Macey Style

For as long as I can remember, Macey has had an opinion about what she wants to wear.  It used to make me cringe as I would see the outfits she would put on.  Often times I would tell her to change, but that would create so much drama.  Crying, fighting....it totally wasn't worth it.

So, I stopped trying to dictate what Macey wore and let her go at it. I wish I took a picture of her everyday to show some of the outfits she comes up with.  

I still have to bite my tongue at times.  

What do you think?  

 Skirt ...check
leggings...check
rainboots...you bet
Rainbow Dash Hoody...always

 She even liked to impart her stylish ways on her BFF Harry.

 Going out on an adventure?  Great, let me grab my tutu dress.

Classic Macey.

I love my girly Macey Mace.  

Mac and Cheese

It was the usual routine this morning.

Up at 6.  Feed baby.  Change baby's diaper.  Go for a run.  Wake up Lo and Isaac for school.  Make breakfast.  Make lunches.  Pack backpacks.  Scoot the kids out the door so we aren't late for school by 7:45.  Drive kids to school.  Try my best to fill their little buckets full before sending them out of the car door and into the school.  Kisses. Hugs.  Goodbye until 3:10 when school gets out and the excitement starts once again.

While I was making lunches for Lo and Isaac I had an interesting thought.

Lo was helping me make mac and cheese for their lunch.  Lo was doing most of the making and I was more supervising.  I told her after she added the water, the directions tell to stir the noodles and water together before putting them in the microwave.

 She responded saying, "Why do they have you stir it before you microwave it?  That's dumb.  I bet it doesn't matter if you stir it before."

I told her if they wrote it in the directions, its probably important that we stick to the directions.

But, that got me thinking.

How often do we 'skip directions' because we think we know best?  How much better could our relationship be with our Heavenly Father or Savior be?

If we skip the steps in making Mac and Cheese, who knows how much better that Mac and cheese would/could taste?   We are cheating ourselves out of some much more delicious tasting cheesy goodness.

Doing all we are asked (daily prayer, scripture study,...) might seem like a step we can skip and not feel a difference in our own lives.  But it matters.  I guess that's what I'm getting at.

IT MATTERS.

Don't skip out on those small things that can help bring you peace, comfort, love.

Now go make yourself some Easy Mac and Cheese.

Moments

I had a moment today while driving in the car with Isaac and Loraya.  A moment that doesn't happen often as a mom.  I felt prompted to tell them that I loved them and express how lucky I was to be their mom.  Such a simple thing.  To tell someone you love them.

 I was over come with emotion, and looking at them thru the rear view mirror I could see their sweet eyes filling with tears as well.

The moment came and went.

But, I'm so grateful I didn't let the moment pass and say nothing.  

I tell my kids often how much I love them, several times a day.  So, I'm not sure why I was, at that time, prompted to share my love to my beautiful children.  

But do you ever tire of being told you are loved?

2014 recap

 Hello!  I'm blogging!  I have to say my sisters Shareen and Shannon inspired me to blow off the dust that has settled and rev up the ol' bloggy blog.

I loved my sister's 2014 recap so much I decided to do my own.

January.
Snow.
FREEZING.
That about sums it up.

February.

I was large and in charge.  A few weeks from my due date in this picture.  Also, a lot of snow and no school due to the large amounts of snow.

 March.
Sawyer Leigh Kelly joined our family.  9 lbs 9 oz of perfectness.  Oh we love him.  We also put our townhouse on the market a week after Sawyer was born.  Also, it was still freezing/  And snowing.

 April.
Spring!  I will miss the cherry blossom trees on the rail trail along the Monongahela River.  We sold our house after only two weeks.  What a huge blessing.

 May.
Dental school graduation.  Jacob did it!  We did it!  And can I just say I HATE my hair in this pic.  Ha!  I was also diagnosed with a malignant melanoma.  Go have your moles checked people!  Do it!

 June.
Moving across the country.  Jacob and this uhaul become great friends.  The kids and I spent most of June with my parents in Utah.  It was a special time to be able to spend mornings walking with my mom and be there when we got the crappy news that her cancer had once again returned.  I will always see it as a tender mercy that we were able to hug and cry and be there for each other.  Cancer is dumb.

 July.
All the Kelly's together.  19 grand kids.  14 adults.  It was so great to  see everyone.  We moved into Jacob's parent's house with his sister's family.  It was cozy.  We are so grateful for Linda and Sid's willingness to take us all in.

 August.
Lots of swimming and Grandma's and Grandpa's.  We also moved into our own place.  Jacob started working and Loraya got braces.

 September.
New school year.  New school.  New friends.  New church callings.  New. New. New.

 October.
I decided to make a change with how I was taking care of my body.  I got my melanoma removed.  I now have a scar on my left arm that will serve as a reminder to take better care of myself.   I also started running regularly.  AND the best news was hearing my mom's cancer was adios.

 November.
I loved spending Thanksgiving with all my family.  I ran in a 10k.  I also couldn't feel my toes for the first half of the 10k.

