We have had beautiful weather!! It has been in the low-80s and gorgeous. Today we rode our bikes to Blockbuster. Ethan did very well on his 20" bike. Noah crashed three times, but didn't complain once the entire way there or back. Will, well, he complained that no one was going fast enough and that he was tired of waiting for Noah to recover from all of his crashes! Yesterday Ethan had a Blue & Gold Boy Scout banquet. He got his Tiger patch because he has completed all of the requirements for the Tiger rank. He was very excited about that. Chris neglected to post two of my favorite pictures of the boys in our bed so I'll add them here tonight.

Here are Will's cute feet. I love cute, little feet pictures! Of course Will's feet are on the large side, but they are still cute!

And of course, our first baby in bed. He is the only one that is allowed to sleep in there every night! Sweet Hanzie...

So if you read the post from last night, you know by now that Will got to sleep in our room last night for being such a good sleeper at night. Well, it was Noah's turn tonight. Not because he is a good sleeper or anything crazy like that, but because he couldn't stand not being equal with Will. I even let him use my iPod too (not very common for me to let him use anything of value since he has a tendency to break stuff "accidentally"). Anyway, here he is looking cute as ever. Good thing he is cute, because he needs something to counter his brattiness.

Music tames the beast...

for a moment at least.

After work tonight, I took the boys for a bike ride while I jogged. I wanted to let Ethan practice riding his 20" BMX bike that he got for Christmas. Jen said it was way too big for him, but he made it all the way to the park and back (about 2 miles). Not too far, but I think he is fine on it.

After that, we did homework, read books, and played a little Zelda on the Wii before bed. Jen had promised Will that he could sleep in our room tonight since he is always such a good boy when it comes to sleep. He never, ever comes into our room at night, so we figured we owed him that much. We tucked him in, put some iPod music on for him, and left the room. He must have been tired, because he was giggling for a while before settling down (he giggles when is tired). Of course, we had to take some pictures because he was being too cute. Enjoy the pics. It was pretty dark in our room but with my new, awesome flash that Jen got me for Christmas (Thanks Jen!), it made the pictures look like it was daytime.

WEEKEND! We had a fun, busy weekend! After a very stressful week at school, we took the boys over to Melissa's for dinner and trampoline fun. After the kids ate, Melissa and I went and got take-out from a place that we wanted to try while Chris, Mike, and the kids played Wii at our house. I had a couple glasses of wine and a nice relaxing evening! Saturday morning Chris had to work. I took Hanzie and the boys to Riverbreeze Park for a little hike and playground fun. We met the Eagney's and Bobbie there. The kids and dogs all seemed to have a good time. We had planned on going to see Taylor Hicks at Universal on Saturday night. After multiple people told us how busy and crazy it is there, we talked the kids into going to see Bridge to Terebithia. I had read the booked as a child and teared up instantly when I knew the sad part was coming. I'm sure Chris thought I was nuts since he hadn't read the book and didn't know what was to come! We all really liked it. After the movie, we grilled at Mike and Melissa's. The kids got in the hot tub after dinner and chilled out in there with the High School Musical soundtrack blaring. After relaxing, they had some "champagne" and it was bed time! This morning while Chris biked, I took Hanzie and the boys hiking on the trails next to the bike trails. It was the LONGEST 3.5 miles I have ever walked! Everyone started off in good spirits. We got to the fork in the trail and it all went downhill from there. I gave the boys the choice of the short hike or long hike. They of course chose the long one! I told them that it was a very long walk through soft sand, but they swore that they could handle it. Well, about 1/4 mile in they were already asking to turn back. I just kept repeating Chris' favorite quote, "Winners never quit, and quitters never win!" I made them finish the entire trail. I think that even Hanzie was pretty steamed with me by the end!
Here they are happily into the beginning of the hike! Of course Ethan and Will had to prove their manhood by peeing in the woods 2 seconds into the walk.
If you look closely (or enlarge) at the picture below you can see the little armadillo we saw. Will said he looked like a miniature elephant!
This was the halfway point of the hike! After this we had to turn around and walk back! You can see how happy they were that I made them walk all the way to Sunset Bluff! They may never want to see Sunset Bluff again! It was here that they had their snack and water. It only went further downhill from here. Noah spent half of his time laying in the middle of the trail. I can't even begin to tell you about the complaining!
They are happily playing Wii with dad now. They did take a nap since we tired them out this morning. Not that it did me any good since I was grocery shopping while they napped!

