Trip to the Aquarium March 2009

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Trip to the Aquarium March 2009

Our trip to the TN Aquarium was so much fun. The exhibits are really cool. The kids loved the hotel mre than anything though! We got to swim in an outdoor pool that was heated to 82 degrees. We will deffinately come back and do it again.

Hey all
We have had a very fast couple of months here. It is flying by.
I have discovered Sentsy and I am now going to start selling it soon. I love it! We had a Sentsy party at my house with some people from the gym and they loved it too. I'm so not doing it for money, more for the discount. Let me know if you want to have a party and I'll come do one for you. Trust me it's not one of those tacky parties with those stupid games. None of that. Just products to sniff and smell that's all. The product sells itself in my opinion! I have also started my huge garden out back. I am going to plant everything thing you could think of hopefully. Oh and did I mention my new hair!



Cole is doing great in school. He is so smart. It blows my mind!
Chloe is getting bigger and has started getting more hair. She is such a spoiled little thing. She is going to be a handful. She has a sneaky way about her and has already learned how to work me. Sad!
We did have a wonderful Valentines day. We all got cards and that was nice. Jeff even sent me flowers from over there. We sent him a nice package with all sorts of loving things for him.


Bella graduated her first belt test for Karate. She is growing leaps and bounds all the sudden in her school work. She is now on A&B Honor roll an won a guidance award. I'm so proud of her. She is so proud of herself. It really amazes me the difference one little pill can make for her.







Jeff is doing fine in Afghanistan too. He prefers I not talk about stuff over there. He is doing well though and he wishes he could be home already. He should get his R&R home time soon. Keep him in your prayers.

Keown's January!

So now it's Feb. We have had a pretty good January. We are still eating clean. I am even making my own bread which is fun for me. I'm living up to my own expectations of being a stay at home mom who's house smells like a fresh loaf of bread and makes everything from scratch.I can't wait until I can start my garden again. I'm testing new recipes and coming up with a pretty good array of healthy foods we like to eat that are considered clean. I had a great time at the gym here doing three new class launches. Pretty much just a big party where we show everyone the newest release of Les Mills calsses with new moves and new music. We have a new class now called Body Combat that I am certified in. We launched it the same day we did our new Body Pump release. We had a packed room and we actually fogged the group fitness room. Check out the steam on the mirrors in the picture of us after the launch in all black. Brandi and I also launched the newest Body Jam realease. It was a huge party. I fealt like we were in a night club. We had strobe lights and games and food and we danced the night away. It was a blast for me. Jam is my ultimate favorite class to teach by far. Typical me and Brandi relationship here!!! She's probably thinking," She's nuts but I love her!" Bella is doing much better. She lost her top front tooth and is so proud and cute! If you are following us you may know that Bella has a really hard time in school with talking and not following directions and getting out of her seat and being defiant. So after three years of listening to the same stuff I decided to take her to the Dr. Jeff also has ADHD and he was given some medication as a child that did not sit well with him.With the army he can't take anything now. Now there are so many safer drugs out there that I knew I had to try something for her. I had already blamed my parenting and tried to change her diet completely. She was tested and diagnosed with ADHD by our family Dr. She is more ADD than the hyperness. She is doing great on a drug called Vyvanse. Her teacher keeps writing good notes now and she is earning blue tickets. That's a good thing bc/ after 15 blue tickets she gets to go to the treasure chest and pick a toy. I'm so proud of her. I'm glad that I am helping her. I am getting lots of support from all over to about ADD and what causes it and how you can treat it. I've spoken with other moms and adults who have it. They have been a huge support for me. Never judge someone who has ADD or who is seeking help until you haved walked a day in there shoes. It's real and not made up, and life can be easier with help! This is right after I pulled her tooth our for her with mommy magic! Cole and Chloe are still the same little kids. They have grown a little taller but they are still my cute little babies. Well. All of us including Jeff are doing well now. Jeff is hanging in there. He appreciates any cards or packages you may want to send him. Let me know if you want his address. Soldiers just want to feel like they aren't forgotten over there. He is flying a lot over there and is safe so far and has not been shot at. Keep him in your prayers.

Isabella's Karate class

Here is Isabella's frist Karate spar. She did awsome. Now all she needs is her uniform.

Since he's been gone...