 December.
This is probably my most favorite picture ever.  We adore Sawyer.  Well, I adore all my kids.  It was also a pretty awesome Christmas, being able to spend it with so much family around.  But, we sure miss our East coast friends, family and friends who are like family.

Here's to a very boring 2015!

New adventures

 long nights

 braces

 new adventures in eating

 swinging for the first time

 Mermaid by Macey

 Lots of pool time

...and had to include at least one pic of Isaac....

Sawyer Leigh Kelly

A few days before Saywer arrived.

I never go into labor naturally.  I was so sure that I would need to be induced with Sawyer as well, but, he had other plans.

I had an appointment on March 12th in the AM.  I was prepared to beg/cry/bribe....do whatever to set a date that they would induce me.  I was worried about how big Sawyer might be and they scheduled an ultrasound to determine the size, only to cancel it with out me knowing.  They said since everything was normal and healthy at 20 weeks, there was no medical reason to do another ultrasound.

It wasn't hard to produce the tears.  I was done and I was so worried about Linda arriving and leaving and not having the baby.  I did convince Courtney, the midwife I have been seeing, to check to see if I was dilated.  I was already at 4 cm, so she went ahead and stripped my membranes.  Upon leaving the appointment I started having contractions, that felt much stronger and more frequent then I've ever felt before.

I went about my day.  Went and got my hair cut.  Got a chicken sandwich from Chick-fila.  Went and picked up some things from Lowes.  Picked up Macey from preschool.  Talked to dad on the phone.  When it was time to pick up Loraya and Isaac from school I was having pretty regular contractions and was even having Isaac time how quickly they were coming.  It was about every 5 minutes.  I was nervous to admit I was in labor but realized I better start making preparations.

I packed a hospital bag.  Called the hospital and told them I thought I was in labor.  Called Jacob and told him he better get home so he could take me to the hospital.  Called Sharleen and had her husband come and pick up my kids.  I was still unsure this was really it.  I have never got into labor naturally and this was all new to me.  I felt like a first time parent and questioning what I should do and how I should proceed.

I will be forever grateful that Reagan, who also happens to be the bishop in our ward, suggested Jacob give me a priesthood blessing.  The spirit was strong.  I didn't know how much peace that blessing would bring me and how much it would be needed that night.

I still can't believe how things progressed.  We checked into the hospital around 5:30.  My contractions were getting stronger and continued to be every 5 minutes or so.  They called my mid wife and she agreed I needed to stay and have Sawyer that night.  Yay!  After a while I told Jacob to go and get something to eat since he hadn't eaten dinner yet.  He joked that when he got back make sure I would be ready to push.  Haha.

Jacob was gone about 20 minutes.  Things changed while he was gone.  My contractions were getting crazy painful and I was getting desperate to get an epidural.  They hadn't hooked up my IV yet and hadn't done the proper blood work.  The epidural never happened.  I can't describe the experience of having a natural birth. It was pain I never thought I could live through.  When it came time I told the midwife that I needed to push.  No one needed to tell me I was fully dilated, I knew what I needed to do.  Oh the pain was so intense.  I was screaming, acting completely crazy.  Sawyer's shoulders got stuck while pushing.  That was another whole realm of pain I don't know how to describe.  Then suddenly he was out, and the pain was immediately gone.

I was stunned as to what I had just done, what my body had allowed me to do.  To top it off Sawyer was a big boy!  9 lbs 9 oz.  20 inches long!  I was really in shock.

Sawyer was/is a beautiful baby.  He was very swollen and bruised from dropping and being pushed out so quickly.  Heaven was close.  I loved Sawyer completely and felt that my world was full.

I had him at 8:54PM.  Jacob left by 9:45 to pick up the kids and get them in bed.  Little did I know the excitement wasn't over for the night.

To be continued....

Back to School

Summer ending was a very touchy subject at our house.  Often times I would hear Isaac crying in bed at night.  When going up to see what was the matter he would state, "summer is going by too quickly."  This happened on at least 3 separate occasions.  It was heart breaking as a parent.  I tried the usual 'enjoy the moment' pep talk, but I could see almost panic in Isaac's eyes when we would discuss back to school plans.

But,as time usually does, it marched onward and eventually school was right before us.  A few things greatly helped Isaac's panic.

1.  Receiving a Father's blessing.  Jacob was able to lay his hand upon Isaac's head and give him a father's blessing.  I felt peace and comfort and knew Isaac felt it too.  Since the blessing I have only heard positive and happy things about school...for the most part.  We are talking about my son after all.  But,  no more crying fits, and that was a HUGE blessing.

2.  Meeting his teacher before school started.  I LOVED his teacher!  Phew, what a relief!  

3.  My own enthusiasm for how awesome his teacher was rubbed off on Isaac.  I wasn't exactly excited to be sending my kids off all day once again, but I can pretend.  If I feel really strongly about something, more often then not my kids start believing it as well.  I really did like his teacher, so I didn't have to pretend that at least.

 Isaac started 2nd grade in Mrs. Pisegna's class

 Loraya is in 4th grade and has Mrs. Barnes.  I really was impressed with Loraya's teacher as well.  I feel so lucky to have both kids have such great teachers.

