Florida, here we come!!!

This was the morning that we left for Florida. We had our normal Sunday services, and then left straight from church for Florida!!! As you can see from Josiah's face, they were SO excited! Their poor SS teachers!!!
I was trying to get a better picture of Callie in her Christmas dress from my dad. I was asking Jacob to hold her differently, and this was the look he gave me!!!! (But doesn't Callie look cute anyways?)
And here we were a few hours into our LONG roadtrip!!! Boys were happily watching The Incredibles after their nap....
Callie comfortably taking her nap!!! (This was before a MAJOR blowout that went all the way up her shirt.....)

Birthdays...Round II

Jacob opening...
A new set of Kid K'nex!! My favorite new toy - he got some for his birthday, and both boys could play for HOURS building things with them. (He's David's son - will absolutely be in LOVE with something, but his face looks like this!)
...studying the back of the box to see what they can build.
The boys were hard at work immediately building a squid and a walrus!


Here's Josiah opening....
...and as you can see, he is MY son! My very expressive boy!! He's saying "Little Legos - just what I LOVE! How did Gramps know?"
...and this is Josiah opening his Bumblebee transformer toy....which he's sleeping with tonight...
Josiah explaining to me who Bumblebee is and why he's a good guy - an autobot, not a decepticon...or something like that...

This picture is for you, Rita...See Callie admiring the tag you put on the gift??? I LOVE it!
Callie opening her "Open NOW" present - the boys looked at the box and said, "I bet it's some cute dresses for her...she loves cute dresses."
Playing with the ribbon...
Here's what was in the "Open Now" box - a BEAUTIFUL winter coat, and...
...the cutest little Christmas dress!! Came with ruffly socks and a headband too!!! Adorable! Now I know why it said "Open Now!"

As we were playing in the yard this afternoon, our mailman brought us a package!! It was the Christmas presents from my Dad & Rita! The boys were so excited that the package truck stopped at our house!! After dinner, they got to open it up and put the presents under the tree, and were they ever excited to discover their birthday presents in there too!!! So after dinner, we had Round 2 of the boys' birthdays!!! Josiah asked if it meant that they were 6 and 4 now - I said NO!! It was very exciting - and Callie had a present marked "Open Now"...you can see why from the pictures!!! Thanks Dad and Rita - the kids LOVED everything! You ALWAYS do a great job!!!

Applesauce Ornaments

Several of you have asked about these, so here's the information. You take equal parts of applesauce and cinnamon - I did 1 cup of each (yes, that's 1 CUP of cinnamon - I bought a big thing from BJs). Mix it all together and it forms a weird dough/paste thing. You just roll it out between wax paper like cookies and cut out the shapes with cookie cutters. Put it on wax paper lined cookie sheets and poke holes in the top with a straw. Let them totally dry out flat for 3 days and then you can thread them with red ribbon and hang on your tree. Heidi gave me this recipe, so she gets all the credit!! I've also since seen something similar printed in a parenting magazine, and it said you could bake them at 200 degrees for 2 hours to dry them out too. I sort of liked having them in my laundry room and office drying out - it smelled GREAT! :) Kids loved doing it.

A fun, family weekend!!!

Josiah's favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip, so he was particularly excited about the candy cane stirring the hot chocolate!

This is Jacob being taught how to "sip" hot chocolate!!!
Working on the gingerbread house....
Boys LOVED the decorating part. Josiah had hoped it would look just like the one on the box, but alas.....Next year, I'm sticking to my graham cracker houses...much easier, just as fun for the kids.
Can't remember why Jacob was in a mood at this point, but he was!!! i think it had something to do with wanting to EAT the decorations....
The finished product

Making the applesauce ornaments...thanks Heidi!
Jacob hung all of his in a cluster...he likes to be able to go see all of them at the same time, I suppose!
This is Josiah next to his reindeer ornament...he had watched Rudolph for the first time that morning, and had declared reindeer to be his favorite animal!
Boys helping with the Christmas baking...
The best part of helping is the licking of the fingers....(at which point they were done helping!)

Oh, we just enjoyed ourselves so much this past weekend!!! It was our only weekend of the month with absolutely NOTHING scheduled!!! We had a great time just being together - the five of us - and doing some very fun, Christmas things. We made some applesauce and cinnamon ornaments (very fun, easy, MESSY, and smells GREAT!), a gingerbread house (first attempt - bit of an icing issue, but kids LOVED it), started the Christmas baking (personal favorite!), had our first hot chocolate of the season (complete with marshmallows and candy canes to stir), and watched a Christmas movie together on Sunday night. Other than the Titans devastating loss on Sunday afternoon, it was a great weekend.

