'24' and Jack Bauer have nothing on me

I love taking the boys to the park mostly because they seem to love it, they shout and laugh as they climb and play, and they come home with big appetites and solid naps. But it is definitely not a casual, relaxing sort of event. I must have my mommy senses on high alert, my reflexes nimble as a kitty's. About half the time I'm there I feel like I'm training for some kind of combat mission, carefully positioning myself halfway between my active little dudes until my mommy-radar whirs into action- OH NO, JULIAN'S CHANCES OF TAKING A NOSEDIVE OFF THAT STEP STOOL PLAY THING ARE REGISTERING AT 75%, BUT CALEB'S PROBABILITY OF TUMBLING DOWN THE SLIDE ONTO ASPHALT IS AT 65% AND RISING- in an instant I calculate the angles, the content of materials they're about to come into contact with, the potential damage: SLIDE IS ONLY A FEW FEET LONG, POSSIBLY HEADED NOGGIN FIRST vs. STEPY STOOL PLAY THING'S ANGLE IS WILL POSITION JULIAN FOR A BACKWARD SOMMERSAULT ROLL INTO NASTY CORNER OF STRUCTURE. I like to think that I've somehow received superpowers for my mommy mission- in a flash I dive towards Julian and break his fall with my outstretched hand, then, heart pounding, adrenaline flushing, I use my leg to whir myself around and catch Caleb with my foot. Phewsh, saved the day again. Does someone want to set aside the key to the city for me?


While at times I miss and one of the kids biffs it and smacks their head, so far no one has had to call 911 for me, like we did for another parent the other day when their kid fell onto the sidewalk and got a blood gush they'll never forget (we hung around for awhile, luckily the kid seemed to be OK). Who needs '24' and Jack Bauer, just hang out with me at the playground, you'll get your fill of action. Except maybe you wouldn't mind giving me a hand, things are far less eventful when I've got a 1:1 ratio. Then again, I need to get my workout in somehow ;)

Thank you!!!!!!

I LOVED all the posts! You guys made my day. And a very merry un-birthday to all of you!

Happy Birthday

Hi Char! Have the greatest birthday ever! Hope you're staying warm in Scotland.
Happy 3- 0. We're so glad you've graced our family with your presence.
Love Gramps

Charla!!

Charla it's your big day!!  We are so proud of you for making it this far.  We love your spirit and spunk and everything you add to our family.  I am so excited to spend another Christmas with you- it's going to be the best!  I can't wait to sing Christmas carols together.  What does little Oliver say to his mommy today on her special day!?  How wonderful that you can spend it with him and Jord!

Sure love you,

Linds

BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Char!! It's your BIG day!! you've had such an interesting life and have had such an influence for good on so many and now just think what lies ahead! "The best is yet to come!" We love you lots and are soooo happy that you're in the family- Happy Happy 30th!! Love Coleen
Happy 3-0! I'm glad we share the same birthday month! Love Rach

Happy Birthday Charla!!

Well Charla I hope that you have a fantastic birthday as I am sure you will with two studly gentlemen to keep you company (at the very least possibly more). I am glad that you have been part of the family and will continue to be so forever, yeah!!! Well I guess we will see all of you guys soon come Christmas.

Happy Birthday to Charla!

Tomorrow, Friday, is Charla's birthday and since she's all the way over in Scotland I thought it would be fun to post a birthday wishes online! Charla I am so happy that you married Jordan! You are a beautiful singer, and inspirational person, and a delight to everyone that is lucky enough to know you! Keep rocking on your BIG 3-0 Day!
Love-
Everybody

