Happy Anniversary!

Happy 55th to my wonderful parents-in-law, Mom and Dad Keller.

They have a ton of marital advice to give after 55 years together.

One of their pearls of wisdom . . .

Marriage is not 50/50.

For it to work, it takes 100% on both your parts.

I didn't really think much of this advice at first.

You know, in those early days when you hear music play

inside your head when you just look at each other :)

Several years of marriage (two kids, a dog, a cat, and a fish) later and I totally get it. When the phone is ringing, the dog is barfing all over the carpet, the baby has just soiled himself for the 947209540254 time, someone is ringing the doorbell trying to sell us something, dinner is burning, I got three hours of sleep last night, we haven't had a real converstation in days, the garage door is broken, we're all out of clean underwear, and Megan is climbing on top of the fridge . . .

Yeah, now I know what you mean!

Happy 55!

Love you!

Halloween - Preschool Style

My little "angel" - and yes, that is in quotes :)

Colin and Megan

Kinda makes you wish you were in preschool again, doesn't it?

Brendan's Baptism

God Bless Brendan Christopher!

Doesn't he look angelic?
My mom sewed his gown with fabric imported from Switzerland.
What an heirloom.

Godparents -

Sara and Jim

John's parents and our little family (minus Megan)

And don't even start with how LARGE I look.

Good thing I wasn't the one who had to wear white.

Aunt Ruth

Uncle Bob

The kiddos

Carter, Austyn, Megan, Colin, Brandon, Anna, Brianna, Brendan

Aunt Laura

Aunt Katie

Did I mention it was Carter's baptism also?

How cute is that?

Last but certainly not least, Nana.

Stay Away Swine

We're all about being prepared.

When the swine flu first struck,

John stocked us up on electrolyte solution, Tylenol, hand sanitizer, etc.

Oh yeah, and lots of jellybeans.

Last week I found out two kids in Megan's preschool had the swine flu.

While I realize it is no worse than the regular flu, we have a 2 month old baby at home.

*scary*

I'm sure John, Megan, and I would have no problem fighting it off but sweet little Brendan?

Keeping the swine flu out of our house became a priority.

Not taking any chances with him . . .

So when our health department announced an H1N1 vaccine clinic for people in the Tier One risk category (including caregivers of children under age 6 months) we were there.

This is just a tiny piece of a line that lasted 4 hours!
I just kept thinking, "This is for Brendan. This is for Brendan."

At the end of it all, we were tired, thirsty and hungry but fully vaccinated.

Stay Away Swine!!!!

Two Seasons, One Week

Did you miss me last week?

I packed up both kids to go experience . . .

There is nothing else quite like it, especially in the Allegheny foothills.

Nestled amongst the trees there is a magical place where memories are made.

Our Cabin
What a wonderful place to experience fall.

My cousin Sara thought so too - she drove all the way from Texas with two of her kids and my Aunt Ann to experience it with us.

We took walks . . .

(That's Sara and her daugher Anna . . .

and little Brendan and I.)

The kids did activities like making caramel apples . . .

and took turns driving the John Deere.

(That's Sara's son Brandon and my dad.)

We rode up to the pond to admire the trees.

Wonder what the babies did all week?

Oh yeah, and they cried a lot too.

(But much less with all those eager arms to hold them. Thanks everyone!)

We were having such a good time enjoying fall . . .

Seriously.

It snowed so much that the electricity went out.

We played a story game called "My car broke down in Amish country and I . . . "

We sat in a circle, taking turns adding a sentence to the story.

(We're kinda obsessed with the Amish and we like it like that.

Two seasons - one week

One heck of a good time.

Family Traditions

Perhaps my favorite fall tradition is going to Leeds Farm.

We've gone every year for the past three years and here is proof.

2007 - What a little peanut!

2008 - Look how much she grew!


2009 - Oh goodness, the sassiness that comes with the age of 3!




And here is little Brendan, getting used to the glare of the paparazzi (aka Mommy and her camera.)

This just might be my favorite picture ever.

Last year, Megan wanted Daddy to ride in the Banana Bus with her. (I was secretly glad not to have to try to cram my big behind into that tiny little car.) This year . . . guess what . . . she wanted Mommy to ride with her. Yep, Mommy and all her leftover baby weight. I almost needed the jaws of life to pry me out of that Banana Bus. Almost.

It just wouldn't be fall without Leeds Farm.

We Went to the Fair

We saw some animals.
We rode some animals.

Some real.

And some not so real.

And yes, that is a roller coaster. And yes, she is still terrified.
(Although she won't admit it.)

And one of us slept through the whole thing . . .

The End.

One month

Dear Brendan,

I'm already preparing myself for the moment when you ask me why Megan has 1093489345720983752987 pictures/scrapbook pages/blog posts about her childhood and you have 13. Here is my better-late-than-never effort to update the world on what has been going on with us since your birth. It has been pretty hectic around here lately.

So, let's start at the beginning . . .

We brought you home from the hospital. I loved it there and kinda wanted to stay there forever. I had someone to bring me three meals a day and change my sheets. I could take naps whenever I wanted and could watch TV without even getting out of bed. It was like a resort for mommies. Everyone kept asking me how I was feeling and bringing me these little pills that made me feel WONDERFUL.

You were so hungry. So hungry that you made mommy hurt very, very badly. I'm not going to go into details here but put it this way, blood was involved. So, don't even think I'm going to feel guilty about giving you a little formula so I could heal a bit.

Once we came home, everyone wanted to see you. Here you are putting your Uncle Justin to sleep.

You had your first doctor visit. We found out you were already back up to your birth weight of 9 pounds 2 ounces. Nice job! And you grew 1/2 an inch. Amazing.

I stopped having time to worry about what Megan was wearing. See what I mean.

Megan made you some blue cupcakes to celebrate your one week birthday. She was so proud of herself.

You had your first bath which you actually kinda liked until we got your hair wet. Don't worry, this whole event is captured on video so we can watch it someday with one of your girlfriends.

Your Grandma Keller came to stay with us for a while to help out. She knitted you this beautiful blanket that we will treasure forever.

And here you are at one month old . . .

Aunt Katie calls you "moose" cause you're so enormous. You've already outgrown most of your newborn clothes. (Some you never wore because you were already too big.)

At one month you were wearing size 3-6 months!

At one month, you already weighed 12 pounds. That kind of weight gain took some serious eating time on your part . . . like every 2 hours for 45 minutes at a time. (sometimes more) You better be nice to me for your whole life, by the way. Ouch, I'm getting tears in my eyes just remembering the pain, the ice packs, oh goodness.

Some other things I don't want to forget about you:

*Newborn diapers were too small for you and the nurse in the hospital had to go find size ones.

*You flash me the most adorable smile while you are sleeping. I know it is probably gas but I love to see it nonetheless.

*Speaking of gas, you have a serious problem mister. Whoa!

*Your eyes are very dark blue. I'm wondering it they will stay that way.

*You love to be held and hate it when I put you down.

*It took absolutely no time at all for me to be completely wrapped around your finger. I love you little guy!

Love,

Momma