happy thanksgiving!

i just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a wonderful thanksgiving. we are having ben's family and my best friend carrie, her son, lochlan, and her parents over for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. i have been baking, cleaning, and cooking and despite some stress of balancing all that with 3 little guys at home, i am loving every minute of it. i can't wait to spend time with friends and family, and eat tons of delicious food. tomorrow we will be heading over to the kellers' for the annual turkey bowl. ben plays and i hang out and watch the parade while eating lots of doughnuts. it's grand. i have many things to be thankful for at this time of year- my wonderful husband, my great little guys, our home, my parents and in-laws, good friends, a good job, being on maternity leave, the gospel, having a calling i enjoy at church, etc. i could go on for a long time but need to clean the bathroom!!!

to update, porter is 6 weeks old today. he had his check up yesterday and he is 13 1/2 pounds and 22 1/2 inches long. he is in the 97th percentile in weight (no surprise, he is a keller). i am a proud momma- he is sleeping fairly well and continues to nurse like a champ. he's got these crazy cheeks that are so dang squeezable! the boys adore him, as do ben and i.

we also were very pleased to welcome back christian keller, ben's brother, from his mission this week. chris has served the last 2 years in seattle washington and came home last wednesday. we are happy to have him home, especially jonas and gryffin. they are so in awe of their uncle chris. as always, i am a slacker, but will post pictures of his homecoming at a later date. we will be having a shindig for chris on friday at the oakland building relief society room and everyone is welcome. it is a potluck and will start at 5:30 pm.

well, i'm off to clean that bathroom now. again, happy thanksgiving and much love to each of you!

spidermen

as promised, photos from halloween- while a bit late, i needed to post pics of my two handsome spidermen. these include the ward trunk or treat, going to the mall halloween party, preschool halloween parade, and halloween night. i had to include a pic of porter as well- he is very mad that we are not letting him eat his candy bar! he is our "hair wolf."

4 weeks already!!!

i can't believe how quickly time goes by. porter is now 4 weeks old- and still not understanding that he should sleep between the hours of 3 am to 6 am. i am exhausted much of the time, but loving how sweet porter is. the boys are still adjusting well, and i really do attribute much of their ability to adjust to adding george our little beagle to the family recently. they are easily distracted by george, so that is good. jonas is very helpful, willing to get clean diapers or wet wipes as needed.

here are 2 pictures of my little porter. he is great! he doesn't have a doctor's appointment until 11/25, but I am guessing he is close to 12 #s at this point.

let's hear it for the band

i meant to post this a while ago, but alas, dog, baby, potty training have all been distracting me. back in september, ben, colin, and david played at the ysa (young single adult) conference for church here in pittsburgh. their name- "the literals." this was a one night or one day only gig, and they were quite good. we had a lot of fun hanging out and being "groupies." here are some pics and a short video of the boys in the band.

our newest addition

we took the plunge- we didn't want to, but the boys' car seats were not fitting so well in the back of our car. so here is the newest addition to our family- our honda odyssey. yes, i am feeling so old right now, so not "cool" but let me tell you, this car is great. it is so roomy and i love the automatic doors. it also has leather interior, which will be nice when we start letting the boys eat in the car again and they spill things. i guess things could be worse. i can't think of any of those things right now, but i am sure they will come to me.

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.

george

our friends, may and dan, have the cutest little beagle pup, george, who is about 4 mos old. we are considering becoming his new owners and had a trial run this weekend. there were some ups and downs, but overall, we had a great time with him. the boys, jonas especially, are already very attached, but right now is such a hectic time that we will probably hold off on taking him until about 1 week after the baby is born. we had so much fun with him this weekend, that i had to post some pics- i'm sure there will be some more in the future.

it's official

well, i have finally met with the md that will be delivering this baby and my c-section is officially scheduled. we will be having porter christian keller on wednesday october 15th at 10:30 am. this is a little earlier than i would like (9 days before my due date) but it should be ok. it's not like i have small children. gryffin was 10 days early and still 8 lbs 11 oz. also, there was a request for a pregnancy picture of me, so i thought i would post one- as unflattering as it may be. i have gained 53 pounds- gotta make a 9 pound child, right??? here is me in all my glory!

jonas-ism #4

jonas- "i want to be a teacher when i grow up.

rachel- "what do you want to teach?"

jonas- "i only want to teach the walls."

ben- "what do you want to teach them?"

jonas- "i want to teach them songs."

kennywood

we enjoyed a fun saturday at kennywood about 3 weeks ago. we went with ben's parents and aunt sadie. the boys had a blast! jonas and gryffin keep asking to go back and we sadly have to say, not until next year. it amazes me how excited they get for upcoming events. for example, we are planning to head to trax farms on october 10 for the fall festival (pumpkins, hayride, etc) and in each prayer, the boys always bless that we will have a fun time at trax farms in a couple days. it is fun to see them anticipate things they are excited for.

anyway, i do digress. here are a couple pics of our fun adventures at kennywood. i am still working to get the boys to look at the camera and smile (they are so dang stubborn!!!) but i think i got a couple good pics!

washington county fair

each year we venture down south to the washington county fair, usually accompanied by various members of ben's family. this year, chris is still on his mission (coming home in mid-november-yeah!) and beth had to work, so it was just ben's parents and sadie that we met. the boys love the fair- the atmosphere, the rides, the food, the animals, the hayride to and from the car. it is a fun time for all, despite me not getting my funnel cake this year. so sad! (of course, we did stop at sarris' candies on the way home for some small time sundaes!) here are a few pics of our family fun time.

ben's nemesis

some of you may know that ben was on crutches for almost a week approximately 2 weeks ago. well, i wanted you all to see his arch nemesis. the metal pole, sticking approximately 1 foot out of the ground at the end of someone's driveway.

ben has been training to run a half-marathon and then is hoping to run the pittsburgh marathon next spring. he often waits to go running until 8:00 pm, after the boys go to sleep. ben was nearing mile 8 of his 10 mile run when he was rudely accosted by this piece of rebar. not cool. the cut was 15 cm long, 1 inch deep and 1 inch wide. thank goodness ben happended to bring his cell phone with him. he called me, i called jane, our neighbor who came over within 5 minutes, and then ben's sister, beth, came and relieved jane. by the time i got to ben, he had already walked 1 more mile. we quickly went to the emergency room and were lucky to be in and out within 2 hours, 16 stitches later (thanks to my connection as emergency room social worker) and with ben hyped up on vicodin. the stitches have since been taken out, and ben's leg is healing. (we will not include pictures of the wound due to it's graphic nature, however, they are available by request).

brotherly love

sometimes jonas does things that surprise me. he and gryffin often bicker. usually jonas instigates and gryffin ends up biting or pinching jonas in retalliation. it can be quite annoying. but then there are those moments when i can really see how much they love and care about each other. they insist on sleeping in the same room together, even though they could be in 2 separate rooms. they love to wrestle and give each other hugs. yesterday, we went to red robin for dinner. i don't know if you are familiar, but they usually have balloons at the entrance for kids to take. well, gryffin picked his blue balloon and jonas his red balloon. we drove home from the restaurant, no problem. now, when we got out of the car, gryffie accidently let his balloon go and as ben said, he "gave the balloon to jesus." (ben is embarrassed that he said something "like that" and that i am letting everyone know as he never thought he would be one of "those" people.) gryff was very upset, and jonas, without skipping a beat, offerred his balloon to gryffie. it was one of those moments that made me feel happy and lucky to have 2 such good little boys.

jonas says...

one evening at dinner, jonas started singing this. who doesn't love a little wu-tang clan? make sure you check out his moves!