Scouting America

 My big crazy is now in Scouting America (Formally Boy Scouts of America)

I wanted to provide a list of items that are helping him. So far it's just minimal but I know it'll grow!

THIS TOTE is easy to carry, and holds a TON

Zipper Binder to hold onto his paperwork as well as his merit badge cards

Spring Update

On the calendar today is the first day of spring. Outside, not so much.... Hopefully though it will happen soon enough.

Most of us at the Schuster house are getting ready for vacation!! The hubs and I are going to DISNEY!!! Jack Attack isn't so lucky but, he's too little to even realize he is missing out. I'm not real sure how much he is missing out though in his little eyes as Grandma and Grandpa are going to come visit. I'm quite certain he's going to get lots of loves, and lots of playing outside and lots of cookies.

We are thankful that Grandpa and Grandma Pat were able to come out at the end of February and we were able to play some in the snow that was on the ground. We have such a good sledding hill that we all enjoyed going down it - even Jack. It wasn't super cold out either so that made it real nice.

Also John and I have decided that it may be best for our family to move closer to Indy. While we absolutely love our house and love our community the drive is starting to take it's toll.  So hopefully we can find someone else that will love the house as much as we do. We do need to get some projects done though. Ugh the never ending list of projects.

Speaking of projects though I better get back to it!

Have a good one,

Michelle

Fortune Cookies

I think it's fun to collect fortune cookie fortunes.  I had a whole pile at my desk but, it was getting out of control.  It doesn't help that there is a Chinese food restaurant within walking distance of work. Here are some fortunes I've received.

Happy New Year!

Hello!! We spent our evening at our friend's house - Jack was so good! Only fussy when he got a little tired. So I was able to nurse him and then cuddle with him until he slept. Then he woke up at about 11:30 or so and was awake to watch the ball drop! I don't think he wanted to be awake though and was a bit confused about where we were. Luckily, these friends live less than 10 mins away.

Exciting news though is that once we got home, about 12:40 or so, he was back asleep and slept until 7:15!!! Hooray!!! Now he is taking a nap and has been asleep for 2 hours. I guess he partied way to hard last night.

John and I are enjoying our day off and doing laundry and other odds and ends around the house. John is putting together a cabinet he got me for Christmas. I cleaned up a couple cupboards and put the glass things higher and brought the plastic things lower. 

Jack is really really wanting to crawl. He does Army crawl and he puts his whole body into it. He's such a happy kid though. But now you can see why the plastic things needed to be in a lower cupboard as I imagine he is going to learn to open the door and play with whatever he finds. Trouble maker for sure. 

 I can't wait for him to wake up and so we can play! My folks were out here this past weekend and bought him a Johnny Jumper. His cousin has one and they thought he needed one too. He loves it - not as much as his cousin yet but, he will get there.  

He is also very spoiled - lots of lovings while Grandma and Grandpa were here - then the weekend before John's dad was out and gave him lots of loves too. It's easy to love him with the cute little smile he gets. I don't think it will be easy to say no to that.

A few other things that happened recently:
- We got to spend a whole week in Iowa for Thanksgiving and saw just about the whole immediate family. - Even got to meet Jack's new cousin Daniel!
- I cut 5 inches off my hair.
- Jack had his first baby sitter while I was at work and John had drill.
- We were Jesus, Mary, and Joseph for the Christmas program at church.
- John had his work Christmas party and naturally Jack was the cutest guy there
- Jack now eats carrots (iffy on liking them) and sweet potatoes (likes them).

Baby sleeping

Just sitting here rocking the little guy. He's so stinking cute. Problem is, I'm starving. No one else is awake - father in law is visiting for the weekend. Thankfully Jack is snoring so he can't hear my stomach growling. 

Whoa I'm behind

Soooo I'm behind on posting any updates. It's like I have a cute little baby at home or something. =)

Anyway, things are busy. Jack is learning new things all the time and his eyes just always look so big with wonder. He also now has 2 little teeth on the bottom. They don't seem to bother him much but I do catch him chewing on his tounge sometimes. He does love to chew and chomp on all of his toys. Luckily he doesn't reach for any of the dog toys!!!

