Spring break with Cousins

This week, being spring break for children in school, brought Amy and her clan up from KY for a visit.  We have had a great time hanging out, and for something different to do today, we took the kids to swim at the local college rec center.  We had a really great time with all of our little fish.  They were all even brave enough to jump off the diving board, although Hunter did tell me that he had to talk tough to himself and say "You can do it, Hunter." because it looked pretty scary from up there.  (I thought this was way too cute!)   I think the grown-ups favorite thing was the hot tub.

Ready for some heavy duty swimming

Hanging on in the deep end

Amy and her clan

Enjoying the "hot pool" (as Hunter kept calling it)

A Night With The Niece

Friday night, Scott went ice fishing right after work, so Hunter and I headed up to Grandma S.'s house to visit with cousin Hannah.  We had a really good time.  It is so fun to see the little girl's personality emerging.  She is at the very beginning stages of walking - up for two or three steps then down -plop!  She is learning to play peek-a-boo and give "squeezes" (hugs).  She LOVES cameras and throws her head back in the biggest, cheesy grin when she sees one pointed in her direction.  I am just amazed at how she is blossoming from being in a family for 3 months.

"Cheesin'" for the camera

Playing with goggles

A couple of cute videos for your enjoyment:

My darling niece gives me hope that our own precious girl will also blossom within the love of our family.  May that day come quickly.

Family Growth

Yesterday was an exciting day for the whole Schaetzle family...one that we have waited over 4 years for.  Scott's sister and brother-in-law brought home their daughter from China.  In the process, Hunter gets a new cousin and we get a new niece.  Yeah!!  The whole family made it down to the airport in Indy along with my brother-in-law's family and some of their close friends from church.  It was quite a homecoming.

Family and friends waiting for the plane to land

Hunter and I made a sign

Hunter holding his sign to the window out which we could see their plane

They finally made it and of course she is asleep.

"Mean" mommy woke her up to meet everyone.

I got my hands on her for a few minutes.  She didn't seem to mind.

The Schaetzle grandkids (with the boys goofing around, of course)

It was a really nice day.  Our family went down early and went to a neat little toy museum which I will post about later.  Grandma and Grandpa S.  went with us.  Then we went over to the airport and hung out with more family. Finally we all went out to eat before heading home.  I praise God for our family (quirks and all) and really enjoyed the whole day.  Can't wait until it's our turn!

Cousins and Pumpkins

This post is a long time coming, and I have even more to "make up".  A week and a half ago, my sister brought her kids up to visit since they had a whole week off from school for fall break.  The kids had a great time together.  The last afternoon they were here, everybody loaded into one of Grandpa and Grandma's big vans and went to a pumpkin farm in another little town nearby.  We had a fun time going through the "fantasy land" where the theme was Memories in Song.  It had so many good displays that the kids knew centered around songs.

All 5 cousins "cheesin'" for the camera



The 3 amigos admiring Princess Tiana



Hunter's favorite - a little boy driving a pedal John Deere pulling little sister in a wagon

Snow White - the kids loved this one

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Loving this BIG pumpkin



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All the kids picked out a little pumpkin to take home.


There was even a little corn maze that the kids could run through.

Afterwards, we found a little diner that Amy had heard about that is owned and operated by an Ethiopian man.  He was pleased to meet the kids, and Mickey was happy to speak some Ahmeric (sorry if I misspelled that).  He said to let him know when they would be back in town, and he would cook an Ethiopian meal for us.  

Weekend in KY

This past weekend, Hunter and I went with Grandpa and Grandma Neild down to KY to visit my sister and her kids.  Saturday was the twins fifth birthday.  Of course, it was all about the princesses, especially Princess Tiana.  Hunter doesn't seem to mind.  In fact he usually plays princesses with the best of them, even often donning a princess dress and shoes from the dress-up box when he is there playing with his cousins.

Essie and Chloe pose with their princess castle cake at their 5th birthday party.

This time we took Hunter's bike, thank goodness, because with the wonderful temperatures the bikes were the big hit activity all weekend long.  Most days they were out riding by 8:30am, and the bikes did not get put back into the shed until evening clean-up around 7:30pm. 

