Archives for July 2012

My Aunt Linda told me the other day that from the blog point of view it seems like all we eat are sweets 🙂  Myself and the wee Kelleys do love sweets, but we really do eat reasonably.  Veggies at lunch & dinner, some protein, fruit, whole grains, but that’s a bit boring for pictures.

I would much rather show you the surprise doughnut treat Brea brought us this morning, along with a bajillion sweet outfits for Amon.  THANK YOU Brea!!!!

Or how I made Gooey Butter Cake to share yesterday…baked goods can change the world you know.

I cannot even begin to tell you how many times my Mom made this.  Just saying the words Gooey Butter Cake makes me beyond happy.  My all time favorite for sure.  YOU.MUST.MAKE.THIS.TODAY!

Anybody else watching the Olympics like crazy?  We are.

Harper told me today that she wants to be a swimmer in the Olympics.  The boys are absolutely adorable watching any of the events.  They are completely entranced.  Maybe some of my favorite pictures ever of them together.  This shows them…totally and completely them.

We’re still hoping we’ll be leaving any ole’ day now to go get Amon.  I got a bit excited when I packaged up our backpacking backpack to mail to my friend Ashley who is going with me.  #gettingready #packingright

Did you know they still put toys in cereal boxes…at least in the Cheerios?  I did not, but this little guy was in our new box we opened this morning.  Super fun.  Thank you Cheerios for bringing back the fun in our morning cereal.

This 12×12 Names of Jesus canvas that I made for a local donation raffle has been sitting just waiting to have it’s little edges painted for way too long now.  Baby on the way means it’s time to wrap all the little loose ends up.

Harper enjoys some good organization.  For a slightly OC crafty Mom…part of this thrills my heart and the other part terrifies me 🙂

And more “thank you” key fobs hit the mail today.  You guys are crazy awesome and I am beyond grateful for all the ace of hearts that have been pouring in.  A big thank you!!!!

Hope your Tuesday has been a good one.  All the little things in life can add up and make things pretty great.

Happy Tuesday!

Life is crazy busy.  We are preparing to head back to Ethiopia any day now, getting ready for Amon, enjoying the last little bit of summer and getting everyone ready to start school…Harper kindergarten and the boys MDO.  Plus chalk up everything else life throws at you.  So we’re a little on the nutty side.  We’re also really making a conscience effort to enjoy these last few days as a family of 5.  Loving and playing hard…very hard.

We may be eating ice cream and popsicles a bit too much because life is really good.

The wee Kelleys are crazy swimmers.  And everyone is a full fledged swimmer now.  I even bought diving sticks and rings the other day.  I can’t believe they are that big now.  I so enjoy hanging at the pool with them for hours upon hours.

Huddy photo bomber.

Brotherly sweetness.

I am completely convinced Sol is going to participate in some type of endurance sport when he’s older.  This kid is crazy cool and holds his breath like I have never seen…we’re talking, diving for rings and getting them off the bottom of the deep end.  He’s a bit stubborn and determined not to leave the ring on the bottom.  I like him and his unlikely 3-year-old breath holding.

Harper is really enjoying some girl time lately.  I often forget how much she enjoys some real girls only time.  We did a little finger and toe painting this weekend.  She wanted rainbow with hearts.  As she wished.

Harper’s got her own style too.  Sometimes it’s super hard to just go with the flow of letting her dress herself, but she’s just so herself and I can totally appreciate that.

Huddy recently cut a bow and some arrows out of a magazine.  We’re not sure why…he just did.  And continued to talk about it for a while.  Josh made everyone bows and arrows this weekend.  HUGE hit.  Major Dad points for sure.

A weekend full of cold treats, a cool pool, pretty nails and shooting homemade bows sound like a perfectly perfect weekend to me.  And here we are…Monday.  Today we’re getting life done.  Crossing things off our big to-do list and still enjoying our last days as a family of 5.  I cannot wait for Amon to join us and make us a family of 6, but we are not going to waste these days…we’re going to live it up big time before the wee-est Kelley joins us for the ride.

Happy Monday!

So of course I am totally loving looking at baby items these days.  Amon’s the 4th wee Kelley so I feel more prepared about what we really need for the baby days this time around.  As our family has grown it’s been funny to watch the progression of must-needs for baby.

Example:  I just had to make Harper’s baby bedding…a labor of love if you will.  It had to be super cute and I toiled and labored over her bumper and sheets and bed skirt…oh to have that kind of time again.

Poor wee Kelley boys…they have all been so neglected 🙂  And little Amon has a small corner of the boys room.  Good thing hes tiny & a baby.

Here are a few lovely baby items I’ve been crushing on lately.  Baby eye candy.

Letter A Art

Searching Craigslist for this killer Bob Running Stroller

Anchors & Sailboats burpcloths

Hello World Onesie

My mother-in-law makes each grand kiddo a quilt and I think a Chevron pattern is in order for Amon.

