Archives for December 2012

December 31, 2012 By 11 Comments

A Bid Farewell

Today is the last day of 2012…part of me loves it and part of me hates it.  I always feel with a new year there are lots of new possibilities…the world at your finger tips…magic, but it’s also sad to let the first full year without my mom go.  I guess life is most definitely always full of these little catch 22s.

I’m sick…again…for reals.  Can’t believe it, but I’ve got some strong meds and maybe some whiskey to help ease the pain.  Ha.  I’ve spent most of the day in the bed, but did get out for a bit here and there to document our last day of 2012.

Krispy Kreme for breakfast.  This dozen didn’t have a chance in the Kelley house.

A morning game of checkers.  In the bed.

My bed side table.  The last part of December has not been kind to me.

Lunch of the sick.  Ramen noodles.  #thecollegeyears

Lots of book reading.  In bed.

Cutest little crib napper ever.  Rad.  Stellar.  Totally.  {Insert any other cool 90s adjectives}

Josh…the glue that holds this family together when sickness strikes.

Ringing in the New Year in the exact same clothing I’ve been wearing for 2 days now.  Maybe the New Year will bring on a change out of PJs and a pedicure.

Mischievous, funny, quirky, cute little brother boys.  In the bed.

Movie watching.

More attempted crawling.  With fabulous hair.

Getting outside for a much needed walk.

Chili…it’s whats for dinner.

Excited to start this little reading gem.  Plus a bit scared.

And most definitely…hands down…no contest…the best thing about 2012.  Our incredibly sweet ace of hearts.

Here’s to a New Year.  Here’s to 2013.  Now I need another nap.

Happy Monday.

Filed Under: family Tagged With: , , 11 Comments
December 28, 2012 By 2 Comments

Insta Friday

Are you on Instagram?  I am.  It’s pretty fun.  Posting pictures and seeing pictures posted by others.  You can find me at pitterpatterart.  I’m not completely back to feeling like my self yet…afraid I have bronchitis or pneumonia now…or some other crazy chest thing.  So today I give you all my most recent Instagram/camera pictures.  An easy Insta Friday.

Early risers…like 6:30 early…like too early.  Will they ever sleep until 9?

New kicks.  I am a committed shoe user.  I buy one pair and then wear them until they get holes in them…literally.  I recently discovered the holes in my beloved gray and black New Balances and realized it was time to buy a new pair.  It was kind of hard.  My mom bought me those shoes a few months before my first 1/2 marathon almost 2 years ago, but there were holes.  Big holes.  I took some advice and tried on a pair of Brooks Pure Flow running shoes.  Be still my runner’s heart.  Amazing.  I may never go back.

My oldest nephew Coop is almost as tall as me now.  I still remember waiting hours upon hours sitting in the hospital hallway waiting for him to make his grand entrance.  He made me an aunt.

Ninja Turtle Love.  How did this craze come back?  Josh Kelley is a total user of the library and checked out some old school TMNT dvds and boom…just like that we have a new phase.

Josh finding a home for every last little tiny sticker to adorn the Shellraiser Van.  The boys were elated.

I think he could quite possibly be our doctor’s favorite patient.  Maybe.  Quite possibly.  Probably.  Most definitely.

After a shot go ahead and push Amon’s snooze button.  Gone.  Super cute while he’s at it.  And eyelashes any woman would kill for.

7am Christmas morning.  They were excited.

New game.  Try & get Amon to crawl.  How to play:  Tie a stuffed animal on the end of a scarf and try to lure him into crawling.  The end.

They can fight hard, but they can love harder.

The cheeks.  The lips.  The lashes.  Goodness.

Nina and Baba are in town and they are handing out some big love.  Amon was a happy recipient.

They’re readers.  And this may be there favorite thing about Target…except, of course, the popcorn.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend.  Happy Friday.

Filed Under: family Tagged With: , 2 Comments
December 27, 2012 By 5 Comments

Christmas Favorites

Here we sit in the aftermath of Christmas.  We’ve spent the last two days just home…reading books, playing, crafting and assembling lego kits.  I like the lazy slow days after Christmas.

When looking back it was quite a delightful holiday, even though all holidays are very different now and have a sting to them.  It being Amon’s first Christmas made it extra, extra special…especially with the year he’s had.

I sat back most of the holiday and just thought about how grateful I was to be his mom…to be all the wee Kelleys’ mom and to do this crazy little life with Josh Kelley.  And most of all…incredibly thankful for the gift of Jesus.  I am always amazed at the gift of Jesus…a Savior to the world with crazy redemption and grace and love just for our crappy, undeserving selves.  God’s ginormous love for us truly floors me.  I want to try to love like that.

This was my most favorite picture of Christmas because A) Josh Kelley’s expression, B) Huddy’s blurry face, C) Amon looks like a cartoon character and D) Sol looks like he just lost his best friend.  My boys…keeping it real.  Harper is my sanity.

