May 8, 2013 By 12 Comments

A Year Ago

A year ago I had just gotten home from Craft Weekend with my cousin Rebecca.  You can read about our trip HERE and HERE.  I had spent the weekend in the best place for my heart at that very moment.  I was in such a different place than I am now.  I was in the thick of grief, losing Mom just 5 months before and my heart was about to burst in the wait for our third son.  We had been waiting almost 18 months to see his face.  At Craft Weekend all the ladies chatted and got to know one another as well as you can in a weekend and I made sure to share the anticipation and wait I was having to finally see my boy.

I still remember the emotion wrapped in taking a picture with a group of ladies I had only shortly known with our Waiting for You sign…the tears shed and the sincerity that these woman showed on behalf of me, our family’s wait and our child we just so longed for.  It is etched on my heart.  And the hugs of these woman…my Mom’s hugs are the #1 thing…tied with her voice & her words…that I miss about her.  And as these ladies embraced me with hugs I just let the tears go because I needed those hugs.

I came home exhausted, but so thrilled and blessed to have had the opportunity to attend Craft Weekend…the privilege to meet all these ladies and to spend good time with Rebecca.  It was an amazing blessing.

It was back to normal life and things picked up right where I had left.  Huddy had been sick so he didn’t go to MDO that Tuesday and we had a late doctor’s appointment to get him all checked out.  Josh’s parent’s picked Harper up from MDO and I sat at the doctor’s office for forever. Then my phone rang.  I saw the number on my phone and noticed it was long distance and didn’t answer.  The doctor seeing Huddy that day, who was not our normal doctor, was about to be in and we had waited so long.  I didn’t want to appear rude to anyone…the doctor or who ever was on the other end of that phone call.  Then instantly it hit me…I knew that was our agency’s number.  I sat for a moment and took a deep breath.  The phone had quit ringing and I knew this was about to be a grand moment in our Kelley family history.  This was the moment our family of 5 had been waiting and praying for for so long.

  Oddly enough instead of immediately calling back I did two things very quickly.

1)  Took a picture of my phone because I did not want to forget this very moment.  And I knew when I called the number back my heart would be filled with hope again.

2)  Snapped one last picture of our Waiting for You sign before we finally knew and saw the face of who we were actually waiting for this whole almost 18 months.

Then I called back.  And I heard those words my heart knew I was going to hear, “Well, I have some information for you about a little boy.”  I immediately began to bawl like a big baby, but told our director we were seeing the doctor any minute now and I would have to call her back.  And I said, “Can you just give me a little bit of information before the doctor comes in?”  And she did.  A 6-week-old baby boy.  Teklehaymanot was his sweet, long, Ethiopian name…Tekle for short.  We still call him Tekle sometimes.

I called Josh.  Gave him the 1 minute shocker of a phone call and hung up so we could see the doctor.  We finished up and off I drove, like a bat out of hell to Josh’s parents where he was meeting me.  We closed ourselves off in their playroom with cell phones to conference call with our director to finally hear all about our son.  And our hearts flurried with joy and our hearts grieved.  Adoption is amazing, but adoption contains both loss and gain.  As adoptive parents, Josh and I grieve for what was suppose to be in a sinless, perfect, povertyless world for Sol and Amon.  We grieve for their loss and for their birth families loss.  If you ask me details of their life before joining our family…their time in Ethiopia…please don’t be offended when I don’t tell you.  It’s just how we have chosen to handle our kiddos’ stories…not right or wrong…but just our choice.

Then Josh and I opened our email.  I wish I could accurately put into words this moment.  We were finally seeing this face we had absolutely longed and ached to see.  And there he was.  And he was beautiful.

I cried and cried and cried.  For days.  Emotional wreck.  I specifically remember texting a picture of Amon to friends.  My friend Susan responded with, “Now that was worth the wait.”  We were instantly his.  He had our hearts…all 5 of our hearts…from the very beginning.  He was the newest Kelley.  And what hope God brought not only to our family, but to our hearts as well, through this baby boy.  We hadn’t had the easiest last 6 months and we had suffered a great loss and we were all injured and wearing our scars clearly.  But God used Amon and his perfectly God made heart to bring hope and joy to ours.  God used Amon to help us heal…specifically me…and Harper.  To bring smiles to our faces.  To bring this crazy amazing hope in Jesus Christ and all His plans for us.

And then it was time for a new picture.  One of my favorites.

I wish there was something beyond being grateful and thankful and humbled and honored and just amazed…because I would most definitely be it for the chance at being Amon’s mom.  I am so grateful to God.  What an outstanding blessing…a truly outstanding blessing.  Amon, our ace of hearts, we adore and love you like crazy!

