Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all. I hope you are enjoying the day as much as we are. The kids were waking us up at 7:50am in order to open presents. They received lots of good stuff and are happy with what they got. Last night was extra special in our household though. Not only did we get visited by the one and only Santa Claus but his friend the tooth fairy made a stop also. Hunter lost his first tooth yesterday. He felt special since he was getting visited by 2 people overnight. I will post pictures of him toothless and of Christmas morning later. Enjoy the day!

Birthday Boy

Well today is the day that my baby was born 6 years ago. man, I can't believe that it has been that long ago. He has grown up so much since that first day I held in my arms. Today I am going to have lunch with him at school where I will be bringing him McDonalds and then later he will share a cookie cake with his classmates. Well, that is all for now since I have to run out to the store.

Ned

Here is a more recent picture of me and my baby Kudu Ned. He is such a sweet Kudu. He is very friendly and will let me love on him.
And here is our baby African Crested Porcupines that were born on the 14th of October.

It was a great day at work...

Ok, so I went to work today and had a great day. It was time for our lion cubs to get their second round of vaccinations and I was there to help out. Here is what I got to do today.
This is our male lion cub and let me tell you, he was a heavy little booger. LOL. Can I just say that I love my job.

The kids are doing great and so is Brien. The weather is finally starting to change which I love. Today only got to about 68 degrees and with working outside, it was a nice change from the 100+ weather we had been having.

Sorry this isn't a long post but I am exhausted and need to go to bed.

Finally a chance to catch up...

Ok...here we are in September and I finally have the house to myself and the three dogs. Now a little time to catch you all up on the happenings here in the Schou household.
Kids....well, they started school back on August 25th. So far so good. I still can't believe my little Hunter is in Kindergarten and Tyler in 6th grade. It's crazy. LOL. Our school day consists of me getting up by 5:40am and making sure both of them get up. Tyler pretty much takes care of himself in the morning by getting his own breakfast and making his own lunch. I am very grateful for that. I get Hunter's breakfast ready and lay out clothes for him and he does all the rest. I make his lunch unless it is a pizza day at school and then he wants to buy his lunch. Then on days I work, I get ready for work. By 6:45am we are saying goodbye to Brien and heading out to the car. I drive them up to the bus stop just a couple of blocks up and wait for it to arrive. They get on the bus and head off to school and I head off to work. Other than that, kids are doing great and they look forward to their weekends. Here are pictures of the kids on their first day of school.
Brien...well, he has kept himself busy on the weekends since I am usually working. He helped out James finish his fence; he worked on fixing his truck; he started to work on his shop and it is looking good; plus working on the yard. I honestly don't know where he finds the energy after working all week but somehow he does. I will take pictures of the workshop soon and post them also.
As for me...let me first start by saying, I love my family. Next, I love my job. I can't believe that I am finally doing the job that I have dreamed of doing which is working with animals. It isn't exactly what I had dreamed of which was to be an animal trainer at Sea World but I get to work with other exotic animals which are just as exciting. All I can tell you right now is that I have done something at my job that I wouldn't have ever dreamed of being able to do in my entire life but I can explain that one later. It is a lot of hard work but the rewards I get from it outweigh the hard laboring work. I do have a little guy who follows me and he is one of our Kudu babies. His name is Ned and he is great. This is him by himself and him trying to get the radio that I wear on my belt. He is such a cutie.
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Way over due...

Ok...so I haven't been really good about keeping up with this posting thing and I apologize for that. Nothing much has been going on here except working. The kids have been in Florida since July 16th and don't come home until next week when I fly down to get them. I am hoping to see everyone that I can possibly see in the short time that I am there. I would love to stay longer but work at the zoo keeps me from doing so. I still love my job and wouldn't trade it for the world. We just had a couple of kudu babies born recently and I have enjoyed watching them as they discover their new world. Well, that is all for now. Need to go and mow the yard before the heat of the day starts to set in.

Happy Belated 4th of July to all....

Well, I wanted to say Happy 4th of July to all even though I am a couple of days late. LOL. I had to work on the 4th but then went over to Marti's house for dinner (we cooked out) and fireworks. It was fun. Here are a couple of pictures to share from that day. Enjoy.

Sadness...

