Well it has been a very crazy couple of weeks, many of you know my grandpa (papa) has been battling cancer for quite some time now. About 2 1/2 weeks ago he went to the Kansas City hospice house and was doing quite well the first week and they even decided they were going to send him home after a few more days because he was doing so well. Then about 2 days later he made a turn for the worse. Last weekend he was communicating just a little not much, even though he could barely talk he was able to pucker up for a few valentine day kisses from my grandma. He was also still so worried about my Grandma being okay after he died, we just tried to reassure him we would take care of her. By Sunday he wasn't really coherant at all. We all spent Sunday with him just talking about our memories of him. We were told he could hear us so it was nice to be able to remember his life while he was still with us. He passed away Thursday morning. Wednesday night we were all with him and they even let my Grandma get in bed with him to sleep. So she got to spend his last night cuddled up with her husband of 58 years.

Here is PaPa last summer

I think we were all a little relieved to know he was no longer in pain. He was 83 years old and had a very good life, and he will be missed very very much. The wake is tomorrow(Sunday) and the funeral is Monday. He is a WW2 veteran and recieved the purple heart and bronze star.

On a lighter note, the kids are all doing great. We had Rylies conferences and she is doing so well in school and is reading really well. Not much new going on with Owen just his usual goofy little self. Katelin is standing a lot and has tried taking a few steps here and there so it won't be long. She also has started to dance, it is so funny, she likes the madagascar song "move it, Move it". Chet has a video of it on his facebook and I will try to upload it to mine. Shes been sick for about 3 weeks and is on her third antibiotic so hopefully this one does the trick. Her 9 month checkup went well and she was 19 lbs 11oz.

This is Rylies pretend wheelchair for Katelin, then Daddy being a horse and a pic of Katelin with her Daddy, she sure does love him.

I hope all is well with everyone, we're seeing a lot of signs of spring so I hope it gets here soon. Were ready to play outside and have some good weather. Talk to you all soon.

Happy Birthday Owen!!!!

Well it was 4 years ago today at 1:32am that Owen entered this world and it has been such a wonderful 4 years. I wanted to stroll down memory lane and share some pictures of Owen over the past 4 years and recap what a blessing he has been to us. Owen was a very serious baby but has become such a hilarious little boy. When he was a baby Rylie loved to push him around in a laundry basket and now she just likes to push him around.lol.
He is a very sensitive little boy and gets his feelings hurt very easily but he is also one of the funniest people I have ever met. Something funny he said a few months back was when he dropped his bouncy balls in a parking lot and when his daddy got them and gave them to him, he said "Daddy i'm going to hold my balls real tight".
He has worn his spiderman costume almost daily since halloween and loves superheros, last year it was diego, and the year before it was Mickey Mouse. Who knows what his obsession will be next year. He likes to help Daddy outside especially when he does a burn pile. And his battery powered jeep and now his new John Deere Gator entertain him for hours.
He refuses to call Rylie by her name but calls her RyRy. He has become such a wonderful big brother and loves Katelin so much. He wants to have cuddle time with her and is always picking things up off the floor if he thinks she could choke on it. I am proud to say that Owen is a mama's boy and I hope that never changes.
Owen has really done amazing since starting preschool this year. The teachers have told me how he will help show the kids how to do things when they have trouble and is always the first to help clean up.
I could go on and on about how wonderful of a little boy he is but I won't so I hope you all enjoy seeing the pics from the past 4 years.

My big old belly. Isn't that a sweet little face. Cheeeeeeeeeese.

Peek-a-Boo Happy Bday RyRy Owen's 1st xmas.

Riding his tricycle. Yummy!!!!! At the park.


At the park again. Learning to walk.

My Boys! Sweet Owen. On his trike again.


Like father, like son. Day at the pool.

Ready for work. Dylan and Owen. Look at that face.

3rd Birthday! Reading while getting a haircut.

The proud big brother.

First Fish. First day of school. Playing with RyRy.

Owens 4th birthday party on Saturday with beautiful 70 degree weather.

Katelin is everywhere now, she crawls like an old pro. Her poor little knees are bright red, if anyone knows any remedys for her chaffed knees please share. I feel she will move to walking before too awful long. She also had a tiny part of her tooth pop thru yesterday. Rylie and Owen both had 2 teeth by 5 and 6 months so I was surprised to see it took so long for Katelin but it just goes to show every baby is different. I finally figured out how to download a video so I wanted to share her crawling with everyone. We are getting back to our normal routine of life, kids are back in school, Chets back to work and I start school on Wednesday. I am applying for the nursing program this semester so please keep your fingers crossed for me, i'm very stressed out about it but i'll either make it or I won't so no point in stressing too much. Cheston and Jakee came over Saturday and stayed until Sunday so we really enjoyed spending some time with them, they are both doing well. Matthew is still in Iraq, fortunately he is a mechanic so not in the most dangerous job but still dangerous just being there. I hope everyone enjoys the video...........talk to you all soon.

