Our Sweet Zoey... rest in peace.

Our sweet little guinea pig, Zoey, left this world today. Our dog Sadie got into Kaylee's room without me knowing and got her out of the cage and picked her up in her mouth - which killed her. I went upstairs to find Zoey dead on the floor. It was devastating because the kids loved her - she was so sweet. She was always the first to come out and greet us when we came to feed her - and she loved to be held and would always pur. The kids were all at school - and so I had to wait until they got home to tell them. It was a tough few hours. I was glad Kendahl came home from work a little early to help me break the news. We sat them on the couch and explained what happened. They immediately all burst out crying at once. It was so sad.

We invited over our next door neighbor friends, Rachel and Dustin, as well as Kaylee's friend, Kiyah. They all sat down to the table and wrote letters and pictures to Zoey. Then they got up and read the memories. They then put them into a plastic bag and put them in the box with Zoey. They also put in all of Zoey's favorite things like timothy hay, aspen chips, food, her favorite treat, flowers and a rock that Konnor wrote on that said "I ♥ you." May our little friend rest in peace. The kids also painted headstones - they are drying and will be put on the grave tomorrow.

Kamryn sings Jingle Bells... sorta.

Daddy's home!

Kendahl came home last Saturday from a 6.5 week trip to Dover AFB in Delaware. We missed him a ton and were excited as the time neared for him to return home! At the last minute, he decided to change his plane ticket to come home a day early. We decided NOT to tell the kids - and to let it be a surprise! So I got a babysitter and went and picked him up. When we got home, he went into the backyard so that he could come in the back door and surprise them!

He literally shocked them - almost speechless! Konnor even jumped. Kaylee said her first thought was "Is that really my Dad because he isn't supposed to be here until tomorrow!" Hence you will see them stare at him for a few seconds before it really sinks in!

It is so great having him home with us again. It is awesome to finally be together as a family again!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Daddy and the kids a few minutes after he got home.

Kendahl was worried that Kamryn might not remember him. As you can see, he had nothing to worry about. :)

Kaylee's poster. I had no idea that she could draw letters like this!

Konnor's poster for Daddy. You can see that he drew himself holding Daddy's hand.

Kenna's poster. The big thing in the middle is "a big banana." She also drew Mommy and Daddy off to the left side holding hands. :)

Our day with Daddy!

Since Kendahl was gone for quite awhile, we decided to take the kids out of school for a day and be together as a family. We decided to go on a picnic and visit Dauset Trails. It was a perfect day - the weather couldn't have been any better. And I think we saw 4-5 other people the entire time we were there. We basically had the place to ourselves. We love Dauset Trails - it's so nice to be out in nature and get to see so many different animals!


The kids decided that they didn't want to sit on the picnic benches because last time there were Daddy Longlegs crawling all over - so they opted to sit in the back of the van and eat their lunch.

There are huge fish in the water. Kendahl was fascinated. He stood there forever. I kept thinking... let's go! I think he wishes he had brought his fishing pole.

Classic peeking-out-from-behind-the-tree picture.

Kaylee with the deer. Can you spot it?

Konnor saw these geese off the trail. So he went to see how close he could get to them. The entire time we were teasing him and telling him that they were going to bite him. He got as close as he could and then...

...something must have spooked him because he ran for his life. As you can see, we have no idea what spooked him because it definitely wasn't the birds!

Rare pics of kids with Mom. I'm generally behind the camera (on purpose!)

My little sweet pea.

The entire time we were walking along, she would say, "I have a GREAT idea! Let's take a picture right here!" And then she would stand there and pose.

Kamryn checking out the otters. She wasn't phased by most of the animals - until they moved. Then she would start crying.

Daddy and the kiddos.

Feeding the goats is one of our favorite things to do at Dauset Trails!

Kamryn loved the goats too. Oh wait. Maybe not.

Kaylee throwing food to the pigs.

The kids watching the pigs eat and listening to them snort. We won't talk about the smell.

As we were heading back to the car, Kenna stopped along the way when she saw these daffodils. I told her just to look at them - but before I could stop her, she picked one for Kendahl and one for me. It was a nice (illegal?) way to end our day together. :)

New pics of kids

I took pics of the older three kids on Sunday. I'm LOVIN' my new camera!! :)

5 months old!

I'm a tad behind with this post - but Kamryn is now 5 months old! I took this picture the day she turned 5 months. She is a happy baby - and very content. She has yet to roll over but I think it is just because she doesn't care to. She's happy just laying there. Tummy time hasn't helped either. She rolled over once... but that was on accident. Her hair is a little out of control. I'm not sure what to do with it. It's all over the place. It keeps growing in - but she's not losing any of it. Lately I've been trying to put a bow in it to try to keep it laying down - but sometimes that doesn't work. It just really likes to stand up on her head. She's a sweet baby and so fun to cuddle and make giggle. We love her to pieces!

Halloween

Just thought I'd throw up this picture so we can remember what Halloween was like this year. Unforunately it rained. So we talked to the kids and told them we really didn't want to drive them around in the rain. They were fine with it (surprisingly) but they did decide to put on their costumes - and sit on the front porch and wait for the the (crazy?) brave souls who came to get candy in the rain...

Kaylee didn't want face paint again so she just put on her soccer uniform. Kenna put on the witches hat (minus the witches dress). But Konnor got completely dressed in his Batman costume. Together they sat and had fun giving out the candy instead! (Don't worry - they did get candy the week before at the "trunk-or-treat" so all was not lost this year!)