Triple C! Class Character Caleb

The Rams way!  No, not the once mighty, once hi-octane, once loaded with weapons St. Louis Rams, sorry, not this time.

Rams way is a slogan that the Southeast Polk school district teaches to their students.  It's the "pillars of character; respectful, always responsible, manners, and safety.

Throughout the school year, the teachers are able to select kids who they feel fit that definition.

Robby got Kid of Character back in October, I believe it was, after not getting it last year.  He was bent when the last week of school rolled around and they selected the final KoC for the year and he was not it...

So fast-forward to the 4th week of January and we find out that Caleb, Master C, Calebber, Marvin McNutt, Lil' Crunchy, Curious George, C-Lab is receiving the Class Character award!

What does that mean?  

Well, they have a ceremony at school in front of classmates to honor the current gaggle of Class Characters, they get a Rams Way dog tag, and the kiddo gets their picture and a short write-up (the first photo below) put up in the RAMS Way Wall Of Fame at school.  

That's Caleb getting his dog tag necklace from the skool haus prinsabull, Mr. Mohning.  His Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Riordan, is the lady in the blue'ish shirt at the microphone.

There's the lad in high water pants and his Hawkeye jersey getting some love from his teacher.

The "gaggle" I spoke of earlier. The current crop of Class Characters.

After the ceremony, they play some fun little games of various styles and Robby got to play in one of them.  I wasn't there, so I didn't get to see exactly how this game was played.

Robby "won" the game, he says.  That's him in the uh...  football jersey.

Triple C and his new dog tag necklace.

I was only going to include one of these similar photos, and I initially selected the one above because of the look on his face.  However, I melt when ever he smiles like this so I thought that I had to include this one as well.  Stinkin' cutie.

So there we have it.  One more reason to be a proud Daddy!  As if I needed another one...   =-)

It's a party!!

Funny things just sometimes happen.  This is one of those times.

This was an invite that Caleb came home with, but it wasn't just for him... it was for Robby as well.

I smudged the address and phone number for obvious reasons, but you can get the idea.  It took me a week or so to figure out the 'JB' part of it.  I think it means, "Just boys".

You can't make this stuff up... nor would you want to. 

But funny?  Yes, indeed!

Random Happenin's from the 'Hill, 2013

Doesn't seem possible that kids (and Momma!) are heading back to school, and I'm beginning my second week of work in the new year, but that's where I find myself.

Since our last visit, Momma organized a play date with one of Robby's friends from school.  The went to Incredible Pizza for lots of games and, uh... pizza, along with other food.  Then they came back to our house and played like a bunch of wild donkeys.

It was a big day of playing that all three boys did not want to come to an end and did everything in their power to prolong it.

Saturday was the first rounds of the NFL play-offs and while neither game was great, it allowed me a good reason to sit and do absolutely nothing all day long as I was not feeling great. 

I also had the boys go out and clean some of the snow off the deck as well since the temps were supposed to be a little warmer and we had thus far neglected it since the pre-Christmas snow storm.

They did some good work.  I had cut a path over to the steps from the door, but my back does not enjoy that kind of work anymore. 

Caleb likes this kind of work but I had to threaten Robby to get him out there.  And of course, after he's out there for 40 minutes or so, he says, "Dad, this work is hard, but it's also kinda fun!".  Typical Robby.

The ham n' eggers jacking around as the ham n' eggers do.

And Caleb got hold of the camera again, which is not necessarily the most desirable thing but as a general rule, he's pretty careful.  The problem is that you usually have to delete about 400 photos of random things like curtains, blankets, balloons and so on.  This time though, there was a delightful self-protrait of himself. 

Sunday was round two of the playoffs and saw Daddy getting crazy bad sick again. I'm growing quite weary of this feeling somewhat decent for maybe a week/10 days and then have another couple of days where I feel incredibly bad, like today! 

Oh well, it too shall pass.

Robby began swimming again for the new semester this afternoon.  He really seems to enjoy it and has his first swim meet next Saturday afternoon.

That's about all of the happenin's from our humble abode. 

Happy New Year!

2012 came and went seemingly before I even noticed!

Oh sure, that's not 100% true, but it seemed to go really dang fast!  My dad used to say, and I used to mock, "the years go faster and faster as you get older.".  That concept seemed stupid to me at the time, but how do you argue with a know-it-all teenager in the prime of his/her life?

