Grammie turns 95

About 1 year ago my dad and his siblings moved my Grandma from her long time home in Kansas to Loveland, Colorado.  It has been such a blessing getting to see her more.  In August she turned 95 so we celebrated with a big party.  After living alone for over nearly 30 years it was clear that my Grandma loved all the attention.  We skipped all the candles, but still sang happy birthday and at the end the kids started singing, "are you one, are you two ... after 5 Taylor chimed in and said we better start counting my 10 's. :)

A few days later, on her actual birthday Emily and I got the pleasure of eating lunch with her while the other kids were at school.   It was fun to meet many of her "lunch friends" and see her all smiles from all the attention with flowers, balloon, cards and greetings.   Happy Birthday Grammie ~ we love you!





First Day of School

Wow what a change a year makes. The kids were actually excited to go back to school this year. Taylor and Brandon started on a Tuesday and Caleb started full day Kindergarten 2 days later. We are so thankful for great friends, teachers and schools. Taylor started 5th grade (her last year before middle school) and Brandon started 3rd grade.

1st day of School 2012
Taylor ~ 5th grade
Brandon ~ 3rd grade



Brandon giving Caleb a hug before his first day of school.




1st day of School ~ Full day Kindergarten




The Whole Gang!



Ouch!!!

We knew Taylor could pitch a fast softball, but Charlie found out just how fast.

Charlie was catching with Taylor in the back yard when he was distracted by one of the other kids and missed a throw from Taylor. It hit him in the head, just above his eye. Needless to say it was a bloody mess and required 7 stitches

The doctor did a nice job stitching him up. He had to take a few days off from work. He said he would only wear a face mask when catching with Taylor from now on!!

A Softball Season to Remember

Taylor had an amazing softball season this summer.  It was so fun because she already knew many of the girls from last year’s team and they had an outstanding season by finishing 2nd out of 14 teams.  Charlie and I were blown away at how much Taylor improved this year.  She really stepped up her game both in pitching and hitting.  In fact she became the go to pitcher and pitched in every tournament game.  She really improved on her accuracy and speed throughout the season.  In the semi-final game of the tournament, it went into triple overtime and Taylor pitched all 6 innings striking out 12 girls and only allowing 1 run.   In addition to her excellent pitching she hit a home run, 4 triples and several doubles.



2012 Y10 Girls Fastpitch Softball ~ Stars



Taylor up to bat



About to hit a double!



Getting ready to hit a triple!

Recieving her metal from her coach

One of Taylor's teammates mom did "Rally Braids" for the tonrnament final.  Only wish I could braid Taylor's hair like this:)

Taylor and her Coach ~ Coach Brian.  He did a great job!



Taylor and some of her good frineds



Little Emily Turns 4

It is hard to believe but our baby girl is 4 years old.  We celebrated her birthday at our house with lots of family and lots of dolls.  Since Emily is all girl and loves everything pink and girlie she was so excited to receive lots of dolls and princesses.  It was a fun evening filled with cake, ice cream and lots of smiles.

Our New Addition ~ Aspen

Aspen ~ 8 weeks old

In February our beloved Golden Retriever Toby of 11 years died peacefully in his sleep. Our whole family was very sad as he was a special part of our family. It did not take long before we all realized how much we missed having a dog around our house so in April we start actively looking for a puppy. In late June we went to a breeder in the area and picked out our new puppy and then on July 9th we were able to bring her home. She is a beautiful, English Cream golden retriever with a sweet, loving disposition. After much debate and about 30+ possible names we settled on the name Aspen. We hope and pray she will bring as much love and companionship to our family as our beloved Toby did.





Taken the day we picked our puppy ~ 51/2 weeks old

Toby and Brandon

4th of July

Ths year our family was blessed to celebrate the 4th of July with Great Grammie, my dad and his wonderful girlfriend Bobbie. About a year ago my dad moved his mother from Kansas to an assistant living center in Loveland, CO. and it has been such a blessing to have Grammie more involved in our family activities over the past year.   Since she lives right by the Loveland Lake and has an ideal location for watching the fireworks we decided to have the party at her place.  Due to the Colorado fires and a very strict no fireworks ban we passed on the sparklers and found some fun light up spinner toys for the kids.   Overall we had a wonderful time and the fireworks show was awesome!   







Caleb turns 6

It is hard to believe, but in June Caleb turned 6.  Our family tradition is to let the kid’s pick where they would like to eat for their birthday and this year Caleb picked Chuck e Cheese.  It was a great time for all and offered us a time to reflect on how much Caleb has grown over the year.  He is turning into such an amazing young boy and we are so blessed to have him in our family.  

Lighting the candles 

So excited and for the first year he waiting until we were done singing to blow out the candles.

Blowing out the candles

Digging in!

 

Opening presents







Dancing wth Chuckie! 





Big hugs!




This picture says it all!