Emma's 3 month photo

Well we finally got Emma's 3 month photos done and a group photo of all the girls.  She wasn't technically 4 months until the following week so I'm still calling it a 3 month photo.  The intention was to get it done earlier which is why we have on summer outfits.  It wasn't a bad photo shoot, more issues with the computer part than anything.  Abby and Megan were excellent and Emma did okay once she got over crying, just needed a little singing to make her happy.

We ended up getting one good enough picture of all 3 of them.  Thankfully we got to wear our summer outfits once.  Abby's and Megan's will at least fit next summer, Emma's was a one wear :(
Emma is starting to look more and more like Abby.

Last night we attended the Auxvasse Elementary quarterly awards assembly.  We had gotten a note that Abby was receiving an award, didn't know what for so we were excited to see.  I'm not sure the name of the test, but it's something they do on a computer with reading, math, etc. and she tested above average.  They got to have some candy for it as a reward.

She also got a second award for Perfect Attendance.  Sadly only about 3 kids in her class have made it through the first quarter without being sick, Abby is one of them.  She said it was a good thing when she was sick it was "stay home days".  So we were very proud of her.

And we are still working on getting Emma to eat cereal.  Tim did better with her a couple nights ago, she might have had a couple bites.  Last night was not so great.  Of course she has 4 people cheering her on the whole time so it might be a little distracting.  She'll get it down though.

Birthday Weekend

Well another year has past and I have survived.  This year it involved a little more cake since we had 3 parties in a row to attend.  On Friday we had a party for me at Tim's grandparents, the Saturday was Allison's party and Sunday was Reagan's party.  Cake and ice cream everyday - the girls were thrilled.  It was a lot of "we get to eat cake and ice cream again?!?!"
So here's how the weekend went....

Tim, Owen, and Emma hanging out in the chair

Trying to get all the grandchildren together for a shot.  This was as good as it got before Emma melted down from being exhausted.  It was way past her bedtime

Owen and Emma - 3 month difference

Saturday morning it was on to the Martychenko residence for my Goddaughter Allison's 2nd birthday.  More cake and a castle bounce house to boot!  The kids bounced until the guys came and picked it up.

The birthday girl looking all cute and innocent.  This was before Elmo icing was on about every kid in all different kinds of spots.

Allison waiting patiently to be able to take her turn to feed Emma.  She was like the rest, about interested in it for 1 minute then on to the next activity.

Saturday night we did a Trunk or Treat at St. Claire's with the Resnik's and Cowan's.  Jenn had a picture of the kids here if you would like to see it.
Sunday it was on to Washington, MO for Reagan's 2nd birthday.

Teresa has some fabulous cake skills.  Megan ate the polka dots off her piece of cake.

The birthday girl opening her presents.

And not to be left out - Emma is now 4 months old so we decided to attempt some cereal Sunday night.  Not a great idea since she was so off schedule from being held so much, the traveling, and parties, but we thought we'd give it a shot anyway.

She's mad and hungry already but I tried to shove a bite in.

and that's how that went.  We switched to PJs and a bottle and called it a night.

Emma at 4 months:

• Now has 2 teeth on the bottom
• Working on rolling over from back to front - gets on her side and is satisfied for now
• Wants to sit up and see everything, not happy to be cradled unless there is a bottle involved
• Kind of starting to try cereal - we'll have it down in a week or so
• Loves to watch her sisters sing and dance
• Will babble back to you when you talk to her like you are having a conversation
• Other than that....pretty much the same as 3 months.

And just for fun
Ann at 36 :)

• Still working for The Home Depot
• Been married for almost 10 years - "dating" Tim for almost 13 years
• Mother of 3 beautiful daughters
• Working on her MBA slowly...
• Eats about as well as her 5 year old
• Learning to survive on less sleep
• Loves every amazing day watching her family grow and learn
• Needs about 6 more hours in a day to get everything done

 And about 100 other things, but I'm boring, the kids are more fun.

A Night At The Circus

The Circus has come to town - and left to the next destination already.  Last night the family went and saw the Kelly Miller Circus.  It was the first circus event for all of us, unless I've been to a circus before and just can't remember it.  All girls had a great time and were wide-eyed watching the performers, laughing a clowns, and oohhing and ahhing at the animals.

Emma watched the circus in the Baby Bjorn inside Tim's jacket since it was a little chilly.  She was wide eyed the whole time minus a little nap.

Every circus starts with a ring master and clowns

Some girls that twirled really fast

Some "dancing" camels and a donkey - but I'm not to sure it's not a "zonkey"

This pirate could balance!

More twirling pirates

What's a circus without some elephants??

And the tigers.  The band was playing pretty loud so you couldn't hear the tigers roar but there were a few times they did not was to cooperate with the trainer, who was from St. Louis. 

They could have rode a camel or an elephant, but no, Megan wanted to ride the ponies.

