What Disney Princess are you?

Ursula the Sea Witch...repulsive, rotund sea witch who tends her garden of lost souls!

My boys agree, so I guess they are the lost souls! lol Honestly, when I took the test it said that I was Cinderella and Pochahontas...I can go for Pochahontas, but I am nothing like Cinderella... :)

15 Years Ago Today!

Happy Birthday Vincent!

Today is Vinnie's 15th birthday and I want to take a walk down memory lane. Well, I've already cried going through all the pictures and unfortunately my scanner will not work tonight, so I will have to make do with the pictures of pictures that I took with my digital camera. Hopefully I can scan the originals in soon!
On July 29th 1993 at 7:47 am, Vincent Paul Schroering made his way into the world. My first delivery (Joel) which I will talk more about next week, was quite difficult and Vince came quite easily. He was a scheduled c-section and everything went like clockwork. The whole event was made much more enjoyable by a dear friend and very experienced labor and delivery nurse who assisted my doctor. The above picture is the first time I remember seeing Vince and all I could think is "Oh my gosh...he's huge! Well, he was pretty big. 9lbs. 8oz. to be exact and 21 1/2 inches. He was beautiful. He had a little trouble keeping his body temperature up, so they had to take him to the nursery right away. A little later, we got settled in our room and much to my surprise, I was able to get out of bed all by myself. Considering it took me over 24 hours the 1st time, this was awesome! It didn't even hurt that bad. Finally we got to have Vince with us and we just had a great time snuggling him and visiting with lots of friends and family. For some reason, we even got to talk to my sister that day who was on a mission in Spain. Around noon that day, I got a call from my brother who was living in Wisconsin. I thought he was calling to see how things went and so I just went on telling him all of the details. When I finally finished, he said "well, we had a girl today!" I thought for sure he was pulling my leg because his wife wasn't due for 6 weeks, but sure enough, their daughter was born about 2 hours after Vince. The funny thing is, she is teeny tiny and well, Vince is not! :) They make quite a match for birthday twins.
It was so cute when Joel who was just about to turn 2 came to visit. He was so excited and loved his brother so much. After Joel had visited for awhile, Rich took him for a walk. While they were gone, I moved Vince from his bassinet to my bed with me. When Joel came back, he had a little panic attack because Vince was not in his bed and he thought he was gone. It was so cute. It was cool to see how quickly he fell in love with him.
Vinnie was always such a snuggly baby and very content and happy. We noticed that his sense of humor developed VERY early and he was very silly.

4th of July 1995

About this time in Vinnie's life, my mom decided to start a Vinnie Quotables book. There are tons, but here's a favorite...
Vinnie was 2 1/2 and we were staying in a hotel room in Chicago with my parents. 4 adults and 2 kids were a crowd and on top of it, Vince decided 1st thing in the morning to jump on the bed. I kept trying to get him to stop and all he could say was
"when I wake up, I be wild!"
We laughed so hard that I don't think I ever made him quit jumping!

Vince had the great idea to be Mr. Potatoe Head....Feb 1996

Some things never change. He would give anything for a Yamaha Grizzley today! Summer 1996

Easter 1997

10 years ago today! Vinnies 5th birthday. He loved the choo choo train cake! And the octopus pinata that we made together.


His favorite year of baseball...The Braves! Minor League Champions! Age 7

He went through a phase where he wore this silver chain everyday! This is 2nd grade!






Not his favorite year of football, but isn't he a cutie? age 9

This is my handsome boy after his interview for Exchange City fall 2003, 10 years old.

Badlands, SD June 2005 (almost 12). This boy has always loved dandelions and I swear he can find one (dead or alive) anywhere and anytime of the year. He had a book in kindergarten about dandelions and it said that some people thought dandelions were weeds. He was so mad...he said "dandelions are not weeds!" Sadly, that awesome green polo shirt was ruined later on that day...

14th Birthday....1 year ago...

June 2008.....NO MORE BRACES!!!!!

Here's Vince today! My handsome, funny, smart kid who really hasn't changed one bit except going from 21.5 inches to 6'1''! He still makes me laugh, loves cars and 4 wheelers and eventhough he doesn't snuggle like he used too, he still has that tender heart that I love so much!
Happy Birthday Vinnie! I love you!!!!

My Heavenly Father Loves Me...

Whenever I hear the song of a bird

or look at the blue, blue sky
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
or the wind as it rushes by
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
or walk by a lilac tree
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.

When I was a little girl, I loved this song and I still do! This morning, I was torn between doing something good that I really wanted to do, and being responsible and doing something that I really needed to do. It was the final day of Youth Conference and testimony meeting time. I love hearing the kids testimonies and I had spent about 1/2 of the youth conference time with them. However, I had no responsibilities there and really needed to stay home with the younger kids and use the morning to do some desperately needed yard work. But, I was still torn with the idea of tagging along with my hubby and sharing the experience with my older kids. Well, I decided to take the responsible route and sent my hubby on his way. Little did I know that I was about to have an incredible morning full of reflection, gratitude and the warmth of Heavenly Father's love, along with a fun moment with Glen and Emma.

First off, I dug the hedge trimmers out of the shed and pulled out the extension cord that Rich had assured me would work. Well, much to my dismay, the plug is very fat and would not fit into the opening on the hedge trimmers. Needless to say...I was a little frustrated. So, I decided to move on to weeding until Rich could get back home and help me.

