We just got finished watching the Kids' Choice Awards. The boys have been talking about it nonstop all week. It was actually quite funny. Here Will and Noah are snuggling. Will has only thrown up twice today! A vast improvement from yesterday! He did start a fever today as you can tell from his rosy red face. He managed to stay awake for the record breaking slime bungee jump (that was what he was most excited about seeing) and within 30 seconds of the jump ending, he was out.
Here they are with their party food. Poor Will was too sick to eat any of it.
Chris got his new car yesterday. Thanks to a severe case of Schrader OCD, he has already vacuumed and washed it. You see they detailed a BRAND new car for him before he drove it home. Well, after driving it around a bit today to show it to the boys, he immediately came home and vacuumed and washed it. Yes folks, in the dark!!! Oh, he got a Mitsubishi Endeavor.
Update from Chris: This whole photo shoot of me washing my brand new car was staged. I did wash it and vacuum it; I'm not denying that. I wasn't, however, washing it in this picture. While I was washing Jen's car, she came out with the camera and told me to stand in front of my car and pretend like I was washing it, so she can "make an OCD joke about it on the blog." Don't you all feel tricked now. You're not even getting a glimpse of our real lives. It's all staged...all of it.

While it is Friday, there is not much excitement at our house. Unless you count two parents jumping up and down with excitement that one of their five year-old twins actually made it to the bathroom to throw up rather than covering the house in it! We thought we were on the upswing last night. Noah did not throw up at all Wednesday, so it was off to school for everyone on Thursday. Well, last night he woke up throwing up AGAIN! I think that the whole twin syndrome thing must have kicked in for Will finally, because he woke up throwing up this morning and hasn't stopped since! Chris got the sick day duties today. He is not feeling well himself. Now, I'm sure Ethan will hold off until Monday morning to get sick! They are all excited about watching JT on the Kids' Choice Awards tomorrow. They really wanted to make "party food" for it, but I think that will simply consist of crackers and broth! pArTy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO "GRANDMA PAT!" Hopefully she will enjoy her house hunting weekend in NC.

HAPPY 4OTH BIRTHDAY TO ERIC AND DAN!!! When the boys were signing their cards this weekend, they did not think 40 was that old. So, your nephews at least think you have youth left in you! Also, good luck to Jennifer on her homestudy. Talk about preparing for company!

Noah only got up once last night to get sick. We were all happy to finally get some sleep. He just had some toast and gingerale for breakfast. We'll see how it goes. Ethan was quite upset that we were all staying home and he had to go to school. I told him that is what it feels like for Chris every day during the summer and if Chris threw a raging fit every morning it would make for a very long summer. He seemed to get the point because he just sucked it up and got his backpack. He did make me promise that I would not let them play the Wii without him! Since Chris is at work and the boys are not allowed to touch the Wii without him, it shouldn't be a hard promise to keep.

Noah finally fell asleep on the kitchen floor at 4:15. He came in to talk to me and was too tired to stand up. He plopped himself down on the ground and was out within a minute.
No worries, I carried him off to bed where he has been peacefully sleeping for the last 45 minutes!

Not a good day! My munchkin Noah woke me up last night at 2:00 am and said, "Mom, I threw up in my bed, on my floor, by the foosball table, in front of your door, and right here!" It was actually sort of humorous how he rambled it all off. Luckily Chris got the honorary duty of cleaning it all up. I volunteered to take care of the bedding! Well, he spent the entire night in the bathroom. I wish I could say that he slept in there, but as he didn't sleep a wink, I'll just say he camped out in there. He has spent most of today in the bathroom as well. Poor guy! I had a meeting this morning in Daytona. After my meeting, I picked up Will from school. We went to Blockbuster to get Happy Feet. We also went to the grocery store and loaded up on gingerale, Gatorade, crackers, soup, etc. Noah has tried eating and drinking. Neither one has worked out for him quite yet. They started Happy Feet when Ethan got home from school. They seem to be enjoying it.

I nearly had a heart attack today while mowing the lawn. I saw this snake skin along the fence. At first glance I thought it was an actual snake!

Some random pictures from yesterday. As you can tell, most pictures on the blog are taken with my camera which is clear from the quality!

This is our new door in the very early stages of installation!
Melissa and I took the kids to Bobbie's to keep them out of the way while Chris and Mike did their "man" work. Ethan and Emma had a blast in the pool together. The rest were too whimpy to get in at 80 degrees.
After dinner the kids watched Eragon. This time Emma spent some "quality time" with Noah. I guess she has figured out that Paige has claimed Will.
The door closer to being finished. They haven't done any of the finishing work. That is on today's agenda I guess. The boys really like that they can close the blinds to make a "movie room."

