Flowers Galore!

Cullen and Eden are always bringing me fistfuls of flowers that they pick for me.  Dandelions and those purple field flowers are the norm, lol! They don't last long, even if they make it to a cup of water...so I figured a picture would be appropriate. :)

Tidbit

I am seriously annoyed with myself and what a horrendous job I have done keeping up with this blog for the past year or so.  I AM going to do better.  I also have slacked on printing the blog books.  That will happen too.  The past year has been different for me in so many ways. There has been a lot of discovery, learning, growth, introspective, and change in all areas of my life. I am going to try to keep a goal of posting one post a day to try to catch myself up a bit.

Yesterday I posted these pictures on Facebook of all the kids at Kelley Family Easter.  Grandma and Grandpa Kelley had gotten these super cute Minnie Mouse outfits for Eden and Viv for Christmas.  They hadn't had a chance to wear them yet and I thought, rather than get new Easter dresses, they could wear these and be freaking adorable!  And adorable they were!  Oh my goodness, I these two girls are just too much cute!

 My boys have totally made my life complete by giving me an awesome photo of ALL of them STANDING STILL, LOOKING AT THE CAMERA, SMILING, AND NOT THROWING SOME KIND OF FIT!!!!  I am in heaven.  I love the rainbow shirts I made them wear too, lol!

 

Insights From Cullen

"Whoever wins is the winner." 

Beggar's Night 2015

Eden dressed as her own version of Anna from the movie, Frozen.

Cedric dressed himself as a soldier.  We bought him some khaki pants and a camo thermal shirt and he found the rest of the stuff himself. 

 This time of year is always super busy but, adding my own business to mix has been new with both good and bad results, lol!  I am definitely learning a ton and trying to adjust where necessary but, whew!  Anyway, so Halloween kinda snuck up on us this year....I mean we knew it was coming but, we were dealing with other stuff first and then all of a sudden the days to actually dress up were right around the corner(the next day, lol) and I was making a mad dash to the store to try and get last minute costumes.  So, this year I had six kids dress up.  Tristan has reached the age where he didn't want to and he decided to stay at our house and pass out candy instead, which was fine with me because I always want to pass out candy at our house but, never get to. That was one of the itty bitty, teeny tiny good things about living in Carthage was that we would do Beggar's Night in Nauvoo and then on Halloween, I could pass out candy in Carthage and some of the kids would trick or treat Carthage too. Anyway, I digress, so....Liam wanted to be a dementor from Harry Potter but, at the last minute all I could find was that spooky looking thing he is wearing(I can't remember what it was actually called, lol) and he was fine and dandy with it! Yay! Asher wanted to be a ninja again.  But, not the same ninja as last year(that would be too easy....and free), so he was a different ninja this year.  Cullen wanted to be a soldier as well.  Luckily, for his recent birthday he got a dress up army play set! We just bought some cheap camo pants and camo long sleeve shirt and used the play set for the rest.  

Eden wanted to be Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony.  I searched high and low.  Couldn't find ANY My Little Pony costumes anywhere.(I had one in my Amazon shopping cart for at least two weeks ahead of time because I put in it there right after I ordered Viv's costume.  Do you think I could click ONE LITTLE BUTTON to order it in time.  Nope.) So, I looked for a different costume she might like and they were all like $40 or more.  Stupid.  I decided to look in the little girls dress up section in the toy section of Walmart while I was there.  I found a cardboard decorated treasure chest with two Anna and Elsa dress up costumes with some jewelry, hair stuff, and stickers or something.  It was on clearance for $20!  The costumes and the cardboard treasure chest were both cheaply made but, I thought we could work with what was in it.  I was so dang worried that Eden would not want anything to do with it because she had been dead set on being Twilight Sparkle.  Too my delight, she LOVED it!! She had zero issues with being Anna or Elsa (it took her a few minutes to decide but, she chose Anna, which I thought was appropriate because they look similar.) She was obsessed with carrying the treasure chest around for the next week, lol! 

Vivianne was Pinky Winky the Monster.  She was adorable.  When it came in the mail, it was just me and her home.  I took it out of the shipping packaging and showed her the costume still in the package and she immediately wanted to hold it.  I took it out and she held on to my shoulder and lifted her foot up like she wanted to get dressed!! :)  So, we put it on her right then and there and she LOVED it!! She wanted to wear it around all the time.  I took a quick picture and video to send to Jeremy and we took it off to not get it too dirty before Halloween but, she still wore it a few times before Halloween anyway, lol!  Anytime she sees it, she wants to put it on.  I just put it in the Halloween tote to store though...so no more, I guess. 

