Our camping trip

We had such a great time camping with all our buddies from our small group at church. These pictures are in no special order and I tried to get as many combinations of people as I could. I know there's alot, but had to capture most of all the moments. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and it couldn't have been any better. Not too hot and not too cold. It was just a wee bit chilly saturday night, but we just bundled up more. The kids had so much fun together!!! I know most of you will be blogging about it so I won't be long winded.

Most of you know for some reason I do not sleep well in a tent at all. That's the only downfall to camping for me. So as I lay there patiently waiting for my family one by one to wake up in the morning. Bradley first jumps under the covers with us and then we wait quietly for Alayna to peek her head up over the pack and play with a great big "HI" and giggle. Then daddy has no choice but to wake up to the tickling and giggling. This is one of my favorites as we start the day.

This was Saturday morning around the campfire. I love this part of just hanging out laughing, being silly, being serious, being quiet, being loud, getting to know people just a little bit better and just being.

The Schrodt Family gearing up for smore time.


Happy baby Callie. She was an awesome little mini camper. She and Alayna are outnumbered by the boys by far. So glad you had a girl Katy or Alayna would be destined to be a tomboy for sure!! Well I think she already is!!

Dave intriging the boys with probably some creepy crawler.

Daddy & Bradley doing their favorite thing...fishing. Bradley begs to do it all weekend long and thinks that's all there is to camping.

Craig & Dave took the boys canoeing on Saturday afternoon

Alexander begging Craig for more squishy bait:) Hee Hee. Bradley baited his first worm on a hook this weekend, daddy was so proud!!

Jacob so proud that he made the perfect marshmallows.

Mike, Terri, & Joely Boely as Bradley liked to call him.

Me and Alayna. She was referred to as Pig Pen's sister from the peanuts this weekend because she got so dirty she constantly had a cloud of dust over her head. I hardly had her dressed in the right clothes for camping. Oh well....

Craig gave free bike rides around the campground. So all the kids took turns and had a blast. I told him he should have started charging per ride:) Could of made some side $

Bradley and Josiah playing so well together. Not sure what that game is called.

Little Grayson making his first smores and so intent to make it perfectly.

Bradley & Alexander handing out being buds

Trevor, Grayson, Jayne & Sue. Jayne is doing a very good advertisement for Hershey bars. I hope they are paying her well.

Friday night. Most all the kids hanging out playing trucks.

Joel and Alayna playing with the leap frog table. They were so cute!

Katy and Jacob roasting hotdogs.

Grayson and Alexander...look at my marshmallow says Alexander!

So you are probably wondering what the For Rent sign is for. Craig just happened to have it in the trunk and pulled it out when Sue and I were fussing at each other. Maybe he wanted to put us up for rent or something.

Mom, I don't want to disappoint you because I did have tricks and pranks up my sleeve like we talked about but my plan sort of got foiled and ended up scaring myself. I had the snake hidden in my sweatshirt to scare someone or the whole group while we were sitting around the fire. Throughout the morning I kept making sure it was still there and didn't fall out. Well I then forgot about it and Sue and I were going to get our picture taken in front of the For Rent sign and as we were walking over there the snake fell out of my sweatshirt and Sue noticed it just as I felt something on my leg. Needless to say it scared the both of us. She goes and jumps up on her truck and I quickly realized it was my own dumb snake. She was scared to tears and I felt so bad. Then we thought it had fallen out earlier and Craig got ahold of it and threw it at us, but he swore he didn't. Once again Sue, so sorry you encountered a dreaded snake again.

Thanks to all of you for such a great time and the making of such fun memories!!!

