Christmas Eve Fun

Great Grandma Margaret and Great Grandpa Donald sent (spoiler alert!) all of our grandkids cute stuffed animals wrapped around soft fleece blankets. Hannah devised a scavenger hunt, starting with a clue that lead the gang to Chloe's prize, and working up kid by kid. Each clue was a little trickier, based on that child's age. Sam's was in a place Harry Potter once lived (cupboard under the staircase) and Patrick's was "posted,"outside in the mailbox. It was a great way to start the day and to keep the kidlings entertained until brunch was ready to eat and packages were ready to be opened.

Thanks Hannah for the witty clues, and thanks Don and Margaret for the great gifts. Here is a picture of the kids with their prizes and their clues.

Schonarth/ Altgilbers news

Well I finally got around to posting our wish list. I'll start with the Schonarths:
John : size large shirts, wrangler relaxed fit jeans 33x34. Gift cards to Home Depot, Lowes , Walgreens, and Hy-Vee.
Val: I need a 13" sq flat griddle, or a 2-3 qt casserole dish, super size bath towels, a hand operated can opener with a safety edge cut, size large 3/4 sleeve tops, or gift cards from restaurants, penneys, kohls.
Jen Jr size med sweaters, jewelry, gift cards old navy, walmart, amc, bath n body, kohls, bergners, penneys sears, walgreens, hyvee, county market, or gas cards.
James lg tall tops jeans relaxed fit 34x34 gift cards Menards,Home Depot, Lowes, gas cards, food cards.
Callie is a princess. Her current favorites are Rapunzel, Belle and Cinderella. She wears size 4t slim pants with an adjustable waist and a 4t top. Santa is bringing her a 5'8" 4 story barbie house with furniture, so any Barbie would be good.
Cruz is trying to get into a size 6/9 mo.He needs boy long sleeved bibs they can be found at Babies r us. baby boy toys.

on a different note: Leslie You did good! we watched the Simpson College Hallelujah Chorus flash mob and it was fantastic. My daycare kids came running to see what that music was. Here are their comments:

Cole age 3: that's pretty good and it's not scary cause she didn't put any monsters or spiders in there.

Kaden age 5: That's really nice, it could be a Christmas song.

Kady age 3: That's a pretty church, but my church doesn't have any stuff like that.

Claire age 3 : She makes the bestest song, it's really pretty. We sing that in our church, but it don't sound like that.

Ryleigh age 20months: she squealed, spun in circles and laughed.

Cruz age 7 months: he was tired and fussy but when I 0started playing it he stoppped fussing and just watched it ( he did not go to sleep)

I got a kick out of their comments and thought you might like a childs version.

see all of you for Christmas
Val and family

Hello!

Hi all!  Been awhile since I've been on here I just never use a computer anymore so trying out this version of the blog on my phone will see how it goes! (though I still vote that we get everyone on Facebook and use the family grouping there ;) )
As for Christmas wish list.
For me
Clothes (cute stuff and cardinals welcome) size medium, 27x36 Jeans
Shoes size 8 for heels 8 1/2 for other
Cute purses
Earrings (mine are double pierced)
Victoria secret gift card
Nail polish
fountains day salon gift certificate
Restaurant gift cards
Visa gift cards (to go see my family down south)
Xbox Kinect games (biggest loser and dance central 2 or 3)
Giant cooking pan (12" or bigger for browning our 2 pounds of hamburger)

For rocky
Anything hunting related (deer and duck)
clothes ~ tops xxl, Jeans 36x36 (relaxed boot cut from old navy or Levis)
Camo led flash light from menards
Farm and home or gamemasters gift card
Visa gift card (to put towards new truck and Jeep parts)
Newest call of duty xbox game

Think that about covers it for now :)

addendum

well, blogger doesn't seem to let you upload two files at once, so here are the other photos that should have gone with that last post.

The first is Dave with Oakley and Jon with his new puppy. The second is my new brace--4-6 weeks in it.

Wrist in rehab!

The bones in my shattered wrist (thanks to newly adopted dog/brute Oakley) have healed. The pins are out, the external fixator is off, and I have started PT. Here is a photo of the fixator, which felt like having a brick strapped to the end of your arm, and a photo of my new brace, which we call the sport model. I will also include a photo of the #$@#$ dog, who is sweet and goofy and strong as can be. His only remaining fault is that he loves Dave more than me since Dave has to do all the dog walking these days. Just kidding, but Dave has asked me frequently what kind of dog I am getting, since he obviously has his.