 

 We decided to try trick or treating in Bluff Woods this year, since it is where we live, could walk, and we had heard that Bluff Woods was THE place to trick or treat, lol!  And it was!! We only did a small part of it too.  We knew that Grandma Kelley had food and treats at her house so we thought we would finish up in town and start in Bluff Woods.

 All the kids were smitten with Vivianne as usual.  She is a super lucky girl to have so many people dote all over her, all the time!  

 Eden picked out everything for her costume.  She is freaking awesome.  She had on fleece lined black leggings, a purple shirt, her Anna dress, purple socks, pink shoes, her fleece winter hat, and of course she can't go anywhere without her backpack loaded to the brim. 

All the kids were super excited and cute when the went to the doors.  At first Eden was annoyed and yelled at people to give her the candy.  Once she saw how it worked, she started saying "Trick or Treat" and " Please and Thank you".  She was so thrilled every time she got something!  

 One house gave out bags of candy AND these cute little pumpkin flashlights.  Asher told the lady that hers was the best house ever.  LOL! She didn't give one to Viv, which I understand but, Vivi was really sad she didn't have one to hold on to.  

After trick or treating in Bluff Woods for a bit, we loaded everyone up and went to town to trick or treat.  After that the whole family kinda hung out at Grandma Kelley's house, ate yummy food, and chatted with everyone.  Then we all came home and crashed.  Trick or treating was a success and actually really, really fun this year!!! YAY!!

First Day of School 2015-2016

 August 17, 2015 was the first day of school this year.  Also, my Asher Bedasher's 9th birthday!  He was disappointed when he learned that the first day of school was on his birthday but, handled it like a trooper.  Tristan has had the same issue before.  Those August birthdays.  Asher is in 4th grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Rose.  So far, do good. 

 Liam is in 5th grade this year and his teacher is Ms. Adkisson(Ms. A). 

 Cedric is in 8th grade and has multiple teachers.  He is on the top of the totem pole this year in Jr. High but, will be back at the bottom next year in high school, lol. 

 Cullen is in 1st grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Bray. 

 Tristan is in 10th grade this year.  He is taking driver's ed and I am crazy.  We have laid down the law and said that he won't get his permit or driver's license if he doesn't keep his grades in check this year.  Hopefully that is motivation enough.  

Eden Rose is in Kindergarten this year and her teacher is Mrs. Fink.  She was SO excited, she could hardly contain it! I sent a box of pullups with her since she has refused to potty for me at all.  The first week of school quickly fixed this problem and now she takes herself to the bathroom all alone without even telling anyone!! So proud!  Wearing big girl panties all day, every day!! Woot!

We made the choice to have the kids ride the bus to and from school this year.  We have never done this because I remember having bad experiences  on the school bus.  But, what a blessing it has been!  Our mornings go so much smoother.  And Jeremy can get to work on time, which we had issues with in previous years. 

Vivi and I had a super duper first day to ourselves.  This girl is pure joy.  She loves being outside.  So we went outside to wait for the bus to bring her brothers and sister home from school.  I was hoping and praying that Eden handled the bus well because they are the last ones dropped off. 

She is so funny!  She doesn't like grass.  So when I tossed the ball to her and it rolled in the grass, she was so cute trying to figure out how to get that ball without putting her feet in the grass! lol! :)

Cutting the grass with toenail clippers.  Efficient, right?!!?

This is so funny!  I took all these pics in quick succession.  The bus pulled up right in front of our small willow tree, which was annoying but, whatever.  As soon as the bus pulled up, Eden shot out of the bus like a cannon!

About right here, I noticed that she didn't have her backpack and said:"Eden, where is your backpack?"

As soon as I said it, her world was crushed.  Her brand new backpack was gone forever or so she thought.

Luckily her big brothers chased the bus down and got it to stop around the corner.  When they came back with her backpack she was most relieved!  They all had great first days and loved the "new school".  The elementary school was moved into the same building as the Jr. High this year.

