Self Induced Craziness

Today has been one of those days full of lots of stuff to do, but it feels like I haven't done anything. Scott says I get myself into too much stuff, but in truth I kind of like it that way, at least sometimes. So far today we have done the usual routine of eating, playing, getting dressed, eating, playing, going to school... When Quinn is in school the girls take naps, I get phone calls made, errands ran etc. Today had to tally and order all of the pizza kit and cookie dough orders for the Co-op (Quinn's school, I'm the fundraising chair). All this at the same time I am fielding about 15 phone calls from telemarketers to work related stuff. Thank goodness for naps.

The pictures today are from last nights volleyball game. I didn't get to play because I pulled or broke a rib at last weeks game when I ran into one of my teammates. But I got to watch and test out my camera at an indoor sporting event. I have some work to do to figure that out yet. They won 2 out of 3 games, and so far for the season we're in the lead... not that we win much if we take the season. I think the grand prize is a water bottle from Saline Rec Center, but hey it's fun and excercise. Notice the shirts... we're sponsored by Bob and Boost Mobile :) Not really, he just gave us the shirts.

Well, naps are over and Quinn is home from school so it is back to the usual routine of playing, eating, changing pants etc. until it is time for bed.

Views of a Five Star Weekend

More Pictures from the weekend... I don't know why I couldn't get them to post to yesterday's but oh well, here they are anyway. The Happy Couple... Ted and Sarah, not Emily and Andy :)
Andy and Emily at the 1913 Room
A View from our Room
Mom, Aunt Pat and Aunt Jeanne... they aren't singing here, but they did!
Scott and Dad waiting in the lobby.

Scott and I at the restaurant... they put all of us in the corner...probably a good place for us!

A Five Star Weekend

We just returned from our trip to Sarah and Ted's (Mark's) Wedding in Norton Shores MI, it was our first time overnight away from the kids since Quinn was born... that is at least when we weren't at the hospital having one of the other two. It was a great time, very relaxing.
The wedding was very nice, a small wedding, only about 30 people. The bride was beautiful, the groom did his own ushering, and Uncle Mark, the grooms father did a very nice job at the officiating. In between the wedding and the reception we stopped at Andy's new house, a very stylish new condo, with excellent paint jobs...of course. I neglected to take any pictures here, I'll have to get some from him and post them.

The reception was at the 1913 Room at the Amway Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids. What a place! It is the only 5 Star restaurant in Michigan and was quite the experience. The pictures of the food here are of the 2nd course I think - (there were around 7 I think ) a French onion soup (of course it had a fancier name than that which I can't recall), and one of the desserts, Mom, Scott, Emily and I had the creme brulee, Bob and Aunt Pat had the Milky Way- a tower of chocolate with a milky way patterned piece of chocolate on top, and Andy and Dad had the forbidden apple, which was not an apple at all but candied ice cream filled with ice cream that looked just like a red apple. It was an amazing presentation. The service was amazing...they even brought the entrees out covered in silver domes and had about 4 waiters open them all on cue. A fun night, something you definitely don't get to do very often, well maybe if your Donald Trump... but anyway. We also stayed at the hotel, something I haven't done in a while and it was great! We stayed on the 18th floor overlooking the river.

This morning we got up and went to Arnies for breakfast, kind of a Grand Rapids tradition for the Schroeders I guess, it was very good. No pictures of the food here, just Dad which I didn't post, but he looks like he's trying to do an imitation of the shining, I don't know :) and Andy and Mom. The rest of the day Scott and I spent tooling around town with Andy. It was nice to get a chance to spend some time with him before we had to get back to rescue Aunt Mary and Uncle Mark who were brave enough to stay with the kids for the weekend. A Big Thank You for that!! It is no easy feat! The kids had a great time though, making a birthday cake for Opa and having a party. Happy Birthday Opa! They also went to Cabelas to see the fish...a popular thing these days with them.

I am having trouble posting pictures, I will try to post more later.

Favorite Clothes

A quote from Quinn on this picture..."Tractor Quinn and Princess Avery"
I don't remember what my favorite clothes were as a kid. Mom, maybe you know. Jets baseball shirt, red with white sleeves was Scotts he says. For Quinn it is his tractor shirt, a purchase from Gymboree about 2 years ago I think, thank goodness we bought it big. For Avery it has recently been her "princess" skirt that she got from Auntie Em and Uncle Bob as a part of a dance outfit for Christmas. Although coming in a close second is her new "princess" night gown... I hope we can convince her to take it off for baths, going out etc. Kaleigh doesn't have a preference yet. I'm sure she will have an opinion on the matter soon.
The girls and I went to Kohls today while Quinn was at school, and boy did they have the deals. We bought about 6 shirts/sweaters for Scott at $5.00 or less, until the girls ran out of patience for me to look for anyone else. Still not a bad trip I think. Maybe one of those purchases will end up being a favorite.

