The picture says it all!

Luck is just not on Will's side! He went for his latest set of labs today. Ethan and Noah also had to get their annual well visit blood tests so they went along for the ride. Of course Ethan and Noah had no problems getting the blood flowing. Will, on the other hand, had to get two pricks! They tried first on his arm and just couldn't get enough blood and then had to switch to his hand. I'm hoping to pick up the results from his labs on our way home from school. Hopefully his platelets and SED rates will be back to normal! He has another echocardiogram scheduled for next week and then hopefully he will be done with doctors and hospitals for a good long time!

The boys started soccer a couple weeks ago. This is Ethan's team during practice.
Noah was goofing off waiting for his practice to get started.
Today we went to the dog park. There were a lot of dogs there playing. There was Hanzie, Abby, Boda, Finley, Fenway, Bailey, Kiki, Daisy, and Black Jack. There were also a few other random dogs there that we didn't know!

Abby really liked playing with Daisy. Sadly, Abby is already bigger than Daisy and Daisy is four weeks older!

Hanzie was checking out the little peanut Fenway.
Abby and her boyfriend Finley in the Tunnel of Love.

Will has a verdict...

Getting glue on your eye is worse than getting an IV! Today he fell at PE and got a nice little gash on his eye. Thankfully glue worked and he didn't have to have stitches. He has been through enough!

I think we have officially caught the baby fever. Introducing the newest member of our family, Abby...

While white spots are not "desirable" on chocolate labs we really like Abby's. Hanzie has the same markings and is one reason Chris and I chose him because it gave him character. Abby has a white spot on her chin and a star on her chest.
Paige and Abby have a little stare down.
The boys could not be more thrilled with her. She walked like a pro on the leash the first time out. The boys even went walking with us extra early this morning. The only trouble I have walking her is when I am alone with both her and Hanzie. She wants to play with Hanzie the entire walk and whenever she tries to play with him he stops and stares at her. Hanzie has done really well with her. She has been very calm and only irritates Hanzie on walks. When we are in the house she totally ignores him.

"Oh yeah, it's my birthday. You better recognize!"

Okay, I can't say for sure that this is what Melissa said to me while I took this picture, but it is the first thing that came to my mind when looking at it. Even if she didn't say it, she was probably thinking it. Happy birthday Melissa.

Because of the perfect weather outside tonight, we decided to take a walk along Riverside Drive. All together, we had eleven people and four dogs. I don't know if was just me, but it felt like people were looking at us like we were Jehovah's Witnesses or something. It's not like we were dressed in suits or anything like that. I guess whenever you are walking with that many people though, people start to wonder. We were just spreading the Word of the good weather, that was all.

Anyway, here is a picture of Jen and Melissa at the park.

And here is one of Hanzie modeling on the beach. Word on the street is that he is the "cutest dog evar y'all" (that is an impersonation of Jen impersonating Britney Spears).

For the nerds out there...

This a few days late, but there was a rocket launch a few days ago that I managed to take a picture of. I'm not sure of the name of the rocket or what time it took off, so you'll have to go to someone else's nerdier blog if you want info like that. I just know that it was early on Saturday, or late Friday depending on how you look at it!!! My friend Mike and I went a couple of miles from our house on Riverside Drive and set up our gear on the river bank. I wasn't sure where to point the camera to get the shot. Mike so kindly pointed me toward the South. Okay, I'm bad with directions, but not that bad. Anyway, with only one chance, that was pretty important to get right. Luckily, I guessed correctly, and here is the one and only picture I took.



For the bigger nerds out there (you will know who you are in one second), I unfortunately have to wait for rocket launches for my photography lighting needs. Not all of us can afford some fancy schmancy AlienBees 1,000,000,000 to light up the night whenever we feel the need. Okay, maybe I am just a little envious of Tim G's and Mike E's big..........lights.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! The closest we could get to ham was turkey sausage! But, we did have the green eggs and green waffles!
For some reason, a million "babies" had to join their St. Patrick's Day feast.
Don't you want to eat it? What, you say that green eggs aren't your thing!?!

