In Memory of my Cousin

 

Cory was a fun, creative, and good person and like most of the Schwartzes, was also quite a character. He was taken from us far too early by a serious bout of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) . He will be missed but never forgotten.

CORY SCHWARTZ Cory Benjamin Schwartz, 31, a television associate producer, of Las Vegas, passed away March 22, 2012. He was born March 18, 1981, in Scottsdale, Ariz., and was a 28-year resident of Nevada. Cory graduated from Durango High School and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in journalism and media studies from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He worked in the television industry in Hollywood, Calif. He held various positions including associate producer for two episodes of the ESPN Films, "30 for 30," produced by Asylum Entertainment. He also held positions with Nash Entertainment for various truTV shows including segment producer and research/production coordinator. In addition, he worked on numerous freelance projects in his field. He was preceded in death by his fraternal grandparents; and his maternal grandfather. He is survived by his parents, John and Rebecca Schwartz; his brother, Adam Schwartz; his maternal grandmother, Norma Sandsnes; aunts; uncles; and cousins. Cory also leaves behind many good friends. 

 Happier times we will always remember.

Busy Times!!!

Jackson proudly displaying one of his many school projects... a dodecahedron!

We have gone from busy, to over committed, to off the deep end with all the activities going on in our household. We realized that on top of work, school and homework the kids have  anywhere from 7 to 12 activities a week! Somehow we manage to get through each week in one piece! It's a good thing Steve does so much of the work around the house!

Abby loves her preschool class and is extremely popular with the little dudes... Several times, she has been the only girl invited to a boys only birthday party! She takes after her mother I guess.

Catie showing off her garden party hat that she made as part of the party. Catie is quite the teachers pet because she figured out that it makes class easier.

After almost three months of band, Jackson had yet to open his trombone and practice at home. That one kind of slipped by mom and dad until the teacher called and said Jackson was failing and currently held chair 7 out of 7!  Oops!! Having no music ability between us, we brought in a secret weapon..."Luther," the trombone teacher. After the first lesson, he tells us that Jax is a natural and will be first chair soon. We thought "yeah right," not from the sound of the strangled duck we heard coming from the basement!  After only three lessons, Jackson's teacher actually told him he was heading for FIRST chair! We shall see, but talk about overcoming bad genes...

Catie and her new guitar prior to her first lesson.

Not to be out done and right after we determined that we were drastically over committed, Catie decided she want to take guitar lessons. Since we can't say no, Catie now has a new guitar and a lesson every Sunday night right after Jackson's Trombone lessons..... We will let you know how it goes.

Catie loves that fact that she has more trophies than Jackson. In fact, it is probably the main reason she chose to play basketball. What a proud moment.

The other reason she played basketball was to hang out with her old friend Isabella. You can see how fond of her she is by the expression on her face.

The Bears

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Their record was fitting for the team name, but they all had a blast and played hard every game. Jackson has some skills, but like his father before him, he needs to gain some weight before he can make more of an impact on the court.

 

The end of season trophy presentation. The coach commented that Jax was always right there asking questions. Surprise surprise.

 

Even with all the activities and homework, we still manage to find  time for a friendly game of "Headbanz"!

Abby showing off her new dress on a beautiful summer-like day. Depending on the day, she is either a girly girl or a total tomboy.

Catie celebrating her buddy Issac's birthday with a delicious cupcake. These two are going to be big trouble in a few years.

Abby making her usual grand entrance into preschool! Some days she walks in without looking back and others she hangs on for dear life.

 

Grandma helping Jackson with his homework. She does a great job with him.  In fact, sometimes so good of a job that the teachers question the work! The nerve...

More fun and games in the basement...

Abby chillin' with her buddies. The girl is a total ham!

Happy Birthday Abigail!!!

 Abby has been waiting patiently for her turn to celebrate a birthday. Not only is she the youngest, but her birthday comes right after both her siblings. It was finally her day to shine and she was ready!!!

 

 Abster chose to have her party at Monkey Joes again this year. She had so much fun last year, why not do it all over again? She and her buddies had a great time sliding down one of the giant inflatable slides.

 Abby and Keeler are best buddies. 

