Schmidt Odyssey 2009

Ok, so it looks like this blog is turning into a monthly thing. That's alright, though, isn't it?

The last two weeks have been really busy. Here is the whole story, with a sampling of pictures smattered throughout...

Our trip began early in the morning on July 10th. We left Omaha sometime around 5AM on a direct course for Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The trip was a piece of cake - Lily slept most of the time, and Aubrey and Ethan had a great time playing Eye Spy, 20 Questions, reading books, and playing with toys they packed for the trip. We made great time and were in Oshkosh sometime around 2:00. The wedding rehearsal wasn't until 4, so Heidi and I decided to give the kids a chance to let off some steam at a local park (South Park). Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures there. The highlight of that stop was Ethan's many turns on the one-child merry-go-round. He got a running start, grabbed the handle, sat down, and somehow figured out how to make himself accelerate. After spinning around for a couple of minutes, I tried to get him to walk to me. Needless to say, he had a little difficulty maintaining his footing! After he had recovered, he went back to do it again. It was rather entertaining.

At the wedding rehearsal, we met up with Heidi's brothers Mike and Andy, along with their families. When the rest of the wedding party arrived, the rehearsal went off without a hitch. Interesting side note - the presiding minister, Pastor Chad Graham, was a classmate of ours at MLC. It was great to see him again.

The rehearsal dinner was at the groom's parents' house nearby. Jake's parents put out a wonderful spread of prime rib, shrimp, potatoes, and yummy desserts (among other things, I'm sure). The boys (and men) played wiffle ball in the backyard until after sundown. Our family didn't quite have that kind of energy, and we ended up going back to Heidi's sister Beth's house. Aubrey had a great time staying up late with Wendi and her bridesmaids. All I remember is getting my jammies on and crashing. It had been a long day!

The Wedding
The day of Wendi and Jake's wedding went very smoothly. Aubrey is Wendi's godchild, and Wendi gave her the honor of being a flower girl. As you can see, she was really excited to be involved!

Wendi and Jake picked a passage from Proverbs for their wedding verse.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (New International Version)

⁹ Two are better than one,
because they have a good return for their work:

¹⁰ If one falls down,
his friend can help him up.
But pity the man who falls
and has no one to help him up!

¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
But how can one keep warm alone?

¹² Though one may be overpowered,
two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

What a wonderful set of verses to be chosen for the beginning of life together! In the institution of marriage, God has provided for all the social and physical needs of the family. Most importantly, though, the marriage that is made of three strands (husband, wife, and God) is not quickly broken because it's strength comes from the Lord. A marriage begun and kept with Christ as its center will thrive and will not break.

After the wedding, we ventured out to the reception hall. Aubrey and Ethan were absolutely exhausted after the previous day's travels and all the activity leading up to the wedding, so we let them sleep for a while in the car on the way out to the reception. The grounds were beautiful, and the setting was just right for Jake and Wendi's personalities. Nothing too fancy, kind of rustic, spacious, yet intimate enough to encourage conversation and ease. After dinner, the dance started. Aubrey was exhausted, but she was a trooper through the whole thing.

Ethan, on the other hand, was a riot! He slept just as much as Aubrey in the car on the way to the reception, but he had a little more energy than she did. Here's why...

Now, we don't have pop very often in our house, and when we do, the kids don't usually get more than a sip or two. I figured it was a special occasion, so Ethan got his own can of root beer when we got there. Of course, he loved it and nursed it throughout dinner. When the dance started, he was thirsty again and helped himself to a can of Sprite. Once again, I didn't think too much of it, and opened the can for him. As the evening progressed, I wondered where Ethan was since I didn't see him on the dance floor. I went outside to the coolers, and this is what I saw:

Here is the exchange that happened next:

Me: Ethan, where did you get that can of pop?

Ethan: It's Mountain Dew, Dad. I got it from the cooler.

Who got it for you?

I did.

Did you open it, too?

Nah, some big kid opened it for me.

And what are you doing now?

I'm just watching the lightning, Dad. It's pretty cool.

Maybe you should go inside, bud.

No problem, Dad. See ya in there!

With that, he jumped off the cooler and went into the reception hall. Heidi and I are convinced that without the caffeine, Ethan would have been a total bear.

