Joseph's First Train Ride

No Words. Just study that face.

*Sigh*
I have NEVER seen my son look this peaceful. EVER.

Thank you, God, for trains.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Our second day of vacation began with a trip to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg.

It made me chuckle all day thinking of the 5 children I had to chase from each exhibit. It was really hard to tell who appreciated the old locomotives the most. (No it wasn't.)

Who is the happiest about being in the Conrail?

Joseph and the GG1. The train he has been waiting to see his WHOLE LIFE! Tommy just jumped up and down in one place and shouted "GG1!GG1!GG1!" He knew what it was the moment he saw it. No one had to tell him. Matt was so proud. I was slightly disturbed. It is a disease, I am told.

One of the many train tables in the kids' room at the museum. The children would have stayed in here all day.

They even had a corner with toys, puzzles and books for Nate!

Out in the train yard!



Nathan was perfect the entire trip.
Truly perfect.



Switch tracks

Paradise

This vacation was long overdue. On Easter morning, right after Church, we jumped in the car and drove to Amish country. We needed to get away from the work computer and cell phone. We needed to have some family time. We needed to focus on what was most important.

Car trips with our babies are hysterical. They LOVE the car. They love everything. They love singing. A lot. They love fighting. A lot. They love fighting about singing in the car. A lot. I thought I would teach them some of the games I used to play as a child in the car. Mom, I had no idea these games were so obnoxious. I am just going to go out on a limb and apologize for EVERYTHING I ever did as a child in the car.

We arrived in Paradise, PA right around dinner time on Easter Sunday. We walked into the lobby of our hotel and could smell the coffee brewing and could see the pool waiting. The children ran over to the glass enclosure for the pool and smashed their faces to it, smearing the view. Jumping up and down, they immediately began asking when they could get into their bathing suits. I actually had to prevent Thomas from dropping his drawers right in the lobby! ;)

The woman at the front desk started checking us in as Matt chased the 4 children around the lobby and restaurant. She asked me if this was our first time there and I replied with an exhausted "Yes!" She looked at me with a funny smirk, glanced at the children, and handed me the room keys as she said: "Welcome to Paradise, Honey." *Sigh*

We went up to our suite with four crazy babies. I thought it would also be a VERY good idea if I taught them about the ice machine. I remember having TONS OF FUN with it when I was a child. I think my parents used to send us to the ice machine to get us out of the room for 30 seconds. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea. Now, every time we walked in or out of the room for the remainder of our stay, each child went into a full-blown sprint to see who could get to the ice machine first...to push the button. Same with the elevator.

Our suite was exquisite. I loved everything about it. The children and I unpacked as Matt brought everything up from the car. The baggage cart quickly turned into a train that made break-neck speed runs into the door of our room. That train had to go far away...but not before I got pictures of my children hitching rides on the train of death.

Nathan was so happy to have a place to crawl around. I just let him go. He was like the energizer bunny.

Sarah was glad to have her space. No boys within two feet of her, and the promise of a dip in the pool before bed. That was one happy princess.




My Ice Machine Man. I told him he couldn't go back to get more because the bucket was full. So he started eating it.



We went swimming. No pictures because we both had one baby in each arm. Trust me when I say it was insane and hysterical. Sarah was so brave. Joseph was perfect. Thomas was dangerous. Nathan was giddy.

Evening came and morning followed. The first day.

Coloring Easter Eggs

It was not stressful this year. We did our egg-dyeing on a washable surface and decided before we began that our children were, in fact, washable too. They had a marvelous time.

I am not really sure why we dye eggs; we have hands.

(p.s. This was a HUGE accomplisment for our Joseph! We were so proud of him for allowing himself to get "dirty" and put up with the stain on his hands for the next day or two!)

Nathan would have been allowed to color the eggs had he shown us that he was responsible enough. ;) Better luck next year, Nate!

I should have just purchased them farm-fresh from the store... ours all ended up brown anyway.

Sleepy Time

Grandad has a knack for calming babies down and putting them to sleep for the night. So...when he and Nonna called last evening and asked if they could pop on over for a quick visit at bedtime, we were totally open.

Laying the children down for the night is normally a HUGE ordeal. When we were slightly newer at the parenting game, we would schedule in at least an hour to tuck the kids in at night...reading them stories, brushing teeth, bath time, prayers, talking about the universe, planning the next 647 days, deciding what they are going to wear the 3rd Tuesday of their junior year at highschool. We caught on quickly (not really) that Sarah learned how to manipulate the system. Matt is a bit of an apologist, so when Sarah started in with the theologic questions at 9p, he was happy to oblige. "Dad, what color is my guardian angel? Can I name it? Does she get thirsty? Where is Heaven?" Up until a couple months ago, this is what would happen each and every night. By the time all the children were finally asleep, we would walk down the stairs to have some adult time and turn right back around to go to bed ourselves...we were EXHAUSTED!

