Archives for October 2013

October 9, 2013 By 13 Comments

Running Brain

**I’m currently laying in bed trying to watch last week’s episode of Parenthood.  Any other Parenthood lovers out there?  Ummmm, I love it.  I cry almost every episode.  When the premiere was airing Courtney text me to see if I had my kleenex ready.  So flippin’ good.  Our internet has been super sketchy…cutting on and off, on and off.  I kind of want to drop kick it, so who knows if I’ll finally be successful or not.

**I heart fall break.  No lunches to fix.  No homework.  Later bedtimes.  Small humans sleeping in later…minus Amon.  He’s cray.

**We have reserved Fridays for Sonic happy hour.  Too many Kelley kids asking every.single.day if we can go to Sonic.  On fall break we go to Sonic on Tuesdays.  We’re getting wild and crazy.

**Today I did 3 huge loads of laundry…washed, dried, folded and actually put away.  I feel like a champ.  I feel accomplished.  It’s the small things.

**Speaking of laundry…I have a serious dislike for this contraption of laundry detergent.  Serious, serious, serious dislike.  I thought it would be ideal to fit all snug and perfect like on our mudroom shelves…it so does, but then it leaks detergent down onto our washing machine and all under the bottle.  Do you see how this could be a tad bit annoying…drippy, sticky detergent in unwanted areas.  Never again.  I’m going back to my small, normal detergent bottle.  That was quite a rant…who knew a laundry detergent bottle could piss me off so bad.

**Sleepovers are fun.  Lots of playing.  Crafting.  Pizza for dinner.  Movie night.  Your own personal bag of candy.  Amon trying to eat your candy and sit on your face.  I’m serious.  Reading and drawing.  Donuts for breakfast.  Popsicles.  Girl time for our only girl.  Harper was in heaven.

**I’m reading this.  Trying to be a grown up and read…and follow through…and stay on schedule.  I’ve got 13 other people to be accountable to.  Peer pressure for shizzle.

**We’re at $5,980 for The American Heart Association.  You guys are amazing.  Huge thank yous.  It means the world to our family.  The Heart Walk is Saturday…3 days…and there’s still plenty of time to give.  You can donate HERE on Amon’s personal fundraising page.  If you make a donation of $15 or more, send me a message HERE with your mailing address and I’ll mail you a thank you key fob.

**I’m totally smitten with some new fabrics I picked up at Joann’s the other day.  It’s big time love.  I feel like a quilt is in order.

**I’d like to thank Joanns for finally accepting competitors coupons now.  This means I was able to successfully use 40% off coupons on every single thing I bought the other night.  Including this new stack of paper I would like to marry.  I just wish it came in 12×12.  #papercollector

**We haven’t seen our raccoon in a while.  It’s kind of sad.  We miss his wild antics.  Josh said maybe he was involved in a freak hand washing accident.  Crazy raccoons and all the hand washing they do.

**I’m scheming and prepping for Swaziland.  I’ve got high hopes for packing like a genius.  I get 2 checked bags and 2 small carry ons…can it be done?  I like to think yes.

And I’m happy to report the interwebs have finally decided to come together and let me have to joy of watching Parenthood.  Hope your night is as riveting as mine.

Happy Wednesday.

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October 8, 2013 By 13 Comments

Pumpkin Patch x 2

I’ll go ahead and apologize for the photo dump of fall photos which is about to ensue.  You’ve been warned.

“I’m not gonna lie to you.  This is gonna get kind of weird…two pumpkin patches.”  Name that movie.  Ditch the ‘two pumpkin patches” part, but come on…name that movie.  So funny.  So hilarious.  Hey, if you’re the one who nails it, I’ll mail you a key fob.  Leave a comment with the answer.   Did this just turn into a game?  Ummmm, I think it kind of did.

Okay, so Thursday, Huddy and Sol had a MDO field trip to a local pumpkin patch.  My MIL watched Amon and when I dropped him off my niece Meiya was there.  I decided to high jack her for the day.  The more the merrier.  They had the best time.  Meiya is just 5 weeks older than Huddy…they’re on the trippletish scale 🙂

There were animals and a hayride and pumpkin patch and corn popper jump thing and a giant mountain of tractor tires and a box full of corn and a playground and a fun house.  Too much fall fun was had and I brought back 3 absolutely exhausted Kelley kids.

Then on Friday morning, I loaded all the Kelley kiddos into our van and headed to Memphis to visit my cousins Rebecca and Brian…and their little plethora of kiddos…for the weekend.  Becca had lined up another pumpkin patch visit for that night as well.  You could even rent a campfire site and bring goods to roast.  We enjoyed dinner by the fire…and by enjoyed I really mean I heard more than one of the 6 adults present say, “Whose idea was this anyways?”.  Amon only wanted to throw his whole little self directly into the fire and all the kiddos were wild as bucks.  #funtimes  Despite the craziness and Amon, who is a major fire hazard, we had fun.

Brian and Rebecca let us crash at their house for the weekend which we loved.  Harper needs girl time and Natalie was the perfect girl cousin mate for the weekend.

