Royal Tokyo

Our evening in a nutshell...

Here's to Hoping

So the kids have been on the upswing from these colds that were kicking their butt.  Christian stayed home from school on Tuesday after falling asleep at 4:30 on Monday night and not waking up until morning.  He was starting to feel better on Tuesday morning but we kept him home so he could rest and we could spare the rest of his classmates.  Now Bryleigh has a bit of  a cough but thankfully they are getting better.

And it would seem that I am the only healthy one in the family these days because Bryan has been fighting a horrible headache for a few weeks now and after a few urgent care trips and an appointment with his Neurologist, they were finally able to find something to ease the headache. I'm hoping that it stays away for good.  I always worry about him when he gets this bad of headaches but his MRI has been moved up so we can check to be sure his brain tumor is not growing. We keep praying that it remains stable!

In between the sick kids and husband, I have even found time to get the full draft of my policy research paper completed!  I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but now comes the editing part...ewww!

On a more positive note,  I'm going to make my way to bed now and dream about all the things I am going to spend my millions on when I win the lottery tonight :)  A girl can dream, right?!?

Unexpected Monday

This morning was a busy but nice morning!  I'm used to having to tip toe around the house in the morning since I leave when everyone is still sleeping. But this morning, Bryan had a doctor appointment in Madison and had to be on the road by 6:00 am so it was up to me to get the kids up, ready, fed, and to my sister's by 7am.  Christian was actually up by 5 for some odd reason so when I was all ready, I got both the kids up and we actually had some time to watch cartoons and enjoy our morning!  It sure made me want to spend all day at home :)

I appreciate my sister so much because she had her hands full today. She was able to get 2 kids off to school with 2 toddlers and a baby in tow! And she was even able to make a stop at Shopko and Walmart!  And I thought I had a busy day! lol

After work, I picked up Bryleigh and then Christian from school.  When we got home, Christian picked up a blanket and curled up on the couch.  Then he stated, "My eyes are getting sleepy, can I go to sleep?"  And by 4:30pm, he was out.  This is very strange for Christian but I figured that he was just very tired from being up at 5 this morning.  But apparently he is not feeling good because he never woke up for dinner and he went straight to bed  Poor kid, he has had a cough that has been getting worse but I thought it was just a small cold. But now he has a fever.  So I think he will be staying home tomorrow and a trip to the walk in clinic might be in store for us.

In the meantime,  Bryleigh finished up her last Tumble Bugs class and then we picked up Smoothies in hopes that Christian would enjoy one. But unfortunately, he didn't even want that.  Here's to hoping that our little guy is feeling better real soon!

Oh Christmas Tree

We were in the Christmas spirit today after we woke up and there was a layer of snow on the ground (never mind that it was all melted by mid afternoon)!  We stayed in our warm, cozy house all day and finished up the Christmas decorating.  

The kids did a fabulous job at decorating the tree!  We even had some fun taking pictures for our Christmas cards.  It was of work to get them both to cooperate and most of them turned out blurry for some reason but I was not about to get them all dressed up again so we made a few of them work!

So now the Christmas cards are ordered, the laundry is done, my paper is half way written, and the kids are in bed.  I would say that we had a successful day :) Now I'm going to relax and enjoy our Christmas tree! 

Tis the Season

After much, much, much encouragement and a little bit of nagging, Bryan let us go pick our our Christmas tree today.  I LOVE Christmas and it is never too early to put up our tree (in my mind at least.)  Each year, Bryan and I debate this matter as he feels that we should wait til the beginning of December, but it seems as if each year I can use the pouty look and get my way :)

So after I returned home from school today, we went to go pick out our tree. This is a first for us because we have never had a real tree since we have been together.  When we moved into our first apartment, we were given an artificial tree from my Grandma.  We always had the intention of getting a real tree but then we had Christian and then we had Bryleigh and each year we felt that the kids would try to eat the needles.  So we always said that when the kids are old enough to not put everything in their mouths, then we would get our first real tree.  And that time has come :)

I"m loving the pine tree smell that we have through our house right now!  Since Bryan and I both grew up having real trees, we sure have missed this.

We decided to cut our own tree! I love that we can start our own traditions with the kids!

Bryleigh really wanted this Charlie Brown tree!  

Now that we have it all set up in the house.  We will have to start decorating tomorrow!

Give Thanks

We are completely exhausted and stuffed and I would say that this amounts to a very successful Thanksgiving!  We had two family gatherings today, one at noon and one at 5pm and both had amazing food, and lots of it!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays but it always goes by so fast!  We couldn't be more thankful for such great family to share our days with and the best part is that we live close to all of our family so we get to spend time with them often.  Thanksgiving is just another day that we can see them all AND eat lots of food.  It doesn't get any better than this :)

I definitely loved up on this cute little bundle of joy.  I'm just amazed how much Ducati's looks change every time I see her!  She is just so beautiful :)

Bryleigh was really loving Ducati as well!  Maybe a baby sister or brother would be nice?! Lol

I think she is a tad bit jealous of the baby! What do you think?

If we didn't eat enough food at my Grandma's for lunch, we then headed over to my in law's for another big celebration.  Bryan tried his hand at deep frying a small turkey this year!  Can you say, AMAZING!  I'm not sure I want to eat Turkey any other way now. And I'm not a big fan of turkey so this is huge for me to say!  He injected it with Creole Butter before deep frying and it was so delicious.  Thanks Dad, for letting us use your fryer! It might be our new yearly tradition.

 It was in the 60's today so we enjoyed our time outdoors while Daddy manned the fryer!

The two turkey's... (Ha, pun intended! )

I definitely had my baby fix today.  Baby Justina is only 5 weeks old!  She was passed around the household today!

