Visiting Grandad!

Two weekends ago we all went to Kansas City.  The kids were out of school that Friday, so we left Thursday after school.  We were so excited to get to see Grandad the next day!  Around lunchtime on Friday, we all drove up to Blue Springs to the hospital where he was in rehab.  It was so good to see him!!  He had improved quite a bit since Kris had seen him the week before.  He was walking short distances with his walker and having physical therapy a couple of times a day.  His spirits were up and down as I know he was glad to see the kids, but we could tell he was still frustrated with his situation.  It has been so neat to see how sweet he and Roena have been with each other.  They have such a good relationship.  You can tell they really miss each other and wanted to be near each other pretty much the whole time we were there.  Lyle was really ready to go home, but had to wait a whole other week and a half.  He actually got to go home this past Sunday!  Yay!  He still has a ways to go in his recovery, but we are just so thankful for his strength, determination, and heart.  He seems to be healing well.  God is good!

The kids loved being around their Aunt Mona over the weekend.  She is so good to them.  Here they are with her at the hospital.  Before we left to come home Sunday afternoon, she had written a prayer that she wanted Kris to read out loud.  Well, he read the first couple of sentences and knew he would never be able to make it through it without breaking down.  So, Mona finally ended up reading her prayer while we all held hands in the room.  It was an absolutely beautiful prayer.  We all sobbed the whole way through.  It was really a moment that I will always treasure and I know Lyle and Roena will too.

When we weren't at the hospital with Grandad, we were back at their house.  The kids were able to get outside a bit.  Hannah fell in love with one of their kittens.

I just happened to take this picture from the road of Grandad's barn.  Well, this past week they got TONS of snow and are supposed to be getting more this week.  Apparently late last week or over the weekend, the roof on this barn completely fell in due to the load from all the snow.  Not good.  So, now they are having to deal with that.  :(

Dash had himself a blast while we were there.  He barked and barked at the cats, chased them all over the place, and got to meet Grandma and Grandad's new dog, Clyde.  He is such a good little traveler though.  He does so well on the long drive to and from KC.  I do love my Dashy.

We finally got to meet Addison!!  Yay!  What a cutie she is too!!

It is fun having a little baby in the family again!  Here she is smiling for her Momma!

As always, Hannah and Isabelle had a great time together.  They played dress-up and put on a fashion show.  I wish we got to be around Kris' family more often!

Anyway, we are still praying for Grandad everyday that he will heal completely and be able to get back to his normal.  I know this whole ordeal has been an eye opening experience for the whole family and I believe it has made everyone closer.  We've also been able to see God working through others too.  We have an awesome God and we are so thankful to him for Grandad!!!

Valentines Day 2013

I tried to make Valentine's Day extra special for the kids this year.  One day after school last week, we made heart shaped sugar cookies and they got to ice and decorate them.

Then, on Valentine's Day they woke up to this.

I woke up to a special surprise too--that I didn't know was there when I went to bed!

I got the kids Madagascar 3 which they were able to watch on the way to Grandma and Grandad's that night.  They love that movie!

Everyone also got their own box of candy and a sucker.  Lincoln got Whoppers.

Since I had done the 14 Things I Love About My Valentine on the blog, I thought it would be neat for Kris and I each to write 3 things that we love about each kid.  Here is Lincoln reading his.  He just grinned the whole time.  I think he liked it!

Lincoln was the first one up.  When Hannah got up, this is what she looked like.  I had no idea she had done that to herself after she got in bed the night before.  She likes to try to make her hair curly!  Cracks me up!

Layt was the last one to get up and he looked a big confused.  Once he warmed up, he thought it was his birthday!  Ha!

Hannah reading her note.  I read Layton's to him.  Kris had written 3 things to me too.  So sweet!

 After they had checked everything out, I made them pink pancakes for breakfast!

I spent the rest of my morning packing for Kansas City and attempting to make my first cake from scratch.  I had gone the night before to get groceries and thought I would get a strawberry cake mix and make Kris a heart shaped strawberry cake.  Well, they were completely out of strawberry cake mixes.  So, I found a homemade recipe (that had gotten really good reviews) and got the ingredients to try to make one myself.  It was definitely a lot more work than a boxed mix.  The one thing that some people did say about this cake was that it tended to be really dense.  Well, that is what happened to mine.  I didn't think it came out all that great.  Oh well.  I tried.  :-)

This year we made the kids' Valentines to hand out to their class.  Of course, Pinterest has the cutest ideas.  That is where I got these two!  The kids really liked them.

The kids' school parties were at the same time that day, so I decided to go to Linc's party this time.  They had cupcakes and juice.

Then, each kid came up to the front and all the other kids came up one by one and gave them their Valentine.  After all that, the kids sang us some cute songs to show some of the things they have been learning.  I wish I had videoed them!  Lincoln was super excited about all his candy.  That dude is a candy LOVER!!!!