oh christmas tree

So, my 'letting it go' abilities were once again called into action when, upon decorating our tree, we discovered that our box of ornaments mysteriously disappeared. I try to be organized, I really do, (I found half my decorations) but my acknowledged lack of skills is not helped out any by the fact that our apartment offers only 'creative' storage options and I don't know if the decorations box got stashed somewhere weird when I was trying to cram everything in here (behind my sewing machine in the top shelf of our bedroom cupboard with the chess set Ian's grandpa gave him and he refuses to chuck although he hasn't touched it in 10 YEARS, or behind the piano with our IKEA table legs maybe, or in the ice cooler shoved into the linen closet??) I"m going to cross my fingers and hope we sent it to Ian's mom's house and not (gasp) mistaken for the busted bread mixer and abandoned by the dumpster.. So until I get really organized, I've decided that I just have to go with the flow and find positive, happy things to say about the wide ribbon we used to decorate our tree. It really did turn out lovely. I'm finding that looking at the positive is making my life a lot easier. Now, if only I can get it together enough to make sure I get all of our Christmas cards sent out ;)
We received a lovely sign that our friend Alissa gave us that fit well over our nativity. Our portrait of Christ will be placed on top. It's my favorite reminder of the reason for the season.

Because I just liked it.

“Watch ye,’ Paul said. Be wise. There are a lot of roads to travel on. Many places to go, countless things to see. Companions of all kinds are available. So watch your step, examine carefully the alternatives. There are only so many books you can read, so many places you can go, so many tasks you can prepare to work at and actually give your time to; you can only have so many real friends; you have one character to form, one life to live, one Master who can be served at a time. So, said Paul, “Watch you.” Be wise. Keep reading, keep thinking, keep asking, keep interested. Try out your own ideas, weigh them and weigh those of others, thoughtfully, prayerfully, honestly. Let truth have it’s chance in the marketplace.”

Elder Marion D. Hanks

Christmas Greetings From The LA Contingent!!!!!

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this. You may have to refresh it for the family faces to appear. Enjoy!

Non-Crappy Starring You! eCards on JibJab

Thanksgiving fun

So I thought I would upload some of the highlights- the dinner of course, Faith doing up Caleb's hair to look like a little rockstar, going to the Grove- the weekend was so much fun! Does anybody have any ideas for what we can do when we get together this summer?

News from Elder Schneider

Well I dont know what happened last week, but this week I got everyones emails. Just keep sending me emails at davidbschneider@myldsmail.netThats great about the trip down to LA. I received the pictures. Everyone looks like they are doing great. LA is a great city, and I loved celebrating thanksgiving there in 2003 and 2004 and Christmas there last year. The twins look l great, and thats crazy theyve started talking now. Maybe they can learn spanish before I get home in only 19 months now! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving. We had our zone class on thursday this week, and we all ate pizza from Dominos as a celebration for American Thanksgiving and also because the President is really pleased with what we are doing in the zone San Pablo. Chileans of course do nothing to recognize American Thanksgiving. And I dont know if I have cleared it up, but they didnt really seem to celebrate day of the dead here on Nov. 1, but they had halloween here like they do in the States. November 1 is All Saints Day here in Chile. Well I am here in Corona Sueca with Elder Wood, and the next change is Dec. 23, so we might be together for Christmas, so maybe it will be the first time a gringo will arrange the telephone call home. I dont think we will have transfers that week.Anyway the Christmas package, dont worry if you cant find the scripture mastery cards in Spanish, English will be fine. Thanks a ton also for the pictures, they have been a great help. I used some of those laminated ones you sent me for the first time to explain the Book of Mormon to a couple on Friday night. The couple isnt married and already have a six year old kid so that will be a problem if we are still teaching them for the next couple weeks. But this message is for everyone.Anyhow this last week we saw some miraculous blessings. On Friday we had a baptismal service for an eight year old, she isnt a convert, but we had to fill the baptismal font a couple hours before the baptism. Luckily the Elders Quorum President was there as well as a couple other members. We had the doors to the church open and some members inside the church, and we thought why dont we give people a quick little tour of the church? Have them meet some members and get some lessons with a member present. So we gave four people a tour of the church, showed them around, showed them the baptismal font, showed them the chapel, and set a return appointment. Its just so much easier to teach the gospel when we teach them inside the church. It was so great!Also this last sunday we had 7 investigators in the church. A new personal record for me, and hopefully a record that will be broken the next week. We had a great amount of help from the members. But 2 of the investigators that came to the church, couldnt find our chapel and were looking around for the church for 30 min. and one of them had a baby that she had to carry in her arms for that whole time, and they still made it to hear the last speaker in the sacrament meeting, it was amazing! We truly got lucky, or lucky meaning we truly had the Lord helping us. We really had a great past week, and I hope I can work harder this week and find more people to teach. Anyhow, I am greatful for everything that you have all done for me. This week we are going to have our mission conference with Elder Paul V. Johnson of the first quorum of the seventy and first counselor of the area of Chile. And if this mission conference is anything like the last one when we heard Elder Hollands farewell Chile talk, it will be a great uplifting experience.Well I hope everyone is doing great, hopefully I can try and send some more pictures. I got the news from Kevin, Budapest Hungary is pretty amazing. I remember my last couple weeks in the MTC we shared a floor with missionaries learning Hungarian, which was pretty odd, because for the whole rest of the time we shared it with missionaries going stateside, guess it was a sign.Well the Chilean culture fact tidbit for the week. There are many Chileanismos. One of the modifiers that Chileans use to indicate an abundance is "re" you can say for example, sería rebueno (it would be really good). He is realto (he is really tall). I dont know if that is how you spell it, but people use re as a modifier. Also in Chile, some people pronounce the "y" and the "ll" like the "j" in bonjour, or Jean in French. So the word key which is llave, some people pronounce with the "j" sound. Or help, ayuda, some people pronounce with the "j" like bonjour sound. People in Argentina and in Uruguay emphasize the "j" sound even more. Until it almost sounds like "sh." For example voy a ir a la playa cruzando la calle. The y in playa and the ll in calle are really emphasized for Aregtines and Uruguayos. For gringos the sound just dosent sound as beautiful, when we do it, maybe near the end of my mission ill get better using that sound.Anyway, love you all. Thanks for everything that you do.Elder Schneider

