Monday, October 29, 2012

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Evie's favorite thing lately is sliding! Big slides, little slides, twisty slides...doesn't much matter! She loves them all! We are so thankful for the lovely fall we've been having! Its giving her more outside time which she adores!






14 months and counting! She sure is growing up fast!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

the patch

The girls had fall break this week - so we took Evie on her first trip to the pumpkin patch! She LOVED it! She wanted to pick up every pumpkin she saw! She wondered all over the grounds and had a blast! What a dolly! 














Wednesday, October 03, 2012

enough

Today was such a beautiful day! Evie and I took a break from our normal routine and spent longer than usual outside. We even ate lunch on the front lawn. Then tonight we planted some mums, climbed on the playset and collected pinecones. Tomorrow brings cooler weather through the weekend...cooler as in 40s and 50s with a slight chance of SNOW! eeeeeek!


After a day spent outside with tons of pictures to document our adventures...Evie was done. She had had enough!


"Really!? That's enough mom!"


Silly girl! 

Monday, October 01, 2012

Morrill Hall

Evie loved exploring Morrill Hall a few weeks ago! Corynn was attending a birthday party there- so John, Evie and I decided to hang around and check things out until the party was done.





This was the best room! There are cut outs on the floor with fossils in them covered by super thick glass/plexiglass stuff. Evie wouldn't go near them and kept avoiding them. She thought she was going to fall in. I kneeled down on one and tried to coax her onto it...she freaked, shook her head and bolted. 

I think she really enjoyed herself, but is still working on her "inside-a-museum-be-quiet" voice. Her giggles and squeals echoed in the Mammoth room! She loved it! So did I!  :)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Happenings

Its been a few weeks...

First off- my computer crashed! :( ka-poot! All 20,000+ photos gone. All documents gone. All saved files gone. The stinkin thing wouldn't even turn on...that's how ka-poot it was!

Luckily the geniuses at the Apple store were able to put in a new hard drive... a bigger hard drive which means more space!!! And by luckily I mean we didn't have buy a new mac! pfew!


I had  two back ups...so I didn't lose much. BUT it could have been really really bad! Good thing I post so many pictures on this blog and fb...because I was able to fill in some lost photos with those uploads! SCORE! The weird thing is about a month ago I felt a strong inclination to backup my desktop files and photos to disk the old school way. Sooooo glad I did! I could have lost a lifetime of Evie's photos! I would have been very sad.


Secondly- we've been sick. REALLY sick! At first John thought it was something he ate, but a few days later Kynna was sick, then Evie, Pucca, me and then Kwynn. Its almost been 2 weeks and this mom is tired...sick and tired!  hahah- get it...SICK and tired! a little sleep deprived- can ya tell!?


Poor Evie got the worst of it. We ended up having to take her to the er for dehydration. Her case has been going on for 4 days where as the rest of us were pretty much ok after 36 hours.


Waiting for the dr in the er


6 wonderful ladies (4 nurses and 2 techs) trying to get the iv in

 Sick big sister...the nurses kindly tended to too. 


Snuggles with mama


pretty much slept the whole day yesterday ;(



But NOW....I have my computer back, my files, photos, documents etc. And everyone is on the mend. Some of us aren't 100% but better than 24 hours ago! Lysol spray, bleach kitchen spray and wipes are my right hand companion...everything is getting cleaned! And if you happen to be sick (possibly unknowingly from us) know that we love you when we say "STAY AWAY!!!!"  :)




Monday, September 10, 2012

A day with Evie

Just an example of what a day with Evie is like!


6:45am - Gets up, has bottle and breakfast (bananas are her favorite, but as of late, she is really liking peanut butter toast)

7:15am - Evie is strapped into her carseat ready to go on the morning school run.

7:45am - We get home and play. Which is usually just Evie emptying every shelf she can reach in the baking pantry, her entire crate of toys, the toy shelf in the family room and her crate of books. I try to pick up as we go, because she really loves taking things out...then loses interest and moves on.

8:30ish - Morning nap; I clean up all the toys and books so they are ready for the next round when she wakes up!

10:30am- I get Evie up. She gets a bath. Then we come downstairs for a bottle and a snack.

11:30am- Round 3 or 4 gets started with her emptying every shelf she can reach in the baking pantry, her crate of toys, the toy shelf in the family room and her crate of books.

12:30pm - lunch and sippy cup with milk. We read a few books- just a page or two before she rips it out of my hands and pushes another one my way. She chases Emma and I hurry to pick up the rest of the debris left in her wake.

1:30pm - Evie is down for her afternoon nap.

2:40pm- Evie gets woken up and strapped into her carseat for the after school run.

3:30pm- Snack and sippy cup.

4:00pm - Evie moves on to emptying the tupperware drawer and soda cabinet. Usually because I'm in the kitchen helping kids with school work, prepping things for dinner or putting dishes away.