Where did the weekend go? I can't believe that it is after 8:00 on Sunday already! Friday after school Melissa and I hauled the kids and dogs off to the dog park. We were the only ones there in the cloudy, cool drizzle. The dogs didn't seem too thrilled with the lack of excitement but enjoyed running after the tennis balls. After the dog park we headed over to the Eagney's for dinner. We made green pancakes for St. Patrick's Day. Will and Noah have been reading Green Eggs and Ham every day and I'd really like to shock them tomorrow morning with some, but I can't do the whole ham thing. Not even for shock effect! There is something about ham that grosses me out and Chris isn't any better at dealing with it than I am!

Chris and Mike, being the dedicated photographers that they are, went out at 2:00 AM to take pictures of the rocket launch on Saturday morning. Sadly, we all had stayed up until 1:00 AM drinking daiquiris (well that was a girl thing) and watching a movie. So, they didn't have much longer to wait to head the mile over to the river park to watch it. Saturday morning Will had his last horseback riding class. The other kids didn't feel like going, so they put on a wonderful 2 hour band performance for me while Emma and Will were at horseback riding. Good thing I can tune things out so easily! My friend Sam had her baby shower Saturday afternoon. It was really cute and she looked even cuter! After the shower, Melissa and I headed off to Target to get some Easter goodies and some stuff for our gardens. As usual, I spent WAY too much money at Target. I did get a foxtail palm. I have been wanting one for some time, and they had a coupon for 50% off any live plant. So, I got a small one very cheap. I also got some flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Right after getting home from Target it was off to the park with the dogs and kids. The kids had pizza from Domino's and played for a bit on the playground and boardwalk. After they got their play time, we hiked with the dogs. Mike and Melissa came over to our house and made kabobs. They were so delicious. It instantly brought back memories of the Outer Banks! The only thing missing was Dan's guacamole.

Today was a day for sleeping in. I think the whirlwind of excitement between school and home the last few weeks had finally caught up to Chris and me. Sleeping in has a completely different definition for many of us, but for me, being in bed past 8:00 AM is REALLY sleeping in. After waking up and getting the boys fed, it was straight outside to get the tree and new plants planted. Oh yeah, and the always fun task of weeding. I went for a nice bike ride after that to the beach and back. Even just the fast glimpse of the beach makes the day much better. Next weekend I fully intend to park myself there for quite a while so Mutha Nature better cooperate. We had all planned on going to watch Chris play soccer this afternoon. Will complained of another headache so I stayed home with him and Ethan and Noah went with Chris. Will has had a few headaches in the last week or so which is very unusual for him. He has never gotten a headache before in his life that I can remember. The pollen is awful right now so perhaps he is beginning to get seasonal allergies. He had to take his daily aspirin anyway, and after that it went away. He goes for more blood work at the end of next week and for another echo cardiogram during Spring Break. Hopefully we will be able to fully relax after that. He started playing soccer last week and hasn't shown any signs of slowing so I suspect all is well!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! Don't forget to wear your green. I sure hope Jennifer and Grandma Roey have lots of green options for Emme tomorrow. We are thinking of them often and are so excited for them all. I can't imagine the happiness that they all hold right now.

This past week has just flown by! I have been crazy busy at school with testing stuff and we had Aunt Kate here to keep us entertained. Kate's visit wasn't very exciting for her. We were at work and/or school most of the days that she was here. In addition, Will had several doctor visits while she was here. The evenings were spent either bike riding or walking followed by a movie, and for Kate and Chris, Guitar Heroes III into the wee hours of the morning.

The weekend brought some time for us to do more thrilling things. Kate got to watch Will at his horseback riding lesson. After the lesson, Kate and I rode bikes to the beach. Sadly, Kate's only visit to the beach was cold and windy. Not to mention, she had to bike herself there! Chris drove the boys up and we were able to play soccer for a bit. The beach was GIGANTIC and perfect for bike riding on. Sunday morning we woke up early to go to Universal. That was especially difficult since we lost an hour at the same time! We had a blast at Universal. We got to ride some roller coasters and some of the boys favorite rides as well. We often see cats roaming around Universal. They always tend to be hanging around the Jurassic Park area of the park. We sat at some secluded tables to eat lunch and a kitten came up begging for food. Kate and the boys fed him well and he really looked like he wanted to come home with us. We tried to convince Chris to let us stash him in one of our backpacks but it was a no go. I won't even share the name Noah came up for him. Let's just say he wanted to name him Super (place alternate word for cat here) Cat Hero.
Chris and the boys posed for a trick photography picture. My camera wouldn't work with it, so this is what you get! That is the new Simpson's ride that they are building to replace Back to the Future (sob, sob Melissa and Greg).
Kate left Monday evening and had a not so fun flight home. Sorry!

