Too Busy to Blog

What a month it has been! For that matter, what a year it has been! I have many pics to post and much to write about. But, for now I will make an end of year list for things I am grateful for in 2008.
Good Things:

1. We were blessed with the best baby ever, Cullen Michael Kelley. When I found out I was pregnant with Cullen I was in a sad state of being. I was all confused after my dad died and was wallowing in self misery. I didn't know who I was or what I believed and I certainly didn't want any more kids at the time. Then I found out I was pregnant in late January and the pregnancy made me want to sort myself out and thank goodness! I think I am the happiest I have ever been and Cullen came to us healthy and happy. He is so good to me! He only cries when hungry, he smiles all the time, he sleeps!!! He has these amazing blue eyes and a cute little nose. I couldn't ask for anything more!!!

2. I have grown so much spiritually this year. I am so grateful for my wonderful family and friends who helped me so much. That's one of the main things that has helped strengthen my testimony.

3. My first born, Tristan was baptized in August! We were so proud of him and he was proud of himself.

4. We got another cat, Ginger!

5. Our business has taken off this year and we are so grateful for that! It was pretty despairing in the beginning but, through hard work, prayer, patience, it's happening!

6. I have come leaps and bounds forward in my goal of being more patient. Though I still have a ways to go.

7. I said no a lot this year.

8. I got my new living room furniture set!!

9. I got into contact with lots of my old friends from COJ!!! So, exciting, as COJ will definitely rank in my top 5 of best life events.

10. I got to vote again. I love voting! Even though we ended up with a new president that scares the crap right out of me. I wonder if he's an alien...sent to take us over?

11. I am grateful that my husband makes it possible for me to stay at home with our children. I wouldn't have it any other way. Even if I wanted to work(who would want to go sit and work for someone else all day???) I wouldn't because I believe when you make these children, it's your responsibility to raise them, not a babysitter. Most people can make it on one income if they really try. So, yeah for Jeremy who makes it possible for me to always be with our kiddies!!

I have a ton more that I am grateful for but who wants to listen to me all night, right?

Snow

Today there was lots of it.

this is funny stuff

Rantings from the Land of Nicor

I had the freakin gas guy over today. Was gonna cook lunch but he decided to disconnect my stove and leave it in the middle of the kitchen floor instead. Lovely. Finally got the stupid carbon monoxide/gas detector problem solved though. Now, I have an electrical problem. Why isn't there an electrical alarm thingy. Now, I don't know what to do with myself. My whole day is thrown off...crap a freakin dog!!!

Christmas TAG

Lindsay tagged me this time! The is the Christmas survey I guess. Watch out cuz here I go!

1. do you like wrapping paper or gift bags? I do like wrapping paper better but, I have used bags as an easy alternative.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial, but ideally I would like a real one when the kids are grown.

3. When do you put up the tree? Well it's always up by Thanksgiving and this year is was up on Liam's birthday (nov. 10th). Yeah, shut up, it's NOT too early!

4. When do you take the tree down? about a week or so after new years.

5. Do you like eggnog? I look forward to egg nog the whole year long! It's one of my Christmas highlights. I mix mine with half milk though and my dad used to mix his with half sprite. It's great either way. I have tried it with half rum as well and that is a doozy! Not recommended...

6. Favorite gift received as a child? There were so many! One year my dad got me this generic barbie doll that I loved better than my brand name barbies. I wish I still had it. Even if it was naked and missing a leg....and her hair was like stuck straight up and it was kinda reddish...okay it was a weird little doll and I loved it.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Jeremy's dad. Never encountered anything like it...seriously, there is nothing we can even remotely think of. Every year. :)

8. Easiest person to buy for? Cedric Vaughn Kelley. We could wrap up a stick and he would love it! I might do that this year to see if it actually pans out!!

