Callie's New Look

Love the 2 ponytails? SO cute - and keeps her hair (which is not quite all one length yet...) out of her face on these hot days!! And her new Dora sunglasses - which she TOTALLY loves and wears all the time! I'm happy to indulge her with something that's finally GIRLY!! Poor thing has been surrounded with so much BOY stuff - transformers, star wars, etc!

Apparently 6 is too many...

...stores that is. For one day. Or for a 2, 4, and 6 year old. Or an 8 month pregnant woman. But definitely when you put ALL those factors together, it's not a good idea.

That was our day. We had three errands this morning - the post office, then Target (including a return...always yuck), then Lowe's. The kids actually did pretty good through those 3. We headed home to play a bit, have lunch, and naps. I even got to lay down for an hour and was feeling hopeful about the afternoon.

We left the house at about 3 pm and went out to Babies R Us first, then Sam's Club and Walmart. Walmart was where the wheels started coming off. They did well the first half and then everyone started losing it. My cell phone was ringing, couldn't find a couple of things I needed, kids going bananas, etc. Sigh. Got home at 6:15 pm. I had called David on the way home and asked him to put a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner, so we were able to get home, get ALL the groceries unloaded, eat, and get kids in bed.

David's working on putting a ceiling fan up in the boys' room now, the other kids are all in bed. I still have dinner dishes to put away, some toys to clean up in the playroom, a birthday present to wrap, and pantry groceries to put away. But I think I'm just going to sit in the boys' room with David and talk to him for a bit. We both had long days. Don't have the energy to tackle any of that other stuff right now. Later.

And it will all be worth it tomorrow when the PARTY begins! There's even some surprises to be had.....

Getting Ready!!!

I'm like a kid before Christmas - I'm so excited!!! Some of my family will be arriving tomorrow and Thursday for the 4th of July weekend - and I can't wait!! Kim & David and their kids (4) will get here tomorrow afternoon, and then my Mom will come on Thursday. I can't wait!! The kids are so excited - we were all together last year in DC for the 4th of July, so I love that this year I get to be the host!! :) It's nice living halfway in the middle for sure! We ran a few more errands this morning, and am planning to head to Sam's and Walmart in about 15 minutes. Hopefully the naps were good and I'll have happy campers, because I'm getting a LOT of food! Yippee!!

Fat Hand Daddy

Well, the innocence of childhood is gone. Last night, after playing in the backyard, the kids & David were all heading inside for dinner when all of a sudden I heard David and Jacob screaming. I ran out to the deck and grabbed Jacob and discovered that they were both stung by bees - well, David by a wasp and Jacob by a bee, we think. It was so pitiful. Jacob was SO upset - it hurt really bad, and he was just so MAD about it! I told him we would pray about it at dinner, and he interrupted me about 4 words in to tell me to just pray about it first (meaning, don't say "thank you for our day...etc, etc" or anything else first!!!

Thankfully, he didn't have any kind of a reaction (other than the tears & hurt feelings!) to it, but David has been another story! His sting was obviously worse, and his hand is STILL swollen tonight. It looks pretty funny actually - his knuckles and everything are all swollen and puffy - poor guy. The boys have been talking about bees & wasps all day, and we got some spray that David used outside this afternoon. I've always told them that if you don't mess with bees, they won't mess with you. Well, these bees that stung them yesterday came out of NOWHERE and stung them. So Jacob's been saying "bees will sting you just if they want to - even if you don't mess with them!" So cute.

Here he is - fat hand daddy! Thankfully it's his right hand (on the left side of this picture) - and he didn't have a ring on that hand! These pictures don't even really do it justice.
But he was still enough of a trooper to start work painting on the downstairs guest bathroom. It was this hideous coral/orange color that looked terrible with my purple & sage green stuff. He's working on the 2nd coat of my green paint now, so it should be a whole new bathroom by tomorrow! Yippee!

putting it off...

....been a long day. putting off the fact that i still haven't gotten all our stuff out of the car from VBS this morning. was one of those afternoons where i never got a chance to BREATHE. Ran off to choir practice last night and then home to get VERY tired kids in bed. David's at band practice now and I need to get things picked up a bit over here, but hardly have the energy to stand up. But at least my AC is working again!!

good, but busy and HOT!!

