veda waving

a short video of Veda waving before her nap.

I made THESE cookies today. They are really good-- but make a TON. I half the recipe, even though it says not to. Even half the recipe makes a billion cookies. If you have m&m's-- you should make them too. But maybe next week-- then bring me some :)

monkey bizness

On monday, we went to Monkey Bizness with Chris and Sarah. We all had a lot of fun. Here's some proof. 

See-- Dave looking glad that he agreed to take three hours off work to come with us.

 Grace is about the cutest thing. Every other word that I hear her say is "Veda!"

She really wanted to hug Veda. And I just stood by and took pictures.

It's all fun and games until Veda starts pulling hair. It's something I struggle with myself every time I nurse her. She loves to get a good grip and PULL. :)

 Holy smokes-- there was this giant slide. Dave had somehow talked Quinn into going down with him (on his lap). And she loved it. And eventually went down ALL BY HERSELF!! (That's cute Levi in front of her). What I should probably leave out is that I went up with Quinn one time. And had a mini panic attack because I got all the way up and it looked really steep and scary and I was not about to go down. Meanwhile all these kids were scooting in front of us trying to encourage me and help me feel better about going down.... haha. Then I finally just closed my eyes and did it since I didn't know if I could take the embarrassment of squeezing by twenty kids on my way down the ladder. It wasn't that scary-- it was a lot slower than I thought. I'm not usually that big of a wuss!! okay, maybe I am. But my heart raced for a good 15 minutes after I came down. I still can't believe that Quinn went down over and over-- and by herself.

 Veda had a lot of fun in the baby part. so did Hendrix-- he didn't like the slide or bouncy things.

 Levi took this picture. Not too bad for a four year old!!

Veder

Veda is not quite ten months old. But I feel like she's doing so many new things that I needed to document them. So here's some cute things that she's up to at 9 5/8ths months old:

LOVES peek-a-boo. Giggles EVERY time. And also now uses her own hands to cover her own face to play.

Can do raspberries. It brings all of us a lot of joy. The kids will do them to her--she'll do them back-- and we all laugh our heads off.

Waves bye-bye. She could do this before. But she's better at doing it on command now.

Eats lots of solids.

She's a climber!! I have to watch her. She loves to climb up on things that she's not supposed to. She also LOVES laundry baskets. She'll flop herself right into one. And if I get her out, she gets right back in. The other day she hung out in a laundry basket while I folded two loads of laundry.

Can stand unassisted. 

Walks along furniture or with a walker toy.

9 out of 10 nights she sleeps from 6:15 pm-5:30am. 

3 teeth.

Bright blue eyes, an infectious smile, a darling dimple, hardly any hair, and has me and her daddy wrapper around her little finger. twice. 

(super blurry cell phone pic).

random Christmas stuff

wow. i don't even know where to start. My house looks like a bomb (or two) went off. Christmas stuff is half packed away... the other half is crazily strewn about my house. My dishes are stacked up the sink. I'm trying to majorly clean stuff out so when packing for the move starts things won't be 'as' crazy. And here I am doing a blog post. The mess will wait for me, right? :)

Here's Quinn and me with the blanket I made her for Christmas.

 We have protected the Christmas tree all season from Veda by putting the ottoman in between the gap between the couches. It worked well... but sometimes we would forget and a little baby would sneak in. Look at that cute little foot.

 Christmas morning was fun and magical. Kids make Christmas awesome. Quinn is so sweet and easy to please. She loved everything she got-- and also loved everything that Hendrix and Veda got.

 Christmas morning chaos. I tried really hard to keep up with the trash since Veda puts everything in her mouth. This was me keeping up with it... I obviously did a lousy job. Wrapping paper can't be that bad for you, right?

 Hendrix spilled his thing of mini m&m's more than once.

 We spent some time with Chris and Sarah. Here's Veda at their house. Looking Christmas-y

 And handing out hugs to cousins.

Hendrix got a paper jams guitar from my sister. It's definitely his favorite new toy. He plays it ALL day. Santa brought him a mini digital drum set too-- so we can have a family band :)
My sweet husband got me a pair of THESE. I've wanted some for a while, but I had no idea that he was getting me some :)
Now back to the grind. Dave at the office again and me un-digging ourselves after the weekend.

a bit of Christmas

We had a ROCKIN' AWESOME Christmas. Hope ya'll did too.

catch up

Here's Dave and I all dressed up to go our for our anniversary date. We were lucky to have some friends willing to come over and watch our kids. I can't wait to someday (hopefully) live by my parents so I'll have someone to watch my kids. Finding a babysitter can be a nightmare.