5:00pm - She starts to get squirrely and we usually go outside to play, eat dirt in the courtyard or on a walk in her wagon.

5:30pm - John gets home and she gets some 'dad' time.

5:45pm- IF she's having a particularly bad moment she will get laid down for a short nap. Otherwise I occupy her with puffs and string cheese which will count as an early dinner.

7:30pm - on days where she doesn't take a short nap in the evening...this is BED TIME! YAY!

otherwise it's closer to 8:30pm




Friday, September 07, 2012

PHOTO BOOKS!!!!!

I just finished up our summer 2012 travel photo books. Something I do for every trip we've been on since 2007 (some day I hope to make up previous years). Its super easy and pretty compact- so not alot of shelf space needed. In fact, we have ours sitting out on a side table. The girls love pulling them out and looking through them, reminiscing on past travels and where we hope to go next!

I LOVE this idea and wanted to pass it along to all of you! We use Apple since we have macs and all of our digital photos are in iPhoto. But I've used Shutterfly and Walgreens to make photo books and they are just as easy!

Step 1: Choose your photos- which should already be categorized by event or date in your photo program.

Step 2: If your using a mac...just click the book icon on the bottom of your iPhoto app. Drag the event or photos you want to use into the new book project. I usually do a medium plain photo book- soft cover. And I don't use captions with the photos. You can choose page layouts at the bottom.

Shutterfly and Walgreens are very similar except you would have to import/upload all photos to their site and then form the book from there.

Some have auto fill...and they can do it by date of the photo. So this comes in handy when doing a trip because it would autofill your photos chronologically. I had a coupon for a free photo book from Shutterfly (thanks Jeff!) and just made one for Evie's first year. That came in handy! It only took me 10 minutes to upload, design and order the book! Pretty sweet!


Its also nice as a way of compiling a years worth of photos for the whole family! They have tons of formats and design options- if you are more into the scrapbook look. We've used them for brag books for grandmas, birthday gifts (we made one for Gma Tillie's 95th birthday...complete with photos and 95 reasons why we thought she was super great!), the girls wrote a book and we scanned and imported their illustrations so it would could be in print...the possibilities are really endless. If you have an artist in the family (which we do!) its a great way to make a portfolio of their work! Just scan the artwork and import those scans into a book.

I love having physical copies of photos...digital has made it way too easy to just store photos as files tucked away on your hard drive. I like being able to sit down with the kids or friends and actually look through the book! Old school photo albums just take up way too much room and time! And photobooks are pretty reasonable in price. They run about $10 and up depending on if you have a hard cover and/or add extra pages.

Anyway...just wanted to share my love of photo books with you! This was in no way solicited or a way of advertising...I just really love photo books! Best invention yet! 







Thursday, September 06, 2012

yuck

So remember when I mentioned this...well the time came for her fillings. She did great and none of them were as bad as originally thought. They were under her old fillings where the cavity wasn't completely cleaned out. Anyway....

Corynn's left side of her face was numb because she had work done on both the top and the bottom. She was cleared by the dentist to eat lunch just watch out not to eat on the left side. As she was eating lunch she noticed blood on her napkin. She checked in the mirror and it seems she bit and chewed her lip and since it was numb...she didn't really feel it.

That was yesterday. This morning she came running to me and said "Mom, we have a serious problem!" Her lip had swelled up and the inside was ... well... just see for yourself.


Not too bad...bottom lip swollen


but this is what the inside looked like...


mouth scabs are the grossest things ever! And she lost a tooth! Woohoo!

These are photos from after school, but this morning was terrible! She looked like Bubba Gump with herpes! I almost had her stay home from school- poor thing! 

Hopefully the swelling will be completely gone tomorrow... the sore will take a few days. 

LESSON OF THE DAY: When the dentist says be careful; kids tend to chew on their numb lips...they aren't kidding! 

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Rain dance

Something wet fell from the sky yesterday. Something we haven't seen in a long time around these parts. Something we desperately need. So when the clouds opened up and it poured from a beautiful sunny sky (love sunny rain...so pretty)...Corynn took Evie out to experience it first hand. They sat on the porch catching sprinkles at first. Evie giggled with delight. Soon they were dancing in the rain and loving every minute of it. 





Saturday, September 01, 2012

determination

Evie is one determined little squirt. She discovered the phone today. 

Here's how it went...


ooooooh what's this?


I like it! I want it! It shall be mine!


Reeeeeeaaaaaacccccchhhhh! Can't. quite. reach.


Now I'm getting mad! 


Stretch a little more. Almost got it. 


I got it! I got it! 


hehehhehehehehehehehehehe!


It's mine!


Now what do I do with this thing?

