Sad Day....

I have a TON , and I mean a TON of pictures to get on here from our recent family vacation to the Adirondacks, but right now my heart is heavy as today we had to put down our dog, Denver. It was one of the hardest thing I've ever had to do, sitting there , watching the life leave your pet. I never imagined the emotion I would have and it is a very strange feeling not having her here. It's a long story but We left for vacation last Saturday, leaving behind a dog, we thought had a bruised leg and would totally bounce back like she often did when she hurt herself chasing a squirrel or something but unfortunatly one midnight trip home for Hugh mid-vacation week, an Emergency Vet visit and ONE weekend home with her it was clear what we had to do. She had a slipped disc and she was suffering. Surgery was an option but at a very high price and it might not even work. Our vet agreed it was no quality of life for our normal very active fun loving dog. She had no use of her hind legs and no control anything. We made the right decision but man it was hard saying goodbye to a dog we have loved for 8 years. It was even harder sitting on Brayden's bed tonight as tears streaming down his face answering 100 questions about what Denver is doing in heaven with the other dogs. We explained she has new legs and is running the streets of gold! He wanted to know if she missed him like he missed her and why she wasn't coming home with her new legs. He also thought it was his fault. Last week he had picked her up and she yelped and that was our first hint she had been hurting, he did not do it of course but in his mind he did. He had been carrying this burden all day. Talk about feeling sick. Ugh.. what a day..we cried and prayed together and all the kids went to bed with Denvers photos tucked under their pillows. So here's a few pics of our dear Denver... who even while she seemed like my 4th kid sometimes and drove me crazy, going in and out, chasing squirels, we deeply miss her already!~ (especially around the dinner table to clean up the food items that fall! ) We were blessed to have her for 8 years! We love you Denver!

We're alive...

Well, yes, we are alive.. just BUSY. Don't really find the time to blog much anymore.. shame on me! Summer has been great, and just has FLEW by!! So nice this summer having Hugh crutch-less , cast-less, boot-less!! (his achillies tear last summer was AWFUL) We have been spending much of summer swimming in our pool we absolutely love and going to Sesame Place and parks (when it's not too hot) We are looking forward to heading up the Adirondacks again on Saturday.. so the mad rush of packing for the kids and remembering everything is here! I love the ocean, but there is something so calming about a lake, and a lot less worrisome for me. Miss Morgan turns 3 while we are away, and I cannot believe how fast three years has gone by. Amazing! She is totally girly and into the princess thing and wearing dresses and playing w/ her babies!! Here are some pics from this summer.. hard to choose which ones to share because I snap a TON..... enjoy!!!

Seeing Snow White with our North Carolina Friends!




Pool fun~!


Pudding wars!!



Howell Living Farm 4 H fair...



Sweet lil' 4 year old!!!


My almost 3 year old beauty...


Growing up...


My sister-in-law made these cakes for her girls b-days.. aren't they amazing!!?



Slip N' Slide fun at the party.. he was really good! (tim put baby shampoo on it to make it slippery... also helped have a no bath night!! :)

More pics....

I went in my neighbors back yard to snap a few pics to put up some new ones in Hugh's office and to surprise him for Fathers Day.. he rarely reads this , so hopefully he won't see them! Enjoy my sweet kids! I had ZERO luck getting them to actually look and smile, but I think some of the best shots of kids are kids just being kids, not so posed... I'm only going to do a few, b/c the kids are waiting to go swimming as well as it's HOT! more to come!

Long time again...

Well, once again, time is FLYING and evenings are busy with it staying light out later and I just don't blog anymore! The school year is winding down, the kids are growing like weeds, life is just busy. End of the year stuff for Hugh keeps him super busy at night which makes for a long day sometimes! But all in all, life is good and we are enjoying every minute (well, most of the time). I have a million pics to post, but will only post a few to give you a snapshot of our life recently.


Splinker fun!

Yes, she got into the Diaper Cream... again.. needless to say, it's up out of her reach now... which should of been done a long time ago...



Hiking at Kunkle Park...
Gav at GReat Wolf Lodge - our little get-away
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Miss Morgan on the slip N' Slide....

Spring!!!

Some more pictures from around here!!! Sorry it's been so long since I posted!

Long time...

So it's been forever since I posted! WOW.. life is just busy I guess! SOOO thankful to have spring upon us! Whatta gorgeous weekend we had.. fun to have the kids in shorts and T-shirts!!! Here are some of "spring " pics!! While I loved the snow we had this year, I am more then ready to welcome Spring!!!

SNOW !!!

So like many, we have been hit hard with SNOW~ Not sure the total amount, but it's well over 35 inches total, probably more! The kids have LOVED it.. Morgan was not a fan when it was blowing but she was tough and stayed out with us! The boys are crazy men on the snow hills and Morgan loves it too! We wiped out once and she had to sit with her Aunt B and Brynna for a bit, then we got her to down again! We've made snow cream (thanks JJ!) and even brought snow in on the days.. well, I was too lazy to go out for a 3rd or 4th time!! I think it's SO fun and it reminds me when I was a kid to go out at night.. it's so fun when it's dark but with all the snow it seems so bright. I took a few shots but they didn't come out that great.. but Here are a few during the day... they are in kind of in random order...
Gav on top of a little fort..


Brothers..


Inside eating our "Snow Cream"


Gav hanging out..


Yes, Morgan is licking ice off the house.. and Yes, I was photographing her...

Hugh cleaning his car off.. the tree to the right lost a ton of branches.. you can't tell from the picture, but there were at least 6 big branches down!


Our pretty house in the snow.. but man, we really need a power wash.. the white looks so dingy against the beautiful snow! Will have to get my dad on that this summer :) If you look to the left, you can see part of our driveway fence which is 6 feet, look how high the snow was there!


Hugh out shoveling for the 5th time that day.. we were trying to stay on top of it, since it was heavy snow and we do our driveway, our house and 2 of our neighbors... our backs were a bit sore! I've already caught him looking on Consumer Reports for snow blowers! Tax money might be used for something additional.....


MAN! It looks SOO dirty! But the snow is pretty!


Inside after the first big storm.. playing with snow in the sink!


Brayden in his igloo


Getting ready to sled... ( I didn't bring my camera to the hill)


Getting ready to go out.. .again!


Miss Morgan hanging out..

And eating ice...