Thanksgiving

I am so behind.  It's the middle of December and I am just posting about our Thanksgiving trip.  I love the holidays and everything that goes along with them-road trips, being with family, shopping for just the right gift, my kids being crazy b/c we forgot what a schedule was...and so on.

 This year we spent Thanksgiving in NW Arkansas at Trey's grandparents' house. They just moved into a beautiful home on the lake and we were able to go out twice on the boat and fish.  Dylan caught an itty-bitty fish that he is SO proud of.  Each time he tells the story his fish gets bigger-it's so cute!

                                               (Cheesing it up with Grandma Keller)

 (Dylan loves loves LOVES riding horses.  This is Dylan on Dollar, who is 35 years old.  They got him when Trey was around 3.)

 (What a life...really enjoying being out on the boat)

 (Another picture with Dollar.  He did not want to get off)

 (It was super cold outside, so we only kept Cheyenne outside for a minute.  She was bundled up and not happy we were not letting her down)

                                          (Dylan giving us a funny face)

 (We wanted in on the boatride too, so we met them down at the docks and they came and picked us up)

                                             (Dylan riding a 1936 John Deer tractor)

                                                     (Dylan and Nema-such a good picture)

                                          (He was loving all the "toys" to play on)

                                                        Dylan and Tyson

Shiny Girl Turns 1...WHAT????

What a wonderful year it has been!!!  Cheyenne has brought so much joy into our lives and has made our world so much sweeter being in it.  This morning, thanks to the time change, she decided to wake up at 5:30am.  Lucky for me I had gotten enough sleep and we sat up in my bed and played and talked.  When 6:39am rolled around I sang her Happy Birthday and thanked God for allowing us to raise her.  She smiled and clapped through the whole thing.  I loved spending that time with her alone and reminiscing on a year ago today.

 The other day I was talking to a friend from high school and she asked me to describe Cheyenne.  She has yet to meet her and wanted to know her personality.  It was really hard to do.  I feel like Cheyenne has so many different personalities...not in a weird freaky way, but in a good "keep you on your toes'' kind of way.  She can be the happy girl who laughs at any face you make,  or the little girl who is going to stare you down and not crack a smile for anything, or the girl who loves her brother and plays with him nicely, and then there is also the girl who is not happy with her brother and is destroying his train table so it will make him super mad...and lastly the shy/bashful girl who hides her face and will show it for 2 seconds to flash her little grin and then bury her face again.  She usually shows each of these "personalities" daily and that is how she keeps us on our toes.  This week she is the little girl who is cutting her molars and does not want to be put down so her momma carries her EVERYWHERE...it's super fun!

We are throwing her a big shebang this Saturday with a "The Hungry Caterpillar" theme.  I will post pictures after the party.  I've slowly started decorating the house for the party and I'm getting really excited to throw it.

*All about Cheyenne*
-She is crawling everywhere and can walk if she is holding on to something, but she has not taken any solo steps yet.
-She can say momma, dada, bubba, Kicka (Tick-Ta), ball and baby.
-She is still nursing, but she loves food and so far is not picky.
-Her favorite toys are balls, cars and her baby doll.
-She just started liking bible class.  She started going when she was 8 months old and she just now started liking it and won't cry when I put her in...bless her teachers' hearts.  They put up with a lot.
-Most of the time she loves her bubba, but she has reserved a certain cry just for him when he starts pestering her and she has had enough.
-She likes to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Baby Einstein.
-She is super ticklish and has the cutest belly laugh when you start to tickle her.
-She still sucks her two middle fingers whenever she is tired or if she gets hurt.

-Speaking of hurt...she is one tough cookie.  She rarely gets hurt and her brother is pretty rough with her.  She recently learned how to fight back and has taken a few swings at him.
-Dylan loves her to pieces.  He forgets she is smaller than him and will constantly ask if Cheyenne is big enough to ____(fill it in with anything that is something she is too little for).  After I tell him she is too little he will say, "maybe tomorrow she will be big enough".  It's cute how he wants to play with her.
-She is just like her brother in that she can scowl like no other child I have ever seen.  You would think Trey and I scowl, but I don't think either one of us do.  It really is very cute, but we try not to acknowledge it so she won't do it 24/7.

I will let her daddy say a few words too...

Unbelievable how quickly it goes by. One of my favorite little things is this: Whenever you've been driving anywhere with Cheyenne in the back in her carseat, she has a HUGE smile waiting for you every time you go to get her out of the car. It's a day-maker every time. As we've spent some time today reflecting on the last year (and then some), we're left feeling overwhelmingly blessed. Thanking God tonight for our Cheyenne, and praying for her future in every way.

Fall...and a Half Marathon

Every time I sit down to write, something else comes up and blogging takes a back seat.  I seriously have started 5 different blogs and they are all half-finished and waiting to to be published.

