Archives for August 2016

How do we even begin to say thank you?!?!?!?  Those two little words just don’t feel big enough, but I hope you genuinely know how thankful we are for all the love and encouragement and generosity that has poured in since yesterday.  We are so overwhelmed by God’s goodness and the way He uses His people.

Our GoFundMe account is off to an incredible start, orders have been coming in, Bible journaling classes are being booked and the only thing left in my shop currently is my Online Bible Journaling Class.  We have had some incredible offers to help us fundraise in different ways outside of what we’ve conjured up…I CANNOT WAIT to tell you about them.  People have been sharing and praying already.  My inbox exploded…I’m still working through each email…and my phone blew up all day yesterday.  We are just so so blown away.  Thank you, thank you, thank you times a million.  When we say yours prayers are most valuable to us, we honestly mean every word of that.

If you bought goodies or the Bible journaling class from my shop, all orders have been shipped and emails sent.  I am already working on more key fob sets and will have them posted sometime tomorrow.  Stationary, tees and art are coming soon.

I have cried approximately 1,324 times since yesterday.  It’s true.  I just sent a friend a text and told her what I loved most about this is how God spurs on His people to use what they have.  We don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be kind, loving and generous.  We have had people offer to sale their items they we’re going to donate to Goodwill.  We’ve had people offer to give us a percentage from their business’ for a week.  We’ve had people offer up their small business commission.  We’ve had people telling us they wouldn’t miss our Noonday party.  We’ve had people wanting to buy a slew of name pillows.  We’ve had people asking when more key fobs are coming.  We’ve had people asking to host classes.  We’ve had people who just give their hard earned cash.  And we’ve had people storming heaven with prayers for our son and us and sending the most thoughtful and kind worded messages that literally make me weep.

I am the person who takes our leftover pickle jars and fills them with discount flowers from Kroger so I know love and generosity does not have to be big and fancy and elaborate.  God loves what we offer when we offer what we have no matter how big or small.

And now I am absolutely sobbing like a baby because I just cannot tell you through this computer screen how honored and humbled and grateful we are to each of you.  So please please know how incredibly thankful we are for all the prayers and love and generosity and support for our son and us. May God receive every last bit of the glory.

Happy Tuesday!

I just dropped the two littles off at school and am currently perched on our couch pecking away at this keyboard and eating the last leftover pizza Josh Kelley and I snuck into the house late last night.  When I’m emotional I tend to eat so hence the pizza at 9am.  It’s hard asking for help, but also sometimes it’s just a must so we throw down our pride and reach out for help.

God is simply insanely good.  His ways really are vastly different than ours.  His thoughts so much greater than ours.  Josh Kelley said the other day casually in the kitchen while preparing dinner, “Could you have ever imagined our life like this…”  I got teary eyed.  Never.  We have been through hard, rough times, but it is far sweeter than I ever ever imagined and grabs my heart daily.  I feel honored to do this life.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

There are 5 kiddos who call me momma…4 are all mine and 1 is not…and turns out there is a sixth in China who will call me momma as well.  We are adopting the sweetest 3-year-old boy who has a complex heart defect.  We have been on a fast and furious journey to him and are hopeful to have him home by the end of 2016 and in the tender care of our trusted pediatrician and cardiologist.  We have gathered and filled out paperwork…homestudies, dossier, hours of late night training in the dark while our kids watch movies…which usually take months in less than 2 weeks time.  We have kissed envelopes of paperwork goodbye and prayed they arrive safely.

We love this child and simply cannot wait to get him home.  Long ago familiar feelings of anxiousness have been trying to creep in while we wait for paperwork to process and governments to do what they need to do…all the while knowing our kiddo who has a very special little heart is waiting.  Every morning I wake up and tell God I surrender it all.  Every last piece of this life I laughably call mine.  I name each thing out loud always including my 4th sons’ name.  Take every last piece of this life Jesus and make it yours.

