O'Kelley Hodgepodge

2012 Organize project 1

2012-01-05T16:13:00.001-05:00

First things first: I *borrowed* Tiffany's whole mail station setup from The Nest Effect. I just loved it so much and couldn't think of another way to handle my mail situation. Thanks so much for the inspiration Tiffany! (If you haven't visited her blog, you have to. It's amazing!)

I am calling this 2012 Organize Project 1 because it's the first one this year and it is on my desk in our office. Since we are a family of five, trying to save money, me trying to finish school this semester, and having 3 girls with busy schedules I knew we needed an organized area for our stuff. With the new year I wanted to get everybody organized more effectively. I hate for my counters and kitchen to be covered by the messes of the stuff that has to be taken care of. We got 2 trays in the Target Dollar section one to put on Jason's desk for incoming mail and one to put on mine for the girls to put the stuff I need to look at on my desk. However, we still needed somewhere to put the rest of the stuff that comes in and out of our house. Such as receipts, coupons, recipes, etc.

Process:

This morning I decided to head down to the basement and get the black box that was patiently waiting to be loved on and gathered any extra hanging holders we had around the house.

I created my own calendars for the rest of the year with calendar labs. I use Bic Mark It Markers to give for everyone a color code to correspond to something that belongs to them. I use almost the exact same color in my erin condren planner but with the papermate flair pens because those don't bleed through the pages.

After:

The categories I used were:

outgoing mail: holds things that need to be mailed out, but need attention before mailing
to file: items that need to be filed in my filing cart or put away elsewhere
receipts: incoming receipts that need to be filed
coupons: unclipped coupons (printed and from the newspaper)
grocery ads: finally, a place for the grocery ads -- I always find a way to misplace them
recipes: I print and clip way too many recipes, so they can sit in this folder until I can take the time to put them where they belong in my recipe binders
Kerigan: items for her
Liv: Items for her
Morgan: items for her
JDRF: (not pictured) we raise money during the year and get newsletters for our walks each year so anything pertaining to that goes here.

The finished project in it's final location....along with the tray and my planner

woo hoo to one completed project

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T17:59:00.000-05:00

To say the least...this year has been one of the better ones for the Hodgepodge. However, I am looking forward to what 2012 brings to us. I can't wait to share the events of the year with you and I hope you will continue to visit us.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T00:20:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours

Could I really be thankful...I just might

2011-12-12T19:51:00.000-05:00

I am thankful for diabetes.

Yes, you read it right. I am.

Even though we've been having good times and bad times lately (most of those bad times are at school...go flippin figure)..... I'm still thankful.

And I'll tell you why...

But first, I've got to say that it's not easy for me to say that. In fact, I struggle with it quite a bit. It's really HARD for me to come to terms with being thankful for D.... because of Miss M.

It's hard for me to say that I'm thankful for a disease that brings her so much pain and frustration and anger.

It's hard to me to say that I'm thankful for a disease that she will live with forever. Without EVER getting a break.

It's hard for me to say that I'm thankful for a disease that could cause her horrible complications.

It's hard for me to say that I'm thankful for a disease that could take her life. Not in years. Not when she's old and gray. But right now.

It's hard for me to say it. Because I don't always feel it. In fact, I HATE diabetes some of the time. I hate what it does to her. I hate what it can do to her.

In a way, I feel guilty for saying I'm thankful for diabetes because I'm not the one living with the disease in my body.

Being thankful for diabetes forces me to be able to hold conflicting feelings, polar opposites, in fact, in my head at the same time. I hate this disease. I hate what it does to Miss M and I hate what it's taken from her and from us. And yet, I am also thankful for the lessons it's taught us and the things it's brought into our lives.

It would be so much easier if it was just ME with this crap disease. It would be so much better if it was ME with the bum pancreas. If we could keep all the wonderful but spare HER from all the bad. I wish it WAS me. I'd give anything to take this disease from her. (I won't go there - that's another post for another day...)

But it's not me.

And it's not going away.

No matter how much I hate it. No matter how much I wish it gone.

Miss M has diabetes. Nothing can change that.

And that only focusing on the parts of this disease that suck (and oh, boy - there are a lot!) isn't going to get us anywhere. In fact, it's only going to make us all miserable. And it's not going to teach her the attitude that I hope she adopts for looking at life in general.

(Side note - It's not all rainbows and sunshine all the time. And it's ok to say it. But it's also not all storm clouds!)

So, the only thing to do is be THANKFUL for the good parts of life with diabetes!

I love the saying that diabetes is the best club that no one ever wanted to join! It's so true. None of us asked for this life. In fact, we would probably all give it back if we could. But since we can't....

