Monday, August 6, 2012

WOW! What a year!






Wow!  We have had a wonderful year!  Over Spring Break, we took our children to the most Magical Place in the world....Disney World!  We made it a big family trip, as my sister Karen and her huge family came along, as well as, my parents and uncle Larry.  We stayed together in a large home and visited 4 disney theme parks.....The Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, The Animal Kingdom, and Epcot.  We had so much fun and got some great pictures of everyone.  We were a little concerned on how Taylor would handle a full day at the parks considering how hot the temperature got.  However, she was a real trooper.  We even stayed a full 8 hours at the Animal Kingdom with her.  Thankfully, there was plenty of shade for Taylor to rest in!  The Magic Kingdom lived up to it's name....MAGIC!  We were fortunate enough to get lots of pictures with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Daisy, and even Mary Poppins!  We were very blessed to have such a great family vacation! 

Jeff coached Tanner and Tate's tball team again this summer and it was more than he bargained for!  Don't get me wrong, he loved it and would do it again in a heart beat, but man.....I swear those kids sucked down an energy drink before they came to every practice!  Jeff would be drinched in sweat after a one hour practice with 5-6 year olds.  He was constantly redirecting and trying everything he could to keep their attention.  Thank God we don't teach K-2!  Regardless, the boys had a blast and we loved watching them slide into home plate face first even though the ball was no where in sight!

As soon as school got out for the year, we packed up and headed to Iowa for a fun summer vacation at Lake Okoboji.  Ofcourse, the boys had an absolute blast playing with all their cousins.  They also enjoyed boating and tubing.  Dick, Jeff, and Tim took turns giving the kids whip lash... LOL!  The look on their faces was priceless!  They were grinning from ear to ear with excitement and fear at the same time!  I even tried the tube a couple of times.  Thanks to Tim, I couldn't move my arms for 2 days, but that's okay :-)  Fishing was not great this summer due to the excess heat.  However, that didn't stop the boys from the WHITEHEAD CUP!  I would like to send a special congratulations to Papa Dick for winning his first WHITEHEAD CUP!  May there be many more in the future!

Jeff and I are very much enjoying the last 2 weeks of summer break.  We will soon be heading back to work on August 17th.  Tanner will be in the 2nd grade and Tate will be starting Kindergarten.  Please pray for Tate's teacher.....daily!  Gotta love teachers!  No, seriously....my boys are very good boys.  I have no doubt they will have a successful school year.  They will play soccer in the Fall and then Tanner will try basketball in the Winter.  I am going to attempt to coach Tanner's soccer team, so prayers are appreciated there, too!

Taylor will be turning 4 soon.  She's getting so big and so beautiful.   She's turned into such a cute little girl.  She loves for you to stroke her hair and talk/sing to her and of course she loves her daddy's voice.  Taylor continues to see her cardiologist every 6 months and her neurologist every 3 months.  Everything seems to remain the same.  She has her good weeks and her bad weeks.  She typically gets a nasty upper respiratory infection every 3 to 4 months and then that takes 3 weeks to fully recover from.   It's definitely hard to see her struggle, but her strength is amazing and we love on her even more during those times.  She's our little angel!

~love to you all~

Tammy