Our Kitchen Renovation

We undertook a major project in our kitchen the other night, namely a severe renovation. What a difference it made! The place is so much more open, spacious, and inviting now.

BEFORE: 

(Kitchen table not pictured but was also included in the undertaking)

 THE NEXT MORNING:

Note my prepared lunch, the daylight streaming (?) through the window, and our supper in the crockpot...yep, we got everything under control.  

So yeah... I kind of fail at being a good housewife, but there it is for you - the great reality of life as we know it. For some reason the only thing we tend to accomplish on Monday evenings is finishing the dishes and getting the kitchen back under control. Things obviously get a little crazy around here on the weekends. ;) And I think my husband has great justification for calling me a messy cook.

But hey...it's what comes out of the kitchen that counts, right??

Over the River and Through the Woods...and out on the Ice and Snow!

We've gone over the river and through the woods two weekends in a row now: the first time to visit Matt's cousin Wendy and her husband Tim in Bradford, and another to Peoria for my Dad's family Christmas at my cousin Andi's house. And, well, the ice and snow are somewhat of a given!

Two weekends ago, we went out to Bradford with Jason and Kelsey to spend a relaxing evening with Tim and Wendy. We had such a good weekend with both couples, and it was fun to see Tim & Wendy's home and get to know the newest Schulz in-law a bit! 

The three couples...as good of a picture that my self-timer could get!

Last Monday and Tuesday evenings were spent dealing with vehicle issues, namely the Impala that had a couple minor maintenance issues that required a trip over to the auto shop in Lockridge. Nate S. came over and helped Matt clear snow off the pond for the upcoming ice hockey game on Thursday. It got a little sketchy in my eyes when they took the Gator out there (which we just bought a week before) to make the plowing go faster, but they assured me the ice was plenty thick enough, so I just stayed inside and thought about other things until they were done.

Thursday evening, about fourteen boys and men were out on the pond playing hockey, along with two spouses and two siblings who figure skated on the side. The ice was a little rough, but that didn't seem to slow anyone down!

The hockey boys (minus a few who left before the photo)

We spent Friday evening getting things caught up inside the home (namely, the dishes) and finishing up one last pan of bars for church serving on Sunday before calling it a night.

Saturday was my dad's family Christmas, so we arrived in Peoria in time for lunch. Aside from the cousins in Phoenix who understandably were not able to make it, there was only one other person missing! To be more specific, there were 27 of us. It was nice to spend some time with everyone, as it has been awhile since we've been together.

The only picture I got of the event was Charlie enjoying his new gift - a Micky Mouse potty training seat! I'm not sure if he knew at this point what exactly he had opened...or that he was posing for the camera on a toilet.  

We served lunch for the first time on Sunday, and it went smoothly. :) It is certainly not nearly as overwhelming in such a small church, which is probably a good thing since we will be doing it again in four months! I was able to get rid of most of my leftover goodies last night at the church potluck, so now I don't have to worry about eating them myself!

Now we are into another week of seeing what the Lord has in store for us! Even when the calendar seems empty, something is bound to fill in that time...

Wrappin' It All Up

Christmas is pretty much all wrapped up around here! Or unwrapped, if talking about the gifts.

Our absence from the blog for the past few weeks was mainly due to our absence from the Internet for two and a half weeks. We ran out of data on the 22nd and just got it back this morning! Ahh...life is back in working order now.

I believe we left off toward the beginning of the eventful days of Christmas preparations. We went through with the plan of doing several rounds of caroling, I allowed myself to do some Christmas baking, and then we continued the family Christmases (after leaving off with the Schulz Christmases at Thanksgiving).

Lanz Christmas was on the 20th, my family Christmas was on the 23rd, and we drove up to Morris for the Schmidgall Christmas on Christmas day. We enjoyed spending time with the cousins and family on all three occasions! Knobloch Christmas was on the same evening in Lester so we weren't able to make it this year.

Lanz Christmas

Singing Christmas songs

When you take a selfie on our camera-it ends up on the blog...;)

The children's bell ensemble

The Seth & Brenda & Matt band with Stephanie's background tinkering

In the midst of it all, Alice came to visit one last time before winter break! She was here for Lanz Christmas and Massner Caroling, so she got a good dose of Christmas when she was here. We spent quite a bit of her time making some Christmas goodies!

She got a Chinese Bible and children's Bible for Christmas

Massner Family Christmas

The infamous Massner Christmas Schedule

The popular relish tray (this year we just put out one for everyone to avoid so much waste) 

...and there was still half the tray left! 

The soccer net Matt made for the boys 

Johnny was practicing riding his new unicycle all over Mom's kitchen 

Schmidgall Christmas

An unusual "first"occurred the week following Christmas - along with the same "second" and "third": I got my first day off work to spend at home since getting married. And second and third day. Every other day I've had off work has been when I've had other plans, so it was kind of nice to have a sneak-peak into the life of a full-time housewife. I spent the first day getting some much-needed cleaning done and was starting to wonder why I couldn't just quit my (already part-time) job and be a housewife. That is, until the next few days came around and I couldn't hardly muster up the motivation to even make supper. I was plenty ready to return to work again on Friday.

