Summer 2011

Maggie and Nana went to the Bluegrass Fair. Nana reported that Maggie was giddy the entire time. She loved the rides and wanted to ride them all over and over. Nana said she was perfectly behaved, and that they had a wonderful time together. Maggie of course wanted to go back the next morning.

While they girls were at the fair, Pap took the boys to the dirt race track! Again, loved it! I'm not sure who had more fun, Maggie or the boys! All three kids had a wonderful, memorable time with their Nana and Pap. What did we do? Enjoyed the quiet and had a nice dinner out at Saul Good.

We've made the decision to move the boys to the brand new Wellington Elementary. Although I'm sad for them to be out of my district, we're very excited for the opportunities Wellington will offer them. The boys are delighted with the move as they will be attending the same school as their cousins Caleb and Anna!

We've spent a lot of time at the ballpark this summer. Maggie has been a little trouper cheering the boys on in the hot, hot sun. This day she was so happy to see her best friend from Ms. Judy's, Cara. Cara's brother was also playing in the Bluegrass State Games.

We've been so busy this summer we haven't been able to spend much time with friends. Last week we had a fun outing to Orange Leaf with Sara, Ellie, and Olivia.

While we were getting the boys' hair cut last week, I decided to go ahead and get Maggie's trimmed and evened up a bit. It was her first hair cut. She loved every minute!

We hosted a fun Life Group night at our house. We were sad not to have the Coy's, but glad to see one another. The kids had a blast with shaving cream and a slip and slide. We enjoyed the adult time, but had a little clean up...

All Star tee ball was a big time commitment, but both boys improved significantly. Matthew is a very consistent hitter. He has a great swing, and runs very fast. He loves to slide, and he makes it look so easy! Austin has become a good fielder. He has started to be able to catch the ball and make good, hard throws. Austin loves to play baseball. He wants to throw outside with Jason everyday. He loves to practice and have games. Matthew has become an excellent player, but still prefers soccer. I think he needs the constant movement of soccer.

Vacation with the Keith's on Edisto Island.

Fort Sumter

We spent Memorial Day Weekend at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids absolutely love that place.

Happy Father's Day to the BEST Daddy!

1. What’s your favorite thing about dad?
Austin- He lets me go to the beach in 7 days.
Matthew- He's sweet and kind.

Maggie- I love him.

Briana- He sings and dances to Disney songs in the kitchen.
2. Why do you love dad?
Austin- Because he's my dad.
Matthew- He's so, so, so nice.

Maggie- Because he just burped. No just joking. Because he brings you gas.
3. What’s your favorite thing to do with dad?
Austin- Go to McDonalds.
Matthew- Play ball
Maggie- I want to love on him. And he's a person.
4. Why does daddy love mommy?
Austin- Because he's your husband.
Matthew- Because you guys are married.

Maggie- Because you guys married each other. That's disgusting.
5. What does daddy cook the best?
Austin- Pancakes.
Matthew- Daddy doesn't cook that much. Umm.... pizza.
Maggie- Mac and cheese.

Briana- He picked up Chili's.
6. God could have given you any daddy in the world. Why did he give you yours?
Austin- It's because you two got married and then I came born.
Matthew- Because that was the right one that I loved.

Maggie-Because he's God and he gave me a mommy and a daddy.

Briana- He picked me. I needed a new family.
7. What does dad love most about you?
Austin- Because he's my daddy.

Matthew-Because I can love him.
Maggie-Because he's nice.
8. If you could make a wish for dad, what would it be?

Matthew- I wish for him to be a cop.

Maggie- Candy.

Briana- He lives a long, full life.

Happy Father's dad to a wonderful dad and husband!

We love you!

Austin, Matthew, Maggie, Briana, and Mommy

Last year's answers

Summer!!

• First Graders- Can you believe the boys finished their first year of school? I no longer have two kindergartners, I have first graders! They both had great K experiences. I'm thankful for their teachers and school principal. I've been told who they each have next year and I'm thrilled! I think it's a perfect fit for both.
• Adoption is almost here after two and a half years of waiting! We meet with the new adoption worker today, and we've already chosen an attorney. It should move fairly quickly from this point. Matthew is our son. The adoption just makes it legal. He feels this way too. The other day at the pharmacy drive thru Jason needed to refer to Matthew as our foster son to the pharmacist. Matthew waited a moment and said, "Foster son. Am I not adopted? Do I have to move somewhere else to be adopted?" Broke. My. Heart. What goes through that little mind....

