Jason has been working in our storage room this winter trying to turn it into the toy room for the kids. It is coming along rather well. Libby has been his dedicated helper through most of the project. It's hard to tell from the photo's but she fancied up her tool belt by using her pink sparkly belt to make it more girly!
with screws. She was handing Jason one screw at a time. It must have taken at least 5 mins. per screw. She had to dig in her pouch for just the right one, hand it to Jason, and wait for him to ask for another. She couldn't possibly get one ready, she had to wait until he asked! Poor Daddy, I think he only got one sheet hung the whole afternoon, but Libby loved every moment of it!
January has been a great month for Iz! She spent her first New Years with us and her Grama Shari and Papa Ed. She wasn't much of a party animal and almost made it until Midnight.
Everyone loves picture games where you have to find what's wrong with the photo or find hidden objects. Let's see how well you can do! Below you will find a couple of pictures of Libby's christmas tree. She decorated it herself.
1. One blue bike chain
Jason's friend Eric and his family came over this way from Omaha for a wrestling tournament. We met them in Amana so the kids could swim. The kids have only been together a couple of times, but it seems like they pick up right where they left off! We all had a great time!
We celebrated Papa Ed's birthday a day early because he had to go back to work tonight. We had an early dinner at the Texas Road House and headed over to their house for dessert and presents.
The highlight of Papa's birthday is always the card he gets from Uncle Vic. Every year the card is loaded full of junk, but it is always a great laugh! The things in the card are always so random! However, this year someone opened the side of the envelope and stole my Dad's root beer money! So this year there was an expired calendar, a bread tie, a rubber band, a dirty adult joke, a police card of his son John in Montana, 11 cents (what was left of the root beer money), a wet wipe, a ticket for the train at the zoo, and an article from the 1999 newspaper. My Dad keeps every card and the envelops they come in. On a less interesting note Papa also got a couple of shirts and a table for some saw he has.
Libby was excited that Papa turned 4 like her and Maison enjoyed serenading Papa with his alien mask.
We left Rolfe late Christmas Eve night and dropped the kids off at Grama Shari and Papa Ed's house, so Santa would know where to drop the gifts off. We got to their house a little after midnight and the kids woke up long enough to grab their i-dogs, get into the house, and into bed. Jason, Izzy, and I headed home to sleep in our own bed. (There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed)
We got the call early the next morning informing us that Santa had left presents all over the place. We didn't even have time to shower. We loaded up Izzy and headed over. Santa brought Maison and Libby each their own computer that hooks up to our computer, soaps, and thermos mugs for hot coco. Izzy got some bath soap and a cool rain forest mat to play on. Daddy got some almonds, 4lbs of Twizzlers and Cyclone season tickets to share with Mommy. Mommy got her family calendar, tarts from Yankee Candle, and chocolate sticks that the kids ate! (Those dirty rats ate my sticks last year too!)
We were going to take a break so everyone could get cleaned up, but the kids were much too excited! They got lots of great things! Maison got his K'nex, a cool mug that plays xmas music, some movies, a Wall-E ornament, lots of tape and some other things I can't remember right now! Libs got her Easy Bake oven, food, a decorator, movies, her fairy ornament, a cool dance outfit, dress-up clothes, a mug that plays xmas music, a cool make-up kit, and lots of other things I again can't remember either! Izzy got a homemade blanket, clothes, toys, socks, her first ornament, and a hat and gloves. Jason and I got a Willow Tree Nativity, he got a new razor, and some gift cards. I too got some gift cards, but most importantly a mini banana bread loaf pan! (Mine rusted out and I haven't been able to replace it. Leave it to my mom to give me hers! The best present ever!)
All in all it was a great Christmas! However, I don't think the kids will eat turkey anytime soon which is unfortunate because Jason's folks gave us a great smoked turkey! We had turkey at Thanksgiving, our family Christmas, the Allen Christmas, and the Schmidt Christmas! Gobble Gobble!
Now, where are we going to put everything? Good Will here we come!
