Playing with Daddy

 I'm not sure if you can tell from these pictures but this is a "war" between the kids and Shannon.....it has been a cold winter and inside can be fun!!!

 

Completely separate but Chase loves helping Daddy outside.  Not sure he is helping in this picture but he sure has helped him while he is limited with what he can do following the hernia surgery.

MY BABY!

We all enjoy Cole SO much!!!!

 He gathers sticks for his burn pile......

 and get so mad at Chief for stealing them....

Pets

 These aren't the best pictures at all....the cat only comes in if someone is loving on it.  I about died when I saw the pic below as it looked like Cole was strangling it and the cat's tongue sticking out.  I finally realized it was the orange strip on his shirt showing, NOT the cat's poor tongue.  He get some rough treatment but hopefully not that bad!!!

 HOW did this cute little pup....

 Turn into this big lug????  He is great but getting SO big.......

 He does not know he is getting big....he still has a pup's energy!

Tonsils/flu

On Wednesday, February 19th Chase had his tonsils and adenoids out and another set of tubes put in his ears.  We had put it off as long as we could and we just wanted him to feel better.  He did great that day.  I was worried but he played his tablet or DS with Shannon while we waited.  Walked right back and only started having a fit when I was to lay him on the table for them to put the mask on.  At that point he started fighting hard and actually pulled the tube out of the mask.  But they were pros at it and had him out in no time.  He woke up well and we were headed home by early afternoon.  I knew from Callie that the very beginning was easier than later on.  He had a hard time sleeping and thru up the medicine in the night - ouch.  I stayed home with him the second day and he was pretty good.  I was going to go back to work on Friday while John and Linda watched him but he got upset early morning and thru up his medicine again.  He REALLY wanted me so I stayed home again.  He did go to their house in the afternoon for awhile and I caught a nap:-)  Then we had the weekend and the next week John and Linda were watching him.  He was doing fine but nights were definitely the hardest for him - he would wake up and get so upset.  Shannon had had the stomach flu the Sunday night before Chase had his tonsils out.  I got it the next Sunday night.  It was awful - no break it hurt all the time.  I did not sleep all night.  I was so worried Chase would get it then.  Monday Callie went to school, Shannon to work, Cole to the babysitters, and Chase with John.  I was so sick and even by evening still feeling awful but no longer getting sick.  The kids went to John and Linda's for the evening.  I finally took my temp and it was 101.8 - no wonder I was feeling so bad.  Ran that all night.  Got up Tuesday morning and with tylenol in my I was OK for a couple hours.  Callie was running a fever so she stayed home with me.  Never got sick though and was fine the next day.  So back to Tuesday morning as John was picking up Chase, Cole's babysitter text that her daughter had been up all night getting sick.  So Cole went with John and Chase as I didn't want to risk exposure to another strand!  I went back to work on Wednesday after being gone a week between tonsils and flu.  No one else got sick thank goodness.  That Thursday a little over a week out was by far Chase's roughest time - he cried so much that evening.  But Friday was a little better and Saturday a lot better.  We went to eat at the mall on Saturday and then Chase went with Callie and I to see the new Lego movie.  He sat on my lap most of the time but at least he was out and on the mend.  Thankfully we had our last snow day of the year on the following Monday, March 3rd so he got another recovery day home.  He went back to Christy's on Tuesday and then preschool on Wednesday.

Sledding

We had a snow day on Tuesday, February 4th - it was just starting to snow when we got up but the forecast was for it to get bad quickly so they had called school and it was going to get VERY cold.  The kids wanted to go out right then they were so excited about it snowing.

We ended up getting enough to cancel school again on Wednesday and Shannon did take the kids out sledding a little on Wednesday but it was so bitterly cold they didn't do much.  By the weekend the temps were back up to almost freezing, the roads were fine, and Mom and Dad had gotten a lot more snow than we had.  We headed up there on Saturday to sled.  They have such a perfect sledding hill.  Tom's family came over too.  The kids sledded and sledded, came in to warm up and play inside, then my cousin brought his kids over and they headed out again to sled.  As we were eating supper Callie said can't we stay to sled on Sunday.  They were having so much fun and realistically this was the only time this year it was going to happen.  So it ended up that Callie, Chase, Dylan, and Rylan spent the night.  Shannon, Cole, and I went home long enough to get groceries for the week and sleep and were right back there on Sunday.   We sledded, ate lunch, sledded some more and then finally headed home.  They had such a great time.  And honestly this year we had a couple of the blow up sleds and the conditions were perfect for them.  They went so fast and for my old body it was a much smoother ride.  The adults went down as much as the kids by Sunday.  They went sooooo fast!!!  It was really a great relaxing fun weekend hanging out.
I never took my camera out with me but Alisha sent me these two from her phone.