Happy Wednesday.

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May 7, 2013 By 20 Comments

Quilts

Sometimes I get requests for posts on certain topics or certain questions. Sometimes I can make that happen and other times I can’t.  I try…I really do.  Several of you have asked for a home tour.  This is a grand idea, but I’m afraid everyone would be thoroughly disappointed…and I’d have to clean our house and I think you know how I feel about cleaning…and cooking…and laundry…and Satan.  Maybe I could just skip the pictures and video tape it a complete mess…that would probably affirm a lot of you.  Back to today’s requested post…Quilts.

We have a lot of quilts.  The first bedding set Josh and I got when we got married was from Kmart.  It was a grand total of $100 for the entire full set and I just about died when Mom bought it for us.  I was thrilled.  It was just a regular Martha Stewart comforter and after a few washes and cursing all the clumps of stuffing, I said to heck with comforters and moved on to quilts.  I wanted something that would last my lack of good laundrying skills and a quilt was my answer.

That was 10 years ago.  And now, every single bed in our house has a quilt on it.  They’re just easy for me…and ease is a good thing in Laura Kelley’s eyes.  What can I say.  I snapped pictures of some of our quilts the other day.  We have so many, so here is a snippet of some of the ones that are around in our home.

This is our bedroom.  Just a plain blueish/green quilt.  Nothing special, but I like it.  And I like that I can use about a million funky pillows with it.  Which the majority were purchased with my Mom.  I’m a sentimental decorator…that is for sure.

Harper’s bed quilt.  The first and only quilt I’ve made.  I used all Amy Butler fabrics.  It’s super crazy and colorful and fits Harper to a tee.  CLICK HERE for the pattern I used.  I did make my squares bigger…like 10 inches I think.  And I just chose a random circle size that fit inside my bigger square.

The boy’s bed quilts.  These are from Garnett Hill.  I bought them years ago when the boys were like 18 months and being moved into their twin beds.  We already knew at that time we would be adding another boy to our family eventually so I went ahead and bought a third set in orange.  I cannot wait to move Amon to his big bed one day.  His quilt is already waiting.

These next quilts were made by Josh’s mom.  She makes each kiddo a quilt for their first birthday.

Harper’s:

Huddy’s:

Sol’s:

This quilt is probably the one we use the most currently.  It was on my Mom’s bed.  I know some people keep their quilts put up for safe keeping…that’s totally cool, but we use ours.  I want them to be loved and enjoyed…even if that means they get dirty or torn.  They can always be washed and re-stitched.  We use Mom’s every week for soccer practice and games and in the back yard.  I adore it.

And this is my most recently thrifted quilt.  It needs to be patched in some places, but I love all the color and random fabrics.  I felt pretty happy upon finding her.

There you have it…some of our quilts.  Some of you are yawning right now and some of you are swooning over the quilted goodness.  It’s cool…different strokes, for different folks.  I promise I’m trying to do more requested posts…I aim to please…I may even finally talk about tattoos :)

Happy Tuesday!

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May 6, 2013 By 4 Comments

4 Things

The weekend was very rainy, but good.  It rained the entire time and I got in zero running mileage.  I’m thinking 75 was a really bad choice :)   But there were movies and cheesecake…oh the cheesecake…and time with friends and birthday parties and cosmic bowling and a date with Solomon and heavy hearted discussions and tears and Bible study and Cinco de Mayo food and doughnuts and creating and just looking around and realizing that small things totally matter and God affirming in me that small things matter to Him too.

4 of my favorite things from the weekend were:

1) These 4.  And grocery shopping with these 4.  They’re so crazy…and Sol still hates the boot.  I made him ride in the cart to slow him down some.  He is clearly not pleased, but hey, what momma says, goes.

2)  Watching Harper paint a canvas.  She loves to do this and honestly, she doesn’t paint on canvases much, but she has been begging me to and she deserved some special creating time.  I love her paint loven’ heart.

3)  A date with Solomon.  Everyone else headed to our nephew’s gymnastic birthday party, so me and Sol had a little daytime date.  I adore individual time with the wee Kelleys.  He was so fun too.  We played games at Chuck E Cheese…he shot a crap load of aliens on this army/shooting game.  It was pretty intense…and awesome.  Oh and the best part was when I happened upon a ski ball game that someone had apparently loaded up with tokens…6 free games of ski ball in a row.  At this point I had no idea where Solomon was…I was in my ski ball zone.

