Spring Break 2015

This year we drove to Sarasota Florida for our spring break and we got to spend a week staying at my sister Tricia and hubby Mark's house.  Unfortunently their girls were NOT on spring break but we tried to do several things with them when they got out of school for the day and we made the most of the weekend with them too.  What a wonderful week we had with great weather, and wonderful hosts!!  Thanks so much Koehl's for letting us crash at your place.  Pictures in no particular order....

 We all went out to eat at Bonefish one evening.  Kids had their own table and got compliments on being well behaved by surrounding tables:).

 One day Rain was in the forecast so we took our kids to a dollar theater and watched Paddington.  Really super cute movie!!  Ellie fell asleep pretty much at the beginning of the movie.

 We went to the beach Saturday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and played all day from 10am-4pm.  Kids had fun and each day Elijah was determined to build or create something.

This day they decided a bench to eat lunch would be ideal.....so with Nick's help they created a large couch and it worked awesome for lunch time or just to sit and rest. 

Ellie would get pretty tired out there all day so we would bring her "blankie" and make a little shaded bed area for her to nap.  Worked well when she did nap:).

 Lots of playing was had and LOTS of ice cream eating too.  EVERY night in fact!!!  Kids standing around waiting patiently for their ice cre

 One day we had amazing waves....Kept the boys very busy.

 Thursday evening Grandpa and Grandma Gutwein treated us all to Sweet Tomato's Restaurant.  Yummy!!!

 Nick was kind enough to play "lunch and house" with Ellie.  So cute!!

What a great trip we had.  Only two days of rain and the rest where warm, sunny and amazing.  Thanks again to Mark, Tricia and girls for letting us come stay with you!!!

Happy 6th Birthday!!

March 20th was Liam's birthday.  Hard to believe he turned 6 years old, but then again each year seems to pass by quicker than the previous year.  Liam is very much into Nerf Guns and thus making his decor and cake Nerf themed.

 Kids at their "usual" spots eating dinner.  Liam wanted Hamburgers for his meal.  I then had mom bring orange tapioca jello salad, made some orange carrot "nerf" bullets, and had orange punch for drink.

 Time for gifts.  He got a new nerf gun, some bullets, a water gun, clothes, adventures in Odyssey cd's, candy, sand toys, sidewalk chalk and much more.

 Cake time!!  Happy 6th Birthday Liam Nicholas.  We love you dearly and enjoy watching you learn and come home from Kindergarten with such knowledge:).

February 22nd, 2015 and March 27th, 2015

Memories:
* Arriving at Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt's house in Minnesota every Christmas to yummy Ham and Bean soup.  Followed by "sauce" for dessert which was homemade canned peaches on top of vanilla ice cream.
* Being called a "little shaver" by my dear grandpa.
* Grandpa making us toast for breakfast and always having Braunschweiger smeared all over the toast. (actually bought some several weeks back to honor grandpa...it didn't taste like I remembered it).
* On top of the oven was a glass bowl of hard candies and a basket that held walnuts that needed to be cracked open in order to eat them.  So there was always a nut cracker in that basket too.
* Church....Grandpa was a minister so I remember him preaching often when we were there visiting.
*Both Grandpa and Grandma wore Vicks on their eyelids and under their nose when they would go to bed at night.  Sometimes as a little girl Id go get some from them and do it too.  Needless to say it kept my eyes closed at night:).
* Grandma would always have yummy homemade pickles for us to munch on....and we would eat several quarts worth during our christmas stay.  I now have her recipe and I also grow the pickles and can them using her recipe.  Yum!!
*  Grandma and Grandpa's basement was the best.  Lots of creative times down there with all of my cousins.  From dress up, to hide and seek, to playing "santa clause", to eating at the very long picnic table the width of their basement and to playing battleship.
* Grandpa and Grandma had this "hill" behind their house that we would sled down each winter.  When I was back in Lafayette Minnesota where they use to live, I had the opportunity to drive by their old home......wow, that "hill" seemed so much bigger when I was a kid!!

I am sure I could come up with many more wonderful things I remember of my Grandpa and Grandma.  Oh how I loved them dearly.  This past Christmas our family went up for Christmas basically as a "goodbye" to my grandma.  We knew her health was failing her and so we went to see her what we thought was our last time.  Even took 4 generation picture with her.  Grandpa was his usual self and knew us and was still active trying to care for Grandma.

It was only about 8 weeks later that my Grandpa's health declined rapidly and he passed away on February 22nd, 2015

His funeral and visitation was large.  All 30 1st cousins were there.  So we took a picture since it had been YEARS since we last were all together.