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No, I need to get a new one. I mean yes we had one but not yet this year.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? cards. But whether or not I actually mail them is the real question.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Oh man! I can't say a clear cut favorite on the worst gift. Ummm, one year my mom got me a tweety bird t-shirt though, that some sales girl had assured her that I would love, and I hated it! I couldn't even hide it. Sorry again mom. not your fault though. If any of you have seen pics or were actually there to experience my high school fashion capabilities, you will understand why 1) the tweety bird shirt would NEVER go over and 2) why it wouldn't have mattered anyway!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? White Christams for sure. But Mr. Krueger's Christmas is a close second.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? This year we started this summer. But, the real shopping happens on Black Friday.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I think so.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? egg nog. And custard pie. Ham! Christmas cornflake wreaths.

16. Lights on the tree? Oh yes!

17. Favorite Christmas song? O, Holy Night

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? A little of both.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and the most famous reindeer of all Rudolph. yep, cuz, Linday already had them typed here. I would've known them anyway though.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One present the night before(usually the pajammies). REst in the morn.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Going to 42 Christmases on Jeremy's side. I am starting to get used to it though, after almost 10 years.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? WEll, I have an ivory, red, and gold theme but we also have all the kids ornaments and everything from when jeremy and I were kids on the tree. So more like the star, graland, bows, florals, and some ornaments are ivory, gold, and red. The rest is multi-colored including the lights. I'll post a pic once I think about it.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and the trimmings. Basically the same as thanksgiving only with ham.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? don't know. having issues this year.

Now I tag, Charlene, Kim, KEvin, Tacy, Jamie, and Joanne

DO IT! Ya, know ya want to!

Liam's 4th Birthday

This is Liam and his friend Isaac, they had a ton of fun!
This is Liams good friend, Truman! Truman was awesome because he just picked his cake up and ate it, no fork,nothing!
Liam's Thomas the Tank Engine cake! Thanks Christi!!
Yes, we went to Adventure Zone again. All the boys love it there and it was just easier. I can't believe Liam is four now!!! And that I've had two more since he was born!! Crazy.

Cullen update

Today Cullen had his two month check up. He is growing very good. He weighed in at a healthy 11lbs. 13oz. and 22 and 3/4 inches long! He's really changing so much every day. I just love the baby stage!
Tomorrow all the kids are off from school and I think I will bake all day. and clean. oh the joy. can you feel it??? Hopefully, I'm not getting too sick. Today after taking Cullen to the doc, I got a SEVERE migraine and felt my sinuses clog and UGH!

The Silly Faces of Liam

Halloween...I know it was a month ago...whatever!

Asher was our little Elmo this year. I wish I had a better picture of him in this because he filled it out nicely:)
This is Liam after trick or treating at two or three houses and he shed his fireman costume in protest of something...we never did figure out what. He screamed and cried until we decided to drop him off and grandma's house.
Baby Cullen had a cute little bear outfit on.
Tristan was Obi Wan Kenobi and Cedric was a Clone Trooper.
Liam at the beginning of his fit!!! He threw his helmet somewhere too!


The kids made a killing this year with the candy. Good grief. Maybe next year Liam will be in a better mood. We did take him out a little bit more after the other boys were done but he still didn't want to do very much.

OOOhh, can't wait!!

I'm going to Twilight at 12:00am !!!woot!woot!

Our Great 8

Ariane tagged me so here I go!


8 TV SHOWS WE LOVE TO WATCH:
1.The office- I think I just might give up the world's best job(stay at home mom) to actually work at the office, I would be in stitches daily!
2. The Tudors
3. Big Brother
4. Survivor
5. LOST, probably the best television show ever made on the planet
6. Heroes, yeah that's really good too.
7. Big Bang Theory
8. any science channel stuff


8 RESTAURANTS WE EAT AT:
1. TGIF
2. La Casa
3. Sonic- I'm kinda stuck on blackberry sprites right now
4. Mi Jalapeno
5. Martinis
6. Village Inn
7. there's really not alot of places to eat around here
8. can I put places I wish were here?

