Strawberry Festival

Ah yes, it's Strawberry Festival season. We just got back from Long Grove for the annual Strawberry Festival. I've realized that it has been 30 years since I ran my first race at the Long Grove Strawberry Festival. 30 years and so many things haven't changed. See my examples below.

Waiting an eternity for the race to start

My first race! 1986 (I'm #77 on Papa's shoulder)

Sam's waiting with his hands in his pockets



Laura's checking her sports bra.

Pushing it

1989

Pictures with cousins

1989

 

 

Plenty of disappointing finishes

1986

But...every once in a while, all the stars would align

1987. 1st Place in 1 mile race

2016 1st overall female finisher in 1/4 mile race

The overall 1/4 mile and mile winners



Sam got a trophy! Whew! Fourth place in his age division for 1/4 mile.
 

Laura got to ride in a float too. She waved like a pageant queen. I'm not sure why?



Oh, Long Grove...the town that time forgot. 

(Please don't change)

Landscaping

It took one month and one day to complete the landscaping project we Eric worked on and it looks great!
We may have been focusing a little too much on the landscaping though. The last day of preschool everyone was to share one thing they're looking forward to over the summer and Sam shared that he's looking forward to watching the landscaping grow. ;-/

Enjoy the pictures from Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Liz's latest visit for Dam to Dam.

Preschool Spring Sing

Sam's first year of preschool is coming to a close. He had a great year and looked so grown up standing on the stage today singing away and getting his certificate. Oh my heart!

The Sports Bra

Laura's been asking and asking for a sports bra ever since seeing our 8 year old neighbor running around the neighborhood last summer wearing one. To encourage Laura to get more exercise, I told her I would get her a sports bra, but she would have to do something "sporty" while wearing it and she had to keep her shirt when she was out in public.
The Strawberry Stampede is right around the corner and I've been trying to get the kids to "train" for the 1/4 mile race. (I know...I'm becoming Rhea Green.) On the first day of training Laura quit after 200 meters. The second time we trained she made it around the track one time and called it a day.
On Sunday, she was "sporting" her new sports bra on and didn't want to quit. She ran a mile and told me it was easy. I guess I didn't buy her a sports bra...we got a miracle bra!

Sports bra and wool leggings...what a combo. (We had the track to ourselves so we weren't in public according to Laura)

Strong!

Mother's Day

All About My Mom.

My mom's Name is Heather

She is 19 years old

When I am at Preschool my mom goes to work

My mom's favorite food is vegetables

My favorite thing to do with my mom is play games with her

I love my mom because she's so pretty.

By: Sam


My Mom

My mom's name is Hether Schulz

My mom knows how to bace (bake)

My mom can run

My mom likes to have fun and run

My mom doesn't like to get mad

My mom cooks the best slopee jowes (sloppy joes)

My mom looks very pretty when she wers neclisin (wears necklaces)
By: Laura


I'm one lucky mama!

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. :-)