Birthday Weekend

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

Tim, Owen, and Emma hanging out in the chair

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

Owen and Emma - 3 month difference

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

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

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

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

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

The birthday girl opening her presents.

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

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

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

Emma at 4 months:

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

And just for fun
Ann at 36 :)

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

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

A Night At The Circus

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

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

Every circus starts with a ring master and clowns

Some girls that twirled really fast

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

This pirate could balance!

More twirling pirates

What's a circus without some elephants??

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

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

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

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

Meeting Baby Owen

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

Megan with Owen

Owen and me - he's so tiny!

Abby and Owen

All the cousins together

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

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

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

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

Emma is 3 months already

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

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

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

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

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

 Passed out on the exersaucer after about 10 minutes of playing

Floor time and toys!

Emma @ 3 Months

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

Now a couple updates on the rest of the family:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Owen William Bovee!!

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

Congratulations Betsy, BJ, and big brother Theo!!

Emma is 2 Months

It's hard to believe that two months have gone by already.  Emma is growing like crazy and is a great baby.  She sleeps through the night and entertains herself.  Her sisters can't get enough of her and their first question when they get home everyday is "Where is Emma?".  Although their attention span with her is limited to about 5 minutes, but then they are back 10 minutes later.  For 5 and 3 they are great helpers and usually do what we ask.

We're not exactly sure what color her hair will be just yet.  Many people have told us her eyebrows are red so we'll see.  Abby had a red tint in the beginning too so maybe it will be close to her color.  Doesn't look like she'll be the bleach blonde that Megan is.

For Labor Day Weekend we went up the Iowa City to spent time with my parents and introduce Emma to members of the Powers family that came out to see us.  Of course there was a Hawkeye game to watch and Emma needed her first official Hawkeye outfit for the game.  She seemed to pay attention to the game while in the bouncy seat so that was nice.  It allowed me to finish her quilt.

She had her 2 month appointment and here are some stats and fun facts about our Emma:

• Height - 21-1/2 inches (50%)
• Head - 15 - 1/2 (75%)
• Weight - 12 lb 9 oz (>95%)
• Sleeps 11-12 hours at nice (we love that part!)
• Naps twice a day, sometimes more if we go somewhere in the truck, not really on a schedule for this but we are working on that
• Smiles when you talk to her
• Blows bubbles
• Likes tummy time
• Is cooing and talking to us
• Likes sitting up on your lap so she can see things
• Takes 4 - 8 oz bottles a day now
• Burps like a champ, all you have to do is sit her up usually
• Wearing 3-6 month or 6-9 month clothing depending on brand
• Size 2 diapers already

That's a pretty good summary of her for now.  We love her and can't get enough of her.  It will be hard to go back to work at the end of the month.

A MUCH delayed update

Yes I know, not enough photos or updates on the Schmidt clan lately.  It's been a little busy with Emma, school, vacation, and just surviving in general.  Emma is now 6 weeks old and growing like crazy.  I am enjoying the "baby" phase and snuggling.  She's a great eater and burper, and actually has been sleeping 7-8 hours at night since 5 weeks so we are extremely lucky parents.

We actually were brave enough to take a family vacation with a 1 month old.  A little challenging, but lots of family time which was "nice".  Depends on the day how the quality of it was, just ask Tim :).

Emma had her first boat ride, first shower, first swim, and some other fun.  Unfortunately my camera is at the bottom of Table Rock Lake so there are no photos of all the fun.  But a new camera is on the way so we'll have more photos in the near future.  So just some photos from the phone.

We also had the first day of school for Abby and Megan.  Abby is in Kindergarten and Megan is now a Pre-Schooler.  Hard to believe they are growing up so quickly.  They are both enjoying school and their classmates. 

Abby's Kindergarten cubby.  Very excited, and she can't wait for homework!

And if we aren't busy enough we did our annual salsa canning from scratch.  Most of the ingredients from our garden but we had to borrow some tomatoes and buy some extra peppers.  Two salsa's this time - Spicy Tomato Salsa and the Jalapeno salsa we made last year.  I'm sick of tomatoes to say the least.






So that is our update for now.  I'll try to be more updated in the near future as Emma changes everyday.