Goodbye Grandpa Joe...

Today my Grandpa Joe passed away. I will miss him dearly for he was a great man and I loved him so much. Although he was a man of few words, I always felt the love he had for me and my family. Grandpa, thanks for all the time that I was able to spend with you, for always letting us use your pool, for helping me out whenever I needed it, and for being an amazing father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend.

Love you Grandpa...

Macie...

She is so dang cute!

Need I say more?...

Skiing

We went skiing last month and I am finally getting around to blogging about it!

These two rocked the slopes...they are sooo good! Both of them learned to ski with out the edgy-wedgy on the tip of their skiis.

Paden had a few really good falls, but most we found him smiling.

My boys on the lift.

Macie on the big hill. Look how well her form is!

We had a great time!

Tubes, Tonsels, and Pain...Oh My!

Wednesday we decided we didn't have enough drama in our lives and wanted to add more. Hadlie has suffered from ear infections for almost her entire 15 months of life. It was definitely time for tubes in her ears.

This is Hadlie after she calmed down...20 minutes after coming out of the anesthesia. The first 20 minutes included thrashing, screaming, kicking and arching her back!

In the evening, Hadlie was dancing around, talking and singing. I think she couldn't believe how much better she could hear!

Paden had enormous tonsils and so we decided to take those out. He has been snoring for quite awhile now and we are sure he has sleep apnea as well.

These 2 pictures are Paden's "before" pictures...notice the smile!

Here is Paden "after". When they wheeled him into where we were, he was screaming, and kicking the hospital bed! My children apparently don't wait up from drugs too well!

He was in quite a bit of pain... boo hoo.

This is the "after" picture, the little red spots are where the tonsils were. When the doctor came out of the surgery he said, "Paden's tonsils were HUGE!" They rate them from a 1 to a 4 (4 being the biggest) and Paden was a 4 plus! They completely touched each other! WOW!

A sledding we will go...

New Years day was the perfect day for sledding. All the kids had such a good time and needless to say, it won't be long before we go again!

All geared up!

Travis giving Ben, Hadlie and Macie a big push.

Just enjoying the ride!

Paden making new friends...

The kids are finally old enough to carry up their own tubes and sleds!

Hadlie had a ball!

Anytime the sled was getting ready to launch, Hadlie reached out for a ride!

Macie and Emma enjoyed spinning down the hill!

Hadlie was starting to get the hang of this sledding thing...she even tried to help lug the sled up the hill.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The kids get a chance to meet Santa this year...

Mrs. Clause made the trip with Santa this year and read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" She was so dang cute and had the attention of each and every little child!


This is Hadi sittiting listening to the story before actually sitting on the "Big Guy's" lap...


Once she had to get that close, it was a whole other story.

Macie and Santa

Paden was one of the last kids to get his present and the chance to sit on Santa's lap and he sat so patiently just waiting for this! He is so happy.