Taking a Breather: The Holiday Season

Well, I feel like I'm finally able to catch my breath again. Since when? Since last week? Since Christmas, you ask? Since the last time I posted real pictures and life stories? Maybe since Micah was born last February? 

After much contemplation, my final answer may be all of the above. This is the first time I have taken the chance to sit down and start writing for over two months. But Wednesday was the first time I made a batch of bread since Micah was born, and I think that is a good indicator that I may be on a brief intermission from the survival mode I fell into exactly a year ago.

"Intermission" because that's what it is. Raising three-under-three can't possibly allow a mother to be in any less of "survival-mode" than two-under-two. So, I expect to return to that state of living in five more months.

But it will be wonderful. And it will be perfectly fine if we need to alternate between boxed mac n' cheese and frozen pizza every night for a month. Eventually my husband will stop coming home hungry for supper and I will begin to see transactions for Subway, Caseys, and Taco John's show up in our bank account.

I am sticking to my new motto: "Overlook the Overwhelming." Instead of being overwhelmed by the future, it's so much more enjoyable to be overwhelmed with love for the two little boys who fill our home with footsteps, giggles, and stinky diapers.

Wow. Six paragraphs down and I have skillfully avoided the commencement of my big ole' catch-up post. Here goes.

November...

Though they haven't figured out how to get through our unsecured lock screen, the boys certainly love working on the computer. 

Levi loves helping me in the kitchen. On pizza night, I have found it is easiest to give him a chunk of the dough and let him make his own pizza ALL BY HIMSELF. 

Matt went to his first auction and brought home this shed. He really just wanted the wood inside of it, but I guess we got a shed out of the deal, too. 

The boys got to help out Daddy fixing up the shed. 

This is where Matt found Levi one Sunday morning. He had figured out how to open the jar of peanut butter and was eating it by the spoonful. Somehow it didn't end in a huge mess. 

This is the first game Levi ever played...and he even won! My brothers found that LCR is simple (and pointless) enough for a two-year-old to play. Levi thought he was pretty cool stuff. 

Me and the boys got sick the week of Thanksgiving. Levi was feeling better by Thursday, so Matt took him to the family gathering. Micah and I stayed home and enjoyed fish sticks for our Thanksgiving feast. I accidentally cooked up way more than we could eat, so it kind of did feel like Thanksgiving. :) 

December:

We enjoyed having the Sunday School students over one evening to practice for the program and wrap gifts! 

Our first family Christmas was in Peoria with my Dad's family. Micah thought his gift from Great-Grandma Knobloch was pretty funny! 

"Is that your mommy?" Levi and Max met back up again this year. This time they were both walking and talking. 

Walking in Daddy's shoes...

...Micah realized he didn't need Daddy's shoes to be a klutz. His first few months of walking have been full of bumps and bruises. This bump on his forehead was the result of one of his worst falls. 

Not only does he have issues with hitting his head, but he also manages to get into the strangest situations... 

Including this one. But hey, it actually made us all happy. He got to go out with Daddy, Daddy hardly noticed his presence, and Mommy was quite productive during his brief absence. 

Toddler entertainment for a morning...we made our own play dough by mixing water and flour together until it was the right consistency. (Note: This self-created recipe was great for the day, but didn't keep well.) 

Micah turned 10 months old! Walking great now, sleeping well at night, and eating everything we eat! He is getting more and more interactive all the time! 

Then Christmas hit us in full swing...

First, our family Christmas! Another new face was added this year! :)

Many thanks to the Great-Grandparents for the new books and music CDs! 

Matt made a stable for my nativity scene for Christmas! It looks so nice! I also ended up getting a few other pieces for Christmas that filled it up even more - the three wise men and an angel! 

All except one of the 43 Lanz cousins made it to the big Lanz Christmas, so it was a great photo-opp! They are in order by age here. I think the plan was to photo-shop Dan into the photo between Brenda and Heidi. 

