happy new year!!!

just wanted to wish you all a wonderful and happy new year! the boys are all asleep and ben and i are hanging out, watching tv. we did have some bubbly- sparkling red grape juice- which was delicious. we decided against going out for the night due to the little 2 1/2 month old who has been sleeping so well that i don't want to ruin the streak (seriously, he sleeps 12 hours a night)! tomorrow, we are heading out to the deere's (my family) to celebrate the new year with our traditional meal of pork and sauerkraut. i am happy that both ben and i have the day off work to hang out as a family- a great way to start the new year. again, happy new years to each of you and lots of love!

the gryffie turns 3!

today is gryffie's b-day- my little guy is now 3 years old! that is so crazy to me. i remember when he was just a baby. look at how cute he is! unfortunately, i had to work today, but we went to red robin to celebrate gryff's b-day. gma and gpa keller joined us along with beth-beth and uncle chris. dinner was great and dessert even better. we got a couple sundaes from the restaurant and brought along a cake for gryff from the oakmont bakery (thanks beth). gryff was so cranky after school, but was so happy after dinner. he was dancing around outside, being silly like a little gryffie should be. i love that kid. he is such a good boy. some of the things i love about gryffie:

-his cuddles
-his singing
-his dancing
-wrestling with him
-hiding from him and jumping out to scare him when he looks for me.

yeah, i love that boy!

our elf dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

what a day...

so, the day after christmas has been fabulous. ben had to work, but the boys have been so well behaved. and let me tell about this little crazy 2 month old i have. porter went to bed last night at 9:00 pm and i woke him up at 12:30 pm this afternoon. he ate for 30 minutes and went back to sleep at 1:30 pm. i am using this time to catch up on cleaning, laundry, and of course, facebook and our blog. here are just a couple more pics i love of my boys! merry day after christmas! we are heading to gma and gpa kelly for the evening! tomorrow is football in the am and the kelly bowling party in the afternoon.

my favorite christmas gifts- my ipod from benji (thank you sweetie!!!) and guitar hero from chrissy-poo. of course this is another addiction for me... and i am getting much better. yesterday i played a couple times and kept getting boo'd off the stage. i am still on the easy level, but i am getting usually 90% right at least!

my favorite gifts to see given: jonas' wall-e toy and gryffie's bike. they are so happy that santa brought them these. also since we bought the van, ben has not been able to listen to his ipod as it does not have a tape deck. i found an ipod car adapter that makes it so we can listen in the car. now the boys can listen to shrek, willy wonka, or veggie tales any time they want!

here are a couple pictures i love of my boys- what cuties!

happy birthday and merry christmas!

well, today is my birthday- my 30th birthday!!! it's also jesus' birthday. hooray! although technically we all know i was really born on this day and jesus was born sometime in the spring. anyway...did i mention i was 30? i am actually okay with that. i mean, hey, i am happy with my life. i wish we had more money, but who doesn't??? i have a wonderful hubby and 3 beautiful boys. my 2 month old is sleeping 9-11 hours straight at night. i have a cute dog, although he drives me crazy and i love our little house and our super cool mini-van. i also have a master's degree and a decent job. so i can't complain. it has been a good birthday-uneventful but good. i made a really yummy dinner and we had the kellers and dustin over. it was very laid back- much more so than thanksgiving. i only wish my parents had been able to join us.

christmas eve was also great. we went to the kellers' for a christmas brunch and then headed out to baden to my aunt betty's house. it is a christmas eve tradition to go both places and is lots of fun. we have tons of delicious food to eat. after we got home, we took some pics of the boys and i helped porter put his "baby's first christmas" ornament on the christmas tree. the boys went to bed and ben and i exchanged gifts. then santa claus came- the boys made out like bandits!

some of the highlights of christmas: definitely all the traditions: caroling, family, friends, going to the strip district, shopping, wrapping. this year, i was also in charge of the christmas lesson for young womens at church. we have seven amazing girls. i enjoy spending time with them each week. i love being able to celebrate the christmas season with wonderful family and friends. i am especially grateful for my own little family. i am blessed to have these 3 little boys in my life.

