the mighty kellers

introducing adeline pearl keller

2011-09-19T16:50:00.005-04:00

our little addie was born on sunday august 28, 2011 at 11:22 am. she was one week early and weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. she is an amazing, sweet little girl, adored by mommy, daddy, and 3 big brothers. she is now 3 weeks old (time has flown) and is 9 lbs 3 oz as of last thursday.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!

2010-12-23T15:11:00.005-05:00

i absolutely adore this time of year! it is so much fun and full of traditions. around the keller household, we have been doing our best to celebrate the season! we are thankful to gma and gpa who gave us a lovely 24 days of christmas book in which we read a scripture, story, and sing a song daily. we also now have a little elf on the shelf (also from gma) whom the boys love finding each day. (i am still not sold on the elf, but it is a cute idea.) i was really worried one morning when i forgot to move him. i hurried and moved him before the boys came downstairs (or at least i thought). but gryffie had already come down. when he came down again and told me elf hadn't moved, i was mildly concerned. i said, are you should. he looked around and found him in the new spot. then he said, "boy, he is fast." it is amazing to me how willing children are to believe, especially in anything magical. it does make the season extra memorable.

some of our other fun: we went to see the celebration of lights at hartwood acres, the boys get christmas pjs, we go out to zelienople with family and take a hayride to go cut down our own trees, the boys go out with gma and gpa to buy christmas gifts for the family, we make tons of cookies, we go down to the strip and go shopping/eating on the saturday before, and the boys love making ginger bread houses. christmas eve we usually have a brunch with the kellers and head out to aunt betty's for a christmas eve party. however, this year, aunt betty has to work, so we went out to cranberry to visit last week and to do an early christmas with my parents as well. i am sure we will head out there again over the next week.

ahh, christmas time. it is truly the most wonderful time of the year. i love that it is both a spiritual but festive holiday. i love the music, food, and just all out celebrating! here are a few pictures so far of our christmas fun... there will be a ton more to come.

happy belated halloween!!!

2010-12-23T14:53:00.004-05:00

it's practically christmas, but i have yet to post about our halloween fun. the thursday before halloween, we finally had time to carve our pumpkins (ben has class on mon and tues and then ym on wed eve).

on friday, we had the trunk or treat at our church. and then on sunday, we went trick or treating. ben stayed at home to hand out candy with most of the keller clan and beth, paula, and i took turns taking the boys out. the boys were really excited about their costumes and getting candy (we still have some left). jonas was harry potter, gryffin was superman, and porter was a little dragon.

happy belated halloween!!!

fun at trax farms

2010-12-14T18:50:00.003-05:00

another family tradition is going to trax farms each year. while we are there, we buy lots of delicious food to eat, go to the petting zoo, get our pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, get delicious apples, and take a hay ride. we always look forward to this time of year and have lots of fun with our family. it is a good way to celebrate fall and get ready for halloween.

some of my favorite pictures...

and since i am the queen of slideshows:

the great race

2010-12-11T10:51:00.003-05:00

jonas and gryffin decided that they would really like to run the kid's great race which was held in september. ben worked with them for several months at training. we headed downtown that morning and enjoyed all the games and fun activities available. then i ran with gryffin and ben ran with jonas while grandma and grandpa hung out with portie. it was an awesome experience. as gryffin and i crossed the finish line, my eyes welled with tears. i was so proud of my little dude. i didn't know where jonas and ben were though. they were behind and i came to find out that jonas had taken a tumble at the beginning of the race and was bleeding, but he still wanted to finish his course. i was so proud of my fearless little man. way to go boys! this may be a new family tradition, and maybe next year, portie will run, too.

washington county fair

2010-12-10T20:09:00.003-05:00

as always, each year, we venture down south to the washington county fair. the boys have a wonderful time, seeing the animals, eating yummy food, and riding the rides. this year, portie was even big enough to ride. here are some pictures of our fun day.

and the rest of the pictures...

to jonas...

2010-12-07T22:15:00.006-05:00

so, again, i haven't been very good at updating the blog, and i feel i owe a post to jonas specifically. i did not put on any pictures of his 1st day of first grade or even his birthday (which was back in april). so here's to you, mr. jojo keller, you sweet little man who is too smart for his own good and a whiny mcwhinerstein at times, and i love ya! can you believe that jonas was ever this little?

now, he is in the first grade...

pictures from his birthday:

fall is in the air

2010-10-21T22:25:00.004-04:00

we went to mcconnell's mills a couple weekends ago. the leaves were not yet fully changing color but it was beautiful! the boys enjoyed jumping in the leaves and hiking down the trail to the old mill. some of my favorite pictures...

happy birthday, baby

2010-10-15T13:44:00.009-04:00

portie is 2 today. i guess he is not much of a baby anymore. but he was just a little bit ago.

in the hospital with mommy

learning to sit up

around his first birthday

i took the day off work and we brought jonas in late to school so we could all go to chuck-e-cheese together. we like to get there early in the am so we are the first ones there. it is nice and quiet, plus we get to collect all the free tickets from the game guy testing all the games! score! here is a slide show of the fun:

this afternoon we will be heading down to dc with porter to go to the temple for sadie and dustin's sealing. jomi and gryffie with be having sleepovers with some of their friends. thank you, perrys and manueles!!! i am sure we will celebrate more of portie's b-day with family, too.

happy birthday, little dude!

the graduate

2010-08-29T20:46:00.006-04:00

my little man, who is not so little, graduated from kindergarten in june. he will be starting 1st grade on wednesday. his school had a little graduation program and grandma came along. yeah, jomi! congrats, my little graduate!

getting his diploma from principal brown

handsome jonas

the grad and parents

mom and jomi

grandma and jonas

jonas and principal brown

jonas and his teacher, mrs. yohe

jonas and his friend, sean

gryffie rolling down the hill after graduation

jonas with his kindergarten portfolio

happy 200th post!!!