What is a Word that Starts with 'C'

I was just sitting here at the computer ordering clothes from The Children's Place (they have a super fabulous sale today....I got 39 items(shirts, shorts, jeans, pajamas, etc.) for $108 shipped!!  Anyway, as I am doing that I hear Asher say:"What is a word that starts with 'C'?"  And Cullen answered:"Cynical."  Oh. My. Gosh.  That kid and his vocabulary!!  Reminds me of Tristan....only Tristan was saying these things at 2 and 3 years old!! lol!  I sure do love my kiddos!

A Few Funnies

Eden loves graham crackers.  She knows that they are rectangular shaped (she knows all her shapes really well) too.  Well, whenever she wants graham crackers she will come up to me and say:"Come on, Rectangles!" LMAO!  Now, I know that she is not call me "Rectangles" but, the way that she says it, she IS! It is hilarious if you hear her say it!  Then when you give her the graham cracker she will say:"Two long, Two short, has four sides."  That is one of the little rhymes that Mrs. McConnell teaches the kids to help them learn their shapes. 

Cullen has been obsessed with China lately.  I don't know what prompted it but, he wants us to go to China on summer vacation so that he can get some chopsticks to eat with.  I told him that we could get chopsticks here in America and he was blown away.  Last night Trisha and I got out for a girls night and went to Shokai for Sushi.  I picked up a few sets of disposable chopsticks.  This morning I gave Cullen a set and he was so happy!  He said:"Thank you, Mom!  Now the next time I eat spaghetti I can use my chopsticks!!"  Bahahahahaha!! SPAGHETTI?!?!!?  What the what?!?!  Oh well, he was thrilled to have a set of chopsticks finally!

Cullen also came up to me the other day and told me that when he gets bigger he was going to work on computers like Dad.  I told him that would be nice.  Then he added:"I will work on computers when Dad is dead."  Oh.  Nice.  Lol!  Then when I got home last night, Jeremy told me that Cullen told him that he wanted to be a train driver.  And if he couldn't be a train driver......well then he wants to be a Roman soldier!

Homemade Valentines

 I actually MADE valentines with Cullen and Eden this year.  Well, I did all of Eden's but, whatever, lol!  Cullen got on pinterest with me and picked out minion valentines.  They turned out really cute and weren't that hard to make.  Cullen enjoyed helping and filling out the cards too.  Eden loved hers and I was going to have her write the names too but, the stickers I put on the back were really really small and I was up late making them anyway so I just filled them in for her.  Also the owls are supposed to have little wings too but, I just couldn't do anymore. The tubes are stuffed with skittles and little valentine stampers.  I also couldn't find the right size of googly eyes but, oh well.  It was fun anyway.  (mostly)

Liam had 'How To Train Your Dragon' valentines and Asher had Fun Dip valentines.  

Valentine Craft

 Yesterday I got to go to the Kindergarten classroom and help out with a valentine craft.  My friend, Amy Shanks, asked me to help out and I was so excited!  Then the morning of, of course I have to be having an anxiety attack (been having a lot lately) and got really, really nervous.  I had my mom come over to watch Vivianne so when she got there I left.  I couldn't hardly think straight when I got there because I had tried taking some cold meds to help calm me down (my throat hurt too) but, instead it just made me stupid.  Anyhow, once we got into making the craft and I met more of the kids in the class, I could relax a bit and calm the heck down.  I just hate it when I am going through something stupid like that in front of people but, I am pretty sure no one knew except me, lol!  Anyway, I had the BEST time hanging out with Amy and the kids.  The kids were all so cute and very good.  Cullen was so excited to have me come to his classroom.  I want to do it more for sure.  And check out the craft that Amy put together....they turned out SO CUTE!  We painted both hands on each kid and had them do two pictures each, one for portfolio and one to take home to parents.  Amy also gave me the idea of framing and hanging the kids artwork in our bedroom.  What a great idea!  So going to do that! I have a TON of it!!  

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!

Like Grandpa Trapp

Cullen is totally channeling my Dad today.  His new train track was broke and needed fixed.  He bent down to fix it and afterwards said: "Fixed it.  I'm a genuis!" 

Sweet Moment

This morning I snipped my finger with the end of some scissors while helping Asher set up his Beyblade Statium that he got from Trisha and Josh at Kelley Christmas last night.  A bit later Cullen came up to me and saw my finger with a band-aid on it.
Cullen: I'm sorry that happened.
Me. Yeah but, it will get better soon.
Cullen: (Gives me a Kiss on the arm)  That is for the hurting. 
Awww, he is the sweetest!  Totally made my morning. 

