Something that people may not know about our family...We are HUGE Atlanta Thrashers fans! We LOVE to go to the games. If you're not into watching sports, this is the sport for you...if you watch it live--it's not fun on the TV. We went and saw our beloved Thrashers play against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. And They WON!!! We just so happened to sit in the section that was chose as the Chick-fil-a section of the game and each received a rally sign. The cows showed up part way through and entertained our section. They hung over the balcony and just about scared the family sitting below to death. It was pretty funny. It was such an intense game, too. The Thrashers scored a goal within the first 18 seconds of the game. And the last period was a nail biter with a GREAT fight! We were pretty bummed that the referees kept breaking up all of the fights...that's part of hockey--you gotta have a good fight for it to be a good game :c). We had a lot of fun. We'll be going again on the 26th to see them play the Carolina Hurricanes.....
GO THRASHERS!!!
We Believe in Blueland!

Okay, Harry and I just got back yesterday from our first ever 3-day cruise to Nassau, the Bahamas, on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas. It was nice. I wouldn't say it was completely relaxing, but you'll understand why after you read this.

Our cabin was on deck 9 in the bow of the ship (We were literally the last room at the very end of the hallway). So, whatever we felt in the dining room, we felt doubly in our room. And unfortunately, we found out that the ocean was unusually choppy for this cruise (We had 6-9 ft. swells the first night and then 15-18 ft. swells on the last night of the cruise). I was pretty uneasy the first night. I figured out quickly that I needed to be facing the front of the boat, or I would get a really bad dizzy spell and about pass out. By the last night, and the BIG swells, I was fine. Harry didn't feel so good, though.

We got off the boat on Saturday and went into Nassau. I couldn't believe that I was on non-U.S. soil. I never thought I'd ever go anywhere outside the U.S. So, it was a dream come true for me. We had never seen water that color before. It was turquoise! We shopped in the jewelry stores, Del Sol (so much fun), and the Straw Market. We even got to hear the school band playing on main street. They were really quite good. And I managed to leave Nassau without getting my hair braided...apparently, that is quite the accomplishment. We didn't go see Atlantis, or the Queen's stairway. I was a little disappointed, but we were both exhausted and just wanted to go back to the ship and take a nap...which we did. That evening we had our formal dinner. It was really nice. Harry was dumbfounded that they would be taking pictures with the Titanic's grand staircase as a background choice. He thought it was a bit "jinxing."

On Sunday, we were supposed to tender at Coco Cay for a beach day; but the sea was way too choppy and we ended up staying at sea. We were a little disappointed, but understood the decision. We went to the theater and watched "Grease." Then, we went up on deck hoping to catch some sun. It was relatively warm, but it was very cloudy and even more windy. At 5:00, we went for a run on the track on deck 7. It was fun. There was a headwind at the stern of the boat that was hard to run into, but the bow of the boat had a nice tailwind that would push you around the corner. We would run around that and just laugh. We came back, got showered, packed, went to the farewell show, and went to dinner. By about 8:00, the swells were really BIG. People were bobbing and swaying all over the boat...except for the drunks, they were the only ones walking straight--no joke! We went back to our rooms and the movement was pretty intense. We set our alarm for 6:30 am and went to bed.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. No pictures this year...I'm a little picture/videoed out right now after band and gymnastics competition season. It was just Harry, the kids, and me for dinner. We had all of our favorites. This is how Harry describes Thanksgiving dinner, "We need to have turkey, and gravy, and mashed potatoes, and gravy, and stuffing, and gravy, and corn, and gravy, and..." He would be completely happy if I put a pitcher of gravy in front of him and he could drown his full plate in it. I can't fault him, though, the gravy turned out really yummy this year. Plus, Harry was really good and ran 5 miles on Thanksgiving morning (He did 8.1 last Saturday...he'll do that plus some this Saturday). After our feast, the kids and I started to put together a puzzle. We enjoy putting together the photo mosaic puzzles...specifically, the Disney ones. They are a lot of fun. At 7:00 pm, we went over to our friends the Pulsipher's and played games, snacked, and at dessert with them, the Browne's, and the Rineer's. We played a game called Songburst '70's & '80's edition. It was so much fun! The object of the game is to finish the song lyric with only a few words given to you. We laughed and laughed as we all got hung up on the lyrics to these songs that we've been singing all of our lives. I was on a team with Ron & Pam Rineer and Charissa Browne. We won, of course :c). The dessert was GREAT, too! I made a Dutch apple pie. Bob Browne made a pumpkin mousse pie with a gingersnap crust (YUM!!); and then, there was a chocolate silk pie, a regular pumpkin pie, and who knows what else. With all of the kids there, the chocolate pie was the first to go. It was a great day.

