The wonders of gardening! Yesterday Noah came outside with me to pick some mint for the iced tea. We got some peppermint and some apple mint. Noah asked if he could try it. After washing the mint, I tore a leaf in half and told him to let it sit on his tongue so he could taste it. He tasted it and thought it was good. He spit out the leaf and as he was walking to the trash can to throw it out, he said, "So, when do the mints pop out?" I was confused at first and then I realized that he thought some Lifesaver mints were going to pop out from the leaves!!!

Today was Aly-Cat's birthday party. (Aly-Cat is in the pink.) She had a unicorn party. The boys had a good time playing on the playground and drinking orange and lemon-lime soda. They are always excited to get soda since we never give it to them at home. Although, in reality, only Will likes soda. Noah gets excited by the idea of reaching into a cooler to get one, but once he has it he barely drinks any of it!
As his goody prize, Noah chose this water squirter wand. Of course this meant that we had to immediately jump in the pool after the party! I actually got in myself since it was 90 degrees. I tried to convince Will to get in. I kept telling him that it was really warm. He put his toe in and said, "I think I need it to be 100 degrees!" He finally got in after 45 minutes. It was a bit chilly getting out since the air temperature was actually cooler than the pool. (The picture is of Noah. I just noticed that he looks a bit like Will in this picture.)
Chris took Ethan to his end-of-the-year Boy Scout picnic while we were at Aly-Cat's party. He had a great time and got his Wolf neckerchief. He was really excited. The boys crashed tonight. They woke up both Saturday and Sunday at 6:20. I have no idea why. Paige spent the night last night so I think they woke up early to play with her because they were excited that she was here in the morning. That still leaves no explanation for Saturday morning. I know they were excited for the carnival, but 6:20 in the morning!!! Only four more weeks until summer break. I'll have to train them to sleep in again! We got to be pros last summer!

Here is Melissa's sick idea to make Hanzie a "cowboy dog!" Hanzie wasn't nearly as amused as she was.

Today was the Spring Carnival at school. Ethan chose not to do any of the activities and work the games with me the entire time. Will and Noah had initially made that same choice, but then Chris talked them into doing some stuff. Will and Noah had a great time doing a zillion activities, but I must say, Ethan thoroughly enjoyed working the games. Our first station was Plinko. Here Will tries it out!
Noah showing his first few coins! He had even more fun exchanging all the coins for prizes!
Ethan, the happy worker!
Will taking a turn at the ring toss. This was our second work station.

Ethan taking a try between costumers.
Ms. Fernandez painted a pretty sweet snake on Ethan's face!

This week seems to be flying by! Monday after school we headed straight to the beach. Chris was home and the weather was too perfect to pass up. The boys weren't very interested in the water, but they did play in the sand for 90 minutes without a single argument! Chris and I got to relax for once. Chris played Frisbee towards the end. After the beach they HAD to jump right in the pool. I'm not sure how they supported this claim, but they assured us that it was a necessity. They swam while I cooked dinner in peace!

Here is Noah throwing all 36 pounds of himself into the pool.
I think Ethan must have been trying to leap to the other side of the pool! Will isn't pictured because he never left the spa.
After school on Tuesday, the boys along with Emma, Paige, Sophia, and Emily played Naked Brothers Band. They set up a mock stage in Will and Noah's room and took turns playing the various instruments and singing in the microphone. Of course I got a good laugh out of the whole thing! Ethan had his last Boy Scouts meeting of the school year later that night. I guess they picked up trash for community service/Earth Day. Noah decided to skip Boy Scouts and came grocery shopping with me. He wasn't too sad that he missed it when he found out about their task. He, unlike Malcolm, is completely repulsed by trash. Today after school the girls came over to swim for a bit. After dinner we did yard work. The boys are all exhausted and ready for bed. It will be bedtime in just 15 minutes!

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon at Universal. We left at 8:00 and were home by 2:3o, so it was like a typical school day. Most of you know that I hate leaving Hanzie even for an hour on the weekends! He suffers from the typical Weimaraner separation anxiety. Well, tonight when we were putting the boys to bed they were all missing pillows. It looked like a pillow robber had entered our house. I went on a search and surrounding Hanzie's bed in the toy room was one pillow from each of the boys' beds. I guess he was feeling lonely and needed a little something from each of them!

Tonight we went to the Eagney's for dinner. When we got home the boys came into the house and said, "Hey, that wasn't there when we left!" Chris and I went to check out what they were talking about and this is what we found...
Hanzie had decided to treat himself to some of Noah's pinata loot that he had gotten at the party today. He seems to have very carefully removed the wrapper from the Tootsie Roll and lollipop. I mean, yuck, who likes Tootsie Rolls or Tootsie Pops???

