Belly laughing...

One of my favorite days of the whole year is the kids school Christmas program. David and I absolutely love the whole event! We dressed the kids up in their Christmas best, went out to eat with some delicious food with some great friends, and then we were off...
The program was kicked off and as usual, it was the youngest kids to the oldest. We love the whole night! The kids who are scared silly, the ones who believe they are made for show business, the nose pickers, the mommy waivers, the completely freaked out, white as a ghost kiddos too. The ones who don't move their mouths and the ones who sign as loud as they can.
I might start stalking other school and church Christmas concerts because they bring me such joy.

100th Post

Wow! It is hard to believe that this is my 100th post. This blog started as a way for a busy mom to remember what is going on in her families life and as blog followers have drifted away in to Facebook world, it is evident that it is still just my way of hanging on to the memories of my family.

This past Saturday was a fun day twice over!
It was Halloween..............
...............................and the Iowa Hawkeyes played football!

We have a tradition of chili and corn cake during the game so we made our normal deliciousness and threw in some Mummy hotdogs as well for Halloween.

The Hawks won, but the game didn't get good until the 4th quarter. eeeek! It was a close on for a while!

We carved pumpkins at Half Time. Daddy helped carve a Herky the Hawk in one to honor his beloved Hawkeyes, then he carved a fun jack-o-lantern in one and our final pumpkin was decked out in our Mr. Potato Head pumpkin kit. Mommy's pumpkin was stolen off the front porch so her fun TAG kit that would make her pumpkin in to a primitive turkey is still in the box waiting for Fall 2010 (as she is too cheap to go buy another pumpkin now).




We took the kids to Hyvee at 4:00 p.m. to trick or treat. They had some fun loot there like sunglasses, water bottles, etc. We then headed over to some friends to brave the elements together. Garrett was a lion this year and Lexi was a cheerleader. (AJ was helping with a bunch of friends from school at the Galena parade) It was cold but they had a blast. Garrett literally RAN from house to house and could have covered much of Dubuque in a very short time if we would have let him. The famous words of Halloween 2009 were "slow down buddy". We were so afraid our lion was going to biff it :) After about an hour of that fun, the kids were getting cold, had to go potty and were a bit hungry so we all headed over to Red Robin. Mmmmm! Delish! It was a fun family day!

Happy Halloween from the Keith Fam!

p.s. Zeke (our puppy) was a fireman :)

a perfect Sunday

the rain stopped, the sun was shining and we took off...to the apple orchard! it was a beautiful day. a perfect day for a little trip. a fun adventure with some sweet friends.

i love seeing my kids at the orchard, running through the trees, bushel baskets in hand, picking apples, tasting them, enjoying God's beautiful creation.

i love the beautiful colors, the giggles echoing between the trees, the squeals of delight when a "favorite" apple is found.

i love watching my children explore the sights and sounds of creation.

i'm saddened by how much they have grown since we were here at this place just last year. my little man is now big enough to carry his own bushel basket. he is now old enough to romp around the orchard with the big kids. my little lexi could now read the orchards map on her own. she could now navigate well through the orchard. my teen was happier this year just hanging with the adults. she no longer wanted to "waste" any apples and felt the compelling need to carefully choose just the exact apple that she would not only taste but would fully and completely eat.

how are they growing so quickly? i want to bottle them up and yet i want to enjoy every single moment. i just love them so dearly and want all of their days back again...to do better, to hold them longer, to love them more, to worry less, to hug them more, to squeeze them tighter, to snap more photos, to pray harder and longer. i don't want them to grow and yet i do.

back to the apples...we are loving them and are enjoying trying and tasting each one that was hand picked by the kiddos. when the kids get home from school, they are going to help make daddy a surprise...apple pie. he will LOVE that!

aj, lex, gman...i love you! i love you! i love you!

pictures to come.

Just a few cute pic's!

Our baby girl turned 14 on July 8th
sniff, sniff

Daddy came to her party but had to work...
his little sidekick by his side "working" too...
cuz mommy, I do work at Arctic Glacier too!
Overflowing with love for those boys.

Girls just wanna have fun!

AJ and Rach

A quick pic with her mom!

Before we left for the Bowling Party, there
was a house fire at the end of our street.
Our little firefighter had to go see if
the big guys needed a hand.
shhh!...please don't tell him that he
isn't really a firefighter. He will be crushed!

Little G-man played his first year of t-ball.
He could not be cuter in his little shades,
his cleates, etc.

Lexi turned 10...double digits...on July 7th
Love you sweet girl!!!
She spent her b-day with some great friends
at her Wilton Birthday party.

Great party...great friends!

Our puppy was a trooper for all the birthdays!

What makes my heart get caught in my throat...

Seeing my son lay on the floor in front of the fridge with his tool box, next to his daddy!

Overhearing my sweet Lexi be kind to a shy girl who is homesick at camp!

Watching as my A.J. works beside her Bapa in the kitchen at camp!

Hearing my husbands voice on the phone as long to be back together!

The tenderness that my Savior has with me as I am molded and stretched!

...the list is endless!

I love being a mother!

I love being a wife!

I love being a child of God!