Basketball and Birthdays

This past weekend we went to the MU vs. Texas Tech basketball. It might be our only chance to see MU play this year (and they were still ranked #2 at the time) so we couldn't pass it up. Thankfully they won - although they did try pretty hard to make it unnecessarily interesting. Our children continue to have a fear of Truman the Tiger and refused to go anywhere near him or where he might be going or even looking at going. The Cheerleaders on the other hand are another story. I think they are Abby's favorite part of the game. She imitated the dancers the whole time and was lucky enough to get a picture with the whole dance squad.




Sunday afternoon we headed back from the lake to attend Carter and Levi's birthday parties at Bonker's. Can't go wrong there with the chance to run around.

And yes it was a Cardinal's cake.

One last photo from the game with my 2 cheerleaders. They lasted through the whole game and enjoyed all the activities. We cheered for DGB as he walked around the court - so hopefully he picks MU for football next year.

The Final Christmas - or first of 2012

This weekend the Schmidt family traveled down to Branson for the final Christmas - or first of 2012, however you want to look at it. Since we were in Iowa over Christmas we usually celebrate with Tim's family in January when it's less hectic. So we rented at 5 bd/4ba house on Table Rock Lake at a resort called The Cliff's that was very nice. It had plenty of room for all 11 of us to enjoy ourselves. The 92 inch TV media room didn't hurt either :).


We started Friday night off with some present opening so the kids could have some entertainment for the rest of the weekend.


Pre-present opening poses. And yes the girls are basically holding Theo in place for the photo. He wasn't that excited about it all.

And this was the view from our deck. Very peaceful this time of the year with just a few fisherman going by.

And Megan's favorite gift - her own cleaning cart! I expect to have a shiny clean house this week with all the extra help now that she has her own "stuff".

Overall the weekend went by very quickly with family meals and a little bit of shopping. We were packing up and heading north on Sunday before we knew it. Tim is still recovering from his food hangover.

Jessie's Wedding & NYE

This New Year's Eve we celebrated with our friends and also officially welcomed a new member, Greg Conger, who married our dear friend Jessie Barnett. As we usually all get together for NYE anyway, Jessie just made it easier on us and picked the location. So up to northern IL we traveled and spent time in Waukegan, Libertyville, and Grayslake.


Wedding Day - Leann and Jess are proudly handing out programs.


Wedding rehearsal - Greg might have said something about not wearing red/Cardinals gear after the World Series win so we had to not disappoint him. The bribe was to get a photo with the couple then they would take the shirts off. Rehearsal dinner was a Mickey Finn's - one word...Growlers.

Wedding Day again - and the lovely cake, there was a snowflake theme throughout.

At the church - Jessie is behind Fr. Bob unfortunately.



At the reception - Dave, Scott, and Tim all texting Pollard because they missed him.


The happy couple at their table for two. Jessie was a BEAUTIFUL bride and her dress was amazing.

Our GBS picture

And yes - boat races in the hotel hallway. Not our finest moment - but some Wisconsin friends of Greg decided to challenge us to "flippy cups". Little did they know how skilled we were due out St. Pat's adventures. We did require them to go "up and down the river" which they didn't appreciate. In the end: MO 2; WI 1 - they didn't ask us to play again.

Congrats to Jessie and Greg Conger!! What a way to bring in 2012.

Christmas #1

This past week we spent up in Iowa City with the Papke Family. Both of my brothers were home in addition to my niece who we were meeting for the first time. The week went by very quickly and we were sad to leave Iowa. Abby now wants to live in Iowa.


Making head bands with Aunt Rebekah.


Reading books with Kitty, Aunt Rebekah, and Abby's new baby Lena Sarah.

Christmas Morning - Santa did remember to come to the Papke house and we have two new babies. Abby has Lena Sarah Schmidt and Megan has Applebee Schmidt. If you couldn't tell they picked out the names themselves.

One of the many moments where Megan was in close observation of everything that Kitty was doing.



Christmas Eve - quite a bit a loot.


The cousins loving on each other.

Grandpa Papke getting his hair done by Megan at the "salon".

Making cookies with Grandma Papke. There wasn't one left so they must have been good! Pretzels, a Rolo in the middle, and an M&M in the middle.

All Megan asked Santa for was a green football - looks like he came through, and she is happy.

It was very nice to be home with the whole Papke family over Christmas. It's not often these days that we are all actually in one place, so some quality family time was much enjoyed.

On to New Years Eve.......