We had some very special visitors come visit last week! Grandma Carol and Grandpa Richard all the way from Iowa :) The kids just ate up all their attention!!!

 Grandpa Richard brought flashlights. You would have thought B and A have never seen one before as they were by far the major hits of the week!

 Close by is a super cool Zoo that we have never been to. After seeing how great it was I'm kinda embarrassed we've never been before. These animals were so close to us!

 First time carrying the Parks Man on my back, he even took a nap back there :) Because this is my blog I can do this. Don't judge me by what I'm thinking either ;) I'm SOOOO grateful for my Rodan+Fields products. NEVER in my life (until recently) have I looked at pictures of myself and honestly and truly think I have great looking skin!  Blown away on how much I love these products!! Grandma Carol became a Rodan+Fields girl also :) Yay! Okay, commercial over :)

 If you ask Mike how he liked the Zoo, his response is like a 10 year old boy ;) He LOVED it and here's why. At a big Zoo we get excited if we see an animal move it's head the slightest. Here, ALL the animals were super active. It was always feeding time on the tour and so we saw them eat, run around, go swimming and even mate! (yep, we really saw that and yep it was really awkward tying to ignore Brody's questions on why the lions were doing that!!) HA!

 You see that bear? No zoom to my camera here, he is really that close!

 I just love this boy!!! He had been begging to go to the zoo for weeks and so he was one happy fellow!

 Sweet Sis got a bit tuckered out! This NEVER happens where she just falls asleep, but it was super adorable :) Very thankful the Zoo owners let us use this wagon!

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Richard came at such a great time as we had TONS to talk about with a very recent and very big potential of us moving!!! Oh man, I just said that! Stay tuned, some big news may be brewing!! News that can only be explained about how faithful and simply cool the Lord is! :)

Happy Birthday Aubrie!

We celebrated Aubrie's 2nd birthday last week! I can hardly believe my baby girl is 2! Time just goes quicker and quicker. I'm not sure if I'm sad about that or excited about that either. I really do enjoy the kids getting older. I like the when we can talk to each other and just play together. But then again, pretty soon I wont get to tuck them in at night because they will be all grown up and out of the house, and that brings some tears! So thankfully we are only at 2 for this girlfriend! :)

 We had a very low key birthday party. Aubrie DOES NOT like to be the center of attention one bit. She becomes so shy and quiet the second she gets overwhelmed. We wanted her to be comfortable and have fun so we only invited over 2 of her friends to a Strawberry Shortcake ice cream sundae party :) Simple decorations, on the patio, and toys set out in the backyard, it was perfect!

 Of course no party is complete without a crazy big cake! My friend who makes our cakes called the morning of her party and told me she may have gotten a little carried away by the size of her cake ;) Ha! I would say so. We will be eating cake for the next month from our freezer, not a problem! :)

 

 I always tell others that Aubrie just needs super girly things. With having a big brother we have so many "boy" toys. Poor girl, that's what she plays with (Really though, boy toys are so much cooler!). But she got 2 tea sets, necklaces, wings, tutus and games. We are set :)

What a great party. Aubrie had a blast with her sweet girlfriends and never once became shy!  Bummed I didn't get a family picture. Parker wasn't feeling the greatest and slept the entire party. I was so proud of Brody and how he did a great job at celebrating his sister and had no jealousy issues of why she got to open presents and he didn't. Very proud momma! :) Happy birthday sweet Aubrie!

My 3 favorite products!

 

I just love my Rodan+Fields products! I'm grateful that my skin has never looked so great! On the other hand I'm kinda sad I waited so long to try these wonderful products! I'm still in disbelief at times when I voluntarily tell others to look at my skin, because I've always tried to hide behind my makeup. I've NEVER wanted anyone to ever purposefully study my skin before. Using these products and doing this business really has been such a fun blessing! Thankful I jumped on board! :)

Below are 3 of my favorite products. I use the Unblemish regime at night with the face wash and lotion in the morning. The super cool tool in the picture is the Macro Exfoliator. Once a week for 5 minutes, it leaves you with brighter and softer skin as it sucks off millions of dead skin cells! Gross but super cool ;) So three kiddos at home pretty much necessitates my need for the Multi-Function Eye Cream! Goodbye to my sleepy bags and darkness that were around my eye's sense having Brody! Then the Mineral Peptide Powder is just fun to use if I get ready in the day (an any mom, some days we don't even get to shower!). Once on, it helps to even out my skin tone. It also has SPF in it!