Watch out Corbin Bleu! Here comes the hot new Red Hot Chili Stepper!
Here is Noah snuggling with his dad. This was taken on Monday while they were singing their baby animals to bed.

Picture perfect President's Day! Well, it would have been a little more perfect if Chris would have been able to stay home with us! We took advantage of the nice weather. After a chilly start, it warmed up to the low-60's and we headed off to the park. Hanzie was so excited to be going with us that he puked right in front of the door as we were heading out! After we got that all cleaned up, we hopped in the van and headed out. We took Hanzie for a hike to tire him out before the playground. They played on the playground for a bit and then we strolled the pier. The boys had a great time and we stayed there much longer than we planned. They were being so good though!
Just before we left the park we strolled along the pier.

Here the boys are hiking with Hanzie!
We were walking on the other side of the woods and couldn't see the geese. I kept telling the boys that the frogs were saying hi to them! Duh, I guess I need a lesson in sounds of nature. We rounded the other side of the woods and there were the geese yelling at us! Ethan got a big kick out of me being entirely wrong about the frogs.
The boys took about a million turns each on the zip line!

Here is an older picture from Valentine's Day. They boys each got a bed for their animals. Chris and Kate sewed the pillows that are in the basket and Kate sewed their names on the pillow for them. They carry their "babies" all around in them. Chris can't stand it!

Here are a couple pictures of the rocket launch last night. After I tried to watch Hollywoodland. I fell asleep almost immediately so you'll have to ask Chris or Kate how it was! Kate flies home today. She leaves during the Daytona 500. Hopefully it won't be pure chaos getting her to the airport. The airport is DIRECTLY across the street from turn three! We are going to take the back way in and hope for the best!

Today was fun day! Chris, Kate, the boys and I went to Go Kart City. They started out with a Go Kart ride. Noah refused to ride so I sat out with him. Chris and Ethan were in the Sponge Bob car and Kate and Will got the pink kart. After Go Kart we all played a round of miniature golf. We didn't keep score and just played for fun. The boys normally tucker out halfway through the rounds, but today they were just as into it and chipper on hole 18 as they were on the first hole. Since they didn't get enough of Go Karting on the first round, they went for one more spin after golfing. Noah still refused to go so we sat in the pit to watch.

Here the boys are on the ship that was in the middle of the mini golf course. They thought the hole on the ship was the coolest.
Kate, Will, Chris, and Ethan coming around the corner.
This was at the New Smyrna Beach airport. We had to take a picture for dad!
After all of that fun, Kate and I rode bikes up to Blockbuster and Publix. As soon as I got home Melissa called and we took the dogs up to the dog park. Everyone else stayed behind to rest. I ran home from the dog park, cooked dinner for the kids, and was back out the door to go to the beach to see a rocket launch. The boys are no longer fazed by them and didn't even look up into the sky when it went up. I will have to post pictures of the beach later. Chris has not downloaded them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So far Valentine's Day has gone quite well. This morning was a bit crazy with all of the excitement of a holiday. The boys had to check out their presents before they showered. Then we had to organize the massive amount of stuff that we had to haul off to school. Ethan brought in a bag of food for his party, his Valentines, and a present for his teacher. With all of that in tow, he forgot his backpack! I carried all of my normal school stuff and a huge crock pot of food for Relay for Life. Chris had to carry all of the boys' Valentines, their teachers' presents, two dozen cupcakes, and Ethan's backpack! The boys seemed to love all of their Valentine's Day events at school. They dragged home almost as much stuff as they brought in! Kate helped me make the cupcakes for Will and Noah's class. She actually did all of the frosting and sprinkles! I had just made cupcakes so I was happy to pass the torch on that one! After school the girls came over to watch Zoom- Academy for Superheroes. Only Ethan watched it! Then they had a waffle party which included some chocolate whipped cream that Mike picked up for them and sprinkles! After that healthy dinner, they all ate the top of a cupcake! Chris, Kate, and I had some delicious Mi Mexico. To make it a bit more guilt free Kate and I took a nice long bike ride after dinner. The weather was absolutely perfect and we could have biked all night!