Doc, Happy, Dopey, Bashful, and Sleepy at Disneyland!

Hey everyone - Even thought the best part of LA is ALWAYS seeing what little Jule and Caleb are up to, one can't ignore another fab place with cute little characters - Disneyland! There was a bit of opposition to the idea- "isn't Disneyland for kids?" but after some fast talking Nan was able to persuade certain family members to join her in visiting her favorite happiest place in the world.
We started off with the Christmas parade, where we got to see a few dozen Disney characters and THEN Santa himself at the end of the parade, leading the entire crowd in singing Jingle Bells. After that it was a blur of rides and lights and music. Most of the younger Schneidz voted Space Mountain as their favorite ride - the same one where 6 year old Beej asked "Can I get off now?" Nan's fave was "It's a Small World" all decked out for the holidays. It was about midnight when things shut down and our new Disney hoodies were all wet from Splash Mountain. So we decided we better call it quits. Nan is so looking forward to the day when she can take Little Oliver, Julian and Caleb with her to her favorite spot. Maybe as soon as they can say 'Walt Diseny!' After all, isn't Disneyland for kids?
Such a happy way to start celebrating the holiday season!!

i love my job

so i really like working at gymboree. it's such a great place and the kids are so cute. we did a few different art projects today...

Surf, Sand, and Disneyland

The whole Thanksgiving weekend was of course, awesome. However, one definite highlight for me was surfing! As a beginner to the sport, I didn't know exactly what to expect. Unfortunately, the conditions were not ideal, but under Ian's careful guidance, I progressed from being pulled off and crushed under the wave to catching it and almost standing up! Maybe next time, I'll be able to get up all the way. Then I'll feel like I'm on top of the world.

Thanksgiving Hangover

So I had an idea for a killer sauce to baste the turkey with. It was equal parts maple syrup, melted butter and brown ale. Suffice it to say that it surpassed my expectations and was enjoyed by all. However, I really only needed one bottle of beer for the sauce, but had to buy a six-pack. So I have 5 bottles of beer sitting in my kitchen. Any ideas as to how a non-beer drinker could productively use them? I was thinking chili, but we already have about 10 gallons of turkey soup. Anyway, would really appreciate any insights (both serious and goofy).