I started pulling weeds in Emma's butterfly garden. There I noticed the absolutely beautiful and fragrant lillies that our neighbor had given us this year. I had no idea if they would grow, but they turned out to be gorgeous!

I then went to the front of the house to weed around the bushes. This is my least favorite place to weed, and I just wanted to get it over with. About 10 minutes into it, I noticed that one of my two rose buses that I thought were a hopeless cause, had a beautiful blossom on it. Did I really miss the beauty of those 3 red roses in the rush of everyday life?I certainly hadn't missed how bad everything in the yard had looked lately.

I continued on realizing that the weeds really weren't that bad and that somehow the petunias on the front porch that I haven't watered for over a month, were very pretty and healthy looking.

Then I went to the back of the house and decided to work on the little spot where I planted peppers and tomatoes this year. I was getting very ticked as I kept finding cat poop and the smell was awful. Keep in mind I don't have any cats, but my neighbor has 7. It's hard to be like the Savior at a moment like this...Anyway...I worked through it and just as I got to the end I noticed my planters of herbs that I really hadn't been taking very good care of. Just as I was noticing how bad they looked, I noticed a caterpillar crawling on one of the dill plants. I looked closer and there were 3. I quickly called Emma and Glen outside to show them. Emma has been watching for butterflies in her garden all year, and Glen had been talking about them at his Junior Master Gardener Class. They were both very excited, and as we looked closer, we found 13 caterpillars, all at various stages, living on my not so hot dill and cilantro plants.
Finally, I moved to the front of the driveway, where just as an experiment, I planted some cucumber and green bean seeds this year. Since we have an asphalt driveway and it is so hot during the summer, my plants and shrubs have always burned up by July. But, I dccided to give it a try this year, and the result has been amazing. So, I bent down and started reaching between the cucumber plants to pull the weeds and I kept hearing this buzzing sound. Finally, I realized it was the bees that my friend Ami had told me I would need to pollinate the plants. It was music to my ears! Then I noticed among all the little yellow flowers that I had baby cucumbers growing. Ahhhh...the feeling of success! Then I got to the area with the green beans that I really thought were strangling each other because of our lack of skill in training them to grown up a pole! :) Guess what I found? Little baby green beans!

I caught myself singing..."Whenever I hear the song of a bird or look at the blue blue sky...."

With sweat pouring down my face and neck and tears in my eyes, I was overwhelmed with love for my Savior and for His wonderful creations. There is so much to learn from the world around us. Just as my beans and cucumbers have grown from a tiny seed in a random patch of dirt with a small amount of my help and knowledge, so can we grow as we trust in the Lord and follow His plan for us and allow him to magnify us and make us more than we ever dreamed!

Husband Tag

Here goes...I've been tagged...Thanks Trish! lol

1. What is your husband's full name?
Richard Dennis Schroering

2. How long have you been together?
Married 20 years this November...we knew each other about 3 years prior to that.

3. How long did you date?
Well, that's a hard one. We worked together and hung out with the same friends for quite awhile before we dated. But, I think things finally clicked for us at Dietz Lake in June 1987. We were engaged July 1988 and married November 1988.

4. Who eats more?
Can you tell by looking? :)...Actually, he does eat more, but I eat too many sweets....

5. Who said "I Love You" first?
He insists that I proposed to him...(not true by the way), but he did say I love you first! In fact, he completely caught me off guard.

6. Who is taller?
He is...just a little bit...

7. Who sings better?
Definately me.....I know that sounds mean, but he sings everything (including hymns) like a rock n roll star!

8. Who is smarter?
He definatley is. I have more education...he is smarter. Figure that one out...

9. Who does the laundry?
Me (He has shrunk too many of my clothes...)

10. Who does the dishes?
Me (The kids won't eat off of them when he does....he take after his mom! Can't see a thing!)

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
Me unless we are in a hotel room. I sleep next to the wall at home, but I can't do it in a hotel room for some reason. Luckily, he really doesn't care.

12. Who pays the bills?
Me (I've been trying to pass it off for over a year)

13. Who mows the lawn?
We both like too, but actually the boys do it most of the time.

14. Who cooks dinner?
Me. He did when we first got married...he's a pretty good cook.

15. Who drives when you are together?
He usually does. I don't know why...

16. Who is more stubborn?
Wow! We both get it honestly. Amazingly, we really don't ever fight though.

17. Who kissed who first?
Well, I actually think I kissed him first, but it was a friend kiss. First real kiss?...I think it was him...

18. Who asked who out first?
He asked me, but he said I had to plan it. It was VERY interesting...

19. Who proposed?
Depends on who you ask. Really, we were just hanging out one night and started looking at the calendar and picked a date...there really wasn't a proposal...

20. Who is more sensitive?
Depends on what kind of sensitive....emotional, me...compassionate, him...

21. Who has more friends?
Me. Many reasons...I have friends from long ago and he has lost touch with most of his, I have friends because they are moms of my kids' friends, I have friends from work, but he works alone all day, I have homeschool friends and he doesn't really do many homeschool things with us because of work. I guess I have more opportunities.

22. Who has more siblings?
Rich has 3 older sisters....I have an older brother and a younger sister...

23. Who wears the pants in the family?
Unfortunately, I probably do, but I don't want to. I hate making all the decisions...

Tag! You're it! I tag anyone who reads this and hasn't done it yet! :)