Cole's Playgroup Birthday Party

Thank you so much to all of our playgroup friends that were able to come to our party!!! Cole had a great time playing with all of his friends and, of course, EATING CAKE AND ICE CREAM!!!

Kamp's 4th Birthday

We headed to Greentown, IN to visit family and celebrate Ella and Cole's cousin Kamp's 4th Birthday. We gave him a blow-up pool with a slide...and it was a HIT!!! The kids had a blast playing in the water and splashing around. The bottom picture is an attempt at all of the cousins together...

from left to right...

Kamp, Korbin, Kreed, Ella, Cole, Bailey (Not pictured is Baileys new baby sister who is just a week old, Briar)

A week late!

Happy Easter

only a week behind!!!

We are getting better...considering we celebrated Christmas on Valentine's Day, celebrating Easter only a week behind isn't so bad. There was no way that the Easter Bunny was going to visit if Papa couldn't be around to celebrate too, and since the Bulldogs were having such an awesome run in the Final Four, we took the day to relax and prepare our nerves for the championship game instead to tracking down the Easter eggs. So this Sunday, we got all dressed-up and went to Church and then to the McGraths for family, food and fun!!! It was really fun to watch the kids see their Easter baskets, search for Easter eggs and play outside in the beautiful weather! Better late then never!!

Final Four Weekend!!!

What a truly awesome weekend!!! We couldn't feel more blessed to have such an amazing team and organization to root for. We spent a few long cold minutes in the rain on our way to the free concerts before the first game, but thankfully the weather pulled thru and it turned out to be a great day for a Darius Rucker and Daughtry concerts. It was a great way to start the festivities. You really couldn't beat the ending though!!! Beating Michigan State to head to the Championship Game was GREAT!!!! The game against Duke, I went into it just hoping that we would make it a game. I had no doubt that the team would play their hearts out, I just didn't know if we could handle them size wise. At half time, I knew we could take them on and make it a game...and maybe even win! We came up on the wrong side of winning, but you can't call them losers! They played a hell of a game and we are SO PROUD!!! Not that we don't always wait with baited breath for the start of the Bulldog season...but we are so excited to see what next season will hold for out beloved Bulldogs!!!!

BU to THE FINAL FOUR!!!

So...we didn't get to travel with the team this year to the first and second rounds, or to the sweet sixteen and elite eight...BUT WE ARE GOING TO BE WATCHING THEM IN THE FINAL FOUR IN INDY BABY!!!!! This would have been Ella's 4th NCAA tournament trip, and we were so bummed that it was just going to cost too much, but we are thrilled that we are going to get to see them play at home again!!! It is really awesome to see these boys achieve so much. We couldn't be any prouder!!! Being the crazy fans that we are we put the kids down around 8pm and had them up again in Butler PJ's to head out to Hinkle to welcome Papa (Jim McGrath-Butlers Sports Information Director) and Nana and the team home to Indy after their BIG WIN!!! We arrived around 1:45am, the team arrived at around 3am and we were home at about 4:30am. Ella was up at 9:30 this am, which came far too early, and we finally woke Cole up at 11:30am. Thank goodness for great naps this afternoon that were greatly needed!!!

Scott's older brother Chad was holding Cole and they were "caught" on camera!!! Check them out!!!

http://www.wthr.com/Global/category.asp?C=136236&clipId=4657339&topVideoCatNo=136234&autoStart=true

Ella couldn't have been prouder of Matt calling her "his favorite little fan!!!" 

We can't wait to see our Bulldogs play again in Indy on Friday!!!

The 1st of many, I'm sure...

a black eye! Cole's of course! He hit it on the corner of a chair in their playroom and it was immediatly bruised! Oh, well!!!

While funerals may not be the best time to take pictures...we are all not dressed up together that often!! Aren't they cute!!! It was so nice to see Scott and Collin (Scott is holding Ella and Collin with Cole) and my parents too!

Rest in Peace Dog-Dog

Now that this is said and done, we really feel that it was the best decision for Kaizer. We went back to the vet because he was having more difficulty with walking and was having incontinence. The vet thought at that time that he probably didn't have a stroke due to the fact that it is progressively getting worse, but rather he has a spinal tumor that is probably cancer. Given his age, the life expectancy of boxers, and a small test that detected bladder stones and an infection there is little that should be done to diagnose or attempt to treat. We decided to try an antibiotic for the infection knowing that getting it down him was going to be next to impossible. He continues to get worse and was spending a lot of time in his bed. Therefore we decided that it was time. Unfortunately that fell at a really rough time for our family. A cousin of mine on my mom's side passed away almost 2 weeks ago at the age of 38. The day the kids and I got back from illinois and his services we got the word that my grandpa, my dad's dad, passed away. Kaizer started not doing well on Tuesday and we had him put down on Wednesday before we left for Illinois again for my grandpa's services. 

While it has been a rough week, it was nice to spend some family time together with Kaizer. You could really see how much Ella and Cole loved him and what a great dog he was. He will be missed!!