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    Archive for March 2012

    Cousins Weekend

    Wednesday, March 28, 2012

    ** warning - this is a very photo-heavy post! ** Mike and I decided to invite AJ and John over for the weekend so we could take all of the kids to a new exhibit at Quarry Hill Nature Center (one of our favorite places in Rochester). Twilight of the Triceratops sounded like something the boys would enjoy, so Mike picked up tickets and I picked up the boys Saturday afternoon. The weather was windy, but nice on Saturday, so we spent a large part of the day outside playing with bubbles, helicopters and ride-on toys. The three boys are all obsessed with everything Harry Potter at the moment and between the three of them they acted out scenes from the movies with Benjamin's Halloween costume and any stick wand they could get their hands on.

    Cousins Weekend Cousins Weekend Cousins Weekend
    They all really enjoyed exploring the exhibit at the nature center on Sunday. The triceratops section was a bit small and slightly disappointing, but we also spent some time with the permanent parts of the center like the fish, turtles and ever-popular microscope.
    Twilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature CenterTwilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature Center Twilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature Center Twilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature Center Twilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature CenterTwilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature Center Twilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature CenterTwilight of the Triceratops at Quarry Hill Nature Center
    My photography workshop begins next week and I've really been trying to be more diligent about picking up my camera and taking it out of the automatic setting. I am so glad to be getting some instruction soon because (as you can see in the photos in this post), I need some help. Yesterday the kids and I went to a park after work/school/daycare and I played with my camera a bit. Here are some of my favorites:
    Day at the Park, March 2012 Day at the Park, March 2012 Day at the Park, March 2012Day at the Park, March 2012 Day at the Park, March 2012 Day at the Park, March 2012

    Chalk drawings

    Monday, March 12, 2012

    The weather is unseasonably warm here and spring seems to be arriving much earlier than ever. We have spent lots of time outside these past couple of weeks, which means bubbles, driveway chalk drawings, bike rides and lots of fresh air. This weekend we were at Mike's parents house. We were able to sneak away for a bike ride and dinner on Saturday without the kids. I spent some time with my sisters-in-law on Sunday, which included brunch at Pier 500 across the river in Hudson, WI. I highly recommend the "Never Ending" Family Style Brunch, but don't plan on eating for the remainder of the day! The cousins enjoyed some outdoor play time while the Daddies went on an uber bike ride of about 50 miles. It was a "we'll just ride for an hour" kind of ride that turned into much, much more.

      Lucy watching the boys AJ, the toothless wonderLucy saying "Yay!" Mike and Joe heading out on a rideJohn

    The Elementary classrooms at Benjamin's school celebrated Spirit Week last week and Thursday was Crazy Hair day: 
    Crazy hair day at school 
    (he has since had this mop chopped off, thankfully!)
      A warm day in March A warm day in March

    I'm Slow, I Know...Get Over It.

    Wednesday, March 07, 2012

    I started a blog a few years ago to journal about my training for races.  I never really shared it with anyone, I'm not sure why.  Since I'm now training for a new adventure, I opened it back up.  You can read it here: http://penguinrunner.blogspot.com/


    http://myfamilieschmitt.blogspot.com/

    Full Steam Ahead

    Thursday, March 01, 2012

    We all seem to be moving so quickly lately. Lucy's speeding through toddlerhood, Benjamin is rushing through addition and subtraction and right onto multiplication and division, Mike is spending his time increasing speed on his brand new triathlon bike and I've been cruising around the pool and on my bike for my own triathlon training. Days and weeks go by without us even noticing that they're gone. Today is the first day of March and it is hard to believe spring is just around the corner. Usually I'd be all "Woah! Slow down, I need to breathe." But lately, I have been embracing this full steam ahead progress. We're moving toward great things. It feels good. A couple of weeks ago we visited the Minnesota Zoo with Grandma Chris on the President's Day holiday. The zoo was overrun with school children, but neither Benjamin nor Lucy noticed. They had a great time. We are so lucky to have such a great zoo here, we all really enjoy it.

      Grandma and the kids Benjamin's Wing Span Lucy at the zoo

    Multiple times a day Lucy insists on sitting at the kitchen table in her booster chair. We've stored the high chair for a possible spring garage sale and she's exclusively sitting at the table with us now. She loves to "color" in coloring books. I use quotes around the word because to her coloring means holding too many crayons for her tiny hands, dropping most of the crayons on the floor, scribbling for 30 seconds on one page and whining until someone gets her down from the table. The whole process takes maybe 3 minutes. We repeat it probably 2-3 times in the morning and 4-5 times in the evening. She enjoys it so much that we continue to oblige her. It is pretty cute. She is in full-on toddler mode right now though. I forget how demanding they can be at this age. Lots of yelling and whining and this face:
    Oh yes, toddlers. 
    Being parents of two children now, the toddler phase takes on a whole new meaning. Yes, it is tiresome at times, but we can see the bigger picture now. She is emotional, unable to communicate her needs and frankly, testing us constantly. We are so much more prepared this time around. I find that I am less anxious when she cries and whines and have actually caught myself giggling at her meltdowns a few times (without her seeing me, of course). This is old hat. 

    Benjamin's reading is unstoppable. He has finished all five of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books he received as Christmas presents and has since finished the second Harry Potter book. He is now reading the third. He begs us to have reading time in the chair in his room and we often hear "just one more page!" when we've asked him to put down the book. It is marvelous.
      Wimpy Kid

    I have registered for my first ever photography workshop, which begins next month.  The woman teaching it is a favorite blogger of mine and is an excellent photographer.  The workshop is entirely online and encompasses many photography topics over the nine weeks.  I am so excited to take my camera out of the automatic mode and finally understand how to really take photos with my camera properly!  I'll probably post a lot about the assignments here, so be on the lookout next month!!