Schroeder Family Blog p.2

I want to post a "snapshot" update about what everyone is doing around here...forgive me if I ramble, but if you get too bored, scroll on down to the pictures...they are old but Ive been meaning to post them for a long time.

Let's start with Caitlin:

Caitlin is about to turn 7 (!) and is just a good little girl. I had her conference at school and she had a great great report-she is in the highest reading group and actually the teachers are considering moving her to her own reading group because the books she is reading are "just too easy". I am proud of her! Now that is not to say that Caitlin is always perfect...she has her moments- She tends to worry herself to death about the craziest things! Every night as we tuck her into bed she insists on knowing exactly where I am going to be...every night this is what I hear: "Mommy, you'll be in your room or downstairs, right?" And every night she comes up with an excuse to come out of her room and find out where I am. I think last night's was, "Mommy, um, did you remember that I wanted turkey instead of roast beef for my lunch tomorrow?" Funny. She also seems to have inherited her mother's compulsion for bossing. As you can imagine this causes some friction between us! Good thing I am the boss. (i am the boss, right?)

On to Matthew:

I guess what sticks out about Matthew is how caring he is...he is the first to entertain Hannah if she is feeling left out, or to go visit with Ben in the swing. At his conference yesterday his teacher commented on how good he is to his friends at school and what a good friend he is. She also said that he is extremely bright-he is already reading on his own and does very well with math too (especially where money is concerned ;)) He is playing flag football right now and I can tell that it is helping him to become more of a "big boy" (less crying and whining)...he seems to like it but I think they take football wayyyyy too seriously around here for us to keep him in it for too much longer. We'll probably switch back to baseball in the Spring. As far as Matthew's "moments" go...he tends to have a very low tolerance for everything when he hasn't slept enough...he just melts...either cries, or whines or throws mini temper tantrums (nothing compared to Hannah's of course, but more on that in a minute). He also is TERRIBLE about losing stuff-He will be using the scotch tape and then 5 minutes later can't find it....and says, "I looked EVERYWHERE!!!!!!" Turns out it is 3 inches to the left of where he was using it...but he just can't see it if it. These little episodes tend to occur right before bedtime, or school time...tons of fun! Overall though, he is a wonderful boy...

Pea:

Oh, Hannah. Where to start? Seriously, this one is probably making me gray under all these blond highlights...she LOVES to get into things and cannot seem to grasp the fact that she is not big enough to do all the things that the big kids do. She is the first child that I actually have to childproof for..we have door handle protectors on Caitlin and Matthew's doors and on the pantry (the girl loves her some potato chips)...there are locks on all the cabinets in the bathrooms and Ive had to turn the alarm chime back on so that I know when she decides to go outside. Luckily for her, she is a cute and very engaging child...she smiles at everyone and has the cutest personality. Her speech is coming along nicely...this morning she managed to say, "Bye bye Daddy" when Matt left. He melted of course :). She has been going over to another little girl's house a few mornings a week while I do school stuff and really seems to enjoy it. In fact I thought she would cry when I left her, but instead she cried when I took her home! I am ashamed to say that I wished it was the other way around :). I suppose it means that the transition to school will be a bit easier for her than it was for Caitlin...so thats something. She will be turning 2 in less than a month and has already started practicing for the terrible two's...as I said-it's a good thing she's cute!!!

BenBen:

Ben just had his 2 month appointment, and aside from a slightly flattened head (he insists on facing directly up while he sleeps) he is doing great!! (the doctor said not to worry about the head, but to get a sleep positioner so that he can be slightly propped to the side). He is in the 90th percentile for height and weight (13.1lbs) and 50th for his head size. He seems to be all smiles all the time these days (unless he's hungry...then you don't want to mess with him!). Overall he has been a great baby. I don't want to mention is amazing wonderful night time sleep habits for fear of jinxing a good thing, but let's just say he get's an A+ in that department. His hair continues to lighten up and he looks more and more like Matthew every day...

Matt is still working for the EDC and being Daddy of the Year around here-he really takes on a lot so that I can finish up with school-supposedly I only have about 3 quarters left in addition to student teaching...and it will be SO NICE TO BE DONE. I have been in school FOREVER it seems-but I shall prevail. I just know it. Maybe.

At a local festival...kids have their faces painted...Hannah pouting bc she didn't get her face painted

Playing in the sink...

Practicing football in church clothes...

Touchdown!!

Of course, Pea HAD to be in on the action...

Pea and Ben...

Anyway, that's about all I can squeeze out for now...cheerin are calling!

Have you missed us?? I know it's been a long time since I blogged, but I've been a bit ~~lazy~~ busy! Four is turning out to be a bit more than I expected...it's good...but life just never seems to stop around here...

I have some pictures that I wanted to post of a trip we took to a local park this past weekend-I managed to dust off my camera and get some cute shots on the giant rocks....the kids had a ball climbing all over them!

I'll do a better update on each of the kids soon, but for now...just pictures!