My second Miracle is 5!

On May 2, 2006, at 8:06am my second little miracle arrived in our lives ~ Braden Joseph Francis Schneider.  Named after his grandfathers, our little spunky fella was here!  I was actually really glad our second baby was boy.  I wanted Avery to have a little brother to play with and grow up with as best friends. 
As much as I love my little brothers, it would have been awesome to have a sister to grow up with ~ but that was not to be.  And as a parent, we all know that we want everything for our kids, especially all the things we never had.
And so the good Lord gave us a little brother for Avery:)  I guess he knew I couldn't handle girl drama either LOL! 
But my Braden has not disappointed us!  He is full of spunk, energy, imagination, and clever sayings!  The kid can come up with ANYTHING! HA HA!  He has the most vivid imagination - he can dream up many stories and things to tell you.  He loves tools, gadgets, and taking things apart.  Now, if he could learn how to put things back together, Mamma will be set!  And if that isn't enough, just ask him about his imaginative co-workers in his construction business:  Bobby John & Jim! 
By the way, his business also has an office which is located in his walk-in closet.  Occupied with a desk, old laptop, copier, radio, and open/close sign - this kid is born to be an entrepreneur!  I hope he hits the big money business some day.  
All of Braden's imagination aside, he is my lovey little fella.  From the first night he was born, neither he nor I could sleep.  So on the second night in the hospital with him - neither one of us sleeping well - the nurse let me prop Braden next to me in bed and low and behold we both were out for the night.  From that night on, my little fella and I have went to sleep together in the evenings.  Yes, still today, we sit the recliner together and snooze for the night ~ although I know it can't last forever, my baby and I are snuggle buddies for now......but time has sure flown by.  Happy 5th birthday Braden!  You were my second miracle, but both of my babies own my heart. I love you little man!

My first Miracle is 7!

Happy 7th birthday to my first miracle  - Avery Allen Schneider!  Bless his happy little heart, he is the most tender-hearted, giving, and happy little fella I know!  He has the best twinkling smile and gives the best hugs.  He loves his family & friends and isn't afraid to tell you:)  He loves dirt,cars, trucks, his bicycle, motorcycles, and baseball!  In my eyes he is the quintessential All-American Boy!  He is a great big brother to Braden - he plays with him, protects him, wrestles with him, argues, and yes...bosses him around with great pride:) 
I guess the good Lord knew I couldn't handle the drama of raising little girls, so he left that job to my brother Andy ~ HA HA, but he sure knew what he was doing giving me the two best little fellas I could have ever asked for.  And the best days of the rest of my life began 7 years ago today : on April 19, 2004 @ 3:20pm my little Avery Allen was born!  Thank God for Miracles!

Missed Me Didn't Ya! LOL

Yeah, I'm Back in the Blog World! There are no excuses ~ I just found better things to do than post all of our life on this wonderful Blog Page!  I really don't know how time flies by so fast!  I didn't even get Christmas cards sent out this year! So, if you like the picture above , that would have been my card - aren't they just too cute in their handsome sweater vests?  Consider this your Valentines post & picture, Ok? HA HA HA HA
As much as I enjoy venting and posting things about our Schneider Family on this page, it just seems there aren't enough hours in the day to relive most of those moments on here:)  Anyway - I will try to keep up more often than not, so if you feel like reading about our crazy, wonderful life I will be posting pictures later!   There are only a few hundred from things like Christmas programs, Christams parties, Christmas day, new Ranger, Hannah Banana, snow, snow, more snow, sledding, and more!   So until then ~ you missed us didn't ya?!?!  Jodi

Avery's 1st Grade Mass

I am just in amazement as I watch my two babies growing so fast!  Avery's class was in charge of Wednesday Childrens Mass at church.  Although it was only a small reading part for a responsal prayer, my big boy Avery read his part that we had practiced for 4 days:)  I am so proud of him!!!!! 
We have come along way in 1st grade!   I love you big boy ~ with a double thumbs up on the reading performance this morning!  WAY TO GO!
Avery is the second student in the blue hooded sweatshirt ~ check out the little video I got from a pocket camera. You may need to go to the bottom of my page and stop the music and then hit the play button to listen.

Time flies when you're having fun!

WOW!  We have been so busy doing lots of different things that I haven't updated in awhile!  I'm not sure if anyone even reads about any of crazy stuff, but it's amazing how much it helps me keep my own little journal of our Schneider adventures.  So rather than describe in great detail all of our daily moments, here is a list of " have been doings" with pictures of our favorite "look what we did"!

~ Avery is doing so well in 1st grade. He has a great teacher & is really growing up this year *sniff*

~ Braden does great in school after his drama of staying & going to the babysitters.

~ Homework & Clean boys may be the death of me:)

~ Doug has been cutting firewood and cleaning the garage.  Sure does help on paying the bills!

~The boys have discovered their new favorite movie - Dumb & Dumber. Sure beats watching Phineas & Ferb 22 times a day.

~ Avery has joined Cub Scouts.  I think it will be very rewarding for him.  We already sold $250 dollars worth of popcorn for his fundraiser.

