Tomorrow, Tomorrow!!!

I'm so excited about tomorrow!!! ALL 3 of my sisters (from FL) and mom are coming in town tomorrow morning for a girls weekend!!! It's my mom's 60th birthday, and we're all going to go to Williamsburg to celebrate! Tomorrow is actually mom oldest sister's birthday, so we'll celebrate her tomorrow. Then bright and early Saturday morning (well, after my 10 mile run anyways) we'll head up to Williamsburg for a few days of sisters and mom time (and the 2 nursing babies - Callie and Matthew, Kim's 6 month old). We're all very excited about it!! I told Josiah about it yesterday, and he was excited to see them on Friday. He was ALSO excited about their BOYS weekend since it will be some fun time just with Daddy & Jacob. I know they'll have a good time together!!!

So today is final preparations day - but I'm so excited! :)

Psalm 124

I'm a few weeks into our newest Beth Moore study "Stepping Up" - it's a study of the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and has been amazing!!! Here's what I was challenged with today during my homework. She says...

Regardless of how long we've been Christians and how deeply we've studied God's Word, most of us don't really believe down in the marrow of our bones that God is entirely, wholeheartedly, and unwaveringly on our side. We live most of our lives unconvinced that god is really FOR us. We have little trouble picturing ourselves on God's side, but for the life of us we can't picture God stooping down enough to be on ours. Even though we'll say things and sing things to the contrary, we live as if we believe down in the hidden places of our hearts and minds that God at best tolerates us.

In our humanity we tend to determine whether God is against us, for us, or tolerating us based on how He appears to act in our circumstances. Our litmus test for whether we think God is really for us is circumstantial evidence.

Psalm 124 speaks to the contrary!!! Joshua 23:10 says the same thing - that God fights for us, just as He promised!! I was so encouraged today....so enjoy "chewing" on that as I did.

Callie and Carter

Carter is actually 2 months younger than Callie...but he's got more hair, more teeth, and outweights her by about 3 pounds!!!

On Monday morning, we had the Judds come over and play with us. The boys were so excited that Anderson could come and play again, as they used to LOVE it when I watched him while Heather worked. (Although all of their "Jedi" talk has probably thoroughly confused Anderson - sorry, Heather!) Heather and I were able to chat and catch up while the little ones napped, and then when they woke up, Callie and Carter were quite enamored with each other!! We noticed they were appropriately dressed in pink and blue also!!! We were pleased to be witnesses to Carter's first official crawl, too!!!

Young Gladiators

David took these pictures of the kids the other night. I was on the phone with my sister finalizing plans for the weekend, and he let them watch a few minutes of the "American Gladiator" show. The boys were totally captivated!!! And no, Callie wasn't watching, but she wanted to sit in a chair like the big boys too!

I'm Published!!!

Well, one of my comments from last night's state of the union blog was published!!!! You can go online to our local newspaper's website and look under State of the Union Blog to read the comments in their entirety. The story in the paper was on the front page, and then continued on Page 6 - which is where my comments were. Below is the quote that they chose to publish in the paper:

"Everyone clapped and hooted and hollered about supporting our troops, and yet when Bush calls on them to fully fund our troops, half of them are sitting on their hands!! How they can do that is beyond me – our military should have everything they need. Period. "

My Dad would be proud that the military quote is what got in the paper - semper fi!!! It was an honor - a good speech by the President, although seeing some of the candidates that they panned to was quite disheartening. Praying that people turn out and vote according to what Scripture would want!!!

Saturday...with Old Traditions and New Responsibilities

It's been a lovely Saturday here at our house. Morning started out with my big 9 mile run, and it felt great!! Last week's knee pain is history, and I felt really good and strong, and finished with a great time of 91:36!!! Hooray!! Next Saturday is up to 10 miles, which is going to be a BIG milestone - very excited about it. I had a bridal shower later in the morning, and it was a brunch (which worked out well since I was FAMISHED after running). It made me feel VERY old though - it's been so long since I've been to a shower other than a BABY shower. Our 10 year anniversary is approaching this summer, and I definitely felt like an old married lady a wee bit!!!