GGpa

Quinn is going for a visit to GGpas this afternoon, he is so excited. He loves to go and spend time with him they read magazines and books, play trucks and all kinds of other stuff that he loves to do. GGpa definitely rates high up there on his best buddy list (he is the first one he mentions when saying his nightly prayers, even before Mom and Dad!). I think he likes the one on one attention he gets, it is a rare thing to get in this house, so whenever he has the opportunity it is a great thing. GG and GGpa just closed on their house this week. It is nice to have them in town. The girls and I are going to run some errands I think, a much easier thing to do with 2 than 3.

Standing Firm

"Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm"- Abraham Lincoln

It took me longer than I thought it would to post this... I was looking for a good quote about feet, as I had taken these shots of Avery and Quinn this afternoon, which I will say was no easy task... they don't exactly keep their feet anywhere for long these days!

Vacation Day

Playing with some of the effects that the computer can do with pictures. This one is the stamp effect. I think it's pretty cool. I wonder if one could make real rubber stamps somehow? Anything is possible I'm sure.

Scott was off today, as he was in Nebraska all weekend for Michigan hockey. Thank goodness for me that the season is almost over, although it hasn't been too bad this year... he's taken a few breaks... at least more than he usually does, which I'm thankful for. Anyway, we didn't do too much, went out for lunch and did some stuff around the house. He's currently painting the doors for the closets in the kitchen and bedrooms. We have volleyball tonight, we play "the Lutherans" I think it's Trinity ... they're really good, hope we win!

Playdoh

Playdoh fun this afternoon. Too bad they can't play without getting it stuck on the bottoms of their shoes. Note to self for next time... make them play barefoot!

Our Town

I got the chance to drive around town today while the kids were sleeping in the back seat, and take some pictures as it was a beautiful day out, except for the cold. I have been wanting to do this for some time, but I haven't had a decent digital camera to do it with. I got one on Thursday and am very happy with it. It's the Kodak Z740.
The pictures are from various places around town, Kelly's we really miss, it closed last January and so far no one has bought it... very sad it was a great place to eat. Curtiss Park is just down the street from our house and the kids love playing there and looking at the "waterfall" which is really just the over flow of the dam on the Mill Pond, but hey. And we live in the historic district... thats our house behind the tree with the blue car in the driveway, we will soon have a new porch. Dad is building us one as a Christmas present. Soon things on the street will start to look alot brighter as we get closer to spring, and warmer weather...then we'll be able to walk to Mac's for lunch.

Organization

Today I cleaned out my kitchen closet, it is where I keep all of the stuff like pictures and stuff I just don't know what to do with. The kind of stuff you don't want to throw away, but your'e really not sure you really need it. I did end up throwing away a good portion of the stuff I thought I might need, ends up I really don't need old envelopes of Christmas cards I have long since written the addresses down in my book...the beauty of organization.
I also sat down to start organizing some of my pictures I have on the computer. I didn't even realize I had some of them in here! These are a few examples, I think they were scanned in when I made a calendar for Mom a few years back. I think I might have to do another calendar with all pictures of the kids. When the first one was done, there were NO grandkids yet. Soon they'll be six. Truly amazing how time has flown by.

Happy Valentines Day

We just returned from Quinn's first Valentines Day party at school, he only had 10 valentines and thank goodness- he only had to give 10 valentines. One of his teachers reminded me that in a few years we will be sitting down to do quite a few valentines come February. I hadn't thought of that, but we may have to take them to the printing press! Just kidding of course. The girls had fun painting and coloring their special valentines while Quinn did his for his classmates, so this year we only had to do about 12 total. Next year it should be somewhere around 30. It was fun to see all of the preschoolers opening their bags and reading their cards, although most were more interested in the candy that came along with some of them. We are headed to Grammy and Grampys next to give and receive Valentines from them.

Happy Valentines Day!

Max and Ruby

Well, I did the first post yesterday, I thought, but I haven't quite figured things out I guess, because the profile didn't list the blog... Oh well I'll get there I guess.
I'm only able to do this right now because of Max and Ruby.
Thank goodness for Max and Ruby! For those of you without small children, it's a Nick Jr. show based on the books, (can't recall the authors name at the moment). It's Quinns new favorite... actually Averys too I think- they both start dancing around the room when it comes on. I think he would watch the same episode all day if we let him, and being that he has been sick for the last two days and only wanting to be on my lap, it's a great reprieve.
Well Hopefully this time I have gotten this posting stuff right... we'll see.