Merry Christmas

Yes, we are still alive and kicking.

Things in the Roberts house are very good. We have been very blessed this year. Our Christmas cards won't be making it out for Christmas but hopefully will follow soon after the New Year.

To fall inline with Conner family tradition here is Keeley's Santa photo. I expected tears so the "get me away from this man" face was a nice surprise. She really was a trooper about the entire experience and even thanked Santa as she got down from his lap. I think she was just thankful that he was letting her go and wasn't going to stash her in his bag.

I found Keeley here one morning. If you can't tell she is in the dryer. I think she just wanted to dry off after a bath.
After unpacking the Christmas ornaments she started playing with the tape. Leave it Matt to put it across her mouth. She liked all the attention it gave her though.

Keeley is continuing to grow but at a much slower pace than her first year of life. Her favorite words right now are star, Santa, snowman (said "noman"), look("yook"), stuck (yuck), and Daddy (finally). She adores singing, her favorite songs are Once there was a snowman, ABCs, Ring Around the Rosie, Elmo's World, and the ever classic song Aunt Karen wrote I love Shoes. It goes like this "shoes, shoes, I love shoes." We must sing it every time we put shoes on. I love this age. She is my little partner in all I do and nearly everyday runs over to give me a kiss or a hug just because. I have to hold onto those moments because at other times I can see the terrible twos are looming around the corner.

I, on the other hand, am growing at much faster pace than I would like but it is to be expected given the size I grew to with Keeley. I really think I am having a boy. Mothers instinct I guess. However, boy or girl it has the stubborn Roberts attitude and crossed its legs the day of the ultra sound. I guess it doesn't want us to know but that didn't make me feel any better as my pregnancy hormones set in and I cried as I left the office. I really didn't want a surprise but I am slowly adjusting to the idea as it has been a month from my ultrasound. I just can't justify spending $100 just to find out boy or girl when I know that either way it is healthy.

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that you have a wonderful Christmas.

What's NEWS in the Roberts House?

Rather than breaking this up into several posts like I usually would I'm just going to put it all together otherwise it may never get done.

First thing first, Keeley had her 12 month check up, finally. After three reschedules due to rotovirus, roseolla, and something else she took meds for we finally had a healthy baby to take in. We ended up just combining her 12 month and 18 month into one. She is doing great! Still tall and skinny. Our friend Rebecca took this cute picture.



Weight: 20lbs 3 oz-9th percentile
Height-32.5 in-95th percentile

Okay next up is me. Lots going on here. To start, I have started a second job as a Retail Manager for a Climbing gym called redpiont. I'm only working 12 hours a week but it seems to be working out pretty well. I still coach cheer one night a week. I currently have 80 girls enrolled. They keep me very busy. I was recently released from my primary calling at church. What am I going to do without those 5 years old? For the past 3 years I have taught the 5 year olds in church. I have been called as the enrichment counslor in the Relief Society. A calling I have never had. I just started and I already feel busy. Any great enrichment ideas?? I could use them. This week I haven't been a home a single night to put Keeley to bed things are just so busy around here. If you happen to visit please ignore the pile dust on my picture frames.

Because I have been so busy Matt has taken an active roll as maid. I has been several years since he has needed to pitch in with all the house work. I'm gratefull he is so willing to do it. Yesterday I came home to clean floors and clean dishes. What more could a girl want? Matts work is good and busy. Between work, scouts and my busy schedule we don't get to see each other much except for the weekends. We also recieved a very sweet present this week from Matts best friend Brandon. A drum roll please. . .a new camera. He was appauled with the fact that we hadn't bought one after I broke the last one. Thanks B-dawg, as Matt would say. Therefore, more pictures should be on their way.

The best for last. Baby Roberts Number 2 is cooking a way in its hot little oven. Ten-fingers and ten toes will grace us the end of April. We can hardley wait. I guess it is a good thing we are so busy it makes morning sickness go faster. We will find out the beginning of December if it is a boy/girl. Matt has a request in for a boy as if I have anything to do with it. Here is Baby Number 2's most recent picture.

Ode to Old Navy-Updated

Let me first say I love Old Navy. Our Old Navy here in Fayetteville is only so so but the store in its self I love.
Here is what I love about it.

• Every 4 months they run a clearance on their clearance and I get really cute baby shirts for as cheap as $1.
• They have tons of outfits that let me baby look like a miniature teenage. You will not find Keeley in shirts with characters, it just not me.
• Their pants have adjustable waist bands for my 15 month old who just barely hit 20 lbs.
• Their online selection is amazing and shipping is always only $7 unless you catch a deal and then it is free.
  