Anyways, my favorite time of year is approaching and I am loving being outside with the kids.  We spent one morning this week at the zoo with my moms group.  I love doing something active in the morning and getting the kids all worn out so they will take a great nap and momma can get some things done around the house.  Dylan is at the age right now where he is very interested in animals and reptiles.  He had a blast walking around the zoo looking at the different animals and talking to them.  There is a petting zoo there and, as he was brushing a goat with a hairbrush, I overheard him saying, "little goat, you're so cute.  Does the brush feel so good?"  We also rode the zoo train and the carousel and Dylan told me he was going to ask Santa for a real big carousel for Christmas.......wishful thinking!

Trey and I have been training for a 1/2 marathon, and we finally ran it yesterday.  I ran this run 2 years ago, but this is Trey's first time running it.  I feel like, for the last 12 weeks, half of each week has been spent running and cross training and our weekends are spent on our long runs.  Neither one of us want to run with the double stroller, so one of us will take Saturday and the other Sunday to run our long runs. It's a process, but we had fun going through it all together. The run went well, and we almost gave the 2 nice men from Kenya who finished 1-2 a run for their money :) They only ran it in a little less than half of our time. They actually only finished 1 second apart from each other, so I imagine that was a much more exciting moment than when we crossed the finish line.

Trey had to travel some over the past few weeks so the kids and I went down to North Georgia and hung out with my mom.  There is a train in Blue Ridge you can ride to another town and two hours later you can ride back to Blue Ridge.  We rode it on Monday and Dylan had a blast.  He was super excited he got to talk to the conductor and even more excited he got to go backwards on the train....It's the little things in life!

I will leave you with a few pictures of my babies...

 You can really see her teeth in this pictures. 

 We LOVE bath time.

 Cowgirl up!

 Going for a walk after dinner

 Love that smile

 This was his first ever sucker...he sucked for about 5 minutes and then was done...Good boy!

Shiny and Big D

I haven't updated in a few months, so I will just give you a quick overview on both the Keller kids...

 Let's start with Big D (we really don't call him that)

 *I feel like (knock on wood) we have gotten out of the whiny/throw a fit because you don't get your way stage and are into a much more pleasant/happy/go with the flow stage.  I say this today and tomorrow I am going to be eating my words. BUT, for the past few weeks it has been pretty pleasant around our house.  We traveled to AR and both the kids did really good considering we were off our schedules. Dylan had a BLAST playing with all his 1st and 2nd cousins.  He is at a really fun age and is cracking us up with his mannerisms and expressions.  He is officially potty trained and only wears pullups when he sleeps at night.  Dylan is still very much a daddy's boy and will ask for Trey constantly during the day.  The other day I was kissing him goodnight and telling him how much I loved him and he said, "I love you too momma, but I love daddy SO MUCH"...I birthed the child and daddy gets the "so much".

 *I will share some funny things Dylan has said recently...
1.  "Hey babe (talking to me), come change my poop diaper"...we started potty training that day!
2.  A lady at church came up to him and told him he looked nice in his church vest.  He said "I know, I am so cute".
3. We were walking at the park the other day and saw a snake.  We've been studying the story of Adam and Eve so, naturally, he yelled "THERE'S SATAN" really loudly.
4. Talking to Cheyenne -"baby girl you are JUST precious"
5. We went to the farmers market and I didn't have any cash on me.  Dylan really wanted some lemonade and I walked up and asked the guy if they accepted debit.  He said no and Dylan (who was standing right next to me with his arms on the guys table) said, "you've got to be kidding me"...the guy laughed and gave us some for free.
6. And lastly, Cheyenne was screaming in the car and Dylan informs me that "Shiny really needs your booby right now"...there are no words.

 And then there is Cheyenne/Shiny/Baby Girl/Sissy (the girl is never going to know her real name)
*BIG-that about sums up Shiny :) She is getting a cute personality and has learned to squeal if no one is paying attention to her.  She is pretty content to sit and play by herself or be entertained by her big brother.  She has two teeth and is working on the third, so she is biting everything b/c her gums hurt.  She has a certain fussy cry that she only does when her brother is pestering her, which we hear a lot :) She is trying to crawl, but is having a really hard time getting her rear off the ground.  Her arms are doing what they should be doing, but her legs can not lift her backside...I think we may go straight to walking.  She has moved into her room and momma has packed up the bassinet.  She takes 2 two hour naps during the day and usually goes to bed around 7:30pm.  She will sometimes wake up around 11:30 or 12 and want to play for 30 minutes, but that only happens about 2 times a week.  She has also moved to a big girl car seat, which she loves.  AND, Cheyenne is a momma's girl :)

I will leave you with a few pictures...

My blogging is pathetic...

Man, I can't believe it has been over two months since my last post.  I've started about 3 different posts, but was never able to get a flow going with my writing...I blame it on mommy brain!