Well we have made it almost 28 days since Jeff left. Yeah almost 30 days closer to him being home. We miss him so much. The kids are staying busy so they don't ask much about it. Mostly I think I try to avoid talking about it. He does get to call twice a day if he wants, which he has. He and I also email on a daily basis. The time is passing by but not fast enough for me. I have my moments but I am getting better. Me and the kids are trying to stay super busy. I enrolled them in Karate, and Gymnastics. Isabella gets to go take Karate with her good friend Machaila who she adores, which is great bc/ I am best friends with her mommy. Cole is taking Gymnastics with his friend Mason who he also loves to play with. They have known each other since they were two years old at Fort Rucker, which is very rare to come by with military families now. Somehow God moved us all here together at the same time. Chloe is also taking Gymnastics and she loves it. She was a little scared of the super tall balance beam so I didn't make her do it. She is so cute in that little leotard though. Well I am still same old me just one half of me is missing. I am about to start teaching Body Combat at the Gym. It is a great class and makes me feel so good. I love helping others so I also started up a myspace called Healthy_recipe_swap. We are all exchanging clean eating ideas. By the way I have almost reached my eating clean challenge for 30 days now. Yes I have cheated, but only a little and I mean very little. I feel so good know me and my kids will be healthier for it. I am even packing Isabella's school lunches again now that I know all the harm I could cause if I let her eat that food they serve with all that junk in it. anyway. I hope you all enjoy the new pics and videos. Keep us in your prayers.

Time to start the 12 month countdown.

Well this is one of the hardest of times for us. Jeff is now deployed officially.He left Friday the 12th at 3am on a bus to get on a plane from Ft. Campbell. it was so hard to see him go. It tore me apart!The kids made a really sweet video on Youtube for him so go check it out and get the tissue ready. I really hope I stop crying every few hours I know I need to be strong for the kids but I can't hold it back. Isabella cries when I do and she said to me tonight " Mommy I've never seen you cry like this before!" She is so sweet and I told her we would be strong for eich other. Please pray for him and for me to get through this.


On a brighter note, we did get to spend some great times together making great memories together as a family. We spent a weekend with his family at his sister's wedding a month ago. It was beautiful and the kids were too. I'll always remember how hard Jeff worked on his sisters wedding. He even missed to whole ceremony bc/ he was down a cliff waiting to shoot fireworks for a suprise at the end of the ceremony. It was beautiful! I know he wouldn't have traded that moment for seat at the service for anything. He did a great job. Chloe of course caused a little drama. She fell out of a chair at the reception dinner and hit her head on a metal chair leg and cracked her forehead open. It scared us to death as parents. There was a huge deep cut that was bleading really bad and we were in the middle of the lower AL counry with no where to go at night. I freaked of course and wanted to call an ambulance. My mother in law had a Dr. friend in the nearbye town and we took her there fast, within ten minutes of her hitting her head, and she fixed her up for us. She had to wear a big patch over her head for the wedding.




After her wedding weekend we took off on a plane leaving behind the kids with my mom for a whole 8 days in paradise. We went to Jamaica to a beautiful resort called the RIU Montego Bay. It was so nice and we had the best time. We are already planning our next trip back.Check out our Youtube vacation video we made.



Then Jeff helped me work on my Kraft cooking videos. Check those out on Youtube as well. We entered a cooking video challenge to win $1,000 and bragging wrights of course. I love to cook and this was so much fun. I am going to continue making my own videos of my own recipes and little how to tips and start a myspace page for friends to view. I'm hoping friends will log on and share there recipes with me and I can cook then and put them on video on my web page.

I am still teaching classes at NFC. I have a video on my LaineK2008 Youtube that you can watch. I love Les Mills and I am totally addicted to it. It changed my way I think about group fitness classes and helping others. I now am certified in 3 Les Mills programs and I will keep going! In the picture is one of my Best Friends Brandi.


We had a great Thanksgiving here in my home. I had 18 bodies crammed in my little house. It was so much fun. I love having people over to cook for. I made the Alton Brown Turkey! It was so juicy and tasty. It was my first Turkey ever to cook. I don't know how I got away with not cooking the Turkey all these years! Thank God for all the advice of my friends, grandmother, mother in law, and my own mother. Good times. Well Alton Brown would say, " Good Eats!"






The hardest part of it all though was saying goodbye to Jeff. Words can't describe how hard deployments are on families. I only hope and pray he stays safe for us and we stay safe for him. He will be gone now for 12 months. He will probably come home for R&R in May or June. We are going to be able to talk on the internet by webcam phones on a weekly basis. We are going to make home messages with our video camera and send them to him and he is able to do the same with his video camera he braught. He gets his own private 8x6 room, if you want to call it that. He braught a TV and a Laptop with him. Things aren't as bad to ship either bc/ things have been in place over there for 7 years now. If you want his address I can give it to you for sending packages or letters.
Emotionally I think it will take it's toll on us all but we can hang in there are try to keep our heads held high. I'm so proud of him and what he does. I love him so much! Keep us in your prayer.



Well I hope everyone is doing okay and I'll try to keep my blog updated more than twice a year! Have a great day and keep the Keown family in your prayers.