Mother/ Daughter Time

So this week has just flown by... and I feel like I have not accomplished anything. Nate has had to work alot of hours this week. In fact, it is saturday afternoon at 3:14 pm and he is at work right now. Both of us need some sleep and some quiet time soon!

So instead of sweeping, or shoveling the driveway, or doing anything that cleaned up our messy house.... i decided to bake Friday afternoon. My little munchkin loves to cook with mommy, so when R was at preschool and X was content playing bowling on the Wii ... me and baby baked. We made a ditch the box brownie recipe. It was easy, quick and fun. AND the brownies tasted awesome!!

Here is G mixing the chocolate.... she is definitely a girl after her mommy's heart ♥

Then after preschool and after a very short nap for ALL three of them... which does not bode well for later in the evening :-) we headed to the salon to get R's hair relaxed for the first time. Now i know i was much more nervous that her... i was scared we were doing the wrong thing, scared it wouldn't turn out, nervous it would hurt her, you name it.. I felt it. BUT I was wrong. R did great and LOVES LOVES her new look. And it will cause us so many less tears every morning when we have to untangle her locks. As soon as her new do was complete she was playing with it and tossing her head. Earl, her stylist, said we created a monster.

This is Earl putting in a relaxer... she had no reaction to it ( we did a test spot on Wednesday to make sure she was not allergic to it!) She sat very still through the whole process and was all smiles.

For about 20 minutes he just worked the relaxer through her hair from root to tip. Then he shampooed it, conditioned it, and blow dried it out. Then used a flat iron to straighten it. The last 30 minutes... R could not sit still and kept saying I have hair in my eyes! ( i don't think she ever said that before!! ;-)She is in love with her hair ... did i tell you that already? I told Nate that this morning she woke up and was touching it constantly and looking in the mirror. And when i styled it this morning she couldn't see herself in the mirror ... so she said " i can see my self in the doorknob!!" WE HAVE CREATED A MONSTER!!

She is as beautiful as always and now mommy and me time does not have to consist of me being fully loaded with a bottle of conditioner and a detangling comb and her crying with alligator tears. :-( Now we can cherish our time getting ready in the morning picking out outfits and putting new earrings in and doing her hair with a smile!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Aggie!!

Happy birthday to my grandma and the kids great grandma Aggie who turns 103 today!!!!

She is an amazing woman and has been an inspiration on how to live life. I hope i have some of those unverferth genes in me!! I had the kids sing "Happy Birthday" to her and caught it on video... but of course technical difficulties keep me from posting it today. UGH! But the cutest thing is that after singing happy birthday this morning... all the way to school they sang Happy Birthday to Grandma Aggie. ANd then when i asked them how old she was they didn't know, so i told them 103... and of course G gets all excited and says that is how old she is going to be!!!! Only 1o0 years different. Here are a few more pictures from our fun photo shoot here in the house last week.
AND to all the family... me and the kids are coming back to Ohio next week. R has four days off for Parent teacher conferences and teacher inservices so i decided to pack the kids up and head to Ohio. Also I hear that my godson is growing up way to fast... and i never get to see ANY pictures!!! hint hint Beth....we would like to some pictures!!!

So i think we are traveling to Ohio on wednesday the 10th... and traveling back home on monday the 15th. Hope to see you guys! Well this post is short, i have to get ready to go to the salon with R since she is getting her hair done tonight. Nervous.... hopefully this will help me and her hair woes!!! Keep your fingers crossed for us and i will post pictures of her new do soon!

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday Grandma Aggie!

Happy Birthday to You!!!

Love the Schulte Kids

Rockin and a'Rollin

So major flashbacks to being back in junior high and going to the roller skating rink in Columbus Grove. We took the kids rollerskating today!! It was an adventure to say the least. When we were asked to go roller skating i was a bit skeptical to the fact that our kids have NEVER been on skates... so can they do it and have fun? But an excuse to get the kids out during the winter and get some of that pent up energy out.... I was sold!! When we got there it was a task to get all the kids skates on and ours before they took off and wiped out on the floor!! At first we had them in real skates and they just kind of slipped and slid around the floor... it was a pain in the back literally. Then someone put on the slip over the shoes skates on their daughter and that sounded like a much better idea. (why didn't we think of that first???) Then the kids were off on their own and not wanting to hang on to Mommy and Daddy's hands for dear life. It made the whole experience so much more fun.
The kids really had a blast... they even played the hokey pokey and Rosetta participated in the limbo!!

Aren't the skates awesome!!! What fun you can have with some lace up skates and some good music!!!

This weekend also was X's 3rd basketball game. They played a really good team who were really tall and knew how to play. (apparently this team has practices during the week!! ) Our 3/4 year old team only had 1 practice (WHO knew it got this serious at age 4!!!)

He did do much better at going up and down the court and dribbling. Hopefully it will be warm enough this week to get out and dribble in the garage again!

Me and the girls also had a fun time cooking this week. Daddy has been working a little later hours, so we had to find something that mommy and the kids like doing (not play-doh ... too messy .... or hungry hungry hippos... too loud!!) So cooking sounded like a happy medium.

So this pretty much sums up how we all feel tonight... EXHAUSTED. TO bad it is sunday night and another week is upon us. Monday starts tomorrow way too early and we have a busy week with haircuts, meetings, late nights at work(daddy), and school. Can't believe January is gone already!!! Where does the time fly?

