Grandparent Schulz Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Schulz came to visit over the weekend. We managed to pack in the following activities in a 42 hour visit:

*Checked out Laura's art project at the Ankeny Arts Center

*Jumped with Grandma and Grandpa on the jumpoline

*Took family walks around the hood 

*Went to Jester Park to check out our cabins for the July Schulz family vacation 

*Played at Big Creek's wooden playground and nobody got a splinter or stung by a bee

*I snuck in a 5 mile and 11 mile run while Grandma babysat the kids. (The Drake Half is in 2 weeks)

*Put on fashion shows to model Grandma's shopping finds.

*Played games, read books, and fished while Laura and Sam fought and took time outs intermittently. (We couldn't let it be all rainbows and unicorns).

Whew! We did a lot! I would estimate 41 hours of the weekend were recorded digitally. I'm only going to include the top 1% of pictures though. Enjoy!

Spring Break

Spring break used to mean a sunny vacation with friends, day drinking with lots of silliness and careless behavior. Oh, spring break was fun! Times have changed and spring break now parallels the movie, Ground Hogs Day.


Here is a list of activities we did over spring break:
Ice-skating (twice)
Swimming at the Waukee pool (twice)
Doing $2 kids crafts at Michaels (twice)
Setting up and jumping on the trampoline jumpoline  (lots)
Playing with neighbors. (lots)
Watching Daddy play video games. (Surprisingly the kids think this is so much fun.)
Eric suvee cooking or smoking food (every day)


Spring break is still fun, it's just different now. Laura has been going through a "babysitting" stage and would get up with Sam and "babysit" him in the mornings. She'd get his cereal, pour chocolate milk on it (if the white milk jug was too full and heavy) and then they'd snuggle while watching cartoons. How cute is that?!

I'm wrapping up our 2015 home video. During spring break, the kids would go to bed and I would sit at the computer and watch countless hours of home video footage of them. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of brutal. I'm super happy with how it's turning out and the hours spent watching crap footage to find the adorable two second clips here and there are proving to all be worth it.


The days of foam parties, staying up until 3am, and worrying only about myself are long over. Day drinking...now that's another story. ;-)

Can you guess the two that are totally into gaming?

Laura was selected Ashland Ridge's Kindergarten Artist of the Month for her clay Wild Things project. I think she's glowing. :-)

My Sam

Sam is in the phase of saying some pretty funny stuff lately that I know I will forget if I don't write it down. Here's my attempt to bottle his innocence forever.

Me: Sam, I'm feeling sad. You're becoming such a big boy and I don't have a baby in the house any more.

Sam: You can always make another baby.

I had a zit under my nose this week and Sam tried to wipe it away. 

Me: Ouch!

Sam; Oh sorry, I thought it was a booger.

Sam: Where's my iPad (Kindle tablet)

Eric: It's right here charging.

Sam: Oh good, I thought it was lost forever!

Sam: I don't like brussels scouts!

Sam: I want Daddy to set up the jumpoline!

Sam: The sky is awake so I'm awake. 

Me: Sam, what am I going to do with you?

Sam: Keep me.

Valentine's Crush

Laura came home from school this week with news that Adam in her class had a crush on her. I blew it off thinking a friend of a friend of a friend told her this fact and a little annoyed that this love stuff was already invading my precious baby's thoughts at the tender age of six. (I knew riding the bus was going to corrupt her innocence.)

A few weeks ago Laura told me that she really wanted me to attend her classroom Valentine's party as she felt like she was the only kindergartener whose mother couldn't attend the last two class parties (which I thought couldn't possibly be true). She wore me down and I figured out a way to go to this beloved class party on Friday afternoon. The parking lot was packed and I nearly got backed into by another mother who was trying to illegally park. The thought crossed my mind that maybe it was true, every mother is at the classroom party right now. I ended up parking in a neighborhood and walking through snow drifts to get to this very special party. The moment Laura saw me and tried to contain her excitement made it all worth it. I was put in charge of the cookie center which basically meant passing out cookies and making small talk with kindergarteners. When I introduced myself as Laura's mom, a blond haired boy with big ears said, "I have a crush on Laura." Wow! That was bold. I had no idea kindergarteners were so shameless! I just smiled and winked at Laura and she winked right back.

As I walked through the snow to find my car, I thought about what I learned in kindergarten by going to the Valentine's Party. This is what I got...

1.There were probably 5 moms that came to the class party, but the parking lot looks like everyone was there.

2.Laura's love languages are quality time and acts of service.

3.We are so lucky to have such a patient, kind, and organized kindergarten teacher this year.

4.They have got to improve the parking lot situation at the school.

5.Laura is well liked by her classmates (especially Adam).

6.It's totally acceptable to be shameless about your love for others. ❤️

7.Life is good.

Christmas Collage

We figured out what to do with Christmas cards and get our craft on at the same time!

Top Ten Things to Remember from our 10th Wedding Anniversary Trip

While vacationing with Grandma Claussen in the '90s she always insisted on journaling during the trip "so we wouldn't forget". She was so smart as looking back at those journal entries brings back a lot of laughs and treasured memories. Here are the top ten things to remember about our 10th anniversary trip to Jamaica.

10. "Oh my gosh, a security dog was in our room?!" (I misread a note from housekeeping. They wrote: security lok (locked) the safe, but somehow the word "lok" looked like dog.)

9. Beautiful, sunny days everyday and eating breakfast on our balcony many mornings.

8. "Look at that cruise ship out there in the distance," Eric said while walking around the beach the last night of our stay.

"I don't think that's a cruise ship. It looks too small. It's just a boat with lights," I said. 

As it turns out Eric found an online site to track cruise ships in the ocean in real time. Not only was "the boat with lights" a cruise ship, it was the biggest cruise ship in the world!

7. Swinging on the water swings as long as your feet stayed up and your hands didn't get too blistered.

6. The glass bottom boat ride which left me dry heaving in some bushes. (I think I do want to forget that one.)

5. The White Party and dancing until we were sweaty, just like our first date.

4. Chillaxing in the water hammock.

3. Reserving chairs in the morning with Eric's broken sandals and spending the days reading on the beach.

2. Getting updates from Grandma and Grandpa Schulz & Aunt Liz of all the fun things the kids were doing in Glen Ellyn and Chicago.

1. Feeling renewed and refreshed with the guy that I love so so much. The past 10 years have gone by so quickly. In 10 more years Laura will behind the wheel of a car and Sam will have a driver's permit with a changing voice and quite possibly the beginning signs of a mustache. I think we need to hit the slow motion button on this adventure called life. 

Christmas

At the dentist, the hygentist told me she wished her kids were 6 & 4 again at Christmastime. With the cute things the kids said and done at Christmas, I know why...

While looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve Laura said, "I kind of have happy tears in my eyes right now.."

On a walk around the neighborhood on Christmas Eve night to look for Santa's reindeer or sleigh tracks, Sam told a neighbor he's asking for a special car for Christmas with a phone...that was news to me!

Sam is an optimist. 

What do you think, Sam?  "Good." 

How do you feel, Sam? "Good." 

How'd you sleep, Sam? "Good."

What can I say, life is good.

Laura woke up at 3am at Grandma's house on Christmas night. I laid with her for a while and she told me that grandma's cat likes her, but by the end of the week he's going to love her. He just needs to get used to her.

I checked out the Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandma's to get the kids in Grandma Camp mode. Sam would always "read" along at parts in the book that discussed the grandparents being so...old.

Laura got a swimmable mermaid tail from Santa for Christmas. She can't walk in it, but enjoys just laying around the house fanning her tail back and forth. I keep thinking of the movie, Splash.