Due

Baby is officially "overdue" now, so I figured we ought to get the first quarter of 2022 filled in and updated before we've got more exciting things to report.

Other than a couple major life events, the last three months have been pretty low key as far as plans and outside obligations go. We have been able to tackle the big long before-the-baby-comes to-do list and have had some very productive months around the house. It has been a nice, refreshing few months following the rather overwhelming season that ended 2021.

By now, I have officially run out of steam for extra projects, am back to doing the bare minimum, and trying to make the most of these last precious days with my four children before we get back to that sweet baby life again!

We left off at January 1st last time...

Our New Year's excitement was hosting our future sister-in-law for the weekend! It was nice to spend a little extra time with her and Jacob than we otherwise would have!

Joanna and Keenan helped them figure out how to make brownies for our company that evening.

I think they figured it out.

We also got our first real snow of the season that weekend so the kids had fun stomping around outside! 

On Sunday we got to attend the H. H. Schmidgall Christmas at the Clover Creek center and play our instruments in the evening!

Photo-worthy because I never knew rosin could do such a thing. Matt melted it back together for me (and I got the broken violin string replaced) and we are back in working order.

The pond finally froze!

Daisy was quite hesitant to go out on the ice. It was funny to watch her get acclimated. 

We got to have Abby here for Titus and Holly's wedding weekend! It is hard for us to get out in our stage of life, so I am always thankful for those who come to visit us! It is always a highlight for the kids to have Abby too!

Our first of many ice hockey opportunities this season. 

Russell turned two and we got to go to his party!

These two are just the cutest pair...here I found them sneaking candy after the party. 

Prepping for the wedding had me going through old pictures. This is Matt and Jake a few years ago.

The third weekend of January was the big wedding weekend for Jacob and Harmony up in Morris, Minnesota! The weather going up was not real favorable, but thanks to God's protection and Matt's comfort with driving on snowy roads, we made it safely in good time with few incidents.

About an hour from our destination, we had to stop for some tire repair. Tom and Jerry kept the older three entertained for the hour-long pit stop.

Saturday morning was picture day! By some great miracle, every one of the 44 members of Matt's family made it safe and sound!

Joanna and Adrienne were quite thrilled to wear matching dresses for the wedding! 

Harmony's new crew of nieces and nephews!

Our growing crew!

Being in the photos, I wasn't able to snap a picture of the entire Gary Schulz family and we don't have the professional pictures back yet. Maybe I will come back and add a couple later. But here are the brothers for you. 

This guy wasn't too impressed when I stole his shirt to protect it from stains for the next day.  

Most of the family spent the afternoon skating and then got a tour of the dairy on their way home. 

We are thankful that my Uncle Tony and Aunt Peggy were able to keep us for the weekend! We don't get the opportunity to stay with them much anymore since their house is usually full of other family when there is a Schmidgall event! The wedding was very nice on Sunday, despite a slimmer crowd due to the weather!

Just Married!

Verle and Christa and Krista waiting with the newlyweds and niblings for the reception to begin.

And they're off to Phoenix for the next couple weeks! So thankful to have Harmony join the family and to see God bring a perfect match together!

I had been praying that we would all stay healthy through the holidays and the wedding weekend, and we are very thankful God blessed us with answered prayers. It seems we got to pay for those healthy months with the three weeks of sickness that followed. Keenan started throwing up immediately after the wedding reception, and we spent most of the next two and a half weeks at home while a couple different bugs of sickness took their turns on all six of us. 

Though I wouldn't wish sickness on my family, it is always kind of a nice time of rest and repose to just stay home. And since I didn't get sick till the end of the train, I was able to be pretty productive while the kids had no energy for me to keep up with. Thankfully we all made our recoveries with no major issues, and were able to acclimate back into the real world again in February. 

The Massner uncles gifted our children with a few months of KiwiCo subscription for Christmas and this was the first one to arrive! The kits are so fun and educational, and something the kids look forward to getting in the mail every month!

Their first kit was making this grabber, yarn balls, and arcade game!

One day while the younger two were napping away their sickness, the boys and I went out and scooped snow. I was impressed with their hard work!  

Of course it was also perfect snowman building weather. :)

Joanna's half birthday. Halfway through supper we were half-surprised to realize that it was Joanna's half birthday. She had finished half her food and half her milk, and the casserole was half gone, so we halfheartedly arranged a halfway decent half-birthday celebration! (She also had a half-smile due to being half-sick...)

I was thrilled to attend a ladies outing at Good with the Schulz sisters and Mom in honor of some birthdays!  

This boy thought he was silly stuff wearing Micah's shark sweatshirt. 

We went to Happy Joes one night when we thought everyone was healthy and well again (false alarm!). We were enjoying another Christmas gift card that night, and happened to realize during supper that Levi's birthday was only a couple days away (what kind of parents are we, forgetting birthdays and half birthdays...). So of course we let our kids experience the Happy Joe's birthday and horn. 

