A Short Visit

Since I go back to school in less than 2 weeks (no students until after Labor Day), I have decided to make the rounds to visit as many friends as I can. Today I hit 2 birds with 1 stone! Charlie and I traveled to LaCrosse to Livia's house who happened to be hosting Holly! I haven't seen Holly since before she taught in Mexico: meaning I haven't seen her in over 3 years! YIKES! Where has the time gone?

Since Liv was teaching summer school, we headed down around 2 to make our visit. Liv made us a delicious supper: Kale quiche, berries, cucumbers, and beer cheese dip! Who could ask for anything better?!

Charlie was such a great little traveler. He slept in the car and was a smiley gentleman for the ladies. We even had a short hello with Torben. His last few patients cancelled their appointments, so he made it home right before we took off.

Here's Holly and Charlie. Charlie got to meet her before his daddy did!

Liv and Charlie. What big smiles they both have!

Thursday we're making the trek to Grantsburg, WI to visit Becky! Another long overdue visit......

Down by the Riverside

Tonight's Down by the Riverside concert was the Rochester Civic Band and Choir. Jon, my brother-in-law, played percussion in the band. The whole crew headed out to eat some KFC in the park and cheer Jon on!

On our way to Mayo Park, we were stuck at this stoplight for at least 10 minutes. The bikers were riding for Ronald McDonald House.

Charlie LOVES when he gets to see his big cousins. Natalie was asking over and over again when she could hold Charlie. She FINALLY got a turn after supper. 

Then Harvey wanted a turn too!

Then Charlie thought he should relax on the ground for a bit. 

Here are the kiddos watching their Dad. 

It was a bit chilly out tonight! So Charlie was all bundled up. 

Great Grandpa Bob and Great Grandma Jayne had some Charlie snuggle time as well. 

Charlie fell fast asleep on the way home, but he woke up when we pulled into the garage. He's having another little bottle and off to bed he will go!

Shower at Tiffany's

Today was shower #2 for my soon to be sister in law. I was heavily involved with this one as well since I'm a bridesmaid. I was in charge of the food. So...I made chicken salad to put on croissants, heart shaped cucumber sandwiches, and fruit pizza. We held the shower at Amanda's mom's house. She did a great job decorating the place to be decked out in Tiffany blue! Audrey Hepburn was everywhere! Here are some shots to show how great the place looked!

Here's the mantel. Very cute. 

Karen, Amanda's mom, made this cute towel cake. 

Carrie, Amanda's Maid of Honor, made cute little Tiffany box favors. 

The cupcake area!

I love these pillows! Karen found a bunch of different candies in Tiffany blue and had them scattered throughout the shower area. 

Here was the food that I prepared. It must've been a hit because EVERYONE wanted my recipes. (insert pat on back here) 

Here's the group of girls that put on the shower along with Amanda.

Starting from left: Cassie, Alyssa, Amanda, Carrie, Jill and me.

Last shower I bought Amanda a nice big crock pot. This shower I bought her the glasses she registered for and this drink dispenser. I thought it was so cute! It has a little chalkboard on the front so you can write what drink is in it.

Not the most flattering picture, but you can see the BIG wad of gum in Amanda's right cheek. One of the games we played, Cassie had asked Will a long list of questions. Whenever Amanda answered how Will did, she got a Hershey's kiss, whenever she got it wrong, she had to stick another HUGE piece of bubble gum in her mouth. Let's just say her plate wasn't too full of kisses....

We played a few other games as well. The first one was "How well do you know Amanda?" The person who knew Amanda the least amount of time won. ME! I wasn't a part of the game making so I could win I guess! Either I'm a stalker, or I listen well to my little brother when he goes ON and ON and ON about his fiance...

Here's my mom, Amanda and me. Can you tell that we all dressed for the theme of the shower as well?

Another great shower done. Her last shower is August 10! Then it's time to prepare for the bachelorette party and then THE WEDDING! I still can't believe my baby brother is tying the knot...

All this for me?

Charlie started his day out with fun and it didn't stop until the lights went out tonight. He woke up at 5:30 with a smile. After a bottle, changing of his outfit and some play time, I went to take a shower. I got out and found my 2 boys sleeping in our bed! I guess they were too tired to stay up even an hour!

I woke them up, and we headed to my parent's house for breakfast. Blueberry waffles! My mom's good friend from college, Laure, was in town, and she wanted a chance to see Charlie! Charlie and Tony took another nap at their house! This 1 was over an hour! Lucky boys!

We went to 10:30 church. Not our normal time, but it worked out a lot better since we had a shower for Charlie and Laur and Jill's house at noon. And what a great shower it was!

Charlie was given LOTS of love right when we got there. Natalie leaned down and kissed him, then Harvey leaned down and kissed him, then Stephania (Cher's little babysitting girl) leaned down and kissed him! How incredibly sweet!

Jill made this ADORABLE diaper train. I don't want to take it apart. It is wonderful! How creative. 

Grandpa Bob got his fair share of Charlie time. Stephania was jealous, so she climbed on up.

My parents, Will and Amanda came as well. Here's Aunt Amanda with Charlie. 

The boys!

The shower was so exhausting for these 2, they decided to nap together...

What a fun day! Thank you to Laur and Jill for a great day!

Wining and Dining

Today was the big day for Amanda's first bridal shower. I wanted to give her a nice party since she gave me a great baby shower! I decided to host it at Four Daughters Winery in Spring Valley. What a gorgeous place!

Kaylee helped me set everything up early afternoon today.