I have just learned about the passing away of a friend and co-worker that I used to work with at Disney. He was a great guy and one whom I will never forget. He had this laugh that was so infectious that you couldn't help but laugh no matter what type of mood you were in. You could in the crowd and not know who was there and then you would here his laugh from above the crowd and then that a friend was close by. He touched so many lives throughout his life. I have many great and wonderful memories of this person and I will never forget him. Rest in peace Roy and thanks for the many wonderful times and memories you gave us. You will be truly missed.

I'm so bad...

Ok...so I haven't done a good job keeping up to date on this blog. I apologize for that. Anyhow, a lot has happened since I last posted, let me see if I can catch you all up.
May 21, 2008: Hunter graduated from Pre-K. It was a cute ceremony and he looked very handsome in his cap and gown. Here is a picture from that day.
I started work at the zoo this week. It has been very exhausting but very rewarding at the same time. Here is a picture from today and the tiger cubs getting their vaccinations.
As my brother-in-law would call me....I am a glorified poop scooper....LOL. All of our adult female Southern Lesser Kudu are pregnant and one of them is due anytime. Also, we are hoping that the female lion is pregnant and if so she will deliver either mid-July or end of August.
I am in the area referred to as 'the hill'. why? Because there are many hills for me to walk all day long. Here are the other animals in my area and any of the them that you don't recognize...look them up for pictures. My animals include: Abyssian Hornbill; Nubian Ibex; Mayalan Sunbear; Red Kangaroo; Sarus Crane; African Lion; Tigers (white and orange); African Crested Porcupine; Anoa; White Fronted Wallaby; Warthog; Grant's Zebra; Southern Lesser Kudu; Meerkat; Southern Gerenuk; and Chinese Muntjac.
Ok... enough for now. I need to hit the bed for tomorrow is another long day at the zoo. I'll post more pictures of the tiger cubs tomorrow.

Ok...so I owe you an update...

I figured I better do an update since I haven't posted since May 4th.
Well, I graduated on May 12th and it felt soo good to be finally done. Of course nothing was official until May 16th when final grades were posted but nothing to worry about, I passed all my classes and will be able to pick up my diploma on June 25th. Here is a picture of me accepting the "diploma" for Bachelor of Arts Psychology.

For some of you that didn't know, I applied for a mammal keeper position at the Fort Worth Zoo a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't heard anything about it as to whether or not I had gotten the job until yesterday. I got the call from the assistant curator (one of the four people) who interviewed me and he offered me the job if I was still interested in it. Of course I said yes. So tomorrow I go and start the process like getting my drug test done and having them run the criminal background. Not sure on my exact start date but I am very excited and looking forward to working.
That's it for now. Gotta take mom out to the bead store, stamping store, maybe Michaels, Joanns, and Hobby Lobby and then hit my appointment for my mammogram. Fun Fun.

Country living...

ok...so you all know we bought our house away from city life and the neighborhoods where houses are piled up on each other to an area where it is open and we have a bit of land. well, there are consequences to having done that.
today was Brien's first day of having to really mow our land (grass/weeds were getting a bit high in the backyard) and while he was out mowing that tall grass...he made some discoveries. I went to check on him asking him if he needed anything when he tells me..."you might be able to get that cat afterall" I was a bit confused and ask why. He stated "furry friends....lots of furry friends running about" I told him we needed an outside cat to keep the mice away after he found a mouse and 2 young ones out by the workshop. Let me say...there were mice, rabbits, and frogs amongst our yard. I don't mind the bunnies living in our backyard..it is the mice I don't hanging around. They are perfectly fine in the laboratory or as someone's pet but not living in my yard with the possibility of entering my house. That is where I draw the line.
Just when you think he had scared all of them away...Tyler comes rushing in and tells me that Brien needs me right away. Brien tells me to look under a rock that is next to the concrete floor of the shed. What do I see? here is a picture...

yes, it is cute but not when it has the possibility of entering my house. Brien kept seeing them so now it is time to find me a stray cat and bring it home :0) Maybe I'll just go and steal the stray cat that lives around Marti's house. It likes me...and to think...it will be well fed.
here are some other pictures from today's lawn mowing day:

VERY EXCITED!!!

