Preschool Graduate!

Eleanor graduated... from preschool!  She was so very excited for us to come watch her graduate.  She kept the songs secret until the big "show".  She picked out her own dress to wear.  She went big and fluffy!  She did some of her own hair styling and picked a necklace out of my jewelry.  She looked beautiful.  I tried to hide the sting I was feeling in my heart. Seems like just yesterday that I was so nervous about dropping her off for her first day.   Afraid of whether she would be able to use the potty all by herself.  Wondering how she would react to other kids.  If she would be scared.  During the first year, she went through a stage where she was scared of the boys.  She is still not crazy about ALL of them, but she has a few that she lists as friends (Sam, Max, Eli and Hunter).  What a joy to watch her gain such confidence in herself, and such pride in what she accomplishes.  That is the biggest thing I noticed from her preschool experience.  Socially she really found her wings, and I can't help but to admire how courageous she is now.  She is eager to introduce herself to "friends" at the park, playground, store.  I am so glad that she is not shy like her mama!

Posing with Daddy.

Showing off her bug friend... nothing like pearls and pill bugs!

The big day!

I had to get a shot of the usual morning minivan line up.  My friend Amy Bean and I would take turns running  our kids into school while the other stayed out with the younger kids.  Nothing like a friend that understands what it is like to buckle and rebuckle 3 kids.  I will miss our Y and library mornings with our boys.  :(

The graduate!  She was such a ham on stage!  She was loving the attention.  My favorite part was when she started yelling, "Will!  Will!  Look at me!  I am on stage!"  Then... in the car on the way home.  "Now do you see why I had to wear a beautiful dress, boys?  I got to be up on stage.  Now do you understand?"  ha!

Mrs. Trowbridge, Eleanor, Mrs. Green

Two more photos from a regular school day...

A picture of Will and Thomas getting a drink... a perk of dropping Eleanor off at class!

Here is a picture of Eleanor showing off her tadpole to the boys.  They were quite impressed.  "Hey Boys, Want to see my tadpole?!  I caught him at the lake, and he is going to turn into a frog."

On to kindergarten we go!  Yeah!  Gulp!

Super Schmittles!!!

Well, we are super hero crazy these days!  Spiderman, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman... we can't get enough!  Linda made these adorable capes for the kids about a year ago, and they weren't that into them at the time...  but NOW they fly all over the house chasing each other!  Thomas usually likes to play the bad guy, but this night... he was good.  

They were moving to fast, so I let them climb on my bed in hopes of snagging a good picture of all 3.  Well... most of the pictures were still blurry, but I got a few with Adam's help!

Well, Eleanor decided to be Flower Girl.  She ran out to the yard and picked these flowers to complete her look.  Notice all of the flower hair clips too.  She told me that Flower Girl would shoot flowers on bad guys, and the flowers would smell so good that the bad guys won't be able to stop smelling them... and then she could catch them.  Love it!

This cracks me up.  Will has no shame about his nose picking.  Can't figure out how to break that one.  Thomas is holding up "music dog".  They each have a "music dog" that was given to them by Adam's CVS boss when they were born.  They just recently became a needed thing at bedtime, so luckily I found the 2nd one at the top of Eleanor's closet.  I thought I had sent it to Goodwill. Never know what toy they will remember and NEED!  Scary stuff... be swallowed by kid crap or risk heart break.

Random Pics That Make Me Smile

Eleanor designed and took this picture.

This is the face I get when I try to get Adam to smile during bath time!

Thomas holds on like a little baboon baby when you carry him, and it is one of my favorite things ever.  He always hops on like this in the morning for his ride to the couch for warm milk (yep, that is his request) and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I love the way his head just tucks right into my neck and shoulder.  

Sweet cuddle boy!

Earth Day

I had to work this past weekend.  Adam took the kids to Ace to pick out a tree to plant for Earth Day.  What a super daddy!  He said that Eleanor was telling everyone she saw in the store that they should buy a tree because it was Earth Day!  Our little tree hugger!  It was so cold an windy out, but these 2 were out there for nearly 2 hours gardening.  They also put some strawberry plants and a few bulbs in Eleanor's new garden that we just created this spring.  She likes to explain how first little white flowers will form, then green strawberries, and finally they turn red and you can pick them.  The past 3 years of taking her to the fields to pick strawberries is paying off...   ha!  It will be interesting to see what her garden looks like mid summer!  She has added a lot of random seeds and starts already.  Love her green thumb!

