Cuddly With a Chance of Flurries

That is the forecast for Otto & Max's room after I spruced it up a bit.

First, I sewed a twin and toddler bed duvet out of two queen sized Christmas sheets I had purchased (& never used) several years ago. Then I used some left over flannel to make a coordinating little pillow for Otto's bed.

Joe hung up Otto's hooks so he has a place for his PJ's, just like Max does.

And then I hung paper snowflakes above both of the boys beds.

The whole impetus of this winter bedroom makeover was Max's enthusiasm for cuddly bedding and the anticipation of snow. We've been reading books in mine and Joe's bed and Max has been asking for cozy winter blankets like our hot cocoa duvet. He showed up in our room one morning asking to climb into our bed because "my bed is so incredibly cold."

Additionally, while picking Max up from school a few weeks ago he asked if he could leave his winter jacket in his locker, to which I replied "There's a chance of snow this weekend, so we should bring it home." Well, you would have thought I told him Santa was coming that night and every night until he turns 4, because he and his friend Graham went wild (screaming, jumping up and down, hugging, telling their friends and teachers) about how excited they were that snow was coming!!!!!! This gave me the idea to hang snowflakes in the boy's room.

And my efforts were not for waste. When Max saw his room for the first time he reacted similarly to how he and Graham had about impending snow, and actually said "Mom, mine and Otto's room is MAGICAL!"

Thanksgiving

We ran out of feathers, but I could have easily added more things I was thankful for this Thanksgiving. For starters, it was at least 59 degrees in Minneapolis on Thursday! Warm enough for a run around the lake in shorts! Shorts that fit me again!

Max's first drumstick

Wren with her cousin Lyla

Me & Wren

At the risk of sounding trite, I am most thankful for these smiling faces.

Shadow Cat

While doing my whirlwind 3-minute "tidy up" after the boys headed off to school this morning, I nearly tossed this little kitty right into a toy drawer before noticing her super cute shadow.

So glad it caught my eye...inspiration for shadow puppet shows, chasing shadows, tracing shadows, etc for days when the boys aren't headed off to school.

This Looks Like Fun, Let's Have Another!

I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Wren while in Hawaii (March 2011) with Joe's whole family. My sister-in-law Angela did an awesome job (she's a Mom of two, so she totally gets it) just snapping away when I asked if she could attempt to get a family photo. Here is some of what she captured...

Some Videos of our Fun in the Snow

Max had a blast going down the slide with snow on it - he would go much faster than usual!

I cannot get over how cute kids are in snow pants. Otto is our silly, silly sweetheart!

They Even Have Groupons for Christmas Tree Lots

45 degrees here the day after Thanksgiving (as captured on the bank sign in the photo w/ the tree on top our car so I can remember the warmest Thanksgiving in Minneapolis since the 20th Century), so it was the perfect day to get our Christmas tree.

There was a time when Joe and I used to cut down our own tree. And that time will come again. But the time and place for this year's tree outing was just a few miles down the road that also had a Groupon deal.

In a couple years, when the kids are just a smidge older, I know we'll tackle the drive to and from the country, hop on a horse drawn sleigh ride with saw in hand to cut down our own tree. Until then, it's a tree lot outside Cub Foods on Hwy 7 (followed by donuts at the Cub bakery).

Her Mother's Daughter

Freaked Out by Frogs!!!

While Wren and I hang out I've started to introduce toys into our play time. The other day, after chatting with her for a few minutes, I grabbed a toy, the Frog rattle, and went to hold it in front of her. She was terribly startled by this (probably by the crackly paper in the rattle) and had a really big reflexive jump, her eyes got all wide and she cringed. Exactly the reaction I have every single time I see a frog - stuffed, photo, on TV, real - doesn't matter. I hate frogs. They make me cringe too.

Smirks & Smiles

Just look at her gorgeous-ness! When she smiles her eyes light up and grow huge, her mouth opens wide and her arms reach out wide. It's like she is so unbelievably happy to take in the whole world around her. She wants to take it all in and all of it is making her smile. When her mouth opens up it kind of moves open and shut a little bit and I feel like she's "talking" in agreement with whatever I'm telling her at that moment. When I see her face filled with so much wonderment, my heart bursts with love and hope for her and her brothers. I am trying my best to stay in the moments our family is having rather than rushing to what the future could hold - but when you've got a lot of hope in your heart for the future sometimes that's hard to do. It makes me so happy to know that our kids have an extended family that contributes to their happiness and wonderment!

