The Seven Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas the Schulz family, partied with the Schulz family!
We hosted all of the Schulzes for a fun, delicious, merry time. 

Creating a snowman family to welcome everyone to the party

Spot It

Opening presents

The whole crew

Legos with Uzu

Playing Kids On Stage

On the second day of Christmas the Schulz family, traveled all the way to Currie!
Addy and I traveled the two and a half hours to Elizabeth and Matt's house in Currie, MN to celebrate with the Augsburg girls and their families. It was a small gathering this year, but fun to chat about our growing families. We really missed those who could not make it.

Kayla, Elizabeth (and baby Schreier!), Trish, me, and Addy

On the third day of Christmas the Schulz family, battled with the icky-sickies!
Despite our best efforts, a winter cold hit Dax full force right in the middle of our gauntlet of Christmas celebrations. We laid low in hopes that he could kick it quickly.

On the fourth day of Christmas the Schulz family, met the Olsons at the home of Jon & Jean!
While Dax was not well enough for this celebration, Addy and I ventured out. There were only 27 of the almost 40 of us this year, but we enjoyed good conversation, yummy appetizers, the story of Jesus' birth, Christmas carols, and a gift exchange. It was delightful. (video by Aunt Karen Zibolski)

Little Grinches for the party

Opening presents the next morning

On the fifth day of Christmas the Schulz family, did Christmas eve with Gma Amy!
The Pyle family Christmas was our next adventure. This time we all headed out to celebrate together. We started with one of our favorite traditions - the Christmas Eve service at Oak Grove complete with good news and candlelit singing. From there we joined the Pyles at Amy's house and enjoyed our annual Mexican feast, gift opening, a white elephant exchange, and lots of laughter.

Licking the spoon from a batch of Christmas fudge

The Pyle crowd

Ed's elf hat

Loving his presents

New Legos!

Addy with Great Aunt Lesley

Singing with Travis on our way out

Saying goodbye to Superman 2

On the sixth day of Christmas the Schulz family, delighted in the Santa mystery!
Dax could hardly sleep through his excitement about Santa's visit and it was so fun to wake up with him (which could only have been more fun had it been a few hours later!). We found and played with presents from the man in red, exchanged gifts with each other, and soaked up the magic that can only be found during the holidays. Then (after battling a still sick, over tired, overstimulated toddler), we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house. Breakfast for dinner and another gift exchange rounded out our day. (Videos show Dax right away Christmas morning and a glimpse into how he opened presents - very carefully!)

Testing Addy's blood pressure

Playing with some of his new toys

Underwear!

Playing one of his new games

Our sweet, beautiful girl

Jenga is so funny!

Modeling his new sweater from Auntie Shannon

On the seventh day of Christmas the Schulz family, soaked up our final day of Merry!
Another low-key morning almost turned our toddler monster back into the sweet boy we know and we ended our holiday week with Grandpa and Grandma Schulz. 

Ads and Auntie Anna

Helping Grandpa open the canvas Dax painted for them

Gift opening

Not sure about the face, but sporting his awesome new Gopher hat

Dax found a new toy to play with even before he opened any of his presents!

Whew! We are blessed to have amazing family and incredible friends and feel lucky to get to spend time with so many people throughout the holidays. The crazy schedules, indulgent food, and gifts threw the littlest Schulzes out of whack, but, in the end, there was more joy than tears. And while Dax might be in party withdrawal over the next few days, we are looking forward to playing with all of Dax and Addy's new toys!

100 days

Sweet Adelaide has hit another "important" milestone. She has been an active member of our family for one hundred days. Happy day Addy; life with you can only be described as pure joy.

3 months

Is it just me or is she getting cuter?

Another month has flown by and our little peanut is now 3 months old. She all of a sudden looks and seems like a baby rather than a newborn, adores her brother almost as much as he adores her (he says regularly, "We want Addy happy all the time."), and lights up our house every single day with her incredible smile. Here's a look at little Adelaide's third month.

I'm three months old already?!

* Addy has been smiling in response to us for awhile, but she has started to be more interactive. She stares at Dax if he is in the room (and calm enough for her to catch a glimpse, ha!) and gets the biggest smile anytime anyone talks to her.

LOVES her brother!

Bummed this was blurry, but they're so sweet together

* In addition to her smiles, she plays with toys (bats at and occasionally grabs things within her reach). She also "talks" back to us and seems to be more vocal every day.

* Ads tolerates tummy time and is getting stronger everyday. However, she definitely prefers to be on her back and rubbed herself a pretty significant bald spot in the midst of all her hair.

Watching brother again (with some tummy time on Mommy's knees) gives us a glimpse of little baldy.

* Though she's still working on her upper body, her legs are incredibly strong. She LOVES to stand with support and can completely hold her own weight. You may notice in this video that there are times Jake isn't even touching her. Future soccer player? We can only hope! :)

* Her strength inspired us to give the Bumbo a try as another option for her to observe the family when we aren't holding her. She's not yet stable enough to use it independently, but it won't be long.

* Adelaide is not quite sleeping through the night, but we're starting to notice patterns with her sleep. The biggest development in that realm is with her swaddle - she gets her hands out almost every single night and nap. She is not yet able to calm herself and still sleeps better when swaddled, but works hard to get her fingers to her mouth when she wakes up. Silly girl!

Constantly chewing that little fist

* Firsts this month include Thanksgiving, her baptism, and meeting Santa.

Look at her grow!

3 Months

Christmas Season

I have always loved everything about Christmas, but it's even better with little ones. Dax is enthusiastic about everything this year and Adelaide is a cute addition to all of our fun. We are truly enjoying the holidays as much as we can...

The elf returned this year! He came with another message from Santa reminding Dax and Addy that Jesus is the focus of this special season and encouraging them to be kind and thankful. Dax named the new elf Superman 2 (you may recall that last year's elf was Superman) and is thrilled to find him every day. The funniest place he showed up was Dax's underwear drawer - "Daddy, I was going to get underwear out of my sock drawer and I reached in and felt an elf, and it turned out it was Superman 2!" Superman 2 also brings us part of the Christmas story each day and Dax is just as excited to read his notes.

We spent last Saturday morning at the zoo for Snack with Santa. We enjoyed a little time looking at the animals and then had a snack and chatted with Santa. Dax was hesitant at first, but willingly sat on his lap and talked with him for awhile. Addy was really unhappy at first, but also warmed up to Santa quickly. It was a nice, low-key encounter.

In our days at home, we are feeling festive with Christmas tunes, (the best is when Dax hears the beginning of a song, jumps up and says, "this is my jam!" and starts dancing to it!) and art projects. Thank you, Pinterest, for keeping us entertained!

We can't wait for all of our holiday parties to start and are now just hoping for a white Christmas!