Savor the moments.

Letter to My Son

So I have been getting some scrapbooking done on the kids books. I have only taken like a million pictures in the last 6 months.. so there are definately enough pictures to scrapbook. I have been bouncing between all three of the scrapbooks doing the pages that come easily and skipping the ones i am not just ready to do yet. I am also working on 3 small albums for each child on their birth family. I have together all the pictures the family has given me and all the information that we have accumulated to tell a fraction of the story of their past. But at least they will have some information when they have questions, or if there is an assignment at school and they chose to talk about their birth family .... we have some history.

But tonight I was working on X's album and the 2nd page i have saved in each album to write a letter to each one on our first initial meeting and what we thought of each other and our hope and dreams for them. (something i was definitely putting off because of the difficult factor in capturing this moment for each of them -- & trying to have each letter not be a stock letter with just their name inserted!) I have had the paper and embellishments layed out for weeks.... but none of the letters have been written (minor detail) UNTIL tonight. I wrote my letter to my son. It all was sparked last night as Nate was getting out his bible to read ..which unfortunately we had to dust off.. and a card fell out. The card was from his graduation and was from his parents. Now, I know i keep alot of sentimental things and probley keep way to many cards and imperfect pictures and "Stuff" that you are never going to look at again.... BUT once in a great moon you open an old letter or look at an old picture and are reminded of a special moment and the pride in your parents or the love that was shared between two people or a bad hair-do phase. Those moments are priceless.

I was going through old boxes last year (condensing and organizing, of course!!) and came across the letters both my parents wrote to me on my confirmation day. They still make me cry. Or a box of old notes that i have kept from Nate... i love the one right before he proposed that he was throwing me off the track of marriage. (clever boy!!) So thinking of that and coming across a letter written awhile ago, I decided to write my first letter to my children to be read later in life. It was really hard to put down in to words what you feel, but i hope someday when he reads this he will know that instant connection i felt with him and how I felt in a second that God knew all along that this is what was meant to be. So for all you who are reading this and have children.... write them a letter telling them what they mean to you at this moment or if you are brave enough call them and tell them how proud you are of them. It means the world!!

Here is the letter to my son (the first hopefully of many) so he will never forget that he is loved.

My Son…
You are an amazing little boy! The first time I looked into your face I fell in love with your handsome smile and that laugh that is simply contagious. I remember the first day you came into our lives like it was yesterday. You were momma’s little guy. You were very upset and just sat in my lap and for the first time I comforted you and you comforted me. Daddy and I had tried so long to have a family and little did we know God had a plan. We were meant to be together. You came into our home so quickly that neither one of us had time to get to know one another, but when you crawled in my arms on that swing and we could feel each other’s heartbeats… I knew you were my son.
That first night in your “new” home you didn’t know quite what to think. We had a room all ready for you (the boy’s room) but you didn’t want to leave your sisters. You were and have always been their protector. My love for you is more profound, than I would have ever imagined. Therefore it is my solemn vow that I will love you, guide you and protect you for the rest of your life. I plan never to miss a day that I don’t say I Love You.

Your father and I are so lucky to have you in our lives and hope that you become the man you are meant to be. We are amazed to see you grow up, to see you laugh at jokes, to sing a song, and to grow taller and taller each day. You bring so much joy into our lives for everything you do. And we can’t wait to see you do so much more… like your first day of school, your first field trip, your first baseball game, your first date, and your first kiss. We can’t wait to help you with your homework and to applaud you at your first school play. To see you grow up right before our eyes and to guide and teach you all that we know. We will try to nurture you the best we can and show you how to have a relationship with God. My heart fills with pride just knowing that someday you will grow into a fine young man. And to know you are my son.

I love you.
Mommy

Time is made up of captured moments. The things shared and the moments spent together become gifts that the heart never forgets.

author unknown

Happy Birthday Uncle Scott!!!

It is hard to believe you are only 21 this year like me!! heehee... I hope Beth and Lincoln make what is left of your big day special!!

Also, we have just found out that Vicki, a woman who i have blogged about before -who was an essential part of putting the children in our home, well her birthday is tommorrow. I just wanted her to know how much her influence in our children's lives and her hands in this adoption have changed our lives. And she has made Nate and I's dreams of becoming parents (to the three most wonderful children in the world) come true..... and we only hope that your birthday wishes this year come true too!!

Happy Birthday To You 2!!!

Picture Day

Okay so trying to think of things to do in the home while we have all this yucky, cold, wet, weather. We have been stuck in the house for awhile now.... so today i decided to have a photo day today. I got them all dressed up in outfits ready for valentine's day, and the result...... ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE!! Check out this handsome devil.... doesn't he just melt your heart. He is going to be a ladies man!!!

AND i don't think this girl can get a better smile!!!

And I caught R telling her teddy bear a secret... and I love the photo i captured!! Just picture perfect!!!

These are just a few teasers... more pictures to come. Hope you enjoy....

Children are life's little treasures.

Post edits

Sorry for all the additional blog emails you have been getting (nate let me know!) I have been trying to go through and take the children's names out of all blog posts. We are trying to be a little bit more cautious on where our children's names are out there and not hand out too much information.

Sorry for the updates on my editing that you may be getting it is necessary to censor how much information is shared through this thing the internet.... once it is out there you can't take it back!
;-)