And what post would be complete without an Emma photo.  Yep, the Cardinals are in the playoffs so she's wearing Cubs.  That's how we roll.

Overall we had a great time at the circus, it was a late night for us all.  The ringmaster said one of the trapeze performers was in Water for Elephants so we'll have to watch that again and see if we can find her. 

Meeting Baby Owen

This past weekend we made an evening trip to St. Louis to meet our newest cousin/nephew Owen Bovee.  He is possibly the smallest baby I have ever held I think.  He was very alert though and quite cuddly.  Plus he tolerated the girls wanting to hold him the whole time.

Megan with Owen

Owen and me - he's so tiny!

Abby and Owen

All the cousins together

 
Another activity on Friday was the North Callaway Homecoming parade.  The T-Bird Preschool has had a "float" in the for quite a while.  Abby has done it the last 2 years and now it is Megan's turn to carry on the tradition.

Tim and Megan are on the left side, Megan has a hot pink jacket

It was probably one of the fastest parades I have seen.  It was a little chilly and overcast and there was no stopping, the parade just kept rolling and I barely got a picture of them at all on the float.

Couldn't put a blog post up without a picture of Emma.  This kid is growing like crazy these days.  It's been a little rough to spend less time with her with going back to work, but we are surviving.  We live for quality time on the weekends.

Emma is 3 months already

Well time has flown by once again and our baby is now 3 months old.  So that means yes, I am back at work and Emma has now started day care.  We are lucky enough that she is at the same location as her big sisters so it makes life a little more easy on us.  Plus we love our day care provider so we are extremely blessed there.
Here are some recaps of the month:

 Hanging out outside in the nice weather after work watching our big sisters play.  She is very content to just take it all in.

 chilling in the Bumbo, not too sure what to think about that whole experience, but she has really great head control so it will get easier.

 Napping with Daddy while we still took a paci...

 Getting some time in the exersaucer.  Her feet did not touch the bottom to start with and we had to put a pillow down there, now one of her feet can touch!  You can see she is working on sucking her thumb there. 

 Passed out on the exersaucer after about 10 minutes of playing

Floor time and toys!

Emma @ 3 Months

• Now sucks her thumb, won't take the paci at all, and hasn't figured out how to suck her thumb unless she is laying down.
• Sleeping 10-12 hours at night :)
• Still taking a morning and afternoon nap
• Loves to sit up and take in everything around her.
• Smiles at her big sister's voices and songs they sing to her.
• Is starting to drool like crazy - we expect to see some teeth on the bottom very soon.  I thought I felt a bump the other night already!
• Very content to hang out on the floor and play.  Loves her floor gym and the bouncy seat. 
• Favorite spot is still sitting on Daddy's lap so she can see everything
• Almost rid of her cradle cap
• Had her first trip to Iowa City.

Now a couple updates on the rest of the family:

Abby was the kindergarten representative for Mrs. Crawford's class for the Jr. High Homecoming Carnival so we got all dolled up and she was very beautiful for the Carnival coronation. Of course Megan is strutting her stuff too, just as cute.

 Abby and her friend Carter who was the boy rep for Ms. Schmidt's class.  Carter's mom did Abby's hair and it was gorgeous.  She got a lot of compliments and we thought she looked as good as the queen candidates!

 Here's Abby with the queen, she said she voted for her, so I guess it all worked out.

 A little family photo (minus Emma) before an outfit change, because we needed that dress for the next weekend.  Don't worry, Emma was in good Grandparent hands.

 This past weekend we were lucky enough to celebrate our neighbor's daughters wedding.  4/5 of the Schmidt's were involved.  Abby and Megan were the best behaved flower girls ever.  And we have been in a few weddings to see some not so good examples that didn't cooperate.  It was a beautiful day and we hope Angie and Jar are enjoying their honeymoon in the Bahamas!

 And yes, we did make applesauce again.  But it was twice the affair and added a few new items, or at least tried to make them.  Final results were:
30.5 qts Applesauce
.5 qts Apple Butter
1.5 qts Apple Jelly

We know the applesauce is good, we've heard the apple butter is okay, apple jelly - not so much, we're not "gel"-ing.  Maybe better luck next year.  We did have 4 generations of Tim's family making applesauce though which was a nice thing to see.  And with all the help it actually went pretty quickly compared to just Tim and I doing it.  Megan was a trooper as well and worked the foley mill for over an hour!

That's a pretty good round up of the Schmidt's for now.  We're looking at a pretty busy October, so let's hope we survive!

Owen William Bovee!!

On October 1st at 5:37 AM the Schmidt and Bovee families proudly welcomed Owen William Bovee!!
Mr. Owen weighed in at 6 lbs. 4 oz and 18.5 inches in length.  All family members are doing well and we can't wait to meet the newest member of our family!

Congratulations Betsy, BJ, and big brother Theo!!