My Favorite Grandson is SEVEN Today!

March 11, 2002.... Seven short years ago. I became a grandmother!

I was then and still am over the moon in love with this new calling!

I remember standing in the hallway just outside Robin's room as she gave birth! Her mom and I were so sore from pushing right along with her!

We were all so excited to meet this new little spirit that had just come from our

Father in Heaven!

10-10-and 1-- IT'S A BOY!!
KOLBY TRAVIS SHOOPMAN

His dad made sure his love for horses was started properly

We now had four generations of Shoopman men

Kolby's love of horses continued to grow...

He was his dad's shadow!

Not to mention his clone!

While Kolby loves horses, his true desire

seems to be with driving tractors!

He is wise beyond his years! What a smart boy!

A truer cowboy never lived!


He helps take care of his sisters....

And loves them more every day!

(hugs or a headlock....you decide)

He loves to go on the boat with his dad!



and Kolby is just the coolest dude ever!



He is very handy...


An excellent fisherman!


He still loves to ride...

But going as fast as he can is what he really loves!

I'm just glad Aunt Tama was there to
save my truck!

He even cleans up pretty well!


I'm telling you, it doesn't
get any more handsome than this!

And the girls LOVE him!

So do Grandma and Papa!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUDDY!!

**Warning**

The following picture and video are rated PG

Parental Guidance is suggested!

He is ALL BOY!!

Watering Aunt Tama's apple tree!

His laugh is so contagious!!

(don't forget to pause the music on the side bar first!)

First Five People.... Ready, set, GO!

My friend, Brenda posted this on her blog and I think it sounds like too much fun....so here it is!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me personally. What I make is my choice, but it will be made JUST FOR YOU! My choice. For you. However, (like all things that sound too good to be true :), this offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1- There is no guarantee that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you personally.
3- It will be completed sometime this year.
4- You will receive no clues as to what it's going to be. I'll let you post a request of some sort with your comment, but still... it could be anything!
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange if I so desire... it may blow your mind! Or it may not. It may be very simple and predictable... but hopefully you will benefit from it!And like most things that sound too good to be true, there is a catch.
You must re-post this on your blog and offer the same deal to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. Not too bad, huh? In fact, I think it'll be a lot of fun!!So-- on your mark, get set, GO!
The first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they posted this on their blog and want to win a free, FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift from me will receive just that!!!
**Remember: You have to tell me in your post that you've posted this on your blog before you can be guaranteed one of the five slots!**
Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

What funny girls we have!!

I just have to share these funny stories I got today!

Baylee was playing on the top bunk of their beds tonight and was hanging from the top bunk and fell!
She cried and cried and after several minutes of Daddy trying to calm her down, he asked her what hurt.
She told him NOTHING hurt! She was mad because her hands were too slippery!!
What a funny girl! She is definitely her aunt Tama's child!
When Tama was around 4 or 5... (same age as Baylee is now) she was learning how to ride her bike without training wheels. I heard this crying and screaming outside and ran out expecting to find her in a mangled hurting wreck, but all I found was my sweet little girl KICKING every spoke out of the back wheel of her bike because it fell over with her!

Also, I was talking to Tama on the phone yesterday and Abbie and Kallie could be heard fighting in the background. Tama told Kallie to be nice to Abbie and said you girls stop fighting! A couple of seconds later, Kallie pipes up "Hey mom, Abbie is doing the fighting" uh yeah....okay, little naughty girl! Then they were supposed to be eating their lunch and Kallie kept arguing with Abbie and picking at her so Tama told them to stop talking and eat their lunch. Then I heard Kallie tell Abbie, "Abbie, you stop talking or you are going to time out!" She has been on a grumpy roll the past couple of days!

Then we have Abbie who was in the kitchen the other day talking about her "spice goat"... Tama and Karlo were puzzled about what on earth she could be talking about, so Karlo finally figured out she was talking about her "SPY SCOPE!!" she had gotten a toy telescope in a kid meal somewhere.... what a nut!

Thank goodness Kolby and Taylor are such angels!! :-) At least we have some hope!! :-)

Until next time, keep your face to the sun and bloom where you are planted!!

My Boys

I spent a lot of time this week thinking....

Thinking about my boys.... and how much they mean to me!
We were blessed almost 29 years ago to have a son... what a son he is! He is the funniest, most handsome (except for HIS own son!), and greatest son ever! He is happiest when he is on the back of a horse.

