Memorial Day Weekend... The Official Beginning of Summer!

Here is how I spent most of my weekend. (See previous post.)

The boys were completely run ragged by Sunday. We had a little cookout at Mike and Melissa's since I was in too much pain to try to host anything. We had to wake the boys up from their 45 minute nap on the couch and they were not thrilled. Ethan went right out to the trampoline to continue his nap!

Abby and Finley of course still had some energy!

The kids all love this spinning fairy that the girls have.

Today was quite the peaceful end to our 4 day weekend. The kids went for a nice morning swim and afternoon swim. I am currently on my 7th load of laundry for the day since my kids change their clothes 5 times a day and I have not been feeling up to doing laundry all week! Somehow they have in their heads that each time they get in and out of the pool they need a fresh pair of shorts and a new t-shirt! Tomorrow we start the single digit countdown. Only 9 days until summer vacation for the boys!

Oh the Pain!

Saturday was a day of recovery for me. Since returning from my trip to SC, I have been in excruciating pain. I have only had back issues once in the past, but this time was a doozy. I drove Chris' car on the trip and it absolutely did not get along with my back. I went to work on Tuesday, stayed home on Wednesday, and went back to work on Thursday and was in complete agony. I was quite happy on Friday when I realized that I could come home again and spend the day laying on the hard ground on my back! Saturday I tried to venture out and went to the dog park for an hour. I thought since I could sit the entire time that it would be fine. I was wrong! So, back to the hard ground for the rest of the day. Yesterday was slightly better and today for the first time in a week I can stand up straight! I just need to remind myself not to jump into my normal routine of walking quite a few miles a day until I'm completely healed. It is hard to restrain from heading out! Chris has been awesome and has been walking Abby and Hanzie for me each day at least a couple times a day so I'm not in complete pain and guilt! Tonight I'll try for a short walk and I will certainly have to get up tomorrow at 5:30 to walk them. Chris loves me, just not that much!

Will and Noah standing on the tunnel at the dog park.

Hanzie carrying his oh so masculine pink tennis ball!

Abby checking things out at the park. She is nothing like Hanzie and completely forgets that I exist while we are at the dog park. Hanzie, on the other hand, never leaves my side!

Abby is finally becoming a bit more coordinated.

This is where the kids spend the majority of their time!

Abby Going on Vacation?

I believe she is trying to tell me that next time I go on a trip she wants to go!


This week has been fairly uneventful. The one major event was that Noah lost his first tooth! He was very worried that he wouldn't lose one in kindergarten. Will has lost several and he was feeling sort of left out! Then there was today, where I went to school when we had no school! Oops!!!!

Back from South Carolina

I am back from my short trip to South Carolina. I arrived in Lexington just before 1:00 on Saturday afternoon. I had a hard time finding my sister at first. Finally she parked and I used the GPS to locate her and we met up. My mom, sister, and I headed straight off to see Grandma. She was very happy to see us and looked good. She had just had her hair done and looked lovely. I had brought my laptop along and two discs of pictures so Grandma had to endure a slide show of hundreds of pictures. She enjoyed looking at them all and I gave a commentary as we went though them all. She was able to see pictures of just about everything the boys do! After the slide show, we took her for a walk around the center's grounds. She said that she hadn't been outside for quite some time and she really enjoyed the walk. Here is a picture of us on the walk.
Around 4:00 she was visibly tired so we headed off for the night. We went on a whirlwind shopping spree of Lexington. We had dinner at Salsaritas which was good. None of us had ever eaten at one before. It is a chain similar to Moe's or Chipotle's. We headed back to the hotel after dinner and watched Mad Money. Definitely not the greatest movie ever made. We woke up, had breakfast, and headed to Wal*Mart to get a few things for Grandma before our visit. Much to our surprise, the 24 hour Wal*Mart didn't open until 1:30 on Sunday! Yikes. We managed to get the few things Grandma needed and headed over to see Grandma. We attended church services with Grandma. At one point she looked over to Lori and said, "I wish he would just shut up!" Apparently she didn't enjoy the sermon! I thought it was extremely hard to follow but I thought it was just me. Obviously not! After church we wheeled Grandma out to the courtyard so she could eat her lunch outside. She seemed to enjoy that a lot and ate a lot of her lunch. During lunch Sharon stopped by and told us that John, Malina, Katie, Paul, and Sean were in Myrtle Beach and were stopping by for the afternoon. Grandma's friends Pete and Sheila also stopped by to visit Grandma during her lunch. After lunch we took Grandma back to her room for a rest and went to lunch with Pete and Sheila. I can honestly not say enough kind words about Sheila and Pete. They were absolutely wonderful and are so good to Grandma. We had a great time talking with them during lunch and trading our opinions about Grandma's progress or lack of. We followed Pete back to Uncle David's house as he lives across the street. We visited for a short time at Uncle David and Sharon's house and then headed over to see Grandma again. John, Malina, Katie, and the boys followed us to visit as well. We wheeled Grandma out to the courtyard again to eat her dinner. Here Sean goes for a spin on Great Grandma's lap.
This is a picture of my cousin John's 2 year old cutie pie Sean.