SC is definitely warmer than VA beach was. I guess we've lost our ocean breeze a bit! It's been better this week (in the mid 90s all week instead of the 100s like last week), but that heat coupled with VBS has worn me out! To top it all off, our AC upstairs stopped working yesterday, so we are waiting anxiously for the AC man's arrival this afternoon. What that means, practically speaking, is that Jacob is downstairs with josiah in the game room instead of upstairs taking a nap. Callie is still napping up in her room, with a fan blowing on her. We'll see how that turns out - she'll probably be a sweaty mess.

And because we'll be here waiting for the AC man, no pool this afternoon. MAJOR bummer! But VBS has been fun this week - the kids have all had a blast. We had 21 decisions for Christ this morning - AWESOME!!! Tomorrow is our last day, so I'll be cleaning toilets and vacuuming on Friday I guess! :)

Dinner at the Schrodts

It's nights like these that make me not very excited to do the dishes. Sigh. Dinner was delicious though! A few quick things to point out:

1. Yes, I buy the enormous 5 lb tub of butter. And you'd probably be appalled at how quickly we go through it.

2. This is what the table looks like after we have artichokes for dinner. if you've been friends with us for very long, we've probably had you over and forced you to try them. They are the BEST! David had no idea what they were (except for in spinach & artichoke dip) before we met and now agrees they are the best EVER! I dip mine in mayo, and David (& Josiah) dip theirs in melted butter.

3. The shredded wheat cereal is out because that's what jacob had for dinner. he refused his steak, and I refused to waste it on him forcing it down his throat. Ribeyes were on sale, and we were supposed to have them for Father's Day dinner, but were too busy driving around to all the different Lowe's in the city looking for the umbrella for the patio set!!!

4. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you may see the crazy-shaped milk jugs that the Sam's sells here. They're SQUARE! What in the world?!?!?

Father's Day Trail Mix

One of the boys made this special "Father's Day Trail Mix" in their Sunday School class yesterday. It was very yummy, and had cheez-its, pretzels, m&ms, and marshmallows. This is what the note that was attached to the bag said:

The cheese crackers are because you are the "big cheese".
The salty pretzels are because you are the "salt of the earth".
The m&ms are because you are "so sweet".
The marshmallows are because you are "an old softy".

Isn't that adorable?

Keeping Up...

....or not keeping up - not sure which one it is today. I had great intentions of posting several different times this weekend, but just didn't get a minute...for various reasons. So you'll get the "all-in-one" variety...because I don't think the rest of the week will be much better!

1. We LOVED our date night on Friday night. It felt SO good to get out and be alone together...for the first time in MONTHS. Seriously. David moved down to SC in April, and before that, while we were still in the job-hunting phase, we were counting pennies, so there were no date nights to be had. It was great to get out. The kids did great with the babysitter (note to self: if you are a pastor's wife, and your babysitter is the daughter of another pastor on staff, you may hear stories about your kids shared from the stage the following Sunday!!!! Prepare to be humbled!) We had dinner at Outback, walked around Lifeway for a bit, then headed out and got much of our "house" shopping accomplished - you know, new bath mats, some storage/organizer things, lamp, bath towels, etc. Not anything SUPER major, but lots of fun since we were kid-less!!

2. Saturday was our REAL anniversary - 11 years! Last year we went to FL and left the kids with my sister while we went AWAY by ourselves for a week. Callie was just a bit over 1 and had just finished nursing. Now here I am about to have another baby!!! What a difference a year makes. It has been the BEST 11 years of my life - I can't imagine life without my husband David. The last 2 months made me realize just how much I rely on him for even the smallest things in my day. He is truly my BEST friend - and I don't say that lightly. I'm so thankful that God blessed me with a man like this for my husband!!!

3. We finally got our refrigerator ordered. It took me a little while to figure out exactly what I wanted and where we were going to find it. We survived the hunt (and Lowe's survived my 3 kids running around opening EVERY appliance in the store), and hopefully it will arrive on Friday. Yippee! Now, lest you think we haven't had any refrigeration, we have been using our "spare" - the one that will go in the garage. I have had 2 refrigerators for the last several years, and discovered very quickly that I require both! Partly because of the size of our family, and partly because of the amount that I use my freezer for buying in bulk and cooking once-a-month and freezing the meals.

