Yoder Schrock Family Blog

Anna is 3

2012-01-31T21:38:00.007-05:00

My baby is three today, but my baby is not a baby anymore. How do I know this? Many ways, but most recently it is her interest in all things "pretty" that has me worried and thinking, "We're not in Kansas anymore." It seems as though all of a sudden she wants to wear skirts and dresses and spin around and talk about things that are "pretty." Just the other day as we were assigning parts for our game of acting out the Christmas story (yes, we know it's almost February) she asked, "and who are the pretty people again?" because she wanted to make sure that was the part she got. What!!!??? Three weeks ago she wanted to be Mary because clearly Mary has a very important role in the Christmas story. Now she wants to be "the pretty people." Oh my. I know this sounds funny, but I'm really not laughing.

I have tried so hard. We don't buy princess books. Fairy Tales are screened very carefully. We don't let her watch princess movies. We don't let her watch shows where the girls are dumb, needing rescue, or just accessories. We don't comment on her clothes except to talk about how things feel or go together etc. We don't do her hair so it can look pretty. We do her hair so she can "see the world" and do everything she needs to do that day. Rarely do we make comments about her appearance at all. Mostly we try to comment on what she does or says or thinks not on how she looks. We read Ladybug Girl, Trixie, and Dora books. So what is it with all this "pretty" stuff? She is only 3! Well, it's out there in the world and as much as I try to keep her safe from it, it is out there. All I can do is try to send other messages, additional messages, counter-messages. Just tonight as I put her to bed she said, "Can we get the Ariel book. She is so pretty." So I said, "You know that being pretty isn't what matters, right? What matters is being kind and smart and strong and funny and loving. You know that, right, Anna?"

My three-year-old daughter is so much more than pretty. She is confident, funny, loving, caring, strong, fast, articulate, daring, and smart. She can hit a baseball that is pitched from me or or Jon with such force that I usually cover my face after I release the ball so if I get hit in the face it will hurt less. She beats me at Hungry Hippos every day. She can brush her own teeth, speak with a southern accent, and get dressed entirely by herself. She loves to sled, ice skate, and ride a toboggan at 32 mph. She is good at puzzles, singing, dancing, creating shows, and being a super hero. She loves to care for her baby Audra/Samuel, "read" to herself (at least 15 books at bedtime), "write," draw, play with her brother, pretend to speak Italian, play Dora, play school, help clean up, and speak with so much emphasis that both hands and wild gestures are often needed to get the point across. She is so much more than pretty.

Anna, when I think of the future sometimes I get impatient because I so badly want to see how your life will unfold and how God will call you to use your gifts to bring hope and healing to the world. I think you have so much potential. I just pray that you will get to do and be all that you want to do and be, and I hope and pray that I will get to be here to see it. I try to savor each day with you, enjoying the little things, but sometimes it's like I just can't wait to experience all the things we will experience together and to see your life unfold. I am just so genuinely excited about life with you.

Oh, Anna, I hope all of your recent "pretty" talk will pass. I hope you will never feel pressure to look a certain way. I hope you will never ever ever ever ever think that your worth or value is in any way related to how you look, but I'm realistic. I know this isn't going away. The pressures girls face today are unreal, but know this my daughter: Daddy and I couldn't care less if you are pretty. What we care about is you, and you are so much more than clothes or hair or skin. You, my dear are spirit, breath, mind, and heart. We care about you, and we love you now and forever.
We love you to New Orleans and back.

Happy Birthday, my darling daughter.

Chicago

2012-01-22T22:28:00.026-05:00

The week before Christmas we went to Chicago with my parents for a few days just to relax, spend time together and go to the Children's Museum. It was great. The kids loved the museum, but they also loved walking around the city, riding the bus, riding the train, and going out to eat at fun restaurants with Nutcrackers and jungle animals.

Brunch

On the train
Noah was so excited to see Wrigley Field where he said his friend Tyson's team plays. So cute.

Walking and walking...so much good exercise and you don't even realize it.

Children's Museum
At the museum Anna really loved the real life little town where kids could do many things like grown ups do. Her favorite activity was putting the "snow tires" on this red car. One time Jon called them "winter tires" and she corrected him: "No, Dad. They are snow tires." She also loved taking Grandpa John on a ride in the car.

"Ice Skating" was also a hit for both kids. After seeing how much they loved this, Jon suggested that we get a big sheet of linoleum and wax it up and set the kids loose in the basement this winter. Not a bad idea, dear. Not bad at all.

The water area was another fun place

Pretending to be fire fighters was also very cool

More walking together

Riding the bus

Hanging out in the condo
It was so nice to have a family member's condo to stay in so we had some extra room to move around and to be able to eat breakfast "at home."

Nutcrackers at the restaurant were so much fun. Last year Anna was terrified of the tiny Nutcracker my parents have and this year she poses with a giant one. My how they grow up.

More Quotes

2012-01-15T22:45:00.004-05:00

Good grief. These kids are so quotable lately. They are just cracking us up with their astute observations and hilarious comments.

1. One wintry day as the snow was falling outside and the kids and I were safe and cozy inside, Noah looked contemplatively out his window while Anna and I played on the floor and then I heard him say, "This house is peaceful." What joy to know that my son feels peace at home.

2. We had a Preacher Mama (and Papa) hymn sing in October. It was a great time of fellowship and good singing. We even recorded it and David was nice enough to make CDs for each family in the group. The first time I played the CD in the car Noah heard it and said, "Mom you should have had a book" implying that we didn't sound very good. So I told him, "Noah, we did have books." To which he replied, "Next time you should actually look at the book." Oh my word!!! Too funny! So this past week we had another Preacher Mama and Papa hymn sing at our house this time and you can bet I made sure to show Noah that we all had books in hand and were looking at them.

3. Every time I say "ridiculous" Anna says, "ree-dic-lee-us" just to say it wrong and annoy me. I correct her and say, "Anna the word is ridiculous" to which she again replies "ree-dic-lee-us." Clearly this is a very funny game. She also likes to say "lie-bare-ee" instead of "library" even though she is perfectly capable of saying it correctly.

4. The other week the kids were at Gma Ruth and Gpa Tom's for the weekend and after church on Sunday Tom and Ruth took the kids to Hacienda for lunch. Our family also frequents the Goshen and Elkhart Haciendas, and in Goshen they have caffeine free diet soda, but in Elkhart they don't. So, as they drove up to the Goshen Hacienda Anna proclaimed, "Oh good. This is the one where we can have pop!" Love it!

5. As Grandpa Tom and the kids made their way out the door to go to church that same weekend Anna paused halfway out the door and said to Grandpa Tom, "Wait a minute. I need to go back and get my phone in case I get a text." Huh.Lar.E.Us! I can not imagine where she has ever heard this before.

6. As I drove home from my weekend away with my college friends I was talking on the phone with Jon and the kids just a bit. Jon was in the process of putting them to bed so they were all there together on Noah's bed reading stories, and as we were signing off so I could focus on driving,
I said, "Goodbye. I love you."
And Noah said back to me, "I love you bigger than a giant. Bigger than the world."
To which I replied, "I love you all the way to Jupiter and back."
Noah came back at me again with, "I love you all the way to Pluto and back."
And then Anna, oh bless her, she piped up and said, "I love you all the way to New Orleans."
Ahhh yes, all the way to New Orleans...oh how I love them so.

Preacher Mama Retreat

2011-12-30T21:13:00.008-05:00

Our first Preacher Mama retreat was a smashing success. It was short (less than 24 hours actually) but still great. We sat, ate, talked and had time to just be with one another. It was fantastic. We had originally planned to have a speaker and do multiple sessions of input etc. but decided in the end that we just needed some down time to be together and let conversation flow. So we did a lot of knitting, talking, laughing, game playing, eating, and generally having space and time to have good talks about lots of different things. I so treasure this group of women. Thanks for a wonderful time, Preacher Mamas.

November in a Nutshell

2011-12-29T21:57:00.018-05:00

The First Snow

The first snow of the year was great! We played and played. The kids' newest favorite way to pull one another and get pulled on the sled is for me to pull Noah and for him to pull Anna. That way Noah and I are reindeer and Anna is Santa. Too funny! We also built a snow fort that was pretty cool although we didn't really have a snowball fight where we could use it to it's fullest potential.

Setting up the Christmas decorations

Anna's First Movie
Anna's first feature-length film in the theater (The Muppet Movie). She is clearly (see picture) stoked about the event!

The funny thing was after all the previews and the first half of the movie, she had used up her tolerance for sitting still and watching something on the screen (she much prefers books to movies or TV) so she and I left the boys in the theater and took to the hallway of Linway 14 where we ran sprints, played hide and seek and generally amused ourselves until the movie was over.

Don't Go, Daddy, Don't Go!

Trying to make so Jon can't leave for work. I've got to hand it to them. They give it all they've got. Sometimes they go so far as to lay down on the kitchen floor holding on for dear life to Jon's legs and they make him drag their bodies across the floor with each step as he inches his way to the back door. Priceless!

Daddy Hug!

I was sorry to miss out on this great family hug, but it was fun to be able to snap a few pictures of it happening.

Facepainting at First Fridays

We were going to let them sleep in it, but it was getting all over EVERYTHING (notice nice white blanket that Anna is laying on) so we took baths and washed faces before bed. I was proud of myself for even considering letting them leave it on all night.

Wishful thinking (looking at holiday catalogs)

We've Arrived

2011-12-29T21:36:00.002-05:00

1. I am now officially annoying and embarrassing to my son. When I speak Spanish to him, sing along to Christmas songs in the car, stop him from doing something inappropriate...all of these things and more are cause for an exasperated, "Stop, Mom!" Wow! Are we here already? I think we have arrived.

2. Both kids are able to get out of their beds now. We took the side off of Anna's crib a few weeks ago making it a toddler daybed. We waited a long time, we know, but why in the world would you take a child out of a crib unless he/she was crawling out and risking injury? That was our MO, but then Anna asked for a "big girl bed," and we figured we'd give it a try and put the rails back on if she was getting up too much. However, unlike Noah, she stays in her bed, still sleeps all night, and waits for her alarm clock to turn green in the morning (7 am) before coming out to find us (sometimes she complains that she had to wait "forever" for it to turn green). Again, this is VERY different from the scenario with Noah. From the moment he could get out of his crib, which we quickly converted to a toddler bed, he has been waking up and coming to crawl in bed with us. This started before his second birthday and just stopped a few months ago (he's almost 5) due to a sticker chart and the reward of a toy after so many nights of staying in his own bed. Once again, Jon and I are sleeping alone...alone but together. We've arrived!

3. Together the kids will play on PBSkids.org for a good 20 minutes while I get ready in the morning. We don't let Anna play alone, but if Noah is with her they actually play nicely on there together. I know it's still screen time, but I like it better than having them watch TV because at least it requires some thought and interaction with each other. Having another option to keep them close to where I am (so I can keep an eye on them) and occupied while I get ready is great. We've arrived!

4. I can let them play unsupervised for 20 minutes and usually the only thing that happens is that the basement gets trashed. They do really well at getting into their own little games (Mary and Joseph, going to school, tying a jump rope to the banister and swinging off the stairs from it like they're jungle creatures swinging over a mud puddle--yeah, that's one I had to put a stop to) and aside from breaking a few things here and there, they play nicely together for longer and longer stretches of time. Now I can make lunch or supper in peace and feel fairly certain that they are not hurting each other or something too valuable while I'm out of sight. Mind you, I'm still listening quite carefully and checking in with a, "you guys okay down there?" every now and then. We've arrived.

Family Fall Photoshoot Favorites

2011-12-26T21:51:00.025-05:00

Once again this is too many pictures, but I use this blog partly as a way of scrap-booking so apologies, but here they are. These are some of my favorites from our fall shoot with Darcy. Once again, the kids were squirrely and it was very cold, but she managed to get some great shots. We decided to shoot at the college this year because it is so pretty in the fall and because that is where Jon and I met and it's where the kids love to run around and visit all the buildings etc...basically, it's a place that has meaning for us. Here they are in no particular order.

Trick or Treat!

2011-12-26T21:46:00.006-05:00

Hitting up the grandparents first....and then...onto our neighborhood by wagon....much candy and fun was had by all.

Family Fun on the Farm

2011-12-26T21:37:00.010-05:00

In late October we went to a farm just south of South Bend where they had all kinds of fun fall activities, and we just had a blast. We went down the huge slide, rode the cow train, took hay rides, rode go-carts, took pony rides, and best of all we jumped on a huge inflated pillow/balloon thing. It was so fun to just play together for an entire morning out in the beautiful fall weather. Just as we were eating our lunch there a huge rainstorm blew in so we hightailed it to the car and came home for naps. It was a lovely fall day.

Anna loved the cow train and wanted to go by herself. She is a big girl now, you know. So here she is in the first car (you can hardly see her) riding the cow train all by herself and loving it.

Fun in the Leaves

2011-12-26T21:32:00.006-05:00

Oh how I love autumn...

Uncle Matt's Classroom

2011-12-26T21:25:00.006-05:00

One day in late October (over fall break) the kids and I went to visit Uncle Matt in his classroom. Noah wants to be a math teacher when he grows up and Anna just wanted to see Uncle Matt in his class so we went for a pre-lunch visit and then went for lunch with Uncle Matt. The kids were in heaven. They ADORE Uncle Matt. And, Uncle Matt pulled out all the stops for this visit. He showed them all around his room and then had some neat things on his computer/white board for them to look at (including dancing stick figures with A & N's heads on them). Then he let Anna and Noah play on the whiteboard. It was really fun for them and cool for me to see too. As someone who went to school in the age of chalk boards this technology just blows me away.

Fall Fun Fest

2011-12-26T21:19:00.006-05:00

Fall Fun Fest at Belmont was fun as usual. This year I went with Spiderman and a pirate (who took off her costume part way through the night revealing her PJs underneath). The kids enjoyed face painting, bobbing for apples, icy toes, mystery bag and many other fun games. It is always so fun to see all the kids in their costumes.