Thanks!

hey!

well it was sure a blast this weekend. what a funny family we have. little Julian kept saying 'Daddo' and we were amazingly able to pull together for one complete family picture. how awesome. i will get those books off soon mom, i'll go to meliss' tomorrow to get the pic. love you guys!

p.s. Can't wait to see you all at Christmas! here is your sibling gift person and we were thinking the budget could be about $10. if you need inspiration at all the theme idea is 'celebrate!' otherwise just talk to your person and see what they like.

Meliss buys for Rach

Ian for Beej

Jord for Ian

Char for Linds

Linds for Jord

Beej for Meliss

Rach for Char

24 hour flu

Jord and I have just gotten over the flu. It was super lame but what brightened our dull, dark days was the first season of 24. Much like our flu symptoms the plot was relentless and we're actually almost finished the entire first season now. Nothing like revenge motivated assassination attempts, kidnappings and good old frantic Jack to spark in even the most despondent of sufferers, the will to live....long enough to see who's behind this sinister turn of events anyways. Gotta go...must find out where Victor Drazen is taking Jack......

Homesick for Home Ec

My school didn't offer a home economics course, and I had absolutely no interest in pursuing anything akin to it in university. I'm not sure if home ec wasn't an option because at that point (mid 90's) people felt that those classes were part of a greater conspiracy to keep women in the kitchen as much as it was just my school didn't have the size or funding to pull it off. I think the whole conspiracy thing may have been part of the reason I steered way clear of anything to do with home, kids, cooking, finances etc. when I was in college. I vaguely knew that Some Day I would do all that stuff, but I didn't want to study it. Why take home economics when you can learn about Ancient Greek Architecture, or navel-gaze in Beginning Acting or get 75% off lift tickets through the PE ski class, and, lest I forget, focus on my adored major which was my route for gainful employ the day after I received my diploma. No one suggested I learn anything that would have been beneficial for a stay-at-home mom, and if they had I would have laughed and then been mild to medium offended.
Fast forward a few years to the days I'm trying to get nutritious, fast and simple dinners on the table on at least a bi-weekly basis (come on people!) with enough leftovers for Ian to take to lunch on the days he needs a lunch and without busting the budget each month on groceries. Looking back I really wish that I maybe had given home ec some thought. I'm going on three years now since my working has been transferred from a windowless office to my house and it's been a little bit crazy to try to figure it all out. It definitely was not instaknowledge like I had vaguely assumed. The skills I learned in college serve little to no purpose in my new life, except as a topic of conversation. People tell me- "oh, you'll go back to it someday when your kids start school" or "think of all you learned while you were working." Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I studied what I studied and that I worked for awhile, and I don't know if I'd do anything different if I was to do it over again, to be honest. I guess I just wonder why colleges are dumping out hundreds of thousands of grads every year who can tell you precisely what painter did what when, but blink with wide-eyed wonder if you asked them to prepare a nutritious, economical meal for four each day of the week, or run a household with confident smoothness. I guess I feel like if I had prepared myself for being a mom even a micro faction as much as I prepared myself for my career- I think it would have come in reeaaalll handy right now.

Nana and Grandpa's House

We just got back from a big visit to Nana and Grandpa's House! Boys enjoyed crawling around in the kit- wait a minute, they aren't crawling anymore, they are walking EVeryWhere. They just started walking when we left LA and they got lots of opportunities to practice their newly developing skill in the long hallways and connecting rooms of their Seattle house. We enjoyed our time with our gracious hosts, it was wonderful to not have to worry about cooking meals and taking care of the household! The boys thrived with all the attention they were lavished with. Thanks for the great visit!