And 4)  Doughnuts.  We usually have your typical breakfast, but then there are those days that are just begging to be started off with a sprinkle doughnut…Sunday was one of them.

How was your weekend?  I hope it was really good.  Here’s to a stellar good week…may it be grand beyond grand.

Happy Monday!

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May 3, 2013 By 2 Comments

Crazy Friday.

Today has been nutso…yesterday too…and how about we just count the whole week as crazy.  Life just never seems to slow down…or I don’t let it.  Grocery shopping and Mother’s Day shopping.  Teacher appreciation week prepping and working on lots of orders.  Soccer, soccer and more soccer.  Broken bones and falls into thorn bushes on bikes and bleeding foreheads.  Almost every meal on the go.  I only cooked twice this week…and by cook I mean we had a chicken noodle soup mix one night with a can of chicken and tonight I’m doing tacos.  The rest of the week we snacked for dinner or grabbed something at the ballpark.  We have been all over the place.  And some of it was documented on my beloved Instagram.

Legos.  They’re all pretty passionate about legos.  I love that they have finally let go a bit and ventured into building without the booklet.  They still follow step by step booklet instructions, but now they will build at will too and with confidence.

Have you heard of MighteeKids?  They’re amazing.  I love everything they stand for.  Last month’s tee supported autism awareness…this month’s tee is helping send soccer balls and build soccer fields in Africa.  Check it out and let your kiddos rock some supportive and way cool tees.

These two.  Sigh.

Finished up my 50 miles this week.  Decided to go for 75 this month.  I’m already doubting myself, but we’ll give it a go and see what happens.

They have this crazy infectious love for each other.  I absolutely adore watching their relationship grow and take shape.

Sol still hates the boot, but decided to keep it classy one day.

For those of you wondering…the 6:45 bedtime did happen.  It was magic.  Like rainbows and unicorns kind of magic.  Harper and I “peacing out” as she headed off to bed.

A custom key fob order.  And a whole lot of truth that I needed to write over and over and over again.

Key fobs for days.

Confession time…mini red velvet cheesecakes…last night…10:30pm…homemade whip cream…good golly…it was lovely…and glorious…and I had to make sure they weren’t poisonous.

Realized today I need to pick up another #6…not grooving on the satanic vibe we’re rockin’ right now in our dining room :)

And while waiting for our oil to be changed on the van today I took this picture of the boys.  Sol asked to see it and upon seeing the photo he said, “Huddy looks gorgeous.”  He’s a keeper and a possible shoe in for funniest superlative of his future high school.

I’m pitterpatterart on Instagram if you want to follow along during the week.  Hope your weekend is crazy grand.

Happy Friday!

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May 1, 2013 By 3 Comments

Let’s See…

…have you ever had to hot glue a boot?  Well, I have.  Pretty sure this 4-year-old is going to drive this boot into the ground.  And…the hatred continues.  Several tear moments today because A) He hates the boot B) He couldn’t jump over a diaper box Huddy had set up with added obstacles on top for extra height and cool points when he actually made it over the jumping obstacle C) He hates the boot D) He has to miss his cousin’s gymnastics birthday party this weekend and E) He hates the boot.  I get it…I really do.  I hate the boot for him.

16.  The number of days before summer break.  I can hardly contain myself.  Bring on sleeping in late and a tan and trips to the wave pool and baseball games and swimming for days.  I’m ready.  Josh Kelley is ready.  The wee Kelleys are ready.

Speaking of the end of the school year.  This looks stalkerish, but it isn’t…I promise.  We love Harper’s teacher Mrs. Tanner.  Like big love.  Like when I think about Harper not being in her class anymore I get all teary eyed.  It’s sad.  I’m hoping I can pay her off in baked goods and canvases and key fobs and she’ll just move on up to 1st grade.  Yes, that would do just fine.

Cheese is his favorite.  Every. Single. Day.  Cheese, cheese and more cheese.  And shockingly, he still poops.

A movie night is very much appropriate on a Wednesday night when Josh is coming home late and the wee Kelleys are a little out of their minds.  And how about a bedtime goal of 6:45…boom.  You do what you gotta do to survive.

This is a very good sign.  Cheesecake is soooooo on my radar.  I’m coming for you baby, I’m coming for you.

Helicopters are Sol’s favorite.  He collects, fills his bug container with them and fills his pockets to the tippy top with them.  Every where we go, he spots them.  Oh, and he gives them to me as gifts.  I like him.  BTW:  Good catch on my part when I discovered said pockets full of helicopters before starting the washing machine.

