A Long Sad Week

Last week was a rough one in the Schmidt household. I came home from school on Wednesday and was doing my daily check of the "zoo" in our house only to find Lauren's hamster, Snow, dead in his little house. Have you ever had to dispose of a dead pet? I felt terrible just throwing it out in the garbage, but how would we bury it when the ground is frozen?! When Lauren got home from school I had to tell her. At first she did not believe me. Then the reality set in and the look on her face was disbelief. She asked me "What did I do wrong mom?" Now if that isn't a difficult question to answer. We had the "it's all a part of life" talk and she had to see him to say goodbye.

The worst was yet to come...

Our cat Olive, whom we have had since Lauren was 21 months old, has been steadily losing weight this past year. In the fall I took her in to be weighed, and she was down to 4.5 lbs. Two weeks before Thanksgiving I noticed that she was no longer grooming her sides or back and she just looked miserable. We went back to the vet and I was told that she was in kidney failure. She let me know that she didn't seem to be suffering (yet) and that she thought she could make it through Christmas if that is what I wanted. Now I knew that it was going to be hard to let her go, so the coward in me chose to bring her back home. I planned to make my dad take her for the final appointment. I realized on Friday when I got home from work that it was inhumane to make her continue on in her current state. I swallowed the lump in my throat and called the vet clinic. The receptionist let me know that there was an appointment the next morning if I wanted it. NO, I didn't want it...but I knew it was what I had to do. I cuddled with her that night and the next morning all the kids and I said goodbye to her. Dan took her for me. I just couldn't stand to watch another animal die. Rest in peace Olive. We have loved your sweet and quiet personality for the last 9 1/2 years. You have been a cherished part of this family and we will never forget you.

Alec's Christmas Concert

The theme this year was Christmas at the OK Corral. So the kids wore bandanas and some wore cowboy boots. The kindergarten through 2nd grade sings all the songs in front and the 3 graders sing and have all the speaking parts up on the stage. This was the last song of the concert. I thought they did a great job!

Lauren's Birthday

It's hard to believe that my daughter is 11 years old. It scares me how fast she is growing up. She has gone from loving Barbies and princesses and talking about who she played with on the playground to wanting her own cell phone (which she is NOT going to get!) and telling me about who's "dating" who and which boy she likes. Dan and I finally broke down and bought her an Ipod Shuffle for her birthday and as I am going through my playlists with her in our ITunes account I say "Hey, we have Camp Rock and The Jonas Brothers in here that I bought for you last year." She looks at me with that "give me a break mother" look and replies "Umm, Mom...I'm really not into that kind of music anymore." Really???? Where did my little girl go?! Luckily, even though she is growing into a young woman, she will still hug me and tell me she loves me in front of her friends. I dread the day that it becomes "uncool" to do those things anymore. She is helpful around the house and with her brothers. She has many friends and rarely has anything bad to say about anyone. I'm so proud of her and the person she is becoming. And even though I am daunted by her looming teenage years, I find myself looking forward to getting to know my grown up daughter. Happy Birthday Lauren!

The Oncken-Wolf Wedding

This weekend we had my youngest sister's wedding. William and my nephew Gavin were the ringbearers, Lauren and Alec handed out programs and bubbles to the guests at the church, Lauren had a solo, I had a solo, and my other sister and I were bridesmaids. It was busy, hectic, fun-filled, nerve-wracking, and entertaining! Here are just a few pictures of this wonderful event!

Jasper

Our newest member of the family took a trip to the vet yesterday. He was going in for shots, neutering, and a front declawing. William was especially worried about him. He wanted me to go pick him up last night. Now it isn't easy explaining to a 3 year old that it is better for the cat to stay at the veterinarian's overnight. Even I thought to myself "There isn't anyone there at night to look after him." This morning, he asked if we could go get Jasper. I told him that after I picked him up from daycare, we would go right over and get him. So when I picked him up and we went out to the car, he couldn't stop telling me how HE was going to carry Jasper out to the car and HE was going to hold Jasper on the way home. I'm not sure how much the cat enjoyed the car ride home in William's arms, but William was overjoyed. (You can check out a cute picture of them in the car on my Facebook page.) The house is whole once more.

The Season Ends....