We headed to Rolfe late Sunday afternoon for Christmas. The kids spent a few days with Grammy and Papa before their cousins Sydney Lynn, Hayley, and Addy arrived. The kids woke up early on Christmas Eve morning to open presents.
Everyone got everything they wanted plus more! Maison was really excited about his i-dog, zero gravity car, and helicopter! Libby was really really excited about her potty girl, i-dog, doll clothes and her pink reindeer sweatshirt (John Deere) from Papa! I think it will take a while for everything to sink in! They always get such great things and so many things, I think they forget what they have gotten. Poor Izzy slept through most of the present opening, but she got some really great things as well! It will be interesting to see how the kids react when we unpack it all. It will be like Christmas all over again! Maybe we should put some of it away for next Christmas. I wonder if they would even notice?
This year Uncle Rog and Papa Dan rented a big bouncy house for the kids to play in at the barn! The kids probably spent 10 or more hours bouncing around in that thing! The adults even joined in on the fun.
One of Santa's helpers dropped some gifts off at the barn for the kids. Maison and Libby got these really cool alien masks that can disguise their voices. Unfortunately, the grab bag event didn't go so well. Maison got a Dalmatian that he wanted but a few of the adults kept taking it away, which wasn't really all that fun. With the help of his Mom and Dad he was able to keep hold of it. Libby was lucky in her draw in that she got the last number, but not fully understanding how the whole thing works she also was reduced to tears. The good news is that she got the last gift which was an ornament that we made of the kids singing "Jingle Bells" which turned out to be a great gift for her Christmas tree! This kids weren't too traumatized and will soon forget when they have another whole round of gift opening tomorrow!
We decided to do something a little different this year. We only bought one gift for our whole family, which was a Wii. We bought it a week or so before Christmas. We decided it was meant to be after a series of weird circumstances.
We were going to by one for Maison last year for his birthday, but ever since the Wii came out, we haven't been able to come across one anywhere! I have never seen one in the store before. Needless to say, Maison didn't get it for his birthday. However, while we were in North Dakota, I was shopping at the Wal-Mart there when on the loud speaker I heard..."Attention shoppers, we just received a large shipment of Wiis. Anyone interested should make their way back to electronics." I called Jason, but we decided to pass just because we didn't want to spend money we didn't have. We kicked ourselves afterwards because we decided the Wii would be a more practical gift than anything we had seen in the store!
So there Libby and I are grocery shopping one Friday afternoon when I made a pit stop in the electronic department just to see if they had a Wii. Low and behold, there one was! I couldn't believe it! I called Jason immediately and we decided to get it. As I am flagging an employee down, a man came down the isle looking for a Wii I assumed. I couldn't help myself and loudly stated..."I called it!" Lucky for me, he found my enthusiasm funny! I bought the Wii and accessories right in front of Libby and she didn't even notice! She was busy playing Mario Cart.
That night the kids had a sleepover at Grama Shari and Papa Ed's, so Jason and I decided to get the whole thing set up. We even played a game of golf. We unplugged the counsel and put it in the game closet. Hoping that the obvious would be less obvious. Seems like the sneaker we try to be, the faster the kids catch on.
We wrapped the empty boxes and decided to make clues for the kids to find their present. The clues were adapted from the story "The Night Before Christmas". We thought it was clever, but the kids seemed to tire of the clues rather quickly. When they finally opened their gift, the reaction was not what we thought it was going to be. They wanted to play right a way, but Libby asked where the rest of the presents were. I told her that was it and she says with both hands on her hips..."You know, kids like lots of presents for Christmas."
We assumed it was a bigger hit than we thought primarily because they wouldn't let Jason and I play, so we got up early the next morning and played 9 holes of golf. Jason was 11 over and I was only 26 over. Is there such a thing called a septuple bogey? There should be!
Libby is once again in dance this year and is loving it! I was a little worried about their outfit this year, Cutie Pie, because it is anti-pink! For anyone that knows Libby, everything has to be some shade of pink, which now includes red and purple.The day of her performance she was really excited and got all dressed up. She even talked me into a little makeup! Her class did very well considering the gym was packed and there was standing room only! I am so surprised how a large crowd doesn't even phase her!
