Spring has Sprung

We love holidays around here. I try and make them special for our kids. They get so excited every time I pull out our decorations. I was so happy to hang our spring wreath on the front door. The kids love this cute bunny. The second I pulled it out from our holiday box, Forrest took the bunny into the living room, placed it on the bunny's usual spot, the chair. Without fail, each time the kids walk past the bunny, they say, "Hi bunny"!

Easter Party

Easter Egg Hunt meets Field Day. That is what Summer's 4 years old class did last week for their preschool Easter party. We had an amazing fun morning. Seeing these kids racing each other was quite a sight for sure. I left Forrest behind at home with a sitter. It was a treat in itself to just see Summer with her friends. I just love how happy she is out there. It was VERY important to Summer that she got to hold the bunny. As soon as it was her turn in line, she sprinted for it. And as you can see, mission accomplished. It was a pretty cute one. On our way back to the car, she held my hand tightly and said, "Spending time with you was my favorite." I melted. Summer got these bunny ears last year and she made sure she wore it for the party. I absolutely loved my time with Summer. Pretty much a perfect morning.
I love you, my bunny ears.

Shrimp

If you say "shrimp" Summer will stop whatever she is doing and ask you for some. She loves anything with shrimp. She has been that way ever since she was little. Walking into the kitchen fresh from her bath, she saw her daddy working on the shells in the sink the other night. As if she has done this every night, Summer pulls out the stool from the pantry, sets it next to her daddy by the sink. It is soo cute to see Summer get right into business with a serious face. And, let me tell you, she is a pro at this. I get all squirmy peeling thawed shrimp but not my Summer.

Freeze Frame

There are days... when I grab a can of Coke from the fridge, hide somewhere quietly and hope the kids don't find me for a few minutes. Sometimes I sit on the garage floor in the dark or in the bathroom with the door closed, sip my drink while I catch my breath.
There are days... when I watch my Summer and my Forrest play together and wonder how in the world did I get so lucky with these two.
There are days... when I love to capture the kids without them knowing I am there. On Sunday morning they hopped up on the sofa in our family room. Forrest asked his big sister to read to him. He specifically wanted the princess book. Sitting on the sofa pretending to read to her little brother, I am reminded just how little Summer still is. These are the little moments that melt me. Summer is my little nurturer and loves to take on the role of mommy any chance she gets. Oh, how I wish I could just freeze time with these little ones.

Easter Baskets

Last night before bed, Forrest reminded me to take out his Easter basket from our holiday closet. He made sure I did NOT forget this important thing he had to bring to preschool for their annual Easter Egg hunt today. I found these baskets last year but they were too plain. I went and found some pretty ribbons at the art store to wrap around the baskets. They turned out exactly what I had pictured. When I picked up Forrest from preschool today, he was all smiles! I asked him what was his favorite thing to do during the egg hunt, he said, "Picking out the yellow and orange (his favorite colors) eggs". Every night the kids ask if the Easter Bunny is going to visit, "This night, Mommy?" Well, lucky for Summer and Forrest, it is not "this night" but very soon.

They Found Us!

Those sneaky leprechauns found the Schultz house! We have been talking about this day for weeks. On our calendar that hangs in our kitchen, Summer colored today's date in green so that she could count the days until St. Patrick's Day. When the kids ran downstairs this morning they saw what those silly leprechauns had done. Green balloons were hanging on the kids' chairs and green beaded necklaces were all over the floor. The leprechauns even tipped over our kitchen chairs! The thing that made the kids giggle the most was that the leprechauns turned our milk green! They were beyond excited. Summer and Forrest both started investigating where they think the leprechauns entered the house. Hmmm... a mystery. And let me tell you, Summer made sure that I dressed her in head to toe green for school. She did NOT want to risk getting pinched. I figure you only get one shot at childhood so I am trying to make theirs as magical as I can. It is beyond fun to be on the sidelines.

Little Rascals

Who would have thought that a piece of cardboard box would be free entertainment? I was collapsing boxes to drop them off at the recycling center. The kids got the biggest one they could find and pretended to play house. Looking at these two reminded me of the movie, Little Rascals. Soo cute.

Caught!

I was cleaning out Forrest's closet and came across a stack of pictures from Forrest's preschool class when he was a toddler. Forrest's teachers were so thoughtful to take candid pictures of the children throughout the year and gave us a pretty nice collection. Well, I could not help but laugh when I saw this photo. The children were in the toddler playground area, separate from the older children through this fence. It is a very sweet playground with low ground play things. This is just like Forrest. Being the tallest child in class, I would imagine all the children were begging him to reach the latch to open the gate. This little girl next to Forrest has this expression of "FREEDOM" written all over her! I don't blame them that they want to join the older children on the other side of the fence. I just adore and love this picture. Forrest is my sweet sweet... and mischievous... boy.

