And Their Cousins...

Well after a very busy day Thursday I came home to a message from Tutu telling me that my cousin Bobby (always be Bobby to me) was in town so of course I had to track him down to say hi. I went to pick him up from his hotel and called cousin Brian to come over and say Hi. We had a good time catching up and just enjoying each others company. SO it brings me to a thought I have quite frequently especially when I get to be near family whether they are close or far away or we are brought together by something wonderful like a wedding or new baby or by something sad like a funeral or supporting someone who needs us. Anyway my "thought" or "daydream" is that my entire family (that means everybody!) Muglestons, Schafers, Stones (you know you are lumped into one of those categories) lived in the same neighborhood! I know I am crazy it would be like my own little cult but think about how much fun we would have and how much support we would have from each other. When my dear Anne lived here they were building a huge mansion near my house that we would drive by frequently and we would joke about how wonderful it would be to move both of our little families in together every time I drive by that place I always reminisce- thank you Anne! SO deep down in writing this and seeing the picture I hope you are all jealous because I wish everyone could have run to my house to see Bobby for even just a few minutes. I love my family so much and each and every one of you mean so much to me, lets try to be better at staying in touch so I can feel like you are just around the corner?!

Enchanted

This movie came out a while ago and I have wanted to take Dylan to see it, so finally on Tuesday Wendy and I took our kids to the dollar theater (because it was Tuesday it was only .50 bonus)! It was just as good if not better than I thought it was going to be. I LOL many times! When we left Dylan said he wanted to buy that movie! I absolutely loved it and the music was sooo cute! In a way it made me more excited about having a little girl, I want Kate to stay my tiny baby but on the other hand I am so excited to see you grow up and get into all the princess stuff! If you have not seen it yet I highly recommend it! I am pretty sure Amy Adams went to high school here in Colorado in the Douglas County school district. Pretty neat!

Photos from Utah

Their dog Duncan- we loved having a big dog around again! Kate especially!

Gymnastics class

All these kids put on a show for us-it was very cute! Dylan fits in with the girls just great!



Kate Elizabeth

Paige Alyse

Trip to Utah

Wow it has been a very busy but fun past week! We have access to buddy passes and they expire the end of February so we decided to try and go to Utah to visit our good friends Tracie and Paige. We left bright and early Saturday the 16th and made it right on and in first class! Kate did great (she is a lot more antsy than her big brother!) and of course Dylan did wonderful! The plan was to just take it easy maybe do a little shopping and just enjoy each other's company.

On Sat we just hung out at their house, let Kate take a nap and then we went out to dinner. We got to Cheesecake factory at 5:30 and there was a 3 1/2 hr wait! In Denver we would have maybe waited 30 min. especially since we were so early! We ended up at Macaroni Grill and it was delicious but still had to wait about 1 1/2 hr! Do you people from Utah have nothing better else to do? That night we got the kids in bed and Dylan and I called Marc to tell him good night. While Dylan was listening to his dad he started frantically wiping his eyes trying not to cry. I asked him what was wrong and he said he missed his dad! Dylan is a very sweet boy but has not really gotten emotional like this before! It was very sweet and I think it made Marc feel good!

Sunday I felt horrible so Tracie took care of me and all the kiddos so I could sleep more. That afternoon we did a photo shoot of Paige in her Easter outfit and Kate in her 1st birthday dress. Tracie has the best house for pictures! Huge windows with the dark wood paneling all the way around and really thick- I was in heaven! Paige did wonderful she loves having her picture taken! Quite a poser! At one point my battery went dead and I went to switch it and she said very seriously "are all the others saved?" She did not want to loose any! Kate did OK she wanted to find the dog so she liked looking out the window and playing with the drapes!

Monday we got a babysitter for a little bit and went to a fun clothing store for women called Whimsy. We also went to a couple gift shops over by Babinskis (if any of you know where that is). I always have to go to Babinskis it is a wonderful baby boutique store. The other stores were great too. I learned about a new book that every little girl has to own, they are called Fancy Nancy. There are three and they are just wonderful to read and the illustrations are beautiful. When we got home I went to Sam's club and they had two of them for $11.00 instead of $16. I think the Easter bunny might give them to Kate! That night Tracie's parents came over and had dinner with us. It was a wonderful evening with pot roast potatoes carrots and homemade huckleberry muffins!

