Another Run!!!

Can I tell you how proud I am of this girl? I got to run with Beth today and watch her accomplish another HUGE milestone on her journey. She ran 5 MILES today!! She did SO great - she was talking to me the whole way, her breathing was totally under control - it was amazing!! She has come so far in such a short period of time. What makes it so special is that I am getting to watch her along the way - and I was JUST there!! I remember SO clearly because it wasn't that long ago that I was in her very same shoes. I had just had Callie, and was ready to finally get back into shape. It turned into this love of running, I signed up for my first half-marathon, and the rest is history! So now I'm getting to watch Beth - and it is incredible!! You're doing SO great Beth - I'm so proud of you for being so disciplined and determined. I KNOW how hard it is to put so much time and energy towards this, but you can see how it is paying off! I can't WAIT to see you cross the finish line at Shamrock!!! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Josiah!

Friday was Josiah's 6th birthday. How quickly time flies by. He was born on Thanksgiving Day six years ago - and in some ways, it feels like just yesterday. He is growing to be such a young man - he has a very tender heart and has grown so much since starting school this year. He loves to play with his brother and his dad more than anything I think. Quite often, he proudly declares that he does something or likes something just like daddy. He has always been very bright, but more than that, he has an unbelievable love of learning. As we have watched his reading take off this year, it is amazing to see this love grow even more. We pray that he will continue to be sensitive to the leading of the Lord, and use his gifts to be a wonderful leader and servant of the Lord.

Between all the birthday fun and celebrations, we also set up our Christmas decorations. The kids had a blast with this, and remembered many of the ornaments and decorations as they came out of the box. Being quite a traditionalist, I LOVED seeing this! We had our Christmas candles burning and the music playing - it was wonderful!!! We ate our Thanksgiving meal that night that we were SO thankful for...it was delicious! The evening ended with birthday cake for Josiah (lemon with cream cheese frosting). He changed his mind about 5 times about his cake, but finally decided on superman. What a day!!!

(good grief...blogger did something weird with the order of these pictures again...sorry, i don't have the energy to move them around!!!!)

We don't have one of those "fussy" nativity sets that the kids can't touch - it's the same kind that we had growing up. My mom's mom bought it for her when my two older sisters were little - she wanted them to be able to touch and play with it too. There's nothing I love more than seeing the kids play with it!

All 3 kids loved getting up in the attic to help David bring down the Christmas decorations!

My sweet six year old - I can't believe it!

Donuts for breakfast!!!

Callie got to help David do the angel this year!

Callie helped me make Josiah's cake...and lick the spatula! :)

A Different Kind of Thanksgiving

So it was a different kind of Thanksgiving this year than in years past, and I won't get into all of the reasons why, but it has been a wonderful few days. We have had some wonderful time together as a family, and it has been so neat to recount the things that we are thankful for as a family together. My mom flew to Florida to spend the week with my sister in Florida - she is pregnant with her first child, and they have had a wonderful week together, I know. So it was just us Schrodts - and it has been wonderful. Both David and Josiah had Wednesday off, so we enjoyed the family day of just being together. Thursday morning, we just played and watched the parade - guess who's a big fan of the Macy's Parade? Callie! She LOVED it! She kept waving to everything and pointing and saying "pretty!" it was a riot! The boys would periodically stop playing to see the balloons (the favorite was the Buzz Lightyear balloon and the announcement that they are going to make a Toy Story 3 Movie!!!), but Callie just loved it! What's not to love, right? :)

I decided not to cook on Thursday for a couple of different reasons. First of all, the Titans were playing at noon, and I certainly was not going to eat our Thanksgiving meal in front of the TV! Secondly, we made plans to head down to one of our homeless shelters/outreach centers and help serve the Thanksgiving meal there that afternoon. It was a wonderful opportunity to show the boys how much we have to be thankful for, and to give them a small chance to help serve and be a blessing to someone else. It was GREAT! Josiah was frustrated that we couldn't serve more people, so we'll have to go again another night.

Later that night, Beth & Anthony and their sweet kids came over for dinner and an evening of fellowship. How grateful we are for their friendship - I can't even begin to tell you. It was such a wonderful night of refreshment for David and I - and the kids had a ball together, as always. So it was a different kind of Thanksgiving - but one that I don't think we'll ever forget. We have SO much to be thankful for. Truly.

The Thanksgiving Feast

One of the biggest things I am thankful for this year is for the opportunity to send Josiah to school at Shores. We knew that when David started teaching there almost 7 years ago, this was one of the biggest reasons - so that our children could go there. And Josiah is loving it and doing so well. Today was his Thanksgiving Feast and it was a ball. His class wore turkey hats that they made, and all the kindergartners got to each lunch (at 10 am!!) in the cafeteria together. Josiah's main concern was that he could eat MORE lunch when we came home from school!! Callie and Jacob loved getting to see their brother with his friends and we had a great morning together.

A GREAT Ending to a Rough Day!

