29 November 2009

bowling for turkeys

ah, thanksgiving. last weekend, we had dinner with my family out in cranberry to celebrate. my mom does not like turkey, so she made ham. that ham was sooo delish! and the boys were very well-behaved. is it bad that i gauge my enjoyment of an activity/visit/event, etc, on how much my children do/do not drive me crazy?

thanksgiving was a nice day. we went to the joe natoli field for the annual turkey bowl. jonas played for a bit but then suffered an injury and wanted to go back to grandma and grandpa's house. there we had doughnuts, hot cocoa, and watched the parade, as well as hung out with wonderful friends. i heart doughnuts.

pictures of the turkey bowl



then we went home and i slept for a while (i am on night shifts all this week). we headed back over to the kellers' for dinner around 4:30 pm. it was nice and laid back and the food was delicious! then it was time for bed and shortly thereafter, work. work is the bane of my existence, but i am grateful to have a job. nonetheless, it was a good day.

26 November 2009

happy thanksgiving!

wishing you all a wonderful thanksgiving! we have had our ups and downs these past few months, but i have so much to be thankful for.

i have an amazing family- a wonderful husband and 3 sweet little guys that rock my world daily. i am grateful for their health and strength, the excitement and love they add to my life.

i have wonderful extended family that offer their love and support to us, while in different ways, in a perfect balance.

i have incredible friends, ones that at times do so much more for me than i do for them. i love you guys.

i am grateful for the understanding i have of the gospel of jesus christ. i make light of it at times, but i am thankful for it. i love our ward despite the high levels of conservatism. but i know this is where we belong.

i love teaching relief society- i teach on the 4th sunday so i get to do the teachings for our time lessons. for that i am grateful.

i am grateful for family traditions- i love this time of year, specifically for all the traditions we have. each year, we go to trax farms, we cut down our tree, we go to the strip on a saturday before christmas. we also have set christmas eve rituals-all surrounded by family.

i am grateful that ben has been able to be doing so well in school. it is wonderful to see him happy and doing something he loves. 1 1/2 more years- it will go by quickly, right?

i am working and ben got a parttime job that is flexible. i am grateful to have steady employment in this time of financial upheavel. things could be so much worse. i am grateful they are not.

and lastly, i love food- chocolate and cherry pepsi, and pizza, and pie. and can't wait to eat turkey today. woo-hoo.

love you all. happy thanksgiving.

22 November 2009

jonas' news

so, i called home on my way back from our relief society "make and take" and ben told me that jonas had some news for me when i got home. i heard jonas say, "no, i want to tell her now." jonas got on the phone and said, "mommy, i have a girlfriend now." haha, i knew he liked this little girl, jenna, and she even came trick or treating with us for a little bit, but now he is calling her his girlfriend. so far, no kissing, thank goodness, but he has held her hand.

jonas then went to a birthday party for his friend, shawn, tonight and jenna was there. while we were getting ready for bed, he told me he had more "news" for me. he and jenna are getting married and his friend isaiah is buying the ring for him... what??? my 5 year old is engaged! haha.

20 November 2009

i'm in love



i admit it. i saw the midnight showing of new moon with some of my bestest friends- care bear, marrilee, rach, and jess! woo-hoo! it was amazing! so much better than twilight! it was so worth it.

17 November 2009

the first bad word

jonas swore yesterday for the first time... i guess he had to do it sometime and i guess i should be happy that he is 5 and in kindergarten so i can blame it on his peers. i, unfortunately, missed it. but according to ben, this is what happened... i will tell you in the form of our texting.

ben:jonas just swore like 7 times. literally 4 times. i put him in time out. but it is also a little cute and funny.

rachel:what the crap did he say?

ben:damn. he jumped like a bug bit him, then slapped his arm 3 times and said "damn!" each time in rhythm. when i asked him where he learned it, he said he made it up.

rachel: what? that is so odd. and funny. did you laugh?

ben:no, but i wasn't mad or mean either. i started to giggle after i put him in time out a little. it was sort of surreal.

12 November 2009

oops, we missed it

we have been meaning to take the boys hiking for some time now. unfortunately, by the time we got ourselves out and moving, we missed all the beautiful changing colors of the leaves. we still had a great time. we took the boys for a walk/hike by the stream in indiana twp, pa. it was lovely, but got dark fairly quickly. afterwards, we headed to pizza roma for some good ole' pizza. for those of you who know this, i could seriously eat pizza EVERYDAY! it was an awesome little restaurant and there was only one other table occupied when we got there. great food, great company. ahh, i love spending time with my boys!









10 November 2009

sometimes i wonder...

what the heck was i thinking???

bringing 3 boys to the doctor's on one day. the good thing, ben was with me for the appointment (but he was at class tonight). all 3 received the flu shot. porter had 3 other shots and jonas 1 other shot. jonas freaked out the most. (jonas told the nurse that he would slap her face if she tried to give him a shot.) they were all hot messes tonight. also, gryffie had a splinter that i had to remove. he did not like that- it was the most i have ever heard him scream. jonas came running into the room, wondering what was going on. ahh, what a night. but they all got baths, tylenol, and were in bed by 7:30/8:00pm. and here i am at work, night shift week...

06 November 2009

caged animal

george still sleeps in his crate at night. and porter can't resist it. we try to make sure it is locked, but he still sneaks in when we aren't looking. babies are so fast.



speaking of porter, he is almost 13 months and still only taking 2-3 steps at a time. he just doesn't feel the need to walk. i love it when he does and praise him highly. such a little lazy man!

03 November 2009

parent-teacher conference

today was our first parent-teacher conference with mrs. yohe. we love jonas' teacher. she is fabulous. she really knows how to motivate the kids, specifically my boy. each day jonas brings home a behavior calendar, and if he does a good job, he gets a sticker. he has gotten stickers every day.

jonas is doing great in kindergarten. mrs. yohe said he is very meticulous with his writing, is eager to learn, and is sweet. she did state that, at times, when he is overly excited, he will call out answers without raising his hand. jonas also loves art work, and will draw any time he is sitting at his desk. sometimes mrs. yohe needs to tell him 2-3 times to pay attention. yesterday he brought home little pieces of paper that he cut out and wrote his friend aaron's name all over. is he a mini-stalker? no, he just does his thing. it's one thing i love about him. ahh, that kid, he is the most like me, and the one that drives me the most crazy. it is amazing to see how much he is learning in school.

on a side note, for those of you that have kids in school, or are teacher, when you have a parent-teacher conference, does the parent typically bring their child along? i didn't but then the person after me did. just wondering.

01 November 2009

happy halloween!

we have had a fun-filled weekend so far, and i hope you have too! friday was the fall celebration party for jonas' kindergarten class. then we headed to the church for the trunk or treat.

saturday, we had family and friends over for a potluck and then set up the firepit in the driveway to hang out and wait for trick-or-treaters. we had an amazing turnout. and the boys made out like bandits. our friends, the perrys, brought their 3kids over. it was pretty funny, between our six children, we had 2 spidermen, 2 supermen, a ladybug, and a cow. cute kids!

happy halloween!

some of my favorite pictures:



my superman



daddy and portie



marrilee and hadley



lovin' the pumpkins



spiderman



papa and captain fishieman



cute boys (jacob and oliver perry/gryffin and jonas keller)



my happy sweet boy

the rest