I digress.

In the year when I turned 42 years old, we saw a small Chinese boy of crazy beauty take over our lives and change our perception of "normal". 

Poor Robby... he went from the first born, center of attention to first born of two kiddos, 50% of the parents attention and the "normal" one when it came to education, and the apple of one small Chinese boys' eyes.  That's certainly not a dig on Calebber, but a reality when you consider the learning curve that he has to catch a 4.5 year old (on Got'cha day) up with the peers of a new country.

Robby has made Caleb's transition to American "everything'ish" so much smoother that neither Caleb or Robby will ever know.  That being said, I think there is a "security blanket" relationship that goes both ways there, especially when it becomes bed time.  Caleb will flat out refuse to go to bed without his big brother and Robby will go to bed without his little brother, but will find excuses why they should end up in the same room / bed / couch / blanket on the floor / whatever else.  It's sweet, to say the least!

Calebs teachers have been outstanding in the help they have given him and continue to do so.  He has learned so much and occasionally surprises us with a 5 or 6 word sentence that makes every day exciting, if not mildly frustrating, as we work with him.  The key is to remember that if we are 10% frustrated, he is probably approaching the 80 - 90% frustration level with us.  His whole world is at least on it's side, if not totally upside down!

So as he got a break from school and the pressures he must feel from the current kindergarten curriculum (as well as mom and dad working with him) he seems excited and possibly even a little reluctant to go back to school.

In addition to all of the Christmas celebrations that we had, we had fun sledding in the back yard, playing games of Wii football, Tetris and other stuff.  In fact, we've played three games of Washington-opoly, our new game from our friends, the Gonsalves in... you guessed it, Washington D.C. 

Funny thing happened yesterday.  We had played two games of Washington-opoly as a family of four but Momma has made it clear since about a year after meeting me, that she is not interested in playing a full game of Monopoly ever again.

So Robby, Caleb and Daddy sat down to play the full version of the game, regardless of how long it took.  Caleb was eliminated after roughly 2.5 hours but Robby stayed with daddy (a.k.a.  Tycoon Teddy!) for a full six hours!  Six complete hours!!! 

Craziness!

One other fun thing that has happened over their break from the skoolhaus, is that Momma and their Aunt Dianne, with cousins Samuel and Jonah in tow, went to the Science Center of Iowa for a full morning of fun and discovery.  They seemed to have a good time and Robby especially seemed to learn a few things.

The most fun part of that for Daddy was when Momma called home and told me to turn on the 12pm news for channel 13.   They were broadcasting live from the Science Center that day (for weather) and Sam, Rob and Caleb were on the first time with Robby on the air another 4 times, I believe.  Cute indeed.

Other than that, we've all been sick to various degrees and that's getting a little old.

Daddy went back to work this week while momma and the boys will go back to school next Monday. 

It's probably time to get back to more routine schedule, but when Caleb and I were outside filling the pick-up tires to proper inflation levels (that's a whole 'nother story!), I asked him if he was excited to go back to school next Monday. 

His response was quick and decisive.  "No, Daddy.  No more school.".

2013 should be an adventure!!

Let's get it started!
Ted

Christmas morning at home

As Christmas Eve wound down to a close, we eventually got two hyper varmints off to bed thru much wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

We had to get them to bed as Lesley had an idea that she wanted to implement.  You take a large piece of plastic and affix it to their doorway so that you can stuff balloons in behind it.  The idea being that when the open the door from the inside, the balloons fall into their room and onto them.

So after nearly passing out from blowing up balloons, we got the only plastic we owned out, which was a very heavy mil of plastic, and attempted the attaching it to the doorway.  I had to get the duct tape out to reinforce it, but it worked.

 

This is the doorway in question prior to them getting up.

So upon opening the door, Robby could be heard saying, "Well, that was unexpected". Caleb was giggling and shrieking like only he can.  So then, Robby explained to Caleb that they were trapped in their room and continued to instruct the Chinese lad to crawl under the plastic to get out.  He did.  Once he made it safe and did not perish, then Robby crawled out! 

And then it was off to playing with the balloons, even with Robby in his underwear (hence the pretty pink flowers over his nether-regions in the photo).  The balloons are still a big hit even 3 days after Christmas!

