Merry Christmas 2006!

Wow, is the year already nearly over?! And, yikes, I haven't posted what we've been up to since September! Well, the kids had a really good first half of the school year. They are both blossoming! Time has just FLOWN since they started.

In October, we had a special day. Ryan and I had our marriage blessed in the Catholic church. It was a simple, beautiful ceremony at the Most Holy Trinity chapel at West Point. Ryan's folks came out and we took the wedding party to the Thayer Hotel for dinner. It was a wonderful evening!

The rest of Granny and Grandpa's visit was alot of fun. We visited Orange County Choppers, went to a football game (A-Boy helped us win!) and played baseball in the yard. Oh, and Granny and I hit the huge outlet mall nearby!

We spent Thanksgiving at my sister's in NC and had a ton of fun! She and Seth have a baby, almost 3 mos. and my brother and sis-in-law were there with their 4 cuties. My folks made it, too. We did alot of cooking, eating, playing games, a little shopping and we visited the National Whitewater Center. The kids climbed on the rocks and Ryan took his first off-road bike ride with Seth. There was a rock climbing wall or 2 and you can rent rafts or kayaks to ride the rapids. We didn't get in the water this time, but enjoyed the scenery and watching others. The kids and the Dads also went to the Nascar go-kart race track and had a blast!

We had another visit from Granny and Grandpa the next weekend for Army/Navy. We all met up in Philly and rooted the Black Knights on! The weather wasn't tooooo bad and Army played better than they did against Air Force. We had a great time! And somehow, our hotel was right next to Macy's! We drove by the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center on the way home and stopped off at the Palisades for some Cheesecake Factory and some quick shopping while we waited for our table.

We are headed to OK for Christmas. Ryan is really ready for the break! He's pulling a late night at his office as I type this, trying to knock out the rest of his papers. He just has a few more days before the end of the semester. We'll be spending New Year's in Dallas with the Morgans. We are all excited to see everyone!

We'll kick off the New Year with Ryan getting promoted to Major. I think lots of great things are to come in 2007!

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and many blessings with the New Year!

Baby of Family has a Baby!

My sister, Karen (Kirsten) had her first baby! Autumn Elise was born September 3rd! To me, she looks like her Dad, Seth, but that's a red tint in her hair. Can't wait to see her grow!

September

Big month for the Keating Krew! We attended our first USMA football game - Go Black Knights! We won in overtime against Kent State. The weather was great and the kids were more attentive to what was going on than I had expected. It's so neat to be in a community with an NCAA (and Army) team to walk over and root for!

Jake had his fourth birthday party on Sunday. He turns 4 tomorrow and I have a bday this month, too. Never mind how old Mama is! Cap'n Jake Redbeard Keating's pirate party was a hit with the other swashbucklers in the neighborhood. They popped balloons, dug for treasure and had some Jolly Roger cupcakes - with black icing, of course.
Even the old pirates got in on the fun and had a who-can-hang-on-the-longest contest on the jungle gym. Dread Pirate Ryan was one that had to walk the plank!














I'm loving my job, being an EECS Geek! Having the nanny has totally reduced the frazzle factor that comes into play when we're both working. We're busy, but having so much fun with what we're involved in! Life is good! P.S. Make that THREE Fantasy Football leagues for Ryan! Go Hillbilly Buttstompers!

What's New - Mom & Dad

Well, it's official! I start back to work on Tuesday! I'll be an IT Specialist in the Computer Support Group in the Electronic Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the Academy. I look forward to getting back to what I do! We hired a nanny/housekeeper - a first for us. There are lots of families with nannies in this area. I think it's going to work out very nicely. It'll be great to have the extra help that a nanny can provide that you just don't get with other day care options. We couldn't find the young Swedish babe for Ryan or the tall, dark Italian guy I was hoping for, but our choice will do just fine. ~:-)

Ryan is loving that we finally got our cable hooked up! He's not much of a TV watcher, but is in 2 Fantasy Football leagues, so the internet access and ESPN (in High-Def, of course) is key.

What's New - Kids

Jake started Pre-K and is LOVING that he's going to the same school as big sister! His backpack is almost as big as he is - my little man! Ryan and I have enjoyed walking him to/from school this week.

Haley and I went to High Tea at American Girl Place in the Big Apple on Sunday! We went with 2 other mommy/daughter pairs and had a ball! Our first visit to the city. We did some shopping first and managed to visit all four floors before tea time. I, of course, caved in and bought her a doll. She wasn't interested in one of the character dolls, or one that necessarily looked like her. She picked a blonde, blue-eyed one and named her "Crystal." We also picked up Crystal's dog, Coconut. High Tea was just precious! The girls had their dolls with them - they have little doll chairs there that attach to the table. There was a harpist playing music, mostly songs from musicals, and a wait staff bringing out the treats and drinks. The girls went home with the napkin rings/hair scrunchies and the flower from the pot holding the chocolate mousse that was dessert. AGP does lunch, brunch and dinner and I've heard there are great goody bags for birthday guests. Hmmmm.....