Tuesday morning Paige had gymnastics and we went to watch and Dylan was able to join her class! He was very excited and had a ton of fun! After Kate's nap we ran a few errands to Barnes and Noble a new children's clothing store called Tiara in Sugarloaf it was very cute, two doors down from there is Pipers a quilt/knitting store I always like to check out. That night Paige went to spend the night at her dads house and Drew invited Dylan to come, I did not know how he would do only because of his crying with his dad a few nights earlier but he was excited to go and I think he had a fun time!

Wednesday Paige had school in the morning and than in the afternoon Tracie's mom came over and watched the kids and we went and got our hair done. I love how it turned out I was way over due! That night we made pizza and some of Tracie's wonderful friends and their kids came over for dinner and to play.

Thursday we just hung out packed and got ready to go to the airport. On the flight home Dylan said to me very quietly mom I want to go back to Utah and stay with Tracie and Paige again. I told him we would and then a couple minutes later he was fighting back the tears and said no mom I want to go real soon! I think he is feeling some different emotions and is having a hard time understanding them. It is very hard for me to see him sad and watching him get so big and grown up acting! I love you so much my little Dill!

OK so something is wrong with my pictures- it says windows photo gallery is not responding, I swear if something happens to my pictures I will scream!!!! Hopefully I can fix it and do another post of just pictures later!

Happy Valentines Day

Here is my Valentines day card. Some got mailed on Valentines day so you should get them soon!
For Dylan's Valentines we made lollipops and he wrote his friends names on the front of the card decorated them and we taped the lollis to the front. Turned out pretty cute!

Receipe for Lollipops:1/2 tsp cream of tarter, 2 cups sugar, 2/3 cup light corn syrup, 3/4 cups water, about 1 T oil flavors (I used LorAnn Gourmet one bottle per batch, each bottle has .125fl oz. I got mine at a cake supply store but then I saw them at Hobby lobby), color ( I used AmeriColor soft gel paste and again I got it at the cake store but I think I saw them at hobby lobby as well) In a saucepan, blend sugar, corn syrup, water and cream of tarter. Bring to a boil over high heat until mixture reaches 290. Remove pan from heat, let the bubbles simmer down and then add the flavor and color. You have to work fast to pour into your molds and if it gets too cold and thick you can warm in the microwave for a few seconds.
Now before you start you need a good candy thermometer, pam and the correct molds. To tell if it is the right mold it can not be see through. Michaels only had see through ones and those are for chocolate they can not handle the heat! I found mine again at hobby lobby and the cake store. It was very easy and yummy! We made 2 batches one with watermelon and one with fruit punch.

Dylan showing off his name. He was having a hard time sitting still so picture is blurry!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines Day! I made a cheese fondue, salad, and a spicy chicken artichoke fettucinie. Kate loved the pasta I never got to it I had to much salad and fondue! Marc has a lot of leftovers! We love you all so much! XOXOXO

Ellinor- my God daughter!

I did not have my blog when our dear friends Sara and Josh asked ME to be Ellinor's god mother! I was so honored and exicited! Ellinor was born July 7th 2007 and we do not get to see each other very often so I was so happy to watch her the other day while Sara was at work! ( Even though it was only for a couple hours and she slept most of the time and I all of a sudden did not feel so good that day) I had to take a couple pictures of her and Kate in their matching outfits!

I think she looks like a perfect doll!
It was very difficult to get them together Kate just wanted to crawl away!
Hopefully they can be BFF like Sara and I! We have been friends since middle school! Her and Susan are my only friends from childhood that I still keep in touch with! I am so grateful for such wonderful friends!

Mail

Ok so I have a lot of thoughts in my head and I can not decide where to start, so if I ramble I am so sorry! SO I was on this blog http://morganmoore.typepad.com/ and she asked if anyone wanted to be her little boy's valentine. I emailed her and we are going to swap Valentines for our kids! Then yesterday for Dylan's field trip he went to the post office and now he is even more exicited about mail than ever soooo does anyone want to be Dylan's and Kate's valentine? If you want to participate email me your address and all your kiddos names and we will send them their own personal Valentines! h.schafer@comcast.net Our goal should be to get them in the mail by Monday or Tuesday and maybe the moms will get their own Valentine from me! Who dosen't like to get mail?! Lots of love!

