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I am at a new, strange place in my life.  I don't know if I will be able to keep this blog up much anymore.  And honestly, I am not that bothered by it.  At least as much as I thought I would be.  This blog is for my family history.  And I like that idea but, I also like not having the "responsibility" of maintaining it, lol!  Oh well, we shall see.  I have been SO darn busy with my photography business, Captured by Colista.  It is awesome and I am so blessed by being able to help make money to provide for my family while still mostly being home.  And I totally enjoy what I do.  It's not an office job, thank god!!

We took the kids camping to Mark Twain lake over Father's Day weekend.  We left Vivianne with grandma and the rest of us went.  We took two cars stuffed to the max.  Night one we got to the Landing almost at dark and had to set up by the light of our headlights.  We got the last campsite but, it was the best one by far!! The kids were pretty dang awesome helping set up and sleeping that night.  Jeremy and I were dreading the inevitable meltdown that Eden might have about the stars(she is scared of stars) but, we were the only campsite under trees and she didn't even notice. All of them went right to bed when asked and slept well the whole night.  I on the other hand, had to deal with Jeremy's snoring in another tent (so I couldn't shake or hit him to make him stop), and couldn't sleep all night long.  Ugh!  lol!  The next day we went to the lake and swam and had a picnic.  We had a really good time!! Eden loved the beach and the water and had no fear at all.  The boys made friends with other kids and had a blast!  We got back to the campsite and made supper over the fire.  That is when we started to notice the sky darkening in one direction.  There wasn't supposed to be any rain but, there was a huge storm producing damage headed straight for us.  The kids were scared to death.  They all wanted to leave so we packed everything up as fast as we could and drove out of the Landing as the wind was starting to blow.  Weather alerts were going off all over!  So, we drove so freaking fast to Hannibal to re-evaluate our situation.  We were all sunburnt and tired and just wanted a bed.  So we got a hotel room at the Holiday Inn and went to bed.  Surprisingly, we were all in one room(king bed, pull out couch, and sleeping bags) and everyone was so good and quiet and slept awesome!! I was so proud of the kids on the crazy weekend.  We didn't get to do as much as we wanted but, it was an experience that is for sure!! lol!

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!

..................................................................

If one more bad thing happens today.......in no particular order.....
Both cars with flats this morning.  Need 8 new tire.
Tristan goes to dentist for filling, finds out he needs $1600 root canal.
I am driving Expedition with flat tire and then the SERVICE ENGINE SOON light starts flashing and the car starts sputtering.  I limp home at 30mph.
Strange car drives by twice and takes picture of house.  WTH?  Not good paired with the news we got last month.
Neighbor kids all.day.long.
Storage room and hallway flooded this morning.  What the heck from?  We do not know.  I am sure it is something wonderful.

End of School

I had an end of year conference with Mrs. McConnell(Eden's pre-k teacher) on the morning of our 16th Anniversary.  I am SO pleased with all the progress Eden made this year!  I am proud of her ability to learn and shine! I am so thankful to Mrs. McConnell and Mrs. Reinhardt for all they do for her and I love how much they love my Eden!  And it shows!  They really do care for her!  Eden made great leaps and bounds in terms of academics and social skills.  She knows, the alphabet(can sing it too), her colors, her shapes, numbers, counting, days of the week, EVERYTHING! She can even read a few sight words!  She is SO smart!  Her social skills are night and day from what they were at the beginning of the year.  We need to work on potty training but, the teachers thought that we should back off a bit and let it be Eden's choice/decision. 

The boys came home with mostly decent grades from some and awesome from others.  Cedric got two awards for Team Manager of the basketball team and one for FFA.  Tristan's grades are crappy as crap and he seems to have little interest in changing them.  *sigh*  Poor kid has no idea what he is doing to himself despite our best efforts to try and tell him.  Whatever.  He will live and learn I guess. Cullen read so much that he earned himself a free ticket to Six Flags!! Woot!  So that is on the agenda this summer too! He is such a good reader! He can read almost any word you put in front of him. Most kids his age are reading at 30 on the graph they send home.  Above average students are at 48 on the graph.  Cullen is at 108!!!!! What the what!?!?  Awesome, little dude!!

I am happy that school is out even though it may add more to my schedule.  I do enjoy summers as a family! 

This. Pretty Much.

No Time To Say Hello, Good-bye!

