Disney World

Max, Gracie and I were blessed to be invited along with a dear friend, her daughter and their diabetic alert dog for a week to Disney World. What fun! It was an amazing training opportunity for the two dogs as they were in situations they'd never be in on a normal day. I mean, really, when else are you going to meet giant mice, ducks, dogs, and real life fairies? Our first day at the Magic Kingdom, we spent over 12 hours. The dogs joined us on a few rides, including It's A Small World and the Haunted Mansion, and enjoyed watching the electric lights parade as well as the fireworks show. These two amazing dogs, both still puppies, handled all the Magic Kingdom had to offer and still stayed on top of their two type 1 diabetic children. They caught all the highs and lows both girls had. AMAZING!

A New Venture

As many of you know, I love to create.  It could be with fabric, paint, paper, wood, stitches, ink, making quilts, cards, scrapbooking, journaling, painting with my girls, sewing clothing, embroidery... it really doesn't matter what it is, as long as I can express myself.  Well, combine my desire to create along with the continued need to raise money to finish paying for Max William and you've got me on a new business venture:)  I've decided to become a consultant for Close To My Heart.  This is a wonderful stamping/scrapbooking company whose been a leader in the industry for decades.  Not only can I earn a little extra money to put towards Max, but I also get to enjoy some great girl time creating fun projects with  others who want to escape and play once in awhile.  I'm only in the beginning phase of this new venture, but I plan to hold a play date at least once a month for others to come to our home, learn new techniques and go home with some fun projects.  I'm really looking forward to what the future holds with this new business and hope that you will remember me if you're in need of anything in the paper crafting field.  I really can't wait to learn new techniques and be able to pass them on to you:)

My two teens

We finally got our old explorer up and running over the weekend, so Tess now has her beloved "jack". She grew up in this truck, enjoying it and claiming it as hers since she was 4 years old. Here she is taking Max for a quick trip to the gas station. Don't my two teenagers look adorable bumming around in their truck?:)

What's your dream?

Remember being little and dreaming about what your life would be when you grew up?  What you thought you'd be when you were grown, where'd you'd end up living, what your life's mission would be? What happened to those dreams as life took legs and ran away with you?

I watch my girls, all at different phases in their lives, and I see them dreaming of things to come.  Some big dreams, some little, but all important nontheless.  I want to see their dreams come true of course, but it also causes me to stop and wonder about my own dreams.  Honestly, from as far back as I can remember, all I ever wanted to be "when I grew up" was a mama.  I remember, even in a christian school, getting the question "Well, that's good, but what else do you want to be?"  For me there was never anything else.  I couldn't fathom life without children, without at least one daughter.  The Bible tells us that God knows the deepest desires of our hearts and will give them to us... does that mean He's like Santa Claus and all we need to do is send our annual wish list, then sit back to wait for everything to just be handed over?  No Way!  God created each of us uniquely, and He created us to bring glory to Him.  He ingrained each of us with unique gifts, talents, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, passions, etc. so it's only natural that our deepest desires are going to differ from everyone elses.  I've had dear friends who have gone on to change the world in ways that I could have never imagined.  I've had friends who've lived their lives literally reaching the ends of the earth with the message of God's love and saving grace.  I've had friends who've put their lives on the line (and a couple have even paid the greatest sacrifice by giving their lives) in service to our country.  All because they each had a dream that may have sprouted when they were children.  So, this brings me back to my question... What's your dream?

Life has a way of getting in the way.  We fall off track or we just get so caught up in the busyness of our days that our dreams fall by the wayside.  It's a shame really; losing your ability to dream is like a part of you dying away.  No, all our dreams aren't going to come true but the ability to continue to dream is central to our spirit.  Without dreams, life is drudgery; there's no hope in our daily struggles and we even lose our joy without our dreams.  Dreams, ironically, can be our marker for where we are in life.  Not that they came true or not, but by showing where we find our joy and place our sense of importance.  You know the song that says:
I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance


That's it in a nutshell, really.  Without dreams, what is life really?  Without dreams, we won't take any chances, we won't put ourselves out there to touch other lives and allow our hearts to be touched by others.  Without dreams, we won't be able to see the wonder in our children's eyes, the gifts that abound around us each and every day, the joy just waiting in the simplest things.  Without dreams nobody will ever change the world; and as I look at my daughters and the dreams they have, I know that my simple dream of "just being a mama" really did change the world (at least it changed my little part of the world) for the better.  


Jeremiah 29:11 says... I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not harm you, to give you a future and a hope. 
God gave us our ability to dream, don't lose it or throw it away because you think you're too old or that it doesn't matter anyway.  Find your dream again or maybe you can find a new dream; just give yourself that gift... close your eyes and search your heart and begin to dream again.   

