Gymnastics

We finally decided to enroll Gabe into something of his own seeing as Sofia has tried several different activities and poor little Gabe has always just been along for the ride.  Up until now, swimming had been his only "extracurricular" activity.  Gymnastics was a no-brainer.  This kid jumps, climbs, flips all over the house so I was pumped to get him into gymnastics and burn off some of that energy.  He really seems to love it and I'm enjoying the time with him.  It's a mommy and me class so I get to run around with him.  He's definitely impressing me with his ability to follow directions in class and do what the teachers asks (most of the time) and willingness to try anything out on the floor.  His favorite is of course the long trampoline into the pit.  

Warm ups.  He's supposed to sit on his red circle but he was having way too much fun playing with it.

 The pit

 He does some pretty sweet flips on the rings.  Assisted of course

 Strong boy!

Soccer

Fall soccer started last week too.  Crazy because these littles are in the U6 division and will be playing kids that are way older.  Yikes!  Hopefully Sofia will enjoy it, that's all we really want from the kiddos with any of their activities.  This year, they will have real practices on Thursday evenings and then real games on Sunday afternoons.  We will see how that plays out! 

Pretty sure Gabe cannot wait until he gets to play.  For now he does enjoy hanging at the park during practice and helping stack cones after practice.  

Back to school

So last week, Sofia had her first day of PreK 4.  This year is the most emotional for me because I know it's my last year to be with her to be her every day full time.  I know next year I'll be a mess!  Already startint to pray about that, Ha! She's been my little sidekick for over four years now so I'm really relishing this last year I have with her before she's off to real school.  She loves school so much and that definitely makes me happy.  She's going Wednesday through Friday  and Gabe will go Mondays and Tuesdays.  I know it sounds crazy but I actually planned it that way to get one on one time with each one of them.  They are each such awesome little people and that really shines when I get special time with them alone.  I know I won't get a "break" but figure I'll have plenty of that later on down the road.  This year I'm really trying to focus on the kids and do everything with their best interest at heart and not all about me.  Honestly, I'm happy about it and am already loving it.  

Sofia's good friend Sydney from Bunny Rabbits class - happy to be Butterflies together this year!

My first one on one day with Gabe.  I know we got them last year but again, relishing them more this year! :)  After we dropped Sister off, we headed to the park so he could run around wherever he wanted and Mommy would follow :) This was pre back to school haircut.

And after the park we went to get a haircut. The shortest one yet, and Daddy loves it.  This poor boy was just getting SO sweaty. And one thing I've realized on these kids is that hair grows.  Fast.  Clearly he loves it! :)

My little man's first day of Mother's Day Out.  Oh, my heart . . . seriously.  Such a sweet sweet day and it makes it easier because they love it.  But so hard to see how fast time flies!  

Vacation 2014

Again I have lagged on the summer activity logging of events... So I will start back up again with a (super long) post about our amazing family vacation. We took ten days to spend the Fourth and the week after at the lake. We seriously had the. Best. Time. My heart still aches to think about our time there and how much we miss everyone. We made such great memories and I can't wait to do it again. It couldn't have been a more perfect family vacation.  The entire Schnieders clan was there for the first few days then we spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa and Adam, Jes, Addison, and Drew.  One of the very best parts was watching the cousins have a ball together.  

Amazing travelers. What a difference a year makes. Last year each of us was wrangling someone. This year I actually had a Bloody Mary and read a magazine! 

Day 1...anxiously awaiting everyone's arrival!

Daddy and Sofia 'fishing'

On the Fourth, while we waited for everyone to arrive, we got geared up to head out to the Durand,IL festivities which included tractor pulls . . . and that's about it.  It was awesome though, there's nothing like small town on America's birthday!

Family Selfie

And with the arrival of Robyn came Christmas in July!

On our way to see fireworks!

Sweet moment . . . Gabe was momentarily spooked by the loud fireworks to he ran to Aunt Erin.  I was a little jealous ;)  since he is so not a cuddler but Aunt Erin deserved some good Gabe cuddles!

The whole crew (almost) - this is by far my favorite place to watch fireworks.  It's behind the town ice cream shop in a large parking lot across from the high school.  Best seat in the house as far as I'm concerned!  And the best part - we never have to fight traffic or crowds!

I think Sofia was the only kid who was into sparklers. 

We had to make a visit to Clyde and Donkey.  They love their carrots :) 

My lil lake girl helping Daddy out on the boat

Ahhh, and my happy place.  Napping on the hammock with this view is priceless.  

Addison and Sofia tubing. . . so much fun!  I think they went around the lake 10 times per day

breakfast cruise :)

Some adult anchor/booze cruise float time :) 

Mike and I  also had the pleasure of celebrating our anniversary while on vacation and were spoiled yet again by Grandma and Grandpa.  We were able to take an overnight to Milwaukee while the kids stayed behind for the night.  Aunt Jes and Uncle Adam were also huge helps in wrangling everyone while we were gone.  We can't begin to express our gratitude for such a wonderful evening! 7 years strong!

And finally, leaving  . . . the worst part :(  After writing this post and going through everyones FB pics from vacation I'm now officially depressed about summer ending.  Sigh . . . can we find a way to freeze time?  Or teleport?  Cheers to amazing memories and family and love.  

Father's Day 2014

I can't speak for Mike but I think we had a pretty nice Father's Day here.  Fairly uneventful, but relaxing and fun which is what I think is important!  We started off at church of course and then had brunch with the rest of the family at my parents' house.  We then came home for a relaxing afternoon of nothingness followed by pool time in the back yard :)

The kids' favorite part of any morning is getting to wake up Daddy.  They literally dive bomb him and have even been known to cause minor injury.  That's how good of a dad Mike is, he just lets them do it and takes it all in stride because he knows how much fun they have doing it.

 Post church picture

Mike's Father's Day homemade tie from Sof, and sweet handprint sign from Gabe

Galveston

Last weekend we headed down to Galveston to kick off summer with Gimmie and Gippie at the beach. Galveston might not be the most beautiful or luxurious place but I still just love it. I feel so relaxed when I'm there taking in the warm Gulf breeze and hot Texas sun :) plus the fact that it's an hour drive is oh so nice.  Only bummer was the massive amounts of seaweed. It only happens like that once every several years and it's super gross but all part of nature so we just spent a lot of time on the sand and at the pool.  A couple of quick dips in the ocean but no real swimming.  

Sofia with her new net to try and catch sea horses in the seaweed 

Love that bikini girl...check out all that seaweed!

Gabe loved playing in the sand

Digging their hole

Cheezin

Selfie...a few moments of total peace while the kids played happily

This kid was loving his watermelon