4. Sunday - Father's day. BIG Sunday at church for David. He had a LOT of special media and music things going on that morning in the services and did a GREAT job pulling them off. I am SO proud of him and seeing him thrive in this environment that God has put him in. There's just nothing like seeing your man in his element. I'm so proud of him. He is the most incredible dad to our kids - they absolutely adore him and are pretty much glued to his side if he's around. I wouldn't have it any other way!

We also found an UNREAL deal on a patio set!! We've been looking and looking - everywhere. Finally found a set at Lowe's that was on clearance, sale, marked-down, display - you name it, we got a percentage off for it. Yippee!!! Now we are ready to really enjoy our deck and backyard!!!

5. Today - first morning of VBS!!! The kids all had fun (Josiah and Jacob are in it, Callie is in a childcare room, but she loved it nonetheless), and I enjoyed it as well. I'm teaching a kindergarten class (Josiah's in mine - I figured I would help my "cautious" child as he continues to adapt to these new surroundings). I enjoyed getting to meet some other moms and their kids, and getting to jump in with serving in such a FUN way!!!

So whew - I'm ready to lay down for a bit and put my feet up. Several of my kids were rubbing my belly today asking if the baby is coming out. I kept telling them "not yet" - so i'm going to lay down to make sure that it's not today! :)

34 weeks!

6 more weeks until the due date (that probably means 8 weeks before he'll be born...)

At my check-up this week, the doctor was asking if he was still moving around and I said a resounding YES! He continues to be so active - it's almost ridiculous! I said to the doctor "isn't he about running out of room in there to be moving so much?" The doctor laughed and said "oh no -your tummy is just so little!" Ahhhhh...music to my ears!

Inquiring Minds Want To Know...

This is the quilt that we picked for Callie's bed. Isn't it adorable? I don't know why the SUPER cute bedskirt that matches isn't in this picture...we ordered that too. I'm so excited. (Courtney, I wish you were here to paint flowers on her wall like you did for Rebekah!!!) I think it looks JUST like Callie's personality! Happy, bright, fun - I love it!

Callie's Room!

I just finished ordering the stuff for Callie's room today - her quilt, bedskirt, sheets, and curtains (sure wish I could sew!!). It should be here next week - I can't WAIT!!! Now if I can just get my act together and figure out how I'm going to paint the baby's room....and decide on his name....

Another First!

We had our first "Wednesday night" at church tonight - and it was GREAT! The boys had perked up after their naps today, so we headed to church tonight to be there at 5pm and have dinner with David first. (Man I love these southern churches - Wednesday night supper at church!!! It's been a WHILE!) Because David has choir & band practice on Weds. nights, he doesn't come home for dinner - just stays all day. So we were glad to go and eat with him and see him for a bit. Then I took the kids to their classes - which they were super excited about. Jacob & Josiah were together and they had a ball. it is called "wacky wednesdays" and they told me about all kinds of fun outside games that they did. During the school year, it will be AWANAS (hooray!). Callie loved her class (of course she did - they had babies, books, and puzzles - what more does she need?), and I got to go to choir practice! It was great - David did a great job, and I realized I need to brush up on my sight-reading a bit! :)

Before bed, I finally found Jacob's blanket that we'd been looking for for 2 days (it was in the baby's closet!). I'm not used to having to look in so many different rooms in this big house! He's saying his head hurts again, so I gave him some Motrin and we'll see what tomorrow holds.

I'm looking forward to Friday night - David and I have a date night! Babysitter lined up and everything! We haven't been out on our own in a VERY long time - not a whole lot of date nights while we were job-hunting, obviously, and then he was gone for 2 months. So we are excited. Our 11th anniversary is on Saturday, so we're going out on Friday night to celebrate. Dinner and then I'm hoping to go do some house shopping while I don't have kids to distract me!

Uh-Oh....

It's never a great sign when you come home at 11:30 AM and both boys go over to the couch and lay down. UGH!! We went to the free movies this morning with a lady from church (she has 4 boys - yea!) and the boys came home and hit the wall apparently. Jacob had said his head hurt earlier, but I don't know. We got through lunch quickly and then they went straight upstairs and fell asleep.

I'm hoping it's just exhaustion from the last several days being so crazy. They are definitely in need of a good nap, so we'll see how they wake up! :)

Another success!

