The boys had a fun birthday party on Saturday. Outside of the red tide making everyone cough, it was a gorgeous day. They played on the playground for a few minutes and once everyone arrived they started building and painting their pirate ships. While the ships dried, the kids ate and played some more. After lunch it was present time! Will and Noah loved absolutely everything they got- even the clothes! We got home from the party, unpacked the car, and then headed off to the NSB Christmas parade. Chris didn't go and had my camera in his pocket while he was out shopping in Daytona. So, no pictures of the parade, but we had a blast. Hanzie was so excited to go and watch all of the floats and people go by!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Will & Noah, Happy Birthday to you!!! Will and Noah turned the big 6 today. They were so excited that it was their birthday. They jumped out of bed and rushed to shower and get ready for school. They brought in donuts to celebrate with their class. Today all the kids at school happened to be getting cupcakes for awarding their hard work. I have a feeling that Will and Noah may believe that everyone in the whole school got cupcakes for their birthday! After school the girls came to play with them and brought gifts from Bobbie. The boys loved their robot and dinosaur. Although Noah convinced Will to trade the robot for the dinosaur! After dinner the girls came back over to sing Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes with the boys. The boys also got LED flashlights for their birthday. They LOVED that and took them on our walk with us tonight.


The boys share their birthday with several other people. Today is also their cousin Aiden's 9th birthday, Great Aunt Terri's birthday, my mom's friend Jeanie's birthday, and Jason Hartman's birthday. So, I suppose it is a day of celebrating for lots of our friends and family. They have one last celebration to look forward to. Their birthday party will be on Saturday morning.

Here are a few more pictures from the Universal day.

"What, you want some of my French toast??"
Enjoying breakfast! I think Melissa was a litte jealous because I was hitting on her man, Spiderman that is!
Mike got proof that Grandma really did ride a coaster! Sadly, I couldn't convince anyone but Will to ride the Mummy with me!

We had a fabulous time with Grandma and Pop-Pop during their visit! I think we were pretty much going non-stop their entire visit, but it was non-stop fun. They arrived Friday afternoon and we were quickly off for a stop at the beach and dinner at Mi Mexico. The beach was pretty chilly so we only stayed a second. As usual, Mi Mexico was delicious!
Saturday morning we went to see Enchanted at the Ocean Walk theaters. It was awesome! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD. After the movie we went to Santora's Buffalo Pizza & Wing Est. We got a gigantic pizza! I got a slice of cheese and it was quite tasty!
The boys went to Toys R' Us after lunch to do some birthday shopping. Ethan quickly made a decision. Will took a bit longer, and well Noah, he took forever!

Sunday morning we were up and off to Universal for our character breakfast. The boys had a blast. I was good and only ate two pieces of French toast. I'm glad that I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to copy their recipe. Spiderman talked to Will and Noah about their birthday and gave them quite a few pointers about being a super hero of his status.

The Cat in the Hat stopped by as well.

While Thing 1 and Thing 2 tried to steal food off of Ethan's plate, Spiderman was far more kind.

The boys visited with the last remaining baby dinosaur.

Lucky for the Schrader's they all survived their trip through Jurassic Park.
Grandma also survived the Spiderman ride and the Flying Unicorn Roller coaster. We were all very proud.

The boys also met a few other characters during the day.
Oops, I forgot to rotate!
After Universal we made a quick stop at Mall at Millenia for dinner. It was a very long day but tons of fun was had by all. Everyone fell asleep on the drive home. Lucky for them I kept my eyes open!

On Monday when the boys and I returned to school after our week off, Chris, Mom, and Dad went to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. They saw lots of birds, a few gators, and manatees.

The shuttle was out on the launch pad so they were also able to get a peak at that before it launches next week.

Aunt Kate sent some Floam for the boys' birthday and they LOVED it! Once again I forgot to rotate the picture, but you get the idea!

