Archives for July 2013

July 19, 2013 By 4 Comments

Friday {Beach Edition}

We enjoyed a beachy vacation this week.  I love vacation/don’t love vacation.  It’s lazy and fun and chaotic and everyone is totally off their schedules and we eat far too much sugar…if there really is such a thing…and when we get home we have to pull a few days of damage control to get everyone whipped back into shape.  The memories made and enjoyed and cherished are so very much worth it though.  Serious fun was had.

Josh was out of the country so the kids, Ashley and I all drove down to see my Aunt Linda and Uncle Tom.

{I’d like to insert a small bragging portion here:  A)  We made it in 6.5 hours.  Uncle Tom said it was a record.  Boom.  I like holding records.  And B) We only stopped once…like for reals.  Turns out, the wee Kelleys have bladders made of steel…champion bladders, if you will.  I was proud.  End bragging portion.}

Aunt Linda and Uncle Tom’s house was probably our most visited vacation spot growing up, so I adore being able to take my kids to their house now too.  We love our time with them.  It’s a lot to take on 4 kiddos ages six and under…they’re loud (I am too), messy, crazy, energetic and sometimes irrational (I am too), so it always is so good for my heart to see how patient and kind and loving Nina and Baba are to our sometimes insane children…and me.  I adore it and it reminds me of how Jesus treats me.

I have so many more vacation pictures to share.  I can’t wait to sit down and go through all of them.  Everyone loved the beach…a lot.  Amon was crazy fun and ate a lot of sand and drank a lot of salt water with a happy little smile on his face.

Now to get ready for the re-settling, some laundry and getting everyone back into our routine.  Luckily, we’ve got 2 weeks left of summer…what shall we do?!?  What other fun can we have?!?

Happy Friday.

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July 18, 2013 By 5 Comments

She’s Getting Big

Harper has been asking to get her ears pierced for a while now, but we wanted to make sure it was something she really wanted to do.  You know, not just a “Hey, I want my ears pierced”, but a “Hey, I’m for real, I want my ears pierced.”  Mom took me in third grade to get mine pierced…I cried…and since then I’ve added to those two holes…tallying at 9 in two ears.  So when Harper assured us over some time she was confident in her decision, I was a bit excited for her.

She’s not a big crier…especially when it comes to pain.  When she gets shots, she never cries, but I could tell she was nervous when she hopped up in the chair.  I just wanted to squeeze her and tell her all the things that are crazy wonderful about her.

The lady was super nice.  Harper just looked so big waiting and watching.  And, no tears.  She didn’t cry and yet, me…well, I was a hot mess.  I did a whole sniffling “I’m just so proud of you” mess of a mess cry.  Harper just looked at me with her big eyes and this empathetic smile and said, “It’s okay mom.  It didn’t even hurt.”  I’m a blessed momma.

Afterwards we went to Target and got icees and popcorn to celebrate.  I have a lot of fun with this girl.  Think I’ll keep her.

Happy Thursday.

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July 17, 2013 By 1 Comment

So Quick To Judge

I read THIS POST last Thursday and have not been able to shake it.  I’ve literally thought about it constantly.  My heart felt it.  I want to be apart of keeping families together.  I want to be apart of not only showing the kiddo Jesus, but the parents as well.  I want to come along side these woman and help them as their sister in Christ.  I want to ooze Jesus and compassion and love.

I make mistakes all the time.  I’m a massive sinner, no different on the sin chart than anyone else.  Exactly the same.  A cruddy sinner.  Filthy.  In need of a crazy amount of grace and love.  I’ve been so quick to cast those stones before and think I had all the answers for someone’s life, but oh how wrong I was.  Hugely wrong.  We don’t need more judgement, we need more Jesus…we need more love and grace and empathy.

If you’re so inclined, take a look.  Shannon says it so much more eloquently than I ever could.

Hope your Wednesday is filled to the brim with some love, grace and compassion.

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July 16, 2013 By 6 Comments

Africa Ice Cream Sandwiches

There’s no hiding it…we like to celebrate any occasion with yummy treats.  Totally how we roll.  Most recently we rocked out Sol’s 4th Gotcha Day.  We started the morning off with donuts…per Sol’s request.

He also asked for…wait for it…Africa shaped brownies with ice cream.  Later he asked if I could make them like an ice cream sandwich.  On their special days, I’m game for any celebratory sweet challenge.  I want to make their day waaaaaay special, so as long as the request is feasible I’m good to take it on.

After searching Pinterest…God’s gift to the human race…I found THIS PIN for Ice Cream Starwiches.

