Only 364 days to go...

Only 364 more days until Robby's next birthday.  Oh, he's in no hurry for it and is not upset that it's all over (not quite ALL over) for another year, but I was teasing him about it this morning.

So how was the transformation into the Crazee 8's?

Pretty good according to Robby.  He didn't get a big party this year and seemed mostly okay with that.  We did let him pick the restaurant for supper so he thought that was cool. He picked three places, Zombie Burger, McDonalds, and Pizza Ranch.

We voted on McDonalds since we hardly ever would go there under normal circumstances while the other two are places we are most likely to visit more often anyway. Especially Zombie Burger as not only is their food unique and quite tasty (definitely NOT weight watchers friendly, however...) but they also have a beer menu that could make ol' dad blush.  It's not often we find an eating establishment that has a large selection of micro brews, but they have that and then some!  They even have a good number of beers that I've never tried, so that's bonus points!

It seems I'm drifting...

So anyway, the lads wake up yesterday morning and begin getting ready for school. The second graders had pajama day, and the kindergartners were celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday (which technically is today, March 2nd), so a big day was planned already.

Robby had taken cupcakes to school the prior day (Feb. 28th) for his birthday since his class already had cupcakes scheduled for March 1st pajama day.

blah blah blah... on I go...

Fast forward to after school, and the photos.

Caleb is sucking down a Capri Sun juice box while making sure that Robby is opening his gift correctly.  Notice that we didn't even bother to wrap the thing.  Somehow it seems that 2013 has gotten away from us already. Go figure.

So the first gift of the day was from Mr. Caleb.  It was a pink, breast cancer awareness football.  While it looks like Robby is puckering up to kiss the silly thing, he's really saying, "SA-WEET!!!".  Caleb was very excited about the pink football as well.  Oh, and note the pajama's that Rob is wearing.  That's what he wore to school since mom is crafty and noticed that they had not only football on them, but a number 8 on the helmet as well.  Get it? Robby's 8 and it has...   the...  #8... okay, on to the next photo!

Yes, it's another jersey.  We warned Robby that if we go to Washington DC this summer that he can't wear this jersey around Liena's mom or he won't be allowed in their house.  He understood.  He then asked if we can go visit Uncle Steve so he can wear this during the visit.  It's a Cowboys Tony Romo jersey.  The look on Robby's face in this photo was because he had just discovered that the stars on the shoulder are sewed on and not merely screen printed!  He's been after us for a "sewed on" jersey for some time now and we're not interested in paying those prices!  He's only had the jersey off long enough to sleep last night.

The thought of having a jersey with even just a sewed on star, was enough to send him on a Gangnam style dance thru the living room. Thankfully, he had clothes on this time...   that's a story for another day!  That day will be his first date. :-)

So later, after our McDonalds dinner and a brief shopping trip for light bulbs, we decided to have some cake and ice cream.  As would be common for dear old dad, I wanted my cake, as in RIGHT NOW, so I cut it and was dishing it up when Momma came into the kitchen and said, "Are we not going to light candles and sing to him?".  If we must delay my cake consumption, then I guess we must.  Mom lighting the candles was hilarious but unfortunately I have only pictures and no video.  Wouldn't matter, I'm not smart enough to figure out how to put videos in a blog post anyway.

Robby Romo blowing out the candles with an excited little brother looking on and asking, about every 1.5 minutes, if it was his birthday too.  We've been trying to teach him that his birthday is coming up next month, and also how to say, "April 28th", but he didn't seem to care. All he knew was that Robby was getting everything!

Caleb with Momma's sweatshirt on after getting a belly full of cake.  His face is painted like a cake since, as I mentioned before, they were celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday at school.

And the mean little kitty-cat preparing for his cake.

And then today, Aunt Molly came over to take the boys out to lunch, so Robby got to open yet another present under the watching QA'ing of Caleb.  What could it possibly be???

A JERSEY!!  Who wudda thunk it?  For those inquiring minds, it's a Denver Bronco, Knowshon Moreno jersey.

And for her efforts, she got the terrifying Robby-running-full-blast-at-you-only-to-jump-into-your-arms reward!  It truly is terrifying just because of his size.

And so, that should bring Robby birthday, 2013, full circle and to a close.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Robby!

Happy Birthday to the not-so-little, little man!  Robert James Schmitz. 

March 1, 2005.  A great day in the history of the world! 

Not the greatest photo for a blogpost, but we don't have all of his "early years" photo's on the computer and I'm feeling too lazy to go find them, so you get the collage.  Consider it exercise for your eyeballs!

Robby's first Tulip Time Festival in Pella, Iowa.

The delightful little dude around his second birthday.  A special thank you goes out to Tim McGraw for the idea for this photo (I think it was his "Live Like You Were Dying" video).

The lad all tuxedo'd up for his cousins wedding in Cookville Tennessee.

Robby and Rachel all duded (and dude-etted!!) up for a night of Trick or Treatin'.