This year Lauren got picked to be on the All-Star team for Carroll County. Each team picks its best two players. Yay Lauren! She is an AWESOME first baseman and has really improved in batting this year. We are so proud of her. She was very excited to play in the All-Star game and was thrilled to find out that you get a medal at the end of the game.

Alec's PeeWee baseball team got 2nd place in the Carroll County Tournament. He did a great job in right field and got two singles! He has really improved this summer. His coaches got everyone a game ball and let the kids sign each other's baseballs so that they could remember the season. They also got a trophy for their 2nd place finish. Alec was so proud that he had to take the trophy and ball in to the pizza place after the game to show everyone! I'm surprised he didn't want to sleep with it!

The Knock Out of the Park and the Dreaded Pop Fly

Yesterday, which felt like the hottest day of my life by the way, had some ups and some downs for our family. Lauren had a home softball game at 6:00 and Alec was to have a home baseball game at 7:30. At first I thought, "Isn't this great? They both have home games and I should be able to watch most of Lauren's and only miss a little bit of Alec's game!" Now after the last 6 weeks of NOT having two home games in the same town on Monday nights, you could see why I might be excited. Unfortunately all my whining about why the weather wasn't more "summer-like" came back to bite me in the butt. Lauren and the other girls looked absolutely miserable out there on the field when the game started. They were hot and all that heat was just sapping all their energy. Lauren got up to bat 3 times during the game. The first time she got a base hit and she smiled and gave me a thumbs up from first base. I immediately sent a text message to Dan to let him know how great his daughter was doing. The second time up, she swung at a high ball. I was so nervous for her. I could tell that she REALLY wanted to knock it out of the park. Next two pitches were balls. She held her ground. Then the pitch...she let that bat rip and the ball went WAAAAYYYY out in left center field. I jumped up out my chair, yelling and clapping! She made it all the way to 3rd base and not due to errors in the field, but due to her awesome hit! Finally, the end of the game and Dan makes it. She gets up to bat....and strikes out. Her shoulders slumped on the walk back to the dugout. I go over to talk to her. "Mom, I just really wanted dad to see me get a hit." My heart breaks for her. The girls lose their last game of the season.

On to the next game - I only missed one inning of Alec's game and he didn't get up to bat. Yes! Even though I am sweating and uncomfortable, I love to watch the small fry boys play! Alec struck out the first time he was up to bat. He drug his bat back to the dugout and shook his head at me when I told him it was alright. The next two times he got up, he got two good hits. The first time he got out at first base, but the second time he got a double! He was so excited! Then in the top of the fifth inning....tragedy strikes. A pop fly is hit to left center. Alec puts his glove up and tries to run backwards to catch it....and it cracked him right on top of the head. Everyone said they could HEAR it hit his head. He fell down on the ground and his coaches ran out to the outfield to check on him. He got up and walked back to the dugout with his coaches and they gave him an icepack. I went in to the check on him. He told me that his head hurt really bad, but his vision was alright and he didn't feel nauseous. I asked him if he would be ok to play. He said "no". I told him to sit out an inning and then try to get back in the game. He did too. He sat out the rest of that inning, but then he went back out on the field and even went up to bat again. He got a base hit and I was so proud of him for not giving up. I worry a little bit that he is going to be afraid to catch the ball now. I guess we will find out at his game tomorrow night. Wish us luck!

Happy 7th Birthday Alec!

The whole crew!

Bowling Bash 2009

Preschool Screening
I took William to be screened for the preschool program. He did really great...probably too good to get in, but on to the good stuff. They ask problem-solving questions of the kids to see if they can give logical and thoughtful answers. So here are Will's 3 questions and his answers...

What do you do if you are thirsty? get a drink of water
What do you do when you go in a dark room? you see a ghost (lol...this comes from having an older brother who likes to scare you!!!)
What do you do if you break someone else's toy? you get in REALLY BIG trouble (the person doing the screening said she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at the serious expression on his face when he said it)

I just love what preschoolers will say!