I used the same concept from the recipe, but made a few changes.  I used my Africa cookie cutter and I also used two containers of ice cream and smushed the ice cream into a 9×13 dish and cut the ice cream out using the same cookie cutter.  I really thought these might be kind of difficult, but turns out, they weren’t that bad at all.

They were yummy and the absolute best thing of all, was Solomon was thrilled.  He beamed.  He thought I was the best momma in the whole wide world.  Everyone devoured them right up…an extremely sweet, sticky Gotcha Day mess.

Happy Tuesday!

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July 15, 2013 By 3 Comments

Moments

Rain watching.

Checker playing.

Crazy, sweet boys.

Anakin Skywalker VS Stormtrooper battle.

Big kids.

To intervene or not.

Wave pool love.

Summer friends.

Raising him right.

Gotcha day breakfast.

Excitement.

Drive-in celebrating.

Breaking in new running shoes.

And clapping for yourself at 7am.

Hope you’ve had some great moments later.  Happy Monday.

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July 12, 2013 By 10 Comments

4 Years with Solomon

Four years have come and gone and wow.  Solomon changed our lives yet again, as each Kelley kid does.  Today is his Gotcha Day.  We celebrate today not just as Sol’s day, but as a crazy special day for our entire family.  There are no presents, just lots of celebrating and sweet treats and him picking something special for us to do as a family to celebrate the day he was placed in our arms for forever.  A celebration of our family growing.

All week I’ve kind of been a hot mess crying all the time.  Last year his Gotcha Day was special, but so empty on some accounts because Mom and Amon were missing.  I’ve just been way overwhelmed with God’s goodness this year and just how special and amazing Sol is.  I’ve been way overwhelmed with the honor I have in being his Mom.  God could have picked anyone…anyone in the entire world, but He chose me to be his momma.  That’s insane.  And I’m incredibly grateful, honored and humbled for the chance.

Today I’m just weeping around and soaking up my Solomon.  His name means “wanted” or “longed for” and it just fits him so well.  We were over the moon, madly in love with him when they placed him in our arms.  God had been preparing his heart for us, and our hearts for him.

Harper was crazy about him…like smotheringish.  She had only recently turned two and she could not wait to get her hands on another little brother.  And, well, Huddy…that makes me cry all new tears.  They are my “twins”.  God has bonded Huddy and Sol in a very deep way.  They are seriously the best of friends and have a brotherhood…a kinship…that runs crazy deep.  They discuss what they will be when they grow up and most recently decided on being motorcycle riders so they don’t have to go to college and move out of our house.  They’ve declared they’re never getting married so they can live with each other for forever.  That’s just them.  They love each other deeply.  I prayed for their brotherhood long before we even knew they’d be so close in age and I continue to pray for their brotherhood…that it remains thick and strong and bold and that they would love each other madly for their entire lives.  Sigh.  They just make me all swoony.

Sol is just an awesome kid.  He’s loving and sweet.  He loves hearing about Africa and the more information I can give him, the better.  He’s the reason we’ll find ourselves back in Ethiopia far earlier than we’d planned on going back.  He wants to go so badly and we want to take him.  He’s passionate, proud and sensitive.  He’s determined.  He’d rather drown than come up out of the water without retrieving his dive stick off the floor of the deep end.  He’s daring and a small, little risk taker.  He’ll be our mountain biker or X-Games participant.  He wants to try everything on his own first…a super independent 4-year-old…which me and his teachers are totally thankful for.  He’s bold and won’t be pushed around.  He’s hilarious and will say just about anything to get a laugh.  He enjoys potty words and goes for shock value.  He’ll be Class Clown in high school.  He has one of the best laughs…this deep down, shrill laugh.  He remembers everything.  EVERY.THING.  Be careful what you say around this kid.  He’s affectionate and gives the most sincere hugs and kisses.  He loves spicy food and the color orange.  I love and appreciate every one of his qualities even though some of them drive me crazy or almost give me a heart attack.  It’s just how God designed Sol and I adore His beautiful, unique creation in him.

So Happy Gotcha Day Solomon James Altaseb Kelley.  You are just divine and tender and all boy.  God has blessed us beyond our wildest dreams with you.  Love you like crazy.

Today is a grand day for our family.  Happy Friday.

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July 11, 2013 By 26 Comments

Craft Time {Paper Lemonade}

First, thank you so much for all the emails and messages and comments yesterday.  You guys are super encouraging and I completely appreciate it.  It’s always a bit nerve racking throwing your little insecure truths out there for anyone to read, but it’s just where my heart & head are right now.  So thank you for being so kind.  Now for some craftyness.

I think my all time favorite craft supply is paper.  Paper has endless possibilities especially when you pair it with glue and scissors.