 

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

And the wooly(er) current version in his Pittsburgh Steelers bumble-bee throw back jersey, courtesy of Grandma Bushman.

Happy Birthday, my love!

Aqua Man, Part Deux...

Mr. Robby had his final swim meet for the current... uh, whatever they break the swim seasons into. 

Seasons? Semesters? Sections?  I dunno...

So anyway, Robby has swim practice on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I (Daddy) took him to practice on Tuesday night and noticed that he would swim, seemingly good, but then some other fella would start to pass him, he would suddenly come to life and race that fella to the end of the pool, swimming notably faster than he was.

I didn't care for that.

I mentioned it to mama and she had noted the same phenomena at practices as well. So we had a talk with the lad.  

The premise of that talk was that he was not to be concerned about what any of the other boys were doing, or how fast they're going or whatever else, he was/is to race his own personal times.  Always push to be his fastest and let the wins come as they might.

He seemed to take that to heart and while Thursday nights swim practice was cancelled due to "the little blizzard that wasn't", he was talking about racing himself this morning before the meet.  So far, so good.

So how did he do?  

He did awesome.  I don't have the specifics of all of his personal best times, and we don't have the official times from today yet, but he seemed to shave off a second or so from his previous best time in the 25 free, shaved off about 6 seconds in the 50 free, and he won two immediate ribbons as "Heat Winner".  He was fired up and it was fun to watch.


That doesn't mean that he was the winner of the race, he wasn't, but of the individual heat.

Don't ask me what that all means...  the only thing I know about swimming is that almost everybody who does it, gets wet.

The pool and the calm waters before the storm.

I'm not sure what's going on in this photo, but it looks like the boy is getting a talking too.  I asked the boy what was happening here, and he claims that the lady was going by giving them hi-fives and he started telling her about his best time, shy boy that he is.

Caleb's good for about 1/2 hour at these swim meets before he's ready to go, hungry, has to go potty and whatever else to start burning up time.  Here, he's playing a Perry the Platypus game on the Kindle to pass some moments.  He was really good today and we were there from 9 until well after noon.

Robby prior to one of his races.  It's hard to tell from a still photo, but he's burning off excess energy by playing air guitar and singing a song.  Probably gets that from his mother...

Doing a little toenail care while he waits for a teammate during one of the relay races.

It's a bad photo because he was all fired up, but this is the first of the two "heat winner" ribbons he got.

Clowning around on the bench again prior to another race.

I like this pic.  Caleb was excited that his brother won the heat and was out to congratulate him.  Robby is coming up the steps with the second of the "Heat Winner" ribbons. Momma and Daddy were very proud of the way the boy performed today!

That's his coach, Jim, in the foreground and Robby in the water just over his right shoulder as he's finishing one of the races.

As I've said, I do not understand swimming, the timing, the strokes or anything else about it, but other than the waiting in between the 2nd and 3rd races, I really enjoy watching these events.  Probably not as much as Robby enjoys swimming in them, but I like them.

I took video of the last race but I'll be cursed if I can figure out how to get it on this post.  Stupid computers (and users!) :-).

Love and pebbles...

What is love?  How does a fella define love? What does it mean to "be in love"?

When I ponder those questions as I have often in the past year or so since we retrieved our boy from Changchun China, I'm not confused by my love for my wife (okay, sometimes maybe WHY she still loves me).  It will be 21 years on May 16th, 2013 when we said our vows to each other and while some things have changed for the worse (see waist lines!), most have changed for the good.  We have gone thru various changes in jobs, health, maturity and so on and so forth. Together, we are aging like a fine wine in our own little bottle.  Upon reflection, I cannot thank my bride enough for sticking by me in those early years!

When I ponder the love of our two boys, that's when things tend to get interesting.

Robby was born to us on March 1st, 2005.  The pregnancy was a wild ride of ups and downs, more downs than up, at the time anyway, but rear view mirrors have a way of putting things into perspective.

He was a great baby and is now a great kid who will turn 8 years old in just a short time. I was so honored to be a Daddy that I barely knew how to contain my excitement.  

I loved changing diapers.  I loved feeding him.  I loved bathing him. Holding him. Having him fall asleep on my chest while we laid on the couch. I loved reading to him. I love running my hand over his head and feeling his hair. I loved taking him places and showing him "stuff" before he could possibly understand any of it.  I loved everything about being a Daddy so much, that he was the only person on Earth who could puke on me, and I wouldn't puke back!

So Robby begins the rigors of growing up.  He gets all the way to 1st grade and we welcome another little duder into our home.  Only this time, it's not a baby. He's a 4.5 year old little Chinese boy who we know powerful little about. The times leading up to our travelling to retrieve him were so wonderfully exciting and scary that I would wish it on everyone!

But how do I love him?

He's not my own flesh and blood...

I didn't get to do the things with him as a baby and a toddler, like I did with Robby...

I didn't get to mold him from day 1...

