Happy Fourth Of July

Happy Fourth of July!!

Sawyer started his Fourth of July sharing a popsicle with cousin Kurtis.

Anyone who knows Kurtis knows he doesn't share food or drink with ANYONE.

Apparently, Sawyer isn't just anyone :)

That little boy can charm anyone!

We went out to Aunt Diane's house for a big meal and for swimming!

Pretty much the entire clan came out!!

Kyla loves her "Bubby". Uncle Caleb loves to make her laugh.

It's a busy pool day at the Hendricks household.

Since his Mom and Dad had to work, Wayne had a babysitter. Jake went and picked him up so he could come play with all of the kiddos.  He was a maniac!

Charlotte was all over the place. Naturally.

I seem obsessed with Caleb with all of these pictures of him :) I just like the way this one edited.

Uncle Stinky is so funny!!!

Kyla finally took a bit of a nap. She had had a long weekend!

Charlotte loves to be around the family.

After we swam for quite awhile, we headed over to Mom and Dad's Villa for fireworks and to stay a few days.  Alex headed home because he had to work bright and early at 8:30 the next morning. We hated he had to go but that is life in the car business.  Aunt Bev and Xander were there when we got there! They were planning to spend the night and Aunt Bev would just go straight to work the next day.

Aunt Bev and Grandma Millie wanted pictures of sweet Xander Kraig. Here is one of the pictures I took of him.

This kid is a comedian. He shaved off his eyebrow.

Our big boy is ready for some fireworks!!!

We headed up the hill by the pool club so that we could watch fireworks from about 20-30 different fireworks celebration on the Missouri side of the river. I couldn't get any shots of the fireworks that turned out. However, it was really cool.  Fireworks (and BUGS) everywhere. We brought a huge group of people with us... Mom, Dad, the kids, me, Aunt Kat, Aunt Bev, Xander, Aunt Didi's fam, Uncle Jim's fam, we were busting at the seems with people! It was fabulous!

Our little hot mess... that refused to wear her 4th of July outfit.

Happy 4th of July.

God Bless America.

We were all in bed, fast asleep by 10:30. It has been a busy but fabulous few days.

Four Beautiful Weber Blooded Babies

I had a grand idea of the kids playing in the corn at Grandma's house over the 4th of July. I had matching bibbed overalls for my two kids and brought Kyla a pair. Aunt Kathy bought Wayne some bibbed overalls so we were all set.

Down to the pond!!

Sawyer was all ready.

Three of the four looking and happy.

(Kyla was trying to decide if she wanted her picture taken or not:) )

My beautiful babes.

All four great grandchildren.

"Hey guys! Did you see this corn?"

I. Love. Sawyer's Face.

This picture is SO funny. A bit blurry. But SO funny.

Happy 4th of July!

She loves her baby brother.

Child of the corn.

This was Alex's idea.

Pretty pretty princess.

Look how sweet Wayne is patting Sawyer's head.

All four looking in the same direction! It wasn't at me. 

These kids love their daddy.

I love this.

Wayne loves his Grandma.

He is thinking about his next move....

Kyla is out of here :)

I love these kids. All four of them. They are getting to the age where they are all starting to play together. They are so much fun!

Happy July 3rd!

We decided to go down to Grandma Ann's house and to the villa for the 4th of July weekend. We had a BIG celebration at Grandma's house, complete with cheap fireworks and everything!!

The kids and I came down to visit and stay starting July 2nd in the afternoon. Alex arrive that evening as well.

Aunt Kathy came down to visit. She brought Charlotte a blizzard. She knows the way to her heart.

Both kids are so happy that Wayne came out to play!

Charlotte and Wayne play so well together... probably because he lets her boss him around. 

As usual, Charlotte was all up in Aunt Kathy's grill and wanting to play with her phone.

Sawyer is starting to love Grandma Ann :) How cute is this??????

Happy July 3rd everyone :)

Aunt Kathy made a blackberry cobbler. Yummmmm

And she made my own individual apple pie with my age on it.