The other day Harper asked if we could make real lemonade.  Unfortunately I never ever ever have an entire bag of lemons on hand…I don’t even keep one lemon on hand for that matter.  She was okay with my, “Harp we don’t have any lemons.”  So she then asked for a lemonade craft.  Now I can work with that.  My brain got to thinking and here’s what we came up with.

Here are the supplies you will need: paper (we used 8 1/2 x 11 sized sheets), square shaped sponge, white paint, glue gun, tall straws (I just stuck two regular sized straws together to make the larger straw), scissors, glue, tiny paper triangles and lemon slice tracers (the dark blue circles & half circle).

I did a little prep by doing an example first so the wee Kelleys could see what the craft would resemble as they were working.  I also made tracers for the lemon slices so they could trace their own.

Okay, so Step 1:  Cut out their glass.  I went ahead and just traced my example one and let them cut it out.

Step 2:  Each kiddo decided how many lemons they wanted in their lemonade, traced them onto yellow paper, cut them out and glued them to their glass.

Step 3:  Next they glued the little triangles to the inside of their lemons.  I pre-cut a bunch of tiny triangles from different patterned papers and let them go to town glueing.  Harper had a system.

Step 4:  Ice cube time.  I just cut a square out of an old sponge I had and then they stamped away.  An old magazine cover folded in half held our paint…so profesh.

Step 5:  And lastly each kiddo laid out where they wanted their straw and I hot glued it in place.

There you have it.  Paper lemonade.  When in doubt, just use paper.  Not as tasty, but just as cute.

Happy Thursday.

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July 10, 2013 By 16 Comments

Business Thoughts

We rocked out an awesome pool day today.

So fun.  Brea and I may have done some snazzy pool tricks with those float rings.  It was grand.  I sat by the pool keeping up with Amon and hanging with two very self employed business savy ladies.  My mind has been reeling with thoughts about where I should go and what should I do from here.  Wherever I am right now.

Natalie was one of those woman and she’s way cool.  She runs a local consignment sale…Hooked On Consignment.  All the details that come together to pull this sale off absolutely would stress me out and push me over the edge.  Natalie is a far better woman than me.  Everything is so organized and just awesome.

Hooked On Consignment is having their back to school sale July 27th-August 3rd and I’m totally going to be there.  I have three kiddos to dress for the fall and I need to get some jazzy clothes for good prices.  Locals this is a must.  And make sure to check out their facebook page HERE for all the details.

Brea  is also this totally self employed business lady who could sell you crap in a bag and you would love it.  She would never actually sale crap in a bag, but you get it…she’s good at whatever she does and everyone likes her for it.  She always has new ideas for me too.  She’s a thinker.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to be a success in the art world or even the blog world.  #youthinkI’mlame  It’s my truth though.  I think it’s natural to want to succeed and for you to want others to love the thing you love.  That’s me today.  I’m just feeling weighed down by all the logistics on the business side and I’m just not sure where to go or what to do.  I need to just put some serious prayer into it and ask God to scream the answers back at me.  I have a really hard time hearing/listening to Him sometimes.

My heart and head are just a bit CRAY…not just crazy…but CRAY.  That’s even more than crazy.  I haven’t created anything in about 2 weeks.  Ugh.  And I just don’t feel like me and I have had zero time.  4 kids during the summer kind of fills my time.  To create is just a part of me…how God wired me and when I don’t do this thing I so adore and love, I get a little off.  And today I feel off.  I don’t feel totally like me and my mind has been running in every direction on how to make more time to create…how to make the time to further the business part of this blog gig.

I have all these thoughts about if I should go back to just crazy amounts of custom orders.  Or should I keep things as is with some custom orders every now and then and continue with Saturday Sales.  Do I start selling prints instead of originals or venture out into the commercial world and try and sell some copyrights.  Or should I try teaching classes or host DIY weekends or do I finally carve out the time to make an art tutorial.  So many, many ideas always running around in my brain.

And then there’s fear.  So many fears.  I don’t want to be the person who doesn’t take the risk or plunge because of fear, but right now I’m just confused as to what cliff or pool to jump off or into.  One things for sure, I love to create.  I know God designed me this way and I am truly thankful for it.  I don’t want to waste it or use it in the wrong way.  Whatever I do, whatever road I travel I want to honor the Creator who made me with an innate drive to create.  I tell my kids all the time, “God did not give you a spirit of fear, but one of power and love.  So be strong and courageous and brave.”  A little 2 Timothy 1:7 combined with Joshua 1:9.  I like combos.  And I certainly don’t want to let fear stand in my way.

Thanks for listening.  I know this was kind of rambly and wordy and all over the place.  Sometimes my blog isn’t all rainbows and baked goods and raccoon stories.  Tomorrow I’ll share a craft to make up for it 🙂

Happy Wednesday.

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