Karson's Party plus a Shep update

Let's start with Sheppy.  Finally, this morning, I hear laughing and cutting up in the boy's room before they come running down the hall... this is a big deal because the last 5 days or so he has woken up crying because his eyes hurt.  I think it is safe to say that he is good to go!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our buddy Karson had her 6th birthday party on Saturday.  Hunter, Ashton, and I went (Shep was still sick).  The boys had a great time celebrating with Karson and playing with their friends.

Hunter and the birthday girl... Love Hunt's face in this one... "mom, please put the camera away."

 

Blowing out the candles

Licking the icing off of her crown.  The only thing surprising about this is that she wanted a crown on her cake!

Hunter and his awkward swimming

Beautiful Madi (Karson's cousin)

Smashton taking a break from the water gun fight.

Mr. Connor "talking" to his Granna

Hunter going on ride from Scott (the most kid-friendly/ patient man in the world).

Edit- Jodi sent me a picture of Karson in her birthday present from us.  As I told her, I love shopping for an athletic little girl! :) An Under Armour shirt (and Nike shirt), soccer shorts, sleeve holders, and soccer socks!!!!!  Love it!

Thanks Karson for invited us... we had a great time!  And Happy Birthday!

The 4th (and 5th) in pictures

What a week!

It has been filled with high points... Chad being home all week. Taking a mini vacation to Tweetsie Railroad.

And it has been filled with some not so high point... 2 doctor's appts for Shep.  Diagnosis of Adenovirus.  High fever, red eyes.

Here is a short summary.  Last Sunday, we noticed Shep's right eye was red.  It didnt really look like pink eye, but we are not doctors.  By Sunday evening, he had started running a fever.  The fever kept creeping up finally reaching about 103.5. At this point, we took Shep to the doctor Tuesday afternoon.  He had elevated white blood count and was prescribed an antibiotic, keep doing motrin, and some free sample eye drops.

We debated whether or not we should do Tweetsie or not at this point and decided to go for it.  Drove up Wednesday and spent a few hours in the park Wednesday night, stayed in hotel Wednesday night, and then spent about five hours in the park Thursday.  We got home about 5ish Thursday night.  I will let the pictures tell the story of the Tweetsie trip.

On the trip, we could tell Shepherd was not himself.  He ran a low grade temp and his eyes stayed red but he was a trooper.

Friday morning, he woke again with a lowish grade temp (100.5) except now he was crying that his eyes were hurting.  I called the doc and got him an appt.  This time, they did more extensive blood work, he peed in a cup.  The doctor said he was going to call infectious disease to consult with them.

Anyway, at this point he has a diagnosis of Adenovirus.  I dont feel like typing it all out but basically he does have the major symptoms and unfortunately all you can do is treat the symptoms.  Normally it occurs in older kids.  It normally runs its course in 7-14 days so hopefully we should be about done with it.  Thankfully his fever seems to be gone, his poor eyes though... he woke up at 7:15 crying this morning and honestly did not/ could not open his eyes until 8:15.  However, he is seems to be fine right now.

I feel bad for him though because he didnt get to see his cousins yesterday, he is going to miss a friend's bday party today, and then he will not get to see his other cousins tomorrow.  :(  Say a little prayer for him that he is truly on the mend.  Somehow, noone else has caught this contagious yuck.


Here are the pictures from our 4th of July trip to Tweetsie.

Boarding the train.

Shep and daddy watching a show.

The main downside to Tweetsie is that Hunter was way too tall to ride the kid's rides but isnt quite ready to ride the adult heights.  One of the few disadvantages to being a tall kid.

Brothers riding the boats

Ashton and daddy "winning" on the chair lifts.

Shep and Hunter riding with me on the lifts

Group shot.  And Sheppy smiles :)

Love this picture though the quality i poor.  They all loved the ferris wheel.

In the hotel pool....I cant help but think of the song, "I like it when you call me big poppa." when looking at this picture.

Hunter bug in the hot tub

Jumpin'

Jumpin part 2

Shep "swimming"

Day 2 at the park started with the ferris wheel.

On the mini train

Goof ball

Poor Shepherd had just gotten stung by a hornet or wasp 20 minutes before... add that to him not feeling good and he was just a hot mess.

In the train tunnel with the glow in the dark mice.

This picture shows the state of Shepherd and his eyes... the next day his right eye was swollen half way shut.

The boys participating with Tweetsie cloggers- I wanted Chad to go up since he clogged in his day.

All the kids up on stage

While the older boys went to do the ferris wheel yet again, Shep and I stopped for ice cream and caught another show.

Can Can dancers.

Picture with  me and the boys.

The last picture of the day.  haha, we were ready to get home.

So much for long story short.   :)  If you  made it all the way through, wow!

We did have a great time.  Hunter and Ashton had a blast and Shepherd had fun though he was not 100%. If I had to pick a week for one of the boys to be sick, this would be it.  Chad was home ALL week.  Football basically starts next week so hopefully the sick bugs are behind us!

To Charlotte

My little brother is all grown up.  He moved to Charlotte a week or so ago and has started working at a big bank.

Nolan not acting at all grown... doing jumping jacks...

or something similar to jumping jacks

True to his word, he also began his family with the addition of Riggs, my new dog nephew. 

Meet Riggs.  Such a sweet boy.

He is quite drooly, but such a happy dog!

The boys, mom, and I (and Molly) went up yesterday to meet Riggs and check out Nolan's new house.  It is crazy to look at Nolan totally living on his own (well, except for his 2 roommates). 

Riggs chewing on his present from Queenie.

One of Rigg's friends, Cooper.  Cooper was visiting when we came over.  He is another precious dog.

Riggs is just a doll of a dog.  We think he is around 2 or 2 1/2.  Shepherd likes the 2 1/2 guess then they can both be "two n e half".

Hunter and Ashton loving on Riggs.  Shep took a bit of time to warm up to them because they are a tad on the wild side.  But, he was good with them by the end of the visit.

Cousins... Molly and Riggs

Since Nolan is so close to GrandmaDean and GrandpaGordie and since we had not seen them in awhile.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon with my grandparents and my aunt.  GrandmaDean had called last week telling us that blueberries were going to be on their last leg pretty soon so if Shep wanted to get his fair share, then we probably needed to make a trip. 

Tons and tons of blueberries

For those who dont know, Shep LOVES fresh blueberries.  He doesnt really like the blueberries in the stores and normally doesnt like fresh/ frozen berries.  He wants the right of the bush berries.

We braved the 105 degrees and went out to pick.  Ashton was amazing. He gave details about almost every berry he picked.

One of the few Ashton ate, he was more concerned with getting the most berries in his basket

Taking a break.

In the middle of the bushes.

Shep picked maybe 5 before sitting down beside the basket and eating them by the handful.  I dare say he ate 50 or more before I had to cut him off. 

Shep shoveling them in his mouth

Sweet boy

Hunter, the wise child/ lazy child, sat inside and did not pick a single berry.  He did come out before we left and climbed the infamous tree that all children in our family have climbed. 

The only pic of Hunter.  He climbed crazy high in this tree.

GrandpaGordie looked good.  He made a brief appearance during the blueberry picking giving "instructions" on which berries Nolan and I needed to pick.... felt like old times. :) He has moved to the bottom floor of the house so he doesnt have to climb so many steps.  And GrandmaDean amazes me with keeping it all together.

Precious GrandpaGordie, with his scooter, pointing out the best blueberries to Nolan... hahaha

It was a packed visit but so fun. Thanks for taking the trip with me mom!  Looking forward to a good week where hopefully the heat will break a bit.  Chad also has this entire week off so hopefully we can do something fun.