 I would just LOVE to be able to help you get some awesome skin also! Click here and visit my website Rodan+Fields :) Everything comes with a 60 day, money back, empty bottle guarantee! Lets talk soon!!!

 Life has been crazy busy lately! We keep saying to each other, "In a week, it will all calm down" but the week goes by and there has been no calming down in site.  Hmmm.....maybe it's the new normal. Goodness, I hope not!

 The kids are super cute though! I'm not sure what got into them that they all wanted to take these cute brother and sister pics. They were just perfect, strange!!

 My kids really like not wearing clothes.

 Our sweet Parks man is 3 months old and weighing in at close to 15 pounds!! Oh my does he like his milk! Never once did we ever go over 6 oz of milk in B or A's bottles. Well right now we are at 8 oz of milk for Parker! I feel like a cow, P pretty much looks like one ;)

 Sweet sis LOVES giving love! She kisses me, daddy and Parker ALL THE TIME :) She would her big brother, but he wont let her near with those puckered lips ;)

These are Brody's friends at church. Oh my these boys! This was taken right before they went out on stage to sing at church. This is where the innocence ends though. Brody and his friend, Nolan (right of picture) stood on stage and instead of singing were yelling, "Poopy!!!" Yep, that's my son!

Easter Egg Hunt

 I just realized I started blogging about Easter awhile back and never posted it!! Opps! :)



The day we drove back from Florida we went to our church's Easter Egg Hunt. I'm not sure what we were thinking on thinking this would be fun. We drove in that day at 2:00 am, slept for 4 hours before the kids woke up and then went to the egg hunt. We were SO tired to say the least, and on top of that we had to talk to people. Oh mercy! We laugh now at how ridiculous our thinking was ;)

Parks slept through the entire hunt!

Brody and Aubrie really only cared about finding one egg and then wanted to play on the playground. The excitement was over within 5 minutes.

They were really cute though!

I read another persons blog the other day that was about before having kids we always dreamt about how fun things would be when we had kids (does that make sense??) i.e. Easter Egg hunts. We spent more time getting out the door than the actual activity ;) It was a good excuse to get out of the house and enjoy the nice weather if nothing else! Something we did realize Easter weekend was the kids don't care (yet) about the candy in the eggs. We did another Easter Egg hunt at our friends home and didn't want to take the energy to stuff the eggs so we just hid them empty! The kids still thought it was great! I hope we never outgrow that thinking!

Rodan+Fields

 

 

I'm thrilled to pieces to announce that I have started selling a skin care line called Rodan+Fields! My great friend Emily has been using and selling it for a year now and I have watched her skin and complexion transform! I've been using it now for 3 weeks and for the first time ever Mike looked at me during breakfast today and said, "Your complexion looks great! I can really notice a difference sense you began using Rodan+Fields." What!? My husband said that. My husband, whom I love and adore but isn't too into details, actually said that! I'm pretty sure I'm holding my unwashed, spit up on self a little taller today!

So what is Rodan+Fields you ask? You might recognize their names from the makers of Proactive. They came out with a line for adults now. These products are clinically proven, award winning that were formerly #1 brand in Nordstrom! Even though I have been using their Unblemish products for my breakouts and post acne marks, they have 3 other regimens to fit different skin care annoyances. So if you have problems with your skins dullness, dark spots, loss of firmness, dryness or sensitivity give this stuff a try! 

Two reasons I initially tried it out were number 1, I was tired of being 30 years old and having breakouts and number 2, it's all backed up with a 60 day money back guarantee! I then began selling it not only because I love it (I really truly do!) but also because the extra money is going to help "pad" our family come June while Mike resigns and focuses on his doctorate. If your even the least bit interested visit my website http://akaelber.myrandf.com . Once there you can check out the products and even take a Solution Tool to see what would be recommended for your skin type. You can order on your own from the website but I would love for you to contact me so I can give you 10% off and free shipping! This is going to be so fun because I really do believe in this stuff!

Destin sunshine!

Vacation couldn't have come at a more perfect time! We were all needing a desperate break from the craziness of life here. This transition to being a family of 5 has worn me out to the core. I honestly say the only thing holding me together was knowing the break vacation would bring! After our trip to Colorado last summer with our extended family we decided it's something we wanted to do yearly. Because last year was mountains it was a no brainer that the ocean was calling our name this year :) So us, Meghan, my aunt/uncle and cousins from Wisconsin and aunt from Iowa  all braved the drive and met in Destin, Florida. We rented a BEAUTIFUL home just a couple houses from the ocean. It was PERFECT!!!! These pictures are all out of order!