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

pearly whites

Kwynn, McKynna, Corynn and I all had dental cleanings and checkups today! Woo freaking hoo. Out of the four of us, we left with six cavities. I know that sounds bad, but it's actually even worse than that! Three out of the four of us came away with perfectly healthy pearly whites. Ummm ya.... Can you guess who has some fillings in her future!?

here's a hint!




Monday, August 27, 2012

The carnival came to town!


We had a circus/carnival inspired birthday party for Evie this past weekend! She will be turning ONE on Wednesday!

The party was alot of fun...a little stressful, but fun! Stressful because we planned an outdoor soiree. And since our part of country is in a severe drought with little to no measurable rain in months, we thought we were golden. HA! Well, I watched the weather like a hawk the week leading up to the party... I mean I was on intellicast, weather underground and our local news website about every hour with updates sent to my phone twice a day. It did no good- because all I kept seeing was the chances of rain increasing with each day! And it was bitter sweet...because I really didn't want it to rain out the party but I really wanted the rain for our yard, our garden and for the River...my oh my that thing is low!

Oh well! It rained...so we watched the radar up until an hour before the party hoping it would clear up! An hour before party time we made the decision to set everything up in the basement and if it cleared up we would plug in the bounce house. Oh ya- did I mention we rented a bounce house...and it rained! :(

Thank goodness the girls had some friends over and my mom was here to help with the chaos! Also very thankful some people cancelled because having 60-70 people in my house would have been a bit nuts!


In the end- it did clear up! The kids were able to bounce to their heart's delight and the games went off just fine in the basement!

Here are photos of the party!


Top left: aprons I made the twins and their friends to wear as they ran the carni games, a balloon banner, mustache straws- super cute!, tickets and prize bags for each child, a photo booth with props, a cotton candy board we made to hold mini bags of sugary goodness at the concessions table


Top left: Evie's shear joy of tearing into gifts, can knock down game, Evie in the bounce house, balloon/dart game and Evie getting her cake!

Happy Birthday little one! 

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Time flies



One year ago, I looked like this:




And shortly after we were blessed with this chubby little bundle of joy!



Evlynn 'Evie' Cecilia Kelly

I can not believe that she will be one next week...in seven short days! Wow! She keeps us on our toes- she's just learning to walk, getting into cabinets, pulling things off of anything with in reaching distance and has developed a lovely screeching battle cry when she doesn't get her way! Fun times!

We love her so much- and although I always knew we were one short in our family...I never could have expected such an amazing special spirit! She's a perfect match to our family, a lovely addition! Thinking back now- I can't imagine how our family would be without her! 


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

What did you do last weekend?

We headed out to Camp Davey to have dinner and stay over with John's parents. They are planning on heading back to Texas and we wanted to spend some extra time with them! So Friday was spent grilling up burgers, enjoying a yummy salad full garden veggies, playing Mexican train, visiting and laughing. Evie enjoyed her first bit of birthday celebration with a giant decorated cookie and candle.  Corynn went on a truck ride with Gpa to count the bales of hay.


  one...

 two...

 three...

four...

I guess that's one way to count them! Silly girl!

Hope your weekend was just as great!!!



Tuesday, August 14, 2012

First day 2012

Today was the first day of school for three of the girls! Corynn has started 4th grade and the twins are now in HIGH SCHOOL....what!? Crazy- I know!

Corynn has known her teacher for awhile- she's the mom of a boy Corynn has been in class with since Kindergarten. She seems really nice and her name is Tarynn...she's got the 'ynn' thing going too! :)

Corynn has picked out school outfits for the next 8 days and has them laid out and numbered. So cute! She's excited to meet new kids and reconnect with old friends. After school I learned she has 3 new students in her class...2 girls that are pretty nice and a boy that is a pain! Her words not mine! :)


The twins had a pretty good day too- I think. At least from what they told me...you know how teenagers can be. The biggest gripe was about the lack of a salad bar. My kids have lived on salad bar for lunch for the last three years. Now they are back to cold lunch...so they can bring their own salad I presume. Today was freshman only...so they are a little apprehensive about tomorrow when all 9th-12th grade students will be roaming the halls together. Time will tell, but I'm sure they will adjust perfectly well.


And our annual 'First Day of School' photo:





Monday, August 13, 2012

Family photo session

We had family photos taken of the Kelly side of the family last weekend. A birthday gift for my mother in law. Our last family photos were taken four years ago! Definitely time for an update!


We haven't gotten the photos back yet from the photographer...but here are some I snapped while she was busy shooting!



Kwynn and Corynn sticking their toes in the sand waiting their turn. 


Grandparents and grandchildren getting ready for a walking shot.



The older cousins jumping off the wall...an 'action shot' as Sam would call it!


The girls showing Sam that GIRLS RULE!


Evie chilling with gma asking "What!? More pictures!?"


Amy and Luke sitting pretty for the photog!


Crossing our fingers that the talented April captured some really great shots!