A New Angel in Heaven

On February 5th, Granny was called to heaven as one of Jesus's new angels. It was a very sad day for all of us who knew and loved her. Family was the heart of who she was. Spending time with us is what she looked forward to and enjoyed. Gram was a part of everything we did. Whether it be a sporting event of whatever kind, a graduation, a birthday or just a quiet weekend--she was there. Would she call at 7:30 to see if we were up, or would she come over at 10 after she had her cup of coffee--we were never sure but we knew she would be there. It was never a matter of if we would see her--it was just a matter of when.

Our own kids were lucky enough to know and love her too. As you can see by the pictures--they could always make her smile. It is actually because of them, that we called her Granny. When Jake was little, he would call Grandma and both my mom and Gram would look. So to differenciate between the two, we decided that Gram would be Granny. So from then on, Granny it was.




This is the first loss our kids will remember and truly understand. It is difficult to watch them experience this pain--a pain that we really cannot take away. We all have our moments of tears and of smiles as we remember and keep Granny in our hearts. As we celebrated her life on her funeral day, each of the 3 kids said something that made us stop and realize how important she was to them--Jake, bless his heart had a fountain of tears and knew that she would now be able to watch all of his sporting events. Jordyn--who was amazing, read a letter to Granny that she wrote expressing her hopes that it is warm and sunny in heaven and that she made friends with Jesus. Jackson--first wanted to know why Granny had her glasses on if she was going to sleep. Then he asked if she was a present. I asked him why, and he said because she was in such a pretty box. Well actually she is Jackson--she is a present for Jesus. She was truly a gift to all of us--a gift we will treasure forever.

Mom to the Rescue

So I ventured into a world today that I said I never understood and would never do.

Jake so wanted to go ice fishing today. If you read the previous blog, you know that there is no way Ken could go out and help to drill a hole in the ice with the electric auger. So, as soon as he got home from school Jake went out with his manual auger, the pop-up ice shantie, the shovel, his poles and a thermos full of hot chocolate. When I got home he was quite frustrated and said he only got thru 2 inches of ice. He wanted me to help him with the big auger and that really wasn't an option. So off he went again all mad.

So knowing how much he wanted to fish, I put on my boots, hat and mittens and hiked out to the pond to help my son drill a hole in the ice. It took us about an hour of drilling and we finally found water. I seriously think the ice was about a foot thick. It was nice to see a smile when we finally saw water, but I again reiterate--Why in the world do people ice fish??

Ken's Knee News

Well many of you may already know but Ken had knee surgery. On the 11th of January, Jordyn, Jackson and I were heading back from Green Bay. Jake had an all day tournament in Madison so the 2 little ones and I decided to head up and see my parents, brother and granny. On our way back, Ken calls and asks where I am and I am about 20 minutes away. I ask him why and he says, "Because I am stuck" I was totally confused because the roads were fine and it hadn't snowed. So I asked "Where a you stuck?" and his response was "In the office chair" If I didn't hear the pain and concern in his voice I would have laughed. So I hurried home and sure enough, found him stuck in computer chair.

He has had some situations where his knee locks but he has been able to somehow get it unstuck. Well this time it wasn't going to move. I could see the amount of pain he was in. So off to the emergency we went. We farmed out the kids and headed to the hospital. The wait wasn't too bad and they pretty quickly gave him some medicine to try to relax him so they could try to "unstick" it. The vicodine and valium didn't do much. Two doctors came and pulled a little and I honestly thought he was going to go thru the roof. He told me that he wasn't happy when the lady doing his X-rays continued to tell him to straighten his leg and pull on it so she could get a good picture. He told her if he could straighten it-- he really wouldn't be here. I can only imagine how he said it--yikes. So they couldn't get it unstuck but sent him home anyway. They added a little morphine to his cocktail and off we went.

So, on Monday morning, we proceeded to the orthopedic surgeon's office and he then sent us on to the hospital for surgery at 1:30. They ended up repairing his meniscus and since he had very little cartilidge between his thigh bone and knee, they drilled 7 holes in his thigh bone. This will create scar tissue which will end up acting like cartilage. Surgery lasted 2 hours and we were back home by 6:30 or so. The pain seemed to come and go, but he said he was in less pain now than he was before the surgery. The next few days he stayed and worked from home, stayed medicated, did his exercises and tried to rest. Ken's mom was wonderful and came down Monday to help with the kids and stayed until Thursday so I could go to work and someone would be there to help Ken. Thank you!!!