When I think about him and what is ahead for him and the loss and grief and heartache I cry and pray to God to just take every last piece of it.  Make it His.  Carry our son.  Carry us together.  Be what we absolutely are ill-equipped to be.  Mend and heal and restore.  Bring joy and attachment.  Fill each of our hearts with empathy and compassion like we could never imagine.  Fill the spaces.  Bend time and make us a family.

This adoption has been very different in so many ways than our Ethiopian ones.  #1 on the list is financials.  We are having to pull off the funds in just a few months we would normally work and raise in a years time.  So we are asking for help and there are several ways to participate.

1.  I’ve set up an online shop HERE.  There are key fobs sets, a few pieces of art and I’ve made my online Bible journaling class available.  Every penny will go directly to our adoption process.  I am going to be working to keep the store stocked and will also have stationary and Sasquatch Design Society tees available soon.

If you are a past Bible journaling class attender, if you enjoyed the class would you mind sharing about the online class and linking my shop ???  Getting the word out is going to be crazy helpful and I would just kiss your face off if you could help by sharing.  And maybe you just love your key fob or art or you just want to help us spread the word, please feel free to share my store until you’re blue in the face 🙂  www.pitterpatterart.bigcartel.com

2.  Our Noonday Collection party taking place in September will benefit our adoption.  Our family will receive 20% of all purchases!!!!  This is so great.  This means you get to do your purposeful purchasing and not only are you partnering with women and families around the world, but you are also partnering with our family to help bring our new little guy home.  Win/win.  So mark your calendars for Sunday, September 25 from 2-4pm.  You know I will feed you well and hopefully you’ll laugh until you snort.  And I’ll probably hug you.

If you can’t make the party, no worries.  You can shop online HERE and we still receive 10% of your purchase.   Just make sure at checkout Laura Kelley is your hostess and Rebecca Daniels is your ambassador.  Let’s all think Christmas.  Too soon?!?!?!  According to Josh Kelley, it’s never too soon to discuss Christmas.

3.  All custom orders and Bible journaling classes will currently go towards our adoption process.  This will not remain, but while we are working to raise these funds this feels like a logical move.  So if you’ve been thinking about placing an order (art, key fobs, name pillows, etc) or booking a Bible Journaling class, now is your time 🙂  Message me HERE or email me at pitterpatterart at gmail dot com and we’ll work out all the details.

And 4.  This one is hard for us because sometimes it’s just not easy to ask for help, but our adoption agency partners with GoFundMe and so we have an account now.  We have realized we cannot do this alone and like I told a friend the other day about a totally different subject, “There is nothing wrong or embarrassing about knowing we need help and asking for it.”  So if you feel inclined to give you can check out our page HERE.  Again, all the money will go directly towards our adoption process.  We will absolutely not be buying cookies or pin wheels or pizza with the funds.

And again, if you would share that would be amazing.  Getting the word out is half the battle.  www.gofundme.com/kelleyfamily8

Lastly, would you pray with us and for us?  Would you pray for our boy and his heart.  Would you pray for the change that is coming for him and us.  Would you pray for the loss and grief he is going to experience.  Would you pray for God to prepare him and us.  Would you pray God would again do what only God can do.  Above all else, we absolutely covet your prayers.

So thank you in advance.  Thank you for reading, considering, helping, sharing and praying.  We’re going from 7 to 8 and could not be more thankful to God.  He is good and mighty and He alone makes what feels so impossible possible.  We cannot wait to watch Him do what only He can do.  And even if no money comes in…even if nothing sells…even if no one chooses to share…He is still God, He is still good and we’re still bringing home a son!  Another small human is going to call me momma and I do not take that for granted for one second.

Happiest of Mondays!

Who is else is excited it’s Friday?!?!?  I totally am.  We’ve got things like baseball and soccer and the drive-in and just some mellow chill time on the docket.

A few things for today:

Noonday recently launched it’s new fall line.  YOU GUYS!!!!!  The more I look at it the longer my list grows.  I was all, “I’ll just pick a few things to show everyone” and this is what I could barely narrow it down to.  Sigh.

