Mom and Dad are proud!

Notice the bag she painted herself!

Words Ella can spell:  “Ella”, “Mom”, “done”, and “moose” - we are a little odd in our teaching methods around here. 

We love the beach!

We love cousins!

We did lots of chillaxin…

Highlight of the week - hot Fractured Prune donuts every morning.  I can’t even tell you how many were consumed.  It would damage your health to even read about it.

Do you get a feeling of the happy we were feeling?  Let Ella’s face give you a picture.

We spent plenty of time on the boardwalk. Ice cream, caramel corn, salt water taffy, Grotto pizza…and rides!

Ella got a thrill! (Disclaimer: SHE requested this ride!)

Zeke got a thrill too!

This was actually Zeke’s first ride ever.  He was mostly interested in the bell.

Our traditional photo spot, of course.

Summary: We loved every minute.  On the way home Ella was crying.  We asked her what was wrong. “I don’t want vacation to end!”  Yes, baby, we know.

Here is a highlight from the Battersons’ big move - the crew moving Lora’s piano!  Whew!

In prep for the holiday, my sister and I got festive in the kitchen.  We thought Mom would be impressed with our baking skills but all she cared about was our matching freckles!

We walked the few blocks to the Capitol the night before for the rehearsal concert on Capitol lawn.  It was fun but most of the artists had stand-ins which was kind of funny.  What up Aretha, you too good for rehearsal?!

Location, location, location…

Picnic and music time with Auntie.

The romantic us.

The real us.

And it appears to be running in the family.

On the actual Fourth, we went to church and then over to Aunt Lora and Uncle Mark’s for a feast!  Grilled goodness and strawberry pretzel salad…Mmmm!

We played corn hole and talked and pretty much just loved every minute.  We made our way up to the deck just in time for the show.

The hostess with the mostest.  My whole family pretty much loves being with her…all.the.time.

Here are the other city-Schmids, Joels cousin Dave and his wife Kate.

Can we pause here to just say out loud how much we love these two?  We laugh and laugh anytime we are with them.  You gotta be careful with a friend like Kate.  She is one serious question-asker (truth be told, this could be said about Dave too).  She will ask these sincere but pressing questions that send your mind spinning for days.  She has a way to get to your heart in split seconds and encourage you to know yourself a little more.  Yet, in her laid back way, she is the easiest person to be around too!  She is easy going and complimentary and has some serious gifts of hospitality.  She will come to my house and be the one making people feel at home and pampered!  And she never leaves a home with dishes in the sink.  She has all sorts of other amazing gifts too and she just might turn the world upside down with all her creative and innovative ideas!

And then Dave…Ella named him “Deet” when she was learning to talk.  When Dave talks with you, he has a way of making you feel as though your perspective is truly of value to him.  I am not really good at that, too often brushing people aside in haste.  He will find one person in a room and make them feel like the most important person.  But, also, I just like that he is silly with us…well, at least he laughs AT us a lot.  He is all Schmidgall, meaning he is amazingly humble and won’t let you easily lend him a hand.  But, most of all, he shares my husband’s deep passion for missions and being able to see the two of them do ministry together is really a gift.  (Seriously, I just smiled thinking about it.) They encourage and challenge one another…and also just enjoy one another.  So yeah, we double heart love Dave and Kate.

Okay, so that was supposed to be a brief aside…but anything that could distract from my patriotic recap of the holiday I treasure must be important!

Back to the pics…to be sure that we had the best view, we crawled from the deck onto the roof!  (Note for concerned grandmas: We put Zeke to bed first.)

Okay, and this will just show you how much I love our country…or how much of a cheeseball I am…but I actually teared up when I got up there!  Not only did we have a perfect view of the official firework show over the Washington Monument, but we could see EVERY firework display from every surrounding area.  It was INCREDIBLE!  We had 360 degree view of fireworks!  Everywhere we turned there were more!  It was gorgeous and amazing and pretty much the most amazing place to celebrate our nation’s independence!

Amazing family and amazing fireworks…perfect.

(Oh yes, that is homemade ice cream in our hands.  I mean, this is America!)