St. Louis!

St. Louis is cold!!

Hiya! So this video is from rehearsals so we aren't in costume but you get to see a bit of behind the scenes from the play I was in--A Piece of My Heart. And I sing a little bit. My friend Erin was the director. It was fun and a lot of work. We got a great reaction from the crowds. Don't worry, I'll remember you all when I am rich and famous. :) Oh, I'm the girl in cowboy boots. :)



Here's a picture:

Other than that, I'm just working a lot. The kiddos are good, of course, but I'm looking forward to Christmas break. I think all the teachers are, more than the kids even. :) Today we played Candyland and one of my kindergarteners developed a fascination with "Cat Fancy" magazine. I'm still working at my restaurant, too, and my favorite beer is out--Coffee Stout. Yum! It's only available in the winter.

I know I need to post a Christmas list--I'll try this weekend. Aunt Sherry should have a copy of mine for anyone in Quincy, too.

Love you all!

Julie

Greetings from Iowa! Way to get things started Nikki. I was just thinking, we really need to get lists posted. Things are well here. Eat. Sleep. Tumble. Basketball. Sprinkle in church, choirs and school. That pretty much sums things up. We will be heading north for the holiday to historic Mason City, home of The Music Man. The kids are excited to be tortured by their older cousins and to play with the dogs.

I can be candid here because the kids don't look unless I show them-

Kenzie- Juniors size 2/short in jeans. Juniors small or medium in tops. Size 7 shoes. She loves anything trendy. Not a fan of pink, sweaters or turtlenecks. She likes jeans, sweatshirts, fun socks and loves boots. The warmer the better. Is getting a new bike from Santa. Likes books that are for teens that are scary or gory. Vampires, ghosts. Has an Ipod, so accessories (ear phones, cases and Itunes) are always good. Likes hats, scarves, gloves.

Brady- Boys size L or 12-14 in athletic pants which is what he mostly wears along with a boys XL tshirt & sweatshirts. Likes fleece (he has a camo Columbia jacket he loves as well as an Underarmour sweatshirt Hannah got him last year). Plays football, basketball & baseball. A new football would be a hit. Likes fiction books with sports theme. Likes to play Wii. Is also getting a new bike from Santa. Loves nerf guns. Is starting to hunt geese & pheasant so hunting apparel is good. Green moss, I think.

Leslie- Would love a new blender- basic model, nothing fancy. Just to blend a margarita or a malt without smoking. Kitchen dish cloths (dark green or brown) or bath towel (white or cream). Bath & Body wall air fresheners or candles (cinnamon, pumpkin spicey sorts).

Eric- XXL sweatshirts or tshirts. He would like to start ice fishing with Brady so a gift certificate to Bass Pro or Scheel's would be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am most thankful for each of you.

XOXXO,
Leslie

Christmas List

Well after talking to a Saltwater Aquarium specialist tonight... my wish list for Christmas consists of money for setting up a new tank the right way. I know it's not going to be right away, but I'd prefer to do it right this time.

I found a guy by the name of Dave Atkins that used to be here in Quincy, but moved to Springfield maintain the saltwater aquarium set up at the new Scheels.

http://www.sj-r.com/photo_galleries/x898076150/Scheels-salt-water-aquarium

That is a link to some photos and info about the tank he maintains. Pretty cool! This guy knows his stuff!

Easy shopping for me this year! lol

Christmas Names 2011

Hi All,

I've been meaning to post this along time ago, but you know how things go. Anyway, below are the names that were drawn for Christmas this year. I've heard rumors that it will be held in Quincy on New Year's Eve. So, if you have packages to mail please have them in Quincy in time. So, without further Ado, here are the names:

Name of Family - People they drew
Midget (Don) - Callie & Carolyn
Strackeljahn (Dale) - David M & Brady
Strackeljahn (Laurie) - Sara
Strackeljahn (Bryan) - Chris L & Eric H
Smailys (Tony) - Laurie & Val
Smailys (Eric) - Skyler & Nikki
Smailys (Julie) - Jen
Midget (David) - Sherry, Monica & Leslie
Edwards - Mackenzi
Humke - Erice S & Grandma
Ladeau - Julie, Chris S & Cruz
Helds - Bryan, Jon S, Hannah & James
Schonarth - Dale & Don
Altgilbers - Susan, Rocky, Tony & Jess