Oh my goodness, this last month might be the absolute busiest, craziest, emotional roller coaster ride I have ever been on.  Jeremy and I have both been working non-freaking-stop.  Combine that with family crap, doctor's visits, field trips, end of school happenings (graduations, picnics, etc), school conferences, holidays/birthdays, trying to get our damn house sold, lessons, etc. and you have a recipe to have a complete and total nervous breakdown.  Jeremy and I literally have not slept for longer than 5 hours at a time and that is on a good night.  We both have felt sick and delirious as well.  Here is how my planner looks for the month of May.......(all these things in addition to cooking, cleaning, getting kids ready to and from school, lunches, laundry, mowing lawn, you know, regular daily life...oh and Jeremy's crazy work schedule as of late).
May 1st- Tristan at Improv, Meet Amish guys in Carthage, Wash Walls to paint in Carthage
May2nd- Prom Pictures for four different groups of teens
May3rd- Clean /Work on Carthage house and yard
May4th- Asher @ Dr. Cummings in Quincy, Liam field trip
May5th- Eden field trip, Cullen field trip, Bunco night
May6th- Tristan @ voice lessons, Cullen field trip, Go to Dump/grocery store, Make thank you notes for teachers from kids, scouts
May7th- Cullen field trip, Volunteer in Kindergarten classroom,
May8th- Carthage house, Vivianne @ doctor, Find/wash jars for centerpieces
May 9th- Paint at Carthage house, go to dump, clean out Carthage house garage, run to Lowe's/Menards, go grocery shopping
May 10th- Mother's Day.....Jeremy bought me a bunch of flowers for the yard but, I didn't want to get them that weekend because I knew I wouldn't have time to plant.  Mother's Day was dumb and no one but Jeremy actually even said anything to me about it being a special day.
May 11th- Field trip with pre-k to Niabi zoo
May12th- Cullen field trip, paint Viv's old high chair
May 13th- Eden @ dentist, Cullen field trip, Scouts,
May 14th- Voice lesson for Tristan, Start making centerpieces for Mom's 75th birthday
May15th- Vivianne's First birthday, her and Ced party, Kindergarten visitation day for Eden,
May 16th- Make and send out invites for party(Mom's), Call Easter Seals
May17th- Cedric birthday, Make Order form pdf for Nauvoo Athletic Association
May 18th- Cullen field trip, Meet with Missionaries, Tristan @ dentist,
May19th- Vivi and Eden @ doc for shots , Cullen field trip
May 20th- Scouts, Cullen field trip, Make chalkboard signs for Mom's party,
May 21st- Eden's pre-k graduation, Tristan @ voice lessons, Meet with Tacy for pre-wedding conference
May 22nd- Tacy Nelson wedding, Cedric @ Adventureland, drive to Springfield(got to our hotel at 10 to midnight)
May 23rd- Edmonds wedding all freaking day, back at hotel@ 2am (we literally paid $500 for two nights in a hotel and probably were in the actual room MAYBE 10 hours, which consisted of sleep or getting ready.  ugh.  Seems like such a waste.)
May 24th- drive back to Nauvoo, Family photo shoot 4:30 (cancelled because of rain), unpack, etc
May 25th- No school, Clean house, grocery store, Edit wedding pics
May 26th- Cullen field trip, Organize/store winter clothes, yard sale stuff moved, Asher @ Dr. Davis
May 27th- Cullen field trip to Lake Linda, Scouts, Edit pics
May 28th- No school, Newborn Session, Tristan @ voice lesson, Paint signs
May 29th-Our 16th anniversary (worst ever), School picnic day, last day of school, Early out 1:30pm., start cooking pork for party
May 30th- Meet guy with Key at Hunt Club, Mom's Surprise 75th Birthday party,
May 31st- Mason Family Session reschedule, Meet Bryan/Clay/Jordan for breakfast

WHEW!  And this is just the stuff that I wrote down in my planner!  Not to mention all the stuff that just happens along the way or that I forget to write down!  Craziness.

I decided somewhere along the way that this summer was going to be the first annual Camp Kelley.  I haven't had much time to really think on it but, it will be a summer camp.  I am really excited about it and hope that I can actually do it! 

I have much to blog about but, I also have a ton of pictures to get done for people. So, I guess I will get back to this hectic schedule of mine. 

