Rainbow

We've had some pretty cool thunderstorms lately and even though the girls get scared, they love to watch the thunder and lightning with Josh.  They were super excited today to find that, after the thunder and lightning were gone, a rainbow was left.  And if you look close, it's actually a double rainbow and that's even more cool.

Big sis

Is there anything cuter than this big sister?  And this cross-eyed boy?

I don't think there is.

Neighbor kids

Our old neighbor friends, Hunter and Carson, were in the neighborhood this week and our kids had so much fun getting back together with them.  Misty took them to the pool and then they hung out at her house and had popsicles.  What a cute bunch!

I was trying to get a picture of Keen with his eyes open since it is pretty rare to see that.  I ended up with a lot of sleepy ones but still, what a darling boy we have!

It's a man purse

Josh hates that Liev likes to play with girl toys.  I don't mind - especially since our supply of girl toys outnumbers our boy toys at least 10 to 1, so its really just a matter of choosing from what there is most of.  Plus you always need a purse to carry around all your things.  Looks good on you buddy!

Prayer time

Liev just learned how to "kneel up" for prayer.  Such a cute little guy on his knees ready to pray.

And this is how he says "amen"  Like he's celebrating. 

On the Trail

So I took a week off after I had Keen, but now I'm feeling like I gotta get out of the house.  So the kids and I pack up the car with the stroller, bikes, water and snacks and hit the trail every morning.  We walk up to .5 mile and back - not too far.  But it's good for us to be out and about and for all of us to be getting some exercise.  Rhen had a hard time the first day making it all the way on her little bike, but since then she has been awesome and tells me now, "mom my legs are getting so strong and I'm getting so healthy!" 

This is our halfway bench that we stop at and have a drink and a snack.  We look forward to it.  Its our little break from the work. 

This has been such a fun week for me with my 4 little kids.  Rease is going to start school in a couple weeks so we won't have much of this mommy-and-all-4-kids time after that.  For now, I'm so happy to be a mom to these babies and to have time to be outdoors with them and talk, laugh and just love hanging out with each other.  

Grocery Shopping

I'm not sure how grocery shopping is going to go now that I have 4 little rugrats.  Luckily Josh has been hanging out a lot with the girls and leaving the boys with me so I have only had to figure it out with the 2 of them.  Even so, this is not easy.

Especially for this little Buddy. 

We'll have to figure something out, but for now he seems content to be surrounded by snacks.

Bath time

I love newborns for a lot of reasons.  This is one of them.  The fact that Keen can fit in the sink to take a bath makes me happy. 

Popsicles

What's better on a hot summer day than eating popsicles? I'd say nothing beats that! Rhen calls these "rocket ship" popsicles and the kids love them. (I make them take their clothes off because they make a huge mess - they're not too old to be in just undies right?)

Liev manages to make the biggest mess and I figured out why. He doesn't just eat the popsicle, he has to stick his fingers in it first. Why not?

We're going to miss these summer days!

Life with a new baby

We think that life with a newborn around is just a little sweeter, calmer and more peaceful. There is just something about those sweet little bodies that makes everyone want to be happy. We feel that everytime we have a baby and this time around is no different. The kids love Baby Keen and Josh and I love being parents to a 4th child. Here are just a few moments we've had since Keen has joined the family.

I think we take pictures on this chair everytime we have a new baby. Oldest sister Rease (and 2nd mommy to this little guy.)

Rhen the crazy sister.
And Liev the skeptical brother (still isn't sure what this new person is doing in his territory.)

Grammie Losee got to meet Keen for the first time a few days after he was born. She was in Wisconsin with her mom who was having emergency open heart surgery. Luckily everything went well and Grammie was able to come back and hang out with new Baby Keen.

I have been able to spend some time with the boys while Josh has taken the girls out a few times to give me some space. These 2 boys are so sweet and I can already see they will be good friends growing up.

Trying to keep Keen awake is impossible in these early days. This is proof of my attempts at trying to wake him up.

Not happening.

A snapshot of our 4 kiddos - they are the best!

Welcome to our crazy life baby Keen.

All snuggled in

Baby Keen loves his swaddle and I think he looks so cute all snuggled up and ready for sleep. 

Sleepy

The day we got home from the hospital with Baby Keen, the 3 of us had the house to ourselves. Josh's mom had the other kids and didn't bring them back until that night. Josh and Keen took advantage of the quiet house.

Isn't that about the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

Bikes

While we were in the hospital with Baby Keen, the other kids spent a few days with Grammie and Papa Beutler.  While they were there, Rease talked Papa into teaching her to ride her bike without training wheels.  She came home from their house a pro at riding her bike.  We took the kids down to the church parking lot tonight so Rease could practice her bike riding and the rest of us enjoyed being out of the house.

 Liev is thinking about riding this pink bike - in the end he didn't do it probably because he didn't want anyone to see him on something so girly!

Thanks Papa for spending time with Rease on her bike!

More hospital pictures

Official hospital stats at birth. The rest of our hospital stay was fabulous. We love Alta View Hospital and all the nurses there. They take very good care of us and most of all, Mama gets some rest while the rest of the kids are at home and the baby is in the nursery! Anyway, here is the story of the rest of our stay.

I got to feed Baby Keen just after he was born. (I don't nurse so the bottle came and he gobbled it up right away. Hungry little thing.)

Julie our nurse gave Josh the privilage of giving the first bath while she took pictures. Look how sweet this is! Afterward he was very content and had a good sleep.
Then we had lots of visitors. Grammie Beutler was there when Keen was born so she was one of the first ones to get a turn. I think he is grandchild #23 for her - crazy!
Papa Losee came to visit after he was relieved of kid duty at our house. He was a big help that day watching the older kids and looks like a proud Papa holding his newest grandson - #9 for Papa and Grammie Losee!
Uncle Caleb and Aunt Hayley came for a visit. Keen and Caleb share a birthday so he brought a Happy Birthday balloon with him.
Uncle Greg stopped by too - Keen Gregory was named after this special guy. Our very good friend/neighbor and an uncle to our kids. I love that Keen is looking right at him - sweet!
Brady took his lunch break and stopped to say hello to the newest little guy.
Then the real fun started. The rest of our crazy gang came to welcome their new little brother to the family. These 2 sisters are so proud!
All the kids gathered around to see the newest brother.
Rease drew me a picture of how I look after having the baby. I'm glad to see that I dropped the weight so quickly!

The kids couldn't get enough of Baby Keen (Liev was slightly more interested in his graham cracker. But I think he'll eventually come around.)

Dr. Smith stopped in while the kids were there and we had to get a quick picture of him with all of our crazies (he has been our doctor for all 4!)

Keen was exhausted after all the visitors were gone - I don't blame him. Being the center of attention is tough!

More quality time with dad.

Tuesday night we had our "special dinner" brought to our room. I had salmon and Josh had steak. It was actually pretty tasty considering it was hospital food.

Wednesday morning we packed up to head home to real life. Keen looks so teensy in this carseat, but oh man is he cute!

Welcome home Baby Keen!