The Schmidt Family

Basketball and Birthdays

2012-01-31T09:35:00.002-06:00

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

2012-01-23T09:40:00.003-06:00

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

2012-01-03T10:42:00.003-06:00

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

2012-01-03T10:24:00.005-06:00

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.......

and in the middle of the Christmas Chaos

2011-12-23T10:00:00.002-06:00

And in the middle of it all Tim has a birthday. My hubs is now the ripe old age of 34.

We celebrated with a reindeer cake - since he didn't shoot a buck, this might be close enough. The green frosting was not my best idea ever but it's the holidays, so at least we had a festive color going on fingers/hands/mouths/lips/teeth.

Happy Birthday baby!

and the Christmas Chaos begins....

2011-12-19T09:55:00.004-06:00

This weekend began the craziness of Christmas Exchanges, parties, and December birthdays.

Our first event (and of course out of order photos - thanks blogger!). We had our annual exchange with the Slenker family.

Abby has received her first BB gun - not sure if it's really more for Tim to kill rabbits in the garden or for Abby, but she was pretty happy to see it.

Megan received a Tinkerbell hair set and we are all the more beautiful now because of it.

And here are the presents before they tore into them.

The next morning we packed up the truck and headed to Carrollton, IL for the Schmidt Family Christmas gathering. It's entirely too much food for the whole day, but I don't think it stopped anyone from eating because it was so good! We did have a special visit from Santa though.....

And by some miracle Megan actually sat in Santa's lap - what you don't see is me taking her up there and talking with Santa to coax her into it. It helps that each child got a present too from Santa. And Megan stuck with the same request - "I want a football."

Then it was on to the little kid gift exchange - Abby and Megan are waiting patiently for the green light to open their presents. We now have a couple more Barbies to add to our mix, they were very excited.

Here's the post opening photo of the little kids. Most of them have run to their parents to get their presents out of the boxes so they could play with them right then.

Sunday we spent the day in Collinsville, IL for our nephew Theo's 2nd Birthday. The theme was Fire trucks/Firemen.

An out of order photo - Abby with Santa in Carrollton. Also a miracle that she is sitting in Santa's lap, she watched a couple kids get some presents ahead of her so I think that was her motivation.

Theo and Tim's birthday's were celebrated on Sunday.

After presents Betsy and BJ had set up for the party to go to the Collinsville Fire House for the kids to check out the trucks.

Abby and Megan enjoyed all of it.

Here's all the kids, Theo had a new fire truck he carried around the whole time.

Our birthday boy!

So that rounds up the festivities for this weekend. We still have a couple things left to wrap to finish our Christmas preparations and it should be smooth sailing next weekend. The girls are very excited to meet their cousin "Baby Kitty".

And maybe you'll see a Christmas card from us.......still waiting on the photos.

Cookies and Santa

2011-12-13T09:34:00.004-06:00

This past weekend was the completion of the "Christmas preparations" which concluded all decorating and baking projects. It wouldn't be Christmas without Great Grandma Papke's molasses cookies. I've got my handy decorators helping out as usual.

You would think that the cookie trays would have been a good idea to keep the sprinkles from getting on the table.......

I believe there was some taste testing going on as well - Megan's mouth is a little too red.

Sampling after we were done.

All thumbs up from the Schmidt girls. As Abby said "these are the best cookies" and I can't argue with that.

After the cookie decorating (and outfit changes as the girls thought they needed to pick out their own clothes) we headed to Bass Pro for our annual meeting with Santa. Many of you will be disappointed that the girls actually liked Santa this year. It was a little sketchy while waiting in line, Megan needed a little coaxing and wouldn't take off her coat like she was ready to bolt. Abby went straight to the reindeer (last year's spot) and Santa asked her a few questions and got her interested in talking which in turn eased Megan into it. So there is a photo without crying and Megan asked for a football and Abby a dolly.

Some outdoor posing with Santa's sled.

And ending the night with a little adorableness. Ahhh, I love Christmas, and it was the most pleasant Santa visit we have ever had. It was a good night.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-05T15:04:00.003-06:00

This past weekend commenced the beginning of dragging all the Christmas decorations upstairs - can you tell how excited I was, since I'm the one who has to do the dragging.
It is one of my favorite times of the year though and the fact that my kids love it just as much makes it all the better.

A new addition to our decorating this year was for the girls to have their own tree in their room to decorate with their ornaments. Really we have too many ornaments for our other tree and this was an idea to make more room - and give them something fun to do.

So I purchased the tree after last Christmas - and I know it's a little Charlie Brown looking - but once it was dressed it looked great. We headed to Home Depot to buy the lights, tree topper, garland, and tree skirt. The girls picked out everything on their own - and everything I saved for getting a tree on clearance last year was wiped out - but they love it.

They each put on their own ornaments - Abby even shared since she has about twice as many as Megan.

And then the finishing touches - which includes rearranging the ornaments everyday and clustering random things under the tree for "decorations", like stuff animals, a pretend curling iron and hair dryer, you know, "decorations".

Ahhhh Christmas, got to love it.

The Tooth Fairy Has Arrived!

2011-11-29T09:23:00.003-06:00

This past weekend on Saturday morning Abby lost her first tooth. She had 2 that have been "wiggling" since her birthday and one was finally loose enough to pop out. Actually Tim said he was going to see how loose it was and just pulled it out. As Abby says - "My Daddy tricked me." Megan's response to all things teeth over the weekend "Not my teeth".

The first tooth.

This is the pillow that the tooth went in that night (present from Aunt C and Uncle T).

And just to make things a little more complicated Tim decided to use up all his tomatoes that finally ripened and make salsa and can it. He chose Jalepeno Salsa out of my canning book. I think my house and hands still smell like jalepenos/onions/garlic.

The final product - I was feeling a little proud of myself with my canning skills. Tim tried some and said it was pretty spicy so I can only imagine how it will taste after it sits for a while.

And the photo of the missing tooth. Sunday night the other bottom tooth came out so the Tooth Fairy came Sunday night also to our house. Abby put the pillow back up on her shelf so I'm guessing no other plans to lose any more teeth soon.

So pretty eventful weekend at the Schmidt house. Thanksgiving was at the Bovee house in Collinsville which was a good time - both food and family! Now it's all about Christmas preparations - decorating, cooking, and shopping.

Abby's 5th Birthday

2011-11-15T10:17:00.003-06:00

Yesterday my first born turned 5. Where has all the time gone? I think Tim and I are still truly shocked that we are parents sometimes, but now to have a 5 year old, it amazes us.

The cake for the daycare party, it was good, all 2 times we we ate it yesterday.

Some of the girls from daycare getting ready for the party.

She had another party with some friends at Bonker's that night as well. What better way to come off the sugar high than to run around for 2 hours? I thought it was a good plan at least.

Celebrating with the Schmidt family at the hotel from the wedding this past weekend - and yes, those are our rainbow cupcakes we made and they were delicious! Grandpa Schmidt is threatening to tickle her.

Abby at 5:

Loves to spell names/words and color (inside the lines)
Helped plant/harvest our garden with her Dad this year - was proud of every piece she picked
favorite song: Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
Hoping to kill a deer this season
Can't wait for Kindergarten, got her shots and thought she could start the next day
Loves to ride her bike
Loves her neighbors
Is helping Megan finish up potty training and will read her the potty books
Started jumping off the back of the boat and going under water this year at the lake/pool
Has two loose teeth on the bottom
Still takes a nap at times or has quiet time
Loves to help cook/mix things
Loves her sister
Wants to go back to Okoboji with her cousins, talks about that a lot.
Counts to 39 - then skips to 100
Knows all her letters and numbers/address/phone number

There are many more things to add to the list but we'll just leave it at that.

Happy Birthday Abby - we love you!!

It's Halloween

2011-10-31T12:44:00.005-05:00

I've had some photos lingering on my camera for a while so I thought I would post some today. First I want to thank Blogger for not loading them in the correct order....and I finally gave up. So there are a few out of order but you'll figure it out.

Abby had her Preschool Halloween party today that I was able to attend. I happened to find a cute Pooh Bear on the way (not so cute in the photo) that came with me.

Snow White and her goodie bag.

Winnie The Pooh (at a happier time).

Then we have a shout out to the Davenport family as they welcomed Ella Cate on Friday. As usual the girls fought over holding her and taking turns but it's only because they love babies so much. Good luck to their cousin Kitty when they see her at Christmas - she is going to be overly loved the whole time.

And we love each other again......

These were our rally towels from Game 6 (yep, Tim and I were there.....jealous, I thought so). It was an amazing game to be at and the fact the Cardinals fought back several times to win it was crazy. The atmosphere at the stadium was unbelievable. I'm not a big fan of night games on school nights, that go extra innings....but I'm glad I was there.

Sunday was pumpkin carving day - you can see the girls hard at work...which lasted about 2 minutes for Abby. Megan kept more at it. But first our sad pumpkin story - some kids stole one of our pumpkins over the weekend before we carved them thankfully. We were actually at home when they did it, and Tim thinks he saw them drive away. So we had to go get a new one Sunday after church. Abby was a little mad that people took our pumpkin. I guess it was a good one that I had bought them so big they could only carry one at a time.

Our finished product - Tinkerbell

And Micky Mouse.
I'd like to think that Tim and are are getting pretty good at this pumpkin carving process. Or at least it seemed a lot quicker and easier this year.

So tonight is the big candy gathering and excitement of it all. I can only wait to enjoy the sugar-high of a 2 and 4 year old...for the next month.

A weekend in Branson

2011-10-17T10:44:00.004-05:00

Yes I have been absent from the blogging world for a week, but it was for good reasons....survival! Tim has been gone for the last 2 weeks for work and I have been getting all sorts of quality time with the girls. The reason there was no post from last weekend is that there might have been too much quality time and Mommy needed a nap!

So with all the quality time we discovered new things to do in Columbia to take up the evening hours and make bed time come sooner. Introducing the Public Library!

I have been meaning to take the kids for a while and just honestly have slacked on it. So we've been going on Monday's after work for an hour or so. Abby has a challenge to read 25 books a month for preschool to win a personal pizza so this has helped fuel our reading numbers. They also have computer games (pictured above) and handy bigger keyboards. We rented our first videos last week as well. There are always new discoveries when we go, even a book about the public library for kids to explain everything.

So back to the Tim being gone for 2 weeks......he finally returned this Friday night - not exactly to our house though. We spent the weekend at the Chateau on the Lake in Branson, MO. We had never stayed there, it looked pretty and has an indoor pool and playground for the kids - so that is a win win in their book. The girls and I drove down Friday afternoon and Tim drove from Memphis (as it was shorter than to Columbia) and got mauled by the girls for the next hour after he showed up. To say he was missed was an understatement. The hotel was very nice, the Sweet Shoppe was unfortunately very good and we visited them every evening. Abby even asked how late they were open (on her own) to make sure we would have time after swimming.

Here is the outdoor playground - and yes it's a gravity conveyor. As someone who works in a distribution center I found it to be entertaining. It was also the kids favorite slide.

More sliding before we hit the pool.

We did a little shopping after we checked out - and the kids could not resist the bull. Our reason for shopping was to get Megan some big girl panties! Yes she has almost conquered potty training and to celebrate (or motivate) the final stage we let her pick out some panties. She is doing great and we're excited to be out of the diapers/pull ups for good.

This was some Chicken/Steak house off of the main road that the kids were very excited about. They also have cows on the roof and in the restaurant. So we decided to join the tourists and eat there. You can see we are under the chicken - and much to Abby's disappointment, it did not lay an egg.

We missed the 100th Homecoming at Mizzou though this weekend with being out of town. We're not too sad that we missed the chaos. Thankfully both the Tigers and the Hawkeyes won this weekend. So all is well in the world of college football.

Applesauce & A Few Other Pics

2011-10-03T10:41:00.005-05:00

October is here!! There are so many things I love about this month. The cooler weather, changing colors, burning leaves smell.....I could go on and on. However this first weekend of October was dedicated mostly to APPLES. Last week I bragged on our trip to the apple orchard - well this weekend we needed to do something with all those apples, and did we!

Yep - it's just a pie, and not as pretty as the one I made last week but still tastes so good! It's a mix a Mutsu and Jonagold apples and Abby's comment was "Best Pie Ever!" - which made my heart melt as she is a picky eater.

Here is a wonderful picture of me canning applesauce. One other thing about October is it's Breast Cancer Awareness month - so I'm sporting my pink shirt in support! Tim managed to snap this picture.

Here's my first helper of the afternoon. Megan could rock the foley mill! She was all about it, and as long as you held the bowl in place she did just fine. Although her enthusiasm would come and go to help, she had fun.

