keaton mark - 4 years old

Happy Birthday Keaton!

We give year 3 a big thumbs up! 

{Also this post is dedicated to the color blue, Keaton's favorite} 

The days are long and the years are so so super short. I cannot handle this boy turning FOUR! 

We have loved the heck out of this past year!!

Keaton's 2-3 word phrases turned into sentences, that turned into paragraphs, that turned into non-stop talking. He is so funny these days and comes up with the best stuff!

He found his voice in year 3 and it thrills me! Keaton used to be so quiet and reserved. Afraid to talk to anyone and always hiding behind me. Now he is outgoing {kind of 😉}, loud, silly, chatty, and just plain 4 year old BOY!

He asks me all the time "Mommy was that silly?!?!" He loves to be the funny guy now.

 For as silly as he is, he's still very practical. I just took him back to his room and told him his nap time wasn't over, but he could read books if he wanted. He said "I'll have to look at the pictures because I can't read those book. They all have words and I don't know them!!"

True.

Keaton watches everything we do. This was right after I got back from pushing he and Penn in the stroller. He started pushing the mower and said he was going for a run. HA

Speaking of which, Keaton ran his first race this year!

Keaton does most things on his own now and even helps me out around the house! He likes to have a job. He can be a little spit fire when he wants to be, but I know he wants to please us.

He gives Penn a lot more attention and even asks him to play. They pick on each other like it's their job, but overall he's still fairly patient with him. Keaton includes him when he talks about going out {Knoebels, HP, chocolate world} and I think that's sweet he thinks of him.

 I know I've said this before and all parents say it about their kids, but Keaton really is a special boy. He has a tender heart, smart mind, and fun disposition. He listens to directions well {when he wants to} and "gets" things. He is patient, kind, and remembers everything.

I know it'll be only a few blinks and he'll be 14....

Four years ago, Keaton made me a Mom and was living proof that miracles really do happen.

We love you more than words can say!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." Matthew 22:37

Fun Facts - 4 years

*Weighs-37lbs

*Length- 42"

*Sizes-  5T in shirt, 4T pants, 9 shoe

*Says - talks all.of.the.time

*Favorite toys/activity - Run , riding his bike, bounce house, going to Knoebels and Hershey Park   

*Favorite foods - ice cream, donuts, grapes, blueberries, apples, sprinkle cheddar cheese, hot dogs, yogurt 

*Favorite place to visit - Knoebles

*Favorite books - he loves all books - it rotates

*Favorite TV shows - Umizoomi, Paw Patrol, PJ Mask, 

*Favorite songs - Jesus Loves Me, Battle of Jericho, Caspar Babypants songs

*Favorite animals - penguin

*Favorite color - blue

*Favorite bath toy - popsicle bath {eats popsicle in the bath!}

*Favorite character - not sure, it seems to change a lot

*Favorite brother - Penn ;0)

*Favorite shirt - anything with his name

*Favorite pants - cozy {sweat} pants

*Favorite shoes - natives or flip flops

dedicating baby mack

 On Sunday, we were lucky enough to attend True North Church and watch Baby Mack get dedicated!

We're big fans of babies around here, but baby Mack and baby Brooklyn are at the top of our list :)

We drove over to NJ that morning and just stayed for the day before heading home. The service started at noon - a little late for our boys, but they did great! 

LOTS of baby boys during this dedication...something like 8! Phew! Hope there are some girls in the next line up 😉

 We all headed back to Mack's house for lunch. Here's Penn trying to grab a kiss from M. Kissing babies is his specialty 😘

Cousins!

And take a look of these lucky boys! They got birthday gifts from Aunt Shannon & Uncle Ted!

Keaton got this {amazingly} awesome Nerf car launcher...

 It stays on the ground and will only work if grounded. He can do it himself, which is a bonus!

 Penn's gift was equally as awesome. Ahem. Look at his face 😯 We tried it yesterday and he had a blast. I thought it might keep him from being completely covered in paint, but nope! He still needed his post-paint bath.

Busy, fun day! Boys were asleep within 5mins of getting into the van! 

life lately

Our April and May have all the sudden gotten super busy! Things keep popping up and I love it!

Keaton and Penn are at the age where sitting around at home gets old fairly quick, so it's nice to have things on the calendar. 

All that to say, here's a little of our life lately :)

Last weekend, my sister and her family stopped by for pizza and playing.

 We don't see them enough, so it was fun to spend some time together.

 So.much.rain. here recently. Two ducks at chocolate world {this is by far one of their favorite things to do}! Free ride and free chocolate...can you go wrong?!

 Snuggles with this guy are one of MY favorite things!

And can you even handle these 2?? Penn is such a touchy feely guy - he likes to be snuggled up close.

 More rain this week, but it's cleared up for some outside time! Every time I see these 2 redheads together I just shake my head....

