TheSchraderFamily

Slip Slidin' in the Rain

2009-07-20T09:35:00.000-07:00

This recent summer day we visited Grandma and Grandpa's house up in Cedar Hills. They have a wonderful large backyard that, as I was growing up, was my playground and adventure land. Although through the years it has slowly been developed and built around, it is still a magical place that invites all who visit, out onto its green lawns and its bush hidden coves. Today, Jackson wanted to slip and slide. Unfortunately for him only Daddy was willing to join in the fun. The rest of us were content just watching.

Jocelyn with her Grandma

Jackson scoping out the terrain

Just as the slide got going, the clouds rolled in and the drops started coming down. If you look closely you can see the beginning of the rain in the picture above.

Here is what it looked like just seconds later. It was one of those awesome summer showers where the sun shines through the downpour, making the drops look like diamonds cascading to the ground.

The rain didn't discourage Jackson or Michael at all!

You can see that it is still just barely raining here but they are having a blast!

Jackson wouldn't run and plop on his tummy to slide, he would run halfway down, stop, carefully lay on his tummy, and scoot on down. We got to the point where we would just just give him a push after he got on his tummy, but that was as slidin' as he would get. Here is an exceptionally good slide (or push ;0) ).
In this one, Michael surprised Jack by sliding in behind him as he was running down. Got a good splash out of it too!

Toward the end of our play, a beautiful rainbow appeared and topped off a wonderful day.

I have to acknowledge Hillary (my sister), Bubbles (my childhood cat), and Stewart, (my family's dog) for contributing to our fun day. Thanks Hillary for taking some great pictures, Bubbles for putting up with Jackson, and Stewart for being such a good sport!

Love you!

Fourth of July

2009-07-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Every year we go to the Provo Freedom Festival Balloon Fest. We have to wake up very early and drive down to the field behind Provo Hospital where they blow up and launch 20+ hot air balloons and play cat and mouse over and around the field. This year we had the pleasure of having my Aunt Barbara and Uncle Vick visiting with us, and they got to come and experience it with us for the first time. We got there around 7 am just as they were filling the last balloons and we watched as they lifted off into the sky. Jackson and Jocelyn both loved the bright vibrant colors and the loud whooshing the heaters made as they inflated the balloons. We don't have a double stroller, but the kids didn't mind sharing. We just put the back all the way down and they sat in tandem. It was so cute because Jack would turn around and check on Jocelyn every now and then to make sure she was okay.

Jocelyn with Mommy

After the watching the balloons take off from the field, we ate under the trees nearby at a breakfast picnic that the Kiwanis Club hosts every year. It's for fundraising/charity, and I have to say it's pretty good. They serve hot ham and pancakes, bananas, yogurt, and milk or juice. Yum!

You can tell Jack was hungry.

Jocelyn was too!
Aunt Barbara (left) and my Mom (right) are sisters if you can't tell!

Jackson's favorite lookout spot, Grandpa!

After breakfast we just mill around until the balloons catch a breeze and come soaring back over the field.

Jocelyn hung out on the grass while we watched the balloons make their way back. She is in this curious stage where any small thing commands her attention, and the grass was the interesting thing here.

On the way back to the car, Jackson spotted a tractor... in the middle of the hospital parking lot of all places! Obviously, Jack wanted to see it. This John Deere was getting a lot of attention, not just from Jackson, but from a few other little boys and their families too!

After our early morning excursions, a siesta was in order and we all had a much needed nap. A casual BBQ at Grandmas followed by firecrackers in the cul de sac wrapped up the day. All in all, we had a great Fourth of July this year, probably the best. Thanks to my Mom and Dad for hosting the festivities and to Aunt Barbara and Uncle Vick for visiting and spending some quality time. Love you all!

Driving Cars

2009-07-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Jackson loves to drive his cars around recently. He will sit on the stairs for hours at a time and pretend that his cars are crashing into each other, getting stuck in the carpet, sliding down the ramp, all of those wonderfully imaginative things that little boys do. Today, while I was doing some dishes, Jack decided to add a new element to his play. Here is what it looked like.

He LOVES his tractors! (Grampa has a riding lawn mower and Jackson is enthralled with it)

This all took place close to nap time as you can tell so he was tired.

But he got excited that I was interested and he added some cars so that I could play.

Jackson is such a sweetie, and he has so much love to give! I'm glad I am around to be Mommy to my wonderful boy.

Jocelyn was snoozing on the floor (close to nap time) during all of this so she isn't in here, but she is such a good sport with all of Jackson's antics.

