The Newest Newborn

Here's an Elijah photo that has been 4.5 years in the making:

January Recap

We're just getting it out of our system...

All the things we don't want to deal with after baby is born next month, we're just doing them now: surgery, sickness, teething, travel. Suffice it to say that January has been a little difficult.

After SIX different courses of antibiotics for Josiah's ear infections between June and November, mama had enough of the antibiotics. It made me sick to think of what we were doing to his little digestive system with all that. It was time for tubes.

On January 9, we headed up to Denver EARLY in the morning. Like 4:30 early. The surgery itself took about 10 minutes, and Josiah did great. We also had a great experience with both Dr. Sheri Poznanovic and the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children. I'd recommend them for anyone needing a pediatric ENT.

Lorien's First Concert

This fall, Lorien has been singing in the kids' choir at church and loving it! She loves music and she loves being with her friends there. Here she is in her first concert:

Eventful

Aside from a few newsy or funny kid things, I've been pretty quiet for the last month. That's because 1) I'm pregnant and currently prefer napping to blogging; and 2) we have been busy!

Here's what's happened/what's been accomplished since our little surprise announcement last month...

• Defrosted the deep freeze and cleaned both freezers and the fridge. 

• Lorien got pneumonia which, we discovered, takes 2 weeks to fully recover from. 

Lorien: Four Years Old!

I'm trying to make it a tradition to take Lorien's birthday photos in the wild Colorado sunflowers every year, since they're usually at their peak in the month following her birthday. (Except for last year, when there weren't many sunflowers, so we went for our favorite park instead.) 

Here's our big four-year-old girl!

Surprise!

If you had told me six months ago—heck, even three months ago—that I'd be making this announcement, I'd have called you crazy. But it's true, we're adding a fifth member to our family! 

Since I know you're thinking it: yes, this was as much a surprise to us as it is to you. Yes, we do know how this happens. 

Now that we're done being shocked, we're excited. (But can I please just have you re-read this post and insert "positive pregnancy test" on June 12, right in the middle of the Black Forest Fire? Ummmm, yeah....)

Baby Keffer #3 is due February 12-ish. Here are Lorien and Josiah showing off our new little one: 

Lorien's 4th Birthday

Lorien turned four on July 19th. That day we spent the evening in Denver with FLI students and friends—hurt ourselves eating at the Cheesecake Factory and watched the Cubs beat the Rockies at Coors Field. It was a fun last outing with Institute students. 

Later in the weekend, we celebrated with a family birthday party: burgers, barbeque chicken, salmon, sweet corn, cheesy potatoes and—oh my!—this cake. 

Crash-a-boom-yah

More kid phraseology: 

Crash-a-boom-yah: Lorien's word for anything that makes a noisy impact

STAM UP, MOMMY: Josiah's newest, meaning he wants me to stand up. But somehow it always makes me feel like he's swearing at me.

Memorial Day Weekend In Estes Park

A high school classmate of mine recently said, "Traveling with a two-year-old might be a trip, but it is not a vacation."

How true we've found these words over the past 3+ years, when vacationing basically means helping the kids do all the same things you help them do at home, only in a different environment and without the benefits of your own space and your own stuff. I don't mean to gripe. I'm just saying that it's hard to really get away with small children. 

The Darndest Things

From the kids, recently...

What Color is Grandpa?

Lorien (touching my nose): I like your nose.
Me: I got it from Grandpa
Lorien: ??
Me: Sometimes we look like our mommies and daddies, and my nose looks like Grandpa.
Lorien: You're not the same color as him.
Me: Oh?
Lorien: Well, you're very bright.
Me: And what color is Grandpa?
Lorien: He's dark pink.

She's not wrong.

Mother's Day

Thankful...

For these precious little people who made me a mommy. 

For Sunday lunch to share with family

Good day, Sunshine!

We're loving being outdoors this week! Here's a conversation we just had in the backyard: 

Lorien: Do you feel that breeze?

Me: Yes. 

Lorien: It's gonna try to blow you away. But if it blows you away, Daddy will help us get you back.

Thank goodness for Daddy.

Life after Death

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Every year on the Sunday after Easter, our church celebrates Life After Death Sunday.

I Got Busted

Our poor dishwasher door really takes a beating. From the time Josiah could crawl, he wanted to be up on top of it. And lately, Lorien has been following his lead.