Mommy's Bike Ride

2011-12-11T20:42:00.006-05:00

On October 9, 2011 I took a motorcycle ride. The ride was a gift to me--something purchased at our church's auction to help fund our youth's trip to MCUSA convention this past summer. It was hilarious how it all happened. At the auction several people were bidding on the ride, but eventually the bidding was over and one couple owned the ride. But that wasn't the end of it.

As soon as the ticket for the item was in his hand, the man who bought it stood up and said, "This is for Mandy!" And then he walked over and plopped the ticked on the table in front of me. It was hilarious and totally unexpected. I was touched, excited, and terrified.

One summer as a chaplain in a level 1 trauma center teaches you really quickly that when bikers fall or are in an accident, they don't do well. But, I also thought it sounded really fun. Jon knew that I was apprehensive, but he also knows me better than anyone else in the world, and he was really honestly worried that I might like the riding experience so much that I would come home wanting a motorcycle for my birthday.

Well, scheduling issues pushed our ride into the autumn months, but eventually we set a date, and it was FANTASTIC. The feeling of freedom, the clarity with which I could see everything (nothing blocked by a roof or windshield or doors), the feel of the wind on my face, the way the motor drowned out all thoughts so that I could just be in the present moment...aaahhhh! It was amazing!

At one point, my ride-giver, Bus, said, "I can tell you're still a bit nervous so I want you to let go completely (I had been holding on to his waist) and just put your hands on your own legs and go with it." This sounded terrifying and awesome at the same time, so I did it, and it was phenomenal.

Will I ride again soon? No. I still think bikes are relatively dangerous, and until my children don't need me so much for their everyday needs, I will stick to my #1 Safety Officer status and only travel the roads in trucks, vans, or cars with airbags, seat belts, roll bars, doors, etc.

But, am I glad I did the ride? Absolutely. It was an exhilarating experience in the moment, and it was an amazing experience to be a bit more of a risk taker than I usually am. Facing this fear and taking this risk didn't save the world, but it did something within me. And, having a great time driving around the country roads taking in the gorgeous autumn scenery while doing that was the opportunity of a lifetime. Thanks, Eldon and Sharon. This was a phenomenal experience, and a very generous gift. I am truly grateful.

Below is a picture of me before the ride with my fearless and truly kind driver, Bus. He could have scared me a lot by driving too fast or too crazily, but he took the curves slowly, looked about 300 times at each stop sign, and was generally slow and careful. Thank you, Bus, so much.

A shot I took from the bike (Look Mom, no hands!)

Fernwood

2011-12-11T20:28:00.010-05:00

We went to Fernwood Gardens with my parents again this fall to see the trains, and again it did not disappoint. The kids loved watching the trains and chasing the trains, and this year the nature center was a real hit too. Looking at the animals and birds etc was a real treat. They are finally old enough to actually learn something from a place like that and find the different learning stations kind of interesting.

Watching the waterwheel and enjoying some time with Pot-tricia the friendly woman made of pots--always a highlight to pose with her!

Enjoying a nice lunch at the restaurant before going home. What a lovely day.

Biking

2011-12-09T21:25:00.014-05:00

ANNA
Anna is loving her "big girl" 2 wheel bike (with training wheels), and she is never to be outdone by her brother in any way. Instead of just being happy that she can ride this bike that is not a trike, she constantly tries to ride without hands ("Look Mom! No hands!") Yikes.

NOAH
This fall Noah really did it! He learned how to ride his big bike without training wheels. We knew he was capable of it, but he was scared and needed a little time to feel ready to give it a shot. And once he did, it took him only a few short tries to get it. What a feeling it is to watch your kid master a new skill like that! Wow! Needless to say he was quite proud.

RIDING THE PUMPKINVINE
We also enjoyed a ride on the Pumpkinvine Trail with my parents on a beautiful fall day. A good ride, beautiful landscape, good conversation, and a stop at the DQ after the ride made for a lovely time for all.

2011-12-04T21:45:00.008-05:00

Girls Go To The Salon
Jon and Noah go to Great Clips to get their hair cut. I go to a salon in Middlebury that I love. Now Anna goes with me and my Mom often comes along to hang with Anna while I'm having my turn in the chair. And now Anna will tell you "the boys go to Great Clips, but the girls go to the salon." So fun!

Noah's Field Trip to Merry Lea
This fall Noah's class took a lovely field trip to Merry Lea. It was great--full of animal petting, a hay ride, pressing apples, learning about gardening etc. etc. I am so grateful that I have a flexible schedule so that I can go along and see what all he is seeing on these special outings.

Love and Other Drugs
Okay, there aren't really other drugs involved except for the occasional Advil. Who needs 'em really when the love is so strong. Below is my precious family having a hug and Noah trying to be Jon by wearing his clothes.

Quotes: They Just Keep Coming

2011-11-23T21:15:00.008-05:00

Jon is 6 months and 2 days younger than I am, so whenever I have a birthday and once again become "older" than he is, he loves to rub it in. So, on Friday night as we're sitting at our nice dinner out (thanks Mom and Dad) to celebrate my b-day, Jon looks at me and says, "So how's it feel to be half way to 70? I wouldn't know." What a guy!

Then on the way home from dinner, as we're talking about the reasons why we're not planning on having another child Jon chimes in, "...and besides, now that you're 35, by definition you are 'Advanced Maternal Age.'" Thanks, Dear. You really do know how to sweet talk the ladies.
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Out of nowhere as I'm putting Anna down for her nap she looks at me and says, "I am unique, and I am black!" "Really?" I say. "I thought you were white."

"No," says Anna. "I am unique and I am black."

Clearly she has really identified with the African-American individuals in a books she's been reading at school about the different shades of "black" skin that people have. So sweet. She said this again today in the car as we were driving to the mall with my mom. The look on Gma June's face was priceless.

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On the way home from the mall Noah was being too bossy and mean to Anna so I asked him to stop, and I added that he was not in charge of Anna. I said, "Noah if you have kids of your own some day, you can be in charge of them, but you are not in charge of Anna." And to this Noah replied, "Aw, Mom, I won't even be in charge of the kids then because it's the Mom who's in charge."

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Noah: "Anna, could you open the trash can for me please?"

Anna: "Well, sure I'm a busy mom so I can do anything."

Noah: "Thank you."

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Often we ask the kids if either of them want to lead in prayer at mealtime or bedtime. Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't. Lately when Anna does want to pray bows her little head and says, "Thank you God for me. Thank you God for you. Amen. In Jesus' name." I just want to eat her up.

Quotes I Love

2011-11-17T20:23:00.006-05:00

Noah, while typing, says to me and Anna, "Can you two watch the kids for a bit? I need to work on my sermon." To which Anna replies VERY emphatically, "Noah!! Moms do sermons!!!" To which Noah sort of sheepishly replies, "Dads can do sermons too."

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One evening I asked for forgiveness from Noah for a moment of weakness when I was less patient with him than I should have been which resulted in me yelling at him. After I asked if he would forgive me, he said, "Mom, I forgive you, and I'll always forgive you every time you do something bad. I'll always love you no matter what you do. I love you so much, Mom." And then he proceeded to throw his arms around me in a big hug. But he wasn't done yet. Then he sad up in bed and showed me with his arms how much he loved me--first opening his arms wide to the sides as far as he could reach and then opening them vertically as far as he could reach. "I love you THIS much, Mom."

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Noah: Mom, I really want to marry Anna when I grow up.

Mandy: I know, honey, but you can't marry Anna. It's against the law. I'm sorry, honey.

Noah: But I REALLY want to. I love her so much, and she's my best friend.

Mandy: I know, but you can't marry her. She can be your best friend, and you can share your lives together, and you can even live with her if you want when you grow up, but you can't marry her.

Noah: Aw man! That stinks.

Anna & Noah Get Married

2011-11-05T14:23:00.012-04:00

One day in September Noah and Anna decided they wanted to play "wedding." They have been into this lately. I am not sure why. It may have to do with me talking about a wedding at which I officiated in August or maybe they are still thinking of cousin Sarah's wedding in May. I'm not sure, but I am pretty sure that my kids are legally married to each other at this point (at least that's what a lawyer friend of mine tells me). I hope he is kidding.

Anyway, they wanted to play wedding, and I was game so together we set up the church complete with dolls and stuffed animals as wedding guests, chairs in rows, the pulpit, and the aisle marked with a blanket. Then they had to get dressed--Noah in his finest suit and Anna in a dress she had me make out of a blanket. We also had to go outside to get flowers for her bouquet. They were all over the details, let me tell you. Even the rings had to be just so. Thankfully I had a few fake rings laying around that we could play with. For one of the weddings Anna wore a veil, and for another one she didn't. If only all brides could have two or three takes at their special day, right?

BEFORE THE CEREMONY
The church is set. The congregation has assembled. Guests include Curious George, Samuel Schrock, Polar Bear, and Slinky Dog.

The happy couple takes time for a few posed portraits before the ceremony.

THE CEREMONY BEGINS
The blushing bride wore an exclusive AAYS couture gown and she carried a bouquet of fresh cut pink hydrangeas.

The happy couple spoke their vows while holding hands and sort of gazing into one anothers' eyes.

The bride gave the groom a fake platinum band while the groom gave the bride an equally fake 2 carat round cut diamond from famed jeweler G.L. Perry.

The kiss was a very emotional moment for everyone in attendance. Just look at the expression on George's face.

THE OFFICIAL WEDDING VIDEO
This is funny, folks. Midway down the aisle, Anna (who is pretending to be "Heather") has a wardrobe malfunction. It is so cute to see how Noah reacts with shock--not sure if they can go on--followed by a few chuckles, and then at the end tries to help her fix it. And it is VERY funny to see how extremely Anna is laughing at the incident. She is so tickled, and she just can't get over it. Oh the fun we have when we pretend to get married. What great ages they are at right now. So sweet. So innocent. So hilarious. Oh and by the way, if you watch this, major apologies for my singing. It is terrible, but the kids insisted on music while they walked down the aisle.

Noah's Big Sleepover

2011-11-05T13:54:00.010-04:00

In early September Noah had a special sleepover at Gma June and Gpa John's house. He was so excited it wasn't even funny. He was excited especially about having Gma and Gpa all to himself. He did not want Anna to come to the sleepover because he wanted and I quote "for all of their attention to be on me." Good enough. Then just a few days before the sleepover Noah got some Spiderman pajamas so he got the idea in his head that he would put those on under his Easter suite (otherwise known as his Peter Parker outfit) and arrive at G&G's with his coat and tie and then when they were least expecting it, he would "transform" and reveal himself as Spidy. He was so excited to do this and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when it happened. My mom said that he barely waited ten seconds before transforming. It was so adorable.

Grandma and Grandpa went all out for this sleepover making Noah a special bed, getting some special new toys and games, and also serving octopus for supper which was really a hotdog cut to appear like an octopus. Too awesome! Noah had a blast and absolutely did NOT want to come home. When I talked to my mom the morning we were to pick him up she said Noah had at least another 3 hours worth of activities that he wanted to do, but we went to get him that day anyway.

Meanwhile across town...
After we dropped off Noah, Anna and I had some time just the two of us before Jon got off work. So, I asked her what she wanted to do. She said, "play tennis." So we got our rackets and went to the courts. We hit for all of about 10 minutes and then she wanted to explore around the school grounds. I love those times when we're not in a rush and can indulge in a bit of "sure let's do whatever you want and go wherever you want, Anna." So we did.

She wandered through the trees, and then wanted to go look at the bleachers that were at a nearby field. She had never been on bleachers before. Sure. Why not? So we walked up and down those for a while. Then she wanted to go onto the track, so we did that just as football practice was ending. Then she wanted to go look at some other bleachers on the sidelines of a farther-back soccer field, so we did that. It never occurred to me that when practice was over they would lock the field.

So we were just happy as larks without a care in the world...walking around the field and up and down the bleachers. Finally we made our way back to the gate we had come in, and it was locked tight. Hmmm...big chain link fence all around the field. Interesting. What to do? What to do?

Well, thankfully there were some parents nearby still waiting for their sons to emerge from the locker room so I called to them to ask for their help. They were super nice and game to help us in whatever way we needed. So, I threw our tennis bag over the fence and then I just lifted Anna up over my head and a nice man on the others side took her from me, lifted her over the fence and put her safely on the ground. Then I climbed up the one side of the fence, over the top, and jumped to the ground. It was an adventure that Anna still talks about today every time we pass that school.

I am just so thankful for that fun, care-free day when we took the time to just wander and follow Anna's lead. It was an adventure we could never have created if we had tried.

Camp Friedenswald

2011-11-05T13:36:00.014-04:00

Labor Day Weekend was a lovely weekend "away" with friends. It was only about a 45 minute drive for us, but it felt like we were in another land. I guess technically we were since it was Michigan. Anyway, we spent the time with our dear friends and their children. We swam, hiked, blew bubbles, played on the playground, played games, read stories, roasted marshmallows, and just had an all around great time. Noah especially loved hanging out with his friend Henry and Anna relished her time with Eliza. Though sleep was often difficult to come by for the kids being in a new setting and knowing that friends were nearby, it was still a great, fun, relaxing weekend.

Snorkeling

2011-11-05T13:24:00.004-04:00

It's that one last post of summer activities. The pool has been so fun again this year. We were out there almost every night. And this year the kids have picked up snorkeling. Noah has totally got it, and he's able to just swim and float indefinitely while wearing his mask and snorkel. I'm not sure what there is to look at on the bottom of the pool, but apparently it is interesting because he looks at it for hours on end. Actually he often throws things to the bottom and looks at those.

Anna still isn't quite as able to snorkel in open water (she tries of course b/c Noah does it so she thinks she should be able to), but she loves to sit on the steps and pick up dive rings etc., and that she can do quite well. I'm just amazed that a 2 year old can figure out how to breathe through a snorkel. It is fun to see their abilities blossom as they grow and learn.

And, it is just increasingly fun to be out there as a family playing games, jumping off the board, and generally playing and relaxing together. I did NOT want a pool when we moved here, but now I'm sold. Good thing, I guess, because we have to take care of it whether we enjoy it or not.