2010-08-24T18:55:00.006-04:00

although i have been not so good at posting the last few months, i am really trying to get back in the swing of things and i know i am bombarding you all with posts. but, i have so much to catch up on. jonas goes back to school next week and i haven't even posted his kindergarten graduation pictures (june) or his birthday pictures (april). for this post, here are a couple pictures of the boys' t-ball fun. they did not like t-ball and i don't think we will do it next year, but some of the games were fun. gryffin spent most of the time laying in the grass.

not to leave portie out, here is how amazing he is when we shave his head- he is better behaved than the older two! don't mind the drool on his lip...

on a side note, this past weekend, our bathroom flooded down into our basement so we are getting to remodel our bathroom. a blessing in disguise, i think.

ben is back to school today and it is my first evening home alone with the boys. i sent them all outside. the weather is gorgeous today- nice and fall-like. good thing i have homemade ginger snaps!

happy day! and happy 200th post!

ward camp out

2010-08-21T10:35:00.002-04:00

in june, we went with our ward on a camp out in ohiopyle. it was tons of fun- over 50 people came and we really enjoyed hanging out with our friends. on saturday, we took the boys to the natural waterslides and while we did not do the slides, we enjoyed walking along the water and taking pictures. there were small little water puddles filled with hundreds of little tadpoles and the boys were enthralled with them. we made a quick stop by the waterfall, too, and hopefully next year will hike down to it.

pictures? of course!

marathon man

2010-08-21T10:23:00.004-04:00

ben ran the pgh marathon back in may. it was his first one and he was able to finish despite some serious leg cramps. we were at gma and gpa kelly's house with family watching the race and ready to cheer ben on when he passed. it was raining and porter got very wet playing in the puddles. gma and gpa had tons of good food and we had fun! go ben!

catching up...

2010-08-15T22:48:00.003-04:00

beware, i have added some newer posts that are back dated. i had started them, but did not download any pictures from my camera since easter. also i have a lot of catching up to do- pictures of jonas' birthday, a visit to chuck-e-cheese, jonas' graduation, ben's birthday, fun at the blue slide park, and more. sorry for the huge amount of pictures!

keller update: life is good.

ben: getting ready to start his last semester of classes in grad school before student teaching. he ran the marathon this spring (pictures to come) and has continued training for a half-marathon in the fall and a marathon next spring.

rachel: loving her new daylight hours, missing my friends at my old job and hanging out with kids/friends during the day, starting to go back to book group which she has missed, trying to not want a baby too soon after holding celeste's little maura today, and loving up her crazy boys.

jonas: ready to start kindergarten in about 2 weeks, looking as cute as ever with his missing front tooth.

gryffin: ah, what a personality, but don't let him get cranky. i will post a picture in the future that represents this. he is sweet, but easily provoked (not in a violent way).

porter: the kid never stops moving but is so sweet and happy. he has been the "easiest" child, which means he will probably give us hell when he gets older.

stay tuned...

lbi

2010-08-14T00:54:00.006-04:00

early in july, we went with the whole kelly clan to long beach island, new jersey. we had a wonderful time enjoying the sand and sun. jonas and gryffie loved the water and porter loved the sand. and i mean, loved to eat the sand. gross little guy, but he couldn't resist. we only had one minor accident while we were there- which makes a successful vacation- jonas face planted into the ocean floor and now is missing his front tooth. at least it was a baby tooth, but it was not even loose. he was a trooper though and aunt tobey helped calm him down. unfortunately, we did not get to stay more than 4 days as i did not have any time off from my new job. but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the beautiful weather. a special thanks to gma and gpa kelly for all the fun!

some favorite pictures...

and a slide show of the rest...

kennywood

2010-08-03T19:26:00.008-04:00

we went to kennywood on sunday. we left porter at home by himself...

ok, so not really, we left him with gma and gpa and then took the older two boys. we got there at 11:30 am and did not leave until 9:00 pm. i had to take off work the next day because i realize i am old. my hip hurt and my arm hurt after walking around and riding rides all day. when did this happen? i had so much fun with my boys, but i am not a sweet young thing anymore. crazy!!! here are numerous pictures of my boys (ben, jonas, gryffin) and me. my favorites:

the boys' favorite ride was the raging rapids. they rode 5 times.

the best part of kennywood for me was not the rides, but the food: corn dogs, potato patch fries, slushies, pizza, funnel cake with ice cream, whipped cream, and strawberries, and lemonade. delicious!

and a slide show:

happy 4th of july

2010-07-05T00:03:00.003-04:00

yes! we are still here! life has been busy as always, but now that i am working during the day, there are stricter internet policies and i don't get much of a chance to blog or facebook. but i have a goal to do better!

happy 4th of july everyone! we have had such a wonderful week. we have some wonderful friends, neil and jessica stoddard, plus their boys, sam and jacob, visiting and have been loving spending some time with them. today included! it's so fun to see good friends that i love so much- and it had been 3 years since we last saw them.

today went like this: church, empanadas for lunch, nap, pool, kellers for a bbq and fireworks, oakmont fireworks, then neighborhood fireworks. ben is out playing frisbee with his friends (yes... at 12:07 am) and i just did some cleaning- dishes, laundry, etc. i don't have to work tomorrow and we are going to spend more time together as a family and head to church for another bbq. i love the festivities of the summer!

father-son campout

2010-05-20T23:06:00.008-04:00

jonas and gryffin went on a ward campout with daddy and had a great time. they enjoyed yummy food...

hanging out and hiking in the woods...

playing tug-of-war...

and swinging on a rope swing...

thanks for a fun campout, daddy!

happy mother's day and happy birthday

2010-05-09T15:07:00.004-04:00

happy mother's day to all my friends and family! ahh, i love being a mom! there is really nothing better or more rewarding than being a mom. in church, the boys made mother's day cards and gave me hershey kisses. gryffie's card said "i like it when you hold me" and had a picture of me holding him. adorable. jonas' said "the greatest mom" and had a picture of the two of us holding hands. sweet. we are heading out to cranberry for dinner tonight, because not only is it mother's day, it my dad's 85th birthday! incredible! we are looking forward to celebrating and eating yummy pizza! happy birthday daddy! happy mother's day, mom!

also, jonas came home from school friday with a little plant in a decorated cup, a picture of a cupcake that says how sweet i am, and the following list titled "my mom."

my mom is 30 years old. (he was right on!)

my mom looks prettiest when she dyes her hair.

my mom likes to make spaghetti for dinner.

my mom likes to go on jonas-mommy dates.

my mom likes to go to the beach.

in her spare time, my mom likes to go to the ymca.

all true, i love my boys! happy mother's day!

jo-jo six!

2010-04-18T14:26:00.005-04:00

jonas is 6 today! time sure is flying! i can't believe my baby boy will be graduating kindergarten soon! he is such a smartie pants, and an adorable sweet boy. we are too much alike though and often bump heads, but i love that he will still take the time to cuddle with me on the couch. can you believe my jo-jo used to look like this???

now, he looks like this!

happy birthday, jo-jo!

this boy

2010-04-15T23:19:00.004-04:00

is 18 months old today! that means, he is officially in nursery! hooray. ah, portie poo. what an amazing little dude. he is such a joy. we went to don pablos today and he loved the music- he couldn't stop dancing. he enjoyed the food today- eating corn cake, chicken enchiladias, and rice and beans. i am so grateful for my porter. look at that face. and those cheeks! how can you not love him???

oh, happy day

2010-04-14T20:00:00.002-04:00

i was offered a new job today with gateway health plan as a medical case manager. what does this mean???