Well, our family has officially had a blog for a year...Wahoo! It has been a lot of fun and a GREAT way to keep in touch with our far away family and friends. I have enjoyed reading everyone's comments and reading your blogs, too. I'm really excited for this week--not so much because it is Thanksgiving, but because the kids have no school and no after school activities...YEAH!!! We are in such desperate need of some down time. I plan on getting all of my Christmas decorating done this week; and I'm already done with all of my Christmas shopping--there is much to be said about having older kids at Christmas time ;c). I also plan on catching up with the laundry and finishing some projects. Have a great week off...I know I will.

Well, it's over...or is it just the beginning? I guess we'll find out within the next four years. This was an interesting Presidential election. I did my part and voted. It will be interesting to see how the next four years play out. Harrison is taking an American Government/Civics class this semester in school. He was literally staring at the computer screen all night long. At 11:00 pm, I came out to the office and told him that it was over and Obama had won. He said, "How can you say that? Less than 4% of the votes have come in from California." I tried to explain to him that certain states historically voted a certain way, but he didn't believe me. He was still crunching the electoral vote numbers trying to see if there was some mathmatical way that McCain could win at 11:30 pm when I finally called it a night myself. It was kind of refreshing to see that kind of "hope." As I was watching the election results and trying to explain to Harrison how they could call certain states with so few votes tallied, I suddenly realized that my boy would be voting in the next Presidential election. Holy Cow! Time sure does fly.
So, here is to the future, whatever it may hold; and here's to my boy and his hope. May the tomorrow for his generation be as bright and as full of promise as it was for my generation. God Bless America.

Here are Hannah's gymnastics pictures from this year.

Hannah had a gymnastics meet in Woodstock, GA, today (Yes, it is Sunday...Yes, we are aware of us breaking the Sabbath...Yes, we feel really bad...No, this isn't going to be a habit after December...). We didn't know if she was going to make it, or not. Hannah woke up on Saturday morning about 4 am to tell me that she had just gotten sick to her stomach. She didn't have a fever, so I chalked it up to eating too much junk on Halloween night. She then got up around 8:30-9:00 am and got sick again. She still didn't have a fever. So, I told her to go back to bed. By lunch time, she had a temp. of 101.5º. Oh Boy! She slept most of Saturday; and I was considering calling Stacy to tell her that Hannah wouldn't be coming; but Hannah asked me to wait until the morning. I left for the band competition and by the time I came back, she had kept down crackers, two gatorades, and a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Her temp. was about 99º. We put her to bed and I was pretty sure that I would be calling Stacy in the morning. Low and behold, she gets up this morning, her temp. is normal, and she's says that she wants to compete because she doesn't want to let the team down (You have to have at least three members to count as "a team." Otherwise, you are competing as individuals).

She had no trouble with her breakfast, but she looked like the walking dead. She assured me that she felt fine and that she really wanted to do this. So, we went to the meet hoping and praying that she would be okay. She scored an 8.775 on the floor (her best score, yet); and 8.9 on the vault; an 8.3 on the bars (it was a little too much pressure on her stomach); and a 9.2 on the beam (her personal best score) for a total score of 35.175.

Harrison had his last marching band competition tonight. It was a little sentimental for me, because I performed in the same competition 21 years ago; and my old band (McIntosh) also performed. It kind of choked me up to see my boy on that field. Anyway, enough mush....

Halloween was interesting, to say the least, this year. Harrison had a football game at Sandy Creek (they lost 7-0 :c( to them); and after what happened in the neighborhood the beginning of the week, I was not very comfortable about letting Hannah go trick-or-treating alone. So, we called on our wonderful friends, the Browne's, to babysit us for the night :c) (Thanks guys).

Just wanted to let everyone know. The three men have been apprehended and arrested. As far as the Dodge Journey I saw on Tuesday morning, it was the get away car. The car belongs to
the girlfriend of one of the suspects. She had no knowledge of the robbery; and had been instrumental in getting her boyfriend arrested. She felt so bad about everything that she came to the neighborhood and brought Starbucks gift baskets for the cop, the Horton's, and my next door neighbor.
Apparently, the Horton's have grown (early twenties/late teens) children. Mr. Horton had over $30,000 at the house and was going to the car auction on Monday to buy a car in cash. The Police feel one of their kids casually mentioned something about this to a friend, or was in on it somehow.
I'm just relieved that it is all over. In 9 years of living here, we've only had one other "incident" in the neighborhood like this(an attempted kidnapping by a woman with a dog about five years ago). So, hopefully, it will go back to being quiet.