• They have crazy good sales. Like this week. Most long sleeved baby shirts are $5 each.
• Because this week I got a coupon for $75 off $100 purchase. YAY!!!!!!!!! And so Keeley got all of this for $40 out of pocket and that includes tax.
  

our finds include: 6 long sleeve shirts. 2 sweatshirts. 1 winter jacket. 1 dress for church. 1 pair of tights. 1 pair of the most adorable shoes. That is an average of $3 per item.

Here is a closer look just in case you can't see how cute my little girl is going to look in these cute new tennies and this jacket. We are ready for winter!

UPDATE: I have had a few requests for details on the coupons, here is how it works. Old Navy updates their web page every week. CLICK HERE. Sometime between Thursday afternoon and Friday. You never know when. I have been known to wake up at 2 in the morning to see it has been updated so seriously anytime of day is game. When it updates they hide coupons. You must find the coupon before they run out. For example this week they updated on Friday around 9:30am. The best coupons was $75 off of $100. There was only 250 available for the service area which I assume is world wide, because the q's are sold on ebay as well. I had to take lipstick out of the pocket of the girl shown on the right side of the page and apply it to the girl on the left side of the page. Try it out you will see what I mean. Those coupons were gone within 1 minute of when they loaded the page. So, long story short, It isn't an easy task and I have been trying since April to get the high value coupon so be patient. You can usually still get a decent coupons most of the week. So always check there before you go in the store. If you look at my coupons section on the right side of my blog one is A Full Cup. They have a big Old Navy following if you want to check them out.

July is Next

Okay July was a big month for us. So bear with my long winded stories.

4th of July
Keeley got sick after our flight home from Philly. She ran a 105 fever for 5 days. We had her to the ER, the doctors 3 times and nobody could/would do anything for my very ill baby. I held her all day and all night and the poor little thing would just moan in my arms. For the fourth of July we spent our time with Mark and Gail who came up for a visit. We took turns trying to get Keeley to drink. And every evening contemplating whether we should take her back into the ER. Keeley weighed that same as she did at nine months when the week was over.
Her fever finally broke and with it came a rash. One doctor had even seen when she was still feverish and didn't recognize it as Roseola. Other doctors had looked at her said, chicken pox, small pox and a variety of other not fun disease. In the end it really was Roseola. Anyway, not an exciting time for us, but I was exhausted.

Trip to Idaho
Just as Keeley's rash was clearing up we headed to Idaho for Sean and Ashleigh's wedding. The trip was long but Keeley really was a trooper given the circumstances. We left at 4 in the morning and arrived at 2pm into Salt Lake then took a 3.5 hour drive home. As soon as we arrived we quickly changed and Keeley and I loaded up with all the other women to go to Ashleigh's bridal shower. The food was divine and as I sat on deck talking to the other women I heard my daughter start screaming. I had been watching her play with a stick on the deck just feet from me. She apparently stuck that stick into a wasp nest hidden underneath the deck. Keeley received 6 stings within seconds. Her arms were swelling all the way to her shoulders with in 5 minutes. Obviously I didn't bring any benadryl so our dear friend Jen runs out the front door and starts screaming down the street for anyone who has baby benadryl. Fortunately she found some one. We gave Keeley a dose then headed to the ER with a pediatric nurse in tow. Matt meet us there and by then I had her almost calmed down. By the time the doctor saw us the swelling was almost gone. Thank goodness it wasn't any worse. I just got the bills for the eventful night. It is unbelievable what they charge you to wait in their waiting rooms.

The Wedding
This truly deserves a post unto itself but because I don't have any pictures (sean and ash, we are hoping to receive them soon!!wink wink) this will have to do for now. It was a great weekend all together. Everything worked out wonderful the weather was perfect and Ash looked amazing. The only pics I have are of Keeley but she is pretty darn cute too. Keeley is with Dakota who was the flower girl and is my not exactly related niece. But we call them family.


Downhill Biking
My one request was to get to the Mountains while I was in Idaho. Everybody gave up a weekend to indulge my request. Mom kept Keeley for an entire day while Sean, Ash, Simon (Matt's brother who was going to school at BYU-Idaho), Dad and I headed to Targhee. For an arm jolting day of downhill biking. I had such a great time. I am truly my happiest in those mountains. Here is Simon, Dad, Sean and I on our venture down.

I might add Dad and I were the only two to survive the day with out any blood drawn. Usually we are the ones launching over a mountain somewhere. Plus I finally mastered hair pin tuns with steep grade. I only came off 1 time all day.