We moved the operations outside as we needed more burners for keeping the applesauce warm and canning. This year we used the turkey fryer to cook our stock pot and canning pot on (don't worry I didn't actually use the turkey fryer pot - I don't like my applesauce with a hint of turkey). It was a pretty good idea and helped with the process - plus with the size of the canning pot my stove didn't handle it that well last year. Next year we'll see if we can borrow the neighbors to help the process. Abby's taking a crank at the applesauce - her help was limited this year.

Random photo - this was Abby's first birthday party from someone not in daycare. So that meant no invite for the Meggers (insert drama and fit here). Thankfully Megan went down for a nap and we sneaked out of the house. She wasn't that happy about it - but got to go fishing as a compromise.

The finished product of all of our labors (about 5 hours worth) - 11 quarts and 12 pints - last year we only made 6 quarts so you can imagine how many more apples we had this year! Even with all the sampling :). We have a small sample in the fridge for dinner as well. If I can keep the kids/Tim out if it until then.

We had to check in on the Slenker's on Friday night - the kids can't share a toy but they can all share a chair!!

This past week I was in Las Vegas for a conference and just wanted to share a few photos. Conveniently the conference ended at 4 PM each day so I got plenty of time to walk around. I always love the Conservatory at the Bellagio with their natural garden sculptures.

In honor of October/Fall - there was some blurb about the amount of carnations in that pumpkin on the right but I don't remember the exact number - it was A LOT!

Then of course the fountains. I was actually leaving the hotel so this is from the back of the fountains - a different view, but still amazing.

And last but not least - another Abby dove hunting photo. Yes she is actually holding the doves! I was pretty surprised to get this photo from Tim as you wouldn't really see me holding dead birds but Abby was all about it and I got a detailed version of the whole process and how she wasn't scared and you hold them from the legs or the wing because Daddy shot the head......I'll let you imagine the rest. Tim was thrilled though and Abby can't wait for deer season.

I'm definitely glad to be back home from my trip. With the time change, delayed flights/diversions it made it seem a lot longer than it really was. Home Sweet Home.

Baseball and Apples

2011-09-26T21:22:00.005-05:00

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

2011-09-20T10:02:00.002-05:00

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"

2011-09-12T09:15:00.003-05:00

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!

2011-09-06T10:54:00.003-05:00

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!

Just for Laughs

2011-08-31T10:11:00.002-05:00

I know I am by far a perfect parent, who really is anyway. We all just try to get by the best we can with as few time outs and melt downs as possible.

I had some quality time with the girls the last couple of days as the hubs was out of town. Apparently there are some Twinkle Toe shoes that are Mcd's kid toys currently - so we HAD to go get them so the girls could put them on their backpacks. Megan has not been eating her chicken nuggets lately (I know it's a shocker to most of you that have seen this kid eat). So Abby and I had finished our dinners and Megs could not have her toy until everything was gone. I continued the multitasking that is a mother's perk (aka laundry). Abby and I had a conversation that went like this:

Me: Abby, can you please tell Megan to finish her chicken mcnuggets so she can have her toy?
Abby: Sure (skips down the hall)
1 minute later....
Abby: EAT YOUR NUGGETS!!!!
Megan starts to cry......however all but 1/2 a nugget were eaten. Possibly out of fear or the Abby pep talk.

Later that night:
Abby: Mom - you are a good mom.
Me: Thank you Abby, I love you too.
Abby: But only with 2 kids.

And that is how we ended the night. Apparently I have my hands full with all that I can handle.

Chicago Trip

2011-08-22T09:45:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I took a vacation day and made the lengthy drive to Chicago for my friend Jessie's bachelorette weekend. The reason I drove was to pick up my friend Leann in St. Louis who had flown in from Canada. Then also to carpool with Wendy and Gayle. With traffic and construction we managed to make it from St. Louis to Chicago on Friday in 6 hours, which overall isn't that bad. Plus having 4 ladies in the truck made the time go by quickly with good conversation.

Here is our bacholorette Jessie with Allison - who was also attending her first bachelorette party. She spent the day with my brother Tony and his wife Colleen and had a great time too!

The bachelorette on the prowl! We did take the bear claw with us during the day. I was one of the few trusted Cub fans to keep an eye on it around all of the Cardinals fans.

We've finally made it to Wrigley Field - it was good to see it again!

Jessie with The Bull. There was this whole running of the bull bar crawl thing going on. You can see random "runners" in the background, the Medic, and there were also Flaminco dancers and matadors. Then random Roller Derby girls - Bernie's was a happening place to be!

Here is our GBS photo from the day. This group of girls have been friends since 1995 when we were all at UMR and we still remain close friends and get together a couple of times a year, even with the distance we all live apart. These ladies are the best!

Couldn't help but put a photo in of the newest Papke animal. This is Finn - and he is ADORABLE! Tony and Colleen rescued him from a shelter in IN. He is so mild mannered and lovable! One of the perks of having the bachelorette party in Chicago was that I got to visit with them on Friday and Saturday. This dog is such a conversational piece. Everywhere they walk him he gets mauled by people who want to pet him. He's going to be quite the social butterfly. He was also wonderful with Allison which added to the great time she had with them during the festivities. He reminds me a lot of our dog Buddy, but that is a good thing to see that in Finn.

Just a photo of Jessie opening some girlie presents at the brunch at Meagan's house.

It was a great weekend of friends and family, and a whole lot of walking! We'd all be healthier people if we lived in Chicago and had good public transportation to utilize. That's my theory at least. We hit the road by 7:30 on Sunday and I was back in Columbia by 3 pm. Conveniently Tim and the girls did not get back home until about 7:45 and I got a very nice (and needed) nap in.

First Day of School

2011-08-17T10:21:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day of school again for Abby. She is now a 4 year old at the T-Bird Preschool in Auxvasse. They have both 3 and 4 year olds, so this year she is one of the older kids. We of course got new outfits for the first day, Megan picked out a dress too - and her disappointment that she was not going to preschool would have made you cry/laugh depending on how your morning was going.

Here we are all ready for our pink pancake breakfast.

Abby at the preschool room ready to go in. As you can see Megan had to come as well. We ended up walking from our babysitters to try to make things easier on Megs. Abby had no problems leaving us. Megan needed some extra hugs from Abby as I think she was sad to see her best friend leave her - even if it is only for 3 hours. So Megan and I walked back to Taunia's and Taunia got her mind off of things with talks of food - that's our Meggers.

Also big news is that Megan is in the process of potty training! It seems to be going well - here she is posing with her big girl panties on. She is doing very well so we'll see how soon we will be diaper free. When there is a post with us having a new fish you'll know.

Couldn't resist the potty photo - we put one in the living room so she can sit and watch TV while she tries to potty. It's already been removed though as she is all about the big potty and just uses the little one for a step.

Another morning photo on the first day of school - not going to quite make it there on the 4-wheeler but still some morning fun.

Odds and Ends

2011-08-15T09:54:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was semi-relaxing. We went out on the boat on Saturday with Taunia, John, and Carmen and had a great time. The wind could have been a little less to keep the lake a little calmer but we still enjoyed some tubing and skiing. It is hard to keep the girls out of the tube now - and Abby likes to go faster now, Megan - not so fast.

We were also recovering from being on vacation so all the laundry, cleaning, and napping had to be caught up on. I did manage to finish a project that has been lingering for a while. My sister-in-law Colleen took some really great photos of the Powers farm almost a year ago. I had gotten some prints made and finally have them all up on the wall. I had some difficulties finding frames and I'm not sure I'm that happy with the 5x7 frames but I went with it.

So since I was putting some pictures up.....Abby felt the need to put some pictures up of hers as well.

She added her Coco Keys photo (and as always reminds me that Ashley has one too), a photo of Leann and I from a GBS formal that she likes to tote around, and her T-ball pictures.

Then this is a photo of her dinosaur fossil she made. Had to get a picture of that too.

Last but not least it's Megan with her fish. Tim was wanting to go fishing on Sunday (must not have given him enough things to do to stay busy!). Abby had no desire to go since I wasn't going due to some allergy issues - plus I was making deer jerky. Megan had been talking about fishing since Saturday. Tim said they caught about 12-15 fish, the one in the photo being one of the biggest. The fact that she is actually holding the fish is the big step. Last time we went fishing she just wanted to reel in the line then would run away from the fish. This time she was holding the line and handing Tim worms. Tim was very proud to say the least, and is ready for more fishing.

T-Ball Photos

2011-08-09T14:31:00.003-05:00

T-ball has been over for a while but we just got our team photos so I thought I would share. I was hoping for a pose with Abby on one knee - but they had the girls sit like this and of course Abby loved the pink bat so it had to be in her photo.

Now the team photo - I believe we were minus 1 player but this is the whole team. Most Abby knew from preschool so they had a pretty good time. By the last game we could definitely see an improvement in Abby in her fielding. Coach Matt did a great job and Abby is ready to play again.

Thankfully Abby's team had their pictures first - it was chaos after that. I was so happy to be done.

Okoboji Vacation

2011-08-08T09:50:00.005-05:00

This past week the Powers family reunited in Okoboji, IA at The Inn. It has been a vacation spot for many years from when my grandparents and their relatives brought their kids down to my family going in the summers as well. Our last family reunion there was in 2004 - and as everyone noticed when we arrived....the place hasn't changed a bit!

This was the "Hub" of the family gatherings. Conveniently it is outside Tim and my room - good ole 304. We had a picnic table and a grassy area behind it great for all the camping chairs, washers, and kids running. Thankfully it was in the shade as well! What you are seeing is KFC night.

Most of the girl mini-cousins (L-R) - MacKenzie, Nora, Caroline, Abby, & Megan.

Saturday morning was the annual Powers Golf outing - conveniently at the Par 3 Course at The Inn. We had I think 6 threesomes golfing. Pictured is Christine, Brett, and Tim.

My extra "help" for golf. I rented a cart (worth every bit of the $8.95!!) so that I could take the kids with me. The younger kids stayed at the playground. They were very well behaved and we enjoyed "zooming" around the golf course.

Uncle Dan looking for his ball in the marsh....or is that the fairway?

Kate showing us how much she enjoyed golfing. From what I understand her better game was the day before with our round with Jessica and me.

Cousin photos again - hanging out in pajamas before bed.

Swinging after a rough round of golf.

Giving our hugs goodbye...Abby already wants to go to DC to visit the Green family - or go back to Okoboji if they will be there, whichever can come first. She recommended next weekend.

Even after the cousins left. We can still have fun squirting Uncle Pat with the squirt guns.

Family photo after the golf awards. However we are missing Erinn and Nora!! I have no idea how they did not get in the photo. Thanks to Kyle, our photographer for the weekend.

And since Blogger always seems to put one photo out of order here is my Uncle Jim and Aunt Beth and my Mom finishing up the 8th hole of the golf outing.

We had a really great time in Okoboji. The week went by so fast and I we didn't even make it to Arnold's Park! Maybe next time..... Between boating, golfing, swimming, lots of eating, and just hanging out with the family and stories, the time was up before we knew it. We missed our family that wasn't there though, so hopefully for the next gathering they will be able to make it. So look out 2013 for the next Powers family gathering!

Boone County Fair and Landen's Birthday

2011-08-01T09:00:00.004-05:00

This weekend our buddy Landen turned 4 so we stayed in town to catch up on just being at home. There is always plenty to do, we're just usually not around to do it :)-

Friday night we decided to go out to the Boone County Fair. It had been going on all week but due to the heat we had been avoiding it - which most of the the area was as well. Friday was only in the 90s, so why not!

This year we invested in the "Carnival Pass" for the girls - unlimited rides....it was a good investment.

We started off on the carousel - sometime simple to get warmed up. Then these dogs, which Abby was mad because the button did not make the dogs go up, it was broken.

I thought this boat just went back and forth - but no - it goes sideways and in circles. I wasn't sure if Megan was going to like it or not but she did and rode it a couple more times.

Riding the Lovebugs - these did go up and down.

Riding on the swings. NOTE - height requirements listed for rides are more of a recommendation apparently. You are supposed to be 42 inches to ride this - Megan is more like 38 inches. However everything that Abby got in line for, Megan was right behind her. So we thought - we'll see if they let her in....and they did....on everything! She rode the Tilt-a-Whirl (Tim about lost his dinner on that one), The Tornado (I think I had cold sweats after that), the Bumper Cars - Tim and I got to ride with one girl. We did just about everything other than some cage deal that went in circles.