Thanksgiving camping was tons of fun! We decided to eat our big, delicious feast at the Eagney's before we left because of the threat of rain. All the food was delicious and once our bellies were full we were off the Blue Spring State Park. We had awesome campsites. I define awesome as being close to both the bathrooms and the path to the springs! After arriving Melissa and I took off with the dogs and kids for a walk down to the springs. To our surprise when we got there, there was a black bear right along the boardwalk to the spring! He was so close to us it was unbelievable. I mean, I'm talking 10 feet away close! The boys all had their "Support Your Rights to Arm Bears" shirts on from Aunt Kate. I was hoping that Chris would get a picture of them in front of the bear with those shirts on but he disappointed me! Oh well! At least he got a video of the bear.

Here are our Thankful Turkeys that decorated our campsite. We each had our own turkey and wrote what we were thankful for on the back.
Here the boys are in front of the spring. We didn't see any manatees yesterday, but there were a bunch in the spring this morning when we went for a walk.

Today was cooking day. Well, sort of. We made the stuffing and pumpkin pie for tomorrow's camping feast. I called on to my Nana to stand beside me and give me guidance not to ruin the stuffing. She must of answered because it seemed to have turned out perfect! Okay, I just had a tiny taste so the true test will come tomorrow, but I have faith. I had the boys, and Emma and Paige once they arrived, pull apart all of the bread for the stuffing. My mom used me as her form of child labor for this every Thanksgiving morning so now I get to have the fun of imposing this chore on others! My sister somehow never woke up until all of that was finished in the morning. I think she rolled out of bed right around 9:00 when the parade came on. My mom and I were conveniently finished with all of the cooking chores by then.
Mmmm... nothing like the smell of sauteing celery and onions on Thanksgiving morning, or in our case Thanksgiving Eve!
Melissa and I have started a new tradition with our own children. It involves driving up to Krispy Kreme Thanksgiving Eve to get doughnuts for the morning.

The boys have been happily playing Sing It. They also watched Hairspray with Melissa. Apparently she instilled the same sort of strange excitement she has for the movie in them. They woke up and asked to watch it again today! After all the cooking today I think we need a pizza trip to the beach this evening!

Grandma Ann and Pop-Pop Wayne got Sing It for Will and Noah as part of their birthday present. It arrived today and there was no way we were waiting until November 29th to have some fun with it! Oh, and fun we had! We played for a bit after dinner but the true partying started when the girls came over. I'm talking 2 hours straight of High School Musical 1 & 2 songs using our fancy new Wii microphone! You can see the fun had through Noah's video!

Since our last post soccer season has officially ended! Ethan wrapped up his season and Saturday morning we had the soccer party at a park. I rented a pavilion at a park and Melissa and I coordinated parties for both teams at the same time. It made life easier on us to have one party to deal with rather than two. It worked out for another family that also had kids on both teams. Yesterday afternoon Melissa and I rode bikes up to Beall's which is the Florida equivalent of Kohl's. I finally got my Mammoth Crocs and they are so comfy. I also got a new pair of tennis shoes that were desperately needed!

This morning we woke up early and headed off to Universal. It was not at all busy and we were in and out of there in no time! I even got to ride my favorite roller coaster (The Hulk). After Universal we went to the brand new IKEA in Orlando that opened earlier in the week. It was absolute chaos! I must say, it was funny to hear all those people react to their first visit to IKEA. Most of the people that live around here and never heard of it, or at least had never been to one before. We also made a quick visit to the mall which is right next to IKEA. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets. The boys enjoyed sitting at the counter and watching them make the food.

Here the boys are relaxing at the entrance to Islands of Adventure.
Posin' with some reindeer!

Mr. Will on the Dr. Seuss carousel.

Sadly, I think the boys' favorite thing at Universal is the Jurassic Park playground. They love this bridge that you get to run across that is three stories off the ground!

Wishing that they really were in Margaritaville.

Sitting at the counter at Johnny Rockets.
We are looking forward to our camping trip this week as well as Grandma and Pop-Pop's arrival on Friday. Our next visit to Universal a week from today will include a character breakfast!

Exciting news... Will lost his first tooth at breakfast this morning! He was very excited. Last night Will and Noah had their last soccer game. It was a tough game and ended in a 1-1 tie. Will scored the goal to tie up the game. They played very hard and did a fantastic job.