In other news, we are very excited at the zoo as our new 1 1/2 year Harbor Seals have arrived in Des Moines from a Vancover rescue facility. Their names are Ross (boy) and Meru (girl). Meru is the one floating on the white board and Ross is peaking over the side. We also opened our new and MUCH improved Sea Lion/Harbor Seal exhibit a couple of weeks ago. Strangely enough, the opening happened the day after our new seals had arrived. Let's see what else...Sassy & I are very much enjoying the new doors that Dad, with an assist from Eric, installed over the weekend. They look beautiful! We had some left over white paint and primer so I'm going to attempt to scrape the tirm on the windows that haven't been replaced yet. We'll see if I can manage to get that done before our first snow fall. Not a whole lot else going on right now. Talk to you all soon! Love you!

AAAAEEEEEIIIIIIIAAAAAAA!!!!!

Happy Halloween from The Asylum in Indianola! We took the opportunity to volunteer at the local haunted house on Saturday night. LA Dodger & hometown boy Casey Blake & his wife donated $1M to create the Indianola Youth Foundation and challenged the community to Match the Million. We are at about $920K- so almost there. The foundation will help improve the facilities & activities for Indianola youth. Great cause, great fun. Eric & Brady were in the fog room where they came out of the mist. Kenzie was in a toy room... caged. No surprise she quickly developed a whole spiel that included pitiful wailing cries for help. I was one of the zombie brides hidden in a dark corner and discovered I have a scream that Eric & Brady think could be sold. Guess I've never had cause to use it until now. Surprised at the number of people coming through that were about 50-60 years old. Sometimes it was hard to be scarey when you were about to burst out laughing. Two teen-age girls very seriously said, "Don't scare us, just tell out how to get out of here."

Happy haunting!

6th grade Pro Bowl

It was a gorgeous day to finish out Brady's 3 year Indianola Youth Football League career. In this league players are drafted as 4th graders and remain on the same 4-5-6th grade team all three years. It seems like yesterday when I picked him up from his first practice as a 4th grader. It was drizzley and cool. I pulled up to see them finishing out practice with up-downs in the mud and thought. "Oh, this is not going to be good." He came to the car, got teary and said, "THAT WAS THE WORST PRACTICE I'VE EVER BEEN TO." I reminded him of it this year when he was excited for the first mud-filled practice- to be nice to those 4th graders who might not yet have an appreciation for it.

You can see Brady running the ball, #10 in the yellow pants, blue jersey. He played QB and today got to do a lot of awesome passing. Although they lost 14-7, he had fun- for the first time having all of his buddies on the field together. There were lots of hand-ups, pats on the backs and giggling. I don't think they cared who won in the end. I sat by a bunch of mom friends and laughed as my friend Becky yelled to Matt- "GET HIM!" and I pointed out that it was Brady that she had instructed Matt to pummel.

Basketball practice starts this week and he is ready to move on to his favorite sport. Kenzie is working hard in tumbling with her first meets on November 5 & 20. She's thrilled to move up to sub-advanced in double-mini with a much more tricky pass.

The entire Held family has volunteered at the local haunted house next Friday as scarers. We'll let you know that goes. Pass the ear plugs. Kenzie found her Halloween costume. She is a "devil-fairy." I know you are not surprised and yes, this was pre-packaged and not of her own design. Although she declared it "perfect." Brady is yet undecided but he is thinking about being a banana.

Love to all,
Leslie

Kenzie Made the Paper

Here's a link to the article written about Indianola Tumbling's time at the Jr Olympics. 20th in the Nation for Kenz, way to go girl!

http://indianolarecordherald.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110818/INDIANOLA03/308180008/Local-kids-tumble-their-way-Junior-Olympics

Trial and Error...???

Saturday morning Bryan decided to begin working on his glaze receipes for donut holes. This weekend we did a trial with Amaretto flavoring and Choc. cappaccino flavoring. The title of this is trial and error for a reason... hehe

Trial - Amaretto glaze... Error - the glaze was made w/ alcoholic amaretto, it will be very good w/ a flavor syrup instead.