He LOVES to ride! He loves his family and he loves to have fun! Every year the "boys" take a pack trip to the mountains of Wyoming. These are some of those trips:

Blaine in the lead, Travis and Kolby (riding his "Buddy Seat")

Papa and our favorite grandson!

This picture cracks me up because it was staged and I busted them! We are always worried about them keeping Kolby safe on the horses and 'remind' (they call it nagging) them to put his riding helmet on. Well they made sure to take a picture of Kolby riding with his helmet on. HOWEVER, when I was looking at this cute picture, I noticed Travis holding Kolby's cowboy hat in the background! Yeah, they totally STAGED the picture to pacify the women folk!

The favorite thing to do on the pack trip besides ride horses is fish!

Check out this string from a few years ago!

And then sometimes, you just hang out in the meadow with your horse...

Then, almost 8 years ago.... we were blessed with another son! This time, I didn't have to do any of the hard work.... he came to our family through Tama! While Karlo isn't as into the horses and cowboy way of life, he does know how to have a good time! We love having Karlo in our family! He takes great care of his girls, works hard, and knows how to have fun!

Karlo's passion is on the water! He is a river rat! He loves the thrill of guiding a raft full of people through some of the most treacherous water he can find!

He keeps trying to get me to go on one of the more "wild" rides down the river, but so far, I have managed to be content to stay and take care of the little ones or meet them at the other end with the truck and trailer!

I have ridden the river with Karlo....he was nice enough to keep it in the calm waters and let me ride in the "queen seat" right in the middle of the raft!

Yep, our boys KNOW how to have a great time!!

I love you guys!

Hanging out with the sickos!!

I thought we were over this ugly flu bug for this year! I had a couple of days a couple of weeks ago where I stayed home from work so as not to infect the whole second floor! Amber was sick a few days, and we thought we were finally over it.

The Shoopman grands were sick off and on all week as well. Poor Kolby missed several days of school. No sooner did they start to feel a little better and Robin got it! Poor kids! They bounced back pretty quickly from the bug and were on the mend in no time!

Then this week, the bug hit the Stucki household and hit it hard! Kallie had a cough off and on since she was here in December but it didn't seem to be too bad so her parents weren't too worried about it until last Friday. Poor Kallie was coughing all day and then came down with a fever in the evening. It spiked up to about 104 before they finally got it to come down. Then she did the same thing the next day and her cough just kept getting worse. So, Sunday mommy and daddy decided she needed to be seen by a doctor. The dr. they saw at the urgent care was not too great! Karlo said he came in for maybe three minutes and checked her, not very thoroughly, and said she had a bad ear infection and needs antibiotic to clear it up. He didn't know any of Kallie's extensive medical history and didn't bother to ask or give her parents the time to express any of their concerns!

This is Kallie on the way to that doctor's appointment. What a miserable little girl!

Tama and Karlo had several nights of staying up all night with a coughing toddler who couldn't catch her breath! Then they decided that Kallie should see her regular pediatrician on Monday. By that time Abbie and Mommy were sick too but not as bad as Kallie. So Abbie and Kallie and Tama all went to see Dr. Lee and we're so grateful for her. She is the most awesome doctor we could ever ask for to care for Kallie! She confirmed that Kallie's ear tubes have fallen out and her ears are both infected. She also checked her oxygen saturation level and listened to her lungs. The verdict is that Kallie has RSV and pneumonia in one lung! She was one sick little princess! There is a vaccine called Synagis that protects against RSV but it is very expensive and only recommended for preemies and baby's with heart and lung conditions and is generally only given for the first year or two. Kallie had these shots every month for the first two winters of her life and then the doctors decided that she was healthy enough and big enough not to need them this year. Apparently they were wrong! Luckily they have a nebulizer machine at home (thanks aunt Weezie! ) and we've been doing the breathing treatments and other medications this week. She has been getting a lot better which is wonderful. We'll just keep treating and praying that she gets past this.

The doctor gave her a cute little dinosaur mask, but she still doesn't necessarily like the treatments. You have to sing to her the whole time so she will be still and let the medicine flow.

Abbie and Tama just kept getting sicker and sicker. Abbie stayed home from school for 3 days and went back yesterday for her valentine's party! We had a lot of fun making valentines for her teachers and classmates. Here she is just resting which is a very rare sight!