-more money
-mon-fri set daylight shift
-no holidays
-no weekends
-did i mention more money
-talking with members/clients/patients again instead of just providers
-i get to work in the steel building on the 41st floor

exciting! hooray!

what? snow?

2010-04-09T20:07:00.004-04:00

so crazy! it snowed today! just a light flurry, but still. the day before yesterday was 80 degrees. pittsburgh weather is out of control, especially at this time of year.

because it snowed, i don't feel so silly posting my pictures from february. in february, we had 22.5 inches of snow. it was ridiculous but beautiful. we lost electricity for 2 days and stayed overnight at the kellers'. of course, trying to drive there was another story. our car got stuck and we needed to walk the rest of the way- with 3 cranky cold boys. but it was so nice to be in a warm home with wonderful family.

little bunny fufu

2010-04-06T03:52:00.005-04:00

ahh, easter! what a beautiful day! we had a wonderful day with family, including an amazing brunch/easter egg hunt with the kellers and then a delicious dinner with the deeres. we all made out like bandits for the easter egg hunt. i took a nap in the mid-afternoon as i was working night shift the night before.

haha, so i love easter. i like most any holiday, but ben was finding it difficult to explain to the boys about the easter bunny. how big is he? how does he get in the house? does he come down the chimney like santa? it was all quite amusing, but to be honest, they did not care. they were happy to get their baskets the next day and forgot any questions they may have had.

bye bye locks

2010-03-09T21:15:00.004-05:00

the time has come to shave our beautiful boys' hair so that we can encourage the spring weather! the older two boys did fine. portie was a little hesitant, but did amazingly well!

a whole month...

2010-02-21T06:32:00.005-05:00

without posting, what is going on? i lost my blogging mojo. alas, maybe it will return!

highlights of the last month-we are enjoying the warmer weather the last few days. we have gotten over 32 inches of snow in february! we lost power for about 24 hours and then got stuck in the snow on the way to the kellers. we walked the rest of the way. this is the most snow pgh has seen since 1993. crazy!

we got our tax return- hooray! i just bought a whole lot of godiva truffles. and cupcakes from dozen. and pizza. and pepperoni rolls. it was so worth it!

i found my first gray hair. it had to happen at some point. the funny thing is, i just dyed my hair 2 weeks before. i keep trying to dye my hair brown and i feel like it keeps turning red. i hadn't dyed it for almost 1 year.

it is 6:37 am and i can not be accountable for anything i say right now, having worked all night. i should probably end while i am ahead. good day, sir.

bowling festivities

2010-01-25T20:08:00.004-05:00

each christmas, gma and gpa kelly rent out the paa bowling alley for a bowling party and dinner. here are some pictures of our wonderful evening. argyll's revenge also played for the occassion!

i hit my head

2010-01-18T16:51:00.002-05:00

and jonas was concerned. he drew this for me, in case if i was really hurt, i would remember who i should call. sweet little man!

christmas in rewind

2010-01-10T07:34:00.001-05:00

christmas was wonderful. here are pictures. lots of pictures. i took a crazy amount of pictures. but we were busy and had lots of fun. christmas eve we spent with the kellers and then went to aunt betty's for an evening with my side of the family. we also went to my sister cara's house- look at her cute twins!!!! christmas am we were at home and then went to the kellers' again. christmas evening was spent and gma and gpa kelly's home with all our cousins. fun and exhausting.

snow days

2010-01-08T23:55:00.003-05:00

and the snow continued. we enjoyed 3 days of 2 hour delays and then a cancellation on friday! we have a small hill in our front yard and did some sledding while portie napped.

happy new year

2010-01-01T05:41:00.003-05:00

wishing you and yours a very happy new year! from a very snowy pittsburgh keller family!

4 years ago...

2009-12-29T23:44:00.009-05:00

i gave birth to this little man. he since has brightened each of my days. i love you, sweet gryffie. you are the best!

for gryffie's b-day, he wanted to go to rockin' robin and gma and gpa came along. he also insisted on a cake from the oakmont bakery.

birthday celebration

2009-12-28T04:07:00.006-05:00

yesterday night, we had a mini b-day celebration. we are blessed to live close to our extended family, but i cherish our time together, just the 5 of us. i slept after church as i am on nights again this week, and my cold came back. so i woke up at 5:30 pm and we had some ice cream cake and played twister. jonas was the referee, and gryffie really wasn't into it, so he just sat on the mat and would occassionally move a foot or hand. porter just rolled all over the mat, which was quite amusing. then we read some stories together. it was a great b-day celebration!

this isn't the best lighting, but i wanted to post a picture of me with my boys.

our christmas miracle

2009-12-25T23:41:00.003-05:00

ahh, christmas started off a little rough, but has been altogether lovely. shortly after i wrote my earlier christmas post, re: my b-day dinner and festivities of the season, ben came home and told me that our car's emission light had turned on. the car started jerking and began smelling like burnt clutch. ben sat in the driveway when he got home and read the manual. it said it could be 2 things- one, the gas cap wasn't on all the way, or two, it needed serious help and should not be driven or the warranty would be null and void. well, the gas cap was fine, so, yeah, christmas eve, we had a broken car and of course, our mechanic brunos, and the honda dealership were closed, so no luck there. then we called 2 car rental places and both had no cars available until at least saturday. we were supposed to go to ambridge for the evening to see family as well as ben's family during the day and we had no car. then our home teacher, sam eskelson, stopped by to drop off a gift. ben told him about the car, and about 1/2 hour later, sam brought us his car. one big enough to fit our family and my brother. it was our christmas miracle. we are blessed. after sam's call, we had all the boys come into the living room and said a prayer of thanksgiving. we are so thankful for a good home teacher, a loving heavenly father, our divine saviour, and all those that bless our lives each day. merry christmas to all and to all, a good night.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!!!

2009-12-24T00:14:00.004-05:00

i love christmas time! it's just so festive! this past week has been wonderful! we had a ton of snow in the pittsburgh area! i wrapped all my christmas gifts for the boys! we had a party at work. we had sunday dinner with great friends and then went to see the beautiful lights at hartwood. also, last weekend, we had a christmas breakfast with santa. this is pre haircuts but alas, my boys are adorable! notice how gryffie will not get close to santa. he would only give santa a high five with much coaxing.

oh, and tonight, i had a wonderful early b-day dinner with 4 of my favorite girls- carrie, marie, rachel, and marrilee! i love you ladies! thanks for celebrating with me!

christmas cookies

2009-12-17T20:52:00.006-05:00

each year we decorate cookies together. ben had finals this week, so he missed out on the fun. i think the boys eat more icing than they put on the cookies and i had to cut gryffie off...

pictures- you can see the boys' new do's.

ahh, feeling better

2009-12-15T20:38:00.002-05:00

i finally went to the doctor last thursday and found out i had pneumonia. i had been sick for like 3 weeks and now, after antibiotics and an inhaler, i feels so much better. today was my first day back to work. i actually enjoyed being lazy and being home with my boys so much. and i slept, a lot! some random things:

port is a walking machine. i was trying to download a video, but it would not work. i will try later.

we finally went to beth-beth and all three boys got awesome new haircuts. pictures to follow.

i love glee. i love community. and 30 rock. and the office. and chuck starts in january.

christmas is in only 10 days! crazy! this year has flown. and my birthday...

on the move...

