Coffee with Daddy

Cooper loves mornings with Daddy. Rob makes a huge pot of coffee and they sit and have their morning talks. Who knows what they talk about but Cooper loves it. And in the last couple of weeks he has been getting better and better at holding and drinking juice out of his mug. It is just so funny to see him holding it like a big boy.

"Look at the Train"

We have added some more favorites into our life...dinosaurs, nemo, and markers...but TRAINS are still #1!! He loves them and knows were all the train tracks are around town. In fact sometimes he sees them before I do :)

We love music

Cooper and Caddie love to listen to music every day. I put on some of their favorite CD's and they jut dance around like crazy.

Daddy's Surprise Party

For Rob's birthday this year we threw him a party. Caddie and Cooper loved the noise makers and though they really couldn't figure them out were super cute trying.

Fun at the park

Just some picture from our morning at the park. The kids love to feed the ducks and climb on the jungle gyms. They have a blast on the swings and running around.

A lesson in sharing

The other day I heard both kids struggling with each other in Cooper's room. I walked back there and they were fighting over 20 cars and his ramp. I found myself telling them to share and the battle continued. I stopped before pulling them apart and thought for a minute...have I really taught them what it means to share or do I just say "share" and expect them to get it.

I needed to teach them...go figure! So I got down at their level and began to pile up all the cars. I gave 2 to Cooper and asked him to give one to Caddie. He did then she put her car down the ramp. Then I looked at Cooper and told him it was now his turn to put his car down the ramp. Caddie watched as Cooper put his car up and they both watched it go down. Then Caddie picked up 2 cars and I asked her to give one to Cooper....and she did. They they repeated this over and over till they were just doing it. Could it be this easy? Nah...an hour later they were fighting over a puzzle. But for that brief moment I knew they got what it meant when I say "share".

Caddie Anne 15 Months

We are still about a week away from Caddie being 15 months, but since we just went to the doctor I thought it was a good time to post about her.

She is still in the 5% for weight though the doctors are no longer concern because now she has been consistent where before she was dropping at each visit. This is not due to her not eating she is a horse and would eat from the time she gets up till we put her to bed.

She is overall a very laid back kid and will take a lot...but watch out if you cross her the wrong way! She is still such a cuddlier and loves to give hugs. She has also began to notice boys and is always trying to give them kisses...we have our hands full with this one.

She is great about taking naps but sometimes has issues going to bed at night. Overall though she loves to sleep and does not make a huge fuss in the morning.

She plays nice with Cooper about 90% of the time but knows what buttons to push to get a fight going. We are trying to work on boundaries but she is so strong willed and does what she wants despite what you say!

I love seeing her personality coming out more and more each day. She is understanding more and will listen most of the time. She is still madly in love with her daddy and goes running the minute she sees him. Cooper and her love to call Rob at work and "talk" to him. It is so cute to see how excited she gets to hear his voice.

She loves other kids and has to put herself in the middle of most groups. She wants to know what is going on at all times and if she is not part of something she quickly changes that.

I can't believe how big she is getting. 18lb 14oz and 29in tall. She is a string bean and runs everywhere.

Science Center Videos

Father's Day Card

This year the theme for Father's Day at the Schelle home is hands. I could not find a card that really told Rob how important he is to the kids and how much they look up to him and how grateful we are for him....so I wrote my own poem and made my own card!

My Daddy's Hands

From the moment I came into the world my little hands knew yours.

Your strong hands were there to hold, protect, and comfort me.

As I grow your hands are there to teach me at each step.

From learning how to roll and crawl to walking and leaping.

Your hands always not far behind to catch me if I fall.

Your hands are my guide in life to teach me along the way.

How to treat others and never hit in hate.

Your hands are there each night to tuck me into bed and gently rub my head.

Your hands show me the power of a loving touch and how to throw a ball.

Your hands are there to keep me from harm and always show the way.

Your hands will be there at times that will be rough.

Your hands will be there to clap when I make your proud.

Your hands will show me right from wrong and be there to pick me up when I fall.

Today I hold my hand out to you for guidance and support.

So remember these little hands of mind as I begin to grow...

One day you will want to look back and remember just how small these little hands once were and all I had to learn.

Your hands hold the world to me and one day I will know how much love your hands held for me and how they helped me grow!

Getting ready for Father's Day

The box of toys the owner let us play with
Cooper's handprint

Cooper's blue little hand :)

Caddie's handprint

Caddie loved the paint brushes the best!