Our Christmas was pretty simple.  Nothing fancy and very laid back…which I adored.  And this year with 4 out of 6 of us coming down with the flu, it made us slow down a lot…which I really enjoyed…minus the sick part.

I loved their grateful hearts and their joy and anticipation and excitement.  It was our best Christmas yet.  And at the end of Christmas night we sat down and did our annual timer family photo in front of our tree.

Happy

Silly

Mad

Mad may be my favorite.

And now we’re gearing up for the New Year.  Josh and I have already started talking about our 2013 goals.  I’m excited for a new year.  A new start.  New goals and the wonder & excitement of change.  It always feels like anything is possible with a new year.  So have you started thinking about your goals?  Any crazy ones?  Any that seem impossible, but you think, “Just maybe this year.”  I feel that way about a lot of ours too.  Excited to see what this next year will hold.

Happy Thursday.

Filed Under: Christmas, family Tagged With: , 5 Comments
December 26, 2012 By 5 Comments

First Word {Ma-ma}

All of my children have said “dada” for their first word.  Harper still holds the title for making me wait the longest to hear her say those sweet little syllables…”mama”…at the young old age of 10 months old.  I was determined that Amon’s first word would be “mama”…I would finally claim the title of first word for myself.  Since the first time we met him, I would say those traditional parental words, “Can you say ‘ma-ma’?”  And then repeat over and over and over again for his first 4 months home.  Last week during our flu rampage I heard the sweetest little words come from our little ace of hearts mouth.  Ma-ma.  Maybe the two greatest syllables ever uttered.  It is bliss.

And what makes this one a little sweeter is that we’ve been a bit concerned with Amon’s hearing…like if he can and if so how much.  One of my 2013 goals is to get to the bottom of this, but what a hope filled heart I have since hearing him say my name.  There’s something there and wow…it’s just amazing to know that.

So enjoy.  Ignore the snot pouring out of his nose and thin iPhone quality and the chaotic background and all the dead space in the wait.  You do what you gotta do as a Mama trying to catch those crazy good words.

Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: ace of hearts, family Tagged With: , , 5 Comments
December 25, 2012 By 4 Comments

Merry Christmas!

“And the darker the night got, the brighter the star would shine.”

Thankful for a baby who came to save the world.  Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Filed Under: Christmas, faith Tagged With: , 4 Comments
December 24, 2012 By 3 Comments

December 24

We still have some gnarly coughs, but everyone is definitely on the up and up around the Kelley house.  We even ventured out last night and drove around to look at Christmas lights.  The wee Kelleys adored it and we kept our germs to ourselves in our car.  It was a win win.

Today we made germ filled kid decorated cookies.  I will only eat one of Harper’s…I wouldn’t touch one of the boys decorated cookies with a 10ft. pole.  They lick and touch and lick some more and add more sprinkles, all the while grossing Josh and me out.  Harper is careful and cleans her hands and doesn’t lick all over her fingers while she works.  I like her.

All our presents are wrapped and under the tree.  I know the kids are excited and I’m pretty darn excited too.  Anticipation and Joy.

Huddy brought me the sweetest picture all wrapped up in wrapping paper.  He said it was my Christmas gift.  I opened it up and just cried big drippy tears.  Tis’ the season.

And tonight before bed we read the Christmas story from the kids’ Jesus Storybook Bible.  I love this little Bible.

“This baby would be like that bright star shining in the sky that night.  A Light to light up the whole world.  Chasing away darkness.  Helping people to see.  And the darker the night got, the brighter the star would shine.”

Oh how thankful I am that Jesus came.  The anticipation and joy.  The weary world rejoices.

  Happy Christmas Eve.

Filed Under: Christmas, faith Tagged With: , 3 Comments
December 23, 2012 By 4 Comments

December 23

Wow.  So I’ve decided if the flu had a face, I would totally punch flu in the face.  Terrible people.  Terrible.  But I am happy to report that after 8 days, today I finally feel a little less like death.  Internet fist bump.  I have been so sick and just feeling so down about how this time leading up to Christmas has looked nothing like I had envisioned.  No kindness advent.  No salt dough ornaments.  No fun Christmas crafts.  No baking.  Ugh…it just made my heart hurt…all those well thought out plans and then BAM!  the flu, in the worst kind of way.  BUT…we sure did slow down…that’s for sure.  And I will say, the Kelley family has enjoyed each others sick company.  And for that I am thankful.

And I would love for us to get to do today’s kindness advent.  We bought up fun books…before the flu hit…in preparation and maybe, just maybe will get to give them away some how.

We shall see.  Right now Sol and I are curled up nice and snug with some Gatorade on the couch.  But maybe we will get some new energy.  Who knows…the Kelleys could get crazy with our flu love.

And…Hey tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  Happy Sunday!