It's not unusual for me to say, "We don't sit (or stand) on the dishwasher door" a dozen times while loading or unloading. Usually it's directed at Destructo Boy and involves physically removing him from  his perch. Tonight, though, it was directed at Lorien and I raised my voice a bit.

She lost it. (Like her mama, my girl is stubborn, but tender, and sometimes she really crumbles at a reprimand.) Even after I hugged her and apologized, she couldn't pull it back together. And then she spent the next 15 minutes asking, "What did you tell me not to do?" I quickly figured out that she was referring to something that had happened earlier this evening, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember what it was she was talking about. Let's just say we were really getting on each others' nerves.

Our own little Band of Brothers

It's been several years since we've done this, but Josh and I are making another run through Band of Brothers.  Amazing filmmaking.

Tonight, about halfway through "Bastogne," we heard Lorien singing upstairs. I went up to put her back to bed, and here was our conversation: 

Lorien: What are you doing?

Me: Watching a movie.

Lorien: What are you watching?

Me: It's called Band of Brothers. It's a movie about the Army, because Daddy was in the Army. The Army's job is to protect us. That's why Daddy is so good at protecting us. 

Warms a Bookworm's Heart...

Lorien has long been a book lover, and just this past week, Josiah has become really enthusiastic about books too. He doesn't really want to finish any books. He just wants to start a whole bunch of them in a row, several times a day.

To a mommy who used to get in trouble for reading when she wasn't supposed to, this seems like a really good thing.

Christmas 2012

We had the loveliest of Christmas mornings with just our family of four. Thinking of it makes me sigh happy sighs. 

These two are just the perfect ages to enjoy Christmas with!

The morning started with Lorien completing her advent painting, and Josh reading the Christmas story from Luke.

Then we opened stockings

Josiah was not really interested in anything in his stocking...

...only in the Larry the Cucumber ornament from Lorien's stocking. 

Awwwww.

Gummy suckers were pretty much the longest-lasting hit of Christmas. I had purchased a whole package to use for gift tags and the kids couldn't get enough of them. 

Opening presents

I try to get them a dated ornament each year. Sometimes I fail and my mom covers for me (like last year).  

I have heard such good things about this kids' Bible. Excited to read it with Lorien. 

Veggie Tales bath toy from Grandma and Grandpa Beam

Stacking toy for Josiah.

We didn't put too much under the tree, because we bought one big gift that we hope they'll actively use for several years, but it didn't fit under the tree. (Nor did Daddy want to carry it up from the basement where it was hiding. That box was HEAVY.)

So then, yes, we did build the trampoline in the living room. It was totally worth it. And Mimi and Papa came over to watch the hilarity and share leftovers for dinner.

Lovely Christmas.

We tried...

The little blondie cousins were looking super cute in their Christmas outfits, but picture perfect was not to be had this year. :) 

Seriously, though, we had a good visit with the Randalls who visited from Michigan the week before Christmas. I wasn't quite ready for vacation when they got here and put in some pretty late nights trying to get my work done so I could really take some time off. We had some lovely dinner times together with the whole Keffer family and I really enjoyed some heart-to-heart talks with Christy, who is a wonderful listener. And some shopping—just us girls, alone! By next Christmas, we will add a fourth cousin to this set, whom we assume will also be blond. 

Decorating for Christmas

As our kids get big enough to make memories, we've been thinking about the kinds of Christmas traditions we want to create. Decorating the tree is something we want to make into a memorable family time.

Homemade hot cocoa is a favorite for everyone. Three mugs means we don't trust Josiah with one of these quite yet. 

The real tree is one of Josh's contributions from his childhood to our family's traditions.  (Josiah is "helping" with the lights.)

Who, me?

Yummy hot cocoa. Lorien mostly likes the marshmallows. 

So serious. 

Not very serious. :) 

Lorien and Daddy put the start on the tree. 

Little Turkeys

Over Thanksgiving break, I took a day off and invited Institute friends (students, staff and kids) over to make little Oreo turkeys. (A note if you decide to make these: skip the pre-made tubes of icing and go straight for a really stiff homemade buttercream/chocolate buttercream. It works way better. #learnedthatthehardway)

Izzy and Lorien are totally fascinated

Turkeys in progress

Two more turkeys: Josiah and his buddy Caden

Trae shows off his finished turkey

Lorien and I finished a bunch more on Wednesday night. 

All done! On the table on Thanksgiving Day.