Waiting for cake. They had a Schrader-Eagney chant. The kept shouting "Schrader Eagneys" over and over and over again.
Sorry Greg, here is Melissa having her birthday cake! Since we missed her real birthday we celebrated tonight.

It was another beach day. Today was by far the nicest day so far this season. It was in the low 80s, breezy, and sunny. We stayed at the beach for over two hours. Normally the boys don't last more than 45 minutes or so.
Will made Melissa and me tons of delicious pies.
Noah was quite proud of the feather he found.
The girls worked nicely in their own little bakery.

What happens to our nearly 9 year-old Hanzie after almost 2 hours at the park with his mom followed by a 3 mile jog with his dad...

Melissa and I just got back from an hour long bike ride. So, on our way home it began to drizzle. We thought, okay, we'll get a little wet. We were riding down a long, straight street and saw the downpour headed right towards us! Needless to say, we both got soaked. The best part is that it didn't even rain at my house! We stopped by my friend Sam's house and she has the cutest little black lab puppy that she got on Friday. His name is Bentley and he is so adorable and sweet!

We have been out most of the day. I had to go to Lowe's to get hardware for our new French doors and since Super Target is right next door, of course I had to stop there as well! We got home just in time for lunch and went right out the door to go to the park. We took Emily because she has been begging to play with the boys all week. They have been sick and today was the first day that they were feeling better. They brought their swords to make their way through the mystical forest!
Will was begging me to let him climb this tree so that he could get to these...
the oranges! The park we went to today has gobs of orange trees and the boys like guessing which animals ate the half eaten oranges all over the park.
After the hike, they played on the playground forever. They had it all to themselves. Hanzie was so hot that he made me sit in the pavilion with him the entire time.

Well, the sun came out and we hit the beach! We had just enough time between lunch and nap. The water is still a chilly 65 degrees. That certainly didn't stop all the spring breakers from getting in!

Ethan tested the water and decided that is was freezing! This is him running back with his verdict.
They played in the sand for a good bit.
Noah truly wanted to go swimming! He kept saying, "Let's go in further, come on Mom!"
Future sand sculptor? Possibly.
After playing in the sand for a bit, they hit the beach playground. We made a quick stop at 7-11 for Slurpees/coffee and now the little buggers are napping. They have all been sick so they really need it!

Another day in March, another birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Today my mom turns a certain number of tens + five. Although she would be having more fun in Florida enjoying spring break with us at the beach, she is in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Okay, we haven't been to the beach yet during spring break. It has been cloudy and cool. Really, it has been quite cold this week. Honestly, sweatshirts and sweatpants in March?? What is that about??

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, "BIRTHDAY QUEEN MELISSA!" Now, Melissa is usually never "all about herself," however, in mid-March each year she becomes a bit self-obsessed. Since it is only one week a year, it is quite tolerable. At any rate, we had big plans for her this morning before she headed off to her night at Saratoga Springs in Disney World. We were planning on going to Dunkin' Donuts this morning and getting her some donuts and white hot chocolate (her new fave) and bringing it all to her. Well, those plans changed right around 2:35 am last night when Will woke up throwing up. He hasn't been feeling well since Friday with a fever and cold but seemed to be doing better. Yesterday afternoon, after the dentist, he got a really bad headache. We gave him some children's Tylenol Cold medicine and he started feeling a bit better. I don't know when the stomach thing started- I'd like to blame the fluoride treatment. At any rate, after being up for over an hour last night he finally got back to bed. We skipped visiting Melissa, as I didn't want to get her kids sick. We will make it up to her in the middle of the week when everyone is gone and we are the only ones left to spoil her!

Above is the new 5 year-old craze; at least at our house! Will and Noah are seriously addicted to this breakfast treat. They have eaten them every morning for the last week or so. I wonder how long until they are sick of them. Ethan can take them or leave them, but Will and Noah require them to start their day. Will even ate 2 sets for breakfast after being sick last night.

(If my mom or Wayne read this they will know I have completely jinxed myself. I was just telling them this weekend that I would take Will and Noah's bizarre week long fever over throwing up any day and that the boys hadn't thrown up in over a year. Well, I guess that streak starts again today- or so I hope!)

Once again, we've had a beautiful day. Since it isn't warm enough for the beach or swimming, we have been hitting the playground all weekend. Chris took them to the "wood park" yesterday and today I took them to the "Easter egg park." They have nicknames for all of the parks. The wood park is made all of wood and the Easter egg park is where they have the big Easter egg hunt every year.
I'm not sure what kind of dance was going on here!
Yesterday while we were at the store, Noah spotted all of the plants. Everyone was walking out with some and he insisted that we go check them out! I took him to the 97 cents section and let him pick some out. He wanted some yellow ones (snap dragons), some red ones (pentas), and some purple ones (lavender). I knew it was going to get fairly chilly out last night so we held out planting them until today. Noah planted and watered all of them. Then we took a tour around the yard checking on the stuff that he planted last year. He already has plans for where he wants to put some more stuff. (Oh, I don't make him wear a helmet while gardening! He was gardening between his scooter/bike rides.)