14 Things I Love About My Valentine

1.  He loves family.  He thinks so highly of his parents and siblings and has great relationships with them all.  He gets along great with my family too.  He especially has a lot in common with my dad which is neat!

2.  He lets me stay at home with the kids every day.  He sacrifices a lot to make this possible and I will be forever grateful because there is no where else I would rather be.

3.  He puts up with my mood swings--yes, I have them.  Bless his heart.  He has put up with a lot and I am grateful!

4.  He loves a good deal and knows how to get one.  He is not above flat out asking for one and knows how to flatter people to get it.  Ha!  I can tell some stories about this!

5.  He is a really hard worker--almost too hard actually.  He gets up way too early, but I know it is all because he wants to do such a good job.  He works hard at everything he does.

6.  He is a Godly example to our kids.  He helps teach them right from wrong.  They see the kind of person he is every day with the way he treats people.

7.  He is so giving.  He gives of his time, abilities, and money without complaining.  Kris has taught me so much about giving since I've known him.  He knows God is faithful and is always quick to give to others when a need arises.

8.  He is a great friend not only to me, but to others as well.  He has a core group of people that he would do anything for.  He is very loyal.

9.  He is great with kids--not only ours but other people's kids as well--always has been.  Kids take to him easily.  He is a great dad and the kids just think he hung the moon.

10.  He is an awesome teacher.  He has been co-teaching the 4th grade Sunday morning bible class at church for several years now and does an amazing job.  It comes easily to him and he is great at coming up with interesting lessons and getting the kids' attention.

11.  He is so handy around the house and can do anything that needs to be done to fix something.  He is great at building things and home improvement and does a really good job too!

12.  He has so much common sense.  He is a thinker.  He thinks hard about what he is going to say before he says it.  He is always the voice of reason when I am an emotional wreck!

13.  He is an encourager.  He is so good at writing people notes or sending them emails just to give them some kind of encouragement or show appreciation for them.

14.  Last but not least, I love that he is a goober.  He makes me laugh.  He is so silly sometimes and tries hard to put smiles on people's faces!

Happy Valentines Day to my Kris!  Thank you for my charms and my note.  I love you so much!!!!

Catching Up

I have several random pictures that I wanted to get on here and quite a bit of catching up to do.  So here goes...

January 1st, we started a major project in our house--total master bath remodel.  It will eventually be a post in itself, but who knows when that will be.  Kris has been SO busy lately that he hasn't had a lot of time to spend on it.  It will be great when it is done, but right now we have one working shower in the house.  We do have 2 working toilets as he has already installed the new one in our bathroom.  He has even laid the tile around that toilet.  We just have the tub, a new tile shower, the whole vanity, and the rest of the floor to go!  He has a sweet little helper right there at his feet though!  

Kris found a Sidney Opera House Lego set at Target over Christmas break.  He HAD to have it since it was an Australia thing.  :-)  He and Lincoln sat down one Saturday afternoon to work on it.  Kris ended up taking it to his office at work before I could take a picture of the finished product.  Lego has some really neat Architectural sets!  We love Legos at our house!

I caught my sweet little buddy playing with his cars one day in the playroom.  He loves to dump them all out!

Kris, Layton, and I had a night out back before Christmas to go Christmas shopping.  The PTO did a Parents' Night Out and we took advantage of it!  Hannah and Lincoln got to go up to the school and play and craft while the rest of us went to Outback for supper.  We got to get in some good Christmas shopping too!  Probably won't be able to do this next year as Layton may have a bit of a better memory! :-)

Can't remember if I have blogged about the new addition to our family or not?  Kris' brother, Kurt, and his wife, adopted a precious baby girl at the beginning of December.  Her name is Addison Quinn Keim.  Here she is shortly after they got her.

Here she is last week while Kris was in KC.  He actually got to hold her.  I was so jealous!!  The kids and I have not gotten to see her yet!

Kris was in KC last week because on Thursday, his dad was out tending to a new calf that had been born when the mama cow knocked him down and then slipped and fell on top of him.  He actually broke his back in 2 places and had to be life flighted to a KC hospital.  Roena actually didn't find him for 30-45 minutes after it happened when she got to wondering what was taking him so long.  It was really really cold that day (in the teens) and it had snowed some the day before.  The cow probably stepped on him when she tried to get up.  He managed to pull himself over to a fence but couldn't get up after that.  They life flighted him because they were worried about hypothermia.  It took them a while to actually get his temperature when he got to the hospital.  They eventually did and he had surgery the next day (Friday) to put a rod in his lower back because a bone had shattered.  

He has had a really tough time trying to get his strength back and trying to walk again.  He had to have another surgery yesterday to go back in and remove some other pieces that were left that they didn't get before.  They also found a blood clot and took care of it hoping that it would help his nerves because it was apparently on a nerve.  So, today he is trying to recover again from the surgery.  He will have a lot of rehab to do.  Please pray for him.  It is hard to be so far away too.  Hopefully we can get up there again soon to see him and help out.  I know Kris is very anxious to be there!