 What are the odds our biological son and adopted son would have the same red hair!? Sometimes I think God just giggles up in heaven when I think that {all the time}...His plans are better than our own.

And because a post wouldn't be complete without someone eating a donut...

Happy Saturday!

easter 2018

A little Easter throwback...

2015

 2016

2017

  

The days are long, but the years are so stinking short I can hardly handle it.

This Easter was awesome...as it usually is :)

We started off the weekend with an egg hunt at Ryan's work. All the eggs were filled with quarters {yes! You read that right. Cold hard caaaash!} and then all the kids got goody bags with some candy and toys.

They each made out with about $5 between the 2 of them. I mean, is that awesome or what?!?

 Right after this, we drove through Wendy's to wash down the candy and then headed to Ryan's parents in NJ! It was a beautiful weekend!

We started with Easter baskets from Grandparents for the boys...

And then spent some time outside before time with baby Mack!

Penn LOVES babies! He kept trying to kiss him on the lips.

 

Keaton loves him too, except when he yelled in his face and M started to cry. His heart was in the right place :)

I thought that since the boys are the ripe old age of 2 & 3 and can be bribed fairly easily, a picture on Easter morning would be a piece of cake. I was....wrong 😂 They're sitting on the same piece of furniture - that's good!

 

If we had Ryan and Penn it would be an Easter family picture 😀

 We went to church and then back for lunch and another egg hunt.

 Cold hard candy this time!

 Cousins! Penn turned to kiss Mack 😘

 We left right after dessert.

The boys got baths, jammies, and then Easter baskets from us.

We kept it very simple this year and hardly any candy.

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

heya

I love love love reading back on my blog posts...so even though it's been....errrr 3 months I'm going to try to keep up with this!

I was kind of putting this off because I didn't know where to start. Ever been there? Want to do something but can't get motivated???

So in situations like this I'll do my go-to monthly recaps and try not to get so behind again :)

JANUARY!

Oh the month post-Christmas. It's sometimes a hard one for me. All the family goes home and lucky for us we got hit with the stomach bug. I'd like to laugh about it, but it wasn't that funny.

Healthy and back at to Chocolate World for a free ride and free chocolate. That always makes everyone feel better :) 

 Except later that day Keaton started crying and told me his mouth hurt...

 Turns out the poor guy had a bad ear infection. Never said anything until all the fluid started draining out of his ear and into his neck 😩

 Honestly though, we've had a very healthy winter!! Praise God! 

Penn always by Keaton's side.

Literally Penn follows Keaton everywhere these days!!

 Keaton helped me with a little shopping for the first time...

 And then in a moment of weakness I decided to let Penn take a turn with the shopping cart. HAHA Wild man!

 The next time I had them both contained 😉

FEBRUARY!

Happy 💗Month! 

We love hard around here. We cry hard. We whine hard. We push each other buttons hard. But more than anything we love each other!

AND we love to love each other outside 😀 We had a few nice days! Hallelujah!

We enjoyed Valentine's Day treats....

Watched the Olympics...

 

Matched jammies...

 Got a few frostys...

A hot dog...

And snuggled...

And Penn discovered the cozy robe I got for Christmas :) He LOVES this thing.

Painting is a favorite no matter what month. This picture represents the boys' personalities exactly - Keaton no paint anywhere on his body and Penn completely covered 😂 We made a special project for Penn's birth mom. 

 And to wrap the month up, Penn proved {once again} he's the coolest one in the family.

MARCH!

The month of Dr. Seuss and crazy hair! 

And a first big boy hair cut for Keaton. I've given him trims before, but nothing serious. The real deal was long overdue!

He sat SO still and did awesome! Of course, every haircut gets followed up by a special treat. 

These little goobers have really amped up their silly, loud boy selves this month! 

It's getting loud in our house and I'm not to upset about it. As long as it's laughing and having fun noise {as opposed to a super common whining and crying noise🙈} I'm okay with it 😉

Thankfully, they still like to cuddle with me. At the same time. Always at the same time. HAHA

 And to keep things consistent around here....we went for donuts a few times. 

With spring and summer right around the corner we thought it would be a good time to start our big project for the boys! We were able to get a swing set from one of our neighbors and Ryan worked super hard to get a spot in our yard ready for it. He always has a lot of helpers 😊 I'll post more about this later!

Keaton did a little prep for Easter. Some time in the good word never hurt anyone 😁

 This was a big month for Keaton - first a haircut and then he ran his first race! 

It was so cute! 

 And check out this swag bag!!

 Are you still reading!?! We're almost to April!!

We decided to get season tickets to a local amusement park and made our first visit Good Friday! I see many train rides in our future :)

 And Penn is literally living his best life.

So that has been our long, cold, snowy winter!! We had fun and made the most of our time inside...now we're ready for sun, warm and adventures outside!!