The Schmidts

Samuel Justin Schmidt 20 months old next week! I have not been recording on here well enough the adventures of our toddler Sam. Since he could get his legs to run he hasn't stopped. His mouth started running shortly thereafter and it doesn't stop either. It's so much fun to see his personality really come out and observe him learning how to talk. It's not easy. Gives me motivation to learn a second language. Sam surprises me with a new word every couple of days. It's sure fun to watch and exhausting. :) Here are some activities Sam enjoys: Splashing in puddles - ALWAYS - even when it's cold - I  almost regret teaching him to do so :) Running outside - up and down hills, or anywhere - "gowaak" is his favorite phrase (meaning go on a walk/go outside) Jumping - and recently we have joined a gymnastics  playgroup on Fridays --he loves it - mostly jumping on the trampolines! He puts up a fight to leave both times we have gone Riding his horse

We have a HUGE map on our wall - we've dreamed about having one in our library one day, but here in our home now we had a huge wall in our dining room. Justin mentioned how good a world map would look on it. Well, 3 weeks later, a lot of shopping and brainstorming and with Justin's determination to get it done, here it is.  I just thought it was a nice idea since we are only going to be here for 8 months. I'm so glad we did it. :) Now I'll take a moment to brag on my hubby a little more. He doesn't like me to do this, but I will just for a bit -shh. Justin is a fantastic husband and father. A day does not go by that he doesn't kiss me goodbye and hello and take time to play and laugh with Sam. He works so hard and handles a lot of stress with his job. I'm so involved with myself and Sam that I often forget to recognize all that he does with his work and then on top of that helps out around the house and plays with us. He even handles my complaining

We had about 2 1/2 weeks to get settled in our home. It included a lot of unpacking, organizing, and shopping, but we also had time to hang out together as a family. It's been a lot of fun and time needed for us to regroup after pilot training and a move. We love all the trees here especially with the fall colors. Yes we have jumped in piles of leaves! Here are a few photos of our little adventures - I've learned everything is an adventure with a toddler. I apparently lost sight of what it is like to be a kid. :) We grabbed dinner and hit a big park here in Jacksonville - we have 11 to explore  There are a lot of lakes here. Sam loves water and being outside - he's in heaven.  We tried to take a walk around the lake/pond which resulted in a very slow paced walk, if moving at all. Sam loves to throw rocks in the water. So we got a system going - I found rocks and handed them to Sam while we walked, Sam on Justin's shoulders would throw the rocks when Justin

This year for Halloween, Sam was a bear, again. :) But this year he fit better in his costume, learned how to "roar" and could run up to the door where the other kids or mom would say "Trick or treat" for him. With a prompt he would return the sign Thank you. Here are a few poses of our courageous bear!  He already knew how to open his mouth wide -- he's known that since he could eat.:) I wish I would have had the video camera with him. He had so much fun just running in the street with the other kids. We only made it to about 6 doors. The rest of the time he was either running or jumping in puddles. Halloween is ingrained in his mind. I'll bring it up and he remembers. It's the day we dress up and run around like crazy and get candy for it! He'll be excited for next year. I wonder if he'll be a bear again? :)

Moving here on the week of the state fair we were still able to make it and it was a lot of fun. Sam loves tractors We went to all the animal barns and Sam could not get enough of it. He was sad to leave each of the barns, and so wide eyed with excitement at the next barn. Cows Sheep Goats Pigs They also had a children's barn that had all sorts of fun for kids -- Sam obviously was kicking and screaming when we told him it was time to go home. Saw dust treasure hunt We got to feed the camel and goats! These ducks were bated with food at the top where they would then slip and fall into the water which was sure fun to see them do. They would swim around and climb up just to do it again. Sam would have stayed here the whole time.

Front living room- Sam is blocking the front door and yes he has a bucket on his head. : Front living room walking in the front door Dining room  Without our stuff we had lots of room to run, play and crash. I thought this was super cute of Sam to go to his dad and just cuddle with him. 1/2 bath  We were most excited about having more than one bath - we have 2 1/2 in this house! Wow! Utility room Kitchen So much space -- and yes even with our stuff it still echos. We are spoiled! It is a 2 story house with a 2 car garage, 3 bedrooms, and 2 1/2 bath. I'll have to post pictures when we get it decorated.

On our move to Arkansas we stayed a night in Fort Smith, Arkansas -which is just across the border. We were walking this bridge to see the welcome to Arkansas sign, but it was going to be a scary trek so we took a picture of the Welcome to Oklahoma sign instead. You get the idea. :) Our hotel was really nice -- Sam loved the water feature, elevator and the swimming pool! Yes we went swimming. Sam loves water. The next morning we made it the rest of the way to Jacksonville to stay in the Temporary Lodging Facility for a few nights. So far Arkansas is awesome! We love the trees here in Arkansas, it makes us feel like we're in the mountains. We are really close to Little Rock but don't feel like we're close to a big city which is nice and convenient. We've got the best of both worlds. The weather has been beautiful, but we hear the summers are a different story. So our stay in Arkansas should be awesome since we will be gone before June 30th. Ha, I'm su