Although Pop-Pop threatened to dump them from the tractor bucket into the pond, they came back still in the bucket and dry!

Noah especially enjoyed operating heavy machinery!

Pop-Pop and the boys visiting with Duke and Dunny.

Riding the 4-wheeler.

After the Schrader's we went to the mountains. The boys had a blast there riding the 4-wheeler, driving the tractor, feeding the fish and horses, building campfires, setting off fireworks, hiking through the mountains, getting spring water from the mountain, feeding the deer corn, going out to eat, and visiting Cumberland. Lori, Alina, and Aidan came up from Wednesday to Friday to spend some time with us. Alina and Noah hit it off and were inseparable.

Getting ready for a round of Cranium Pop-5. Ethan was quite good at the game!

Noah, Will, Ethan, Leigha, and Aiden hanging out at Grandma and Pop-Pop's house!

We had a fabulous trip to Maryland. We left for MD after school on Friday and arrived at the Schrader's at 3:15 am. It is never a fun drive, especially from about midnight on. The boys woke up bright and early to play with Leigha and Aiden who had spent the night. They played throughout the day until the rest of the Schrader clan arrived. All of the kids had a fun time playing together and Mom and Dad cooked a terrific meal! I will have to post pictures later since Chris had to "convert" them. We also had a little birthday party to celebrate all of the November birthdays. The boys were very excited to get their Nintendo DS Lites as their joint Christmas/birthday gifts! On Sunday we of course had to do lunch at Baja Fresh! After lunch we went to Kate's new house. She set us up to expect the worst, when in reality, her house is absolutely adorable! Once she is finished with her renovations I am quite certain she will fall in love with it. I can't wait to see it when it is finished. Kate has picked out some really cute stuff and I can't wait to see it all come together. Here is a picture of Noah asleep after his Baja lunch on the way to Aunt Kate's house. He fell asleep playing his DS! Then there is the picture of the boys in front of Kate's new house.

MY VAN IS NOT READY!!!!

Well, in an effort to have fun outside, we went to play soccer out front. Soccer lasted for about 10 minutes and then they moved on to scooters and bikes. Within 5 minutes Ethan was on the ground declaring that we need to call 9-1-1 because of his hurt arm. Now, those of you that know Ethan well, know he can be a bit dramatic when it comes to injuries. He has been sitting at the kitchen table for 20 minutes with ice on it and still claims that it hurts "super bad." He even decided not to go to Cub Scouts since it hurts so much. Hopefully it is one of his dramatic moments. There is no sign of swelling or bones sticking out.

Spoiled, spoiled Will!! Tonight at dinner Will announced that he had NO fun this weekend. This is coming from a child that went to the Eagney's to play on the playground, went to Moe's (one of his favorite restaurants) for dinner, went to the video game store, went to Universal Studios, went to McDonald's for lunch and played on the playground there, went to the beach, had Dunkin Donuts for his "second day of the weekend breakfast," had a friend over to play the entire day, AND went to the river beach playground all in ONE weekend! And that is just the stuff that I can remember. I was just excited because Chris finally fixed our leaky toilet! Simple pleasures!

We had a great time at the beach this afternoon. It was nice and warm. Ethan woke up with an ear infection this morning. Luckily, he has a really nice pediatrician and she called a prescription in for him.

Look out, it's Clark Kent!

Run Forrest, run!

Here comes the Eagney family across the rope bridge.

More Seuss Landing fun!

Here they are giving a Sneetch a bath. That is, of course, until the Sneetch gave them one!

You see, you can play tic-tac-toe on Mr. Joe's belly. These guys got the wrong idea and started climbing the poor guy!

We had fun at Universal today. We didn't stay long since it was starting to get crowded. The boys slept the entire ride home. That is always an indicator that some fun was had!

Today is like Friday- no school tomorrow! To top it off it is Grey's Anatomy night. How exciting!!! We are going to go to Universal with Melissa and the girls in the morning. After school today we went to the Eagney's to play outside. They have the playground and trampoline so they are the winter oasis. Tonight we went to Target to get Will and Noah's birthday party invitations. They have chosen a Superman theme for their party. When we got home they started discussing who they were and weren't going to invite to their party. It was quite funny. Will and Noah had very different ideas on who should be coming. One would say, "No, not them," and the other would say, "Yes Mommy, you've got to invite them!" No worries, we are inviting their entire class as not to have anyone feel left out. The boys are getting VERY excited about our Thanksgiving plans. Only one more week! Next week's schedule is overflowing with meetings so it should fly by.

Good news! I just took the van to the body shop and they said they could get it fixed by the time we need it! At least that worked out for us.

Well... on our way home from school today we were rear ended. Luckily everyone was fine, except for our poor van! They say things come in threes so lets just hope this is the last. Last week our pool heater broke, Saturday the pool pump broke, and today this. The boys immediately said that they thought a tornado had gotten our van. They actually looked relieved when I told them that a car had just hit us. They haven't even seen the movie Twister. Although they have been on the Twister ride. I guess that is where it was coming from! It put a damper on our afternoon plans- to say the least. I ended up on the phone with the insurance company so out went our craft plans and our dinner plans! The boys were happy to accommodate and eat chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. They are looking forward to sharing their car accident survival story tomorrow at school. They each told Chris three times each, "Guess what, we were in a car accident today!" I think they finally got the point that Daddy knew what happened. I suppose I should have let them call some people to share their exciting story. Lesson learned!