The yellow butterfly resembles Rachel who is the ONLY person in the immediate family that has passed away prior to Grandpa and Grandma.

Then 4 weeks and 3 days later my dear Grandma went to be with Jesus as well.  So thankful that her and grandpa could reunite so quickly.  Sure will miss them dearly but so thankful they are "HOME".  They had a wonderful life of 73 years of marriage!!

Winter Progression

So Ellie was begging to go outside.  Last year she hated the snow and I wasn't really in the mood to dress her all up just to get her out there to cry.  But Caden insisted I give it a try.  So, much to my dismay I bundled her up.

 Caden puts her on this sled (on the sidewalk mind you), and she screams and cries and wants off and back in the house.  I didn't budge to quickly and I figured Id leave her out there a bit to cry and realize that she indeed didn't really like snow(and maybe I was hoping that she wouldn't ask to go out again:)).

 But before long Caden had her tears under control and he was helping her walk in the snow....

And then...even touch the snow.......

 And before long she was crawling in the snow.  I opened up the door and asked her if she was having fun to which she replied "yes".  I busied about the house and checked on her again and found her like this.....

 Back into that sled she went and was having a ball.  I guess.....thanks to Caden's diligent efforts she was out for nearly an hour having the time of her life.

 The very next day the kids went out to play and of course Ellie wanted to play outside too.  So I bundled her up and out she went.  When we have a small amount of snow and really no large drifts to get stuck in, the boys love getting out the go-kart.  They tie a ski rope to the back, get their round flying sauce snow sled, and have a blast.  Within a few short minutes of Ellie being outside she was already flying around the yard with Caden on the disc and loving it!!!

Now I am not a fan of winter by any means, but when there is just a small amount of snow and the weather is nice......the kids will play for hours out there and well,,,,,,that I like!!!

Memories

What else do you do on snow days besides play in snow????  You get creative and make indoor forts.  They boys got out oodles of blankets and set to work creating this huge 4 room fort.  They loved it so much they played in it for nearly 3 hours and NO FIGHTING was heard either in those 3 hours!!  

They really had fun....so much fun that Elijah, Caden and Liam slept in the tent over night.  

 The kids were looking through old scrapbooks and came across a picture of me and my roommates in college (briana, rachel and miranda) making this exact tower.  They insisted on doing it too. Yes, ellie so wanted to be the top of it, but I wouldn't let her since the tower was VERY unsteady!!!

Christmas Celebrations

We had several Christmas celebrations this year that we attended, including the Schmidt Christmas that I posted a couple posts back.  I hosted the Leon Waibel Christmas at our house.  Below is a picture of the first cousins with Leon.

 Then we also had the Jerry Gutwein Christmas and invited Gramps/Grams and aunt Joan to this
Christmas since this year my sister Tricia and her family were unable to come home for Christmas.  The first time that's ever happened in 14 years.  We sure missed them, but thankful to have a wonderful Christmas non the less.

 Obviously we had our own family Christmas too:).  We started out with a fancy meal in the dinning room with our good china(tradition).

 Then we clean up dishes and open stockings and gifts.

 Then we typically have Chocolate Fondue but Elijah has been begging to make cheesecake and so I asked the kids if we could change it this year.  So below is Elijah's cheesecake he made.  We all agree it was good, but we are going back to the Fondue next year:)

 The Gerry Waibel Christmas had yet another wonderful array of appetizers as our main meal.  Oh it was so good!!  Always look forward to what everyone brings.  Oh and NO.....Elijah and Avery had NO IDEA they were both wearing those sweatshirts.  Kelli nor I knew each other had bought them as Christmas gifts for our boys!!  Guess we must have a similar taste.

Snow Days

Christmas Break is over, kids returned to school on Tuesday, just to then have the remainder of the week off again.  Snow days.  Seems to be a repeat of last year.  Thankfully my kids made the most of it and even though bitter cold they ventured outdoors at least twice daily.  They would stay out for about 1 hour then I MADE them come in a couple times to warm up with hot chocolate and another layer of clothes:).  This morning I decided to put on a coat, gloves and ear gear and head out myself to snap a few pictures.  Wow, its windy and cold out there.  Glad my boys love it and don't mind the cold to much.

 We put up a snow fence this year for the first time and yay its working!!  And now the kids have a nice drift to work with too.

 Building a wall to protect them from the wind.  Nice work!!!  Way to be creative!!

Happy Snow Days to them.....now I am really ready for a full week of school next week:) !!  Its due time to get back into a routine!!