this sh*t is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s

.. thank you Gwen Stefani for teaching me how to correctly spell bananas.


Since day 1 with Jude we knew he was a picky little eater. In the hospital we couldn't get him to drink from a bottle or a boobie. He quickly got the hang of a bottle and went to town, right when we got home. Nothing is different now. He is a picky little thing. He dislikes almost all the same foods that Gavin does and has a love for certain foods- I wonder when he'll get sick of them.

Like bananas. I buy almost two bundles of bananas a week. A WEEK! Jude eats just about every single one of them. It's his favorite breakfast, snack and side. This morning, as we are heading to preschool- and late might I add, he is screaming in his car seat for bananas. "Naaaanaaaaaaaaa's, maaaaa, nnnnnaaaannnnnaaaaas!" It was far past annoying. He then proceeded to scream as I am opening up the door to get Gavin out for preschool for all of the other late moms to hear. He screamed the entire time I was in the preschool.. (yes, I leave him in the car when it's terribly cold outside, call the cops) and the whole way home. Jude isn't much of a temper tantrum little boy. In fact, he almost never has a tantrum; I would say the only time we see that 'throw yourself down on the floor and kick your heels' side of Jude is if Gavin has taken a toy away from him or I don't give him "nanas". Gavin, on the other hand, could schedule a temper tantrum into his day on the hour, and sometimes does.

I made him some eggs (his second favorite breakfast food) and he was almost overjoyed to see the yellow food on his plate. That was until he realized that they were eggs and not "nanas". It's been a long morning and it's only 9:30. I am going to finish my few things here and then head to the store to get those beloved "nanas" that we're having massive temper tantrums over. One month and counting until the terrible twos are scheduled to actually start.

need out

i need to get out of the house. i am using my blog to communicate with everyone........ probably not the best idea.

for those of you who read this (by the way i just typed whore) and didn't realize it.. who+re(ad) haha. opps, delete. here's a little funny for you.

gavin said to me yesterday while we were stamping the abc's into play-doh...

"junk abc's. mom, i'm never going to use these abc's". seriously had me rolling. he struggles with the "l, m, n, o, p" part- says it as one word so we have to point them out and say them individually.

anyways, about an hour after that he looked at me and called me a bastard (his fathers favorite word) so he got a little mouthful of vinegar.

it was a happy friday. enjoy the weekend!

house goals

We are near the end, friends. 

One final floor sand, paint and trim. Oh.... and the stairs. I always forget about the stairs. So I guess we're about half way done then?

I went to LBC to pick out paint and trim colors; very excited about the colors I chose. I got Dan to agree on them, which I never thought would happen. He would prefer a dark color and I, of course, would love something that is just outside of the "white" category. I let Dan chose the living room color and I'm still not exceptionally happy about the outcome. It's a nice color, but about three shades darker than the color I had brought home. It will do. Our living room gets amazing natural sunlight, and with the white trim and light colored decor its beautiful during the day, I'm in love.. but at night I'd like to rip down the walls. It's better than the white with boarder that had up for the first months of moving in. And better than the just plain white walls Dan was happy with (men).

Our house goals for 2014 are:

-(Obviously) to finish the upstairs bedroom. I'm really hoping two more weeks. 

-Finish Jude's room.. which will be easy- just redecorate it, move shelving around, put shelves up. It would basically just take one solid day. Move in the bed. Right now every free hour is dedicated to the bedroom so it will have to be on the back burner. 

-Repaint, putty and move things in Gavin's room. Bring in his new dresser, ect.

-(drum roll please)....... THE KITCHEN. I've been very patient about this kitchen. It won't happen until spring/summer when we can move in with my mom for a week or two. School needs to be out so Gavin won't miss that. Plus, there is no possible way to remodel a kitchen with two little boys running around, needing to be fed.

-Repaint the shutters. They are currently this awful faded maroon color- anything but that will be awesome. It's so easy and so cheap, I can even do it solo as soon as the snow is gone. 

A big house goal for 2015- 

-Basement. Add a bedroom, bathroom and storage area. Something easy to do but very time consuming. Plus, that's where the majority of the toys are so I have no idea where that mess will be relocated. 

-Change all outdoor doors

-All new interior doors as well

-New kitchen appliances

-Windows, all around. So I'm thinking summer 2015 for that. 