Will he trust me?

Will HE love ME?

Will he love Robby and Mama as well?

Will he be angry with the world for obvious reasons?


As I now recollect the past 15 months, going back to Got'cha day on December 5th, 2011, I realize that I have many wonderful memories of Caleb and the process of developing the love and trust that comes with being a Daddy.

Dec. 5th, Caleb was being ripped away from everything he had previously known.  He didn't want to be with us and as sure as I'm over-weight with a big honkin' nose, he did NOT want to leave that Changchun court house with us!

Day by day, we as a family worked to gain his trust in an effort to make him as comfortable as possible and, in his mind, assure him that everything was going to be okay.

As those days passed, I wasn't concerned so much with "how do I love him", but more with the fact that the love I felt for him seemed so different than the love I felt for Robby.  Not in a bad way, not at all, but just... different.     

Now we can fast foward to today, February 14th, 2013. I've noted that I love reading to Caleb even though you have to trick him into thinking that it's his idea so that he'll pay attention.

I love running my fingers over his head and thru his black Chinese hair, although most of the time, he'll grab my hand to have me gently rub his cheeks, which is just as good!  :-) 

I love telling him Bible stories and praying with him even though I'm fairly certain that he doesn't "get it" yet.

I love showing him how to do something for the first time (and 2nd, and 3rd...).



If we look at Dictionary.com, we see these definitions:
love  [luhv] noun, verb, loved, lov·ing.
noun
1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.
5. (used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or the like): Would you like to see a movie, love?

Those definitions are all well and good, and Caleb could easily fall under number 1 or 2, but it doesn't seem to cover it well enough.

In a popular Bible verse, we see this:
    John 15:13
    Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.


That's often used by folks in, or in reference to, the military who put their lives on the line for the person next to them who does not neccesarrily fall into one of the definitions above, however, I think we tend to narrow the scope of that verse a little too much.

Perhaps just by caring enough for another life and taking time away from our own wants and desires, we are "laying down our life" a little bit for our friends, kiddo's, family, strangers or whoever else?

And the reward for doing so?  Well, there is no definition in the dictionary for that!

Happy Valentines Day!


P.S.  - the pebbles!  Since Caleb has been part of family we have had more pebbles in our house than you can possibly imagine!  It's simply staggering to comprehend how they have gotten to the places in our house where we have found them.  Perhaps we should've seen something while we were in Guangzhou when he was fascinated by the pebbles there, but we had nothing to base any suspicions on at the time! 

Caleb, utterly transfixed by the pebbles at the base of a tree on Shamian Island, Guangzhou, China.

 

Chinese New Year, Iowa Style... year 2!

Year two of the Schmitz family's attendance at the Iowa Chinese New Years celebration.

Prior to going this year, momma and me (dad) talked about how if the seating was more conducive to kids eating, that we would stay for a while and then head to a restaurant to eat lunch, which is what happened on Saturday.

It was roughly the same type of thing as last year, but at a different location.

I took a photo of the signage in a futile attempt to read the Chinese letters under the English. Every time I do that, including this time, it ends in a fail.  I just don't get it...

This photo and the one after it are looking into the room where the food, crafts, fund raisers and whatever else are all set up.

I tried to take a photo of the guy laying on the floor and the little boy doing the crazy acrobatics above him.  A person with really good eyes can spot them in nearly the middle of the photo.

Caleb seemed much more into things this year than last.

Robby seemed way more into as well and was MAD when we were leaving to go get food elsewhere!  Who'da thunk it?

One of the many performers.

Aging rocker Neil Young doing a dual knife dance.  Just kidding, it wasn't a knife dance.  Okay, seriously, it wasn't really Neil Young, but it reminded me of him!

These two cats were also at last years shindig and were 100 times more fascinating to the boys this year.  They do have quite a long choreographed routine that is quite impressive.

Here's some of the kiddos and with the acrobatics group.

More...

Even more...

Ahhhh...  setting up for the "lion dance".  Caleb was captivated by the "lion" headdress and was hilarious standing up to get a better view.  The photo cannot possibly do the situation justice.

The aforementioned lion dance.

This was going on during the ending part of the lion dance (that's the lion on bottom right of the photo), where the adults would do the back-bends and the kiddos would walk across their guts.

And the big finale of the lion dance.

This guy was simply amazing.  Robby just walked up as I scrolled down to put a caption on this photo and said the same thing.   I do not recall what the instrument was called, but he handled it like a champ and played along with recorded music.

This was the stick dancing guy.  He had some pretty good moves, but he has nothing on my Martin Short dance.

These kids, not one of them Chinese, performed common American nursery rhymes/songs in Chinese dialect, presumably Mandarin, but I don't know for sure.

We left there and drove up to the China Dragon in Norwalk for some good kibble.  We weren't the only family to do so as there were four other families, white folks, with Chinese kiddos in there.  

Makes me think that I ought to send an email of recommendation to the organizers about eating arrangements...