Archives for May 2012

Yesterday was a bit crazy…I’m actually not sure where the entire day went.  I do know we lost about 5 hours at the swimming pool again 🙂  I told you we were living it up.  And I did start to work on all of Mom’s 65 birthday cards.

My brain is a little all over the place with all that life is full of right now, so I thought for today I would share a few of my favorite things.  An easy post for today right?  Yep.

So here are a few of my favorite things:

Sinful Colors Nail Polish in “Big Daddy” from Target

Avenue Lou glass case…Thank you Craft Weekend swag.

Erin Condren’s life planner.  Who knows what would happen to the Kelley family without this little gem.

Love & Toast lip gloss in Crush Rush.  I am not a lip gloss or lip stick kind of gal, but got this little tube from my friend Alissa and consider me sold.

Jesus Calling devotional book.  Got it from my Mom…one of the best devotional books I’ve seen.

My Wait & Hope bracelet.  When I went to look up the Etsy shop I bought it from when we started Sol’s adoption process…so over 3 years ago…the shop wasn’t open any more…bummed.  You could make your own though 🙂

Dana at Lifelines Designs.  Dana does all my businessy art stuff…I adore her.  You will too.  She rocks out some pretty cool invites as well.  Check out her new tea party invite…so stinkin’ cute.

Tervis Mustache Tumbler.  It has become my best friend at the pool and it keeps my drink cold even in the hot sun.  Thanks again Melody.

Jeanne Oliver Designs “Stronger than she thought” cuff.  Maybe my most favorite piece of jewelry I own.  I bought it shortly after Mom died and have since purchased several more.  Super thrilled with this designer.

Retro Mama pear pincushion.  LOVE my pear pincushion and would be lost without it.  Bought mine in 2008 and it is still going strong…excellent quality and it still looks great.

And one of my most favorite things…the wee Kelleys in their official summer attire.

Hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my favorite things 🙂

Happy Thursday!

We really like family movie nights.  We don’t have them a ton, but to end our Memorial Day weekend we decided to go out with a bang…a Monday movie night…crazy 🙂  There was no dinner, just popcorn.  I like fun nights like that.

This morning I found the most amazing plastic cups for .99 cents…you’re amazed right?  Join the wee Kelleys in their amazement.  Harper was actually the most thrilled…I was a little shocked at Wonder Woman’s cleavage, but I know that’s how her superhero identity rolls.

Josh made a comment last night after reading my blog that from my pictures and writing people probably think we only eat junk food ALL.THE.TIME.  We really don’t.  It just so happens I am a super emotional eater…which my therapist says isn’t a good idea…imagine that…but right now I just can’t help it.  Why, oh why, do I associate happiness with certain crap foods?  Help!  So rest easy, on most days our lunches look like this and our dinners are very balanced with the whole food pyramid thingy going on. 🙂

We decided to go for back-to-back-to-back pool days.  I’ve decided were going to totally live it up before itty bitty boy joins us which means we will live at the pool until our hair is green, our toes and fingers are completely shriveled and we are all too exhausted to even float.

Geez Louise, I like them…all three.

I had a bit of anxiety last night about itty bitty boy arriving soon.  We still don’t have a court date, but we have been assured we will be going sometime this summer.  It feels like there are a million things in the air right now.  To take the edge off, I decided to make a few decisions today…one being his crib skirt.  I’m not doing the whole crib bedding thing this time around, so I just bought some fabric I liked to make his crib skirt with.  Oddly enough, one little decision being made and acting upon it, makes me feel a bit better.

My friends Jess and Courtney are reading Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist.  This weekend they told me about a chapter in the book that references us writing out lives in pencil and not Sharpie.  Brilliant!  I have been thinking about it all weekend.  The Sharpie thing is sooooo me!  I’m a planner and a good one at that, but what I always forget is that God is the ultimate planner and already knows exactly how this little life of mine is going to play out.  Why do I always think I know better than the Creator of the world?  It’s stupidity.  His plans are always way better than mine, but I always write away and plan life in Sharpie and then get utterly bummed and down when that Sharpie planning doesn’t work out like I thought it would.  So I’m going to make a conscience effort to remember to “write our life in pencil”…things change and life doesn’t go as planned…goodness, do I know that for sure, so I need to stop writing our life in Sharpie.  Bring on the #2s.  Thanks for cluing me in Jess and Courtney…now I need to buy that book 🙂

So many things on our plate this week…art pieces, 65 birthday cards, itty bitty boy planning and praying like crazy for word on a court date.  Anxious as all get out, but trying to rest in the fact that God understands my heart and cares about every last detail…the big and the small.