Alive & Kickin'!

The Keating Krew is back online!! We have internet hooked up to our house - finally!!

Soooo...quick update....

We are almost completely settled in our new house. We got New Brick quarters on post. It's smaller than where we lived in Germany, but they are completely renovated and really nice. We worked our tails off painting over the weekend before our household goods arrived. We got 6 rooms done and love how it turned out. We were first-timers at painting, so it was quite the feat. I opened the last box the other day and now we are moving piles around, getting organized, hanging curtains and other last details (oh yea - like cleaning)!

Incredibly enough - we STILL have not been into the city!!! But Haley and I are headed in for High Tea and shopping at American Girl tomorrow. I believe it's near Times Square and FAO Schwartz, etc., so we're hoping to look around some.

Haley has started 2nd grade at West Point Elementary. Her teacher is really nice and seems very with-it. Haley is walking herself to and from school! Big girl! She also started soccer and will be doing Gymnastics as well. She did Horse Camp and swimming lessons this summer. I'm going to start teaching her piano soon.

Jake will be starting the Pre-K program at the Elementary School at the end of the month. It's just 2 1/2 hours Mon-Thur, but I've heard great things about it. He is enrolled in Ice Skating and Smart Start Baseball. He was too young for the swimming lessons, but has enjoyed many a day in the shallow part of Delafield Pond.

We broke Moody out of the kennel after her 80-day sentence at Morgan Farm. She is enjoying the back yard and loves to bark at all the hikers going up the trail behind our fence (and our neighbors love that, I'm sure)! Haley put her bed in her room and hates to go to bed without her.

Ryan has been working hard on his Master's. He has just finished off the summer term with a 25-page paper on top of a big test (of course all due right in the thick of unpacking). Now that I have most rooms in order, he has a week off before the fall semester begins. So, we'll spend a couple of days knocking out the rest of the move-in stuff and RELAX for a few. It has been quite the busy, exhausting couple of weeks for both of us. But we're all enjoying our new home. Love the Hudson Valley, love the neighborhood, love the people, love the house, love the family time....love it all!

I am probably starting back to work soon - waiting for the official job offer. I found a great position. More on that later.

I'll be uploading pictures to Ofoto and putting some in future blogs soon. Shoot an email if you want to be on the distro list for the pics. More soon......really!

Special Visit

On Aura and the kids' whirlwind tour, she made a special visit...

The Long Gray Line

We went to the graduation parade today (Class of '06 graduates tomorrow). It was cool to see all the cadets lined up and marching by to salute the graduating class. Ryan kept zooming in with the camera to get a closer look at something odd on the field. We were pretty far away, so if I didn't know any better, it looked like several cowpies scattered around. He talked to his sponsor tonight, who is a TAC and in charge of a company of cadets, and apparently, some of the seniors thought it'd be funny to leave their shoes on the field. Needless to say, precautions are being taken to avoid antics tomorrow at graduation! Pretty harmless, though, in the scheme of things. There was no mooning......yet!

I'll be adding pics when I can get to a computer for more than 10 minutes or so at a time....

USMA ROCKS!

We've done a little exploring of our surroundings here at West Point. It's just breathtaking! Ryan had some inprocessing to do this morning, so Haley and I went for a walk down to the Hudson. We raced each other on the track at Shea Stadium and jumped some hurdles (didn't even split my pants!) and blazed our own trail through some of the woods (what does poison ivy look like, again?). Ryan brought the latest housing list home and it looks like we stand a really good chance to get into a 3 bdrm in the New Brick housing area. There are a ton of brand new ones on the housing draw list this year and Old Man Keating is in a fairly good position on the list. We're going to try to peek in some windows later today. Most of the housing opens up sometime in July, so the kids and I should be back from our cross-country adventures before we move in. That'll be good timing for our household goods to be arriving, too.

Ryan seems to really be enjoying being at his alma mater NOT as a cadet! Haley is excited about her friend from the German kindergarten moving here soon, too. I have met some wives already, one of which just got out of the Army and was in Ryan's company at USMA. Everyone is really nice and excited to be here. We're making some progress adjusting to life in the States. We just had our first round of Mickey D's and it was sooooo much better than the European version, despite the absence of McBier on the menu.