Crash, Bang, Boom

To those of you who don't know Tuesday night my little rebel without a cause had his first "real" accident. I was sitting on the front steps watching Bradley and his buddy Ben riding their bikes in the cul du sac. They were having a great ole time racing back and forth. Ben on his suped up big boy tricycle and Bradley on his old time favorite 3 wheel pedal cycle. We got him a big boy bike for his birthday, but he still prefers his little one. Anyway, Bradley is at one end of the road and Ben is on the other and they both take off towards each other and as they are getting closer I'm thinking to myself they wouldn't dare crash into each other and as they got closer I'm about to yell for them to stop, but before I could get the words out..... CRASH!!!!!!! I thought for sure one of them would have swerved out of the way. So Bradley flipped over his handle bars and hit his head on Ben's bike. From where I was at I thought it didn't look like no big deal. Oh boy, the crying starts and off I run and normally when I see blood I freak out and get all tingly, but I had to stay strong for my boy. Once I seen he still had his teeth and eyes I was good, but then realized he split his forehead. My neighbor who's a nurse, thank God took one look and said "take him to the ER" My other neighbor grabbed Alayna and took her home and off we go with screaming the whole way. The ER was packed and we would have been there all night so we went to Patient First and again thank God for them. They were incredible and we were in and out within 1 hour with just some steri strips. They said we could go either way and we chose that for less scaring. I was so thankful it was a minor event and just hope the rest of my days with a fearless boy are uneventful. He's like..."mommy, I just like to crash into things" but definitely learned his lesson.

It's official, Alaynas walking

For the past week Alayna has been venturing out more and more with her walking. It started out a few steps here and there. By the time Colleen got here she was taking alot more steps and by Sunday we lost count at 50. I think that day was a fluke because after that she continued to be more wobbly and still preferred crawling. Monday and Tuesday she was practicing her little heart out all by herself and by Wednesday she had it down and could even stand up by herself from the middle of the room and now today (Thursday) she is walking all over the house and prefers that to crawling. It has been so much fun and such an exciting time at the Boyer household. We have all been cheering her on and she has been so darn proud of herself and so have we. Bradley is like "mommy, she is growing up" I think he's been so anxious for her to be big so he can play with her more on his level. Although, when you see this girl wrestle with Daddy and Bradley it is hysterical because she's like a little bruiser as she tries to attack the two of them and it doesn't phase her one bit when she tumbles down off of them. I don't want her to grow up too fast by I have to admit I've been looking forward for her to start walking and talking. It's such a fun stage with all the new things they do and say so after this phase I'll be like ok, you can slow back down now:) So Alayna, here's to another milestone. Three cheers to you my sweet one.

Sister/Auntie Time

My baby sister Colleen came to visit us this past week from Wednesday to Sunday and we had the best time catching up with sister time and sister chats and the kids enjoyed time with their Auntie despite the fact that she's not used to being beat up on and leaving with scratches and bruises, and her hair pulled out. She still enjoyed her time with them HA!...I think anyway:).....

Last year when she came right off the bat Bradley jumped on top of her and landed on her head and she thought she broke her nose and this time she came with a concussion and left with a big scrape on her nose from Alayna scratching her. Colleen, each time you visit, it just prepares you more and more for motherhood:) Hee Hee!!

The first few days the weather didn't go exactly as planned so we just hung out and enjoyed each others company and then Friday night Craig gave us a much needed break and watched the kids so we could go to the Broadway play "Hairspray" and we absolutely loved it and laughed so much at all the hidden humor. Now I can't wait to see the movie!!

She got to enjoy seeing Bradley play in this first soccer game on Saturday morning. Even tho he didn't feel that great he ended up perking up half way thru and it was so cute to see him run his little heart out chasing the ball. We were so excited to go to the new Cracker Barrel in Greenbriar after the game because we were all staving, but to our dismay there was a 80 minute wait and after a few attempts at other places we settled for a quaint resturaunt in Great Bridge.

That evening we headed down to the Beach. It was the most gorgeous night and even warm enough for us all to play in the waves and they sure were big enough for some body surfing... so that was alot of fun!!! We picked up PF Changs on the way home and enjoyed an evening of yummy chinese. Those few days flew by, but little sis we sure did enjoy having you and thanks for putting up with all the kid chaos and we love you bunches:)!!!!! We can't wait until November so we can torture you some more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bradley and Auntie hanging out

Anyone that plays memory with Bradley is his new best

friend...or any game for that matter.

Auntie Colleen and Alayna

Bradley loved getting chased by Auntie Colleen

Me and my sis getting ready to go to Hairspray

We thought it was so cool taking pictures of our

shadows....I know, what nerds we are.

Digging for sand crabs

Alayna wanted some of Bradleys hotdog, so

he decided to share and feed her some.