For Rob's first Father's Day I had taken Cooper out and made Rob a mug with Cooper's hand and foot print. Since then he uses it almost everyday or whenever it is clean :) But since then he has also been all over me for another mug. Now all Moms out there know the challenges that I will face with 2 little ones trying to paint a mug...but I bucked up and did it.

The best was the look on the owner's face when I walked in with both of them. Her first words to me where "And what are you picking up?" I laughed and told her we wanted to paint a mug for Daddy for Father's Day. She looked at me and said "Well most people come with help". Well it is just me and the kids and we did just fine.

Caddie was first with a purple hand she did great placing it on the mug. Then came Cooper, which was a challenge because he hates to have his hands dirty...but he did it. It took me all of 5 minutes to put the writing on and we were out the door. To the complete amazement of the owner they hardly even knew we were there....so take that :)

Later that night Rob again made a hint that he would love a new mug for Father's Day...won't he love it when we bring him coffee in his new mug next Sunday :)

Jumping off the couch video

A video of the kids playing with Rob...refer to eariler post about this new "game" they like to play!

Enjoying each moment

Cooper is obsessed with the water table and has to get all the boats
Caddie is always snacking and is always happy when she eats

This time next year she will not need to peak over...

True joy!!

Chasing the ducks

Feeding the ducks

playing with Caddie's new purse

A true woman!!! Loves her purse and phone!!

As the weeks, months, and years go by it is becoming ever more clear that there are moments that I will never have again. I have always had this in the back of my mind, but I have been even more aware of this over the last couple of months. It has caused me to take a step back and really take in the small moments of the day and enjoy them with the kids.

For example the way Cooper gets up talking and how Caddie likes to stay in bed. The way Cooper will not sit down for breakfast but how Caddie goes running towards her highchair the minute she is changed. The moments I miss with Cooper by not understanding what he is wanting to tell me but try to be in them anyway. The way Caddie is picking up more words now and how we are understanding her more. I have been taking more of my time during the day to enjoy these times and less making sure the house is clean, dishes are done, and laundry is kept up.

Each day I have been trying to take the kids somewhere to experience something. It is not always something "big" but always fun. I love taking them to the park, to play dates, and to the Science Center. They love going to visit Daddy and always have a blast at the store.

I love hearing them talk and play with each other and truly treasure the sound of them giggle and laugh. I take time each night to watch them sleep and stand back and think about when they were so little and took up such a small space in their cribs...as they grow the cribs get smaller :)

I have been trying to get more photos of the kids so they have a journal of their childhood and can look back at all we did with them. This is never a challenge with Cooper because he LOVES to have his picture taken. Caddie is a blur in most pictures because she is always on the move. It amazes me daily at their differences and though so much alike. I am enjoying these moments and look forward to many many more in the future.

Laps anyone?

Last year we had this nice little pool for Cooper. It took up little room on our patio and held just enough water to cool him off. This year Rob decided he was going to "upgrade" the kid's pool and I came home to a lap pool on our patio. Though very large he only puts in about 2 inches of water so if Caddie falls her face will not be covered with the water. So we have this LARGE pool with very little water on our patio. Either way the kids love it and have a blast with Rob in it.

Snack time at the Schelle's

Snack on the floor...who will get it first?

Cooper pushing Caddie away...the fun is starting

Caddie trying to get his snack..Cooper shoving it in his mouth

Cooper trying to hide out...we need to work on this a bit!

Trying to give a snack to a 2 year old and to a 1 year old (with only 2 teeth) is nothing less then a challenge. Cooper wants things Caddie can't have, Caddie just wants what Cooper has, and neither want to sit next to each other, yet they want to be right on top of each other. Confused yet??



Well snack time is just a laugh a minute around here! I give Cooper a snack his response is "None to Sissy" they he takes off to find a place where she will hopefully not find him. I give Caddie her own snack only to find her taking a run to find Cooper to see what he has. Then the fun starts. She grabs his bowl spilling his snack all over the floor. This becomes a dive to see who gets to it first, Cooper to clean it up or Caddie to shove it into her mouth. Then the pushing begins, crying, and now snack time is a brawl on the floor and I am pulling two toddlers apart and picking up cereal off the floor.

Life lessons

When I look back at my childhood at all I learned and took from various people there is one memory that totally sticks out (Philip and Kim will back me on this). We had a sitter when my Dad was a minister that would wrap us up in blankets and pull us through the house. We had a blast doing this and each time she would come back we would beg her to pull us around the house.

Well my children will have a very similar memory...yet it is their father that is teaching them to JUMP OFF THE COUCH INTO A PILE OF PILLOWS. Yes this is their new favorite activity and I was witness to it today. They go around the entire house and grab all the blankets, pillows, and stuff animals they can find, pile them in the middle of the floor, then leap off the couch into them.