We spent today preparing for Thanksgiving. We learned some new songs and rhymes. One of the songs is about a turkey who needs to run for his life. Ethan had his favortie Sunday dinner, "big chicken with potatoes and carrots," and Will asked, "Is this turkey?" After I said that it was chicken, he said, okay and started eating. I don't think we'll be able to convince him to eat turkey for Thanksgiving. Chris went for a jog and took the boys along on their bikes. They were all exhausted when they got home, but Chris managed to convince them to play some soccer when they got back. I made them strawberry shortcakes for dessert and Will and Noah ate fruit roll-ups instead. Unbelievable! They did fight over a bowl full of strawberries while Chris and Ethan devoured their shortcakes!

Happy Birthday Gavin!

Today we went to Universal. The weather was PERFECT and there were no crowds. We convinced all the boys to ride Spiderman. Even though they constantly tell everyone how much they love that ride, when it is time to get on there is always some reason they can't do it! We also got Noah onto Jurassic River Adventure Ride. Even though he was still a HAIR short, the lady let him on. I don't think he'll be going on it again any time soon. He was terrified the entire time! After Universal, we went to the Adidas outlet and got the boys some new shoes. They are out in the yard breaking them in before dinner!
Ethan surfs some waves in front of Quiet Flight in Citiwalk.

Chris and Will try to wake the sleeping elephant.

Noah takes a stab at waking him up also!

The boys pose with the Dr. Seuss characters.

Last night the boys' friend, Kyle, crashed in Will and Noah's room. We let Will and Noah go in our room. When I went to bed this is how they were snuggling...too cute!

I love Friday!! This week went by quick since I had Wednesday off. Next week we have off on Friday so that will be a nice, short week as well! Yesterday was a complete nightmare. I got a headache in the middle of the school day. The lady from State Farm was coming to do my blood and urine test for life insurance so I had to fast. I was too afraid to take anything for my headache in fear that it would mess up the test. Since I didn't have the lady's number with me at work I just toughed it out. I had a long conference after school and the entire time I was shaking and felt so sick. I made it home before I actually got sick thankfully! The lady was supposed to be here at 5:00 and didn't get here until 5:45!!! Ugh... So after taking some medicine and then some more medicine my headache went away. I slept great last night thanks to all of the medicine. I guess that was one benefit!
The boys have been enjoying carefully selecting their multiple Halloween treats each afternoon and night. They have begged us to take them to Universal tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be really nice, breezy and in the low 70s, so it should be fun. Tonight we are having friends over for dinner and to play games. They have a son that is Will and Noah's age so they should have fun tonight. The boys are acting crazy anticipating his arrival.
Next weekend we tried to keep our plans to a minimum since we will be preparing for our big Thanksgiving plans! Unfortunately, things always pop up so it seems it will be crammed with activities anyway. Oh well!!! I hope everyone has a good weekend. Oh, and save some of that cold weather for us in Maryland, would ya?

We had a lot of fun during our Halloween festivities. Melissa had a Halloween party on Sunday. The boys had a lot of fun bobbing for apples, playing musical chairs, and painting everybody! On Tuesday all the boys had fun activities at school. Will and Noah had the traditional Halloween parade and party at their school. They got to dress up in their costumes and got tons of Halloween loot. Our school is a bit more conservative in the Halloween area and Ethan had "Harvest Day." They rotated around through the different teachers doing all different activities. They even did some square dancing with the PE coaches. After school we started preparing for trick-or-treaters. The boys get more excited about getting everything ready for the kids than they do going trick-or-treating themselves. We couldn't even convince Ethan to go trick-or-treating. He stayed home the entire time passing out candy. Will, Noah, and I did two streets in the neighborhood with Mary and Emily. Will and Noah actually were ready to go home after one street, but Mary and I convinced them to do one more street. At that point I was already carrying their loaded candy bags! Once we all got home the boys helped Ethan pass out more candy and they played with their light sabers in the front yard. Today I had to stay home and wait for the pool repair guy. I got all of the Halloween stuff put away and got out all our Thanksgiving book, crafts, and decorations. After I picked up the boys from school we spent the rest of the afternoon reading Thanksgiving books, doing crafts, and watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving and Charlie Brown's Mayflower Voyage.
Ethan as Anakin!

Will as the muscular Superman!

Noah as Master Yoda!

Trick-or-treating headquarters at the Schrader house! You can't get the full effect until it gets dark and the fogger and strobe light are going.

As I was reading for my class on Friday night, Noah must have come up to me 50 times in a one hour period to ask me an important question. He would say, "I've got to ask you something really, really important!" You see, I told him not to disturb me while I was working unless it was really important. Anyway, as I was reading I came across the perfect quote for Noah. "I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein. This would explain his constant barrage of questions and his necessity to take everything apart to see how it works.