vacation

Back from our fabluous family reunion and yet wondering why recovering from such a wonderful trip is always so much work! Claire is still not sleeping well, the laundry is never done (not that that's all that different), the house still needs some cleaning, and I'm having a hard time finding a schedule that gets everything done!!!

On a better note cute little Claire is clapping and so proud of herself. She has everyoneenthralled with every new little thing that she does. We are loving the new computer that Greg helped us buy (thanks Greg) it has solved the internet issue when Dad works from home, has a DVD burner that works and new video software that works with my new camera, all in all it's been a great buy!

I still don't see Bryce much, he was home last night (although he had to start his homework by 6:30 and missed the whole bedtime routine) he had class Mon, and Tues, has a group thing tonight and Fri night and then Saturday it's catch up on homework and chores. I keep telling myself that it's only 2 more years but it's not always a helpful idea:) Luckily we somehow survive all the nights without Dad, certainly that is only with the Lord's help and we feel very blessed to have Him on our side through this whole thing!

My kids are excited about school but I'm dreading the fact that none of them have shoes that fit or more than an outfit or two that are still in good shape! Luckily some outfits can come out of old boxes but we will definitely have to be doing some school shopping soon!

can this be real?

Do I dare hope and believe?  My Ashlyn has made it to the potty all by herself several times in the last few days and once she proclaims to have gone "poo-poo" all by herself!  Could this be it, are we finally potty trained?  Now I've had several kids protest once potty trained so I'm sure there will still be times when she's not willing but to see her putting any effort into it at all is "manna" from heaven :)  Now this new found ability could be due to the frazzled state of her mother over the last 2 days running kids here and there to new activities and appointments and Ashlyn realizing that she was on her own in the potty department but whatever it is I'm way grateful.

video

I've been trying to find a video editor for my new camera, it's format is too new for the one I've used before. I think I found one that works so here's a quick video of Brayden's preschool program as a trail run!

I can't resist uploading this one about Ashlyn either. The poor girl just wanted to pet the kitty! I don't think my friend even knew what happened and I didn't realize why she cried so hard about it until we got home!!!

good news!

Ashlyn has finally started instigating her own runs to the potty!  Best of all she has finally been telling me that she needs to go poop rather than me finding her hiding under a chair, etc.  Big moments in a mothers life!!!

 

The other good news is that summer vacation in going better than expected.  It's still busy and loud with so many home all day and friends coming and going but the good part is that so far our "quiet time" during nap time has been working out great and I've gotten a nap everyday so far! 

Lauren!

Lauren has been up to her unusual self. After almost 2 hours of refusing to nap she was found in the basement corner...notice the slightly soiled clothes in the corner? She's usually really good about going potty but I guess she was too tired to do anything other than strip down and hide :) A few days later she fell asleep watching a little TV while I made dinner, now what 3 year old do you know that falls asleep in such a mature position? She is one of a kind!

new camera fun...

I didn't really think that I wanted to spend the extra to get a waterproof camera but am actually pleased that Bryce prevailed on this one! It felt very wrong to put the thing purposely underwater so I'm glad to say that it is still in good working order!

Keeler vacation...

Yes, we actually survived our little vacation to California. Everyone slept
fairly well, were relatively kind and well behaved. There were no major
travel issues, and we all came back in one piece.

We did have a serious scare at the beach Friday morning when Lauren wandered
off by herself...yes, it's actually worse than you're thinking. The beach
was empty, it was early and we could see for a mile in either direction but
no Lauren, not even a trace of her bright pink swimsuit and bright red hair.
She had tried to follow Dad to the car when he went to get our jackets (it
was chilly at 9am). Long story short some residents found her hiding behind
their backwall crouched down and crying! Luckily they were kind and they
came asking if anyone had lost a little girl and we regained our precious 3
year old.

Disneyland was fun with shorter than normal lines and windy but nice
weather. The spouse pass was awesome and we got to ride everything that we
wanted to. Everyone was pretty cooperative, even our little Ashlyn, and we
had a good day. No, I don't think we'll go back for a while. 7 kids at
Disneyland is a lot of work no matter how good they're being:)

The only bad part about the whole thing is how long it takes to recover from
vacation! Coming home to a house that needs all it's weekend chores done
and no time to do them makes for a long week, but we're all back together
and enjoying our warm pool weather!