I found Layton like this one day.  Tuckered out.

We had Uncle Jeffie over for his birthday in mid-January.  I made him a big cookie and the kids thought it was hilarious that I used an old Diego candle on top.  Ha!

So, I got a steal at Target in January.  I just happened to be there one day when they were marking down their clearance toys even further.  They were marking a lot of them down to 70% off.  I got this big Mercedes ride-on toy for Layton (really everyone) for $53.00.  It was regular $179.99.  We actually haven't opened it yet.  I thought I would wait till Layton's birthday in June, but I am doubting I can wait that long.  So, now I am just waiting for things to slow down a bit and the weather to warm up some too.  I know the kids will love it!

This guy is such a little helper.  Every time I am cleaning house, he goes and gets a "yipe" (wipe) and starts wiping everything down.  Then, when I vacuum, so does he.  Love my little helper!

Bless this guys heart.  He has been working so hard lately.  He has so much on his plate.  He literally passes out when he gets home.  I came home one night from something a couple of weeks ago and found him like this.  I couldn't resist taking his picture.  Worn. Out.!

Just a sweet little picture of the birthday boy at church on his actual birthday.  Can't believe he is 6!

The kids had basketball and cheerleading pictures a couple of weeks ago.  I didn't get one of Lincoln's team, but I did of Hannah.  So cute.

We ate dinner one night a week or so ago on the t.v. trays that Aunt Mona gave the kids for Christmas.  I had to send her their picture!

Last Tuesday night we drove to Searcy to have a visit with Sean, Susan, and Phin Wicks.  Sean is Kris' buddy from Australia.  Phin is the little boy that had cancer about 2 years ago.  He is doing great now!  Praise the Lord.  They are gearing up to move to Australia soon, so it was super to get to see them.  Layton and Phin are just 2 weeks apart in age.  They were really cute together.

Lincoln and Hannah celebrated the 100th day of school last week.  Lincoln came home like this!

I had a crafty moment last week and decided I wanted to make another door hanger.  I love to make these things!  I found the idea off of etsy.  I love how it turned out and it was really, really easy to do!

This past weekend I got to go to a Ladies Retreat with my mom and my home church in Texarkana.  It was at a camp in Scottville, TX (near Marshall).  My mom was one of 7 speakers.  Her topic was called Challenge One Another.  She challenged us to be in the Word and to get our families in the Word.  She was the perfect person to share these thoughts because she has always been in the Word.  She loves to read her Bible and I know for a fact that she uses it to guide her and equip her every day.  She gave some really good practical ways to get Bible words in our hearts.  She encouraged us to read the bible through every year.  She talked about the Chronological Bible.  She suggested reading large sections at a time because you get a better understanding this way.  She talked about letting your children see you reading the bible--which she definitely did.  She talked about memorizing scripture.  She suggested a verse a month.  That is not too hard. I know that she has been working on this too.  She said that Proverbs is so good to read to your pre-teens every year.  There is so much good stuff in it.  She also said that kids need to see us go to God's Word for help with problems and that we need to make God real!

She read the words to the song "Ancient Words" by Michael W. Smith.  They are awesome.

(1) Holy Words, long preserved.
For our walk in this world.
They resound with God's own heart, 
Oh let the ancient words impart.

(2)Words of life, words of hope,
Give us strength, help us cope.
In this world where e're we roam, 
Ancient words will guide us home.

Chorus:
Ancient words, ever true
Changing me and changing you.
We have come with open hearts, 
Oh let the ancient words impart.

(3)Holy words of our faith
Handed down to this age.
Come to us through sacrifice,
Oh heed the faithful words of Christ.

(4)Holy words long preserved,
For our walk in this world.
They resound with God's own heart,
Oh let the ancient words impart.

Such a powerful song.  I was so proud of my momma!  She was really nervous as getting up in front of a big group is not really her thing.  But she did fantastic!

I got to stay in a room with my mom and two of my aunts, her sisters.

Aunt Suz

Aunt Rosie

My mom

Me

There were over 60 ladies there.  They had a great turn-out.  I enjoyed it so so much!

I am so thankful for my momma!!!

Sunday after church we got to go see my Mammaw.  I didn't get to see her over Christmas because we were all so sick.  She is still in the nursing home.  I have to say this was the worst that I have seen her.  She had a hard time remembering things that we'd say.  She asked me if those were my kids several times and she just couldn't figure out who my dad was (her son).  Bless her heart.  I love her so much!

Layton was showing her his booboo.

Well, I think I have caught up on the goings on of the Keim family lately!  I know times are going to be busy up ahead.  With Lyle's recovery and visits to see him, finishing up basketball and cheerleading, starting baseball, a new bible study, work for Kris, the bathroom remodel, and who knows what else, life is just a blur sometimes.  It is good to sit and think about these little things that have gone on in our lives though.  What is that saying, "Enjoy the little things in life for you'll one day look back and realize they were the big things".