Tuesday was the worst day and things were spiraling out of control at the Stucki house. So after worrying all day, and with a semi-gentle push from my boss and friend at work, I hopped on a plane and came to take care of the sickos! They had no idea I was coming until I called Karlo and asked him to unlock the front door! I forget how much time and effort it takes to take care of a house, along with two little sickos and one big sicko! No wonder people have kids when they are young!

I've been able to keep up with work somewhat! Thanks to the Internet! I'm sure they could have survived but I know we all felt a lot better with Grandma here to help out!

Of course there are some funny stories to tell. Kallie spent most of one day telling on me for one thing or another. "Mommy, tell Gwandma to stop it" "Mommy, Gwandma is being naughty" and it goes on and on. Today, I am back to being her favorite.

Then we have miss Abbie!! The other night, we were all eating dinner when out of the blue, Abbie says, "How in the HELL-0 are we going to land this plane" Uhmmm.... her dad looked at her with big eyes and asked her where she heard such a thing... mommy was in a drug induced haze and didn't really catch on to what was going on, and grandma had to turn her head to hide the laughter and to keep milk from shooting out her nose! Turns out she was quoting a line from the new Madagascar II movie they got from Grandma! Oooppsies! After some explanation from Daddy about why we don't say things like that, all is well until the next time!

Finally, today the girls are both feeling pretty well. Kallie still has a cough, but not as bad and she hasn't had a fever for a few days! She's still getting breathing treatments so I'm sure that is helping her as well.

Last night we had the added drama of Abbie losing her first tooth!! It's been quite loose for a couple of weeks, but she was scared to have it fall out. She was certain she wouldn't be able to eat if it fell out! We tried to tell her that Kolby was missing SEVEN teeth all at once and he could still eat, but she didn't seem to take much comfort in that! Last night, she was showing it to her dad and wiggling it and Karlo just got a tissue and pulled it out. There was much crying, disbelief and drama! Once grandma showed her how to put the straw in her new window in her row of teeth and drink her chocolate milk without opening her mouth, she decided having a missing tooth wasn't too bad afterall!

Until next time keep your face to the sunshine and bloom where you are planted!

Happy 3RD Birthday, Taylor Maddison!!

Yesterday was our sweet Taylor's THIRD birthday! Grandma was home sick yesterday and spent the day sleeping and didn't get the birthday post done so am doing it today! But that's how I roll.... a day late and a dollar short!

February 3, 2006, was a beautiful day! Robin went to the doctor, got checked out and they told her to go to the hospital because it was time for the babe to make her appearance! Robin called Travis who was at work and told him it was time to go to the hospital so they decided he would meet her there. Well, unknown to Travis, Robin decided she should stop and get a burger since they wouldn't be feeding her for a few hours! So, Travis shows up at the hospital and his wife is nowhere to be found!

Can you imagine.... here comes this cowboy running in to the hospital looking for his wife who is about to give birth and them wondering where he left her since she isn't there?!?! HAHA! Robin finally showed up and a few hours later, our beautiful Taylor Maddison made her grand appearance!

She was the first of our grandchildren to be born with a little bit of hair! We were so excited! Kolby, Abbie and Baylee were the baldest babies when they were born!

Taylor is a beautiful little girl! We call her our 'little Greek throwback'... she isn't as fair as her siblings, she has the olive complexion and hazel eyes of her great grandmother.

Taylor has always been the happiest little girl! She smiles ALL the time! She loves to tease her brother and sister! As soon as she learned to walk, she learned how to grab whatever they were playing with and run as fast as she could! Laughing all the way!

Our Taylor is also a complex little girl. One minute she will be fine with something and the next, she will be scared to death of it! The first time we took her swimming, she LOVED the water! The next time, she was scared to death and had a death grip on her mom's neck the entire time! This summer, grandma got her a 'magic' pool and she has gotten over her fear for the most part. She even played in the baby pool in Thermopolis over Thanksgiving!

Taylor isn't too crazy about riding horses either, so her mom is pretty excited that she may have a girly girl to play dress up and make up with since Baylee is all about riding horses and hanging out at the barn with her dad! Don't get me wrong, Taylor has her daddy wrapped very tightly around her little finger too! All she has to do is give him one of her smiles and his heart just melts! Taylor has her Papa wrapped pretty firmly around her other little finger too!

We love you, Taylor babe and are so glad you are in our family!!