so here are a bunch of pictures from our trip to the strip, christmas eve, and christmas day. it seems easiest to do a slide show. merry christmas everyone!

back to work and fhe

monday i went back to work. i am a social worker at st. margaret's hospital in the emergency room (i love the crazies!!). i am working mondays and tuesdays until jan 12 when i start back full time. at that time, ben will be on leave from his job. my first 2 days were busy but fine. it was sad to leave porter, but i have great friends who watched him, so it was not as hard as it could have been. it was so wonderful to see port when i picked him up- i held him for 5 minutes before putting him in his car seat to go home and he was all smiles! so cute! he is by far my smiliest (probably really not a word) baby.

monday night we decorated cookies for fhe. here are some pics of the fun. i think the boys ate more icing than they decorated! notice how hopeful george is that some cookies may fall. he ate the table cloth later! true story, i heard him pulling on the table cloth and sent him to his bed. later he got sick, and low and behold, i came to discover he had eaten some of the table cloth. crazy dog!

thanksgiving and the tree

i wanted to post some belated thanksgiving pics- we had the kellers and rosenbergs over as well as part of the gardner family (steve, we missed you!!!) i am so happy carrie is back in town. the food was delicious, the company even better, and the boys loved playing in george's crate!

the saturday after thanksgiving, we went to lake forest gardens to cut down our christmas tree- lots of fun was had by all. the boys were in a mood- gryffie especially not wanting his picture taken- i had to add this short video. also, i still did not get more batteries for the camera, so i don't have a family pic in front of the tree we picked, but here also is our tree, decorated and in our home.

porter's blessing

so we had porter's blessing last sunday, november 30, 2008. and of course, my camera was out of batteries and we did not get the chance to take any pictures. how sad. many of our family friends joined us at church for the blessing and we would like to thank mom and dad keller, beth, sadie, dustin, and chris for being there as well as carrie and lochlan, dave and marion, may and dan, jessie and andy, chris and sarah, and colin. i really appreciate everyone and all their support. here are a couple newer picures of my munchkin- look at those cheeks!! he's my 15 pound 2 month old!

the return of chris keller aka uncle chris

as i mentioned before, elder christian keller returned from the seattle washington mission on november 19, 2008. out of all of us, i think jonas and gryffin are the most excited to see their "uncle chris." the boys were up until 2:00 am as chris' flight did not arrive until 8:59 pm and then we went to greentree for his release and back to the kellers to spend some time together. the boys did great, so i think they will be able to handle staying up until new years this year. some of the fun at the airport included seeing many friends, losing some of chris' welcome home balloons and watching the creative ways people tried to retrieve them, and of course, chris meeting porter christian keller for the first time. the boys are in awe of uncle chris- and so are we. we look forward to spending more time with him!

who's who among the keller babies

can you tell which is which? what do you think, do they look alike? people keep telling me porter looks like jonas or that he doesn't look like the other 2 at all. here are baby pics of each of them.

the cutest boys who ever lived

gryffin really likes the weezer song "the greatest man who ever lived," well, these boys are the cutest boys who ever lived. when they are not fighting me while i am trying to take pics, they are quite adorable. here are a few recent pictures of the boys. jonas is 4 1/2, gryffie will be 3 at the end of the month, and porter is now 7 weeks. i have been enjoying my time off work to be at home with them, and am sad to go back 2 days/week on dec 15. although the older boys now love going to school 2 days a week- they actually look forward to it and do not fight me to get dressed. today was a great day- ben drove the boys to school and although port woke up at 7:00am, he fell back asleep at 9:00 am. so i went back sleep from 9:30-11:30 am. it was wonderful! as a side note, i did not go to bed until 3:00 am which is why i was so dang tired this am. i had dessert night with my friends and then had to do some shopping for a baby shower i am throwing for a friend tonight. i got home around 11:00 pm, but didn't get into bed until 2:00 am. then porter woke up, ready to eat... such is life. i can't complain, port is now sleeping a 6-8 hour stretch each night before eating. he then sleeps about 4 hours more. hooray for big babies- i swear they sleep better.