We left the reception at 11:30, and were back to Beth and Fred's house in Fon du Lac by midnight. The night was still young, though. By the time we got the kids in bed and changed our own clothes, the rest of the wedding party got home. Peter (Beth and Fred's first son-in-law) decided to order some pizza, and we sat up chatting, eating pizza, and watching the beginning of Yes Man until everyone started losing it around 3 AM. This was a great end to a great day.

Catching Up

The next morning, bright and early at 9 AM, we met Heidi's best friend from her grade school days. We had a lovely breakfast at Burger King and had a chance to visit a little bit with Kate and Rob and their daughter, Chloe. It was great to meet up with them, even if it was for a very brief time.

We killed some time in Oshkosh at the outlet mall, and met Ethan's godparents at a park in Oshkosh. It was great to see Charles and Marti along with Elizabeth and Claire. Lauren and Hannah were at the youth rally, so we missed them. It was really nice to see what they had been up to and to hear about what had been going on in their lives since they moved from Florida.

After lunch, we made the trip back south to Watertown for our 10-year high school reunion. After a brief stop and Heidi's brother Andy's house in Dousman to get the kids settled in and to change clothes, we drove to LPS.

It was great to see many different people from our high school days, and we had a great time catching up with people over drinks, hors d'ouvres, and dinner. Prepardy was especially entertaining and nostalgic.

Heidi with Jill (left) and Kelly (right) at the reunion

It was especially nice to catch up with Mark and Jill and Ben and Megan, among the dozens of other people who were there.

The next morning, we had the privilege of worshiping with our classmates and some professors in the Prep chapel. Mark Schutz was our liturgist, Nate Scharf delivered the sermon, Liz (Hella) Sand played organ, Jill (Jabs) Schutz played violin, and classmates of ours who sang in Prep Singers sang an anthem, too. It was a lovely service, and it was great to see the continued use of our classmates' talents in worship.

We had more time to socialize after worship. We headed over to the cafeteria for coffee and fellowship. I can't say enough how wonderful it was to be able to catch up with friends we hadn't seen in several years.

Schutzes, Bergs, and Schmidts

After a quick McDonald's lunch and a nostalgic drive through Watertown (it felt weird to drive through town...), we stopped back at Andy and Sheri's to visit a little while, pack our things, and head on the road for about 3 hours up to Kaukauna to see my sister Jill and her family. By the way, the entire time we had been traveling in the car, Aubrey, Ethan, and Lily were fantastic. We got to Jill and Karl's, and the kids went right to playing with their cousins. We had a very nice visit there, and made the comment that we will not wait three years before seeing them again.

Aubrey and Ethan with their Schultz cousins

Kaukauna is not too far from Green Bay, so we hopped back on 41 and then jumped on 29 to go west to Heidi's parents' house near Minocqua. Remember what I said about the kids traveling so incredibly well the rest of the trip? Well, I think on this leg they finally had enough! Other than a couple of little spats, Aubrey and Ethan were pretty good, but Lily needed attention. We ended up stopping three times, and setting us back about an hour and a half. We can't say that Lily wasn't cute when we did stop, though...

We finally rolled into Grandma-and-Grandpa-by-the-Lake's driveway around 11:30 or so. Everyone was exhausted, but apparently that didn't put a damper on conversation. The kids and I finally went to bed around 1, but Heidi and her parents stayed up until 3:00 catching up!

Relaxing

It was wonderful to see many of our old friends and some family over the first several days of our trip, but the schedule was a bit crazy. Finally, up north, we could just relax with some fishing, relaxing, a visit to Wildwood Park, and just some general laziness. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

After a very nice visit for a couple of days in Lake Tomahawk, it was time to head to Minnesota to see my side of the family.

The trip across Highway 8 was very nostalgic for Heidi and me, since that was the route we would each take to come and see each other before we were married. Not much has changed along that route, which is amazing given that so many other things have changed a lot in the past decade or so.

We had a chance to visit with many of my brothers and sisters while at my mom and dad's house. They also got a chance to see Lily (some of them for the first time). We hadn't seen my brother Scott in a long time, and now that he is out of the Air Force, we should be able to see him more often. It was great to see my sister Kristin and her son Dylan, too. It has literally been years since we have seen them. As usual, Holly was there with Keenan and Ivory, and Jeremy made an appearance, too.