So Busy

I am gonna take two seconds to just update real quick.  We are so freaking busy right now it isn't even funny! No time to stop and think or write! No time for anything! gah!!!! lol!  I am hoping that by June 1st things may slow down but I can't be sure.  If I make it through this month I am going to be blogging for years!

Fresh Picked

 This girl LOVES to pick flowers for me!  And once she starts she doesn't like to stop until all the flowers are picked.  LOL!  One day I had to get a big mixing bowl to put all her flowers in!  And she must do this at school too because I find bunches of flowers in her backpack all the time too!! :)  I love her.  She knows just how to make me smile.  

The Crabapple Tree

 This is the crabapple tree in the yard.  I am in love with it!  From a distance and when it first started blooming, it was definitely lavender in color.  Up close and the more it blossomed, it became pink.  I went out one day to take pics of it.  I wanted to use my macro lens to get some super up-close shots of the blooms.  When I walked toward the tree a low hum got steadily louder as  I approached.  Once I walked under the tree I could see why.  There were SO many bees EVERYWHERE....doing what bees do.  They didn't bother me and one even let me take its picture.  ;)

Random Life Post

Last night I got to take Tristan and a group of his friends to his monthly Improv class.  He is taking voice lessons too.  But, all the kids really seem to love Improv nights. I took him, Hailey, Waylon, Dyllan, and Jordan to Carthage and dropped them off.  While I was waiting, I made good use of my time by going to the Carthage house and washing walls to prep for paint.  Washing walls may seem easy and all but, I am here to tell you that is is not.  At all.  And it is especially difficult when your mother goes to your house earlier in the day and takes the freaking ladder that you were clearly using to wash the walls and paint with.  *big sigh*  Ahhh, I digress. 
The ride with teenagers in the car is weird.  I went through a variety of emotions, lol!  Wonder, Annoyance, Funny, Curious, so many emotions!  They actually all seem like a pretty good group of kids.  Not sure what they thought of me or that fact that I had to school them on the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 
Today I have four prom sessions.  I am hoping they all go well. My first shoot is at 1:00pm and I hate shooting in afternoon full sun.  I am hoping for a bit of cloud cover actually.
My brain is scattered lately and I can't focus.  I have too much happening, too fast and it is making me insane, lol!  I have surrounded myself with lists upon lists and I can't tell yet if it is making things better or worse.  How did life get so darn busy and crazy busy!?!?   

Valentine's Dance

Cedric wanted to go to the middle school Valentine's dance.  He wanted to dress up even though other kids had told him that they were just gonna wear jeans or whatever.  So, he called Grandma Trapp and made sure to get his suit ahead of time(mostly, lol).  He totally dressed himself.  I LOVE it!  He has a style all his own and knows just how to make things look good!  He went to the dance and had a great time!

Pinewood Derby

 Liam had a pinewood derby for Cub Scouts a few weeks back.  We totally forgot about it and then realized that we hadn't even made him his car yet.  This was during the time that Grandma Boyer was in hospice and it is hard to get one on one time with kiddos when they are all around so....we just decided that he would use his car from last year.  Technically they aren't supposed to do that but, whatever.  Extenuating circumstances.  LOL!  Jeremy came home a few hours early from work on the day of the derby and spent time with Liam and Asher working on last years cars to change them up a bit.  Liam ending up getting FIRST PLACE!  He was so excited and we were so PROUD.  Asher went along and raced with his car just for fun.  Jeremy added some cool stuff to it and they were all thrilled with how it turned out! I didn't get to go to the derby either.  But, hopefully there are more derbys to come.  Good Job, Liam!! LOVE you!