They also had some exotic animals there - this is actually a Liger (Lion father, Tiger mother) something about breeding the two eliminates a growth inhibitor?? That's what the lady told us at least. These 2 year olds were HUGE - 650 lbs. and they should be close to 1000 within the year. They are the biggest cats we have seen.

Here's a smaller version - we waited in line to go into the cage and then Abby said she didn't want to.

But she did feel the need to go on a pony ride. This is Abby on "Sassy". Since her Big Cedar pony ride she is fearless. Megan still wanted nothing to do with ponies.

This is a Caterpillar mini roller coaster. First time - Megan didn't want to go, Tim had to go with Abby. Second time Abby and Megan rode together and I sat in front of them. 3rd, 4th, and 5th time - Abby rode by herself.

Later that evening they had pig races - last year they had little numbers and there were probably 10 times the amount of people. It wasn't that exciting, but the kids enjoyed it.

What you are missing here in the photo are the goats. They did a goat race after the pig race and I was set to take a picture when they opened the gates. One minor detail....the goats forgot to run. So just imagine about 5 goats running by - about 3 seconds after I took my photo. The red flag holder is Abby - she was the cheerleader for the red pig and red goat - whichever ones they were.

Saturday was our friend's son's birthday. Landen is now 4 and as you can see has a little flare for being a super hero - which of course he does well. After I took the picture and called him Captain America - he took off his helmet and said "Ann, it's just me." It was cute.

And Superman cupcakes for the birthday boy.
We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing. Thankfully the rain stopped and cleared up just in time for the birthday. Timing was perfect.

Sunday was spent prepping for Okoboji. The boat is now clean(er) and we have started packing so that we'll be ready to go.

Tim and I did learn this weekend that we are too old for carnival rides in hot weather. We think next time we'll bring a babysitter to go on rides with the kids while we watch :).

It's Another Papke!

2011-07-22T08:11:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to my brother Andrew and his wife Rebekah on the birth of their daughter; Kathryn "Kitty" Louise Papke. She joined us yesterday weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 19-3/4 inches.

This is the only photo I have now but will update with a couple more when Andrew sends them out. Abby was trying to Skype and book a plane ticket last night to go see them. She kept saying "Mom, the computer is calling." To say they are excited is an understatement. Both Rebekah and Kitty are doing well - haven't got an update on how Andrew survived, but I'm sure that is a story in the making.

Congratulations TX Papke family! We are so happy for you!

Realistic Advice to Teenage Girls

2011-07-21T16:08:00.002-05:00

A high school friend of mine recommended reading this from Backwoods Mom's blog, I found it quite entertaining - and as a mother of 2 girls who will someday be teenagers (thankfully not any time soon) it never hurts to pass on some wisdom. Here is her advice:

Because naive parenting leads to unprepared teenagers...

Nobody really looks like that. Stop trying to achieve the impossible.

That eighty dollar pair of jeans looks exactly the same as that thirty dollar pair of jeans.

Lower back tattoos are called a “Tramp Stamp” for a reason.

In ten years you will be nothing like the person you are today. I know you don't believe me. But please try not to embarrass the future you.

Having a baby as a teenager is fun for about six minutes. And then all your friends get tired of holding the baby and slowly drift away, back to their silly, teenager lives. Yours is over.

Learn how to swing a hammer, change your oil and flip a breaker.

It does not hurt him when you say, “NO”. He will not explode and die like he may try to convince you.

Do not text pictures of your body to teenage boys. I can’t even begin to explain how this cheapens you.

Makeup should be worn so that it looks like it’s not being worn.

You will remember your first time your entire life. Make sure he’s worth remembering.

Do not post Facebook pictures of yourself scantily dressed in your bathroom mirror. Everyone hates it.

If you must, a two drink limit keeps things in perspective.

Learn to cook.

You do not have to be tomorrow, who you were yesterday.

If you have to look in the mirror more than twice a day, you are spending too much time on your looks.

There is a fine line between sexy and sleazy. If you don’t know what the line is, you are probably sleazy.

Relying on your looks will only last until the first pregnancy. Plan for college.

Showing your cleavage is not what attracts him. He knows what’s in there and his imagination is even more generous than your proportions. Cover yourself a bit…and give him something to think about.

Wear comfortable shoes.

Nobody noticed that zit until you pinched the crap out of it. Smile, they will only notice your gleam.

Sometimes lust feels like love. Identify the difference as soon as possible and you will have fewer regrets.

If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to know you are doing it, don’t do it.

Jeans and a t-shirt always wins.

Playing stupid only makes you look stupid.

He is not going to change. No, he’s not. Stop arguing. You can’t fix him.

Peer pressure is no excuse for stupidity.

If he says the words, “But, if you loved me you would…” run the other direction. Don’t walk, run.

**There were a few that made me laugh, some are just plain true. Thankfully for now, I'll stick with the drama of sharing Barbies and who hit who last.

If only weekends were longer.....

2011-07-18T09:08:00.003-05:00

This weekend, instead of being at the Lake of the Ozarks we were at Mark Twain Lake with our boat. we organized a gathering with the Pollard's, Jeremy, and the Love family to meet out at the lake. Since the Pollard's live in Burlington, IA it's not exactly in the middle but close enough. As the day was going to be ridiculously hot we decided to be on the water by 10 and off by 3 or so. The Pollards left by 3:30 but we stayed until about 5. Most of the day was in the water because it was just too hot. We found a great cove spot, had a good lunch, and did some skiing/kneeboarding/tubing to end the day.

Here are Abby and Megan being forced to drink some juice boxes before they can get back in the water. Abby is getting braver and braver with jumping off the back of the boat. She is up to the top step on the ladder. Maybe next week she'll finally jump off the swim platform!

This is actually Megan and Abby on our tube. They are in the middle of course and we are maybe going 5 mph tops. They were loving it and didn't want to get off, but Megan was starting to fall asleep so it was time to pull them off. This is the first time they have rode it together - and asked to do it!! I see a lot more tubing in our future with the girls. When Abby got off the first thing she said was that she wanted to go tubing with her friend Ashley and go "medium" speed.

(out of order photos for some reason) - I actually won a radio call in for a free dozen of roses. The girls picked them out for me. Bet you thought Tim got them for me.........nope.

Suellen, Tim, and Justin relaxing on their boat.

We had a great day on the water. It still amazes me how much the girls are enjoying the boat and swimming in the lake and how adapted they are to it all. I know I was not lake friendly at all when I was 4.

Weekend with Grandma Papke

2011-07-11T10:50:00.002-05:00

This past week Grandma Papke came down to Columbia to spend time with the girls while the men were fishing up in WI and to also help while I took my CPP re-certification exam (which I passed - yeah!). She came down on Tuesday evening and got plenty of Barbie, princess, and animated movie time with the girls. If she has to watch Shrek Forever After again I think it will be too soon. Thanks to her help I completed my test on time by Friday and in celebration we headed to the mall for some pedicures....

The girls both got their nails painted - "tops and bottoms" as Abby likes to say. This was Megan's first time getting her nails done.

As you can see - she is a pro - however all the cute nail polish on her hands was peeled off before the afternoon was over. I think she has maybe 1 or 2 nails still there if that.

Being silly and drying things off even more.

What trip to the mall would be complete without a ride on the carousel? Grandma got to ride along with the girls. She left on Saturday morning though and everyone was sad to see her go. There have been many questions on when her and Grandpa will be coming back and when will we be going to their house to play with their Barbies.....

A little belated shout out to my sister-in-law Colleen whom celebrated her birthday yesterday.

Also a belated congrats to Carrie Miller (yes I know your last name is Sims - but it doesn't roll off the tongue as well) - who welcomed her baby boy - William Vincent Sims this past week.

Also a Happy 2nd Anniversary to my brother Andrew and his wife Rebekah - how time flies.

4th of July

2011-07-05T10:08:00.003-05:00

We hope everyone had a great 4th of July - because we certainly did! We headed down to the Cowan Lake house on Friday evening - surprisingly with no traffic issues so that was a miracle to start with. We started off with a BBQ - and just relaxed and unpacked. Saturday morning we hit the lake early for some tubing and skiing before the lake got really choppy - which happened relatively quickly due to the GREAT weather we had all weekend. So after about an hour on the lake we headed back and just hung out at the cove and on the dock. Lots of sun - even Jenn and Tim mentioned that I even look tan - which never happens - I just burn randomly. Saturday evening we went to the Slenker house for their annual fish fry. Catfish, crappie, walleye - it was all there for the taking along with some excellent sides! Since the kids had been out playing all day it involved some crashing early - so we had to leave only after a couple of hours. Megan had "lake ass" as we like to describe it and wasn't feeling so great. Then due to the fried fish/deviled eggs/beer/etc. the men had some room clearing aromas of their own - thankfully the ladies went to the outlet mall to return a few things and missed out on that.

Sunday morning was about the same - we got out on the boat early to ski - only to be surrounded by more idiots on the water not paying attention to what they were doing. When it was all said and done and we headed back to the house - as Dave said - it was like playing Frogger. We did a little swimming then headed to the Resnik house to cove it out for a while - one word for you there - Margaritas!!! A storm threatened - but all that did was clear off most of the lake so we had a smoother ride home. Dave made a fabulous pork loin, Megan ate all of my corn on the cob - which if you know me, I love corn on the cob so sharing was rough - thankfully there were extras. We took the boat out to watch fireworks at Captain Ron's only to get rained on but still saw the show then the rain stopped and the Cowan Fireworks Festivities began. Of course we have front row seats - they are more like directly under the fireworks so you are looking straight up. Megan wanted to go to bed halfway through but Abby made it to the end.

Monday we all hit the road early but got a few pictures of the girls in the 4th outfits.

Ashley, Megan, and Abby

Hugging it out for the camera.

1st attempt with Allison in a picture.

2nd attempt with Allison in a picture - she just wasn't a happy camper that afternoon, it was time for a nap.

Abby and Ashley - best buds photo.

We loaded up the boat and the kids and headed back to Columbia - only to get to clean the boat - it was due for a wash. Tim is fishing with the Papke men in WI this week so if there are any big fish photos - I'll let you know. It will be hard to live up to last year's catches. Grandma Papke will be heading down to Columbia for the week to spend some time with the girls. They couldn't be more excited that there are 0 more sleeps until she is here.

Happy 4th to all!

GBS Girls Weekend

2011-06-27T10:25:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was our annual "GBS Girls Weekend" down at the Lake of the Ozarks. We had our usual crowd, minus Leann unfortunately - Saskatoon was a little far to go for a weekend trip.

We all arrived Thursday evening and ate at Tres Hombres (oddly enough my request for Mexican if you can believe that! They have the best Queso dip!) Then we went back to the Cowan house to unload our gear, have some more beverages and catch up. Friday morning - fishing was attempted by Greg and Tim only to get rained on. Thankfully the storm passed quickly and we took both our boat and Dave's (or Ashley's boat as the kids say) to Scott's house for the day. The lake was empty so we got to use our boat to tube and ski without any issues. The afternoon was spent at Scott's chilling at the dock, enjoying margaritas, BBQ & friends.
Friday night we had babysitters and the adults got to go to the Trail House for dinner and then Hollywood Dolly's for a revisit of New Years a couple years ago.

Saturday was a cove day - the morning was rained out for any skiing/tubing but we were going to go out at noon one way or another. After a trip back for the anchor - we made it to a new cove suggested by our friends for an afternoon of more beverages and friends and good times. The sun even managed to peak out at us in the afternoon to make it just a little bit warmer.

Sunday (of course the warmest day of the weekend) we had breakfast at Captain Ron's and then the group had to depart for the drives/flights. Since we don't have that long of a drive we got to enjoy some time at the swim dock at the Cowan's house with the Taris family plus Jess/Rob. The sun was out and the water felt very good. Megan even went down the slide multiple times and there were some wave runner rides for the kids to enjoy.

On our trip back to Columbia Tim decided we should eat at Shakespears (and who am I to argue with that?) so we hooked up with the Slenker family for pizza and then ice cream at Shaky's - which is where the photo of the girls comes in to play as they always like to get their picture with the bulldog. It was a nice ending to a great weekend.

Now we just need to catch up on all the laundry, sleep, cleaning, and detoxing from all the food and drinks.

Happy Birthday to my Mom who turned another year older on Saturday. They spent the weekend in Chicago with my two brothers and their wives for some Chi-town fun. However from what I hear Mr. Trump needs to work on the service level at his Tower......better hop to it Donald.