8 THINGS WE DID YESTERDAY:
1.finished getting the lights on the tree, it takes me forever because I make it look good!:)
2. went to quincy and bought decorative pillows that I don't like
3. found some more old COJ buddies!
4. 4 loads of laundry
5. read my scriptures
6. fed my baby a lot ( he was overly hungry yesterday...growth spurt?)
7. scuba dived (okay so I didn't really do this, but, my list is boring)
8. Ate spaghetti

8 THINGS WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO:
1. Thanksgiving with my family! woot!
2. shopping the day after with my mom-in-law and sis-in-law!
3. My 10th wedding anniversary (in may)
4. My 30th birthday in March (I don't know if I'm really looking forward to this)
5. Christmas!
6. changing Asher's stinky bum because it's making me nauseated!
7. eating lunch because breakfast sucked
8. tonight is Liam's pre-k family fun night!

8 THINGS ON OUR WISH LIST:
1. nice pair of running shoes
2. the fountain of youth
3. unicorns
4. my children to be well behaved every minute of the day!
5. sleep
6. daily massages
7. creme brulee
8. maybe a crepe or two

8 PEOPLE WE TAG:
1. joanne
2. Kate
3. sarah
4. Liz
5. laura
6. kim
7. jamie
8. timpani

The Diaper Shower

Walter's Cake (Misty's baby)
Joshua's cake (Laura's baby)
Cullen's cake
Nichole Ivie and Joyce King threw me, Misty, and Laura a diaper/wipe shower to celebrate our three baby boys all born within one week of each other! It was at Sister King's house...man is she awesome!! She had inividual cakes made for each baby boy with real fresh flowers on them!!! It was so cute! Anyway, even though we had some conflicting schedules, we had a ton of fun! I didn't get pics of Mary, Shonnie, Sis. Mathews, Wendy, or myself. Dumb.
Joyce and Misty
Becky and Nichole
Look at the diaper cake in the back. It was made for triplets! We each got one section of that! Thanks Nichole! You rock!

Today was awesome! I went to Carthage to our store and when I walked in Jeremy surprised me and had gotten me an hour long massage at the Tranquil Touch Massage place!! I was so excited. It was an hour long session and so freakin sweet! Lydia, the owner, gave me the best massage I've ever had! I highly recommend if you're in the area, which I know a good portion of you aren't...but anyway.
OOOhh, I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I've got one or two of my brothers coming in town and then there are the four of us that live in the area.
Holy Moley! It's 11:45pm!!! I thought it was like 10 or something! Okay, I need to go...wait I will post some pics first because I told my neice, Justine that I would.
Alright, Jeremy hasn't loaded them yet I guess...tomorrow I will post some new pics of Cullen, Justine. Goodnight all!

what the crap?

K, did I seriously just tear up at the end of Home Alone? Who knew I would grow up to be such an emotional basketcase! I'm sure my boys think I'm nuts!

My kids think this movie is hilarious just as I did when I was younger. It's not quite so funny now...I keep thinking of all the terrible things that could've gone wrong with a child that age home alone. EEK!

Have you seen this?

Yep, this is Eric Bana as the Romulan villian in the next Star Trek movie
And even better...this is Zachary Quinto as Spock!!! You may recognize him as Sylar from Heroes if you don't know who he is! Hasn't Sylar been even better this season? I really liked him as the future Sylar when he was good and cooking pancakes with his kid!?!?!! Awesome!

For Twilight Fans

Well, we only have 16 more days until Twilight is out in the theatres!!! I'm so excited, I hope they have done the book justice...I think they probably have! I'm going to be there for the midnight showing for sure!

The Cullens!... Cullen's first name namesake!

Don't Forget...

To Get Out and Vote tomorrow!!!

I'm voting for McCain/Palin all the way and I'm proud to say that! I really don't think that the people voting for the crazy man have researched into all the facts....he's a certified psychopath! Even if he wasn't I wouldn't vote for him on the single fact that he is all for killing unborn babies...even late term partial birth abortions....it sickens me.
Well, I could make this a very long political post but my baby is waking up behind me in his swing and will want to eat. So get out and vote! and if you're gonna vote, vote for McCain!

