Little Miss Dress-Up

 This girl loves to pick out her own clothes and accessories, get dressed, and play dress-up.  (I'e been gathering different costumes, dresses, hats, accessories that I have been finding on clearance or very cheap and going to get her a cute little play dress-up center thing for her birthday this year.....I am very excited! I just know she is going to LOVE it!!)

Anyway, she is always asking me to take a picture of her when she does.  This particular day she got all dressed up and asked me to take her picture with the unicorn-y.  Sure thing!

 The poses she strikes are always awesome too.  Just like her. 

 This girly girl is just what I always wished for.  I cannot believe that I actually got two perfect little girls after trying for so long and hard.  They are sooooo different from my boys and that is okay.  Some things are easier and some are harder.  But, either way, perfect. 

By the way, don't you love the winter hat with her summer dress?!!?  Lol!

Easter Morning At Our House

 Well, here are some Easter pics.  It's another quasi-religious holiday that I wasn't thrilled about being involved with this year.  I struggle with the idea of filling young, forming minds with horrific notions about some religion that you decided for them.  I want my kids to use their minds and form decisions on their own, with what feels right and comfortable TO THEM, not what feels right and comfortable to me.  I was raised in a faith that was detrimental in so many ways(as they all are) and I refuse to do the same to them. So instead of worrying about all that other stupid crap about the holiday, I embraced the damn Easter Bunny.  I mean if we are believing in things we have never seen or have any actual evidence of, I'm going to promote the cute, fun fairy tale about a nice bunny that brings me eggs filled with yummy candy and fun stuff rather than the one that threatens me if I don't worship him in whatever wacko way he chooses, I am doomed to hell.  What a downer, lol, who would want to hang out with that guy, hah!!

 I went to four different Dollar Generals in the surrounding area to find all these Easter Baskets for just $5 each!  Lol!  I was determined.  I filled em full of a bunch of crap (cool adult coloring books, memory books, reading books, toys, candy, stickers, oh and EGGS) and then we.....Jeremy and I....erm, the EASTER BUNNY, hopped all through the house and hid the baskets.  I do love how every Easter morning the kids wake us up with whose baskets they have already found and those that they just can't seem to find!  There is a lot of teamwork between the kids Easter morning and they are all genuinely nice and excited to help each other find baskets and see who got what. 

 Well my teenagers are starting to not have quite the excitement they had in previous years, LOL!  And that's fine with me.  I remember being that age. and I love having a little of the pressure relieved of being "on" for the holiday, when you don't have to necessarily "hide" things form them or create some kind of perfect thing for them.  

 Eden got Piggy Paint in her basket.  It is safe, non-toxic nail polish for little girls that says it is as safe as mud???? Hmmm, not sure what that means, but whatever, it sounds good! :)

 A lot of my kids and myself are getting into the adult coloring books recently.  I bought a set of really nice professional colored pencils and we all just sit and color together sometimes.  

 Don't mind all the pizza boxes, we had Trapp Easter at our house this year and Nicci, Trey, Alina, Will, and Sam stayed later into the evening, the day before Easter.  For supper we had Will, Tristan, and Cedric drive to Keokuk to get pizza for us.  

 I don't know how I didn't snap any pics at all of Cedric, what the heck!?!?!? 

We all got ready for the day and went to Kelley Family Easter first, then to another Trapp Easter and Vicki and Dan's house for supper, both of which will be in a different post. I have to say though, pretty dang good Easter this year even with my recent "Faith Crisis".  

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!

 

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!!

Here We Go

Tristan officially has his driving permit.  This is so weird.  I don't know how to treat him this old yet.  I feel all weird and awkward dealing with teenage things....and this is the age I thought I would totally rock at being a parent.  I feel sorry for my kids because I have no idea what I am doing. 

Anyway, we have been driving with him a few times already and he is extremely careful.  Which I love.  But, how will he drive when I am not in the car?  lol.  I really am excited for him.  I remember how excited I was to start driving. 

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.