New shoes.  I always have to splurge on one pair of shoes from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale.

 Silly kids waiting for the bus.

Loraya has a beautiful natural wave to her blonde hair.  She wanted to straighten it for school and look how lovely it is!  I'm continually jealous of her beautiful thick hair.  

Expectations.

Celebrations of any kind for Isaac is met with expectations...big expectations.  Big expectations that usually can never be met. 

Yesterday was no exception. 

It was the 100th day of school, and I'm not sure what Isaac was expecting to happen.  What did happen though, didn't bode well and weighed heavily on his mind.

10 o'clock, way past bedtime, Isaac comes down the stairs.  He has big tears in his eyes.  In a voice chocked with emotion, Isaac says, " I just feel like we didn't get to celebrate the 100th day of school at all.  It wasn't even special."

As I tried to show genuine concern and compassion for this tragedy, I explained to him that everything can't be dancing bears and hippos with tu-tus.  In other words, I'm sorry, but you need to get over it and go to bed.

Needless to say,  I'm baking a " Happy 101th day of school" cake as I type this post.  A mothers got to do what a mothers got to do make her children happy right?

Happy birthday to me?

Fall is most definitely here in Morgantown.  Love.

It was another crazy, busy week.  But that just seems to be the norm nowadays and I can't seem to slow down.

 I did enjoy a walk in the rain this week with this little cutie.  We had some books to return to the library.  Got out the umbrella and enjoyed a walk downtown with Macey chattering away by myside.  Perfect.

The leaves are starting to turn bright reds, vibrant golds and lovely orange colors.  Beautiful.  I'll be sure to do my best to capture a few pictures this week.

 I love these colorfully pained garage doors.  We had to stop and take a picture.  Crazy.

A sure sign of fall, and another event we enjoy each September is the WVU Homecoming parade.

 Getting ready for the parade to begin.  Loraya has her candy bag ready!  I spy Sonora and Jacob in the background as well.  Fun.

 Our school mascot is actually one of those Mormons.  A pretty cool article written in the church news here.  Go 'Eers! 

 Although long, we had to stay to the end to see the WVU marching band!  Worth it!

You know how sometimes you meet someone and just feel an immediate connection?  The moment I met my neighbor down the street, I knew we would be great friends!  She is wonderful and it was her birthday on Saturday.  I for a time got confused and thought maybe it was my birthday with all the spoiling going on.  Day went as follows:
11:30 surprise Merysa!  Hop in the car and go to Spa Roma.  (fully paid for all of us by her husband!)
12:00  Hour long massage!
12:15 Hang out in sauna
12:45 Pedicures!
2:00 Manicures!
3:00 Panera...all that pampering ....we were quite hungry!
Such a fun girls day!  Stopped at TJ Maxx before heading home.

I have to give a HUGE shout out to my husband too.
Not only hung out with the kids all day...drove over an hour and took them to Chuck E Cheese!  THAT is a wonderful husband!  MMMwah!

Hayride and good friends

It was a great weekend.

No stress.

No soccer games.

No birthday parties.

 

Just a great weekend with wonderful friends.

 

We look forward to the hay ride every year.  Loraya's enthusiasm is perfectly captured.
Only downer was Macey.  Jacob left early to take her home and put her to bed.  She was actually begging to go to sleep, which doesn't happen everyday!

Wide open spaces.  Room to run and run and run some more.  So much to explore and discover.  Good times.

My friend Alicia drove from Philly to spend the weekend with us!  So excited to see her and her cute kiddos again.  I have missed her so much since they have moved and am so glad that they are close enough to drive out to see  us. 

Saturday was WVU football game.  Which means no soccer games.  It also means you don't try and drive anywhere before or after the game.  The kids had fun riding their bikes, playing video games, coloring pictures and just hanging out at home.  This is a rarity on a Saturday, I loved it!  It was nice to have some good girl talk while the kids played.

That evening we went over to the Curtis's house for a pizza party.  Once again the kids had so much fun together. 

After the pizza party the Moms went out for some time without kids.  Jacob watched all 6 of the kids!  Love that guy! 

Sunday morning I said goodbye to Alicia, I'm feeling sad today.

But, on the plus side...

Fall is here!
Excited to get outside today and enjoy the autumn air.

Look Mom!

Isaac: 'Hey Mom!  My pumpkin bread looks like the United States!'

Yes, it does!

 

 

Me: 'So Isaac, how was your day?'

Isaac: 'Good!  I got back together with Claire today.  Yesterday I told her that I have been cheating on her because I accidentally told Olivia that she was my girlfriend.  But Claire told me at recess that she wanted to be my girlfriend again.'

Oh good. 

 

Heaven help me when this boy is a teenager!  Please start praying now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Unplanned

I had my day planned out perfectly for today.

Run this morning.
Lunch date with Isaac.
Cleaning and some reading this afternoon.
Make dinner for a sister in need.
Date night.

Woke up to no school because of a snow day.  Also woke up to Lo throwing up.

My list went out the window.
If there is anything that the Lord is trying to teach me, it is to roll with the punches.

I am trying my best.