Singing at Lanz Christmas in Grandma's basement 

We took a little break from Christmas to celebrate Kyra's 5th birthday on the 24th! 

...and then got right back to Christmas the next day with the Schulz family! 

Levi was very fascinated by all of the gifts this year and wanted to have a front seat view of every gift being opened. 

The next day we joined a smaller group for our Christmas gathering at Mom and Dad Massner's. The new in-law wasn't able to make it due to a flu bug. I suppose she could have come anyway, as we all ended up getting it the next week! 

  

Next was a trip up north. We joined the Knobloch family Christmas in Lester one night. This picture is of one of the games we played; it was a contest to see who could make the best antlers out of balloons and nylons. We stayed at a hotel in Sioux Falls with Matt's immediate family the next night, and then headed up to Morris from there. 

The boys got a little too much attention at the Schmidgall Christmas in Morris! 

The Grand Finale to our holiday season was a flu bug that hit most of the Schmidgall family and several in the Schulz family who were still in Lester. Most of my family got sick on New Year's Eve and spent the night at Tony and Peggy's with our heads in the toilets. I started feeling better around 2am, just in time for Levi to start throwing up for the rest of the night. Good memories. Fortunately, it was pretty much all out of our systems by the time we headed for home in the morning.

So, things really just kept getting better in 2018 after we welcomed in the year with such a bang. Perhaps needless to say, I was very exhausted after all was said and done. 

We did have some very nice times reconnecting with our extended families in December and are very thankful for the appreciation everyone has for each other. We are so blessed!

I have decided to leave you hanging there, because "Happy New Year" seems to be a nice breaking point. And Micah is waking up. ;) We hope the first 11% of 2018 has been good to you!

A Christmas "Bundle"

Life has been very busy the past few weeks with Christmas, but I thought I might as well provide one major update for now! If things weren't busy enough around here, I guess they will be stepping up a notch...because baby number three is on the way! We are very thankful for another miracle of life God has given us. He has been so good to us and we believe He will continue to provide as we seek to raise our children for His glory.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD..." 

Psalm 127:3

Anniversary at the Capital

I'm a little behind the times here, but back in October our marriage turned 4 years old! My parents were able to keep the boys overnight while Matt and I took a much-anticipated getaway to Des Moines. 

One of the "traditional" 4th anniversary gifts is fruit...hence, the "I [love] U" watermelon...my first attempt at watermelon carving! :) And, of course, four roses for four years! Matt does so good at bringing home flowers!  

Our first stop in Des Moines was an escape room. We'd heard from others who had done them and Matt thought it sounded right up his alley. It was a fun experience, though we failed to escape the room in time. I guess four years of marriage hasn't made us expert puzzle solvers...though I think we did pretty well considering there were only two of us in a room designed for eight people.

We went out to eat in the evening and then walked back to our hotel. On the way, we passed the Iowa Science Center and decided to stop in for an educational IMAX film on National Parks.

In the morning, we experienced the Des Moines Farmers' Market. Lots of things to see, free samples, and yummy food!

Next, we hiked up several blocks to Iowa's State Capital Building. Neither of us had been there before and we enjoyed our guided tour!

View from the top...

We took the scenic route back to our vehicle and rode bikes along the river for a bit. There are bike "stations" in several places around town where you can rent bikes and then leave it at any other station when you are done. Then we enjoyed a BBQ dinner and left for home. 

It was very nice to have some quality time together, as it doesn't happen very often anymore with two little boys running around! Of course, it was great to be home and reunited with the boys Saturday night!

On to our fifth year of marriage! God has been good to us and we are very blessed to have one another.

Fall Fell (...and here comes the cold.)

I am currently enjoying a moment where I don't quite know what to do with myself. I'm all caught up with the dishes, the house is clean, the baby is sleeping, Matt is gone with Levi, I've got supper and tomorrow's breakfast taken care of...yep. Happens all the time. 