First Day of School

2011-10-28T21:13:00.004-04:00

The first day of school was met with excitement about what was to come and seeing old friends again as well as sadness that the summer at Camp Leah with friends Leah and Will was over. It was not very emotional for me because they have both been to this school before. Next year, however, will be a totally different story, I'm sure. But I choose not to even think about that yet. This year we reveled in Noah being in the oldest class at his school and in the joy of them getting to go together to school again, and in the same-ness of it all--familiar friends, familiar, setting, familiar teachers. Aaahhh!!!

And of course here are a few first day of school pix.

They are so patient with me.

I can almost hear Noah whispering, "She's crazy, Anna, this mom of ours. She's got to take like 500 pictures of everything so just keep smiling, keep it up even if it's cheesy. Trust me, she eats this stuff up." And, he's right.

Come to the Fun Fair...

2011-10-28T20:30:00.019-04:00

...the everything-in-one fair. Come to the Elkhart County 4 H fair. It is indeed all you need in one stop--yummy if not healthy food, rides, animals, and hours of fun with family and friends. Sure there are things about the fair that are gross, but for the most part I just love watching the kids have a blast. And, really nothing we encounter can't be fixed with a nice hot bath. As in past years, we made more than one trip to the fair this year.

Noah looks unsure here, I realize, but soon after this was taken he was riding around the circle like a regular cowboy.

Both kids went on a real roller coaster that was designed for older kids, but they were allowed to go with an adult, and they both LOVED it!!! Jon and I are both so excited for future trips to amusement parks because we clearly have roller coaster loving kids.

We all went on the Ferris Wheel together too. I thought they would both be afraid of that also, but they weren't.

At several points during our time at the fair this year I was reminded of me and my childhood friend Anthony as I looked at Anna and Noah because there is a classic (and very cute) Mandy and Anthony picture of the two of us driving a car together at the fair when we were about this age (and Anthony was always bigger than me so he looked older even though he wasn't). He lives in a different part of the country now, and I don't see him ever or think of him very often, but I did this week as I watched Noah and Anna. It was fun to think of him and of all the fun sibling-like times we had together as little kids.

Quotes At This Juncture

2011-10-12T22:23:00.004-04:00

I'm not a huge quote person. I read and reflect just like many of you, but I don't often get very focused in on any one statement or thought or idea--at least not enough to share it with anyone. However, a few quotes have jumped out at me over the last little while in relation to a number of illnesses and tragedies that have touched our family and community. Each of them in their own way reflect a part of what I have been feeling or trying to feel, being or trying to be, thinking or trying to think. Mercy, mercy, mercy.

"I feel like death is closing in from every angle." ~A friend of mine

"Jesus wept." ~The Bible

"Life is not fair, but that does not mean it does not hold beautiful promises." ~Terri Roberts

"Nothing can separate us from the love of God." ~The Bible

"Noah, I love you." ~Anna Schrock

"The only way to respond...is to share love." ~Rachel Gerber

"Cherish the light where you find it." ~A friend of mine

But I think my favorite is from a bike ride one evening last week. Again, seemingly out of nowhere Anna says, "Who made this?"
"Who made what?" I reply.
"All of this," Anna says gesturing her tiny arm widely all around while staring wide-eyed at the sky.
"God," I say.
"Wow!!!" Anna replies with amazement and reverence.
Yes, wow indeed, Anna. So I prayed a spontaneous prayer of thanksgiving for it all--the sky, the trees, the flowers, the sun, the leaves, and then at the end Anna added, "and my bike."
"Yes, Anna, and your bike. Exactly. Amen."

Chi-town

2011-10-08T21:08:00.007-04:00

In late July we went to Chicago to spend the day with our friends Lisa, Breck, Eliza and Leo. It was fun to hang with them and to see the sights of the town.

Switching things up with the strollers was one highlight for the kids.

Another joy was helping Lisa make pancakes on Saturday morning.

Going to the zoo to see the animals and ride the carousel was a highlight for Noah. Anna fell asleep right before we got there so she saw less of the zoo than Noah.

But she still saw a lot and had fun hanging around with Eliza. These two are pretty cute together.

Then on our walk home we came across a part of the street lined with paintings of superheroes. Noah posed beside each one. I will spare you the 6 or 7 pictures we took, but here is Noah beside his two favorite super heroes. This really was a "Jackpot!" find because Noah is quite into superheroes these days.

Misc. July Events

2011-09-08T20:35:00.011-04:00

The following are all events that were fun and worthwhile but that don't justify their own post. Still to come are the bigger, more pictureific July events: "Elkhart County Fair" and "Trip to Chicago." I bet you just can't wait, can you? Ha!

SILVER BEACH TRIP
One Saturday we went to Silver Beach. It was REALLY hot and it was the Venetian Festival so it was REALLY busy, but we still had fun getting icy treats, splashing in the water, climbing the dunes, and playing at the splash pad. It was a great day-long mini-vacation. And on the way home I was really glad we carry a potty in our trunk because Anna needed us to stop so she could use it. Here's a serious shout out to Beth for the idea of just keeping a potty in the trunk for the next few years. Not only does it come in handy when traveling but it helps one avoid having one's child use yucky port-a-potties and other gross public bathrooms.

ANNIVERSARY DINNER-DATE
For our 12th wedding anniversary we went to the Carriage House and had a lovely meal and conversation with each other. It was great. Here's the happy couple alone and with the two cute products of that happy couple.

PARTY TIME
Providing the location for my Aunt Joann's 70th B-day was fun. We all had a great time hanging out, swimming, eating yummy food and learning a new song entitled "Joann Joann" which my kids now sing daily.

PRACTICING SERMONS
Anna is just so adorable when she gets the pulpit out, puts her Bible on top and gets down to business. Too much!

PLAYING WITH FRIENDS
Here Anna pretends to be a baby while friend Mara holds her. So cute.

BEING CUTE IN BED & READING TIME
Anna just happily laying in her bed "reading." This is how she falls asleep every night. We have family stories in Noah's room all together. Then we have prayers and a Bible story with our prayer rug and candle and then I take Anna to her room, rock her a bit, and then she jumps off her footstool and I lift her into her bed with a "1,2,3 wheee" routine and then she lays there happily reading with anywhere from 3-15 books in the bed. Sometime she'll call to us that she needs more books or that her babies need more books. It is the cutest thing and such a far cry from the falling asleep assistance that Noah still needs. It still boggles our minds.

SUMMER POOL FUN WITH GMA JUNE AND GPA JOHN
It is always fun to squirt grandparents with water.

Virginia Beach, Part 4

2011-09-08T20:22:00.007-04:00

We left Virginia Beach and headed for C-ville where our good friends Shawn, Rachel, Owen, and Connor live. We enjoyed playing in their back yard bounce house, seeing their town, swimming, and having good time after the kids were asleep to talk and talk and talk as adults. It was great to see them again and to see a bit of their new home town. The kids got along so well though, it really made me wish they lived a bit closer...maybe someday...

After seeing Shawn and Rachel we stopped in Harrisonburg to see Jon's aunt and uncle and cousins. It was so fun to see them and their town too. Then we made the long 11 hour trip home all in one day. The kids did great. It was a real taste of things to come and it made us feel like we can now plan trips to even farther places. It really was a great trip...a great first foray into the world of longer distance traveling with kids (remember distance is always relative).

Virginia Beach, Part 3

2011-08-16T20:58:00.019-04:00

I know this is too many photos, but ever since I discovered how easy it is to make the blog into a book I use this as a way to scrapbook the kids' lives too so here is the third installment of our VB trip.

More fun in the pools...wading pools really are great for kids this age...

Striking serious yet cute poses at the beach...

playing together so nicely...and loving the sand and surf...I am pretty sure we are still finding sand in our suits 6 weeks later, but that's okay...

More rides and funny faces from Jon...

More surrey rides (yeah!) and more inflatable toys (0h brother) for the kids, but hey, it's vacation. At least this time it's inflatable dolphins. And the last night we went out for pizza and Noah was being silly by sticking the pizza dough (they gave to the kids to play with before the pizza was ready) to his face. What a silly boy!

And more time just to be together. It really was great to unplug and just hang out as a family. We were so present to each other, so undistracted, so totally in the moment and just having fun together. Preparing for vacation is always so much work. It's enough work to make me question why we're even going away at all. In fact, the day before we left for VA Beach I actually said to Jon, "Why are we doing this. Why don't we just stay home. Just staying home together would be relaxing too." But now I see why it's important to get away. No bills to pay, no phones to answer, no laundry to do, no flowers to water, no lawn to mow, no beds to make, no meals to cook, no grocery shopping to do, no dust bunnies taunting "clean me." We really, truly love our normal lives--our work, our friends, our home. We really, really, really do. Truly. But, this trip did remind me how fun and important it is to also get away and just be present to one another as a family. For most important reasons, see below.

Virginia Beach, Part 2

2011-08-03T21:03:00.015-04:00

The Virginia Beach saga continues with pics of us at the little amusement park (which Anna called the musical park) just down the boardwalk. We would come in from the beach/pools, clean up, nap, and then set out down the boardwalk and one evening we found this great little amusement park thing. The kids loved it and we loved watching them love it.

Here are the two crazy cats ready to take on the rides. I am so pumped because I can already tell that these kids are going to love Cedar Point. Oh the summer days we will spend there as a family experiencing long lines and heat exhaustion. I am so excited already. They love rides. We love rides. What could be better?

And now begins the series I like to call "Jon Pretending To Be Scared On All The Rides." Love it!!! And what's really funny is that there are many more of these that I didn't include.

There were also some cute little fair games, so we let them play one. And what did they win for their fishing efforts? What did my cute little pacifist children pick from the toy/prize bin? Wait for it...

Answer: giant camo hammers, of course. What else? One for each of them. I couldn't be more pleased. And they squeak when you hammer, too. Oh joy. What fun!

Part 3, the final chapter of this family vacation is still to come.

Virginia Beach, Part 1

2011-07-20T21:09:00.017-04:00

Below are Noah and Anna splashing in the waves at Virginia Beach. This was Anna's first trip to the ocean and she loved it!!! Her face says it all. Waves are pretty cool. I agree, Anna.

We left on June 25 for a few days at the beach combined with a few days with friends and a day with family. We had no idea how the kids would do traveling that far, but they did great. We had high hopes of not using the DVD player at all, but those were shot by about....Bristol. So thanks to a DVD player as well as books, toys, and music we all had a lovely trip. We stopped in PA on the way out and by Sunday afternoon we were splashing in the waves. This was Anna's first trip to the Ocean. We felt bad because Noah touched the Pacific at 4 months old and the Atlantic at 13 months, but we think Anna's going to be just fine even though she had to wait until she was 2 1/2 to touch the ocean.

Here is the whole Yoder Schrock crew in the waves. We had so much fun and we were so grateful to the nice woman who saw us all looking at the water our first 3 minutes there and generously offered to take a family pic.

Here the kids and Jon go down a giant water slide thing on the beach. It was so cool. Noah loved it and wanted to go again. Anna was glad she tried it, but sat the second ride out.

Here are my kids all greased up with sunscreen and ready to ride the surrey that we rented one morning to ride around the boardwalk. It was awesome. If you know me and surreys you know that I have never met a surrey I don't love. I love them the most on city streets mingling with cars, but we played it safe and stayed on the boardwalk this time. The kids loved it!

We also had a blast just digging in the sand making things and just messing around. After jumping waves this was our favorite thing to do.

To be continued...oh yes...there is more, so much more to this adventure...

Sarah & Matt's Wedding

2011-07-13T21:21:00.018-04:00

Sarah & Matt's Wedding weekend was great. We spent some time playing in the hotel pool with my cousin Chris and his kids. It was great to catch up on what's new in their family's life and to just let the kids have some fun together.

The kids just loved playing with their little second cousin.

I loved watching my cousin Sarah be so happy and in love with such a neat guy. It was a beautiful ceremony.

L: Noah was feeling pretty fired up after the ceremony. He was ready to hit the dance floor.

R: Noah, Anna, and their second cousins hang out during the meal. Watching the four of them together was pretty fun.

Then the dancing began. It was innocent enough at first...

...but pretty soon Noah busted out some break dancing moves and Gil and Anna joined in without missing a beat. Okay, where in the world did my son learn to break dance? Too funny. Just. Too. Funny. Love it, Noah!!!

These two boys (and Anna too a lot of the time) had so much fun together--just like Chris and Sarah and I used to at family gatherings when we were their age.

Anna and I had fun kickin' it on the dance floor, too. Check out these awesome moves. Jealous?

It was a great family weekend and we were so glad we could be there to celebrate with Sarah and Matt.

Children's Museum

2011-07-10T20:23:00.008-04:00

On the way to my cousin Sarah's wedding in Louisville over Memorial Day Weekend we stopped in Indy to eat at our favorite brunch place and to visit the Children's Museum. Both were wonderful! Jon and I ate up our old favorites at Cafe Patachou and the kids at up the museum--especially the Dora exibit (including space camp for Noah) and the hands-on area for kids 5 and under. It was the perfect pit stop. The kids slept the whole rest of the trip. I can't wait to go back to the museum again sometime this winter for a fun family day. It really is a great place for kids.

Oh My

2011-07-05T20:50:00.000-04:00

"Oh my!" is really all I can say about these pictures from the month of June.

Here Noah and Anna share a shake one Sunday after church. This was not posed at all. Thankfully I happened to have my camera along, and I quickly snapped this picture for the ages before they stopped slurping.

Here Noah and Anna meet "the real baby Samuel." The real Samuel is holding Anna's baby Samuel who goes with her everywhere and is her favorite toy of all time. Anna and Noah love to pretend that they are Samuel's parents and that the doll is Samuel, so it was a hoot to have Samuel and his parents here for a visit and to see Anna and Noah react to having two Toms, two Mindas, and two Samuels in the house.

On the left are Noah and Anna pretending to be each other one night. They dressed in each other's pajamas and called one another by the other's name all evening. It was funny.

On the right is Anna doing her best impression of Nicole Richie trying to flee the paparazzi. She's doing a pretty good job in my opinion.

They were crawling on the floor meowing and pretending to be cats. I just took it to the next level by offering them milk in small bowls to drink.