That’s all I’ve got.  Now I’m off to get 4 crazy cool Kelleys to bed.  I’ve got just about 30 minutes to make my goal of 6:45pm.  I can do it.  I can totally do it.

Happy Wednesday.

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April 30, 2013 By 8 Comments

Thoughts On A Tuesday

You guys are cracking me up.  So “glad” there are more parents out there who let their kids go days with unattended broken bones.  We should start a club.

And your words are too sweet.  I hope you know I don’t really think we’re like terrible, terrible parents.  I tell these real life stories of parenting because they’re too funny not to share and I know there has to be someone else out there who can relate.  I hope you know I’m not fishing for “you’re a good parent” comments, but they are too kind :) …that’s for sure.

So Sol is not a fan of the boot.  His exact words this morning as we were leaving for school, “I hate this boot like I hate the devil.”  I love this kid.  There is never any wondering as to how he’s feeling…except when he breaks a bone.  He’s quite bummed about the no running and jumping.  It’s fair to say we can add “the boot” to Sol’s list of things he loathes…like having his hair picked out and bread crust.

Today happiness was walking through Target eating popcorn and not having to share.  Amon even slept through the first part of my happy Target time, but then woke up.  And I did give him a few teeny tiny morsels of popcorn, one of which just got stuck to his lip.

The Mother’s Day card section at Target may have almost sent me over the edge.  I did tear up as I looked through all the cards trying to find the perfect one for Mom.  Yes, I am the person who buys their dead mom cards and leaves them on her grave like in a sappy made-for-TV movie, only to really know that after a few weeks or even just days one of the cemetery grounds crew people are just going to throw it away.  I just can’t help myself.

Finished up my 50 miles for April, plus a bit of overage.  Still trying to decide what May’s goal will be…I’m thinking of going high to see if I can really push it.  I can’t decide if this is wise or just stupid.

Hobby Lobby fabrics + cute baby = cute overload.  Hobby Lobby is one of my happy places.

I’ve decided to make cheesecake for the weekend and mini red velvet cheesecakes.  Already have my baking shopping list ready to go.  And yes, it was just Monday when I came to this decision.  Breaking up with sweets during the week has taken a tole on my mental state.  THIS cheesecake recipe is the best.  Seriously.  Make it now.  Or this weekend.  It’s amazing.

He is the best lunch date.  Gobbles down food like nobody’s business.  He is turning into a food thrower though.  And he’s got quite the arm.  Geesh.

I’m trying to plan out some up and coming posts.  I’ve had a few requests to see quilts we have and lots of questions about how to support a newly adopting family.  I’m working on those and a few others.  Anything else you want to read about?  I always could use some ideas.

Hope your day is amazing.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Tuesday!

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April 29, 2013 By 14 Comments

Oh, Monday!

Today was one of those Mondays.  You know the one.  The one that just really sticks it to you.

Sol fell about a week ago and has been limping ever since.  In all fairness, he’s not a big pain complainer.  Now mess with his food or stuff and you’ll get some complaining, but he’s pretty tolerant of pain.  Josh noticed this morning that he was still limping when he was running through the house and so I finally called the doctor.

I decided that until our afternoon doctors appointment we’d have some fun since the weather was awesome.  The boys rode bikes at the park and played on the playground and we snagged lunch out.

We ran by our house before Sol’s appointment to grab a few things and play for a bit.  When we were just about to start getting ready to leave, Amon fell off Huddy’s bed and scraped his face on a plastic basket and a transformer hanging out of the basket cut his inner ear area.  It’s like road rash on his face or David Bowie’s makeup from the early 90s.

He was pitiful.  Cried so so hard.

We then headed out for Sol’s appointment.  Our amazingly wonderful pediatrician checked Amon out as well.  Two birds…one stone.

Amon was fine, just have to watch the cut in his ear to make sure it doesn’t get infected.  Sol on the other hand…well, we headed off to our children’s hospital for x-rays.  I dropped all the other wee Kelleys off with my MIL.  It was actually super sweet just being with Sol…alone…just me and him.  He’s a really cool kid.

As we were walking back to the waiting area after his xrays, I saw one of the head guys from Amon’s anesthesia team for his open heart surgery.  I went semi crazy on him and I could tell he didn’t know what to do with me.  I was all like…

Me:  Hey, I recognize you.  You do anesthesia right?

Anesthesia Dude:  Yes.

Me:  You did my son’s open heart surgery in September.

Anesthesia Dude:  Is this him?  (looking at Sol)

Me:  Oh no, he’s at home.  We’re here for xrays today.

