Fishing and Cardinals Game

This weekend we were busy again with a lot of activities in 2 short days. On Saturday morning we headed to Fairview Heights, IL for Tim's Grandma Dietz's birthday. We had made her an angel food cake and a breakfast casserole. Abby of course helped with the cake, the fact that we had the sugar stick on pieces helped.


OH - and of course Megan turned 15 months - everything was great at her doctor's appointment. Abby held her hand during the shots and we all survived.


Some Go Cart riding in the neighborhood. Megan didn't like it until you started moving, Abby wouldn't even go close - it was "too loud".
Saturday afternoon we headed to the Cardinal's game for our first family Cardinals attempt. Overall it didn't turn out that bad. We lasted until the bottom of the 8th - which was probably pushing it. Thankfully the seats were in the shade, otherwise we would have melted.

Can't beat a ballpark hot dog!

Abby was getting a little tired. She walked all the way from the parking garage to the stadium in the heat.



End of the game for us posing in front of Ozzie.

Had to stop at the fountains for our feet to cool off on the way back to the parking garage.

Sunday - Family fishing day at Bass Pro. Can't really keep Tim from Bass Pro usually but throw in fishing with the girls and it's a given. This was Megan's first fishing trip. We busted out the Mickey Mouse poles and hit the lake.


Megan's got her first bite - and Tim's helping reel it in.


It's a huge catfish - they had to bust out the net for this one. We were concerned that the Mickey Mouse pole wasn't going to hold.

Official measurement was 20 inches. They thought she had the largest fish of the day but she was short by 1/2 inch.

Megan got to pet the fish, but then it started freaking her out a little bit.

Abby caught a 12 inch bass - she was happy with it, although she said he was really "wiggly".

This weekend we are heading to Houston for the extended weekend for some time with Andrew and Rebekah. Hopefully they are ready for the Schmidt Family to invade. We are sure to have a great time - if we don't melt.

PAT Spring Event

Yesterday, due to a rain date on Monday our Columbia Parents As Teachers group held their spring event so Abby, Megan, and I headed over to Rock Bridge High School after work to have some fun. Megan wasn't too sure about the turf on the field but got over the weird grass sensation quickly.


Here Megan is going through the obstacle course. It took a little coaxing to get her in there but she figured it out after Abby lead the way.

The corn and bird feed station is always a favorite as there is scooping. Our tub had dinosaurs in it and we have just watched Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs - or whatever it was called. So Abby really enjoyed playing with the dinosaurs and setting them up. Megan on the other hand just liked scooping and pouring the seed anywhere but in the tub. The destruction begins.


This was our PAT coordinators spot so we had to do her activity. It was supposed to be making a card with a little bit of glue. Abby had glue with a lot of shapes, as of this morning the glue is still drying. As you can see Megan is destroying the set up and would steal other people's shapes. Thanks to Deanna for being so patient with her!


Then there was the snake station. You could pick up the fake snakes with tongs or your hands. Megan opted to throw the grass everywhere and then bang the tins with the tongs.


Last but not least we met up with the Slenker's and Landen. This was the Floating Boat station which the kids turned in to dump the water everywhere station. Megan eventually dumps the whole tub over and then sits and kneels in the water. After that it was time to go!





Here's a short clip of the beginning of Megan's destruction. She was having a good time though and that is what matters!

This weekend we are attempting a Cardinal's game with the girls. Stay tuned.

Bridal Bridal Baby Shower

This weekend we headed up to Carrollton, IL for a Bridal/Bridal/Baby Shower. Lots of presents! I'm surprised Abby and Megan did as well as they did with all the tissue paper.


Just a little photo of Megan giving Theo her head butt of love. She would get down and look right in to his eyes. She was very interested in him all afternoon.

A little photography by Abby. This is her cousin Bria who is hopefully not blinded from all the flashes.

Here's a little shot of the present opening set up. It all went very quickly and Abby definitely maxed out her cupcake intake limits.

We have also been working on Megan using utensils. Sometimes it goes better, and sometimes not so much.