Noah shows off his "big muscles" and his new boxer briefs and tank tops. He wanted a tank top so bad so Jon bought him some of these white ones and some boxer briefs. He loves them both.

One day I was in my room when the kids came in and said, "Mom, we're ready. Come play duck, duck, goose with us." "Okay," I said. And when I came into the living room this is what I saw.

They had almost all of their animals in a circle ready to play. I must say it did make for a more interesting game to have more than three players.

Oh this life I lead...what can I say but, "Oh my, my, my..."

We Are Family

2011-07-05T18:43:00.001-04:00

Noah and his animal family one day as we played school (all the animals were the students).

Anna and Grandpa John have story time. I'm not sure who does more of the "reading." Anna is really into reading books aloud and sometimes it's hard to get a word in. She can't actually read, of course, but she loves to turn each page one by one and talk, talk, talk telling you the story of the book or any story that she feels like telling.

Annual Schrock Family Father's Day Men & Boy picture

Annual Schrock Family Mother's Day Women and Girl picture.

We are blessed to have such wonderful animal, human, and faith families in our lives.

Spring Nature Walk

2011-07-05T18:26:00.000-04:00

Spring is such a lovely time for taking a picnic snack to the rocks in the field behind Gma June and Gpa John's house, playing hide and seek in the tall grasses, walking hand-in-hand, picking flowers, wielding sticks, and striking smiley poses.

Mother's Day

2011-06-14T21:37:00.000-04:00

For Mother's Day this year we thought it would be fun to do a ropes course as a family. You know, to bond and work on our cooperation, team work, and fitness. It was fun.

I'm just messing with you. We didn't do a ropes course. We went to the great park on 17 which our kids call "Veggie Tales Park" and had a great afternoon together.

There is a part of me that always feels like Mother's Day should actually be a day for me to get a massage, mani, pedi, and sit and read by myself all day. But really, no. There is nothing I would rather do on Mother's Day than spend time with the precious people who make me a mother. Especially this year when they were really into planning a special day for me. What else would I want to do besides Veggie Tales Park? Absolutely nothing. Truly. Absolutely nothing. It was wonderful. Well, maybe there is just one more thing...a stop for ice cream on the way home topped off a perfect day.

Really, what is better than just a normal day where we set aside time to be with the ones we love most? It was great. Thanks, Noah and Anna for a great Mother's Day.

Easter 2011

2011-06-14T21:24:00.000-04:00

Easter 2011 was great. I don't think anything can top Easter 2010 which was the first Easter I could really share the story with one of my kids, but this was a good one too. Here are some highlights of the festivities after church, which was also a big part of the festivities. I just don't have a lot of pictures of that part.

Hunting for eggs, counting the eggs, and opening other gifts

Eating together with Grandma June and Grandpa John

Lovin' Life Outside

2011-06-01T21:25:00.001-04:00

At the end of April we finally got a chance to get outside and have a serious outside workday. It was so fun to be out as a family and for Jon and I to both be able to work at various projects while the kids happily played in the yard. Trust me, we took plenty of breaks to just play too.

Here is Anna enjoying a cookie outside. I just love her smile here. I think if I had the choice I would eat her up before I'd eat the cookie.

Noah loves to pretend he can drive the mower. Little does he know that we are just as excited as he is for the day to come when he can mow the lawn. Does anyone think that 6 is too young to have him operate this puppy as his summer job?

Anna and Jon on the mower. They both love to go for mower rides. Jon absolutely will not take them on the mower while he's actually mowing, but he'll take them for rides around the neighborhood when he's done and the blade is locked and not moving. It is questionable, yes, and about as far from classy as you can get, but the kids love it and I love to see them love it and I love how, though embarrassed to be driving his kids around the neighborhood on a mower, Jon does it anyway because he loves them and they love the rides.

The kids goofing around on the mower together. Again, no worries. It's locked and turned off here. Do you seriously think I would let my kids play on a mower if it were on? Can I get a "be careful" out there?

A picture I snapped while they were playing in the yard. I will never forget this. I was playing with them and we were playing that Anna was the mom and Noah and I were her kids. Noah was indulging her so much this day by playing what she wanted. He was such a good sport. She would kiss us goodbye, go to work (which was the lawn mower), come back, give us hugs and kisses and do it all over again. It was precious. Here they just share a moment while I look on wondering what it must be like to be them...to have between them what they have...loving them loving each other on a perfect spring day. "The whole way to heaven is heaven itself." ~Teresa of Avila

The Aquarium

2011-06-01T21:15:00.001-04:00

April 16 we went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago as a part of Noah and Anna's Christmas gift from Gma Ruth and Gpa Tom. It was great. The kids loved the train ride and the aquarium. We got there early (which was critical as we realized when we left and saw a huge line that was not there when we went in) and didn't try to do to much a la Clark W. Griswold. It was great.

Here's the crew after a long day.

Here we are before the 4D Dora movie. Yes, 4D. What is the other D you may ask. It was shaking chairs, bubbles blown at us, getting misted with water and smell. Love it.

Climbing in the penguin play area. This was Anna's fav.

Exploring the submarine.

Checking out the jellies and starfish.

Noah snuggles with his new shark as he takes a quick nap on the way home.

Anna and Gpa Tom have their own seats in a different part of the train car because Anna wanted to sit with him away from the rest of us. So cute.

We've Arrived

2011-05-31T20:45:00.001-04:00

As we take these strides toward greater independence, a slightly less intense minute-by-minute daily life, and greater mobility here are the latest installments...

1. We can go on a 6 hour (one way) car trip as a family, stay in a hotel for 2 nights, attend a wedding and reception, and come home saying, "Man, that was a lot of fun! Let's do that again." As an added bonus we didn't even need to pull out the DVD player at all. Score. WE'VE ARRIVED!!!!

2. I can feel comfortable being the only adult out in the pool with both kids. Last summer, because Anna still needed so much hands-on supervision, I did not feel comfortable doing this. This year they can both stay upright on their own and play well together or alone. I almost had to pinch myself this afternoon as we played out there...I was just doing my own thing, cleaing the pool while they both played happily...I was very close by but not right with either of them and I had this vision--this flash of what could be--it was a vision of me just floating on a raft absorbing the sun's rays or maybe sitting on a lounge chair reading a book while they play in the water. It really could happen this summer folks. I can feel it. WE'VE ARRIVED!!!

3. Both kids can make it without naps if they have to. This certainly is not something we strive for, but if we have something going on that makes napping tricky, we can just go to bed early that night and not encounter major weeping and gnashing of teeth. WE'VE ARRIVED!!!

The Zoo: What Was I Thinking?

2011-05-24T21:48:00.001-04:00

One crazy Friday (one of my days off) in April Anna announced that she wanted to go somewhere. "Where," I asked. "South Bend," Anna replied. "Okay. Let's go to the zoo," I said before thinking that Anna had only been using the potty for a little over a week. Oh well, the words were already out of my mouth so we went, and it was great. We had a wonderful time. The zoo was great and the park right next to the zoo was amazing. Anna didn't have a single accident and I felt amazing knowing that I could take a spur-of-the-moment trip like that with both kids by myself and have it be a smashing success. We've arrived!!!

Nature Walking

2011-05-24T21:40:00.001-04:00

Often when the weather is nice and we're at Gma June and Gpa John's house we'll take a walk back in the nature preserve area close to their house and have a snack, sit on rocks, throw things in the water, and watch the trains go by. It's a lot of fun. I just love these times together. Here we are getting a pre-walk snack at our usual watering hole in G&G's family room and then we're off on the hike. Noah looks kind of sad in the last picture, but he was having a great time. He just decided to be difficult for the picture.

Fun Stuff Around Here

2011-05-24T21:24:00.000-04:00

We've been doing all sorts of things to have fun around here this spring. Below are some pix showing the kids making pizza, dressing up for pajama day at school, riding in the bugger, and jumping on the trampoline at the mall (they love that so much and often on Fridays for some reason Anna will often ask to go to South Bend to the mall. Too funny).

Other funny things lately are:

Noah telling me one day that he is going to have two wives when he grows up. Okay.
Anna, while looking at a picture of herself, saying "I'm thinking about pancakes there."
Noah asking Anna about a deer that we saw walking across the yard. He said, "How did you know it was a Mommy Deer? Was she wearing ear rings?"

Dangerous Stuff

2011-05-13T21:20:00.001-04:00

This evening after supper the kids were doing something a bit unsafe. I said something about being careful and protecting your head and neck etc. And then, Noah says, "Mom, don't worry. I don't do the dangerous stuff when you're around. I do it after you leave."

WHAT?!?!?

And as soon as Noah says this, Anna chimes in, "Don't do dangerous stuff, Noah, it makes Mom nervous."

So should I be glad that my daughter understands me so well or disturbed that I am projecting my anxiety about my children's safety so totally and completely out into the open that my daughter knows how nervous dangerous stunts make me? Should I be glad that my son is sparing my nerves by doing "the dangerous stuff" when I'm not around or upset that he would classify some of the stuff he does as dangerous? Or perhaps, most likely, I should look toward my children's father who, I'm certain, encourages them to do more dangerous things when I'm not around in order to balance out my natural tendency to not let them to anything that would have even the remotest possibility of injury. Hmmmm.

Either way, this was a funny little conversation to have with the kids before Jon got home tonight as we sat cuddled up together and safely cocooned on the screened-in porch listening to the rain fall all around us.

I Couldn't Be More Proud

2011-05-06T13:02:00.001-04:00

Exhibit A

My sweet, shy, softspoken, sensitive, easily-swayed, happy-to-be-the-follower son Noah surprised me twice in one day this week. He had a friend over to play for a while so at one point I decided it was okay to have them watch a short Veggie Tales movie. I was doing a few things in the other room when I heard the friend say, "We don't like God do we?" And without missing a beat Noah replied, "Yes, I like God."

I love it. Noah can sometimes too easily (it seems to me) just go with the flow, so it was awesome to hear him disagree and stand up for his beliefs. And, the best part is that I know he didn't just do it for my benefit. I was in the other room and he had no idea that I was able to hear. Love it!

Looking forward to accidentally (or not so accidentally) overhearing many more interesting conversations between my kids and their friends.

Exhibit B

One day Noah was playing with a friend and they were playing with some toys that would be considered stereotypically more for boys than for girls. But as they played Anna wanted to play to. She approached the boys and asked which toy she could play with and Noah's friend said, "None. These are for boys. Girls can't play with them!" I intervened and said, "Yes they can. Girls can play with any toys they want to." The friend said, "That's not what the computer says." To which Noah replied, "Here Anna. You can play with this one." Then he handed her a toy. And then before moving on to something else Noah added, "That just doesn't make sense for our family."

I love many things about his response. I love that he defended his sister and was doing what he could to include her. I love that he stood up for all girls and gave Anna a toy even when his friend wasn't into it. I love how he didn't judge his friend's statement he just said, "that doesn't make sense for our family." I love how he spoke for our whole family as a unit--a unit that hangs together. I love how he knew that restricting girls from certain toys or games or actions just doesn't make sense in our family's culture. I love you Noah. Thanks to you this day on behalf of all the girls you may one day stick up for. Keep it up, bud. It means more than you will ever know. We can stick up for ourselves, of course, but sometimes it's nice to know we have a brother, a father, a son, a friend, a husband, or a coworker in our corner too.

We've Arrived...Almost

2011-05-04T14:28:00.001-04:00

As we cruised around the park this morning, having the greatest time, I thought, "Man, I need to post another installment of "we've arrived" because here I am just chillin' --watching the kids and staying nearby, of course, but not really needing to hover over them like I used to." They can both play on their own. They both have good judgment. I don't need to follow 1 step immediately behind either of them anymore. They can just climb and play and do their thing and still be safe.

But in the back of my mind was a horrible, disgusting, death-featuring dream that I had last night. I will spare you the gory details, but I will say this: it was gross and it involved the death of one of my children. So, yes, I was footloose and fancy free, but in the back of my mind, in some subconscious place, I was aware that even though they are usually okay on their own now, crazy things can still happen.

And something did. Anna snuck off (man it doesn't take long) and tried to climb up a lily pad-type-thing that was above her ability level, and she fell. She fell down one lily pad, landed on her back on the second lily pad, sprawled flat on her back on that second lily pad for a moment and then toppled to the ground landing on her head and rolling over to just lay on her back. I screamed, "Anna!!!" and ran in what felt like slow motion. She wasn't moving or crying or responding to my calling her name, so I continued to scream her name and at the same time I was thinking, "I'm going to be calling 911 here. Stay calm. She's paralyzed. It's okay. She won't be able to walk again. It's okay. Stay calm. Nothing good comes of getting out of control."

When I got to Anna she still hadn't moved. Her back was to me, and what I saw when I finally got to where I could see her face was both infuriating and relieving. Anna was laying there with her eyes open and just the slightest little smile on her face. I'm not sure what she was doing, but it looked like she was perfectly fine and just laying there enjoying knowing that she was freaking me out beyond belief. Little stinker! I'll never know I suppose. Maybe she was sort of hurt and was just remaining still in order to keep her spine immobilized. HA! Either way, I'm just glad she's okay.

When it was all over and I had kissed her about 100 times I realized that I was shaking, breathing really fast, and had tears in my eyes. Wow! I am reminded again that it would only take a second for life to change forever? I think we're going to just stay inside wrapped in pillows, bubble wrap, and cotton balls for the rest of the day. Ha!

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-25T20:59:00.000-04:00

I don't know why or exactly when it started, but I have been a royal fanatic for as long as I can remember. I'm pretty sure that I have read every book on Princess Diana that exists, and I've read a bunch about the British Royal Family in general. I am fascinated by them. I know their family tree. I know the names of Diana's bridesmaids. I know the names of some of Queen Elizabeth's bridesmaids. The day Diana died my friends came to tell me the news with the care and concern befitting a death in the family.

