June, the Fourth, and Graduation

Another month gone...not much has changed besides the thermometers boiling over!

A week after my brothers got home from their big senior expedition, they decided to come out and give our kids a taste of what camping was like. It was such a sweet thing for them to do! They even had the kids make a "vlog" about it, which you can watch here.

It sounded like they could have spent all afternoon playing in the tent!

Meanwhile, I spent those couple of hours putting up strawberries from Aldi! The boys helped me finish.

Matt has the landscaping all ready to pour a concrete patio and sidewalk around the house! We also need to finish the caps and landscape rock on the walls.

One Sunday, we tagged along with my family to go to a graduation open house in Illinois, and then to do a window visit with my Grandma Knobloch at Skylines! Classic 2020 experiences. :) We talked on the phone to her and sang a few songs as well. It was good to see her. It is a hard time for nursing home residents right now, being stuck inside with no visitors!

The west side of the church parking is now complete and hopefully the north side will be done soon! Matt has been involved with this project for several years so it is great to finally see some results!

The night of the father-son campout was our night to visit Grandma Lanz so Joanna and I spent the evening there. Emmett and Joanna were glad to have each other as playmates! He is Erika's boy from Oregon, spending a couple weeks in Iowa with his Grandma.

They are definitely the same age...highly amused by the same things, like pointing out the lights in every room they enter and pretending to go "night-night" under big blankets! 

Five packages of Oreos and several hours later...the boys finally settled into their tent around 12:05am.

They got home around ten Saturday morning and then began "Part Two" of the camp out. The boys slept till about four.

Meanwhile, Joanna happily cleaned up the leftovers they brought home. 

We got to spend Saturday and Sunday evenings of Father's Day weekend with our families!

For the last three weeks of June, Matt was traveling for work the first couple days of the week. The first week his Mom hosted "Grandma Camp" on Tuesday with all the grandchildren that gave me a reprieve, and the second week, Shelby came for several hours on Tuesday to entertain the children for me while I got some much needed cleaning done. I even cleaned the windows, so this was BIG.

Everybody decided it would be hilarious to wear the wrong pajamas one night while Matt was gone...

Friday the 27th was the second day of Grandma Camp...a smaller crowd this time but definitely a major highlight for the kids! It was Matt's Friday off and two days before my birthday, so the two of us went out to eat at Good and did a little shopping afterwards!

The remains of the ball pit..."Covid killed the pit."

When we got back to pick up the kids, there was a cactus plant driving around on a trike!

The week after Father's Day, Matt and the kids had very mild cold symptoms, and given the current circumstances we tried to be prudent citizens which meant staying home from church on Sunday, and asking everyone we were planning to be around if they still wanted to be around us. The things that ended up clearing off our schedule were piano lessons and Matt's dentist appointment. Over the weekend, my brother and Matt's brother both tested negative for Covid which made us feel a little better since our families are the only people we had really spent much time around.

Saturday we went to Holly's graduation open house. It was nice to see some of our relatives from afar and catch up with Kendra and Aria!

Joanna and Aria... now that we are back to seeing other children again, Joanna is infatuated with babies or anybody younger than her! She is going to be such a good big sister in a few more weeks! :)

We celebrated my birthday with my family! Having four kids, been married for almost seven years, and having a 32 year old husband makes me feel very young to only be 26. 

Matt and the boys made a "moss pusher" one afternoon in an attempt to clean moss off the pond.

This is the difference in forgetting half the flour in a cookie recipe (I guess I got a little distracted by my little helper). Glad I discovered my mistake before baking off the rest of the cookies!

We had a very nice Independence Day weekend! We are thankful for a special day to appreciate all the ways God has blessed us to live in America...and a reminder to pray for our country. 

Social distancing at Morning Sun fireworks was definitely manageable this year. :) Most people watched from their vehicles or yards in town and only about five or ten groups actually sat in the park. It was kind of nice without any loud music or big crowds this year.  

Micah was being so sweet and covering Joanna's ears for her. 