John's other son, Paul, was a little bored so I handed my camera over to him so he could have some fun. Great Grandma smiles for the camera!
He got a nice shot of Lori.

And a good shot of my mom.
Here is the photographer himself!
We stayed pretty late. Grandma usually gets in bed around 4:00. Yesterday we kept her up pretty late! We all left around 5:45 or so. Poor Grandma looked exhausted but I know she was enjoying all of the conversation and having four of her grandchildren together at once. We said our goodbyes and left her to get ready for bed. Lori and my mom visited Grandma again this morning before they left. I headed out at 8:00 and Grandma is not yet up for the day then so I missed her this morning. I had an easy drive home and arrived home at 2:00. Of course Hanzie had thrown up in the house! I guess he hadn't eaten all weekend while I was away so they finally made him eat this morning. He doesn't eat when he is upset and he is upset whenever I am away. I guess it wasn't such a good idea for him to eat! Melissa dropped the boys off after school and we left to take the dogs for a walk. It looked like it was going to rain soon but we decided that the dogs needed to go for a walk since they were so hyper and excited. Well, we got drenched! Oops! It started raining just after we turned the corner from our house. The boys LOVED getting drenched and were cracking up the entire time.

We desperately need rain so it was a good thing! It only down poured for a short while and of course the minute we got home the sun popped out again.

Hey Boys, It's a Wild Weekend!

While the cat (Jen) is away, the mice (you get the point) will play. Jen left early this morning for South Carolina to visit her grandmother. As you can see from the previous post, I took the boys to their final soccer games of the season today and their end-of-the-season parties.

After that, we relaxed in the spa for a while, cleaned up the house a bit, walked the dogs, and then I took them to Denny's. I told them that it was similar to Bob Evans, which they love, so they were very excited. They liked it, but not as much as Bob Evans. I concur.

When we got home, it was already almost 8:00 PM. We took the dogs for another walk, and then we picked out a movie to watch, which is on as I write this.

We are also having a "camp out" in the living room. Okay, it's really just laying out sleeping bags and sleeping on the floor. We have fun though.

In the morning it's off to Peggy's, a local restaurant, for breakfast. We'll do some more boy stuff and then we'll go to my soccer game in the evening.

And that, my friends, is how a boys' weekend is done. Jealous? Yeah, I wouldn't be either.

Sayonara Soccer

Soccer season is officially over. Ethan's team played the only team that has beat them all year. They squeaked out a 2-2 tie with a great goal in the last minute. Ethan still wasn't 100%, so he didn't have the best game of his life. I think he just played because he didn't want to let me or the team down. They finished in 2nd place overall, which is not too bad considering the competition. Their biggest rival (because of a jerk coach) came in 3rd place overall, so that is a great consolation prize.

Will and Noah won their last game, and they finished the season undefeated. Noah scored the lone goal for the team, which he feels great about. He really did well today. He was dribbling past people and passing like a pro. I have no doubt in my mind that Will would have stacked on another goal, had he had the chance. He only played the first quarter on the field. He was goalie in the second and mistakenly was benched for the entire 2nd half. I think the official rule is that kids must play at least two quarters, so he technically played enough time, but I think it was lopsided for some of the kids. Mistakes are made, no big deal.

They both also had end-of-the-season soccer parties today as well. Will and Noah's was at a nearby park and they had a blast playing on the playground with their soccer friends, eating hot dogs, and getting trophies. As soon as we left there, we went home for a rest and headed back out for Ethan's party. His was at the YMCA, and was equally fun. A couple of the parents went all out and got about 15 pizzas, soda, juice boxes, cake, ice cream, etc. I received a trophy for being an Asst. Coach, and one of the parents even got me a gift certificate to one of my favorite places - Dunkin' Donuts. Can't wait to use that. After they ate, they played in the YMCA pool, which they love. It has a big water slide and all sorts of water spraying everywhere. Definitely better than our pool!

Time for us to go in the spa...

Will They Ever Get Better?