Enjoying the arcade after supper. It actually fit well with the theme of our KiwiCo kit from earlier in the week when they learned all about arcades (#homeschoolwin). Keenan is infatuated with balls these days, so I used his coins to get a ball. He was quite distressed when he couldn't figure out how to put it away when it was time to leave! 

Pancakes for supper on Levi's 6th birthday! Fortunately we had scheduled his party a couple weeks out because we were still on the sickness train at this point. 

Happy 6th birthday, big boy!! 

Just because. This is the kind of example our children have in their dad... ;)

I think this is what a baby couch potato looks like. Munchin' on his crackers while watching video games.

We were quite disappointed that I finally managed to get sick in time for my brother Jesse's baptism weekend. However, we were very blessed to still be able to listen to the testimonies on Saturday evening, and Matt and a couple of the children were able to attend the baptisms on Sunday. We are so thankful for the work God has done in Jesse's life, and that all six of us children have chosen to follow the Lord! We hope this wonderful gift can be passed on to the next generation and each one to come!

The next weekend, we were finally all healthy again for Jacob and Harmony's Iowa wedding reception! We spent the evening afterwards with the family opening gifts. There is just something super exciting to children about seeing gifts opened...even if it is things like dishes and towels! May we all have that child-like enthusiasm when it comes to appreciating the gifts we get from God!

Their next KiwiCo kit was all about mirrors and illusions. They made these mirror goggles that turned everything upside down, as well as painting a puzzle to try to put together with the goggles on.

In preparation for Valentine's Day, we got inspired to make sugar cookies! 

Matt tried to teach the boys how to play Stratego...it was an interesting match-up. I am just noticing Micah's choice of attire for the game. Definitely a solid Strategy-O!

The rest of that week consisted of working on the boys' birthday cakes and preparing for their duo party. I wanted to try making fondant for the fun of it. My synopsis is that everyone should try it once in their life. I have now checked that one off my bucket list. I made a marshmallow fondant. It was disastrous, but did turn out beautiful and even delicious (for fondant) in the end. 

The Super Schulz Bros celebrated their 1-UPs! 

I don't usually get this inspired with a birthday theme, but I guess two and a half weeks of sitting at home with nothing better to do sparked a little inspiration and before I knew it we were all decked out. The kids had fun dressing up...especially Joanna, in case it isn't obvious! :)

A few of the guests joined in on the moustache thing. 

The warp pipe cakes! Levi was a little exhausted at this point. 

These two again... 

Our candlelit Valentine's Day dinner!

In honor of our 100th day of school, Brooke and her children introduced us to the Des Moines County Heritage Museum at the old library building in Burlington! It was such a neat find and the children had fun playing for a few hours! There is a museum on the first floor and then the top floor has a play area for children with a house, store, ship, and dress-up and toys to play with.

It happened to be Ruben's birthday that week, so they used the occasion as his birthday "party" with Micah! 

We love coming up with reasons to celebrate and Twos-Day obviously made it to our list!

Grandma Massner took the boys on a day trip to celebrate their birthdays to the Family Museum in Bettendorf. Brock and Aunt Mary joined them to add to the fun!

Meanwhile, I decided only having two children sounded like a great excuse to go to story time. Who else would have the same idea but Kelsey and Brooklyn (Brock's mom and sister)?!

The Massner family took a little weekend getaway to a hotel in Coralville. It was nice to spend some extra time with everyone and the kids enjoyed doing some swimming in the big pool! 

We went on an outing Satruday night to eat out and visited the mall where we splurged and gave our children their once-in-a-lifetime sixty-second carousel experience! 

All that action left Keenan in need of some serious coffee to get him going on Sunday morning. Ok, so it was filled with water but he didn't know the difference and those things do make good sippy cups. We spent our day attending church in Iowa City! I enjoyed catching up with many people I used to see on Wednesday evenings when I went to college up there.

And then...ah, glorious hints of spring! And mud! But that's what boys are for. This guy was very distraught about his muddy shoes. 

We finally have a place to use sidewalk chalk on our property and the kids have loved it! This cement pad was definitely a worthwhile purchase. It also provides a good place for them to ride bikes and cars around outside!  

The Hartters came over one day during preschool (Brenda has been graciously giving Micah a ride this year)! Asher discovered the Beanboozled game the boys got for their birthday and somehow managed to convince our unimpressed kids that the game was fun. Hehe. Blech.

I could not convince her that she would not be able to move once she got my boots on. 

Another HOME group meeting in the books! Pastor Bryan always does so well at keeping the whole handful of children occupied while we moms are upstairs!

Daddy and Buddy in their caps!

There is something so thrilling about these carts at Hy-vee!

Modeling Levi's glasses. It is funny how much glasses changes a person's look!

Our final hurrah of snow (for now...)!