By the time I finish writing, I'm sure the above description of my day will no longer be applicable. Nor do I expect another moment like this to happen again in the next twenty years. But it's worth a shot at trying to catch up with the blog.

For lack of better creativity, I will begin at: The day I left off. Levi started experimenting with a prospective future in auto maintenance. Matt had to share with him that a fire lighter is not necessarily the go-to tool for fixing a minivan.

We met Matt for supper at the new substation in town! (Where else would you picnic with your favorite electrical engineer?) We were a little disappointed to hear that the substation didn't even sell subs, but we brought our own food and had a nice time anyway. 

We squeezed in a few more days of beautiful weather before the cold began to hit.

Rather than ants, it was the cats that kept stealing our food at our last picnic of the season... 

But, of course, there is still fun to be had in the cooler days of fall! We visited a pumpkin patch with my Mom one day, hosted the Schulz family one evening, and attended a couple other wiener roasts throughout the season.

Micah enjoying his first hay rack ride... 

Matt completed his work on the retaining wall for the winter.

As for now, we have begun to quarantine ourselves indoors. 

I was busy working in the kitchen and asked Levi to give Micah some Cheerios...next thing I know, Levi had dumped out the entire box on Micah's tray. Micah sure thought he hit the jackpot! 

And then there are those messes that you wish you could blame on your children, but...nope. The bowl of split pea soup slipped right out of my hands and splattered all over the kitchen. Yay. 

Levi's new favorite article of clothing is his "Cozy Thomas towel" that he got for a baby gift. He would probably be happy to wear it all day if I would let him! 

He wanted to wear Mommy's clothes one day. And Daddy's hat. 

On Halloween, we decided at 6pm to dress up the boys and bring them to Virg and Barb's and Mom & Dad's. Levi had a bear costume downstairs, and Micah was a computer whiz (or something). :) 

"ROOAAR!!"

Horseback riding with Daddy.

Most of the Schulz family was able to make it to a family night at Seth and Brenda's this weekend! Bad photo quality from my phone...but quality family time, nonetheless. :) 

Micah turned 8 months old in October, and 9 months old today! He is still as jolly as ever, and getting busier all the time! He quickly went from crawling to cruising to walking over the past couple months. Daddy is quite proud to have an early walker like himself! :) 

Well, the dryer just buzzed and the baby is waking up. I should probably get up and going again. Have a good weekend! 

A Mama's Choice

My current role in life as a mother of two-under-two has been corralled into a very simple diagram.

But first, I will take you back to the days of college when we were shown a "College Life" diagram. It says something like, "Good Grades; Social Life; Enough Sleep: You can only Choose Two." And it was rather true. I think I chose good grades and a social life. Why I didn't take advantage of full nights' sleep back then is beyond me. 

This new stage of life called "early motherhood" has a similar survival method. Thus, I have created a diagram to present my findings. 

Care for children; Be cheerful; Get things done: I can only choose two.

On the days when I am home alone with the children, I typically need to sacrifice either cheerfulness or productivity. Several factors apply, such as whether I take a nap when the boys are sleeping (be cheerful) or skip my nap (get things done). And don't even suggest that I try to work while the boys are awake. I cannot sit there serenely dicing vegetables for my potato soup while my baby tastes a sample of every item in the trashcan and my toddler comes out with dripping underwear to inform me he went potty in the toy cupboard. I just can't do it.

Maybe someday I'll get it all figured out and be able to do it all. Maybe someday I'll be Supermom. But for now, I'm just a Mom. And that's okay.

As busy as things sometimes get, I am enjoying this stage of life: the boys are still little, things are simple, and our small family gets to be together basically all the time. I know it won't always be this way, nor would I want it to stay like this forever.

But We Have This Moment...today.

So, I have learned not to try accomplishing too much around here. And if I do? Well, now I have a helpful diagram to remind myself of the consequences. ;)