This, That & That.

The internet is a funny thing to me.  It can be used for so many bad and hurtful things and yet it can also be used for so much good.  It can build relationships and bridge gaps and make strangers feel like long time friends.  I am so thankful for your kindness yesterday.  I’m so thankful for the sweet and thoughtful emails.  I am so thankful for the sincere and thoughtful words.  I wrote yesterday’s post because I knew someone out there could relate.  You could relate to the actual situation with your own child or a friend’s child or you could relate to the deep unwanted feeling of defeat and doubt.  I just new someone would be able to read my words and realize they are not alone in whatever struggle they face.  I needed to remind myself of God’s goodness.  I love the community the internet can build.  Thank you for being such a genuine and loving community.  It’s really something quite amazing to watch.

In other random news that is not so gushy…Remember the Shake That Does NOT Taste Like A Wendy’s Frosty recipe I shared with you?  Remember how I bet my kids would still eat it because it resembled chocolate ice-cream?  Yeah, well, I was totally wrong.  First, I totally forgot it had peanut butter in it and right before serving it to Hudson…my highly allergic to peanut butter kid…I remembered.  Harper and Sol gave it a good attempt, but they both bailed really quickly.  It was too bad even for my kids.  Geesh.

Lots of you shared recipes in the comments and through email and I am thrilled to give them all a shot.  I’ll let you know when we have a home run in the meal department.  Thank you for sharing.  My cousin Amy gave me a recipe for no-bake protein balls and then I found this recipe on Pinterest.  I ended up taking Amy’s recipe and the one I found and intermingling them.  Here’s what I went with:  1/2 c peanut butter, 1/3 cup honey and 1/2 tsp vanilla mixed together.  Then I added 1 cup oats, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/3 cup ground flaxseeds.  I also did a batch where I used sun butter instead of peanut butter and used whole flax seeds instead of ground.  Everyone devoured both minus Huddy, who was a little freaked out by the overwhelming peanut butter smell.  He was convinced I was giving him peanut butter.  Amon was a protein ball fein…he was jonesen bad after he had a few bites and was ticked when I cut him off.

Josh Kelley claimed they tasted very similar to a Reeces cup.  I do think they get even better after they are balled up and sit out for a bit.  They are truly yummy.  I was completely pleasantly surprised.

I’m also still working on orders and still open for new orders.  I’m excited to start some new orders today and some canvases for a sale.  These camera straps are completed and headed to their new owners here in Tennessee and Alabama.  Thank you so much Kristy and Casey.  So appreciative for all you crazy kind people who are ordering.

 

 

And lastly, we got some new pictures of the kids from the amazingly talented Cheyenne from Shots by Cheyenne.  She never ceases to amaze me by the beautiful way she captures the ‘us’ in our family.  It’s lovely and I’m so thankful for the images she captured.  I could barely narrow down the selection to just these, so excuse the excess of Kelley kid photos.  I clearly cannot help myself.

Cheyenne is crazy good right?  Totally.  Thank you again Cheyenne.  As always I am completely over the moon.

And that’s that.  I’ve got a busy day with a certain small ace of hearts and lots of work which needs to be started and completed.  And I’ve got a hot date tonight.  I think it’s going to be a pretty grand day.

Happy Thursday!

Weekend Love

So we had to start cleaning up puke again.  It’s awesome, let me tell you.  Amon puked all day Saturday and Sunday, but seems to have perked up this morning.  Harper got sick again on Saturday afternoon and is still sick.  I’m kind of getting bitter about this whole puke/stomach issue thing.  The weather is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G here and we should be living it up outside, but were still on the recovery road.  So our weekend was full of really joyful moments and then some vomit covered ones.  That’s just how we roll.

Amon in Huddy’s Yoda slippers may have had Josh and I cracking up hard.

The boys are always building little pillow houses or forts or castles.

I miss her smile.  She is just feeling craptastic right now.  She did get another Lego set for her birthday and already assembled it by herself.  She was pretty proud.

Amon took super long sick naps this weekend.  It was sad, but really cute.

I got to enjoy a yummy breakfast with some of my favorite ladies before I headed to the soccer fields.  Swaffles (sandwich waffles) was delicious and the company and conversation and laughter was even better.

Soccer was awesome.  I love watching my kids play.  Everyone did pretty well, but Harper took the cake with 3 goals.  She was so crazy cute.  This was pre-sick again.

I worked on custom orders…none are finished yet, but should be soon.  I also got to celebrate my soon-to-arrive niece.  I made her this 20×20 Philippians 4:8 canvas for her room.

And we had family pictures taken yesterday.  It was quite hilariously awful/wonderful.  The weather was off the hook.  Cheyenne was amazing…as always.  Harper faked her smiles well, but when she wasn’t having her picture taken was laying on a quilt with a hoodie on.  Amon cried…like the whole time unless he was being held or had his paci.  The most smilingest kid I have ever known and of course on picture day he is puking his guts up.  The boys had enough energy for the entire family and found way too many large sticks.  But you know what…it’s totally good.  I will look back at the pictures and remember with fond memories the day and how life is just that…life…the ups and downs and ins and outs.  Thank you Cheyenne for capturing the craziness of our life.  I completely and truly appreciate it.

So that was a snipet of our weekend.  How was yours?  I hope it was grand and good.  Oh and I have a little giveaway this weekend…no art, but some fun goodies.  I hope you’ll like it.  See you tomorrow.

Happy Monday!

Family Photos

I just could not not share a few of our recent family photos taken by the amazingly talented and wonderfully sweet Laci of Barefeet Photography.

They don’t need many words at all.  Laci captured everything so divinely and I am just too thankful for her and her talent.  Hope you enjoy and have a grand weekend.  Celebrate some today…it’s Friday.

These are all four of their favorite sleep animals {Braveheart Lion, Tubby the Hippo, Froggy the Frog & Snowy the Polar Bear}

Happy Friday everyone!

The Airport

How do you accurately describe or truly capture the moment when your family is finally united?  We started the process to Amon in August of 2010.  We made our way through paperwork and our homestudy and our dossier and were placed on the wait list in November 2010.  And there we stayed for the next almost 18 months before we saw his sweet face.  This process was crazy difficult.  The wait was long and life was happening all around us.  Life changed dramatically while in the wait with the passing of my Mom.  Life got hard…still is so very hard without her.  I knew our homecoming was going to be so emotional and wonderful and sad all wrapped into one…I knew I wanted someone at that airport specifically to document this moment…the moment when all 6 of us Kelleys were finally together.

I was elated when Cheyenne of Shots by Cheyenne said she would be there!!!  Cheyenne is this crazy talented lady who is beyond sweet as well.  Cheyenne and her partner Laci of Barefoot Photography captured this incredibly priceless moment beyond well…they conquered it…and fiercely.  And for that, I am forever grateful.  Thank you so much Cheyenne and Laci.  You are both completely stellar.  Show them some love as well.  Head over and “like” their pages.  You will truly not be disappointed.  They are so very good at what they do!

And that is exactly how you capture the moment when your family is finally united.

Happy Thursday!