Here was one of the tables.

These were the favors I gave to everyone. 

Meg was the only youngin attending, so she got her own favor. 

On this table, people were asked to write some advice for Amanda and Will on a Jenga block. Then when they play the game they'll have some great advice to read! 

Another table...

On this table, they had to write Date Night ideas!

We did a few activities as well. Everyone had an envelope taped to the back of their chair. They opened them up to find a tuxedo and the face of a man. Whoever had the groom, or Will, as the face on the tuxedo won a prize! Megan won!

Then we did Bridal Mad Libs. It was a lot of fun to hear the silly stories people came up with!

Here's the room. If you can't see my centerpieces, they are wine glasses tipped over with candles on them. Tony helped out and put ribbon around the candles. Simple, but pretty!

This was the gift table. 

This was a few of the foods that we had. DELICIOUS! We had a few more options, but I was busy when they finally brought all the food out. I would for sure eat there again!

Here's a part of the group drinking/eating and visiting. 

Amanda and Carrie going through the line. 

Amanda's mom, Karin, Amanda and my mom! 

My new "sister" and me!  The wine glasses are filled with chocolates. That was the favor for the party!

Cereal? Not quite..

At Charlie's 4 month appointment, we asked about when to start feeding Charlie cereal. The doctor said that we could try anytime now. He said if Charlie spit it all out, wait a week and try again.

Here's the family before we made the big attempt!

 And the first bite made it into the mouth...

Daddy wanted a turn to feed him. 

Most of the cereal came back out....

By most, I mean all of it. 

But he was a happy baby through the whole process!

Don't think too much into the bib...I didn't read all the bibs in the pack that I bought....He is not and will not be for a while, a brother!

Rolling Over

Here he is rolling over! He hasn't done it since that morning, but he sure did it a lot then! 

Growing up so fast...

Yesterday, Tony and I took Charlie for his 4 month appointment. Dr. Anderson asked if we had any questions. My main question was how to help with teething. Charlie has had fits when he is inconsolable and we were thinking it was from teething. When the doctor looked in his mouth, he noted there were several teeth ready to break through! No wonder our little guy has been in so much pain lately! 

Here are his 4 month stats:

15 lbs 7 oz 59th percentile

26 inches long 83rd percentile

44.1 cm head circumference 90 percentile

Dr. Anderson said he's looking wonderful and healthy! He had 2 shots and 1 oral immunization. He had a rough evening from what I hear. I was in class in Minneapolis, and Tony had rehearsal, so he asked Kaylee to come over. The combination of teething and shots put Charlie over the edge. Luckily, my aunt Christa was able to come and help Kaylee calm him down. I hope she'll babysit for us again...

So far today he's been an angel! 

He made a big milestone this morning. I was reading a book to him while he was on his tummy, and he rolled over to his back!! I flipped him back on his tummy, and he did the same thing! I grabbed my camera and took a video so Tony could see right away at work. I have a feeling we are going to have an active little boy. He rolled over at least 10 times in a few minutes. He went to both sides too! 

I'll post e video when I charge up my computer. My iPad won't save it for some reason...

Fireworks, Family, Fun

The 4th of July is one of my favorite days of the year. This year was no exception.

The day started off with Tony running the Stewartville Summerfest 5 Mile run. Charlie and I walked down to watch him take off, saw him at a few points during the run, and watched him finish strong.

Here we are a ways up from the starting line. The runners did the neatest thing. There was no one there to sing or play The Star Spangled Banner, so they all sang it together. Very neat.

Here's our man coming in to the finish line. He said he wishes he wouldn't have given blood this week. Since he's a bit out of shape, giving blood held him back quite a bit. I was still very proud of him! I sure can't run a 5 mile! 

Here are my 2 boys. Tony had a chance to de-sweat a bit before holding C-man. 

 Our family has a tradition of sharing a delicious and large pot luck picnic with the Schroeders (Oma Kathe's family). I do not have pictures of the event this year, but I can tell you it was as wonderful as it always is. Cher and Stephania (spelling?) joined us as well! What a little sweetheart! 

My cousin Jacque made a stop at Target and found these awesome glasses! Charlie was quite decked out! Right after this picture was taken at Lake Florence, I noticed a gross substance leaking through Charlie's outfit. Jacque and I rushed him back to our house. The ordeal ended with a bath and Tony scrubbing lots of clothes and the stroller....

We brought Matt's wheelchair down to Grandpa's so Matt could comfortably enjoy the parade. Of course Kaylee and Meg had to have some fun with it!

This was the first time Jacque met Charlie. I think they are quite the pair!

Here's our little family before the parade started. Charlie was asleep until the Legion shot off the guns....

Here's Charlie while all the sirens from the fire trucks were in full force. He didn't cry at all!

Here's the Schroeder/Smidt (and bonus Knutson) crew at the parade. 

Matt was cut out of the picture, so here he is too!

 
Look who came to enjoy the parade with us! Charlie was so enthralled with Natalie when he woke up. I tried taking a picture of him, but he couldn't stop staring at Natalie! He sure loves his big cousins...

After the parade, Tony convinced me that Charlie needed to go home to bed. It was already WAY past his bedtime. Tony was right, Charlie was asleep in seconds...

I stayed at Grandpa's and enjoyed the fireworks with my family. Our friend Michael and his 2 little cuties, Hannah and Caden, joined us for the show. I think those 2 kiddos could've played with sparklers all night! It was fun to have them join us! 

What a great day filled with family bonding....