• God sure blessed our family when he gave us Ms. Judy! I can't even begin to describe her. She's a treasure. Maggie absolutely loves her and I can't think of anything I want more when she's away from home.
• New Job?? I hope so! After successfully piloting a 1:1 iPad classroom, our district is going forward with a 1:1 high school! Yes, EVERY student will be given an iPad next year! I'm very excited about this. If I'm in the classroom or in a resource teacher position, I look forward to the next generation learning that will be going on in Woodford County! I applied for a Technology Resource Teacher position. I'll keep you posted...
• Tee Ball- The boys are having a great time and improving their skills, however, the Mets aren't exactly having a winning season. Actually, we haven't won one game. The boys sure would like to pull one out. Our next game is Saturday at 12:45. Maybe this will be the one??
• Austin's 6th Birthday was a success! He and his friends had a blast on the inflatable slide, racing, and breaking a piñata. My parents, Jason, and I were flat exhausted after the fun was over.
• We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge over Memorial Day, went camping last weekend, and are heading to the beach soon! Happy Summer!

GO METS!!!

Spain

We've had a wonderful time here in Spain. I can't believe tomorrow is our last day. The trip has gone so well, and the kids have had a blast. We've enjoyed hanging out with the kids this year, eating the tapas, and drinking cafe con leche. I've enjoyed this year the most. I have Jessica and Jason! Also, I know this year's students better than any other year, and have really had a fun time with them. This year I've carried a little flip camera with me everywhere, so I have tons of video action! We even experienced a bull fight... not my favorite, but I wanted the cultural experience.

Tomorrow is our last day. We plan to sightsee a little more, shop, and relax. It's a free day. We leave early Friday morning here (6 hours ahead) and arrive in Lexington around 7 pm Friday evening.

Love, Love my kids!!! Miss you!

Leaving for Madrid!!

We've had a day of traveling from Lexington to Charlotte and then to Philadelphia. We're boarding in about ten minutes to Madrid! Thanks for all your prayers!

Keith Family Updates

• My camera cord-No pics because I can't find my camera to computer cord. :(
• Please begin praying for our upcoming travels and our separation from each other- Jason and I will be traveling together, Maggie will be with nana and pap, and the boys will be with Granny and Grandad. I am looking forward to my alone time with Jason, but nine days away from my babies is difficult.
• 1:1 iPads- I have been incredibly busy at home and school with a pilot program. I was chosen with two other teachers to pilot a 1:1 iPad classroom for the third trimester. I have 30 iPads synced to a MacBook. It has involved a tremendous amount of work learning how to navigate the iPad, making my curriculum work with the iPads, and learning how to manage my classroom with them. I have loved the opportunity and enjoy the challenge. Several activities have been wonderful and several haven't worked out as well. The district is considering buying iPads for every student next year which means I have had many classroom visits from the superintendent, school board members, and many others. Helps keep me on my toes. :)
• T-ball has begun!! GO METS! I love this time of year!
• We had a wonderful family get away to Louisville last weekend. We didn't have school Friday and Jason was working in Louisville, so the kids and I went there after school Thursday. We didn't do much other than swim and relax in the hot tub.
• Kindergarten update- The boys are doing well and are enjoying school. Matthew is having trouble retaining his learning. Mom helped us find a WONDERFUL tutor. She comes to the house once a week and works with him for an hour. She's a young, certified special education teacher.
• Jason enjoys his job. He is still figuring out what exactly he's supposed to be doing! He does so much around the house and with the kids. We are lucky to have him! I love being with him.
• My Miss Maggie is learning so much from Ms. Judy. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. The other day Maggie cut her omelet and said, "Look mommy. Four quarters!" One day she picked up a dollar bill and said, "George Washington." She knows her days of the week, alphabet, numbers to 20, and more. She recognizes most letters and knows their sounds. Maggie's favorite things to do right now are play in the kitchen sink and ride her bike.

A Few More Christmas Pics...

Maggie was an angel in a precious little Christmas play put on by Ms. Judy, Maggie and her friends, and several Ms. Judy graduates. It was adorable! I don't know how Ms. Judy was able to pull off such a wonderful program with six toddlers! She is a blessing to our lives.
I posted about our yearly bake-a-thon, but never posted any pictures of my gifts. I was able to completely fill nine nice size containers, and still have two platters to take to parties! Thanks again Jackie!

We girls weren't the only ones to make cookies. The kids had fun cutting out and decorating their own cookies. Of course I was disgusted watching them lick, double dip, sneeze, and cough all over their confections. No, I didn't eat one and didn't pass any along as presents!

Jason had a rather rough start to the new year! He was hit pretty hard with a slow moving kidney stone on Christmas Eve, and it didn't pass until Jan. 4! He was in a tremendous amount of pain. We made two trips to the ER and one to the urologist. Then, back to work he went on the Blue Grass Parkway when he hit a patch of black ice and had a terrible car wreck. Even after flipping the Envoy, he walked away sore and scratched up. Thank you God for protecting him. He is back to normal now. He was able to get a 2008 Camry with low miles. He is happy with his new job. My favorite thing is listening to him play football with the boys after work. I love you Jason!

