Our little Dancer

Ella started dance tonight. She is taking ballet, tap and jazz. I feel horrible that while in Beaumont we did not make that a priority. So now whatever it takes we will get her there. She spends so much time cheering on her brothers and spends way too much time at the ball park so thankfully I found a place where she can take all three classes on the same night. And her teacher is very accomplished. She also used to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader!

Our growing Menagerie

Bear is such a wonderful dog. She went to the ball park with us on Saturday and cheered on her boys. She has been having a wonderful time with her cousin, Haley, my sister Heather's dog. She even went to a local dog park on Sunday. She's very social!

Whiskers has made the adjustment to Prosper fairly well. A pre-requisite of her moving into Papa's house was that she had to be de-clawed. She was a trooper and traveled up from Beaumont with just a little car sickness. The house is so much larger than ours that we had to get a new collar with a bell so that we'd be able to find her. She used to go outside in Beaumont all the time but for now she's content to stay inside, just staring out the windows.

And last but not least we've added a fire belly frog. Ben was working on his amphibian merit badge for scouts so instead of capturing a local frog, off to Petsmart we went. Now nearly $100 later "Chris" has a pretty decked out pad. He recently upgraded to a 10 gallon tank with a special rock ledge and it's filled with 4 inches of water so it's fun to watch him swim around.

Good Baseball and Bad Baseball

Good baseball is when all the boys are having fun! When their skills are continuing to develop and when hopefully we're winning. But each of them have great coaches. Every time we move, I immediately try to plug them into things they enjoy. So I signed them up for baseball in McKinney and Max and Ben have the same coach. He's been such a great influence already. He had the boy's names monogrammed on their hats and placed quotes on the inside of their bills. Max's team quote is "Never, ever give up" by Winston Churchill and Ben's quote is "Just keep moving forward" by Walt Disney. He reminds the kids often of their quotes and as a way of encouraging their teammates the boys are instructed to touch their bills when someone on the team is struggling. I just love that! Mark Thomas was bumped up to a AA advanced team and they're learning some great skills. Mark Thomas did awesome pitching for his team. We were so proud of him. It's always tricky when you move and some teams already have their assigned players but I feel quite confident after the coach saw MT's arm he'll be pitching often.

Poor Ben was so exhausted after his third game that he begged to come home and take a nap. We drove home quickly before the 9 p.m. game so he could shower and he took in a little cuddle time with Bear.

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This would be bad baseball. During Ben's fourth game of the day which didn't start until 9 p.m. Max was playing a pick up game on an adjoining field. Happens all the time so I didn't think much about it. However now that the boys are older and obviously have stronger arms, which makes the pitch faster as well as the hits harder, I should have been more aware of the danger. So lesson here is don't allow them to even "play" a game for fun without the proper equipment. Especially the catcher. Max was catching and a foul tip decided to have some fun with his face. I was intently watching Ben's game when he ran over to me with this terrified look on his face and blood pouring out of his nose and mouth. I quickly ran him to the bathroom trying to stop the bleeding to assess the damage when he said, "my teeth, Mom. They're all messed up." Well, three of them were quite out of place! Without any orthodontic work at all Max's teeth have always been perfectly STRAIGHT, so when I pulled the t-shirt away from his nose and mouth to take a look at his teeth, I quickly realized we had a BIG problem.

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Our new dentist did not have emergency hours so I called my sister and she gave me their dentist's number and he immediately called back and said I should bring Max into his office. So off we went at 11:00 p.m. to the dentist and didn't get back in the car until after 1:00 a.m. Dr. Ty was amazing! Max's three teeth were pushed back up into his gums and repositioned and now they're held in place with a wire like splint which he'll have for two weeks. His teeth look good now but his poor lip and nose are rather swollen. He stayed home from school today but will need to head back tomorrow because it could be days before the massive hematoma corrects itself. His new principal called this afternoon to check on him after the attendance clerk had let her know what had happened. I can not get over how wonderful our new school district has been. She said she'd let all of his teachers know what happened so they could be aware of his needs tomorrow and so that they would keep an eye out for him.

Ben's Day of Glory

We love some good baseball and there was plenty to be had last Saturday! All three boys were in a pre-season tournament. We had to be at the ball park at 7:15 a.m. for the first game. Both Mark Thomas and Max were elminated during their second games but Ben's team was on a roll. They won their first game of the morning fairly easily and then played again at 3. During that game Ben was the last at bat with the game tied and with two runners on base and two strikes he hit the game winning RBI. The pics above captured what ensued afterwards. He was so excited and so was everyone else.

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He was catcher for the first time on this team and although he hasn't played that position often I think we've found his spot! He was so aggressive and so quick. Popping up and throwing quickly on target to first and third bases and was guarding that home plate as if his life depended on it. During the third game of the day with a runner coming to home to win the game, he scooped up a loose ball at the back stop and lunged to tag the runner out ending the game. Again the crowd went wild!