We have had an early taste of winter weather this year. This week has been quite chilly as far as Florida standards go. It has been nice, except for standing on the soccer fields in the blowing wind and having my ears burn (more on that in a minute). Today was gorgeous. I decided to ride my bike to the park that Will and Noah will be having their birthday party at to check to see if there was any electric at the pavilion. It is called Mary McLeod Bethune Park. Half of the park is on the ocean and half is on the river. While I was waiting for the boys to show up (Chris drove them up to meet me there), I watched this pelican chase a poor dolphin all around the river. I have a funny video of it, but it was not zoomed in enough to see it all that great. If you enlarge this photo you will see the pelican about to land on the dolphin's fin. I can only guess he was trying to steal whatever fish that dolphin may have been catching. I was there for 45 minutes or so, and the entire time he was chasing that dolphin! After walking over to the beach with the boys, we went to lunch at Mi Mexico. Yummy! This afternoon we went to wildlife refuge with the Eagney's. This is the same place that Will and Noah went with Chris last weekend. Of course since it was Ethan and my first time being there, we didn't see nearly as much cool stuff as they saw last time. We saw a couple gators but they were all small. I do believe we found a gigantic alligator poop on the trail. Exciting stuff, eh???
The week was full of soccer. This is a picture from Will and Noah's Wednesday night game. The wind was blowing like crazy and I have sensitive ears that start burning instantly in the wind. For me, the night was pure agony. Here Noah is manning the goal.

Ethan and Will went to get a snack from the concession stand. Now, a smart kid would have come back with hot chocolate, but these dopes came back with ice cream! I will say that Will went back and got himself a hot chocolate as a chaser.
Ethan in an attempt not to show his empty mouth. He lost another tooth tonight!
This is the best I could come up with to protect my ears. I found it in Melissa's soccer bag. You see, I also did my best to keep Noah nice and warm at the end of the game!
Ethan had a game on Thursday night. I rode my bike to that game but wised up enough to wear my big, fluffy, purple headband. That made the evening far more comfortable! Friday night I camped out with the boys in the Eagney's backyard. They were very good boys minus the waking up at 5:50 begging for breakfast! Will woke up at 5:45 to go in and use the potty. I took Will and Noah inside and then brought them back out to the tent. I was hoping that they would fall back asleep. Well, I was wrong! They just woke up Ethan and started begging for breakfast. So, we were home by 6:20 sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Good thing there is no school on Monday to make up for it!

Will offers a lengthy description of Mi Mexico. I could quickly answer in one word, "Delicious!" We had it for lunch today and it was better than ever. Kate, Lori, my mom, Tim & Liz, and Bill & Steph have all tried it on a visit here and liked it as well. Oh, and I earned my Mi Mexico today. I rode my bike to get it!

We have been enjoying our awesome fall weather! This afternoon at dismissal time (1:00 since it was early release day) we were able to see the shuttle fly over us as it made its way to KSC. It came in from the north so we were lucky. The girls in Ethan's class screamed even though we told them that they were going to here a loud boom, boom. It was pretty funny. The shuttle looked amazing as it made its landing!

Today is November 5th which also happens to be our nephew's 6th birthday. So, Happy, Happy Birthday Gavin! This afternoon Will and Noah had their 10th game of the soccer season. They won 2-0. It was a close call this time. The other team apparently learned their lesson from the last time we played them and essentially had two goalies the entire game. The goalie was in the box and another kid stood directly in front of the net as well. So, while there were a lot of shots, only 2 got in. Melissa was biting her nails almost the entire game since both goals were made in the 4th quarter. Will scored the first goal and Phillip had a nice goal just before the end of the game.

Here are a few random pictures from the weekend. Last night it was finally chilly enough to use the fire pit. It was in the LOW 50's. To us, that is actually more like cold than chilly. The kids all had hot cocoa and chocolate cake and then wrapped themselves in blankets around the fire.

Chris got in from soccer and was put straight to work to build our fire. Will was disappointed that Chris only scored 2 goals. He told him he should have scored at least 3 goals like he does!

