The Grandbunnies!

Are those some cute little bunnies?  Yes, indeed!  That's Keegan, Casey and Caleb, my new crop of grandbunnies!  Megan brought Casey over the mountains and through the snow (yes, snow!) to Gramma's house to spend his First Easter with his cousins.  And they were quite interested in him this time!

It is so cute to see the babies getting so curious about each other!

We had a great weekend, that included an Easter Egg Hunt at our neighbor Paul's house (the 5 acres behind us), 

and one in our front yard, just for Cooper.

  The only photos I got of Cooper are action shots because, like a typical two, he is always in action!  He would not pose with the other cousins, so we couldn't get a shot of all four.  He did have a great time at both egg hunts, and got lots of eggs filled with goodies.  In fact, he ate so much candy, he then threw it all up!  TMI?  But it is one of those memories we will want to laugh about someday.  Actually, we laughed about it this year!  That's what I love about our family.  We love to laugh!  We seem to be able to find humor in just about any situation, and it's great!  We played a game that Shauna and Noah brought over on Friday night and we all laughed until we were in tears.  It was so much fun! 

  On Saturday night, after all the egg hunting, we had a fiesta!  Dad made his famous chicken enchiladas (Yummo!) and carne asada and guacamole.  Delicious!

    On Sunday morning, Kirk, Jenna and I went to church, then joined the rest of the family at the Quarter Chute for brunch.  There were some cute little bunnies there!

My Little Irish Sweethearts

   Yes, they are about as cute as they come!  Caleb is definitely a McCutie!  I was lucky enough to get to have him all day on his First St. Patrick's Day!

And the next day I had this little cutie!  Keegan Jameson is quite an Irish name!  I had Cooper too, but he is not big on photos now that he is two.  And he is often VERY two these days!

Valentine's Day!

I know I am very slow to post this, but better late than never, right? On this, the Babies' First Valentine's Day, I didn't get to see Casey (although his mom texted me a sweet picture of him in a red sweater vest!), but I did get to be with Caleb and Keegan, and Cooper too. We met my parents, the Heberts, and Matt, Kelly and Caleb at the Quarterchute for a Valentine's breakfast. 

The babies are always very interested in each other!

     Cooper enjoyed his presents and his strawberry waffle (yum!)

He also loved the racehorses!

He even got to pet one!

Caleb really liked the horses too.

Keegan liked sleeping in Gramma's arms (which was okay with me!)

And, of course, I also loved spending the day with my first Valentine!  These are the beautiful roses he sent me!  Am I lucky, or what?

I have got so many men in my life to love:  the best husband on earth, two wonderful sons, two great son-in-laws, and now four grandsons!  Wow, how did I get so blessed?

Goodbye Sweet Tobie

  This was one of our family pics taken on Jan 30th, 2009, but I didn't know it would be my last picture of Tobie.  He continued to deteriorate after they went home, and on Feb 13th I got this text from Megan: "We said goodbye to tobie this morning.  He is at the rainbow bridge with rylie.  I hope they are getting along this time."  I cried most of the day.

   Tobie was almost 14 years old.  I took Megan to pick him out at a dog show at the Pierce County Fairgrounds when he was just a tiny puppy.  He has been a part of our family ever since, splitting his time between our house and Megan's.  He often drove me crazy, like when he would herd Jenna when she was little and accidentally cause her to fall down, or the many, many times I had to clean up his barf, or his poop off the kids shoes. 

   But he was such a sweet boy and I loved him dearly.  I loved the way he loved to play with Dustin when they were younger, romping together in the backyard.  I loved the way he herded the ball around the back yard, even throwing it up in the air with his nose (he was very talented!).  I loved the way he knew when the schoolbus was coming, watching for it down Edwards Road, then would run to the door, so excited to greet the kids.  I loved the way he loved to BBQ with Kirk (Kirk was always a sucker for that freckle face), waiting patiently for a little morsel of meat.  I loved it when we caught him spooning with Abby on Jenna's bed.

      There was much to love about Tobie.  But most of all, I loved the way he was totally devoted to my daughter.  He loved all of us, but Megan was always his first love.  And anyone who loves my daughter that much is okay in my book, no matter what trouble he may get into.

     I will miss you Tobie.  It will never be quite the same without you, but I will carry you in my heart always.

Megan's Visit

   January was a fun month because Megan and Casey came to visit on Wednesday, Jan. 27th!  Casey got his first airplane ride at only two months, and he was a perfect passenger, slept the whole way!  Kelly, Caleb and I picked them up at the airport, then hit Babies R Us, then Applebee's for lunch.  Caleb and Casey were very well behaved at the restaurant, although there were some worried looking customers when we arrived.  Caleb did throw a toy at some businessmen, but luckily it did not land in their food! 
   On Thursday, Grandma De De came up and we had all the boys at my house for the day.  Four adults, four kids, but still I think the kids were in charge!  We had a great Oriental Chicken Salad for us girls, mostly breastmilk for the boys, lol, except Cooper.
    On Friday, Megan, Kelly and I, with Caleb and Casey, went to the Supermall.  The Carter's Outlet is a fave for all, so we spent lots of time and $$ there.  Then we went and took Shauna to lunch at Subway.  Again, the babies were great and we got to have a fun girl's lunch out.
   Friday night, Ryan arrived from Tri-Cities with Tobie, and we had dinner at our house with all the kids and grandkids.  Woohoo!
   Saturday morning, Shauna's photographer friend, Tonya arrived to take family pictures.  The house was complete chaos with everyone trying to get ready.  But Tonya did a great job and it was actually really fun.  And we were VERY happy with the results!  We got over 200 pictures!

And finally a picture of Kirk and I with all our grandsons!

We had a ball getting all the pictures, and we will treasure them forever, along with the memories of how funny it was to try to get them!  That evening, after the big boys went to the Sportsmen's Show, Grandma and Grandpa Porter came up and we had a prime rib dinner to celebrate Shauna's birthday.  And we had not one, but two birthday cakes!  Yay, cake!

   Megan and Ryan headed home on Sunday with a sick Tobie-dog, who was not eating.  I told him goodbye and gave him a love, but later I wished I had given him a hug, because I would not get to see him again.

A New Year, A New Decade!

   Wow, a new decade!  This is the one where Kirk and I get fit and healthy!  Yeah really!  We started the year out right by having one of our favorite little visitors on New Year's Day. 

Christmas Day 2009

   I am determined to get caught up!  On Christmas Day, Matt, Kelly and Caleb, the Heberts, and Grandma DeDe and Grandpa Al all came to our house, as is our tradition.  We had to put each of the two babies in the giant Christmas sock, another tradition, for a photo in front of the tree.  They are, of course, the best presents of all!
   Speaking of presents, that gets pretty crazy, with so many!

It can take so long, that some people actually fall asleep...

But, of course, it's not the PRESENTS, it's the PRESENCE of the people you love that matters the most.  We missed Megan and family, but it was wonderful to be together with all the others we love, and especially to celebrate Caleb and Keegan's very First Christmas!