Nearing the end of the semester

As the end of the semester draws near, I find myself extremely busy with Student Activities, homework, and being a queen. But somehow I manage to do everything without losing my mind! And thank goodness for that! 

Sadie, Alyssa, and I went to see the new Miss Coon Rapids and Miss Coon Rapids Outstanding Teens be crowned! Congratulations Kayla and Brianna! It was so nice to finally meet some of the other Miss MN contestants as well! 

 I would say we're a pretty good looking group!

 Thanksgiving day I had the amazing opportunity to serve those in our community who have no where to go for a meal! (Shout out to Molly Kopischke for giving me this opportunity!) I met some great people and had a wonderful time creating smiles for being in my own community! 

Last Friday the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train came to Waseca! Alyssa, Lauren, and I handed out paper bags to people in Waseca to fill with non perishable food items and bring to the train earlier in the week! Even though it was a cold night (windchill of -13!) so many wonderful citizens of Waseca showed up to support the food shelf and see the train! I also got to see smiles from those who came when I gave them some hot cocoa to sip on while listening to the performance from the band on the train! :) What a fun experience!

Freezing our tooshes off for a good cause!

SO COLD!

Saturday was the Holiday Extravaganza in Waseca! We raised over $1300 for Children's Miracle Network and our pageant fund!!!! Sadie, Alyssa, and I went around town to sell poinsettias to local businesses earlier which brought in a huge profit for us! There were also 30 vendors at our extravaganza that helped support our fund. Miss MN 2013 and Miss MNOT 2013 came to perform for us during the day too! (Even though Corrina couldn't do her karate routine, her singing was still beautiful!) We had our pictures with Santa and performed our talents for everyone. My personal accomplishment for the day was getting Rylee to get her picture with Santa. I EVEN GOT HER TO HUG HIM! I was so excited! 

Tomorrow I take off for Fort Benning, GA to see my best friend and boyfriend graduate from his basic training and AIT! I could not be more excited to see him and experience some warmer weather! (It's supposed to be in the 60s!) But, with missing a whole week of school, comes lots of homework. Especially the week before finals :( 

I love you all! 

xoxo,

Katie

PICTURE DAY

Hello lovely people!

Last weekend was a BLAST! All of the sister queens were reunited along with our lovely committee! (The Queen Mum was even there!) We started with an early morning at Cassie's Classic Cuts! Cassie is one of the very few people I trust with my hair, so I was pretty excited! They primped and pampered us for our photoshoot!

 I found a new favorite nugget! Baby Charlotte is the sweetest thing! 

Here is the group with all of our lovely stylists! Thank you so much to Cassie and her crew!

After we were done being beautified we did short mock interviews before our shoot. I am becoming more comfortable with being questioned by a panel of judges. I would have to say though, that the most intimidating judge was Carter. His restless body kept me laughing throughout the entire thing :) 

After a quick lunch and interviews, we headed out to Tara Bjerke Photography to take some pictures! She did an amazing job dealing with all of us! 

Of course, Sadie had to photo bomb every single picture! (: Still love her though!

I am so excited to see Tara's picture of this! True Sleigh and Cutter girls (:

A huge thanks to Cassie's Classic Cuts and Tara Bjerke for making our day so successful! 

xoxo,

Katie

Halloween, Miss Mankato, Indoor, OH MY!

Another crazy couple of weeks have gone by! Time really does fly when you are having fun! I successfully survived bingo for the second time! The directors let us dress up for Halloween (that was my favorite part!) 

The directors even dressed up!

A few weeks back, Sadie and I got to help out at FarmAmerica's Haunted Corn Maze! We thought we recognized the sheriff on duty out there, but weren't 100%! But sure enough, our main guy, Ken, happens to be a sheriff! (WHO KNEW?!) It was so good to see him for one of the first times after the pageant!