Gorgeous Sunny Day

2009-02-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

GAMPA

It has been so wonderful to have such good weather recently! It takes the monotony out of the winter season to be able to get out of the house every once in a while. We had a surprise visitor this day when "Gampa" appeared on our doorstep with an invitation to go outside. I bundled the kids up and we ventured forth! Jackson borrowed the neighbors trike, and Jocelyn hung out with Gampa. We enjoyed the sunshine and the crisp air and just chatted while Jackson burned some energy. Jocelyn got a pink nose and that was my cue. She and I went in and Gampa let Jack "drive" in the car. It's of course parked so don't worry. Jackson is so enthralled with keys and buttons and anything that "works", so Gampa occasionally lets him sit in the drivers seat and supervises his play. Turning nobs and pushing buttons. Jackson knows exactly what key goes with the car and he has so much fun turning the wheel and honking the horn. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled about the later. Anyway, the outing was a success and Jackson was ready for dinner. Thanks for coming by Gampa, we love spending time with you!

Sweet girl

Jackson on the neighbors bike

Gampa lovies

Jackson in the car

Family for the Holidays

2008-12-30T13:14:00.000-08:00

It's so fun to be around family during the holidays. In fact it is the best part of the season. This year we were lucky to have Linda (Michael's mom) and my niece Sara visit us for a few days all the way from Maryland! We haven't seen them for quite a while and it was great to be able to spend some time together. One of the highlights of their trip was the outing to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

As you can see the museum had lots of fun interactive things for the kids:

and even some for the adults too!

On Christmas Eve we drove up to the Ogden area to visit my Grandad (who still looks great and is as sharp as a tack at 88 years old).

After that we drove on over to Michael's sister Amy's house to spend the rest of the evening and have a traditional Schrader dinner.

Amy's kids Kaylee, (my niece Sarah) and Nick

Jocelyn was a champ the whole time too!

Christmas Morning:

Christmas was such a wonderful day for us. It was exciting to see Jackson get so involved in unwrapping presents and watching his reactions to the gifts. These last few months he was been very captivated by cars. Any kind of cars really, but mostly "McQueen" from the Disney movie Cars. We decided to do a Cars themed Christmas. (Now I never thought I would be one of those moms to indulge a Disney fixation, but his delight in "McQueen" is so fun to watch!) We had Cars wrapping paper, he got McQueen p.j.'s and McQueen slippers! Santa brought an adorable McQueen over-nighter set that included a "pillow" with elastic bands underneath to hold a rolled fleece blanket" I'm sure you get the idea.

The most exciting thing of all though was the bright red tricycle that appeared after all the gifts were unwrapped. Jackson was so thrilled about this "car" as he calls it, that he didn't get off the thing for over 30 minutes!

Jocelyn is so cute! She was so alert Christmas morning, and enjoyed hanging out with Daddy.

Jocelyn

2008-11-27T21:32:00.000-08:00

Introducing . . .

Jocelyn Joy Schrader!

Friday, November 21, 2008

8:53 am

7lb 6oz

We are proud to announce the arrival of our darling little girl Jocelyn! She was born Friday morning 8:53 am; about 6 hours before she was scheduled to come. From start to finish, labor and delivery was only about 3 1/2 hours long! Whew! True to her personality she definitely likes things her way!

We are so lucky to have her wonderful spirit come into our family, she really is a blessing from our Father in Heaven.

Baby Update

2008-10-07T20:54:00.000-07:00

So, as you can tell from my countdown, I don't have much time left until our little girl arrives! YAY! Last time I went to the doctor, he surprised me by saying that he wanted to induce me a week early. Well that was shocking. I think one of the reasons for inducing early is that my due date is so close to Thanksgiving that he wants to make sure he is around to deliver. He also told me that some new information came out saying it's actually safer for a baby to be born at 39 weeks than at 40 weeks. Huh. Another reason was that he would rather my water break in the hospital than at home because if the umbilical cord precedes the baby, it could be life threatening for the baby. Anyway that was nice, it automatically took a week off of my countdown.
Today, I went to my 32 week apt. Everything is going very well; not much water retention, and baby girl is bouncing off the walls as usual. My doctor told me that I was measuring 36 inches, which is 4 inches bigger than normal. He thinks that there might just be extra fluid in the uterus, and said that if I keep measuring big he wants to get me into an ultrasound to make sure she isn't all twisted up in the umbilical cord. Hopefully this isn't all too much information. I know it can get overwhelming for those that aren't as familiar with this subject, so forgive me for any over zealousness.
It's so exciting to think that she is going to be here sooner than later. Just six and a half weeks left! It is going to fly by so quickly I can't hardly think about it without thinking of all the things that I have to do to get ready. It's crazy how much better I was prepared with Jackson, and how little I am ready for this one. I think it has something to do with the fact that this is our second baby and we feel like we know what we are doing this time around.
Well, I'll try to keep updated on how things are going. Until then lets hope that they don't run out of Tums at WalMart.

Quarantine . . .

