End-of-Summer Fun!

I can't believe it's almost time for school to be starting again! We'll certainly miss the more-leisurely pace of summer but are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us in the coming months! Matt is looking forward to his fourth year as assistant principal at Concordia. The school enrollment numbers are up from last year, and Matt is excited about getting to know the new students and their families. I will tutor again this year and will probably have 9-10 students. As much as I enjoyed classroom teaching when I did it, I don't miss it now that I have the opportunity to stay home with Ian during the day and tutor three evenings each week!

Here's what we've been up to these last few days of summer ...

My friend Lauren (on right) invited me to take three baking classes with her, her mom (not pictured), and Melissa (in middle). So far, we've learned how to make icing, lots of ways to decorate with icing, how to use fondant, etc. We've had a lot of fun together!

On our last "Family Fun Friday," we went to the circus together.

This was Ian's first circus, and the first circus Matt or I had been to in a long, long time!

Ian mostly really liked it, especially when there was lots of action going on. His favorite "events" included the elephants, the motorcyle drivers (both "in the cage" and on the tightrope), the acrobats, and the trampoline jumpers.

He got a little restless during the slow parts, like while the tigers doing tricks. During the body benders part, when I looked down at him, he was lifting his feet up to his forehead, trying to copy them. Hilarious!

One of Ian's favorite pastimes is putting ALL of his stuffed animals into his crib and then asking to get in with them. We're in the process of getting Ian's "big boy room" together so that he can move over there in the next few months. When Kim first showed him his new big boy bed, he said, "I don't like big boy beds!" and then proceeded to call himself "baby Ian" for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, he seems to be coming around to the idea now that a few days have gone by. :)

Ian is finally big enough to wear the UT jersey our friend Chris gave him!

We went out for a very belated anniversary dinner this past weekend (thanks for watching Ian, Eric, Carrie, and Ian!). We enjoyed uninterrupted conversation and a yummy "dinner for two" at PF Changs (thanks for the gift money, Mom & Dad!). Ian had a great time, too. :)

We returned the favor so that Eric & Carrie could go out for an anniversary dinner, too. We absolutely loved our time with almost-six-year-old Melissa! We've watched her grow up, so she has a very special place in our hearts!

Ian absolutely loves her, too, and likes to copy everything that she does!

We all were a little silly during our time together!

Matt has been in full-swing home improvement mode! Ian "helped" take off the old door hardware, and then Matt sanded and stained the part of the door underneath where the new hardware would go.

The new door hardware (plus a new kickplate, which isn't pictured) are the finishing touches to making our front door look brand new. Way to tackle those projects, babe!

On Wednesday, we met some friends at Teddy Bear Park, a park specially geared for toddlers that we hadn't been to before. Ian really liked the slides!

He also took time to pull some weeds he found in the wood chips, a new favorite pastime at home as well. He gets proud to show that he also "pulled out the root!"

My friend Carole was super creative and taught a mini-art class to the kids that came. She had all the kids (Ava, Ian, Caleb, and Carson) sit on red mats while she taught them about bubble wrap.

Ian had never seen or touched bubble wrap before, and he thought it was VERY fun to pop!

Caleb and Ian especially liked to lay down while popping the bubbles.

After the kids spent a while popping bubbles, Carole showed them how to paint the bubble wrap and then use the bubble wrap to "stamp" a piece of paper. The art project was a huge hit! Thanks, Carole, for the great idea!!

Afterwards, Carson shared his spray bottle with Ian! Ian was a huge fan! In fact, we bought our own 97-cent spray bottles afterwards and have already had a few "water fights." :)

When we got home, we realized that our brand-new laptop (Hooray! Now we don't have to worry about our computer randomly turning itself off. AND now we're able to successfully Skype with family that lives far away!) came with some HUGE "bubble wrap" that Ian could pop while jumping. He thought it was so fun!

Ian tried his very first artichoke this week. He thought it was very fun to dip the leaves in the lemon-butter sauce and bite off the bottom. We even captured a video of his experience.

Here, Ian and his friend Caleb got the silly idea to lay under our rug. (Ian had just gotten his shirt completely covered in yogurt during lunch.)

Our friend Aliceson had the great idea to have a Date Night "co-op" so we parents can have a night out every few weeks. We take turns watching the kids while the other adults go on a date night. Last night was our night to baby-sit. We had a great time with everyone's sweet kids and laughed a lot at their silly antics.

Needless to say, our house was pretty quiet after everyone went home! :)

What's new with the Schleichers

Some of you have asked what’s new with Ian … Well, our little toddler is growing up more and more each day! He continues to be a curious, active, social, opinionated, and compassionate little guy.