Food, Fun & Batman on a Horse

We had a super great weekend!!! It started with a fun neighborhood picnic right in our backyard in the big open field next to our house. They had a big BBQ going all day with lots of yummy food. They had pony rides for the children, face painting, a big crayola jumping thing for the kids to jump in, a DJ with jammin music to set the tone. Bradley jumped off and on for 4 hours. Then off to the ponys and back to jumping ect....I could hardly keep track of him. Another highlight was he got to be batman for a day. I knew he was over getting his face painted but wasn't standing right next to him so when he came to show me I about fell over and laughed like crazy because I didn't expect his whole face to be done. Luckily he didn't take offense. Usually they'll only do a small picture on the cheek or something, but oh no, it was the full deal. He loved it!! The schrodts stopped by as things were winding up and got to witness batman in action. Katy you were too cute immediately whipping your camera out of your bag to take a picture of him. I'm just glad batman didn't scare the poo poo out of Callie as he smothered her. HA! Sorry, he just loves babies so much, the only way he can express it is to maul them.

That evening we had more food and fun with some mixed emotions. We had a good bye party for our friends Troy and Karen. They are moving back North to pursue a great opportunity. Troy is Craig's childhood friend that moved out here after we did. It all happened so fast and now off they go. They are so excited and wired that you just can't help not to be just as excited for them. We were talking with them the other day and said it probably won't hit us all until they are gone. It'll feel weird not having them pop in every other week for our life chats. We'd always have the best talks in where God was leading each of us in our life and now God is leading them in this new opportunity. We'll miss you Troy and Karen.

We had a great Sunday at chuch!! It was a great sermon on Vision and as always wonderful worship. It was our second week teaching second graders and all went very well. We have such a nice group of kids in our class.

That afternoon, Craig was bursting at the seams to watch the Packer game and we don't always get it on our TV. So he convinced Kevin to buy the NFL ticket by telling him he'd go half, which didn't take much convincing since he's a Packer nut too. So off Craig went to get some "guy time" which I was happy for him, but I was bummed because Michele wasn't going to be home so I didn't go. We stayed home for naps and before we knew it daddy was home and we headed out to Great Bridge, picked up a pizza and had a picnic at the Locks Park. It was such a perfectly cool fall night. I didn't know they had little trails at the back of the park so we enjoyed our little nature walk back by the water watching the boats go by. Bradley couldn't pick up enough sticks, logs ect and Alayna couldn't eat enough dirt or chew on enough pine cones. A very relaxing ending to a busy weekend.

Can you tell I've been eating dirt? Mmmm good!

Collecting my Treasures

There were perfectly formed locust shells on
this tree. It was kinda cool to see.

Hey, how did I get up here?

Ok I think I'm all caught up for now on blogging. Whew!!

Bradley's First Week of School

We had been anticipating the first day of school for the past month. It was a full summer of practically no structure, hardly a routine... what fun can we get into today kind of thing. Even tho I knew it was coming I don't think I prepared for the new routine in my mind. So it took me and Bradley a full week to get back on a routine. I think more so for him because the first 3 days I had to wake him last minute to quick get up, eat and go. To me, I was being a good mom letting him get his sleep right, but based on his personality he doesn't function that way. He likes to take it slow, snuggle, watch cartoons etc....So each day he didn't want to go but was cooperative and didn't cry or throw and fit about it, but just wasn't bouncing off the walls. When I'd pick him up he'd say he liked school but didn't want to go back. So I was a little emotional for him thinking going every day was too much for him ect ect. Everyone kept telling me it's only been a few days, your thinking too much into it, he'll be fine. So before I let him take a day off I wanted to get him thru the first week. Another little problem was, he kept saying "mommy, why can't I have my 3 years old teachers, I miss them." He would slowly walk by their class with a sad face. They would sometimes be there to give him a great big hug or smile which would brighten his face.

His new teachers are very sweet, but I think the one is a little tougher and more structured than he was used to which isn't a bad thing. It just took some adjusting for him.