I have a gift card that is literally burning a whole in my pocket.  I pretty much need that Mary Poppins bag for fall.  It’s beckoning to me.  And mark your calendars for Sunday, September 25 from 2-4pm because I’m hosting a Noonday party.  I will always get behind this company because it is legit and genuine and true and coming along side women and families all around the world.  They are my total jam.  Also 20% of sales go directly towards our adoption process.  We are so excited about adding another sweet son in the mix.  You can read more about our boy and our journey HERE.

If you can’t make the party, no worries, you can place an order HERE.  Just double check at checkout and make sure Laura Kelley is your hostess and Rebecca Daniels is your ambassador.

 This will be my PSA for the week:  You need this in your lives.  And why did I just now discover them.  The end.

I’ve worked like crazy on key fobs this week.  So many fun sets coming soon.  Can’t wait to post them all, so if you’ve been wanting to snag a few keep those eye peels.  They are on their way.

Our house has been a bit insane lately and I decided it must be reclaimed this week which meant I needed to immediately, if not sooner, clean out a closet at 8am.  This is my brain.  Amon was pumped because he found a hammer.

A sheet tent is always a good idea.  Always.  It instantly gives them something magical to do which they could not love more.  Plus, they play…with each other…which means I get to sow key fobs 🙂  I consider this wise parenting.  And if I have a job that needs to be done, I call on them.  They LOVE LOVE LOVE to help.  Our littlest dragged the biggest bag of trash out of my cloffice and down the stairs all the way to our laundry room.  Give her a task and she is one happy lady.

And Oreos have gotten a little out of hand at our house.  With Hudson’s new allergies we’ve been keeping oreo packets on hand for him to take with him places when we know there are going to be treats he can’t have…church, birthday parties, school, etc.  This unfortunately means Josh Kelley and myself have full access to oreos.  Not good you guys, just not good.  Long live Oreos and milk.

Enjoy your weekend and Happy Fri-yah!!!

We’ve lived in our house for 10 years now and actually, it’s the only house we’ve lived in.  Secretly I hope it’s the only house we ever live in.  I can seriously imagine filling it with grandkids for sleepovers and shoving grown kids and their spouses in every little open space.  It could happen.

Our kitchen hasn’t been touched since we moved in other than painting the cabinets.  The cabinets were particle board and apparently the countertops had never been sealed so after our tribe put some heavy wear and tear on it over the years the cabinets started breaking and the countertops started growing some moldy goodness.  I had moved our silverware into jars on the countertops because they weighed down the broken drawers and one time Amon almost died when he pulled a drawer out and it collapsed 🙂  I kid.  He didn’t almost die.  It was for dramatics sake, but you get the picture.

So it was time to really overhaul our kitchen, but on a budget…hello family of 7 on basically one income. Our house was built in the 40s so it’s quite wonky in so many ways including the floors and walls.  Josh Kelley and I don’t mind doing some work, but we also knew we needed to be logical due to it being our kitchen, time and actually physically being able to pull it off in a reasonable time frame so we decided to hire someone to do the major parts…enter Song and Story Millworks.  Josh and I chose to do all the demo to save in that department and we also got a good deal on cabinets and picked up other big items at IKEA.  Something super interesting we discovered…IKEA items are actually a bit cheaper in store VS online.  Who knew?!?!  I did lots of looking online for good deals as well.  And we kept all our old appliances and our flooring.

I painted our laundry room door and after Josh got everything out of the kitchen Aubrey of Song and Story Millworks set to work.  I laid out what I envisioned for our kitchen and he made it happen.  So flippin pleased with the outcome.  Turns out kitchen cabinets are crazy expensive so we ditched all uppers on one side of the kitchen and went with open shelving which saved us soooooooo much money.  We do not have a pantry so we kept one side of uppers because the one big upper cabinet is where we store food.