Geesh! Chris stayed home with Ethan on Tuesday. He wasn't feeling well himself. By Tuesday night Ethan was feeling much better and felt fine yesterday morning. I checked on him a few times throughout the day and he said he felt great. After dinner he had soccer practice and I think that did him in! He came home and read for quite some time before falling asleep. He then woke up in the middle of the night throwing up again. So, today I am home with him. Hopefully he'll be feeling okay for tomorrow. So far this morning he has been feeling fine. He made himself some toast while I was in the shower. At least he picked toast over a Pop-Tart!

This weekend I am meeting my mom and sister in South Carolina to visit my grandmother. She fell and broke her hip and is facing nearly the identical situation as Buppa did. It is so similar it is almost eerie. To top it off, just after she thought she was making good progress in her therapy, her therapist told her she would probably be wheelchair bound for the rest of her life. While most people in their mid-90's might not argue that, my grandmother has always been and still is fiercely independent. Although, at the risk of another fall it is probably best. She broke her other hip a few years ago. I look forward to spending time with her. I wish it could be for longer and that the boys could see her as well.

The boys are having a "Boys' Weekend." Of course that will involve Miss Abby but they said that was okay since she was just a baby. I just hope that they take good care of the dogs while I'm away. I do 90% of the dog duty so it worries me when I have to entrust them to someone else. All the boys have their last soccer games of the season and their end of season parties on Saturday. I think their day will be quite busy. I'm not sure of the other top secret activities that they have planned. I do know that they will be spending Chris' gift certificate that he got for dressing as a woman and taking third place. How fitting for a Boys' Weekend, right?

It's Official...

The boys have all thrown up. I'm hoping that we can now move on! Ethan was the latest victim and hopefully the last.

We took Miss Abby to the vet today and she weighed in at 36.4 lbs. The vet thinks she will be between 80 and 90 lbs. He said that she was nice and thin and is just going to be a big girl. She had her last set of shots today.

We are sandwiched between some fairly sizable wildfires. Luckily the only thing we can see of it is black smoke. It smells awful and isn't helping me recover from my cough. Tis' the season for wildfires. Many people have lost their homes to the south of us. It is very sad to see all of those homes burning on the news. Hopefully all that rain from the north will make it down here at some point. The ten day forecast doesn't look too promising though- hot, dry, and windy.

Better again, then sick, then better again!

So, Noah woke up Thursday and said he felt better and wanted to go to school. He went and had a good day and went to Night of the Arts. Friday I saw him sitting alone in the shade during recess. I went over to him and he said his stomach hurt. We went to the teacher's lounge and got some Sprite. He still wasn't feeling well so I let him come back to my room to rest in the AC. As soon as we got home he threw up all over the kitchen again! Unlike when he was with Chris, it was not pure water this time! We go to the dog park every Friday after school and the boys LOVE going. Obviously Noah was in no condition to go, so Melissa was kind enough to pick up Hanzie, Abby, Ethan, and Will and took them along. Noah fell asleep the second they went out the door. He was feeling better by the time Chris got home and insisted that we keep our plans with Sophie and meet her for her birthday dinner at Tijuana Flats. He had a banana and juice that we brought along! Saturday morning he said he felt fine and wanted to play soccer.

Ethan's team tied 0-0. He played a very arrogant team so it was nice that they held them off the entire game.

Noah in much better spirits!

Mr. Will scored the two goals in his game! After soccer all the boys napped and then we headed over to Sophia's 4th birthday party. Everyone had a great time despite the mid-90's!
The plan was to sleep in tents at the Eagney's after the party. We came home to take care of the dogs and pack the tent. When Will got out of the car he said his stomach hurt. He was very pale and I asked him if he thought he was going to throw up. He insisted that he wasn't and came inside. I told him to get the bucket just in case and he said that he was fine and wanted to get the tent and go. I told Chris I didn't think it was a good idea for Will to go since he looked so terrible. He talked to Will and Will once again insisted that he was fine. He sat on the chair as I was going out the door to walk the dogs. I told Chris to get him the bucket because he looked awful. No sooner did I say that and he threw up EVERYWHERE. I think he may have hit everything in a four foot radius around him. Sadly I was headed out the door with the dogs and Chris was left to clean it all up. Ethan and Noah suddenly decided to walk with me as well. They needed some fresh air they said! Needless to say, the camp out didn't happen. Will got sick once more during the night but has been fine since. Now we'll just have to see what happens with Ethan!

For Mother's Day the boys made me my favorite fat-free blueberry muffins while I walked to dogs this morning. They were delicious! The boys thought so too. We tried to tell Will not to eat much but he had two muffins and a banana! After I headed off to Super Target and Super Wal-Mart for groceries. The boys and I spent a couple hours in the pool this afternoon. It has been a relaxing day for once! Tomorrow we are ready for the 18th to last day of school!