Tonight, Miss America was on and it was fabulous!! I won't spoil it by saying who won (in case any of you DVR'd it), but it was a fun evening. My sister Kelli and I always watch it together - and have since we were kids (I know, there's so many reasons why beauty pageants are the worst things EVER, but we LOVE them!) So since we live states apart, we call each other on the commercial breaks to compare notes and chat about it - it's hilarious!!! This year, they did a 4-week reality show leading up to the competition and we got the biggest kick out of it. What entertainment for the evening.

The other big news of the weekend is that I found out that I was selected to be a guest blogger/commenter for the State of the Union address on Monday!! Yikes - talk about a lot of pressure!!! I was selected by our newspaper, and my comments will appear on the blog and may be published in the paper!! Talk about a lot of responsibility!!! What a weekend so far!

MORE tricks from Callie....

It seems as though my sweet little girl is trying her hardest not to remain LITTLE very much longer! Here's what up lately with my little, 16 pound, 9 1/2 month old baby:

1. She's starting to get serious about trying to walk, perhaps. She'll stand for a good bit on her own, until she realizes no one is holding on. But she doesn't collapse like the boys did - she gracefully lowers herself to the floor. No "real" steps yet, but I've already told the nursery workers at church and at the Y to knock her over if she looks like she's going to start!! I'll be darned if I miss it!

2. She learned to wink at us!!!! Really, she's blinking both eyes, but it is hilarious!!! She just stares at our faces to try and copy us all the time - on the drive to Florida, she learned all kinds of new mouth noises from my mom, so I added this one for her!!! She was just staring at me yesterday while she was nursing, and so I blinked my eyes at her and she did it back. It's her favorite new trick - it's very endearing. The boys get a KICK out of this!

3. She loves to wave hello and goodbye to everyone - although it's generally only with her right hand!!!!

4. Today at lunch, she finally figured out how to sign "more"!! She's been signing "all done" for two months now, but today she finally got "more"!! And since peas and pears were on the menu - two of her favorites, she signed it alot!!!! The sad part was that after we read books and I was getting ready to lay her down in her crib for her afternoon nap, she looked up at me and signed "more". Talk about tugging at the heartstrings - more books, more love from mommy, not sure, but it was hard to leave her in the crib to go to bed!!!

I think that's about it for now. I can't hardly stand how fast my children are growing. Makes me so grateful that I get to hug and kiss on them all day long every day - even though more and more of those kisses are getting wiped off by my big, honkin' boys. (Speaking of which, my biggest boy has been renamed Starvin' Marvin today. For lunch, he was in a breakfast mood and ate a bowl of cheerios, a turkey roll-up, and 2 bowls of oatmeal. Good grief!!!)

The SMARTEST man in the world!!!!

So just so you all know, I am officially married to the smartest man in the world!!!! He has now officially finished his new, 4x4 Rubik's cube TWICE!! And I saw him do it!! Unbelievable. He's the only person I know that has actually been able to do the original one (3x3), and my sister Kelli got him a 4x4 one for Christmas since he's such a smarty pants!! I really didn't think he'd be able to do it - I don't even have the first clue about how to go about it. But he did!! Way to go, honey! You really are the smartest person I know!! And I love you for it!

PS - No picture, because he takes his cube with him to school to show his students how smart their teacher is!!! Sorry!

We LOVE the Williams Family!!!

Josiah, Jackson, and Jacob outside the Children's Museum. Callie was in the stroller, and Harrison declined to be photographed! :)
They had these statues made out of canned goods throughout the museum. Mr. Potato Head was, of course, a favorite! It's amazing how there is "Toy Story" stuff all over the world!! Good thing, because we have some boys that LOVE Toy Story!
Who doesn't love a good steak!! This was Callie at the meat counter!!! (In the grocery store play center...) The boys had a great time weighing all the different foods on the scale.
Harrison and Josiah were mail carriers....they were mailing us packages. It was so cute - they had a conveyor belt that put the packages into the mail truck, stamps they could use to stamp the packages, and everything!!! So fun.
Gone fishing!
Josiah and Harrison were trying to pull up the anchor...but look who was attached! jacob!