For breakfast, momma made a candy cane out of bananas and strawberries.  Robby thought it was cool looking but wanted something else like summer sausage.  Caleb ate the candy cane and asked for more tomorrow (or "tomorelo", as he says).

Then it was on to the Bible reading about the birth of Jesus that we do every year prior to opening presents.  It was extra cool this year as Robby is old enough to read and not stumble on many of the words.  He did awesome!

And as a nice Christmas morning surprise, we had a package from the fine state of Maryland, where it just so happens that our friends from China, the Gonsalves, live.  Liena and Ethan sent Robby and Caleb a Christmas present and surprised all of us.  That's the package that they're opening currently.

It's a Monopoly-based game called Washington-opoly.  We all sat down and played a game last night and had a blast doing it.  It lasted nearly an hour and I think both boys really enjoyed themselves.  Every time that someone would land on one of Caleb's property and had to pay him rent, you'd get this little "thank you!" in his high-pitched voice.  Hilarious and quite cute.

Caleb opening a random gift.

The lads trying to figure out how to get into some of their loot.

Caleb got some little trucks with trailers on them to tow boats or motorcycles.  He likes pulling things behind other vehicles.  In fact, he has a John Deere tractor with a Fisher Price boat tied on to the hitch that he pulls around in the basement quite often while Daddy and Rob play Wii football.

Robby and Daddy with our feet in the new family sled.  That's football cards in the boys hand and he wanted dear ol' Dad to go thru them with him.

And since Daddy wasn't ready to go sledding in the back yard yet, the boys decided to take matters into their own hands and do the next best thing.

We did manage to go sledding later that afternoon and will likely go again today at some point.  It's a lot harder work today than it was when I was just a lad myself.  It's almost like exercise now!!

And so was our Christmas day.  Hope everyone had a good one and took time to remember why we celebrate that day in the first place.

Take care!

Christmas post #2 - Schmitz's

Christmas Eve came and went. 

This year we hosted the Schmitz's Christmas gathering at our house in Pleasant Hill.  As is usual when we are going to have a large group of people over, we have snow in the days prior that requires that I have to clean the driveway to at least give folks hope that their vehicles will get up the hill and negotiate the turns.

Not an easy task, but this is where we chose to live...  for some reason...

So the parking was mostly without incident and I think/hope all had a good time and some good food.  We'll be eating leftovers for several days but that's okay with me.

Robby made sure that we won't be eating Grandma Schmitz's dinner rolls as he ate 7 of them last night!!  I figured that it would be a teachable moment on why we don't do that. Turns out the teachable moment happened about 25-30 minutes after roll #7.  :-)

As the day progressed, I had realized that I had forgotten to take pictures so I did a quick run thru of the house and tried to get most of the people in attendance.  I seemed to have missed the 4 Musketeers - Robby, Samuel, Jonah and Caleb.

Go figure.

On to those that I did not miss.

The inimitable Zoe messing around by the dogs crate.  The girls got cute happening all around her!

Again, Zoe makes an appearance sitting with Grandma Elaine.  Uncles Steve and Frank are discussing the finer points of... something.

Steve and Frank are repeat offenders in this photo along with the newly represented uncle Derek, aunt Kristie, and my neice Billie Jo.

Repeat offenders again, Billie Jo (sitting with her hubby, Jason) and aunt Kristie.

Uncles Derek and Vince, aunts Doris and Kathy, along with cousins Tim, Mattie and Michael all around the table with Momma.  Caleb was "helping" me select photos for this post and was VERY concerned that uncle Vince wasn't in any of them.  I reassured him that he was indeed present but he was clearly agitated until I could prove it to him.

Here we have Reagan (sp??) entertaining the masses... the masses being her Mom & Dad (Billie Jo & Jason), aunt Kathy and her uncle Tim sporting a... um...  sporty Hawkeye's shirt!

And the photo that captured the feeling of nearly all of the adults in the house once we were done eating.  Nap time!  Zoe was the only lucky one and uncle Steve was the lucky one that was chosen for the honor of her resting space.

And so we wrap up another year of extended family Christmas gatherings.

Up next, Christmas morning at the Schmitz house.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Schmitz Mobile Chaos Unit!

And not to be left out, the ghastly beast, Rosey gets in on the action.