I got to go see Dirty Dancing...and you guys didn't!!!

Okay, sorry for looking all crappy and disheveled in this pic but,, I had to prove that I was there! It was so freaking cool! For my sister-in-law, Trisha's, 21st birthday she wanted to go see Dirty Dancing Live in Chicago. What a freakin awesome idea you say??? That's what I thought! So we left on the train and caught the matinee and were back the same night! It was so much fun! there was a crazy usher lady during the intermission that I have since nicknamed the bathroom ghastappo (I'll check spelling on that later, but, u get the idea).


Debbie and Trisha getting our manicures right before the show.
We had lunch at Petterino's and the waiter knew it was Trisha's birthday without us telling him and brought this yummy dessert out to her! I suspect he overheard us talking about her birthday or something...but, it was really good and it is now my goal to make this dessert at home!

Anyway, I highly recommend the show. The music was great. The actors were great! The girl who played Penny was an amazing dancer and she was flippin hot! And the guy who played Johnny looked as though his body was chiseled from stone...oh my goodness!:)

The Great Nauvoo Pumpkin Walk

Every year in Nauvoo we have a Pumpkin Walk. Hundreds of pumpkins are carved and put on display up and down the sidewalks and there are different concessions, musical entertainment, photo opps, costumes, etc. There's also a pretty cool haunted house that the line is forever long to get into. It's a ton of fun and through the years has grown quite huge! It's not just the locals anymore...it's everyone!!! As I tried to display in this blurry pic I took of part of the street.




This is Tristan (a.k.a. Obi Wan Kenobi) sitting with two of the carved pumpkins in front of the school.
For some reason my camera starts to go all kinda blurry when the battery gets low.
This is a sample of just how cool the pumpkins are. Anybody can help carve too! they do it down at NRI for a few nights beforehand.
How cool is that????

Old News

This is our "crew" waiting for the Grape Festival parade to begin. We passed out coupons, business cards, and candy! It was stinkin hot but a lot of fun! We had these shirts made up for our business, woot-pc! why the heck is all of that underlined???

Zach, Matt, Nick, and Tristan
Matt and Todd
Susan And Nikki
Me and Jeremy... I'm so pregnant! I made it almost the entire parade before I hopped into the cab of the truck....ok, so I didn't hop.

The Time of Tristan's Life!

I have so much to post about...there will a cluster of posts here in the next couple of days, once I get the pictures loaded onto the computer. Here are some of Tristan at his weekly horseback riding lesson. Right now he is taking lessons from Kaylee Menn in Carthage at the Hancock County Saddle Club. He is learning the basics on the western saddle and I think in a year or so, we wil introduce the English saddle as well. I would also like to get back in the saddle...maybe he and I can do it together! After I snapped these pics he was able to go on a trail ride down by the lake and when he came back, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face! He has a blast at his lessons and I am so grateful that we can do this for him! Anyway, here's Tristan!
Stay tuned...

Busy, busy, Busy!

I haven't posted as of late because i have been busy, busy, busy. It has taken me what seems like years to do the seasonal clothes switch for the kids and try to find what baby clothes I had stored. Then of course I have to find new ways of storing everything and rearrange everyones closets and dresser drawers! In between all that, still keep up on all this stinkin(literally) laundry. Whew.
Last weekend, I got to see some of my greatest friends, and some of the funniest friends, in the whole world...the Sever clan! minus Liz but, we'll catch up to her at some point whether she likes it or not! It was good to see you guys and my kids had tons of fun too! I am still laughing...
This weekend I have been in a strange mood and nothing is quite settling right. Yesterday after church, we took the kids to the pumpkin patch with the rest of the Kelley family. I didn't get to go in the corn maze which was apparently pretty hard. I had to feed the baby. This place has outrageously priced pumpkins though which made me think I should go into the pumpkin business! Here's a quote from a halloween mag:
"According to the University of Illinois extension , in colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling. The total U.S. pumpkin production in 2006 was valued at $101.3 million, 90% of them are grown within a 90-mile radius of Peoria, IL"
HA! I'm in the prime location! Anyway, I'm going to put pumpkin in my crusts from now on in some way...because I hate pumpkin pie. Once I took a bite to please someone who had served it to me and I threw up in my mouth! No joke! I literally gagged on the stuff. Then I had to swallow everything so that I didn't appear rude by puking when tasting someones food! Now that is disgusting!
So, I got off track. we went to the pumplin patch then carved some pumpkins. Fun was had by all. I'll post some pics tonight when Jeremy gets home.
Jeremy has been really sick. Yep.
Cullen is a growing boy and I'll put some more pics of him on here soon too. He's just too cute. Most people aren't getting his name right but, what can you do?

