It's Halloween

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

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

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

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

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"

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!

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!