2009-12-12T20:31:00.004-05:00

i have been trying to post these videos for a while, but couldn't. my little portie is movin! non-stop! please don't mind my voice... he, he. love this boy! i especially love how he tries to talk back! i can't believe he is 14 months old now!

something's missing...

2009-12-08T16:58:00.003-05:00

jomi lost his first tooth today!!!

portie's bad hair cut...

2009-12-06T04:50:00.009-05:00

so, i cut baby's hair and haven't had a chance to take him to aunt beth-beth to get it fixed. i thought he looked adorable that day. but then, haha, it is sooo badly cut. see picture #2. poor portie.

and a picture of our finished christmas tree- we still need to move the storage bins out of the way... notice that the ornaments are mostly on the top as we had to move them out of portie's clutches.

more on jonas

2009-12-03T02:22:00.002-05:00

he seems to be the topic of numerous blog postings recently. i love that kid. he asked me today if he could marry me. i explained why that would not work, but anyway... we had an awesome dance party in the living room tonight (gryffie was at a sleepover) and ate pizza and wings together.

jonas told me that jenna kissed him today. on the cheek, but still. they held hands the week before thanksgiving and now she is kissing him on the cheek. really? he's 5.

jomi has his first loose tooth. and you can see the other tooth growing in behind it. he was watching noddy tonight after his bath, and i found him laying on the couch, wiggling his little tooth. it won't be long until the tooth fairy makes her first visit! fun times.

o christmas tree

2009-12-01T08:24:00.008-05:00

each year we go to lake forest gardens in fombell, pa, to cut down our christmas tree. this is one of my favorite traditions of the year. it's so much fun. and the weather was perfect this year. basically, you pick what type of tree you would like (we usually pick canaan fir as the needles are softer) and you take a hay ride out to that type of tree. they drop you off and the search begins. after finding a tree that is perfect for your family, you cut it down yourselves. so much fun!

this year's choice, not yet decorated completely:

we have some crazy times together- singing christmas carols, trying to take family photos, and this year, the trees kept falling on uncle chris and all the boys! they loved it. we went to the chinese buffet in cranberry after for lunch. here are some more pics of our family fun!

bowling for turkeys

2009-11-29T05:38:00.004-05:00

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.

happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T00:20:00.002-05:00

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.

jonas' news

2009-11-22T00:52:00.002-05:00

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.

i'm in love

2009-11-20T03:22:00.003-05:00

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.

the first bad word

2009-11-17T23:12:00.002-05:00

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.

oops, we missed it

2009-11-12T05:22:00.005-05:00

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!

sometimes i wonder...

2009-11-10T03:12:00.005-05:00

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...

caged animal

2009-11-06T22:05:00.002-05:00

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!

parent-teacher conference

2009-11-03T23:41:00.002-05:00

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.

happy halloween!

2009-11-01T07:50:00.002-05:00

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

pumpkin time

2009-10-31T22:21:00.005-04:00

so, it has been a crazy week as i have been on night shifts for most of it. on wednesday, we finally had time to carve our pumpkins. then we made treat bags for gryffie's joy school party and jonas' fall celebration party. it was lots of fun. the boys look forward to carving the pumpkins each year.

boo and the dancing gorilla

2009-10-29T02:20:00.002-04:00

these videos crack me up!

poor jonas getting scared by the crazy gorilla. i told him daddy had a surprise...

the dancing gorilla really likes the kooks!

unfortunately, we returned the monkey suit, but it was fun while it lasted.

carnegie mellon university- thursday

2009-10-28T02:39:00.006-04:00

be there, or be square. argyll's revenge is playing at 9:00 pm. this is their show after winning the battle of the bands. for those of you who are unfamiliar, argyll's revenge is a funky-rock band in which my hubby, ben keller, my b-in-l, chris keller, and our good friend, colin pinto-martin plays. i know a few of you have asked to hear their music. they are on facebook and myspace and have several videos on youtube as well. i also have previously posted some short clips on the blog. here are some links:

myspace

video-mimi's coming

fail like a man

scissors

white horses -tribute to the fallen Pgh officers

mimi's coming

happy thoughts

2009-10-26T01:27:00.002-04:00

jonas gave his first talk in primary yesterday. it was on the family proclamation. ben helped him and jonas did such an amazing job. i am amazed with how he has changed over the last year. last fall, he wouldn't even get up to sing in the primary program, he was so shy. now he jumps up and can do things on his own. he is looking forward to the program in 2 weeks. i am so proud of the little guy he is becoming and i really think school helps a lot. he is still loving school and gets stickers daily for good behavior. yeah, jomi!

i taught in relief society yesterday as well. the lesson was on president monson's talk "what have i done for someone today?" this was the 2nd time i have taught in relief society. i have horrible nerves, but for some reason, i feel so comfortable and at home when teaching in rs. i think heavenly father is really watching out for me. and guess what, i LOVE teaching. i never thought i would, but i do.

one last thought, 2 weeks ago, we were sitting in our teaching the gospel class for sunday school. patriarch fields is in our ward and he was giving a brief lesson on someone that had touched his life. he spoke of the prophet and had a wedding gift from him when partriach fields and his wife got married. i was so inspired by partriarch fields, so touched by the spirit. and my spririt was lifted to remembrance of something i didn't realize. when i was 16, patriarch fields gave me my patriarchal blessing. i knew he was in my ward, but listening to him made me remember that it had been in that very same room that my blessing was given. i hadn't connected that the ward i am in now was the same ward where that occurred. it was an amazing day and i was so happy to be able to remember it in that way.

porter's place

2009-10-25T07:15:00.002-04:00

my friend marie sent me this picture. it's a place in lehi, utah. i love it.

congrats again

2009-10-20T13:23:00.002-04:00

to sadie and dustin. saturday night was a ring ceremony/reception held in their honor at the bower hill fire hall. it was a wonderful evening. i was able to eat tons of great food, hang out with wonderful friends and family, and dance with my wonderful best friend carrie! unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries, so no pictures were taken, but again, here is a picture of the beautiful bride and groom.

