Spring is Here!

The storms are quiet for now and the snow is melted.........a good chance to work

in the yard. One of our neighbors needed their garden plot rotatiled and so dad

is off with his riding lawn mower and pulling the cart with his rotatiller in the

cart.......so tricky! I was afraid that it would tip over and make a

mess of him and the equipment. But, it worked.

Ooooops! Guess it needs gas.

April 16th - Paul gets his new hearing aid!

Paul's appointment included a brief visit with Dr. Shelton before meeting with the

audiologist to get his new aid. It was very interesting.........first they tested with

the computer the implanted device and then they tested the aid on him.

This first picture they are testing the device........parts of the testing was

so loud that it was uncomfortable for him.

In this picture the audiologist is showing Paul the

hearing aid and telling him all about it.

On it goes!

Paul can hear with it, but it sounds like a bunch of

mumbling to him. He will go in again in two weeks for an

adjustment..........I don't know how many times that will be

required. Paul was dissapointed that it wasn't immediatly

similar to his life long experience with the other aids. This

is a different kind of technology and he has to relearn how to

process what he is hearing.

This is after we got home and he is watching tv.......trying to understand

what they are saying. After fiddling with it for a while he said it got

better, but it will take time for him to be completely comfortable with

his new hearing aid.

Happy Easter

After dinner Brian and Paul hid the eggs for an Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. Krew

did an awesome job!

Ty was much more interested in riding the car than gathering eggs, so Meggan covered for

him, though. So funny!

The eggs were in some pretty clever hiding spots!
That didn't stop us from gathering them all.

Stryker was content with one egg........the older kids each found a bag full.
Sorry there's no pictures of them, papa was in charge of taking pictures!?
We missed all of the grandchildren that live so far away and we look forward
to the summer when they will come to visit.

The fun of having grandchildren!

We had so much fun when Cairen and her girls came to visit for a week! One day we did some

bread baking.........which included grinding spelt. Meggan had more help then she needed.

It was so cute how they all wanted to turn the hand grinder.........in a few years they won't

even want to help if we offer to pay them!

Stryker enjoying his birthday cake.........where did that year go?

One day when we had Krew and Stryker at our house we had a movie on to entertain
Krew. Everytime I came into the room Krew was watching the movie
from a different comfy spot.......so cute.

Krew and Sienna were watching me in the kitchen while their moms
were working on a project..........I love having the grandchildren at our house.

Meeting the "Wisconsin Sisters" in Las Vegas!

This month we made an unexpected trip to Las Vegas...........where we got to see our cute Ballstaedt family and meet three really lovely ladies from Wisconsin.

McKyna went with us........she is great company! McCall was going to go, but at the

last minute things changed........we were all sad about that.

This is Helmut with Dody, Maxine and Darlene. They are the daughters of his

grandmother's(Rosa Kreuz) brother(Max Kreuz). Helmut was so happy to meet some more

family in America!

We all went to dinner at the German Hofbrau in Las Vegas to celebrate our

common ancestors. And we had a great time.

Paul's Cochlear Implant

March 2nd Paul had the long awaited surgery. His surgery started at 9:45 and took about 2 hours. The doctor said that everything went well, but we won't know until April 16th if it will

give him back some hearing. We are hopeful and the doctor is very positive!

In the first picture he is on his way to surgery.

Here he is after surgery........but not looking quite as good.
This is the day after the surgery when we had to change the dressing.......
....I am glad dad was here to help.

He is starting to return to normal........back on the computer and using the phone to text

his friends. His pain has been minimal since he came home from the hospital and for that

we are so greatfull!

The Mom's get away?!

This is the begining of a real adventure..........I sure appreciated Krew letting us know that

" we weren't so far up" as we were taxing down the runway!