLD…..we got a new (to us) piano! Yip Yip Yippee!

I get on weird tangents sometimes. Like when I decided one day to just up and move out of my non washer and dryer apartment and ended up moving just one month later up to SCV (best decision ever btw). Well, I all the sudden decided it was time for a piano. Ashlyn has been taking lessons for over four years and now that Leah is taking lessons too, I felt like it was high time. Problem is my house is not exactly designed well for a piano, which is part of the reason I had been putting it off. But oh well….I guess it will just have too look a little out of place. I'm making due because honestly I LOVE having one and want to take lessons myself now.

A huge huge thanks to these guys for taking time away from their families to help us get the piano to our house. I found it on Craiglist for just $200 and it's in pretty darn good shape. Totally scored. But those things are heavy and it's definitely a MINIMUM four guy job. Best news is, we finally decided to sell the "airocide" air purifier I won at the Ellen show last year and made $275 off of it, so it paid for the piano and will cover almost all of the cost to have it tuned. Totally blessed!

Isn't it pretty? The lid is broken but other than that, all the keys work and look nice and after a good tuning, it'll be just perfect.

Memorial Day Weekend

Random photo I instagrammed, but thought was cute.

Playing a little Candyland with Carter. He doesn't like to lose. Like ever! So even if I win…I still lose.

Started the weekend off with a last minute double date to the Temple with these fine people. And then of course, a trip to The Cheesecake Factory. So yum! And the company is always fun.

While at the Temple, I got a text from my brother asking me to call Heather. So when I got out of the Temple,  I called him to see what was up. She was really sick he said but he was down in Torrance working. So I called her. She was DEFINTELY really sick. I talked to her a bit and then told her to drink lots of water and rest and to go to the Doctor in the morning (it was 9pm at night). I called Ty and told him how bad she sounded. Luckily he was on his way home by that point. Fast forward to 1 in the morning and I get a text from him saying he was at the ER with Heather and that she was being put in ICU. They had a sitter come over for the night but asked if I could go to his house in the morning. I of course did. Then I spent pretty much the rest of the weekend shuffling the kids back and forth between houses, trying to keep some normalcy for them, but also having some fun together. We went to the pool a couple of times with them. I took Leah back to sleep over there with me (the twins ADORE Leah) and I tried to cook some yummy treats and other things to help the boys keep their minds off worrying about their mom. Long story short….she's fine and back home after spending 4 night and 4 days in the hospital (3 of those days and nights in ICU). She had gotten dehydrated and had taken some supplements that didn't mix well with her thyroid problems that caused serious issues with her blood pressure and heart rate. Thankfully Ty got home when he did and all is well now. But you know those warnings on bottles that seem irrelevant MOST of the time….well….they're there for a reason.  

So here's some pictures from the weekend. We had plans with the Tait's to come swim and BBQ Saturday afternoon, and we didn't see any need to cancel. We just had four extra kids with us. But they're good and the boys are big helps with their sisters so it all worked out well.

It was sad to have Heather in the hospital, but it made for some fun cousin time!

These girls are adorable. And so sweet and good. I just love them.

 By Monday afternoon, Heather's Aunt had flown in to stay until no longer needed, so I was relieved of my extra four children. Paul and I took our kids out to Menchies for being such troopers all weekend and then decided to hit up Placerita for a sunset hike. We weren't there too long, but we took a nice little hike through the canyon and then went home for baths and to get ready for school the next day.

First of all, Carter is a crack up…but second of all that little Brandon can be quite the stubborn boy, but his little smile just melts my heart!

Cute Daddy/daughter photo

Me and Leah taking turns with the walking stick.

And let's be honest now, this is sometimes what it takes to even get a half way decent photo. I was cracking up at this procession. 

And then the final product still wasn't all that spectucular. Everyone was upset about the sun in their eyes.

Open House

I'm not sure this school year can be beat here at the Schoeni household. All three of my kids have had fabulous years with amazing teachers and I could not have been happier with how much they have learned and grown and achieved! It really is a testament to me as to how important having a good teacher is. It makes me all the more grateful for the teachers out there that truly love their job and the children they teach.

I really never knew how much Ashlyn could like going to school until this year. Sure, she's had great teachers in the past, but she's getting older and it's making more of an impact on her. She's loved having Mrs. Guidroz and has really excelled in all she's done. 

This girl LOVES school. And while she moans and groans about homework, she does quite the opposite at school. Her teacher tells me that she sits attentively, taking notes and soaking it all in. She even reaches out to the "naughty" boy in class and helps him to finish his work too. I love that she can see the good in everyone and doesn't judge people. I hope she always keeps that with her. She's had a great year!

Brandon I was a bit worried about. All day school is long for a kindergartener. And he feels it. But he's done really well this year and has loved his teacher and really works well in school….even if he does his work at lightening speed just so he can be done with it and go play. I'm proud of him for how much he has changed and grown this year and can't wait to see how next year goes. And of course, we all know how much I admire this teacher. She's taught all of my kids so far.  She works so hard for her kids. Stays late most days and really puts her heart into everything she does. And it totally shows.