dinner guests

2009-10-17T02:40:00.011-04:00

we had a big dinner party last night for all out of town guests to celebrate sadie and dustin's wedding. grandma kelly offered her home and about 25 of us crashed for dinner, dessert, and a celebration. here are a couple pictures of the night, including the bride and groom and an awesome pumpkin grandma kelly carved for them.

mr. pumpkin

the bride and groom

grandma krashna

cousin nancy and aunt betty

grandma keller

me and portie

here was the menu:
veggies with dill weed dip
warmed brie with apricot preserves on crackers
cool berry soup
chicken salad on rolls
linguine salad
mixed green salad with poppyseed dressing
apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

yum.

side note: sadie and dustin got married in april, but had a ring ceremony/reception scheduled for saturday night.

one fine day

2009-10-15T02:40:00.006-04:00

my portie is 1 today! i can't believe it. he is such a wonderful sweet boy. he is starting to get into everything!!! i love his snuggles, his smiles, the way he giggles and says mama, dadda, and all done. love that boy.

highlights of the day included a pizza/salad dinner with the kellers, including gma and gpa keller who are visiting from colorado. happy birthday sweet porter!

a year in review

my little thumbsucker- day 1

lovin' the daddy

trying to sit up

4th of july

1 year old

zoo, zoo, zoo

2009-10-13T02:57:00.003-04:00

we go to the pittsburgh zoo. a lot. the boys love it and i love that they run around and get some exercise. except for porter- he doesn't even walk yet, lazy baby, who i love with all my heart. anyway, here are some wonderful pics of our zoo day (from a while ago, notice the shorts and we aren't wearing shorts anymore...) the boys LOVE the new shark exhibit, and of course, we alway head to the play areas to play first. port was cooperative this day and fell asleep, so we saw all the exhibits, even the stinky monkeys. ahh, i love the zoo!

the prize

2009-10-09T21:22:00.005-04:00

i think it is wonderful that president obama won the nobel peace prize. he won the presidency for a reason and he is making great strides towards world peace and helping the citizens of our country become more hopeful during a difficult season. it's an honor.

here's a great article on cnn.

totally rad

2009-10-07T15:36:00.006-04:00

each year in pittsburgh, there are radical days. these are days that different venues throughout the city offer free admission days, activities and performances. on sunday, both the children's museum and the aviary had free admissions, so we took advantage. despite the crowds, we had an amazingly wonderful time together. we parked at a meter then walked to the children's museum, then the aviary, and spent some time as well at a little park on the northside of the city. pittsburgh is a beautiful place and i was happy to spend another fun-filled day with my beautiful boys.

my boys

gryffie posing as always

portie

jonas happy to be playin' in the water

the joys of fall

2009-10-06T06:14:00.003-04:00

ahh! let me tell you how much i love this time of year- i love the change in season, the cooler weather, the trees changing color, and most of all, the start of a fabulous holiday season! the next 3 months are ones full of numerous celebrations. each year we go to trax farms at the beginning of october. it really helps get me in the spirit of the holidays. some of the fun at trax farms includes lots of games for the kids, the feeding/petting zoo, taking a hay ride to the pumpkin patch, going through the corn maze, sampling the delicious treats available, enjoying time with family, and eating a delicious lunch that mom and dad keller provide for us. so much fun! porter was very well behaved as were the rest of the boys. it is hard to believe that last year at this time, i was just pregnant with port stuff. (harder to believe that he will be 1 in 9 days!!!) anyway, as always, multiple pics of our family fun! please note, i had a tooth infection and was taking high doses of vicodin (hence the glazed look in my eyes!)

jomi's first horsie ride

mr. stylish on the pumpkins

my pumpkin with a pumpkin

yet another attempt at a family photo... neigh impossible, let me tell you

burnt popcorn

2009-10-02T03:08:00.002-04:00

i love eating popcorn late at night at work. i have a conundrum, however. if i make a whole bag of popcorn, there is no way i can eat it all. i try to share with my co-workers but they say they don't want any. i try to make one of the single serving bags, and without fail, it burns... oh, well.

and the winner is...

2009-09-30T06:16:00.000-04:00

argyll's revenge! they played last saturday night at carnegie mellon university's battle of the bands and WON! they won a $150 gift card to guitar center and will be playing on october 29th for cmu's homecoming! i am excited for the boys and look forward to hearing them play! hooray!

the sweetest place on earth

2009-09-25T17:29:00.005-04:00

welcome to hershey!

i have been in camp hill/carlisle pa for the last couple days. due to the g-20 summit being held in pgh, our office was moved here this week. i arrived early thursday. let me tell you, it has been a nice but weird experience. i am not used to having quiet time to myself. today i slept in until 10:30 am! it was lovely. when i woke, my friend, stephanie, and i headed to hershey, pa. neither of us had been before. it was a really neat experience. unfortunately, i did not bring my camera for pictures.

we did not have time to go to the amusement park or take the trolley tour, however, we did go on the chocolate tour and took the chocolate tasting adventure class. just so you know, it is now official. i have my master's in chocolate tasting! i also had so much fun buying treats for my boys. i look forward to bringing them to hershey at some point. thanks, steph, for the fun time!

my favorite candy

they're back!

2009-09-18T08:58:00.004-04:00

after a summer hiatus, argyll's revenge is back in the groove. wed night they played the rock-n-bowl at arsenal lanes. it was a jolly good time. on saturday, from 3-4, they will be playing a block party in greenfield. let me know if you need any more details. here are a couple pics of wed night's fun. please make special note of ben's hard core stache.

11 months ago...

2009-09-17T09:17:00.002-04:00

i had this little dude. he is great! and i love him.

what do you remember?

2009-09-14T23:37:00.000-04:00

this was the question i asked jonas after he watched president obama's speech on friday. he said, "never give up." AWESOME!

lest we forget

2009-09-11T20:10:00.006-04:00

i know this is a day that is held in remembrance for many. a day of sorrow in which many lives were unfortunately and unfairly lost. i hope that we can all take some time today to offer a prayer of thanksgiving for those that have made sacrifices to serve our wonderful country. i know i am grateful for all the soldiers, fire fighters, ems workers, and police offers that serve us daily. today, i wore my red, white, and blue. i know it is cliche, but i am proud to be an american. i know we are free: free to live our lives how we choose, to worship how we choose, and to remember as we choose.

today at jomi's school, we were asked to bring in cookies. the cookies were then boxed up and distributed by the children and their parents to local police, ems, and fire stations. the kids made thank you cards to deliver along with the cookies. we brought ours to the penn hills universal volunteer fire station #6. i was teary eyed as the boys offered their cookies and said thank you. such a little act of love, but one that helps us remember those that sacrifice daily for each of us.

