April in Pictures

I thought you might enjoy some new pictures of the kiddos and an update on what has been happening in Keefer Country.  Here is the edited version.  Enjoy!

We celebrated Mom's March birthday at the beginning of April. 

Here she is with all her grandkids.

 The kids have been spending plenty of time playing inside

with all of this rain.  Notice that they are ready with their

rain boots.

 Random cute picture from after church. 

 Yes, Ben even wears his rain boots while brushing

his teeth in his underwear.  :)

 On a trip to the library we spotted a real life Mater.

A father/son team from our area revamped this tow

truck to look just like Mater.

 We took a fun weekend trip to Chicago.  We spent a

full day at the Museum of Science and Industry.

 We ate deep dish pizza in downtown Chicago.

 We walked around downtown and checked out the buildings

and sites.

 And we visited the Shedd Aquarium!

 The kids had a blast coloring and decorating Easter

eggs.

 Maggie got her first haircut.  Look at the bottom of

the pic and you can see Ben holding her hand to help 

her be brave.  It was pretty adorable.

 We celebrated Easter with the Keefer family.

 The kids got new chairs for the patio from us for

Easter, and the bunny brought them yummy baskets

of treats.

 We celebrated Easter with the Gaerte's and had some

fun on a barrel train ride with Grandpa. 

And last but not least Ben finished his first year of Awana with

his cousin (and best friend) Julia.  He memorized all of his bible verses and got to

celebrate at a special banquet and received a special treat.

Test Run

After my last blog post I have played with my settings a bit in an attempt to get the blog back to normal.  This is just a test posting to try everything out.  Below are a few pictures of the kids enjoying Poptarts.  These are a real treat at our house.  I don't typically let them have something like this, but it was what Ben wanted for his birthday breakfast.  He picked Poptarts over pancakes, eggs, and even bacon.  He has already told me that he can't wait for vacation when he can have Poptarts for breakfast again.  :)

 Maggie prefers to break her food into tiny pieces before eating.

Oh the joy of pure sugar for breakfast!  :)

January/February/March

Well, I am not even sure how so much time has passed since I last updated our blog. I sometimes forget about the blog completely. March has been a very busy month for us with tons of birthdays and even more cake. This weekend we will celebrate Mom's birthday (Happy Birthday MOM!!!), and it will be the fifth weekend in a row that we have had cake.

We celebrated Ben's birthday a few weeks ago, and I cannot believe that we have a four year old. If it is possible, I think our love for him grows more every single day. He is such a happy boy and a wonderful big brother.

Here is the latest on Ben...

He hasn't had his four year doctor check because we combine it with Maggie's wellness check to make it easier. However, I can tell you that we are at least a good eight pounds away from getting to move to a booster seat in the car. Lucky for him he is built like daddy and got the skinny gene. Academically he knows all of his basic phonics (letter sounds) and can sound out most three letter words. He is up to reading eight site word cards. He can count to 50 without any help and to 100 with a bit of help on his tens. He has memorized his days of the week and can say them in order. He knows all about three coins (penny, nickel, and dime). He can write his name and quite a few other letters. I am probably forgetting a ton of things, but that is a decent summary. He still loves to play with tractors, trains, and trucks and is particularly interested in fish and ocean animals right now. Every book that has anything to do with the ocean is currently in his stack of books to read. Ben still loves to draw and paint and play with play dough, and he is constantly wanting to do science experiments (thank you Sid the Science Kid). Ben will attend preschool in the fall at a local church preschool, and he is getting sooooo excited. I on the other hand am struggling with it, but I know it will be good for him.

We are also waiting for spring to show her pretty face around here. We had one week that the temp was in the seventies and have been back in the thirties and forties for some time now. Almost daily Maggie stands at our back door and pounds on the glass yelling, "Outside mommy, Maggie want go outside." It was cute at first, but now I just really want spring to get here. Anyway, here are a few pics from the past few months.

Here is our big four year old birthday boy with Grandpa and Grandma Gaerte

and Grandma and Grandpa Keefer. Check out his new wheels.

Enjoying some birthday cake and ice cream with Grandpa Cormany.

Our big boy blowing out the candles.

Please disregard the fact that I put too many candles on the cake.

I have already heard about it from several people. Let's just say that if they

had made all those cupcakes

they might be scatterbrained too. Such a handsome birthday boy! Checking out his new ride. Wow, what is this!!!