Boise
After almost 3 weeks in Idaho Falls I meet up with my sister in Law, and best friend, Mackenzie to stay with her parents in Boise. Wow that was a mouth full. Boise is my old romping ground. I attended college there for 2.5 years before I transferred to BYU-Idaho. SO I was excited to go back and see it again. We had a fun filled week. We make tutus and hair bows. We went to the splash park. Kenz and I always have a great time together and it was a lot of fun to have Wilma, her mom, with us on this adventure.

This is taken just seconds before Keely runs square into the pole. It was my fault I asked a 2 year old to help her go through. My bad.



Keeley, Me, Kez, and Hailee. I'm glad we got this picture.

Me and My Girl.
Okay go take a rest because August is next and it won't get any shorter I'm afraid.

June

So, I'm behind. Lets go back to June.

Pilot Mt

We trekked up to Pilot Mountain the middle of June. It gave us the opportunity to get outside and hike one last time before the weather got too hot. It was the first time in over year I had been able to climb so I was excited to take advantage or the rock.

However with eight kids in tow we got very little climbing done. Carry Keeley was the greatest pump Matt got that entire weekend. Ohh, well I guess we will have to return :)

Philadelphia
The end of June I took a trip to Philadelphia to celebrate with my (ONE and ONLY) cousin his graduation from high school. My mom met us there and we had a little reunion of sorts. Congrats Alex! We don't have any pictures of this weekend, our camera broke. Aunt Jan will you send yours.

Non-Blogger

It seems everyone is taking breaks from blogging, even Cjane is on leave. If Cjane, who is a self proclaimed professional blogger, can take a break then I won't feel so bad about mediocre me taking a sabbatical. Blogging just hasn't been at the top of the to do list for several months but when the weather is back to being crummy I think I'll kick into gear once again.

I must say today has been a great day. My little Keeley has been such a delight. I found her creeping into my brother and sister in laws room and as I approached she was removing two handfuls of prizes from their night stand. I quickly blurted "Put it back!' and to my dismay she did just that. She returned all the item to their original location a left the room. WOW!!

She is quite the talker these days as well. Her words include NO, ball, bye-bye, me, NO NO, thank you, more, NO NO NO, mama, dada, nana, wow, owe, uh-oh, and did I mention NO. Plus she has really caught onto the idea of signing. She is able to sign more, milk, all done, and others too but I can't think of a single other one as she screams into my ear for this post to be done.

I think my great day has come to a halt. Happy SABBATICAL everyone!

Speaking of Food. . .

You NEED to try this. It will forever change your life. Or at least it did mine.
It is easy and so delicious!! My "no sweet eating" husband even thought it was great and had seconds, and that is saying something.

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

INGREDIENTS

1	package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2	cup sugar
1	egg
1/2	cup coconut, if desired
1	roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated chocolate chip cookies

DIRECTIONS

1.	Heat oven to 350°F. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in coconut.
2.	In ungreased, 9- or 8-inch square pan, break up half of cookie dough. With floured fingers, press dough evenly in bottom of pan to form crust. Spread cream cheese mixture over dough. Crumble and sprinkle remaining half of dough over cream cheese mixture.
3.	Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and firm to the touch. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. Store in refrigerator.

Fruits and Veggies

This week we ventured to two berry patches. The first was for strawberries. The kids loved to pick them.

It didn't take Keeley long to figure out that they were edible and then there was no keeping them out of her hands.



The second was to get blueberries. Although there was no picking involved we have enjoyed the having fresh bluberries in our house. The will make for some great smoothies this summer!

We are finally getting some goodies from the garden!!!

we have butternut squash by the dozens, tomatoes
(if i beat the birds to the red ones), crockneck squash, zuccinni, cubcumber, bell peppers, green onions, lettuce, and cantalope(although they are still a little small).

Ohh It is going to be a delicious summer!

1 Year Old

Matt, Keeley and I went for a bike ride last Saturday on the Cape Fear River Trail. We were pleasantly surprised how nice this ride was. It is 4 miles each way all paved which made a perfect place to take the bike trailer for a test run. I took along a dress to change Keeley into in hopes to get a few 1 year old pictures. This is what we ended up with.

These are definitely not professional quality but this is just exactly how I think of her.

The stage Keeley is in right now is so much fun. We will miss this age for sure but I'm told it only gets better.

Rotavirus

See this pitiful little face? She has Rotavirus. Poor thing.

What that means is. . .an entire package of diapers in the past 3 days. Butt rashes. Enless amounts of baths. No wipes to clean up the 15 diapers I changed on Wednesday. Only soy milk, pedilyte, banans, Activa, and applesauce to eat. No beach trip this weekend. And worst of all 5-7 more days of all of this.

Catch Up

So today was catch up day. Enjoy the posts! We sure enjoyed the experiences behind the posts. They go all the way back to Easter so you have to push "older post" on the bottom to see them all.

we have been beyond busy the past few months. matt is in busy season and in a way i feel like i have been too. other than the things that were posted we have landscaped our house, we are still tending to our ever growing garden and fighting the ants. i took a week long substitute teacher class, done 4 landscape designs, had company 3 times in the past 2 month plus 3 birthdays in our house and really i'm just trying to keep up with a very active 1 year old who is cutting 2 teeth at the moment. matt is working late and i'm still coaching cheer one day a week. so if i havne't returned your call sorry! this is the first week i have had to even organize my house but i'm loving having a clean house. give me a few days i'll get back to returning calls eventually.

p.s keeley pulled my shift key off so caps is diffucut these days so don't mind the uncapitalized names and sentences.

1 going on 13

Keeley turned 1 last weekend.

WOW

I can't believe that she is one already. This year has gone so fast. She has so much personality and attitude now but this has been the best part for both Matt and I. We love her spunk and persistence. She will be very independent just like both Matt and I.

Mark and Gail ventured 5 hours to spend the day celebrating Keeley. We were grateful to have family here to party with. (Yes Gail is still suffering the results from their last venrue to visit.)


The morning I spent making these little creations.



Keeley and I with the cake that took 6 hours to make and 2 minutes to destroy.
Impressed? So was I. The bear is 100% edible. Although I think fondant shouldn't be considered edible it tastes horrible. Aunt Joy gave us the cake decorating kit and pan for Christmas and we have been saving it for the big day.

Keeley was very much into opening presents. She enjoyed ripping the paper and got so excited with every present. She would carry them around and tried to put on all of the clothes.
Check these pics out!


The next following picture deserves a story. Grandpa gave her a card that sings. When she opened it made the kids laugh so hard that she wasn't sure she liked it so she would close it quickly. Her face was hysterical. But she kept opening it to get them to laugh and then the laughing would be too loud so she would close it again. We were all laughing so hard I think I cried.

When we sang happy Birthday Keeley's eyes got so wide and she was very quite. You can see how big her eyes were in this picture.
The first bite was a bit difficult. She couldn't quite reach the ear which is what she really wanted.
So she settled for a leg.
And boy was it good!
Happy birthday little one! Daddy and I thank Heavenly father every night for your wonderful presence in our lives. We love you beyond measure. You have brought us so much joy. We love your happy, active attitude and we hope you will always be able to find the excitment that you have for life right now. We love you Monsty Goose!

Pappys Turn for A Visit

Pappy, Dad Conner, came for his turn for a visit the middle of may. I thought the timing was perfect because it fell over my birthday. He spoiled us rotten and we worked him to the bone. We ate out several times, a special treat for us, bought strawberries from a local grower and made freezer jam. Ohh and bought a freezer for my birthday. He mowed the lawn, changed the oil and even helped me re-plant my corn the refused to grow.
We also got in a lot of playing. . . .

in a box

on the slide

on the swing

with Keeley's new hat and Pappy's camera

climbing rocks

with the plants

still in a box

With all the playing Keeley became very attached to Pappy and even through a tantrum one morning when I tried to get her our of her crib. She trew herself on the floor and flailed around until Pappy entered the room at which thime the tantrum immediatley stopped.

Then as my birthday wish we got to go camping. It was great. Although we packed for and entire day to be gone for one night. Ohh how things change with a little one. We use to pack after we got home from work and still make it to camp before dark. It was memoriald day weekend so much was booked up but we got a spot in Wimington so we could go to the beach the next day.

A quick pit stop on the way to Wilmington.

Pappy and Keeley in the morning. Keeley slept 10 hours in the tent. We were so excited.

Meg and Keeley enjoying some cold ceral for breakfast.


Sand is Wonderful.

Keeley with Daddy. She let him take her way in the waves. She really enjoyed it.

Surfs Up


Nap time, I think this is about the time I fried my back but doesn't Keeley look chill under the beach tent.


By the end we were all beat but when we got home dad treated us to Chinese from my favorite restaurant and Matt provided a cake for m birthday. I opened my presents and ate until I was sick. What a wonderful week. Thanks everyone!