 Alyssa and I got to celebrate Halloween with the Waseca community at the FarmAmerica Halloween Festival. There were different stations for kids to go around to and play games, explore the buildings, and get candy! We saw some of the cutest nuggets! it was so fun! Two of the cutest happened to be our favorite little girls!

Minnie and the witch!

Last weekend, Alyssa, Lauren, and I travelled to Mankato to see the new Miss Mankato be crowned! What a fun experience to see Kaitie take the title! It was also so great to see so many royalty there! I even got to see Drew (: She has given me such big shoes to fill and I am so honored to know her! EVERYONE GO WATCH HER AT MISS GRAND CITIES/MISS GRAND FORKS ON NOVEMBER 30TH AND CHEER HER ON! SHE IS THE BEST. 

silly queens! 

Team Waseca (: well….part of it! 

Last night, I went to see my baby sister queen march her butt off at Indoor! And what an amazing job did she do! The Waseca Marching Jays are an amazing group of kids! I am so grateful I was able to be a part of such a wonderful organization for 4 years of my life. I am also so glad that Sadie can experience it! Truly, there is nothing quite like the family of the Marching Jays. 

Is she not the cutest or what?

Next weekend is our Team Waseca photo shoot! To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. The four of us have not been together since the Classic! Our princesses even get to join us! (: Stay tuned!

xoxo,

Katie

Feeding Starving Children!

What a whirlwind this semester has been! One minute I was crowned and the next I am taking midterms! Last Wednesday I was able to take some of my lovely Bethel Student Association members to Feed My Starving Children! Some had never packed before, and some had done it many times before! It was a great bonding experience for the organization while doing wonderful work! At the end of the night we were a part of a group who packed 79 boxes equalling 2844 bags and 17,064 meals! That is enough food to feed 47 kids for a year! I could not have asked for a better experience with these Christ serving people!

"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me." - Matthew 25:35

These girls are ready to pack!

 Waiting to start!

 Hannah and Darwin are rocking the sealing and packing process!

 Bri is just so excited!

 Praying over the meals we packed.

All the prayers for the foods safe delivery

Last Friday (the 18th) was the first night of Dreamcatcher bingo!!! Yes, very exciting! For those of you that don't know what Dreamcatcher is, it is a program that Sleigh and Cutter runs that allows children in Waseca County to have their "dream come true". It is like Make a Wish but only for Waseca County. Sadie and I had a blast with the crowd! My parents even won pork chops in the meat raffle (of course they didn't think of sharing with me.) I can't wait for more bingo next weekend! (Come check it out....I heard certain queens are dressing up in Halloween costumes...)

THIS WEEKEND was another full one! Friday night Alyssa, Sadie, and I went to pack meals at Owatonna's FMSC Mobile pack! Sadie had never packed before, so it was a fun experience for her! (She assured me if I did a mobile pack that she would come :) ) We were grouped with some locals from Owatonna who asked us all about our titles and what we were doing! They even made up a cheer about us for when our boxes were filled! HA! It went "We have royalty in our midst but we're just here to feed the kids!" They were a hoot! Afterwards I got talking to some of the staff about my platform and they gave me so much information on how to do my own mobile pack in Waseca! I am so excited for the potential I have for this year! Friday our session ended up packing 189 boxes equalling 6804 bags and 40,824 meals! That is enough to feed 112 kids for 1 year! I love this organization so much!

Saturday afternoon Alyssa and I spent a chilly 4 hours handing out candy at Farmamerica! All the costumes of the kids where so cute! One of the little boys was dressed up as Captain America and he was scared of the witch by us, so he just started hitting her with his shield. It was very affective :). The all time favorite of the day for Alyssa and I had to be the little unicorn! I LOVE unicorns AND babies! It was an ultimate dream come true. I definitely know what to dress up my kids as for Halloween when I have them! 

xoxo,

Katie

Hartley, Team Academy, Walk for Autism, and MORE

I feel like I haven't blogged FOREVER! School has been so crazy busy that I seem to forget...I'm sorry. I'll start with homecoming. Homecoming at Bethel was already 2 weeks ago. That is so weird to think about. I am involved in Student Activities on campus, so I was able to help with the planning of the activities! (I also got to be Roy the Royal on Homecoming Cheer Night! shhhhhhh!!!!) We ended the week with a win against Augsburg and a wonderful banquet with all my closest Bethel girls. 