Halloweening

Ever since the groovy 7os there's been at least one little Schneider who's ventured out into the cold to take candy from strangers. Can you believe that it took 30 whole years to mark the end of this fabulous era? This is the first year since 1977 that there hasn't been a Schneid trick or treater! Rach opted out of this venture this year to go to a 'scary movie party'.
Luckily we have activities like our ward trunk or treat party to dress up and get into the Halloween spirit. And this year is the start of a whole new generation of Schneider family trick or treaters! We were soo lucky to have most of the LA contingent up for a Halloween visit this year - twin turtle power! And soo lucky to have a dead prom queen, a fairy and Indian, a pumpkin patch, Harry Potter and Aaron as himself join in the festivities all the way from Vancouver.
Happy Halloween!
Love Coco

To Goo or not to Goo, that is the question.

Before Christmas I think it would be wise for us all to consider a new nickname for Goo. Well, perhaps Jord and I are the only ones still calling Goo, Goo. If that is the case then please just let us know what everyone else is using and we will follow suit. If that is not the case then let's have a blog brainstorm and then either vote on the names submitted or have Goo declare what the new nickname will be.

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but here is some recent interesting news for all you footie fans ...

As the Premier League has become one of the most successful leagues in the world, it has also attracted an increasing number of talented players from all over the world, especially in the last few years.
The global popularity of the English league also means that English clubs can now afford the world's best who want to come to the UK and play in the league.

(Spanish player Fernando Torres is one of the many new
foreign players Liverpool has added to its squad this season)

But this increase of players from all over the world has also been a subject of controversy lately.In 1992 only 10% of the starting XIs from all teams were from outside the UK, but this season that number had increased to 56%!! and non-English players have scored 69% of Premier League goals so far this season.

With these figures in mind, one of the most controversial things discussed in the past few weeks has been Fifa president Sepp Blatter’s proposal to place a limit on the number of non-nationals per team on the pitch at any one time as an attempt to allow “homegrown” talent to flourish. A lot of people have already started to shoot the idea down though, saying that’s it’s an illegal EU restriction and that it would never get by the courts. One of the biggest critics is Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (who happens to be French). Since his arrival at Arsenal in 1996 he has signed 124 players and only 40 of them have been English. But he also rejects suggestions that he is inherently biased against young English players, claiming his system of importing the best foreign talent improves English players in his charge.

He was quoted as saying “You have the biggest economical power, and that means you attract the best players in the world. But if the best English players play with the best world-class players, then they will be even better and develop quicker."

I think the same has also been said about Chelsea and its players, who are now making progress up the league table after some pretty disastrous results following Mourinho’s departure mentioned in my last blog - I’ve heard people say that English players like Frank Lampard have actually improved quite a bit since the club started importing other good players from all over. But as of yesterday Arsenal has been top of the table and in very good form, so we’ll see if this limit on non-English players actually materialises, but it looks unlikely at the moment.

Happy Hallowe'en!

After visiting the boys' cousin Liam (and his parents of course!) I was impressed that Jamie took her little guy so often to the photo studio to get his picture taken. They really turned out so much nicer than the ones that I take at home. As I read all the adverts about how they grow so fast and you want to capture them at each stage before it's gone forever I became wistful. So when I got home and saw a Hallowe'en coupon from Picture People and I also glanced over at the boys' as yet unworn cute turtle costumes from Children's Place, I decided I better carpe the diem.
When we got to Picture People told the photolady I just wanted a shot where both boys were looking at the camera and smiling- no fancy poses. I guess I thought I'd sit back a little and let the photographer do her thing. Well, it wasn't working out so well- the photographer took the photos, of course, but I became much more involved than I was expecting! I kept running up to the boys and putting them in place next to each other, and then running back behind the photographer and making googly faces and noises to get them to look at me. We had been at it for awhile and I must have been looking really disshevelled and just sort of panting there because she said that she thought we were good. I said- no way! I haven't gotten my picture yet! Luckily after just a few more minutes we got the winning shot. It was a good thing I had made us keep going because out of the whole lot I only got one where both boys were looking at the camera and smiling. Phewsh- close one. Moral of the story: it's much easier at these things with one baby- or two adults. And no head items. :D

I've got my sack in my pack, I've got my pack on my back, today's the day I'm going camping....