Oh the excitement of birthday gifts.

A few preparty shots of Ben with his "Cars" cake and cupcakes.

Ben got a new lizard backpack with his name on

it to use for preschool next fall.

We also celebrated Bob, Uncle Joe, and Grandma Keefer's

birthdays in March. Would you ever guess that Bob and Joe

are twins. :)

Here are the kiddos on the evening of Bob's B-Day.

He got a new level, and we went out to his favorite

restaurant, Cebollas.

Random cute shot of Ben.

Here are Bob and Maggie enjoying the last of the snow before it

melted. I think she might be asleep in that shot.

Here is Ben enjoying the last of the snow.

During February we got to spend a fun weekend

in Brown County with Bob's family. This mini water park

was a huge hit with the kids.

In January Grandpa and Grandma Keefer came and spent

the night at our house. The kiddos loved getting to spend so much

one on one time with them.

We also did a special Grandma breakfast with Grandma Gaerte in

January. We are so spoiled that mom doesn't have to be to work until

mid morning. We love it when she gets to come over. She also came over

and read to the kids on Dr. Seuss birthday.

Here is one more pic of the kids all bundled up

and ready to play in the snow. Hopefully we won't have

to put that many clothes on them again for quite a while. :)

My Summer List

It always seems to happen right around this time of year for me. The snow is piled high outside my window, I haven't seen green trees, grass, or flowers in months, it is so cold that I have to wear socks ;), and I just can't take it anymore. I start counting the days until summer. I start planning out what my garden will look like and what new flowers I want to try this year. I start to look back at old pictures of summer. Yes, I have extreme spring/summer fever, and I want the winter to end. I hear that we are supposed to reach a high temperature of 39 degrees this weekend, and I hope it melts the snow in vast quantities. While my husband is wishing for one more big snowfall so he can ride the snowmobile again, I am dreaming of sandy beaches and long days spent outside with the kids.

I realize that some of you are thinking that I should not wish time away. It passes too quickly, I know, and my babies are growing faster than I could have ever imagined. I suppose that is why I decided to make my summer list. I am going to try my hardest to enjoy the last few weeks of winter while dreaming about how I will enjoy my summer to the fullest. So here it is, my list of things I hope to do this summer.

1. Play outside with my kids every chance possible and enjoy every second with them to the fullest. I want to take them on picnics, camping, swimming, and lots of exploring.

2. Go to the beach. I'm hoping to take the kids on several day trips to St. Joseph where we can enjoy the sand and sun and a ride on the carousel. Maybe we will even get a chance to watch the sailboats.

3. Wake up early and enjoy the sunrise.

4. Take the time to really enjoy God's beautiful creation and take a lot of pictures.

5. Spend time watching the local farmers plant, grow, and harvest.

6. Expand my garden a bit from last year and spend a lot of time in it.

7. Run outside in the mornings and relish the fact that my kids are still small enough to take along in the jogging stroller, instead of wishing for the days when I used to be able to run alone.

8. Spend time with friends and family that I don't see often enough during the winter.

9. Plan a weekend away with my husband to celebrate our seventh anniversary. It has been years since we have actually celebrated, and I want this to be the year that we make/take the time to get away.

10. Have bonfires in the back yard and spend time stargazing.

A Few More New Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our latest little photo shoot. I just love it when I get both kids smiling and looking. I am hoping to post again soon to let you know what we have been up to during January. Until then, have a great weekend :).

Maggie is Eighteen Months

Guess who is eighteen months old already! Can you believe it? I know I can't. How has my tiny baby gotten so big already? It is almost impossible for me to believe that a year and a half has passed since we brought Maggie home. She has become quite the sweet little darling, and we LOVE her so much.

She is getting so big and smart. Recently she has started to name almost all of her shapes, she knows two colors now (red and blue), she knows two of her letters (O and M), and she is talking in phrases. She isn't quite using full sentences yet, but she has started to put three and four word phrases together. It is adorable how she loves to do everything her big brother is doing. She loves taking care of and loving her babies. She also loves to pretend read.

My favorite thing is that she uses her manners all the time. She says thank you, excuse me, and please. I am convinced that this must just be a girl thing, but I am loving it. Here are a few fun shots of her in her tutu. :)