The second annual Matthew Schulz family Christmas was on New Year's Day. I officially received the frames that Matt has been making for me and he got them hung up on the bedroom wall! It was pretty exciting! We also got a small ice cream maker, so we made ice cream in the afternoon before eating our Christmas meal and enjoying a quiet evening together playing the cribbage game we got at the Massner Christmas.

Getting the finishing touches done (glass, backs, and hooks)

The finished product! 

Ice skating on the Schulz pond commenced Friday night when my brothers and Jaydon and Jordan came over for an amateur hockey game. I enjoyed skating a bit too! Snow started covering the pond Saturday morning and we haven't been able to skate since then.

Shadrach and Taren came over to spend the afternoon and evening with us on Tuesday for Seth and Brenda's anniversary! We had a fun day playing together and it was nice to have something to look forward to after work!

Matt was obviously the more popular one on Tuesday. 

Five inches of snow, sub-zero temps, and a couple cars stuck in the driveway led us to our first (and hopefully last) major purchase of 2015: a gator with a plow! It was used and Matt got a good deal on it yesterday. And with such a long lane, we really needed a plow in order to be self-sufficient when the snow dumps on us. Hopefully there will be no more concerns about being an hour late for work because our cars can't get out.

Woohoo! A much-needed blade for our lane! 

In our other free time...

Working on the new ice machine at church 

I made a little curtain for our kitchen window...waiting for my hubby to put it up! 

Matt went pheasant hunting on Sunday. He came back with a pheasant, five other birds, and a squirrel. The cat is alive and was feeling photogenic that day. 

Other than keeping warm and safe from the weather, not much else seems to be happening right now! We are looking forward to being with Tim and Wendy in Bradford this weekend if all works out. Now that a lack of Internet service is no longer keeping us from the blog, hopefully we will be back again soon!

A snowy, blustery day in the country of Mediapolis 

Christmas is Coming

Today I am overwhelmed, and for no reason at all other than I am a woman and women tend to get overwhelmed more easily than men I think.

The kitchen is a mess, the dishwasher needs emptied, clothes need folded, the living room is messy, our bed is unmade, and I yet have unsent Christmas cards needing addresses, etc. I understand that anyone with children would probably think if those were the only things that needed done, they would be in good shape. But for some reason I feel like that should all be kept up since I have nobody to clean up after besides my husband, who actually tends to clean up after me more than I clean up after him.

Umm I think I got on here to write about the past week.

Christmas cards keep coming and it is so exciting! I finally got most of our cards sent out this week! This week's highlights have been getting Christmas decor up (involving a cart-full of purchases from Goodwill), a Young Couples Christmas dinner, Vespers, Christmas caroling, the Champion Christmas party, and going Christmas shopping in Iowa City with my mom. Christmas...Christmas...Christmas...!!

Young Couples Christmas dinner - was beautiful and delicious! 

Working on the Christmas scheme...

Vespers Choir Concert - starring Jonathan and Justin

Please note NO Christmas baking has been done. I am being a culinary Scrooge this year.

My shopping trip was super-successful, as I went from hardly starting my Christmas shopping to being almost finished. And I even got all of my gifts wrapped that night when I got home. It was also a fun day to spend with my mom! Before we went to Iowa City, we drove over to Williamsburg and purchased me some end tables and a coffee table that I found on Craigslist for our living room. The new furniture has been the excitement of my week because it makes the living room much more cozy and inviting! We seem to be spending a lot more time in the living room now (as opposed to the kitchen), probably because there is actually a place to set things now.

This weekend we have a little bit more of Christmas coming up: a school Christmas program tonight, Christmas Caroling on Saturday, and two Sunday School Christmas programs on Sunday. Christmas...Christmas...Christmas...!!

Did somebody say Christmas? Must be around the corner.

Merry Thanksmas!

This title may have been inspired by my creative sister-in-law, but nonetheless, that's how we've been feeling for the last week.

Following a short week at work and home to prepare for the festivities, Wednesday evening was Matt's family Christmas. Twas an enjoyable evening with everyone home! Steve and Julie arrived last Saturday and were here through the week, and Tim and Laurie were here for several days as well. We had supper, exchanged gifts, sang Christmas carols, and enjoyed the company!

Brandon is the "big kid" now! Garret is finally off of his oxygen and is a little easier to maneuver around. 

Opening gifts... 

The grandchildren got kinetic sand from Mom and Dad! It was quite fun!

All the 4-5 year olds with their new flipeez hats! 

Camille enjoyed the infinity scarf I gave her. 