Trial - Silk Chocolate flavored coffee made with cappaccino machine... Error - don't pour hot coffee on the powdered sugar...

The amaretto is going to be good.. the coffee was good, but we need someone that really enjoys coffee flavor to give us a review. My coffee choice is a Mocha with a shot of carmel... so really it's so sweet and tasty and full of sugar and milk that I don't taste the coffee. LoL

If you have any ideas of flavors to use... let us know!!!

The summer we all "graduated"

It has been an absolute whirlwind since Dave and I retired and Hannah graduated. We took our first trip--to Quincy to celebrate the 4th of July, Dale's recovery from breaking his ankle, and the 118 degree heat index--and our second to visit our friends in Durango.

We stopped in Mesa Verde National Monument on the way to Durango and had a wonderful adventure. We had dinner in a fantastic restaurant that no one would expect to find out there in the middle of nowhere, and got up early to tour Spruce Tree House on our own and take off on an amazing hike to Petroglyph Point. It was a shady hike along the side of a canyon at that time of the morning. It would have been brutal later in the day. There was not a lot of elevation gain, but a lot of scrambling over and between boulders, up rough-hewn rock stairs. At one point there was an arrow pointing to what had to be a foothold. The obvious message--put your foot here, grab as much of this boulder as you can, and hoist yourself up. Dave never even batted an eye. Up he went. That new knee is priceless, just in case anyone is wondering.

We ended the day on a tour of Cliff House, the largest of the dwellings, with a Native American guide named Clyde who taught us about the symbolism of the Kivas. We are all much more closely related than we ever imagined. It was a beautiful experience.

On to Durango and then Bill and Diana's place at Vallecito Lake. Next post and photos to come.

Jr Olympics - New Orleans

Just wanted to say Congrats to Kenz on her fabulous first time at the AAU Junior Olympics over the past week. After surprising the kids with a limo ride from the hotel, I think Eric had as much fun playing with buttons as they did. It was on to a busy week of competition. Here are her results: 5th overall in floor out of 10, 14th overall in double mini and out of 20 and 11th overall in tramp (after placing 2nd in flight) out of 26. Her words after double-min "at least I didn't get last". She also received a plaque for Iowa finishing 2nd in Tramp. Not bad for having to compete agains at least 3 AAU National team members. Her coach Joyce surprised us all with the news that she wants to move Kenzie and Jenny up to Sub-Advance on tramp so they can do synchronized tramp. How cool is that! There are photos below:

Jenny, Kenz & Brady

Kenzie after astounding us all with her fabulous tramp routine.

Kenzie and Coach Joyce
Kenzie, Allison and Jenny during the Parade of Athletes

Kenzie representing Iowa with a 2nd place plaque in Tramp and Allison representing Iowa with a 3rd place plaque in Double Mini.

Congrats, Kenzie!!!

Graduation Saturday

Then it was on to graduation Saturday. We were so thrilled that Jon and Benj and their beautiful families could join us. We filled an entire pew in the church, and then had lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant in celebration. It was a great day!

photos, hopefully

Hannah's graduation

It was a whirlwind week and weekend here for Hannah's graduation. Thursday was Baccalaureate Service, and Hannah received an award for outstanding graduate in psychology. Better yet, she received a stuffed neuron, or brain cell, from the teacher. A new prized possession. She also received a certificate for scoring in the top 10 percent of all Utah high school students taking the ACT test in the following subjects: everything. The blog is not letting me attach photos, so I will post them separately.

Softball Awards Banquet

We went to the softball awards banquet last week. Woo-hoo. Hannah was named Offensive MVP and got big praise for her consistently strong hitting. She was also recognized as the queen of left field, which she took over about half way through the season and had everybody wondering why in the heck she hadn't been playing left field her whole life. She OWNED it!

She is on a backpacking trip this week, then has graduation Saturday, June 4th. Sorry if the announcements are late. We were trying to get a photo shot to include and the Utah weather has not been at all cooperative.

Well, here are some photos I know you will enjoy, and one in particular that will remind you who Hannah's hero is.

