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!

Last "Carter" Day!

Going in for a kiss!!!
I'm not sure what Carter thought of Callie giving him hugs!!!

I got to keep out alot of my "boy" toys from Josiah and Jacob for Carter. Callie isn't much interested in them, but Carter sure did love them!

So Friday was our last day with Carter! I found myself staring at him throughout the day, much like I did with Anderson on Tuesday. We had a great day together - he and Callie were especially cute (they must have known I was staring!!!), and I got some fun pictures. She's going to miss having her little buddy around! We'll miss you Carter-boy!

Our last "Anderson" day

As most of you know, the Judds are moving to GA next week. We are going to miss them for many different reasons, and I could go on and on about them. But it will significantly change our days to not have either of the Judd boys with us. I watched Anderson from the time he was 10 months to about 2, and I've been watching Carter now from the last 10 months. Depending on what Anderson's preschool schedule was, some days we were lucky enough to get both boys. This past Tuesday was one of those days, and sadly, was our last "Anderson" day. I tried not to be too sappy - the boys are definitely sad that their good buddy is moving, but have already asked when we can go visit him in GA! So we did some special things together to make it an extra special day, and I tried to get a couple pictures of it.

I'm going to miss looking behind me in the van and seeing it crammed full like this! (Sorry you can barely see Anderson - he's just a little guy and he IS buckled in, after all!!)
I don't know if I've ever seen Carter as happy as he's been this last week wearing this UGA hat. He SERIOUSLY hasn't wanted to take it off!!! I guess it's good that SOMEONE is happy about the move, right? :)

Anderson & Carter even got to sneak a few minutes to watch Josiah play the Star Wars video game - they had just woken up from their nap (hence the groggy face on Anderson)... (And notice how Callie jumped up to "pose" in the picture like she's part of it...)

Anderson in the top bunk, Jacob in the bottom bunk taking naps...

Josiah and Anderson drawing. Josiah was happily instructing him in the art of making paper airplanes when he got home from school!

We even bought a special treat for lunch - Wendy's!!

Anderson & Jacob playing with some of David's mini football helmets (no, they weren't supposed to be, but...)

Anderson, Callie, Carter, and Anderson at work building a train track.

AAAHHHHHH!

That's a good sigh!!! The kids were all in bed snoring away at 7:00 last night. By about 8:30 pm, I was finding myself yawning and getting awfully cozy underneath my Titans blanket. By 9:00, I was curled up in bed while David was reading his Psychology textbook for school. I woke up this morning feeling SO good!!! It's amazing what 10 hours of sleep does for a person! :)

My Big Girl

This is what happens when you're married to David Schrodt. You mention something to him once, he gets it in his head, and the next thing you know it - BAM - furniture has been moved and beds have been converted!! I guess he had too much time on his hands yesterday during the holiday. All of a sudden last night, I walked down the hallway and he had Callie's bed all converted!! So it's official - we have a big girl on our hands! I took these pictures last night, but didn't want to post them in case I'd jinx her. But she did great last night - slept great like always, no falling out, etc. We've always moved our kids into their "big" beds at around 18 months, so she was right on track. She had her nap today just like always too - she's such a good sleeper, that I knew she'd be fine. Now I wonder how long it will take her to realize she can actually get OUT of her bed. So far so good though! She just sits in there and waits for me to come get her. Good girl Callie!

Student of the Month!

Josiah was announced to be Student of the Month for his kindergarten class a couple of weeks ago (sorry...just now getting around to taking a picture of it). We were sooo proud of him - he has really just flourished in his class and is so loving school. He told me the other morning "Mom, I just love school. I just love to do my papers and my work, I just love school!" I am so thankful that he does! Way to go Josiah - we are SO proud of you!

Happy Veteran's Day!

What a GREAT day we had today. Both Josiah and David were out of school today for Veteran's Day, and so we spent the morning touring the Battleship Wisconsin downtown. I'd taken Jacob & Callie earlier in the school year, and they've been dying to go back to see it (Josiah was REALLY mad he missed out before). They absolutely had a ball. It was great to get to see the veterans there and thank them for all their service. The boys are VERY much into soldiers and their "teams" (Marines, Air Force, etc..) and I love that. My dad was a marine, and living in a military city, we are surrounded by it - and I wouldn't want it any other way. It is such a priviledge and an honor for our family. We are SO grateful for all the sacrifices that have been made and are continuing to be made so that our family is safe.

"Hmmm...how am I going to get to the top of this ladder??" (This was the favorite part for my kids - up and down all the ladders, in and out of the doors...I felt bad for the volunteers because they could have told us TONS more history - but the kids just wanted to run around and explore the battleship!!!)

This was inside the naval museum. They had these little stations with phones that had audio information...the kids LOVED it!!! so maybe they did pick up some history after all!

TRUST ME

I've been thinking about this post for several weeks now. I feel as if God is shouting at me "just TRUST me". It's very hard for me sometimes. I'm a concrete person. I tend to like to see things right in front of me. Especially when it has to do with something about my kids or my family...I just have a much harder time than David. Everyone knows how the economy has affected people. And it's affected us. It's been hard lately. But I also know that whenever God surrounds me with the same message from all different sides (sermons, biblestudies, books, other blogs, etc, etc) - he's trying to get through to me. You've heard me talk about my biblestudy before. This Living Beyond Yourself stuff is hard! Supernatural hard. But that's the point. And so I am really trying to stretch beyond MYSELF and let God show His power the way He likes to. And not worry about the fact that Josiah is growing out of pants and shoes faster than I can even comprehend. And not think about how much more annoying it is that winter clothes are more expensive than summer clothes. Or about how Christmas is around the corner. I have much to be thankful for. MUCH. I KNOW that. And so I will choose to obey. Even though it's hard. And scary. And unknown. Because that's what I've been called to do. And I've seen the rewards of obedience in the past. And God always comes through.