~ Braden has decided to refuse to wear bluejeans - not sure why but it sure for a rough time trying to find pants for a kid I have saved clothes for the last few years.  (I will make for a memorable pre-k school picture story this year though LOL

~Both of my brothers are finally "home" from baseball season again.  At least now Mom can breathe a bit easier knowing we are all settled for a few months again.

~ Halloween was lots of fun with school parties & trick or treating!

~ There are only 48 more days until Christmas - My favorite time of year!  and just so I can brag about it:  I am pretty sure I am 99% done with my Christmas shopping!  Yeah me! 

~ I can't wait to decorate & prepare for Christmas.  Although I must admit that some family members make things difficult during the season ~ I love the thought that my kids get SO excited, which makes me SO excited!  Now I know why my Mom would do everything possible to make us happy when we were little.  Thanks MOM! 

~ Hopefully I won't wait so long to blog again!

Braden at Pumpkin Patch  - no he didn't need to pee, just his pose! LOL

My two handsome Halloween Indians!

Hannah came to our house to play!  It was a good day!

Cub Scout Field Day @ Red Hill State Park with his buddy Gavin

Avery shooting at BB Gun Range on Field Day!

Braden's Class party with Ms. Jamie!

MotoCraziness!!

Avery & his "Rock On" Autographed Poster

We had such a good Labor Day weekend this year....and I didn't even have to go camping!  LIFE IS GOOD! LOL   Friday night we had supper with the Burris Clan ( except Mike who we listened to on the radio broadcasting the Olney Ttiger football game ).  Clint Burris made some really good lasagna stuff & bread.  The we played a few games of cornhole!  If you haven't heard of cornhole - just imagine a game of washers with glorified beanbags...really fun!   Saturday we ALL went to Vincennes for a little grocery shopping and Arby's for supper - gotta love those beef & cheddar sandwiches!

Sunday we headed to Newton for a Rubsam Family cookout at the river, and then Monday was the exclamation point on the weekend with Motocross Stunt riders and supper with Mom & Dad at our house!  WHEW....What an AWESOME time we all had!

Our trip to Palastine IL for the Labor Day Parade & MotoStunt Show was really nice.  The weather was nearly perfect too!  Avery saw the commercial for this MotoStunt Show about a month ago on tv and has been pumped to go ever since.  So we ventured to Palastine to watch.  WOW!  I was thinking this would be some kind of jumping and wheelie - riding etc - NO WAY!  This was just like X-Games on ESPN! These riders did CRAZY jumps, complete BACK FLIPS, WILD stunts, and LONG jumps.  It was so neat!  Avery hasn't quite smiling yet - even as he came home and attempted his own new "tricks" on his bike for Mamoo & Papa last night! LOL  Braden & I liked it too - but nothing like Avery & Doug!  We even got the riders autographs and pictures after the show.  I know Avery will be talking about this for days!   And here I thought we should go to the zoo....what did i know!  LOL If you want to see video on these crazy riders just go to YouTube.com and type in FMX Team East.  You won't believe it:)

Avery getting a High Five! 

Check out this triple rider jump - look at the middle one!

Mohawk rider pointing out Crazy Travis laying out!

Autograph from Rider Josh

Our 1st day of school

Summer is officially over at our house - school is in session! YUCK! I can't believe that Avery is in 1st grade and now Braden is in preschool...**SIGH** My babies are growing up so fast:( On a brighter note of school, Avery is doing AWESOME going to school. NO TEARS ~ none at all! He loves his class & his teacher. Braden did pretty good. Although he cried when I left, actually he was screaming " DON'T LEAVE" at the top of his voice as I hurried to the church doors from the hallway - he was quiet by the time I got out. Funny thing was, I called my Mom to tell her how it went & to mend the fear of crying myself - and my phone beeps that I have another call coming in. IT WAS THE SCHOOL! I thought OH NO...what could have happened in 30 seconds! Instead it was Mrs. Potter (GOD LOVE HER) calling to say he was just fine and playing all ready:) WE LOVE ST. JOE! He did great the rest of the day. When I picked him up after lunch, he couldn't quit talking about everything he had done and that Avery waved at him in the cafeteria (what a great big brother).

Now - after all this wonderful school news, Braden didn't realize he was going to an actual babysitter today WITHOUT Avery! Well, needless to say, it was fine after the first few minutes. His babysitter called and said he fell asleep 15 minutes after being there, but the nap didn't last long because she needed to move him from falling off the couch and his poor crooked neck. So after a big 15 minute nap, Braden kept asking when the bus would be there with " Big Kids"! LOL Needless to say, he was great and when I went to pick them up - both kids ignored me...shocker huh. Gotta love my boys.

So - after a stressful week, we still got to stay all night with Mamoo & Papa Joe because Doug was working away this week. Hopefully all the stress is gone after this week and we can back into the groove of St. Joe life again:)

Action from the ball diamond~Avery style!

This is for Andy & Kyle.....hope you like it! Just click on the play arrow and watch Avery in action in his last t-ball game! We sure are proud of him this year and can't wait for more baseball excitement! If he grows up to play ball and love it as much as you two, he will have an awesome career ahead of him!