Today is the day....Planet Smoothie has finally opened. I went in today to get a smoothie before work. As I was paying for my smoothie, I asked the guy at the register who was the brilliant person for opening up this wonderful place. He said he was. I said "thank you very much for this. I moved from Florida and was sad to find no Planet Smoothie here in Fort Worth." Also told him that I would probably be in there frequently as I really like the smoothies and that I hadn't had a Planet Smoothie since July. He said sorry to hear that and that it was no good going so long without one. He was also happy to hear that I would be in there frequently and was happy that someone was familiar with the product. I'm sure that I'll be back there tomorrow seeing that Hunter loves these smoothies also and he will be disappointed and mad with me that I went there today without him.
I normally drink my smoothie very fast but this morning I am trying to take my time with it so that I may enjoy it.
Ok...back to work and my smoothie :0)

13 days and counting!!!!

Only 13 more days until graduation! I am very excited. Cannot wait.
Also have a job interview with the Fort Worth Zoo tomorrow (Wednesday, April 30th) to be a mammal keeper. Keep your fingers crossed that I get the job!

Tyler is now a Boy Scout...

On April 24, Tyler crossed over from cub scouts to boy scouts. It was a very proud moment for Brien and I. He has worked very hard over the past 2 years to accomplish all the requirements he needed to become a boy scout. He also received the highest ranking for the crossover which was the Arrow of Light. What does this all mean? It means that I simply drop him off for his meetings and don't need to stay with him. Also he will be going on camping trips with his troop and we don't need to be there. We can go on the camping trips but he has to pitch his own tent, make his own meals and do the stuff with the other boys. It's very exciting but also very scary at the same time.
Here are a couple of pictures of his ceremony. The first one shows his Arrow of Light achievement. The second is him lighting the candles and saying the Scout law; the third is changing over of his handkerchief from Webolos (cub scouts) to Boy Scouts; the fourth one is of the Scout Master welcoming Tyler to the troop and giving him his handbook.

Brien's Workshop

Well, I wanted to share a couple of pictures with you all to show you the progress Brien and James made on building his workshop. They worked on it last Saturday and Sunday. Both men were very sore the next day. Poor guys. This weekend they will have a break from it since Lightfoot is sending him on a Trane (a/c manufacturer) fishing tournament this weekend. But I think their plan is to work on it some more next weekend.

Congrats to my nieces....

Should have done this earlier but haven't remembered to do so until now.



First...Congrats to Kaitlyn who is now going to Regionals as a representative of Florida's gymnastics team. She won 1st place all around in the Florida state competition and scored the highest overall. I am very proud of her. I'm looking forward to finding out how she does. Her competition is the first weekend of May and if I didn't have finals the following week, I would be there in a heartbeat.



Second....Congrats to Courtney. She scored a grand slam in her softball game. I am very proud of her. You can read about it on my sister's blog.... http://twokiddosmom.blogspot.com/ I am happy to see that she has really enjoyed playing softball. Way to go.

That's it for now. Later.

This says it all!

Graduation Comments

Botanic Garden Pictures

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

Yesterday we took Moo-Moo and Pop-Pop to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It was a beautiful day. We got lots of great pictures which I will post later after I get home from work. Afterwards we went a place called Railhead BBQ and it was a good meal. We then headed to the Fort Worth Stockyards to walk around a bit. Afterwards, we drove on home and started to relax. We all watched Alvin and the Chipmunks...which by the way is a very cute and funny movie. Hunter laughed almost the entire time.

Today...they all headed out to the Fort Worth Zoo. Unfortunately I had to work. Totally wish I was at the zoo with them today. But I did get the chance to have lunch with my sister Marti today. It was good. We ate at Subway.

Well...I better get back to work. I'll post pictures from yesterday's trip to the gardens later tonight.

I'M SOOO EXCITED!!

For a couple of days I kept seeing this black Hummer driving around painted with an advertisement and it was Planet Smoothie. I was upset because there isn't a Planet Smoothie near me. The closest is in Houston which is about 5 1/2 hours away. Well, the other day I saw that Hummer again and got to see the back end of the advertisement. It read Montgomery Plaza XXXX 7th Street Fort Worth, Texas. I drove by that location and they are in the process of finishing up and will be opening soon. I love me some Planet Smoothie. And the best news about it is that it is only about 5 minutes from work. Yeah!!!

Great News!

I am happy to inform everyone that we now have internet access at the house. It's been awhile since you really have to shop around for an internet provider living out here in the country. But I found one and they came and hooked us up today.

Funny video...

here is a great video i found online. very cute.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2253654/7101180

Just an update...