The boys said that since they had the...
That they would surprise him with this...
Chris spent most of the day out shopping. To keep the boys occupied I decided that we needed a major project. The boys created a "camp-out" for Chris in the toy room. It involved a trip to the dollar store & Wal*Mart, a lengthy craft project, and of course putting it all together. The boys were quite impressed with the outcome. After decorating the room to their satisfaction, I mowed the lawn and did a bit of yard work while they rode their scooters up and down the street. It is gorgeous out today!

St. Patrick's Day party!!!! The kids had a BLAST! They are watching Shrek 2 now- he's green!

Here is the beginning of the Patrick punch! Simple recipe of green cherries, limes, lime sherbet, and gingerale! Delicious!
Noah is adding the sherbet.
Ethan adds the gingerale.
Emma made the green whipped cream!
Here they are, all ready for the green feast to begin!

Will had two big glasses of punch but didn't eat a thing. I took his temperature after dinner since he wasn't eating and acting tired and sure enough he had a nice fever! Hopefully he doesn't turn green!

Spring Break starts today! We had a nice thunderstorm last night to ring in the spring season. The pool is completely filled thanks to the downpour! This week has gone by fairly quick. The weather has been very nice so the boys have been swimming or playing outside just about every day. I finally was able to watch The Holiday on Wednesday night. I loved it! Just my kind of movie. Chris actually liked it as well so that was an added bonus. Normally he just suffers through my movies with little or no enjoyment! Although tonight is payback as we are watching the new 007 flick! Last night Melissa came over to watch Grey's Anatomy with me. What was with that ending!?! I mean come on- Izzy and George!!! Melissa and I planned a little St. Patrick's Day party for the kids tonight. They are having green punch, green waffles, green whipped cream, etc. I'll have to post some pics later tonight. Chris and Mike are going to try to go mountain biking while we party. Chris had an accident last night and completely warped his front wheel so that won't be happening unless he can get it fixed today. He is taking it to the bike shop today to have it looked at. Amazing how when a tire on his bike needs to be fixed it gets looked at right away but when something in my house breaks it takes weeks to months to get looked at. Priorities, right?

Today was fairly uneventful. The boys and I ran errands this morning while Chris mountain biked. Ethan wanted to get a few new books and of course I had to treat myself to one as well! Will and Noah got some new blankets for their beds. They also got to do one of their favorite things, go to the dollar store! That is my little secret for having them behave at the book store, Beall's home store, and Wal*Mart to get laundry detergent! It worked wonders. After shopping they came home, had lunch, at went for another swim. They were quite busy this weekend so we made them take naps today. Ethan put up a good fight, but he was the one that we had to drag out of bed because he wanted to sleep the entire day!

Yesterday afternoon Will and Noah's friend, Madelyn, had her 5th birthday party. It was at one of their favorite parks so they had a great time! Here is Will taking a whack at the cute teapot.
Chris is trying to convince Sophia and Paige to give him all of their gum. Sophia fell for it and started giving him all of her candy. Paige was on to him!
Noah and Ethan were checking out each other's stash.
Mady blows out her candles. She had a fairy party. She was dressed up like an adorable fairy! (Oh, she wasn't actually turning 10. Since her real birthday isn't until tomorrow, she decided that she would be turning 10 on her "unbirthday.")

Well, after relaxing last night in the spa with a bottle of wine and Melissa to chat with, I finally left the weeks of testing behind! After slowing waking up this morning we went for a short hike while Chris biked. There were horses there again as we pulled up so Will got his fill of horses for the weekend. We hiked to Oxbow Lookout this time. A much shorter hike and you can actually get to the water from this lookout. The kids all had fun picking up "treasures," aka green plastic pellets, along the way.


Here are Emma and Will relaxing once we got to the lookout. Paige has staked her claim on Will, so Emma better watch it.
I was smart enough to take Hanzie off of his leash before descending down this steep bank. It was a good thing I did. I asked Mike to snap some pictures of him coming down and before we knew it he was at the bottom! Good thing I wasn't holding on to him!




When we got home the boys had lunch and decided that they needed a dip in the pool to cool off after their hike. The pool, at the moment, is actually warmer than the outside air. The temp is 78 and the pool is 80. Gotta love solar heat! It still drops down to the fifties at night so the pool can't quite make it up to the 88 that I require before getting in. A few more weeks.