Happy Birthday Grant!

On Friday, Grant (& Monica) came home from the hospital so I drove home to pick up Marlin, Emilie & Logan. Back up to Chesterton we went on Saturday to complete a tradition that I started with my children. With the birth of each child, we celebrate with a birthday party welcoming the newest member of the Schrock clan. Today it was Grant's turn.

 Haley & I went shopping for the cake after we got back to Chesterton. She wanted the Star Candles that said "Happy Birthday", but when we got home, we realized that we accidentally chose the "Happy Retirement" candles.  Emilie & Logan went to work figuring out what we could spell instead. Therefore, they spelled out "Partytime Here!"  A good save for sure.

Haley also picked out these birthday hats which we all wore, but the family picture is on Monica's camera so I will have to add it later. 

Grant with his Oma & Poppe. The Eighth in a line of new little Schrocks. We now have five grandsons and three grand-daughters. I guess Curt will have to even up the mix by adding a couple of girls.

Monica and her newest little wonder. 

There's nothing like holding your Momma's hand. 

The day went by much too quickly, but it was time to move on to our next destination so we packed it up and said Goodbye to Ben, Monica, Alex, Haley & Grant. It was a great week. It makes me sad to think that I'm not going to be able to see these faces everyday!

Thanks Ben & Monica for allowing me to be a part of this exciting new adventure! I love you all!

Grant Andre Schrock

My Eighth Grandchild was born today!  I invite you to meet Grant Andre Schrock, born at 1:38 this morning.  He weighed in at 8 pounds 15 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long. He has huge hands and feet just like his daddy did, and he has a barrel chest, also just like his daddy did, but we all think he looks like his Grandpa Pat. Mom and baby Grant are doing just fine...It was a good birth!  They worked like an athletic team these two...and daddy did a great job too! *wink!  Alex & Haley are thrilled to have a new baby brother.  They couldn't stop rubbing his head.

I had to include the picture below that I took of Monica the night before she ran the Chicago Marathon.  Yes, she was pregnant with Grant when she ran the Marathon, but I didn't know it at the time.  She thought she was so funny when I shot this picture because she was pointing to the sign and to her belly...hence, the name Grant.

Funny Story about the day of Grant's birth. I was waiting for Poppe to arrive so we could go up to the hospital and all see Grant at the same time. Haley & I went out to the car to pull it up so I could load the car seats.  When I got out of the car, Alex was standing in the garage. Inadvertently, we had locked the door to the house so there we stood on the hottest day of the year with a car, a garage opener, and my car keys, and curlers in my hair.  I had no cell phone and no key to get into the house. I walked next door to see if I could use the neighbor's phone, but no one would come to the door. I had to drive all the way to Valpo to the hospital and call Ben from the hospital lobby. I told Monica she was lucky that she had Grant when she did instead of a day later. We broke all kinds of records today, including the hottest day since 1954. The temp was well over 100 degrees.

Water days and Movie Nights...

We're experiencing warm days so each day has to have a little water fun, right?  Alex and Haley love playing in their backyard with their slip N slide. Their boogie boards are just right for backyard fun or the beach.

In the evening, we drove to the 49-er Drive In to watch Brave and the Avengers.  I took the opportunity to one last family photo before the baby comes.  As you can see Monica looks ready. She guesses the baby will weight around 7 pounds.  I'm guessing it will be 8 pounds and some change.

Willie Wonka, Carousels and More...

No Baby again today so we had to keep busy.  We drove over to Merrillville and went to the candy factory on Highway 30...definitely a throw back to Willie Wonka.  After a purchase of several Gummi assortments, Haley fell on the way out to the car and skinned her knee in two places. Tears followed, but they were short lived after a Sponge Bob bandaid fixed all that was wrong in the world. After lunch at the mall, Monica sat with the kids in the play area while I went to Teavanna to get a glass of iced tea.  They were super busy and it took awhile to get my tea so the guy said it was on the house! Next it was my turn to watch the kids in the play area while Monica went to get a foot massage.  We were hoping that the pressure points would bring on labor.  Ha! We are so silly sometimes. However, it was a very relaxing exercise for her. We finished up with a ride on the carousel. Alex talked me into the tea cup ride.  It was just as fast or I should say it seemed faster than the ones I went on in my youth...hmmm??...and I definitely felt nauseous when I finished the ride, but Alex loved it, and we both had fun, so I guess it was worth it.

Hot Days in Valpo

Valparaiso, Indiana has a park downtown that has water spurting up out of the concrete. There is an amphitheater there that shows movies on the lawn at night, and concerts throughout the summer. Since we're trying to make the waiting for baby more enjoyable, we figured that keeping the kids busy is the way to go.  We didn't actually plan to go there. Hence, Haley in her clothes in the top picture so we ran to Target and bought them swimming suits so they could play in the water. It killed the major part of the day for us. Both kids fell asleep on the couch tonight!