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-20T10:47:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Father's Day and showered the much deserving Dad's with love and maybe a couple gifts. We spent Father's Day on Mark Twain Lake with Tim's family and had a great time. Didn't get any pictures though - you'll have to ask Pam or Betsy for some photos of the tubing or Theo (pretending) to drive the boat. This was his first time on the boat - he's more of a captain than anything else. The water was a little cold in the cove we swam in - which we figured out last night after wards that it was close to a spring fed area so that's why it was colder. The water was actually warmer in the main channel. After the boating we had a family meal at the Rustic Cabin then headed back to Columbia.

So these photos are from Saturday. Since it was Father's Day weekend - why not do a project with Mom :)

Home Depot was having their monthly Kid's workshop - which we have yet to participate in due to our crazy schedules. So I packed up the kids and headed to Home Depot so we could make our tool boxes. The girls are all outfitted with their "tools" and kits for the tool boxes. I do have to say they are ridiculously cute - I could be biased.

We are almost done with the constructing. I'm trying to help both with the hammering - but still let them do it.

That's where our trusty Home Depot associate Blake comes in to assist so we can get both girls hammering.

Last step is the Ryobi stickers that came with the kit.

Finished - and proud of our work. They also cleaned up their work stations too if you noticed.

The girls also got certificates of completion which they proudly showed their Dad when they got home.

And since we are girls we had to paint our toolboxes.

Saturday afternoon we had a birthday party for the girls, dinner with friends, and then some serious crashing. Sunday was much the same, but well worth it for time with the family on the boat.

Big Cedar Weekend

2011-06-15T07:20:00.003-05:00

This past weekend the Schmidt and Cowan families headed down to Ridgedale, MO and Table Rock Lake for a weekend of fun at Big Cedar. We brought our boat down too so there could be some fishing and boating as well. We made it down to Rogersville Thursday evening and spent the night at the Cowan house and then headed out early Friday morning to enjoy the resort.
We did our owner's update while Jenn bravely stayed with the kids in the Kid's room, ate lunch at Devil's Pool, finally got the boat in the water and in the slip (had some technical issues with all the high water and finding a boat ramp that was deep enough), went swimming at the pools, and then took a sunset boat ride. It was a VERY busy day.

Saturday morning Tim and Dave went fishing - so of course we had all the kids and went and played at the park for a while, then decided to attempt to take them to the stables to do a pony ride. Ashley had been very excited about it.

First we had to pick out our Cowgirl Barrel Racer outfits that were part of the package.

Here is Ashley on "Chester". She was all smiles and very excited about the trip.

Megan is watching with a not so happy look on her face.

Here is Abby on her ride with Chester - this is actually the after photo as she was throwing a fit before and didn't want to ride until they started going and she had a great time. Just have to trust mom every now and then.......

This was Megan's close encounter with Chester - no riding actually took place. She wasn't going to do it. So Ashley and Abby got to take another shorter ride since they wanted to and it was easier than waiting to get our money back from Megan freaking out and not wanting to ride.

The girls with Chester.

We all piled back in to the Cowan Yukon XL - yes 4 adults, 4 car seats.

After that we headed out for the afternoon on the boat. Did some skiing, some swimming, and Tim attempted to wakeboard. It didn't exactly work out - so if anyone knows how to wakeboard feel free to let us know because we don't have a clue.

After boating we had to go swimming again. The girls discovered they actually liked the slide at the pool. Megan had been going down it from the first day, you couldn't stop her, she is fearless. Abby and Ashley however took a little longer to figure out they liked it.
We ended the evening with a great dinner at Devil's Pool and the Dad's took the older girls Miniature golfing while the Mom's took the younger ones to bed.

Sunday - enter rain storm. Tim and Dave were smart enough to get the boat out of the water instead of going fishing so they were back home at the cabin before the downpour. Then since they are good husbands, they took the girls (except Allison) and played while Jenn and I got to do a little shopping and be kid free for a couple hours. It was well enjoyed :)

We had a great time and enjoyed having the boat on Table Rock as our last vacation there is the reason we bought the boat.

On Tuesday Tim and I celebrated our 8th Wedding Anniversary - hard to believe I know. It doesn't seem like we have been married that long, and we still remember our wedding day very well and all the activities. Thanks to everyone for the well wishes.

First T-Ball Game

2011-06-07T14:18:00.004-05:00

This Monday was our first T-Ball game for Abby and the Yellow/Gold team. Not sure if we actually have a team name yet, we just got the shirts last night as well before the game. Abby is #21 if you couldn't tell, her shirt was a little big so it's tied in the back with a hair tie to keep it from getting in the way. She batted 2nd and played short stop and 2nd base.

To explain the rules of T-ball:
The whole team bats at once.
You run the bases no matter what - just one base at a time until the last batter is up then they, and everyone left of base runs as if it's a home run to clear the bases.
No one is ever out, even if you really are.
Your team gets to bat 3 times.

What really happens at T-ball:
Lots of hugging/talking with the other team as they were in your preschool class and you haven't seen them for a week.
Running all the bases isn't necessary - sometimes 2nd to home is acceptable.
Throwing the ball in the general direction of first is as good as it gets.
Everyone chases ground balls like it's a soccer game.
The pitcher's mound is not a base, but feel free to run to it in-between your jaunt from 2nd to 3rd.

Here she is on deck waiting for her first at bat.

1st at bat - batting right handed this time. Undercut the ball a few times then hit a nice grounder through the infield - which isn't hard to do as most kids just let the ball go by.

2nd at bat - this time we are left handed. She hasn't figured out which is more comfortable. Coach Matt just let's her go with it.

Megan was a good cheerleader and stayed occupied during most of the game and spent some time in the dug out "cheering" the team on while they were in the field. I was just happy she stayed off the field. I heard all to many times "I want to play ball!" I am sure her time will come.

Abby's last at bat - yes she will pose at the on deck spot for you. Always one for the cameras, and this time batted right handed again.

Lining up after the game to "high five" the other team. Abby has the yellow hat on.

Shaking hands with the green team.

Thank goodness for the other coaches that assisted getting the kids through the bases. Sometimes they pay attention, sometimes the don't. When the other kid shows up at your base, then it's time to run.

It was quite an entertaining game and the best part was that everyone had a good time. Abby can't wait for her next game. We are very proud of her.

Stephens Lake Park

2011-05-23T10:02:00.003-05:00

First of all - I love this park! It's close, clean, and has a lot of things for us to do year round. I noticed Saturday that the fountains were turned on after I got the girls hair cuts. So Sunday afternoon we decided to do a little picnic with the Slenker's and have some fountain fun.

Abby and Megan are trying to convince Lily that the water is fun. She wasn't convinced to start with but then had a great time. Landen was climbing on rocks, he took a little longer to convince.

My girls on the other hand couldn't stay out of the water. Megan did actually have a dress on too to start with but didn't want to get it wet. I wasn't sure if they would actually play that much in the water. We'll be bringing swimsuits next time!

Pretty standard here - Megan was fearless and Abby has water in her eyes. Megan would go in head first right through the fountains.

Enjoying cooling off - unfortunately her diaper weighed about 6 lbs. by now.

Braving another fountain. Abby would sneak through, Megan would charge through - her diaper is about to fall off of her butt, she was as always - entertaining.

We got to spend about an hour playing after we had eaten until the bigger kids showed up and it wasn't as fun to play there so we packed it up and headed back home to get out of the sun. We all got a little bit burnt yesterday, but had a great time.

We survived our storms last night without any issues. We'll see if anything shows up in the next couple of days. Our thoughts and prayers are with Joplin, MO and their recovery.

T-Bird Preschool Program

2011-05-19T10:51:00.003-05:00

This past Friday Abby had her T-Bird Preschool Program. It's not officially a graduation as some of the kids still have another year of school as it's for 3 and 4 year olds. So there was a nice gathering at the Auxvasse Elementary school where they sang songs, said the pledge, and got a certificate from their teachers.

This is where they came in to line up. It's the morning and afternoon classes together.

Here is Abby getting her certificate from Mr. P.

Very proud preschooler!

An attempt for a full class photo. What you can't see is Megan standing next to Abby in the photo. You can see her shoes, but not her head in this shot. She decided to sneak in to the photos, which everyone enjoyed. As 5 of the 17 morning class kids go to our daycare they all know Megan quite well.

So just one more week of school until summer break due to our snow make up days. It's hard to believe it's almost Memorial Day weekend.

Rogersville & Allison's Baptism

2011-05-10T09:57:00.006-05:00

This past weekend we headed down to Rogersville, MO for the baptism of my Goddaughter, Allison. This was Tim's first trip down to the new Cowan residence as well, and a chance to maybe shoot a turkey......

Megan cannot get enough of babies, especially Allison. She would have held her all weekend if we would have let her. She was very concerned at all times where Allison was and what she was doing. If we were following them in the car somewhere she had to be able to see "babies car".

The other popular item of the weekend was Ashley's 4-wheeler. Now remember I said it was Ashley's...... Here Ashley is getting the reminder of what the buttons do and Abby is learning so she can try.

Abby is ready to go - along with Tim on the kill switch as well. Abby didn't ride it very long, she got scared pretty quickly.

Dave on Ashley's 4-wheeler.

Tim on Ashley's 4-Wheeler (photo by Abby)

Baptism day. The Bishop decided to grace us with his presence for the evening mass and the baptism so it was quick and honor to have him there. Ashley is a little tired if you couldn't tell. Abby and her had "quiet time" watching a movie instead of napping and paid the price during mass.

My newly baptized goddaughter - Allison Joy - and Abby's hand.

Susan was the other godparent for Allison so here is our group shot with some extra kids as well.

Megan gets her turn on the 4-wheeler. Of course it's not on. Jenn's father George pushed her around on it a little bit and she had a great time. When she is a little bit taller she'll be tearing it up I'm sure.

And last but not least - Dave's mother Jayme on Ashley's 4-wheeler.

Megan and Allison - some goodbye loving.

Abby, Allison, and Megan. I think Allison has had enough Schmidt loving for the weekend.

One last hug - and there were some kisses too but those pictures didn't turn out that great. It's rough to be loved Allison....

And as David pointed out while we were there I shouldn't be saying what we're doing next weekend because people might come rob our house. So now you'll just have to wait to see what we are up to. We could be at home, we could be elsewhere, but we'll be busy I'm sure.

See Dave.....I listened.

Easter, A Wedding, and the 1st Fishing trip of the Year

2011-05-02T09:58:00.004-05:00

Playing a little blogging catch up today. We've finally bounced back from the Disney trip and I have been out of town for work, so it's been a little busy to say the least. Pictures have been taken, just not downloaded. So here is our recap of the last couple of weeks.

We did our Easter egg dying at home, still need to make some deviled eggs....maybe tonight.

Easter morning the girls found their baskets conveniently in their rocking chairs with some new movies and a couple other goodies. It was a little bitter sweet as we have spent the last 2 Easter's out at the farm with Uncle Pat and visiting my Grandma. So this year, new traditions. Things were a little last minute so I am sure these new traditions are not finalized.

Showing off our baskets before church. As you can see, Megan is just as much a morning person as I am. Abby sprung out of bed immediately - she's very cooperative when there are gifts involved.

The Egg hunt upstairs.

Megan wasn't that thrilled - she's not exactly awake - and yes her hair is actually combed. It tends to do it's own thing at times.

On our way to church - you can just feel the excitement. This is her new baby from the Easter Bunny.

After church we went to Truman's for brunch and what Easter would not be complete without a little Big Buck Hunter.

Oh - and the boat came back over Easter weekend as well. We now have an additional concrete pad poured just for the boat!

After brunch we continued the downstairs Easter egg hunt - these eggs had the candy in them so there was a little more excitement.

Easter was survived and this past weekend we celebrated the wedding of Laura & Brad. I had an outside seat during the wedding so my photos are a little far away. However after the wedding Laura and Brad went out back - and I got a good shot of Brad enjoying his new husband duties of fixing Laura's dress. When we arrived at the wedding we walked by seeing Laura get a few shots and Abby's first comment was "Mommy -there's the princess!"

After the wedding. Her flowers were beautiful, great colors to go with the bridesmaids dresses.

And the departure.....every Schmidt wedding in Carrollton I have been to has had the wedding party leaving in a tractor drawn flatbed. This is the first one in a corvette, possibly in over 25+ years.

Trying to get a good photo of the cousins - Theo wasn't having any of it. Although he did adjust to getting all the extra lovin' from Abby by the end of the night. Abby and Theo were dancing quite a bit by the end. He was shuffling his feet while Abby was spinning him around and putting some of her DWTS moves on him.

At the reception - Abby got her picture with her princess.....although she forgot her autograph book!

(Photo by Abby) Abby got a hold of my camera for part of the reception. I told her to take some photos of the cake and she came back and said "Mom, all I can find is cupcakes and there are some weird things on top." The weird things were of course Mario and his princess from Super Mario Brothers. Weird to Abby but recognizable to everyone over 10 years old. As Brad is quite a gamer there were references to that throughout the night - the wedding party walked in to the sound of the Pac Man game.