 I know I'm cutting to close this year. But I finally finished X and V's Christmas gifts from me.

(for Veda's owl-- I used some old sleepers/clothes for some of the fabric. The purple sleeper happened to have this cute little pocket that says mommy and me. So I added it to the back)

And keeping with Keller Christmas Tradition-- all my kids decided to get sick. Here's my poor sweet sick boy. (snuggling with the monkey and super power guy I made him. There's hope for the silly looking robot I made him).

Since the kiddos are sick, we decided to take them to a candy store (of course). It seemed like a Christmas-y thing to do and we don't want to waste the season. And it took our minds off of runny noses and wheezy lungs for a couple hours.

Veda is hopefully going to be all better tomorrow. She seemed a lot better today. So hopefully the other two kids will be all better by Christmas morning. And thank heavens they aren't throwing up. Quinn has spent TWO of her four Christmases so far throwing up.

Before I wrapped the robot and owl I let Veda see the robot (not the owl, I didn't want to spoil the surprise of course). I don't know that I've ever seen her so enthusiastic about anything. I hope she likes her owl just as much.

 Seriously-- she hugged and slobbered all over it and squealed with delight.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas!!!

new tooth!

Santa came early. Veda's top tooth FINALLY poked through today. She's thrilled. 

(I know I already posted this picture. but it's so cute... it needed a repeat).

Congrats sweet Veda-- three down--17 more to go.

Hap-Hap-Happy Anniversary!

I know that Dave already did a super sweet post for me-- but I can't help myself. I need to do one more. :)

Here are NINE things about the Daver and I- to celebrate our NINE years of marriage (when did we get so old to have been married for nine years??!)

1. Dave and I recently read through my journal of the time that we met and started dating (I used to be an avid journal writer- I never missed a day). What a fun time to remember!! We were young, crazy, and in love. I was in hair school. Dave was on summer vacation from BYU. He was teaching guitar lessons one day a week- and spent the rest of his time working on his tan at the pool. We quickly fell for each other. How could I not? He was tan and had long blonde hair and played guitar (and had braces!!) :)

2. Dave is so sweet to me. When things aren't going my way, he knows just how to cheer me up. Usually by saying one of these phrases:
"Are those your real eyelashes?"
"You look HOT today."
"Why don't you just go to Target today?"
If those don't work-- he asks me about my eyelashes again.

3. We had a very memorable anniversary while living in Los Angeles. It was our 2nd anniversary. We had heard from one of our friends that there was a steakhouse in Santa Monica that we should go to-- that seemed reasonable priced (this friend had been there for a work lunch). So we put on our best jeans and went to this restaurant. Only to sit down and order drinks and open the menu and see it was at LEAST $80 a plate. Just for the main dish-- if you wanted a side of say 4 stalks of asparagus it was $8 more. Of course, being the young kids that we were, we pretended like it was no big deal, when inside we were freaking and wanting to cry because it was more than we would spend on groceries for two weeks. It should have been a red flag that our waiter greeted us with a  napkin over his forearm. But by then, it was too late anyway.

4. We've had lots of cars in our marriage so far. Let's see if I can remember them all:
Black 89 Mazda
Turqoise 91 Chevy Cavalier
Black Mitsubishi Galant
Green-- what was that? Not a Taurus, but might as well have been
Black 94 Rodeo-- lots of memories in this. Dave drove this car when we met.
White 07 Kia Spectra
Silver 04 Durango
White 09 Dodge Grand Caravan

5. Dave's haircut is usually the last on my list. And likewise-- I'm the last person he wants to design anything for :)

6. I generally trust Dave's opinion on almost anything. He's smart. Has a good head on his shoulders. Has a good eye. Knows what's cool, good, and right. So if I need an opinion about what song to listen to, or what necklace I should wear with my outfit, or what appliance I should buy-- he's the guy to ask. He just knows.

7. Dave is the world's best dad. The kids adore him. And it makes me adore him even more.

8. Dave's favorite things are pickles, chips, beef jerky, and vegetables. My favorites include none of those. Opposites attract, I guess.