Just a little update for everyone since it has been awhile since I last posted. Nothing much really going on except for school and the start of painting our house. Brien will be getting his steel building supplies for his workshop...so it is "barn raising" time. LOL. His parents will be arriving on Tuesday, April 1st and we are very excited to see them. I know my parents are planning on coming out in May for my graduation which the kids are looking forward to also.
That's about it for now. I'll update again soon.

It Snowed!!!

Well, it is true. It snowed yesterday. It was awesome! I am such a happy camper. I know that my sister, Marti, blames me for this snow since I was complaining about missing the snow for the season. We got about 4 inches of snow and it was good packing snow excellent for snowballs and snowmen. I wasn't quite sure how the dogs were going to react to see this much snow out there but they seemed to have enjoyed it.

Of course, the kids had fun as well. I haven't seen Tyler having soo much fun like he was yesterday making snowballs and throwing them not only at Brien but Hunter as well.

As for me, I loved every moment of it. I couldn't wait to leave school yesterday, get the kids and get home to enjoy the snow falling. Here is what our house looked like yesterday with the snow falling.

Brien had fun shoveling the edges of our driveway last night...not really. LOL. He had me lay down in the snow and make a snow angel. I also made a small snowman but it was bigger than last year's snowman. Overall, it was a great day.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you click on them, they take up the whole computer screen.

Snow Again??

Well, two days later they are predicting us to get up to 1 to 2 inches or so of snow this afternoon into this evening. YEAH!! It will be nice although it is very strange for me to grab the concept that it will be snowing in March.

Hope everyone enjoys their day...I will after my test and I get the chance to watch the snow fall.

March...

Well, today is March 3rd and it is your typical Monday. Oh, except that it has been raining hard which made it difficult to sleep keeping me up all night. It also caused our power to go out sometime between 3:30am and 6:15am when the girls finally got me up along with Hunter who came in and said someone forgot to turn on his light, meaning his night light. Power finally came back on around 6:30am or so. Getting up late put us leaving late, getting Tyler to school on time, barely and then Hunter to school and me late to work. Oh well. The weather is saying that the rain will be turning over to snow this afternoon and also this evening. So maybe, just maybe I will get to see snow this season. I was beginning to think I missed the snow for the season since we were in Altamonte Springs for Thanksgiving. Marti is saying it will be my fault for the snow since I was complaining. LOL.

Brien is starting to think that there ought to be a Rock Band Anonymous group for us addicts, meaning Marti and I. LOL. We play every weekend and I must say we are getting better all the time. She plays bass guitar while I play on the drums. Some songs are easy while others prove most challenging. This past Friday night while we were over, Marti and I played for a couple of hours while the guys played pool. We were playing songs mostly on medium level. By the end of the night I just had to try my luck on the hard level. So, I tried Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and even though I came close to failing somehow I managed to survive the entire song scoring 86%. Then we all thought it would be funny if I tried expert on the same song. Once again, I survived the entire song even though I came close to failing several times. I scored an 86% again. I was very proud of myself. Then Saturday, while the guys were working on pulling out the truck engine on James' truck, Marti and I played again. I tried that same song on hard level and this time scored 90%. Rock Band makes for a great stress relief.

The kids are doing great and are looking forward to Moo-Moo and Pop-Pop coming out in a month. They will be here late Tuesday, April 1st through early Sunday, April 6th. We are looking forward to their visit. I think my parents are still planning on coming out the first part of May especially since I will be graduating and I do plan on walking. I have worked very hard for this and I want to enjoy it.

That's it for now.

February is almost over??

Wow, I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I can't believe that I only have about 9 weeks left of school before I am all done.

The kids are doing great. They are ready for summer and hoping that they get to go back to Moo-Moo's for that time.

Nothing else going on here.

Frustrated....

Why is it that it takes a company over 30 days to cash your check. My check that I wrote to the house appraisal guy just finally cleared my bank. Now hopefully I can balance it since everything has cleared. Anyone else have that problem??

Update...