Tonight starts the first night of 11 of something on the calendar - school concerts, christmas parties, meetings at church, band practice, etc, etc. And so it IS the most wonderful time of the year, but very busy. Keep reminding myself about what our REAL focus is to be this time of year....

Hunting for Treasure

The Schrodt Boys looking at the MAP!
Here's the map....

For Josiah's birthday, my Mom got him some little gold coins in a velvet bag - sort of a pirate's treasure kind of thing. The boys have had so much fun hiding it and going to look for it. They asked David to hide it one day and make them a map to find it. Well, you can see the map above - it may as well have been a scale floorplan of our house! I was expecting a map that showed the couch and TV with an "X" on it - oh no! Not when you have a math teacher for the husband - he takes his map abilities very seriously!!!

Christmas at Williamsburg

Again, what spirited boys I have!!! This is the Toy Shoppe in Williamsburg - many "Maxfield family" pictures in front of this window...remember sisters??
The boys found the perfect climbing tree!! (L to R Jacob, Josiah, Alexander, and Anderson who wasn't situated quite right!)
Callie and Carter...stroller babies! :)
Callie's little nose gets so red when she's cold. She looked so cute all bundled up!
Erin, Josiah, Alexander, and Jacob wrestling around...passing the time...probably making Jen & Sue (Erin & Alexander's moms) stress out, I'm sure!
Erin Maggiore...cutie pie, but tough as all the other boys!
Cody Jackson - are those curls the cutest or what?
Josiah and Alexander thought it was hilarious that their sweaters were the same type!

They had the normal fireworks up the sky, but they also had these "cannon" types that shot from the ground - they were so cool! Some went back and forth like a sprinkler, etc. Amazing.
David and Callie watching fireworks. She had fallend asleep RIGHT before the fireworks started. Oh well.
Jacob and Josiah watching fireworks...
I am the luckiest mom in the world with these 3!
Hamilton Ratz - the new 1 year old!

After a very yummy lunch and a nice relaxing drive, we arrived at Williamsburg to settle in for the festivities! We had a few sprinkles of rain here and there, but other than that, it was perfect! Cold enough to wear our hats and be bundled up, but not so cold that we were frigid! The kids had a great time playing in the grass (how many people moved their spots after they saw our brigade??), and the fireworks display was one of the best I've ever seen. The kids were totally mesmerized. We even were able to walk down to the shoppes and get a family picture in front of the Toy Store - I have lots of pictures with my sisters growing up in front of that window! :) It was a great day of fun with friends!

Cracker Barrel...Finally!!

Here we ALL were! It was so much fun! I think we caused a bit of a scene in the restaurant! 2 tables FULL - loved it!
This was Josiah after lunch. We all drove the scenic route up to Williamsburg so that the kids could take as long of a nap as possible!
Josiah & Jacob taught Anderson & Ryan how to play "Duck, Duck, Goose!"
Ring Around the Rosie, Pockets full of posies, ashes, ashes....
... We all fall down!
How cute are these little bitty rockers?? (L to R, Ryan, Jacob, Josiah, and Cody)
Anderson & Erin wanted the BIG rockers!

On Sunday, we FINALLY got to go eat at our new Cracker Barrel. After church, we all met there to have lunch together before heading down to Williamsburg for the Grand Illumination. Can you guess how long you have to wait for a table for 23? Hilarious. The kids did a great job entertaining themselves outside while we waited - they were so cute! The food was delicious - I LOVE this restaurant - and then off we went to Williamsburg!!! Oh, and Callie VERY much enjoyed some of my dumplings and the country green beans! Yummy! :)

Big Mac, Anyone??

Not talking about Burger King's Big Mac. I'm talking about those things that go on top of your car luggage rack to carry luggage and stuff. Not sure what the "real" name is, but our family always called ours a "Big mac" when we were growing up. I have a feeling it's sort of like "crunchy bars" - the rest of the world actually calls them "granola bars", but we didn't know that until we were grown! Anyways, if anyone has a "big mac" or whatever they're officially called, we're looking for one to use for our upcoming trip to FL for Christmas. We're hoping we can borrow one from someone...otherwise thinking of making my first purchase on Craig's List if I can find one!!!

Just so you know...

...this is NOT the Christmas card picture!!! But this IS what happens when you have some silly boys in your family and you try to get them to stop playing Spiderman for 2 minutes to get a picture taken!!!! Be sure you click on the picture so you can get an up close and personal view of Josiah's expression!

Am I the luckiest girl in the world?

Boy do I love my family!!! :) They are the best! Check us out!

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