Eleanor's birthday continues

How many cakes can a 5 year old have for her birthday???  Never enough if your name is Eleanor and you LOVE chocolate cake!  Aunt Denise and Uncle Hans hosted a birthday party for Eleanor this past weekend at their new lake cottage on Waldron Lake.  We were ALL so sick the week before and going into Eleanor's birthday and Easter.  Grandpa Schmitt had came to babysit since Adam and I were both working full time to cover Spring Break.  We felt awful when (OF ALL WEEKS) we get the death flu.  Left poor Grandpa with 3 sick kids and infected him with our germs.  What an amazing guy.  We were so appreciative and SO sorry that we brought him into our germy mess!  Well... back to the cottage... it looks AMAZING, but of course... I did not get any pictures to put on here.  They just moved in furniture last weekend.  I see a lot of good moments to come at Waldron!

Posing at the end of the dock with their cousins.  Eliza just turned 9 months.  Eleanor and Mahri are inseparable these days when we get together.

Hans dug around the trees to save them from being choked out by the earth moved during construction.  It made awesome bunkers for the kids to play in.  Big holes and sandy dirt... perfect!

I absolutely LOVE this picture that Adam took.  I can see this is a frame.  He went down to fish with my Dad and Uncle Tony.  The kids all have poles with the rubber thing on the end instead of the hook, and they were so excited to "wet a line".  He says it was not as much fun as it looks.  3 kids standing on a sea wall, flinging poles around, tangling lines, needing help...  Yeah, I think I lucked out with my alone time at the campfire!

After they came back from their fishing adventures, we took a walk to "turtle land" as Denise was calling it.  They are on Eagle Island, so there is a lot of wetland/nature preserve surrounding their point.  The creek beside the road was filled with turtles sunning themselves on logs, much to the kids' delight!  Thomas was showing me a flower.  I feel like the luckiest woman alive these days.  These boys try to out do each other with the flowers and sweet  words they tell me.  I can't go outside with them without a handful of dandelions in my hand!  They fill my heart up!  Just the other day the Y teacher came up as we were leaving with a colored sheet.  I oohed and ahhed and asked Thomas if he did it.  He had the sweetest pause and started to shake his head no, then I saw his eyes light up. He said, "It is for you, Mommy!"  Sweet smile and all.  Then Will chimes in loudly, "No, Thomas!  I made that for you Mommy!"  Sweet smile from him.  It made me laugh.  Poor Thomas didn't want to not have something to give me too.  I am a lucky lady!

Swim Class

 We have talked about it so many times, and we finally did it!  We enrolled all 3 of the kids in swim classes at the Y.  We were unsure how things would go.  This is how it started... all 3 hanging on the side of the pool.  Notice Thomas' face!  ha!  Like... what have you got me into mom?!!  Where is my life jacket?   And who is this crazy bald guy behind me?

So, in this next picture, you can see Will starting to be his daredevil self.  He starts seeing how far down he can go.  Well, he does that for a while.  A little smirk on his face... moving his head back and forth.  Then, he just lets go!!  I see him slowly sinking down... eyes WIDE OPEN!  The lifeguards are talking and do not notice at first, so I jump up off my chair to rescue him.  The lifeguards get him first.  They comfort him as he cried a bit... then he went right back into the class.  Woooo.  Sigh of relief that that little event did not send them all off the deep end... ha!  Notice... Thomas' face still hasn't changed!

Will making sure we see his big jump.  :)  Yep!  We see you, brave guy!













This is week 3.  Adam has to work late tomorrow, so I will be taking them by myself... gulp!  Let's hope these kids learn to swim and love the water like their daddy!  Or... at least learn how to doggy paddle/breast stroke like their mama!  I don't think we will be ditching the life jackets any time soon though.  I am not sure my nerves can handle it!

Eleanor is 5!!!