 We were spoiled in our neighborhood! About a 2 minute walk to the beach, a heated pool and hot tub,  and a gated small community with such little traffic! Renting a house is the way to go. We loved all being so close but yet having our "own space". It was such fun making dinners for each other and just hanging out!

 My Aunt Jodie and Aubrie have such a special bond! Jodie spoiled Mike and I  at waking up when our kids woke in the morning and telling us to go back to sleep! She would even walk into our room to get our crying baby and send us back to sleep :) Oh how rested we feel!

 Brody got some great beat up time with my cousin, Caleb!

 Brody and Libby were quite the pair. They were always on the look for sea shells :)

 Some bragging on myself! We made friends with our neighbors who had 2 paddle boards. We all got to take them out! Above is me and I actually stood up on it! The water freaks me out so I was super hesitant on doing this. But it turned out to be my most favorite part of the trip. Being out on the paddle board was so peaceful and beautiful. A wave did attack my board and I fell into the water, but I think doing something so out of my comfort zone made it so exhilarating!

 The Parks dude did so wonderful! He just tagged along wherever we went :)

 This is all B and A wanted to do one the beach. Dig holes and fill them with water :) The sand and ocean were brand new to them. It was fun watching them "discover" how to play on it! Aubrie wouldn't touch the water, the movement scared her. Brody liked it only up to his ankles and hated the saltiness of it!

 Mike and I were just simply spoiled by the time we go together! We took a few walks on the beach on even went out on a date! :)

 Pretty sure baby boy was made for this!!

 The kids were PERFECT on the drive! The way there we made a 14 hours drive in under 16 hours and the way home 15 hours! We are turning them into road trippers!

 We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center because we had some time to burn before we could get into our house. If you ever go to Florida via car, stop at the Welcome Center! Very kiddo friendly AND you get free orange juice! ;)

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My Aunt Jill and Caleb watched the 3 kids while Mike and I went out! They had a blast and even packed everyone up and headed to the beach and that's where we found them when we returned. Super impressed!!

Just a beautiful trip and wonderful time with family! Destin was a perfect destination with some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen! Super family friendly! This is definitely a place we will return to! Can't wait to see where next year will take us!

Last page of this chapter....

We are turning the last page on this current chapter in the Kaelber family. Mike officially announced to the teens that he would be resigning as their youth pastor June 22. Wow, it's even scary to write that! The last several months (well actually over a year now) we have felt the Lords leading for Mike out of youth ministry and into the college realm. The biggest question is, "Where did Mike get a job? Where are we moving to?" Well folks, he has no job after June 22! This can only be from the Lord because it really does seem absolutely ridiculous! He will become a stay at home dad while beginning his doctorate!! Actually he begins his doctorate today :) I will continue to work at the hospital and hopefully be able to go on full time come June or July. So we will be sticking around in the 'Ville. I never thought that would bring me so much joy! This place has really grown on me ;)

So that's our news. Does it make sense? Not really. Is it a safe thing to do? Who knows. Is this the biggest leap of faith either of us has ever taken? Absolutely! We choose a word at the beginning of this year to focus on a word. The word is "Trust" that centers around the book of Joshua. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go," Joshua 1:9. If you read Joshua, especially the first chapter, God simply just calls him to action. He doesn't reveal to Joshua His whole plan and how He's going to direct it,  instead just says, "..I will give you every place where you step your foot" vs. 3. We know without a doubt that God has moved Mike's heart to college students we just have no clue how we are going to get there. God has only revealed the next steps for us which are to resign from the church, begin working on his doctorate and me to continue working. This all freaks the heck out of me! But I'm so excited to take this leap of faith, having no clue where God is going to take us, knowing we are in the center of His will, and having no choice but to trust in Him, alone! So here we go, beginning to turn the last page on this chapter. Scary, excited, sad, and hopeful all rolled into one :)

On a lighter note. The hiking season has begun! Mike and Brody took their first one of the year last weekend. Brody got to test out his new Camelback ;) I guess the water part was in his mouth the whole time :) They had a blast! Mike always talked about, before we had kids, how he was excited to go on hikes with his boys one day. It's really neat to see that day come. Excited for the Parks dude to be able to tag along :)