Okay, so my laundry is caught up. We had our first guest over last night for dinner (the new student minister). I guess we're definitely settling in! It feels so good to be back to "normal" - I can't even tell you! :)

I had another success today - I found the library! Hooray! I got the kids signed up for the summer reading program and got all the times and information for storytimes. Yippee!!

Settling In

We finally got to our new house on Saturday, June 6 at about 9 pm. We were so excited to finally ALL be home together! It was definitely sort of a strange feeling to walk into the house and have my stuff already there and sort of set up!! David did a LOT of work the week before setting up furniture, unpacking boxes, getting closets straightened, etc. He DID wipe down the sinks and toilets in the bathrooms (for those of you wondering if he really would!), and the whole house had been vacuumed. The kids were SO excited to be home. Even though it was 9-10 pm that night, we let them ride their bikes & scooters around the cul-de-sac while David and I unloaded the cars. I went to bed that night feeling very overwhelmed again by all the STUFF we had just dropped in the middle of the kitchen.

Sunday was our first time FOR REAL at church - all together, as a family. It felt SO good to have us all there! The people of NBC have been so welcoming and were wonderful in making us feel welcome on our first "official" Sunday. The kids did great - they had been to their classes a few other times on different trips, so they knew the routine. We picked up some fried chicken and a gallon of milk on the way home to get us through and came home for lunch.

After the kids took some MUCH needed naps, we headed out to Home Depot for a VERY exciting purchase - my brand new washer & dryer! We had agreed to leave ours for the new buyers in VA, so I happily accepted the opportunity to buy new ones for me! You can tell a mom of 4 kids by how excited she gets over new laundry equipment! :) We were able to buy the Consumer Reports #2 rated machine (also a "best buy"), and got them to take $200 off - gotta love negotiations! The kids were told that if they obeyed and were patient while I got my machines ordered, we'd head home and check out our new pool. They obliged, and we had a great time having a quick swim that evening.

The next day (last Monday), Callie wasn't too thrilled about David returning to work (she asked ALL day long - "where Daddy go?") I think she was worried that he was GONE again. It felt good for us to get into a normal routine though. The kids and I found our Walmart - only 10 minutes away or so, and is BEAUTIFUL. That was a good feeling - getting some regular food in the house again, knowing that if I could find my way to Walmart, we could survive anything! :) We were able to get the rooms situated and all of the boxes in the house unpacked the first few days. I had to rearrange a few things in the kitchen (and there's still a few things I'm working out...), but David did a good job on that too. I guess after 11 years of marriage, he knows where I like things to go! :)

We spent one morning last week at the Lake Murray park. There is a huge dam there, and they have a little "fake beachfront" at the lake that the kids can go swim and play at. We had a good time, but it made me miss my soft, sandy beach in VA! Since this was a lake, it was VERY rocky - I made the kids keep their crocs on - but we had a great time anyways!

Josiah and Jacob enjoying the lake.
Josiah and Jacob are sort of in the bottom left corner of the picture. You can sort of see the bridge that crosses over the lake & dam in the background.

Can you see Callie? She's got the blue sandbucket over her shoulder (like a purse) just walking on out to her brothers. She made lots of people nervous watching her (not me) - she'd just walk on out to her shoulders, and then turn back around and come back. I was never far away, and got a kick out of watching people's reactions actually.

And here's Callie sitting next to some boy that was peacefully making sandcastles by the water. She decided he looked like a nice friend for her I guess!

Goodye until the next visit!

Grandmommy was tickling Callie's legs with her acrylic nails - and Callie was in HEAVEN! She did NOT want to be disturbed! (This, by the way, was one of Jacob's favorite memories of Grandmommy from her last visit - she scratched his back and it felt SO good to him with her long nails!)

The cousins!

(No, it wasn't cold. Callie was just waiting to wear her jacket...the accessories, remember?)

The REVEREND Calvin David Schrodt

Sunday night was a very special night for us. David was ordained! He's now officially Rev. David Schrodt! He headed back to church on Sunday afternoon for the ordination council - where you sit in front of the other ordainted pastors and deacons and answer ALL kinds of doctrinal questions...one after another. The other minister who was being ordained that night, Doug, went through this whole process with David as well - I suppose it was some moral support! :) The kids and I, as well as David's family came to the sanctuary at 6 pm for the service and waited for David and Doug to emerge. They came out smiling - so that meant they had passed! :) Callie immediately went to go sit with David for the beginning songs (to which Jacob said "she's not a pastor - why does she get to sit in that row?)