I remember a time back when Matt and I had first started dating. I was clearing the table at the Pernot's house and was trying to put a bottle of dressing in the fridge. There was no room, and I turned to Mrs. Pernot for a solution. She told me to jam it in and slam the door as quickly as possible. I believe that this particular method has become our most recent routine for putting the children to bed. The children rub their eyes, we toss them in their pjs and into bed, put up the gate and RUN!

Soaking It In

I hope I always remember these mornings. Sarah is so sweet and sugary before dawn. I struggle to appreciate it all before my first cup of coffee, but Matt is constantly and gently reminding me to love on the princess. She wakes up singing. She tells us how much she missed us through the night. She wants to be present when Matt heads off to work for the day. She counts down the days in the rest of the week, planning our weekends in advance. So organized. So efficient. So lovely.

Scuba Steve

Stephen has been such a huge help this spring with all of our projects around the house. He never tires of tearing things apart. When Matt makes the phone call to beg for help, Steve's immediate response is:"YES! That sounds AMAZING!"

Thank you, Steve, for helping with everything! Thanks to you, I have:

- A new hardwood floor in the living room~ because you tore up the carpet.

- Two new couches~ because you used a sledge hammer on my old one.

- A beautiful, open back yard~ because you ripped up my patio AND deck.

- A happy husband~ because you make Matt laugh and help him make a safe and comfortable home for all of us!

A huge shout-out to Emily. I don't know if all of the boys' antics would be as funny without watching you roll your eyes and try to calm this guy down!

And, now that it is boating season, I am looking forward to some things being put back in their places. Here we are practicing for the summer. I wish I had Emily's face in this picture of Steve trying to figure out the blow horn. It was priceless.

Emily and Sarah...fishing for something.

Joseph, feeling way too eager about driving the boat.


WELCOME SPRING!!!

Rice Krispie Treats

We didn't have a recipe, just a box of Rice Krispies and a bag of stale marshmallows. I couldn't have been happier. Watching them work together and delighting in their concoction was priceless.

I think Thomas was a little disappointed with the taste before the marshmallows were mixed in.

Thomas finally getting to take a bite of the finished product.

Nathan deciding that his days of baby food are over (before they even started!)

Joseph's Valet Service

Yesterday was 65 degrees here in Roch-cha-cha! Hurrah for not needing to bundle everyone up to take them outside!

We went outside to play before the rain began yesterday. Nate and I were soaking in some serious Vitamin D and making sure Joseph and Tom stayed in our yard, but I wasn't really paying attention to what they were playing.

Lately, the most frequently asked question at our home has been: "What are Joseph's greatest strengths?" Our answers always have something to do with his sensitivity and meticulous scheduling abilities, but nothing compares to Joseph's organizational skills. EVERYTHING has to be in order. Always.

Here is Joseph, taking every single toy I brought outside and driving it into a lane.

All Tommy wanted to do was ride the tractor. Joseph told him that all vehicles must remain in the parking lot.

Poor Tom...When I heard him crying, I didn't rush to his aid... I took a picture.

I believe Tom's exact words were: "May I please sit in a parked car?!"

Joseph even parked Matt's wheelbarrow. Strong little dude. I held on tight to Nathan in his stroller after that...I know how easy it is to get swept up in the flow of traffic. And I didn't want to have to pay Joseph to get my seven-month-old out of the parking garage.

Three happy boys. God is Good.

Waiting for Dad

The children get really impatient when they feel that Matt has been at work for long enough. Normally around 4 pm, they begin to get antsy. Recently this period of unrest has been starting earlier and earlier. Yesterday it began at 6:30am...and lasted until Matt walked in the door at 5pm. I feel like most of my days are spent just distracting them from the fact that Daddy isn't home. Enter: Anne, the coordinator that you are so lucky you didn't have work your wedding or birthday party.

The table is littered with time-consuming activities. The only issue is that "time-consuming", for a 3-year-old (average age of our children), is about 43 seconds.

Some really "good" ideas I had:

-Drawing a bulls-eye on the sliding glass door with a dry-erase marker so that they could do target practice with their suction cup darts and nerf guns.

- Giving each of the kids a duster and telling them that the one who got rid of the most dust would get a conversation heart.

- Putting a cold bowl of water next to their warm bath so they could play color-changing cars while they bathed.

- Folding socks as a family. We all know how this turned out before.

- Memorizing the alphabet in Spanish...this one was a little tricky because Tommy is still struggling with the English alphabet. :)

- Making a competition out of who could make Nathan laugh the most. This was, by far, the worst of my ideas. Not only do they come from a long line of insane Schwalms who can turn a handshake into a competition, but look at Nate's face...

He's saying: "REALLY, MOM?!?! REALLY?"

Nate the Great

Had Nathan's super-late 6 month appointment this week. They charted him on the 7 month scale, much to my relief...he would have been unfairly recorded!

Height: 28 inches (90th%)

Weight: 21.8lbs (90th%)

Nathan is now moving a great deal of the time and actually LOSING WEIGHT! Nate and Thomas share clothes and diapers, but Matt says that won't be the case for much longer: Nathan is growing faster than Tom.