The 1st Snow of the Season

Last weekend we got our 1st snow of the season. The weather folks were predicting a couple inches - in fact a few weather sites stated "100% chance of snow at 3pm" and they were right on.

Early Saturday morning I got a great 1st trip to the gym in, a trip to the coffee shop for caffeine and then some super-fast Christmas shopping done and hurried home to see the boys for lunch and some time before nap...just enough time to talk up the snow that was starting to fall. We couldn't wait to go outside after nap when there would be enough snow to shovel and play in.

Oh how I love snow. It's beautiful and slows everything down - namely the two toddler boys in our house who otherwise wouldn't. Literally, the weight of their layers of snow clothes and the heavy slush on the ground, along with shovels in hand, I am so much more calm and less fearful of them running off too quickly. We had a blast shoveling, (slowly) riding the John Deere tractor through the snow and filling the scoop up with snow, catching snowflakes on our tongues and making snowballs. One of Max's favorite things was jumping in the snow as though it were a big pile of leaves. There was barely an inch of snow on our cement sidewalk, but he insisted it felt like a big pile of leaves every time he dove onto the ground (every day I wonder less and less how he got a black tooth). And Otto was in heaven shoveling the sidewalk...this is one of the few household tasks that the boys actually make positive progress helping with!!!

And although Joe and Wren enjoyed some cozy time inside the house while the boys and I were outside, to commemorate her 1st snowfall, we put her in cute floral long johns and fuzzy pink boots that Auntie Jamie gave her.

Cute Things They Say

I've got to find one place on this blog where I can capture the cute things the kids say so I don't forget about their comments. Until I find that place, I'll just continue to title these posts as "Cute Things They Say."

Max, Otto and I were out for a run/walk the other day searching for fallen pine cones to collect and use to make bird feeders. They were in the stroller so I sprinted/walked through the neighborhood looking for pine trees. While I worked my way (walking) up a big hill, I said I'd push the "super fast hyper blast button" and started to sprint (relatively speaking) up the hill.

Max shouted "You've got it Mom! You're almost there. We're almost to the top of the hill."

So cute. He must have heard me say "You've got it" at some point. Usually I use this sentiment during running races or if a friend is posting about an upcoming race.

His spot on use of the phrase definitely made me smile and helped me sprint to the top!

Happy One Month Birthday Wren!

Say the word "Birthday" anywhere around our boys and immediately you're searching for the answer to "What kind of cake are we going to have to celebrate?"

So, Wren and I are planning to find some kind of cake today so that we can adequately celebrate her one-month Birthday with the boys tonight. Joe has a work dinner, so me and the kids will light some candles, take some photos and get a sugar high before hitting the sack for the night.

Wren, the past month with you has been amazing. After just 30 days with you in our lives, we couldn't imagine it any other way. One of these days I'm going to get photos off our camera and onto the computer (or I'll figure out iCloud so it's automatic and one fewer thing to do) so I can add a little visual interest to my posts.

Until that day comes, I just keep holding and staring at you. All others can enjoy these beautiful moments that Eydie Nelson captured of you during your first week.

30 Day Challenge

This video was the most recent kick in the pants for me to carve out some time to sit down and write. For years I've dabbled with some blog posts and kept telling myself that I really will get better about capturing big and small moments, write about them and share them. Then, about a month or two before Wren was born, I saw this video being passed around, watched it and vowed to kick-off my blog by (1) writing more and (2) introducing my family to it/invite them to read what I've written by one month after the birth of our 3rd baby.

So today, one month since Wren's birth, I welcome you to my blog. It's most definitely a work in progress, just like most everything in my life right now. As Matt says in his talk, it's not perfect, but I'm making progress, trying new things and, most importantly for me, remembering our families moments so much more vividly by experiencing them and intentionally capturing them.

I hope you'll watch this short video and be inspired to try something new or engage in something more deeply.

Matt Cutts: Try something new for 30 days | Video on TED.com

Sharing Stories

If there's one thing I love, it's sharing stories.

And playing with my kids.

And hanging out with Joe.

And cooking.

And running.

And getting massages.

And simple sewing projects.

And going to Costco.

And, and, and.

Add up all the things I love, along with the things I don't necessarily love (laundry, making lunches, cleaning, showering, and, and, and) and suddenly I find myself having less time for sharing stories with friends and family.