Personalized Baseball Onesie

Ace of Hearts Dictionary Print

Striped Nautical Children’s Beanie w/ Anchor

I was bummed to find this beanie listing had expired and nothing in shop when I went to purchase it.  If Snowflurries owner is out there I would love to buy this hat 🙂 and I think you are crazy talented.

Brown n Orange Mix baby boy Patchwork Quilt

Way cute right?  I think so too.  Such amazing artists out there, doing their thing so well.  Check out their shops.

I’m off to oogle over more baby items.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Happy Friday!

After we passed court in Ethiopia at the end of June, Amon’s paperwork was processed in our agency’s words “lightning fast.”  And then we hit a road block.  Every child submitted to the US Embassy has to have an updated medical report…just part of the process…and all of Ethiopia was out of one certain chemical needed to process blood work.  Amon’s blood work was then sent to Nairobi, Kenya to be processed.  This caused us to lose the time we had gained with his paperwork being processed so fast.  That was hard.  The wait was hard because we were ahead of the game and then we hit that road block.

But yesterday we got word that his blood work had finally been processed making his medical report complete…and his case was officially submitted to the US Embassy in Addis 🙂  And even better…thanks to a crazy wonderful agency that works beyond hard for their families and their sweet kiddos, the US Embassy and to some awesome government officials Amon’s case is being expedited through embassy.  The timeline goal is that we will be on our way to get him in just a few short weeks…crossing our fingers for 1-2 weeks.  WOW, WOW, WOW!  To even type that seems unreal…the end is in sight.  Honestly I was super hesitant to even put it out there, but if you don’t mind, we covet your prayers for Amon and that everything will go smoothly from here on out.  And that the intended expediting will be just that…fast and quick and in God’s perfect timing.  Thank you so much for joining us on this incredibly, amazing journey.  We’re almost there!

“God is good, the world He made is extraordinary and His comfort in like nothing else on Earth.” -Shauna Niequist

Happy Thursday!

The wee Kelley’s and their cereal box wall.  We go through an ungodly amount of cereal in our house.

The boys watching old videos of themselves.  They don’t remember life without one another and I SOOOO love that.

Fresh snickerdoodles to share…yes, please.

Wave pooling it up.  Everyone was big enough for slides this year.  Super fun!  Thanks Ashley for sharing passes with us.

Playing outside and sweating way too much.

Frozen Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie to celebrate the sweetest 26-year-old I know.  Happy birthday Stef…we’re pretty crazy about you!

Best Batman and Robin EVER!  Like ever, ever!

Best Big Sister and Big Brother tees EVER.  Like ever, ever.  Thanks so much Sandra…you are way too good to us.

The contents of a happy treat.

Registering for kindergarten done.  Class of 2025?  How can that be?  But we’re ready and we’re celebrating in chocolate ice cream sundae style.

Sweet kids and sweet treats.

Happy Wednesday!

I haven’t posted one of our weekly crafts in quite some time, so thought I would post what we did for today.

Amon is practically always on my mind.  We are just so close…so so close and yet we are still waiting.  I feel like God is doing some major refining in my heart, which is much needed.  I know He is working on us and in us.  Harper saw me doing the big, ugly cry in the kitchen this morning and all I can do is tell her the truth…”I miss Grammy and I miss Amon.  I just really want him home.”  I feel it’s important for her to know why and for me just to be honest with her.

For today’s craft I wanted it to be about Amon, but something the wee Kelley’s could still claim ownership of…that was the work of their little hands.  We went with alphabet letters.  So so simple.

All you need is traced letters of the word(s) you are spelling out, scissors, glue, crayons/markers, stickers, magazines and stamps.

I let each kiddo decide what letter in Amon’s name they wanted to do and what color they wanted it to be.  Then they cut out their letter.

Then we brainstormed about what words started with their letter and got to work covering our letters in those items.  We pulled out stickers and stamps that began with our certain letter sound and rummaged through magazines looking for items that matched out letter as well.  The boys needed a little more help with figuring out words that began with their letters, but Harper was a champ…and a big help to Huddy and Sol.

Harper decided it would be nice for them to draw something they wanted to do with Amon when he got home too.  She wants to give him his bottle 🙂

They did a really great job.  I got to do the letter ‘O’ since no one else wanted it.  Sol did help me glue things on though.

And then we hung his beautifully, alphabet crafted name on our chalkboard by our kitchen table so we can see it everyday…breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and all the while in between.

Not sure how much longer we can hang in there, but God is so good and I know He’s got this all figured out for us.  CANNOT wait to get that call and buy those tickets.  I need to be on a plane to Ethiopia stat!!!

Happy Tuesday.

