Congrats to Heather!

Heather, as most of you know, is attending graduate school online through Upper Iowa University. She is working for her MPA (Masters in Public Administration). She just finished her first round of classes and pulled B's in her classes. This is a very big deal because she had so much anxiety about school, work and everything else that she was driving herself insane. She was also just invited to speak at a conference in November in Minneapolis, MN on some work related stuff. We are all proud of you! Keep it up.

As for the rest of us, Dylanne has a kindergarten "practice"day on Friday and she's amped about that. She had a dentist appointment today and has one cavity. This was hard to swallow because she brushes her teeth religiously, almost too much if you ask me.

Micheala still will not poop on the potty! I am tired of shitty diapers and she just will not commit to the toilet. I tried to explain to her how great it is to poop on the potty, but I don't think she comprehended the message I was trying to get across. She will wear big girl underwear, but then will not poop until she has given herself a stomach ache.

As for me, I fish. I have a blog (www.schrockfishing.blogspot.com) or "the bait bucket" in which I journal my various fishing adventures. This is a modern way to record my fishing trips, opposed to the photo albums and written fishing journals I'd kept in the past. I am ready for HAWKEYE FOOTBALL! Season tickets are ordered and I'm ready to get nuts.

Finally, I'll leave you with a story.

Last year during the big storms that we had, our neighbors had their trampoline demolished. Austin, the youngest of the family loved the trampoline and often times begged his dad to get him a new one. All he could do was watch the neighbor kids jump on their trampoline, and when he tried to jump with them, he often got rough housed and would end up crying. This year during Micheala's birthday party, My parents got to witness one such incident. That's when they decided to give their trampoline to Austin. So I went to my parent's house and tore down the trampoline and went and set it up at Austin's house. He was so excited and very grateful. The joy that he is getting out of the trampoline is priceless. He jumps on it every time that he can, you see, Austin at the age of 6, is going through his second round of Chemotherapy for his leukemia. One of his side effects is that his legs are weak at times. Austin's father, Chuck, told me yesterday that his doctors say that the trampoline is the best thing for Austin right now because he is building his leg strength.

It baffles me how something as minor as an old not being used trampoline, when placed properly, can make the world of difference.

Yard Work

First and foremost, as I am doing this post this morning, I have come to realize that I have turned into a girl. I'm sitting here with Micheala (Dylanne is in school) and we are listening to the High School Musical 2 soundtrack. It was my idea to listen to it and I know the words to every song on the cd. I have been officially "de-balled" by my girls!
Anyway..........the past couple weeks, I've been working on an extreme yard make over. Heather decided the bushes in front of our house had to go. So with some bricks, mulch and flowers; we have made some changes. Here are some photos, and you can compare them to the old house photo on the right. We are not done yet, but getting close, dodging the rain has been a pain in the butt. Above is a picture of the back corner of the garage.

This is along the side of the garage. i don't know what the plant life is in the brick, I just know that it's green and not dead.

Front corner of the house. Heather and the neighbors laid the brick in the front of the house while I was at work one weekend.

Flowers in front of the house. Heather's design idea. I just do what I'm told. I think it looks nice even though I had my doubts at first.

Full front view of the house.

I tried to dress up the tree in the front yard My drive for the circle to be perfect made this a 4 hour job. There it is and there will be more to come. Friends had been asking about pictures, so I thought I'd better get some up.

K'la's Birthday!

Today our baby turned 3. Where has the time gone. Heather and I put together a little birthday gathering for Micheala Saturday night. Heather's grandmother (Nena) and her Aunt Donna surprised us and cam e to spend the weekend. All of us were very excited! Along with Nena and Donna, My parents, Uncle Chris and Aunt Joni, Jason and Erica (neighbors) and Micheala's godparents Nikki and Phil came to her party. Although Micheala got cranky towards the end of the party, it went real well and we all had a good time. Micheala got some gifts that she really wanted and had fun with her family and friends.

Heather and I bought Micheala a Ford F-150 power wheels truck. As captured in the picture above, she knows that trucks are made for off roadin'. She loves the fact that the truck has a working radio in it, so she can cruise and listen to her favorite songs. She also like putting pine cones in the back of the truck, like she's hauling them somewhere. Why not a Barbie or more girly car? This is the truck she wanted because it looks like our neighbor Jason's truck.

Micheala just hanging out with Nena's dog Phoebe. The dog doesn't look quite as happy as Micheal does in this photo.

Dylanne proved to be a big helper during the party. Dylanne knows that eventually she will also get to play with these new toys. Micheala got some High School Musical toys that made her just excited as all can be.

Saturday morning at breakfast. Aunt Donna, Grandma Brenda and Great Grandma Nena sit around the table full of all kinds of motivation.

Micheala has a "don't sing to me" complex as captured above. We had birthday High School Musical cupcakes because we found that cupcakes work better for us than cake does.

Micheala's godparents and our good friends, Nikki and Phil. We were all happy that these two could make it and hope to see more of them this summer. Micheala loves these two like crazy and they are so fun to watch play with our girls. Thanks for coming guys!

Thanks to everyone who came and help Micheala celebrate 3 years of life.

