My Grandpa

I have only ever known one Grandpa in my life. My Grandpa Shumate. He was pretty much everything you think of in a Grandpa. Loving. Funny. Nice. Caring. Always letting you sit on his lap. He was the greatest. 

Some of my most favorite memories of my Grandpa are of things like how he always, and I do mean ALWAYS had a fridge in his garage fully stocked with Root Beer and Welches Grape Soda just for his grandkids. Or when I was younger, I remember going on walks around the block with him and he always had LifeSaver mints in his pocket that he would share with me as we walked. Or how he always would help us fill up a bucket of birdseed and we got to go help him throw the birdseed all around his yard, and we would see all kinds of birds, like road runners, or jack rabbits coming to eat. We would often go and help him pick lemons, oranges, and tangerines from his trees in his backyard. And how sometimes, as we were getting packed up and ready to leave his house, he would pull me aside in his garage or somewhere out of sight, and slip me some money for things he had heard me talk about wanting... like games, CD's, movies, or books. He would always slip me the money very slyly and whisper "Don't tell Grandma!" and then smile and give me a hug. 

He was constantly helping anyone and every one he could see weather be family, friends, or neighbors. He was never ever mad. He was always happy. He loved to tell cheesy little jokes. And no matter what time of day you arrived at his house, he was there waiting to feed you, or give you anything else you may need upon arrival. He was such a generous man. And he genuinely loved his family.

(Photo of Grandpa when he came home from World War II in June of 1946)

He was born in Oklahoma on August 4, 1920. He served in World War II, and was overseas when my Dad was born. He didn't even see my dad until he was about 18 months old.  He worked for 30+ years for the U.S. Forest Service. Recently, my Grandma told us that while they were married they moved 42 times! He met my Grandma when she was just 14 years old and he was 17 while they were learning Archery. They married 20 days after Pearl Harbor was attacked. As I was recently looking at old picture of my grandparents, I saw several of them together and in every one, he had his arm around my Grandma. When I told my Grandma that I thought that it was so cute how he put his arm around her in every picture, she just smiled and said, "Oh yes, always".

He died on December 17, 2011... 10 days shy of his 70th wedding anniversary.

He is survived by his wife, 2 sons and their wives, 7 grandkids, and 20 (almost 21) great grand kids.

His sweet smiling face will be missed at all our future family events, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to have him as my Grandpa.

Mardi Gras!

A few weeks ago, Brayden's class had a Mardi Gras party and parade. They spent the whole week learning about Mardi Gras and making a float for their parade. So on the day of his parade, I went over to the school to watch. All the kids in his class put on masks, had noise makers, and had beads and gold candy coins to throw to other kids when their parade came through their class. 

Here was their float. Each kid in his class got to work on a section of it and decorate it however they wanted. They had music playing and all the kids lined up behind it and danced through the halls making LOTS of noise with their noisemakers. They had a blast!

Brayden really loved being able to dance around and be loud and obnoxious through the halls.

His whole class! They all had fun doing the parade.

Brayden had fun learning about Mardi Gras. I must admit, he knew more then I did about it. It was a fun unit to learn about. Gotta love teachers that help their kids learn things in such fun ways!

Blue & Gold Fiesta!

A few weeks ago was Brayden's Blue and Gold banquet once again. The theme this year was "Mexican Fiesta with a Positive Attitude." He really wanted to make his cake look like a taco for the "fiesta", but I thought that would be a bit too much work, and not really sure if it would turn out so well. So we compromised on a cake to look like a tostada. And thanks to Google, I found some ideas to make his cake possible.

First thing we did was make a yellow cake and put some chocolate sprinkles in the batter so it would look more "corn tortilla" like.  We used colored frosting for the refried beans, sour cream, and guacamole. The "meat" was Cocoa Krispies. The "Cheese" were orange and yellow Starbursts that we rolled flat and cut into "shreds" of cheese.

We cut up licorice for "tomatoes" and green Fruit Roll ups made the "lettuce". 

Brayden was really happy with the final product. 

He still loves everything he gets to do for Cub Scouts. He has so much fun with it!

Landon Shenanigans

Our sweet little Landon really keeps life entertaining and busy around our house. He's always into something. 

One day I found him playing with Brayden's Bucket of Army Men on the floor. 

He was very intent on setting them up, going "vroom vroom" with the tanks, and knocking things over.

 He loved setting up this fence.....

 And then kicking it over.... again and again. It kept him entertained for quite a while.

 He also entertained himself one day by emptying out one of the toy boxes and sitting in it. 

Apparently that is also highly entertaining.

 The funny thing is he also likes to clean up the toys as long as he can sing the "Clean Up" song from Nursery as we pick up the toys.

Just today as I was busy helping his brothers with their homework, he came downstairs like this....

He had taken off his clothes and put his whole body into ONE leg of Conner's pj pants. It made for quite the funny looking dress. Oh and you can't forget the Oreo's smeared around his face that he had also snuck while I wasn't paying attention.

Oh the joys of a 2 year old little boy. They are always up to something. He has a way of making us laugh and pull out our hair all in the same day. He has so much energy and is WAY too smart for his own good. He gives us loves, hugs, and kisses all day long. I just love this little boy!