Both of the guys were asked to give their testimonies of when they came to know the Lord and when they were called into ministry. It was very moving.

As soon as David got up on stage, I knew it was going to be bad. Like, shouldn't have worn any mascara bad. His mom had given him the bible that was presented to David's dad when HE was ordained - back in 1956. It was VERY special. When David walked on stage and was holding his Dad's bible, I knew we were all going to be in for it. Sure enough, we all (including David) cried through most of his testimony! It was really an incredible moment.

After David's testimony, they had a few pastors come up to give a charge to them. I had to take the kids out back at this point - we were all sitting in the 2nd row, and Callie and Jacob just couldn't stay quiet much longer. It was already 7 pm...and I was REALLY wishing I had called a babysitter or had one of my sisters there or something!!! One of the other pastors followed us out and offered to take my kids for me so I could stay in the sanctuary to be a part of the ceremony for David. Talk about BLESSING me!!

After the charges were given, they had David and Doug come to the front and kneel down. They had all of the ordained pastors and deacons come up to lay hands on and pray for these two men. The congregation spent the time in prayer for them as well. These were the last few men praying over Doug and David. It was very powerful.

After the ceremony, we headed to the fellowship hall for a reception honoring Doug and David. Hooray! :)

This is Pastor Steve who played basketball in the gym with the kids so I could stay in the ordination service with David. I was VERY humbled and blessed by him that night - especially when I heard Jacob had to go potty during that time. Did I say I was HUMBLED????

Sharolyn - David's closest sister (10 years older)

The Schrodt family

NOT my favorite picture of me at all (remember the crying?), but I LOVED this dress that Kelli let me borrow. I'm going to have to wear it again and get a better picture of it - this doesn't do it justice.

David and his mom (oh - and I just noticed he's holding his dad's bible!) His dad died almost 9 years ago, and I know he was smiling AWFULLY big from heaven. He would have been SO proud of his son!

David, his mom and sister

These three were like peas in a pod - they were hilarious.

Sunday morning

Grandmommy and Callie ready to go to church!

We were so glad that everyone was able to come to church with us on Sunday morning! They all came and sat with me for the first service, and were able to see David lead the blended service with the choir (and see David in his suit!). They stayed for the music of the 2nd service -the contemporary service - and saw David lead that worship set with the band. It was a GREAT morning of worship.

The pool & ice cream - sounds like a perfect Saturday to me!

This first picture is out of order, but oh well. David & enjoyed playing games with Sharolyn & Grandmommy at night. We definitely whooped up on them in spades, and had fun playing Outburst too. I let the three of them play Scrabble (which Sharolyn won as always) because I'm TERRIBLE at it!

We enjoyed our day on Saturday with David's family very much - it was nice and relaxing! We spent some time at our neighborhood pool in the morning, and then came home for lunch and naps that afternoon. We grilled a yummy dinner and then headed to Coldstone for dessert. They don't have Coldstone in Memphis, so their eyes were WIDE open when they walked inside!

David throwing Jacob in the pool

You can tell Noah is older - David couldn't throw him as high! :)

David and Sharolyn enjoyed their time catching up while at the pool.

Emily

Josiah and Noah loved swimming around and throwing the torpedo back and forth to each other. They really had a lot of fun together.

Callie & Emily having a granola bar break.

Aunt Sharolyn, Callie, David and Jacob studying some bugs Jacob had "rescued".

These little millipedes are everywhere down here. Jacob keeps "rescuing" them and wanting to keep them forever. I've got to buy him a little bug house or something...I don't want them in MY house!

Callie was a good helper shucking the corn for dinner.

She's been wearing this hat (and various pairs of shoes) for the last week....the girl LOVES accessories!

Callie and Grandmommy working on some puzzles.

While Jacob was taking a nap, Emily, Noah, Josiah and I played "Slamwich" - a VERY fun (and noisy) game!

Jacob was a good shucker too! :)

Lined up and ready to go into Coldstone!

(L-R Emily, Noah, Josiah, and Jacob)

Callie and Grandmommy walking inside. It was very cute how Callie said grandmommy - it sounded an awful lot like "daddy's mommy!'

EVERYONE enjoyed their ice cream!