A couple people have called to check on us, so I thought I'd give the scoop (as I know it) here on the blog. There was an assault and robbery in my neighborhood yesterday morning around 8:00 am. If you are looking at our house, it took place to the right and just around the corner from our house (two doors down from where Erin and Jeff Halliday used to live--the Colonel's old house, if you're reading this, Erin). This is what I've gathered.

Mr. Horton (the man that lives in that house) has a business in Atlanta and deals mostly in cash (which seems really fishy to me). Three armed men laid in wait for him to come out of his house. They assaulted him with the butt of a handgun, demanded his keys and his money, and went into his house. They beat Mrs. Horton, who managed to get away and got to a neighbor's. The robbers came out of the house to find another neighbor (a Merriwhether Police Officer who lives on the street behind me) holding a gun on them and telling them to drop their weapons. By this time, my next door neighbor, Jenn, heard her dogs, Maddie and Skylar, barking and looked out her bathroom window to see what was going on. She saw the three men in the street with guns pointed. The robbers shot at the officer; and the officer returned fire. As Jenn was looking out of the window, she heard a thud on the outside wall above her head. It turned out to be a stray bullet being shot into her house. The robbers stole Mr. Horton's truck and got away. They dumped the truck near Canongate Elementary (causing the school to go into lockdown) and made their getaway in a Silver 2009 Dodge Journey. While all this was going on, I was sleeping in my bedroom. I had every intention of getting up and going running yesterday morning, and I wasn't a bit tired. But after Harry left at 7:30 am, I must have dozed off again; and I didn't wake up until about 9:40 am. I heard no sirens, I saw no police cars. I did hear a lot of helicopters, but didn't think much of it because of us living so near Falcon Field. I had been feeling guilty all day about not running and falling back to sleep...what a blessing!

Last night, we watched the news and learned all the details. Then, this morning as I was scraping the ice off of my windshield to take the kids to school, I saw a silver Dodge drive past my house. I thought I was going to pee myself! I called Harry and asked him what he thought I should do. He said that it wasn't being stupid, and we couldn't be too careful; and that I should call the sheriff. I called the sheriff's department who promptly (30 minutes later) sent a car around to patrol the area. To my knowledge, the men have not been caught. Thus ends an exciting day in Line Creek Cove :c) Here is one of the news stories on the incident.

Today was Harry's birthday. We found a few minutes in our hectic, busy lives to celebrate.
Yesterday, we had cake with my parents. I made a key lime cake (Harry's request). It was so yummy. Harry took the day off from work and went golfing with a vendor from work. Tonight, We went to dinner at Taco Mac with Harry's parents (they're in town until Wednesday) and had yummy food and got to catch up. We, then, came home and Harry opened up his presents--all four seasons of "The Office," and a gift card to The Gap. All in all, a pretty good day.

Harry is such a wonderful person. He is extremely hard-working and takes such good care of us. We couldn't ask for a better dad/husband. Happy Birthday, Harry! We love you.

Shay tagged me. So, here it goes.
7 Interesting Facts About Me:

1. I survived a tornado when I was about 3 years old. I've been PETRIFIED of them ever since.


2. Many people know that I decorate cakes, but they don't know where it all started. I went to a Wilton cake decorating class with my Grandma Mullet when I was about 9 years old. That is the only cake decorating class I've ever taken.


3. Harry and I have known each other for 25 years. We've only been together for 16 years, though. We couldn't stand each other when we were teenagers. We became really good friends when he went on his mission and we wrote to each other. When our wedding announcements went out, there were quite a few VERY shocked people.


4. I was the Scripture Mastery Champion in Seminary. I rigged my scriptures with baby powder and crinkling the pages to go as fast as I did. It wasn't considered going against the rules to do so, though. So, I didn't cheat.


5. I played the flute and the piccolo in elementary, junior high, and high school. I was also in the marching band for four years.


6. My dance partner, Greg, and I won the Medal's Ball at BYU in the Cha-Cha my sophmore year of college. I took a total of four semesters of Ballroom Dance; and I miss it terribly.


7. I can tie a cherry stem into a knot using only my tongue...I don't like to admit this one because of the "connotations" it carries :c)

I tag Jacque Hanks, Lindsey Williams, Rhonda Wardwell, Laura Plauche, Erin Halliday, Laurie Marler, and Jamie Kartchner

Well, this has been a long, but exciting, weekend for the Schaefer Family. Friday night, Harrison had an away football game at Whitewater High School. Hannah spent the night with my parents; and Harry and I actually got to go out--we went to Applebee's.