I'm not totally sure why I am so fascinated by them, but I know a lot of it has to do with Diana herself. She drew me in, as she did many people. I am fascinated by her story, her life, her death, and now by her son and his new bride-to-be whom I love. I love that Kate is a "commoner." Di would have been so proud of him for following his heart rather than protocol. I love that Kate is smart, educated, and so loyal to Wills. I love that he loves her and wants her as a partner in life even though she doesn't have a title or the proper blood lines.

Look, I know it's stupid, but it's one of my guilty pleasures I guess. I just love the British Royal Family.

It's funny, I can actually remember sitting in Heathrow on multiple occasions as a teen thinking that maybe William would just happen to be there at that moment also and we'd bump into each other, start talking, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. Crazy, but true. In case you're wondering, it never happened.

I have been recording every bit of the prewedding footage on TV and watching it as I have time after the kids are in bed. I can't get enough.

I try to explain to Jon what this event is like for a serious royal watcher like me and the best I can do is to say that the royal wedding taking place this week is as big for me as it would be for him if there hadn't been a World Series, NCAA tournament, NBA championship, Wimbledon, or a Super Bowl for 30 years. Not only would you watch the game but you would watch every moment of pre-game coverage. That's really what it's like. I mean, yes, there have been royal weddings since 1981, but not like this one. We haven't seen the likes of this since Chuck and Di wed on that fateful day in July.

Will I be up at 4 am to watch the wedding live? Of course. Are you kidding? Will I continue to follow the lives of Will and Kate with great interest? Of course. Are you kidding? Do I still wish that I had bumped into William during one of those trips through Heathrow? Sure. It would have been interesting. But I wouldn't really have wanted to marry him. I wouldn't want to touch the life Kate is embarking upon with a ten foot poll. And besides, if I had married William I would never have met my true prince charming. For real, who needs a British monarch when you can have Jon Schrock.

We've Arrived

2011-04-23T14:46:00.000-04:00

Anna has been wearing underwear for over two weeks. She has been interested in potty learning since November, but I have been resisting because she just seems so young and diapers are just so easy. But over spring break I had a good five days straight with her where we could stay home and try, so I figured we'd give it a shot and if it worked, great but if it didn't, no big deal. So we got up on that fateful, very talked-up Wednesday morning and put on undies. She did great. The first day she had 3 accidents, the second day she had two, and the third day she only had one accident--all pee accidents. She got the poo thing down right away. Now she only occasionally has accidents, but not many. It is so exciting! Lately when we go out as a family instead of lugging a huge diaper bag, I can get by with a teeny, tiny little leather backpack that is so petite it's almost invisible. It's just big enough to hold my phone, my wallet, hand sanitzer and a change of pants and undies for Anna (just in case). I feel so un-weighted down that sometimes I fear I will just float into the clouds. We've arrived!!!

We worked outside as a family this morning for three hours and had a blast. Noah was actually being helpful by taking branches and other trimmings to the firepit. Anna was contentedly digging in the dirt, looking at worms, eating snack, or playing in the sandbox. No one needed to be nursed. No one needed to nap. No one was crying or tired or overstimulated. No one had a poopy diaper. No one was being more in the way than helpful. It was so fun, so lovely, so shocking to just be outside working as a family together. We've arrived!!!

We went to South Bend yesterday for a little fun on the Good Friday holiday and it was so easy. We just decided to go and then took off. No strollers, no diaper bag, no major packing or planning. We just took off and had a wonderful time. Half way there I almost suggested that we just keep going and go to Chicago for the day, but I suppose we still need to plan a bit more for an overnight trip. We've arrived!!!

We are going on vacation this summer. We have not been on an extended vacation since Noah was just over a year old--that's almost 3 years ago. We have done weekends at Friedenswald and overnights in Ohio and Chicago but we have not gone far, folks, and we have not gone for more than 2 nights anywhere with the children in that amount of time. I guess for us the work involved in traveling with little kids outweighed the fun that we would have at destination X. It just wasn't worth it to us. So we've hunkered down, nested, and been perfectly content just hanging around home--truly. But now with Anna being 2 and Noah 4, we finally feel like we're at a point where it will be more fun than frustration to get away with them. We're excited. We've arrived!!!

Spring

2011-04-12T20:54:00.000-04:00

As you know, we love winter around here. But that's only part of the picture. The whole truth is that we love every season. When the end of one comes, we're happy and ready to embrace the next. We feel equally excited about welcoming spring, summer, fall and winter and every season we remark about how we could never live someplace that didn't experience all of the seasons in all of their glory. So, yes, we do love winter, but we've have three months of winter, and now it's time for spring. Yeah!!! Spring, we love you. You give us so many new things to do. For example...

Riding our new bikes...well, actually Anna's is Noah's old bike, but she loves it so who cares. We're excited to try taking Noah's training wheels off of his new bike and letting him ride free of them. We're sure he can do it with just a little practice, and we want to have him try before he realizes the danger and gets scared.

...playing in our new sandbox...

...playing on the equipment at Tommy's with Dad...

...running on the trail with Dad...

...walking with sticks and Dad...

...cathching Anna as she goes down the slide...

...loving all things and sliding on the big slide "all by myself!...

...lovingly hugging Anna and throwing stones into the pond...

...trying new things at Tommy's that we didn't even think of trying last year...

...climbing and swinging in the great wide open with the sun on our faces...

...trying more new things that we weren't able to do last year...

Overnight at Grandma's

2011-04-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

One week after his birthday Noah went to Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Tom's for a sleep over--a Toy Story Sleep Over. The plan was to watch all three Toy Story movies with Noah's "toy story guys," eat snacks, and sleep on the air mattress. Noah could not have been more excited. He knew that I would take him to Gma's and Gpa's after supper so at breakfast he asked, "is this supper?" Poor kid. It was a long day for him. Miraculously I did get him to take a nap though. I think he was motivated by knowing that if he took a nap he would be able to stay up later to watch the movies. He was so excited. I called Gma Ruth during the day to tell her how jazzed he was and she was worried that the acutal event wouldn't live up to his expectations. I told her all she had to do was let him sleep on the air mattress, serve popcorn, and watch all three movies and he'd be a happy camper. She did, and he was. He was literally jumping up and down with excitement, pacing the back hallway by the door after wolfing down his supper. It was so cute.

Here is Noah beaming with excitement with his suitcase and two bins of his "Toy Story Guys." His bag was packed and set by the door along with the bins the night before.

Here he is walking up to the door of Gma and Gpa's house. He was so excited to go and do what he was planning to do, but he was also very excited to be going alone. He was really worried that Anna and I would stay. He wanted us to leave asap and get on with his special party.

As soon as we got there he emptied out his suitcase and got some "Toy Story Guys" out. As you can see if you look closely, Noah packed his own suitcase--he packed about 10 pairs of underwear. I'm not sure why, but the fact that he packed his own suitcase because he was so excited and couldn't wait any longer is just too precious.

And on the other side of town.......................

Jon and I had some special time alone with Anna. We took a long walk around the neighborhood and read a few extra books at bedtime. It was weird to just have one kid again. It felt so easy. We felt like we could do anything. When we dropped Noah off we looked at each other with this crazed look in our eyes and said, "what should we do?" because it felt like with only one kid we could do anything--go to South Bend for dinner, go shopping, go to a movie, go on a walk, go to the moon. It was funny. We also thought the walk around the neighborhood would be a lot quieter without Noah there, but we were wrong. Anna can easily fill up the airspace that he left open for her. It was pretty much a non-stop running commentary on everything we saw. Oh, Anna, you crack me up!

When it was all said and done, Noah did not at all want to come home. He had a great time. He was tired, but it was worth it. I just so love that he has this kind of relationship with his grandparents and that he so loves to be with them and to stay with them. What a blessing!

Noah is Four

2011-04-03T19:50:00.001-04:00

Noah is four. Part of me wants to say, "I can't believe it." But that isn't really true. Actually I can totally believe it. It feels like it's been four years. It's funny as I think back...so much of my life has been broken down into four year segments. Four years of high school, four years of college, four years for seminary, and four years of pastoring at FMC Indy...so for me to look back on another four year segment of my life is interesting. And, now that I'm on this side of this particular four-year piece of life, I can say these past four years definately have not flown by as fast as other four-year segments. But, of course, that makes sense because this has been the most fulfilling, the most amazing, the most challening, and the most life-changing four-year block of my life thus far. I wonder how much longer I will continue to measure life in four-year bundles. I wonder if this is it. I wonder how it is possible that I am so blessed as to be able to be called "mama" by this amazing boy pictured below.

At this point in life Noah is really into Toy Story. He also loves Superman which is why we had a hybrid ToyStorySuperman birthday party. He loves his sister, swimming, helping us around the house in hopes of earning some money, riding bike, identifying birds and bird calls, doing the one-handed sign language sign for "I love you," telling knock knock jokes, jumping on the couch or air mattress, playing "Tom and Minda," playing superheroes, and watching PBS Kids and Bible videos we get from church. Noah is a shy guy when he first meets people but once he gets to know you, look out. Happy Birthday Noah!!!

Noah with his cake

The very good natured party goers. Seriously, how many people do you know who would put on these crazy hats and let a blogger take a picture?

Grandpa John after he got the Buzz Lightyear toy free from the packaging. It's a long story. In a nutshell, we couldn't get Buzz out of the box. Those crazy metal twist ties were hooked behind his wings in such a way that they were not coming out. Jon's brother Matt tried--nothing. Jon's dad Tom tried--no luck. Jon tried with scissors and actually poked his eye lid and the corner of his eye with the scissors in the process. Gracis a Dios that were not drawing on disability insurance on that one. But then Grandpa John, that crazy guy, decided to push them out instead of pulling them, and it worked. Hallelujah!

Noah opening presents. He was so polite and genuinely excited about each gift. It was awesome. He would get really excited and then say, "Thank you. Thank you so much." It was very sweet and totally genuine. We didn't coach him to do that at all.

Oh, Noah, I love you, bud. I love your sensitivity, your sense of humor, your questions, your love for the outdoors, your energy, your funny sayings...and the list could go on. I can't believe how far we've come. I love you.

February in a Nutshell

2011-04-02T21:17:00.001-04:00

Sometimes Northern Indiana gets a bad reputation. People wonder what in the world we do to have fun, especially in the midst of winter. What do we do to have fun? What DON'T we do to have fun. This is a happening place. Don't ever doubt it. Rain or shine, sun or snow, we've got plenty to do. Here's just the tip of the iceberg for the Yoder Schrock family. Playing the nose flute.

Meeting new friend Adah Landis.

Wearing matching jean jackets. Do we know it's dorky? Of course. Can we help ourselves? No!

Making snow people.

Striking sassy poses

Being crazy with a sibling while Mommy is gone and the more-permissive Daddy is on duty.

Reading to babies "Anna" and "Samuel." Seriously Anna reads to them the entire time it takes me to get ready in the morning. She loves to read and always wants a book in her hand--in bed at night she wants "a stack of books," in the car she wants at least 2 in her hands. We read them to her once and then she wants to read them to us. It is the cutest thing.

Writing our names. Noah just got interested in writing his name and the first time he tried, this is what we got. Awesome!!

Going to First Fridays. We do this every month, but here we are in February going from dinner to hear the Dutchersmith family singers. Awesome! I love this town.

More fun in the snow for everyone including "baby Samuel." Seriously this doll goes everywhere with us.

We loved you February. We're going to miss your snow and the way you force us to find so many fun things to do inside, but we'll gladly adjust and try to have fun outside in the coming months, too. ha ha!

Photo Shoot Pix

2011-04-02T20:42:00.000-04:00

WARNING: Lots of pictures below. I use this blog as a scrapbook of sorts so I know this is a ridiculous number of pictures to put in one post, and I know no one ever wants to look at this many pictures on a blog, but this is partly for me...for when I finally get around to getting this blog made into books...then I will have all of these pix.

For Anna's 2 year and Noah's 4 year pictures we again sought help from the wonderful, the talented, the toddler/preschool whisperer, Darcy Holsopple. She does such a nice job with the kids and her pix are fantastic. It was a fun hour. Here are some of my favorites.

Here are Noah and Anna doing their best "serious child model" pose.

One of my favorites of Anna with hair thing that Darcy brought along.

On the left is Noah doing his signature "two thumbs up" pose and on the right is my boy who looks so grown up. Wow! Look at him strikin' that pose. Senior pictures here we come!

Darcy managed to capture Noah's love for the guitar.

Clowning sibs...

Serious Anna

Silly Anna

Trying not to laugh and look pouty at the same time

The snow was so beautiful and unexpected that day. What fun!

Recent Happenings

2011-03-29T22:00:00.000-04:00

So the other day Anna says, "I'm going to work on my funeral. You stay here, Mom." Um...what?!? If that isn't enough to get a Mom's heart racing, I don't know what is. I guess we've been visiting my mom in her office at College Mennonite Church too much. Mom's had to do a lot of funerals lately, and apparently Anna has gotten into doing funerals too.

We went bowling as a family on Saturday night. It was a hoot. I could not believe that we were there as a family doing an activity like that together. Sure, the wheels came off of the whole experience around the 5th frame, but we made it. We did it. It was great. Here's to many more family nights like that one.

I was given a motorcycle ride. Someone bought the ride at our church's fundraising auction on Saturday night and promptly stood up and said, "This is for Mandy." I am grateful for this gift and very excited about the ride. I can't wait to feel the wind on my face.

I got flipped off on the way home from work today. I didn't do anything wrong. Actually the driver who flew bird was actually doing something questionable, but apparently that didn't matter. I was the one who got to read between the lines. I was glad to see that my automatic, gut-level response was just to wave and say "thank you!" One never knows what one's gut response will be until the time arrives.

The daffodils outside of CCYC are about to burst forth. The crocuses at Belmont have already bloomed. AWESOME!

I have not changed a poopy diaper for days. I am ready to remove the changing pad from Anna's dresser and replace it with pictures of family. Here's hoping...

Today it was 43 degrees when I drove home from work. This isn't particularly warm, but it felt really, really warm so I opened the sunroof and turned up the music. Ahhhh summer's coming!