I hope everyone had a great christmas, the kids had a lot of fun at our house christmas morning, unfortunately I woke up with a bad case of the stomach flu. At first I thought maybe I had food poisoning from my birthday dinner at strouds on Tuesday but it was the flu. I was really really sick so I didn't get a lot of great pictures but I did get some. Santa was very generous with the kids and ate all the milk and cookies they left for him. Unfortunately the stomach flu hit them on Saturday but they seem to recover pretty quickly.

Here are their stockings and then Rylie and Owen opening some gifts.

Katelin wasn't too thrilled with what Santa left at first, then when she unwrapped her presents she just wanted to eat the paper.

Owen after opening his stocking and Rylie trying to get everything out of hers.

Josh, Julie, little John and Jasmine came over on christmas eve. Jasmine is almost 3 months, it seems so long ago that Katelin was that little.


Christmas evening we went to Nanny and Papa's. You can see Katelin trying to eat the paper again and Haylie and Rylie in their matching american girl outfits from Nanny.

We have been so lucky to have some beautiful warm days this week. Owen helped Daddy stack some firewood he cut and Rylie helped keep an eye on Katelin by pushing her around in her stroller.

Katelin really enjoyed being outside, we spent almost the whole day outside on Monday.

Here is Katelin walking behind her stroller with her new little baby doll. She just gets around everywhere now and has officially began to crawl, only a few crawls here and there but we can see her confidence building and she will be going at full speed anyday now.

I hope everyone is having a safe and happy new year, we opted just to stay home with the kiddos and we played some games with them. It's 11:15 and as expected Rylie is the only one still awake. Her and Owen have really enjoyed Rylies time off of school, they've been playing nonstop. I have been a big softy with Katelin and been letting her sleep with us more and more, I had planned on trying to break her of it while we were all on winter break but the time has gone quickly and she is still not liking her crib so well but we will keep working on it. I love letting her sleep with us but I don't want to have problems later so we will see what happens.

I just want to wish everyone a wonderful and happy 2009. We plan on 2009 being a great year for our family.

Well it is only 4 days until christmas and believe me Rylie is counting down the days. We have had a lot of fun since winter break began..........Last weekend we had our annual christmas gathering with "the girls" and the many many children we have produced. We had a total of 14 kids here (we had 3 extra so only 11 belonged to us). Here is a picture of 12 of the 14, the two youngest Taylor and Katelin weren't picture happy. We had so much fun and all the kids just played and played. Owen was out within 5 minutes of sitting down to watch a movie.




Katelin was in the party mode here, taking after her daddy!!!!

Here are my 3 kiddos ready for Santa, they are very good kids, we're so proud of them so definitely no coal in their stockings. Owen looks like one of Santa's elves here.

Haylie and Rylie turning into such beautiful big girls. And Rylie at her school christmas party, she is doing so well in school and she talks to all of the kids in her class. It is amazing how much she is coming out of her shell. She is still shy but is becoming more outgoing all the time.

We had a lot of fun last night........Brandin, Natalie, Haylie and Dylan came over and the kids made gingerbread houses. Then we got in our jammies, made some hot chocolate (well chocly milk for Owen) and we all watched polar express. Tomorrow the kids and I are going to make some sugar cookies.

We got Owen's old house out for Katelin and she really likes it. It won't be long until shes crawling through it. She gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth now so we will be in trouble very soon. She also is saying mama and i'm sure noone will believe me but she seems to say it when she sees me and not just babbling it, she is pretty darn smart.LOL. She had her first xmas cookie and really liked it and she even shared it with Daddy.

Well we want to wish everyone a very safe and merry christmas, I will definitely post more pics shortly after xmas. Also I wanted to let everyone know even though you can tell in these pics, Katelin is starting to get some hair. It is not a lot but there is some there so I had to share we are very excited.LOL!!!!!!!

We are really looking foward to xmas this year, our family is complete so we will all be together and we are finally living in the country where we have wanted to be for so long. Chet may have an oppurtunity to go to Massachusettes soon after xmas to do some storm work and make really good money. If he goes he would be gone for probably around 30 days, we would really really miss him but we just can't pass up the oppurtunity.