I totally love the open shelving.  It works really well for our crew and everyone loves the easy access to everything.  The kids have all said it makes unloading the dishwasher easier as well. (that’s one of their chores.)  I also love being able to display things we use and love that we’re Mom’s.

Our walls are wonky so I wanted shiplap…not the real stuff because it’s mucho money, but fake because it’s way cheaper…and simple subway tile to cover the walls.  I went with the same white paint we’ve used in the rest of the house.  I love all the white mixed with the natural wood of the open shelving and butcher block countertops.  Aubrey nailed the open shelving and made my wall dreams come true.  We’re still figuring out the butcher block countertops…they’ve had 4 coats of sealer stuff put on them so far, but apparently you have to do that pretty regularly for about the first year, from there it’s easier sailing.

A few things which have blown our minds about the new kitchen:

1.  The silverware drawer.  My life is made.  I laughed so hard because the kids were so confused about where the spoons and forks were.  I was all “Gather round children.  THIS is what people call a silverware drawer.”  I then opened the drawer, a beam of light shone down upon it and angels sang and the Kelley kids’ minds were blown.

2.  The countertops are at a normal height.  Our old countertops were higher than your typical countertops so only Harper could reach the faucet easily and other weird things.  It’s so funny how just a countertop height difference can make things more functional.

3.  My spice drawer.  I’m 5’2 so always have had issues with reaching things high up including all the spices in our tiny weird and hard to figure out spice cabinet.  Well problemo solved.  Enter the spice drawer.  It is amazing.  I love it.  I want to make out with it.

Our old kitchen had this small open corner at the end by the laundry room door.  We’re really not sure why they didnt take the countertops all the way to the wall, but they didn’t.  We made that change as well which meant we got more lower cabinet space.  Once we loaded everything back into the kitchen I had a completely empty drawer.  It was so weird.  So I did what any normal person does and put 3 trivets, 2 oven mitts, a few napkins and a stack of paper plates in it.  Drawer be empty no more.

So here’s the real breakdown.  I love my kitchen.  Call me worldy all you want, but I love this kitchen.  I love cooking in it.  I love how functional it is for our family.  I love how easy everything feels.  I love how awesome Song and Story Millworks are.  I love that we pulled it off on a major budget.  Let me just sit and look at my kitchen for a while.  And make cookies.  Oh, I almost forgot…I now leave my mixer out on the counter and it’s uh-mazing as well.  I know, I know, I know…so many bigger fish to fry in this world.  I agree, but I’ll just lay it all out there…I freakin love this kitchen 🙂

Here’s our list of supplies and links.  If there’s something I missed you want to know about just ask and I’ll point you in the best direction.

 Countertops IKEA

Sink IKEA

Faucet IKEA

Hardware Lowes

Lights Lowes (Here & here)

Mug rack World Market

Rifle Paper Co. Recipe Box Amazon

Mason Spice Jars Amazon

Flour & Sugar Jars Target

Canisters, oil can, rug, pitchers, painted plate, fruit bowl we’re Mom’s

Scale, tea can, number, letter and lemon/apple canister all previously thrifted

Paint colors: Clean & Crisp by Porter (we just get it color matched wherever)  Mint Parfait by Behr

Large wooden bowl from Ethiopia

Collage wall all thanks to Swaziland, Hudson & Solomon, a gift and the flea market

 *amazon affiliate links

Just wanted to stop in and say hi.  We have so much going on right now and I am barely keeping up, but so much excitement on the horizon.

A few things I wanted to share today:

One.  I’m working on a new online store front.  This is super exciting to me because I will be able to list items asap and you can purchase them all on your own.  I have tons of key fobs in the works, stationary and instant access to my online Bible journaling class.  We have a big goal for these funds and I’ll share about that in a bit.  Super super excited about what God might have in store.  So keep an eye out.  Hoping to have it up and running crazy soon.

Two.  I’m working on a post about our kitchen.  I’ve had lots of questions so I’m going to post about the items and where we found everything.  It might sound completely worldly, but our new kitchen has totally encouraged me.  Our cabinets were broken and our counter top had mold probs so seriously, we are thoroughly enjoying the new, more functional space for us.  First world problems for sure, but I’m grateful.