Today I started a list of all the things I hope to do in retirement. Almost every day when I drop the kids off at CCYC I see the most adorable 80-something couple who walks together rain or shine. They always stop at CMC for a bathroom break and then carry on with their walk. It reminds me of the long walks Jon and I used to take together before Noah was born. It makes me think of a day again sometime when he and I can walk together for miles and miles. It made me think of retirement. So far the things I want to do in retirement are: take long walks with Jon every day, live in London and work for Mennonite Mission Network as caregivers to mission workers around the world, be available to my children and grandchildren, read a lot, and take daily naps.

Top 10

2011-03-22T21:18:00.001-04:00

Lately these are the top 10 things that have made me smile:

1. Anna praying her own spoken prayers in which she often thanks God for "the trees and branches." I'm not sure where that comes from, but I agree the trees and branches are amazing.

2. Noah finding ways to pray using nature (looking out his window) and using a country song as inspiration ("he bowed his little head, folded his little hands, and spoke to God like he was talkin' to a friend...tell me son, where'd you learn to pray like that? I've been watchin' you dad...")

3. Wearing shoes and no socks. I know it's pushing the season, but I don't care.

4. Sleeping with the window open at night and waking up to hear the birds.

5. Getting a new bike. I'd had mine since I was 11 and doing a paper route, so it was time. Jon told me if I'm good I can get a new bike again after another 20 years. Thanks, dear.

6. Watching Noah on his new 16" bike and watching Anna on Noah's old 12" bike. No one in our house is riding a trike anymore. Wow!

7. Going to Tommy's Kids' Castle for the first time of the year and then going again the next day to play for two hours and feed the ducks.

8. Playing in the sandbox for hours.

9. Taking my winter clothes to the guest room closet and bringing up my spring clothes. Turtlenecks, sweaters, and wool be gone!

10. Cleaning months of dirt, sand, and salt off the garage floor with a garden hose. Ahhhahhhh! Now that feels better.

Ladybug Girl!!!

2011-03-13T20:27:00.000-04:00

Anna's birthday party was fun as ever. We ate, did a craft, had presents, figured out how to put the presents together and watched Jon almost take out my dad while hitting a pinata. What could be more fun on a Sunday evening really?

Here is big brother Noah coming home from helping get Anna's ballons.

Here is Anna's Ladybug Girl cake lovingly made by Aunt Barb. Thanks Barb! It was fantastic.

Here are Mommy and Anna as the party gets started...oh and Samuel the baby too, of course.

Anna and Grandma June hit balloons.

The crew sits down to eat together. Noah appears to be making gang signs in this pic. What is up with that?

Here's a quiz. Leave a comment if you have the answer and you could win a prize. Here is the question: How many Yoder and/or Schrock men does it take to put together a child's toy slide?

Noah helps open some gifts.

Anna and Mandy do a bead craft with ladybug beads, and Anna takes a turn at the pinata.

It was a fun celebration for a wonderful little girl. You are so fun as a 2 year old, Anna. We hope you enjoyed your party.

Ohio Visit

2011-03-13T20:16:00.000-04:00

At the end of January we made a quick trip to Ohio so that Noah could attend his second cousin Grayson's birthday party. Gray really wanted Noah there so we went. It was also a good time to see Jon's grandma. Noah and Anna had a great time playing with cousins Grayson, Caleb and new cousin Gabriella. Mandy and Jon enjoyed seeing as many of the Schrock family members as we could. It was a wonderful trip. The kids travelled so well, too. Made me think we should try this kind of thing more often. It was even better than tolerable...it was downright fun!

Even though it was Grayson's party, his mom (one of the sweetest people in the world) arranged for Anna to have a little cake too since her b-day was only 2 days away. So nice. She loved it--the attention and celebration as well as the cake itself.

Jon, Noah, Pauline, Tom, and Anna

MLK Weekend 2011

2011-02-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

MLK Weekend this year was a blast as always because I got to spend it with some of my best friends in the world and their cute bambinos. Noah and Anna spent the weekend with Gma Ruth and Gpa Tom (which they LOVED), and I got to sit around, talk with friends, and drink coffee. Due to the many little babies in the group this year we decided to gather in good ol' Goshen so we could just hang out and lay low and not feel pressure to do sight seeing etc. And laying low is exactly what we did. We did manage to go out for dinner at Kelly Jae's on Saturday night and to go to Uptown Kitchen for brunch on Sunday, and I arranged for some folks to come in and give us mani/pedis and massages just for fun but mostly we just sat around. It was fantastic.

We kicked off the weekend with shower/brunch at home to celebrate the upcoming birth of Amy's little one.

We wrote in an advice book for Amy.

Here Amy opens one of her gifts.

We took many pix of the four boys who are so close in age it isn't even funny. Here are Samuel, Hans, Jack and Leo.

This is what we did most of the time...sit around and talk and play with the babies.

Auntie Amy then gifted all of us with little ones with matching pjs so we got a pic of some of the kids in their outfits on the last night (when Anna and Noah were back home again).

Once home again Noah and Anna could play with the babies. Here they are with the real baby Samuel and his namesake Anna's doll Samuel.

And on Monday morning their friend Eliza came to pick up her mom and they got in some quality play time with her. It was a wonderful weekend.

Just for the Record

2011-02-17T14:15:00.000-05:00

I just feel a need to say for the record, that Anna is getting much more opinionated about what she wears and sometimes I just choose not to fight that battle in the morning. So, if you see her in a particularly interesting outfit sometime in the near future, just know that I did not put her in it. Just know that I am not losing my mind--I realize it doesn't match or that it matches too well, but I just choose not to make a big deal out of it.

On the left: A nice sweater and hat but with pajamas and a red purse it's just crazy.
On the right: A nice tank top for Jon's mom, but as a dress on Anna...well...

Why would one want to wear a shirt that snaps between the legs with striped socks and pink shoes but no pants? I'm not sure but apparently Anna is making a statement.

We've Arrived Again

2011-02-12T20:43:00.001-05:00

Here are the latest installments of "we've arrived."

1. We went to Ohio a few weekends ago for Noah's cousin (and friend) Grayson's b-day party and when it was time to go to bed in different beds, in a different house, all in the same room, it was no problem at all. I rocked Anna for a few minutes and then she asked to be put in her bed. Then Noah went to his bed. No one cried. No one moaned. No one complained. No one woke up in the night needing to be rocked, fed, comforted. We just slept. We've arrived!

2. Both kids FINALLY went to children's time by themselves a few weeks ago. Every week for about the past 300 years I have tried to get Noah to go by himeslf, but he never will. Then all of a sudden 2 weeks ago he decided he would, and it took me so off guard that I was half way up the aisle to go with him as usual before he told me, "Mom, it's just for kids." Oh, excuse me, Noah. Alright. I'll just head back to my seat now. We've arrived!!!

3. Right around the same time as the children's time development, Noah started doing better being in "big church" with us. He is better able to just read, play, or draw quietly while we sing and enter into the worship service. Around the same time as this happened for Noah, Anna also started to want to be in "big church" with us. And even though she's 2 years younger than Noah, she does a great job of just sitting quietly while reading, drawing, doing sticker books, or singing with us. Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect tranquility on our bench. And, they both still need to go to the nursery part way through the service (partly because of who they are and partly because church is my job and I want to make sure I hear the sermon without too much distraction), but their behavior lately is a major advancement. It just makes my heart want to burst with joy when I sit there on that bench in "big church" with my family--all 4 of us together. I almost have to pinch myself. I can hardly believe that after 4 years we are where we are. We've arrived!

4. Both kids were not just okay with staying overnight with Jon's parents a few weeks ago. They were so excited about it that they were actually crying as Tom and Ruth made their way across town to pick the kids up because as the kids said, "Grandma and Grandpa just aren't getting here fast enough to take us to their house." Gone are the days of leaving home to the sound of a crying baby or a fussing toddler or a tempermental preschooler. Gone are the days of kids who are just okay with us leaving. Now the kids LOVE it when they get to stay home and play with Gma and Gpa, and they love it even more when they get to go for a special overnight or play time at Gma and Gpa's house. I love it. We've arrived!!!

5. Noah went to his first friend birthday party last night. I can not believe it. I could not be more astounded that my son is old enough to go to a friend's house to play or for a party where parent's don't stay and it's not a childcare situation--it's just a friend/play situation. Amazing. He absolutely loved it. I unfortunately quite literally had to drag him away at pick up time kicking and screaming (well it was more like growling), but it was still awesome. He had such a great time he just did not want to leave. It was so weird though...as I drove to pick him up I could hardly make myself believe that in a few short years this is how many Friday nights will be: Noah will have one thing with his friends. Anna will be doing something else with her friends, and Jon and I will be home alone in a house that will probably feel somewhere in between blissfully quiet and peaceful and a bit too quiet and empty. Or maybe (like last night) we will much more easily be able to go out just the two of us and try a new restaurant in town. Venturi is great BTW. Anyway, it was just a moment--just a taste--but it was enough to make me think about the next stage of life that is coming. Can it be that we have arrived here already? Maybe not quite, but we're on the verge.

Photo Shoot

2011-02-08T14:05:00.001-05:00

To see some of the pix from Anna's 2 year shoot and Noah's 4 year shoot check out Darcy's blog to the right of this post or go directly to:
http://darcyholsopplephotography.blogspot.com/2011/02/anna-noah-session.html.

Thanks for a great, fun time during the shoot, Darcy!

Lovin' It: Snow

2011-02-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

We are one of those apparently crazy families who love to wake up to this:

I can't even express how much we love snow. It is not that it just provides a fun outdoor playground. It's so much more than that. I love how it looks on the trees outside our windows. I love how it gives us a good excuse to sit by the fire and drink hot cocoa. I love sitting by the window and watching the flakes slowly, peacefully fall to the ground. It makes the inside of a house feel that much more cozy and snug when their is snow outside. I'm not even kidding with all of this. We love snow here. So we try to get out in it whenever we can.

Here are the boys taking a break from some serious playing one day.

Here are Noah and Anna on one of many sled rides that they call "sleigh rides."

Here is a new favorite for our family now that Anna is old enough--a night sled ride. So fun! If you've never done this you must try it. The world is just so peaceful and quiet when you're out walking the streets in the snow at night.

Here's to a few more snowy weeks of winter!!!

Yoder Schrock Family Christmas

2011-02-03T20:38:00.000-05:00

Christmas day was just wonderful. As soon as we woke up the kids were beyond eager to see if there were presents under the tree...when they found there were no presents they looked a bit worried. But we quickly told them to try looking downstairs. Phew. Downstairs, by the fireplace, they found the loot. And then the present opening extravaganza began.

Here Jon and Noah work at opening some new building blocks.

Noah, Anna and Mommy look at Anna's new doll house. Minutes earlier, while going over to unwrap the dollhouse, Anna fell head first into the corner of the dollhouse resulting in a cut on her cheek and loss of interest in the dollhouse for a few minutes. Then she bounced back.

Here Anna and Noah look at what has become Anna's new favorite book while Anna wears another favorite present--a hat and sweater made by my Aunt Joann.

Kids opening presents on Christmas morning...is there anything better?

Yes, there is one thing better...snuggling with those kids on the couch while watching Toy Story 3 and not getting out of your PJs until supper time. Ahhhhh, now that's what I call a holiday.

Anna is 2 Today

2011-01-31T20:53:00.000-05:00

My baby is two today. A friend asked me last week how I was doing with this and what was hidden in that question was the question, "how are you doing now that your baby is not a baby anymore?" I was touched that this dear friend would ask this question, but the answer is easy. I'm just fine. I am great. I couldn't be better.

I could not be happier that Anna is two. She talks a blue streak. She puts on her own clothes. She reads to herself. She feeds herself. She sleeps all night. She sits quietly beside us through the first part of church. She goes to children's time on her own. She is showing interest in using the potty. She doesn't have to be carried everywhere. She can go on long car rides and not cry at all.

But it's more than the fact that she's easier to care for than she used to be. I just love that she can tell me her feelings, thoughts, ideas, preferences. She can dance with me and tell "knock, knock" jokes. She can chase me around the house and hide to be funny when she knows I'm coming to find her. We can watch movies together and make cookies together. We can go sledding and make snow angels together. We can swim and bike and sing songs together.

I mean, don't get me wrong I loved Anna as a baby with my whole heart, 100%, all the time, and I thought she was amazing every day of her life. So, maybe it's not really possible, but to me it feels as though she is actually even more amazing as a "big girl." And all of this, of course makes me wonder just how amazing I'm going to find her to be as a 7 year old, or a 12 year old, or a 16 year old or a 23 year old, or a 36 year old. I can hardly imagine...

I can't wait to keep getting to know you every year, Anna. To me you are a miracle that just keeps happening over and over again. I love you with all of my heart, and though it doesn't seem possible that you could be any more amazing than you are today, I am readying myself to be completely astounded by you and by my love for you again tomorrow.

Yoder Family Christmas

2011-01-23T20:31:00.000-05:00

We also enjoyed a nice 1/2 day with the Yoder family this Christmas season. After the kids got up from their naps we met Gma June, Gpa John, and Great Aunt Bev at a local hotel for some swimming fun. After that we went back to my parents' house for supper and presents.

We did something different for gifts among the adults this year. Instead of buying one another new gifts, we decided that each adult would give each of the other adults a gift that we thought they would like, but, it had to be something that we already owned and had in our homes. So, for example (see below) my dad gave Jon a red tie and Aunt Bev gave Jon a cool old pharmacy bottle that used to hold a kind of medicinal tar/cough syrup of some sort. Very cool.

The kids got regular gifts. As you can see they loved them. Anna got a mini pulpit among other things. Yes, a custom made mini pulpit! What could be cuter. The kids love to play choir and church so it is a great idea. Noah got a microphone and Mrs. Potato Head along with a few other things, too.

Schrock Family Christmas

2011-01-23T20:18:00.000-05:00

We had a lovely evening with Tom, Ruth, and Matt eating together, opening presents and just hanging out. We also took some time this year to have a friend come in and take some family pictures. They turned out well. I especially love the ones of Noah and Anna with Uncle Matt. They were having so much fun.

Opening presents. The suitcases were a favorite. They love to pretend they are going on trips and they were also preparing for a weekend at Gma Ruth and Gpa Tom's in January. They thought they were pretty cool, let me just tell you.