I am so thankful for the incredible people I've met through this disease. The list is crazy long !

I've met so many incredibly supportive people online and most them don't even know me but their words encourage me. I love being able to go online to facebook or twitter or blogs and read about other people living this crazy life. I love being able to throw out a question - from how many carbs are in a Kraft Mac and Cheese to HELP! I need tips on keeping bg up when she's puking! I love the support and love I've found. I love knowing that I'm not alone. And Miss M is not alone.

I also must include the amazing endocrinology team at VanMeter Endocrinology! I would have never met these folks (duh) without diabetes. And I'm glad I did. They love us. They love Miss M. They support us. They stand by us. They help us with the most important thing in our lives - keeping our little girl healthy - both physically AND emotionally. Because BOTH are important to them. We are so blessed to have them!

Can't forget about the fantastic folks at JDRF - both locally and nationally. Again - all of them are pretty darn amazing. I've had the honor of being part of our chapter board and through that I've been able to meet others who are serving our local chapter - and you know what? A large number of the folks on our board don't have diabetes and don't have a child with diabetes. They just care. They ride bikes for 100 miles in Death Valley just because they care. They spend Saturdays at Walks and hours and hours of planning and preparation. Because they care. And that includes the folks with a D connection, too. They all care. They are willing to give of themselves and their time because it's important. Not just for themselves personally - but for all of us.

The same goes for the National folks. The people that I work with in Advocacy are awesome! They spend hours fighting for our cause. And not just because it's a job. You can tell when someone does something because it's "just a job". These people do what they do because they care.

Miss M has met all KINDS of people she would have never met! She has a whole group of friends that she would NEVER know otherwise. And these are friends who "get" her in a way that no one else can. They provide "SAME" for her just like my D Mama's provide "SAME" for me. And that bond is special. It's different from what she has with her best friend that does NOT have D. It's something she would not experience otherwise.

And you know what? It's not just kids. There are a couple of adults who really connect with Miss M and she with them. That connection is important to her - almost more so than having friends her own age. She sees in them her future. And it's a GOOD future. A HOPEFUL future. And she would not experience a relationship like that without diabetes. To them, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. You may not know what it means to Miss M or to us the time that you take to send a quick note. But it means a lot. She looks up to you. In a way that she needs - and a way that J and I can't really provide for her. She needs those positive role models. You are special to her. And to us. She needs you! And so do we!

Gosh - the PEOPLE! I could go on forever just about the incredible people D has put into our lives.

But it's more than that...

I have learned to look for the beauty in the small things. I have learned to appreciate the good days and the good moments in a way that I don't think we ever would have without diabetes. Diabetes has changed our outlook on life. We know that the rain is going fall. But we also know that it will stop. Eventually. And that there is beauty in both places.

I've learned that I am NOT in control. I do not like this. But it's true.

I have learned that I am stronger than I ever imagined.

My daughter may have to grow up faster than I would have liked, but she, too, will learn that she is incredibly strong. That fear and pain will not break her. They will only add to her toughness. And she is tough. Small - but mighty.

I have learned that I am braver than I ever thought possible. And so is my little girl. She, too, will learn that she is a brave person.

I have learned what true PASSION is.

I have learned that I can make a difference. Not just in my house or my life or my neighborhood - but in the world.

I have learned what is really important. I don't get caught up in petty squabbles. Don't worry about if I'm wearing the latest trend Diabetes has broadened my view.

I have learned to be more empathetic. When someone is having a hard day or a is rude in a store - I now wonder what might be going on to make them behave that way. You just never know... Maybe they are tired because they were up all night treating lows. Maybe they have prescriptions to fill and no money.

My family is closer. D can make you or it can break you. Unfortunately, I know too many families where D has added to the stress so much so that things fall apart. So I am grateful that not only has this not happened to us - that it has done the opposite. We are a team. We rely on each other. We fight for each other. We stand together.

I spend more time with my daughter than I might have otherwise. D forces me to hang out at play dates and practices. It makes me a normal classroom visitor and a constant field trip companion. At times this can be frustrating. But it also affords me the opportunity to see my child in situations that I might not otherwise. It lets me experience special things with her. And it helps us form an even tighter bond.

D has also forced me to accept help. I don't like asking for help. I still am working on this and will still rarely ASK unless I'm desperate. But... I HAVE to accept help from others when she is in their care at school. I have been forced to ask for accommodations and special things because of diabetes. And that is not a bad thing. It's an uncomfortable thing for me - it humbles me. But that is not bad.