They fed us and I got to go to Cosco for the first time ever…swoon.  The van got a flat tire and Brian got it fixed for me and vacuumed out our nastylicious floors.  It only sucked like 3 hours out of his day.  Sorry Brian.  Not one complaint from him though.  He made my day.  Rebecca and I stayed up late every night…chatting, conspiring, solving the world’s problems along with our own and drinking some crazy sweet wine from a cowboy boot.

It was a grand weekend.  I’m a bit on the tired/recovery side. Late nights + Me + 4 kids + all sleeping in one room = plum tired.  Does ‘plum tired’ sound southern enough?!?  I think so.

Have a great Tuesday!

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October 7, 2013 By 2 Comments

Heart Walk

This Saturday we will be joining local Nashvillians for Nashville’s Heart Walk.  This is to support the American Heart Association and heart research.  Last year Amon was still in the hospital recovering from his open heart surgery and we were unable to attend.  So this year was a no brainer…we are in!

We’ve been raising money for heart research and hit our goal of $5K…which is amazing…and we feel so humbled and honored and thankful to everyone who helped get us to our goal.  It makes me weepy.  We are currently at $5,755 and would love to hit $6K before Saturday.  If you wanted to donate, there’s still time.  You can make a donation on Amon’s personal fundraising page HERE.

If you make a donation of $15 or more, as a thank you, I will mail you a sweet key fob.  After you donate just send me a message HERE and let me know your mailing address.

It is so bizarre looking back at how far God has brought Amon.  Amazing.  And I know we owe big thanks to heart research…for how far things have come, but there is still so much left to do and discover and to help prevent.  Amon will need another surgery eventually…around age 10, if not before…so research is vital…it’s important…and we can help.

So if you feel inclined to donate or come walk with us this Saturday, that would be awesome and thank you!  Amon is doing beyond well…a wildly energetic and sweet kiddo.  Everyday I thank God for his life.

Happy Monday!

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October 4, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Kickin’ It Off

Our day is packed out with fun.  No time to blog today…I have little peoples to tend to 🙂  I hope you have an amazing weekend…full of encouragement and big love.  I’ll leave you with some orders.  They have a theme.  I like it.  Of course.

Taggie blanket for Hannah in Kansas.  Thank you Hannah!

And for my friend Miranda.  It was an honor.  Thank you for asking me!

12×12 Psalm 93:4

12×12 Hebrews 6:19

Peace out.  Happy Friday.

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October 3, 2013 By 9 Comments

10 Year Memories

Josh and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary at the end of June.  Last year I scheduled photos with Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne to celebrate our big day.  When I think back on our wedding day two things stand out as my most favorite memories:  1)  Jumping on a trampoline in our weddings digs and 2) the bird seed that was thrown when we left that night.  They were most my favorite parts.  I was a barefoot bride…we were young…and honestly, we were both just so excited to be getting hitched.  I wanted to re-capture these moments 10 years later and Cheyenne helped us do just that.

We’ve had quite the 10 years of marriage and when I think about how we’ve both grown and changed and supported each other…when I think about all the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, well, without a doubt we would both agree, we’d absolutely do it all over again in a heart beat.

Thank you so much Cheyenne.  You are a true artist and your talent is outstanding.  We are blessed by the gift God has given you.  Thank you for capturing our special day 10 years later.

Happy Thursday.

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October 2, 2013 By 11 Comments

Rainy Day

It’s raining today making for a very lazy, dreary day…which I totally love.  Huddy, Sol and I have been laid up in the bed most of the morning.  Amon has been wreaking his usual overly happy havoc.

Huddy is working on his thank you notes today.  Thank you notes with small kiddos are time consuming, but this is something which is extremely important to me.  It was important to my mom…she instilled it in me and now I’m determined to instill this lost art in the Kelley kids.

I love Sharpies.  I should probably join Sharpies Anonymous.  The extra fine tipped push top ones are my most favorite.  True, true love.  Dang you Sharpie and your smooth, deep black ink.  I’m hopelessly in love with you.  Swoon.

Amon has started doing two new ‘fun’ things and by ‘fun’, I mean, slightly annoying in the most hilarious way.

1)  We have all this artillery hanging out all over our house and Amon has taken it upon himself to load up our floor vents and air conditioner return with said artillery.

2)  He also has started loading up his diaper with our magnet scrabble pieces.  I’ll spare you the picture of when I changed his diaper.  He probably needs to wear clothing more often.  #4thkid

I just found out two days ago that Harper is out of school Friday and all of next week.  Whaaaat?  Yeah, it’s this thing called Fall Break and we have been so insane lately I had no clue.  Convo from the car on Monday:

Harper:  Mom, we don’t go to school on Friday.

Me:  What?  Are you sure?  Why?

Harper:  Ms. Flowers said so.  And we don’t go any next week either.

Me:  Huh?  Why?  How did I not know this?

Harper:  I’m pretty sure.  I think it’s Fall Break.