Cleaning the House is Fun to Do!

Recently, the boys have decided that they wanted to earn money to buy some new toys, specifically, a new Transformer. Because apparently the roughly 95 Transformers we already have just aren't enough. So I told them if they wanted more, they had to earn the money for them. So they got to work! They were willing to do any chore I asked as long as they knew it was going toward their Transformer fund. They cleaned bathrooms, their room, vacuumed the whole house,  helped mop floors, pulled weeds outside, and washed walls. 

Even Landon was willing to help. He wasn't about to be left out of what his brothers were doing so he "helped" with some of the chores too.

They have done chores for a few weekends now, and have about half the money they need for their new Transformers, so they are well on their way. 

It's so nice to have kids old enough to help out with all the chores around the house!

The Toothless Grin!

A few months ago, Conner had discovered he had his first loose tooth. He was beyond excited, he has been waiting for this day for a few years, ever since his big brother lost his first tooth. I had kind of forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when he showed me how loose it was getting. A few days after that, I had just put them to bed, and had come back downstairs for some much needed R&R when I hear footsteps coming down the stairs. I was ready to get mad at whoever was trying to escape their bed, when Conner comes running in and showing us his tooth is super loose. He goes and shows Patrick, and before I knew it, his Daddy had pulled his first tooth out. Conner was so happy! He couldn't wait to leave his tooth for the tooth fairy!

He took his dollar he got from the tooth fairy, and some other money he'd saved up and made a trip to the Dollar Store. He was in heaven getting to pick out something. He chose a foam football and a Scooby Doo frisbee. He is such a funny kid, and is super cute with his new toothless grin. 

He now has his second loose tooth, and is already planning his next purchase with his tooth fairy money.

Kicking Off the New Year Better Then The Last

2011 was a rough year for us. To say the least. 

We are really REALLY hoping 2012 holds good things in store for us.

Some things we are looking forward to or hoping for in the New Year are:

*Patrick's new job!!! It is so nice for him to have a job again! It is just perfect for him, and it feels so good to be getting a paycheck again after over a year of not having one. He is a Comptroller for an Environmental Company. Yes, Comptroller is a real position, I didn't know that until he became one and I Googled it. He is also in charge of HR for the company. The best part of his new job is that he is working from home. This is great for several reasons, but mostly because it still allows him to be able to do his Physical Therapy when needed, and he can take breaks during the day if his back is getting sore. It is also great because we only have one car, which would have made commuting to work a bit challenging. Especially since he can't drive yet. We are so happy and grateful for his new job! It is a HUGE relief to be among the employed again and is most certainly an answer to many many MANY prayers over the past year.

*Getting back to a somewhat normal life. I feel like the whole last year was a crazy blur. I hope that we don't repeat that craziness this year. A boring year could be really great!

*Here's hoping for no one in our family getting paralyzed, hospitalized, or having surgery. I would really love to avoid any of those things for a long time!

*I hope at some point this year we can stop buying diapers and Landon will get potty trained. I really hate potty training, but love not having a kid in diapers!

*We hope to make a few trips to Arizona and Utah. And hopefully California... our kids have been dying to go to the beach.

*Overall, we are just looking forward to a new start. After the trials and challenges we have had, we feel stronger and better from them, and look forward to what the Lord has in store for us. We have learned a stronger and deeper trust in Him, and know that all of these things have been for our benefit. While I would never want to repeat the past year, I am truly humbled and grateful for the things we learned and the blessing our family received.

I think 2012 could be really great for us!

Life With A 9 Year Old

Happy Birthday to our awesome little Brayden!!! 

He turned 9! It's hard to believe every year when he gets older, where does the time go? 

He had a great birthday. 

We started the day by opening presents. 

He got a fun Lego Wii controller with the Harry Potter years 5-7 Lego game. He's kinda in love with Legos right now. 

He also got some Transformers, money from grandparents, and a Beyblade from Japan. Funny thing is I had no idea that it was actually coming from Japan, and it didn't get here in time. I honestly don't know what the difference is between this Japanese one and one you can buy here, but he has some friends that have these Japanese ones and he REALLY wanted one. So he is anxiously waiting for it to come in the mail.

We went out to lunch to Taco Bell (his choice) and he also got to go to the movies for his big day. 

He wanted a Lego cake for his birthday, so I found this fun idea on Pintrest. Not my best work, but he liked it.  

 Make a wish!!!

We had a fun day celebrating Brayden! He is a great kid. He has lots of energy and really likes to be the center of attention. He's very social, and sometimes that is a problem at school, but overall he is a good kid. He loves Scouts, Transformers, riding his bike, helping with his baby brother, pizza, tacos, and playing video games. He is all boy! He is doing great in school too. He is a great helper around the house and is a funny kid!

Hope you had a great day Brayden! We are so happy you are part of our family!

Christmas 2011

We had a great Christmas! The boys got lots of great things and it was such a fun day.

We of course started out the day running downstairs in the very early hours of the morning to see what Santa had brought us.

There were small breaks while opening presents to figure out the new Transformers Santa left.