About two weeks ago Jord and I decided we wanted to go to the temple. The nearest to us is the Preston temple, a six hour drive if you don't get lost. The morning of our departure was smooth sailing. I had us all packed and ready to go around noon and was on schedule to pick up Jordan from work at 1:00. Jordan however had to stay at work late and our time of departure ended up being a disappointing 2:30. That late start was the beginning of the end. We were traveling with a friend of mine (Magnolia), and her daughter. The idea being that we would take turns with the kids while at the temple. Along with a ton of food, Magnolia brought a Tom Tom. Jord and I instantly fell in love with the little gadget. We would ooh and ahh at how brilliantly the Tom Tom spoke directions, advised of upcoming turns and displayed the approaching cities. Like a blind man liberated with a seeing eye dog. Jord and I basked in the ease of our journey. There was only one little problem. We had set our destination incorrectly. Sadly we were following a blind 'seeing eye dog'. Although it didn't take us wildly off course, our detours set us back even later and we ended up pulling into our campsite in the dark. Yes, you read correctly, our CAMPSITE. Temple accommodation was completely full (filled ironically enough by the Aberdeen stake temple trip). Sooooo I figured camping would be a great way to save some cash and enjoy the Lake District as well. It was NOT enjoyable - not even close. It was the opposite, it was misery. I had borrowed a tent which was extremely complicated to put up. It had three little rooms inside a larger space and took forever to only partially put up. Partially.



The reason we could not complete the set up, aside from our extreme exhaustion and our tired little children, was because the battery in our car died and then all of the lights in our car went out as well. We were left completely in the dark to lay down our bedding, find our pj's and put our little ones to sleep. The children (whom we bundled in a ton of clothes and settled in cozy blankets) slept beautifully, unlike the rest of us who tossed and turned on a hard ground and felt wet tent flapping on our backs. I won't continue in describing the misery that our night was. Let me just say that around 4 a.m. I quietly moaned to Jordan, "I just want the sun to come, I just want this night to end." Well, there is a very happy ending to this story.....the sun came up!!! The night ended, our children were unharmed and we were able to get our car running again. My ultimate moment of triumph was when I walked through those beautiful temple doors. As I walked in, all my stress and unhappiness immediately melted away and I was filled with an intensely calm and peaceful bliss. I was so happy to be in that spiritual and physical haven my eyes filled with tears. A kind woman showed me to where I needed to go and in an attempt to explain my moist eyes, I said to her "I'm just so happy that I'm finally here."

Pumpkin Patch!

On our way home from a ward party at the beach we ran into this pumpkin patch with our friends the Morrises. It's called McGrath St. Pumpkin Patch and it was the best pumpkin farm we've ever seen. They had free hayrides, although it was late in the day so we didn't take advantage, and bargain prices. They also had some of the wackiest pumpkins and gourds we've ever seen! We are going to carve our pumpkin tomorrow for FHE- looking forward to it!

Luddite reflections at work

Just signed on to the blog. Thanks to juliancalebmomma for setting it up. I can see this is an exciting new world for a Luddite ( do we still use that word) like me. I'm sitting here at work waiting for a c section to begin. Very exciting. There goes my pager. I'll let you know how it goes.

Luv, Grampa

Mischief Makers

I came across this video today as I was uploading the recent additions- it was taken just a week or two before the barricade went up... now you can see what I mean!

the party is so over

BUSTED!

It has been noted in recent weeks that a level of disruption unlike any other has descended upon the Puente household. While initially the dissemblement of pots, pans and other sundry items was met with tolerance and even encouragement, the frequency of such disruptions and disorderly behavior has risen so sharply as to really get on the nerves of the household's adult tenants. After much perusing of used baby items advertisements and a long drive to Torrance, relief may be at hand. As of September 29, 2006 the first gate was erected in the Puente home to prevent entry into what will be hereafter referred to as 'the kitchen.' The purpose of the blockade is to attempt to restore some semblance of order, and recover what precious little sanity remains.