ALL the Steffens and Massners were in the same place at the same time for the first time in YEARS! We have been getting together at least once a year since 2004...so we've kind of grown up together and seen a lot of changes. It may be the last time we are all together for awhile as Myca plans to move to Magdalena, Mexico in the next couple months. They came Saturday after lunch and left Sunday afternoon. We got to keep Quinn, Sandi, and little Colt overnight! :)

Just the "kids"

Levi fell asleep on the way to Sperry Fireworks and looked pretty macho. The Sperry event was much higher populated, though I think quite a few people still watched from their vehicles.

Last Sunday, Burlington church added Sunday School classes and an afternoon service back into our Sunday routine, with a half hour break between services where we can bring our own lunch and spread out to eat. I is just enough time for our family to go outside, get everybody fed, and come back inside for church to start again. It is nice to add a little more "normalcy" back into our Sundays.

Last week I had my 35 week check-up. We are on the final countdown with only a month left to go! This pregnancy (the last eight months in general) has been a doozy. As much as I don't like to wish away time, I am very anxious to get this baby out of my belly!

One day the boys went out to the garage and decided they wanted to make a table. I think Matt helped them a little. Then Matt went back to work and they said they needed chairs. And that they needed to be made out of wood. I don't know how to run tools, but I managed to use a hand saw, hammer, and nails to cobble together four chairs to go with their table. The boys are definitely going to pass me up in their woodworking skills very soon!

Friday was another Grandma Camp...the kids get SO excited when they hear the big day has arrived! I milked every last minute of the day this time...going to several garage sales in Burlington to make up for missing garage sales during the quarantine (Joanna might start wearing girl clothes again!), running several errands, and.....A HIGHLIGHT OF THE YEAR: getting books at the library which is now open (as long as I go by myself)!! It is so refreshing and stimulating to have new books for the children to read again!

Another source of excitement was receiving our foster and adoption license a couple weeks ago! With everything going on with Covid, the licensing process got delayed a few months and we were beginning to wonder if we would ever hear back. With a baby due soon, we don't plan to add any more children to our home until we feel settled again...and then we will probably just do respite care until we feel led to accept longer-term placements. We are thankful for the opportunity we hope we will have to serve families in our community and share God's love with others. 

Saturday was the Mediapolis High School graduation, also a unique experience due to the pandemic! It was held outdoors on the football field (usually in the gym). Only the seniors and speakers were on the field, and everyone else was seated in the bleachers or standing along the fence. While the ceremony was held at ten in the morning, it was HOT and a good opportunity for heat stroke for anyone who wasn't careful. But we were thankful the class got a fairly traditional graduation experience, given the circumstances. The main thing missing from the ceremony was the choir which was replaced by recorded songs. (Link to view 2020 MHS Graduation Ceremony)

The class filing onto the field

Presentation of diplomas. There were markers for them to stand six feet apart while in line, and they had to use hand sanitizer before and after going across stage to shake hands. 

Our favorite 2020 MHS grad...Travis!

We are thankful for the nice young man he has become for our children to look up to! Standing somewhere around 6'7", I don't think Travis even knows anyone who doesn't have to look up to him. :) 

Nolan and Travis's open house was Saturday evening at the Schmidgall's (brand) new shed!

The rain held off during the open house, but the evening ended with a beautiful double rainbow! Thankful for God's promise to always be faithful no matter what the future brings!

The Bee's Knees

The blessings are many in this season of the year and this season of life...the outdoor life is filling us with its abundant activity and beauty, and our children bring us many more reasons to smile each day!

Progress on Joanna's high chair! Here Matt was was testing it out for height. Meanwhile, Joanna made good progress on my salad while I was getting everyone else's lunches ready. I thought salad would be safe to make ahead of time, but I should have known better with this girl around. She stole my avocados and cucumbers.

The finished product! I think it was supposed to be a birthday gift but she is thrilled to be using it already!

The boys had been watching my brothers' daily vlog about their camping expedition out west. They set up this whole scene by themselves. Levi staked the tent with bicycles and broomsticks, then they had hot dogs and baked beans for supper...