Happy Tuesday!

Long weekends are superb.  Lots of stuff going on.

Watching Josh play baseball again was most excellent.

Some pumpkin seeds made it into the ground from last fall when we carved pumpkins.  It’s already flowering…I wonder if we can keep a pumpkin for another 5 months or so.

The slip n’ slide or slip n’ bleed as Josh Kelley likes to call it, made its debut.

Doughnuts for breakfast on a long weekend are a must…especially fun sprinkled ones.

We enjoyed our first swim of the summer.  The wee Kelley’s are crazy, fun pool goers.

They are all big jumpers now.  Harper and Sol are definitely the more free spirited jumpers in the group.

Huddy will jump all day long as well…he’s just a tad bit more cautious.  I love him.

A trip to Academy Sports was in order…we realized our pool trip was missing a few things.  Plus, baseball is now in full force in the Kelley household & both boys have ended up being right handed, which made our left handed glove useless…anyone need a lefty glove?

Back-to-back pool days are pretty awesome.  Our second trip looked a bit different 🙂

Harper and I finished yet another Magic Treehouse book.  They are such fun and imaginative books…filled with facts about history and animals…we love them.

I attended a gender reveal party…yes, you read that right 🙂  My friend Ashley & her husband Adam are having a boy…can you tell?  Congrats Ash…boys are pretty cool.

Gender Reveal Source

Saw these at Kroger…did you know these even existed…I did not.

My friend Jess…well she’s pretty awesome…I think the picture says it all.

And this, well this is a little something Josh and I like to call “Memorial Day Miracle”.  It happens every year…on Memorial Day weekend…a 5 year tradition…a random assortment of goodies each year…you can partake if you would like.  You won’t be disappointed 🙂

Happy good long weekend…Happy Memorial Day Monday!

Kelley Family Fun Fact #97:  We are big baseball fans.

I grew up watching my brother Chris play and Josh played all his life.  I remember watching Josh Kelley play all the way back when we were 12-years-old…we have a really great history.  I loved watching him play.

Josh recently joined a really awesome group called Full Count Ministries.  The group of guys play baseball games state side and in Nicaragua…all the while sharing the love of Christ.  It’s a really cool thing.  Josh is getting to play again with guys he played with way back when he was in elementary school and with new guys he’s just now met.  Tonight is their first game and to say that I am excited is an understatement.  The game of baseball is good…like real good…and I am thrilled to watch Josh play again…so many good memories.  The wee Kelleys are pretty pumped as well.

For our weekly planned craft we decided to go with something baseball themed.  I thought and thought all week about what exactly to make and then it struck me just this morning.  Here are the supplies you will need…you know I like easy crafts 🙂

3 traced baseballs per child, scissors, glue, red ink pad, string/twine/ribbon and a hole punch.

First the wee Kelleys got to cutting.  They cut out each of their 3 baseballs.  I made sure to make it very clear they were only cutting on the BLACK line…not the red.  They got the picture 🙂

Each kid should have 3 cut out baseballs.

Next, they used their fingerprints to add the stitches to each ball.  I explained that their fingerprints to should try and line up on each side and I helped the boy’s more with this part.  Harper got the picture right away, but I showed the boys with an example and then let them try on their own.

Then we folded each baseball in half.

We then glued the 3 baseball pieces together like this…

And I had to lend the boys a hand with this part as well…but they love to use a glue stick, so I just helped them know which sides to glue together.  What is it with kids and glue sticks anyways?

And when they had all glued together their 3 pieces, I hole punched and strung each 3D baseball with twine.

They all loved this…especially the boys.  Now if I could just get them to stop hitting them like pinatas with their swords 🙂

Bring on baseball season and the weekend.  Hope you’re weekend starts off awesome too.