Playing with Uncle Matt. Anna has one of Gma Ruth's tank tops on as a dress. Noah had been wearing one of Gpa Tom's sweatshirts, I think, and Anna wanted to get in on the action.

A picture of all 7 of us.

Our Latest Tricks

2011-01-23T20:07:00.000-05:00

Dressing like Woody from Toy Story...

Being superheroes together...

Fixing things in the workshop...

Anna's Musical Skillz

2010-12-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

Here is Anna playing and singing her rendition of the Veggie Tales theme song. Not 100% accurate, but close.

And below is Anna singing/playing a song from Music Together called "Hello Everbody...we're so glad to see you." As she sings you can hear her say hello to Jon, Mandy, Miss Jenny (her music teacher), and Grandma. But the best part is at the very beginning when she makes this really hoarse/gravelly voice as she sings "Hello, Grandma Yvette." Grandma Yvette is a person on the music class CD who happens to have a slightly gravelly voice. Okay, it's really gravelly, but it just cracks us up that Anna imitates her like that. This girl picks up on the details let me tell ya.

Preacher Mamas and Papas

2010-12-21T12:12:00.001-05:00

We had so much fun in early December hosting the Preacher Mamas and Papas for a meal. We all chipped in and had the meal catered so we didn't have to cook (which was awesome, by the way). We ordered the authentic Puerto Rican meal from Rolling Scones and it did not disappoint. We also enjoyed an appetizer treat from Melissa and delicious desserts from Pamela. Some people just can't not cook, and we didn't complain one bit. It was a lovely evening of conversation, laughs, and good ol' fashioned competition (we played a few rounds of The Newlywed Game Preacher Mama style). It was funny. Thanks again, PMs and PPs for a fun evening. Can't wait until we get together again.

Going to the Dentist

2010-12-21T12:01:00.000-05:00

Why doesn't somebody take these kids to the dentist? My goodness. HA. We have so much fun with these fake teeth. I personally love to put them in and surprise Jon with a big smile when he's least expecting it. It really grosses him out which makes it even more funny for me. Now I've got the kids into "the teeth" too. What fun! Noah will come up to me with the teeth in his mouth and say, "mom, I think I forgot to floss!" Ha!

Grandma Mae

2010-12-20T13:32:00.000-05:00

My Grandma Mae Evelyn Richard Alliman died in the morning of Sunday, November 7 so we gathered that next weekend to celebrate her life and to remember the promises of God to us all--salvation, eternal life, communion with God forever. It was a good time of being with family, and though we are sad for ourselves that Grandma is gone, we are happy for her that she gets to be free of the pains and struggles that she faced in her earthly life.

Here is the Gilbert and Mae Alliman Family

Noah and his second cousin Gilbert handed out chocolates at the end of the service. Gma Mae loved chocolate and she would always have a Hershey kiss or M&M or something for Noah and Anna when they would visit. This was the perfect tribute to her.

Anna enjoyed hanging out with my cousin Sarah and Sarah's fiancee Matt. Anna really had a crush on Matt. Before he left she made sure to get a picture with him. Anna is already counting the days until Sarah and Matt's wedding so she can see him again. ha!

And Noah LOVED spending time with second cousin Gilbert. They really did have a great time playing and just being together. Now Anna and Noah often play "Gilbert, Audra, Chris and Elizabeth." So great was this family's impression on them. Too cute!

Thanks Grandma Mae for being the person you were made to be and for loving us so much. We will miss you, but your legacy lives on in your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren every day. We love you!

Parent of the Year

2010-12-17T20:35:00.000-05:00

I know I'm not the world's best parent. I'm not the worst either, but I'm the first to admit that I'm not perfect. I try every day to be the parent I want to be, but I fail frequently. I get tired. I get frustrated. But today was a great day. I didn't think for a second that I was doing anything wrong tonight.

Tonight we parked in the parking lot by Great Clips so Noah and Jon could get haircuts. Anna was antsy so instead of just waiting for them to be done like we usually do, we decided to just walk over to Meijer, do a little shopping and have the boys come over and pick us up when they were done with their haircuts. No biggie, right? Sure, it's cold. We could have taken the car and let the boys walk over, but we had coats on so a 3 minute walk across the Meijer parking lot isn't going to kill us or even make us uncomfortable really. And even if it would make us a teeny bit uncomfortable, it's just a bit of cold. It's not like it's the pain of a kidney stone I'm exposing my child to or anything. A nice walk in the brisk winter air sounded fun. And, we're not wimps, my daughter and I, so we can walk and let the boys drive.

So we set off, and just as we're getting to the part of the Meijer parking lot where it is less of a vacant parking lot and there are more cars parked closely together, a man actually pulls up beside me, stops his car, rolls down his window and says, "It's just too much effort to park over here closer to the story, huh?"

I'm not really sure what he's talking about so I respond kindly and light heartedly, "Yeah, we were just over at the haircutting place with my husband and son and decided to come over here to do a bit of shopping." And I begin to walk a bit again, thinking we just exchanged a pleasant but strange bit of banter.

But the man continues, "You know it's cold out here right? You can make kids sick doing things like this."

At this point I do realize what he's talking about and I just keep walking.

Really? Did that really happen?

First of all, kids don't get sick from being cold. Secondly, my daughter, if cold at all, was hardly cold for more than 30 seconds. Seriously. And thirdly, it's just a little cold. The kid can be cold for a moment. It's not going to kill her. I don't think she was cold during our 3 minute walk but if she was, so be it. And fourthly, since when in our country did taking a child for a 3 minute walk in the cold weather count as child endangerment worth calling out of a car to the child's mother to berate her? Really? Are we that tied to our cars? I personally think it's good to show my kids that sometimes we choose walking over driving because it's fun.

It may appear that I am really worked up about this because I'm sharing the story on here, but really I am not. I actually think it's kind of funny and very sad at the same time. This dude should see me and Noah and Anna playing outside in the afternoons in the snow for 30-45 minutes at a time. Gasp! What would he think then?

But to end the evening where I was accused of being a bad parent I got to put Anna to bed, which is usually a lovely and peaceful time. But tonight she outdid herself once again. She didn't know I had gotten berated as a mother earlier in the evening...or did she? I don't know. All I know is that as I was rocking her and just holding her in the peaceful dark of her room she said, "I love you, Mommy," and then she began to sing. I kid you not. This is what she sang to me:

"I love you so much. I love you so much. I can't even tell you how much I love you. You're special to me. You're special to me. I'm lucky to have you as part of my world. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you so much. I love you so much. I'm lucky to have you as part of my world."

I know I'm not the world's best parent, but I think I'm doing okay. Well, at least Anna likes me.

Yoder Schrock Update

2010-12-07T20:57:00.000-05:00

What we've been up to...

1) Noah had his first church choir concert. He sang all the words to both songs on the way to church but chose not to sing during the choir's performance. Then he sang all the words on the way home from church. I asked him why he didn't sing during church and he said, "becuase I'm a little shy, Mom." Good enough. Jon and I were just happy that he stood up front with the group the entire time. He could have just as easily refused to stand or go up at all. He did pick his nose a bit at the beginning and make some funny movements during the songs but all of his moves were right with the beat of the song. Noah, you are something else and I couldn't be more proud of you. [I would post a video of this, but it is just too long and the cuteness of all those kids would melt my screen, I fear].

2) Anna is trying to use the potty...sometimes...sometimes not. We are walking that fine line between really discouraging her from trying this (diapers are just so convenient and really, how can she be ready for this yet?) and trying to encouarge her if she is truly ready. We'll see how things go in the next week and if she's still really into it, we'll give it the all out college try during the week when Jon and I are both off work. We'll see... [I would post a video or picture of Anna sitting proud and big on the potty, but in case she wants to run for president or have a normal dating life someday I won't].

3) We've had some new installments of "We've Arrived." [I would post pictures of these also but I was just too busy enjoying these magical moments that I forgot to take pictures].

The kids can play happily together and be left alone safely to do so for long enough now that Jon and I can linger at the breakfast table on a Saturday morning and finish our coffee before being summoned. This past Saturday they even went downstairs without us and played happily for almost 15 minutes. We just sat at the table stunned, sipping our coffee. We've arrived!!!
Both kids can put on their own coats and boots thus saving me infinite amounts of time and energy getting out the door. We've arrived!!!
Noah can totally dress himself--head to toe. We've arrived!!!
Both kids thoroughly enjoyed their first experience at "Kids Night Out." KNO is something their school offers whereby parents can bring their kids to the school from 6:30-10:00 pm (or sooner in our case due to bedtimes) one Friday night a month so that parents can go out together. The teachers from CCYC staff the KNO so the kids know the teachers and vice versa. They play with toys, play games, have snack etc. Anna and Noah are still talking about how fun it was, and so are we. We get help from the grandparents so much for childcare for things that we need (like when we both have evening meetings etc.) that we feel bad asking them to help with childcare just so we can go out on a date. But with both kids able to go to KNO now it looks like we'll be having a monthly date night. Yah! We've arrived!!!

Halloween

2010-12-07T18:55:00.001-05:00

I know it's almost Christmas but I've been directing my energies toward other things these past number of weeks. Here are some pix from the kids at Halloween. It really was fun. We had our annual Fall Fun Fest at church, which the kids loved, and this year in addition to going to the grandparent's homes we went to Uncle Matt's and we went around the neighborhood. It was fun to be out with the other neighbors walking around the streets and accumulating candy.

Noah and Anna went as Rex and Buzz from Toy Story but that's really just because those costumes were easiest to find. They could have just as easily gone dressed as "Tom and Minda" (friends from college who Noah and Anna pretend to be on an almost daily basis), or "Jesus and the Soldiers" (another favorite game around here), or they could have gone as "Kristin and Jen" (the children's choir director and pianist who they also imitate all the time). But since Noah and Anna don't have a crafty mom, Buzz and Rex it was. Plus we already had the dino costume from Noah's first and second Halloween so that made it not only an easy choice but an economical one as well. Blah blah blah...here are the pix.

Here Anna does her best dinosaur growl complete with hands up by face like a T-Rex. I could just eat her up.

Ready to hit the neighborhood

Noah and Anna take turns on Jon's shoulders. Noah can obviously fly b/c he's Buzz Lightyear, so Anna tries her flying skills too.

Giving some candy to our friend Gertie. Gertie was dressed as a nurse as you can see.

Walking the neighborhood streets.

Fall Sibling Fun

2010-10-31T23:16:00.000-04:00

Everything from reading...

...to trick-or-treating...

...to playing with "Toy Story guys"...

...to dancing to hip hop music while dressed as doctors (ha ha just kidding)...

...to watching TV...

...it's all more fun with your beloved sister or brother.

I continue to so enjoy watching Anna and Noah share life together and just utterly love each other and enjoy each other's company. Being an only child myself, their relationship regularly blows my mind. Just seeing how much of life they share and how much they have in common because they are both growing up with the same parents in the same house in the same town going to the same church and the same school etc. etc. I know they are not having the exact same experience of life, but it is similar, no doubt about it. I just love watching their relationship grow--hearing them have their own conversations in the back seat of the car and watching them play together. It melts my heart and is just so interesting.

A Nice Fall Day

2010-10-31T22:19:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago we didn't have anything on the calendar. It was a rare treat. So we just spent the day playing as a family. One of the most fun things that we did was to play outside in the leaves. The kids had a blast and so did we. It was hard to keep ourselves from doing work while we were out there because there was so much to be done but we stayed strong and just played. It was great!

The one piece of work we did we did as a family and that was to water our new tree. We finally got the old one replaced. It had been taken out during a storm in June.

This Hospital is Fun

2010-10-31T22:16:00.001-04:00

On October 23 we had our first trip to the Emergency Room. It truly is a miracle that we haven't taken Noah before now. The way this kid jumps, climbs, and generally has no fear about things that he does with his body...anyway, thankfully our first trip to the ER was not a life-threatening injury. Noah got a good gash in his chin requiring three stitches, but other than that he was fine.

It was a Saturday morning. We were all just lounging around in our PJs. Jon was getting ready to make breakfast. I stepped out of the room for a moment, and then I heard the crying. Jon was in the kitchen with the kids so I wasn't worried...until I came back to the kitchen. Jon said in the most calm voice imaginable, "Mandy, don't look, just go get dressed. Don't look, just go call my parents and tell them to come stay with Anna. We're going to need to go to the hospital. Just don't look, okay?"

Apparently Noah had been pushing his little blue booster chair on the carpet in the living room and when he hit the change in flooring (the kitchen tile) his chair caught on the edge of the tile and stopped, but he kept going and sailed over the chair landing his precious chinny chin chin on the line where the tile meets the carpet. Poor little guy. Ouch! He cried, and he bled but his Daddy was right there. Thank goodness!!! For all of our sakes. I mean, if I had been alone with the kids when this happened, I would have handled it, but thank goodness I didn't have to.

So I did as I was told because I knew if I looked I would quite possibly freak out. So Tom and Ruth came over to stay with Anna, and we want to the hospital. Noah was very brave. As we sat in the waiting room we said a prayer that God would help Noah be as brave as David when he faced Goliath, and I would say our prayer was answered.

Noah had a bit of fear in the first few moments in the ER--getting weighed on the scale and getting his temperature taken were quite difficult. Yes, you read that right. So you can imagine that if those things were hard, Jon and I were preparing for the worst once we actually got to the suturing part of things. But once we were back in the room, Noah was totally chill. I layed down on the bed, and he layed on me and watched TV while the nurse and doctor did their thing.

He didn't even mind the stitches (or whiskers as the doctor called them) because they had this amazing conglomeration of stuff called TAC that they put on his chin before the doc started sewing and it made so Noah couldn't feel a thing. He just stayed in a trance watching Sponge Bob the whole time. It was fantastic. I have never been so grateful for Saturday morning cartoons as I was that day.

And another bright side of the expereince was that one part of the TAC (the "C" part) is a mild topical version of cocaine, so the whole rest of the day we could tell people that our son was a "coke head." Okay, I know it's not right to joke about drug addiction, but come on, when your son is three it's kind funny, isn't it?