The day after the wedding we went out to do some fishing on one of the Schmidt farm ponds. Megan still reels in the cast as soon as it's out there. No patience for an actual fish to bite.

Abby however did very well and set the hook on 3 fish she caught all by herself. Still not going to touch them - however I'm not much help in that department. Megan won't even get close, there was crying and running away when we tried to get a photo with her fish.

Counting the fish on our way up for lunch - Abby said there were 14.

And that was the end to our weekend. We ended up getting back to Columbia after 4 pm. Unloaded the truck and I managed to fall asleep until Monday morning. I thankfully have an awesome husband that fed/bathed the kids and didn't bother me so I could catch up on some much needed sleep.

It's a new week though. This weekend we are headed down to Rogersville, MO for the baptism of my God-Daughter Allison. Tim also thinks he is going to do some turkey hunting...we'll see how that goes.

Photos from the Princess Photo Shoot

2011-04-21T13:50:00.004-05:00

Here are the 3 photos we picked out from Abby's Princess Photo shoot. She did really good for the photographer - I'm wondering why she is not so cooperative with the one at Sears! We were done in 5 minutes I think. We have yet to put the photos up.

This one is my favorite of them all.

You can kind of see that she has a crystal crown behind her big Belle Crown. She upgraded the Snow White head band for the Belle crown. She didn't see how you could be a princess without the crown. We had just gotten hair cuts on Thursday before we left so her bangs are all nice and straight - as opposed to when I trim them!

Posing like Snow White - and of course you could see her new shoes. She loved how the dress was so poofy.

Had to get a photo with the wand in there.

Abby is still reveling in the whole glory of the trip. Everything is "Remember yesterday when we saw __________ (enter princess name) and she was real!"

Epcot Day & the Night Parade & Fireworks

2011-04-18T12:00:00.002-05:00

As you can tell we had to take a little blogging break. Thursday we went to Epcot again for the search for Snow White and then that evening went to Magic Kingdom for the light parade and fireworks - and then we ran out of gas! 4 days of straight park adventures was too much for the family so Friday we actually just stayed at the resort, slept in, went swimming, took naps, went swimming again, then family dinner. We were exhausted!!! But more on that later - back to Epcot.....

As I said previously it is the Garden Festival at Epcot and it is beautiful. The things they can do with plants is amazing. We were at Epcot around 10:30 - but not much happens until after 11 there so we just took our time and wandered. Since we had gone to Mexico and China the previous day we took a right and went to the UK and France to start with.

Here Abby is with the Beast and Belle in France. We ended up going to a lovely pastry shop for dessert breakfast - it was excellent. Tim and I shared a strawberry tort - highly recommended!

Abby in front of Aurora and Prince Phillip, but as usual she was ready for the real ones instead of fake ones....

So finally Princess Aurora made it out and yes - that is Megan finally in a photo with a character and is not crying!!! She even gave her a hug!

We had to stop and see Belle again - and yes there is Megan again and she hugged Belle as well.

They had a miniature Rapunzel tower with the music from the movie - as we watched that most evenings when we returned to the resort, the girls enjoyed looking at it. There is a train set also by it. We were in Germany at the time.

Waiting patiently for Snow White......

SNOW WHITE!!!! Abby was thrilled - Megan threw a fit.
Since we were in Germany we browsed a bit...

Abby and Megan found shields/swords to play with (they are foam) and Ann & Tim found the Oktoberfest beer :)

From Germany we went to the American Adventure. There Abby got to help say the pledge of allegiance with a group of kids.

From there we went to Morocco and found Jasmine and Aladin. Megan is hiding in the stroller if you were wondering.

One more stop in France to see the Beast - which Abby was afraid of - Megan is still hiding in the stroller.

Then one last stop in the UK to see Alice - who had alluded us at Magic Kingdom - she's apparently hard to get time with, but we got her.

After that we headed back to the resort for naps and late lunches because we were heading back to Magic Kingdom for the Electrical Light Parade and Castle Fireworks.

Curb side seats for the parade. As you can see we had to get some light up toys for the parade - Disney has to make a fortune on these based on how many kids had them. They dim the lights for the parade so it was fun for the kids to be able to use them.

Another shot - Abby has a Cinderella one (which is Megan's actually) and Megan is playing with Abby's Tinkerbelle one.

Let the parade begin!

Prince Charming trying on the glass slipper for the step-sisters. They were a hoot!

We stopped off at the ice cream parlor on Main street for some "dinner" then watched the fireworks by the castle - not my best photo - I had a better one but it's too much work to replace it after a week of blogging like this.

We were back at the resort around 11:30 I think - and that is where we ran out of gas. Friday was Park-Free, but full of swimming which is what the girls wanted to do - we didn't mind either as we were a little exhausted with it all as well. We learned quite a few lessons on this trip. Hopefully we can share with our friends. We had a lovely time and I am sure there are more photos still to post - we're still trying to recover from it all. As I asked Tim when we got back to the KC airport - "Were we really gone a week?" - Tim said - "Felt more like a weekend".

Princess Day!!!!

2011-04-13T19:37:00.005-05:00

Well it is finally here - the day of being a princess for the girls. It started early with an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Abby and Megan dove right in and started shopping for which dress they were going to pick out and accessories. So many choices! And the winners are......... Abby chose Snow White and Megan picked out Tiana. This is our special dressing room where it all was set out for us. Unfortunately it was as close as Megan got to her outfit, she freaked out, threw a fit, and didn't want to wear anything. So we gave it all back to the fairy godmothers and Tim and Megan went on rides while Abby continued the transformation to Snow White.

This was the closet that you got to pick from. Quite a lot of options. After you tried on your outfit you went back to the lobby to wait for your assigned fairy godmothers. Abby was very happy if you couldn't tell..

Already quite the poser - and we even haven't done hair/make up/nails.

This was our Fairy Godmother Marisol who is doing Abby's hair. She went with the fairy tale style and was busy getting pampered.

All done and ready to go - we had to do a little crown upgrade from the head band though. She has officially been sprinkled with fairy dust and made her wish to be a princess.

One of the many princesses we met today. Tiana and Naveen were very nice and Abby talked quite a bit with them.

For lunch we had our character meal at Cinderella's castle. This was quite an experience. First we met Cinderella - then Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, and Ariel! All in one spot, plus got an excellent meal and dessert! Abby and Megan were thrilled! Megan actually hugged Belle if you can believe that. I think she might be warming up to the whole character thing - or is just copying Abby.

After that we went on a mission to find Snow White - who on all days, was sick today and doing no more meet and greets. We thought we would find her over at Epcot, but it was really true - she was sick. So while we were at Epcot we met Mulan - almost as good, but not the same. We'll be returning tomorrow to take a trip around the world, and enjoy some beverages :)

Abby loved being a princess, every minute of it. Until we got home and all she wanted to do was take everything off. I'm sure I'll be trying to get it back on tomorrow though so we can see Snow White. She had many compliments from other park guests and the Princesses.

So an end to another busy day - we were at the parks for about 10 hours if you can believe that, and now it's time for bed. We're going to try to sleep in tomorrow, that is, past 630 - if we're lucky.

Animal Kingdom

2011-04-12T20:26:00.003-05:00

Today we went to the other Kingdom in Disney World - Animal Kingdom. This is by far one of the best places to meet classic characters and have short lines. The girls saw many characters and got a lot of autographs. This park is only open from 9-6 and we spent most of the day there actually. The entryway - and the excitement builds! Our first stop was going to be the Kilomanjaro Safaris but then we ran into a couple of friends.......

Lilo and Stitch were there to greet us. Megan wasn't that happy to be around Stitch.

On to the Safari - we had a bumpy safari ride but saw quite a few animals and some were very close to the truck since they are used to them. Anything from hippos, to rhinos, to osteriches.

Abby's favorite autograph of the day by far - Pocahontas. We thought we might have run into Mulan but did not hang out or look very hard in Asia for us.

We did go to the Finding Nemo Musical - Abby, Megan and Theo loved it, and I think the adults did too. Here they are in the fish tank before Darla gets Nemo.

And last but not least - Mickey Mouse. We also met with Goofy, Donald, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, Erore, Tigger, and Miss Bunny (Thumper's girlfriend). So quite a few characters and autorgraphs. Megan actually went up to Mickey and gave him her book and hugged him - first character ever! She was pretty friendly with Minnie as well, and Miss Bunny.

So a very busy day with outside animals and characters. Tomorrow is another day at Magic Kingdom - and yes, the much anticipated and talked about day that Abby and Megan get to be princesses!!! You can expect a lot of photos for sure. Now it's off to bed to rest for the big day, it will be hard.....because we are so excited!

Magic Kingdom - 1st day

2011-04-11T17:11:00.004-05:00

Monday - on a mission to find some princesses!!!! Here we are on the tram - to get to the monorail that takes you to Disney World - it's a process I tell you! All excited and ready to go.

We made a potty stop and encountered our first parade - Celebrate It was the theme. The girls were happy to see some "real" characters finally.

We finally found that darn castle....I think Abby ran to it pulling her Aunt Betsy with her - she was waiting for no one!

At the castle - guess what - another show! And this time princesses! The girls were thrilled. So we haven't really even made it down Main Street yet and we have seen a parade and music show.

Our first character was Alice and the White Rabbit. Alice bailed on us right before we got up front. After a minor meltdown we decided to stay in line to get the White Rabbit's autograph. If you have seen our Christmas cards - that's about how well Megan is doing with the characters. Abby is loving them though.

We were going to get in line for the Dumbo ride and who should come along....Mary Poppins! So we did a little dance with her and a small quartet.

Then she let the kids follow her to the photo shoot area. It was a LARGE miracle - we were second in line and no waiting! Mary Poppins commented on how well Abby danced with her. Abby's response "I know." She was very happy about seeing her.

Our first ride of the day was the carousel and we sent Grandpa to go stand in line for Dumbo while we rode the Snow White ride after the carousel. It was a good way to knock out 3 rides pretty quickly. As you can see everyone is having fun.

Abby has been getting random autographs from "important" people. This little girl sat next to us while we waited for the 3 pm parade and since she was Rapunzel - Abby needed her autograph. It was pretty cute - then the girl asked for Abby's autograph!

Another parade - and we finally saw Ariel, Belle, and Tiana. I am sure they will be on our list for the next couple of days.

During the parade, Tim waiting 1.5 hours in line so we could see Rapunzel - the highlight of the day. Here we are dancing with Rapunzel and Flynn - Megan is attached to me as usual when there is a character around. This was really a great character greet. They got to color first before the characters came out, then did a group dance, then got to meet the characters - and not a short one. We had a good couple of minutes of photos and talking with them.

Our group photo with Rapunzel and Flynn - Abby was thrilled - Megan was beyond nap time, exhausted and ready to crash.

That was where we ended our day at Magic Kingdom. Both kids fell asleep on the way home. We're hopefully just going to have a relaxing evening with some swimming. It was extremely hot so lots of water is on our menu.

Tomorrow - probably more Magic Kingdom :)

Orlando Arrival - Saturday/Sunday

2011-04-11T17:01:00.003-05:00

We have safely arrived in Orlando. Saturday was mostly flying as we took an afternoon flight to not be that rushed and to hopefully take advantage of nap time. The girsl instead both watched their DVD players the whole time and were quiet and good. Megan fell asleep after we landed. We got our rental car and got to our resort easily. With the time change and later arrival it was a little rough of a night, but we are adjusting. Here are a couple pictures of our resort. Tim's parents have a time share with Sheraton Vistana and we each have 2 bedroom units that have been recently remodeled and are very nice. Our kitchen.

Our dining/living room area.

We went to Downtown Disney on Sunday evening after some swimming for dinner. Abby saw her first princesses there - they were unfortunately statues. Notice she has her autograph book with her - just in case.

Aurora too fo course, she was really wanting to see some real princesses she was already tired of the fake ones. Megan wasn't sure about the whole large statue thing.

Megan and Theo doing a little dancing while we waited for fireworks.

It was a late evening with some cranky/crashing kids. Monday morning is Magic Kingdom - Happiest Place on Earth right?? We'll let you know....

Bossier City, LA

2011-04-05T12:31:00.006-05:00

This past weekend Tim had to take a work trip to his job site in Bossier City, LA and the girls and I were lucky enough to get to tag along for the ride and get a little escape from Columbia to some warmer weather.

Rolling bags are ready to go. The girls were very excited and extremely well behaved.....we hope it continues to next weekend!