Three.  I am really wanting to get Bible journaling classes back up and running.  If you would like to book a class for you and your friends please let me know.  I would love love love to come teach the class for you and your people.

And Four.  I just feel the need to share the following:  I literally spilled the beans…into a paint pan of white paint.  And why yes I do keep dried beans in a spaghetti tin.  Why was the spaghetti tin full of dried beans in our laundry room in the first place?  Good question.  I can’t even remember at this point.  It all makes perfect sense.

Amon and I went to Chuck E Cheese today…a Tuesday…just the 2 of us.  Thank you Will Smith and Dr. Evil for now filling my head with a catchy tune I won’t be able to kick until Thursday afternoon.  But I digress.  The mouse and his pizza and skee ball and basketball games were just what we needed.  Plus we had a gift card, a coupon and several solo hours since our littlest was at her visitation.  And I set the new high score on basketball.  Needless to say, we partied.

And Josh’s dad got a metal detector to help him find a missing item.  You guys, this can only mean one thing…Fun for all.  Josh’s brother Andy has some metal in his face so they set to work to locate it.  I could not stop laughing.  Like COULD.NOT!!!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

1.  Found these at Target and, ummmmm, I maybe ate the whole bag.  Maybe.

2.  Our kitchen is done…minus a little touch up paint.  It’s so so functional for us which makes cooking a whole lot more enjoyable.  First dinners up were pancakes and tacos.

3.  Speaking of pancakes…hands down the best pancakes.  I sub almond milk for milk and earth balance for butter for allergy reasons and whoa…just whoa!!!  And if I’m out of eggs I sub in a 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil. They melt like butter in your mouth.

4. Jenni’s salted peanut butter with chocolate flakes is CRAZY…just crazy.  I want to eat it forever.

5.  Harper picked her glasses out and instantly she is so much older.  She was really nervous about them, but she was more excited after she picked these out.  Her favorite part is the sparkly inside.

6.  We saw 3 praying mantises this summer.  We feel like it’s lucky.

7.  I like to work, work, work, work, work, work, work.  Message me HERE if you’d like to place an order.

8.  Amon used his money to buy a tool set.  Cutest.Buy.Ever.  He’s fixed everything in our house and in our van.  My van is dirty so therefore the window is filthy…to match the rest of the car.  And he ate his entire Arby’s meal wearing safety googles.

9.  Extra curricular activities have begun.  Baseball, swimming and soccer are on the docket.  Everyone gets to do one thing because I can barely keep up with just that.  At Solomon’s baseball practice the other night Amon and our littlest yelled and taunted runners on the trail nearby.  It was seriously hilarious.  They also got lots of high-5s despite Amon insisting everyone owed him fifty dollars for passing.  I die.

10.  And before Hudson got baptized he came over to me very serious, furrowed brow like and said, “Mom, will you please hold this for me?”  This is Hudson and I couldn’t love him more.  Nothing worse than a wet Lego body.

Hope you guys have an amazing weekend.  Refresh up!

Happy Friday.

I’m not even really sure what to type these days.  I’m struggling with finding words lately and feel like I’ve experienced quite the tilt in my axis.  Parenting is hard.  Foster care is hard.  Let’s just all agree life in general is hard.  Nothing is normal or routine right now…which my OCD, controlling self craves most days.  Nothing seems to add up quite right, life never ever slows down, but I’ve had one on going consistent thought for the past few months and it’s simply Jesus.  The rest of my thoughts and feelings are all over the place.  I forget things so easily…I feel like I can’t keep up and with what???  Well that’s a great question.  I look around at our life…what a mess we are…what a mess we feel like and I think “Jesus.  Just Jesus.”  He is all we’ve got and He is what sustains and guides and pursues our hearts.  He is the constant when life is flat out crazy town.