My parents were out for a long weekend visit during Veterans Day. I know they enjoyed seeing baby Jack and Jack enjoyed his time with them also. He showed them how good he is at eating cereal at night time (helps him not wake up so much during the night). He also showed them how he rolls over every where and how good he is at petting the doggies.

The dogs have been behaving so good around the baby. I think they know that he's here to stay and not so bad. Both Lucy and Charlie will go and stick their noses close to him to make sure he's okay. Charlie of course gives him kisses and he doesn't mind.

Here are a couple photos. 

Eyelash

I realize that eyelashes fall out. That being said I have one eyelash on my right eye that is pointed down. Nothing I do works!!! I put make up on and still points down...eyelash curler...tried pulling it out - that hurt. 

It's toward the center of my eye and believe it or not it does sort of get in the way. 

Never imagined I'd have a problem like this.

Shopping carts

So it really bugs me when people don't put their carts away. Either back into the store or in the cart corral. We all hate to find a parking space only to realize there are shopping carts in the space right? Plus when they are just randomly in the parking lot the wind can sometimes get it and push it onto someones car causing damage and frustration. And we all hate to see the parking lot full of carts only to get into the store to realize there are none inside.

Well today I had enough. Squeaker and I went to Wal-Mart to get some address labels and we actually scored a decent parking space. Sometimes I park next to the cart corral on purpose so it's easier to get into the store. Just pop his car seat in and go. 

Anyway, when we were leaving with just one bag of stuff I watched a woman finish putting her things into the back of her SUV. She was parked in one of those parallel handicap spaces. I was just getting near her when she was finished. She was the first car in the line and she started to push her cart away. I held my breath thinking maybe she was actually going to go back into the store to put it away.  Like I said she was in the first spot and I couldn't tell what made her qualify for the handicap space. Well nope...she just dropped her cart off in the cross hatch spot not 10 yards from the door. So I looked right at her and said "really you are going to leave your cart right there?" She replied, "yes isn't this where they go?" Mind you there were shockingly no other carts there. So I turned toward her and said nope and me and Squeaker took her cart and walked it into the store leaving her standing there. I can't believe I actually said anything. 

I hope she thought about how inconsiderate she was. I know I should have been nicer but ahhhh it drives me nuts. I also hope that she was embarrassed that she didn't put her cart away right but a mom carrying an infant in a car seat could do it.

So moral of the story. Put your cart away. 

Kudos to my mom

As I sit here and nurse squeaker I can't help but wonder how my mom did it. 4 kids including a set of twins. Right now he's doing a great job of not squirming around and such. Last night though he just didn't feel like going to sleep. In his defense though he had shots Monday so Tuesday he slept quite a bit at day care. He just wanted to fuss and be rocked. I just don't know how my mom had the energy and patience for us when my twin sister and I were born. 2 boys in grade school and the twins! She nursed us too which I am very thankful for. I just don't know how she did it. It is a bit tiring. I feel like I'm always hungry and can't get full.

I do realize that dad helped out and our brothers were able to mostly take care of themselves. I'm quite certain that helped. I know everything the hubs does around here I am very thankful for. For instance he is usually the one that has to finish preparing dinner. Then has to clear the table. He also makes sure the dogs still get attention and exercise. I'm sure though that my brothers still wanted mom's attention and hugs. I'm sure she gave them plenty of those hugs too.

Seriously though, I have no clue how my mom was able to feed, care for, rock to sleep etc twins and still had energy and patience for our brothers. Getting this little squeaker to sleep is exhausting. Its not like he is fussy like I said, he just wanted to be awake and look at things. Can you imagine having to try and calm down 2 babies?!  She is a master at holding 2 babies at the same time though.

me getting ready for a photo with both boys

and GO for photo!

Grandma is a pro!

I have been told that after you have one baby that any after that are easier and you are less worried about things and have a better grasp about whats going on. I don't know about that though. I'm not sure I will know though. Much too early to be thinking like that. I do know that I will not be pregnant during a deployment again though.

Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out to my mom for being such a great mom!!!

Introducing....

Mothers Day 2012

Well most of you know me in real life know that I was pregnant. 

super pregnant!