It was SO DELICIOUS.

I went for a run while both kids took naps and Alex played outside with guns. 

He wanted to teach Sawyer to shoot. No worries, he didn't shoot. He was just holding a non loaded gun.

Naturally Kurtis and Uncle Jim were present. They love them some guns!

Everyone started coming out to Grandma's house when they got off of work. We had grilled meat, lots of sides, delicious desserts, and fun times.  We took the great grandkids down to the pond to take pictures before the sun set. (Those will be in the next blog entry.) After that, Mom arrived after having been in Florida for the week. She offered to watch Sawyer while I took Charlotte down to the pond for the fireworks (put on by John, Alex, and Uncle Jim.)

Charlotte was all ready to go.

She says this is her pretty face.

I. Love. This. Picture.

Not quite sure why but it is one of my all time favorites of Charlotte.

This was her outfit heading down to the fireworks.

Fleece, striped bibbed overalls, and furry boots.

Naturally.

We are so fancy :)

We sat on one side of the pond, they shot fireworks off on the other side of the pond.

Uncle Stinky and his granddaughter Kyla Margaret.

All set up and ready to watch the fireworks.

This was fabulous!

How tough does she look??

So funny.

Most of the pictures of the fireworks didn't turn out.

Here was one that kind of did.

The fireworks were great. John and Alex had this crazy finale set up that didn't quite pan out from our side of the pond. However, it was a great show. We loved it. We all though of Grandpa at some point during it. It was 12 yrs ago today that we had the visitation. He also LOVED the fireworks and the 4th of July.

Great show, guys. :)

Afterwards, we all hung out down by the pond with a fire and some drinks. It was a perfect celebration!!

Happy Birthday Eve, America!

It's Been Twelve Years...

There are moments in life that you will always remember. I remember the weekend of my 19th birthday like it was yesterday. I remember heading down to see my Grandma and Grandpa Weber. Grandpa Wayne had been diagnosed with lung cancer the August before. He had had radiation treatments in an effort to shrink the cancer. He had been on oxygen since that August. (August of 2000.) When we arrive on June 24th, 2001, to see them. My Uncle Jim was carrying him from the bathroom back to the living room. It was a sight I will never forget. My big bad Grandpa was being carried to the living room by his son. I had seen him 2 weeks prior and he wasn't that week. I knew at that moment that he was going to be meeting Jesus very soon.

Grandpa was admitted to the local hospital the next day. We went back to our regular lives because John, Dad, and I all had jobs. That Thursday, June 28, Dad received a call saying that Grandpa was getting worse and he would most likely slip into a coma in the next day. If we ever wanted to talk to Grandpa again, we had to get to the hospital. Horrible, horrible news. 

We lived at the hospital from Thursday until Sunday. The small town hospital had given us their biggest patient room (it could actually house 4 patients comfortably. All of us Webers moved in. We stayed by Grandpa's side. I slept at the hospital Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. He stopped responding to us on that Friday morning. It was a waiting game as to when he would go be with God. Saturday night I slept on his hand. It was very cold as his body had started shutting down but I wanted to be close to him if/when something might happen.

On Sunday, Grandpa's blood pressure continued to drop. Slowly but surely he was drifting away from us. It came to the point (it was around 8 pm) that I was going to need to head back home. I had to work at 7 am at the hospital the next morning. Mom and Dad told me it was time for me to go. I never imagined walking out of the room knowing I would never see him alive again. That was one of those moments in life that I wish to never relive. I had been by his side since Thursday night. I left for 20-30 minutes each day. I couldn't imagine living in a world that my Grandpa wasn't in.

Grandpa passed away surrounded by most of his family. I wasn't even on the edge of town when he took his last breath. Grandma Ann was sitting right next to his bed as the love of her life when to wait for her.

On my morning run on July 1st, 2013, I couldn't have felt more connected to Grandpa and God than I did. It was just us on the road surrounded by corn and the amazing Midwest.

Rest In Peace, Grandpa Wayne. You are missed each and every day.