Now almost a week and a half later, he is doing pretty well other than getting frustrated that he can't do what he wants. The latest status is he will need to get PT several times a week and has to put no weight on it for 4 more weeks. The pain is tolerable most of the time but as he begins to do his exercises the physical therapist has ordered, the long road of recovery is evident. One of his biggest struggles is not being able to coach Jake's basketball team like he would like. It is killing him to have a crutch with him at all times. He has been great about doing his exercises and is icing as much as possible to get the swelling down. This will be a key point in his recovery.

Ice Capades--Ellis Style

Well, the fun on the ice has continued. The pond behind our house has become a neighborhood pass time and the dads seem to be trying to make it as much fun as possible. They decided that if the kids wanted to play hockey and skate, then the pond needed to be nice and smooth. So, two Saturdays ago, the dads hooked up the hose to our house and ran it out to the pond and for 3 hours--yes 3 hours--they moved the hose to insure an even skating surface. Now mind you, there was a case of Bud Lite stuck in the snow bank that we all seemed to dip into. The moms were not out there very long because we decided that watching an ice skating rink was kind of like paint drying. So we headed into the house for a glass of wine or two. As you can see, everyone seems to enjoying the wonderful rink.

This is SOOO Wrong!!!

I know I have not been back for a while and that is my project for the next 2 day but I had to fill you in on something:

So this week Thursday and Fridy the kids have off of school due to cold weather. The district I work in decided to have teachers come in and have a work day on Thursday--which was great. Then on Friday, they decided we should catch up on any training sessions that have been put off, site planning etc.

I headed in for my training at 7:45. The temp in my van read -22. It was so so cold. (at school on Thursday the wind chills hit -41 below and this was much colder) Well my training lasts til 12:45 and I head out to my van again. I am walking and honestly thinking to my self. Wow--it is pretty nice out. This sun feels great. Much to my surprise, when I turn on the van the temperature reads 4 degrees. Yes 4. I seriously thought to myself--that is just not right that I honestly thought that 4 degrees was nice. UGH

Holiday Fun

I could write forever on how nice this Christmas was. My sister's family came home early in December so we could celebrate with them. We opened presents with Ken's mom early Christmas Eve. Then we headed to the Ellis Christmas at his Aunt Brenda and Uncle Tom's. We then ventured to my parents for Christmas Eve. We exchanged presents with our second Secret Santa and had my sister and Rick on the phone. The boys solved some of the world's problems. Christmas day was blessed with Granny's arrival at my parents so she could enjoy the laughter and chaos she has enjoyed for so many years. Ken's mom came to my parents-thank you so much!!! My uncle and his 2boys and their families came (Melissa we missed you) Angie's in-laws also came to join us. I love having everyone together--that is what makes holidays so special. We then ventured back home to see if Santa came to the Ellis house. Oh the surprise when they found presents under the tree. He must have come while we were up north!!!

Hope you enjoyed the holidays and had special time with your family and friends.

Oh...So Sweet and So Bitter

Here is the sweet part--yesterday was a day in the snow. Forts being built and tunnels being made. Last night took the cake. Ken spent about 1 1/2 hours blowing snow off the pond for an ice skating rink for the our kids as well as the rest of the neighborhood. He made the basic rink and then other "bypasses" so the kids could play tag. It was getting dark by the time he was finished and the kids were still in full skating mode. So he brought out spot lights from the garage to illuminate the rink, cranked Christmas music from the speakers on our deck and we watched the kids skate. I tried to take pictures but the lighting made it difficult. Unfortunately today they are not able to enjoy the wonderful little playland Ken created.

Here is the bitter part--Following our blast of snow, we are now getting a blast of cold. We are sitting at -3 degrees with a wind chill of -35 below. Our high tomorrow is 6 with wind chills still at -30 degrees. This makes playing outside basically impossible. So we are stuck inside with 3 kids so wanting to "do something" Cleaning isn't quite what they have in mind.