Awesomeness... and nothing less!

So, what does a neighbor who watches your boys do when it's the last day of her watching them before summer?  Well, if you have awesome neighbors, they buy things which are unnessacary but cool, such as the boy's t-shirts that they got  this morning.   I kid, of course, because just watching them is more than enough, but our neighbors are not average...  they rock!!

We are blessed with awesome neighbors!!

Sewing With Aunt Doris

So, or should I say, sew, after my nephews (and niece) had a blast in the vehicle traveling up to my niece Leah's graduation party, with Aunt Doris teaching them some sewing tricks, the boys were quite intrigued about what the fuss was.

They were probably just short of demanding a sewing lesson of their own.   They got it!

A few shots from my sister's Facebook feed showing the progress of the day!  The boys were excited, willing participants for the day and even though, it's been said, Robby never stopped talking/singing all day long, they both took instruction well and accomplished what was asked.

The fruit of their labor; a blanket and pillow for Juno the beast.

And a shot of the wily beast enjoying the fruits of the boys' labor.

Memorial Day

Words could never explain it.

"It" being that feeling of missing someone so bad that it causes physical pain.  Sounds silly, I know, but for those reading this who have experienced that lonely, dreaded feeling, you know what I'm talking about.

My dad has been gone for over 17 years now and there's not a day that goes by where at least one memory doesn't pop up and give me pause.  Mostly they're good, funny memories, but not always.  And that is okay.

As long as the memories keep coming, I figure those that have gone before us are still living and breathing in our hearts.

That makes me smile.

The boys and I at my daddy's grave.  Note his tomato plant...

The boys having a moment with Uncle Frank before heading to their sewing date with Aunt Doris.  More on that later...

I hope it's a happy Memorial Day for everyone, even though it will indeed be hard for some.

CelebrAsian

CelebrAsian 2015.

This is an annual event held somewhere in the downtown Des Moines area every year that has booths set up from Vietnam, China, Japan, and other Asian countries where you can buy clothing, food, art and other wares from those respective areas.  We've never taken the little China boy to it but have wanted too.

This year, they moved it from an area by the Capitol building to an area right across the street from where I am currently contracting, Nationwide Insurance.

Looking down the street in an Eastern direction.  That's my office building on the right above the tents.

A distant shot from in front of the downtown Public Library.  That's my office building and my desk is pretty much inside the windows where the lovely pink flower is located.

The China man, Calebber, playing the public piano outside of the library.

Larger American boy, Robby, doing the same.

Momma had to duck out from in back of Robby's head as the lad is growing tall enough to cause interference...

Simply Puzzling...

Calebber McCheese likes to do puzzles. 

Even more than doing the puzzles, he enjoys getting his picture taken when he's finished, and before he has to disassemble it and put it away.

This is a puzzle he got from the school carnival.  He did it when I asked him to clean the table off for supper. He also wanted Juno the Beast in the pic with him.  And when I showed him the picture, he said, and I quote, "Put it on facebook. I think EVERYBODY like it".

Welcome to kids in 2015!

Graduation Day

My oldest niece graduates tomorrow and she had her party today. It was a good time with the boys wondering about what they were going to do when they got there and worrying about being bored.

In other words, the usual... .

This is a shot of the volleyball game that broke out within 7 minutes of arriving.

My oldest niece, the graduate, Leah, with my youngest niece Zoe.  Two pretty girls!

Cool picture.

Three beauties!  Robby, Caleb and Leah.

The representation of the brood of vipers dubbed, "The Schmitz Clan".  There's me in the light blue upper left, Derek, Kristy, Matti, Robby, Vince, Doris (below me), Lesley Leah, Dianne, Zoe, Grandma Elaine, Mike and then Sam, Caleb and Jonah down in front.

Oh, and the food was pretty dang good as well!

The boys were in full woe and gnashing of teeth mode when it was time to leave.  Go figure...

East Bound and Down, 4 Wheels a'rollin'

The boys dreams, or one of them anyway, nearly came true.  

Our neighbor got home with a four wheeler that he had picked up for someone else.  The boys thought that it was staying put next door, which even though it wasn't theirs, it was better than not having one at all.

Life blew at them another little disappointment when it was hauled away this weekend to it's rightful owner.

Caleb and our neighbor Mike.

The varmints sitting on "their" new ride.

Goodnight Sweetheart...

Last Friday night...  Robby and Daddy were playing Madden and Caleb wanted to go to bed.  We delayed him one too many times and he took matters in to his own hands.  He got his pillow and a blanket and went to sleep on top of the blankets in mom & dads room.   Cute, he is!

Tulip Time

It was long overdue for a fun family adventure. It's spring in Iowa... and you know... the Northern Hemisphere, so we thought it would be a fun time to hit up the Tulip Time festival in Pella Iowa. 

 That is, one week before the actual festival because why would any self respecting human being put themselves in a situation where there are 10,000 other non-self-respecting humans looking at flowers?

See where I'm coming from?

So, as we're driving down the highway to get there, we decide that we should also pass thru the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge since it's pretty much right off of the proverbial beaten path to path for us.

So we did.

These are some of the many thousands of ant hills that were visible to us.  Makes a fella wonder how many 1000's more were NOT visible??   The story behind these is that after a controlled burn, the ants build up there hills on the exterior so that it captures sunlight, and therefore warmth, during the day, and helps regulate temperatures inside the hill.

A couple of nearby bison...

Another bison who obviously thought it fashionable to shave it's rump.

And here is one of the ant hills up close and personal. What's kind of cool about this is that out on the pool pad of sand that we had built for the boy's swimming pool, there are miniature versions of these very hills as I type this.

So obviously, the landscape has changed. We're now in Pella, and in the town square.  With two beauties, I might add.

The one who flaunts his own sense of fashion, Robert James.

And the smaller Chinese boy who in photos like this, reminds me of my dad somehow.   I have no idea why or how, but I like it.  It's certainly not the first photo where that's occurred to me.

At the fountain.

The husband of an elderly lady who I literally bumped into several times offered to take a family photo for us.  I obliged and then told him I was sorry for running over his wife a good many times!

At the windmill with the cobblers shoes...

part duex...  not sure what the Dutch is for that...

Note the bright yellow shoes in the bottom left where the lads just had their pics taken.

The beautiful walking mall part of Pella.

Momma and a certain lovely Chinese boy!

A fountain Gazebo.

And two hams playing on a concrete Dutch letter....

We ended the day at the Tassel Ridge and Grape Escape wineries prior to heading home and planting gardens in the rain.

But I can assure anybody reading this, a great time was had by all!