The boys started soccer practice on Monday night. They had practice again tonight. So far they all seem happy on their teams. I am looking forward to the weekend. I'm completely mentally drained from testing and need some down time! Sadly, I don't even have to take the test. I get to drop off a bunch of the tests tomorrow and get them out of my sight, so that will feel good! Only one more week of testing to go.

Aunt Kate arrived Saturday afternoon! Since she flew into the smaller local airport it was a stress free pick up. Ethan had even decorated the window of the van with a huge "Welcome to Florida Aunt Kate" sign. The second Kate got in the van dinner plans began! We were all starved. Since the boys have been sick we took them to their favorite, Bob Evans! After dinner we got home and the boys immediately introduced Kate to Webkinz, Guitar Heroes III, and their band equipment. Sunday morning we went to Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. I rode my bike through while Chris and Kate drove through with the boys. Chris didn't get any pictures since he was driving. I had my little camera with me so I snapped a few.

Here an alligator and a bird share some space.
I finished the loop on my bike before they got through in the van. Here is a picture of the gator that I spent 15 minutes talking to while I waited for my ride. He didn't pay any attention to me at all! I was also able to see an eight week old bald eagle standing outside of the nest. They had a station set-up with two telescopes on the nest.

Kate and I have been walking and bike riding this week. Not a very eventful week for Kate since we are all at school and/or work. We do have plans for Universal for the weekend so we have that to look forward to!

Now for the Will update... The ER doctor called on Saturday and said that Will's culture strep test came back positive and called in a prescription. I immediately contacted his pediatrician and he prescribed Amoxicillian for Noah as well since he showed similar symptoms. He still wanted Will to go for his lab tests on Tuesday to be sure all of his counts went back to normal. Chris took him Tuesday morning and the results were in by the time Will got to his appointment at 4:15. Some of his counts went down a bit, but were still in the high range. Some of his counts also went up. He told Will he was a mystery and still wanted to follow-up with blood work because he was surprised to see some of his counts going up. Well, after talking with Jennifer G. and Mom S. we decided that we weren't comfortable with that decision. I called the doctor back today and she ordered an echocardiogram for Will tomorrow. Hopefully all will be okay with that tomorrow and we can relax a bit. He will still have to have the final labs run in a couple of weeks.

Since Will's rash returned today and was actually worse than it was yesterday, the pediatrician sent him to the ER to run additional tests after she saw him in her office. She also checked Noah since his temperature was 104.5 and she was certain would be above 105 if she had taken it another way. She ruled out strep and said to just treat the fever for now and bring him to the ER with me just in case. To make a long story short, they believe it is something viral causing all of this and Will needs to go back to the pediatrician in the morning. Jennifer G. was of great help today trying to help us figure all of this out, and for the record, she was spot on with her thoughts. They matched the doctor's exactly! Katie was also totally awesome to us today. She spent her day off from the hospital in the ER with us! She kept us all entertained, had instant access to all the lab work, and more importantly could tell me what it meant as it came in! It really meant a lot that she was willing to do that for us. The picture is of Will with his very first IV that I took with my phone. He didn't even flinch when he got it! Since the hospital is directly next to the Daytona Speedway, their pediatric unit is called Speediatrics. That explains all the checkers.

These are "Will approved" pictures of his rash. His back is actually much worse than the front but he wouldn't approve those for publishing! His back and the inside of his thighs appear to be the worst affected areas.

On a happier note, my healing foot! It has been feeling much better the last two days!

