January 10, 2013 By 6 Comments

Smorgasness {I made that word up}

Thank you guys so much for entering my Happy 2013/Thank You BIG Time giveaway.  I loved reading all your goals for this new year.  Thanks for sharing them with me.  And here are the 3 winners:

therese schulle stokes says:
January 8, 2013 at 9:23 am
Shared on fb: Awesome giveaway at Pitter Patter Art!! THREE chances to win one of three amazing art pieces!!

Crystal says:
January 7, 2013 at 8:13 am
Shared your giveaway on my Facebook page. Hoping some friends check it out too!

shannon herrmann says:
January 7, 2013 at 8:12 am
Fan on facebook!  have been forever.

Super congrats ladies and check your email for a message from me.

I’ve decided I need to teach Harper, Huddy and Sol how to fix their own breakfast.  Can you imagine the extra sleep?  It sounds magical.  Either that or I need to start buying Pop-Tarts and putting them in a low cabinet.

I’ve been cutting strawberries the way my Mom did.  I can distinctly remember the way she held the knife and the strawberry between her fingers…it was just so her.  I miss her.

When looking at this picture I feel like they have formed a small gang behind my back and are threatening me in some way.  Good thing I’m not easily intimidated by plastic screwdrivers or Donatello’s staff.

Huddy is my question asker.  I love this about him, but it also sometimes drives me semi insane.  One day this week I decided to document every time he asked a question over a 2 hour period.  This was just the tip of the question iceberg.  I love him.

Sol made the cutest igloo at MDO on Tuesday.  He was so proud of it and Huddy really…I mean REALLy…wanted to eat it.

I adore these little chubby fingers.  I adore how he fists his food and just shovels it all in.

Fixing school lunches may have joined folding laundry on my list of arch nemesis.

Pretty sure I now have one million pictures of Amon at this point.  That whole thing about not having as many pictures of your youngest child is soooo not true with us.  He rules this Kelley roost with his fabulous hair and crazy enchanting, dark as night eyes.  Goodness we may have a problem.

And that’s all I’ve got for today.  Things are busy in the Kelley house and I have quite the To-Do List for today.  I hope your day is grand.  Happy Thursday!

Filed Under: family, giveaway Tagged With: , , 6 Comments
January 8, 2013 By 7 Comments

Baking The Day Away

I have totally missed baking some crazy good treats since I was sick for, ummm, like 3 weeks.  And clearly really sick people should not bake and then share.  Germania.  So I’m feeling so much better and decided I would do a bit of baking today and try some new recipes.  I had this really cute little helper.  His name is Amon.  He’s adorable.  And has fabulous hair.  You should really meet him one day.  Your world would be rocked.

Okay so here’s what we baked.  Sugar Cookie Squares.  OMG.  I try not to use texting language, but let me say again, OMG.  These are amazingly delicious.  Yeah, just go ahead and make these right now.  Like right now.

Next up…Twinkie Cupcakes.  Yes, you read that right.  These were top notch as well.  Josh LOVED them.

I used a new ingredient with the cupcakes…cake flour.  I’ve read about it before, but usually avoid all recipes that have an ingredient I’m unfamiliar with.  Time to try new things, so I sought out cake flour at Kroger and then rocked some Twinkie cupcakes with the cake flours help.

I also made the most fantastic Nutter Butter Balls.  I’ve made these before, but they are just so so good and extremely easy.  I dip mine in white chocolate and then immediately need to give them away because I would easily…I mean easily, eat the entire batch.

And at the end of the day…you know it was a good day when the top rack of your dishwasher is full of measuring cups.

Hope your day was good too.

Happy Tuesday.

Oh and the New Years/Thank You SO Much Giveaway is still going on.  It ends Wednesday night at midnight.  I have so loved reading all the comments.  Cannot wait to see who the three winner are going to be.  CLICK HERE to enter or scroll to the post below.