Anesthesia Dude:  And you are…?

Me:  Oh, I’m Laura Kelley.  My little boy is Amon, well on his insurance his name is Teklehaymanot.  Surely you remember that name.

Anesthesia Dude:  {Insert awkward stare because A) I’ve followed him this whole time to wherever he was headed dragging my limpy little boy with me…he clearly couldn’t shake me and B)  He has no idea who this Amon/Teklehaymanot baby is I speak of.}

Me:  Well, Amon was adorable and had crazy good hair and I know you do all kinds of surgeries, but…{Insert crazy mother now starting to cry} I just wanted you to know you did a great job.

Anesthesia Dude:  Well thank you.  He’s doing good now?

Me:  Yes, he’s doing amazing.

Anesthesia Dude:  (really wanting to break free of me at this point) Well, good to see you.

Me:  You too.

I immediately walked back to the waiting area with Sol and text Josh.  Lots of really crazy emotions came rearing up in me.  I just wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I apparently just decided to be creepy.

So back to Sol…turns out, dude broke his foot.  I felt horrible.  #parentsoftheyear  Kid had been walking and running and jumping and biking on a broken foot for a week.  I asked the doctor if she thought I was a horrible mom :) She smiled and told me no.  Good lady doctor.  She knew what was good for her.

She said she was shocked at how much it had healed without anything on it for so long.  She said he must be a really strong healthy kid.  Keep em’ coming lady doctor…Keep.Them.Coming.  She said if we had brought him in right when it happened they would have put a cast on it, but since it had actually done quite a bit of healing on it’s own, he just gets a boot.  A boot with very strict “you must wear it all the time” rules and no running or jumping, but none the less, a boot.  Soooooo, our poor parenting was actually of some service to Sol thank you very much.

So he’s out for the rest of soccer season and will go back in 2 1/2 weeks for more xrays to see how the healing is progressing and until then he’ll be rockin’ his boot.

I hope you feel like a good parent today.  I hope I make you feel like an incredibly awesome, observant parent.  It’s what I’m here for.  Enjoy our lameness and let it build you up or confirm you as a “just making it, so what if I let my 4-year-old walk around with a broken foot for 8 days” kind of parent.  It’s a hard job.  That is fo sho.

Happy “Road Rash Face, Broken Foot For Days” Monday.

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April 26, 2013 By 3 Comments

Holla…It’s Friday

I’m pretty pumped it’s Friday.  No soccer tonight.  We’re probably going to do our ritual of pizza and a movie.  It’s just what we do…and it’s pretty darn glorious.  The weekend is pretty low key too which is always a plus.

So here’s my instagram from the week.  If you want to follow along I’m pitterpatterart.

Haircuts.  They were far overdue.  Both boys hit up the barber shop and we’re looking crazy good when they left.  And if you cannot tell, Sol loathes having his hair picked out…kind of like I loathe cooking and laundry and ants.  We’re loathers…together.

Amon still only has two teeth, but that PB & Jelly sandwich stuck to the roof of his mouth makes him looks like he has way more.  Wishful thinking.

I’m almost at my 50 miles for this month and may, just may go a little over.  Some of my running/crossfit people are considering doing a Tough Mudder.  Anyone done one?  If so, how was it?  Any tips for race day you would like to pass along would be awesome.

I like him.  A lot.  A lot, a lot, a lot.

I cheated this week.  I sent Ashley the picture along with my confession.  She then used my cheat to make eating a piece of cookie cake okay.  We have issues.  What’s one to do when eating yummy frozen yogurt will result in raising money for your kids beloved school?  Well, I took one for the team and obliged.

I expected the worse from this situation and it actually turned out okay.  I was shocked.

They’re crazy and blurry and totally messes, but my heart is full to the tippy top.  They’re good kiddos.

He’s mine.  Try and not be too jealous.  Josh Kelley, I married you for all the right reasons.  The bow tie is one of them.

Betsy is running the Country Music 1/2 tomorrow.  They are expecting cold weather and thunderstorms.  Betsy, you should probably just meet me at Starbucks and call it a day.  I kid.  She going to totally rock it.

My goods from the Strawberry Patch barn sale.  Minus the most amazing old green chippy paint box that is going to be our new coffee table.  It’s so lovely.

And I’m working on a 1st birthday gift today.  My small group always ropes me into signature gifts…like Jess and her darn sleep sheep :)   Name pillows have become my signature 1st birthday gift now too.  Makes shopping easy.

Hope you have a grand grand weekend.  Pretty excited the weekend is finally here.

Happy Friday!

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