...and even found some pillows and sleeping bags to use at bedtime! It is so fun to see them use their creativity. Levi is the one with the ingenuity/creativity to make something out of nothing using whatever he can come up with. I'd say he takes after his dad in that area. :) And Micah and Joanna love to go along for the adventure! 

We watched the SpaceX shuttle launch a couple weeks ago. I happened to remember it two minutes before launch, so we were just in time! The boys were so fascinated that we kept watching it into the first fifteen minutes of flight. We tuned in later after the news conference to see the astronauts give a tour of the inside of their shuttle while they were in space. 

Last week, "Bob and Doug" showed up in Matt's office. It took me a minute to remember who Bob and Doug were (they are the two astronauts on the SpaceX mission)! Clearly they left an impression on the boys!

Went fishing one Sunday! Photo credits to Micah... he got the subject matter in the picture, even if he did cut off the cool guy on top! Phil and his boys came over in the evening to fish and ended up catching a bunch of bullfrogs to bring home for a frog leg dinner!

Our first strawberries are getting ready!

After a grocery run last Monday evening, I brought the children (and Jesse for moral support) to Sprat's for the free ice cream sandwiches provided by Two Rivers! Sprat's had already gone through all 700 of their frozen sandwiches by the time we got there, but they still came through with cookies and ice cream in a dish! It ended up being less messy for the kids anyway. :)

Tim Ita finally arrived on Matt's birthday to plaster the outside wall where we put in the egress windows last fall. Not sure if this was a more exciting birthday gift for me or Matt! I am thrilled that we can finally try to make at least one side of our house look a little less like a construction zone. 

This is how close we've gotten to "not looking like a construction zone."

Matt's parents and younger siblings joined us Tuesday night for his 32nd birthday party...ice cream cake compliments of The Flour Barn! I am so burnt out of making food right now so, yes, I bought a cake. Definitely worth it. :)

A dip in a nice pool has sounded so refreshing recently with some of the hot days. Pools have been closed until now, and trying to take the kids swimming in the pond has sounded dreadful, but I finally took the plunge one day during Joanna's nap. It went really well, much to my pleasant surprise! Maybe we are starting to grow out of the crazy baby stage after all.

After a boat ride one night...

We are thankful that Iowa has now opened up all businesses and everything in between, with the stipulations of social distancing. Any social and church gatherings are allowed if social distance can be maintained. I have also started up piano lessons again, so we have another sense of normalcy and social life to appreciate. The main thing I am still missing are the libraries, which are allowed to be open, but the local ones are only doing curbside pickup right now. It's not really a feasible task for me to pick out children's books online, so we are still memorizing the thirty books we own. And memorizing them backwards. And upside down. Ok, fine. We haven't really been doing much reading at all these days. Thankfully it is summertime and we aren't cooped up indoors. We did sign up for the virtual reading program so maybe that will force us to dust off our books again.

The kids were excited to do the take-home craft for the reading program on Tuesday!

As far as pregnancy goes, thankfully the baby and I are still healthy. At my appointment this week I learned that if I would test positive for Covid-19 at 38 weeks that Matt won't be allowed to come to the hospital when I have the baby. Him not being allowed to see the baby for its first moments and days in the world sounds tragic, but we don't really feel like there is anything we can do about it besides worry. So we are just going to pray that it doesn't happen. If it does, I can still be very thankful for the expectation of a healthy baby, good health care, and an interesting story to tell. 

I share this information so you can all join me in praying for all the soon-to-be mothers you know. And to discourage anyone from coughing in our family's faces during the month of July (we will still accept coughs and snot for the next couple weeks in hopes of getting over it by the time I get tested). And I am also taking references for local home birth options for the future...because hospital births stress me out.