My man Will has not been to school all week. He went from perfect attendance to missing an entire week! Yesterday morning I went to get my foot x-rayed. Luckily, I had just a small fracture that will heal on its own. Since Will and Noah both had bright red eyes and high fevers I spent the day at home with them. We had decided last night when Noah woke up at 3:00 am with a 105 degree fever that Chris would be staying home with them today since I had a meeting I couldn't miss. When we woke up this morning Will was covered in a rash. I assumed it was an allergic reaction to the Z-pack that they put him on Monday for his ear infection and asked Chris to call the doctor and take him in to have his antibiotics switched. Chris took him in and she was very concerned that it was more than an allergic reaction. Apparently it is very rare that someone is allergic to the Z-pack. Since he has had a high fever for 4 days, a bright red eye that is not conjunctivitis as we learned, and the strange rash she thought it could be something serious. Her quote to Chris was, "I think it could be something serious but I don't want to tell you what I think it could be because I don't want you to worry all night. Take him off all his meds, give him Benadryl, and bring him back in the morning. If his lips become cracked and dry or he gets blisters in his mouth, take him to the ER." Ugh... What is that supposed to mean to a parent? Well, Chris gave him the Benadryl when he got home. At first it didn't appear to be doing anything, but now his rash seems to be going away. His fever has also not spiked up like it has been the last few days. It is remaining just below 100. Noah's fever is now consistently higher than Will's. To top it off I have been sick for over a week and have a fever as well! It seems that all that could go wrong has in the last couple of weeks! Will goes back in the morning at 9:45. I'm assuming that now that his rash is going away that all is well! At least I don't have to worry all night now. Although, I do believe he will be sleeping in bed with Chris and me tonight!

Chris kindly mentioned all the good times had this weekend and left out all the drama! Friday afternoon the boys were out riding their scooters and Noah crashed going VERY fast. After a lot of sobbing, he only had a bruised and scratched elbow to show for it! As you know from previous posts, we have not been the healthiest clan in the recent weeks. I came down with the cold, fever, overall misery illness last Wednesday. I finally took some nighttime cold medicine Friday night so I could get some sleep. As my parents will attest to, I do not do well on nighttime cold medicines. I took it once as a teenager and slept for 3 days straight, so I avoid it and save it as an absolute last resort. I took it at 6:00 on Friday thinking that I could get a good 12-14 hours of sleep in before I had to function as a normal person. I didn't end up getting to bed until 8:00 on Friday after the Noah drama. He finally snuggled into the bed with me and we both fell asleep. I woke up at 8:00 in the morning still very groggy to get Will reading for horseback riding and Ethan ready for his birthday party. Will's horseback riding got cancelled due to storms in the area so I got to stay home with Will and Noah while Chris took Ethan to his party. It was a good thing it was cancelled since Mr. Will woke up with pink eye! To make our day even better while I was cleaning up the kitchen I had to take the trash out. We have a 13 gallon stainless steel trash can with a plastic liner. So, I pull the trash bag out and it was stuck in the liner. I kept pulling up and it finally freed itself of the liner and the liner came crashing down on my foot! It hurt beyond belief, but I assumed I just hit a nerve or something and that it would be fine in a minute. So, I took the trash out to the garage and then put a new bag in the trashcan. I was feeling really dizzy the entire time and decided to go sit on the couch until I felt better. I never made it to the couch. I suppose I fainted from the pain, I'm a complete wimp when it comes to pain, and woke up on the floor next to the kitchen with the phone next to me. Chris' number was half dialed so I guess I was trying to call him. So, I spent the rest of the day on the couch with my foot up. Will was sitting on me and felt hot, but Chris took his temperature and said that he was fine and took him to the Third Eye Blind concert anyway. I must say, I'm impressed that Chris took them alone! I have taken them to Universal alone in the past a couple years ago and it is no easy task. After a late night out with Dad, Will woke up Sunday morning with a high fever and I woke up with a bruised and swollen foot. Today Will has an appointment for his eye at 3:00. After much debate, I made an appointment to have my foot x-rayed tomorrow morning. I'm guessing there will be nothing they can do for it even if it is broke, but I'd rather be safe than have my foot heal in some deformed fashion. Hopefully all of our various illnesses will clear out before Kate arrives on Saturday. Otherwise, we may be sending her home sick and with pink eye!