The Napping House

Our home feels like a fresh breath of air with spring arriving. One of my very favorite things to do is to open the front door to let fresh air breeze in. It has been an unusually cold winter this year. The first day the temperature got past 60 degrees since mid-december was last Friday. We spent almost every waking moment outside. Every day after preschool we would do the same, stay out until it gets too dark. My sweet Forrest rarely naps. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a good afternoon nap with fresh air breezing in after a long day of playing outside.

Keep Calm and Carry On

I saw this poster on etsy, snatched it up and had it framed. Is there any better saying for a laundry room? I took this photo proudly after finishing 3 solid hours (minus one quick carpool run) of weekend laundry. It seems to just accumulate magically. Before I can blink, the laundry baskets will be full once again... waiting for me to start the whole process over again.

Playroom

I mentioned before that we converted our formal dining room into a playroom. Recently we moved the playroom upstairs in the family room since the kids were getting older and playing well together (well, most of the time) by themselves. Their bookshelves were running out of space for their toys, books, games, art supplies and such. As the organizer in this house, I had to do something. We relocated these living room shelves to the family room. With some baskets it became the perfect storage space. Summer and Forrest are even excited to clean up at the end of the day. My favorite part is creating the kids their own reading nook, completed with bean bag and lamp. In the photo Summer is doing her usual morning creative outlet with paint and markers. It is a happy room for sure.

Family

While I was downstairs doing laundry, Summer came down the stairs to ask me to come up to the family room. She could not contain herself. The moment I saw the word "Mommy" on the whiteboard easel I scooped up Summer and kissed her forehead and cheeks. It was the best day of my life, to see my own child writing the word that defines who I am. I love it when she spells the y and e backwards. I remember writing that backwards myself. For the longest time I wrote my name "joy" with the j and y backwards. Too cute. Then we talked about our family and how we spell our last name. She wrote all of our names herself. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, just get your camera and take a picture of me so you will remember this". How could I pass that up? I love each and every person more than words can describe and I love that we are standing in a home that we love. I am SO proud of you, Summer!

My Forrest

I love love love being with my Forrest. The best word to describe him is 'fun'. He is a performer! His latest antic is to yell, "Mommy, mommy, mommy" while I am driving. When I glance back at him in his booster seat he does a funny dance and makes a silly face. Forrest just wants to make his mama laugh. Every morning I would find him standing next me waiting for me to wake up with two little cars in his little chubby hands. When he sees my eyes opening, he grabs my arm and gives me a huge hug and kiss my head with his usual request to play cars in bed. So, so sweet. This has become a little ritual of ours every morning. Here is my Forrest laughing away with his daddy.

My Daughter

Yesterday morning at the water park before I went to get my camera to take pictures of the kids I told Summer good luck going across the water obstacle course and that I would be right back. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, I can't do it by myself" and then had a complete and total melt down. She sat on the chair sobbing. I told her that this was a little crazy and that as soon as she settled down we could talk about it. So there she sat... with a wet puffy face in her bathing suit. All she kept repeating through her sobs was, "Mommy, you do not love your daughter? You do not love your daughter because you won't help me? Your daughter is crying and you don't care?" Leave it to Summer to add that little extra dramatic touch. It was all I could do to not laugh. Straight faced I responded back to her in 3rd person. I told her that I love "my daughter" very much and that "my daughter" was being a little bit dramatic considering this whole scene was all about her going across the lily pods by herself. Before she got up I had her come and sit on my lap with my arms wrapped around her. I explained that I believe she could do it. All she needs to do is to believe in herself. She calmed down, I gave her a kiss and off she went back in the line to wait for her turn.
I am sure I have many years of these occasional emotional outbursts ahead of me. I just hope that "my daughter" will always know that "her mom" loves and adores her. How I love that beautiful smile of Summer's "I Did It!" written all over her face when she got to the end of the obstacle course. You bet she quickly went back in the line again.

great wolf lodge

my parents were so thoughtful and planned a fun overnight trip for our ayyam-i-ha celebration again this year. we went and stayed at the great wolf lodge near charlotte. it's hard to believe that just last year we went there when our kids were one and three, neither of them would let go of our hands. here we are just one year later and i saw forrest going down the slide by himself for the first time. i love getting together with my family. i love that my kids were able to spend time with their grandparents. we ate a lot, played a lot, ate some more, swam a lot, shopped at ikea and caught up on each others' lives. i even loved the 4 hour drive. we left late so our kids would sleep the whole way. david and i had 4 hours uninterrupted time together to just talk. that was a treat in itself. our whole getaway was less than 36 hours but it was well worth it. life came at us really fast the next morning with preschool and work and hasn't stopped since but i wouldn't change that part either. a big thank you to my parents!