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
June 12, 2012 By 16 Comments

Maybe The Weirdest Recipe Ever

My Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom are still in town and we have been spending everyday with them…soaking them up.  My kids have missed their Grammy like crazy and Aunt Linda or Nina, has been a breath of fresh air.  She invests in them.  I love it.  It is soooo Mom…it must be a Hall gene.

So while Aunt Linda is in town we have done a bit of baking and cooking.  I am a HUGE fan of our family cookbook…The Dining Halls…From Our Halls To Yours.  It has the most amazing recipes, from the most amazing women.  All our Hall Family recipes collected together in one book.  The other night Aunt Linda said she was going to make Aunt Lynda Lee’s chocolate cobbler recipe and Aunt Martha wanted to watch it go down 🙂  I thought, “Hmmmm, this may make a good blog post.”  And sure enough…I thought it was blog worthy because it is in fact the weirdest recipe I have ever seen.  The end result…well it’s just heavenly…for reals.

Let the weirdness begin…oh and bear with my late night camera lighting…

Melt 1 1/2 sticks of butter in a 9×13 pan.  Aunt Linda did this by putting the 9×13 pan on one of the stove eyes and turning it on low.  It melted while we got the rest of the recipe together.  She’s a pretty smart lady.

Mix together in a bowl 1 1/2 cups self rising flower,

1 1/4 cups sugar,

1 3/4 T. cocoa,

2 tsp. vanilla,

and 3/4 cup milk.

Stir all those ingredients together.

By now the butter in your 9×13 pan should have melted.

Then pour the batter into the butter pan.  DO NOT STIR.

Then mix 1 1/2 cups sugar and a 1/2 cup cocoa in another bowl.  Stir together and sprinkle over the batter in the dish.  DO NOT STIR.

And if all that “DO NOT STIR” stuff wasn’t weird enough…then you poor 2 cups boiling water into the pan.  And…you guessed it…DO NOT STIR.

Put the pan in the over at 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes.

30 minutes later…you have chocolate heaven in a 9×13 pan.  This stuff is crazy good.

We ate ours in cups with vanilla ice cream.  Don’t be hatin’ 🙂

Here is the full recipe…straight from The Dining Halls.  Thanks Aunt Lynda Lee for sharing.

And this is why I should always have my camera with me.  My Aunt Martha was getting a kick out of a can of Flarp…it makes really funny fart noises…if you were wondering what Flarp was.

Then my Aunt Tootsie called to talk to my Aunt Linda.  Yes…yes, that is in fact my Aunt Martha making fart noises into the phone for her sister to hear.  I suppose fart noises are the bridge between all ages 🙂

Happy Tuesday!

PS:  Keep forgetting, but check our my friend Carol’s blog over at Love With Abandon.

They are working on raising money to host two sweet kiddos this summer from Lativa.  Think about helping them out…and I think they are having a giveaway soon too.

Oh and speaking of giveaway…maybe the coolest giveaway ever on my site is going to start this Wednesday.  It involves 6 art pieces, 10 keyfobs, 2 sets of anchor stationary and 2 Hall cookbooks…oh and 6 different winners.  I’m pretty stoked.


Filed Under: recipes Tagged With: 16 Comments