"Lost my halo..."

The first Christmas program is a rite of passage (of sorts) for a child, but I realized today, it is as much (or more) of a milestone for a parent!!! I felt so proud as my little "angel" ;) walked up onto the stage. I actually fought back a few tears.

It took a little bit of convincing to get Jett into his angel suit, but he wore it well ;)

I love this little angel posse. Jett has such a great group of kids to be in Sunday School with and to grow up with!

Gramma Sawatzky found her way over from the Community Church to watch J's performing debut. Kalena enjoyed a little chat.

See those very tired eyes??? Ya, she didn't last long enough to watch her brother.

Peek!

Daddy took one for the team and watched J from the back (while holding a sleeping girl) for most of the morning.

I thought this row of angels was absolutely adorable. Truthfully, Jett ran over and sat on my lap for most of the time when his group wasn't on stage, but this short moment was too sweet to miss.

AND... a little footage, courtesy of the iPhone. (don't make it full screen, it gets really pixel-ly)

Jett started out strong and was very well behaved during the first songs... although I don't think he sang ;) He's a little distracted by everything going on around him, but such a dashing little sucker. He's front and centre in the above video and on the far right (beside the guitar) in the video below.

Where does he think he's going??? While he had refrained from any inappropriate behaviour to this point, my boy's attention span is starting to wain... and where's his halo?

How did I get him to rejoin the group in the video below? He knew he was getting a treat at the end of the service... aaannnndddd I threatened to eat it on him. Rock solid parenting? I don't know... but it worked. Mostly, anyway. He's still a wanderer. ;)

After the service, all of the kids received the classic brown paper bag filled with treats. Jett was pretty excited about his. (So was Mitch)

Treat bags look a little different than I remember. There are no peanuts! Which I suppose is necessary due to allergies. The Christmas orange and candy canes are still there, but there is more actual candy than I remember.

I didn't get a picture of myself with my little angel, so at home I had Mitch take one for me. I sure love this boy! I am so proud of how he is growing and becoming a little character. I am one blessed mommy.

Just to prove that Jett DOES actually know the song, here's his own rendition of 'Away in a Manger'. He shows that he's all boy with the shouting, but you also see his sensitive side when he breaks into falsetto. :)

To Texas and Back... Minus One Appendix

Living far away from family can suck because you miss out on so much of each other's lives, but we are thankful to be able to travel and visit yearly! Mitch's brother Carson moved down to Texas 15(?) years ago, married a Texas girl (we love Hilary), and has two beautiful children who are the same age as our own.

We flew to Houston on Nov 13th this year. This was our first time PAYING for Jett to fly :( We really maximized the 2yrs and under free flying thing and Jett flew on 5 separate trips before he was 2 years old. BUT, it was really nice to have an actual seat for our busy boy. Of course he wanted the window seat, and we are thankful for toys, books, a good nap and iPhone that enabled us to survive the trip. ;)

 We flew through Denver for our first time and I must say, it broke up the trip nicely. Jett was excited about riding on the "train" to get to our next terminal, and the layover was not terribly long.  The kids do have energy they need to burn, though. Lena is easy because she is content to explore the airport in a limited way. Jett, on the other hand, wants to spread his wings much more. I don't have a picture of Jett running down the long moving sidewalks again and again and again... with his daddy somewhat self-consciously accompanying him, but I'm sure you can conjure up an image. The picture I have in my mind brings a smile to my lips. :)

Uncle Carson came to pick us up from the airport, and these were my travel companions in the back seat. :)  Lightweights.

Watching Cooper and Jett play together is so much fun and they really enjoy each other. They ARE both two and a half years old, so their play is not without butting heads every now and then, but they are both into trucks, tractors, trains, etc and they play well.

One reason we were especially excited about this Texas trip was because this was our first chance to meet our sweet niece, Annie Austen! She was born 2 1/2 weeks before Kalena and is an absolute doll. She is a busy little girl and can motor around a room on her hands and knees. We love her so much!

I love these pictures because we have similar ones of Jett and Cooper from two years ago where Cooper is nabbing Jett's soother. So cute.

Cooper and Jett- Christmas 2010

Brothers and their boys. :) Warms my heart. AND who doesn't love a little Curious George before bedtime?

As we often keep up with Cousin Cooper via instagram pictures from home, Jett has always been enthralled with the many zoo pictures of Cooper. Cooper and Annie Austen are frequent patrons of the Houston Zoo, and we made it a priority to go and visit the animals, too. :)

We loved the elephants. (there were other animals, I just don't have pics)

Jett loves riding on carousels and he was quick to choose the giraffe to ride. However, when the ride started, the giraffe was one of the few animals that didn't move up and down. Partly because I hated to see Jett disappointed during a fun experience, and partly wanting to avoid a classic toddler meltdown, I broke the carousel rules and switched Jett to a different animal while the ride was in motion... twice. ;) I am sneaky and did think to make the switch(es) while we were hidden on the backside of the carousel. I know. Rebel. (Don't worry, Jett had no idea we were breaking the rules)

These cousins sure do love each other!

