Yesterday afternoon we meet Nancy and Carole at Long Doggers. The boys were excited to see some relatives, but were confused on our explanation of how we were related. I finally just left it at, "They are Schraders!" That seemed to work.

We have been enjoying Spring Break! With trips to the beach, park, soccer practice, and swimming, the boys have been quite busy. My mom just left to take them to the beach again. I stayed behind to clean a bit since with all of the fun we have been having that has been ignored! Tonight we are meeting Carole and Nancy for dinner. They are cousins on the Schrader side. Carole actually lives nearby and Nancy is in town visiting. The boys have requested that we go to Long Doggers!

The boys have been enjoying life with Abby. She is a very good puppy. Of course she likes to chew so we watch her closely, but other than that she has been great. She has been sticking to her chew toys and hasn't "ruined" anything yet. She happily goes in her crate at night and goes right off to sleep. She has only been getting up once at night to potty and then quickly returns to her crate to go back to sleep. We finally have her up to a decent length walk and she is fairly easy to tire out! Hanzie still will not play with her. He lets her lay in bed with him when she is tired, but does not enjoy her attempts to play. She is very well mannered and will just walk up to him and lick him. As soon as he shows displeasure she turns to leave. Chris seems to finally be warming up to her. It is quite hard to resist her. I'm sure it helps that she is such a calm, well behaved girl. Today she had her first baby carrot. I do believe that may be her new favorite chew toy/snack.

Today was the first soccer game of the season for the boys. Ethan's team was tied 0-0. I have a feeling it will be like that much of the season. The field that they play on is WAY too big for their age group. Will and Noah's team won 2-0. Noah even scored a goal in the first game!

After the games the boys came home and took a nap while I went grocery shopping for their "Kids Choice Award" party. They are eating much of it now. They are having pigs in a blanket, mozzarella sticks, turkey pepperoni, cheese, crackers, salad, popcorn, Rice Krispie treats, cookies, etc. Sounds appetizing all put together like that, eh? When I got back from the store we went to the dog beach. The boys and the dogs had a blast!

Abby jumped right into the water. She wasn't daring enough to swim yet, but she went in up to her head. She promptly got out of the water and rolled all over the sand! She was covered. You couldn't even see her face.
Abby looking off at the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse in the distance.
Hanzie enjoying the breeze.
Sandy paws!
Finley relaxing in the shade of Melissa.

Even bigger sandy paws!
And she's out!

School's out for Spring Break! Okay, it is much funnier when the boys' band sings it. Today was a teacher duty day so the boys got to hang at home with Grandma. When I got home from school we headed off to the dog park.

I'm surprised Abby played at all. I walked her before we went to the park so she was exhausted before we even left. This is at the end of her dog park stay. She was wiped out! It was the only time I could get her to sit still long enough for a picture!
Hanzie did very well with the mass of puppies surrounding him. He also went for a walk and was exhausted before we got there. He found a nice, shady spot in the cool sand and watched all the puppy craziness.
Here Abby and Daisy do their best impression of vicious beasts!
Conga line!
After the dog park, the boys dove into the pool for the first time this season! It was only 83 degrees in there so no chance I'll be getting in! Will couldn't get in because of his eye so he is jamming out on Guitar Heroes III. You can guess what Hanzie and Abby are doing! Zzzzzz...

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!