We tried to have the kids huddle together for a nice family picture to showcase how much they love and care for each other...this was the best they had to offer!

 Catie and her buddy Isaac enjoying a slice of pie. Stiv thought that Issac was supposed to be a hobo, but apparently he was some kind of supper hero???

Jackson thought it was time for the master to teach his little sister how to build a decent train track...

Basketball 2012

The Bobcats!

Catie and Bella are enjoying Chick-fil-A biscuits on the side of the of the court while the rest of the team is participating in pregame warm-ups!

The girls at least managed to put down their food for the pregame prayer.

A quick smile before tip off.

 Catie displaying her laser-like focus and fierce determination on defense as she chases down the ball...

Let's get going!

Looks like Catie is actually moving toward the ball on this play! She continues to have a great attitude and is a good teammate to the rest of the Bobcats.

The Bears!

Jackson is enjoying basketball and continues to improve each year even though he never really practices at home. 

This year Jackson's age group has moved up to a full size court, which makes for a lot more running.

He may be the lightest kid on the court, but he has a big heart and hustles. This year Jax has shown a remarkable ability to anticipate the play, as evidenced by the number of steals he has already made.

Abby had a blast running sprints along the baseline of the court during the game. She even found a little friend to race. She is looking forward to when she can join the team in two years!

Happy 7th Birthday Catherine Cooper!!!

Our newly minted 7 year-old Catherine Cooper was so excited to host a sleepover with four of her girlfriends. We had a "co-ed" party at Stevi B's with a bunch of her friends from school and around town, then the girls all headed back to our house for a night of fun!

As most of you know, Catie loves dogs and so we are sure it is no surprise that she selected a cool dog cake for her party.

Preparing her seven candles oh so carefully....

  Catie was reunited with her old best buddy Bella and was so happy to rekindle their dormant friendship.

After the party, the girls opened presents and played games for the evening. It was so much fun listening to their conversations.

 

Bedtime was a long drawn-out event! The girls started talking about how a robber could get in through the window and hide in the closet.... This caused one of the girls to get so spooked that Stiv ended up driving her home late at night. The girls all ended up sleeping in the bed together... except the brave Catie Cooper who slept on the floor. Everyone ended up having a great time and Catie was in her element as the hostess and center of attention.

Christmas 2011

Our elf Scout showed up like clockwork on December 1st to watch over the kids and fly out at night to report back to Santa. The little guy always whips the kids into shape leading up to Christmas.

One of our new activities was a gingerbread house making contest at Briarlake Baptist. It seems like we do everything there except actually belong to the church?? The kids had a blast and made a pretty good looking house too (sorry the finish photo did not turn out).

The Lego King got into the holiday spirit by building a Christmas village to display in the Lego room (dining room) throughout the season.

We enjoyed the holiday program at Midvale and got to listen to different "holiday" songs from around the world. Catie was proud of her performance in spite of the fact that she was the only kid not wearing red or white... nice going mom and dad!

This was our year to make the trip to Grandpa and Grandma Moe's house in Eau Claire. The kids love visiting and exploring the house, finding old toys from when their mom was a kid. Here they are raring to go as present opening time was approaching on Christmas morning. 

Abster was excited to open one of her too many presents!

Catie had a blast going through her stocking and finding all the little creative treats that Santa selected just for her.

Abby is into winter hats and thought this one was a winner!

 

 Jackson doesn't care much for receiving clothes as a gift but who wouldn't want to be Clay Mathews!?!? 

Thanks Uncle John! 

 One of our outings was going to the indoor waterpark for some indoor water fun. They have all kinds of huge slides and a cool lazy river. These huge water playgrounds are all over Wisconsin, kind of like Waffle Houses in the Southeast. 

 Usually, you can count on a white Christmas in Eau Claire, but this year there was no snow when we arrived. In fact, there was no snow when we went into the waterpark. We were surprised to find several inches of the fluffy white stuff on the ground when we left! 

A Christmas Miracle! 

 Catie got to visit her buddies Calvin and Sierra. She was so excited to be reunited with her hairy friends. She took them for walks, and fed them but did not pick up their poo during the walks.

She found a new friend Alli the cat...Alli is the boss of the household. So she and Catie had a lot in common.