On Thursday night, the big boys decided to have a campout!! Harrison made his campsite under the table in the game room, and this picture was Anthony getting him all tucked in.
Josiah at his campsite!
jacob camping...he didn't last though. I moved him to his bed after about 5 minutes...

On Wednesday evening, the kids and I headed off to North Carolina for a quick visit with our precious friends, the Williams family. Harrison is getting ready to go back to school next week (he's on the year round schedule), so Beth & I had planned for a visit to be able to play before it's back to school for him. We had such fun on Thursday - the kids just played all day long - and I mean PLAYED!!! The took out every toy in their house I think, and had such a blast doing it!!! One of my favorite parts of the day is always during naptime - when Beth & I just curl up on the couch and talk!! I am SO grateful for this sweet friend the Lord has brought to me!!

On Friday, we headed downtown to "Marbles" - their children's museum. It was FABULOUS!!! The downstairs was all different pretend play centers - a post office, a grocery store, an ambulance, a fishing boat, and on and on. The kids had a BALL!! Even Callie was completely enthralled just crawling around on things! Upstairs they had a newsroom, a building station, a chalkboard wall, a game room - just so many fun things to explore!! We had a great time!!! After dinner that night, we had to head back home but what a fabulous visit it was! It's just always so great to be able to spend time with them, love on her sweet kids, see how BEAUTIFUL she looks pregnant, and just BE with them!!! Anthony is very sweet to put up with us for two days too! I got to see Addison's room, vote on the paint color for it, see some of the girl clothes that are waiting for her, and help make room for her girlie stuff!!!

Thanks for having us, Beth & Anthony! It was such a GREAT break for me and you know how I love you guys! Time to start planning the next visit! :)

Look what Daddy found when he came home...

It's Jacob...asleep...on the floor of the bathroom!!! David had a late gig on Saturday night, and this is what he found when he came home!!! He took a picture before putting him back in bed. In the morning, Jacob told us that he had gotten up to go potty, but then couldn't get his zipper back up and just went to sleep. Hilarious!!!

Zander's Party at Birdie's

Jacob and David...looks like one side has an unfair advantage...
You'd think he knows about NASCAR.....
Hmmm...this is what a dance bar looks like....I think she just likes to look at herself!!!
All 3 Schrodt boys loved the building center!
Happy Birthday, Zander!!

Our new neighbor, Zander, turned two on Saturday and had his birthday party at Birdie's. It was our first time there, but the kids all had such a blast!! We stayed on the play area side and the kids loved all the centers and different pretend things!! What fun we had!

Okay, pictures are here!!!!....

Since I was SO dreadfully behind, I went ahead and started posting them with the dates they occurred. So you'll have to scroll back and go to "Older Posts" to start seeing the pictures!!! It all starts with a post on Dec. 14!!!! Happy looking!!!!

All Ready for Pictures??? Nope, me either!

Well, we FINALLY have our computer back and in business!!! As you know, it died before Christmas, but we brought back a CPU from Florida. It was at the computer shop since last Friday though, having the hard drive from the old one switched over to the new one, etc. Anyways, it's back, we're all connected again - hooray!!! So I finally caught up on everyone's blogs today, and was all excited to download pictures and START the posting process from Christmas. ALAS! I don't know how to connect my camera to this new CPU! So I'll have to wait until tonight perhaps - let David figure it out. I'll have to do the un-fun things instead...fold laundry, clean bathrooms. I'd MUCH rather download pictures and post!!!! Soon - I promise!!!

We're Back!!!

Yes, welcome back from Florida...and today there are snow flurries!!!! Hilarious! Anyways, we had a GREAT trip - everything was absolutely wonderful. TONS and TONS of pictures and stories to update you on, but it will have to come later. Hopefully you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year as well. Now it's back to reality with laundry and unpacking.....The fun stuff will have to wait! :)