Last weekend I had my fall break and spent Thursday and Friday reading to some kiddos! I went to Mrs. Harris's 1st grade classroom and Mrs. Zafft's kindergarten classroom on Thursday morning at Hartley. Afterwards I headed over to Hansel and Gretel for the morning and afternoon class! Friday I spent the entire morning with Team Academy grades K-6! I had the opportunity to teach all of these kids about what hunger is and how even people in our community are affected by it. We read a book called Stone Soup which is about how 3 monks start to make soup with stones in a village of selfish people. The monks draw attention to themselves by doing so and eventually the villagers become more and more giving. I talked about how I wanted to give to the hungry in hopes of others seeing the good deed I am doing and that they would want to do the same. After reading and discussing the story, I let them ask me ANY questions they wanted! The most popular ones were how my crown stayed on and if I lived in a castle (: the Team Academy kindergarteners also told me their dads were going to call me! (I wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing!) 

here are some of the kids I talked to!

Saturday morning was an early one as I trekked up to the Mall of America for the Walk for Autism to support Miss Minnesota, Rebecca Yeh! It was such a cool opportunity to see the program that Rebecca is so passionate about in action. Lauren and I got to spend quality time with Rebecca and Corrina for the few hours we were there also! They are both so hilarious and I am so excited to get to know them better! 

Did I mention we met Spongebob?!

Lauren and I met up with our lovely director, Christy, and went evening gown shopping after the walk! It was a long day, but I said yes to the dress (twice)! I was successful in finding an evening gown AND a talent dress (: It felt like Christmas! 

This coming weekend I start BINGO at Katie's in Waseca and get to hang out at FarmAmerica's Haunted Corn Maze with my sister queen, Sadie! Check for that blog next weekend!

xoxo,

Katie

Waseca Marching Classic

What a weekend!! I had the honor of coming home to watch the Waseca Marching Jays as a proud alumni. If you haven't had the chance to check out the Waseca Marching Jays yet this year, I would highly recommend catching a show of theirs, it will blow you away! (especially because my baby sister queen is in it!) 

Check out Sadie's sweet uniform! (and the crown on her hat (: )

We started out the morning at the Marching Classic Parade. It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces on the parade route! Our Miss Waseca Sleigh Bell Princess and Miss South Central Princess got to join us too!

All of our signs took up the whole sleigh!

After the parade we headed over to watch last year's Miss MN and see Rebecca be crowned. I cannot wait for the opportunity to take my stand on the Miss MN stage! 

As part of our royal duties, we handed out water to all of the bands after they were done performing. Of course our goal of the day was to be hit on by the little band boys and our mission was accomplished! In between bands though we got a little restless and Ellie convinced all of us to play Ring around the Rosie with her!

You obviously can't say no to a face that cute!

It was overall a great weekend! I received news that I might be able to help out this week with homecoming at Waseca (fingers crossed!) But for now, I think I should take a nap!

We were obviously over worked.

xoxo,

Katie

Defeat of Jesse James Days

What a fun weekend!!! I got to spend Saturday night and Sunday afternoon with none other than my amazing sister queen, Lauren! I experienced my first ever rodeo (thankfully, we didn't have to participate!), witnessed the reenactment of the bank robbery, and rode in our first parade together (Huge thanks to Lori for finding a truck for us and cleaning it!!)! 

The rodeo was such a blast! I had no idea it would be so fun. We were able to meet the 2014 Defeat of Jesse James Days Ambassadors! (seriously, what sweet hearts!) And of course pet all of the animals! I'll admit that I got a little heart broken every time I saw a cowboy flip a baby cow on the ground...poor things looking so sad tied up on the ground. 