Me:  Harper, this is amazing news.  I had no idea.  We need to plan something.

So yeah, I am the crazy busy parent who is clueless apparently.  Now a trip to hang with cousins is on the books.  Road trip anyone?

Huddy and Sol are becoming quite the educated 4 and 5-year-old on the history of weapons.  Seriously.  They love Huddy’s book and will sit for quite a while looking at each page and talking it over.  I love it.  Sign them up for the weapon themed Jeopardy asap.

Amon’s Star Wars ewok costume came in this week.  It may be one of the best parenting decisions Josh and I have made…Amon as an ewok.  It’s just so appropriate and hysterical.  I let him wear it all the time because it makes me happy.  I think the resemblance is uncanny.

And Harper lost another tooth yesterday.  Aaaaand the tooth fairy forgot to come.  Yep, she was a no-show.  Harper was devastated.  She didn’t understand why the tooth fairy had not come.  Josh and I were all like…maybe she’s super tired and run down…maybe she’s had a rough month…maybe she just completely forgot.  One of her good little buddies at school lost his tooth yesterday too.  And you know what…the tooth fairy forgot his tooth also.  Score.  Big win for all the tired, forgetful parents out there.  So maybe it was just her birthday or she was sick or on vacation.  Damn tooth fairy.  To make Harper feel better before sending her off to school I put Amon in his ewok costume and let him roam around while she ate breakfast.  Bad mood and tears were cured.  Everyone should have an ewok in their house.

Happy Wednesday.

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October 1, 2013 By 4 Comments

Dear Hudson

So I woke up with that fiery feeling still ablaze.  Last night’s post, yep, them there were fighting words.  For reals.  Here’s the post which was planned for yesterday, but yesterday went crazily awry.  God has a serious sense of humor.  I dig that about Him.  Anyways.  Huddy’s birthday was Sunday.  It was grand and fun.  Enjoy!

Dear Hudson,

You have been anticipating your 5th birthday since almost way back at your 4th.  It’s just how you roll.  I prayed you wouldn’t suffer from the dreaded birthday hangover.  You know..there’s the holiday hangover too…especially after Christmas…when you’ve anticipated something so much and when it’s over you’re slightly depressed it’s ended.  This could have easily been you, but I would like to think this was your best birthday so far.

I have never met a kid like you.  You are quirky and you’re own individual self.  You let nothing stop you from being you.  You are kind and sensitive.  You are brave and courageous and yet, lean towards the side of caution.  You have the most tender heart towards others and it shows as you take your roll as son, brother, cousin and friend seriously.  You are compassionate and empathetic…almost to a fault.  I love this about you.  I love you are this fierce, wild little boy, whose heart leans and bends and breaks for others.  Your compassion…your ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes will take you far.

You love weapons.  Any kind.  Any type.  Does not matter.  This is extremely entertaining to your dad and I.  The fact that we bought you a 360 page book on the visual history of arms and armor and the fact that you loved it…not just liked, but loved it, was the absolute best.  We adore watching you passionately form new loves and interests.  I love how God designed you.

You love Jesus.  You really and truly love Jesus.  You have asked Him into your heart several times now…quite possibly every time you have gone #2 in our bathroom.  And you know what, I think He’s there Hudson.  You pray the most sincerest prayers.  You mean every single word.  You even prayed yourself out of your egg allergy.  You believed in God’s power, you petitioned Him to take it away and He did just that.  You have the faith God speaks and teaches about in the Bible.  You soak Him up.

You are an amazing brother.  You have your little brother tendencies which drive Harper crazy, but you are really a fantastic little and big brother.  You humor Harper and encourage her.  You take time to get down on Amon’s level and I’ve never heard anyone speak as good toddler/Amon talk as you do.  And Solomon adores you.  Your dad and I have the sheer privilege to watch you and Sol grow and change and the bond and friendship you share is unmatched. Even though you are only 4 months older than him, you are a great big brother to Sol.  He looks up to you and you have always been his biggest fan.  Since the beginning, there has been no rivalry because you Hudson, chose to cheer Sol on.  Even when Sol figured out how to do something before you, you were always thrilled for him.  It makes me all mushy and teary.  I promise to always pray for your brotherhood with Solomon…and Amon and Harper.  Always.

You make me a better mom.  You teach me new things all the time.  God reveals himself to me through you.  I hope one day you fully understand how absolutely in love I am with you and your heart.  You amaze me.  You make me smile.  You make me laugh.  You drive me wild.  You make me feel good.  You make others feel good.  I think your spiritual gift will be encouraging others or teaching them how to load a gun.  Time will only tell.

Thank you for being you Huddy.  You are my most favorite 5-year-old boy.  I can only say this for the next 4 months, but I will tell you often in that time.  God has blessed us far beyond our imaginations with you.  I never could have dreamed the little boy you have become.  I am anticipating the man God will form you into.  He will use you to change the world and I will be cheering you on every step of the way.

Happy 5th Birthday Hudson.  I love you tons.

Love, Mom

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