Night of the Arts

Thursday night was Night of the Arts at school. It is our favorite after school event of the year. Our art teacher, Amy Fernandez, and our music teacher, Tara Jones put together an incredible event each year for the kids. Amy has the kids save a few of their best art pieces throughout the year. At the end of the year, they go through their saved work and choose one to display for the big night. Amy hangs an art piece from each of the 500 kids in the cafeteria. It is a beautiful sight! Tara performed along with the 5th grade chorus. The boys were very excited this year since their performance opened with a High School Musical song!

Will poses with his selected piece.
Noah chose his flowers and butterflies.
Ethan's was hanging high behind the refreshment table so he wasn't able to pose with his.

The media specialist, Cathy Lennon, also displays writing from each student at the school in the media center. Here is Ethan's.
And Will's. (Noah's was very similar to Will's since they are in the same class.)

Tonight after we got back from Ethan's soccer practice, Noah told me that his stomach didn't feel good. Minutes later, he projectile vomited all over the kitchen cabinets and into Abby's dog bowls. He almost filled up half of her food bowl - from a few feet away. Now that's talent!! Luckily (for me), it was almost all water. Doesn't he look so peaceful?

Last night was breezy and warm so we all walked to the park to play some tennis. It isn't that long of a walk. It is 1 mile each way. The boys rode their bikes so they had no problems. Well, I shouldn't say that, Noah took a few spills in the soft sand in the park's parking lot. But, Noah could take a spill just about anywhere! The dogs however were completely exhausted after the walk there. They both drank an entire bowl of water while we were there and still barely made it home! We got home at 7:30 and the dogs went right to sleep. Abby got her second wind at 10:00 and was ready to go full force! Ugh... I normally walk her from 8:00 to 9:00 or so and she sleeps for the rest of the night.




Abby and Hanzie were more than willing to be the ball retrievers! Unfortunately, Hanzie tears apart a tennis ball in about 2 seconds flat and Abby would want to play fetch forever once she got her mouth on one so they had to watch in agony as the balls flew by!


We have been spoiled this spring. It has been quite cool here. This week has been the first consistent week of high 80's. Today we tried to walk 1.5 miles after school but only got 1 mile in. The boys were complaining, Hanzie was dragging me to any spot of shade he could find, and Abby was walking like a turtle by the end! Tonight it should be cooler and we should be able to get a few more miles in. Ethan has soccer practice so hopefully he cooled off enough to perform!

Crystal Apple Awards

Today I attended a luncheon with the principal from my school at the Smyrna Yacht Club. I was nominated for the Crystal Apple Award by my principal. My brown bag was my swag bag. The boys have already torn though it and claimed nearly everything except the spa stuff as their own! A local artist made the awards and it is really cool. You can't tell very well from the picture, but it is a hand painted wave apple.
The boys just before digging into the swag bag.
On an even more exciting note, my friend Sam had her baby today! His name is Josiah. I haven't seen a picture yet, but his parents are beautiful so I'm sure he is quite the cutie! Welcome to the world Josiah. You will be the highlight of discussion during the Southern Belles Lunch Bunch next year!

Lemonade anybody?

On Sunday, the boys and their friend Emily from down the street decided that they wanted to have a lemonade stand to earn money for Mother's Day presents. With such a good intent, who was I to deny them of this lucrative, uh I mean noble, opportunity.

After we set everything up, Emily had to go get ice cream with her grandmother, so that left them alone to do the selling. We are not inherently the best sales people out there, but the boys did a great job yelling "lemonade" whenever someone was remotely close to us.

I tried to teach them that the most important thing about setting up a business is, "location, location, location," and we unfortunately do not have that on our street. There is little to no traffic coming through our way. It was a lesson hard learned. All in all, I think they made a few dollars. They were thrilled though, which is all that counts.

Here they are squinting into the bright sun.

Before I took the time and made them this awesome sign, I made them submit a business plan to me. I wanted to be sure that they were in it for the long haul. And they were! They lasted a couple of hours, which is a couple of hours longer than I anticipated.

Here are Ethan and Noah deep into selling mode.

Okay, I just took a dog quiz and this is what I found to be the best breed for me... cRaZy!