One of Mitch's best friends, Jeff and his family were able to join us for the day and it was fun to visit while we all chased kids together. It is a busy time of life for all of us!

We had dinner at another one of Mitch's best friend, Mark's, house. We got this pic of the kiddos. :) Like I said, busy.

We were visited by some resident super heroes. Jett is the Spider/Super-man. ;)

On Thursday, we drove down to Galveston, Texas. We really enjoyed our time in Galveston last year and were excited to return to the same amazing beach house. (You can check out last year's blog by clicking HERE) It is a beautiful city on the Gulf coast that has some beautiful architecture like this:

My cute little assistant as we shop at Kroger's for some groceries. :)

...AND here's Mitch in his own private room... NOT at the beach house :( 

Mitch had been experiencing pain in his abdomen that began during the night Wednesday. He had wondered if he had food poisoning from some take-out BBQ we'd had, but the pain just lingered. We drove to Galveston on Thursday anyway, but by the middle of the night, things had heightened to where my, "I never go to the doctor" husband was admitting that it might be time to go to the hospital. Carson took him to the UTMB- University of Texas Medical Branch where they ran some tests, had a catscan and confirmed that Mitch would not be leaving the hospital with his appendix. Thankfully, the appendix did not rupture! At around 2 pm on Friday, Mitch had laparoscopic surgery to remove his appendix. It took two hours, which was longer than I had thought it would take. So, even though I knew it was a routine procedure, I found myself worrying things like, What if Mitch reacted poorly to the general anaesthetic, etc. I am grateful to say things went well, and Mitch received top notch care during his stay in Galveston's hospital. Think what you like about privatized care, but that place was immaculate and state of the art! Mitch had a universal remote beside his bed to dim or turn on/off the lights, position his bed, and control his large flat screen TV. I know that everyone's first thought/question is, did we have insurance to cover this. Well, you can breathe easier knowing we did/do. :) I don't know exactly what the whole experience would have cost without insurance, but I've have heard amounts from $20,000 to $40,000. Yikes! That would blow our travel budget just slightly.
Mitch was out of the hospital by noon the next day (Saturday) sore, but doing well.

We wanted to get back to the beach house so we could watch these guys:

I love these girls and can't wait to watch them grow into beautiful young ladies. (actually... they can take their time...)

The boys in the hot tub. Poor Mitch wasn't allowed in the hot tub post-surgery. :(

It was fun to have our whole Schultz clan in Texas at the same time. (No small feat when you own/operate a dairy farm!) I think Papa and Mamie were on cloud nine with all of their grandbabies in one place.

Life feels pretty grand when you're relaxing in a hottub overlooking the ocean... in NOVEMBER! Love it.

Don't let the hoodies throw you off, of course Jett still went in the ocean water. I love my boy. ;)

Jett and Cooper racing on the beach. SO great.

Sweet Kalena Jane

Our crew. Good thing I'm a strong mama. Mitch was told not to carry anything heavier than a gallon of milk for 2-3 weeks. How long do you think he'll abide by that???

And... the funny pic. :) Gotta love the many interactions we have with a strong-willed two year old... (Mitch's expression is priceless ;)

I love this picture of my beautiful sister in law. Hilary is a wonderful mother and I love the time we can spend together.

I love to watch both Mitch and Carson with their girls. Kalena and Annie Austen are blessed with very loving fathers. Blessed.

These to goofballs are going to miss each other!

This pic is of Jett ans his buddy, Isaac, cruising around the beach.

We needed to have at least one group shot of our whole Schultz family. :)

We had fun on Sunday when Mitch's friends Brian and Mark joined us in Galveston along with their beautiful families. It is fun to take pictures of the kids each year. The group shot keeps getting more and more crowded! While actual visiting had become more difficult, the kids are a lot of fun.

We headed back to Carson and Hilary's Houston home on Monday.

And thus concludes our Texas trip 2012. We enjoyed our time there (apart from the whole Mitch having surgery thing) We don't get to see Carson, Hilary, Cooper and Annie Austen nearly as much as we'd like to, but we cherish the time that we do see them.

The last few pics are all from the Calgary airport as we had a long layover there. Too long. I spent a couple of hours chasing my energetic 2 year old up and down escalators and through large halls. I did receive a few dirty looks, but what can you do? Have you ever tried to contain a jumping bundle of energy for any length of time with limited resources; i.e. toys? Saying, "just sit still on this chair," somehow isn't super effective.

The view through the windows of the airport looked... not so warm...

Mitch definitely had the easier job as we waited for our Saskatoon bound plane that had a departure time that kept getting delayed. Being only a few days post-surgery, he was allowed to skip his Jett-chasing shift.

Running through the airport terminal was worth it! We received NO dirty looks on our final plane ride home. Jett was asleep before our wheels were even off the ground. :)

Home! We made it safe, sound and in one piece with all of our luggage, praise the Lord! We miss our Texas family already and as we look out our windows into the snowy abyss, we sure miss the heat!

Until next time...