The Organized Home

OK... So, for those of you who know me well, you know that my home is much more "lived in" than it is organized; but that doesn't stop me from trying:)  A few years ago, at the height of chaos, I needed to try to get some semilence of a schedule and routine (again, a big short fall in my personality) and I ran across this wonderful site that is full of helpful templates.  I actually did make a household binder to try to keep things running a bit more smoothly, but what I found that was the most useful to me was all the menu planning, shopping lists, and pantry/freezer inventory templates.  I will never be Martha Stewart... and let's face it, even she can't live up to the standards she's set without her staff of 300:), but, I have always been pretty good about menu planning and freezer cooking.  Since I'm in the middle of spring cleaning right now ~ yes, it does seem that all I ever do is clean this house; and frankly, it never looks very picked up unless we have company coming because I swear to you that I'm always 5 minutes behind 5 hurricaines ~ I thought I'd take a moment and share a couple of my very favorite helps when it comes to planning our meals around here.

First off, here's the site that I love for their templates to attempt to keep myself organized: http://organizedhome.com/printable/household-notebook/weekly-menu-planner

And, here's a couple of my favorite freezer cooking cookbooks.  With the warmer weather coming soon, we all like to be outside and don't always want to be bothered by kitchen duty.  These books help me to get really good meals on the table with very little planning ahead (of course, I hate to tell you how many times I forget to thaw dinner and we end up at McDonalds anyway;) They are "Make a Mix" and "The Everything Freezer Cookbook".  I also LOVE The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbooks, especially her Breeakfast and Lunch Cookbook.  They are geared for a family of 3-4, but I easily adjust the recipes to fit my larger family and her recipes are so kid friendly.

Happy Friday everyone:)

Max learning to perfect "Leave It"

It's visitation week at the dance studio, which means some marathon work for Max William. Last night he sat through tap, ballet, pointe, and jazz classes. Instead if being out in the lobby like we usually are, this week we get to sit in the studio while the girls are dancing. This is awesome public access and manners training for Max. He is doing an awesome job but as the night wore on he was, like any young pup, getting bored and restless. Our trainer, James, has taught me to distract Max at times like this with additional techniques. It's a trick that works beautifully:). So last night we worked on "leave it". By Max concentrating on leaving his treats until he was given permission to eat them, he was no longer bored and restless. He's getting so good at leaving things alone that I pushed it with two treats to see what he would do. He's such a good boy:)

I need your help... Please

As you all know, I'm still raising the funds to pay for Max William.  He's well worth every cent, but I've still got a long way to go to pay him off.  Many of you know that I'm a Premier Designs Jeweler.  This is an awesome company with beautiful, cutting edge, high fashion jewelry.  What better way to fundraise than this:)  I'm asking everyone to host a jewelry show for me ~ catalog shows too.  You will receive all the hostess benefits (and trust me, you can't beat them:) and all the profit from your show will go towards Max William (That's 50% of the total retail sales from your home or catalog show that will help pay for Max:).  This is a win/win for you and Max.  Would you all please consider hosting a jewelry show to help Gracie and Max?  This spring and summer is a great time for something like this and with a catalog show, all you need to do is share a catalog with your friends and family.  Think about all the people you spend time with this time of the year sitting at your children's sporting events and dance rehearsals, etc.  Let me know if you would like to help us by hosting a show.  Thank you so much:)  

Let's put our thinking crowns, ahem, I mean caps, on...

I'm privileged to have the best friends that can be found anywhere in the world... yes, I'm a very lucky girl:)  I need everyone's creative juices to start flowing, though.  I need some ideas for more fundraising events for Max William.  We still owe a large amount of money for our wonderful Super Dog and everyone has been amazing with their willingness to help us raise the money we need to pay for him; for that I'm humbled and thankful beyond words.  Max and Gracie have touched the hearts of people around the country, some of whom we've never had the privilege of meeting ~ I find this such a blessing.  But, I'm having a creative block on other ways to raise the money we need so that we can get him paid for and hopefully be able to bless other families by helping them pay for their Diabetic Alert Dogs as well.

The peace of mind alone that Max has given us, knowing that he is always on guard with Gracie's blood sugar levels is priceless.  We've had better control of her diabetes since Max has come home than we've ever had since she was diagnosed at 14 months old.  I would love to help other families have this same hope and peace that we are enjoying with the help of Max, but first, we have to finish paying for our little guardian angel.  So...  Does anyone have ideas on ways that we can fundraise for Max and Gracie?  Do you know of any organizations or businesses that would like to help us out by either donating or hosting a fundraiser for Max?  Please feel free to either comment or email me at premier@dawnschroeder.com.  I know that you guys have amazing ideas just busting to get out:)  Thanks everyone!

Not a good promotional picture for Jdrf, but....

Only my children would think bacon is an ice cream topping

Max keeps Gracie safe at the pool

The girls grandparents stopped in town today to visit and invited the girls to come swimming at their hotel. Now, anyone how knows my girls, knows they jumped on that:). I realized this would also be a great training time for Max too, since he will be spending a lot of time poolside this summer. I thought it best to check Gracie's BG before I let her jump in; I asked Max if we needed to check and he just looked at me (his way of saying "no"). He was dead on - a perfect 137. Fifteen minutes later he alerts so we check; she's down to 99. Good check Max. Then about 20 minutes later he sits straight up, looks at Gracie in the pool and let's out a single bark. I look over at Gracie and call her in to test. She suddenly gets a funny look on her face as she's heading for the steps to get out of the water and says "Mommy, I feel low". We test. 49! Max helped us avert a potentially very dangerous situation. Had he not alerted us, Gracie would've probably kept swimming and not have stopped long enough to realize she didn't feel right. I can't even begin to express how thankful I am for this adorable, furry little guardian angel who spends his life looking out for my Gracie and keeping her safe.

