The Keene Family

My mom had a Birfday, as Haley calls it. We ate a wonderful Chinese lunch out, and then came back to our house for a cupcake decorating party with some presents. Fortune cookies! Tic-tac-toe with Grandpa Love this one! All those blondies... Getting serious about sprinkles Reading Violet the Pilot - our new fav - love JT's face here! Then we were lucky enough to have our friends from out of town spend the night. The men went out late and the ladies stayed home and stayed up almost as late... then we all had trouble getting up in the morning (even with fresh coffee) so the kids got a special Sunday morning Veggie Tales while we made a lazy breakfast and then headed off to church. Also, I am officially the coolest mom ever. I built JT a race track with painter's tape on his floor, and he has spent a lot of time racing in there. Then he figured out how to tear the tape and he has made many new creations along the way. You know how, every once in a...

Haley is two and a half! She was unimpressed when she found out that this did not mean cake, parties, and presents. She is, however, very happy to be closer to three. I took a couple quick pictures of her to mark the big occasion. Reading me a book. She points to the words as she reads. Haley continues to be strong in language development. It is definitely her strength. She still falls flat on her face while walking down the hallway for no particular reason at all, but she isn't concerned about that. She's concerned about telling you about it . We love listening to her talk and smile when she surprises strangers by speaking quite clearly to answer their silly questions. Stranger: "Are you shopping with your mom?" Haley: "This is store two. We went to Costco already. We couldn't go in the play land because it's not open yet. Maybe next time. I had to ride in the cart but I wanted to walk. Mom said no because it takes too long. We got some carrots a...

Well, that's not its real name, but that's what we're calling it. We drive by on our way home from church sometimes and it looks like so much fun. So we were excited to make a date with our friends Tawnee, Kayrene, and Dante to ride bikes and play in the sunshine last week. We rode bikes from the car to the park. (ONE car: two adults, four kids, three bikes, and a scooter in the back of my Volvo, love it!) It wasn't until half way there we saw a sign posted about riding bikes on the boardwalk. Oops.  Haley photo bombed JT and Dante! The underdog push Haley walks the tight rope

Valentine's Day is supposed to be all about how we love others (and really it's about getting things as gifts...), but it would be great if we could focus on how much we love God, and how much He loves us. I tried to talk about that to my kids all day long! We started off with a family heart-shaped breakfast: pancakes and strawberries and sausage, all heart shaped. It's my first attempt at a themed meal for a minor holiday. :)  Then we did some errands and when we went to the post office, two exciting things came: 1. My envelope that JT mailed on his post office field trip (the field trip was awhile ago, but we don't get the mail very often!). It had two coupons inside: one for a BIG HUG and one for a movie together. I love that was what he picked to be so special, because we hardly ever, ever watch movies and it's fun that he wanted to do it together.  2. The kids got fun packages from Grandma and Grandpa Keene, who are away on a trip. Then JT...

You might have known that Jim's cousin Isaac proposed to his fiancee, Amy, and recorded a video of it to share with his family who couldn't be there. He posted it online and it went viral. As of Feb 2013, the video had over 17 million views on YouTube! Isaac decided to make another video, this time including the 100+ family members that come from his two sets of grandparents. He invited everyone to come be a part of the video. So we went! We stayed with Isaac's older brother, Connor, and his family. We just love them and their sweet kids. Kelly and I had a great time chatting and five-year-old Isabel was a wonderful playmate for JT and Haley. Plus, their dog Boss is a sweetheart who may have changed Haley's mind about dogs. Haley and JT got sleep in bunk beds, too, which they thought was super fun. Isabel introduces Haley to a Hello Kitty Nintendo DS Here's a couple of photos of the filming Saturday morning... as we stood in the 40-degree rainy weather fo...