More Sad Things

Well the last month or so has been a doozie.  So much going on, so much to do.  And nothing will slow down, much less stop to let us think and breathe.  This week the man that works for us, Bill, died unexpectedly.  He had cancer and was getting chemo.  He just worked on Saturday for us.  Apparently he had a coughing fit and had an embolism go to his heart and he died quickly.  Jeremy and I both were in shock.  Complete shock. It is just like when my Dad died.  Just BAM!  outta nowhere and you are left with your head spinning and don't know how to act. We are both supposed to go the funeral but, the funeral is today(Saturday) and we don't have a sitter.  I am not taking kids to a funeral again.  Nope. I am going to have to send my condolences through the air or something.  So not only is Bill dying very, very sad but, it does leave us in a tight spot.  Bill actually worked for us quite a bit.  He was available whenever Jeremy would call him.  And a good worker.  A while back, Jeremy decided to let Bill open the store on Saturdays for him.  Well, now we have people that know that we are open on Saturdays and rely on that because it is the only day that they can make it in.  Now, Jeremy is going to have to work the Saturdays or figure something else out.  One of the problems with that is that Jeremy and I were planning on taking Saturdays and getting our house fixed up so that it would freaking sell already.  We need to get in and paint, put up a back splash, clean up the yard to up curb appeal, new lights, etc.  We just never have time to go get anything done.   We NEED it gone fast.  Our contract is up here in July and at that point this house could be sold to someone else.  Not good.  At all. And it is making me freak the freak out.  I went over to the Carthage house on Monday with Vivianne and tried to do some things to help move the projects along.  Well, Vivi was having NOTHING to do with it.  She screamed and screamed until I got her out of her car seat and then screamed and/or got into every little thing she could.  It was pointless. 
Also to coincide or maybe because of all the recent craziness(it's not just the Bill thing) I have been going through major anxiety and mood issues.  I don't understand it.  All I know is that I hate it.  I feel so stupid sometimes(all the time, lol).  I just hope that if my kids read this later in life that they understand why their mom is kinda moody and cranky sometimes.  I love these kids with all my heart but, I am so overwhelmed right now.  I wish they knew how hard I try.  One day they will. 

Something that is awesome is that school is soon to be out for the summer!! YAY!! I am seriously contemplating homeschooling a couple of them next year again.  We shall see.  But, I need to work out these house situations first so that we have a home to have homeschool in, lol! 

Do We Look Alike?

Well this is tiny...you may have to click on it to make it bigger.  Yesterday, I posted this on facebook, just sure that we all three looked exactly alike.  The more I stare at it, the more I start to think we look nothing alike, lol!  But, there is one of the only 'baby' pics I have of myself.  I am really hoping to find some more.  Look at those curls....what the heck was going on with my hair?!?!  I think I was about 12 or 18 months in the pic if I can remember what my mom told me loooong ago! 

A Little Post About Vivi

Okay, so both of those pictures are of my niece, Justine. *Ginny's second daughter* The bottom one is Vivianne. I was always told growing up that Justine and Sidney(Ginny's third daughter) looked like I did when I was younger. I also get that Ginny and I look alike supposedly.  Well, I have never seen it more clearly than right here! Justine posted these pics on facebook yesterday and I was blown away by how much the one of the left looks exactly like Vivi and the one on the right looks just like Eden.  Crazy.  Some strong Trapp genes there!  LOL!

My Vivianne is getting so big!!  She does everything with ease and grace.  She is stunningly gorgeous and blows me away every day with her sparkling personality.  She will soon be one and I cannot believe it.  Fastest year ever.
Some things Vivi does that are cute:

• She loves to wave 'hi' and 'bye' with a big wave, her arm flailing wildly!  Sometimes we get a cute little "hi" too! 
• She loves to give kisses and will do so on command when you ask for kisses.  She sucks her lips in rather than out and makes a cute little fishy face and she makes kissy sounds!  
• She says 'mama' and 'dada' all the time.  
• She is like the most technically correct crawler in the history of babies!  Lol, it's just how she does things!   She is gonna be walking soon.  She likes to stand at things and then let go and just stand.  
• She also likes to smack people right in the face when she gets really excited!  She does it to dolls too.  
• We are teaching her baby sign language and it seems to be going well.  So far we are working on milk and water.  She got a baby sign language board book in her easter basket so we are sticking to what is in it for now.
• I love her squishy little body so dang much!  She has the cutest little chunky, tiny hobbit feet ever.  

I am so annoyed, I can't even see straight. 

Hospice

 ****wrote all this on Monday*******
I cannot believe that it will be April soon and I have so many things from the last 6 months to a year to blog about STILL.  I WILL get it all done one of these days.  The last 10 days or so have been different.  Jeremy's Grandma Boyer is in hospice and the family has been spending her last days with her there.  It is a great little hospice place next to the hospital in Burlington.  I tried to take my camera yesterday and get some good pics.  She wasn't doing so well yesterday though and slept most of the time.  I also felt very awkward asking people to move so I could get a better shot.....so I didn't.  I know I can get some very good ones if I am in the right spot at the right time but, that would require camping out up there which I just can't do.  I did get some good ones.  I really want to capture the love and tenderness that we all feel when we are all together.