Diabetes has totally changed my life. It has totally changed my family's life and most importantly, my daughter's life.

I have no idea what our life would be like without diabetes. I often find myself worrying about whether the other girls will get D also. They both show small signs of it but currently test as not having them. I just can't fathom living life without diabetes...

Yeah, I would totally give it back if I could.

But I wouldn't trade the GOOD things about diabetes for anything.

Diabetes has made me a better person.

And it's made - and is going to continue to make - my daughter the most amazing, incredible person I've ever met!

Not your typical Anniversary story

2011-12-01T09:54:00.000-05:00

My life is like puzzle pieces.

There's so much going on.

There are pieces for normal household tasks: hanging up clothes, cleaning the toilet, doing the dishes, making dinner, dusting, vacuuming, yadda, yadda, yadda.

There are pieces for being a mom: bathing the child, doing her hair, laying out clothes, supervising the teeth brushing, putting her to bed, fixing her food, playing with her, spending time with her, reading to her.....

There are pieces for being a wife: actually TALKING to my husband, spending time with him, date nights (what is that?!?)....

There are pieces for being a college students: claases to attend, papers to write, books to read, and tests to study for, blah, blah, blah...

There are pieces for relationships: spending time with parents, spending time with friends, listening, talking.....

There are pieces for ME: reading a book - for fun, exercising, watching what I eat, getting enough sleep, taking a shower, doing my hair....

And then.....

There's diabetes. Ugh.

There are pieces for carb counting, basal rates, carb ratios, ISF, IOB, when to change the pump site, trend information, ketones, sick days, glycemic index....

And when you put all those pieces together?

Well, it's SUPPOSED to make a beautiful picture.

But I can't figure it out. All I see are pieces. I can't figure out how they are supposed to all fit together.

And today it hit me.

It's because I have TOO MANY PIECES.

HOW am I supposed to be able to make my pieces into a picture if I have too many pieces?

Something has to give.

The outside pieces are the non-negotiable ones. The things you HAVE to do.

Like shower (at least occasionally!). Take care of your child. Work. Maintain a relationship with your hubby.

The inside pieces are the ones where you have a little more wiggle room.

Before D entered our lives, my puzzle fit. It was a little tight at times. Or so I thought back then.... but I made it work. The pieces fit together nicely.

And now....

Well, D entered our lives exactly three years ago today, and took over those outside piece spots. Above everything else, D became the HAVE TO in our lives.

Think about that for a minute. One day you wake up and your priorities have been TOTALLY reorganized. What once was important, what you once considered a MUST DO, MUST HAVE... is not an outside piece any longer.

And the NEW outside pieces? They are do or die. You might have thought you HAD to shower every day. But now you realize that no.... you really don't HAVE TO. You HAVE TO count carbs. You HAVE TO administer the correct amount of insulin. You HAVE TO .... because if you don't .... well, it's do or die.

So D took over the outside pieces. Taking care of your child in the other, normal ways are still there. Work is still there. Family is still there....

But SOME of those pieces.... SOME of those details have been shoved into the middle. And there's just not enough space for all the pieces.

At least not all at the same time.

So what do you do? What gives?

For me, over the past three years, what has "given" has been ME. Taking care of myself. Exercising. Eating healthy. I've been too tired to care.

I'll be honest... time with my hubby has "given", too. The concept of date night is laughable anymore. We RARELY spend time alone. And after she goes to bed? We're too tired. It's not uncommon for us to not talk about anything but who's doing what and diabetes related things for days.

This is not good.

I know I'm not alone in this.

But if I make these things a priority, then what is going to give?

How do you make it fit?

For me, this aspect of D has been very humbling. I've always prided myself on being a go-getter, a do-it-all and do-it-all-well kind of person. I DO NOT LIKE admitting that I can't. I don't like not being able to give it ALL 100%.

But I can't.

I have tried, and tried, and tried. But I can't get all the pieces to fit.

The only thing left to do is sit down and really THINK about my picture. What do I want this picture to look like? And then decide what pieces MUST there to make it all fit together the way it should.

I wish this was a post where I could fill you in on the secret at the end. Where I could tell you what works for me. What I've figured out. What I've learned.

But I can't.

Cuz I don't know. I don't know what the secret is.

I don't know how to get all the puzzle pieces to fit.

But I'm determined to figure it out. I just may have to get out the scissors to make it happen.

Trying this out

2011-11-08T21:26:00.001-05:00

So I am trying this blogger app on my phone. I am hoping I will be enjoying it and will be able to blog more. We shall see.

