Mom Brain

Yep.  Every single time. 

Gimme Some Bread Pudding

I really need some bread pudding.  Like I NEEEEEED it.  I have been craving it for over two months now.  What I really want is Elsie Sloan's bread pudding with lemon sauce.  When I worked at Sloan's when I was 15 I tasted bread pudding for the first time.  It was so yummy even though it sounded gross when I first heard of it.  Jeremy also got like the best bread pudding EVER in the history of the world at a cool restaurant in Columbia, MO when we went down there for my brother's wedding.  Okay, I'm gonna break and make the dang bread pudding.  My Fitbit came in the mail today so I am going to start anew tomorrow.....hahahahaha!  No.  For reals.  I will.

Happenings

My goal for this week is to get the Christmas posts done and out of the way.  My goal in my house is to get the damn tree down.  I know, I know.  *sigh* I can't believe it either.  The thing is, all the Christmas decorations are down.  Heck the tree is even UN-decorated with only a couple strands of lights left on it.  For some reason it has been the bane of my existence this year and I have been punishing it by letting it sit in the corner.  Today that will all be done.  I really just want to drag it out to the burn pile and light it up!  LOL!  Not really, it is a great tree.  Big, and perfect.  But, I am so tired of the process it is to put up and down every year.  If I wasn't a light perfectionist, it woulsn't be so bad but, putting the lights on the tree takes me FOREVER and involves at least 7 strands of 200 lights each.  I want a pre-lit tree but, those kind don't have enough lights to suit my style.  I think next year we will do a real tree.  Yep.  It is decided.

Tristan has joined a group of highschool performers!!! I am so excited and proud of him!  He loves to sing, I hear him doing it all the time!  Grandma Trapp got him the Les Miserables soundtrack for Christmas and he loves it!  So anyway, he joined Center Stage Music performers and he is on the Elite Team.  The Elite Team travels all over the country and performs!  Last year they went to Vegas and New York City among other places!  He is SO excited! This June he will be performing at Navy Pier in Chicago!! I LOVE it!! He came home the first night of practice and was just talking a mile a minute about everything.  He and I started talking all about Broadway and our favorite show tunes.  I am hoping this can be something that we can share together and talk about more!

Cedric has been the basketball team Manager this year at school.  He gets to film all the basketball games and travel on the bus with them too.  He really seemed to like it and I am proud that he volunteered for it.

I bought a Fitbit online and now I am waiting for it to get here.  I am hoping that it will help motivate me and be a tool that is useful and not a huge waste of money!  lol!  

I Love This Girl!

 This morning Viv and I ventured out of the house and to my "studio".  We only got a short session in because my batteries died.  I knew they were low when I left home but, thought I would go ahead and chance it.  I'm glad I did because I got some really cute shots in a short amount of time.  It was nice.  Now, tell me she isn't the cutest thing ever! 

Sledding!

 Well apparently we have the best yard ever.  As if I didn't already know that. There are big enough hills in the yard that the bigger kids aren't bored and yet they are small enough that I don't actually have to go out in the yucky snow and sled down with them and, then haul both them and the sled back up a huge hill!  They had SO much fun and they played so nicely together!  It was awesome!  I only went out for a few quick pics and they did the rest themselves.  

I did make some polar express hot chocolate which is amazingly rich as usual.  I will post the recipe too later tonight or tomorrow.  

 Cedric was a great big brother with Eden.  I thought she might freak out a bit but, she didn't.  She loved every second of it! 

 Look how much fun they are having!!! 

My beautiful, snot covered, little lady.

Some Craziness This Morning

Oh my goodness.  Is it possible for your life to be both crazy and boring at the same time.  Or maybe it just full of lots of stupid activities that I don't really want to do or deal with?!?!  LOL!  Anyway, things have been happening.  I have just been in a funk!  Here are some of the things going on in the Kelley household now:

• I have booked my first ever weddings!  I am SO FREAKING EXCITED!  I have one on May 22nd in Nauvoo and one on May 23rd in Springfield!  I also get to do an engagement session on my birthday in March so that is awesome too!  I have so many ideas, I seriously cannot wait!  Today I am going to try to get out of the house and over to our Carthage house.  I plan on setting up a few different backgrounds and doing some promotional shots of Vivianne and hopefully squeeze getting Julianna's one year shots done this week or the next.  That way if anyone else wants to do some pictures, I can just have them come to my "studio" in Carthage! 
• Speaking of the Carthage house.  I have been waiting all month to hear back from the Amish guys to give us a quote on some renovations.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  It doesn't help that they have to get themselves to a damn outhouse in the middle of a field to actually communicate with anyone.  I wanted this to be easy and stress free.  I just want someone to fix the things we want fixed in the dang house and be done with it, so we can sell the thing!  GAh!  
• I found my tooth!! Talk about stress!  I really don't try to be a prideful person but, there was not one way on God's green earth that I was going to step foot from my house without it! LMAO!  Jeremy and I took one night to tear everything apart AGAIN to make sure before I called the dentist and spent a ton of money on another one.  We took flashlights to our new furniture and tried to move it and clean and rearrange.  No tooth.  Finally we gave up and went to bed for the night and we decided to turn our mattress first.  Well, there it was in between the mattress and the wall!! No idea how it got there but, whatever! I am so thankful!  
• As for the weight loss....I was feeling really good about it all.  Lost 7 pounds.  Then last night happened.  I don't know how or why but, I ate half my weight in potato chips!! Of all things!! I don't even have a soft spot for chips!! WHY!?!?!?  UGH!  I hate it when I have a set back like that because it just makes me want to quit altogether.  Because somehow if I cheat like that on one day, then every day after that is ruined.  What stupid, crazy head logic.  Today I will try to remember that even though I ate every chip in Hancock County last night, today I won't do it again.  
• Cedric has been missing his Carthage friends.  And I don't blame him one bit.  He had a great group of friends in Carthage.  He was like the only one of us that did, lol!  So, hopefully this weekend or next we can have a few of them over to spend the night.  
• Jeremy is finally over his sickness and is just left with the lingering cough.  Thank goodness though.  Vivianne hasn't been sleeping well lately and we just can't figure out why.  We thought she has been teething since about three months but, a tooth never ever pops through.  What the hell is that all about?!!?  I think I know the signs of teething....pretty sure I have been through it a zillion times.  She is a mystery.  And so are her teeth!
• I have been typing this on and off throughout the morning as we all get ready for the day.  And now I am in tears, AGAIN.  I am so frustrated with Asher right now.  And I hate it because whenever I get mad and yell at him, I just sit and feel bad the rest of the day.  He seriously acts like every morning he has never heard of getting up and ready for school before.  We literally have to repeat ourselves over, and over, and freaking over again before he will get anything done.  He repeatedly does things that he knows he isn't supposed to do in the mornings.  It's like he doesn't remember that he got in trouble for that yesterday morning and does it again this morning.  Then today, I was screaming at him about something, and Eden came up next to me and started yelling at Asher too and it just made me cry.  I can't take it.  I don't know how to deal with him.  Even with his medicine, it just helps him focus.  Not act any better socially.  And obviously yelling at him doesn't work either.  I don't even know if this makes any sense because I am crying and just feeling like crap.  This will probably ruin my mood for the entire day now because for some reason that is me, all or nothing.  Ugh. 

Don't Ask Me

I dread it when my husband has to leave in the morning for work.  Like total and complete dread.  Not so much because I am left here alone with the kids but, because everything is easier and more enjoyable when he is around.  Even if he is driving me nuts (and yes, sometimes he does drive me nuts, lol) I would still rather have him here driving me nuts, than him be gone.  I am a better, more productive person when he is around.  *sigh* And he is STILL sick.  He should stay home with me instead. 

Anyway, I am just feeling blaahhhh this morning.

So, that was earlier today.  Jeremy surprised me and came home early from work today too.  He was already in Nauvoo later in the day and thought it would be a waste to drive all the way back to Carthage for not much time left to do anything.  So, yay!

Starting this new year off right is proving to be slow going but still successful.  I am down approximately 6 pounds.  Jeremy started off his new year by doing INSANITY every evening.  He was doing really good until he got sick.  I just want to eat cookies and lay around all day.  That isn't going to get me where I need to be.  Instead of cookies I am going to commit to a 10 minute workout of any kind each and every day.  Yep.  

**sooooo, I typed all that yesterday.  Similar day today.  I am going stir crazy here.  And yet feeling extremely anti-social.  And I don't know what to do with myself.  Ugh.  This is probably the dumbest post ever.  Just me complaining about absolutely nothing.  What is my world coming to?!?! Oh the humanity.  

Cullen's Eggshell Head

Last night Jeremy took the kids to his parents house so that we could have a good nights sleep to hopefully make us healthier.  (The stupid thing with this sickness is that you wake up with a different symptom every day).  We were both worn out and tired.  I got a text from Jeremy saying that Asher had cracked Cullen's skull! I freaked out of course!  But, he brought Cullen home and Asher hadn't cracked his skull but, hit his head and he had about an inch long gash on his head in the back.  We debated taking him or not taking him.  But, the gash did "gape" so Jeremy had to spend his evening in the ER with poor little Cully.  Some of you might be thinking: "Why the heck didn't Colista take him?"  And I will give you the worst excuse ever.  I could not and still have not found my tooth!  Gah!  Why me!?!?  Why do I have to have these embarrassing things happen!??! But, whatever, this post isn't about me.  lol!  So, Jeremy did pick up some supper for us from Los Charros and he bought Cullen Dairy Queen.  Jeremy said that Cullen was a little trooper and did so good.  Which is a far cry from how he usually is at the doctor.  He ended up with three staples in his head and they numbed him first this time so he said it didn't hurt at all! Thank goodness!  We checked on him through the night and he slept great.  I sure do love my Cully Micheal!

Crops R Not Us

Here is a non-interesting little bit that probably only I will care about, lol!  I do not crop my photos.  I see many photographers cropping their photos to get the actual image they want.  Why didn't they frame it up (And by that i mean, why didn't they take the picture as they wanted it) in the first place?  When you crop your pictures it just distorts the original image and lessens the quality.  Lose, lose. 