Well I’m happy to report, because I know you are all on pins and needles waiting, we have almost gotten rid of our major ant problem.  You can all take a deep sigh of relief 🙂  The day after using the little ant trap things, I was so happy there were very few little guys wandering around our house.  And the ones that were left, were all moving a bit suspiciously slow.  I imagined lots and lots of dead ants out there somewhere.  Then later that afternoon I opened our dishwasher…yes, our dishwasher and BAM!!!  It was as if every ant in the vicinity had moved into our dishwasher…like it was their safe house from the new ant traps…like a storm cellar for ants avoiding the tornado of stellar, stealth ant killing going on outside in our kitchen.  I wanted to set our dishwasher on fire, but I got wise and avoided a house fire and instead added a few ant traps to the dishwasher.  And today, well today, there are still some ants in our dishwasher, but were working on it.  I don’t want to jinx it, but the ants may officially be on their way out.  So a big kudos to Grant’s Kills Ants.  Look out Terro, there may be a new ant killer in town.

This weekend we picked our fun up a notch.  Waiting for Amon is crazy hard…seriously, seriously, seriously crazy hard, but we’re determined not to spend this time sulking, but celebrating and having some summer fun before school begins and I hit the air again to bring him home.  I CANNOT WAIT, but having a bit of fun is taking the edge off.

My niece McKinley had an ice skating birthday party.  This was everyone’s first time on the ice and it was so funny watching everyone figure it out.  Great first time and a fun way to celebrate McKinley turning 7!

I got some A.M.A.Z.I.N.G mail from my cousin Rebecca.  Lisa Leonard rocks my world.  Thank you so much Rebecca.  Completely rad baby gift.

Our yard is in full bloom.  We were so sad when we noticed our crepe myrtle trees still had not bloomed and then finally…they did.  Crape myrtles are my favorite, so I was a bit nerdy excited when I noticed they finally bloomed…super late, but big beautiful blooms.

And our coneflowers are off the hook.  I can’t tell you how many times over the years I took my mom vases of these flowers.

We did a little grilling and filled up our classy little plastic pool.  I promise, I bet the wee Kelleys will be playing in a plastic pool until they are 18.  They love it.

The wee Kelleys also love to flash the “I love you” sign.  When Harper shot it my way over dinner, I gave her the “I love you” sign, plus a “2”.  They thought it was pretty cool.

Sol’s working on his 🙂

We cannot get enough of Sonic happy hour.  And is there really such a thing as too much Sonic happy hour?  I think not.

Baseball…everyday.  And in the best most cutest form.

And I enjoyed some sewing.  I added a cute little “a” to Amon’s blankie and fixed Harper’s backpack straps.  In all my years of sewing I have only broken one needle…and then I got to work on Harper’s backpack and I broke two needles in one sitting.  But her backpack is fixed and ready for kindergarten.  I hope I can continue to patch her bag as time wears on it and that it lasts her all the way through high school.

Hope you had a great weekend too.  Hope you had some fun!

Happy Monday!

Today, well Friday…it’s technically Saturday now…was a good day.

1 month ago today we were in Ethiopia preparing to meet Amon for the first time…I miss him!

8 months ago today Mom died…I miss her too!  There is so much I want to tell her…so many, many things.  I wonder if she already knows them all.

This morning I decided it was going to be a good day…I literally had a choice…and I’m glad I made the one I did.  I don’t always choose joy, but today I did…I’m a little proud of myself.  It could have easily been a sad, cry kind of day, but it wasn’t.  Did I still cry…maaaaybe 🙂 but I didn’t let that determine how my day would play out.

My day was full of appointments and to-dos and Gym & Swim Camp and play time with grandparents, but there was also fun wee Kelley things that took place…like puzzles…

and army men wars…

and a rare appearance from Buzz and Zurg.

Preparations for school began.  I cannot believe Harper is starting kindergarten and even more, in an amazing school we have been praying for…for well over a year now.  God is too good.

I took homemade chocolate chip cookies to share with Mom’s bank.  She was simply amazing at what she did and her Pinnacle co-workers and clients truly loved her.  That bank may never be the same…she made an impact for sure.

And the friends she worked with are crazy kind.  I left the bank with a car load of baby Amon gifts.  I was overwhelmed and just sat in my car and did a little crying before I pulled out of the parking lot.  Kindness and generosity are so, so important…how it can make a person feel and encourage them and change their day.  I want to strive for kindness and generosity.

Huddy’s drawing of Arthur from Sword In The Stone made me smile a rather big smile.

More sweet mail…again there is that kindness and generosity.  Pretty sweet.  Thank you SO SO much Heather.

The boys found two turtles at Josh’s parents house today.  Even turtles made my day today.  Huddy named his Zippy and Sol named his Batman.

Zippy was actually pretty zippy.

Batman was more turtle like and shy.

I had some alone time today and used it to do what I love to do most.  Create.

A little NeedToBreathe and The Lumineers.  Music playing and solid lyrics showing up.  I truly believe that God is fighting for us in so many, many ways…wars we may not even know are going on.  I am beyond thankful for a God that believes I am worth the fight…that my family is worth the fight.

And I ended the day eating Jelly Bellys and popcorn while watching Courageous with my cousin Hannah.  It could have easily been a bad day, but I can honestly say it was a really good day.  And I am grateful for that.

Happy Friday…Happy Weekend!