Filed Under: family, giveaway Tagged With: , 7 Comments
October 31, 2012 By 349 Comments

Tuesday {+ Giveaway DAy}

**GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED**

Tuesday’s kindness acts are done.  Boom.  This is how we rolled yesterday:

#1  Doughnuts to school.  I was a kindergarten teacher so I know first hand what a hard and under paid and joyful job being a teacher is.  I was thrilled to be able to bless Harper’s school staff with something simple and yummy like doughnuts.  Yesterday morning’s kindness acts started early…I literally rolled out of bed and left the house in the clothes I slept in plus boots and a jacket.  It’s cold here in Tennessee now.  I was looking H.O.T.  My friend Brea said she looked like “death on a cracker” the other day.  Yep, that was me yesterday morning.

And here’s a little Krispy Kreme tip for you the Krispy Kreme lady shared with me.  If you call ahead with an order of 10+ boxes they will give them to you for $5.10 a box.  I did not know this prior…now I know and am passing the info along.

#2  Flowers for Mrs. Sherry.  Mrs Sherry is the custodian at Harper’s school and I figured she would appreciate some pretty fall flowers and some yummy cookies.  You can never go wrong with either.

#3  Gift card for a single mom.  God bless you single mommas our there.  You work crazy hard and deserve some extra love.  I thought a pedicure and some extra grocery money would do the trick.

#4  Treat for photographer.  We had family pictures taken yesterday afternoon and our regular go to photographer Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne was completely booked.  She passed on the info of her partner Laci of Barefeet Photography and Laci was able to get us in…and was amazing…to say the least.  When I saw this picture…big tears people…big, big tears.  I adore this child.  And Laci is having an awesome “pay it forward” photo session giveaway right now…CHECK IT OUT HERE.

And while I’m “God blessing” people…God bless Laci for putting up with a hot mess of wee Kelleys.  The boys had MDO yesterday which means no naps, plus they had Halloween parties.

Well let’s just say I had to take my wooden spoon with me when we left the house…for all you parents who spank, you know what this means 🙂  {Side Note:  If you don’t spank, that’s cool…different strokes for different folks.  Un-Side Note}  Laci totally earned her little treat…some cookies and a Starbucks card.  Thank you so much Laci for your patience and hard work…we appreciate you.

As we drove to our photo destination Harper said, “Do you think this is what Green Lantern girl would look like?”  Ummm, yes.  Nailed it.

When we got home the back seat looked a little like this.

And Amon practiced his photo bombing skills after everyone was in bed.  I love this kid.

#5  Chalk door hangers.  I bought these awesome hanging chalkboards for super cheap a while back on Pick Your Plum.  When I bought them I had no idea what I was going to use them for and then it dawned on me.  The boys and I hit up all our unsuspecting houses before I dropped them off at school.  My favorite part was when I stepped in dog poop at one house and Huddy said, “Dogs should really learn to wipe their bottoms.”  Yes, that would solve my problem.  The door hangers made an easy little act of kindness.

**See that reflection…that is a “death on a cracker” reflection.

And when I got home this was hanging from our kitchen cabinets.  Let’s do one more “God bless”…God bless Josh Kelley.  He’s a keeper.

#6  Share Sonic happy hour.  $5 gift card taped to the order board at the beginning of happy hour and Bam!…Happy Sonic Happy Hour to the next person to pull into our spot.  And I may have ordered myself a cranberry sprite while I was there.  Getting crazy on day #2.

And today’s list is a good one.

Plus it’s Halloween…my favorite holiday.  Don’t judge.  I know some people are not fond of the holiday, but I am a big lover of it.  Sadly, I’ll be rocking it out with Amon…aka Superman…at home.  Handing out candy and being away from germs.  The wee Kelleys will be going door-to-door with Josh.  Fun will be had.

And I almost forgot…see #4 on my list for today.  Yep, it’s an art giveaway for you guys.

Up for grabs is this 10×10 Mumford & Sons Canvas…”So I’ll be bold, as well as strong and use my head along side my heart.”

Here’s how you enter:

Please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Entry #1 Tell me if you’ve done some kindness acts of your own this week…or what you’re doing for Halloween…or any old comment will do.

Entry #2  Share this giveaway on your personal Facebook status or Twitter.