He has become VERY curious about other people. At church, when someone leaves during the service, he’ll say, “Daddy, where is that girl going?” At the grocery store, he’ll point to random people and say, “Momma, what’s that man’s name?” When Kim is tutoring, he’ll ask Matt to “go see” the student Momma is tutoring. Often, when he actually has an interaction with the person that he’s curious about, he’ll get shy and just bury his face in Momma or Daddy’s shoulder. Once he knows people, though, he really likes to be the center of attention and make people laugh. He’s starting to understand emotions, too. The first few days after our miscarriage, he’d ask us, “Are you sad?” and then give us a kiss or hug and say, “That will make you feel better” or “Are you happy?”

Ian is constantly narrating what he’s doing, what he sees, or what he’s thinking. His comments crack us up! “I’m drawing a telehandler,” he told Momma yesterday while drawing a line on his chalkboard. “I see a truck carrying a skid steer loader,” he told Daddy a few days ago while watching out the car window (and, sure enough! There was one in the other lane!). “Watch me do a swick (trick),” he told Momma a few weeks ago while he rode the exercise bike pedal around in a circle. It’s especially funny to hear him role play with his beloved Puppy stuffed animal, asking a question and then responding for Puppy. His creative side is starting to come out, too, as he’ll tell us silly stories about things that he did (that he really didn’t do).

He seems to have mostly figured out pronouns, though he'll still say things like, "Me is cold."And, he’s still trying to figure out how to tell us what his opinions are. He’ll say things like “Do I want some more fruit salad?” or “Do I want my digger?,” wanting us to ask him the question in return.

Reading books continues to be near the top of Ian’s list of favorites. He likes to “read” to himself and will usually remember most of the words or phrases as he turns each page. He will immediately correct us if we say the wrong word while reading to him. His new obsession is trying to hold a significant object from each book we’re reading. If we’re reading about dogs, he has to hold his stuffed puppy. If we’re reading a construction book, his digger is in hand. The “Mary Has a Little Lamb” book warrants finding his toy sheep.

Singing is another favorite activity. He likes to sing along with the multi-verse songs we sing him before nap and bedtime. He’ll entertain himself for long periods of time singing and combining various song verses together.

Like other kids his age, his little mind is a sponge. It’s amazing how far back he can remember or how quickly he can learn new things. When he likes a nursery rhyme we read to him, he’ll keep saying, “Again!” so that we’ll read it to him a dozen (or more!) times in a row and he can remember the words himself. He’s definitely learning about cause and effect, too – what happens when he drops or throws things, what happens when he spits, and what happens when he disobeys.

Ian continues to become more coordinated. For the past few weeks, it has been easy for him to go up and down the stairs while standing and holding onto the handrail. He has learned how to jump and loves to practice – on hopscotch boards outside, at Bouncin’ Bears, on his bed, anywhere!

Some of Ian’s least favorite things are going to the church nursery (or anywhere that Momma or Daddy will not be), sharing his toys with other kids, going to time out (he feels VERY remorseful!), watermelon, and potatoes. He often doesn’t like when Momma and Daddy are having a conversation (and ignoring him) and will say loudly, “Don’t talk!”

His favorites include the children’s museum, throwing balls, puddles or water of any kind, Nerf guns, construction vehicles (which he mainly knows by name), play-doh (especially the play-doh “scissors”), his black train, fruit snacks, playing outside, his toy paintbrush and hammer, and laying down while he’s playing so he can see his vehicles’ wheels spin. He also loves routines and will do certain things the same way EVERY time. For example, he loves getting down from his booster seat after a meal, removing a cushion from a kitchen chair, and asking Momma or Daddy to pull the chair over to the sink while he runs into the dining room. Then, he’ll run back to the sink, wanting to stand on the chair so he can help with dishes. He loves to “be helpful” and help put away laundry, unload the dishwasher, wash clothes or dishes, or water the plants.

We thank God for our little guy and the joy that he brings to us!

Thank you, thoughtful friends and family members, for continuing to ask us how we’re doing following the miscarriage a couple of weeks ago. We greatly appreciate your continued thoughtfulness and prayers! Physically, Kim feels back to normal and has her energy back. Emotionally, God is helping us to get stronger each day. We continue to think of our baby throughout the day, each day, but the tears are lessening. It’s still hard to tell people the story of the miscarriage and to see women that are pregnant (especially friends who are due right at the time our baby was). We know that it will continue to be an up-and-down journey through our grieving. But, the Lord is certainly hearing and answering our prayers. We trust that our baby is safe in His arms. Our Savior has given us hope for the future and confidence in His goodness. We thank Him for the encouragement that He has provided us through many of you.

