Aidan's 2nd Birthday Party

This weekend we took a day trip to St. Louis for Scott & Wendy's son Aidan's 2nd birthday. He has a certain addiction similar to Abby's with Blues Clues so that was the theme of his party.


The Blue's Clues Cake.


Here is Aidan getting ready to blow out some candles.
The kids are enjoying the cake and ice cream.

The present opening has begun. If you watch Blue's Clues like the lucky ones of us who get to see it daily, there is a portion where Mailbox brings Steve/Joe a letter. So Aidan was all about getting his "letters". It was very cute.

All the kids are helping of course unwrap as they usually do.



Abby's favorite part was the ice cream.





We went to the mall Sunday after church to check out some treadmills and return a few things and of course Abby conned us in to a ride in one of the toys. If this is an indication of her driving skills, look out!

Baby Update: Still nothing happening. Another appointment tomorrow afternoon, but I expect a big "See you next week".

Abby Weekend Comes to an End

This past weekend was "Abby Weekend". We decided to devote some quality time with her before #2 shows up. So we planned a 3 day weekend down in Branson and Big Cedar. Of course there was a little outlet mall shopping for Mommy and a Bass Pro stop for Daddy. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries after the Bass Pro stop so these are the only pictures. We happened to arrive during the fish feeding which Abby enjoyed quite a bit. There were mostly rainbow trout in the tank but they were pretty large. As you can see Abby gave us some cheesy poses for the camera.



Our weekend started off with snow on Friday morning which Abby loved. Too bad none of it stuck to the ground. We had a late lunch with some Harry & David cookies that Abby picked out for dessert. After dinner we hit the swimming pool and Abby had a blast. She went down the slide and played on the stairs for about an hour. We ended the evening with renting Alvin & the Chipmunks, or The Munks as Abby likes to call them and watched it for the first of about 5 times this weekend.

Saturday we headed down to the Branson Landing, more shopping and eating and playing. The sun was out so Abby got to play on some outside toys. She picked out Daddy a St. Louis Cardinals camo hat that she really likes and Daddy picked her out a camo Bass Pro hat. Mommy passed on the camo. We had lunch at Waxy O'Shea's which is one of our favorite Irish Pubs and then back for naps and more swimming. This time we had purchased some water wings for Abby and she could swim by herself. Mostly just with kicking but she was figuring out the whole arms thing by the end of it. A couple trips down the slide, and most of the time on the stairs. We also ran in to Tim's sister Betsy and her husband and in-laws who were enjoying a weekend there as well. We ended the night with some Madagascar as we had to return the Munks.

Sunday we headed back and surveyed our shopping damage. Abby is definitely set for spring and next fall/winter unless there is a crazy growth spurt. Tim did some more work on the basement and now all the ceilings are finished. There are still small things to finish of course and hundreds of nail holes to fill. We will hopefully work on these this week and then do some shopping for a futon and desk this weekend. Everything is coming together. I'll update with more photos probably after this weekend.

Baby Update: Nothing's happening. Not dilated or effaced at all, so everyone who was thinking the baby would come early can just keep on hoping. I think #2 is holding out until mid-February.

Happy New Year

2009 is upon us and it's been eventful to say the least. Our year started off with a family loss unfortunately. Tim's grandmother, Doris Schmidt, passed away on New Year's Eve. It was quite a shock to all and she will be greatly missed. We are thankful for the time we had with her and that we got to spend this past Christmas with her.

On a happier note, our college group of friends flew in and drove in for New Year's Eve celebrations. We didn't get to spend that much time with everyone but had a good time with the short time we spent. Below are some pictures of the Magic House. Abby had a small fall that resulted in crying in to a nap so the photos are limited.

Here are Abby and Ashley teaming up on their tower. You would never guess that their parent's were engineers.


Abby and Ashley in the kitchen checking out what there is to cook.
Here is Casey changing out a muffler on the toy car. I'm not to sure who had more fun at the Magic House, Casey or the kids......
Abby thought she would check out Casey's work.

We're looking forward to 2009. We have a couple weddings that will add a couple more members to both the Schmidt and Papke families and will be adding some babies as well to both sides. It should be yet, another busy year.

Christmas Update

Well Christmas has come and gone at the Schmidt house. I think it is now called the "Mine, mine, mine" holiday if you had to ask Abby. For a 2 year old she brings in quite the haul from Santa, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and other family members. Of course she loves every present and we are thankful that we have the basement to hide her toy collection. Here's a little update from our festivities this past week.


Here is Abby helping Mommy make some molasses cookies. This is Great Grandma Papke's recipe and is a Papke family tradition to make every Christmas. As you can see we were making a little mess, and I say little because I didn't get to take any photos of her helping me roll out the cookies due to the amount of flour everywhere in the kitchen and on her. I am thankful for my cordless Shark and gets flour out in-between wooden floor pieces.



On Christmas Eve we had a new "Columbian" join our group. Lane Michael Monnig was born on Christmas Eve weighing in at 8 lbs. 11 oz and was 19-1/2 inches long. Abby enjoyed visiting him and Tim and I were reminded we would be there sooner than later and should really finish up the nursery at our house. Julie and Nick are doing great and are back home with Lane.

Here are some photos of Abby opening gifts from Santa at our house. She got some kitchen accessories to go with her kitchen from her birthday. We've been "baking" ever since.
Making cookies already.

And of course since Tim and I had a couple days off there was of course basement progress. Mostly due to my parents staying at our house Sunday night on their way down to AZ. So officially (minus the closet) the guest bedroom is back in service at Hotel Schmidt. We're very pleased with how it turned out, and have a little motivation to get the rest going I think.

One last photo of Abby with another gift from Grandma and Grandpa Papke, a harmonica. She enjoys her music and thankfully hasn't figured out how hard to blow on the harmonica to really make it work. But that day is not far off.

That wraps up our Christmas celebrations. We are very lucky to have had safe travels to all celebrations and to have received such wonderful gifts. Now it's on to a New Year's celebration with the college crew. Hopefully I'll be able to stay up to midnight!

Happy Holidays and Safe Travels

Merry Christmas and safe holiday travels to all. We hope this holiday season is as blessed as ours is. As you can see Abby can't wait for Santa to show up.


All was well after she got a sticker and a candy cane.

Putting up Christmas ornaments on the tree. Such the little helper! All the ornaments are on the lower branches and touching the floor due to the weight. Mom & Dad had to do some rearranging after she went to bed.

IA Deer Season

My Dad had a successful hunting season this year in IA. It had been a while since he had shot anything and he shot a good sized 10 point buck. Needless to say he's a happy camper and has a
"story to tell" on this one in person if you see him. I'll be thankful for the deer salami, jerky, and sticks from this lovely buck.

IL Deer Season

Another successful deer season for the Schmidt family, and especially Tim this year. He is quite pleased with a 9 point buck he shot. If you are lucky, in about a month or so you'll be able to see it hanging somewhere at our house, preferable the basement or hallway.


This was the photo Tim sent out after he shot it, he was pretty excited to say the least, boasting he already knew what he wanted for Christmas and his birthday.

The proud hunter.

Just a shot of all the bucks that were shot this season. They brought in some good sized bucks so I think everyone is happy about it. There are some nice 10 pointers in the bunch.

Now that deer season is over it's back to the basement and prepping for #2. The list of small tasks never seems to get shorter.