9. Even though we've had nine awesome years- we've had our share of ups and downs. I don't think there is a marriage on the planet that doesn't have good times AND bad. I'm grateful for a husband that works hard at our marriage. I'm grateful for the nine years we have under our belt and the things we've learned along the way. Life is an adventure-- and I'm one lucky girl to experience it with this guy by my side.

Just a couple crazy kids...

Happy 9 years, my love. D

blue eyed babe...

...practicing for the big day

confession

I have a confession. I cried to today in the mother's room at church. 

Not only that-- but it's the second time  in a month that I've cried in there. 

The last time I cried, it was right after a screaming baby had just left the room. 

And there I was with my smiley little Veda. 

Rosy cheeked, happy, content. Even though she was missing her nap to be at church. 

Today it was for no good reason other than that I LOVE THIS BABY. 

I am blessed.

weekend fun

We've had a busy weekend... :)

My darling niece, Ellie had a dance recital (She's the one on the right with her arms crossed). It was cute to see all the little dancers. But BOY was it hot and crowded in that little room with all those people. It has cemented in Quinn's mind that she NEVER wants to do dance. (because of recitals and being in front of those people).

 Dave's parents were also here this weekend. And we had a little Christmas celebration with them since we won't see them on actual Christmas. They brought the kids this indoor snowball fight kit-- Veda loved the 'snowballs.'

 And Hendrix got a CARS book from Grandma and Grandpa. He likes it :)

We also showed the house this weekend. So I put Quinn to work scrubbing the floors and base boards. (kidding... this was all her idea.) Saturday was the SECOND time this week we've shown the house. Who would have thought that the week before Christmas people are house hunting? 

We also had a Rocket party at our house today. I forgot to take any pictures. But we had a great time :)

boo hoo

 I probably shouldn't do a blog post today. You guys will notice that I'm in a lousy mood :)

Three things:
What's everyone so busy doing? And why am I not busy? I get that there are Christmas work parties, church parties, etc... but what else does everyone else have going on? And why wasn't I invited? I should be busy going to cookie exchanges, craft nights, parties etc... nope. And maybe you're thinking... "well, Am. Why don't you just take matters into your own hands?" Well... I did. TWICE. And did anyone come? Nope.

I'm hoping for two Christmas miracles. Neither one of them will happen, I guarantee-- but here they are for the universe in case "Santa" in listening. I want a camera. I am SICK of taking crappy pictures of my kids with my crappy camera. I take tons of pictures... I deserve an SLR. And the other miracle... I want to not HATE my hair. I haven't liked my hair for a while. I'm sick of feeling like I look like crap. Wow... how many times can I say "crap" in this post? I told you I was in a bad mood :)

And the third thing. Thank goodness I have Dave. Yesterday-- he came home after dealing with his own giant plate of stress. (trying to merge two companies while being 1600 miles away). He comes home to hear me whining and crying about my own stress and disappointments and helps me feel better. He talks some sense into me and puts things into perspective. And suggests a movie with popcorn and m&m's. Love him. :)

Sunday

Wow... I have one handsomely hot husband. And stinking cute baby girl.

 We 'made' a gingerbread house on Sunday. And by MADE, I mean I bought a pre-assembled one and used the pre made frosting that came in the kit and stuck candy to it. Just feel free to call me Martha Stewart.

blanket for Quinn for Christmas

To Quinn with love from mommy.

I'm always a little proud when I do mitered corners and they turn out :)
(The middle is minky- and the polka dot is fleece)

Santa!

There's Santa!!!

Hendrix didn't say anything to Santa-- just kept pointing at his bag of candy canes. So Santa officially thinks that he wants a candy cane for Christmas.

 Quinn was so sweet and did a good job. She was so nervous that she started crying a little bit. Sweet girl. But she did manage to whisper that she wanted a baby doll. Huh?

 And Veda and the big man.

Then we decided to go to Toy's R Us and let the kids pick out a present for each other. Quinn loved it and had fun picking out a fun car for Hendrix and a cute little baby toy for Veda. Hendrix on the other hand-- had fun picking out things for himself. (so Dave helped him pick something out for Quinn.... I guarantee he has no idea what he got for her) :)

veda 'standing'

How crazy will it be when all three of my kids can just stand up and pose for a picture? :)

 I tried really hard to get a better picture of her 'standing up.' She thought it was kinda funny

 And down she goes!!