Lauren and I at the Tough Enough to Wear Pink Rodeo!

Sunday started out with brunch at Northfield High School! I was so surprised at the amount of royalty that came to celebrate! I even got to see Riley, a friend from Bethel who is also the Aquatennial Queen/Queen of the Lakes! 

Riley and I after brunch!

After brunch we headed to the bank robbery reenactment! I hadn't been there since I was a little girl, so I couldn't wait! Even better, we had the best seats in the house, right in front of the bank! 

Here is a couple gang members riding in.

I ended my weekend by going to see my all time favorite singer/song writer, Taylor Swift, with two of the best girls I know. It is safe to say that this weekend was one for the books. I can't wait for the Classic now in 2 weeks! 

Oh, I almost forgot! We also ran into the St. Paul Winter Carnival Royal Family!

They were such a hoot! I hope we get to go to this event too! (:

xoxo,

Katie

New School Year

Greetings to my lovely blog readers! 

This past few weeks have been crazy with the start of school! As a member of Bethel Student Association I had the opportunity to help with freshman move in! What an incredibly tiring week! (I made it in the welcome week video though!) Now that the first week is wrapping up, I have finally established some events for the year! I registered my BSA group to pack meals next month and my freshman floor soon also! I am so excited to spread my platform to such loving people. 

A few weeks ago I got to watch my baby sister queen rock her first field show at fall preview! Yay, Sadie!!! Unfortunately the picture we had taken together was way blurry :( 

I also learned that a good friend from school is running for Miss MN in the USA circuit! She has never done a pageant before so she asked if we could practice together :) LOVE THAT! 

That is all my updates for now! I will have so much more after all the events this weekend! 

xoxo

Katie

MN Special Olympics Fall Games

Today I was lucky enough to make an appearance at the MN Special Olympics Fall Games in Woodbury. Sadie and I made the trek and got to meet some amazing athletes. They made us feel so special and it was so fun to meet all of them. We even ran into the Waseca Thunder team! I was taken by surprise when Sadie and I were constantly taking pictures and signing autographs. They made me feel like a true celebrity. Sadie, Miss Minneapolis, and I had the honor of handing out medals as well! The smiles of the athletes were infectious. What a fun day!

Miss Minneapolis, Sadie, and I with an athlete from Mankato Leep!

This past week I was asked to work at Waseca SnoBiz at the Steele County Fair! Lexi, the owners' daughter asked me if I would wear my crown the next day. Since she is the boss, I had to agree! She helped me put it on the next day and was such a good helper getting change and pouring flavor on the shaved ice! 

Also, a huge shout out to my best friend and official chaperon, Joey Helms on his 19th birthday! 

xoxo,

Katie

Planning the Year

Today was the first meeting with my wonderful directors Jen and Christy! We talked about how I wanted to prep for Miss MN, watched my interview (gah!), and talked DRESSES!!! I cannot contain my excitement for this year! I can already tell how incredible it is going to be!! (Sorry for my over use of exclamation marks...I just can't wait!) We brainstormed so many ideas from my original idea of taking groups to pack meals with my partners at Feed My Starving Children to Meals on Wheels, different food drive ideas, AND a super awesome fundraiser for FMSC. My beautiful sister queen, Lauren, was there too! I am so excited to get to know her better. She is such a sweet girl that I know will be an amazing friend. Can you tell I'm excited?!?!?! Love you all!

xoxo,

Katie Schroeder

Miracle Treat Day

Yesterday was fun filled at Dairy Queen for Miracle Treat Day! I started my afternoon at the Dairy Queen in Janesville. It was a slow afternoon, but I got to hand out little toys to all the children who came to support the Children's Miracle Network and thank all the old men who stopped by to "see the royalty". The past titleholders warned us about those guys...but the rain held off for it so I would say it was a successful afternoon!