2008-09-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

So, the last few days Jackson and Michael have been sick with some kind of stomach bug. Jackson first started out on Saturday, throwing up. It was weird, he'd vomit and then act as though he was just fine for a good eight hours and then vomit again. He never throws up unless he has an ear infection, so after waiting till Monday morning to make sure it wasn't some kind of fluke, I took him to the doctor. Which was an interesting experience in and of itself, because our usual doctor was booked and we had to go to someone I have never been to. But that's a whole different story.
Anyway, we came home none the wiser. The doctor told us that Jackson had some fluid behind one ear drum, and that it might be making him nauseated. He suggested some decongestant to help drain the fluid and then added that it might also be a weird G.I. bug that was going around. He talked for a few minutes and then out of nowhere, brought up that his second molars might be coming in and that sometimes it makes children sick too. What kind of diagnosis is that? Gosh, I guessed all of that myself, before we even went! The only thing that it proved was that he didn't have an ear infection! Well I guess it doesn't matter, because Michael came down with a G.I. bug late Monday morning and Jackson started having some severe diarrhea as well as vomiting. I've got them both on the BRAT(bananas, rice, apple sauce, and toast) diet. Not too tasty, but at least it works. Jackson has a hard time keeping fluid down if he drinks anything more than a small sip, and he is starting to worry me. If any of you have ideas or suggestions, I could use them.
Other than that, there isn't much else going on around here. Bonus time has ended at Clinique, and we are now into another event called Beauty Week (in which we do a million makeovers to get clients back to the counter after Gift). Michael is going back to work tomorrow, and Jackson is going to start a play date/preschool with some friends on Thursday granted that he is feeling better by then. My mom is taking the day off on Thursday as well to work on Jack's Halloween costume with me. I'm excited to get going on it because Halloween is just around the corner.
Anyway, I hope you are all well and having a wonderful week. Don't forget to leave you're suggestions on what might be wrong with Jack and some remedies that you suggest.

Jackson

2008-09-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jackson is always a constant surprise these days. From new words to new tricks that he learns everyday. It's amazing, you can almost see his brain in high gear, taking in everything around him. Just recently he looked up from his play, and pointing to the door he said "doow". No coaching, nothing. He catches me off guard with new contortions of his face and gleeful grins. At these times, I can't help laughing.

He is becoming more and more agile, and as he canters through the house with little hops and jigs attached, I think of how far he has truly come in such a small amount of time. In 22 months he has mastered the amount of learning that adults take years to achieve. I know this is typical of all children, but it is hard to really appreciate until it is one of you're own, and you see the progression everyday. It's such a miracle of life and I am so blessed to be chosen as a parent for these special spirits.

Jackson lightens my life every minute of every day. He is such a wonderful handful. We recently purchased a small stool to help him reach the potty. Well, leave it to him to figure out other ways to make use of it. He carries it through the house to reach things that he should not. He uses it as a stool that he sits on to "work" on his small scooter that he turns over to poke and prod.

Jackson loves other children and is fascinated by the things they do. He has such a loving spirit and innocence about him that he doesn't quite understand when the play gets rough. At these times, I want to run over and protect my little boy from hurt, but I know that it is just life and learning. On the other hand, there are a few younger children that live a couple houses down from us that constantly want to give Jackson hugs. They get so excited when they see him and they treat him as an equal even though they are a few years his senior. Another person that they treat as an equal is Michael. I don't know if it's his open willingness to listen to everything that they have to say, or if it's the braces, but most invitations issued by these particular kids go some thing like this; ding-dong. . "Is Michael here? Can Jackson play?" It's so cute.

Anyway, I will try to keep you all updated on Jackson's progress with pictures that are more to date. Until then, here are a few fun ones from this year.

It's finally Fall . . . well, almost.

2008-09-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

Fall has to be my favorite season of the year. I just can't help myself, when the air gets that crisp feeling to it and sweaters come out of the closet, I get so excited. I want to run out and buy a cinnamon candle, hang a harvest wreath, and start planning Halloween costumes. This year I got the garden bug and I purchased three autumn colored mums, which subsequently died. (oh well, if they don't have the fall spirit, that's their loss, or death.)

I love the anticipation that all the kids get in going back to school. What kind of teacher are they going to have? Are there any cute new boys in their grade? New clothes, new pencil box, new back pack. It's interesting that this is a season of new starts for us, and a season for winding down and dying for nature. Nature has such grace in its "fall". Look at the beautiful Fall colors, brilliant hues of orange, red and yellow. It's a cool time of year, and the grass takes on a rich deep green, almost as a last hurrah before slipping into hibernation.

Smells really play a part in the season as well; apple cider bubbling on the stove, and the aroma of damp earth that wafts through the house when you open the door. At my parents, Halloween comes hand in hand with the smell of chili and sourdough bread. Pumpkin pie and fresh rolls accompanied by that turkey still in the oven grace Thanksgiving.

I love the Fall. Such a wonderful time of year. I hope that as you have read this you have been able to catch my excitement, at least in a small way, and maybe bump you into the Fall spirit. As it is obviously not a good year for mums, I am sending you all a "bouquet of sharpened pencils"(You've Got Mail) and wishing you a wonderful new start into our Fall season.

Initial Launch Disclaimer

2008-09-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

As this being the first post of the Schrader Family Blog, welcome everyone! You must all forgive my laziness, I know that I will not be diligent in keeping updated. So as my disclaimer, I apologize in advance.