Thanksgiving 2014

These pics loaded all out of order and I just don't even care.  This day has been long and hard and I am ready for bedtime.  Anyway, so we went to Trapp Thanksgiving at Susan's house in Quincy this year.  Hardly anyone was there.  Dave stopped long enough get a meal and visit for a little bit before he had to leave again.  Dan and Vicki came but, couldn't stay long because they had to work.  I made green bean casserole, little smokies, cranberry salad, and it seems as though I was told to bring a dessert but, I for the life of me couldn't tell you what the heck that was.  hmmmmm?  

The food was great.  

These two didn't really know each other but, they hit it off great and played a lot.  They kept popping their tiny little heads just over the counter and stealing little pieces of food! Cute!  At one point Susan came and got me and showed me all the kids playing together in the basement playing "band".  It was awesome. 

The adults played Constitution Quest the game.  I can't believe it but, I won!!! Cause everyone knows Trapp's know and love their politics, lol!  

Check out Daxton's face!  He looks like Todd when Todd plays guitar! 

The band practice!  

There was lots and lots of running and playing! 

We left as it got dark.  Surprisingly we kept everyone awake until we got home!  Sweet!  It was a pretty low key Thanksgiving but, went very smoothly.  

The kids had a great time together and I love that! 

Yuck!

I can always tell when I am going through and anxious/yucky/depressed state because I bite my nails like CRAZY!  Ugh. I hate it and it's like I have no control.  Like, Colista, just try NOT biting your nails.  Why is that so hard?!!? I can do it.  I do it all the time usually.  So the moral of this post is that my nails are all chewed on and I really want to blame someone other than myself for it.  Anyone want to take the blame??  Bueller?  Bueller?  *crickets* 

Fickus

I love it when Eden asks me to fix something because it goes like this:"Moooom, can you fickus?"  Hahaha!  She is awesome! 

GAh!

Okay, today is a day for catching up on everything.  The last 36 hours have been a complete emotional roller coaster for me.  I won't go into everything just yet but, let me just say, I am emotionally exhausted.  Being human is hard.  Sometimes I wish I was a robot.  Anyway, in the midst of one crisis last night (for which I was already bawling my eyes out) Tristan came stumbling out of his room and said:"Mom, feel my head, I think I am hot."  Now, I am not one to freak out when my kids get sick and take them to the doctor for every little ache or pain.  And normally when my kids ask if they are hot, I can feel their head and tell whether it is a mild fever or a major fever by feel alone, no thermometer.  Well, as soon as I touched his head I could tell that it was BAD. Like on fire, bad.  I dug out a thermometer and it just kept climbing and climbing all the way up to 104.5!!!!!  FRACK!!  I threw him in the shower, shoved tylenol in his mouth, whipped a cold smoothie with my trusty Ninja, and put an ice pack on his neck when he got out of the shower.  We got it to come down, thank God.  This morning he is hot again so I gave him more meds.  I am going to wait it out a bit and see how it goes with him.  He says his body hurts but, so far, no other real symptoms.  Definitely keeping a close eye on him though because those kind of temps are dangerous.  I worried about him all night too.  Amongst the million other things going on. 

Creepy Things

I am scared to death that there is something living in my ears!  Don't laugh!  For the past couple weeks, I keep hearing/feeling something moving around in there.  I can't even describe it.  Ewww, honestly, do I even want to know if there is something living in there?  On a related note:  There is totally something living in the ceiling above my bed.  It's creeping me out.  How do I find out what the heck it is?  What if I lift a ceiling tile and raccoon or a squirrel jumps on my face?!  Any advice would be appreciated.  I'm sure the pest control we hired won't actually do anything.  They would probably tell me to try to negotiate with the critter.  Ugh. 

Is This For Real?

Now, don't get me wrong here.  I LOVE me some pinterest.  And milkshakes for that matter.  But, what the crap is this all about!?  Seriously.  Why!?  Why would a milkshake in a freaking sugar shaker be good or serve any purpose at all?  Where do you store all your dang sugar shakers when not being used for a flippin' shake?  Some people, I'm sure, just have too much time and space on their hands.  Give me some of that instead of a freaking milkshake in a freaking sugar shaker.  Smh.

All-Nighter

Asher stayed up THE ENTIRE NIGHT again.  We have tried everything with this kid.  He even gets 10mg of melatonin per Dr. Davis's orders.  We have taken the computer, the kindles, pads, etc. away.  NOTHING works!! GAh!!! School was cancelled for the third day in a row due to extreme temperatures so he is here.  I took the computers away again and he is sad.  Why do I feel like the bad guy here?  I told him before bed (nicely) that if he stayed up all night again that he wouldn't have access to the computer today on the snow day.  Then I told him again about an hour later (again, nicely) and then another hour later (getting mad), and again, and again, and again, until I am a pissed off mom, half delusional from no sleep, yelling like a crazy person.  Then he cries and I feel bad.  What the hell!?!?  I don't know how to make him understand that he is not the only person in the world with feelings. 
Anyway,  I just had to vent all that out.  Obviously, I love him like crazy, and would do anything for him but, goodness, the struggle is real with trying to get him to understand how feelings work.