From my Sister-In-Law Ami for my Dad

Someone sent my SIL this poem to her a day or two after Dad passed away and it just fit! She took it and put it together with his picture and they gave them to all of us. It's so perfect that I wanted to share it.

Dad's Funeral

At the Funeral Home........the kids did really well. I will admit, I really broke down walking in there and seeing dad for the first time in the coffin. I had to turn around. It was too much that first time. I couldn't look at him like that. It was just so WRONG. I really started to almost hyperventilate and couldn't keep from crying. Just thinking about it now is SO hard.....as the tears are flowing down my cheeks. Even now, it's just WRONG to think of him gone. Some days I swear that he'll be there, sitting by the kitchen counter with the t.v. on but muted while he's reading the paper. I can't believe it's already been 3 months when at times it seems like it just happened or else feels like it's been years since some of it occurred.





Mom set up a couple of tables with a lot of Dad's pictures, awards and some of his favorite things. It was really nice to pay tribute to him in that way. We had to keep rearranging things because there was so much that we wanted to share, it was to hard to really pick and choose.



Here's most of the family watching the dvd we put together. We had it running in the room for everyone to watch as they came through. It was really nice and I'm glad that we got to share it with so many of our friends and family.


It was such a beautiful day! The service was amazing. Those who participated in it did an amazing job paying their respects and honoring my dad. I'm so grateful to those who helped. The day couldn't have gone any better, considering.


My beautiful Grandma!


Me and my Mom....I love her SO much!

Christmas....Finally!

As tradition goes, we ALWAYS make cookies for Santa and the kids each decorate one to put on his cookie plate. So here they are with their cookies for Santa. They are always so proud of how they've decorated them. It's so much fun to watch their creativity too. I love it.



Also with tradition, the kids get new pj's every Christmas, so here they are showing off their Christmas pajamas before I make them go to bed.



The bounty under the tree after Santa has come and put out all the presents and stockings. Yes, the tree is in the dining room. After we bought our new couch last spring, it pretty much takes up the whole front room.....so out went the table and up went the tree. I kinda liked it though...the clean up was so much easier! I didn't have to vacuum a bunch of pine needles and clog it up. It all just swept up and it was gone. I may do this again next time.



Grace and her petshop adoption center from Santa.



Joe and Gary playing with "Rocky", Joe's walking, talking dump truck. He's pretty cute. Joe loved it, but I think the big boys, aka dad and uncles, liked it just as much! It's a great present if you have boys.



Sierra finally got her DSi.....she saved for a year for it! It's one of those things that I was not going to pay for. It's a spendy little thing and I knew that she'd take care of it if she knew how much it really cost and with how long it took her to save up for it. But she did it and was so proud of herself and she LOVES it.



Grandpa B. and Aunt Geena came over to watch the kids open presents that morning and made breakfast with us. It was lots of fun.



Emma got new twin baby dolls and new baby stuff for them. She was so cute playing with them!



That afternoon we went over to my mom's house. It was really good to just be together......hard, but really good.