So cool!

While the Corynn and I were in GI town last weekend, John and the twins hung out at home. He took them out on Saturday and brought cold bottled water and trail mix to homeless people. They went to the city mission, tent city and a few other popular spots for the homeless. I am so proud of them. They did it because it was hot and they thought the less fortunate my appreciate a cool drink. They did it just because it was the right thing to do. It was such a lovely experience and memories that the girls will always have. A life lesson and interactions that will serve them well. Another lesson in giving back and helping our fellow man. One of my life philosophies is to be generous of yourself, your time, your talents and your position. I'm so thankful that John reinforces and shares those beliefs. We want our children to always give back and share. to help where they can and to know that no act of kindness is too small. A smile, holding the door for someone, a kind sentiment or a bottle of water.

They are pretty amazing in my book! 

busy little bees

We have been moving all week long! Lots going on around here. My best friend's boys were in town visiting grandparents, so I picked them up and brought them to our house for a few days. Corynn is five months older than TJ and they are pretty close. Thunder is my little buddy...a least he was when he was 3. He's now 8 which is just craziness! And the little one Phoenix had a heck of a time escaping the loving clutches of Evie. She was quite smitten. We went fishing and swimming. It was a full house with  7 kids and John and I, but fun!

Then on Friday, we headed back to GI town. Dropped the boys back with their grandparents and helped with preparations for Marion's birthday party. Marion is Kristina's dad and the boys grandpa. I've know him basically my whole life and he is a one of kind jewel of a man! It was so much fun getting everyone together to celebrate his 80th bday! Lots of family and close family friends. I made the cake...for 150 people! Now that was a little nuts. But it was yummy and got rave recviews. A big thanks to my mom for teaching me the frosting recipe.

I had a bit of extra time while I was in GI town before the party- so I helped my mom around the house. She always has a little list for me to do when I'm in town. The list includes everything from hanging a shelf to decorating to pedicure services to wardrobe assistance. I changed an light switch, fixed and outlet, helped decorate a few rooms, hung a pot rack, painted a door, installed a few door stops, put up a piece of trim on the back door, installed a door knob and other things. I'm sure we had item left on the to do list...but there is always next time!

It was a fun weekend and we got so much done!

Finally! Project complete!

Here's the BEFORE:

and here's the AFTER:

Not bad! Not bad! I'm really liking it and am so impressed by what a difference a little paint can make! 

Happy Birthday to you

Wishing the happiest of birthdays to our twinners! They are 16! Holy COW! I still remember the day they were born.

After months of them trying to come early and multiple hospital visits to try and stop them from coming too early- I was finally given the go ahead. An amino confirmed their lungs were ready and they were both head down and in position.

John, my mom, Sandi and I head to the hospital and I'm checked into a room. (Well, we are finally put in a room after I refused to leave the waiting room. They were full and didn't have any available birthing rooms for my induction. And they wanted me to come back the next day. Ummmm no.)

So finally around 11pm I was hooked up to the induction drugs. The night was pretty uneventful. My mom and little brother had chair races to entertain me. The next day was pretty good too until about 4pm. I pretty much thought I was going to die. I begged for an epidural but the anesthesiologist was gone and it would be about 30 or so minutes for him to get there. The concern was that I would have progressed too far by the time he got there for me to even get one.

After about 10 minutes I told the nurses to wheel me out to the doors and I would wait for him. Lucky for me, he must of have raced to the hospital because he arrived a few minutes later. Once the epidural was in, I was wheeled into the c-section room. It was precautionary just incase Kwynn (baby B) decided to come out breach.

I crawled up on the c-section table and got situated. The steel metal table was killing my back and the room was filled with people. Each baby had her own team of 3 nurses, and two doctors. Plus my mom, John, Sandi and Kristina were in there. Quite the party. The fact I was able to crawl up on the table and move my legs should have been an indication that the epidural wasn't working. But I had never been through this before and didn't know. Apparently when I was moving to the operation room the epidural slid out and wasn't really working.  I never loss feeling of my legs and was able to move around and go straight to the nursery after being cleaned up.

The operating room was chaotic. McKynna was born 5 pounds 10 ounces and needed forceps to help her birth. Kwynn decided to be complicated and came out feet first. The doctors were actually contemplating pushing her back in, turning her around and delivering her head first. UMMMMM NO! That SO wasn't happening and I told them as much. I delivered her breach 17 minutes after her sister. She was 4 pounds 13 ounces.  They were welcomed into the world by friends and family. The waiting room was filled with John's parents, uncle KC, aunt Sheila, and friends from church.

They were great babies and kids. I think the hardest part of raising twins is taking them to the grocery store while they are babies. The car seats take up one whole cart so you need two... one for babies and one for food. Also people/strangers stop you and ask a million questions. Multiples attract attention. John and I never felt overwhelmed with the girls and I think that is because they were our first and we didn't know any different. I do know when Corynn came...I remember thinking singletons are the easiest thing ever!

The girls have grown into such lovely young ladies! We are so blessed to have them in our family!

PAINT!!!!

Our house is getting painted and I'm so excited I almost can't stand it! I'm soooooooooo freaking happy! I've wanted to do this since we moved in back in 2009. We contracted a painter this past April and I've been patiently waiting since then for them to start! And after a day of spraying it down with power washer, a day of taping, a day of priming....we are finally onto PAINT!!! They are doing the trim today and hopefully the body (siding) tomorrow. YAY!!!