Let me catch everyone up on what's been going on in the Keller household.  First, we moved-woohoo!  I will one day post pics of the new place, but we are slowly still unpacking.  Second, we made our first road trip with both kids and they did surprisingly well in the car.  I dreaded it for days leading up to our departure, but they did good and all the worrying was for nothing...isn't it always? Thirdly, Cheyenne now has two teeth.  She has been under-the-weather the last few days and just last night I felt around in her mouth and felt two little nubs sticking out.  Sigh...she is getting too big.  Time for another one :) (only kidding, for any grandparents reading this...not pregnant and not planning to be in the immediate future) And fourth, Dylan was able to ride in the plane that my dad flies and "fly" it down the runway. He also rode a real "choo choo" for the first time :)

I will elaborate a little more on the previous paragraph.  We found a wonderful renter for our townhome and she moved in April 1st.  We moved into our new house March 16th, so for about two weeks we were living in both places.  I think next time we move we are only going to give ourselves a weekend to move and not 2.5 weeks.  It drug everything out and ended up being more of a hassle than it was would've been the other way.  Anyways, we are loving our new house with more room.

Trey was asked to help record the FC chorus and, since none of us had met our new nephew, Luke, we all decided to make the trip to Tampa.  Like I said before, the drive was awesome.  I wish I could say the same about Dylan's behavior...oh the joys of traveling with a toddler.  We were off a routine, in a different house and those two things combined made for a difficult toddler.   Luckily, Shiny was her sweet self, so I wasn't pulling my hair out with two crazy munchkins.

Here are some pictures!

So my dad was flying in from Birmingham and he had to let a guy off at a terminal that was down from his hanger.  They dropped off the guy and mom, Dylan, Cheyenne and I hopped on.  Dylan was able to "fly" the plane down the runway.  You can see his arm in the picture below holding the yoke...highlight of his little life so far.

 Dylan was just realizing that his time in the cockpit was coming to an end, so he wasn't happy about the picture being taken. 

Cheyenne and her cousin, Luke.  They are 9 weeks apart.  I like how they are both holding up their hands. 

 Trey and Dylan at the beach. 

 My little beach baby.  I can't wait to go back when she is not so little.  There is not much for babies to do at the beach.  Next time she is going to have a blast.

 Shiny and momma hanging out at the beach.

 All the kiddos.  What you can't see is me acting ridiculous trying to get a good smile out of Dylan.

 Papaw and Shiny with her new hat and shades. 

Papaw and Dylan riding the choo choo.  Trey took a video of him and his mouth hung open (literally) the whole time.  

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

I feel like we have been in fast-forward mode for the past month.  We went to Jonesboro for a weekend at the end of January.  We had a great time seeing family, but on the way home Dylan and I started feeling like crud.  It is no fun being in the car, feeling yucky and having a baby screaming b/c she is OVER her car seat...makes you want to stay home and never leave.   Dylan and I went to the Dr's the following Tuesday and Dylan had RSV (thanks to Cheyenne) and momma had a clogged milk duct...sorry if that's TMI, but oh my word did that thing hurt!!!

Dylan had an extremely mild case of RSV, but our Dr thought it best to cancel his party for the following Saturday.  It turns out we could have had it, but better safe than sorry.  My family still came up, so we had a fun time in the same cabin that we rented at Christmas.  Next year he is going to have a big 3rd birthday...momma feels a little guilty that we didn't do anything this year.  We have officially taken our house off the market and decided to rent instead.  Best news: We rented it after less than 3 weeks of trying! We're outta here by April 1, and have almost figured out where we're headed - stay tuned!

-About my sweet kiddos-
*Dylan*
I don't know when it happened, but Dylan is now talking in sentences.  I feel like he woke up one morning and was talking in complete sentences.  He says the funniest things and keeps me and Trey on our toes.  He is definitely testing us these days.  I feel like we have to stay on him 24/7.  The other day (during the whole RSV thing) I had to use the bulb (snot sucker) on him.  He HATES that thing and cries whenever we use it on him.  I started using it on him and he immediately starts crying and saying "Dylan all done".  I kept doing it and he grabs my hands and says, "momma, obey Dylan right now...all done".  He had a very stern look on his face and I can only imagine that that is how I look when I get on to him.  I stopped (b/c I got everything I could, not b/c he told me to) and he says, "good job obeying Dylan"...we need to work on who obeys who :)

*Cheyenne*
Baby Shiny is doing great.  She is healthy and constantly entertained by her brother.  He can get her to smile when no one else can.  She is officially in 9 to 12 month clothes.  I don't even want to think about all the cute clothes (3 and 6 month) she never wore.  She is in size 3 diapers and on many occasions has worn her brothers size 5 when momma forgot to get her diapers at the store :) She is sleeping great through the night.  She sleeps a solid eight hours (10pm-6am) as long as she is in our bed.  If she is in her bassinet she only sleeps 3 hours at a time...so she sleeps with us most of the time-momma loves her sleep :) Like I mentioned in one of my last posts...I stink at sleep training.  One day she will be trained...i hope!

 We have had awesome weather this winter.  Just today, our high was 73, so the kids and I went to the park and played.  On the way home Dylan was in the backseat saying, "Dylan loves the park" over and over :)  Hopefully the next update will be when we're moving!