Today Will and Noah went to Katelyn and Julia's birthday party. They are twin girls in their class. They had a blast and the park it was at was absolutely beautiful. There were manatees, dolphins, and pelicans playing in the river. A dolphin jumped and did a flip right in front of us! We were in nature's splash zone and actually got splashed. The dolphin was only 10 feet from us, at most!
Julia on the left and Katelyn on the right opening presents.
Will had said that he absolutely would NOT eat another princess cake! Well, he decided that it was okay to eat one since they were princess cupcakes and not a cake!
I promise, we did not molest any of the manatees while watching them!
After the party we went across the street to the beach. I tried to convince Will and Noah to take a walk with me, but they didn't want anything to do with that idea. They told me there was no way they were going on the beach because a) they did not have swimsuits on and b) they had no sand toys with them! There were GIGANTIC waves and tons of surfers out. They said they would go back this afternoon with Chris to surf! Since a surfer was bit by a shark in that same area yesterday, I don't foresee that happening today!

Time forThe Naked Brothers Band! The girls are over for a bit. After a short coloring project, they all begged to watch their favorite show. We found one "on demand" that they hadn't seen. They are all very excited!

We have made it through 3/5 of the week! This week has actually been quite nice. The weather has been comfortable and the boys have been in good spirits. Yesterday while Chris and Ethan were at Boy Scouts, I took Will and Noah for a bike ride to Melissa's to try out her new basketball hoop. There are a couple reasons why I don't like to ride with the boys without Chris. The first being that outside of our immediate subdivision there are no sidewalks and narrow streets. I spend the entire time in a panic that someone is going to get squashed by a car. Clearly that didn't happen yesterday. The second reason is that I feel overwhelming guilt for leaving Hanzie alone while we are out enjoying the fresh air! Will and Noah did very well and carefully listened to my zillion calls to stay to the side of the road and we made it home safe and sound. Today I came home from school with a massive headache that I had the entire day. The boys asked to get in the pool. I was pleased with that suggestion. Swimming is one of the few activities they can do without constant disputes. I warned them that the pool was only 80, but they still wanted to get in. Ethan and Will swam for an hour while Noah stood on the side shooting them with a water gun. Noah begged and begged to turn on the spa. Chris loves some spa time so I told him that he had to wait until tonight. So, after a bike ride to the park to throw around the boomerang, they are in the spa. You would think that I would be out there relaxing since I am finally recovering from my headache. Sadly, actually going through the trouble of putting on a swimsuit, drying off, etc sounds like a bit much for me. Not to mention, Noah pointed out that we have the biggest mountain of laundry that he has ever seen in his life. And let me tell you, the child has seen some rather large piles in the past! So, I have busied myself with that task!
Enjoying some spa time!

Like the rest of the east coast, we had some wild weather this weekend. Saturday it was 87 degrees, sunny, and breezy. We spent the entire afternoon out in the 89 degree pool! I even got in this time. It was so nice Saturday night that we decided to play Rumikub out on the pool deck with Mike and Melissa. Of course, no sooner than we had all the chips set up it started to pour! We toughed it out and played in the rain under the lanai. Sunday it stormed the entire morning. After the storms passed the sun came out and it got very windy. It actually was a very comfortable, although windy, afternoon. This morning when we got in the van to go to school it was only 47 degrees! That is unheard of this time of year. So, today we spent a good part of the day shivering. It was 71 when we got home from school and the kids went straight out back to catch lizards. They caught a few. I only let them cage them for a few minutes before I demand their release. I'd prefer that they didn't catch them at all (unless it is a catch and release rescue from inside the pool screen), but there is something about little boys and catching lizards. Noah got a bug habitat in his Easter basket so they have been catching lizards to enjoy the lovely, plastic rock terrain. It also makes the loudest bug sounds imaginable. Hopefully lizards are hard of hearing!

Oh, and Noah has convinced all the girls at school to call him Alex. They are already quite popular with the girls, and today the girls shouted, "Alex, Alex, Alex, Alex!" on our entire walk from the playground to the car.

Yesterday Sophia and Paige came home from school with us. We were all out in the hot sunshine planting our new pepper plants and the kids were all sweaty and yucky. I hooked up the sprinkler and they had a blast!

This is Sophi "getting her booty wet."
After playing in the sprinkler for an hour, they came in to watch their favorite movie. I'm sure you can guess what it is by now. When Mike came to get the girls Noah said, "Look how famous I look now!" This is his newest Alex get-up.
After dinner we headed over the the Eagney house for a camp-out. Chris and Mike set up the tents in the backyard and slept outside with the kids. Melissa and I stayed inside with the dogs. Sounds backwards, eh? I'm not sure if Chris snapped any shots last night or not since he couldn't pull himself off the trampoline. He will spend hours out there jumping on it with all the kids. The kids love it as well. They jumped well past their bedtime and then woke up at 6:45 to jump some more!

The Naked (Schrader) Brothers Band...

Here is a picture of The Naked Brothers Band. Typically, only Alex (pictured in the center with drum sticks) wears a doo-rag. Noah has decided that he wants to be just like Alex and has even requested that we call him Alex. You see, Alex invented red, white, and blue. Noah has taken his fashion advice very seriously and demands that we purchase him the clothes necessary to create this image. He even wants socks tied around his shins!

This is my proof! Will and Noah have said that if we planted their lima bean plants that they would eat all the lima beans that they grow. So, we immediately came home and planted them.
Look, no more stitches!