If we follow through with these plans there will be NOTHING in our house that is original to when we moved in. We can't really "remodel" and take walls out/move things around because our house is so tiny but a face-lift and new added extras will make our house look a lot better. Plus, something we can do together. I am pretty proud I'm actually taking part in some of the process. I am even getting pretty good at using the sander. 

the fire is lit

This is a real quick entry...
The fire under Dan's ass is lit, my friends. Tonight he has been pulling up the My Little Pony pink carpet that has been a eye sore in our bedroom for the five years we've owned this place. Little did I know that lighting a fire under his ass for Jude's room was going to light a fire for our bedroom. The downer is that some moron put carpet glue??? -if that's a real thing- all over certain spots of the hardwood... so he is currently peeling that with some nasty chemicals.

 All today and yesterday (or my four hours I have of free time-- and I use the term "free time" loosely, because Gavin is right next to me, helping... I mean annoying me) removing rose and green vine style boarder from our bedroom. I've just about destroyed every fingernail that I can use to peel off the boarder and my hands will need a full week to recover from being soaked in fabric softener and water (which by the way, does wonders).

 Jude's room is almost complete. I just need shelves, and I'm real picky about them. Dan was going to build them for me but I think I've found the ones I want and that way he can focus on upstairs. Which is great cause to be honest I thought we would sell the house looking the way we bought it. WHOO HOOO TO 2014!

Olson Family

As I'm sure many of you have heard a great family is suffering after a horrific car accident. Coach Olson as many people know him and his two sweet little boys got into a car accident Friday night coming home from a Minnesota Gopher hockey game. They are all battling many issues and aches and pains and need so much support at this time.

Saturday night Zion Lutheran Church held a prayer service and the church was packed. It was so great to see so many people show support and so quickly. I was humbled to see how many people care for this family and how great it is to live in a small community where everyone comes together to show love and offer prayers and thoughts and everything else.

Right now they are selling t-shirts to support the family. All proceeds from the t-shirts will go to help the Olson family. You can order them through Monica Schreiber and her email (found on facebook) or at Litchfield Floral, starting Friday.

I've known Coach Olson since I was in high school. I took hockey stats for the hockey team he coached and got to know him and his family (it was just Alyssa and Cindy then) so it tugs a little at my heart to see them battle this difficult time. They are members of the same church that we go to so I see those adorable little boys running around everywhere. Or even wheeling around every where- Ty had previously broken his leg so he was already in a cast.

Many people are keeping the Litchfield community updated via facebook. Darcie and Luke Braaten are traveling down almost daily to bring Alyssa to see her family and bringing goodies that many people have dropped off  for the them. Darcie, among others, is updating her facebook daily to keep everyone posted on what's going on.

Keep this family in your prayers and thoughts- you can check out how the family is doing via facebook or their caring bridge website,  here.

Baby it's cold outside

I need school to resume. It's been great sleeping in till 8:30, spending the day in our jammies, not leaving the house- I mean really, it's been great! But I am over it. Today the three of us slept in until 8:15 (thank you Jude) and have done absolutely nothing. We're sipping on coffee, eating pop tarts and lounging in our pj's... wait... that's just me. The boys are now coloring and I've been lucky, zero fights as of now at 10:37 am. We've had about 1000 dance parties, many forts built, played well with the thomas table they got for Christmas, made play doh, I've pushed tractors all over the house... you name it- if you can do it indoors, we've done it.

The only plus to this cold is it keeps us together. No one, to include Dan, wants to go out for any unnecessary outing. We've done a whole lot of nothing. I've only left my house twice since Sunday- once to go eat with my grandma and once to go to the grocery store to get her some more coke and deliver it to her. She's not doing well at all so I want to help her out as much as I can. Today Dan volunteered to go grocery shopping so today will be another day of staying warm and cozy in my toasty house.

It's been great being indoors since Jude has been battling a cold/sinus infection for just about two months. Now getting him to take his medicine has been a chore in itself. The first two trys were a projectile vomit across my teeny tiny kitchen and the third was a blueberry go-gurt thrown into the side of my stove. Now we seem to be getting the hang of taking our medicine in the form of applesauce. Whatever works, right?

Another great thing? I've trashed Jude's room to the point of no return. You want to know why? It lights an extremely hot fire under my husbands ass. His room is TRASHED. Dan cannot handle the clutter of Jude's toys around his room and every time he walks by he grunts. Last night (about three hours after I destroyed it) he was in measuring for the shelves and cubbies and even went as far as to discuss making a headboard/bed frame for that sweet little boy. We are making preparations to move him into the big boy bed, 2 months and counting, and "redecorating" the entire room. All the baby stuff and names all over will be LONG gone. I've ordered the bedding from my favorite store (LON) and now all I need is to take a trip to target for the storage cubbies I've been looking at and I need Dan to build some shelves. Oh, I also need to find a new three drawer dresser... Any one have any they're willing to get rid of? I need one that's in any shape or form. I have some big plans for the dresser and since Jude's room is so tiny (like the theme of our house) I need a smaller one that the gorgeous blue one I got from Little Red Hen.