Photos, hopefully

Hannah's Prom

As many of you know, because I have called and asked for advice!, Hannah went to the senior prom last night with her good friend Philip and a wonderful gaggle of other friends. We counted back and we are pretty sure she hasn't worn a dress since the 8th grade, so this was a pretty big deal. Thanks to Aunt Chris for the hair tips. We scrunched her natural curl a bit and then pulled the front back with the bobby pins as you recommended. She really like it. And as you can tell from Philip's cute red cheeks, he liked it too. Of course, he arrived early, so had to sit and chat with Dave (no, no shotguns in sight) while she pulled on her first pair of panty hose and we got her into her shoes. When she walked down the stairs he said, "Oh Hannah, you look lovely!" Then we had the tying on of the wrist corsage, and me pinning on the boutonnière, because there was no way Hannah was going to do it. Sounds like they did more talking and laughing than dancing because the music was way too loud. But Hannah had a great time. Ah, another milestone.

Well, unfortunately the blog is not letting me post photos, so I will post this and see if I can figure out what is going on, and post the photos.

Basement Woes be GONE!

So the channel goes almost in an entire U around the basement. The Sump Pump was moved to an opposite corner of the basement. The bathroom was taken out and the workshop wall was taken down to allow the workers to get to where they needed. It's a little depressing looking at such and unusable area at the moment, but we're looking forward to coming up with plans and ideas for re-finishing the basement as usable space again! It will be an adventure I'm sure! Haha

Thought I'd just share!!! =o)

Now is that a beautiful fence, or what?

Not sure if we told anybody that big sections of our fence blew down, quite literally, during a wind and snow storm a few months ago. I had it propped and wired and held together with everything from duct tape to Gorilla Glue, hoping it would last until spring, but it did not. We found a great fence guy on Angie's List (Have you ever heard of that? It is a fantastic way to find great people to finish things like, oh I don't know, kitchen remodeling .) So here are some pictures of our new fence. I showed the guy some photos of a Craftsman style gate (our house decor is Craftsman style) and he was able to customize the gates to make them complement the house. And what comes after a fence...maybe...a puppy? No pressure Dave, really. Really. Almost. Kind of. Just sayin'...Come on June. Get here soon.

Re: June--I am actively recruiting my replacement and I have at least two FABULOUS candidates who can start in May, so I can hand stuff off to the one we choose.

This just in...

Article in the Salt Lake Tribune today under the Softball Analysis section:

Rowland Hall

North Summit put Rowland Hall in a 0-1 hole in Region 14 by beating the Winged Lions 15-5 on March 29. Hannah Midget doubled for Rowland Hall in the loss. Rowland Hall was only down 6-5 going into the fifth inning, but North Summit exploded for nine runs in the top half.

Tried to scan the article but it didn't work and for some reason it wasn't included in the on-line version. Oh well.

Happy Birthday Chloe Bear and get well soon Dale. Love you all.

Dad's Home

After arriving home from church to beginning cleaning for Dad to come home tomorrow, we get a call from Dad saying he is being discharged today. So, he's home much to his pleasure as his roommate in the hospital was beginning to have major problems. So much so that Dad spent most of his night listening for Charlie. We have all his pain meds, but he seems to be getting around ok in the wheelchair. Bryan and Nikki are coming over later this evening as well as Grandma and Grandpa. Mom put meatloaf in the stove and left me in charge of Dad who seems to be in a little pain right now, but he's in between the OxyCodone pain meds. He's in a good mood, but we are already hearing "I Can Do It Myself". This will be a fun few weeks!!!

Construction at the Strackeljahn house

So, as many of you may know, the kitchen at Mom and Dad's is currently underconstruction. Well, it just got a just little more expensive. Dad fell yesterday and broke & dislocated his foot in 3 places. He was in surgery for 3 hours last night. Physical therapist has been here 2 times already today and he's starting to hurt. Well keep everyone posted...

Weekend in Nashville

Spur of the moment trip to Nashville to see a few of the sights. There was a HUGE flea market at the fairgrounds. Took us five hours to go through it all and that was only because it was cold and we couldn't stand it any longer!
Also stopped by the Parthenon and Loretta Lynn's ranch for some sight seeing. For the second time we missed the last tour at Loretta's! One of these days I will get to see the inside!! Lol
Took in the Grand Ole Opry alos-got to see Carrie Underwood-one of my favorites!!
Hope you all had a great weekend also!!