New routine

We are about to be full swing into high school softball season and with my new role as head coach, that means I spend a lot of my time at the field with the team.  My emotions swing so many different ways throughout the course of one day.  I'm, exhausted, excited, overwhelmed, frustrated and that is usually all before noon.  My biggest challenge is trying to balance everything.  I want to be a great teacher in the classroom, live up to expectations as a coach, and be the wife and mom my family deserves and that is not an easy feat.  In fact, it's pretty much impossible.  I'm learning to focus on those things I'm good at, delegate other tasks and let the rest go.  It's a major work in progress....

After school, I now go straight to practice so I can no longer pick the kids up from school.  Wes and I looked into different options for after school care and in the end, Wes made a pretty huge sacrifice.  Wes has worked 4 10-hour days for years now and it's something he really likes about his job.  It gives him a 3-day weekend and Fridays off to get a lot of outside chores and projects done around the house.  If you know Wes, you know he's always got a new project in mind.  Well, for the next few months Wes is working a "regular" schedule of 5 8-hour days.  That means no more Fridays off and since he gets to work at 6:30am, he leaves at 3pm and can get back into Brenham to pick the kids up after school.  Hopefully this works out ok for all of us and doesn't give him too many gray hairs.  When the weather gets warmer, the kids can come hang out at the fields with me more and as soon as season is over, he'll go back to the 4-day work week.  This is  just another example of how awesome he really is!!!

Batter Up

We decided at the ripe age of 7 it's time to get Austin ready for the Big Leagues.  Ha... not really, just thought that it was a good time to form good habits at the plate.  Austin had his first lesson at the Batters Box last week and he showed some potential.  Excited for a fun Little League season this spring.

Filling the freezer

The boys don't just shoot deer for the horns, nope, it's all about the meat and filling the freezer.  After a full weekend of transforming the garage into a deer processing plant, we now have a freezer full of fresh sausage, dried sausage, jerky, deer steak and hamburger.  The kids were a big help this year and helped move the process along.  Good times!

More twins in the family!

Just before Christmas, the Schramme Clan welcomed 2 adorable, healthy boys into this world.  We got to go up to Montgomery and meet Grant and Carter a few weeks later and man oh man are they perfect!  After a great visit, we brought big sister Kennedy and big brother Jaxon back to Brenham for a sleepover.  The kids play great together and we were able to squeeze in a little fishing.  Grant and Carter will have their own poles before you know it.

Special Lunch!

Daddy showed up at school the other day with a speacial treat!  10X better than peanut butter and jelly.

Raus/Siemsglusz/Maurers

We had to push back our annual Rau/Siemsglusz/Maurer Christmas due to our crazy schedules but we fit it in.  These 9 kiddos are growing up way too fast.  We were having so much fun that night, we almost forgot to get a pic of the kids together.  Brady R was already out for the night so we had to position to picture around him :) 

New Years Eve wedding

One of my Forever Friends sent us exciting news in October.... she was getting married AND the wedding was going to be New Years Eve.  I was soooo excited to see her so happy and I was almost as excited to finally have New Years Eve plans!
Kyree and Richard got married in Independence, TX in an old school house on a chilly New Years Eve night.  It was beautiful!  Afterwards, we headed ot the reception for dinner and dancing and hanging out with old friends.  I couldn't think of a better way to start a new year!

Best buds

Caleb and Jase are two peas in a pod.  They both love Legos, baseball and would play football in the backyard all evening.  Can't wait to see what kind of trouble these two get into in the future.