3 boys

2009-09-07T16:04:00.003-04:00

i love these 3 little guys in my life. i am happy to have them. but it is so difficult to get a picture of the 3 of them together. here are a couple of my attempts.

letter to santa

2009-09-06T07:42:00.004-04:00

ok, so it is september, but yesterday jonas was working on his christmas list. he then put his list in an envelope and put a school bus stamp on it. he asked me to dictate a note to santa for him. i had to post what it said.

dear santa claus,

did you have a nice summer? how's your wife? i hope you bring me lots of presents. i've been a very good boy.

love,
jonas

my name is jonas....

2009-09-04T05:20:00.006-04:00

jonas' first day of school was great! i woke up at 7:30 am and found him sitting on the couch, dressed in school clothes, with his hat on, all ready to go! he was all smiles and insisted on riding the bus. i had wanted to drop him off to which he replied, "you can drop me off at the bus stop, mommy." so, we all made the trek (1 block away) to the bus stop. the bus was 25 minutes late! but it came and jonas happily jumped on. he was so excited and totally hamming up for the camera too. such a cutie. it was weird not having him home during the day, but after school, we picked him up at the bus stop and headed to max and erma's for a celebratory dinner. when i asked him how his day went, he replied, "good. i didn't go to the principal's office." and he had a green smiley sticker for today. all is well! here is my big boy! i can't believe i have a kindergartener!

all smiles leaving the house

doing a dance

proud daddy

proud mommy

cheesin'

the bus finally arrives

off to school

orientation

2009-09-02T19:41:00.001-04:00

jonas had kindergarten orientation this morning at forbes elementary. ben and i both went, thanks to my friend, anna, who watched gryffie and porter. we had the chance to see the school, meet jomi's teacher, mrs. yohe, and meet the principal, mrs. brown. both seemed FABULOUS! ben and i were impressed. jonas has his own little desk, which he was able to pick on his own. mrs. yohe seems to have a very structured and fun learning environment. i think jonas is excited, although nervous. probably his favorite part of the day was riding the bus. ben and i are excited to be involved in the pta and assist as able. jonas will have his first day tomorrow, and is insistent that he ride the bus, so we will be taking him to the bus stop at 7:55 am. tomorrow, neither ben nor i have class or work, so after school we are taking jonas and the other boys out to dinner. jonas picked subway. crazy kid.

i have to mention the rest of my day, which was great. after orientation, i dropped ben and the younger boys off at home. jonas and i went shopping at the children's place for some school clothes. then we went to baskin robbins for ice cream and then to the library. jonas picked out some movies and books, and i already read two of them to him (we are asked to read with him 1 book per day). also, ben had requested the new arctic monkeys' cd- humbug- which is awesome. i listened to it on my way to work. after getting home, the boys watched barney's halloween (1 of the movies jomi picked out) and i made chocolate chip cookies. it was a good day!

a freakin' dorable

2009-08-31T21:54:00.001-04:00

one of the best sights to behold. my boys (jonas and gryffie) walking up the stairs at the ymca. jonas is holding my i-pod and each have a headphone in their ear. both are singing "what is this feeling," from wicked, quite loudly, i may add. it made me smile and made my day!

camping

2009-08-26T21:56:00.009-04:00

we went camping this past month for 4 days at the river's edge. let me tell you, camping with 3 little guys is crazy, but fun. we enjoyed the campground as well as our new tent which is roomy enough for the whole family. george (our beagle) came along with us as well as many of our friends and family. we enjoyed campfires and swimming, biking (not me), and lots of delicious food. we did not love the rain, however, and ended up driving home friday just to avoid it for part of the day. (we drove back that night).

jonas loved being able to ride his back around the campground and gryffie took to running laps around the loop. he would run multiple times per day, and loved it so much that we think we are going to sign him up for a kid's run in october. cute boys. i enjoyed trying to get george to swim in the river and playing at the pool. i loved watching the guys do their frisbee pass off while jumping in the pool- they were able to have all 6 of them throw and catch while jumping in- impressive. i think ben enjoyed this, too, as well as swimming the river with chrissypoo. here are some of my favorite pictures.

be of good cheer

2009-08-24T21:10:00.002-04:00

this was our lesson in relief society yesterday at church. i admit, i have been struggling lately to do so. these last couple weeks have been rough- in multiple ways. i won't go into detail, but i have been having a difficult time keeping a smile on my face. i have seen the impact on the boys as well. i can tell they are acting out a bit more, most likely due to the fact that i have been stressed and impatient with them. so tomorrow, i am going to the temple. i haven't been in a while and i really felt the overwhelming desire to go. i am dragging my wonderful brother-in-law, chris, with me. we both work tomorrow evening, so we are leaving at 5:00 am. early, i know, but necessary.

i also heard a very good quote today. it was actually on ellen (i watch it on mute while at the gym). "resentment is like drinking poison." this was said by nelson mandela. i am trying to do this and feel better already. i definitely needed to hear that today- and i need to work on doing that as well. ah, life. sometimes all you can say is "it sucks." but we can't know joy if we don't know sorrow, right?

web albums and sleep...

2009-08-21T09:26:00.004-04:00

i am addicted to both of these.

i have a couple albums to add from the county fair and also from our camping trip this summer. but it has not been working today or yesterday and i am going crazy! anyone else having an issue?

i worked night shift tuesday and wednesday night. last night, i went to bed at 9:30 pm and slept until 8:00 am. it was FABULOUS! the boys are fed, and we are off to the gym. it's amazing what sleep can do! i feel happy and refreshed!

portie on the go

2009-08-20T15:53:00.004-04:00

portie has been a bit of a late bloomer. he just started crawling about 2 weeks ago. i forgot what it was like to have a mobile baby... the grabby hands, the dislike of being confined (as seen above with jomi), and for me, feeling obligated to vacuum more than once per month... but i love that he is interested in exploring the world. if i could just get him to stop eating grass and dirt!

washington county fair

2009-08-20T05:28:00.008-04:00

one of our yearly traditions is to go to the washington county fair each summer. the fair opened last saturday and we were there for opening day. the clarks played that night, too, although we were too busy riding rides to stop and listen (and the boys would not let us anyway). jonas especially has been enjoying rides and he even went on the "fire ball" with ben, although it was not his favorite ride. if you don't know what the fire ball is, here's a picture. i didn't ride it.

i like going to the fair for so many reasons- spending time with family, seeing all the animals, looking at the entries for the different prize winners, enjoying the delicious food, specifically gyros and lemonade, and riding the rides. if you haven't gone to the washington county fair before, i would definitely recommend it. so much fun!