Ok...well, we have been in our house officially 2 weeks now and we are still living out of boxes but slowly getting around to getting them unpacked and organized in the house. It is just so hard lately since I haven't been getting home until 6:30 or 7:00pm at night. Then it is time to cook and eat, get the kids ready for bed, and then get to bed myself since 5:30am rolls around pretty quickly if you ask me.
The dogs are all doing well except for Jasmine who decided to get the "happy dog" syndrome. She has managed to cut open the tip of her tail because she smacks it up against the wall or something and then it starts to bleed. I took her to the doctor and luckily it wasn't infected but she bandaged it up and placed one of those cone things around her neck. She looked soo pathetic. But now she has gotten used to it and will run around the house with it on, banging into walls, bouncing off them and running around again.
School is going. I have long days while I am there. I go Tuesday, Wednesday afternoon, and Thursday. But I keep telling myself, just a few more months, pass your classes and then you graduate in May. I think that is the only thing that will get me through the next couple of months.
Alicia (Moo-Moo) was here this past weekend and it was a great visit. She got to spend all of Friday with the kids since Brien and I both had to work, although Brien did get off at lunch time and headed home. We didn't do much but enjoy each other's company. She did love the house and the area we are now in. I am soo happy that the animals that are in the backyard were out and up close to actually enjoy them while she was here. For those of you who don't know, Al Banker (a big insurance dude), LOL, has something like 500 acres behind us that his house is on along with having an animal reserve. He has deer, antelopes, buffalos, and we have even seen zebras out there. It is really nice.
Well, off to finish my work so that I can get home today. Drop me a line sometime but please use my yahoo email since my charter email will no longer be valid after today. I'll be sending out a mass email with that information along with our new address this weekend.

It's Official!!

Well, we closed on our house on Friday, January 11, 2008. It's ours!! We are very excited. We started moving our stuff that weekend thanks to James and Josh who came over to help. It's been crazy busy. The only thing that I don't really like so far about the move is that we don't have a fence up for the dogs and so I have to take them outside to go potty. It wouldn't be soo bad except today it was pretty cold. It wouldn't be so bad if the girls didn't get up at 3:30am or so either. We decided to keep Tyler at Waverly Park to finish out his 5th grade year so that means I have to get up way early and then take him to his old bus stop or to school and then Hunter to school and then me to work or to school.
I started school this week. So far so good. I am taking 11 credit hours this semester so a little lighter than last semester but one of them is going to be tough. If all goes well, I do get to graduate in May! YEAH!

Kids are very excited today. Why? Because Moo-Moo is coming into town tonight. She is staying until Monday evening. Of course we did tell her to make sure she had her jacket since it is cold out here this weekend.

Oh well, off to class.

Well...we are almost done!!

Well, the house is almost complete. We did our walk through yesterday, Tuesday, and that went smoothly. Got the call today that we close on our house on Friday at 1:30pm. I can't wait. I have done a lot of packing but of course, there is a lot more. LOL

Brien is taking tomorrow and Friday off so that we can get more packed. But we are going to take advantage of the kids being in school and hit the matinee showing of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street tomorrow. I can't wait to see this movie. I have read so many good reviews and it has Johnny Depp paired up with Tim Burton...what can be wrong with that. They have made 5 great movies prior to this one. I just can't believe that I am actually getting Brien to go see a movie musical.

Ok...off to bed since I do have to get up in the morning and go to work for a couple of hours.

Happy New Year!!

Ok...so it is now the 6th day of the new year and I guess I should update my blog. LOL.
Anyhow, our house is still moving right along. It looks as if we will close on Thursday (1oth) or Friday (11th) so I have been nothing but a packing fool this weekend. We will be moving most of all our stuff next weekend and then we will have the rest of the month to move anything else and then start the deep cleaning of Marti and James' house that we have been renting. Brien also needs to start building a fence next weekend so that my doggies don't go running off and so that I can just let them outside without leashes to go potty. 6:00 in the morning is a bit chilly to go outside with the dogs and wait for them to go.
Tyler starts school on Monday and then I start my final semester on the 14th. I am soo excited. I finished last semester with 3 A's and 2 C's. Not too bad at all if you ask me. If all goes well this next semester, I will graduate in May. And yes, I will be making the walk to receive my diploma. I also got a job at UTA working in the Animal Research Lab. I am an Animal Care Specialist which basically means....I get to clean the mice tubs once a week and make sure they have food and water. The grunt work but hey, someone has to do it.
Christmas was good to the kids. Tyler got a Nintendo DS Lite and a couple of games. Hunter got more Star Wars guys, Cars stuff, a Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP (so that he doesn't go play Tyler's) and a couple of other stuff. We just found an original Xbox that someone was selling that came with 4 games (2 of which were Star Wars ones) for a great deal so we got that for the boys also. That came after Christmas though.
Well, I better get back to packing before Brien just starts throwing things in boxes. Hope all is well with everyone and thanks for reading my blog.