Thankful

2011-11-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

Day5---I am extremely thankful for our dear best friends that I have written about in later posts but we share you other joys, sadness, and everything in between. I am thankful for all of our friends but especially our best friends....Clay and Ashley.

Day 6---our church. We have been blessed to be a part of West Cobb Church for 7 years now and I can say that we have been truly blessed. They have been there for us through our ups and downs, I couldn't imagine attending any other place.

Thankful

2011-11-04T20:15:00.000-04:00

Day 3---one day late

Messes found at my house on a daily basis because it reminds me that I have a family and a home.

Day 4----

Mother----she raised me by herself from the age of 6 until I got married and even though we still have our times, I am extremely grateful for her

Thankful---30 ways

2011-11-02T12:08:00.000-04:00

I have seen friends on Facebook starting this month listing 30 things that they are thankful for during this month of Thanksgiving....however it wasn't until on of those friends, Amy also listed it on blog that I had even thought about doing it here. So I am going to to two today and then try to list the others each day after that.

For November 1, 2011 I am thankful for my prince charming.

Jason and I have been together since we were in high school. We met in Anatomy Class during his senior year and my junior and were best friends from the start. We started dating 7 months later. That was 1996 and we were married in 2000. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

Day 2---These little people

They are my world. We were welcomed early in our marriage ( almost 17 months later) with Miss K and Miss L (16 months after that) wasn't far behind so Jason and I have grown up with them. There was a little gap in having Miss M but we can't imagine our lives without them now.

I am thankful for these special people in my life. What are you thankful for???

We Walked Our Shoes Off

2011-10-16T16:55:00.000-04:00

Oh man.... has it really been a MONTH since I last posted?!?

Well, we ROCKED THE WALK this weekend!

We had our first team shirts this year...got a lot of complements but have already started compiling our design ideas for next.

The weather was the best weather we have had for a walk since we started doing them in 2009.

Lots of friends and family came to share the day.

And the walk was a success!

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who walked with us and donated to our team and supported us in all different ways. Because of you, the day was great! You make my girl feel like a princess! And for that, I am forever grateful!

Walk day is such a special time...

Morgan looks forward to the walk every year! She loves being with friends and family- all wearing the same shirts and walking for HER (even though she strolls in her stroller) And it's so important to her that people come. You might think she wouldn't pay attention.... But she does. This year our team was the largest that it has ever been with 15 walkers and we look to continue to grow next year.We honestly look forward for each person that walk with us!

I love walk day!

I love the excitement. I love seeing all those people coming together for the same cause.

It's exciting and emotional all at the same time! Seeing our family and friends there to support us... I don't have words to express how much it means to us. Then combining that with all these other families doing the same thing.... And walk day is also starting to become a day where I get to see other Mamas living this life, other Mamas who get it (and Papas, too!), others who understand. It's just a special day! Knowing that we are not alone.

We still are collecting money... So our total is not confirmed yet... But we will have raised at least.....

$1,600.00 (a record for us)

That blows me away.

The generosity our family and friends continue to shower on us - and on all of us living with Diabetes, is simply astounding. My heart just overflows... We are truly touched by each donation - no matter how large or small. It's the kindness that matters. And it's just amazing!

You know, it's about more than raising money.
It's more than raising awareness.
It's more than the good times.
It's more than the cute shirts.

It's about a CURE.

It's about giving my little girl the best shot possible at a long, healthy life.

That is what it boils down to for me.

It is all about Morgan. Keeping her healthy and alive for a long, long time.

And it's about all the other kids, too. It's about you.

So.... Thank You.

Thank you for your support.
Thank you for your donation.
Thank you for walking with us.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for caring.
Thank you for getting involved.
Thank you for helping make our dreams come true.

Thank you for loving us.

Remembering

2011-09-11T17:35:00.000-04:00

I will never forget where I sat and what I was doing 10 years ago today as our nation underwent terrorists attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent citizens. I was sitting at my mother's house feeding my then 5 week old daughter. We were in her area because we were headed to the pediatrician for her one month visit that day. I had just turned on the TV and Good Morning America was breaking in that there had been some kind of explosion at the World Trade Center in New York City. I remember sitting there in disbelief and calling Jason to tell him what had happened. At the time no one knew the complexity of how bad it was going to be.

I don't think I quite grasped the magnitude that a plane crashing into a skyscraper meant that people were in that building dying as the nation watched. When I saw the image of the north tower smoldering with its gaping hole in the side, that reality grasped me a little harder. People were losing their lives right before our eyes. I remember the news coverage at first thinking this was a tragic accident. We watched the live coverage as the second plane came into view and watched as it slammed into the south tower. A large explosion ensued The horror of the event that I had just witnessed as new young mother. I was watching the moment that would forever be forged in history books. I remember covering my mouth and gasping as the cause became evident. America was under attack.