Ethan's Spider-Man birthday cupcakes (Thanks, Gramma!)

The next morning, Dad and I got up early for a round of golf at the Links while Heidi, Mom, and the kids hung out and played at the house.

Mom and Dad were set to go to Michigan for the annual Shark Shootout. Dad plays this tournament every year with Grandpa at Maple Hill near Saginaw. As of this writing, I don't know how they did, but I'm sure I can get a play-by-play next time I talk to my dad ;)

Mom and Dad left on Thursday afternoon, but we didn't leave until Friday morning. We spent the afternoon downtown at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Our pass for the Omaha Children's Museum works there, too. We had a great time exploring the museum, interacting with the exhibits, and checking out dinosaur skeletons.

On our way in to the museum, we saw the most interesting car in the parking lot...

Those are actual plates, trophies, and general knick-knacks that have been super glued to the car. There were porcelain figures, water spigots, buttons, magnetic letters, and all kinds of other stuff stuck to the car. The kids (and Heidi) were entranced by this zaniness.

After the museum, we went out to dinner at Red Robin, back to Mom and Dad's for an evening of rest, and then up the next morning for the final leg of our trip back to Omaha.

As I have said several times, it was really great to see people that we haven't seen for a long time and to catch up with family and old friends. We are certainly very blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives, and we are thankful to have had the chance to see so many people in such a short period of time.

If you have read the whole thing, thanks for sticking with me! If you just scanned through to check out the pictures, that's ok, too!

Check back later for more updates.

June 19, 2009

I really have to get better about updating this more frequently. Since it has been over a month since our last post, I will have to keep this pretty brief.

Lily
Heidi, Ethan, and Lily just got back from Lily's 2-month checkup. So far, Lily is 24" long and not even 11 lbs. She is most definitely a little peanut! She must not have gotten the 'solid Schmidt build' gene from her dad. This seems to be the trend with all our kids so far, though. One thing that has been very different with Lily so far is her sleep pattern. She has been consistently sleeping through the night (which has been a great help for Heidi!), and she has also been very aware throughout the day. Lily has been a wonderful addition to our family.

Ethan
Ethan went to the doctor today for some of his immunizations, too. Over the past couple of days, he has been pretty stressed about it. "I don't want to get a shot. They hurt." Of course, I don't think it helped a whole lot that he was in the room last fall when Aubrey screamed like a banshee when she got her shots for kindergarten. Apparently, though, Ethan was quite a trooper. He was really nervous about getting the shot - until the nurse showed him the camouflage band-aid he was going to get. Then he jumped up on the table and was ready to go! Heidi says that he was really good about the whole thing. For his first shot, Ethan was in the middle of telling the nurse that he didn't need a shot. He was in midsentence when she gave him the shot, and Ethan stopped what he was saying and said, "Ow, that hurt," and that was it.

Here's a picture of Ethan and his band-aid.


Aubrey
Aubrey has been as sweet as ever. Lately, she has become pen pals with her teacher from last year. She will stay up late at night, thinking of all the things she wants to write to Mrs. Brauer. It has been really cute to see her creativity flourish. If you check out Heidi's facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/heidischmidt123), you will see a picture of a bird ring that Aubrey made for Heidi. She did this using various things she found in our backyard and taping them together. She gave it to Heidi, "So you can always be a princess and have a bird on your finger, Mom." How funny is that?

Heidi
Heidi has been really enjoying spending time with everybody. With Aubrey and Ethan at home, Lily still a little baby, and school out of session for the summer, the entire family has more of a chance to hang out. Heidi has also been busy with our church's playgroup. Last month, 10 moms got together to hang out and socialize at church. The kids all had a chance to play together, too. Heidi has been working with another member of the congregation to run the group, and so far it has been very fulfilling for her. She is looking forward to many more enjoyable days with the playgroup.