Exciting First for the Boys!

Not too long ago, I told the boys that I would take them to see Third Eye Blind at Universal Studios. They were playing there for the big Mardis Gras celebration that Universal has every year. This was to be the boys' first "real" concert. I know what you are thinking. "Who's Third Eye Blind?", or at the very least, "Where have they been?" Point taken, but not too long ago they were big and we actually like them a lot too.

Well, the day started out with horrible weather and I didn't think that we would be able to go. The skies cleared up in time though, so we were able to go and the weather was perfect!

Here is a picture of Ethan, Will, and Noah at Universal City Walk, on the way to the concert. Sorry for their facial expressions, but this was like my fourth or fifth picture and they weren't thrilled with me at this point.
The concert was supposed to start at 8:30 PM, and we got there a bit early, so we went on the Shrek 3D ride first. We haven't done that one in a long time, so it was like doing it for the first time all over again. They loved it. After we got out, we headed over to the concert area. It was packed, but we managed to find an area to sit and relax for the half hour before the concert started.

When the concert started, I would put one boy on my shoulders per song - alternating evenly between the three of them, of course. It was the best solution to get them to be able to see. I know it must have been boring for the two on the ground, but they all seemed to have a great time. They were so excited to finally see a concert, and also to see Universal at night. (There's quite a difference between Universal during the day and at night. It's like, umm, day and night!) Here's a picture of what it looked like from where we were standing. Not too bad of a view, huh?And finally, here is one from the way out after we left the concert.

Ethan has been sick just about all week. He is finally starting to feel better today. He went to school each day, but was miserable. He wanted to go. Yesterday he spent a good part of the day sleeping on the floor of my classroom with a blanket and pillow. We got home and his temperature was 103.5! The nurse had checked him at noon and he was fine. He just parked himself on the couch all afternoon. Today he looks much better and is acting much more like himself.

The boys are very excited at the prospect of Aunt Kate visiting soon. If she is able to come, she will be here in just about a week!

We love the weekend. Yesterday we took a nice walk to the skate park. The boys rode their scooters and Hanzie and I followed on foot. It was sunny and hot. We were in the hopes that the teenagers would all be at home watching the Daytona 500. No such luck! Since the boys couldn't play on the skate park we hit the playground that is right next to it. We took the long way home because the boys wanted to ride their scooters on the boardwalk. On the longest stretch of road there were no trees and the sun was beating down on us. We are not adjusted to mid-to-upper 80s yet. Needless to say, I had three complaining children and a dog that just wanted to lay down and give up! When we finally made it home the boys got a drink and rested for a few minutes. They were right back out the door, with Chris this time, to go to soccer. They played around for 3 hours on the fields while Chris played soccer. Melissa and I went for a bike ride during this time. She then went to pick up her new baby. We went for a short visit when they got home at 8:00. He is just the cutest thing ever!

Today we went for another scooter ride. Hanzie was eager to go which surprised me after his sharp protest of continuing on yesterday! We walked along Riverside Drive to the "sand park." The weather is beautiful now, very windy and mid-80s. The storms are supposed to roll in soon so it was nice to get out and enjoy the day while we could!

Here the boys make their way towards the park.
Catching bugs perhaps??
Will and Noah swinging away.
The playground!

Hanzie enjoying the river. He wanted to jump in but I only had his short leash. Next time I'll have to bring his long one and let him go in.
Resting in the shade. He dug a nice, cool hole in the sand and parked himself there in between walks.

Ethan told me that he doesn't feel well today! I give up! It must be true because he barely touched his lunch and anyone that knows Ethan knows that isn't normal! I gave him some Maalox Jr before I put him down for a nap. All three boys looked completely worn out and exhausted by the time we got home. It probably doesn't help that their dad let them stay up until 9:30 to watch the American Gladiators finals! I'm sure they will all sleep well. Their friend Bryce's birthday party is tonight so they need to reenergize!

We survived the first round of FCAT testing. Some of us did better than others. I dragged poor Noah to school the two testing days, plus the make-up day since a couple of kids were absent and had to test on Thursday. Thursday night he woke up screaming in pain from an earache just as soon as he fell asleep. Friday I kept him home and took him to the doctor. Sure enough, the poor little guy had an ear infection. He has taken a couple doses of antibiotics and is feeling much better.

