Baby Alea and Snow

Alea is just over 2 weeks now and starting to wake up more and become more alert. It is fun to see her eyes more. Brinlee and Spencer love her to pieces and cannot stay away from her. They shower her with hugs and kisses every minute. They are always checking on her and they have been such great helpers. It is so nice that they are old enough to understand what I am asking them to do and that they are able to do it for me. We are enjoying being able to slow down a bit.
We also just got our first snow and the kids immediately wanted to go play in it. They loved making a snowman. I have to remind them that the snow it cold and you need to wear a coat and long pants, since they think it is fine to wear shorts still. It seams that somehow kids don't feel the cold.

The arrival of our Baby Girl

Announcing the arrival of Alea Cora Keeler. October 29, 2009, 7:04 pm, 7lbs 6oz, 18 inches.
We are so happy to have our little girl here.
She is such a little bundle of joy.

Trunk or Treat

Our ward had a trunk or treat the other night. We decided we better make sure to go since it may be the only Halloween thing we get to do with the kids because of the baby coming this week. We made up Spencer's costume as Obi Wan from Star Wars. We put one of Budd's shirts on him and a belt and it actually looked good. Then we thought it would be fun to give him a beard. After we drew it on him with an eye liner pencil, he went to look at it in the mirror. Then we heard him start crying in the bathroom. We found out that he thought it was going to stay on him and he was mad that he had make up on him. It was kind of funny that he freaked out about it, but after Budd talked with him for a while, he decided it was ok. For Brinlee's costume, Budd had a coworker who makes costumes and let us borrow this witch outfit for her. They had fun dressing up and playing games at the Trunk or Treat.
Playing games

Brinlee and Yuu

Pregnancy

I wanted to get a few pics of the kids with my big pregnant belly before we have the baby. The kids always love to come up and kiss my belly. They are so excited for their new sister to come. We thought it would be fun to get some pictures out in our back yard, that is so beautiful right now, with all the fallen leaves. We are hoping our little one will come in the next couple days.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved pumpkins for FHE and the kids really had a lot of fun. We have a Mom and daughter, Satomi and Yuu, from Japan renting our basement and we invited them to do it with us. It was fun to watch them since they had never done it before. The kids loved getting their hands all slimy as they cleaned out their pumpkins. They kept making funny faces and sounds... eeewwwww. Budd got the manly idea to use his drill to make perfect circles. Turned out to work great.
The kids were so proud of their pumpkins and they loved putting candles in them and setting them outside. What a fun time.

Brinlee and Yuu with princess pumpkin head
Cleaning out the gooey insides
Budd using his drill to carve holes. It made it much easier to make circles. Notice Brinlee plugging her ears.
eewww slimy...
Cute kids with cute pumpkins

Family conference

This past weekend my whole family, except one brother, got together for an all day event on Saturday. My brother Garret and his wife came up with the idea and it turned out great. It was a day filled with learning and fun. We learned how to make our own applesauce and bottle it and the men did oil changes on the all the cars. We played our famous "pickle volleyball" in the nice fall weather while the kids played at the park. Later we had a Wii competition. We also had discussions on fiances and resume building. We had a great dinner made with many things that my brother and his wife had canned from their garden and wheat that they had ground. It was amazing. We learned some great things and had fun being together and building memories. We are planning on doing it 2 times a year. What a fun thing to look forward to.

Making Applesauce
All the girl grand kids reading with Grandma.

Go Soccer Princesses

Brinlee has been playing soccer on an AYSO team this Fall with Daddy as her coach. It has been a lot of fun to watch her and the other girls learn how to play. They play 3 on 3 and have a small field. It is a great way for them to learn. They chose the name "Orange Princesses" for their team. How perfect is that for 5 year old girls. Brinlee is so cute running after the ball. She scored her first goal and it was so exciting.