Schmit Happens: December 2012

Well another year has passed us by. It is crazy how being busy makes time fly, I thought it required throwing the clock! Lets see how things went around here.....

Linnea turned 12 in January. She survived the 6th grade and made the "A" honor roll once and the "B" honor roll 3 times. She continues to excel at Math, thankfully she got Thomas' math genes and not mine. In April she had her 1st communion at our new church along with her cousins. She started confirmation classes in September and is learning a lot of things she missed by not attending Sunday school over the years. I'm thankful our pastor is open to lots of questions. On Thanksgiving she completed her second 5k Turkey Trot benefiting IRIS. She remained relatively healthy until school started and then once again we began fighting with all the bugs. After some testing we found a vitamin D deficiency and once again her Iron very low. This has been a ongoing problem since she was a infant. Hopefully now with the right combo of vitamins we have her on the right track. She is very much into music, especially the 80's, who knew our cassette tapes would find a second life! You can find her these days in her room writing and rocking out to her stereo or like a young teenage girl, on the phone or now days on the computer emailing and instant messaging.

Ulrik turned 9 in September. He has continued to grow, grow, grow. I'm hoping we have slowed down for just a little while. He is patiently waiting for basketball to be offered through school so he can give it a try. His feet are now wearing men's shoes, I'm not sure he can swing track with his gunboats! Ulrik had a great year of second grade and was very excited for 3rd grade since he has his same teacher from last year. He adores Mrs. Tuma and works well with her teaching style. He continues to be all boy, this summer he got sidetracked by a nasty infection in his knee after a "Danger Dude" moment on his cousins bike. It took almost 10 days of heavy antibiotics to get him back up to cruising speed. Thankfully "chicks dig scars" because he has another keeper. Right now he is starting to learn to play the guitar and he is busy with finger knitting, its a start, hopefully next year he will move up to real needles which will make Grandma Carol very happy. We are also still quite the legomaniac, building many creations from the floor of his room. He still very much enjoys his superheroes and shooting the "emenies." Very rarely will you find him sitting still, unless he's knitting or reading.

Annika turned 4 in August. We very quickly picked up on potty training in June and haven't looked back, this was awesome considering the issues we have had with her kidneys which delayed timing abit. She started preschool in September and has quickly picked up her alphabet and numbers. She loves to do her "homework" and write her letters and numbers. She really enjoys being crafty with her scissors, paper, and crayons. We are starting to learn to tell time, and to learn to read also. She very much enjoys annoying Linnea, a task I think she takes pride in. Ulrik and Annika enjoy annoying each other also, but you can find them often building with the pink Legos and chatting. In October we ventured back to Children's to see how her kidney reflux has progressed, unfortunately it appears we will be having surgery next year some time to have a ureteral reimplantation on both kidneys. We did discover that her right kidney is tipped which could be part of the reason healing has stalled on that side. Good news those is the left kidney has completely healed. She continues to be the spitting image of her father with the curly red hair and the spitfire, stubborn attitude to match.

Thomas continues at Xcel Energy, he has been with the company for 13 years this past June. For Easter this year I was able with some help to give him a big surprise. His Dad came and visited from Georgia. He was very, very surprised! This was a wonderful visit for all. The kids enjoyed teaching Grandpa how to bowl and play Ping-Pong on the Wii, and Thomas got to spend some time reminiscing with Dennis. I continue to be the CLO(Chief Life Officer) of the house. I keep busy with keeping track of everyone and everything. With some help from the kids this years projects were mostly outdoors. Ulrik and Linnea helped transplant 2 trees to the backyard and plant Grandma’s tree in the front yard. It took them over 2 hours to dig the hole. We almost completed the rock garden but we ran out of rock. We planted tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, and squash. We were able to can 40 jars of salsa from the garden this year. We only had 1 pumpkin make it and we picked the squash too soon, but we are learning. We had a lot of busy days this summer with my nephew Matthew(8) and niece Piper(2) still coming over for daycare. I helped out with crafts at VBS and got a new partner in crime at the same time. At the beginning of November the flu hit our house and knocked me down. I ended up with a ear infection that spread to the surrounding tissue and nerves. It was a little frightening when the doctor tells you not to be home alone. The right side of my head was numb, I had no voice and had limited use of my right arm. I had my first and I hope only MRI. Thankfully we caught things in time before surgery became necessary. With antibiotics and our chiropractor I'm almost back to fighting shape. The kids enjoyed this time as we all camped out on the couch sick together and I had no voice to tell them what to do! I have been teaching myself how to crochet with mixed results. I started making dishcloths and have moved onto hats and scarves. I attempted a pair of fingerless gloves, but after the first one, not being able to fit anyone but Bigfoot, I decided to not attempt mittens anytime soon. The kids and I completed the "Little House on the Prairie" series this winter and are now working on "The Boxcar Children" We enjoy our reading time. I continue to volunteer with IRIS. Thomas and I once again manned the kitchen with wonderful help for the pancake breakfast. My biggest contribution with some help from my Mom was using my knitting machine to make 500 blankets for a training session. I was literally up to my elbows in yarn and blankets!

At the end of July we a wonderful family vacation to Itasca State Park again. We took Grandma Carol with and everyone RELAXED!!! We went to the Mississippi Headwaters quite a few times. The goal was to not leave the park except for 1 day and we succeeded. We experienced the headwaters in the morning, afternoon, and at dusk. It is amazing how nature changes so much depending on the time of day. The kids enjoyed picking up rocks for the garden and walking in the Mississippi, they also enjoyed plenty of pool time at the cabin. Many hours were spent enjoying mother nature and her bounty. Thomas and the kids went hiking and again climbed Aitin Fire tower. Linnea has made it to the top twice, Ulrik made it further then last time. We were fortunate to have wonderful weather the entire week, it rained starting at 2am the day we left.

We hope you have had a wonderful year and been blessed with good days. The road might not always be smooth, but its still a fun ride.

Christmas Wish

The heart of Christmas is hope
We need hope.
We need Christmas!
The New Year gives us time.
We need time to grieve.
But most of all to Heal.

I wish you the gift of peace

from an aching heart;
I wish you the gift of

strength for the day ~
I wish you the gift of recognition,
I wish you the gift of remembrance,
I wish you the gift of care,
I wish you the gift of belonging,
These are the gifts I wrap in prayer,
And loving send your way.

May the memories of this Season
Come on Gentle Wings and
Bring you, your family and friends
Love and Peace.

Merry Christmas from heaven,

Zachary Andrew