Saturday morning, bright and early, we took Harrison to the school for practice and the long bus ride to Warner Robins for the Heart of Georgia Band Competition. Harry and I went down and arrived around 5:00 pm. My parents also went down and brought Hannah with them. We enjoyed watching the bands perform. Some of the bands we had seen in Carrollton at the last competition, but some of them were new to us. They were all good. The music was very diverse--from classical to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." It was a lot of fun. Northgate got all Superior ratings. They came in 1st in the class in Drum Major, Color Guard, Percussion, and Over-all band. They also placed in the over-all competition in Color Guard and Percussion. They did phenomenally...we were so proud of them.



That night, we drove up to Macon and spent the night--we didn't get in to the room until about 11:30 pm. We were absolutely exhausted. We had every intention of going to church at the Macon Ward the next morning and never made it. I felt so guilty. Hannah needed her rest, though, because she had a gymnastics competition at 3:30 in the afternoon. We lounged around the hotel room and watched some movies. We got ready for the meet, finished packing up, checked out, and got some lunch before the competition. Hannah was so nervous that she could hardly eat her lunch. I was pretty nervous for Hannah myself. She had worked so hard this past week; and I was scared to death the Lord was going to smite her off the beam for us allowing her to compete on Sunday :c).

We got to the meet and Stacy took over the pep talk for Hannah. I guess it paid off. Hannah had her best meet yet. Her goal for the meet was to get straight 9's and earn 36 points over all. She came within .075 points of achieving that goal. She scored 9.075 on beam; 9.10 on bars; 9.150 on vault; and 8.600 on floor (she remembered to salute this time, though). She was so shocked by her first score that it took everything she had to not scream, shout, and jump up and down.

She ended up taking 2nd in beam, 4th in vault, 4th in floor, and 5th in bars. Her total score of 35.925 earned her 3rd place over all; and also qualified her for the State Gymnastics meet in December. We were so excited and proud of her.



We got back late last night and crashed. Thank heavens the only things going on this weekend are a football game, trunk-or-treat, and Harry's birthday (officially Monday the 27th). November 1st...well, that's a different story with Hannah competing in Woodstock and Harrison competing in Newnan. Give me strength :c)!

On Saturday, Hannah attended her second gymnastics meet in Cartersville. The girls had their competition leotards and their black velvet warmups. I also made them scrunchies for their hair and matching flip-flops. They looked too cute.

All around, the girls did better on some events than last time, but they all struggled a little with others. Hannah did much better on the beam and the floor, but, disappointingly, scored lower on vault and bars. She scored an 8.10 on vault, an 8.10 on bars, an 8.85 on beam, and an 8.250 on floor for a total score of 33.30. She came in 4th in her age group on the beam. Her next meet is this Sunday. We'll let you know how she does. Her goal is to break a 9.0 on one of the events.

This is the video Harry took of the meet. After the floor routine, Hannah forgets to immediately salute the judges. Oops! Stacy said she was going to beat her with a wet noodle :c). Next time we're going to remember....right?

I've blogged a lot about our kids, but I left out one of them--Maggie, our four-legged child :c). She is as much a part of our family as anyone. I got her for my birthday 8 years ago when she was just 10 weeks old. She brings a peace and calm over the house because she is so laid back and easy going--unlike anyone else in the house. We have a lot of fun with her; and she does all kinds of tricks we've taught her over the years. She understands ASL (American Sign Language) and can sit, stay, lay down, whisper, speak, and sing all with ASL commands. She also, believe it or not, knows her left paw from her right paw and gives great high fives. She LOVES to play catch and fetch, but only in the house. She's a bit neurotic about her toys touching the grass outside--see, I told you she was just as much a part of the family as anyone else :c).

On Thursday, Harrison had his first non-marching band concert. They did such a wonderful job. Harrison even had a duet in the first song. He did beautifully. We were really proud of him. I wasn't ready; so, I didn't get it on tape. Towards the beginning of the concert, I was snapping pictures right and left. The tuba player sitting next to Harrison asked, "Hey, is that your mom?" Harrison replied, "No, she's just some lady that has been following me around since I was little taking pictures...kind of like my own personal paparazzi." UGH! What a smarty pants.

Harrison attended his first marching band competition on Saturday in Carrollton at Central Carrollton High School. There were 22 bands that performed for single A to Open category. Bands are classified by the number of wind instruments they have (not drums, pit, or colorguard members). Northgate is classified at a AAA school and we march about 87 students (including drums, pit, and colorguard). They have worked really hard and they have their entire show plus the choreography on the field, now. They came in second out of five band in their division. Not too shabby! Way to go...Nothing Less Than the Best!