As you can see, she is shoveling with one hand and spoon in the other. It's a process :)


This weekend we are actually staying home. We have plenty to do as we have been gone the last couple of weekends to catch up on. Plus with the lovely rainy weather all week we'll have to catch up on the outside work as well. Tim is already worried about when he'll get to mow.

I hope all mothers had a wonderful Mother's Day. One of my best moments from Sunday:

Abby: Mommy, why do you have a blanket on?
Ann: Because I'm cold.
Abby: Do you have your slippers on?
Ann: No, my feet are just under the blanket.
Abby goes and gets my slippers from my bedroom.
Abby: Here Mommy, put your feet in here so they won't be cold.

That made me smile and was a wonderful way to end the evening. It's the smallest things that make the biggest impacts.

Also, CONGRATULATIONS to the Kolk Family. Joe and Erinn had a baby girl; Nora Kay Kolk. 7 lbs 11 oz. I am hoping some photos and more details are on the way. That probably was the best Mother's Day present of all.

Photos and Fond Memories

I can't really take any credit on the idea of the photos to post of my Grandma as it is my sister-in-law's idea, but I had the chance to look through old photos of Grandma Powers (mostly with my kids) and here are a couple going back to when Abby was a baby (and our digital camera purchase). I know there are many more out there and Colleen will find a great one to put on their blog. She writes about her experience getting welcomed into the Powers/Papke family. I'm sure Tim has some good memories too that I'll have to bug him about later. He was welcomed in quite easily as he was one of the better boyfriends I had brought home and he hunted and fished. He always stepped up to BBQ, plant, eat, or move anything that Grandma asked.

One of our trips to see Grandma - Abby was about 5 months old in this photo.





Joe & Erinn's wedding and Grandma talking with the Langenfeld's

Grandma Powers with her great-grandchildren at the time Caroline & Abby.

This was Tony & Colleen's wedding (sorry for the darkness) but it was our family photo attempt. Grandma is in the middle with Tony.

Thanksgiving 2008 in Delmar with her kids.

Thanksgiving 2008 - Ellis was just barely 2 weeks old.



Grandma meeting Megan for the first time, of course with Abby not cooperating.

Making applesauce in Delmar - Grandma was still showing us how it was done.

Playing with Megan - I believe this was August 2009

Getting the corn ready to grill for dinner.


Grandma with Megan



All the girls on the Applesauce weekend.

Christmas 2009 - Colleen, Megan, & Grandma

The Papke kids and grandchildren with Grandma.

Grandma with her kids on Christmas Day 2009.

Family Updates

We've been a little out of the loop lately with some travel among other events in our family's lives lately. So we'll just start at the beginning.

Here is a shot of the girls at The Home Depot at the Lake of the Ozarks. They have great Tony Stewart racing car carts with steering wheels for each kid! Of course it was fun shopping there with those faces to look at - race car sounds are extra though.


On Monday April 26th we received the news that my Grandmother, Patricia Powers, had passed away. Here is her obituary if you would like to read it: Patricia H. Powers you'll have to scroll down a little bit to get to her name. It's still rough to even type about it. Her visitation was Wednesday evening with her funeral mass the following morning. With all the Powers family gathered it was quite a celebration of life and good memories and lessons that our Grandparents had taught us. We returned back to Columbia on Saturday afternoon so we could get a day at home to catch up on things again after having being gone all week. She will be greatly missed.


So on to some better news - Megan got her cast off yesterday. Here's a picture of her in her final hours of cast-hood.



I couldn't pass up a picture of Abby passed out with her shades on.

And here is our happy camper, cast -free! Everything healed very well and there were already signs of new bone growth so the doctor was very pleased. Megan did not cry at all while the cast was being cut off and Abby asked enough questions to feel secure he wasn't going to cut Megan's arm off. Our first order of business was to give Megan a bath as 4 weeks in a cast and someone who feeds herself with her hands equals VERY STINKY! She was so happy to actually get to sit and play in the bathtub. She was immediately using her hand once the cast was off so we're hoping she'll be back to normal quickly.

That is all from the Schmidt clan. We'll be heading up to Carrollton, IL this weekend for a Bridal/Bridal/Baby shower and family dinner.