Kraus House: May 2013

This month has been filled with great joy and much sadness. As most know, my cousin Dan was diagnosed with brain cancer since November of 2011. Sadly, Dan was taken away from us on May 21st and can now be pain free and at peace. I learned from his memorial service that we had something in common. A motto I live by is "It is what it is" and that is something that Dan believed in also. We may not have been close over our adult years, but I think I have found our connection. I think this is one reason he was so strong and courageous. People may be negative about something, but you can change that so quickly with "it is what it is". Meaning, we can't change what happened, but we can change what happens in the future and learn from the past. It can be hard to find something positive in some situations, but there is always something there, we just have to find it.

Dan, you will be missed by many.
What a role model you were for the fight you gave;
what an inspiration!

Happy 7th Birthday Jayden!!!

We took Jayden as part of his birthday gift to The Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells for a night. We had a wonderful time and can't wait to go back.

The guys did the ropes course. They had such a good time.
I am scared of heights, so I stood back and took pictures.
It was pretty cool that they could climb the course over one of the arcades.

Splash!!!

On his actual birthday, we took him to Texas Road House for dinner.
He was such a trooper and got on the saddle and took his birthday lasso like a champ.

After, he was able to enjoy a little fun with his roller blades we gave him.
What an amazing idea, roller blades that are 4 different sizes in one. Wish I thought of that.

As most know, I enjoy sewing a few projects here and there.
I decided to make a few of my scraps into pillow sack dresses for church.
They turned out really cute and hope some little girls can enjoy them for a few years.

Jayden has been begging me for a cape, so we made one out of an old shirt...

Here comes Super Jayden!!!

Grant loves his cereal!

Jayden loves to try climbing the trees in the back yard.
Here he is climbing the bamboo tree.

We went to Memorial park for a cousin picnic.
Just hanging out on the monkey bars.

Grant had his first piece of licorice.

Taking Viola (Vi) for a ride. Her mom said, "I'm not ready for her to date yet".
It was so cute the two of them taking a cruse around the two yards.

We headed up to the farm to plant our pumpkins and a few other things for Uncle Ronnie.
This year we were joined by Nicole, Mike and Grant.
It sure was a fun time and can't wait for the pumpkins this fall.