Max at the pool

My handsome boy

All dressed up and nowhere to go. Poor little guy...this is what happens when you live in a house full of girls.

Max is hitting Puberty

I know, we all have an idea of what service dogs are like...well trained, good manners, super dog:). Well, they are all of that but they also start out, just like every other dog, as a puppy. Puppies hit their teenage phase somewhere between 6-9 months old. Just like your two legged teenagers, sometimes you just want to lock em up and throw away the key. Max William is heading into his teenager phase. Thankfully, due to his fabulous trainer getting me in gear, he's easily handled but that doesn't mean he's going to stay out of trouble all the time. He is after all, a pubescent boy looking for fun. For some reason, Max feels he has to drag all his blankets out of his kennel every morning and scatter them around the family room (aka Max's room). He is also as bad as my girls at leaving his toys scattered about as well. This morning, somehow, he managed to get a roll of paper towels off the kitchen counter and then proceeded to TP his room. Yep, he's definitely all boy. Now he owes me $1.86 for that new roll of paper towels...he'd better be finding a way to earn a little money to pay Mom back;)

Max goes to school

As most of you know, we are a home school family. Of course Max is in school each day with us and patiently waits for recess time so he can play with his girl. Today, Gracie thought he was cold, so she covered him up with her favorite blanket. Here's a few pictures of Max and Gracie during reading time.

Out and about with Max William

Max has grown up so much recently; it never ceases to amaze me. He is not only continuing to do an amazing job alerting to Gracie's blood sugar, but his obedience and public access training is coming along beautifully too. Today we took him to Omaha for some new places and experiences to practice in. He was golden! He stayed right at my side at all times, stayed as invisible as possible everywhere we went, didn't get distracted by children wanting to pet him, didn't flinch when a football landed near him, slept under the table at lunch, potties on command before going into the stores, never once whimpered or whined, I can go on but will leave it at "he's my good boy":).

Snow Day

It's the first real blizzard of the winter here an Max is loving it. His first time out the door this morning, he wasn't so certain about it. But, as the day has progressed, so has his love of snow:). He especially loves having some cute little snow bunnies to romp with.

Lost In Fun

I decided that Max was ready for the big time today so off we head to Lost In Fun, an indoor play center. So far so good:)

Max's blankets

Max absolutely loves his fleece blankets. I keep covering the sofa with his blankets and he always has one in his kennel. Well, he has become quite the character with his blankies. He doesn't like them to be neatly folded or neatly covering the sofa. He drags them around with him and now has taken to covering himself up. This not so little pup keeps me in stitches all day long with his antics and now his blanket escapades are making me giggle too:)

Spring Cleaning

For those of you who know me, you won't be surprised by this; those who don't know me well, you may think I'm a bit crazy;)  Yep, it's a month past Christmas; the days are cold and grey, the wind is howling, snow awaits somewhere in the future... What's this all mean to me?  It's time to tear up the house and clean out.  I start to feel a bit claustrophobic this time every year.  Maybe it's cabin fever.  Maybe it's a hint of OCD.  Maybe it's genetic.  Who knows; but every year it's the same thing.  I literally tear up every nook and crany of our home.  No cupboard, closet, or corner is safe.  The City Mission looks forward to my insanity as they are the beneficiaries of much of the stuff I decide we no longer need.  This year, since Mom is in the middle of her downsizing too, we'll be trying to get together a giant tag sale first, but what doesn't sale will immediately be carted off to the mission.

The girls never know which way to turn.  They don't know if it's better to help or just stay out of the way.  Personally, I'd suggest the latter since they risk getting packed into the donate box;)  Having a puppy in the house is a huge inspiration to get things simplified, let me tell you.  Max is still teething and nothing is safe from his chewing.  I look around and think "we didn't need that anyway, I guess";).  So, off I go, earbuds properly in place so I can tune out all the little voices.  First stop, the kitchen... I mean, really, do I NEED 4 sets of mixing bowls anyway?  I think not:)  Wish me well and if you happen to find a cute, freckle faced child or an adorable puppy with lopsided ears that seems to be misplaced, you might ask what their mom is doing.  If the answer is "spring cleaning" just deliver them back at my doorstep.  I probably just got carried away:)

Max the mountain lion...hhhhmmmmm

Sweet, dear little Max William. Honestly, have you ever seen anything as cute as him? Well, he does seem to have an issue with coffee tables and it shows no sign of ending anytime soon. I don't even want to think what this will look like when he's full grown and still thinking he can be king of the mountain...hhmmhhmm I mean king of the coffee table:)