Here is our plane - yep, we drove right up to it. No security, no checking baggage, it was fabulous. Unfortunately next weekend we'll be back to flying commercial :(

Our red carpet entry.

All ready for take off and ready for warmer weather.

In flight entertainment. We just got Megan's DVD player, heaven forbid if the girls would have to share and it was the best investment ever! They watched movies the whole time and Tim and I got a nap in.

After we checked in to the hotel, Tim went to work, and I had to work, so Megan took a nap and Abby watched a movie. Finally around 4:30 we hit the Louisiana Boardwalk. There was a high school band there that the girls found entertaining. The cheerleaders and drum majors were very animated so that was fun to watch.

We ended our evening at an Italian restaurant and walked the river walk back to the hotel. Bossier City is also known for their casinos and this bridge that has lights - not sure what it's called exactly but it was nice to look at. The weather was perfect for an evening stroll.

Of course on our way back we made a stop at the carousel. We had to ride that the following night as well. The girls were given the choices of the carousel or ice cream - Abby's first answer was both, then when forced to pick one chose the carousel.

Saturday morning Tim was at work early so the girls and I got up and were out of the hotel by 7:30. Little did we know that nothing is open or available until 10 AM!! So we walked to the IHop and we were the 2nd group there at 8 AM! We wasted as much time as possible eating there then found this playground connected to the Joe's Crab Shack (that was closed). Sneaky Papke that I am, we found a way in so the girls could play until the stores opened for some shopping.

All this playground to play with and they preferred to play in the rocks and bury themselves and make "rock angels".

They are cute sometimes!

After a little shopping we headed over to Tim's work site to check out the job. They had poured concrete that morning so we stayed out of the way until later. Had to get all geared up with our hard hats!

Can't forget the orange vests - Abby was pretty excited - at least at that point.

Ready to cross the railroad tracks and see the job.

Here are some of the concrete forms they poured earlier.

After lunch Tim was free to spend some time with us so we went to Gators & Friends alligator park and exotic zoo. What else are you going to do while you are in LA? Plus Tim's new favorite show is Swamp People.

Yes I am holding an alligator. It is about 3 ft long and that is my "take the picture fast because if this thing moves I will throw it" smile. Megan and I had waited in line for this picture opportunity and she bailed/bolted as soon as we sat down so I sucked it up and held the alligator. I would prefer them on luggage, boots, or a purse.

On to the "exotic" zoo portion. There were some white deer. We purchased some food to feed them. Tim would hand feed the animals and Abby would throw some through the fence about a foot away from the animal.

The closest you'll see Tim to a live buck!

The Shetland ponies were adorable and there was a baby one as well. Megan finally got closer to the fence to see them. She was not that thrilled about the live animal aspect of this trip after the alligator experience.

The nicest camel we ever met.

The closest Megan will get to an alligator - at the gift shop. It took her a while to actually hold these. Abby was holding them like I did with the live one and saying how cute they were.

And what trip wouldn't be complete without a trip to Bass Pro Shops. They actually had alligators as well but we were there to late to see them. We had gone swimming after the Alligator park, then ate dinner at the Salt Lick Steakhouse (delicious!) then Tim wanted to check out Bass Pro. It was still a gorgeous evening and we were out walking past 9 pm but the girls were fading and we had an early flight in the morning.

We had a great time and it was a very nice escape from reality for a short while. This weekend is the beginning of our DISNEY WORLD VACATION!!! Yes that is how Abby says it every time, apparently DISNEY WORLD must be a louder word than everything else. I am sure we'll have plenty of photos and updates along the way as it's going to be a great trip with many memories. Maybe a couple of princesses too!

St. Pat's Survived

2011-03-22T12:58:00.003-05:00

This past weekend was our annual St. Pat's party. It has changed dramatically since the first 3 parties we had and that has to do with the photos below. We think we have had 6 parties, with 2 years off, one for the Rolla 100th and one year off after Megan was born. Parenting has definitely changed the agenda a little bit of the festivities, but we're still having a good time with our extra attendees!

The weather was decent on Saturday - a lot warmer than when we actually got to Stephens Lake Park, but it was good for the kids to get out and play and burn some energy. We actually got them all to hold still for about 15 seconds and this is what we got.

The two newest babies, Reagan Resnik (on left) and Allison Cowan (right). They were sleeping in their car seats for the other photo so here's some tummy time back home. The babies are only 1 day apart and while at the house they each rolled over from back to tummy for the first time - 1 day apart! They are both very good babies and were very happy the whole weekend despite all the different people and things going on at once.

We did manage to get a boat race in on Friday night, it was slightly pitiful, but it was done. No rematches though, one was a enough. Between all the food - both fried on Friday, then in the "buffet of crock-pots" on Saturday it was an aroma filled weekend. I'm still trying to air out the house.....

So until next year....another St. Pat's is survived and complete in the books.

Happy St. Patrick's Day (delayed)

2011-03-18T10:39:00.001-05:00

Our festivities will begin this evening for St. Pat's but just wanted to share a shot of the girls looking cute in their green.

John & Mary Jane's 40th Anniversary Party

2011-03-14T09:51:00.003-05:00

This past Saturday we made a day trip to Lebanon, IL for Tim's great aunt and uncle's 40th wedding anniversary. Tim spent a lot of time with the Dietz family out on the farm growing up and also took advantage of Mary Jane's cooking as well from the stories I hear!

Here is the cake - you can imagine how the girls enjoyed the frosting!

Here is Tim with his Great Aunt Mary Jane.

Yes, our little bartender. Don't worry, she was just pouring, not drinking, but got a little obsessed with wanting to fill everyone's beer. Tim's uncle put a tip jar out for her and by the end of the night she had over $20! When the keg ran out she started wiping off people's beer from the coolers and delivering them to their tables. She didn't want to leave and clung to her tip jar. In all fairness she did try to give the money to Tim's cousins who were hosting the reception, but they refused. Then Tim made her pay $2 to a girl that Abby had "employed" to help for about 10 minutes, but her Mom made her give it back to Abby. So the tip jar came home, but we convinced Abby to give some of it to church as she enjoys putting the weekly envelope in the offering. She gladly gave up some of her money, however informed us she will be buying a Barbie movie with the rest.

Megan enjoying the cake as usual.

John and Mary Jane enjoying their first dance again.

Abby and Megan enjoying the first dance as well. You can only imagine the running around and dancing they did. They were quite popular on the dance floor.

This is Sherry and Mike who are John and Mary Jane's kids. They hosted the lovely event.

This weekend is St. Pat's at our house. We did a lot of prepping for things this week with some cooking in advance but there still is a lot to accomplish, just to clean it all up again on Sunday. We are expecting 10 adults, 7 kids, and 4 dogs to be at the house over the weekend - wish us luck!

LaBousch 1999-2011

2011-03-09T09:20:00.003-06:00

It was a sad day yesterday, our lovable cat LaBousch had a blood clot/heart attack and passed away late morning. It was quite a shock as he hadn't been acting abnormal at all and was playing with the kids the evening before as usual. LaBousch was a birthday present from a college roommate from the Rolla pound. Compared to most cats he was extremely warm and lovable, he loved to cuddle and sit on your lap, or sleep on your head. His worst trait was probably that he purred to loud and would wake you up when he snuggled. He was considered to have a "smoker's meow" which was entertaining at times for all. He got along well with the dogs and all babies.

As you can see he was very interested in the girls and loved to be apart of what they were doing. He would fight the dogs for crumbs that would get tossed off the table.

He was always following Abby around, and in the end was sleeping with her in her bed at her feet - or on her pillow if she let him.

Megan enjoyed him as well - even though he got his fur grabbed a lot he never ran away, always wanted to be around them.

It has been a rough 2011 for the Schmidt family. Thank you all for your nice comments and memories of LaBousch. He was a good cat.

Dr. Seuss

2011-03-07T15:49:00.004-06:00

This past weekend the Auxvasse Parents as Teachers group and Callaway county schools hosted a Dr. Seuss themed activity day. As the weather was a little cold and we had never been to the high school yet we thought it would be a good experience.

Here are the girls painting their blue fish - yes it is frosting, you can see Tim smelling it to figure it out. This was one of their favorite activities. I think there were 6 less fish by the end of the activity.

There was also bean bag tossing into the hats - Abby's version....

Megan's version....

The next activity was making our Cat in the Hat hats.

Megan really enjoyed hers! There was also doorknob markers to let you know not to disturb because there was reading going on in the room, and we also made Grinch puppets - very scary! Then we made a turtle, pond, and tree for crafts.

Overall it was a very fun couple of hours. We had a great time and got to see some of our Auxvasse friends and Abby's preschool teacher Mr. P.

Megan's 2nd Birthday

2011-02-22T13:35:00.005-06:00

This past weekend our little "Meggers" turned 2. Due to the weather we opted to have a party inside at Bonker's. We invited our family and friends in the area for a couple hours of pizza, cake, and fun. I believe all kids and some parents got naps in later in the day.

Here is Megan with our babysitter Taunia and her husband John. Megan enjoys her time and loves to play with John.

We tried to get the kids to eat some pizza in-between the playing - we were more successful when it came to cake time.

Here is Megan, Theo, and Lily in the 3 and under area. Megan enjoyed throwing the blocks at BJ.

Megan is trying to convince Theo to play a little bit more with the blocks.

Our little engineer at work. Building the blocks, then promptly kicked them over when she got out.

This was the cake that Megan picked out. It was either Cars or Rapunzel, tough choices for a 2 year old.

Megan did not quite figure out the blowing of the candle but was very happy about things.

Cupcakes and frosting - it doesn't get much better than this.

We couldn't dish things out fast enough. As you can see, all the kids were back for the cake part.

Megan started opening presents once she had been wiped down from her frosting.
She is pretty excited about these gardening tools. I think I'll have another helper this spring for the flowers.

She has the unwrapping of presents down.

This backpack was probably her favorite gift. As you can see she is in motion - I had a hard time getting a picture of her as she was just running back and forth with the backpack.

Megan at 2 Years:

sleeping in a toddler bed
loves to read books now, favorite is "Sleep baby Sleep"
Still loves her sister and wants to be with her all the time
Still fights with her sister and wants to play with everything she has
Blankie and Baby Bear are still favorites
Can out eat some adults at a meal
Loves to play outside
Is learning new words everyday
Loves to wrestle with her Dad
Goes through the motions of "potty" before baths
Throws and excellent fit when things don't go her way
Gives the best hugs

Bowling & Valentines Day

2011-02-14T09:33:00.006-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds out there and hopeless romantics. This was the photo we took for Tim this morning. The girls have their coordinating Valentine's Day outfits on. It's actually a decent photos so we had to show it off.

On Sunday the Slenker Family had this great idea of lets go bowling with the kids......

Abby showing off her bowling shoes. They barely went down to her size, but we was pretty excited about them.

Tim is showing Abby how the whole bowling thing worked. The kids had the bumpers, the adults could still get gutter balls.

Abby's first attempt on her own.

After we got a couple balls stuck from not making it down the lane they gave us this little helping device, so here is Megan bowling.

She was so excited and clapping every time, it was quite entertaining.

This was Megan when she got a spare, I love the little pose!

Abby didn't think she needed the helping tool so she was bowling on her own. She actually did pretty good, those bumpers though are pretty handy.

The final score of the first game. The played a 2nd game and Landen came back and beat the girls.

Week of Snow - and finally a snowman!

2011-02-07T09:35:00.002-06:00

This week of snow has been quite an event. It was a lot of "quality time" with the girls since we couldn't go anywhere, but we survived, and truly it wasn't that bad. Tim finally made it home from Shreveport, LA on Saturday evening due to his weather dilemmas. He got home and promptly decided we could make a snowman.

Megan was excited about big clumps of snow.

Abby was too, as they were snowballs.

Then Megan decided she should be eating the snow.....

You can see how high our snow is piled up, and some of it has melted already!

Here's Tim hard at work on the bottom snowball. You couldn't roll the snow, so he shoveled it.

"But Daddy, we want to make a snow castle!"

Abby was trying to make a snow angel, but due to the sun and snow melting then freezing she wasn't heavy enough to break the ice.

Yep - that is the top of our mailbox.

The finished product - yes it's a girlie snowman of course.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Redeker family. Ernie Redeker - our long time neighbor at my parents house passed away this past Friday. I have many memories of Ernie.

Really wishing we had a snow blower......

2011-02-02T10:05:00.003-06:00

This is the view when I opened the garage, doesn't look to rough right at the garage, but trust me, it got deeper.

So the shoveling begins...

Just a view with a comparison to my shovel, great week for Tim to be out of town.