Texas

On Christmas Day we packed up our family and started the drive to Texas. We were excited to be going to visit Dan's sister and her family. I had a terrible cough (so bad that my ribs ached) and I wasn't looking forward to an 18 hour drive but I knew that we would all have fun once we got there. The kids did great. We stopped in the middle of the night and got a hotel room (due mostly to my whining) and caught a few hours of sleep before Dan had us up and going again. Upon arrival, my older two children disappear....and I have to say that I really didn't see much of them the entire week we were there! They really enjoyed spending time with their cousins. Lauren was in her glory. She LOVES animals and the Texas clan has 4 dogs, 2 cats, and 4 degus (small rodents) in the house and 4 goats outside! Will was constantly asking to hold the degu and climbing into the goat pen. Alec had fun on the trampoline and he played the Wii every chance he got!

Chris took the adults to see some of the devastation from Hurricane Ike. You would not believe how bad it is, and it has been 3 months since the hurricane hit. There is garbage along the streets that was washed in and people's houses are completely unlivable....still. It makes you wonder where the help from the government is. There was much more to see, but unfortunately for everyone else, I had a migraine and ended up yakking alongside the road. How embarrassing.

Tuesday night we got to go to the Texas Bowl at the Reliant Stadium. It was a cool experience for the kids. I enjoyed watching the marching bands that performed before the game and at half-time. The Texas Rice team was kicking poor Western Michigan's butt and William was getting restless, so we ended up leaving early.

The kids really enjoyed the day that we went to Brazos Bend State Park. They got to see alligators in their natural habitat. They even got to pet a baby alligator in the nature center! We walked and talked and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Oh, and the kids climbed lots of trees! I learned that my kids aren't the only monkeys in the family!!!

It was sad when we had to pack up to leave. Lauren and Alec kept asking if we could stay longer. I was so happy to have had a chance to reconnect with a part of our family that we rarely see. I wish we all lived closer! A big thanks to Chris and Jeff for opening their home to us and thanks to the kids for giving up or sharing their bedrooms! We love those barefoot Texas hillbillies!!!!!

Fostering turned into adoption....

The mother of Lauren's best friend calls me one morning at the end of November to beg me to help her. She has found a very tiny kitten outside her house and she cannot take any more cats in (she has 4). She wonders if I can foster the kitten and try to find it a home. I am a complete softy when it comes to cats, so of course I agree. I figure, my grandma wants a cat or my youngest sister...one of them will be sure to take it off my hands! He is only about 7 weeks old and very thin. I make an appointment at the vet to get him his first set of shots. He only weighs 1.5 lbs. The vet tells me that he has: Anisocoria (pupils of differing sizes that may cause vision or balance problems) and an abnormally fast heartbeat (meaning a heart defect of some sort...the cat could live for a long time or die tomorrow). He gets his first shot and they tell me he needs to have a booster shot in about 6 weeks. They ask for his name and I tell them that we have not named him, we are going to find him a home. They smile knowingly.

FAST FORWARD: The kitten has been at our house for about 2 weeks. The kids (and I) are getting really attached to him. My grandma has told me that she doesn't want a cat until she retires from helping out in the schools and my sister cannot have a pet in the apartment that she is renting. I begin to notice that the kitten is sneezing a LOT and seems to be very stuffed up. I take him to the vet again. I am still sure that I can find a home for this kitten and I can't very well pawn a sick cat off on someone! I tell the vet we have been calling the kitten "Lucky". He has only gained .2 lbs (which is not enough) and I find out that he has an upper respiratory infection and conjuntivitis (pink eye). I get him the medicine he needs and leave with the sudden realization that this cat is going nowhere but home with me. Poor Dan.....

We change the kitten's name to "Emmett" (Lauren and I are both big Twilight fans). Baxter and Olive are not thrilled to have a new addition to the house. He knocks the ornaments off the tree and climbs up into it. My poor artificial tree shakes and the branches get bent. But the kids and I are loving this kitten. He is so playful and lovable. When I pick him up he cuddles up to my face and licks my chin. So cute!

FAST FORWARD to this week: Emmett is excessively sneezing again. Back to the vet. He gets a booster shot and more antibiotics. He is up to 3.2 lbs. I ask when he can get "fixed". He needs to weigh between 5 and 6 lbs. I am starting to realize that this fostering turned adoption project is getting kind of expensive. But we love this little ball of energy and we wouldn't trade him for the world!