In Memoriam

It is with great sadness I write to you today - Duncan passed away at 3:346 p.m. today after the decision was made to stop heroic measures. Duncan developed another infection over the past two days, the effects of which were causing him a great deal of pain and causing him to run a fever of 108* F overnight. The doctor who treated Duncan said he had never heard of anyone surviving such a high fever, and that normally the body did not allow itself to sustain such a high temperature for even 15 minutes, let alone the 2 hours Duncan suffered with it. The doctor said it was an indication the hypothalamus of the brain, which regulates body temperature, was damaged. He also advised us even though Duncan survived, he would have permanent and widespread brain damage that would eventually cause his organ systems to fail, and that his kidneys were already dialysis dependent, and he was quickly becoming ventilator dependent. Meaghun and I were asked to make a decision, and we chose to allow Duncan to die a dignified and peaceful death, so he was given a morphine drip and taken off the ventilator. He died about 45 minutes later surrounded by his beautiful wife, his mother, his battle buddy Joe Mixson and the hospital chaplain he had come to know during his stay. It is the closest thing to a "good death" one could ask for a young man who fought so hard and long, only to have the limits of his body betray him. Once we knew there was no chance of any sort of quality of life, we felt we could not ask this brave young man who lived life to its fullest to spend his remaining days hooked to machines with no chance of recovery. Words cannot express the gratitude we feel towards all those who offered support and prayer to Duncan and our families during the past 5 months. We can take away from this experience the knowledge that good people exist in this world, that evil is worth fighting or that reason, and Duncan was a proud example of a good person who did not stand by and allow it to flourish by doing nothing. Duncan would have been 20 years old tomorrow - he will be forever 19 now, and forever missed. Love, Lee Crookston

This was an email I received on January 25th. Duncan's funeral was on Saturday and Marc and I attened. There were over 900 people, it was an amazing service! Please keep his family and wife in your prayers and all the men and women who are still in this war. If you would like more info go to: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/28/denver-gi-dies-of-iraq-wounds/

Anatomy of a First Birthday

Cupcakes: I saw these cupcakes in an In Style magazine and wanted to copy them! You cannot really see the details and I took some close up pictures but they did not turn out very well! I did a yellow cake and a chocolate cake both with a buttercream frosting. I tinted the frosting light purple put crystal sprinkles on and went to a cake store and bought tiny pink flowers. I was so glad I did not have to make the flowers!

Yellow Sheet Cake: Tracie Cooper Thank you they were a big hit!

2 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 pound butter, 6 eggs, 3 cups sifted flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 cup milk cream sugar and butter add eggs one at a time sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with milk. Bake in sheet pan 30 min @325 in a cupcake pan it took about 20 min

Aunt JoAnn's Chocolate Cake: Erin Stanley thank you I love chocolate! She made these when I was pregnant with Dylan and I couldn't get enough!

Mix together- 2 cup sugar, 3 cup flour, 2 tsp soda, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup cocoa Add- 2 T vinegar, 2 cup cold water, 2/3 cup oil Mix well pour into 9x 13 pan bake 20-25 min @ 375. For cupcakes bake 10-15 min
Billy's Vanilla Buttercream: SO the pictures I saw were from Billy's Bakery in New York City and this is his frosting!

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, 6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract In bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 min. With mixer on low speed, add 6 cups sugar, milk and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. If necessary, gradually add remaining 2 cups sugar to reach desired consistency.
The Party Hat and Personal Cake: Gigi made her a cupcake party hat and her cupcake to eat was a big muffin tin.
The Party Dress: I really wanted an old fashioned party dress and after checking out all these fun blogs I wanted to wear a matching apron! Call me corny I know! Debbie did most of the sewing but I learned a lot! She did not want to stand next to me- little punk! I am going to get better pictures of her in her dress but here are a few views! Oh and her bracelet- I bought it at a craft fair but I recently took it apart and replaced the beads with real ones because they were rubbing off and changing colors!

And last but definately not least all of our wonder guests! Grandma and Pops Mugleston, Grandma and Grandpa Schafer, Gigi and Papa Stone, Chris, Wendy, Bean and Hannah, Sean, Audrey, Becky, Kevin, Steve, Jeff, Stefi, Jessie, Ellen, Aunt Debbie, Fred, Susan, Jared, Jenna, Lilly! Thank you all so much for coming to our home and celebrating Kate's 1st Birthday with us! We love you all so much! (If there are a lot of mis spellings I have not been able to get my spell check to work lately sorry!)

Four Generations

Kate, Me, My mom (Grandma), My Grandma (Kate's Gigi)