Anyway before we left the doctor gave Noah some rubber gloves and face masks to take home for his doctor kit. And all of this only took about one hour. Amazing!

Then on the way out of the hospital as Noah skipped to the car, dodging someone else's pile of vomit in the parking lot (lovely), he says with gusto, "This hospital is fun!" So yes, GGH, if you need a spokesman or someone to do a commercial for you, Noah is your guy. You can reach him at noahschrock@gmail.com.

I'm really grateful for our quick and positive experience in the ER. The only problem is now we can't say, "don't do that Noah or you might have to go to the hospital" because he wants to go back. Oh brother!

The Peaceful Forest

2010-10-31T22:13:00.003-04:00

In mid-October we spent the weekend at Camp Friedenswald with friends. It was the perfect camp experience complete with hiking, campfire, smores, canoeing, playing with leaves, and spending time with friends. The weather was ideal and so was the company. We all stayed in the same building so we could put the kids to bed and still stay up in the common area talking. It was a great get-away only 30 minutes from home.

Fieldtrip to Kercher's

2010-10-31T22:13:00.001-04:00

Noah's class had a fieldtrip to Kercher's Orchard this fall. I think I was even more excited about it than Noah was. I took the day off and went along. It was so fun! I just loved spending that time with Noah and his friends. It was a real highlight of the fall.

Working hard for that apple.

The group of boys assigned to me. We had fun.

My little 'hacker.' Mrs. Kercher taught us about the different ways to eat apples and about how the way we eat an apple stays the same throughout our lives. So the way Noah eats an apple now is the way he'll eat it in 30 years. Here he is hacking away.

Finding gourds.

What a fun fall experience. I look forward to many more school fieldtrips with you, Noah. Thanks for letting your ol' mom tag along. I loved it.

Anna in the Sun

2010-10-31T22:12:00.001-04:00

One day when we were outside playing, I just had fun snapping some shots of Anna sitting on a rock playing with the stones. She was putting them in her dress and then dumping them out and putting them in again. It was so fun to just watch her be absorbed in her little game. I thought she looked so peaceful with the sun glowing around her.

Fernwood Railway Gardens

2010-10-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

In early October we went to this really cool nature center where they had a railway garden with all kinds of trains running outside through a very naturall landscape at various levels. It was so cool. The kids loved it. They liked all the trains, but their favorite by far was the mini one-car butterfly train. This was a great little one hour excursion from Goshen. I would highly recommend it for any family with a train enthusiast. They also had great trails to hike on, a nature center, a waterwheel and all kinds of beautiful gardens. It was a great day. Thanks, Grandpa John for hearing about this neat place and for going along with us. It was so fun to spend the afternoon with you.

Anna's Fall School Days

2010-10-31T22:03:00.001-04:00

Anna continues to really enjoy school. She talks about her friends a lot, and she never has trouble at drop off time. She is always eager to jump into play especially if there are babies or play doh to play with or art projects to do.

Disclaimer: Anna does also have fun interacting with friends but out of respect for friends who might not want their picture on the internet we don't post shots of her with her friends in them.

Learning to Love Jesus

2010-10-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

At our church we have a special ritual for the 3 year olds on the first Sunday that they go upstairs to a more formal Sunday school class. We call this faith marker "Learning to Love Jesus." Here are some pictures of Noah during the presentation which took place during children's time. He was in the midst of a rather defiant stage so I was half expecting him to not even come forward when Pastor Larry called his name, but he did come up and take his book just like the other kids. He did want to sit by me instead of in the middle of me and Larry where the other kids were, but that's okay.

Noah gets his new prayer book from Pastor Larry while Pastor Mommy looks on with pride.

Words of blessing for Noah and his classmates.

Noah and his class and teachers. He has loved Sunday school from the first day. He was always excited to tell us the story for the day and to do any take-home activities, but he was quiet in class. I guess it just took him a few weeks to get comfortable because today for the first time Noah's teacher said he talked a lot in class.

Anna's First Haircut

2010-10-31T21:43:00.000-04:00

On September 3 Anna got her first haircut in a salon. It was so fun. She hopped right up in the chair and Tomeka got to cutting with no struggle or tears at all. It was great. Anna just kept saying, "Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom." She was proud and excited to get to sit in a real barber chair like Noah always does. Here's to many more years of going to the salon together, Anna.

There's Just Something About Mary

2010-10-25T00:07:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure what it is in the water over here, but love is in the air again.

Okay, so Jon and I have a row of black and white pictures of family weddings in our bedroom. One of the pictures is of us on our wedding day. We also have a picture of my parents and Jon's parents on their wedding day. And, we have pictures of each set of our grandparents on their wedding days.

Well, the other day Noah was looking at this row of pictures and asking questions about them. So, I was trying my best to explain to him what a wedding was and what marriage is (yes, I realized the error of trying to get into all of this with a three year old, but I realized it too late). So anyway, I tried to explain marriage by saying that it is when you have a friend that you love so much that you want to be with them for the rest of your life. And then Noah said, "Like Mary in my class." "Um, sure," I said. And that was the end of that.

Then a few days later Noah comes home from school and says, "she said 'no.'" I didn't have the first clue what he was talking about, but then he explained that he had asked Mary to marry him and she said "no." Poor guy. He didn't seem crushed, but he did seem a bit sad about it. So I jumped into protective mommy mode. I said, "Well, honey she probably didn't even know what you were talking about." And then I added, "And 3 really is too young to get married, so give her a few years and then she'll see the light and realize what a catch you are." That seemed to do the trick. He was on to playing something else. Too cute!

What wasn't so cute was when I flashed forward in my mind to my years as a mom of a teenage Noah who will most likely get his heart broken by someone at some point. Now that will be hard. But I'll be there for you then too, Noah. Love you, Bud.

Preacher Mamas

2010-10-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to give this group of women a "shout out" for a while now, but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. They are becoming quite special to me. I just constantly have to pinch myself at the good fortune of being in an area where I not only have so many great Mennonite pastor colleagues around, but to be in a place where I can have a group of 7 young, Mennonite, women pastors who are also the mothers of young children to fellowship with...that's just amazing!

Our churches are different, and we don't see eye-to-eye on every single issue, but when we meet together over lunch or breakfast or for dinner with our husbands or for a play date (see pix below of our time together in June) we have a great time sharing encouragement, challenges, resources, frustrations, and joys. We can't share things with one another that are confidential, of course, but somehow even with many issues and situations off limits we still manage to find enough to talk about. I think that has something to do with the 6 churches, 7 husbands, and 16 kids between us.

Preacher Mamas, this post is for you. Thanks for walking with me on this journey. Each of you is a blessing in my life.

Back in the Game

2010-09-24T21:21:00.000-04:00

They must have had a talk. They must have worked things out becuase Eli is back in the game. Forgive me. I'm sure this is not that interesting to anyone but me, but I do write this blog in part as a way for us to remember things about our family life, so I just have to post this one update on the "boyfriend" situation.

Again today out of nowhere (with no prompting from me) Anna started talking about her friends and she mentioned several names of friends at school etc., and then she said, "Eli...boyfriend...church...carpet...kiss him." I KID YOU NOT. What is going on here?

Clouds in the Bow

2010-09-22T10:10:00.000-04:00

We've been trying to work with Noah on his Bible memory verse for the first few weeks of this quarter. The verse is "I have set my bow in the clouds" (from Genesis 9:13). So when Anna is busy doing something else we'll try to engage him in saying the verse and try to help him memorize it. Side note: I'm actually pretty sure he's had it memorized for a while now but is just being a stinker and not wanting to let on that he knows it (he does this a lot).

Anyway, I digress...

So, I didn't think Anna was listening in on these memory sessions. But I realized today that she has been secretly tuning in when, out of nowhere, she started saying, "clouds in the bow." At first, I could not for the life of me figure out what she was saying....I thought she was trying to say someting about flowers and a bowl...but then it hit me. She's working on the memory verse too (just with the words in a bit of a different order than they appear in Genesis). Too funny.

Here is a picture of the kids so you know who I'm talking about (ha). And here they're playing Toy Story not working on their memory verses...although Anna does look deep in thought.

Update on Anna's Love Life

2010-09-17T13:52:00.001-04:00

Last night, again out of nowhere, Anna told me that her boyfriend was...wait for it...Owen and Connor (two boys we haven't even seen in over 3 months) and Isaac (a boy at school). First of all, someone needs to tell this girl that having three boyfriends is really not cool. Secondly, what happend to Eli? Did it just not work out? Did he do something to hurt you? Is the time apart and the distance just getting to be too much? And thirdly, where, why, and how does this girl come up with all of this "boyfriend" talk? I mean really.

School

2010-09-06T22:40:00.001-04:00

Here are the kids on their first day of school this year. It looks like Anna is in need of a lot of comforting, but she wasn't. Anna took the day by storm. She (nor Noah) cried a single tear when I dropped them off. They simply walked in, started playing, said "goodbye," gave me hugs and kisses and were off. Wow! I was thrilled. I actually got a bit misty eyed as I left because I was so relieved. I had steeled myself for several weeks of horrible drop-offs. I can't tell you how glad I am I didn't have to go throught that.

Annual first day of school shot. Curious George is always good for some comfort in a new situation. Love you, George!

And, here are some misc. shots of Anna at "school." They do so many fun things that I couldn't post pictures of because the pix I have of those activities have other kids in them and I don't want to post them without permission. It is so nice that the teachers take pix of the kids and post them where we can get them.

Proof that Anna really does sleep at school. I don't know how they do it, but even on the first day she napped there. Amazing. And as she would tell you (she tells us often), she napped on her cot with her Dora pillow made by Grandma June. Very special.

Our little artist (pronounced art-eest).

A Day In The Life

2010-09-06T22:27:00.000-04:00

Here is August in a nutshell:

Swinging

First mother-daughter back-to-school shopping trip. Don't you love how Anna is already rolling her eyes at me as if to say, "Can you honestly believe I have to be seen in public with this woman for the entire morning?"

Swimming. Anna can now stay upright by herself.

Daddy trying new hair styles while Mommy is gone for the morning. Jon was a bit intimidated by having a daughter with hair to style when Anna first started wearing things in her hair. But now he can do ponytails with the best of them. And now leave it to him to try pigtails one day when I'm away for a few hours. Way to go Jon!

Anna cleaning the wall. Can I even express how excited I am that my girl loves to clean? And let me tell you she does love to clean. Sometimes she'll want a cloth after a meal and I'll find her under the table "wiping" up crumbs. She isn't really helping at this point, but just the fact that she's trying to help and seems to enjoy it melts this clean-freak's heart.

Putting on a tie to be like Daddy. Noah assumes that every man wears ties to work. He assumes that every man is a daddy. So when Noah wants to "be a Daddy" he naturally puts on a tie. Too sweet.

Noah's First Movie

2010-09-06T22:19:00.000-04:00

In August Noah saw his first movie in the theater. We saw Toy Story 3. It was perfect. He has been totally obsessed with Toy Story lately so to have him see this as his frist movie in the theater was great. He loved it. He took his Toy Story toys with him to the movie (which he calls "my Toy Story Guys") and stood for a good part of the film just glued to the screen. We went with one of Noah's buddies and his parents while Anna stayed home which made it extra special.

The Fair

2010-09-06T22:06:00.000-04:00

What blog would be complete without a post about the Elkhart County 4-H Fair? Not this one. July is many things. It is hot. It is humid. And it is fair month. If it were just me, I wouldn't need the fair, but with my kids I love it. I need it. I look forward to it. And as I see the fair rides leaving town on trucks I get a bit sad. Really.

To see the joy in their eyes as they come face to face with a pig or a sheep or to hear their giggles of delight as they ride the motorcycles, horses or carousel is just wonderful. This year we only went two times, but we'll try to make up for that next year. So come...come to the fun fair, the everything in one fair, come to the Elkhart County 4-H Fair.

Here Anna rides the pony and emphatically tells me something as she goes. Clearly just holding on and riding is not challenging enough for her.

We also enjoyed spending time with Gma Ruth, Gpa Tom, and Uncle Matt at the fair. Here Anna and Matt have a special time together.

Noah and I ride the helicopter. Aaaahhhhh!!!! Man, I can not wait until the kids are old enough to go to Cedar Point. We are going to have some serious fun there.

Boat fun for Mr. Noah.

Carousel fun for Noah, Jon and Anna. Anna still talks about the "carouself" (sic) and how it goes up and down, up and down, round and round. Cracks me up.

Getting up close and personal with the animals.

Photo Shoot

2010-09-06T21:28:00.000-04:00

We had a fun photo shoot on Saturday morning at Kercher's Orchard (a mere stone's throw from our neighborhood) for Anna's 18 month pix and as always I couldn't resist throwing in a few family shots as well. We have used Portrait Innovations for all of the kids' pix since Noah's 3 months photos but this time we decided to try something different, and I'm so glad we did. Darcy Holsopple (http://darcyholsopplephotography.blogspot.com) was amazing. She has a great eye for setting, poses, and just does an all-around great job with lifestyle photography. I love the shots she got for us and she was such a joy to work with. And she was great with the kids. We have already sent her an e-mail to schedule Anna's 2 year pix. Here are some of our favorite shots from the morning.

First Year In College

2010-08-31T21:38:00.000-04:00

The other week Jon and I realized that Noah is just as close to being in his first year of college as Jon and I are. Yes, Noah is 3 and if the average college frosh is 18 that means he is 15 years from starting college. Jon and I are also 15 years from that first college fall. Wow! That kind of blows my mind. It doesn't blow my mind like the thought of God's amazing love for us or anything, but it does blow my mind a bit. Sometimes it feels like college was just yesterday. It feels like we just met. It feels like freshman orientation was not that long ago. But really, all of these things happened a long time ago--15 years ago to be exact. I mean, can it really be that I am just as close in age to a college frosh as my son is? What? Really?

Again, I know, this isn't mind blowing like philosophy class, but it was an interesting realization for us.

And for a visual, below are pictures of Jon in college in the lab and Mandy in college with her friend Tara in a religion class as well as a recent picture of Noah.