In the elevator going to Labor & Delivery

Now there's a baby!!!







First Family Photo



Cuddling with Dad in the hospital







Sleeping in the hospital







Professional Phto



Just look how curious he is!



Born May 25, 2013 at 9:16AM, 7lbs 6oz

The hubs calls him Mr. Squeaker or Squeaker because of the noises he makes. He's my little cuddle buddy. I'll try and get a picture of him cuddling up on my shoulder after a feeding. He just wraps his little arm around my shoulder.

Of course there will be more Schuster Stories involving the new addition. =)

Professional photos done by Elisabeth Smith

Teeth Whitening Pinterest activity

So I imagine that we've all seen the TV commercial that if you're not whitening you're yellowing. Here it is in case you haven't.
Crest 3D White :30 Spot from Denise Reynolds on Vimeo.

Well I want white teeth but I didn't want to pay a bunch for it. So I got on Pinterest to find a DIY and found this. at home teeth whitening I have used the whitening strips before and this "toothpaste" felt like the same product that is on them. When I was done though my teeth felt so sensitive! Like a layer of protection had been taken off. Maybe that's what it's suppose to do to help get the gross stuff off but I'm going to stick to the whitening toothpaste I can buy unless someone can convice otherwise. And yeah I'm using the Crest 3D white... The commercial sold me.

Grease...not the musical

Well with the hubs home that means projects are happening.

See all the grease?

He wanted to do some work on the pick up. He was wanting to put in an auxiliary tank which is fine except when he did this to his jeans...his shirt was pretty bad too but, he has plenty of work shirts so the shirt didn't make it... shucks.

Anyway, the first thing I did was roll my eyes because I did not know if this was going to be able to come out.  But then I gathered my products: Cornstarch, scrub brush, Dawn soap, and Borax.

I liberally applied the cornstarch to the grease and went to town with the scrub brush. I should have probably put more elbow grease into it but I got bored.

This is what I used

Scrub it in

After I got the cornstarch absorbed in, I then applied some Dawn soap. I have used Dawn soap on some smaller grease spots before with great success. Those other times were more like from when I spilled something on myself not from the vehicle.

in the washer

Finally I decided to go ahead and put the jeans in the wash. I had some old towels and rags to wash also. I was too chicken to have anything good in the wash just in case the grease would rub on to it. I added to Borax because I have recently heard that it does wonders for laundry.

For the most part I am happy with the results. You can still see some of the grease but, they are work pants so it isn't a big deal. I imagine that if I would have used more cornstarch and more elbow grease that I would have had better results. I will be trying this again.

Final

The Hubs

May 15th started like any other day.  I probably had a hard time figuring out what to wear because I would be a million degrees at work. I was probably late to work because of it. Again normal. Anyway I was just working away trying to get some loose ends taken care of before the baby comes. 

Then a gal comes to my desk and says "Michelle there I someone here to see you." I panic thinking its someone here to yell at me and why haven't I paid their claim etc. I sit fairly close to the door but I stand up and then I can see over the cubicle walls and there is my husband standing by the door!!!! 

I run over to him. Well as much as I can run being 9 months pregnant and I didn't have my shoes on. 

I give him a big hug again, as big of one as I could do with the belly in the way and I start shaking a little. I wasn't suppose to see him until after the baby came and even then I didn't know exactly when.  I didn't cry but I joked about not having shoes on. I then took him to my desk to get my shoes and paraded him around the office. I was just starting to introduce him to some friends when I realized I really had to use the ladies room. Poor guy had to stand around with people he had never met before. It was the fastest bathroom break I ever took. Anyway as I introduced him to everyone about half the office cried knowing that he had been gone and I hadn't seen him since September. 

After introducing him to anyone/everyone and not letting go of his hand he wanted to get home. I got him the key to the car so he could load up his things while I shut down my computer. I was shaking with excitement though and I didn't even know what to do. My manager and my desk mate were outside taking a walk but I wasn't going to just leave a bunch of stuff out. 

Once outside we saw my manager and desk mate so they too had to meet the hubs. My desk mate said he saw someone come to the building in a taxi and was confused about that but ten while they were walking past my car they saw his bags and put it together.