Jason
I have certainly not been looking for things to do so far this summer. In April, I started umpiring softball again. This is year 5 for me (I think, maybe it's 6). So far it has been a pretty good season, and the extra cash is a good way to finance summer trips/graduate classes. I will finish my first class towards my Master's in education technology next week. If you are in the Omaha area, you are more than welcome to come and check out my class's Multiple Intelligences Fair on the UNO campus at Kayser Hall, room 259, next Wednesday starting at 5:00. It has been a really great course for me to take, and I have learned a great deal. My last piece of exciting news is that I have been asked to do an interview for the WELSTech podcast (the podcast will be available Wednesday, June 24th, at http://welstech.wels.net/wpmu/). WELSTech is a program run by the WELS technology office to talk about technology and its implications for ministry. The focus of the upcoming show is Twitter and practical applications for teachers. You can follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jasonschmidt123.

That's all I have for now (for real!). Feel free to leave a comment below.

May 12, 2009

A couple of fun things have happened since our last post, so it's time to update!

Every night at bedtime, we read stories with Aubrey and Ethan, pray, and sing songs. One of the usual requests is "Jesus, Shepherd of the Sheep":

Jesus, Shepherd of the sheep,
Who your Father's flock does keep
Safe we wake and safe we sleep,
Guarded still by you.

For those of you who haven't heard Ethan talk lately, it would be good for you to know that he has a tendency to say his /l/ sound like a /w/ sound. Aubrey has been helping him with this particular issue (and doing a great job with it, too!), and through her tutelage, Ethan has become increasingly aware of it. Whenever we sing the hymn above, though, Ethan feels the need to correct us. "No, Mom and Dad. It's 'safe-llly'!"
We crack up every time, and there is no telling him otherwise.

Aubrey was really funny tonight, too. We had lasagna with salad on the side for supper tonight. In Aubrey's case, though, it was more like salad with a side of lasagna! She had a plate full of raw lettuce, spinach, broccoli, and carrots with a tiny piece of lasagna. When we asked her why she wanted so many vegetables, she said, "I'm a calerpitar!" We thought that Aubrey wouldn't be able to finish all the veggies she had on her plate, but she proved us wrong - then she asked for dessert!
Also during bedtime tonight, we had a surprise visit from Pastor Uncle Steve. He came by with a crib mattress for Lily. While Heidi was carrying the mattress into Aubrey and Lily's room, Aubrey exclaimed, "Lily, your cradle days are over!"

There is more to share, but I think I'll save that for another time. If you are interested, I have started another blog that will serve as my reflections on classes that I take for my master's. I'm hoping to keep that up as long as I'm in school, but we'll see how well that keeps up.

Before I go, though, I have decided to do Lily's update simply with a picture.

Slide Show

May 6, 2009

It's been a little while since I've written anything in our blog, but tonight I finally am taking the time to give a little update.

Things are still going very well here in Omaha. We are surrounded by wonderful friends (and a couple of family members) who are very supportive of us. We are also very fortunate to be blessed with a healthy baby, and two older children who absolutely love their new little sister!

Allow me to explain a little bit for the delay in postings, though.

As many of our Lutheran elementary school teachers would agree, April and May are busy months. This year has been no exception. On April 30th and May 1st, our school performed our school musical - The Granny Awards. The kids worked really hard and did a great job with the performances. Both evenings were great successes!

We also had a track meet today in Geneva (about 2 hours away). At the track meet, I was given the opportunity to make my debut as an announcer. It was a lot of fun, though I was told that maybe next time I should 'tone it down'. You know me - I really throw myself into this kind of stuff!

Finally for me, next week I start my master's program at UNO. I am taking a class called 'Teaching Multiple Intelligences" on Mondays and Wednesdays for the rest of the month of May and all of the month of June. I'm really excited for the opportunities this program will give me to improve as a teacher.

As for the rest of the family, Heidi was just telling me the other day that she doesn't think she could be much happier than she is right now. Lily and the kids have been such a blessing in her life, and she is very thankful to have the opportunity to stay home with the kids.

Aubrey's school year is winding down. Her last day of kindergarten will be on May 20th. After that, it'll be off to big, scary first grade with Mrs. Nunez! Aubrey is very excited to grow up, though. Lately, Aubrey's big thing has been to write books. Currently, she is working on a princess book where all the Disney princesses are locked in towers and someone needs to save them. Aubrey is also very proud of her new pet, Red. He is a betta.

Ethan is learning to enjoy the finer things in life - playing Superman, digging for worms in the dirt, running around on the playground, and, of course, old Tom and Jerry cartoons from the library. Ethan is always very sweet around Lily, and very generous in sharing Fuzzy (his Minnesota Gramma afghan) with her when she is upset.

