Merry Christmas!

2008 was a year of blessings for the Welch family. Mike secured employment with the VA Hospital in Seattle, where he enjoys working in the electronics field. He has excellent benefits and is happy to serve veterans from all service branches. In June, we became parents for the second time around to our son Kaleb. Just a few weeks later, we became home owners for the first time. Lukas is now a toddler! And Keri is a mom on the go, always running after her boys and weiner pups. It has been a year of much transition and change for us, but we could not be more grateful for all that we have been given.

We pray that this finds you in good health, and enjoying the Christmas season with the ones you love. Click on the scrapblog below to view pictures of the past year and learn more about our two sweet boys. To view the scrapblog in a larger format, click on the scrapblog logo on the bottom right corner of the image, then click on "view full screen".

with love,

Mike, Keri, Lukas & Kaleb Welch

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel", which means, "God with us."
Matthew 1:23

Our Plog

This Wednesday, Kaleb will be 6 weeks old already. I can't believe it. It has been quite the whirlwind, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Kaleb is so loving and always wants to be around us during the day. Unfortunately he does have a bit of acid reflux, but he's been prescribed some meds that I think are helping. Other than that, he is a happy, healthy baby boy who is getting chunkier by the day. But, what's cuter than all of those little rolls on those baby legs? :)

Now that I have a newborn and an almost 2 year old, any spare time is reserved for necessities like sleeping, eating, and showering. So this won't be much of a blog in the traditional sense since I don't have time to write lengthy diatribes about my daily life lessons. You didn't really want to read those anyway did you? And I know that what most people really care about is seeing pictures of our 2 sweet little boys. Hence I have deemed this our picture log, a.k.a. plog. :) Besides, I come from a family of photogs who love to document in pictures even life's most simple moments. Hope you like the plog-leave me a comment if you do.

A recap of Kaleb's first few days...

Getting ready to go home from the hospital

Meeting our weiners, Pikake and Ikaika

Meeting Great Grandma Dorothy

Great Aunt Sharon and Great Grandma Dorothy just can't get enough

Nana keeps Lukas entertained :)

Papa Phil always has the special baby touch...can't you see him smiling?

Papa and Grammie love me so much already

While Mike and I were getting acquainted with Kaleb, Lukas had a few adventures of his own, such as...

Doing yardwork at Grammie and Papa's house

Learning how to drive a Jeep from Uncle Jon

"Okay Uncle Jon, I think I got it. But, I can't quite see over the steering wheel."

Checking out the planes at the air show

And generally, well, just being Lukas. :)

Kaleb's spent his first few weeks getting to know everyone in the family.

Auntie Nikki loves holding Kaleb and taking care of him

Grammie has spent most of her summer vacation holding Kaleb too!

Here's a couple of shots of my boys with the same expression on their faces, "What you lookin' at?"

Most days Kaleb just likes to chill out in his swing

Or hang out with the family

And his most favorite thing to do is be held, ALL DAY LONG!!

Other exciting events in Kaleb's first few weeks...Fourth of July at Hood Canal



Lukas is happy to a big brother. He pronounces Kaleb, "Kadub"-so cute!

And our other exciting news of the past 5 weeks...we bought our first home!!!

We are so blessed to have found a home in the Twin Lakes area of Federal Way, only 3 blocks away from my brother and sister in law. We get the keys on July 31. We can't believe that after 8 years of marriage, this will be the first time that we will be living in one place for more than 18 months. Stay tuned for more photos.