I just loved Landon with this Elmo backpack on while playing with his new Cookie Moster. He loves those things! Thanks Santa!

I made the mistake of wrapping one of Landon's presents in Mickey Mouse wrapping paper. He is in LOVE with Mickey Mouse and couldn't keep his hands off this present that had "Mouse" all over it. He had ripped it in a few spots before Christmas morning and I ended up having to hide it from him. He was very excited to finally get to open it. It was a Mickey Firefighter and Fire truck. He was so happy!

After all the presents were opened, it was time to get to putting together Lego's and playing with toys!

We played for a while and ate home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast before getting ready for church. Yay for 1:30 p.m. church time on Christmas!

This year instead of doing our own family Christmas dinner, we got together with a few other friends and their families and had a big dinner all together. It was so fun. We need to do that every year. The kids got to play with their friends and we got to hang out and chat with our friends too. It was also nice that I didn't have to cook everything for the dinner, we each brought a few things to share, and it was a great meal! We have some awesome friends!!!

What a great Christmas! 

Cookies for Santa

After all the birthday celebrations on Christmas Eve, we got down to business and made some cookies for Santa. The boys had fun decorating a few cookies for Santa and a few for themselves too. 

They picked out a few of their favorite cookies they'd decorated and left them on a plate with a Dr. Pepper for Santa and hurried and got ready for bed. We had been tracking Santa on his journey that night on Norad and he was on the east coast, so we thought we better go to bed so he didn't have to skip our house.

Merry Christmas to all.... and to all a good night!!

Santa's Wonderland!

The week before Christmas I took the boys to see Santa at the Santa's Wonderland over at Bass Pro Shop. We were so busy during the month, that we didn't get around to going until the boys were out of school for Winter Break, unfortunately thats what LOTS of other people did too. Luckily we went with some friends, so it made the hour and a half wait in line a bit more fun. When it was finally our turn, Landon walked up holding Brayden's hand until he was about 10 feet from Santa, and changed his mind. I tried to just set him on Santa's lap, but he wasn't having any of that, and started screaming. So just Brayden and Conner got their pictures with Santa. Landon decided that Santa wasn't too bad when he was handing him a candy cane, but he only got close enough to snatch the candy cane from Santa's hand, then ran off. Oh well, maybe next year. 

We are looking forward to Christmas!!!

Helping Grandpa

While we were in Arizona for Thanksgiving, the boys spend most of their time outside in Grandpa's backyard. Between the swing set, the bikes, and lots of grass to run around in, it was heaven for little boys. They played out there everyday with their cousins and had a blast. 

One afternoon, I caught Landon "helping" Grandpa clear leaves out of the yard. A broom with totally get leaves out of the rocks....right???

Conner was supervising the project.

 What a cute little helper!

There ya go Grandpa. You're welcome!

The Polar Express

Over Thanksgiving, we went to my parents house in Arizona. While we were there, I took the boys on the Polar Express with my sister and her family. We had SO much fun. The boys just loved it. They got to get some new pajama's for the train ride. So fun to ride on a train in your pj's!

We got to wait next to the tracks and watch the train come in. It was a really old train, from the 1920's.

 This is the boys standing in front of the train, it was so big, it was impossible to get it all in the picture. We stood in line and waited for our turn to board.

 Here are the "Chef's" taking our tickets....

 Watch your step..... those were some pretty big and steep stairs.

 Then we waited for your journey to start to the North Pole!!!

Once the train was on it's way to the North Pole, we got some on Mrs. Clause's special cookies and hot cocoa! They were pretty dang good!

Landon was not enjoying the train at first. It was big and loud, and he had been in a car all day driving from Vegas to my parents house, then another hour and a half to the train. He was done. But it's amazing what a cookie can cure! He was a happy camper once he got one.

 Then the Conductor came and punched our tickets. 

As we rode, the story of the Polar Express was read to everyone by the Chef's. 

At one point in the book, it talks about how when they went through the woods you could see wolves running beside the train. The Chef told the boys to look out into the woods to see if they could see any. Later I was told they saw 13 wolves running in the woods.  hehe! They were just SURE there were some wolves out there!

 Landon and his little baby cousin Carter had fun playing with each other and taking each others binky's. They entertained themselves while the older kids were still watching for more wolves!

 Finally, we made it to the North Pole. But since it's so cold at the North Pole, they have you stay in the train. But you could see Santa, his reindeer, his toy factory, and his house. There were elves roaming about and getting everything ready for Santa. 

Lucky for us, Santa found time to come on the train and give everyone a bell for the first gift of Christmas. Landon wasn't too sure about this Santa guy. He reluctantly took the bell though. 

The boys also got their bells and we were off again back to the train station. We sang Christmas songs on the way back and heard lots and LOTS of jingle bells.

It was so fun! We were sad that Patrick wasn't able to go with us, but we figured a one and a half hour train ride wasn't the best thing for his back. The boys have already asked if we can go again next year with Daddy this time. I sure hope so! 

It was a great way to start our Christmas season! Thanks Auntie Janette and Uncle Jeff to taking us with you!!!!