We’ll include some pictures and videos below of our most recent activities:

Ian continues to want to sleep with random items -- generally different each night, but always Puppy

jumping in the rain (YES! We got rain! I think Ian may have forgotten what it was. During the rainstorm, he was especially interested in people's windshield wipers and kept saying, "The windshield wipers are ON! They're going back and forth!" We definitely need more rain! :))

Rain + dirt = MUD! :)

We went to Hermann Park for the free Houston Symphony 4th of July concert and fireworks. It was so much fun, even if we did get completely turned around and spend 45 minutes after the fireworks locating our car. :) Ian was completely enthralled by the fireworks (see below).

"Wee Willie Winkie" was one of those nursery rhymes Ian asked us to read a zillion times in a row after he heard it the first time. Here he is proudly saying it himself.

Every so often, I like to conduct random "interviews" with Ian to see what he'll say to various questions that I think of while I'm recording. We get a kick out of seeing what he thinks and knows and hope you find them interesting, too.

The Rest of our Trip!

On Sunday, after all of the wedding festivities were over, we headed to Glacier National Park. Everything there was so beautiful!! What a Creator we have!!

Our first stop was Trail of the Cedars in West Glacier.
On the way to East Glacier, we stopped to see some sights, including Running Eagle Falls (below).

Uncle Jason taught Matt and Ian the importance of holding a "bear stick" while hiking. Ian thought that was a fantastic idea!

We met up with Kim's parents and Uncle Andrew and Aunt Sarah on Sunday night. We stayed in some cottages near Glacier National Park. Just as he had loved the time with Matt's family before the wedding, Ian absolutely loved every minute with Kim's family, too. He was spoiled by all of the love and attention and came up with little jokes with each person. (For example, he'd joke with Uncle Jason about not liking blueberries and loved saying, "No way, Jose" with Aunt Sarah.) While we were together in the cottages, Uncle Jason had us all "go on a bear hunt" together. Ian kept saying, "Again! Again!"

Uncle Andrew taught Ian how to blow dandelion seeds! Ian kept saying, "Again! Again!" (Do you notice a trend??) :)

While in Glacier, we got to see some animals up close, including ...


a black bear,

a brown bear,

a moose (You really have to look carefully to find this one! We actually saw one closer than this, but we didn't have our cameras handy before it ran away. We were thrilled to finally see one. Each time we saw a cluster of cars stopped or people with binoculars out, we'd stop to find out what they were looking at. Three times in a row, we heard, "Oh! There was just a _(really cool wild animal)__ standing right here. You JUST missed it!"),

and some mountain goats.

On Monday morning, we woke up early to do lots more hiking. Ian was excited to get back in
the hiking backpack! He loved singing and humming while riding on Matt's back. Kim tried to capture a video of Matt and Ian singing a made-up melody together . Even though it's a little hard to hear, it's too precious to not include.



We stopped to get some nice pictures near St. Mary, including at Sunrift Gorge (see below)


and St. Mary Falls. Kim's dad (not pictured), Amy, Jason, and Andrew were brave enough to climb right over by the waterfall!!


The "Going to the Sun" road was closed due to snow(!), but we decided to walk along the cleared off part for a while to see what we could see. Turns out there was not much to see unless we wanted to walk about five miles one way.


But, we did have a good time singing and talking along the way. :)


After naps, we were ready for more hiking in Many Glacier. We saw many more pretty sights and ate a yummy Italian dinner at a restaurant at the trail head. We topped off the meal with huckleberry frozen yogurt, a Kalispell/Glacier specialty!

On Tuesday, we headed back to Billings for more family fun!
We went to a baseball game together.

Ian's favorite part of the ball game was the yummy berry smoothie he had there. (They WERE pretty good! :))





Dancing to the music was pretty fun, too!

Perhaps inspired by the baseball game (or maybe just inspired by the game-loving youth director Jason), the guys had a Home Run Derby contest in Jason and Amy's big backyard.

After getting the field all set up, the guys rock-paper-scissored to see who would play which position first.

After a nail-bitingly close competition, Matt emerged Home Run Derby champ!!
Way to go, guys!

We also enjoyed going to Billings' "beach" (Lake Elmo).



We saw Uncle Jason's youth group's fireworks stand. Uncle Jason even lit a few fireworks for Ian, who kept saying, "Again! Again!" :)


And, of course, we just spent time relaxing and enjoying being together as a family ...
cuddling,

playing in the dirt,

cooking together,

celebrating Uncle Jason & Aunt Amy's as well as Papa's birthdays,

reading books,

playing outside,

tickling and rough-housing,

singing songs,

and JUMPING!

Thanks for being such wonderful hosts, Amy and Jason! We loved our time with all of you, dear family and can't wait 'til the next time we get to see you! :)