By Thursday he woke up early and we got to take it slow....big difference it made!! The teacher said he did fantastic and Friday she said "pssst, don't tell anyone, but he's my favorite. Of course my heart was bursting with pride!!! I think that would do any mothers heart good. Friday is when they get their behavior chart for the week and he had 5 smiley faces for M-F. I was so proud of him!!! Thursday morning he even said "mommy, I just like to play at home before I go to school"

Today he got up early and was raring to go with not one word about not wanting to go to school. Ahh, I feel so much better and my heart is lighter. I was telling Katy the other day if only we could read their little minds it would be so much easier. They can't always communicate what and why they are feeling a certain way. For me, it was just getting our routine down and changing how we started our day that made all the difference. In this case I actually knew better, but just wasn't thinking.

Happy 1st Birthday Alayna

Happy Birthday To Alayna

Alayna and Auntie Thalia

Not quite sure what to think

This is actually quite good

Not anymore, I'm all done with this cake stuff!!

Cake on the floor....

Opening presents after a bath from the cake mess!!

Better late than never. I didn't want her birthday to come and go without journeling it.

My baby girl has turned 1 years old on September 7th, but we celebrated it in Atlanta a little early and then our small group had a cake for her and acknowledged it as well. It was very sweet of them. Jayne made a great cake and Sue got the decorations. Grandma got a little cake for her to smash to pieces. She wasn't sure at first, but would dip her finger in and poke at it a little bit, but then got quickly overwhelmed with everyone in her face and she ended up whipping the whole thing on the floor. What a funny site!!

The past year has been such a blessing with her and we treasure each day with her. She is reaching so many milestone almost daily...it has been so fun to watch her grow, change and discover new things.

A few weeks ago she discovered the stairs. She will either go up a few stairs at a time, hold on to the bars and scream for me or quickly go all the way up. She sure does love climbing up to the playroom. I wonder why?

She can now take about 6 steps at a time, but once she realizes what she is doing she'll quickly plop right down or lunge for one of us to grab her. Her confidence isn't quite there yet.

She's a typical girl that likes to chatter all the time. When she gets a hold of one of our cell phones she will hold it behind her head and pretend like she's talking in her little baby gibberish. It is so so cute and I think to myself...here's this tiny little thing already learning to talk on the phone. I remember when Bradley would do this, but he was a little older. I used to love to listen to him say "alo" for hello. She can say nigh nigh for night night which is really cute and sometimes will even ask to be put down by saying it.

First thing in the morning when of us goes to get her we get a great big"HI" in her high pitched voice and that's the start of the day and makes our hearts swell. I'm sure I"m missing some other little things she does and says but here's an update for now.

Well my little Alayna...I'm so looking forward to many many more years of watching you grow and reach many more milestones and pray you'll always be a sweet as you are now. Fiesty, but sweet.

So I smell like gumdrops?

I know we have all commented on each others blogs about loving how the minds of our boys work. I just had to blog about this....Last night I went to check on Bradley because daddy said he wanted me to lay with him. When I laid down with him he snuggled really close and said MMMM mommy you smell so good.....you smell like gumdrops!! It was so cute, innocent and sweet!!! I had gotten some new scented lotion and had it on. I'm thinking to myself...I hope Craig doesn't think I smell like one big gumdrop. HOW ATTRACTIVE IS THAT!!!?? Anyway, leave it to my boy to relate me smelling like one of his favorite things in the whole world...Candy!?!?!? I don't even think he's ever had the old fashioned gumdrops before.

Past, Present and Future

I am so proud to say that I have been married to my high school sweetheart for the past 15 years. It has been an awesome journey together for sure. Our actual anniversay was on the 4th but we were on our way back from Atlanta then so we celebrated it this past weekend. My dear friend Michele was so sweet and offered to take the kids for the weekend, but do to schedules it worked out for 1 night. Even tho she has a hectic schedule of her own she so unselfishly made sure this weekend happend. Bradley was ecstatic to say the least to be able to have a sleepover. Caitlynn and Steven are like big brother and big sister and treat Bradley like the little brother. (in a good way:) Thank you Michele for loving and caring for my kids just as if they were your own. So Friday we took off to Williamsburg for the night and we were able to have 1 full day and night just being us. We love our kids dearly, but we had so been looking forward to this time alone. It's always my goal to keep a healthy balance between family, friends, kids and husband. So this weekend was all about husband time and it was so awesome to have it be all about us. We had the most amazing time and it was so refreshing to just be together with uninterupped time and conversations with no worries and knowing our kids were well taken care of. We went for dinner, swam, and did some shopping. Before we had kids we would do this a couple of times a year. Just sneak off to Williamsburg for a night or two so it was nice to do it again and reminise over the past 15 (actually 17 years) if you count the dating time in there. It was so fun to talk about high school when we first started off and help each other remember things each other forgot and laugh about the things we both remembered and also about the beginning of our marriage in this big world as two kids in love just starting off. Who would have thought that 2 highschool educated kids, no college what so ever with just a dream in our heart and mind would make it. But determined we were to beat the odds. So here we are today looking towards an incredible future and journey with more of our story which is yet to be written and here's to you Craig my love, my best friend, my dreamer, my encourager. Like we talked about many many years ago when you gave me that promise ring at such a young age before you went into the Navy you told me... "promises are forever" Dreams really do come true if you believe. I love you with all my heart and can't wait to see what God has in store for us this next chapter in our life. Happy Anniversary!!