Amsalu even learned to ride without training wheels this weekend.  He just told Mickey on Monday morning to take them off.  Mickey couldn't get them off but he did twist them up.  Amsalu took off riding and did great.  We're very proud of him.  It only took him about three weeks to master this totally new skill. 


Hunter and I made a pinata for the girls party.  We did that Saturday afternoon.  The kids all got a turn swinging and each ended up with a baggie of candy for the weekend.  It was fun for the kids and fun for the grown-ups to watch.  I videoed each kid's turn but they all take to long to upload so just a couple are below.

Showing off the final reward--fists full of candy.

Needless to say, it was a fun-filled weekend.  I tried to post things that are different from Amy's blog, so check out hers too.  Stay tuned to the next post for the rest of our activities.

Children's Museum, Second Floor

These are photos from the exhibits that are upstairs. I didn't get a picture of the marble table which all three kids loved but I'm pretty sure my sister did. Keep checking her blog for more photos of our time together. The video is a fun mirror that made them look really short. They though it was hilarious and kept coming back to do different things in front of it.

On the moon

In the bubble room, they could try to be inside a bubble by pulling down on a string which lifted a bubble up around the platform they stood on. Unfortunately nobody could get the bubble much higher than their thighs.

Cousins at the Musuem, First Floor

This is mostly just going to be a photo post. On Wednesday we took the kids to the Lexington Explorium, and they had a great time. We spent all afternoon there.

Three musketeers on a horse

Hunter giving Mom a ride

Doctoring up the babies; it looks pretty serious!

There was a waterway set up like the historic way the Ohio River has been used with lockes and dams. Hunter just loved the water and the lockes, making races between the houseboats and canoes. He played here by himself long after the girls lost interest and moved on to other exhibitis.

The gardening section had a toy gator which Hunter loved. What is it with boys needing things to break down so they can fix them? The girls patiently played along.

Time with Cousins

Last Monday, Hunter and I skipped out of town between snow showers to visit my sister in Kentucky. Hunter was thrilled to see his cousins and spend time playing with them. All three of them are such bright children with wonderful imaginations; it was fun to watch them play. Of course, we have to get the girls some other dress-up clothes besides Disney Princesses because my son loves to play dress-up. Knowing him, he would choose to be a princess even if they had other outfits anyway because it is so different from what he has at home. Of course he did get them playing pirates and trains too. It also struck me as funny that although he hates for me to spike his hair on top at home, he wanted me to do it there every day once he saw that the girls had bangs in the front that stick up a little. On Wednesday, we took them to the children's museum in Lexington which you can see in my next post. For now, here are a few pics of them playing princess and trains.

Three pretty princesses

Cousins' 4th (but first) Birthday

Cake and partying

Over the Labor Day weekend, our family went down to KY to celebrate Chloe and Essie's 4th birthday. As many of you know, my sister and brother-in-law adopted twins from Ethiopia this past spring. So even though they turned 4, it was their first celebrated birthday as part of our family. They had a Curious George party, which Hunter thought was great too. A friend of theirs from church made them a cake, and the girls loved it so much that they didn't want my sister to cut it, at first.

Later, the kids used the party hats as beaks to be "monsters"

they said. The really funny part of this picture is that they all were

saying "Cheese" at the top of their lungs even though their

mouths weren't showing.

Hunter and the girls had such fun playing all weekend. Favorite times and playing included tricycles in the cul-de-sac, sandbox, hiding in the teepee, dressing up with the new princess outfits (Hunter made a beautiful Snow White!), and going to the park. When we left for home on Monday, Hunter slept for an hour and a half in the car even though it was still morning. They played hard and completely wore each other out.

Cousin Fun

Over the weekend, Chloe and Essie came to Indiana and got to spend quite a bit of play time with Hunter. Favorite activities were the pool and the sand pile. The girls took to the water like a couple of fish even though they had not been swimming in a pool that size before, and of course Hunter had been just waiting for the water to get clean enough to be in it again this summer.

Where did our feet go?

Just the right fit!