So that's this family in a nutshell, or a tiny little warm house I guess. I'm going to make some eggs for lunch and crank up my Jason Aldean pandora station. County music seems to go well with the frigid cold.
Stay warm.

merry christmas

The Schroeder Family 2013 New Year/Christmas card

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!
I think I can easily say this was the best Christmas ever. We spent a great deal of time (in fact five different Christmases) together and didn't argue once. Our boys were more than excited to see family and friends around the Christmas tree, eat delicious food and of course unwrap those presents. This year was a little bit more special because Gavin understands Santa a little bit more and now gets that the whole reason we celebrate Christmas is because it's baby Jesus's birthday- now that is special. Both of the boys had no "temper tantrums" at any of the places we visited, and that makes this mama happy!

I didn't get the dog (like I need some more chaos) I wanted and Dan didn't get the new snowmobile he asked Santa for, but I think we'll suffice. You kind of forget about the "wants" when you become an adult and think more about the giving aspect of Christmas. It's truly amazing.

The little boys are little boys and were more than excited about the gifts that they received. I'm pretty sure we need to find the boys a new interest other than construction toys and John Deere tractors, we're soon going to need to put an addition on the house for storage for these massive, clunky toys. Gavin has discovered a new interest in legos and I am a little OCD to have them all in my house. Not for the mess but because they all come in sets and you have to build this contraption that moves and swivels and I am obsessed. I could spend about five hours building and sculpting and playing with them- what am I six?! Jude is still loving his books- but only "real life" books- trains, construction, tractors, animals. He shows little to no interest in fiction or tv for that matter. I would say the closest thing to amusement is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme song, after that's over he's back to his path of destruction. And when I say destruction I mean it. You can imagine what his room looks like. He is currently sitting in the fridge re-arranging my condiments and snorting like a pig. It is (hashtag) never a dull moment.

I am grateful that we had so much to celebrate this year. In fact, I'm grateful that Dan and I could celebrate it together, as a family. Because at one point I wasn't too sure we'd make it to the 25th of December. I do not shy away from talking about my relationship with Dan, it.is.hard. We drive each other to our breaking points and honestly are ready to walk away 20% of the year. But this Christmas we gave our kids the best thing we could give them and that was to try even harder to make our marriage something meaningful to each other and this family a happy one. Marriage is something that comes with no manual and goes many different ways. I, myself, have never seen an amazing marriage. I don't know ANYONE out there who has one. In fact, I don't think there really is an "ideal" marriage so I have nothing to go by. I don't know the rules and I don't think it is something I'll ever get better at, I will never be the relationship expert people come to for advice, I just want my marriage to be better than it has been in the past. And there is only one way to go from that spot... and it is up.

We've both done a lot of growing in the past year. We met the harsh reality that outside others really do have a lot to do with the inside of your marriage. The negativity surrounds you more than the uplifting positivity of others. More so with me than Dan, and more so mentally than physically- if you know what I mean. Just to be 100% clear and not start a rumor that came from this blog, no- no cheating scandals or any sorts of that.  I "grieved" a loss of a few friends because they weren't really there to be my friends and made me feel depressed and upset and questioning everything about Samantha Jo (fucking) Schroeder. And that made me feel at a loss with who I am as a wife and made my family suffer. This year I was negative and let my mind be dragged down and question so much. I loss the confidence that I've had for 25 years. Confidence that I had when I was fat and pregnant, or just fat from being pregnant, confidence that made me do that 13.1 mile half marathon with people who I knew were way faster than me, confidence in being a daughter who is mind blown with the fact her mom is losing her house to foreclosure and moving away from from me, and my boys, and the town she grew up in, I just basically lost confidence I've always had in myself. And the fact that I let these negative thoughts and people take that away from me and make myself feel horrible and let my family suffer really upsets me more than any of those reasons listed above. So like I said there is no way to go but up. 2013 was a great year, so much to celebrate... but 2014 is going to be much better. Growing back together with Dan, being a mom to my sweet boys, getting the negativity and sadness out of my life and being that same person I've been for the last 25 years. I truly can't wait.

And the first start to 2014 is a much needed face-lift to this blog. It needs some help. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a Happy NEW Year!