Cooper and Caddie have a BLAST and laugh the entire time (until one jumps on the other out of pure excitement). This is what great memories are made of. As you can see from the pictures they are having a blast and no major injuries...yet!

Me a cook??!!??

So I am always trying to cook and make "normal" things a little bit more healthy for our family. For the most part I have been able to make the conversion over to turkey and eliminate red meat from our diet. I have been successful at the switch to whole wheat pasta. I have even been able to get my kids to eat their veggies at most meals....but today I think I went a little too far.

I don't claim to be a great cook...but I do like to pride myself on baking. I make amazing cookies and muffins. My husband goes crazy when I bake. Today though I had some leftover bananas from last week that were needing to be made into bread. I looked into my pantry and had all the ingredients except for white flour. All I had left was wheat flour. I paused for a moment then decided to take the leap and see where this new trail would leave me. Now a side note I have been baking with wheat flour for a little over a year but only at 50% keeping white flour as the other 50%. Today though I threw all caution to the wind and went all in....100% wheat flour.

The dough was very watery and looked a little...well bumpy is the only word that comes to mind. But I didn't stall and put it right into the oven. About 30mins into baking smoke was coming out of the oven. The dough had rose and was pouring out of the top of the baking pan. This didn't even slow me. I grabbed a baking tray and slapped the bread pan on it and stuck it right back into the oven. At the hour mark I pulled out my bread and stood there with totally and complete shock at this pile of...well it looked like poop. So I do what all great bakers do...flipped that bad boy over and tried to serve it to my kids. Right kids will eat anything...NOT! Cooper took one bite of this bread and took it right out of his mouth, looked at me with a very sad face, and said "Yucky Momma"...yucky Momma...really?! When did my 2 year old become a food critic! So then came Rob. He will always be honest with me or at least just not eat it to give me a tiny hint! After eating a half of the loaf his response was "Your bread looks like S#!t but boy does it taste good"....Success!!!!

The lesson I learned is though it may not look the greatest (enjoy the picture) taste trumps all!

ABC's

Cooper is always singing and one of his favorite songs is his ABC's. Sometimes he makes it all the way through and other times we skip half of the song. But either way it is totally cute and I just love his little voice :)

Caddie Anne 14 Months

Caddie is now 14 months. I am excited for the 15 month mark, I feel like this is when Cooper really began to "get" things.

She is a ball of energy. Always on the move and leaves a trail in her path. She is also a climber, if she can scale it...she will. And she is so proud when she does climb up on something! She is really working at talking and has a few things that we can understand. Mommy, Daddy, bubub (brother), baba (bottle), Ma (Milk), ugh (up), and she can shake her head no (which she uses all the time. Besides that she is beginning to babble more and more each day so it will be exciting to see what else she will get out soon.

She understands so much more now and will follow directions (when she wants to). In the morning when we get her up we walk into the living room and I will ask her if she is ready for breakfast and she nods yes then walks over to her chair and waits to get fed! She will follow you better now and comes when you call her.

She is still taking her one nap a day. It is beginning to get harder to get her to bed at night, but once down we don't hear a peep from her till the morning. She is a huge cuddle bug and loves to be held and hugged. She just loves to be next to you and cuddled.

She is really into my purse lately and knows where I keep my back-ups and gets into them about 5 times a day. She is also taking an interest in "helping" me around the house. In the last week she has also been really good about cleaning up with Cooper at the end of the night. She is starting to understand that toys need to be put away before we go to bed. Though I find a variety of things thrown around the house from her...so it is a work in progress.

She is still great at eating and has really grown in the last month. I feel like she had a growth spurt. Though still tiny she is getting taller and putting on a little gut! Some days she will eat all day just grazing at whatever anyone will give her.

Overall she is holding her own and does her part to drive her brother crazy. It is equal who bugs whom more. So they are getting along great!!!

Splash Pad

Really?!?!? Another post about another splash pad?!?!?!?! I know I know....but until you have try and find activities for 2 toddlers to do in this heat DON'T JUDGE!!!

I finally convinced Rob that we needed a family day at the splash pad...or how I like to call it "the pad". We only stayed for about 45 minutes due to the fact that Rob was starving and needed food.

Never the less the kids had a blast and I think Rob also enjoy some time out in the water and sun. It really is a great place, partly shaded and with the water the kids don't overheat. It also it a great way to wear them out and allows me that precious "nap time"!!!!