A Week of Firsts

It is hard to believe that we are almost through the month of February! The past week was another busy one at our Keefer home. We had several exciting things happen this week. Maggie started sitting up on her own, she tried her first puffs, and I ran my first 5K in four years. My last one was before Ben was born, when I was coaching my elementary school Cross Country Club. Aunt Jess ran it with me and did a great job! Ben had fun playing with his cousins, and Maggie survived another round of shots. We enjoyed having Bob home on Monday for Presidents Day and again on Friday when he arrived home from more traveling. Here are a few pictures from our week.

Look at this big girl sitting up all by herself!

Ben and Zach had fun playing together.

Is there some unwritten kid rule that you can't have fun

unless every toy is out on the floor :) ?

Maggie loves puffs!

After reading about Henry and Mudge eating snowcones

we had to make some of our own out of real snow. Fun!

Maggie got some new shades.

Aunt Jess and I ready to race and freeze our fannies off.

Halfway done

We finished and we weren't last!

Spring Fever

If you have talked to me lately you know that I am very ready for spring. Although winter is a lovely season, I can honestly say that I only enjoy it for about two weeks and then I am ready for it to be over. Around midway through I don't even like to hear people talk about winter. I love gardening and all of the colors of spring and summer. Being outside is one of my favorite places to be. I am looking forward to running outside again, playing out on the swingset with the kids, going to Chain O' Lakes for some picnics, and most of all I am ready to wear flip flops again. I am also ready for camping and bonfires, swimming, long sunny days, mowing the grass, and spring cleaning. I just want to be able to open my windows and hear birds singing again.

Today mom and I ordered a good chunk of our seeds/plants for our summer gardens, and I am very excited. Here are a few pictures from my past gardens that will hopefully lift your spirits and get you excited about spring.

Another Cold February Week

We survived another cold February week and thought we would share some new pictures to prove it. Our week was a little slow, and I started to get cabin fever with all of the snow. My creative mom gave us a few ideas to beat the winter blahs. She suggested an indoor picnic and some time spent out in the snow. Ben loved both ideas, but Maggie was not so sure about going out in the snow.

We celebrated more birthdays this weekend. Happy birthday to Uncle Tedd last week and Aunt Jess will celebrate her birthday on the 23rd. While at Grandpa and Grandma's house we also celebrated Valentine's Day. We love celebrating with family!

Today after church we went out to lunch for Valentine's Day and then came home for a relaxing evening. Bob and Ben got in some snowmobile time and will tell you all about it if you just ask :). Ben is getting better and better at potty training. He started going all by himself this week (without us asking every hour). Hopefully this means that we are in the home stretch, but who knows.

Ben is really into Henry and Mudge books right now.

He keeps asking daddy if he can get a dog like Henry.

All ready for the snow!

Playing in the snow is so much fun!

Brrrr!

Wow, thanks for the treats Grandpa and Grandma!

Happy birthday Aunt Jess and Uncle Tedd.

All of the girls pose for a pic.

Aunt Jessica and Ben built a pillow castle.

Happy Valentines Day!

Daddy and Maggie posed for a picture after church.

Aren't they adorable!

More Weekend Pictures

Here are the rest of the pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

Can you tell that Maggie liked getting all of the attention while

Ben was gone at Grandpa and Grandma's?

Big eyes!

Maggie loved playing with all of Ben's bath toys

while he was away.

Here are all of the Keefer grandkids at Sara's party.

Ben wasn't too excited about taking a picture.

Somehow all of the girls showed up with their matching
Christmas pajamas.

Happy first birthday Sara!

Swimming at the Hotel

We just got back from an action packed weekend and thought we would share some new pictures. Ben started the weekend with a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Gaerte's house. He had fun, and we got to spend some one on one time with Maggie. I will post a few pictures of that later. Then on Saturday we headed to Indy for our neice Sara's first birthday party. After the party we swam at our hotel. It was Maggie's first time swimming, and she really liked it! Ben had a blast as well. We went swimming again on Sunday morning and then headed to the Children's Museum. Ben enjoyed dressing up like a dinosaur and checking out the new Bob the Builder display. We ended the day at church and both kids did amazingly well after such a long weekend. We enjoyed spending an exciting weekend together after making it through the ups and downs of last week.

Splish Splash

Maggie's first time swimming!

All ready to head to the pool!


Look at how cute we are in our swim gear!

Fun at the Childrens' Museum

This couch is just our size!

Bob, Ben, and Scoop

We got to check out the new Bob the Builder display.

Who is that scary T-Rex?



Ben, Maggie, and Mommy pose for a shot.

Ben having dinner in Egypt!

Who is having more fun at the Children' s Museum?

Finally Ben gets a turn.

Finally taking a nap!

Sleepy Girl!

I wanted to update everyone who is wondering about Maggie. I told you on Monday that after visiting the pediatric GI specialist we found out we would have to get her tested for Cystic Fibrosis. Maggie's test was yesterday, and she was a very good girl for the test. She spent around ten minutes with electrodes hooked to her arms. The hardest part was keeping her from sticking the wires and velcro straps in her mouth. After the electrodes came off she had to spend around a half hour with a patch taped to her arm. The patch was there to measure the amount of chloride in her sweat. She did great through the whole process.

We found out this morning that she DOES NOT have cystic fibrosis. Today was her six month wellness visit with the normal pediatrician. Our wonderful pediatrician called the hospital for us to get the results. She told us that Maggie has a normal level of chloride in her sweat, and that she is okay. We were thrilled to find out that our baby girl is going to be fine! We also got some better news about her weight gain and growth. She weighed fourteen pounds, eight ounces on the doctor's scales today, which plotted her close to the 25percentile. On Monday we were told that she was closer to the tenth percentile (which meant yet another drop). We are thrilled with this news because it means that she is following the weight curve instead of dropping. We also found out that she is back up to the 50 percentile for her height.

After going through everything this week I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who prayed for Maggie and for us. As so many of you know, being a parent is one of the hardest jobs on earth and it is an impossible job without Christ at the center of it. We are so grateful to all of you for your prayers!

A Few More Shots

Ben and Maggie Playing Before Bed
Our Little Sweetheart

Ben Using the Big Boy Potty