Initially the disturbers were quite agitated about the inaccessibility into 'the kitchen' (aka their playroom), but they gradually got used to the idea and now use the blockade as a launching point to practice their walking.

YW

On Sunday I was called as 1st counsellor in Young Womens!!!!!! The exclamation marks I added are deliberate and sincere. I am sooooo excited about the calling. I absolutely love working in Young Womens. (I know Coleen knows how sad I am that I wasn't called into primary) Anyways, first order of business is planning the YW in Excellence evening - if any of you have some good ideas I'd love to hear them.

caleb takes a few steps

Caleb is walking so often now that we'll turn our backs and look at him and he's teetering from one corner of the couch to the armchair across the carpet. We're wise enough to know that anything new our boys are doing seems to develop in fits and starts- one day they'll be doing it every chance they get and the next day they seem to have forgotten how, especially in front of the camera. But we did catch this little piece of fun last night. I'm predicting that he'll be walking exclusively by the end of October- right around the time of his unofficial first birthday/elusive due date of October 9.

walkers!

This video was shot a couple weeks ago- 9/12/2007. Boys love their walkers! We took them out to the courtyard right in front of our apartment in the center of our complex. It's a big, smooth, contained place for them to walk around and they seemed to enjoy it. Lindsay and their Early Intervention therapist Priscilla were there to help out while I filmed. Since this video was shot they have started taking some steps all by themselves too. Our days of placid immobility- as tenuous as they have been these last few months since the boys have been crawling- are about to become completely extinct!

EPL News

So in an effort to do two important things, namely to stimulate a bit more interest in the blog AND deliver timely news about the greatest football league in the world that unfortunately gets so little coverage (or maybe even none whatsoever) in areas where most of the family lives, I’m going to try a bi-monthly English Premier League report for all the footie fans in the family.

The biggest news this past week was that Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho has agreed to part ways with the club, apparently by “mutual consent.”

As always, the press had about a hundred different explanations for this kind of breaking news, but the announcement was particularly shocking given Mourinho’s success with the club since he joined in 2004, including two league titles in the first two seasons and an FA cup win last season.

I think some of the main reasons though are that Mourinho has been in disagreement with (corrupt) Russian owner and oligarch Roman Abramovich since the lack of funds to sign new players during last January's transfer window. Others think further disagreement occurred when Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko were brought in at the beginning of the season, reportedly against Mourinho's wishes and one other comment from a former Chelsea player was that "He's a very individual man and he thinks he should be the power at the club." So even though there were other rumours that some of the players on the team betrayed him, I think no matter how you look at this situation, this quote was interesting and maybe not far off the mark:

"If you put someone of that ego, and I say that in a likeable way, in charge and then you tell him you're not quite in charge, then I think it was a recipe for disaster."

Although I’m not a Chelsea fan (I think how can anyone support a club that has been funded primarily from dirty Russian oil money??) and think Mourinho did have a huge ego, I sometimes couldn’t help but admire him for how good he was as a manager and also was intrigued by how intense he sometimes became during some of the games, including some of his celebrations after Chelsea goals. He will probably be missed in the EPL, but then again there are already rumours that he might join another club so we’ll see what happens.

Hi everyone - well Gramps and Nana have been back in the baby business. We got to hang with little Oliver in Aberdeen while mommy and daddy stayed in Mallorca for a couple extra days. Little O was a gracious host - showing us around the North Sea and the castles. Now Gramps and Nana are on their way home after a fabulous stay in Spain and Scotland. We loved every minute of it - especially the flowers and sunshine of Mallorca and the friendly Scots and great Schneid family companionship! Here's photos to prove it!

We're back!

Here's a pic of us back in Scotland. The trip to Mallorca was great, a much needed rest. I loved the lemons the flowers and the beach. Melissa, I thought you'd appreciate the pic with a waiter holding little Oliver, I have chilled out soooo much.