Simply Schumacher

For the last 12 years my family makes an annual trip to Shelton to visit my Auntie Dort.  Auntie Dort is a special part of our family and shows you how great you can look at 93.  She was my grandma’s best friend for who knows how many years.  When both my grandma and grandpa passed away, we all knew we still had our Auntie Dort.

Dort is famous for  her ALMOND ROCA.  She makes this by hand every year and typically makes up to 30 batches for all of the “fans” she has created over the years.  She makes 3 batches alone for my family.  When we go to visit her we always start by catching up.  She loves to hear what we are doing with our lives, and meeting all the new members, this year she saw Declan for the first time.

Auntie Dort meeting Declan for the first time.

Dort’s house shoots you right back into the 50′s.  We love sitting in her loungers by the window and enjoying her green davenport.  Also while we are chatting she always has plates of her goodies on the table.  This year we got to enjoy almond roca and peanut butter fudge.  She always makes the peanut butter fudges especially for Jennifer, though I know it is for me too!  Finley loves going to Auntie Dort’s house because he gets to explore.  This time he was very fascinated with her rotary phone.  Here he is trying to call Papa Dave.

We also looked at old pictures she has of her during the 20′s and our family when my grandparents were still alive.  During this time I was just sitting back and watching everyone.  Dort loves to tell us old stories.

Somehow we didn’t get a group shot.

We all enjoy our trips to Auntie Dort’s and we eagerly await our next visit to see her.  She is such a special part of all of us.

This New Years Eve, our friends Scott and Julie hosted a fabulous, food-filled party at their new home.  This gave them a chance to show off the house to friends who have not seen it yet.  It was fun to attend the first party of many they were going to have in their house.  Of course the first hour or so was spent talking about the house, her wedding (in July) and all other girl stuff, while the boys watched a football game on the t.v. (wish I had a picture of it).

This is our annual picture in front of a Christmas Tree: Julie, Anna, me and Sarah (Melissa was missing)

Julie and Me

Julie and I met over 3 years ago and have been completely inseparable since.  My sisters like to call her my sidekick because we rarely do anything without each other.  I can’t wait to see Julie walk down the aisle this summer.  She is going to be a beautiful bride!  This also means she will be moving close to me, which makes me super happy!

We thought we would make use of some of the fun things Julie bought for the celebration.  Here we are again, I think this is the last picture of the night.

After taking all these pictures, which the boys didn’t want to be in we spent the rest of the night eating, talking, playing rockband, and having fun with the poppers.

Thanks Julie and Scott for hosting such a wonderful party!

Megs

Thinking back on this year I can’t help but smile!  So many wonderful things have happened since the last New Years Eve.  Here is a little recap for all those who care:

In January we were able to celebrate the wedding of my sister Kim and Sean.  It was such a sudden and unexpected event, we were so excited for the both of them.  They were engaged in November 2008 and planned a wedding in 2 months.  This all happened in the mist of our wedding planning, but we could not be happier for them.

During my spring break from school in April we traveled to sunny (& windy) Las Vegas.  We went with 2 of our best friends Scott and Julie.  We were able to take in the many sights the city had to offer, make fun of the “locals” going to the clubs in their “t-shirts” and visit a place I have never been to before, The Grand Canyon.  The Grand Canyon was such a beautiful sight and we walked for 1 mile along the edge.  I was scared to death the whole time.  We had a fabulous time with our friends we will need to do that again sometime soon, but for maybe only a 5 day trip:)

In June we were able to celebrate the birth of our nephew, Declan.  After an early morning phone call to head to my sister’s house and watch my other nephew we were happy to be introduced to the newest member of the family.  I can’t believe he is already 6 months old and sitting up and eating like a big boy.  I remember holding him when he was first born.  It has been great to see how Finley has accepted his little brother and how much love he has for him.

In August we celebrated the most important day of our lives, Our Wedding, it went off without a hitch (minus the dance floor being placed wrong and a small meltdown by yours truly).  We could not have been happier with the way everything turned out and our beautiful pictures we have to show.

October marked our 2nd anniversary in our house.  I can’t believe that over 2 years ago we bought our first house and though we have not changed many of the features we wanted to when we first purchased the house, this is going to change in 2010, we have many remodeling projects coming up on our list of things to do, and we hope to get them down and make the house feel more like what we imagined it to be back in 2007.

As this year comes to an end, we have many dreams and aspirations for the coming year.  Josh hopes to continue to learn and gain experience in a field of work he loves, web development.  I hope to start working towards my master’s degree and become an even better teacher for my students.  Here to 2010, we wish for many happy moments with family, great travel and getting things marked off your to-do lists.

With Love,

Megan