duckies

2009-08-15T14:11:00.006-04:00

i think most of you know that we lived in jacksonville fl for a year. it was a rough year for our family- ben didn't really care for law school, i wasn't used to being home with 2 crazy kids, and we were in a new place, trying to meet new people, etc. but the one thing that was fabulous about being in florida (other than meeting new friends and falling in love with the lunts) was where we lived. campfield condos. we had a fabulous swimming pool, which the boys still talk about, and a beautiful pond with a sidewalk around it. we would often take walks as a family around the pond in the evening. various animals would frequent the pond, specifically ducks and other birds, although we did see some otters at one time. one of our favorite things to do was to feed the ducks. and we have continued that tradition back here in pittsburgh. we enjoy going to highland park, near the swimming pool, to feed the duckies. there are geese there, too. the boys love it. and it is nice to walk around the park and enjoy the sun.

the duckies

gryffie fishin'

brotherly love-jonas and portie

kennywood

2009-08-09T05:18:00.006-04:00

it's summertime. and summer would not be complete without a day at kennywood. we enjoyed the annual kelly family day at kennywood, complete with potato patch fries, and cotton candy, and fudge, and lemonade. this year was a bit more stressful as we were the only kellers there and did not have family that we felt comfortable passing our children off to. however, the boys are enjoying the rides more and more. jonas is almost too big for kiddieland. he wanted to ride some of the big boy rides. so after dinner, ben took gryffie and porter home and i stayed with jonas. thank you to aunt sue for the ride home! i loved having some date time with jomi (and getting to ride some rides). he told me his favorite ride was the exterminator!! that's one of my favorites too. i think next year's trip will be even more fun! hooray for kennywood, and grandma and grandpa for organizing our kelly fun day!

pictures? of course!

what did they say???

2009-08-07T16:24:00.002-04:00

i had to post two things the boys have said in the last two days.

gryffin, at dinner last night, for no reason, said, "that's what she said."

jonas, in the car home from the children's festival said, "that's crackalackin!"

what???

wild animals

2009-08-07T16:20:00.005-04:00

we went to a children's festival today, thanks to sadie and mom, where the boys got their faces painted. jonas wanted to be a tiger, gryffie, of all things, wanted to be a skunk. so dang cute. here are a couple pictures of my wild animals.

scary tiger

are skunks scary?

who is the scariest?

"pittsburgh day"

2009-07-31T11:17:00.008-04:00

i have absolutely been loving my time off of work, and of course, am not looking forward to going back monday evening, but whatever, one has to work, right? right now we are at home taking a break from camping in the rain. what do you do during the day when it is pouring down rain? you can't stay in the tent, can you? so we opted for coming home, showering, and i had to check my e-mail, facebook, and update the blog.

monday ben and i had a "pittsburgh day" with the boys. this consisted of getting jimmy john's for lunch and having a picnic at the point. we dipped our feet in the fountain, walked by the river, and then took the duquesne incline to mt. washington to look at the stunning views of our city. ben keeps trying to convince me to move away, but i LOVE this city. here are some of my favorite pictures of the day (i know, i am a picture fiend) and then a slide show.

the city i love

benji and port

cute brothers

me and da boys

irwin family reunion

2009-07-28T10:48:00.005-04:00

on thursday, we headed to portsmouth, ohio to shawnee national park for the irwin family reunion. the reunion was from thursday until sunday. we stayed at the shawnee resort and lodge and had much fun with our family. some of the highlights included: swimming at the pool, late night singalongs, pina coladas (non-alcoholic, of course), "hiking" with the boys, the awesome dinner and slide show, and huge beer bottle in the woods. here are a few of my favorite pics, and one of my slide shows... special thanks to gma and gma for our room and gma and gpa kelly for the yummy food!

getting rowdy when gma got the bar to re-open

off the diving board

touch my toes

me and gryff

up to mischief

holiday!

2009-07-22T15:52:00.004-04:00

celebrate! christabel, our nanny/babysitter/au pair is from england and has the coolest british accent. when i was serving in young women's, i would always make her read the longest quotes! silly, i know. well, we were chatting at church and she said, "you're going on holiday next week, right?" love it- holiday, sounds so much more festive than vacation.

we are heading to shawnee national park in ohio for a family reunion from thur-sun. then monday and tuesday is family time at home and going to kennywood. then next wed-sun we are heading down to ohio pyle for some camping with friends and family. i have 11days off of work! and so does ben! woo-hoo! can you tell i am happy? happy summer!

happy birthday!!!

2009-07-18T05:44:00.005-04:00

ben's birthday was 7/16. we had a wonderful day- full of food and fun, really. we started the am by going to the ymca to work out. then we headed out to homestead for the new seafood buffet, hokkaidos. it is more of a "chinese" buffet, similar to the one out in cranberry. it was surprisingly not so bad... i am not a fan of buffets. after lunch, we headed home for nap time and i stayed home with port, while ben took the older boys to the pool. following the pool, we hit up red robin for dinner. then off to bed went the boys, beth beth came over, and ben and i met colin and rachel to go see harry potter, which completely ROCKED!!! i am jealous of ben's birthdays- it's a day just to himself. i share mine with jesus, which really doesn't seem fair.

anyway, enough about me, more about ben. he's 28 now, and as awesome and sexy as ever. some things i love about him:

he is my best friend
he is so darn thoughtful
he lets me nap when porter sleeps
he is so good to the boys
he mellows me out
he has a wonderful sense of humor
he is 100% devoted to me and our kids
he loves jesus
he works hard
he is starting his m.ed in the fall at carlow, way to go!
he cooks, well!
he is handy around the house, and motivated!
he is a talented musician
he is an amazing teacher
he rocks my world
he buys me godiva truffles, a lot!
he lets me embarrass him by writing these blog posts

love you, benji!

addendum: pictures from ben's b-day dinner with the kellers

songs

2009-07-15T15:18:00.002-04:00

the boys love to write their own songs. some of them are cute, some of them are funny, some of them are highly inappropriate. i think they get that from their dad. the boys have there own "penis song" which they sing frequently in the bath and even do a little dance. another song they sing is basicallly just the refrain "poopin' in the water, poopin' in the water." my boys are weird, i know it. but yesterday at work, i was singing this song to myself as i walked to the bathroom. it seemed to be good timing, but then today jonas was singing this at the grocery store... he was thrilled when i told him i was singing it to myself yesterday.

giggles

2009-07-09T13:51:00.004-04:00

i love this video of gryffie making portie giggle. port is pretty reserved when it comes to his giggles. he is very smiley, but rarely laughs out loud. and really, only jonas and gryffin have the ability to get him laughing.