The Drawing of The Maze

Someone (I think Trisha) gave two of these dry erase tablets to Asher one year for Christmas. He loved them but, doesn't use them much.  Cullen and Eden on the other hand, use them all the time!  This day Cullen was at the table for awhile and finally came to me and asked me to take a picture of his maze!  You can see where he tried to create false paths and what not.  I don't know if you could actually get the the end of the maze or not, lol! He was pretty proud of himself.  Love him~

Life.

We have been busy, busy, busy and it isn't going to get any better.  We haven't wanted to show our house until we get some things fixed up in it.  But, we have had a fair amount of interest in our house and Susan asked if she could take someone through.  We really didn't want her to but, if it meant that someone might buy it as is, then it would be worth it.  We went over there and did what we could before she took someone through. Turns out that person does not want to buy it as is.  But, there is still a more interest in it so we have been trying to meet up with the Amish guys to do the small projects in the house.  They should be here today or later this week.  We are going to have them patch the roof, finish the trim, lay new carpet, fix cabinet doors, possible build a small closet around the laundry area, and any other little odd jobs around.  We are going to hard core list and promote it after that.  I also think we are going to sell our swing set.

We also have been trying to find all our Christmas stuff in our storage shed and get it here to the house.  One whole box got ruined when one of my snow globes shattered all over everything else in the box and it all molded.  Really annoyed.  Of course the snow globe in question had been a gift from Vanessa a few years ago so the first words out of my mouth were: "Vanessa strikes again!"  haha!  Whatever.  My advent calendar that was a gift from Mark and Karina is yucky, one of my Christmas bears from 2013, my big cream colored stuffed snowman, my Santa statue, and a couple random things were ruined.  UGH.

I am having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit.  I don't feel the love from people this time of year, which is the complete opposite of how it is supposed to be.  I have big plans every year and every single year something gets left out or ruined.  So, this year, I am not going all out.  I am not giving personal, thoughtful gifts.  I am not doing advent.  I am not going out of my way to make it a thousand gatherings.  I am not going to make myself sad or mad because of rude comments other people make. Nope. I am going to keep my family to myself and enjoy each other.  Just the nine of us.  And soak up all the season has to offer that is good.

We did get our tree up this past weekend, which is good.  The kids were very excited.  There were no arguments or yelling.  They just crowded around (a bit much at times, lol) and all wanted to see their ornaments from years past.  We got it all done and then yesterday I found two more boxes of ornaments! doh!  So, I put a few on that were randoms and saved the rest for the people they belonged to.

We took Eden to the pediatric dentist in Burlington yesterday.  Boy was that fun.  Not.  At first she went into the waiting room and was very good.  But, as soon as she went into the back, it all started.  She screamed and cried and kicked and hit and screamed some more.  Luckily with all that screaming the dentist could see in her mouth.  She needs a crap ton of work done.  To the tune of about $10,000.  WHAT. THE. EFF?  Most of that would be hospital fees for sedation. etc.  And about $2,700 would be the actual dentist fee.  So, he said we should go to a pediatric dentist in Springfield so that our medical card would cover most of it and it could be done in a hospital. There is something fun to look forward to.

I also have meetings out the freaking butt with all kinds of different people to work with Eden and her IEP.  The problem with doing all of that stuff now is....doing all that stuff now.  Right in the midst of the full holiday swing.  That and it is never fun to do these things.  No one really gets how it feels to talk to others about your children and have to deal with these problems.  And then your kids constantly have this LABEL and a lot of times people don't want to do certain things with your kids because of these problems.  It makes me feel bad for them and there isn't much I can do about it.  I'm doing the best I can for them though and even though it never seems like enough to me, it is going to have to be.

The week before Thanksgiving Cullen stayed home from school for four days with a cough.  I took him to Dr. Davis when I took the other two.  He didn't seem worried and no one in my house had caught it (or caught it since then)so I have been just letting it take its course.  It is just now starting to go away.  It has been rather annoying though and that kid eats cough drops like they are going out of style.  

Vivianne is jabbering away like crazy! She makes cute little sounds and "talks" quite a bit.  She is gnawing and drooling like crazy and I expect a tooth very soon.  She also blows raspberries all the time too!  She loves to smile....pretty much all the time.  She is a joy to be around.  She is sitting up now although she still tips over pretty easily.  She rolls and scoots all over the floor and always ends up somewhere different from where I laid her down. 