Anyway, on to deeper subjects...like bees. Matt has gone from a bee hobbyist to a bee fanatic in the past couple weeks. He caught a swarm a couple years ago that has been going for awhile (albeit had not given us a drop of honey yet due to some minor neglect). On his birthday, he found a swarm of bees in a tree in our yard and Zach helped him catch it and get a second hive set up. This past Monday, he and Andrew went to Mike and Elisabeth's to remove a HUGE hive of bees from inside an old chimney in their house. They had to break out the bricks to get to the hive, take out at least an overflowing tote full of honeycomb, and sweep out a zillion bees in hopes of capturing the queen. It was quite the experience. Matt has been completely hyped up about bees ever since...trying to keep them alive, settled into their new homes, and maybe even produce a little honey someday.

Operation: Bee Removal

Matt's developing aviary. He would like to get some more suitable hives set up. This newest swarm of bees is a different species of honey bees that seems to be more aggressive. Matt has been stung several times by them already despite his bee suit. 

This guy and his hobbies...tune in next time to hear about the rattlesnake terrarium he's setting up in his home office.

Just kidding. There may not be a next time if that comes to pass. 

Hope the rest of you are staying well!

Spring Things

It seems we've gotten busy again; a whole month just flew by! 

Schulz Family News Coloring Contest: Levi's first actual attempt to stay in the lines...I was so impressed! :)

I made us up some no-sew masks to bring to the hospital for Levi's eye appointment. Not super attractive, but they got us by!

This was the last day of enjoying six ducks! We are now down to four due to a presumed lucky coyote. 

The apple tree in full bloom was a beautiful sight! We got a frost the next week but I think all of our fruits and vegetables survived besides a couple tomato plants!

Another wiener roast! Levi is slow-cooking his brat while Matt helps Micah finish his.

Matt has made some good progress on the landscape project the past several weekends. This is the house that Levi and Micah built in the meantime. 

We had a graduation ceremony and celebration for my brothers before they embarked on a month-long journey out west for their "senior trip." Levi was the commencement speaker. I told him he was supposed to talk about graduating. So for his speech, he described everything that had happened so far at the ceremony: "So, first Jesse played a song, and then they walked out and around the circle, and then they sat in the chairs." Then he proceeded to hand out the diplomas before the boys filed out.

2020 Graduates at the Massner House:
Justin - BS Mechanical Engineering planning to work at Raymond in Muscatine;
 Jonathan - BS Electrical Engineering planning to work at Collins Aerospace in Cedar Rapids;
 Travis - HS Diploma planning to attend Iowa State University for Computer Engineering.
(Clearly the more years of schooling you complete, the shorter you become.)

We have been well entertained by the "vlog" the boys are doing each day of their trip through the national parks of the west. It has been an adventure, especially with many places being shut down due to the "pandemonium" going on!

Two dreary rainy days in a row required something fun...so we had a full day of Cinco de Mayo celebration!

The kids made maracas and a pinata in the morning!

They took a break from dancing to Mexican music to pose for a picture. 

I tried to convince them about the "siesta" thing after lunch, but the boys didn't buy it very easily. Then it was time for the fiesta!

Tacos for supper with bunuelos for dessert. Basically a fried pastry covered with cinnamon and sugar. Nothing healthy about this but it was a treat!

Then it was pinata time! Inside was all of their leftover Easter candy. :)

Micah crawled into this fish well and told Levi to lock it for him. Of course, Levi always obeys his little brother when he has a bad idea. I didn't even realize this contraption existed so I didn't come running very quickly when they told me he was locked inside something. Oops!

This scene happens after every shower...everyone huddles on the ground crying with their towels over them. 

More landscaping...this is where we've left off on this wall for now!

Mother's Day with my four beautiful uncooperative children! They sure keep things fun and lively around here. I am such a blessed Mommy (and wife)!

Levi's eye appointment in Iowa City was on the 12th. Camille and Shelby came over to be with Micah and Joanna while we were gone. This was one of the kids' first chances to actually freely interact with other human beings for a couple months. They loved it! Levi's appointment went well. His eyes are starting to show improvement, though we can still expect to be in glasses for several years yet. COVID-19 made it an interesting experience with all of the screening stations we had to go through before getting to the doctor. Levi kept his mask on until about halfway through his appointment; then he decided he'd had enough.