 My sweet baby girl is 5!  I can't even begin to come up with words to describe the joy and love I feel for this child.  She is a beam of sunlight shining on each of my days.  She is so unbelievably creative and funny.  She can create the most beautiful pictures or clay creatures and give them each a name, story, and personality.  The things that come out of her mouth keep me on my toes and keep my laughing.  She finds life interesting and is never, ever bored.  She can ALWAYS come up with something to do... a new adventure or creature to find.  I hope that this love for life, need to explore, kindness for all living things, and talent for creating art continues to blossom.  I am so proud of the little person she is becoming, and I hope I do all I can to help her continue to grow and learn.  She always makes this wish, "I wish that we can be best friends forever and ever."  Me too, my sweet baby girl.  Me too.  I don't think anything in the world would make me more happy than that.  I love you!  Thank you for making your way into the world and our hearts 5 years ago!

This is her on top of a sand mountain at Chain O Lakes last week. She loves to get dirty.  All of a sudden this year, she is fearless.  Climbing anything she comes across.  She has conquered some hills, some playgrounds, and a few short trees.  She has so much confidence and drive... but a height disadvantage thanks to her genes... ha!

This is a REAL Easter Bunny that she found at Crooked Lake Nature Preserve on her  birthday.  I  could not believe she picked it right up.  The little rabbit was so calm, and she held him like a baby.  It was a hard thing to do, but we did put him back where we found him.  She would have LOVED to bring Lovey a friend, but understood that he would miss his mommy.  What a little nature lover!  She got a new Doctor jacket for her birthday from the Bean's.  She has been pretending to be a Veterinarian on her stuffed animals.  

Bring back the naps!!

Thomas is the sweetest boy ever... UNLESS he is tired.  Then he likes to pick and start fights with his siblings, and just general naughty stuff.  We have been adjusting to Adam's new schedule.  I have been trying to keep the kids up in hope of getting them to bed early.  Throw in the time change.  Odd 80 degree weather and many long days at the park running and playing.  What do you get?  Wild, overly tired kids who do not want to listen.  Thomas was mad about something... never quite figured out what.  He was growling at me from the bottom stair, so I decided it was best to ignore him and start making dinner.  Well, I didn't hear any whining, so I went to investigate.  I found him sound asleep on the floor in the front room.  Baby Jaguar in hand.   Today... we were sure to get a nap in, and my sweet, darling, non-growling kids were back!!!

Nature Girl

Eleanor spent yesterday weeding the garden on hands and knees (by her own choice).  She is such a nature girl.  She also rolled over each and every rock.  Looked for worms and centipedes.  She would find a worm, pick it up.  Roll over the next rock in search of a new worm hole, then place the worm by the hole and let him climb on in to his comfy new home.  ha!  She was outside for hours doing this.  :)

I was inside getting the boys dried off and in clothes.  My sister and her kids were over, so I was helping with baby Eliza.  I thought Eleanor was still working on her worm project, but I went outside to check on her.  I found her completely naked (I used the edited picture here) and covered in mud.  She said she wanted to be a Brown Mud Monster.  That she was.

No Fear

Well, this is how you hold a snake Mom.  It is no big deal when you have nerves of steal and love for all creatures, no matter how ugly.  See the attitude on the face?!  The Romano family found this snake at Aunt Denise's new lake cottage and knew that Eleanor would just love him.  She named him Pebbles and spent the day searching for worms and slugs for him to eat. This girl would have a whole house full of creepy crawly pets if I would let her!  Pebbles spent 3 days at Casa de Schmitt, but found a new home in the woods this afternoon (with my rubber gloves and bucket to help).  I know there might be some heartache when she finds her friend is gone, but I thought it was better than a dead snake friend... and we all know it won't be the last critter pet!

Band-Aid Man

Will has been destroying his poor knees ever since this weird warm streak started a week ago!  He is flat on his face at least 2 times a day, and this is a low estimate!  He has become obsessed with Band-Aids.  We blew threw a box of transformers in one week.  Each time we go to the park, new skinned knee wound to show for it.  The poor guy in childwatch at the Y actually tried to tape his band-aid back together for him last Saturday to stop the flow of tears from Will.  So... to get to the story behind this picture.  We made a special trip to Wal-mart for more band-aids tonight.  No transformer, but oh the luck... they had SPIDERMAN!!!  They are these strange waterproof tattoo kind.  Well, we took a bath.  I put one on each knee.  We read our books.  We said goodnight.  I went up for bed an hour later, and there he is at the top of the stairs asking for water.  I took him in the bathrom, turned on the light... and WOW!  Will had been busy using each and every one on his legs.  Lesson learned.  Never leave a box of band-aids with a 3 year old boy!  :)