Snowmen and Angels

I must say, life as the mother of two kids is never dull and I still catch myself stopping to think - wow, God entrusted us with the lives of these two children! It has been both fun and exhausting and here are some highlights!

Eli is using so many more words now and he tries to mimic almost any word you say. He loves snow, snowmen, but most of all the deer and the choo choo train that light up outside the houses on our street. Since John works from home, I was able to sneek out of the house while Maddie was sleeping to play in the snow with Eli. Here is our amazing snowman (which only lasted a few mintues before Eli knocked it down) and Eli having fun making footprints in the snow.

And, here is our newest little angel, who has just started smiling at us! Maddie is incredibly sweet and fairly easy-going. She can sleep through any noise and doesn't even flinch when Eli tries to touch her eyeball. :) She also grunts very loudly quite often, which cracks us up (except when it's 1am or 3am or 5am). We can't believe that our little girl is already 6 weeks old and that our little boy is 18 months old!

Check out this picture of Eli and Maddie with our friends Danny and Shannon. If you look carefully, you'll see that Maddie is sticking her tongue out at her brother...signs of life to come?!?

As we are on the verge of Christmas, we are humbled to think that God sent His son to be born as a baby here on earth in order to save us from our sins. What must it have been like to "parent" Jesus? The only gifts we need under the tree are our two precious children and Christ our King. May you all reflect on Christ this Christmas and feel the peace and joy that only He can provide!

Life with Two Kids

Wow, it's been almost a month since Maddie joined the Keller family and it's probably time to catch everyone up on what's been going on lately. First of all, we have to share a picture of Eli's new favorite "toy." Grandpa Keller bought Eli a special treat on the day that Maddie came home from the hospital - his very own chainsaw, complete with goggles! I can't tell you how much Eli loves it, but just look at this picture. :)

Little sister Maddie has been a good baby so far! As is probably true with most second children, she can sleep through anything and is quite resilient. She grunts more than she cries, which cracks us up, and seems to be pretty laidback, at least for the time being anyway. :)

Having two kids that are 17 1/2 months apart makes a double stroller a must! Here are Eli and Maddie in the maiden voyage of the double stroller. The weather was so nice, we took them to the park to play!

Eli doesn't always know what to think of his little sister. Sometimes he really seems to like her - he shares his toys with her (as evidenced in the picture), tries to give her his food, likes to help her swing really high, and even wants to hold her and touch her hands. Other times, he really just wants mommy to hold him and put Maddie anywhere else or with anyone else. But, then again, what would you expect when he's been the center of our attention for all of his life thus far? We know he's going to be a great big brother, though, and will surely teach his little sister lots of fun new tricks!

We took Eli out to see the lighiting of "downtown" on a night where it was quite cold. Here we are all bundled up! Elijah didn't seem to mind the cold and was fascinated by all of the singing and musical instruments and especially the pretty lights that all came on at once!

Karen's parents were here to visit over Thanksgiving and to help out with the transition to two kids. It was quite a challenge to get a "normal" picture of all of us, but who likes normal anyway, right? While grandma & grandpa were here, we made Christmas cookies and Eli found the joy of cookie cutters and raw dough!

Now we are trying to think about Christmas traditions that we want to create for our family, especially ones that will convey the true meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth...If anyone has any good ideas, please share!

The Keller 4

We are pleased to present the newest addition to the Keller family... Madeline Grace was born on Thursday, November 8th at 3:48pm, weighed in at 6 lbs 12.8 oz and measured 19 1/2 in long!

We feel so blessed to have two amazing children!! Here's big brother Eli checking out his new little sister. :)

And, here's the new Keller family.

We'll post more soon, but wanted to let everyone know we're home and doing well.

Fun with Eli

The days are numbered for the Keller 3, as we are soon to become the Keller 4. So, we wanted to spend some quality time with Eli and enjoy these last days/weeks with just him.

Last weekend, we went to a pumpkin patch/family farm. Elijah's favorite part was the tractor ride. He was by far the youngest in the trailer, but he wasn't scared and, as a matter of fact, he didn't want to get out. He kept going back for more!