I will post a before and after so you can see why I am so EXCITED! It's being painted for function as well as aesthetics. We have steel siding that is still in really good shape, but after 20 years the paint had started to chip off all over the house. Mostly on the front which killed our curb appeal! And exposed the siding to elements which would eventually bring rust.

We explored our options (none of which were cheap) and chose to have the house sprayed with a ceramic coating that is warrantied to last 25 years. I was able to have it tinted to colors of my choosing and they are spraying the whole house (garage doors, gutters etc).


Did I go classic blue with bright white trim? 

Did I chose mint green as a throw back to my childhood home?

Did I chose a neutral tan khaki color?

Can't wait to show off the finished project! 

Kelly Girls Photoshoot 2014

I try to take photos of the girls a few times of the year. So while we were at Davey last weekend, I corralled the girls into the pasture and forced an impromptu photo shoot.

From start to finish it lasted maybe 15 minutes. Kwynn was getting freaked out by all the bugs, the tall grass kept scratching Kynna's legs and Corynn couldn't be serious and kept model walking and posing. Evie did her own thing, wandering around picking flowers...so she's not in very many. But let's face it...I have PLENTY of photos of Evie. :)


So here are some of the good ones!

and a few of Corynn being silly on the trampoline

Our Independence Day 2014

July 4th was spent out at Camp Davey with the Kelly clan. I really missed Nancy. This was her holiday. We've celebrated with Jeff and Nancy almost every year, so not having that tradition was hard. Nancy would have barbecues at their house in GI town. John and I would sit on the lake wall and shoot pop bottle rockets into the water. Nancy would serve deviled eggs, chips with french onion dip, baked beans and fruit. Jeff would grill up burgers. We would sit out on the patio visiting and watching the kids play. We would watch the neighbors have the most epic water balloon fight across the corner of the lake.

There were always plenty of sparklers and fountains. Nancy's favorite was the chinese pagoda. Jeff would blast a patriotic playlist and we would enjoy root beer floats with ice cream from Dairy Queen. Tillie would always be there and bring Jeff a Boston Creme Pie and cookies for the kiddos. It was always such a perfect all American night. I miss Nancy and the 'touch' she would bring to the holidays and family gatherings. This year was the first Fourth with Nancy being gone and it was hard. For us...the grandchildren...Jeff.

 It will definitely take time to find our 'new normal'.



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BUT we did our best to keep Nancy with us while celebrating. We served up her menu for dinner, Jeff made sure the flag was flying off their patio, John was sure to buy some sparklers for the children, Evie and I picked some flowers from the pasture for the dinner table. Corynn, Ryan and Evie decorated their scooters and then rode around the circle drive parading their creations for the family.

I think Nancy would have approved! She was most definitely in our thoughts!

I adore her little red wellies and she wore them all weekend long. 

The four youngest grandchildren/cousins had a blast...literally!

Evie LOVED the smoke bombs and claimed them all...so when they were all gone she was a bit upset. Thank goodness Aunt Amy brought glow sticks...she thoroughly enjoyed playing with those and even ended up sleeping with them that night. 

(thanks Amy for the pic!)

And to make the holiday even more memorable...my big brother stopped by for an overnight on his way back home. Just traveling through but it was good to see him! 

***My favorite part was when John and I loaded up our children and went out in the pasture to watch the City of Lincoln's firework display. We were able to see the production just above the tree tops. Our conversation, the music, Corynn holding a sleeping Evie, picking out our favorite firework...it was pretty fun. I will miss those little family moments when the twins go off to college. 

****My not so favorite part was when a cake decided to misfire  and shot a balls of sparks towards the house, pasture and bushes. It was pretty scary. After putting out a few fires with the hose...we decided we won't be purchasing cakes anymore. And if we feel the need to - we will be by making a three walled firework shoot. It's just too dangerous otherwise. It was pretty crazy! 

****Loved watching Jeff jam out to Neil Diamond's Coming To America! Totally brought back memories of Jeff and Nancy...

It was a great Fourth of July! 

Firecrackers

John, Evie and I ventured north of Lincoln to a little town last week. Our city only allows the sale and lighting of fireworks from 7/2-7/4. But you can buy them outside city limits 10 days prior to July 4th. Our acreage is near a little town that has a pretty great fireworks stand. And last week they were showing off their fireworks so you could see what the cake, fountain or shell looks like prior to buying. Which is pretty cool considering you can spend anywhere from $20-$70 on one and it might be a short 'meh' kind of production. They handed out flyers with a list of each firework and a comment section so you could write what you thought of it. I think it will be a great reference for when we go back to purchase some for the Fourth and I'm super excited!

Evie wasn't too excited about the fireworks show...we let her bring her tennis ball and she was perfectly content playing with that. The demonstration was held at the local park and I'm quite certain the whole town was there. Granted it's not a very big town...only about 150 or so but still. In some ways it was a very red neck crowd but it was also kind of cool to see a town where everyone seemed to know everyone and the event was a town social of sorts. I think in another life, small town living would have been for me! I can see the appeal.

We are spending the holiday with the Kelly clan. It should be full of fun and excitement!