Halloween and Updates

The girls had a lot of fun at Halloween this year. Dylanne was the Wicked Witch of South St and Micheala was Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Halloween honestly gives me a lot of anxiety. First, they don't make costumes for Iowa weather. So, the girls get costumes and then are all mad at me because we have to bundle up. Then the candy! O my goodness, there is so much candy and we have two diabetics in the house. Not a good combination! We went Trick or Treating with a bunch of friends and made it down one road when Micheala decided she was done. It's a lot of work to ask for candy and to be honest she had some and was dying to eat it! Micheala and I headed home, but I don't buy Halloween candy so we went to the neighbors and they let her help hand some candy out.

The girls did the free-throw shooting contest this year. This is Dylanne's third year and Micheala's first. Dylanne has gotten old enough that she is now using a real basketball and the hoop is much higher, which frustrated her a bunch. She got first place the last two years and was very frustrated with only third place this year. Micheala on the other hand, made no baskets, but thought it was a blast because there were High School girls there helping them and that is all she needed. Micheala really wanted a trophy and out of 5 girls, Micheala was tied for 3rd place so she got a trophy! She was excited and Dylanne ticked off! Ah, the emotions of girls.

That's about it for the Schrock house right now. They keep us on our toes and busy. They want snow now and are ready with their winter gear. I hope we don't get any this year. I have a feeling I will be disappointed.

JDRF and misc catching up to do!

Wow! I have some catching up to do.

Last spring Micheala and Mike participated in a photo shoot for JDRF. The hope was to use the pictures for the JDRF Gala that is held every fall. These are two of the pictures that were taken! They turned out amazing! The one of both Mike and Micheala was used on the invites for the JDRF Gala. The one of just Micheala was used as a big picture on the stage at the Gala. We were able to go to the Gala (thanks to so many wonderful people) and enjoy the evening in honor of Micheala. We had a wonderful time and were joined by our great friends Jason and Erica.

We have been busy since the last time I posted. School has started and Micheala is finally beginning to adjust. We had some health problems and those are posted at www.caringbridge.org site name: schrock.

Mike has been busy working his new job in Waverly. He drives an hour back and forth to work everyday, but he loves his job. He spent the summer coaching a 10U baseball team and really enjoyed working with the boys and other coaches. We had a blast going to the games and felt honored that those families allowed us to be a part of their boys lives.

The girls keep us busy. Dylanne is doing sports and enjoys school. She is a social butterfly so the second she gets home from school she wants to go somewhere to play. She enjoys the neighbor kids and she is usually at someone elses house or someone is at ours. Micheala learned to ride her bike without training wheels. She mastered it in no time and is now trying to pop wheelies and ramp off of things. Micheala's best friend is our neighbor Erica and everyday as soon as Erica gets home from work, Micheala is over at her house. Sometimes Micheala just goes inside and sits on the couch and snuggles with Erica.

That's us in a nutshell. Hopefully soon, I can get up some pictures of the actual Gala night.

School Begins!!

School has started! Dylanne started school on the 17th and Micheala started the 18th. The pictures shown are of the girls on Micheala's first day of school. They were both very excited about school starting. Dylanne has moved to a big kid pod in the school. She has an actual desk that opens and is very excited about it. Micheala is full-time school this year. After much discussions with the teacher and the nurse, I am feeling about as comfortable as I can be about her being there and eating lunch. She is very excited because her friend Madison is in her class with her. It is amazing to me how grown up they are getting.

Changes

We have had a lot of changes since our last post.

Mike:
First of all this Friday marks Mike's last day working for the Linn County Youth Shelter. He will have worked there for not quite 8 years and the County Board of Supervisors has decided to shut the doors. Mike will begin working for Bremer County on May 3rd as the CCO of Community Based Services. He will finally be working a day job and be home in the evenings and on weekends with the rest of us and we are very excited to have him at home! Mike has been spending a lot of his free time working with the CPU Storm baseball team. He has been helping coach and has really enjoying working with the boys. Their first game is tonight.

Dylanne:
Dylanne is doing well is school. She started softball yesterday and is very excited! She is growing like a weed and it won't be too much longer and she will be taller than I am! Both of the girls are finishing up dance and have their dance recital in a couple of weeks. Dylanne does not wish to do dance next year, but has shown interest in gymnastics. We had a friends birthday party at Twisters and Dylanne got to try out some of her gymnastic skills and she does actually have some raw talent. We will have to see if she gets to sign up this fall.

Micheala:
Micheala is getting so much better at working with her diabetes. We still struggle at times, but I think this is the nature of the beast and is something that we will just have to go with the flow. Micheala just celebrated her 5th birthday! Where did the time go? I can't believe our baby is 5! She had a wonderful day! We got her a bike and as soon as the garage door opens every morning, no matter the weather, she is on the bike and riding it in the driveway! She loves to ride her bike! She also got some seeds from her friend Erica and she planted them and they are sprouting and everyday she has to check to see how much more they have grown. She still struggles a little with going to school and hates riding the bus, but is getting better. She doesn't hate it, but would just rather hang at home with mom and dad. She will go to Kindergarten full days next year! She is a little frustrated that Dylanne gets to do sports and she doesn't. She will continue to do dance next year as she loves it!

Me:
I am working as usual. I switched jobs to the Health Dept. It keeps me busy and I travel a lot which I do not like. I made contact with my dad last November and that has been amazing and we talk (usually through email)several times a week. May 3rd marks 2 years since my Mom has been gone and I struggle with it everyday! People often tell me it will get easier and I am still waiting. Hopefully someday it will. The girls and Mike keep me busy and that helps a lot! We have great friends and I spend a lot of time with them and that is also wonderful!

Hopefully we can be a little better about keeping this updated.

God Bless!