We took a family trip up to North Dakota for Thanksgiving. It was Izzy's first major road trip and to our surprise, she did really really well in the car! We made the trip in about 13hrs. Not too bad considering all of the stops we made.
Seems like almost every time we go that way Maison gets car sick. We were there a whole day before it kicked in. Of course it happened while I was trying to take a shower! He ended up barfing all over the toilet seat lid and the floor! Yuck! Jason was stuck cleaning it up because I was conveniently in the middle of a shower. To my dismay, he threw a bunch of paper towels into the toilet which plugged it up! I told him if I had to go to the front desk and ask for a plunger I was going to tell them he pooped up the toilet! Luckily for Jason, he managed to get the toilet to flush without the assistance of a plunger!
The kids enjoyed a dip in the pool after everyone was feeling better!
For Grama's birthday we all had dinner at the Elk's Club. Our family was late as usual. Not because we wanted to be but because I can't seem to get us all ready in a timely fashion. I like to blame it on the baby. It wasn't so bad because we had the birthday girl with us. In the video below, about 95% of the pictures were taken by Maison. He really loves photography and video!
After dinner we headed over to Uncle Don and Aunt Cindy's house for cake, ice cream, and presents. Poor Libby, the Noodle Man even tried to steal her cake! (For those who may not know or remember, a couple of summers ago when the kids and I took our yearly summer drive up, we had spaghetti at Uncle Don and Aunt Cindy's house for dinner one night. Libby was sitting in between our cousin Brent and I when one of her noodles hit the floor. Brent picked it up and put it on his plate, obviously not wanting to eat it, but Libby freaked out and accused him of stealing her noodles.) The rest is history.
Brent and Stuart stole Libby's purse and were really giving her a hard time. Stuart even made Libby cry! That night when we headed back to the hotel, she practiced up her Kung Fu moves to show them who was boss the next day.
On Thanksgiving everyone tried to talk Libby into leaving her purse at the hotel so the boys wouldn't get it, but we all knew she liked the teasing. When we got to Uncle Don and Aunt Cindy's house the fight was on. Brent and Stuart were no match for Libby's sweet Kung Fu moves! All in all we had a great time! The kids are already discussing our next trip. Unfortunately it won't be anytime soon. Mommy can't handle another 13hr trip in the van with 3 kids all by herself! Maybe this summer.
Hard to believe Izabella is 1 month old already! It has been quite an adjustment, more for me than anyone! Unfortunately she has been quite colicky and has a horrible case of infant acne! (I have a hard time resiting pimple popping!)
Izabella has received lots of wonderful gifts and has accepted many visitors. Great Uncle Bill and Aunt Pat came to visit a couple of weeks ago. (FYI Libby has a pair of butterfly tights that she is absolutely certain Aunt Pat stitched just for her, which is a story all on its own!) Great Aunt Janis and cousins Georgia, Ella, and Ian came to visit a couple of nights ago as well.
Click play for a Halloween treat!
Halloween was quite an ordeal this year. There were a total of 3 celebrations! The weather was perfect...65 degrees and no wind, which meant no coats!
Earlier this fall, Libby had talked Grama Mary into buying her a horsey suit (this has proved to be the best purchase ever!) because she wanted to be a cowgirl this year for Halloween. We already had the hat (a gift from Grama Shari and Papa Ed), Grama Mary provided the horsey, all she needed was a cowgirl shirt. We went to the local cowgirl clothing store and found the perfect shirt; pink pearl snaps and pink sparkly horsies! It was made just for her. Washing and ironing will of course be a whole different story!
Maison wanted to be an apparition this year! We spray painted his hair white, put on his skeleton shirt, and found a ghost robe! Libby was really scared of him and he got her good a couple of times.
Little Izzy was a sleepy pumpkin! She slept through all of the events including trick-or-treating!