We also had a fall festival at church last weekend. Eli, cleverly disguised as Batman, found a favorite there too...the train ride! Again, he couldn't get enough of the train, even though it was cold and dark outside. Of course, he also loved seeing everyone dressed up. I don't think he realized that he was in a costume, but he sure loved looking at all of the other kids (and adults) in costumes. :)

And, last but not least, we all went downtown to watch the Colorado Rockies play in the World Series. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get tickets to the game, but we did watch on a big screen TV down in the heart of the city...does that count??

Zoo Day!

A couple of weeks ago, there was a free zoo day, so some of us got our kids together to go to the zoo. Elijah loved all of the animals and also hanging out with kids his age! Some of Eli's favorite things were the zebras, the fish (he could get up close to the glass) and running free on the paths. :) Check out these pictures of Eli, Mason, and Kinsley hanging out together and learning about nature.

Fall In Colorado

Fall in CO is not quite the same as fall in VA, but is still one of my favorite times of the year. Here are a few pictures from our lives in the last few weeks as fall is coming into its own.

These were our feeble attempts at getting a family picture while we were in Vail for several days. Not stellar...and then our camera ran out of batteries...hmm.

Eli has become such a big boy that he has graduated to a booster seat instead of a high chair. Oh, and he's currently obsessed with raisins - they keep him happy for quite a while!

Here's Eli discovering leaves, and the joys of jumping in them and messing up daddy's nice, neat piles in the front yard.

Hope you all are enjoying the fall, I know we are!

Labor Day

This past weekend we went up to Meeker, CO with some friends to enjoy the long holiday weekend. It was so nice to relax and enjoy the outdoors. Eli loved it - he got to dig in the dirt, play on the trampoline, chase kitties, splash in the hot tub, get on a teeter totter, and pet some goats! The adults loved it too; there was even a time when all of the kids were sleeping and we were able to roast marshmallows in the fire pit!

Where Has the Summer Gone?

OK, so it's been awhile. The summer has gone by so quickly!

Karen led some training for a couple of weeks and Grandma Marcie came out to take care of Eli. They had a great time together! (Did you see Eli's cool superman shirt? That's a gift from his birthparents, Danielle & Matthew, that he's finally grown into!)

Elijah also got to spend quite a bit of time with his Uncle David, who was out to do the training with Karen. They became best buds, especially when Uncle David treated Eli to his first ice cream truck visit.

Oh, and of course the summer wouldn't be complete without some yardwork. Here's John, grandpa and Eli using the chainsaw on some stubborn juniper bushes!

Our Second Miracle

OK, so it's time to let the word out to those who haven't already heard...we're pregnant! For those of you who know our history, you can understand how much of a shock it was for us to find out. The doctors told us that we had a less than 1% chance of getting pregnant on our own, but God is bigger than statistics, isn't He?

We call this baby our second little miracle, because Eli is definitely our first. The way that God brought us together with Elijah's birthparents and the timing and the way Eli has changed our lives is just amazing! We can't imagine life without Elijah and know that God designed to have him be a part of our family.

Now Elijah is going to be a big brother to a little sister! Yes, that's right, we're having a girl. :) We are very excited to see our family grow and think that Eli and his little sister will have so much fun playing together as they grow up. Who knows what's in store for our family, but we are excited for the future. We praise God for His awesome plans and the way He has worked in our lives in the last few years!

I guess our blog will eventually need to change to the Keller4, but not until November...

Beach Week

And the vacation continues...after leaving Wisconsin, we headed to the outer banks of NC to spend a week with Karen's side of the family. While the car ride was no fun (3 hour trip turned into 6 hours due to beach traffic), once we were settled in at the beach, we had a great time.

Eli got to see the rest of his aunts, uncles and cousins. He loved playing with all of the kids and thought he was big stuff when he was able to join in what they were doing.

Here's our whole crew out crabbing...basically, dropping a string into the water trying to get the crabs on the bottom to nip at a chicken neck. Then, you try to pull it up very slowly and catch it in a net before the crab wises up. Do you think the crabs got scared away with all of us in the same spot?!? :)

There are so many pictures to choose from...here are a few close-ups of the "fam." Trey and Drew with Eli, Lindsey Beth & Jonah facing the waves, and Aunt Mar with baby Jack, the youngest cousin...so far.

But, of course, we have to save the best for last and show you some pictures of Elijah loving the beach! We were so happy to see that Eli wasn't afraid of the ocean. He would run into the waves, even though sometimes the water would knock him down. He thought that he was the King of the Beach, and loved to roam the sand.