Cara, Lennie, and Emily.... I love you!

We celebrated the new year with our life group. It was a fun night! Well, it would have been better with my sweetie.

We're ready for Santa!

This is the tree we hunted for and cut down with Uncle Jesse. It's such a great memory for the kids.

My kids absolutely love their cousins. We feel so blessed to have cousins so close in age and so close in proximity. I think their mom is pretty cool too ;)

On Sunday evenings Amy loads up all five kids and takes them to Immanuel Baptist for Sunday night church. It's two hours of bible study and play. The kids love it! Each week we have a little homework to do. We read a story, answer a few questions, and memorize a verse. There are two wonderful things about this 1- kids receive more bible teaching 2- Jason and I have 2 1/2 hours to ourselves each week! Most often we use it for cleaning and getting ready for the week, but it's better to do it alone than with kids messing up everything as we clean.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Today I took the kids to visit the big man in red! We had such a wonderful experience. If you haven't visited with Santa yet, try Lexington Green. You can make an appointment and walk straight in to Santa's lap! As soon as we checked in, they put us next in line. When it was our turn Maggie took off and jumped right on his lap. The kids joked around with Santa about being on the naughty list, told him what they want, and even tugged on his beard to see if he's the real one.

A Tradition in the Baking!

Jackie, Amy, Aprile, and I have spent quality time together the past 12 hours in the Keith Kitchen! Today was our annual cookie and candy bake-a-thon. On the list this year we had:

• chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites
• chai tea eggnog cookies
• cinnamon bun cookies
• magic cookie bars
• chunky chocolate jam bars
• shortbread
• gingerbread men
• sugar cookies
• pecan pie bars
• chocolate cherry cookies
• death by caramel bars
• brownie buttons
• chocolate peppermint cookies
• walnut fig streusel bars
• triple layer peanut butter brownie bars
• chocolate chip turtle bars
• ginger spice snaps
• chocolate pistachio bow ties
• chocolate caramel thumbprints
• marbled chocolate bark
• toffee
• fudge- chocolate cranberry
• peanut butter fudge
• peppermint bark
• peanut butter balls
• cream candy
• divinity
• peanut butter roll

Can you believe we do all that in one day??? We've worked so hard today, but we haven't finished our list just yet. Tomorrow we will be decorating the sugar cookies, making the divinity, peanut butter roll, shortbread, and peanut butter balls. We are so close!

This is just one cookie/ candy location!

Giving Thanks

I'm thankful for many things this holiday season. Among the most important is the love of my God, my caring, playful, and giving husband, my dear three children, and supportive family. I was blessed with wonderful in laws and sisters to love. My caring brother is very important to our family and encouraging of all we do. I couldn't make it without the love and support of my parents. Members of our adoptive son's birth family have been beside us the past two years and have helped make his transition to our family complete. We have friends to hang out and do life with that are so fun to be around. My job wouldn't be the same without my friend and co-worker Jessica. We have jobs that we enjoy and feel financially secure in this struggling economy. I am thankful for my house, but more importantly the home we've made it.

We're thankful for cousins!

My First Turkey!

I roasted my first Turkey!! A very well documented experience….

First, I made a turkey brine (with some help from Williams Sonoma) I put my 20 lb turkey in an oven bag and poured the brine in.


I set my alarm for 2am and turned it over to soak all sides. At 5:30 I woke up to wash it off and begin the roast. That's when the mess occurred.......

As I lifted the turkey out of the pan, the bag burst and 2 gallons of nasty turkey juice and brine splashed everywhere. My clothes were drenched and the counter, floor, etc was covered! Luckily it was early, so I had plenty of time to clean it all up.

My turkey and ham sitting snug in the oven.

After 5 1/2 hours of roasting

I even learned how to carve!

The end result was moist and delicious!

I hosted Baker Thanksgiving this year. We traditionally celebrate the Sunday before. Everyone was able to come except for one key person.... my granny. She is in the hospital now and will be having surgery tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers.

Making My Christmas Wreath

Jason and I love to have our house decorated for Christmas. We enjoy the lights every night. We have a 9 foot tree in our family room, a 7 foot in the basement, a 6 foot in our bedroom, a little one in the kids’ bathroom, and a 3 or 4 foot in each kid’s room. It takes so long to put it all up, we like to do it early so we can enjoy it as long as possible. We usually spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend in London, so we traditionally put it all up the weekend before.

After going to South Elkhorn Craft fair this fall, mom and I decided we were going to make new Christmas Wreaths for our front doors using decorative mesh. Mine is a little big, but I love seeing it every time I arrive home.

Here are some photos of my wreath in progress: