Some video of little Tuck

Tuck from keelefam on Vimeo.

Comin' Home!

Here we are getting ready to bring Tuck home.

Tucker!

We have a new addition to the Keele family! Yesterday at 2pm Tucker Smith Madsen Keele was born here in Iowa (yes, he has two middle names). He weighed in at 7 lbs 6.5 oz, was 19.5 inches long, and we are very very happy to have him here.

Quincy's Dinosaur Portal

Quincy's Dinosaur Portal

What we've been up to

Darren was cleaning off his motorcycle this weekend and so Stratt pulled out his bike and decided to clean too. It was cute. He loves to do everything Dad does.

We went to a fun pumpkin festival with a spook ally and a jump house and a hayride and pumpkin patch and lots of good treats. The best part about it was everything was free except the treats and the pumpkins!

I told the boys they could pick any size pumpkin as long as they could carry it themselves. I'm a mean mom. I figure I'm carrying around enough extra weight these days already. In fact, the joke I heard many times while at the festival, "Are you trying to steal a pumpkin?" It was funny the first time. :) I was hoping the bumpy hayride would help me get this baby here faster, but no such luck.

Here's Stratt Struggling to carry his pumpkin.

I love this pic of the boys. It's hard to see Stratt's expression in the background, but it looks like he's thinking about something very interesting.

Fishing night with Daddy.

A recent huge belly shot . . . the baby is due any day!

My handsome church boys.

High School Homecoming football game with Dad.

I love it when my boys get along . . . it is a rare and beautiful thing.

Feeding the ducks at the park with Stratt.

We're finally a 2 car family!!! We've had 1 car for 8 1/2 years and bought and sold several motorcycles and scooters along the way to get us by (but not so great in the rain and snow of Iowa). With the baby coming we finally made the step to getting a bigger second car. It has been really nice.

Pumpkin Patch

Here's Mel and the boys on our trip to the pumpkin patch today. Melanie is due any day so I have orders to keep my phone on loud wherever I go.

Labor Day Break

I'm pretty sure I have the best husband ever. Labor Day weekend Darren took the boys on a little road trip back to Notre Dame to visit some friends and left me home all alone to catch my breath before this baby comes. It was such a nice break. I cleaned my house and it actually stayed clean . . . imagine that. I got a ton of stuff done, but of course made time for movies and ice cream too. It was great to have some quiet time, but good to see my boys again. Thanks Darren for helping me keep my sanity. :)

Quincy's First Day of First Grade

I can't believe Quincy is a first grader!!! He looks so old to me in this picture with his shirt all tucked in and his belt (he loves to do that). He was sad to see the summer end, and Stratt misses his big brother during the day, but Quincy loves school! Thanks Grammie and Poppie for his new school supplies!

I found these pictures of Quince when he started his first year in preschool when we were at Notre Dame. It makes me sad that he's so old now. :( Time really flies!

While Quincy was at school, Stratt spent the week hauling around a "pack-pack" full of notebooks and markers and toys and played "school." I love at the end of the day watching Stratt run down the driveway to give Quincy big hugs when he gets off the bus!

Family Reunion

This August we had a fun family reunion. Unfortunately Darren was the only person who couldn't make it. We missed him, but the boys had a great time with cousins. My sister lives in Utah, and so my mom and dad rented 2 townhomes up in Park City to accommodate all the families, it was really fun to all be together. Thanks Mom and Dad (and Debi) for making it all possible - we had a great time!!!

My Dad with Stratty and Ethan throwing rocks in the creek by my sister Debi's house.

Bowling with Grandpa and cousins

I love Stratt's tiny bowling shoes.

Stratt was very serious about his bowling. Any time he hit any of the pins he would jump up and down and shout, "I won!!! I scort (scored)!!!"

At the dinosaur museum

My cute mom helping the kids.

My dad was such a good sport, he took the kids swimming several times a day. They loved it!

And the kids loved hearing Grandpa Roger tell silly stories every night.

We went to the park and my mom had airplanes for the kids to fly.

The cousins and uncles played a game of soccer while the moms watched.

We ate lots of good food and treats (thanks to my mom and Debi's preparation).

And we even got all 14 grandkids to stand still for 2 seconds to take a picture.

But the highlight of the trip was meeting my brother Ben's fiance, Sunshine. She's great and we all love her!

It was definitely a successful reunion and fun to be with my family!

He's on his way . . .

Yesterday we had one of those 3-D/4-D ultrasounds at our doctor's office, it was so cool! It was fun to see our baby's face even before we get to meet him. Darren thinks he looks just like Stratt did. He definitely has the same Keele nose as our other babies. I am 34 weeks now and thankfully this last half of my pregnancy has been really great. I just keep getting bigger and bigger and we keep getting more and more excited! The other day Quincy said, "Mom, do you think there still might be a teeny tiny, little chance that it still might be a girl?" I said, "No Quince, I'm pretty sure it's a boy." And he said, "We just have too many boys in this family." I think he's finally getting used to the idea of another boy, both he and Stratt are very excited. I can't wait to see them with their new baby brother! :)

Birthday Boy

Darren had his golden birthday this year, he turned 31 on the 31st of July. Now that only happens once in a lifetime!!! We got him a new longboard for his birthday, because we ran over our other one with the car. And his sister's sent him a cheescake from the Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmm, thanks Britt and Em!! It was a fun day! Happy 31 babe!!! Thanks for being so great! We love you!!!!

Iowa Fun

After our New York trip, Darren's family came home with us for a few days. They pretty much transformed our house, weeding and cleaning and filling our fridge with great food. Thanks for everything guys!!!

Fishing with Poppie

Notice Quincy has a handful of wildflowers. My boys are always gathering wildflowers and dandelions and clovers for me wherever they go. It makes me crazy because I have dead flowers laying around all over my house. BUT it is also very sweet. :) I love my boys!

Watching the fireflies.

Getting new summer haircuts. The only way I could convince Quincy to get his hair cut was by telling him that Stratt would be able to run faster than him if he didn't cut his hair too. Of course Quincy made them race around the house right after to make sure he was still the faster big brother.

Roasting marshmallows on the patio.

We were all chatting on the deck and Darren's sister caught this little unfortunate golf incident on video. Quincy was just trying to give some helpful tips. :)

We all thought Stratt had hit Quincy on purpose (which wouldn't be out of the ordinary), but Quincy was crying and screaming and saying, "It wasn't his fault!!! It was an accident!!" It's nice to see he will stick up for his little brother through anything. :) Thankfully no one lost any teeth, but Q did have 2 silver metal marks on his 2 front teeth where it hit. Ouch!

New York Adventure

We just got back from a fun Keele family adventure to New York. We packed in a ton of stuff and had a great time! Thanks Grammie and Poppie for making it all possible!

Niagra Falls

Hill Cumorah Pageant (A reenactment of stories from the Book of Mormon and the Savior's visit to the Americas)- Palmyra, New York

Darren's sister played Nephi's wife . . . it was awesome! Even the boys loved every minute of it.

The Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York where Joseph Smith prayed and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. It was a really neat place, absolutely beautiful and peaceful (even with my little Stratty marching about).

New York City

Toys R Us

Times Square

John's Pizza (We thought we never would find a pizza place that would even compare to our beloved Chicago Giordano's Pizza . . . but I have to say, it was amazing!)

Gelato, mmmm!

On the subway.

A rainy day on the boat headed to the Statue of Liberty and also Ellis Island. We were able to look up some ancestors that may have come there as immigrants to Ellis Island, which was really neat.

The boys got little Statue of Liberty pens from the gift shop and at home Stratt said, "This is the Statue of Liberty and the ice cream" (talking about her torch).

Thanks to Darren's parents, we were able to go to 2 Broadway shows, Mary Poppins and The Lion King. They were both fantastic!!!! We had such a good time! Quincy told me, "Mom, I think I like plays even better than movies."

Hanging out in New York City.

Window shopping

The boys and their Aunties (minus Christa who is in Peru, of course).

The Lion King

"So Pretty"

We don't say that much at our house with all boys, but today Stratt found my nailpolish while I was on the phone (for like 5 minutes). I actually think he did a pretty good job. I mean, he only ruined one bath mat, which is minimal destruction for his standards. And at least he didn't choose to use the bright red. This is what happens when I'm not watching Stratt like a hawk. In fact, when my Visiting Teachers came over the other evening, Stratt pulled down some curtains and broke the curtain rod and then I found him in the bathroom naked in the sink with water running, overflowing onto the floor, handsoap spilled out, and toothbrush in hand, big grin on his face. I wish I had a picture of that one. He really is a sweetheart, sometimes he just makes me crazy. :) Keeps me on my toes!

Going for a Ride

Darren just got home from Scout Camp this weekend (he's the scoutmaster at church) and so we decided to take a quick little day trip with the boys. We went to Dubuque, Iowa and rode on a super steep little railway car to see a view of the town and the Mississippi River. It was built in 1882. The boys, of course, loved it. At first it was just going to be Quincy and Darren, because I am totally afraid of heights and had no desire (or maybe I'm just totally afraid of little old rickety cable cars built over 100 years ago). But then Darren called me from the top and said he and Quincy weren't coming down until I came up. It's probably a good thing I decided to take Stratt up though, because he was down at the bottom telling everyone, "My dad and I are going to ride that train, not mom though, she's too scared. Yep, my Dad's taking me on that train." Little did he know, Darren was long gone. :) Of course the whole way up I was planning on how I would jump with Stratton to safety, just in case the cables pulling us up broke, but I did try to enjoy it a little bit. It's a good thing I have Darren around, or I would never take any risks. My boys are definitely more like Darren. :)

I can never keep shoes on Stratt, he always looks like a little orphan child. But actually, this trip I made it out the door with socks for him, but forgot the shoes. I think it's my pregnant brain. Thankfully we weren't too far from home . . . and he loved it. I'm telling ya, Mother of the Year.

Backyard Berries

Stratt and Quincy love going out and picking black raspberries. At least I have finally got them trained to not pick the red ones until they turn black.

8 Years and Counting

Thanks for loving me for 8 great years!











A few weeks ago I came across this video that our friend, Grant, made for us several years ago of our engagement in Paris. Darren was there on a study abroad and I got to go visit him at the end. We hadn't seen each other for 4 months, so it's pretty cheesy to watch and nauseating at times, but fun memories! :)

I love you Darren! Happy Anniversary!

Just the boys

I've been on my own for a few days, because Darren has been out of town, so when he got home from work today he packed the boys up for a fishing outing to spend a little time with them.

Here they are eating a quick dinner off of one plate:

Putting on the bug spray:

Waiting Patiently:

My cute boys:

Thanks Darren for being the best dad and husband ever, and giving me a peaceful evening alone. :) I love my boys!

Motorcycle Man

I especially love the Superman boots :)

No Treasure

Last month when we were digging up some land to make our garden, Darren hit something metal in the ground. It kept going deeper and deeper until he finally dug out this old smashed washing machine. What in the world?! Too bad it wasn't some cash someone had stashed away, that would've been nice, but I was just relieved that it wasn't a dead body or something.

Stratt helping me burn weeds

He looks pretty pleased with himself.

Yummy

The house was getting crazy last weekend, so we made the boys pitch in and help clean it up. They worked so hard, so for a reward we had "treat cereal" for dinner. Yes, for dinner. I got these on sale and have been saving them for a special occassion, but a clean house seemed like as good a time as any. I always just get plain boring cereal with low sugar and no artificial colors, so the boys were in heaven. It was definitely fun! But I have to say we all felt a little sick that night. :)

Foxes - no hounds

Squirrels, cardinals, rabbits - these are the most common things we see in our backyard. We even have the occasional group of deer wandering around in the back.

But every now and then we see something unexpected. Last year it was a huge snapping turtle in our driveway. Last week Melanie was surprised when she looked out the window and saw four foxes running around!

Here they are. The video is kind of long - you can see them best toward the end:

Foxes from keelefam on Vimeo.

My Boys + one

So don't you think these boys need another brother?

Well, they're getting one...

IT'S A BOY!

We are so excited to have another little boy come to our family, I guess I'm just meant to be a mom of all boys. :) Thank goodness I absolutely love my boys! I'm 21 weeks along now (due October 3rd) and have the hot summer ahead of me, but thankfully I've been feeling fabulous lately! We're excited to meet this new little guy!

The Luckiest Mom Ever

I have a school boy now, which means this year I got my first made-at-school Mother's Day present! Quincy made me this cute button bracelet, and a flower pin with his picture in it to wear on my dress! I love it! And best of all, he wrote me a mother's day card to go with it:

"MoM i Love you becos
you are so nise to me
even wen you yel at me
you are stil a good mom
Love. Quincy"

Yes, my boys are very patient and forgiving of me as I figure out this mom thing. :)
Thanks Darren, Quincy, and Stratton for making me the luckiest mom in the world!

Lately

Playing in the backyard and getting muddy

Getting cozy in the sun after a bath. Stratt's favorite thing to say after a bath or before he goes to bed is, "Mom, will you make me cozy?" I love this little bench, Quincy and Darren made it out of some scrap wood.

Stratty swingin' with Mom

Quincy had a great soccer season this year and scored lots of goals! Great job Quince!!!

Pinewood Derby . . . lots of fun!

Stratt being cozy with Daddy

Stratty is officially potty trained, yay!!! It was a lot of work, but we did it!

And now that Stratt is a big boy, he insists on doing everything himself, including make his own sandwiches. Peanut Butter Jelly time!

Yay For Parents!!!

My mom and dad came to visit last month and we had a great time. I've been super sick and pregnant the last few months (for those of you who don't know yet . . . my little announcement) and they totally eased my pain. My mom did all my laundry and ironing and helped me get some much needed sewing projects done, including some fabulous curtains/shades for the boys windows (since Stratty decided to shred the other ones). :) And my Dad played with the boys and took them to the park and to the YMCA to swim everyday. They loved it! Poor Quincy had to go to school most of the time, but I let him take a day off and we even ate lunch with him at school one day. My dad picked him up from school early one of the days and they didn't come back for awhile so my mom and I started to wonder. Then they pulled into the driveway with big smiles on their faces and a bag full of goodies. They had been on an adventure to the park and to the store, and Quincy told me, "Grandpa Roger said, Kids need treats." I remember my dad saying the same thing to me when I was little. :) I feel so lucky to have such amazing parents!! Thanks for coming and for all your help and for taking care of us!!! Can't wait to see you again!

*I also have the greatest in-laws in the world, and I posted some photos of my mother-in-law's trip from November in the post below.

Grammie Judy- Thanks for coming!

Darren's mom, Judy, came to visit in November and helped out SO much!!! I feel so blessed to have such amazing in-laws and a mother-in-law who is also a great friend. We had lots of fun and got all the projects done I could have never finished myself. We painted and decorated and shopped and cooked and cleaned. She got all our rooms decked out and made everything look amazing. I just wish my house looked that great everyday. :) I always call Judy the "Boy Scout" because she leaves everything neater than she found it wherever she goes . . . and she definitely left us with some huge improvements. Thanks for coming and for all your help!!! We can't wait to see Grammie, Poppie, Britt, and Em in July!!!

Judy out in the dark pulling weeds out of the driveway with a flashlight on her head :)

Chicken Legs

Quincy insists on wearing these short shorts, and he has these super white chicken legs. We love our Quincy (and his sense of style). :)

Luchastratto