My my my heart like a kick drum...

Mike and I were able to see another one of our favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, in concert this weekend at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Before the show we enjoyed some Thai food at Chiang Mai Thai, which was our first "date night" in a very long time. The concert was fantastic! We only very recent came across their music and are most familiar with their most recent release, so we were very happy that much of the set list was familiar to us. I was very nervous about staying awake, since pregnancy has made me impossibly tired lately, but to my surprise I was able to stay awake until almost 1am without any problems.

From our vantage point at the concert:

Benjamin spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Schmitt who also took him to see Great Aunt Alice Saturday afternoon while Mike and I grabbed the chance to have even more alone time.

On Sunday we prepared for our annual Oscars party, which was a success! We really aimed to make it a low stress party with simple foods and more time spent with our friends vs. cooking, etc. I think we met our goal. We had about 10 adults and 4 kids and it was a lot of fun. Now we just need to catch up on our movie watching!

Benjamin has been taking swimming lessons for a couple of weeks now. Mike takes him and has been able to snap a few pictures of him swimming.

He really enjoys the class but is still quite hesitant to fully jump in the water, which all of the kids do at the end of the class. I think after another few classes he'll be a pro at it!

School

The 100 board
Originally uploaded by Familie Schmitt

Benjamin has been at his new school for just over six months. He loves it, we love it. Every day holds something to discuss about school. Here are a few pictures of things he's been concentrating on lately.

8 weeks, 4 days

We had our first doctor's appointment today and they did the very first ultrasound on Baby Schmitt #2. They are measuring at 8 weeks, 4 days and we could see the little one's heartbeat beating. Because the baby measured in a little older than they had originally thought, they've moved the due date up to September 25th. Hooray for a shorter pregnancy!

I have been feeling better these past 2 days, but am still slightly nauseous and very tired. Now that we've seen the baby, it is all beginning to feel more real!

Laced Up

(photo borrowed from Renee @ her blog)

Sunday marked the third running of the Lace Up Against Breast Cancer half marathon and 5k. Mike is on the planning committee and I am the webmaster/Mayo-connection for the race. We've been working since last year along with a whole pack of other people to put together the race. Mike's oldest brother, Joe, came down to Rochester to run the race with Mike. The money raised from race entry fees, donations and from the silent auction goes to breast cancer research here at Mayo Clinic, where I work. Mike bid on and won a dinner for 6 prepared by a local Cooking Light club, which should come in handy as things get crazier within our growing household.

Our Valentine's Day was pretty low key this year. The race was in the morning, but both Benjamin and I woke up feeling sick, so we had to skip volunteering for the event. When Mike came home we exchanged Valentines and played with Benjamin's new Playdoh Ice Cream Shoppe set. Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed came down Sunday evening, we all went out for Mexican food and then came back home to watch some Olympics. Benjamin is off of school today for President's Day so Grandma and Grandpa took the day off as well to hang out with him. They had all kinds of fun things planned to do while Mike and I are at work.

We are all very excited for this week because I have my first OB appointment with my doctor and we'll finally be able to see the baby via ultrasound. He/she is only the size of a blueberry at this point, so the photos won't be great, but it will be a relief to confirm that everything is going well. I'm sure we'll be back with an update after the appointment!

September 29 25, 2010

Snow Angel

For at least a while this weekend we came up past sub-zero temperatures, so we were finally able to enjoy all of that snow we have. Joe, Jen, the boys, Andy and Jennifer all came down for the weekend and it was fun to have visitors. Sunday morning most of us bundled up enough to enjoy some sunshine and snow. Joe and the boys built a huge snow fort in the backyard and we adults had some fun throwing around snowballs.

The boys spent a lot of time inside playing, too. Here is a video of Benjamin making John laugh.

Beginning a new year

Christmas is over, the new year is here.

In looking back at our 2009 Photo Collection, I realized that we've had quite the busy year. Early in 2009 Mike took a "plunge," we celebrated the weddings of Andy & Jennifer and Erin & Dennis, my Mom and I traveled to Hawaii for Kelly & Mike's wedding, Mike competed in his first triathlon, we both raced in the Amuzing Race again, Benjamin turned 4, started at a new school and trick-or-treated as a robot for Halloween. And of course, most importantly, we took a family roadtrip.

The three of us have had the past week off of work and school and it is hard to believe we only have one day left of our vacation. I have a big week coming up at work this next week. I am coordinating a research symposium on Wednesday that I have been working on for about a year. Mike has many races scheduled for the year already and we've been throwing around ideas for at least one big vacation. Hopefully 2010 is a wonderful year for us -- and for all of you!!