Last night, my baby sister queen, Sadie and I went to the Waseca Dairy Queen to support Miracle Treat Day! When I showed up, I was so excited to see two of the greatest friends ever (and one was a former titleholder!) Rachel and Jacob! (No...Jacob was not the titleholder..it was Rachel). It was so fun to see them and talk a little bit before I had to do my job...Riley decided to hop into a picture with us too!

It was fun to talk to many familiar faces at DQ and see so many people come to support the Children's Miracle Network! Sadie and I also found out that we had some fans that were there..

 These little girls were so excited and it just melted my heart! I remember being their age and wishing that I could be just like Miss Waseca when I was older! I guess they were good role models for me!

xoxo,

Katie Schroeder

Brunch with Miss MN and Corrina's Send Off

Sunday was a busy day considering how tired we all were! The day started with brunch at Starfire with Miss Minnesota! (and our lovely waitress was none other than Abby Schaper!) It was a fun few hours getting to know Rebecca and all of the other titleholders a little better!

After brunch, we headed up to Prior Lake for Corrina Swiggum's, Miss MNOT, send off to Miss America OT. The whole car ride up Lauren, Alyssa, Sadie, and I were struggling to keep our eyes open! When we arrived, you could tell we were all newbies trying to put our crowns on. Rebecca was in the front seat and out of the car in 20 seconds and the rest of us were giggling looking at each other's crooked crowns and knocking them on the ceiling of the car. 15 minutes later, we were ready to go inside. Corrina looked absolutely beautiful in all of her dresses for MAOT and her talent kicked butt (it literally could have kicked someone's butt). I was acquainted with so many new faces in the pageant world it was a bit overwhelming, but such a good experience. It makes me so excited for this year!

My lovely sister queen Lauren and I at Corrina's send off!

xoxo, 

Katie Schroeder

Pageant Night

What a whirl wind! It has taken me almost a whole week to find time...and figure out how to create a blog (oops). I am so incredibly grateful for all the help I received from the 2012 titleholders, Tiffany, Corrina, Anna, and especially Drew! Anna asked me the other day if I was still shaking...even though the shakes are no longer, I still cannot believe that I am Miss WCSC!

The day of the pageant, I started out in a panic because I thought I was late for my interview! I rolled in 5 minutes early and they hadn't even started yet. Phew! As I was in the hallway waiting to go in, Drew asked if I was nervous. I replied that I was doing okay. I felt more confident after my second mock, but it was still nerve wracking. The thing that helped me the absolute most through the rest of the day though was the thing that Drew said next. She told me that there was no need to be nervous because God already knew who was going to win, so if I didn't, it just meant that He had something better for me. That stuck in my head the whole night and made me feel so much better. The opening number was a breeze and so much fun. Dancing has always been a passion of mine so I just got to have fun with it. The worst part was next thought, ON STAGE QUESTION. (EW!) I couldn't stop thinking of Miss Utah USA and hoping I wouldn't say anything like that. But I did it and I didn't pass out! The only thing I had to think about for swimsuit was keeping my shoulders back and looking at the judges (not the white strip between the balcony and the main level..) Talent was next and I was feeling pretty confident. Tiffany was such a saint during dress rehearsal giving me pointers and where to do lifts and how to improve! I think I practiced AT LEAST 100 times between dress rehearsal and the pageant. I know I have awful posture, so that was an issue for my evening gown. A contestant for Miss SC had a dress made of similar fabric to mine and she had competed before. She and about 5 other people told me to concentrate everything on putting my shoulders back. I guess I looked okay! When my name was called I had no idea how to act! I wanted to smile and cry and scream all at the same time! The worst part was squatting when Drew was crowning me (ouchie). I am so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and to spread my passion for a solution to global hunger! Thank you to an amazing committee and the great group of girls I spent my week with! And a huge shout out to all my sister queens, Lauren, Sadie, and Alyssa! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS YEAR!!!!

xoxo,

Katie Schroeder

(PS That's a Gossip Girl reference)