We’ve hit up more doctor’s offices lately than in a long time.  Harper needs glasses.  Hudson did not act like a ferrel cat when he got his allergy shots this week…praise hands.  Amon got a pretty good heart report minus a leaking valve which is causing issues.  And we live this crazy privileged life to have access to good medical care and are able to pay for it.  There are some people in this world who are faced with the decision to give their child up so they can receive medical care or keep their child and watch them die.  This is reality and I can’t even fathom.

Our kitchen is almost done.  I have’t cooked in over a week and I actually really can’t wait.  I miss it.  And we live this crazy privileged life of clean running water and a nice home and food at our fingertips.  I’m oozing privilege and most of you are too.  I don’t understand so many things…a laundry list for God, but we waste and throw away food other’s long for.

My heart feels pretty torn in a million and one directions lately.  It’s so easy for the world to feel like too much.  Stress and anxiety can creep in at a moments notice and take hold.  I make mistake after mistake after mistake as a wife and mom and person in general.  Josh Kelley got the sheer honor of baptizing Harper, Hudson and Solomon on Sunday.  As we were getting ready to leave the house, I got really emotional…Josh was about to baptize three our children…and because of absolutely nothing we did and because of everything Jesus did.  He pursues us.  He longs for us.  He is His mighty, strong and good self in spite of all our messed up-ness.  I just couldn’t get over what a disaster I am and yet, God is God and flips hearts for Him.

I read in Genesis 33 the other day and was floored by how Esau…after hating Jacob and saying he was going to kill him…ran and hugged and kissed Jacob’s neck and cried.  That’s God you guys…only God does that kind of turning of hearts.  And that’s how I feel about Harper, Hudson and Solomon choosing Him…that’s just Jesus.  Only Jesus.  And it is absolutely wondrous to my brain and heart.

Life can feel really really big right now.  We’ve been through a rough season lately, but it has also been really sweet.  God is teaching me how to pray and the value in prayer.  He’s teaching me about trust and holding onto Him alone.  He’s doing wondrous things and it’s so lovely to watch.  I feel tired and down and out and yet so hopeful and I just keep saying “Jesus” over and over again.  And He keeps showing up.  And He keeps being Himself and doing what only He can do.

I swear I haven’t given up on this space…things have just been wild.  And continue to be and sometimes I feel like I don’t have one little legit thing to share.  Then I realize I never really have legit stuff to share…I just sit down and peck away on these keys all the randomness which floods my mind most days.

The Olympics:  Well, during the Olympics Josh Kelley and myself go from non-TV watchers to full on addicts.  We turn the TV on and then it just stays.  I woke up the other morning to the Olympics app downloaded on my phone…which I did not download.  All I can imagine is Josh supposedly working while really catching up on all the most recent Olympic news and drama.

Every 4 years I get my best friend Ashley at her best…Olympic-overly-enthusiastic-go-America-Ashley.  And she’s kind of so much fun.  We text and call…yes, I do still talk on the phone, but pretty much only the Ashley and a few of my aunts…and hash out all the Olympic drama together.  We talk about our nervous Olympic habits including my rocking back and forth during swimming because obviously my body movements propel our US swimmers forward more quickly…I gotta do my part.  We also discuss our favorites and the countries we’d boo if we were present.  And which moments almost made us throw up and have to leave the room.  Sometimes you just can’t even watch.

Kitchen Reno:  I really want to take a full on video of our home in it’s current disastrous state.  I’m making smoothies and doing dishes in our bathroom.  It’s amazing 🙂 but our kitchen is looking awesome.  Seeing progress made is soooooooo good.  I love it.  I’ve been doing some updates on Instagram’s stories now.  If you haven’t checked out other people’s stories on IG yet, you must.  I really enjoy everyone’s videos.  It’s like snap chat for instagram without all the confusion because they made it crazy easy to use.  You can check mine out HERE just by clicking on my profile pic.  Videos do expire so once 24 hours is up the videos are gone.