The next morning, Thanksgiving day, we woke up bright and early to head over to Illinois with my family. Due to a misunderstanding about the time of services, we were the second vehicle to pull into church in Peoria. It was fun to welcome everyone to church, though! We ended up slipping into Skylines a bit late for our Thanksgiving meal, but I'm sure glad they still served us because it was a delicious meal! We spent the rest of the day with Grandma and ordered in pizza for supper.

Thanksgiving with Grandma Knobloch 

Friday afternoon was a Lanz gathering at Uncle Troy and Aunt Joni's and it was good to spend some time with the family.

That evening, Matt's parents took the grandkids and younger children to Mt. Pleasant for supper at Pizza Ranch and to see the Festival of Lights at the Old Threshers grounds. That equaled a great opportunity for some adult bonding time! All of the siblings and spouses over age sixteen came over to our place and Tim and Laurie brought pizza. I think everyone enjoyed their evening from all ends!

On Saturday, Matt went over to his parents house again to work on the frames while I stayed home and worked in the kitchen.

The big Schulz Christmas was that evening at Aunt Janette's home. There were probably around sixty people there for supper, and then we sang Christmas songs, opened gifts, and talked.

The kids getting ready to open gifts! 

Kyra got some puppets! 

To end our weekend, we were pleased to serve Steve and Julie their final meal Sunday evening before they headed back to Connecticut that night! It was wonderful to spend some time with them, as it doesn't happen often enough!

Yesterday, I took advantage of Cyber Monday and got some good Christmas gift deals online! Okay, so I actually forgot it was Cyber Monday until I went online to buy something and realized there was an awesome deal on it for Cyber Monday! :) Worked out well for me, anyway.

Until next time...hope you all have a wonderful week! Please work along with me to not lose focus on the meaning for the Christmas season. Things get so busy for me at the end of the year and it is hard for me to keep focused when I can't relax. And as much as holidays are supposed to be relaxing, I've got news for you: Christmas does not fit that mold.

But I've got more news for you: Jesus needs to fit into our schedule. More than just reading the Christmas story at Christmas dinner and going to church for the holiday. He isn't simply the reason for the season: He is the reason for our lives!

Happy December!

Freezing Cold Winter Snow

It's amazing what can happen when you appreciate the little things that make life interesting! (In reference to my previous blog post.)

For one, the weather is a very entertaining subject. Insert slight sarcasm. Mainly because it changes too abruptly for anyone to get very comfy. One week it was seventy degrees and balmy, and the next it is ten degrees and snowing. Therefore, life has gotten a little cold. But we'll show mother nature that we can still carry on!

The duckies are still around! Yesterday, however, we woke up and there were only five left. The others must have flown away. We have been feeding them and keeping the water open, so we'll see if these ones stay. 

This man takes no chances with the cold. The first day of winter, he donned a sweatshirt over his every day t-shirt (red hood), a thermal sweatshirt (gray hood), a heavy winter coat (brown coat), and Carhartts. I'm not sure how he was even able to move around in that gear, but he must have accomplished his outdoor mission (though I forget what it was). 

Two Sundays ago, we went to Ames for church services and to visit our brothers (Jacob and Billy) and other college student friends (all of the below). They were working on their Christmas card picture that afternoon (this was not the final product, but at least I got a picture of them all!). We enjoyed our visit, and if they are anything like I was, I'm sure they enjoyed seeing some familiar faces from home too. They only have about a month left of school for the semester...woohoo! 

Top: Alan, Jared, Billy. Middle: Steven, Jordan, Caleb, Jacob. Bottom: Kurt 

We got to drive home a Ford Edge for a friend who bought a new car. Matt was slightly impressed with his duty.  

And, of course, pictures from the kitchen cannot possibly be left out of a blog post about our everyday life. Because, food is pretty much a part of our every day life. I enjoy experimenting with different recipes when I have things to use up! In this case, it was apples...

My first apple pie...:) 

We still had some chickens in the freezer from when we helped the Steiners butcher chickens. Thus, my first whole cooked chicken...it turned out very delicious, but I could certainly use some carving lessons! 

Matt couldn't let any of it go to waste, of course.  

Finally, married life wouldn't be complete without a few acts of kindness.

Matt thought I needed flowers for our 13-month anniversary (These are the new ones next to the remainder of our one-year anniversary flowers).

...and he spent Saturday working on my Christmas gift at his parent's shop: homemade picture frames to match the cedar bed in our bedroom! 

Frames # 1 & 2 - almost complete! 

Frame # 3 in progress (Frame # 4 is still attached to the tree outside)

We are getting ready for a busy week of family get-togethers for both Thanksgiving and early Christmases! I've still got plenty to do before the second half of the week, but for now, I'm just enjoying the peaceful calm before the st[excitement]orm.

We wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with appreciation for all of the blessings we have been given! And next month we will celebrate the greatest blessing of all: our Savior Jesus Christ. :)