20 Days and NO Colista?!

OMG, it has been 20 whole days since I blogged!!!  Okay, so there is much to update but, alas, my children, in all the loving ways, have done something to my keyboard again to make it hell on earth to type.  I need Jeremy to take a look at it and see what the heck is going on.  I will tackle some blogging tomorrow hopefully. 

More From Tuesday

Well, Jeremy and Asher made it safely to and from Quincy in this icy weather to his appointment at Blessing Behavioral Center.  Jeremy was messaging me the whole time letting me know what was going on.  The doc(Dr. Cummings) wants to up Asher's adderall prescription and give him a prescription for bed wetting, and one for sleep.  He brought them home and I started to look them up and they seem kinda scary and weird.  Just initial thoughts but, we shall see.

Every week FitBit sends me my weekly stats. It is pretty cool.  I wish I could paste it on here but, it won't let me.  Anyway, I will try to type it all here because it is very motivational.  One day this week I totally forgot to put the fitbit on the whole day after I took it off to shower.  Also, I wish there were others that would "compete" with me.  Right now my only competitor is Jamie Steen! lol!

This weeks Stats:

Total Steps: 53, 057  Daily Average: 7,580 steps Best Day: 11,307 steps

Total Distance walked: 22.19 miles  Daily Average: 3.17 miles Best Day:4.73 miles

Total Floors Climbed: 73  Daily Average: 10  Best Day:18

Total Calories Burned: 16,400  Daily Average: 2,343  Best Day: 2,640

Calories In vs. Out: -10, 790
Weekly total:16,403 calories burned, 363 calories eaten. -5,520 plan deficit
(This is off because I didn't log all my food and water last week)

Weight Change: 2.0 lbs. Lightest: 196.0  Heaviest: 198.0

Average Sleep Duration: 4 hrs. 28 min.

Average Times Awakened: 7

Average Time to Fall Asleep: 10 min.

I also earn badges daily and weekly.  Last week I earned:

• Boat Shoe (5,000 steps)
• Sneaker(10,000 steps)
• Urban(15,000)
• Happy Hill(10 floors climbed)
• Redwood Forest(25 floors climbed)
• Marathon(26 miles, this is a lifetime badge)
• Penguin March(70 miles, also a lifetime badge)

Anyway, so the one they email me has cute little graphics and charts and what not but, this will serve the same purpose.  So, it is good to see that I am making progress even if it doesn't quite feel like it yet to me.  I started at 206.8 (at least that is the last reference I can find that I wrote down, lol, it could be more actually).  So 10 pounds is an okay start I guess.  I really don't notice it yet.
Also, notice the sleep.  My average amount of times waking at night is 7!  One night last week I woke up 18 times.  We never get to sleep properly because of kids but, with my own sleep issues on top of it, good grief!  This can't be good on my brain, lol!
Also, I go up and down stairs all day long.  Lots and lots of stairs. 

 My Vivi is crawling all over the place!  And she "talks" a lot.  She says Mama and Dada all the time.  She also gives kisses. And has started waving (just today)!  I need to do a separate post on her, never mind, lol!

Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Well, I am quickly losing my mind here.  It has been constant sickness of some sort at this house.  Ear infections, pink eye, sinusitis, bronchitis, colds, puking, head aches, etc.  Just done.  Done. Done.  and Done again.  Ugh.  Just when I get someone better and send them back to school, another kid or two come home from school with something else.  I am at my wits end.  Today we woke up and 56 schools had cancelled for freezing rain/snow that we didn't even know about!  Jeremy and Asher are still attempting to make it to his appointment with the doctor in Quincy.  I worry about that.  His appointment has been cancelled or rescheduled four times now though. 

I am working this week on getting sets ready for a big photo shoot I have this weekend.  It is three families from school that are all doing family sessions at the same time.  Since they all three work for the school, they are letting me set up my indoor studio equipment in the school and we are also doing outdoor sessions as well.  There are a lot of kids to consider and tons of sets to bring together.  It is a big endeavor but, I am hopeful! 

Jeremy and I both went to the walk-in clinic in Carthage bright and early on Saturday morning to get some medicine. We had been sick too long and had to cancel too many things to continue on and hope the sickness would go away.  We got the prescriptions and had to stop by the Carthage house to pick up a bill the Amish guys left us.  I got to see the counter top that they picked out for us.  I was worried about what they picked....but, I shouldn't have wasted the energy on worrying because it is great!  They did a super job!