Entry #3 Subscribe to PPA to receive posts by email.  Check out the right side bar and enter your email address under Email Subscription.

Entry #4  Become a fan of PPA on Facebook HERE

Again, please leave a separate comment on this post for each entry.

Giveaway will end tomorrow, Thursday, November 1st and I will announce the winner in tomorrow’s post.  Canvas will be mailed directly to the winner.

Happy Wednesday!

**GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED**

Filed Under: family, giveaway Tagged With: , , , 349 Comments
October 26, 2012 By 6 Comments

Some Firsts

Harper had her very first kindergarten field trip today.  It was super cold and then it rained, but the rain held off just long enough for us to have a bit of fun.  It was super nice being with just Harper and her little classmates are all dolls.  The kindergarten teacher in me did start to come out during lunch when it was a bit chaotic, but her classmates were all cool as cucumbers.  Super sweet kiddos.

We accidentally grew our first pumpkin plant.  Apparently you can completely not take care of a pumpkin plant and it will power on through to become a pumpkin…despite your unknowing and lack of effort.  Hardy little guy.

I ordered our first ever coloring thank you cards and I could not be more excited about my kids writing their thank you notes now.  My dear sweet Dana at Lifelines Design designed these 5×7 cards just for the wee Kelleys.  They’re pretty awesome.  {You rock Dana.}  I think she should totally add them to her store.  What about you?

And next week will be my first ever Random Acts of Kindness birthday week.  I’m turning the big 3-0 and originally wanted to do 30 acts of kindness on my birthday day, but then I had to get real with myself since I have one small wee Kelley who is quarantined from the outside world and all its germs.  So I decided to make it a birthday week full of kindness and divide my 30 kind deeds up between the week…6 kind deeds every day…Monday-Friday…6×5=30.  It took some strategic thinking, but I think I have it all worked out perfectly.  Including a giveaway for you guys too.

Next week is going to be a grand week.  Enjoy your weekend.

Happy Friday!

Filed Under: family, giveaway Tagged With: , , 6 Comments
August 31, 2012 By 32 Comments

Congestion, Meds & Crafts {Advice}

So this is our go-to plan for getting rid of Amon’s congestion.  I’m like a decongestion nazi around here…honestly, I’m a bit on the crazy side trying to get rid of it.  If you have any recommendations I would love to hear them.  And keep in mind Amon is just 5-months-old.

And I so wish I could sleep like this.  Just out.  Out like a light.  A heavy, deep sleep.

Boys drinking from tea cups are so cute.  They seem like little men hanging at the Cracker Barrel together for an early bird’s breakfast.  I love them!

Amon has been having major fun in his jumpin’ johnny thing.  What is not fun is giving him his meds.  He HATES them.  I always had luck with the other 3 wee Kelleys when they were little by just blowing in their face when I gave them medicine.  They always swallowed it right down with one little blow.  But Amon…well, Amon is a different story.  Any one out there have any tricks for getting babies to take medicine?  I would so appreciate them.

I have been thinking about ways to pass the time in the hospital.  Do you have any recommendations for some good crafts?  I’m debating on seriously taking my canvases and all my supplies and just setting up shop in Amon’s hospital room because I’m totally not leaving 🙂  But if that doesn’t pan out…seems like a lot to tote to a hospital…I’m looking for smaller crafts that require less materials.  So I would love some recommendations if you have any.  I’ll have lots of time on my hands.

So any advice on how to get rid of baby congestion, how to get babies to take their medicine or recommendations on crafts I can do at the hospital would be awesomely appreciated.  Leave a comment or shoot me a message…I would be so grateful.

Oh and our Hopeful Heart Giveaway ends tonight at midnight and I will post the winner tomorrow.  Up for grabs is this 11×14 Hold Onto Hope canvas and a stellar tee.  CLICK HERE to enter.

Hope you have a great weekend & happy Friday!

Filed Under: craft, family, giveaway Tagged With: , , 32 Comments
August 30, 2012 By 9 Comments

Sweet Heart

Thank you so so much for all the sweet comments and emails and FB messages you sent on behalf of Amon.  I cannot express how much your prayers and thoughts for him mean to our family.  Please know that when I type “Thank you” I really and truly mean it.  And thank you for sharing Amon’s story…the more praying, the better.