Waiting for Baby

We're keeping busy while waiting for baby. I told Monica she looks like those pics you see of movie stars when the paparazzi are following them.


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Chalk Talk

Having so much fun waiting for Grandchild #8 to arrive. Here is a chalk drawing made by Haley of her & I taking one of our many walks..



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T Ball Duo

Saturday was the last game for Alex & Haley, and I had not had a chance all season to get up to Chesterton to see them play. Since Marlin was stuck in Oklahoma for the weekend, I decided to go ahead and head on up on Saturday since I was already going to go up to stay with the kids when the baby came. The day started out with a T Ball game in the morning. Monica, the kids, and I went to the Chesterton Farmer's Market while Ben slept.  We were hoping the walking and being outside would help jump start her labor. No Chance! This baby will come when it's time. In the afternoon, we went back to the baseball field for an end of the season party where the kids got trophies, pizza, snow cones, and prizes (Haley won a trip to the DQ). 

Sweet Baby June Turns ONE

How is it possible that June is ONE already? 

It was good...

I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was watching these kids again together... Ahh, Such memories ! Congrats to Dustin & Leah! You picked a good one Dustin!




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Princess June Bug's Jubilee

June Emilia turns ONE this week. Aunt Emilie was home for the weekend and shot these pictures and made this video in honor of her first birthday! Thanks to The Staves for the beautiful music!

Acceptance

Life is just a series of acceptances...the sooner you accept, the sooner you can get on with life...

Amish Emmie

How does time pass by so quickly?  Many a day has passed since this picture of Amish Emmie was taken. I was a boys' mom before Emilie arrived on the scene, and I figured with this pregnancy that I would still be a boys' mom so I was pleasantly surprised when this beautiful little bundle arrived with a different set of plumbing. I always said that Emilie gave me back my femininity. 

Dr. Higgins was THE best baby doctor ever. He gave me a home birth in a hospital setting. I used to tell Dr. Higgins that when he quit delivering babies, I would be done too, and it just happened to work out that way because he quit not too long after Emilie was born. I wish every young mother could have him aid them in delivery. 

I loved putting Emilie in bonnets when she was little.  I used to call her Baby Huey much to Barb's dismay.  It took a long time for her hair to come in.  I wonder if it was my fault for keeping her in bonnets so long.  haha! Emilie looks a lot older in this picture I shot when she was only a week old.  She came into this world at 9 pounds 8 ounces and she didn't lose much like most babies do when they come home.  I'd like to think that it was because I didn't stay in the hospital. Her birthday was certainly an easy one to remember since she was born on 6-7-89!

Cousins Rebecca & Laura came to visit and couldn't get enough of carrying Emilie around.  We took them out to Asherwood to hike and they insisted on carrying Emilie around in the backpack the entire time we were there.

Emilie was practically raised at the soccer field since her brothers were well into the sport by the time she was born. I never was one of those moms that sat home with the baby while the dad took the boys everywhere.  The soccer field was a family event. Everyone loved little Emmie no matter where we took her. She could be a girlie girl, but was never so prissy that she couldn't enjoy playing in the dirt.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I would love to know what she was thinking when I took this picture. 

This is where Emilie got her start making pies.  This was taken at Thanksgiving when I was doing all my baking. Whenever I baked anything, Emilie was always by my side.  When I made pies, I would always give Emilie some of the dough so she could roll out a little pie for herself.  Hilda gave me this idea because she said that her Grandma Hochstedler used to do the same for her.

Emilie LOVED dance.  This was her first dance outfit when she was in Kinderdance.  She was a bright yellow duck and began to show her leadership skills at a very early age.  She wasn't one of those girls that watched the other girls to see how to do the dance.  She was always confident in whatever she was doing.

A little known secret about Logansport, Indiana is that there is a carousel in the park.  I'm not sure why we don't go there more often.  

I love this picture!  It shows the personalities of each in a very real way! Let me know what you think!

There comes a time in every mother's life when she has to say goodbye to the little girl that she carried.  This picture is symbolic to me because Emilie was going out the door to meet Logan to see him privately before the ceremony.

...and now, the two are one...and their birthdays are only one day apart...how cool is that?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILIE & LOGAN!

A Dogwood at last!

For 33 years I've wanted a Dogwood and this year for Mothers Day I received 2! The one in this picture is a white dogwood given to me by Moses & Kati. In the spring, I will be able to enjoy the flowers from my kitchen window!



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