So the truck can get out of the garage now....

But I'm not too sure where I would go.....I swear there is a street out there. Until the city graces us with their plow I think we are stuck at home. The snow is higher than the clearance on the truck.

Gracie isn't enjoying the snow that much.

Thanks to my neighbor Frank who helped me shovel the driveway. I might try the other half later today, maybe not too.

Snow!

2011-01-24T09:32:00.003-06:00

This past week I was in Atlanta - avoiding all the snow that Columbia was hammered with. With that also came some traveling complications - but if you know anything about my travel experiences in the past, it's just standard procedure for me.

Here's a picture out on the back deck - you actually probably need to add about 2 more inches of snow on top of that to round out the weekend.

On Saturday night I actually finished Megan's quilt (and washed it and it survived) so here is Abby giving the quilt to Megan - because it is from her - I was just the labor to put it all together. Megan has had it with her pretty much since then, it even had to come to church with us on Sunday. I am very happy with how it turned out. I am learning a couple tricks of the trade with the whole quilting bit, but still have a long ways to go. I have yet to even take on any of the hand quilting part (other than binding), I am more of a quilt by machine in straight lines type of quilter currently.

Here's a better view. I really love the colors and how the green boarder brings it all together.

This week we are at home and will hopefully have another weekend at home. Tim had to work this past Saturday and Megan has a mean cough that will hopefully go away and not be shared. If anyone has any ideas on ways to help with the cold, please email me! We tried some honey this morning and have already done the cool mist/vicks warm mist humidifiers as well.

Weekend Projects

2011-01-18T15:33:00.003-06:00

This past week along with the snow and canceled school we were plagued with a couple sick girls (not that you can tell from the below photos though) so we spent most of the weekend at home. So with that I started a couple new projects - you know, with all my free time :)

Here was my helper, who was a little too helpful so had to be put down with for a nap so I could get things actually done.

Project #1 - Abby thought Megan needed her own quilt so she would stop wanting her Grandma Papke quilt. Abby and I went to the quilt store and she picked out this pack of squares to make into a quilt (very simple sewing, which I loved). She also helped me pick out some fabrics for a couple other projects, but as I know my sister-in-law reads this I will not be posting any photos until after they receive them. But Abby was very helpful as usual, and can't wait to give Megan her quilt, which if you ask her "It's from me, but Mommy had to make it."

Here is the almost finished product. I still need to do the actual quilting and put the binding on. The binding will be the same green as the small stopping I put on around the squares. I thought it helped the colors pop a little bit. I'm pretty happy with how it looks - Abby says it has too many flowers. But it's a little crazy, and so is Megan sometimes.

Based on the expected weather we might be having another weekend at home, which is fine, we have plenty to do.

Let It Snow

2011-01-11T09:34:00.003-06:00

The snow finally arrived on Monday so when Tim got home from work and a quick dinner the shoveling and sledding began.

Abby wasn't so much in to the shoveling. She wanted to make a snow man but it was to powdery so she settled for small snow balls and making snow angels in our yard and for our neighbors.

Megan was content to help shovel - and walk through big piles of snow, which created more shoveling. Last year she didn't really get to enjoy the snow only being 10/11 months old but this year she is all over it.

After the shoveling the sledding began. Last year Abby was a little afraid of sledding, but this year with fearless Megan to lead the way they are all about sledding and had a great time.

An action shot at the bottom of the hill - all smiles!

Then Tim surprised me with some roses - 11 years ago we had our first date. I think the girls were just as surprised and as excited as I was to see them as Tim hates buying flowers for anything. Abby and Megan spent about 5 minutes just smelling them and then helped me get them in a vase. Hard to believe 11 years has gone by this fast.

Just a weekend at home...

2011-01-10T10:14:00.003-06:00

This weekend we had a leisurely weekend at home. We did get the Christmas decorations down inside and outside and switched cable (DirectTV - if you want to use us as a referral and save money email me!!). We also had some visitors on Friday night. My cousin Christine and her boyfriend Joe came up for the evening. So Tim and I got a babysitter and we went out to Shakespear's and then to the Black and Gold. I don't think we got home until 1 AM (way late for Tim and I). So our Saturday was a bust, lots of lounging around and eating. But we had a great time with Christine and Joe so it was worth it.

Abby wanted to make Great Grandma Powers' chocolate chip cookies with Christine so we did that on Saturday morning.

Megan was helping too, of course.

Licking the batter was the best part. I think Megan had more batter than she put on the cookie sheets. Her shirt and Christine's pants were covered in cookie dough by the end of it. But they tasted great and were worth it!

Saturday morning we also had to finally put together Megan's Barbie ATV that was a Christmas present from Uncle Andrew and Aunt Rebekah. Megan had pulled the box in to the living room and was trying to open it with scissors. So Tim assembled it, and it had to charge over night. So Sunday after church/brunch/grocery shopping Megan finally got to try it out. I promptly called Andrew to see when he would be up here to give a lesson on turning and breaking.

Getting a little help from Abby and running in to the coffee table. It needs a brush guard!

We spent the rest of Sunday just relaxing and somewhat preparing for the snow storm that was supposed to hit on Monday. It's supposed to be a cold week!

The Booster Seat

2011-01-06T10:05:00.003-06:00

Abby has been asking for a booster seat for quite a while now. I'd keep her in a 5-point harness until she was 8 if I could but she is "getting bigger" as she likes to tell us. So Tim and I broke down and ordered a booster seat and it showed up last night so I installed it in the car and this morning was the first official ride in the booster seat.

To say Abby loves it would be an understatement. Since it's a lot less wide than the previous one she has room for her bags on the side and it even has cup holders. She loves to be buckled and to be able to undo it herself. Our biggest problem now is keeping Megan out of the seat. She wants to be in the seats for Abby that she is not tall enough or heavy enough to be in. She pitches a pretty good fit every time so far. We'll see how the booster works when Abby falls asleep.

We're slowly adjusting to actually having to work a 5 day work week, and the kids having to go to daycare/preschool all 5 days. Everyone seems to be tired. The weekend will be a relief.

Happy New Year

2011-01-03T13:51:00.005-06:00

Well here it is, 2011 already. Christmas to New Years went by in a flash - and I was even on vacation which should have helped it drag out a bit, but it didn't. I started my vacation out with Megan's ear drum bursting so that put a little damper on the "to do" list as we had a doctors visit, prescriptions to get, then monitoring of the fever. She had a miserable day, but we eventually got everything done. One of the projects I am most proud of is the quilt I made for my nephew Theo. Tim's grandmother, Doris Schmidt, would make baby quilts for all the great-grandchildren. She passed away 2 years ago and the last quilt she completed was the one for Megan, so Theo did not have one. I figured - how hard can it be to make a quilt - I have a sewing machine, I can follow instructions.....and so the project began. Thanks to the nice ladies at Appletree Quilting who helped with step by step process and questions, and of course for having toys for the girls to play with so they didn't destroy the store.

The quilt was finished on the 23rd and washed on the 24th and still in one piece! I think it turned out really good for my first quilt and hope Theo enjoys it (and it stays in one piece!).

Christmas Eve we packed up the family and headed to Collinsville, IL for the Dietz family Christmas Eve party which is held at Tim's aunt and uncle's house. Good food and family, and of course gifts that the girls loved.

Here is Megan and Abby scoping out the presents - trying not to get caught.

Abby also discovered Great Aunt Val's iPad which had great kid games on it for her grandchildren that Abby enjoyed playing all night. You'd be surprised how well she can use an iPad.

Our effort to get the kids (that were left) in front of the tree in their PJ's. It was getting pretty late at night and time for bed.

Christmas Day over at Betsy and BJ's house. We did manage to eat brunch before opening presents even though it almost destroyed Abby and Megan to just have to look at presents for 45 minutes.

Our family photo with Gracie before opening presents - as you can see Megan is ready to be opening, enough with the photos.

Grandma and Grandpa Schmidt tried to push a photo in too, and you can see how Theo and Megan are enjoying it - they want presents!

Here's Abby with her favorite present - she has played this game quite a bit. We're already on our second set of batteries.

Here is Megan's favorite - other than trying to steal her sister's Leapster Explorer. Tim had to assemble this immediately.

Here I am with Theo and Betsy after he opened his quilt - we'll see if it becomes one of his favorites down the road.

A Sit N Spin - classic.

And drums - they are actually Megan's but are shared well. They are downstairs now to help contain the noise - Thanks G&G Schmidt!

Sunday we headed back to Columbia to see if Santa had remembered where we lived and if we had good little girls or not - we did of course!

Abby with her loot.

Megan with her pile of presents.

Towels with their names on them from Aunt Colleen and Uncle Tony.

A princess piano - Megan likes it as well.

Rollerskates for this years broken bones to come - Abby has a pair as well.

Then another classic - the Fisher Price Record player - I had this as a child and G&G Papke got this for the girls. It gets played daily and fought over daily as well. Megan is a little indecisive to say the least on what to play.

Our first Mizzou basketball game of the year as well. The cheerleaders were the highlight for the girls I think.

New Year's Eve we went to KC to ring it in. Friday we went to Emporia, KS to lunch with our friend Leann who is due Jan. 7th with her daughter. They are moving to Canada in February so we had to take advantage of seeing her one last time as they will be gone for 2 years.

Here is Jenn's truck breaking down in the parking lot and Tim fixing it.........

Then our adult dinner (with Allison) at Fogo de Chao - a Brazilian Steakhouse - Tim's one request of the trip. All you can eat meat - it was awesome. We had a lovely time and spent over 2 hours sampling all the different meats.

We safely are back in Columbia and in recovery mode from the Holidays and hope to be back to normal by this weekend.

Happy Birthday Theo & Tim

2010-12-21T09:57:00.004-06:00

It has been a week full of birthdays for December. First our nephew Theo turned the big "1" on December 16th so we were in St. Louis on the 12th for his party. As you can see, he knows how to take down a cup cake.

It was a nice party - minus the snow/ice that made for complicated and lengthy driving. Abby and Megan enjoyed Theo's presents, and hopefully he did too once we left and could actually play with them without all the "help" from his cousins.

Betsy, Theo, and BJ

This past weekend we headed up to Carrollton, IL for the Schmidt Family Christmas. Always a good time with good food and a little bit of crazy on the side with all the kids there are now.

Megan is ready for the "little kid exchange"

Abby is excited as well of course.

Here's a shot before the madness of opening of gifts - which all happened at once because you know little kids can't take turns when half of them are under the age of 5.

Megan with her Rockstar Zhu Zhu Pet "Pax"

Abby has a box of books and games.

Some classic games are back too that I love to see! Abby with Eli playing Rock'm Sock'm Robots, how cool!

And last but not least, a Happy Birthday to my husband Tim who is now the ripe old age of 33. We had just dinner with the family and of course cake that the girls decorated. There would probably be more colored icing on the top if they wouldn't have eaten as much as they did while decorating.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Monnig Family this week as our friend Nick lost his father, George to cancer. He will be greatly missed.

Buddy ~ 2001-2010

2010-12-14T09:20:00.002-06:00

Buddy Schmidt
September 1st, 2001 - December 10th, 2010

It is with a heavy heart that I have to report that we put our dog Buddy down this past Friday. Right before Thanksgiving we found out that he had cancer. We tried strong doses of prednisone to shrink his tumors however it did not work. Prior to the 10th he had not eaten or drank for about 3 days and the tumors were affecting his back legs and mobility - so very much not the dog we have known and loved for the last 9 years. So Tim and I made the very difficult decision on Thursday night that it was time. We were both with him on Friday and he went quickly and painlessly. Although it is still difficult to think about him, we know he is better off.

Thank you all for your kind thoughts and calls and happy hunting stories. We are grateful that so many people loved him as much as we did.

We miss you big guy!

IL Deer Season, Part 2

2010-12-06T15:08:00.002-06:00

For the 2nd IL deer season Tim took Abby up to Carrollton, IL so it was just Megan and I this past weekend and we packed it full! Friday night we went to the mall - a place I dread around this time, but it had to be done so we went, and conquered. I think Megan is a better shopper than I am. She's very content to browse clothes.

Saturday morning we have Breakfast with Santa Claus at Rockbridge High School. If you like a little "crazy" with your Saturday morning feel free to go next year - we won't be there! There were over 400 people.

We started off with our breakfast and coloring at the tables.

The big man himself shows up!

We started doing some crafts before getting in line, as recommended by the Elfs - little did we know....

Here's Megan with her bag for her crafts - we made a lot of ornaments. She was happy to just have a bag.

Here we are waiting in line and they have given the kids lists to make for Santa. You can see Megan is hard at work.