So, for real, we work with the BEST crew! We are so thankful for every single friendship.  God has truly selected and protected this team and we are overwhelmingly grateful to do life and ministry with these guys.  One of my most consistent prayers is for the unity of this team, that we would love and support one another and encourage each other toward great things.  No joke, these are some GIFTED people.  And we never laugh harder than when we are all togethe!

This is the retreat center where the fun happens.  Ahhhh, I am smiling just thinking of the breeze, the sunsets, the sound of the water.

We do some praying and some reflecting.  (Okay, those of us with small kids do less of that and more chasing but you get the idea.)  This year, our two worship leaders wrote a song while we were up there and it is A-mazing.  I told you we had some serious giftedness going on!

Daddy and Zeke caught a moment.

And we do LOTS of playing!  The volleyball court is rarely empty.  Staff keeping having babies and the sideline are filling up!  We are so thankful these little guys will have these memories together!

Zeke and Cali - gotta keep an eye on those two!

Wow, so I don’t really have words.  The guys had some mustache growing contest.  More like the “who can shave first?” contest as far as the ladies were concerned.

We double heart love this posse!

We didn’t find out Zeke’s gender while I was pregnant so the room sat unfinished until after he was born.  Here are the photos that inspired the room.  I LOVED this bedding set but it was hundreds of dollars!  Instead, we ordered just the fabric and my mom made the bedding, pillows, window coverings, everything!

Here is Zeke’s version!  We painted the room to match the bedding and the colors are so soothing!  I think it is the most relaxing room in the house.

I really wanted to put his name over his bed in vinyl letters and my sister surprised me by designing and buying it for Christmas!  As a reminder, he was born on 3/17 at 3:17am and the verse Ezekiel 3:17 has a lot of meaning to us.  His name means “Strength of God.”

From the doorway…

Back toward the doorway… (Behind me is the matching changing table/dresser.  Those are all recycled from when Ella was a baby.)

Curtains made by Mimmy!

So, 16 month late but there ya have it!

Mom is the most generous person we know, such an inspiration to us.  Plus, she prays for us like crazy - such a gift!  It was fun to try to love on her for an afternoon!

We loooooove this photo!  This was her favorite wine, the one she decided to take home.  Her face shows it all!

After wine tasting, we had a picnic on the patio.  It was warm with a perfect breeze.  Fruit, bread, brie cheese…and snuggles!

Are there some genes in this family or what?

Ella calls this the “swing porch” - she loves them!

We visited the barn and enjoyed reading the enscriptions on the barrels of wine.

Happy Birthday again Mom/Grandma!  We love you!

One day, earlier in the summer, I was cleaning and noticed the paint drooping in the same spot on the wall.  I touched it and found it was freshly wet - uggggggggggg!  Clearly, there was a leak in the wall!  I made a quick call to the plumber and soon enough our wall looks like this…

Oh, but wait!  The leak was BETWEEN the two floors so he had to go through the floor on the main level too!  Thankfully Joel was able to convince him to fix it without ripping up any of the hardwood floors.  My heart starts beating fast even writing that!

A few hundred dollars later, the leak is fixed.  Joel even convinced him to fix out faucet out front which has never worked in the 5+ years we have lived here.  Just another few hundred dollars to re-drywall and we are good as new.  Well, except one important casualty.  My Aunt Karen, Uncle Dan, and sister had painted a grocery store mural on the wall.  Thankfully I took a picture before the wall was opened up!

Not even crying.

CAUTION - skip this photo if you are weak in the tummy.  I can’t even look while posting!  There are some yuckier ones but I just.can’t.do.it.

Daddy saved the day!  He kept her calm…well until it was time for stitches.  (Note the shirt that went in the trash that night.)

Sitting right there in the waiting room, I started to cry a little.  Not because of any pain my baby might feel but because there would be a scar on her GORGEOUSLY perfect little face.  Joel’s eyes told me to pull it together or get on out of there - stat!

When the doc arrived, I asked him to do his best work on my angel.  He did a pretty good job too…considering it took FOUR of us to hold her down!  I don’t have ANY idea where she gets the drama…ha!

We promised her ice cream on the way home but she was asleep in the car before we even got on the freeway.

Praising God for nothing more than minor injuries, health insurance, calm and collected hubby, and a doc with a steady hand.  (Oh and asking if anything ever involves a broken bone, it be on Joel’s watch, not mine.)