pictures

2009-07-08T13:51:00.002-04:00

please check out the updated posts for father's day and the 4th. i added some pictures.

two random thoughts

2009-07-07T12:11:00.004-04:00

mallo cups and the 13th floor

i love mallo cups and am eating some now as part of my lunch. i love reese's peanut butter cups, too, but one thing i have realized, pb cups are now much smaller in size than they used to be. mallo cups aren't! they are still as big as normal. and for that reason, mallo cups, i love you! nice!

i have been having some training today and yesterday at a different building than i usually work. the training is on the 17th floor. i have noticed in the elevator that there is no "13th" floor listed, but... there still is a 13th floor, right? it is just called the "14th" floor. superstitions get the best of people. i know at western psych there were 15 floors, and the 13th floor was just the 13th floor. it was also the floor where all the borderlines went... anyway, why not have 13th floors if hospitals continue to have rooms such as 666. just a thought.

happy 4th of july

2009-07-06T12:28:00.007-04:00

a couple days late! yet another weekend of fun! friday was a big day! especially for jomi. we finally bought him shoes with ties and he learned to tie his shoes. he also road a bike without training wheels! hooray! friday night, we had a bbq at church with friends. betsy ross made a surprise visit to the kids and educated them on the importance of celebrating the 4th of july.

saturday we went to colin's and had a bbq- much fun, especially the fireworks! i'm actually quite surprised no one got hurt, specifically colin as ben wailed numerous amounts of fireworks at his feet. saturday night we went to oakmont to see the fireworks. usually we get the boys home to bed, but we decided to go. we didn't want to head downtown, and i think oakmont was perfect for us- plus there was NO traffic on the way home. even port stayed awake.

sunday, church, of course. then a brunch at gma and gpa kelly's for gpa's b-day celebration! happy birthday, grandpa! last night was another bbq, at our house, with friends and family, and more fireworks!

happy 4th of july! hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

my favs

2009-07-01T11:33:00.004-04:00

here are a couple recent pics of the boys that i love...

happy father's day!

2009-06-21T21:25:00.007-04:00

happy father's day to all you great fathers out there. i have to take a moment to talk about our weekend. first, saturday we went out to cranberry to celebrate father's day with my dad and mom. sunday was spent at church. both pa and dustin spoke in church so we attended sacrament and then went to our ward for the last 2 hours. we enjoyed a bbq with the kellers in the evening and lit some fireworks after. the boys enjoyed the fireworks, although gryffie insists on being held the whole time. i have noticed that both ben and chris are pyromaniacs. but i love it.

my dad is wonderful! he has been such a great example of hard work and perseverance. he is loving and kind, and always so happy when we visit. i love seeing him hold portie. for those of you who don't know, my dad just had his 84th birthday last month and still works full time. i don't think he has ever taken a sick day from work in his life. he is truly an amazing man who i am thankful to have as my dad. i love you, dad!

now on to papa keller. pa is also a wonderful example of fatherhood. perhaps what i appreciate the most about him is the spirit he invites into his home, his love for exercising the priesthood righteously, and his humor. pa is also reliable and is always there when needed. i love you, pa.

finally, my wonderful sweet husband, ben. ben is so frickin' awesome! i love and appreciate all he does. he is the best dad. and he is hot... did i mention i love ben and that he's hot? i even got to take a nap on father's day. some how that doesn't seem fair... but i appreciate it. i love how thoughtful ben is, how he is such an active role in our boys' lives. i really do see us as equal partners. it is amazing to me how much we have grown similiar over the years and really compliment one another. i am lucky to have you, benji. happy father's day.

another crazy weekend

2009-06-15T12:34:00.004-04:00

so i started my new job last week and so far, so good. i am now a care manager for community care behavioral health on the pre-cert team. this essentially means that i provide insurance authorizations to providers who call in requesting drug and alcohol or mental health treatment for patients. part of me feels like i have sold out, but hey, everyone deserves a break once in a while. i begin my computer training this week and will be on my own doing pre-certs next week. it's a change, and i like it.

this past week went well, but i really did not have much down time this weekend to recoup. friday night we hung out together as a family. saturday ben took the praxis 2 english/literature content so that he can begin his master in education in the fall at carlow. i had a baby shower and then we went to sam's club for shopping. ben did yard work and i organized all the cabinets, fridge and freezer, and food storage. later, ben took the boys to the pool and i went and had a pedicure. i am spoiled!

sunday was another crazy day. we went to 1st ward with the gardners for baby grayson's blessing. he is such a cutie and was very well behaved. after church, we went back to care and steve's for a luncheon. we went home so port could get a nap (me too, again, i'm spoiled) and then headed to the kellys' for megan's graduation party. it was lots of fun- good food, including a chocolate fountain, a wicked awesome game of badminton, and a ton of people i love. after, everyone came back to our house for chris' birthday cake. happy birthday, chrissypoo, you 25 year old menace to society. get a ring on kate's finger already... did i say that out loud? anyway, what a great but busy weekend!

bbt

2009-06-15T12:30:00.004-04:00

i just wanted to include some pictures of argyll's revenge at the bbt. this event occurred on friday, may 29th, but life has been so crazy busy that i have not yet had a chance to post it. freudian hips opened for argyll's revenge and there was a fabulous turnout. i still love being a groupie!

celebration

2009-06-09T21:00:00.005-04:00

friday through sunday was filled with celebrating colin and rachel's wedding. friday am, ben, kate, the boys, and i drove down to dc to the temple to see colin and rachel get sealed. (chris joined us on the way back). the weather was rainy, but we still were able to get some good pictures. on the way home, we stopped at the macaroni grill for lunch- yum! saturday was a reception at highland park, where both argyll's revenge and courderoy rebellion (add david and aaron, subtract colin, it was his wedding, you know) played. and sunday, my favorite part, was the ring ceremony and luncheon. the boys were with babysitters, so ben and i were able to enjoy some time with just adults! woohoo, but let me tell you, i did feel bad for poor greg, the random guy whom we did not know, that sat at our table. it was hilarious- everyone was in such a mood! ben was so excited to see the bride and groom kiss that he broke his water glass. there is no other way to describe it than just fun! here are a couple of my favorite pictures of the weekend, as well as a slide show. congrats, colin and rach! we love you guys!

porter

2009-06-08T22:50:00.004-04:00

here are a couple newer pics of the port. he is so much fun. he is about 19 pounds, 8 ounces now and will be 8 most old on june 15. he's still pretty lazy, really showing little desire to crawl or stand up. i'm hoping he takes after gryffie and doesn't walk until he is 1 (jonas walked at 8 1/2 months).

and i had to include a pic of the boys all together in the bath. port is bathing with the big boys now. i love both port and gryff's faces. he he.