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Unfortunately after playing 3 games in the heat of North Texas by the time they played again at 9 that night there was hardly any energy left. They lost but we were still winners. A new team, with no regular season games under their belt yet they showed what they're really made of and we're all super excited to see them play this season. And we are SO proud of OUR Ben!

Music Disclaimer

I apologize for anyone that logged onto the blog over the last few days. I about had a heart attack this morning when I logged on and heard some crazy music. I have no idea how the playlist got so messed up. So just so you know I didn't create that one. I changed it but only added a few songs for right now. My brain is so focused on the kids and them adjusting to school that it's just not in musical mode right now.

Back to School

Every year at Grace they ask the children to bring their backpacks to church right before school starts. Mark was able to offer a special blessing for the children. They were each given a really neat tag, encouraging them "to let their light shine" and even the big kids who were too big to sit on the chancel picked some up.

We were all ready for back to school. School supplies were purchased, new clothes were set out waiting to be put on and the lunches were packed. We were going to use the bus routes again. The kids loved riding the bus in New York so they were excited to try it here. Well, as you can see the only photo I got of them as I prepared to snap them getting off the bus is of the bus coming down the street. That's because after I snapped that shot, I went across the street, camera zoomed in on the bus door and waited along with Mark for the younger three to get off the bus. No Keffer kids got off the bus. I stepped inside the bus and the bus driver didn't know where they were. He called the bus barn and they didn't know where they were either. So he advised me to call their school and see what bus they had gotten onto and then he drove out of the neighborhood!

So, while trying not to panic. I called Mark Thomas and Ella's school. Ben is at the middle school. They didn't know what bus they had gotten on either. The secretary was going to find out and call me back. Just about then another bus drove up in front of our house. Nearly 50 minutes after the kids were supposed to be home, Ben, MT and Ella hopped off the bus.

So thankful they were home. We asked them what happened. They got on the wrong bus obviously and then when they realized it they told the bus driver. He asked where they lived and one said, "Whitley Place, no Whispering Meadows" and then MT said, "no, it's Whispering Farms". So the bus driver asked Ben what his address was and he said, "I don't know." I just laughed and laughed. I never even thought to tell the kids the new address. Since we're living with my parents it escaped me. And then to make matters worse, Mark just had our cell numbers changed so none of the kids have memorized those and Ben left his cell phone at the church the night before. Seems like I may need to give the responsible 7 year old her OWN phone and we're going to need to have a memorization clinic of all new pertinent info! Just glad they got home.

Ella drew a picture for her teacher the night before school. I was so amazed. She spelled nervous right and used the correct spelling of "there" in her last sentence. She's something else for 7!

Bear just sacked out on the couch waiting for the kids to come home.

Summer is almost over

Well, I had every intention of being on here more this summer since I knew I would not be working. Who would have thought that I would feel less tired when I WAS actually working a full time job. Staying home with the kids this summer has been exhausting. Don't get me wrong, I have loved being with them and we've been able to do a lot of fun things together BUT I am still more than ready for them to start school on Monday.

We are adapting to our new surroundings very well. We worshipped for the first time last Sunday at our new church and all felt very, very welcomed. We had been greatly anticipating the contemporary worship service and it did not disappoint. There is just something about music that stirs the soul and hearing everyone in the congregation lift their praises to the Lord was truly magnificent. The kids are loving the youth activities. Both Max and Ben went to Adventure Landing this week and had a blast. Max called me while he was there to tell me he was kicked out of the go-carts for "accidentally" bumping into someone when they pulled into the lanes to get out. Great, right? Well everyone thought it was funny so I guess he's not off to too bad of a start. Ben is loving being in middle school. The last two years it was becoming increasingly more difficult to get him to participate in Sunday school and events at church because he just felt like there were too babyish for him. That age is hard so we're thankful he's now technically old enough to do the big kid stuff!

School starts on Monday and our 4 kids will be on 3 different campuses. I love how Prosper schools are set up. Kindergarten through 4th grade is one school, 5th and 6th in one school, 7th and 8th in one school and then 9th-12th in one school. The facilities here are amazing. So far we've been to Max and Ben's school and we've got their lockers all set up for the first day of school. We took a little trip to The Container Store, heavenly I might add, and got some goodies for them to organize their new space. We all had fun setting it up! Tonight I go with Mark Thomas and Ella to meet their new teachers and see their class rooms.

Our house is still on the market and we are praying that God would provide a buyer by the end of September at 90% of the asking price. We know that God will put his own stamp on our requests and we're anxious to see His hands at work. He is faithful to provide for us always and we know that the sale of our house will happen in His time. For now we're incredibly grateful that my parents have allowed us to infiltrate their space and we're enjoying being with them. You might want to check in with them to see if they're still enjoying us.