Baking Cookies

This is from back in late August or early September.  Eden helped me make a batch of cookies.  We had a really good time together and I feel like I always forget to take pics of the special little moments that make it all worthwhile.  This was one of them.  She was so cute.  She would count out the amounts of things and loved putting the ingredients in the bowl and watching it mix it all up!  I had a blast with her and hope that she will enjoy baking with me more as she gets bigger.  

Cullen LOVES to bake cookies and always has.  One of these times I will have to get a picture of me and him too because he is just as special to me!

Bouncy-Boo

Cullen calls Vivianne's jumperoo a bouncy-boo and gets mad at whoever calls it something else.  Cute stuff. 

First Day of School 2014

 This year all the kids are enrolled in the Nauvoo school district.  YAY!  School started on August 18th for all the boys.  Tristan is a Freshman at Warsaw High School.  Warsaw sends their middle school students to Nauvoo and Nauvoo sends their high school students to Warsaw.  He was able to get into some awesome classes and was excited.  So far he is loving high school and that makes me happy to know that he is happy.  

 Cullen started Kindergarten and his teacher is Mrs. Fink.  She is the second Mrs. Fink that we have had.  This one used to be Mrs. White though before she was married.  The old Mrs. Fink teaches Pre-K in Warsaw now.  (Side note: The old Mrs. Fink adopted a daughter a few years back and emailed me before they got her and asked what I thought of her naming her new baby Kalista!  I thought it was super, lol! Obviously she isn't named after me but, she got the idea for the name from my name, because she hadn't heard it before me.) Also, Cullen was convinced that he was going to stay in PRe-K with Mrs. McConnell.  In fact on the back to school Open House night he threw a huge fit in the PRe-K room on how it was HIS and not Eden's classroom.  Jeremy finally had to take him to the car because he was screaming so loud! :) Anyway, Cullen is happy to be in Kindergarten now and again...that makes me happy too! 

 Liam started 4th grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Rose.  Tristan had Mrs. Rose back when he was in 1st grade.  Liam adapted very quickly (he had a few friends from Scouts in his class that he knew so that helped!).  So the transition from Carthage to Nauvoo was fairly easy on him.  He seems happy....and of course, that makes me happy! 

 Cedric is in 7th grade this year and my only one out at the Middle School.  He was very nervous to start that first day.  And for the first week or so, he struggled with not know the school or anyone in it, and being shy.  I got the inspiration to send him to school with a couple of packs of gum to share with people and help start up conversations and, voila, it seemed to do the trick!  He is doing well and is happy to be there!  And when he is happy, let's all say it together, "That makes me happy too!"  LOL! 

 They are all so cooperative and happy to pose for pictures for me.  

(Please note the sarcasm.)

 Asher started 3rd grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Nolte.  Asher is doing great in school.  He is always very excited to talk about what happened that day when I pick him up.  He also had the duty of picking up Liam from his classroom the first few days to help show Liam around.  And now he gets to go to Eden's classroom to pick her up and walk with her to the Music Room where I pick them up each day.  He is excited that she holds his hand while they walk.  I think it makes him feel like a good big brother and he is!! So, can you guess what I am going to say about that??  I am so happy that he is happy!! 

 Don't they all look just THRILLED!?! 

 Eden started school on the 21st of August (Tristan's birthday.)  They started half the class on Thursday and half on Friday and they all went they following Monday.  This is her first day of school ever!  She is in Pre-K with Mrs. McConnell. I took her to the classroom that morning and she waved goodbye and told me "See ya later!"  No tears, nothing. She did GREAT! I am so proud!  The first day the teacher called and told me a couple of funny stories.  One, Eden decided to leave a lasting imprint with her new friends and laid it all out there for them by getting naked on the playground!  lol!  She took her shoes, socks, shorts, and pull-up off but, decided to leave her shirt on at least!  Oh my!  Also, she got away from the teacher and decided to take off to the other side of the school and hide out in the Kindergarten loft!  Mrs. McConnell looked there first because she said Eden was wanting to visit Cullen earlier in the day.  And yep, there she was! 

She loves getting up to get ready each day since and is always happy when I pick her up.  I already notice a difference in her.  She is talking more, using sentences more, and waiting more.  She is also letting me do her hair and washing her hands.  

I think this is going to be very beneficial to her. 

So, it is just me and Vivianne all day, all by ourselves.  It is good and bad.  The first day Eden was at school I was Anxiety Girl and couldn't focus to get anything done.  The days since have been better and we are all getting into a new groove.