Biding our time while we are STILL waiting in line! It was somewhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and we were even moved to a line that was a "short cut to Santa". I swear we were the last ones leaving the school almost. And if you know how my kids love Santa, here's how it went.

Here's Megan squirming and crying, she was in the sled for 30 seconds, we got some pictures and grabbed the candy cane and book and left. I had never been happier to leave.

Megan and I went back home and both needed naps! We ended the weekend with baking some cookies and some "Christmas Activities" which is all I can say without giving away are present surprises. We're actually getting crafty!

This weekend is my girl weekend with the Carrie/Carey's and Theo's 1st birthday party. Never a dull moment for us.

Also - our thoughts go out to the Gordon family in IC. They lost their father in a car accident. Tim, Erin, and Katy ~ we are thinking of you.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T16:24:00.004-06:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We did, although as usual it was too short. This year we headed up to Iowa City for Part 1 of 3 Thanksgivings. The Papke family will not be getting together for Christmas this year as it's an "Outlaw Christmas" as we like to call it so we all gathered for Thanksgiving.

We had this little surprise on Thanksgiving morning - yes the head is attached to the neck!

As my Dad would say "Save the neck for me Clark!"

Then little did we know it was also Christmas this year at Thanksgiving as our parents surprised us with our gifts. We'll be a little more prepared next time!

Andrew and Rebekah opening their gifts.

One of our family traditions is to make a hot chocolate mix from scratch. It was my Aunt Arlene's recipe and is delicious! So I got out the 20 qt pot so Abby could "make" it herself with out a big mess. She was quite proud of herself.

The almost finished product.

Here with the dinner table all ready for the food.

And the first official Papke kid's table for the girls. Grandma Papke volunteered to sit with them and one of Abby's first comments was "Grandma, you need some wine!" and that pretty much sums it up.

The next Thanksgiving was the Cousin's Thanksgiving in Cedar Rapids, IA which had a good number of the Power's cousins, aunts, and uncles. Another good meal and good time with family. Look out for Okoboji this summer!

The final Thanksgiving was in Onawa, IA but we didn't make it as far as we hoped as Abby got sick in the truck which required us to return back to Iowa City for a bath and cleaning of the truck. We ended up heading back to Columbia later that day so we could recover Abby at home and in case if anyone else got her bug. Thankfully we didn't.

Now it's on to Christmas shopping and traveling every weekend until after New Years! Just a normal Schmidt month for us :)

Happy 4th Birthday Abby!

2010-11-15T09:19:00.007-06:00

First - yes, Tim shot a buck Saturday morning out at the Pollard's farm. It's technically a 12 pointer due to a couple nubs on close to the base of the horns. He also shot another doe and button buck so he is quite happy.

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago we became parents for the first time, but here we are with a 4 year old now.

This is still one of my favorite pictures. Abby was a very happy baby, just had to keep her fed and changed and life was good. If only it was still that easy.....

I decided to make a gumball machine cake. Abby is obsessed with getting gumballs when we are out or chewing gum when we are home. It's a new privilege that she enjoys, especially since Megan can't do it.

We kept things small scale this year - no bounce houses or 30+ people at the house, just plain and simple.
Abby had chosen her outfit for the evening - pajamas!

Blowing out the cake - thankfully not lighting her hair on fire.

Enjoying mostly the frosting with the M&M's.

Megan hasn't met a cake she didn't like yet.

Neither has Lily!

Opening some presents - a new hair kit for getting ready in the morning - which she used this morning with me of course. We now have to factor in more time for her hair and make up before we go somewhere. She is such a girly girl - I have no idea where she gets it from.

The present from Mom & Dad - what could it be?

Reinforcements have jumped in to assist in the unwrapping.

I think Megan was just as excited as Abby was.

But it's an empty box???

Doesn't matter - just as fun to plan in. Megan is already fully inside.

This is Abby looking downstairs for the dollhouse - she was in motion so there is the blurry effect but the hands on her hips and saying "Hey, you tricked me" was priceless.

Checking out the furniture. The Barbies moved in shortly after that.

Overall it was a very nice, quick, relaxing evening. Abby is happy and can't wait to play with everything when she gets home. She is having cupcakes at pre-school today so the birthday bonanza is continuing.

This week my friend Colleen is flying in from NC and we are headed south to Rogersville, MO to visit the Cowan family and their new addition Allison. Abby & Ashley will be reunited again - only 4 more sleeps!

Abby at 4 Years Old

Still loves anything Disney Princesses - Can't wait for Tangled to come out!
Loves Hannah Montana songs and the movie
Is slightly obsessed with make up, which goes nicely with the dress up obsession as well
Loves her sister
Dislikes her sister
Is the queen of stalling before bed time
Still likes to deer hunt
Is a Tiger and "Keye" football fan (Hawkeye) - loves the MIZ - ZOU cheer but it's more UOU
Still eats better than her mom does
Wants to be a cheerleader when she grows up
Is ready for Kindergarten next week because she is 4!

Catching up

2010-11-08T11:25:00.005-06:00

I have been traveling quite a bit and then wrapping things up with busy weekends and the cycle keeps going. So here I am finally with about 5 free minutes so here you go!

Here's our Halloween girls - this is the after the tantrum photo from Megan but it was a cute starter out photo of the family.

This is Megan trying on her costume the day before Halloween - not happy, not happy at all.

Costume off and we are working diligently at carving our pumpkins and listening to Mizzou get stomped by Nebraska.

Our final products - Abby's is Dora's and Megan has Swiper.

We actually got quite a few compliments on the pumpkins. That is if you watch Nick Jr. like we get to :)

Strawberry Shortcake is ready to go get some loot!

Post pumpkin carving and enjoying a sucker together on the front steps - Megan's new favorite thing is suckers.

Here we are ready to hit the neighborhood. Megan has calmed down since she now understands she will get candy for her bucket and we have some glow necklaces/bracelets to wear.

I love my Pooh!

This past weekend we had a Friday night wedding of two of Tim's co-workers. "Dave the tall guy" as Abby calls him and Stephanie. Lovely wedding, great reception - plus we got to stay in town!!

Our good friend Chris Zweiner also got married this past Saturday in Lincoln, NE - so we want to wish him all the luck and we were sorry we couldn't be in two places at once.

Saturday we headed to St. Louis for Tim's Grandparents 55th Wedding Anniversary dinner. Which also ended up being a little birthday party for Abby as well.

Here is her cupcake cake that she picked out - Tinkerbell this time.

We also wanted to welcome our two newest college crew kids:
Allison Joy Cowan - 11/29/10
Reagan Suzanne Resnik - 11/30/10

Both families are doing well. We met Reagan yesterday and I neglected to take any photos - but she's tiny and cute and has dark hair. Abby enjoyed holding her. Megan did not enjoy me holding her. That's how it goes.

This weekend is Abby's 4th birthday and the last home game for Mizzou. We have no idea what we're going to do as Tim will probably be deer hunting if I had to guess. So girl time!

Mizzou Homecoming & ESPN Game Day

2010-10-28T09:35:00.004-05:00

This past weekend was MU's Homecoming and also a big day for football in Columbia as ESPN Game Day came to town for the game. They estimated 18,000 people at the Quad for the broadcast. We watched it on TV - it was a little bit calmer. The game was not until 7 - so we started our marathon tailgating around 11. This year was the first time we have gone to the parade. The girls loved it. We came prepared with candy buckets and they made quite a haul.

The girls always love the MU Golden Girls - they would have walked with them if we would have let them.

The band - a little loud for Megan, but she held her own. We snuck up front after the band went by so they could get some goodies. We had these very nice (and loud) MU alumni by us who found it their mission to yell at anyone with candy to give it to the girls. They did well.

Here we are in the front now saying goodbye to Game Day.

We purchased some Tiger ears and a Tiger tail for the truck at the bookstore. The tail actually roars which we didn't know until Abby showed us. She then showed everyone in a 20 ft. radius as well. She was quite social. We to mix the Hawkeye top with the Mizzou bottoms. By the way the Hawks played we maybe should have worn Mizzou.

This is as close as Abby will get to Truman the Tiger. It was a new addition to our tailgate group. In the parade Abby hid behind Suellen when Truman and Baby Truman came by. Megan then attacked the blow up Truman and took it off it's stand so it was done.

Megan was busy making the rounds and eating cheese as usual.

This is her version of washers.

Somehow the kids managed to last all the way until 6:15 when we headed back home for those of us that didn't have tickets. It made for a long night, but worth it. I think we are still recovering.

This weekend is full of Halloween festivities. Parties, bonfires, hayrides, oh and candy.

Plus we will be welcoming a couple new babies this week - a Cowan and a Resnik. We're waiting patiently for their arrivals.

Shryocks Corn Maze

2010-10-22T08:55:00.004-05:00

This past Sunday we took a trip with friends out to Shryocks Callaway Farms
This was our pumpkin gathering trip as well. They are already picked so there aren't many photos from that as Tim and I were the judges of what to pick out, the girls just wanted to run around.

Some forced photos as we had everyone dressed up for Halloween photos.

A family shot before the maze.

If you go on the website you can see the design of the corn maze. This years theme was Around the World. There is actually a trivia quest with 8 check points with questions at each check point. As you can see we were being lead by two 3 year olds so we were lucky to find the 2 check points we did. After all that walking it was time to make our way back to the front of the maze.

A little sisterly love at a check point stop.

We did not bring a stroller so Tim had to step up with some transportation for Megan, she was getting a little tired.

Our presidential girls.

We had to have some fun too!

Inside the barn there is a huge gum ball coaster as they call it. You can buy a gumball for $.25 then watch it try to make it's way to the end. From what we saw it usually gets off track so we decided to invest our money in some Tiger Tracks ice cream after trekking around the corn maze.

One last family photo with one of the scare crows.

This weekend is the MU vs. OU game and ESPN game day will be in Columbia MO!! It is going to be an extremely crazy weekend, and it's Homecoming on top of that. I think our attempt to go to the parade will be challenging with the traffic issues, but we'll see how it goes.

Everyone Loves a Parade

2010-10-11T13:43:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was Homecoming for North Callaway High School so they have a parade through Auxvasse. Abby's preschool class also had a float in the parade so we got our first taste of Homecoming.

The parade was a long Main Street in Auxvasse so Megan and I walked up from our babysitter's house. I don't know if Megan really had a clue what to expect, but was excited that there were all these people and wanted to be standing with them.

Megan wasn't too fond of the band, but about marched off with the high school cheerleaders! She was clapping along and started walking after them - that's why there is no picture of them as I had to go retrieve her.

The T-Bird Preschool float! Tim and Abby are up front throwing candy.

Abby is trying to throw candy to her friends that were with us from daycare. Just to point out - Tim is in his matching T-bird preschool shirt as well.

It went by pretty quickly - but as Abby said later "It was the best parade ever!"

Applesauce and Mizzou Game

2010-09-27T09:40:00.005-05:00

This weekend we actually stayed home.....but were very busy. Typical Schmidt weekend I guess.
One of the Powers family traditions that my Grandma did was to make applesauce every year. She used to do apple butter and some other items as well. I can remember when Andrew, Tony, and I would go out and fill the bushel basket full of apples from her 3 trees, and rotten ones got thrown across the ditch.
This past Christmas my mom bought us a foley mill so we could continue making applesauce. So this Friday evening we made our first attempt at applesauce making - and canning all at the same time.

My little helpers of course. Our apples are boiling and it smelled great!

One last shot before the work.

Our first batch of apples.

Abby helping with the foley mill. She thought it was great that she could look underneath and see that she had made applesauce. She is ready to make it again.

More help, and more applesauce.

Megan had to get in to the grove as well.

She couldn't quite reach to get the mill all the way around but still have fun just moving it back and forth. I didn't take a picture of the final product. We ended up with 5 quarts of applesauce. We thought it would have been more, but now we know. It actually went quickly and smoothly and all the cans sealed. Not bad for my first attempt.

Saturday was a home game for Mizzou so we headed out to the stadium for some tailgating.

Megan has her own way of conquering bean bags. She was the secret weapon for the college kids.

Our official tailgating photo. It was one way to keep them contained.

At the game. Abby was actually having a great time so I don't know why she was being shy about the photos. She paid attention to the game, cheered for the "ZOU" and informed Tim she was going to be a dance cheerleader when she grows up.

Here's a little halftime tailgating. Megan I think ate from 8-3 constantly. She especially liked this picnic table. We had to drag her away kicking and screaming.

Mizzou ended up winning, so did Iowa so not a bad game. We got home before the rain which was nice. So our after game BBQ ended up being an after game pizza party with BBQ wings.