Merry Christmas!

It was a wonderful holiday for the Schachtele family. Althea was inundated with gifts, and slept for 13 hours straight on Christmas night after all the action.

This is an original Christmas photo taken BY Althea!

Here she is with her seals, CC1 and CC2, and her new Hello Kitty outfit!

A highlight for Lincoln was receiving his Abraham Lincoln doll. They're currently about the same size!
Happy Holidays, everybody!

Entertaining each other...

Halloween and Thanksgiving have quickly passed us by this year. We had the stomach flu, so we missed seeing family over this past holiday weekend! Still, our little family of four is managing to stay entertained, mostly by Althea. And now that we're healthy, we'll share some of that entertainment with all of you!

Here's Althea in all her energetic glory!

In contrast, we have Lincoln who sleeps about 20 hours a day!

Sometimes he opens his pretty blue eyes, though!

What Althea loves most these days, is helping out with Baby Brother. Here she is trying to give him a bottle. We find ourselves saying "GENTLY!" a lot. Princess Bride reference, anyone?

Welcome to the World, Lincoln!

On November 5, 2010, Lincoln James Schachtele entered the world. He was 7 lbs. 12 ounces and 21 and 1/4 inches long. He and mom returned home from the hospital yesterday and are getting used to being home. Althea is an amazing big sister and we are all blessed by this new addition to the family!

We love you, baby Lincoln!

Fall fun!

We spent some time at the Schachtele cabin last weekend, and the cousins had a great time together. They acted like monkeys on the bunk bed (anyone else think the song "No More Monkeys" actually encourages jumping on the bed?), and pumpkin painting artists...

...but mostly they enjoyed the fall leaves!

Race for the fun of it!

Fall is a favorite season, and one full of fun events and activities. Last weekend, we walked around Lake Phalen for the annual Sharing Life 5K. One of the highlights of the family friendly event is the kids' races held later in the morning. Here is Althea giving it her best shot as she runs with the two and under crowd. Not my best video, but you get the idea!

Happy Birthday, Althea!

Althea turned two this past Saturday. She had a fun party at Turtle Lake eating, swimming, playing with friends, and opening presents. But the highlight was when everyone sang one of her favorite songs--"Happy Birthday!"--to her! She was so pleased. She also received quite a bit of help blowing out her two candles. Those kids were hungry for cake and ice cream!

She also received a Dora kitchen that everyone helped her open. She has chatted with "her Dora" all day today. Thanks to everyone for the gifts and the fun time! Happy Birthday, Althea!

Summer Vacation 2010

Althea, mommy and daddy just completed a wonderful vacation week. First we spent some time at the Schachtele cabin with our friends the Harts, and then Grandma and Grandpa. We roasted marsh mellows, went fishing, swam in the lake, and had an all around great time.

Next, it was off to Chicago. We stayed with friends Julie and Keith and Tessa and saw Katie, Sam, and our newest friend, Ben! Navy Pier was a highlight for Althea. She met the mascot Patch the Dog, saw a Pirate ship set sail, and somehow was able to eat ice cream for lunch. We also ate Chicago pizza and swam in our hotel pool.

We had a great vacation, and despite the long car ride look forward to doing it again!

Althea and Donald really hit it off.

Will she be a North Park Viking someday? I'm not sure what that face is telling us... but the beard is a nice look.

Swedish Frogs!

We enjoyed a morning out with our friends Gabe and Isabella today, and also enjoyed a concert of animal folk music. I couldn't resist video taping when I recognized the Swedish song about a frog. My grandma and mom sang it to me, and now I sing it to Althea. So here she is hopping along!

The summer months are flying by, but it feels like summer just officially started for Althea and mommy. Summer school is over and despite Target telling us it's time to think about Back to School, we are fully in summer mode.
We've seen friends, celebrated birthdays, swam at Turtle Lake, and been to the Como Zoo this week. We love summer, and hope you're enjoying it, too!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa! We all had a fun night out at Don Pablo's.

The animals at Como Zoo had to compete with the puddles for the kids' attention!


Althea's favorite animal: the harp seal. We didn't have the heart to tell her those big, furry polar bears we saw eat these seals for dinner. Some day, she'll be horrified. But not quite yet!

June

Althea is happy and healthy and enjoying summer as you can see! She is also talking daily to mommy's tummy where her baby brother currently resides.

She will be a wonderful big sister, but is currently living up her last summer with mommy and daddy all to herself!

Happy Birthday, Stella!

Last week, cousin Stella celebrated her 2nd birthday. The girls are fast friends, and have enjoyed spending time together lately. Today we celebrated Mother's Day and Bryan's birthday as a family, and I wish I had video for you of the two of them holding hands and singing Happy Birthday to Bryan! As you can see, they are adorable and will be good buddies for many years to come! And yes, what one does the other must also do. Always. Very cute and entertaining, and sometimes tiring!

A Happy Easter!

Easter weekend was full of fun, family gatherings, fellowship, and food! Althea received an umbrella from her Aunt Kathy that she still refuses to part with, crying for "brella!" daily. She loved her egg hunt with cousins and even helped mommy and grandma decorate cakes and color eggs for the Easter festivities. She was also stylin' in a lovely Easter dress courtesy of big cousin Hannah. Turtle Lake still has a lot of beach this year!

Egg hunt--thanks Auntie Rachel for helping!

Me and my 'brella

Early April daffodils. Wow.

Love you all!

At 19 months, Althea is talking up a storm. What we find most enchanting, however, are her giggles and happy attitude! Hope her joy is as infectious for you as it is for us. Oh, and we're struggling to capture good pictures and video lately because she wants to hold the camera ALL THE TIME. We're trying to be in charge, really!

Winter Fun

Althea has enjoyed some fun winter trips over the past few weekends. First we hung out with Ava and Leo at Cousin Becky's cabin in Wisconsin. She learned a bit of yoga. That's her up dog!

Then we went to Superior Shores with the Andersons and Julkowskis. We swam and played and walked and laughed a lot. Vacations are fun!

Because we Vikings fans are all a little sad after Sunday's game, we thought we'd post something that makes us happy: Althea dancing! Enjoy her latest moves. And yes, that jacket she's wearing IS vintage. It was once Bryan's when he was a wee Schachtele.

Cousins!

Althea loves spending time with her big cousin (by 3 and 1/2 months) Stella. The cousins are fast friends, though Stella may be a tad more affectionate as seen in this video!