And you can still enter to win the 11×14 Hold Onto Hope canvas…either scroll to the post below or CLICK HERE to enter.  Giveaway ends Friday and I will post the winner Saturday.

I wish everyone could meet Amon in person…and I had more questions yesterday on how to pronounce his name than anything…funny huh?  You say it Long A-mun.  Amon.  Anyways…he is seriously the sweetest little thing and happy as all get out.  My sweet heart…for sure.  We have just fallen so hard for him.

Lots of you also wanted to know how he was doing.  Well we have had quite a few doctors appointments since arriving home and had another one today.  Amon is a bit sick…ear infection & fever and is an anesthesia risk with the congestion he has at this point.  What that means is if they were to do surgery today, they wouldn’t do it due to how congested he is.  So we are now home bound with no visitors…trying to get him better asap in preparation for surgery and trying to limit the amount of germs he is exposed to.  Other than that he is awesome.  He’s eating and sleeping and pooping and peeing…just your everyday baby, but with a special little heart.

So thank you for praying for him and if you don’t mind, please continue to do so.  I feel like we’re in the semi home stretch…less than 2 weeks away from surgery and even though I’m a bit on the terrified side, I also realize he needs this surgery and therefore I’m ready for it to be done and over with.  Just having to let God have this one…big time…and pray that congestion away 🙂

In other random Kelley news…I wanted to prove to you that we Kelleys do not live on sweets alone.  Here is some proof.

And to completely negate those fruits & veggies, I wanted to share this truly incredible Thin Mint Brownie recipe.  I do not like texting language, but OMG!  This is crazy good.  You must make this…today.  And I doubled the recipe because I bought a 9×13 brownie mix…it doubles fantasticly.

I also realized I had never shared maybe one of my most favorite recipes EVER from our family Hall Cookbook.  Ham & Cheese Poppyseed Sandwiches by my Aunt Tootsie.

I make these all the time coupled with some pasta salad, raw veggies and fruit.  I like to use the whole wheat kaiser rolls or my favorite…ciabatta bread…it is the best.  And we switch it up with turkey or ham or we’ve even been known to get a little crazy and use a little of both.  Make these for dinner tonight and thank my Aunt Tootsie afterwards.

I have been enjoying my days when it’s just the boys at home.  They are so crazy and fun and unpredictable and yet, so predictable sometimes.

Huddy has been a drawing and cutting fool lately.  He is really getting the hang of drawing actual things…like this tiger.

Cutting paper may be his next favorite thing to super heros.  I’m trying to teach him to use the whole sheet of paper because right now, at the end of the day our bathroom trash can looks like this.  EVERYDAY.

And yesterday Sol fell asleep on the steps…and this was after nap.

Huddy made Amon a hat this week too.  I take it off of Amon periodically and it never fails…a few minutes later he is amazingly wearing his “hat” again thanks to a sweet big brother.  Amon was crying one day and Huddy said, “I think he just wants his hat.”  Yes Huddy, that’s it.  Amon just wants his hat 🙂

I’ve been missing Harper during the day, but she has been having the best time at school.  And we LOVE her teacher.  She is incredibly wonderful.  And the other day Harper got a Role Model award and seriously, you would have thought she won the lottery.  She hopped right in the van and it was the first thing out of her mouth.  She was so proud…and I was too.

Since we are home bound now, I have been running all my errands at night.  Last night while out I discovered that Hobby Lobby is in full on Christmas mode already.  Seriously?!?  We’re talking aisles and aisles and aisles of Christmas stuff is already out and ready to go home with you…in August.  I think it happens earlier and earlier every year.

Well there you have it.  A random Kelley family post including some Amon heart info, wee Kelley shenanigans, new recipes and even an update on Hobby Lobbys Christmas paraphernalia.  Hope you enjoyed!

Happy Thursday!

Filed Under: art, family, giveaway, heart, recipes Tagged With: , , , , 9 Comments