Hi, Annie here!

Yeah. I am SOOOO glad we're back! But I have been looking at the post Mom made below, and she didn't cover much compared to what we really have gone through in the past few months.

As Mom told you, Lucky and Pippin have been going NUTS!!!! Here's some more pictures:





Yeah... Sort of far away and blurry a bit. But then, it's hard to capture two cats fighting and chasing each other all around the house a hundred mph WITH A TINY CAMERA BOX!!! *clears throat* A-HEM. Sorry... Slight overreaction there. Let's continue.

I drew some tattoos on the boys with some face paint. The boys and I had a BALL. I wonder if I can make a career out of this......




Yeah. Pretty cool huh?

I hope this works. I'm about to put a video on here from my Flip Camcorder!!! *claps hands* Yay! *crosses fingers*

Okay, this is Nate at his Piano Recital last week. Doesn't he sound great?





Yay! It worked! *jumps up and down* Yay! *dances around* Hurray! *bounces off the walls screaming* Okay, that's too much.

I think that's all the pictures and videos our small little post can fit in here, so I'll cut down and just explain without it.

By the way, I think it was SO embarrassing that our Mom took pictures of us while we're (Brennan Nate and I) sleeping. It looks really weird! (Don't worry; I'm just kidding)

Okay, this post has come to an end. Goodbye!!! *does a dramatic bow and curtains close*

We're BACK!

Sorry for the looooooong gap in posting! School swallowed us all up this semester, and I only TODAY finished grading my last papers, and wrote my last recommendation letter, and posted my final grades online, and...well, you get the picture.

But even though we've been busy and I haven't been posting, we've had a lovely Advent! We've had the same snow and cold which Catherine and Tom, my fellow midwesterners have had. Interestingly, this will be the first white Christmas we've had here in Chicagoland for the last five years or so. Fun! Especially with the nightly fires we stoke in our woodburning stove downstairs. Very cosy.

This will be a quick post, just to get get rid of some of my rust. But here's two pics of the kids in the last few weeks. The first is them as gnomes. They were part of the annual Joliet Festival of the Gnomes show, a Very. Big. Event. with weeks of practice, two sold out shows, and appreciative audiences. My kids took to the stagelights like little hams (don't know WHERE they get it from! :)The second pic was taken last weekend, when the kids decided to fall asleep in the living room, under the lights of the tree. It may look staged, but we took this at midnight, and they really were sound asleep.

Okay, I lied. Here's one more pic. A few months ago, we adopted another cat, Pippen. She's a bundle of energy, who loves nothing better than chasing Lucky around the house. Lucky is burning off LOTS of calories since Pippen joined the family. Here they are in a rare moment of peace this fall. Lucky's on the left, Pippen on the right.

Happy Birthday Jim! (one day late; oops!)

Another birthday shoutout, this time to my big brother Jim. Ready everyone?

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Biiiiiiirthday, dear Jiiiiiiiiim,
Haaaaaapy Biiiiiiirthday to youuuuuuuuu!

We love you, Jim, and wish we could see you on your birthday! And feel free to comment on the blog, anytime! (Will your very own birthday shout-out inspire you to comment? Maybe? :) )

And for those non-McDonnell folks perusing the blog and wondering why there are some many birthday shout-outs?

It's because there are lots of McDonnells.

Happy Birthday Teresa!

Here's a birthday shout out to my beautiful sister Teresa, who turns 28 today! (Oh, wait, she turns 36 today? How the heck did that happen?! She's still just a kid to me!)

I love you bunches Teresa, and I know your happy, exuberant clan will give you a fabulous birthday. We wish we could be there to share it with you!

P.S. We loved John Paul's Star Wars cakes. Too cool! As is clear from Mark's post about Brennan's brush with airport security, we are huge Star Wars fans in the Schultz household.

Brennan's First Brush With The Law

Hi all,

Mark here. Brennan and flew to Georgia to see the University of Georgia Bulldawgs play the mighty whatever they are's from the University of Central Michigan. It was Brennan's first flight, and first football game (as well as my first UGA game in about 14 years.) I grew up a mile from the university stadium and bleed red and black. It is the only team I follow in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health...

Brennan was chirpy with excitement about the airport experience, and I was explaining it as we went: confirming tickets, navigating the airport, doing the automatic ritual strip for security. When we were waiting for our suitcases to pass through the x-ray machine to us, I noticed the machine operator was giving some guy's bags a serious examination, moving the conveyer belt back and forth. Then he took out Brennan's bag and repositioned it on the belt for a look from another angle. Finally, he sent the bag through, walked over, and asked with an "I-mean-buisiness" face "whose bag is this?" "His." (I boldly pointed at my nine-year-old.) "Do you know what's in this bag?" he asked. "No," I said, and reached for the zipper to open it. He snapped at me not to touch the bag, and gingerly zipped it open, stone-faced. Then, he reached in, picked up Brennan's light saber, held it up for another security guy to see, and burst out laughing. I never before that moment noticed how very much it looks like a pipe bomb! With bateries and a retracted telescoping blade, bumps and dials and odd buttons all over it. Whew! I had no idea Brennan had packed it. I think I'll check his bags from now on.

Mark

Meet Pippen (aka "Nippy")

I'm not sure exactly how this happened but we have suddenly become the proud owners of another cat. I think it had something to do with wanting Lucky to have a fellow feline buddy. But it's also partly because the Joliet Animal Shelter is right next to Annie's soccer practice field, and the boys and I wandered in "just to have a look" while Annie was at soccer practice. But anyway, our newest pet is a four month old black-and-white kitten whose name is alternately "Pippen" (the name Mark, Annie, and I like) or "Nippy" (the name the boys prefer.) She's cute and spunky, and unfortunately brought some fleas along with her -- something we didn't realize until we took her to the vet two days after we adopted her. *sigh*

But she's now flea-free (as is our home --hopefully!) and we've been enjoying watching her and Lucky interact. So far Lucky's reaction can be deduced from the picture below:

After the first few days of hissing at this interloper, Lucky has now decided to merely look huffy and aggrieved. Pippen so far hasn't gotten the hint, and keeps trying to play with her. It should be an interesting relationship to watch!

School began for all five of us this past week, so our blogging has dropped off. We will try to keep up with it, but forgive us if we slacken off the pace somewhat!

Mark's Favorite Out-West Memories IV

Finally, how can you not love Yellowstone, the grandmother of all National Parks. Especially after having driven north through Nevada and Utah, we were so grateful to see greens and blues again. We decided that we are a green-loving family. Besides the beauty, it is fun to see signs of the geothermal activity going on under our feet. The kids loved the color and sputter of the hot springs. So did Cathy and I.


Pretty nice, eh...
And finally, catching DeSmett SD was really a great high point of the trip. It's the place where Laura Ingalls Wilder spent many years and many of the buildings from her family story have survived. Other representative buildings have been hauled in or built, and there are many fun farm critters and knowledgeable people around to help you live the experience. The kids have gotten hooked on the Little House on the Prairie books--the boys in particular--since visiting it. Nate insists that Cathy reads a chapter each night before lights-out. And I've enjoyed bringing up stories my parents and grandparents told me about life on the frontier of North Dakota in the horse and buggy days. It's fun to compare notes with Laura's memory.