Filed Under: Christmas, family Tagged With: , , , 4 Comments
December 20, 2012 By 11 Comments

December 20

Thank you for all the kind words about us getting well…you guys are just super nice.  We’re holding steady at 3 Vs. 3…Harper, Sol and Amon all tested negative for flu…virtual high-5s all around.  Since being on heavy meds and totally out of it for large parts of the day due to sheer exhaustion and just feeling like death in general, here are some things I’ve taken note of during our week with the flu.

**I used to be rock solid…like rock.solid.  Now I’m a big gushy mess.  I cry all the time and well, give me the flu and the water works go into overload.  I miss my Mom and just like a little kid, while feeling so sick all I want is my Mom.  This week is one of those where she would have taken off work in a heart beat and taken Amon to her house and let us all get better.  And don’t even get my heart thinking about how she didn’t get to meet Amon…buckets people, I could have filled buckets at this point with the tears I’ve cried over that little fact…she never saw his sweet face.  Gosh.

**Last night while semi trippin’ on really strong meds and unable to sleep I tried to figure out what we were going to do with Amon today.  I thought, “I can put out a Help Wanted facebook post”.  Clearly finding someone to watch Amon…hello…the cutest baby ever…would not be too difficult.  I figured I’d slap a cute picture up, add some facts like “world’s cutest baby” “most fabulous hair ever” yada, yada, yada “Did I mention fabulous hair” and we’d have us a taker for our little ace of hearts for the day.  In the end, Josh just called his mom.  A much better idea.

**I didn’t get much sleep last night and I’m not even kidding about some of my medicines wigging me out a bit.  Use Care When Operating A Car Or Dangerous Machines.  Yep, that warning is for reals.  I was a bit out of it this morning and apparently after dropping Harper off at school I came in and laid into Josh, while he was laying there in all his flu glory at 7am in the morning, because I thought the car broke down in the driveway.  He said I insisted the van broke down and that it was the transmission.  There was some yelling on my part and I may have used the word ‘damn’ thrown in for dramatics.  All I remember is crying on our floor and the next thing I knew I woke up in a pile of dirty clothes on our bedroom floor.  This flu thing is not for the faint of heart.  It makes you crazy.

**As Josh was proofreading this post he said, “You forgot to mention there was nothing wrong with the car.”  Yes, Josh Kelley, got up and took the car to the shop…almost throwing up in their waiting room…all because of my hallucination.  He’s a keeper.**

  **Josh and I got a good flu laugh when we decided to change our Christmas card picture to this one.  Thank goodness our Christmas cards have already gone out.  Merry Christmas from the Kelleys…and…you’re welcome.  #bestfamilyportraitever

**I realized this morning my monthly business tax had to be post marked today.  Really?  Today?  But I made it happen.  It was super windy and warm here in Tennessee, so wearing the exact same flu stricken clothes I’ve worn almost all week with hair that has not be combed in, ummmm, 6 days and barefoot, I dragged my achy body out to the mailbox…and stepped in a big pile of dog poop.  Yep.  It just gets better.

**When I was pulling out of the driveway to pick Harper up from school…same flu stricken clothes and week long uncombed hair…I did wipe the poop off my foot…the wind was blowing so bad I noticed our mailbox was open…and my business tax…that had to be post marked today…was not in the mailbox anymore…and our mailman had not come yet.  I then proceeded to make my way through our neighbors yards trying to find the envelope.  Flu stricken and breaking out in hot flashes, I finally found it 3 houses down.

**We’ve had back-to-back, to-back, to-back doctors appointments.  In two days every person in our family has had a doctor’s visit and copay.  Glad maxing out our family deductible and really sticking it to our health insurance was one of my 2012 family goals.  I kid.

**Huddy and Sol were suppose to be enjoying a Christmas movie day at their MDO today…wear PJs to school, eat cookies and popcorn, Christmas parties and book exchange kind of day.  When I broke the news they would not be going Huddy broke down in a big, loud teary mess of a cry…his little voice and his hot little feverish head just pushed me right over the edge.  I then warped into a 4-year-olds mind set too and started to cry…and loudly.  Josh just laid there looking bewildered, back and forth, between me and Huddy crying our big drippy loud tears.  We’re kind of dramatic.

**And tomorrow’s kindness isn’t going to happen as planned…again.  I shouldn’t be baking anything…for anyone.  Unless you want a flu sandwich.  But with all the pain and sadness going on in the world this week, we’ll spread some sort of kindness tomorrow.  I will forever believe that kindness, no matter how big or small, really matters.  It truly does.

Hope you’re still spreading kindness.  Hope your holiday is starting off sweetly.  Hope your house is flu free.  And hope you didn’t step in dog poop barefooted.  Here’s to the weekend.  Soak it up and enjoy those babies.

Filed Under: family Tagged With: , , , , 11 Comments
Next Page »