Oh for some extra fun around the house try this:

This morning (11am actually) I was doing 14,000 things. Then the baby started to cry because he was a hungry munchkin, but he was leaking poo. so I had got him all undressed and changed when he puked all over for like the second time in his life, and I had to undress him again. All the while I keep hearing this banging from downstairs. The baby is naked and Tristan runs upstairs saying that Asher had locked himself in Jeremy's office and couldn't get out! Great! So I took the half naked, screaming baby downstairs, got a screw driver and went to jeremy's office. Asher was screaming his poor little heart out...it was really sad. I had to lay the baby down and he screamed and screamed...Asher screamed and screamed too...I couldn't open the door. Then I got a bigger screwdriver and tried totake the doorknob off but, it wouldn't come off because the other side was locked! Curse it. Then I remember that Liam was going to be getting off the bus at 11:20 and they won't leave him if they don't see someone. So I told Tristan to go outside and wait for Liam. the bus driver wouldn't accept just Tristan though and I had to tell Tristan to run back out and tell him that I was feeding the baby.
Finally after saying a prayer and banging my head on the wall a few times...the door just fell open. I don't even know how it happened. Asher came out and was dripping in sweat! And finally the poor little Cullen got to eat. wow. It was exciting.

What the???

I don't understand the good majority of people I encounter on a daily basis. So, I will continue to shut my mouth and smile...then rant to my husband later!

Do you ever wonder how people are reading your written words in their own head? With what sort of tone and emotion? I think there needs to be more punctuation marks. Just to make everything that much more complicated!

I can't wait to see my friends from afar this weekend!

And the show goes on...

So having five kids is a trip! And, yep, I bet it will be long and strange! I have to rethink every move I make. sheesh! I knew we would have some adjustments...my old bishop told me that 5 kids in a row is the epitome of chaos and every kid after that is a breeze! To my credit, I haven't freaked out to bad yet. Cullen is actually a really good little baby. I think Heavenly Father knew that I needed an easy baby this time!
So does everyone know where we got his name from? I will fill in for those that don't know. I wanted to name him after my dad. but, my dad's name was Clifford Michael Trapp (he went by Mike.) anyway, I just couldn't name my baby Clifford and Michael didn't really go well with the rest of our names in the fam. So, as I was devouring Breaking Dawn, it occured to me that Cullen would be a great name (after the Vampire family named Cullen) and then the initials would still be CM! YAY! This was the only time we have ever had our child named when he was born! Usually they we are just getting the birth certificate signed as we are leaving the hospital.

I have five kids!!! That's crazy! I keep looking around and counting...I always feel like someone is missing...

He's Here!

He's here and just perfect! Labor and delivery was awesome! I had the best nurses ever and I fully intend to write the hospital and tell them just how great I think they were. I will have more pics to come soon. He has a full head of hair and a cute little nose. All the boys really enjoy him...even Asher, whom I thought would be very jealous. We are just so blessed to have little Cullen in our family.

Introducing Cullen Michael Kelley!!!

Cullen Michael Kelley
September 25, 2008
6:01pm
8lbs. 13 oz.
20 inches