Happy Friday!

Today we got to watch my friend Alissa’s little girl Scarlett.

She’s the cutest little 19-month-old.  Alissa just had her second kiddo, baby Atticus.  Scarlett and Atticus are around 18 months apart.  This is exactly Harper and Huddy…18 months to the day actually.  I remember those days very well.

I asked if we could watch Scarlett for the whole day and we had an absolute blast with her.  I remember so clearly how tired I was right after Huddy was born with chasing after Harper and doing the late nights with Huddy.  I figured Alissa could use a break and we needed some itty bitty kiddo practice with our new addition being so itty bitty himself.

Some things I realized today or re-remembered…Harper is an excellent big sister.  And with a littler kiddo…she totally rocks.

I haven’t had to cut up grapes in, well I can’t even recall at this point.  I smiled a bit while cutting them into fourths and then tearing Scarlett’s lunch into pieces.

I’ll be honest, the thought of entering the world of baby again has sent my blood pressure through the roof a bit.  Our kids are all very self sufficient…they all use the bathroom on their own, pick out their clothes, dress themselves, put on shoes, wash hands, put their plates away, make their beds, get in the car by themselves and the list could go on and on.  But that cute little face makes me ready for baby & toddler world again…itty bitty boy can not get here fast enough.

Itty bittys are messy.  So fun and sweet and wildly messy.  Today as Scarlett emptied out every last marker, crayon and pencil jar in Harper’s room, I thought about when Harper was that age.  One of her favorite pass times was emptying out my Sharpie basket over and over and over again.

We all enjoyed the mess and didn’t clean up a thing until right before taking Scarlett home.  I knew better 🙂

And the last thing I re-remembered today…little one’s sleeping in car seats are WAY cute.

Happy Thursday!

Soccer ended this weekend.  I love watching my kids play the sport that I so loved in school, but it’s a bit crazy getting everybody where they need to be during the week for practices.  I totally understand the parents who say “only one extra curricular activity”…we will be those parents.  I’m kind of a home body now, so needless to say, I’m excited to have some of our weeknights at home back.

With the end of the season did come trophies.  We had some very thrilled wee Kelleys.  The cuteness is a bit too much isn’t it?

And the boys finally got the long for & sought after snow cones they have absolutely been dying for all season.  Well deserved boys, well deserved.

Courtney got married Saturday night.  It was such an incredibly special and bittersweet and awesome wedding wrapped in one.  It was an honor just to be there.  Super congrats Courtney & Patrick.

My camera went dead right when we got there…I was so ticked…so no pictures of Courtney, but she was radiant.  I did manage to snap this picture of me & Jess with Alissa’s greatest photo bomb ever…jazz hand & all 🙂

You can go ahead and thank me for passing this Pinterest recipe along…it’s crazy out-of-this-world good.  Seriously.  Let me introduce you…Meet Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie ‘n Oreo Fudge Brownie…yes, you did read that right.

Picture Source

It’s sinful…completely sinful…and divine.  Oh.My!  I actually put mine in a muffin tin, since I shared.  Baked goods like this could totally change the world 🙂

See those 2 empty spots, well, yeah, Josh & I had to do some taste testing.  We topped them with vanilla ice cream and homemade chocolate sauce.  My Mom was a total ice cream person…it was her favorite and she only bought Breyers…now, so do I.

My Aunt Tootsie’s homemade chocolate sauce is the BEST…hands down.  Make it once and you will make it again… multiple times.  And it’s best stored in a jar, like a true Hall lady 🙂

And yesterday we chilled at home.  Everyone took naps…even the big Kelleys…and everyone had a bit of fun.  Thanks for praying for our day yesterday…it was greatly appreciated.  It’s so nice to be remembered on hard days…so I completely appreciate all the emails, texts and FB messages.  Really appreciate it.

Now if our paperwork would just show up and we’d get our court date call…praying some mighty big prayers for today and the rest of the week.  Ready to meet our itty bitty Kelley.  Still holding onto hope…thanks so much Sara for the sweet reminder…you’re too good…& I totally appreciate it.

Hope your weekend was grand & the start to your week has been encouraging.

Happy Monday!