Seeing as how the last pictures I posted were from Christmas I have a lot to catch up on. Where in the world do I begin? For starters… we did sell our home miraculously and we signed the papers after only 42 days on the market! We were truly blessed to have sold so quickly and I almost didn’t have enough time to pack everything because of it… But we made it. And I just have to say… For all those who think that I’m too much of a neat freak and that I’m obsessed with keeping things in order… for once it paid off to be a perfectionist and to have everything spotless. Let me tell you though it wasn’t an easy task to keep the house up so that we could show it at a moment’s notice but I’m glad that we did (97% of the time at least… nobody’s perfect). I know that this helped tremendously in selling our home so quickly. So, you’re probably wondering where we moved to? We are living with our Wonderful Mom (Linda) who so graciously opened her home to us and we are ever so grateful for her doing so. Her home is about 10 miles away from where we lived before so that makes it nice since there wasn’t much to adapt to location wise at least. The boys love that they get to see Grandma every day and she’s been a great help to us. We’re not sure what our next move will be at this time. We’re in what you might call “Limbo” right now. Steven will be graduating this upcoming May and we’re so happy that we’ve made it this far. The light is getting brighter and brighter each day and we’re looking forward to starting a new chapter in our lives. In addition to attending school full time, Steven is still working with Ted Mason Signature Homes but has gone from full time to part time and so he is also working part time with his Cousin Eric here in the area. He owns an awesome Vintage Clothing Store “Junk Yard Jeans” and sells items at auction all over the world. So it keeps Steven busy and we’re grateful to Eric for the extra help. I’m still at home with the boys during the day and I love it. Every so often I do a haircut or two but with the boys into everything and our busy schedules it just became too difficult to keep up with my clients so I slowly downsized and eventually stopped. It worked out for the best though because when we moved I had to pack up all of my salon equipment and there’s really no place to set up here where we are now. So for the time being I’m out of business but as soon as we are done having kids and they’re all in school full time I’ll start up again. That was always the plan but I must say I do miss it from time to time. Something exciting for Steven and me is we celebrated our 5 year Anniversary this last June. It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re having fun. I like to think about when we first started dating 8 years ago and see how far we’ve come. Dating, then the Mission for 2 LONG years, then the short engagement, then moving to Idaho and getting married, then the kids and now here we are. I’m so happy for the wonderful life that we’ve built together and I’m so grateful for my loving husband and all that he does for me and our adorable boys. We are truly blessed to have such a great family and I couldn’t possibly be any happier.
Here’s a look into our family life. This summer has been really nice because Ethan started going to the summer school program Tues.-Thur. from 8:30-12:30 and so I’ve been able to get a lot done with only one little rascal to chase around and look after. And running errands is a breeze. I love it. Ethan will be attending school in the fall as well for his first official year of pre-school. We’re really excited because we’ve seen such a dramatic difference in his speech and language skills just from the small amount of schooling that he’s had thus far. His favorite thing about school by far is riding on the school bus. I think that it was much harder on me the first day that he got on it. I was all sad and he couldn’t wait to get rid of me. I don’t think that he even missed me the whole day. I guess I should get used to it because I hear that it only gets worse the older they get.
This is Ethan waiting for the school bus that first day. He was so excited.
He had his 3rd Birthday in June and I can’t believe that he’s so old.
He has really started to have such a funny personality. He’s very observant and can remember just about everything. If we go somewhere on the other side of town and then return a month or so later he’ll remind you of when we went there before and why we were there, especially when we pass the ice cream store. That’s his favorite place and he always has to ask if we can stop even when he’s sure there’s a no at the other end of that question. As I said before he’s been getting much better in his speech and language skills. He had been taking Speech Therapy through the Infant Toddler Program for early education for about 8 months before his 3rd Birthday. In the state of Idaho when they reach the age or 3 they are moved into the school system and since his Birthday fell in June that’s why he was able to attend summer school so that he didn’t have to wait until the fall. This is why he is starting pre-school a year early. I remember that we were so happy with his progress when he started his Speech Therapy and what a difference we were seeing. But there’s something about the school program that just get’s them going. He’s been doing great and the biggest thing is that other’s (besides for people who are around him often) can somewhat understand what he’s saying now. He’s always had a hard time with articulating his words so it comes out slurred. As his Mom, I understand most of what he says but it’s hard for others I guess. This whole process has been really fun for him and we couldn’t be more proud.
We’ve jump started his Potty Training and we have our good days and our bad days. He was doing so well until he realized that going potty was taking time out of the things he was doing throughout the day. Then it wasn’t so much fun anymore. So if anyone has any good suggestions… I’m all ears!
Owen had his 1st Birthday in March and my little baby is now officially a toddler.
We had a slow start with him wanting to dig into his cake, but once he figured out what it was he of course dove right in.
He’s the cutest little thing. He adores Ethan and wants to do everything that he does. He’s his ‘mini me’ and besides for the height difference they look almost identical. I can’t tell you how many times I get asked how old my Twin boys are??? It’s funny to see their reaction when I tell them that they’re 21 months apart. But if you really look at them you can obviously tell that there’s a big gap in age. Owen pretty much skipped walking and went straight to running overnight. He’s hard to keep up with and definitely keeps me on my toes. He’s the adventurous one in our family. If he hasn’t tried it yet then you better believe that he’s waiting for the right time to do it. Usually when I’m not looking or leave the room momentarily. He’s had a few bumps and bruises along the way but he just jumps right back up and is on to the next thing in no time.