Here are some pics that Kate took at Blue Springs. (Chris STILL hasn't converted any of his.) They posed together in the top pic and in the one below they were pretending that the tree stump was a map. They kept saying, "This says, 'You are here.'" It was really funny.

the Schrader 5!

Well, Chris still hasn't converted those pictures yet. So, I'm not a liar, he just hasn't done his part yet. He is sewing the boys' Valentine's present so I suppose I shouldn't complain that much! I've got the wonderful ideas and he has the mad sewing skills to make my ideas come alive. Kate is in on the sewing action as well. The boys should be happy in the morning. Tomorrow they are having a Valentine's party with the girls that includes the Schrader house premiere of Zoom- Academy for Superheroes.

Aunt Kate arrived yesterday! The boys were very excited AND noisy Saturday morning. They couldn't wait to leave for the airport to pick her up. Luckily her flight came in at 10:30 in the morning so we didn't have to endure much of the craziness. Almost as soon as we got home from the airport, we had to leave for Will and Noah's friends Katelyn's birthday. It was at one of the boys' favorite parks. To top it all off, she had a pony! Will was VERY excited about this and even got an extra long ride on his 2nd or 3rd turn. After the party Kate and I went to Target to pick up a few things. We watched a cute movie last night. Today we went to Blue Spring State Park to see the manatees with Aunt Kate. There weren't an impressive number of manatees in the spring this morning, but there were 65 so there were enough to see! Chris will have to post pictures later because he hasn't converted them yet.
Here is Will, aka Ladies Man, amongst all his ladies!

TGIF!!! This week has been exhausting. The only ones left with energy at our house are Will and Noah. I don't know where they get it from. Tomorrow morning Kate arrives so we will be on last minute cleaning detail tonight. Will and Noah have been enjoying school a lot the last couple of weeks. Their teacher from last year is temporarily teaching their class and they seem to really like that. Ethan was excited because Mrs. Lennon, the librarian, GAVE him a Jurassic Park book. He loves the ride at Universal and the soundtrack even more. Since he isn't quite old enough to see the movie, he was really excited to get the book! He read it as soon as he got it! We are once again enjoying the 70's- sorry peeps, I know the 20's are your norm nowadays. Despite the hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, etc. there are benefits to living in Florida!

Hanzie's allergies have been bothering him. In an effort to get him to stop licking his paws we ordered this soft Elizabethan collar. Whenever I put it on him, he gets so mad that he ends up clinging to Chris, as if Chris would save him! Poor guy. Between this and his Benadryl, he seems to be doing better.

The boys decided to have a camp out after school today! It was complete with a campfire, tent, and picnic snack! It is beautiful out today, especially after such a cold start! Kate will get to enjoy the nice weather in just 3 days! Ethan has begun the preparations for her arrival. They are also convinced that she too will fall victim to the Wii like the rest of our visitors. They keep saying, "She'll be begging her mom and dad to get her one when she gets home!"
Hanzie enters through the side door!

Ethan is really into cats now! He has been begging us for one almost every day and nearly everything he writes about in school has to do with cats! Here he is with Blossy (the baby) and Blossom (the mom).
Now, Will has bigger aspirations for pets. He REALLY wants a horse! We watched Flicka last night, Will's pick at Blockbuster, so the talk has increased greatly since watching it! When I explained that we didn't have the land for a horse, he had a simple solution, "I'll move to Pop-Pop Wayne's then!" Here he is with Duke and Dunny.

Late Breaking News!

For those of you who have been following the developing story of how Ethan was robbed of going to the finals in his first ever Boys Scouts of America Pine Wood Derby, there is more news to report.