So, I'm attempting to share stories in a new way so that they don't get lost or never told. I'm giving blogging a try to see if it helps me share updates from the Schuster family more regularly (it's getting very challenging with three little kids to talk to all friends and family as frequently and in as much depth as I would like - particularly during the "sane" hours of the day).

By no means do I want blogging to replace getting together and our phone calls. My hope is that once in awhile you'll have interest in reading the blog, enjoy some of our families stories and then when we are talking live we can connect more deeply on our lives rather than just retelling a little kidlet tidbit over and over.

You may notice some old posts. Like over two years old. I actually started this blog back in 2009 with a few posts when we were just a family of three. Then life got busy when we became a family of four. And now, as a family of five, I really mean it. I'm going to capture our stories, throw them into the Cloud, and see if this blog is fun for me and you. If it is, I'm guessing you'll see lots more posts. If it isn't, well, posts will become as infrequent as my current shower schedule.

Hard Times In the Schuster household

Week three. Day 19 after Wren's birth, to be exact. My 1st day alone with all 3 kids. I'd been dreading this inevitable moment. Although Max and Otto are indisputably the cutest kids ever created, they are very challenging when together. Add to the mix a newborn baby, nursing/pumping routine, deer hunting opener for Joe, etc and I was just kind of looking forward to this monumental day to be over - to know that I survived. I knew it was going to be a hard day.

And it was. It's a lot for me to juggle all three kids (god bless those moms and dads who are so natural at keeping a brood entertained and well-behaved all day). BUT, it was a great day! While we had our moments of meltdowns, I am thrilled to say we had more good moments than bad, which isn't always the case.

And leave it to my 3 year old to keep me in check and remind me that I'm not the only one who has a hard job...

After an afternoon playing in the forest and at the park, I asked the boys to jump into the stroller so we could get home in time to meet the pizza delivery guy. While walking towards the stroller Max got sidetracked and started to run off to the basketball court. I hollered for him to stop and come back to the stroller because he's the big brother and needs to help show Otto how to be a good listener.

Max stopped running, turned around and walked to the stroller. As he was climbing into his seat, he said "But Mom, it's hard being a big brother."

Fun Chaos

Two words you don't usually hear me say in the same sentence. Halloween 2011 was really, really fun chaos, though.

Wren was exactly 2 weeks old on Monday, October 31st. It was my 1st day to pick up both the boys with Wren in tow (I'm finding it daunting each time I have to tackle a "first" involving all three kids).

So my Halloween afternoon consisted of trying to figure out when Wren would need to eat, feed her, and then dart off to school to pick-up Max and Otto...getting back in time to feed Wren again. That task went very smoothly, but the next 45 minutes of trying to get everyone ready, out the door and to our neighbors for the pre-trick-or-treating party was a little chaotic.

Our incredibly kind, fun and patient neighbors had a slew of friends and family over for food & fun. Thankfully the weather was absolutely beautiful and the dozen kids all rough-housed (oh wait, was that just my boys) in the backyard before heading out to trick-or-treat.

So, as dusk fell over Southwest Minneapolis, the kids took off like bats out of hell to collect their candy. It was so much fun to see Max totally into it this year. He would sprint from house to house excited to say Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat (and also had a pretty good track record of saying Thank You). At first Otto didn't seem as excited about going door to door to get candy (he probably wasn't entirely aware of what that candy was or tasted like...). But as soon as he saw his big brother and the other kids having so much fun he was all-in. Couldn't quite keep up with the bigger kids, but had a blast and got pretty darn good at saying Trick or Treat.

Much like I'm guessing all of these "1st Holidays" will be with what we believe is our "complete" family, I really tried to take it all in. The kids being very rowdy at the neighbors. Silly, "uncoordinated" costumes that Max (Thomas the Train) & Otto (Cookie Monster) loved (yet I wished I had put more thought into). Max wanting to be "the fastest" getting to each house. Otto going from mildly interested to very interested in trick or treating and being the little costumed character trying to keep up with the big kids. Max saying he has enough candy and wants to go home. Getting home and having the boys (unprompted - it must just be what kids do) dump their pumpkin full of candy onto the floor in the living room. And Otto instantly learning what candy is - especially CHOCOLATE (it's so cute to see his eyes light up when he sees chocolate now).

I've also realized that I will never have photos of us again. Juggling two toddlers running in opposite directions while wearing a Bjorn or pushing a stroller makes wielding a camera very challenging. However, our neighbors were able to snap a few of us. Going to get those posted someday soon...