Baseball and Apples

This past weekend was our annual trip to the Cardinals vs. Cubs game in St. Louis. We usually only go to one a year as a family - and Saturday's game was it. As the Cubs had one on Friday night I had high hopes that we'd see another W.

Here is the 50% of the Schmidt family cheering for the Cubs.



Megan really does love those ballpark hot dogs! She ate hers - AND Abby's. Abby decided to only eat the bun, then beg for cotton candy for the following 5 innings. The Megan perk of the day **We are potty training, Megan said she had to go. So we went up to the Cardinals Club and one bathroom had 4 people standing outside in line so we went to the next and went to get in line and Megan just walks in and says loudly "I have to go potty", all the nice ladies let us cut in front of them :). Thankfully Megan went potty too.**



An attempt at a family photo. The seats are shaded because of the deck above us (which is great for the hot days) but not so great for lighting. We wanted the stadium in the background too...not so much.


After the game we had a surprise planned for the girls to go to an orchard I read about that has some good types of apples I want to use for making applesauce. I highly recommend Thierbach Orchards' to anyone in the Columbia to St. Louis area - it is well worth the drive. The pictures will speak for themselves and the apples were the best I have tasted - and we eat a lot of apples.

There was a tall slide...

Some apples were really tall - actually a lot were already picked so we had to hunt for some of the Jonagolds that I really wanted for making a pie.


And the other 50% of the Schmidt family cheering for the Cards - (I love how blogger puts these in whatever order they choose to). We did get a lot of comments on our "blended" family. Especially when Tim was holding Abby's hand to walk and I had Megan. They couldn't believe he let his kid wear Cubs - then saw me and it made sense. Megan had lots of comments on her adorable cheerleader outfit.



Some apples were lower - these are Mutsu apples and are delicious! We used them in a pie I made (best one ever!) and will use for applesauce next weekend. So sweet and juicy!



Posing has never been a problem for these clowns.

There were bounce houses with slides as well - had to eventually tear the girls out of this one as it was time to go.

One more family photo of our day of fun. Tim loves it when I make him do this.


One last photo of Abby picking (thanks blogger - it was supposed to be up higher).

We will definitely be back to Thierbach since we'll need more apples to eat. They have a great deal on "seconds" - apples that have fallen from the tree if you are making things with apples it was a case for $15 - I love these people! We also bought some apple butter and cherry salsa and I know they will be great. Their apple cider was good too.

Tailgating and a Baptism

Just what you think would go hand in hand - tailgating and a baptism.....but that was our agenda for the weekend. Saturday we headed out to Lot X for some BBQ and good times. It was spitting rain most of the day but thankfully our tailgating group had 3 tents so we stayed dry. The kids still ran around like crazy and after 3 hours were begging for naps so the mom/kids combo headed back home before the game. (note to self....get babysitter next time).



Here is Abby with Truman - that is as close as she will ever get to Truman the Tiger. Abby and Megan still fear Truman and run away crying if he gets close.


Don't worry.....she wasn't driving.

Here is Abby with her cousin Lance who was baptized on Sunday. It was an early morning but we made it on time and were back in Columbia by 6 that evening. If it weren't for kids I bet Tim and I could have gone to sleep then.


And of course a self photo of my nephew Theo and me. He doesn't look as happy to be in the photo though.

Then the cutest photo of them all. Abby finally got a cheerleader outfit since she had outgrown her old one (which Megan is wearing). Finding a size 6 (so she can wear it next year) is impossible. I went to an ungodly amount of stores (and I hate shopping/the mall) and ended up having to go to the team store downtown in the end. But the happiness when she opened the bag was worth it all. Funny what we'll do for our kids.

A couple new "Firsts"

This weekend we had a couple "Firsts" that we attended.

One of the first activities was Claire's 1st birthday party on Sunday afternoon.


A happy baby now since she has some food.


Abby, Megan, and Cora (Claire's big sister) eating cake and ice cream. By some miracle there were no spills!

Abby's first was to go dove hunting with Tim on Saturday. She was very excited to go and was dressed in her camo 3 hours in advance. You can see the 1 small dove sitting next to her that they shot. She gave an interesting story of Tim "getting the meat out" before they could go home. It was the first time she heard a shot gun as well. She also had a good story about picking the "red things up" (shot gun shells - not sure how many shots were fired for the 1 bird). I'm not sure she'll want to go again, she is more excited for deer hunting. To keep things even; Tim took Megan fishing on Sunday evening.


Just one last picture of Claire-bear before presents/cakes.

We had in general a pretty relaxing weekend. The weather was nice, the football was crappy, and the family time was fun.

Football Season is Here!

September is here and with it football season!!! Friday night lights and Saturday tailgates are now in full swing. I do love football season. Mizzou played Miami of Ohio and Iowa played Tennessee Tech - both at home and both at 11 AM. So we taped Iowa and went to the Mizzou game. Tailgating started at 8 AM when the parking lots opened up.


Our cheerleaders for the day. The Pollard's came in town for the game - and of course Abby was upset she didn't have a cheerleader outfit. But she sported the Hawkeye gear with me.


Here we are at the game. It. Was. Hot!. is about all I can say about that. People were dropping like flies and leaving after the first quarter. The girls lasted until half time and Megan probably would have gone back in if Tim would have taken her - however the Moms (Suellen and I) got to take back the girls to the house and AC! I did get a couple comments concerning my Hawkeye wear and a reminder of a certain Insight Bowl game. All I could do was smile :).....


We ended Saturday night with Shakespears and Sparky's - it doesn't get much better than that.

We actually stayed home the rest of the weekend and worked on much needed projects that have been avoiding us with the summer/boating season.

Monday Tim worked so the girls and I went and saw The Smurfs. It was smurftastic!