Our Atlanta Trip

I don't even know where to begin. So here is one of many more posts to follow. We've had such a full week and a half. I'll start with Labor Day weekend. We went to Atlanta to visit Grandma & Grandpa and Auntie Thalia. It was quite a long drive and I must say I was so proud of Bradley. He did incredible and could keep entertained with activities and videos. Alayna was a little fiesty, but how do you explain to a 1 year old that she needs to stay strapped in for 9-11 hours and there's nothing she can do. She slept maybe 1 hour the whole way there and a little more than that on the way back. So we broke the rules and let her out of her carseat for short spurts and she was loving that. Craig and I agreed that we all survived jumping around the back seat and laying in the back window of the old Granada cars when we were little and that was a daily thing. We had a great time with one of the highlights being a visit to the Atlanta Zoo. I took alot of pictures, so here are a few. It was a really awesome Zoo. They had an incredible petting zoo for the children. As you can see Alayna was a little unsure, but Bradley thought it was the coolest ever!!! Bradley loved brushing the goats. I got so many cute pictures of the kids with the animals.

The rock climbing wall at the zoo was definitely a #1 highlight for Bradley since he is such a climber and heights don't bother him at all. He was determined to make it to the top. You were only suppose to try one time per time but he snuck in 3 turns into his one. And then we had to wait in line again to try it again. He wasn't giving up, but the little guy just couldn't make it to the top. He was very disappointed.

Here are my two little monkeys. Bradley had so much fun. I can't even tell you. He was mesmerized by so many of the animals, but I think he liked the reptiles the best.

Daddy, Alayna, Bradley and Mr. Goat
Grandma & Bradley
Another highlight was Grandma had an inground pool. You'd think we'd had enough pool time, but oh no...it's always fun to be at a different one. It's so nice when it's right in the back yard and you don't have to pack up and go anywhere. Makes me sort of want one. We spent alot of time playing in the pool. Grandma also had alot of really cool pool toys. Big dragon float, motorized lounge chairs, diving board...which by the way I've got 2 dare devils on my hand. Craig would stand on the diving board and then Bradley would get on his shoulders and they would jump in together. YIKES!!

Thought you all would get a kick out of seeing Craig ride Shamu. Now before you all say "oh poor Craig, how could Heidi embarass him like that" I got his approval. The competition was on with him and I trying to stay on the longest and he won!!!

As you can see Grandma is all wet. She fell in the pool by leaning over the edge trying to tip Thalia over in her raft.

My bathing beauty!

Bradley & Auntie Thalia

Alayna coming over ready to jump right in. She loves sitting on the side of the pool and pushing herself off to me.

We also visited their church which was a neat experience. There's probably 10,000 members. I've never been to a church that big. It looked like one of those on tv. It was like a huge coliseum. Outside they had a huge playground for the children and I just have to show you a piece of equipment that they had that of course Bradley had to make to the top about 5 times and totally took my breath away when he was up there. I've never seen one like this before.

Yep, that's him up there at the top...Mr. fearless

We also visited the store that grandma Dennice worked at. They had these neat little scooters the kids could ride around the store on.

They had this adorable little thing for sale.....

that Craig decided to buy:) I thought..what a good choice!!

I took 150 picures so it's hard to capture it all into one blog!!! Needless to say we had a wonderful time and squeezed some fun little memories into our 4 days. It was so nice to get away from the normal routine and have some family time.