Haircut Day! I am so bad at getting around to haircuts so it always gets pretty bad and the cut makes a major difference. This time to keep my clients cheerful and enthusiastic we did before and after photos. 

An even more satisfying before-and-after of the basement stairwell! This was the last major painting project I was hoping to complete before the baby arrived, and thanks to my husband's efforts it got accomplished a couple weeks ago. We also repainted the kitchen and hallway during our January sick days. We didn't make any obvious changes to the color up there so I neglected to take pictures, but it is SO refreshing what a fresh coat of paint will do to make things look nice! We did not paint any of this when we moved in eight years ago, so the walls were getting pretty beat up and dirty looking.

Oh, yes, another celebration....

Happy Pi Day, y'all!  

I had to take a picture of Levi and Daisy because Daisy has grown about ten times in size since we got her back in July! Lessons learned since July: Puppies are unlike other animals. They are basically children in animal form, in need of loving relationships and good training. I did not sign up for this. But she is growing up and figuring out life. The kids are no longer terrified of dogs like they were before we had one, so that is a blessing. We also recently moved her to a much better location where she won't be jumping all over every person who comes to our house. Hallelujah.

She gave me a good excuse to get out and clean up the front yard the other day...tore up the bedding from her dog house and strew the stuffing all over the yard. On a nice windy day. It was actually a beautiful day and I ended up getting some other spring cleanup done too. 

Obviously I have child training going on indoors that takes priority over puppy training. And that is perfectly ok because it is what I did sign up for and the job that brings me joy and satisfaction! :) Micah and Keenan emptied the dishwasher all by themselves the other day! Keenan just ADORES his big brothers and it is so fun to see them all get along! Disclaimer: normal life does not equal my kids being cooperative and getting along at every moment, but for moms in the thick of it, we need an occasional glimmer of hope that some of our investments will pay off someday! God's grace is greater than all of our shortcomings and I do believe if we are faithful to Him, He will fill in all the gaps where we miss the mark. It is ok to be imperfect because it is then that we can humbly beg for and accept God's grace. I guess in short, we "do our best and leave the rest to God."   

Matt and I went out for a date night to Martini's last week (gift card again...I guess that's the only thing that gets us out of the house;)), and when we showed up we found this nice couple also waiting to be seated! They were willing to share a table with us so we ended up with an unplanned double date! 

We are loving all the signs of spring and the opportunity to get back outside again! Matt got the fence all fixed up to expand the sheep's pasture. The two mamas seem to be pregnant, so we are looking forward to seeing a few baby lambs soon! I am going to be a little put out if the sheep have their babies before me... :)

Along with the lambs hopefully on the way, we've also got geese nesting on our pond, wood ducks nesting in their box, and several other birds with nests around! Spring brings so much hope and joy after the dead of winter! And this is a picture of a random goose egg that got laid on our dock one morning. It was pretty fresh, so we cooked it up for lunch!

The boys constructed a fort this morning. We went with the flow and used this setting for the last science lesson from the curriculum we have been using this year: The 7th day of Creation - God Rested. Yesterday we wrapped up Levi's math curriculum, and finished our writing book a couple weeks ago. We are excited to have a pretty flexible slate for the next couple months with a new baby; there is nothing I feel like we need to get done, but we do all love learning together, so hopefully we will still find some time for "school" once we are settled with the baby!

We had our "Due Day" celebration on Wednesday (sorry, I can't help finding every possible holiday to celebrate these days). The children each filled out their sheet of predictions to see who could get the closest! All I can say is I sure hope Joanna is not the winner for the baby's weight.

That about wraps up the first part of 2022. So far a very lovely year! 

And now we begin the overdue count-up. Keenan came twelve days past his due date and Micah and Joanna weren't too far off from that, so I am trying hard to buckle down and be patient. I never do feel as miserable as most moms when I am pregnant so it is manageable. 

At this particular point the main thing on my prayer radar is dealing with the suspense of the unknowns (and knowns) of labor and childbirth. From there, we are prayerful that the transition home with the baby will go well, that we will have a happy and healthy baby and mommy. As far as my postpartum mental health, we feel very peaceful about the precautions we are taking this time along with the other tools, wisdom, experience, and support we have to prevent issues this time around. Just our life season and situation right now seems so much calmer than it was a year and a half ago. Thank you for those who have been praying, because only God can actually take our "tools" and efforts and make them helpful. In my last post, I asked for prayers for peace and we have felt them. So please continue to choose prayer as your weapon rather than worry and fear, so God can have all the power and glory.

We are excited and ready to be on the "other side" with our sweet baby in our arms! I have no clue how it will all go coming home, but we've got our schedules cleared for the foreseeable future, the freezer stocked with food, and - to make all my other efforts seem frivolous - God on our side. We will need plenty of help from our support system and I believe God will provide for each need. We are so very thankful and blessed and can't wait to meet this little one!

Until later...have a blessed spring!