Jen found out at school today that there were actually two boys that moved on from Ethan's age group that should not have. The other boy who was supposed to move on with Ethan was called on Saturday as well. He apparently left on Saturday upset too after his parents had told him that he was going to the finals. The funny thing is that the two boys that raced in the finals (who Ethan and his fellow unlucky friend had already beaten in the preliminaries) placed 2nd and 3rd place in the entire pack. Jen just laughed when she heard that, but she was still a little upset about how they treated me (remember, like a crazy father whose son's only option is to win) - enough to spread the word to some of the teachers at school.

Well, not sure what caused this, but we received a message from the Pack Leader's wife that they would be re-racing the finals, this time including the boys that deserve to be in the finals. Of course, they are not taking anything away from the boys that already won as it was not their fault either, so that's good news.

Who knew there could be so much drama from a kids' toy car race? I hate drama.

I just had to tell everyone that I'm SUPER excited for Bill and Steph and only slightly jealous! Congrats guys!!!

Super Bowl party! The boys are now happily stuffed after all their food and their "Super Bowl cupcakes."

Mix of news...

First, I have to say how sorry I am that my sister's dog Elvis passed away yesterday. If anyone knows him, he was quite a character. He was very laid back and vocal. He was very tolerant of the new children, Alina and Aidan. I know he will be missed greatly.

This week has been very stressful at work. To top it off, on Friday I started getting sick. I haven't been feeling well all weekend. Yesterday Ethan had his Pine Derby for Boy Scouts. That turned out to be a stressful adventure also. I will let Chris explain that event! After the derby, I took Will and Noah to their friend Nina's birthday party. Melissa and the girls were there as well. Sadly, it was rainy and cold most of the party. After the party Chris entertained the boys so that I could take a much needed nap. I slept for over two hours! This of course led to me being up all night last night! Melissa, Mike, and Katie came over to watch Saturday Night Live. The boys have been just hanging out at the house today while we were doing some much needed chores! They are ready for a Super Bowl Party tonight. Since neither Chris nor I have any interest in football it makes it hard to get them too excited. Chris told them that the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials- true, true!

Today was Race Day!! And I'm not talking NASCAR people.

Today was the Boy Scout Pine Wood Derby car race. Ethan and I had been building a car (okay, mostly me, but that is what Dads are for) over the last few days and thought we had come up with the perfect design to win BIG. The car had to be a certain length and width - check. It had to weigh no more than five ounces - our design had a system for easily adding/removing weight (quarters) if needed. On race day, it came in at exactly five ounces. Here it is in all of its glory!

The day was filled with great highs and lows, and highs again. The Tigers were up first. Ethan's car won every single one of the six heats it was in. And I'm not talking about by inches, but by feet in most cases. It won big!! One of the parents even commented on Ethan's car during the race, because it was doing so well. Why I am bragging so much? Well, you are about to find out.

After all of the other age groups raced their cars, the officials had to compute the two top winners in each age group and then they would race against each other for overall age group winner. Next, the overall age group winner would get to race against the rest of age group winners for overall Pack winner. During the calculations, we noticed that they had placed Ethan's car off to the side with the cars that were not moving on. The one parent that was handling this even notified the official that he thought that this car was supposed to be moving on to the finals, but eventually he just put it back. At that point, I felt that I had to say something. I went up there and politely asked how a car that won all six heats was not moving on. They just looked at me like I was one of "those" parents that couldn't except the fact that my son's car did not win (for the record, I am not). I explained that I could understand if the races were close, but they were not. The parent that had commented earlier came to our defense as well, but it did no good. They refused to listen and Ethan left the building crying, understandably upset. Before I left, I told them that it was no big deal and that I knew it was just about having fun. Here is Ethan's car in one of its losses? Not the greatest picture in the world, but you get the point.

When we got home, Jen took Will and Noah to their friend's birthday party and I took Ethan to Chick-fil-A to cheer him up. A funny thing happened later that afternoon. We got a call from our den leader Cindy. She apologized to Ethan on the phone and said that they accidentally messed up the calculations and that he was actually supposed to go to the finals. She said that he would get the first place trophy for the Tigers, but she did mention there was nothing she could do about the overall Pack leader. Those results would have to stand as is. Well, in the end, Ethan got his trophy and all is right in the world of Boy Scouts again....well almost. I know we could have won it all!!