Four words... Like father, like son! (Tim G., I thought you'd appreciate this one.)
Paige snuggled and wrapped for the chilly evening.

This was taken Saturday morning on the way in to the Fall Fitness Frenzy. The sleepover crew from the left- Noah, William, Ethan, Spencer, Phillip, and Will.

Ethan and William making their way up the obstacle course.
Ethan's other friend and classmate, Spencer.

Yesterday was busy, busy, busy! We woke up with all the boys and Chris headed off to Dunkin' Donuts with orders from all 6 boys. He managed to get all of their donut choices so we were able to feed the masses. After breakfast the kids played for a couple hours and then it was off to the Fall Fitness Frenzy at school. I couldn't even fit in our van with all the kids we had so I had to ride my bike up there. I needed to anyway, I have about 350 miles on it and it was supposed to be tuned after 100, oops! When we got home it was lunch time. I thought I had until 2:00 to get to Pamela's party. Then I realized that it started at 1:00. Yikes. Ethan ate super fast, changed into warm clothes, and we flew out the door. We were still 15 minutes late! Pamela's party was at the ice skating rink. I was unsure what to expect from Ethan, but he loved it. He used a cone for a bit, but then was finally off on his own. He stuck with his friend Emily that was cautious like Ethan and maintained a low speed. Chris took Will and Noah hiking with the Eagney's while we were at the party. They saw a bald eagle, manatees, and a gator. They also saw lots of other birds. Mike posted some pics of it all. I'm not sure what kind of pictures Chris got since he was driving.

Well, tonight is the big sleepover night! The boys have been in overdrive since I saw them each in the morning. The first excitement of the whole experience was getting to write on the overhead. I forgot how cool this was for my own boys the first time they did it. Well, Spencer, William, and Phillip enjoyed it just as much. I also learned that there is a myth that the staff parking lot at school is magical. Apparently, the kids say that if you walk in there it feels "mysterious." So, when I unlocked the gate to go to the car they crossed over carefully commented on how "magical" it felt and then took off to the van at about 100 mph. When we got home they all loaded up on snacks and an entire pitcher of fruit punch! No worries, it was 100% juice, but they downed it in about 30 seconds. After checking out the house for a bit they were off to the backyard. Once they got sick of the backyard it was back inside for hide-and-seek, Foosball, and of course wrestling. Chris picked up pizza on the way home. They convinced Spencer to try applesauce. He actually liked it, imagine that! After dinner Chris took them to the park to play soccer. He had to work in some coaching while he could! They had some dessert and are now in the toy room camped out watching The Polar Express. They are all great kids and quite entertaining. I wonder what time they will sleep to?

Noah, Spencer, and Phillip eating some pizza.
Some soccer goal practice.
Foosball fun.

Just a quick update... Ethan has had some exciting news this week. First, on Monday he got his straight A's report card. Then, today he lost not one, but TWO teeth at school. (No worries, they were loose and meant to come out.) He is hoping that is a school record. To top all of that, his team won their soccer game tonight!!! If you have at all followed his team, you know that it is a major event. Ethan scored 2 goals and Jadah scored a goal. Jadah was in kindergarten with Ethan and has always been one of my favorites so I was very excited for her! I will let Chris do some posting on his team's big win. They won 3-2. Sadly, one of the weaker players I was talking about in an earlier post, scored one for the other team! Ugh... For some dumb reason, I decided to ride my bike up to the fields. Normally, this is no big deal since it's only 9.5 miles. Well, tonight it felt more like 950 miles! The wind was blowing so hard and of course I was riding directly against it! I was surprised that it only took me 15 minutes than normal to get there. It felt like I was pedaling and pedaling and going nowhere! Tomorrow night the boys are having three friends spend the night. They are all coming home from school with us and then going to the Fall Fitness Frenzy at school on Saturday morning where we will meet up with their parents. Hopefully we'll get some sort of sleep tomorrow night. I don't mind the going to bed late part, it is getting woken up at 5:00 am that I don't like!