The Schrocks got a BUG up their ass

I took this week off of work hoping to do a little walleye fishing. I was pissed to find out that the rivers are still high and don't seem to be going down anytime soon. What to do with all this time on my hands. Well, Heather decided that we should rip all of the bushes out in the front of our house and replace it with a combination of mulch, brick and flowers. I liked the bushes and Heather did not, so of course we got rid of the bushes. Once we get a nicer day, I'll be posting pictures of the "new" look in the front of our house. I was against the project at first, but I like the finished project.

Heather and I learned a lesson in buying cars this past week. Last Tuesday we went to Saterlee Motor Company to look at a used Volkswagen New Beetle. It was a 2001 with 70K miles and had only one previous owner. Heather was getting tired of her Ford Focus because it was breaking down all the time and proving to not be all that dependable. We test drove the car and liked it, so we made an offer and was able to pay what we wanted for the car. As soon as we drove off the lot, the engine light came on. We took it back to get fixed and found that we needed to replace the Mass Air Flow. Problem solved right? No............! We then had the check engine light come back on the following day, along with the air bag light. We took it in again, and they agreed to replace the parts that needed to be replaced. Fixed right? No..........! Heather calls me from work yesterday and says her car won't move. We call the dealership and have them tow it to their place. They once again agree to replace the needed parts, but it will take a couple of days. Heather was pissed and I was aggravated. So I met with the owner, Scott Saterlee, and told him we wanted our old car back and that this deal needed to be null in void. He told me that this was not a possibility and that he and his boys were sure that it would be fixed this time. So I agreed to let them fix the car, it was not costing us a thing. It was done at 2:15 pm today, so Heather and I got in the car and drove it to the Volkswagen dealership down the road. With tears in her eyes, Heather told the salesman about how her dream car has turned into a bust and that she couldn't believe the salesmen at Saterlee Motor Company would allow her to load up our kids into a car, that they were well aware of, would break down. I would be lying if I didn't say that this was a planned strategy from Heather and I. The Volkswagen salesmen were able to work us a deal and take the shitty silver 2001 piece of shit beetle off our hands and sell us a 2004 Volkswagen new Beetle.

This car is green (pictured above) a certified pre-owned vehicle, which means it passed a 112 point inspection and has an additional 50K mile warranty on it. The car is fully loaded with only 28K on it. Heather now has her dream car and all is peaceful at the Schrock house once again. We recommend the Volkswagen dealership, as their salesmen were honest and did everything they could to get us into this car. As for Saterlee.........their commercials are the only thing good about this place.

To be 2 and 4!

Things have been busy around here lately, just life. We haven't had a chance to update lately, but I thought I'd share two very different stories from today.

Micheala (or K'la or Mickey) it depends on her mood: I woke up this morning to get ready for work and went to the kitchen to find some interesting artwork on the wall. What could it be? Mud. No, poop! She pooped in the middle of the night and wanted to save it so she drew on the wall. It's so hard to be mad at that logic, I managed though and was pretty ticked off. So, I called into work and said I would be taking a vacation day to work on some potty training issues. I thought I could just finish this potty training stuff once and for all. It's not going well! Ugh! I don't know what else to do. She will be 3 on Saturday. She may be the only teenager to still be wearing pull-ups.

On to Dylanne: The girls are upstairs playing and I was downstairs doing schoolwork and Dylanne came down to have me put shoes on a doll. I'm not sure how we got onto the topic of being "hot", but we managed. She informs me that a little boy at daycare thinks she's "hot!" Oh my goodness. First of all the little boy is only 2. So, I asked her what that meant, was she warm? No, now I'm the dumbest mom ever, it of course in her words means that she's pretty. Why does she know this at 4! Anyway she goes on to tell me that she doesn't like him and he wants to marry her. The problems of a 4 year old. What drama.

That's about all. I know Mike has plans to post a few times this week, probably after Micheala's birthday for sure.

Love,

The Schrocks

Wednesday afternoon in the Schrock yard

Wednesday was just an absolutely gorgeous day, so after Dylanne got home from school, Dylanne, Micheala and I decided to go outside and play in the yard. It was about 2 hours of me pushing them on their swings. I was a bit tired and bored with the "swinging" thing but it was worth it as the girls had all sorts of fun. I'm glad we were able to enjoy the weather due to Thursday being another snow day. Here's a few pictures from our outside adventure.

Micheala in the swing. She is never going high enough or fast enough! She will be graduating to a big girl swing later this spring as it is a little tough getting her out of her baby swing. Michaela also will turn 3 years old on April 19th. Friday we have a preschool round up for her. She is very excited, but still has not dropped a deuce in the toilet!

Dylanne can swing herself, but insists that I push her. She had kindergarten round up last Friday and is excited for next year. On April 11th she will be attending her friend, Shea's, birthday party. She is very stressed right now as she states, "I just don't know the perfect gift to get Shea for her birthday!"

We took a bit of a break to eat some fresh apples on the picnic table. Micheala is always ready for a picture.

Dylanne with a mouth full of apples. This is the only time she is not talking. She often times has lots to say and sometimes gets the "diva head shake" going on when she's addressing people. Boy is my future looking troublesome.

Shortly before this picture I said, "There is NOT enough room for both of you on my lap." Once again, the girls prove that daddy isn't always right.

The girls pose with a few of the members of the Schrock orphanage that currently is invading our house. It amazes me how they can name each and every baby and remember all of their names. That's all for now, just a quick update.