Sunday afternoon was a little rough around here. Our beloved Tennessee Titans lost their first game of the season...and it was terrible. We don't get to see them very often on TV because they aren't the regional team, and so we had been all excited all week long that they were actually playing our game. But then it was a disaster. We got beaten pretty badly by the Jets. Sad. At least we're still 10-1...and it's just a game, right? The other good news is that we play again on Thursday - Thanksgiving day! We play Detroit, which hasn't won a game YET this season, so hopefully the outcome will be much better!!!

But then things got much better!!! We had our first "social" last night with our new small group. We started this group about 6 weeks ago - not having any idea if any one would show up. We just knew that God was calling us to do this to provide a group for other young couples and families wanting to get plugged in and grow together. It truly has been so refreshing and encouraging to David and I to see how it has grown. We have had 20 people come, and are really enjoying getting to know them better. 5 of the couples were able to join us for a potluck dinner and game night last night. The fellowship was great, the food soooo yummy, and only the outcome of Pictionary was a downer (the guys pulled off a come-from-behind victory at the end...). We look forward to more fun in the future as we grow together!

L-R

Andrea (her husband is deployed right now), Kristina & Steve (and their baby Addysen), Mary & Charles, Laurel & Nathan. Somehow I didn't get Shawn & Jennifer in the picture - I think they were sitting by David & I on the opposite side of the couches.
My kids had their "own" potluck in the kitchen while we ate - yummy! Then Callie went to bed, and the boys got to watch a movie on the portable DVD player in their room. It was QUITE a treat! They did great!

The Grand Illumination Parade!

After a lovely, and relaxing afternoon in Williamsburg, we headed back home to get downtown for the annual Grand Illumination Parade. They do this parade every year the weekend before Thanksgiving to officially kick-off the season. They have all of the buildings downtown outlined with lights, and at the start of the parade, there is a countdown, the lights are turned on, and the parade begins. They have a bunch of marching bands, some floats - it's just always so much fun! This year was definitely one of the coldest, but that didn't keep us away!!! We just came very bundled up and it was wonderful! We had the perfect spot to watch from - we had an empty street behind us that was closed to traffic, so the kids all played and run around for the hour before the parade started. That kept everybody warm and happy!!! The Ratz family and the Jackson family met us there, and it was a very fun tradition that I love doing every year!!! We didn't really feel cold until the walk back to the car - and then I couldn't warm up my toes fast enough! :)

Believe it or not, the boys weren't cranky because of the cold....they were mad that I made them stop running around so I could take a picture of them!!!
Callie LOVED the parade. She was only a baby last year, so this was her first REAL experience - and boy did she love it!

Chris and Jessica Jackson. Cody was so happy playing in the dirt that I didn't have the heart to bother him for a picture!!! :)

Dave & Sue Ratz (she's holding Madeline, and Alexander & Hamilton are in the stroller).

An Afternoon in Williamsburg!

What a perfectly wonderful afternoon we had on Saturday. Right after Jacob's soccer game, we hit the road and headed for Williamsburg. My mom and I had made plans to meet for a few hours in Williamsburg for the afternoon. It's not quite halfway (2 hour drive for her, 1 hour for me), but was the perfect place for a lovely afternoon! Mom is flying to FL to see my other 3 sisters for Thanksgiving, and so I wanted to get to see her before she left. Also, she is serving as our transport and is taking Christmas presents from us to my sisters in her suitcase....saving me not only postage but a trip to the post office!!! We had a wonderful time! We met at the Yankee Candle company....it's almost like it's own little towne center or something. All these little individual "shops" inside, personalized ornaments, a general store, dip your own candles, a Christmas shoppe complete with real snow, and of course the BIGGEST yankee candle store you can ever imagine! We had a ball!

I love these pictures. We were waiting for lunch, and Mom was holding Callie. Callie all of a sudden got so loving with Mom - just kept giving her these big hugs and laying her head down on her shoulder. She is my cuddle bug for sure - very loving girl. Her face in the picture below just says it all - she was SO happy to see her Tutu!!!

The boys were dipping some candles....

Anyone surprised that Jacob's is blue???

Congratulations Dynamos!

Saturday was Jacob's last soccer game of the season. I think his favorite part was having David for his coach!! We had a couple of games rained out and so the season went longer than originally planned, but the kids were troopers to be out there in the VERY cold weather on Saturday. They played great and enjoyed the soccer ball cupcakes and their medals at the end. It was fun to see Jacob in this element - way to go Dynamos! (And way to go Coach Daddy!)

Josiah took this picture of himself at the game (obviously)....both he and jacob are constantly asking me lately to let them take pictures! they need their own blog! :)

It's SNOWING!!!

What an exciting thing to greet us this morning!!!
Carter was SO excited!!!

After playing a little this morning, Josiah announced to us "enough playing! We can't be late at school or I'll miss the pledge of allegiance!!!" This boy cracks me up. Never missed a day of school, never been late....and he never will be if he has anything to do with it!!!

Pretend Play

Isn't Callie the cutest little soldier-ette?
Is he serious about being Spiderman or what??

These were the "clerks" of the store....

And here's what was for sale! Josiah's been learning about money at school, so he came home wanting to play store. it was SO fun!