happy halloween

we have had some halloween fun, and it will be continuing tonight as well. last saturday was the trunk or treat at church which was a lot of fun and included many types of different chilis- YUM!!! then on tuesday, we headed out to ross park mall for their halloween night. we thought it was a trick or treat night, but they only had little activities set up, so the boys were a little disappointed. ben took them to the candy store while porter and i went to godiva chocolates. i was only going to buy 2 pieces of candy, but to my surprise, they had cranberry truffles- my absolute favorite! plus they had all these crazy new flavors of truffles. needless to say, i bought 16 instead of 2 and have been enjoying 2 truffles a day.
today, the boys had their halloween party and parade at school. porter and i joined in for the parade and i am proud of us for walking the parade route with them. the boys are dressed up this year as spiderman- jonas is the "red" spiderman and gryffie the "black" spiderman- (venom). they had such a good time. both of them love their costumes as they have the built-in muscles. jonas' joke is "do you have tickets?" you respond "to what" and he says "the gun show" as he flexes his big muscles!
tonight the kellers will be joining us for trick or treating and bringing us delicious pizza! hooray. i am looking forward to enjoying some of the boys' spoils. pictures to come. happy halloween everyone!

i survived!

sunday gryffie was super sick- he threw up multiple times and had a fever. there was no way i could send him to school on monday. so, i decided to keep both jonas and gryffie home with me- as well as porter and our dog, george. (have i ever mentioned how outnumbered i am- 3 boys, boy dog, man husband- good thing). well, i also had to go to the doctor's office to get some bloodwork completed. ben left around 8:30 am and the boys did not wake until close to 9:00 am. by that time, i had already fed porter and he was happy lying in our bed. everything went smoothly and we were at the doctor's office 10 minutes before our appointment. now, those of you who know me well know that i am rarely on time for things, let alone early, so getting all 3 boys ready as well as myself and being early was no small feat! i admit, i was proud of myself. after the md, we went to the grocery store, too. (i had to pick up more happy pills, ie percocet, do some grocery shopping, and pick up some pics). no problem! the rest of the day went well, and i even had dinner on the table when ben got home. hey, maybe i can handle this 3 boy thing. well at least yeterday. today gryffie and jonas are back at school and right now both the baby and dog are sleeping. hooray! i plan on sending jonas and gryffin to school just 2 days a week while i am off work- it is nice to spend some time with them. they are such great little boys (even gryff despite his crazy tantrums this am- and waking up three times last night!) and have been so helpful with the baby. i am blessed.

pumpkin time

last monday we carved our pumpkins that we had gotten at trax farms. we figured we should probably do that before porter was born, as after, who knows what we could get done. the boys had lots of fun- although i realize we did not take an "after" picture... but here are some pics of the carving extravaganza!

it's been one week...

since my little porter was born! crazy how quickly time goes by. he is a pretty mellow baby, which is great. he still has all his hair and we had his md appointment yesterday. he is now 8 pounds, 8 ounces. still such a little guy, but i am happy that he has regained his birthweight and more. he is still nursing like a champ. if only i could get him to be happy laying down on his own. and sleeping in his own bed for more than 2 hours at night... here are just a couple pics of porter since he came home.

porter christian keller

porter joined our family yesterday, 10/15/08 at 11:15 am. he is 8 pounds, 5 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. he is our smallest baby yet, but has the most hair. so far, porter seems pretty mellow- he squeaks more than he cries. he is a champ at nursing which is a relief. his birth was fairly uneventful- everything went well. we had a little drama after he was born when one of the nurses in the operating room fainted. we would like to thank everyone for all the well wishes and congratulations. here are some pics of our beautiful baby! and some of the boys as well. (ben took some pics in the operating room- but i didn't add ones where you can actually see anything- ie, the c-section, the placenta, porter when he just came out)

trax farms

we went to trax farms yesterday with ben's parents, sisters beth and sadie, and sadie's boyfriend, dustin. the weather was surprisingly warm for this time of year. we played and fed the animals in the petting zoo, took a hayride, went through the cornmaze, and picked our pumpkins. also, as tradition, we also went through the market and sampled the different apples and cider. after filling our carts with lots of fun treats, we ate lunch together (thanks to ben's parents!)-a mix of all the delicious food we found throughout. i always have to buy some fudge, just for me. it's fun to go each year and the boys adore it. here are numerous pics as well as a short video of jonas getting mauled by some goats while he is feeding them.

here to stay

well, i just had to let you know that sweet little george is here to stay! we picked him up sunday and so far, he is doing great! the boys are so in love. he has only had one accident in the house and he has made friends with buddy and sampson! we love our family walks together. he loves the backyard and is doing well. thanks again to may and dan for sharing their puppy with us- don't forget, you guys have visitation rights at any time!

and did i mention only 5 more days? i am doing well. i hit my 60 pound weight gain mark, however. oh well. i am looking forward to having little porter join our family- and being off work for 12 weeks! 12 weeks! how exciting! i look forward to spending time with the boys. my last night being on call is tonight. i figure i will work monday and then a half day tuesday. then after work tuesday, carrie and i are going to get pedicures. (did i mention i love that the gardners are back in town) then book group is that night. then the next morning, i have a baby. i think that is the nice part of having huge children and needing to schedule a c-section- i can plan ahead.