Whipped iced coffee is my newest fascination! Who knew instant coffee whips into something so beautiful?! To make it "healthy" I use my own natural sweetener, and when I'm looking for low-calorie I use unsweetened almond milk in place of regular milk. Take a picture while it looks pretty, then mix it all together and enjoy the delicious frappe!

Another day of landscaping...and puddles!

Up until a couple weeks ago, this wall did not exist. The old wall was taken out two years ago and has been turning into a mudslide ever since. Progress has been so quick lately...now that Matt knows what he's doing and has plenty of free nights and weekends!

A little extra help doesn't hurt either...

We got a new mountain of rock!

Look what else Daddy made for the kiddos! He's the best!

Joanna loves asparagus! Matt mentioned something about stinky pee the first time he dished it up to her, so now she calls it stinkies. "MORE STINKIES!!! STINKIES!" Is all we hear on asparagus night now!

A major highlight of our lives was being honorary attendees at church on the 17th. We got to be five of the eight people in attendance at Burlington church! In Burlington they were inviting a different brother to pray at each service so it was Matt's turn and we got to go along! The kids were thrilled to go to the "big church" again. It was probably a good practice run for the next Sunday when we started in-person services again!

That same day we welcomed new baby cousin Narra Charleen who joined Seth and Brenda's family!

And I welcomed in the final trimester of my own pregnancy at my 28 week checkup last week! Wowee, has the third trimester ever knocked the wind right out of me. It is about all I can do to keep meals on the table for my family anymore. But the baby and I are healthy, for which we are so thankful!

Last Thursday, we and Andrew and Hannah sang quartet for Joyce Eland's funeral service in Iowa City. I thought we were getting off easy singing in a small church until we found out it was getting video recorded for those who couldn't attend! It was certainly a blessing to be a part of the day since I am, as Brad termed, an Iowa City "Alum." Joyce will be very missed by the Iowa City congregation.

Saturday was another landscape work day...

The current status of the new wall!

Since Matt conveniently got put back on as trustee a few months ago, I am back to being his secretary, so the two of us were in charge of writing up the new guidelines for reopening church in Burlington, as well as organizing a seating chart for this phase of social distancing. It might sound like a burdensome task, but I have so enjoyed having a diversion from the day-to-day household activities. With nothing going on lately, I have missed having new things to keep my brain occupied!

Which explains why I haven't written here for a month.

Sunday was a big day as we had our first day back in church with our Burlington church family! No matter how many guidelines you try to set up, social distancing certainly does not come very naturally at church, especially for young children. Hopefully with more practice and experience we will start to get into more of a routine. It was such a blessing to worship together again!

As of June 1st, Iowa is pretty much reopening everything back up again as long as social distancing is practiced and vulnerable people stay home (the three exclusions to reopening are indoor playgrounds, adult day care centers, and live indoor performances). School is allowed to open for summer classes, and high school summer sports are allowed to proceed. Even social gatherings over 10 will be allowed if people are kept six feet apart...which is pretty limiting, but at least it is an option and makes graduations and wedding receptions doable. After attempting "social distancing" in church with young children, I am thinking we will probably be avoiding most other situations that fall under the "social distancing" category. It is virtually impossible for the two of us to keep a 4, 3, and 1 year old "socially distanced" from others...especially when I am six months pregnant and can't carry anyone for an extended period of time. Maybe this is when a child leash would come in handy...

We celebrated Memorial Day with an impromptu Schulz family gathering at the cemetery visiting Matt's mom's grave. Later, my parents and Jesse came over for a wiener roast. We got a heavy rain storm after eating supper and spent the rest of the evening inside.

We are so thankful and blessed with the beautiful heritage that "Grandma Karen" passed on to her children and grandchildren! The flexibility of this family - for this many of us to be able to show up with twenty minutes' notice - is probably a characteristic that came from her. :)

I think that about sums up our month. I'd love to have a less abrupt ending, but...well, I'm tired. ;)