Family Pictures

This year we took Schaefer family pictures at Papa John's house.

The kids were done with pictures by the time we tried to do a group grandkid shot.

Afterwards everyone played outside and we went down to see Papa John's fire tree.  It has been hit by lightning a couple of times and slit so that the kids could walk up in the tree.

Potty and Nighttime

The last week of September Amelia had a wicked diaper rash on Sunday morning after pooping the night before and not saying anything.  After church I told her it was over and she had to wear undies and pee on the potty to fix her owie butt.  And that was that.  She was potty trained.  In the next month we had maybe an accident a week.  She gave up the little potty after a month and will only let me help her wipe, otherwise she does it all on her own.  She still wears a diaper at night but most mornings she is dry.  I'm very proud of my independent determined girl.  Once she puts her mind to something she will accomplish it.

Evelyn has always given me trouble with sleeping and bedtime.  She just really would like to be right by me all of the time.  Every single night when trying to put her into her crib she would wake up crying before she was even laid down.  In desperation I borrowed an extra mattress from Kait for her room.  I tried laying next to her to nurse and get her to sleep and then would sneak out of the room.  It worked!  I finally was able to get her to sleep and she would sleep pretty decent through the night.  She still wanted to nurse for at least an hour before I left her but I was super excited to get to sleep through almost every night 

Fall Walk

When we were in ECFE classes they always did a fall walk up at Bluff Park.  So our group of friends decided to do that on our own.  We ended up going on one of the last nice days in October with pretty leaves.

It was so much fun to see the girls run around and play with each other.  They were having so much fun they didn't notice how far ahead of the mamas they were getting.

Curious George

We were so lucky to get to see Curious George a second time in September!  George was coming to storytime at Barnes and Noble.  With Amelia I just never know what to expect so I've learned to lower my expectations and to be mentally prepared for any reaction.  I wasn't sure if George would be scary to her or not.

I was pleasantly surprised that not only was George awesome she couldn't get enough of him!

Even Evelyn thought he was great and was squealing at him.  She got herself so worked up and so excited she actually conked out.

Amelia did a pretty good job listening to the stories and sitting patiently until some other child couldn't contain himself and had to run up to give George a hug.  All of a sudden Amelia was up on stage giving him a hug as well.  It was so sweet!  After the quick hug break, everyone settled back down to finish the story.  

There were more hugs and high fives after the stories were done.  Amelia was only somewhat ok with walking away from George when I explained that he had to go back home to see yellow hat, or the man with the yellow hat.

Hilary & Cooner

First we had lunch at Hilary and Bob's house which suited Amelia and Evelyn just fine as it allowed them time to play with kitties.  Then we headed over to see Cooner.  After our visit earlier this year I wasn't expecting too much.

Amelia wanted to help brush Cooner which I thought was a huge step for her.

Then Daddy convinced her to actually sit on Cooner.  She wasn't too sure but after a couple of laps she was smiling and loving every minute.

Hilary taught her how to tell Cooner to stop and Amelia declared that she never wanted to be done riding.

Daddy took a turn and Cooner was a little nicer to him this visit.

She was sad to be done riding but helped lead Cooner back to the barn and gave him a "cookie."

Since then she won't stop talking about Cooner.  She colors him pictures, spots other horses that are like Cooner, asks to pray for Cooner, says he's her favorite and has even declared that he is her horse.

MN Harvest

Our family adores apples!  

When Lucas was little his family would always travel to see MN Harvest.  When we saw that they had reopened we just had to go!

Amelia was very excited to pick the apples and put them in her bag.

Then we all had to have a sample of our apples, including Evelyn!

 It was a super fun morning and MN Harvest will probably become a family tradition for us.

 That was just the beginning of our adventures for that day.  Next on our trip was visiting Hilary, Bob, and Cooner.

Curious George

The Minnesota Children's Museum had a Curious George exhibit in September.  Aunt Kait and Elise drove up with us and we stopped by Aunt Mary Beth's to have lunch and bring her along.  As we pulled up to the building Amelia saw a large Curious George on the outside of the building.  She was so excited she could hardly wait to get in there!

There were lots of little stations to play in.  One of Amelia's favorites was the spaceship slide.

She also liked finding all of the characters throughout the room.

Even Evelyn enjoyed seeing our favorite little monkey.

It was hard to pull Amelia away from that room but she soon discovered there was all kinds of fun things to play with in every room.

Next we headed to the infant room which had lots of mirrors, soft things to play with and bells.

Evelyn was pooped after that and passed out in Aunt Mary Beth's arms, which neither minded at all.

Besides the George room, Amelia's other top area was the bubble water stations.  She had so much fun and played so hard she fell asleep on the way home which never happens anymore!

Grandparent's Day

 I found these Papa shirts and could not resist them!

I was disapointed thinking I would never be able to find any Sissy shirts, then my sister-in-law reminded me that I could make some with my Cricut.  

So of course we had to do a little photo shoot!  Amelia loves to point to her shirts and "read" what they say. 

August Finale

Amelia and pup pup wearing the drum for a hat at Aunt Kait's house.

Amelia and Evelyn playing together.

Garrett's gymnastics birthday party.  Amelia and Kirsten were in the fort made from mats.

Puddle jumping with Sissy.

Daddy's Fixin' School Buses!

August 1st was a very exciting day for our family.  Lucas began a new job as diesel mechanic for Palmer Buss in North Mankato.  After working for the St. Peter treatment center for seven years we were very blessed that he found this new position at Palmer.  His time at the treatment center was becoming harder and harder on our family as we were growing.

So now he is in a job that is not only more fulfilling for him personally but we are able to spend regular weekends and holidays together as a family!  His work is only six minutes away from home so he gets to come home for lunch everyday.  It is also a very friendly work environment and the owner has encouraged us to come up and visit.  So we do, and we have daddy take us for school bus rides!

At first Amelia wasn't so sure about school buses.  She only wanted to sit in one when it wasn't running.  Then she wanted to ride in one in her carseat.  Luckily there are some carseats in the mini buses.  Then she wanted to ride in a bigger bus and was alright without a carseat.  Now she's says the "school buses go fast!" and "go fast daddy!"