Christian and cousin, George

My MIL and Aunt Kay

 And the best part of the day for the kids...a paper tube = hours of entertainment!  Who knew that a toilet paper roll looking box could be so much fun!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Keith Family!

Give thanks for the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.---Psalm 107:1

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

How cute is this!?!....

I just love her little voice :)

We have been having beautiful weather lately.  And this evening it was in the mid 50's, so of course we enjoyed the great outdoors!

I was able to whip up a quick bow for my niece's Christmas dress...

So now, I only have one more bow to make for my other niece and then all of their Christmas bows should be made!  It is a lot of work to make these pretty little girls even more beautiful :)

Now we are getting ready to head over to Christian's parent teacher conferences.  A busy night it has been!

Sunday Funday

About a month ago, Bryan and I attended a Faith Legacy Bible Study for Parents of 4 to 5 year olds. We do this study every 2 years through our church. After each study, we present a blessing object to Christian. In the two year old study, he received a picture bible and today we presented him a worship kit as we said a blessing over him at the church service., which includes a prayer pillow, cross, and candle. We learned a lot through through this study and hope to be able to help Christian better understand worship and prayer! Christian helped us decorate his worship kit!

After church, Christian and I went with my mom, niece, and Grandma to the Tinsel Trail craft show. I haven't been to it and years and was excited to go. I didn't buy anything but a package of cinnamon coated almonds for Bryan but I still had fun looking and getting more hair bow ideas :) And I also had a fun afternoon with the special ladies in my life and my favorite little man. Although I wished I could have taken Bryleigh, I was so happy that I did not. I think we would have had to buy lots of things, but not because I wanted them but because "you break, you buy!" lol

I was exhausted after we got home since I have had many late nights and early mornings so Bryan let me lay down and I ended up taking a 2 hour nap! It was so nice and I feel so much better. Although I do not know how I am going to be able to sleep tonight.

After I woke up, I baked a pumpkin pie for our neighbors since they have been spoiling us with baked goodies for the past few weeks. And I also made a few bows for Bryleigh and Phoenix's matching Christmas dresses. Now I only have 2 more to make and all the girls in the family will have bows to match their dresses.

And now the kids are in bed but I have to comment on how well behaved they have been. They have actually been playing so well together this weekend. It is definitely something that I am enjoying after the constant fighting that we are used to. And we ran into Christian's bible school teacher tonight and she informed me that Christian is such a smart little boy and so sweet and polite at bible class. This made my heart happy since he is usually so wild and hyper on Wednesday nights that I didn't know how he was able to sit and listen for an hour! And if that didn't make me happy enough, he brought this to me before bed tonight...

He told me that in the picture, he is giving me a heart because he loves me! Awww, I just love this boy! He is our sweet little one and then we have our little diva that told me she couldn't go to bed tonight because she was "workin' out," as she was using her princess wand as a dumb bell. Oh that girl!

Keep Her Young

Bryleigh is at my most favorite age where I just want to bottle her up and keep her young forever.  Her little voice is just the cutest!  Here is her singing, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

And since my class is consuming all my time, that is all that I have for today! So now I'm going to go burn off some stress and dance with my kiddos in the living room :) 

Proud Momma

Today I have had two very proud mommy moments! The first being that Christian learned to tie his shoes today. Although Bryan has been trying to teach him for a few weeks now, it was his gym teacher, Mrs. Graper, who must have had the magic method! He was so very proud of himself and very excited to show us when he got home from school! Such a big accomplishment for our little guy.

And our other proud moment is that after about a year of potty training, with about 3 of those months being more aggressive,  is officially potty trained! She has been doing very well but I finally got up enough courage last week to start taking her out with underwear on instead of pull up's and so far she has had no accidents! She wears undies all day unless it is nap time or bed time, and even then, she wakes up dry most of the time. This is such a milestone for our little girl and a tad bit sad because our baby girl is growing up! But everyone I have talked to is definitely right, girls are much easier to potty train than boys. But I am a bit fearful of the time that Bryleigh has to go potty and there is no potty around, I will no longer have the luxury of going to the nearest tree :) But we learn as we go, right?

I love my little kiddies!  They make me so proud!

Bear Muffins

It was Christian's snack day today and since we were both sick with the flu last month when he had snack day, we attempted to be creative this month! But I have to say, even with my good friend, Pinterest, it is not easy to find healthy school snacks.  I find a lot of cute snacks but they are usually desserts.  So this is what we could find...

Bear Muffins!  

Not a very good picture but I was very tired last night and just snapped a quick picture before heading to bed!  Apparently, the apple cinnamon bear muffins were a big hit with the kiddos!  Thank goodness our attempt at creativity paid off.  But I am not looking forward to next month's snack since I am fresh out of healthy snack ideas.  Anyone willing to share there are ideas would be my hero :)

Thank you!

Celebrations

On Thursday, I was surprised to walk into my office after lunch to find a beautiful display of balloons and a teddy bear...

Bryan and the kiddos really surprised me because I was not expecting a belated birthday surprise!  But later, I would find out that this was not the intention, they were suppose to be delivered on my birthday but apparently the driver got lost so the delivery needed to wait until the following day! I thought the story was funny but Bryan informed me that he had a full day of dealing with the flower shop and it was not all fun :)  But the surprise but great, and really made my day!  Mission accomplished :

Yesterday, we finished off my birthday celebrations by going out to dinner with all our family at Pizza Hut!  I'm so thankful that I have such amazing family and inlaw's that spoil me!

Unfortunately I don't have pictures of everyone, but we had a group of 17 !  Now that I am in my "late" twenties, going out for dinner is what I look forward to every year so I'm so thankful that everyone could come!  My 26th birthday was a special one thanks to all of you!