Here is Noah, oops, I mean Alex!

And of course, cutie pie Will.

I wear a doo-rag; you wear your hair. That's how it is, that's how it is!

No big news to report. Ethan had his stitches taken out yesterday. It obviously looks much better. The boys have two major hobbies now. Grandma Pat sent them Tony Hawk Downhill Jam for the Wii for Easter. They have been playing that quite a bit and they have all decided to become professional skateboarders. They spend every free moment practicing their moves. Tonight we went for a walk in the rain and they insisted on bringing the skateboards along. But, no worries, if their skateboarding careers don't work out for them they have back-up. They are also all ready to become members of The Naked Brothers Band. We have some serious rockers on our hands these days. I must say, I highly recommend The Naked Brothers Band Movie to anyone. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. I got the Eagney girls addicted to it over the weekend! Now where ever I go I can here some Naked Brothers tunes! Even Chris belts out some tunes here and there! He was singing Motor Mouth just tonight!

I had a great birthday today despite the lousy weather and having to work. The kids at school all drew me lovely pictures and notes. Mike, Melissa, and the girls came over after school to drop off my presents and chat for a while. Then Noah requested that Chris get us Moe's for my birthday dinner. After dinner the boys "surprised" me with a Baskin' Robbins cake. It was delicious and I haven't had one in years! We took a nice walk in the rain and came home and watched, you guessed it, The Naked Brothers Movie! Hardcore wrestlers with inner feelings!!!

On your mark, get set,





go!
Will snatching up some eggs!
Noah posing mid-hunt.
Ethan looking for eggs amongst Melissa's herbs.

This year we had the Easter egg hunt at Mike and Melissa's since it was too cold to swim. The kids played on the trampoline and playground while Melissa and I hid a lot of eggs. After the hunt, we had a cook-out and watched The Naked Brothers Band. Will officially knows every line of the movie by heart now!

Yesterday after dinner the kids decorated their Easter sugar cookies. Grandma Pat bought them Easter cookie cutters long, long ago and they look forward to using them every Easter. Any excuse to drown a cookie in icing and sprinkles!

After nap yesterday, we dyed our Easter eggs. They boys eventually turned them into Star Wars characters once they dried. I'm not sure how Easter and Star Wars all fits together, but the boys thought it was really cool.

Happy Birthday to Miss Vera!!!

Since it was chilly out, Melissa and I took the dogs up to the dog park this morning. They all seemed to have a good time. Of course, we were the only ones there, but that is okay. Here is Hanzie with his stick. He will not go after balls or any other type of dog toy. He will only fetch sticks for some reason.
Boda on the other hand LOVES chasing after the balls!
Here Gibbs was trying to hide under Hanzie to get away from Loki's death grip. Okay, really, they were just play wrestling. Hanzie wasn't too thrilled to have someone brushing up against him. He is a bit of a snob in the dog world. He refuses to drink from a public water bowl or any bowl that another dog has touched for that matter. I do believe he inherits those traits from Chris!
This is a picture from earlier in the week. My battery was about to die in the camera so it is a bit fuzzy. Chris is riding on his gas powered scooter that he brought home from work recently. It was a freebie so I can't be too mad at him.

Chris is home with Will and Noah today. Only, this time, Will and Noah aren't sick and Chris is! Poor Chris was up all night. Luckily Will and Noah play very well together when Ethan is not around. Ethan has been happily waving from his classroom window and showing me all the cool Easter stuff he is making. His classroom is directly across from mine. I don't think he is too upset that Will and Noah are home with his sick dad!

Spring planting! Noah and I enjoy gardening. While we don't know anything about gardening, we do enjoy visiting various nurseries and finding things that we like and randomly planting them throughout the yard. We planted this hydrangea last July. I think it was just too hot and dry when we planted it. It never got a bloom and quickly dropped all of its leaves. I left it in the ground in hopes that it would cheer up in spring. Well, leaves popped out a couple weeks ago and this past week it finally bloomed! Noah and I were very excited. It is our after school ritual to walk around the yard checking on everything and watering on non sprinkler days! We can only turn on the sprinkler system Saturdays and Wednesdays and must hand water on the other days.
Here is our little herb garden. We planted two small sweet basil plants on the far left. We planted those in the same spot last year and they got HUGE. Steph got us addicted to her grilled pizza recipe so we had to grow our own basil. I actually ventured into the vegetables this year and planted two plum tomato plants well hidden behind the AC unit. Once again, in an effort to purchase less tomatoes for Steph's recipe. The rosemary survived all winter so we have plenty of that! We planted some peppermint and apple mint (never heard of it, but it sounded good) for iced tea and mojitos! In addition we planted some oregano for Chris and lavender to venture outside to smell. We have some Cuban basil that came back from last year. Melissa really likes that, but I'm not a big fan of it. Of course that gets huge!!! It is already the size of a small bush and it just came back.
Here is our favorite spot in the yard; the jasmine plant! It is in bloom right now and it smells fabulous. No big surprise that it is planted right next to Hanzie's poop pail! You can also smell it from the spa.