Zero Children:  On Monday Amon and our littlest started school which meant I was absolutely alone for 5 hours straight and it was glorious.  I went home and worked, worked, worked and loved every last minute of it.  Again, I adore my children, but man was it good to think and just be alone.  So so good.

Work, Work, Work:  Yes, I am back to orders and it makes my heart crazy happy.  Yesterday I worked on name pillows and lots of key fobs.  Key fobs are always in full affect with the start of school.  Tomorrow I have another work day and I’m knocking out some art pieces.  If you’d like to place an order you can do so just by emailing me or messaging me HERE.

Beth Moore:  Last weekend Beth Moore was in Nashville speaking for two days.  Again Courtney, our friend who is the inviter, heard she was in town and rallied a group.  We decided to just spend the night in Nashville right across the street from where the conference was and did the yummiest late night dinner and drinks!!!!  It was such an amazingly fun time.  It was refreshing and encouraging and we all walked away feeling renewed a bit.  We all needed some friend time.  I also forgot how much I like Beth Moore because of the way she uses scripture.  I never in a million years thought I would like really, deeply and truly love the Bible, but I do.  So listening to her teach and throw out verse after verse after verse was just overwhelming wonderful.

#214 Why I Love Our Friend Jess:  As the conference started she rolled this bad boy out of her bag and asked if anyone needed a pen.  I die!!!

Hudson’s Tri:  While I was at Beth Moore, Hudson was participating in another triathlon.  This kid kills me.  He is just the funniest and has the most interesting personality.  He’s so sensitive and wears his emotions on his sleeve and has such a heavy sense of right and wrong and worries about the world and everything in it and in the same breath goes out and does really physically hard things without a single worry…like he’s just pumped to be there!  He is really fun to parent.  Josh Kelley loaded everyone up in the 5am hour and got Hudson where he needed to be, then they all cheered him on and documented so I could still see him in action.  Gah!!!!  I love him.

Boys Room:  While our kitchen is getting a full on facelift, we’ve also been working on the boys room.  Nothing as drastic as the kitchen, but we had not really touched their room in a very long time…minus the moving of beds.  It’s been given a fresh coat of paint, new bedding (I’ll share more on this later), Josh Kelley added some built in shelves for storage, new curtains, etc.  They have really enjoyed seeing it come together and become more functional for them.  My most recent update was a map wall.  They have one pretty geometric wall with lots of character around a big window.  Since we went white with the new paint I decided this would add some color.  It took me a grand total of about 45 minutes to do the whole wall along with some thumb tacks and painters tape.  Super easy.  Can’t wait to share the whole thing with you guys.

Allergies, A Mouse & Root Canal:  And I decided these three needed to be lumped together.  We are figuring out all of Hudson’s new allergies.  Thank you for all your recommendations.  Earth Balance has reunited myself and baking.  Hudson is thrilled.  We’ve also been tying all different new products like crackers and cookies and snacks, etc.  We’ve a had a few whammos, but so far mostly good.  He started allergy shots yesterday.  He LOATHES shots.  Harper and Solomon hop right up and never even flinch when they get shots, but Hudson acts like a feral cat.  And now I’m laughing.  I had full on prepped him for one shot and when we got there they had three laid out.  Jesus be near.  It was not pretty, but we all survived.  So 3 weekly shots will hopefully make some things much better for his little body.

We have a mouse in our house.  Josh watched him run back-and-forth over and over again between our dishwasher and stove last night while he was watching the Olympics.  The kids all want to humanely capture and release him at the park down our street.  Today I bought the old school mouse traps.  And we shall no longer discuss the mouse’s whereabouts 🙂

And I’m pretty confident I need a root canal.  This has not been confirmed nor denied by my dentist yet, but I’ve pretty much self diagnosed.  And it’s the tooth I just got a crown on.  Jesus be near, again.  I need to call and get another appointment, but you guys, I HAVE DENTAL ANXIETY and I just can’t bring myself to do it just yet.  I’m going to need all the laughing gas I can get.

Happy Tuesday!