He’s been chattering like crazy these days. I’m amazed at how much he talks and the things that he picks up. I think that he’s going to be a lot like Ethan as he gets older just a bit wilder and not as many boundaries. I love to see him grow and learn new things each day. One thing that he’s into right now is screaming at the top of his lungs and it is just ear piercing. It’s hard because when he starts doing it then Ethan has to join in and it’s time for the ear plugs. Poor Linda didn’t know what she was getting into when she agreed to have us move in. I just keep the medicine cabinet stocked with Tylenol just in case. They’re both so cute though. As challenging as kids can be from time to time, they are more than worth it. I can’t complain… life is good, no great!!!
One of the fun things that we did this year is, we had the opportunity to go back to Washington DC for our brother Christian’s wedding in March and it was a first for our family. Here's Mommy and the boys on the Airplane.
We had a blast downtown walking to all of the sites they have there. What a workout. I think that I lost about 5 lbs. by the time we got home (no complaints here). With having the kids it was hard to do too much all at once but we still had a great time.
I just love to see all of the history that our country has and to be right in the middle of a large portion of it was a neat experience. The boys loved going to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Ethan just loves airplanes and Owen was just starting to get into them at the time. Here's Ethan with Daddy in front of the BIG airplane. You can see by the expression on his face just how excited he was.
I really enjoyed seeing the Washington Monument up close and personal. Seeing it in a picture or on TV does it absolutely no justice. It seemed like it went up for days and days. I couldn’t believe how tall it was. When we walked right up to it and looked way up to the top I almost felt like I was going to fall over because I had to tilt my head so far back. What an amazing piece of architecture. It just amazes me what man can create.
Steven’s favorite site was the WWII Memorial. The massive size and beautiful craftsmanship was a great tribute for the men who died for our country.
Although it was great to be with so much family and to have the kids in tow, it really would be nice to have about a week with just you and your spouse to go around and see all that you want to. It’s an amazing city to be in and we hope to make it back sometime in the future to do just that.
Other then this trip we’ve pretty much stayed close to home this year. With Steven having such a busy schedule with work and school it’s hard to find much time in between to travel. We’ve had a lot of fun here in Boise though. We finally had a chance to visit our local Zoo and I admit that it was nothing compared to the San Diego Zoo that both Steven and I grew up with but let’s face it… We were spoiled. But for Boise it’s a great Zoo. The boys loved seeing all of the different kinds of animals they hadn’t seen before (not in person at least). Ethan loved looking up at the Giraffes and was amazed at how tall they were and Owen couldn’t stop laughing at the baby chimpanzees jumping all over the place and swinging from the branches. It was really cute to see their reactions. Our favorite story about our trip there is when we went to go see the Lions. The area that they were in was a good size and we could only see two female lions and no males so we were bummed but as we were turning the corner to leave the exhibit we noticed the male on the very outskirts lying down. So we stopped to show the boys and as we did the lion stood up, turned around and sprayed something at us like a skunk would. Luckily we were far enough away that we didn’t get any of it on us but it was the funniest thing. We couldn’t tell if he was trying to mark his territory or to claim me for another female to join his domain. For the most part you had to be there to get the full effect but at the time it was hilarious.
Other then checking out all of the fun sites here in town we’ve just been playing in our great backyard. Linda has done a lot with her yard over the years and it’s just beautiful. The kids love to run in the sprinklers and play in their water table.
This summer has been so hot so I don’t blame them for wanting to play in the water. We’ve been lingering in the hundreds for quite some time now so I’m definitely ready for Fall to come around. We also have this great park right across the street with a water play area as well. We’ve been enjoying being in this new location. There’s so much fun stuff around us.
We’ve been enjoying our new ward too. Steven and I actually were called to serve in the Nursery for the first time and were a little nervous at first with some of the negative things you hear about being stuck in there but we’ve just loved it. Ethan is still in there with us and Owen’s been in heaven since he got to go in early. It’s funny because there’s another couple that’s serving with us and they have twin boys that are just a little older then Owen. So on any given Sunday 60% of the class consists of Nursery workers and our kids. The only down fall of being called into the nursery is that we didn’t really get a chance to meet anyone since we were called in so quickly. That makes it a little difficult to mingle with any of the adults but we’re still happy to be with all of the kids in the ward. Besides it’s kind of nice to go and do some of the girlie things with the girls in the class. It’s all boy stuff here at home so I enjoy having that time to get away and play with dolls and such. Don’t get me wrong… I’m all about the boy stuff and love to play with my little men but it’s nice to have a change of pace from time to time.
For those of you who made it to the end of this novel… I thank you for taking a minute or two out of your schedule to check up on my wonderful family. After writing this beast of a blog I realize that it would be much easier for me and everyone who likes to stay awake while reading if I write more often. So I will try not to let the next post be this year’s Christmas… but no guarantees! Love to you all and happy blogging.
The Schrader Family
Ethan, as most of you know just loves trains. He's absolutely crazy about anything to do with trains... especially if their blue and named Thomas! This year Grandma Linda spoiled our family with a special train to go around our tree. We played with it for a couple of weeks before 