Lily...what can I say...she's adorable. Her sleep patterns have become somewhat predictable (you'd have to talk to Heidi about that one for sure, since I'm pretty sure I sleep through about 80% of it all!), if not completely through the night.

We are certainly very blessed here in Omaha. Every day, we thank God for our school, our congregation, and the people that he has brought into our lives by calling us here.

Finally, I'm using our blog as a laboratory. I found a neat new resource at Animoto and I am just dying to try it out. I pulled some pictures off of Facebook and was able to put them into a slide show (in about 5 minutes!). I'm pretty pumped - thanks for bearing with me!

April 22, 2009

Well, we've had Lily home for just over a week now and things are going really well. She's super cute, the kids have adjusted well to having another one at home, and Heidi's recovery is coming along nicely.

Ethan has been just as active as ever. This afternoon, he decked himself out in his Spider-Man suit and came out for recess. He spent the next 30 minutes playing soccer with the big kids. At the end of recess, Ethan ran up to me and said, "Dad, Spider-Man won! But I lost." It's so much fun to hear what they have to say!

Aubrey continues to amaze Heidi and me with her artistic ability. A friend of ours sent a care package with all kinds of gifts for the whole family after Lily was born. The gift for Aubrey was a set of markers that change to completely different colors when you blend them (for example, brown becomes light blue). Some of the things that Aubrey has come up with are really fantastic - though I might be just a little biased! I'll try to scan some of them and see if I can embed them in this blog.

Heidi has been really enjoying staying home with the kids. She was just telling me the other day how time really seems to go quickly now that the baby has been born. Before Lily came by, time seemed to drag on for Heidi. But now, it seems as if there just isn't enough time in the day to do all the things that she wants to do! I guess that's better than getting bored!

I'm working on getting into graduate school this summer. The University of Nebraska at Omaha has processed my application, and I have been provisionally accepted into teacher graduate school. I'm just waiting on an immunization clearance and I should be all set. God-willing, I will earn my Master of Arts in Instruction Technology at the end of summer, 2012. I'm really looking forward to the program.

Next week is our school musical - "The Granny Awards". It should be a lot of fun, as grade school musicals and plays always are! It just means a lot of time spent working on the program next week and the rest of this week. I'll blog about it and probably provide a link to it on our school's website if you are interested in checking it out.

Well, that's it for this brief update. I'll be back next week with more tidbits and anecdotes!

April 14, 2009

Well, it's the morning after Lily's birth and I thought it might be a good time to update the blog and let you know what is going on with the new baby and our family. This will be done in a different format from previous posts - hope you enjoy the format!

Heidi
Heidi had a great night last night. Her recovery is going great, the nurses are treating her well, and she is feeling fine (except for a little cold!). The staff here says that she could go home tonight if she wanted to, but she'll probably stay one more night, just to get the extra rest before reality sets in!

Aubrey and Ethan
Aubrey and Ethan both love their new little sister very much. They both are very gentle and sweet when they hold her, and that is all they want to do when they visit her and mom here in the hospital. Funny story - last evening, when we came to visit, Aubrey and Ethan were very proud to talk about their new sister. When the nurse came in to check on Heidi, she asked the kids what the baby's name was. Both of them responded at the same time, "Lily!" Then Ethan added, "Her name is Lily because it's Easter time. After Easter her name gets to be Fred!" Looks like we have a nickname for her!

Lily
Lily is still beautiful, wonderful, calm, and doing great. We could not be more blessed to have such a healthy baby! God is certainly good! According to Heidi, "She's pooping like a champ!" (which is a great sign that everything is going well!)

Jason
As for me, I'm overwhelmed that I have the awesome privilege of taking care of my growing family. There have been times over the last nine months or so where I have not considered what wonderful blessings we have with this newest addition, but now that she is here, I know that I will not forget this great privilege. It amazes me that I can be so blessed to have a God that loves me enough to bless me with a wonderful family, but more importantly to bless me eternally with a risen Savior! What a wonderful time of year to experience these double blessings!

Another reminder, pictures are up on my Facebook page. If you are not my friend (or don't have an account!) sign up and let me know!

Until next time...