Grandpa Harry

My Mom remarried when I was almost 16. My step-dad Harry is one of the best guys I know. He has always been the favorite Uncle to all of his nieces and nephews, and the tradition has carried on with the grandkids. It was his birthday yesterday so I thought I would post a little ditty about him!

This picture was taken a few years ago. He grew up on a horse and is always taking the kids out to help feed them or to give them rides.

This picture was taken last summer when we went up for a visit to Snowflake. Harry has had heart failure for 10+ years and this was taken soon after a lot of his complications began to fester.

This is a picture of Harry just a couple of days ago. He has been in and out of the hospital this past year, mostly in the hospital this last month. After trying to get help REPEATEDLY at the Heart Hospital with NO LUCK (that's a whole other story) and then trying a doctor at Gilbert Mercy, with high hopes, but again, NO LUCK (I don't know what it is about doctors who think it is okay to send a dying guy home saying he's gonna be okay). Well, my Mom knew things weren't right and took him to the Mayo Clinic ER 2 days after being discharged from Gilbert Mercy and they were able to take 50+ lbs of water weight off of Harry in 72 hours. Hooray for my Mom for sticking with her intuition and keep seeking for help, or he would not be with us still. Last Friday Harry was approved to be put on the heart transplant list, without which they gave him about 2 months to live. So today I am grateful for my Step-Dad Harry, my Mom, and the doctors at the Mayo Clinic!

Trip to Houston Part 1: The Journey There

Over spring break we took a road trip to Houston to visit Scott's Great Aunt Gail. We had so much fun that it is going to take several posts to let you get a peek inside our great adventures!!

Family

My kids are so lucky to have lots of Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles. We caught some great moments with some of them when we went to see Baby Aubrey.

This is Grandpa Great hanging out with 3 of his great granddaughters.

This is the "newest" Great Grandpa...Grandpa Al. The kids adopted him into the family right as soon as they met him!

Grandpa Al playing ball with the kids. Cousin Logan was ready when he saw the camera!

This is Granno. I love this picture because it has been a while since she has felt good enough to play with the kids and they LOVE her!


I wonder if any of the Grandparents are paying attention to Lindsey? haha This is Grandpa Leg, Grandpa Al and Granno. (Yes, most of the Grandparents have some sort of nick name)

Here we have Uncle Rob making Lindsey giggle. He is such a fun Uncle!

Uncle Rob and Aunt Shelley making a Kaylin sandwich!

Here is grandma Great holding baby Aubrey while Hailey is "helping"!

Baby Time!!!

We have been quite lucky around our family to welcome two of the cutes baby girls around! The first little one belongs to our neighbors, Dan and Linsey. Her name is Avie Jo and is adorable!
I have to add that Linsey showed up at our door with the baby to show her off VERY soon after she came home from the hospital! We love Linsey, she is awesome! We are glad the Nelsons are our neighbors!


Hailey thought she was such big stuff holding this tiny thing!




Lindsey pretended to know what she was doing!




Kaylin is an old pro at holding babies by now!

Up next is our beautiful little niece Aubrey. We didn't get to hold her when we visited her in the hospital because she was having some breathing issues and also was under the lights to fight jaundice. So this was our first time to hold her.

Hailey was so brave after practicing on Avie that she would stand up with Aubrey to hand her back to me.

Lindsey doesn't quite look so unsure of herself here, but only barely! She loves her new little cousin!

Kaylin would hold the babies as long as you would let her. She snuggled right in with Aubrey and both were as comfy as can be!

Piano Time!

Here is Kaylin playing the piano. Her teacher doesn't do recitals, so I thought I would post a couple if things for the grandparents who might be interested!

This is a song that Kaylin composed. She loves making up songs!

Here is the Amazing Hailey and her "Upside Down" Song. (Inspired by our friend William!)

Okay, so Lindsey didn't want to be left out of the whole piano video thing, so here is her rendition of an "Upside Down" song. So cute!

Meet my 4th child...Tali

Tali is my unofficial 4th daughter (although technically I am NOT quite old enough to actually have a daughter her age). She fits right in, in fact I swear she and Kaylin were cut out of the same mold. HELP!!!! :)

Trip to the Zoo

We (minus Kaylin) took a trip to the Zoo a few weeks ago with Stephanie and her kids. The weather and the company were so nice. I wish we had time to do things like this more often!

Soccer

Hailey and her cousin Olivia tried their hands (actually, their feet) at soccer the past couple of months. It was fun to see them play together.

Hailey was a little overwhelmed at first, but by the end of the season she loved chasing the ball and the kids around the field....well, as long as it wasn't too cold and windy!

At one of the last practices, Hailey actually was assertive enough to kick the ball all the way down the field, and for once, I was prepared and got this video!

Kaylin also played soccer and LOVED it! She hadn't played for a couple of years and so it took her a few practices to get the hang of the positions, but she jumped right in and had a great time!

This was the pizza party after their last game. Kaylin LOVED her coach! Thanks Coach Renee for all you did! Their team finished witha 6-1-1 record and were 1st place in their league.

A Simple Request

So, I really do have great intentions to add to my blog. I log on when I have a few minutes to spare, but before I begin my post, I have to check out what everyone else has posted. By the time I am done with that, my few free minutes (an some that were not quite so free) are LONG gone. So to all of you people who's blogs I keep catching up on, I just have a simple request.....please keep the blogging to a minimum so I can use my time to add to my own blog! HAHA

Okay, so I don't really want you to quit blogging....it's not you....it's me!!!!

Scott

So a post like this is totally NOT like me. I tend to like to keep things pretty much to myself when it comes to things like FEELINGS!!!! But I decided that this was one time I would take a chance and open up. So last night I had planned on going to bookclub, but Scott has to get ready for an 11 year old scout camp this week end and I offered to stay home and help him get ready. He has been so great at putting the kids to bed for me when I go out with my friends to book club, or birthday dinners, or whatever other event I decide I want to go to. I thought that I could return the favor and try to help him for a change. Well...turns out I wasn't feeling so great, but was going to do what could anyway. I got the older girls in bed and went to Lindsey's room to read while she fell asleep....which didn't happen. Anyway, after close to an hour, Lindsey FINALLY fell asleep, BUT SO DID I!!! So, poor Scott got no help from me at all. When I woke up this morning, aside from getting some of the camping stuff ready, he also fixed my jogging stroller, becasue the front tire decided to eplode last night, AND he emptied the dishwasher, AND refilled it with MY dishes from making applesauce earlier in the day. So I am feeling REALLY grateful for such a great husband right now. How is is that I got so lucky?

Swinging Away!

We got to Kaylin's soccer practice a few minutes early the other day and that meant Hailey and Lindsey had a few minutes to play on the swings. Can you tell they had a blast? It is funny to see Lindsey copy everything her big sisters do. Sometimes it is really cute, other times....well lets just say that not every behavior Hailey and Kaylin have needs to be repeated!!

So, we are in Tucson at Scott's parents house right now as I am trying to get the swinging video uploaded, and I notice Lindsey is outside getting a drink out of the spicket of a big water jug. I was laughing about it thinking it was rather smart of a 2 year old to figure that out...and then I find out that Kaylin showed her how to do it! I thought it was rather amusing that this occurred just as I am writing about how not all of my kids' behavior needs to be repeated! Oh well, I guess worse things could happen!