That has been the question for our family every first weekend of April and October for the last 15 years. I think I found a solution...Check out my post on the Genius Georgia Gals Blog.

Well, this has been a fun/interesting weekend. It started Friday evening when Harry surprised me with tickets to see Les Miserables at the Fox for my birthday. I've read the book (in English and in French--it's one of my favorites). My Sophomore year of college, my roommates were OBSESSED with the music (So, I've had "Master of the House" stuck in my head for decades :c)). But, I've never seen the musical (GASP!) So, this was a big treat for me.

I was so excited. We had great seats in the Loge. Harry isn't a big musical person. So, I have to answer some quick questions for him sometimes. Well, part way through the first act (right when Fantine is dying), this JERK two seats down from me pokes me HARD several times in a row on my leg (I have a small bruise from it--No joke!) and, in a snide, condescending voice, says, "It is very quiet up here and we can hear everything you are saying. You need to be quiet." WHAT?! EXCUSE ME!?--was all I could think.

I was shocked. We were whispering in each other's ear; and it's not like we were talking constantly...only occasionally (maybe 3 times in the last 40 minutes) and not for any length. There's no way! I turned back to Harry and told him that we were told to be quiet. I sat there for two minutes longer and just got madder. I knew that Harry wouldn't enjoy this if he was confused; and I thought it was unfair for him to have paid for these tickets and gone because of me and not understand it. So, I leaned back over to the guy and said, "We won't be bothering you anymore...Thanks for ruining my birthday present from my husband!" We got up and went to some other empty seats above us (near where all the ushers were sitting...and commenting/talking occasionally, I might add). They were better seats and we totally enjoyed the rest of the play.

I just couldn't believe that a man would lay his hands (or fingers in this case) on a woman in such a manner. Harry even offered to go dump his water over the guy's head, but I told him that was taking it a bit too far. This guy was with his two teenage boys; and Harry said it was probably his weekend with the kids since he obviously didn't know how to be polite to a woman and he was probably divorced :c). That made me laugh and lightened the situation a bit.

Anyway, I got to see Les Mis. I enjoyed it immensely! On the way home, I asked Harry where this musical ranked in all the ones he's seen (we've seen 7 live). And, I was surprised to hear him say that it was tied for second with Phantom of the Opera. Wow! Of course his all-time, never to be unseated, favorite is still Monty Python's Spamalot, which is still on the absolute bottom of my ranking list :c). He did make a comment about how he wants to go and see Jersey Boys in the Spring. I'm not looking that gift horse in the mouth! That will be our next "musical" adventure.

The gym that Hannah goes to (Taylormade) is having a Grand Re-Opening Party on Saturday, September 28th. They are going to have inflatables, play time in the gym, demonstrations, etc... (All for FREE!!); and they are going to be selling food (hot dogs, drinks, cotton candy, popcorn, etc...). Well, to help raise money, the team moms decided to make and sell "treats." I think the other two moms are making cookies to sell. I decided to make Chocolate Dipped Marshmallows (our family's favorite treat to get at Disney World). I think they turned out pretty cute; and they weren't hard or expensive to make. I have plain ones, and then ones dipped in chocolate chips, sprinkles, and Oreo cookies...YUM! So, if you want one, go to Taylormade tomorrow between Noon and 4 pm :c).

As the resident Disney Diva, I thought I'd share Disney's newest promotion to help make dreams come true--Free admission to one Disney theme park on your birthday!
Go to DisneyParks.com and register you and your loved ones' birthdays. You will receive an email two weeks before your actual birthday which you will print out and redeem at the ticket booth for a free one day admission to a park of your choice in either Disney World or Disneyland. It is only good on your actual birthday; and you must have proper ID to claim your ticket (driver's license or birth certificate). This saves you $79.88 for an adult (ages 10 and up) or $67.10 for child (ages 3-9).
Check your schedules and see if this deal will work for you and your family. If it does, let me know and I'll help you plan your birthday celebration. I LOVE THIS STUFF!

Hannah has been doing gymnastics now for a year. She made the team in January and went from going to class once a week for 1 1/2 hours to training for 7 1/2 hours a week during the school season and 12 hours a week during the summer. She's gained a lot of muscle, skill, and discipline, but she also has had to deal with a few "ailments" that just come with the sport of gymnastics. She's had sore muscles, mat burns, you name it. But the bane of her existance right now are rips on her hands.