Wow, You're a Labrador Retriever!
Labrador Retriever
The Caretaker
Your family is what makes you tick, and you never "flea" from an opportunity to hang out with the whole gang. A family picnic complete with hot dogs, deviled eggs and a refreshing swim in the lake is hard for you to stray from. Your sparky temperament and dogged intelligence mean you are not only a blast to hang out with, but great to work with as well. Your close pals appreciate your patience and forgiveness, knowing you'd rather let sleeping dogs lie than dwell on the mishaps of the past. Your dashing good looks may one day lead to a modelling career, if only you can tame the unfortunate clumsiness that sometimes causes you to go flailing from the catwalk. Learn more »
FAMOUS LABRADOR RETRIEVERS: Bill Cosby, Jackie Onassis, Dr. Phil, David Beckham
LIKELY PROFESSIONS: Doctor, Sales Executive, Teacher

This week has been jammed packed as usual. Monday was soccer practice and Math Night at school. I was very disappointed with Orlando Science Center's math night materials. We did a science night with them last year that was really neat. The math was totally lame. Without a doubt, the teachers could have put together much better math games. I signed up to volunteer and since it was pouring rain, and I wanted to boys to go to bed on time, I had them stay home with Chris. Well, they didn't miss a thing! Wednesday was another round of soccer practice. My new portable hammock arrived Thursday. I love it! I can set it up in the yard and read while the boys and dogs play, and then fold it up and put it in a bag to have all the space back. While I was out testing my new hammock on Thursday night the boys were playing football. Noah was not amused at Abby's attempts at a sack and got quite upset when she took the ball from him while he was playing quarterback. He finally had enough and said, "Abby Labby Fiona Yoyo Schrader, you need to stop!" I nearly cried after he said it. You see, Will gave Abby the middle name Fiona. Now, since Fiona is an ogre, it does sort of fit her. Then Ethan gave her the nickname Abby Labby since she is a lab. Chris and I both call her Abby Yoyo after Abiyoyo in the children's book. Apparently Noah wasn't too sure which one to use and went with all three!

May 2nd is Space Day for those of you that are not aware. Lockheed Martin sponsors a program called Signatures in Space. Mike works for Lockheed and gave me the information to sign up. Since I love to take on more than I can handle, I signed our school up. All the kids in the school sign a poster sent by Lockheed. Once it is signed we send it back and Lockheed scans all of the posters on a disc. The 500 schools that are selected each year all get put on a disc and the disc goes up on a shuttle. Our disc will go to the Hubble in October or whenever that mission finally goes up. (Don't worry Greg, we sneaked your name on the poster.) They then send the poster back with a picture and signature of the crew that took it up so that it can be displayed. So, it was my job to organize the signing of the poster. Since we live so close the the Kennedy Space Center we had two guest speakers come to talk to the kids. Mr. Collins gave an awesome presentation to the 4th and 5th graders on the booster recovery. He has been recovering things at sea for NASA for the last 27 years. That same team is trained to rescue astronauts if necessary and various other jobs.
Then, Mr. Womack from NASA came during the 3rd grade presentation and brought lots of cool stuff to show the kids. He brought REAL space suits. That helmet I'm holding is crazy heavy! The suit that Mr. Womack is holding weighs 35 pounds. These are the suits that they wear during launch.
Mike and I put a presentation together for the other grades. Their favorite part was learning about the space toilet! All in all, it was worth the extra effort of planning the day. The kids all loved it and were very interested in space. They asked great questions and seemed to learn a lot from the day!

The boys had their 5th soccer games of the season today. Will had an awesome penalty kick goal to score the only goal of the game. He came off the field after and said to me, "Do you know why that looked easy? Because it was easy for me!" Once again, kids say the darnedest things! After the game everyone went to see Iron Man. Everyone knows that the only movies that I watch fall into the drama or romantic comedy categories, so I volunteered to stay home with the puppies. I had to go to the grocery store and had to jail the poor puppies. Since I only have one crate they had to be crated together. Luckily Abby's crate is quite roomy and they could both stretch out. We still have a divider in there so she doesn't even have full use of the crate yet. Not the most beautiful designer touch to the home, but at least she will have plenty of room in there!

Looks like a few Jackasses, or are they Mules?

Yep, they're Mules, as confirmed here. Well, the big one may be a jackass. That is still unconfirmed by me at this point, though.

Anyway, if you read the link above, you will know that the boys are wearing Camelbak Mini-Mules. I use a Mule for all of my outdoor adventures and the boys have wanted their own for a while now. A few weeks ago, I bet them that that they couldn't go two weeks without video games and their computer. I didn't figure they would win, but they did, hence the Camelbaks.

I hid in this tree while the kids were walking around a small loop by themselves.

And this is the part where I made a loud noise, jumped out of the tree, and scared at least one of the six kids. (Notice how high Ethan jumped!!)