The boys had a terrific Valentine's. They set this fancy dinner table for Chris and me. This is before they had their new Webkinz so they are not pictured. They wanted to be sure that I mentioned that! We got take-out from Mi Mexico.
Yesterday Will had riding lessons in the morning. He chose to ride Jay Jay. Jay Jay was the horse that he rode on the first day of lessons and he was very stubborn. Yesterday he did much better and Will said he was proud of Jay Jay when we got in the car . I guess he believes in second chances!

I think Sophia got in a fight with the barn cat. She disappeared for quite a while and came back looking like this!
Paige was interested in trying a carrot cake. (For the record, she doesn't like them.) So, I made her one yesterday. We had to leave to make it to a movie and the cake needed 5 or so more minutes. I turned off the oven and left the cake in there while we were at the movie. Needless to say, it was a bit dry. Ethan and Sophia were the only ones that liked it. Ethan declared that it was the only way he would ever eat a carrots again. I will tell you that grating carrots was not fun and since he was the only one that liked it, it will be a while before he has another one. After I iced the cake, Mike decided that he would draw some carrots on it and for some reason decided to put his initials on the cake as if he had made this cake from scratch or something! I demanded that he put EAT at the top of the cake to go along with his initials ME at the bottom. That explains the whole EAT ME theme going on here.
We saw Spiderwick yesterday afternoon and the boys loved it. It was a bit scarier than they thought it would be. Will spent a lot of time covering his ears while Noah spent much of the time covering his eyes. Of course they have been playing Spiderwick ever since they got home. Paige spent the night last night and they woke up VERY early this morning to fight off all the bad goblins trying to get their Field Guide.

Time flies when you are busy! Football has ended and the boys did indeed have a perfect season. They had a great time playing and are looking forward to the upcoming soccer season. In the meantime, Will will continue with horseback riding lessons. Ethan is now showing some interest in that as well. Since it is so expensive he will have to hold off a bit!

Saturday morning Will had horseback riding lessons. Straight from there we headed off to the Images Festival which is an art street festival with artist selling their creations in booths lining all of downtown NSB. The kids actually really liked looking at the art. They had a big tent set up with art projects for kids so they had fun creating their own masterpieces! After the festival Melissa, Bobbie, and I headed up to the mall to get Webkinz gear for the kids for Valentine's Day. My mom had sent them some money so they used that to buy some Webkinz clothes. They also each got a new Webkinz, but they haven't gotten those yet since they are from us. They are dying to know what they got. They all really wanted Webkinz carrying bags but they only make one boy bag and no stores had it. Hopefully they will not be disappointed with the Webkinz. I have a feeling they will be elated. Saturday night we had our first Valentine's celebration. The kids ate a rather disgusting mixture of leftover pantry ingredients. They had a strawberry layer cake. It had chocolate icing in the middle and vanilla icing on the outside. Melissa had some cream cheese icing leftover as well so we mixed that in. We threw some red, pink, and white sprinkles on and some candy hearts and let the kids have at it. Most of them actually ate it and liked it!
Sunday morning we got up and headed to the skatepark. We have to get there early before the big kids arrive. They rode around for an hour and before the teenagers rolled out of bed. We actually left and the park was still empty! Chris has lots of great pictures but once again, none of them are "converted." He also has some pictures from the art festival. Perhaps one day I can share.
Noah Bean is sick this week. Yesterday after school he said he had a headache and said his throat was hurting. I gave him some Motrin and he seemed to be better. He woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Chris gave him some more Motrin. This morning he was fine. No fever, no headache, no sore throat. I gave him some Motrin to be on the safe side and off to school we went. I checked on him a few times during the day and he said he was fine. On the car ride home he started complaining. While I was cooking dinner he got off the couch to talk to me and he looked awful. Sure enough, the headache, sore throat, and fever were all back. It is FCAT (state testing) for 4th grade. Since I am the testing coordinator for the school, that pretty much means that I have to be there. Hopefully he can make it through tomorrow morning.