I hardly had to tell my boss that I was going to be done working now as she is pretty dang awesome and probably would have yelled at me if I stayed. 

Driving home!

On the way home we stopped at Speedway so he could understand my obsession with slushie a and so he could get a drink too. I guess traveling for 36 hours or something makes one thirsty.  I kept telling him I couldn't believe he was home. Also I kept touching him to make sure it was real. 

Once we got home I found out that I didn't get the dogs locked up in the kennel so they were roaming the house. I am quite certain though that is the ONLY time during the work week that I didn't get it right. Weird. The hubs was certain though that Charlie would bark at him and sure enough she did. It wasn't for a long time because she soon realized it was dad!!! Then it was all tail wagging and kisses. Poor little Lucy couldn't even get a turn because Charlie was in the way. The hubs stood up though and I had picked Lucy up and they got to have their lovins too. 

I still can't believe he's finally home.

At BWW for the first time in ohhhh 8 months?

Enjoying his first beer - Yuengling of course

Savoring it

ahhh

Pinterest

So all the cool kids are on Pinterest right? I created a board now of projects I've actually completed or had the hubs complete. There really should be a round of applause when I pin something to that board - even if it was a fail. 

I'm not sure what my favorite completed one is yet..the eggless cookie dough just for eating is amazing though. I was even nice enough to add the helpful note to add more sugar. : )

Also, I did get the hubs to be part of Pinterest now too. Not sure if that's good or bad at this point because a few times when we were on the phone when we were both working he'd say something along the lines of "been on Pinterest, we're broke." Hooray for projects though!! As long as they get done...

Michelle


I did it! Pinterest board

Raising the bar

So I was talking with the hubs the other day. He pretty much told me that I'm the most amazing person he's ever met. awwww

Growing a person

He told me that he's all proud of me because since he's gone a lot here I am running the house, taking care of the critters and everything that they do, go to Iowa to visit not only my family but his family as well, I'm making a person, and I still go to work every day. Boom I'm amazing.  But he also told me that I'm not ever going to be allowed to say I can't do something. Is that good or bad?
(Photo credit: Elisabeth Smith Lifestyle Photography)

Speaking of what the critters do....

Belle earned her keep again... gross. But she got a mouse. I was doing laundry and then went into the kitchen and out comes the cat from the laundry room. I knew she had something in her mouth and she was all proud and prancing. I thought maybe she just had some fabric or something else random that she finds. But she went down the hall, then downstairs, then she came back upstairs and I decided to check what the heck was going on. That's when I noticed it was a mouse. Gross. Anyway, this was before church and I decided that I should probably take care of the mouse before church. Gross. By now Charlie and Lucy are fairly interested in what Belle has. Belle came downstairs and so did the rest of us. She eventually just dropped it and I took care of it. Gross.

Flooded Deer Creek

Also it has been raining a lot. Lots of flooding but we live on a hill so things are fine here. That means a lot of mud though.... Lucy isn't a fan but Charlie is. She is getting really good at learning how to get into the tub after only being told once. Then she sits there so nice and lets me wash her feet and sometimes her face. Every now and then someone comes in with a tick.. yeah I take care of that too. Then the other day I was walking in the backyard looking for the dogs because it was nice out and they were just out and about having a good time. Then I looked to my right and saw 6 vertebra  WHAT?! It's still there. I should probably take care of it but, I'm not going to lie, it is actually kind of interesting  I took the picture and then the dogs came running up. They weren't interested. I took a picture to prove it. 

Country

Charlie has been a good guard dog lately. She doesn't spend a whole heck of a lot of time with me. Lucy follows me everywhere... except the bathroom because she hates baths and when it is bath time she runs to the kennel. Then she also gets all sad puppy dog eyes when I pick her up and get her in the tub. She just gets so itchy - not sure if it's allergies or dry skin. I know it's not any sort of bug because I check her out for that a lot and put medicine on both of the dogs for that.  Anyway, Charlie had a full report to give to the hubs the other day. He snapped a picture. 

Well that's all I got for now. I need a slushie. =)