A short time later the news coverage panned to the Pentagon, where a third hijacked airliner had crashed. More innocent lives lost and more destruction. At this point no matter where you were and who you were with everyone was gripped with a fear we had never known. How could such a horrific thing happen here in America? Then Americans got word of the downed flight 93 in Shanksville and then the towers collapsed. You would almost feel guilty for breaking away from the TV because you knew so many lives had been lost that horrible day. My eyes were glued to the television as everyone watched these towers disappear from the New York skyline in a cloud of dust and debris.

It was a numbing day. There seemed to be a hushed and somber feeling wherever you went that day. We watched news coverage and drank in everything about this day. I remember going home and still following the coverage late into the night including those late midnight feedings. I remember wondering if it was over or whether more attacks would come. I'm not sure I slept a wink that evening. I thought about how terrified those on the hijacked airliners must have felt knowing these were their last moments on Earth. I cannot fathom fear so great. I cannot fathom how harrowing those last moments were for those trapped in the towers. That evening I struggled knowing there were children who had parents that would not be coming home. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, children, friends, and family were gone forever; their lives taken by those with no regard for human life, even their own.

This morning before going to church the girls and I watched a documentary that we recorded last night that showed the news coverage as it happened. They have been viewing some history videos at school this previous week about the horrible day and had been asking questions so I felt this would be a way to show them how America was gripped 10 years ago. The feelings from that day all came rushing back. Now as an adult and as a parent, it means so much more. The magnitude is somehow greater. I have talked to my children about the events of that day and its gravity about events such as the Challenger explosion. Our nation has rebounded from the tragedy, but its impact is still being felt the world over.

At church this morning, our praise team and band did a beautiful song called "Beautiful Things" and as they sang all the names of everyone that was killed that day rolled across the screen. It was a moment that put chill bumps on your arms. This afternoon the girls and I along with my mother visited Kennesaw National Battlefield. They had placed a memorial there by placing an American flag for all 2974 people that lost their loves that day. It put it into perspective even more just how many people were killed that day.

On this 10th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, I remember those who lost their lives and the many families affected by this senseless tragedy. I remember. Please take a moment on this beautiful Sunday to remember those afflicted by the events of September 11, 2001 and their families. Remember the heroism and the selflessness of the first responders, the passengers on flight 93, and those who came together in the days following to protect our country and comfort our citizens. Remember.

Do you remember where you were when the news broke of the attacks?

NEVER FORGET

GOD BLESS AMERICA

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

Woo Hoo and Pinterest

2011-08-31T23:03:00.000-04:00

I finally figured out how to link my Pinterest boards to my blog. That is so exciting to me. If you haven't heard of Pinterest then I am so sorry. I had heard about it for awhile from various people that I followed on Facebook. However, when Katie at Bower Power did a post about creating something that you had seen on Pinterest, I kinda got sucked in. Within a week a created the wreath that we hung at Miss K birthday celebration earlier this month. Now, I have over 20 boards and 41 followers. This place is addictive. I have gotten alot of ideas from it and can't wait to see more. If you haven't tried pinterest....click on the link on the left hand side and see what you are missing. You will be glad you did.

My girl and her fight

2011-08-23T10:16:00.000-04:00

Diabetes is known as an invisible disease. A disease that even though you can't tell from the outside is still with us every day, however for a disease that's "invisible", it sure does demand a lot of time and attention.

I cannot tell you how many times since diagnosis has someone approached me to tell me a story about someone they know that has diabetes?

It seems like EVERYONE knows someone. It's someone in their child's class. A boy on the soccer team A girl at church. A friend of a friend. Their cousin. Their Grandma.

And the story usually ends with "and he/she is doing JUST FINE!"

First, let me say that it is so nice of people to want to make that connection with you. It's so nice that people care enough to tell you their story. They just want to help. They don't know what to say. I get that.

And I smile and nod and say, "That's great!".

And I mean it.

But I can't help but think....

Fine.

I want to scream, "Do you know what it takes to look to the outside world like you're "doing just fine"?"

It's endless counting or every carbohydrate that is consumed - or is being considered for consumption. And sometimes counting a meal multiple times because the numbers all run together after a while.

It's test strips. LOTS of test strips, in fact we go through over 600 test strips in 90 days. If you do the math that roughly 7 strips per day, not counting when we don't get quite enough of a blood sample on the test strip and have to start over.

It's juice boxes and candy hidden all over the house and the car.

It's knowing how to use a diabetic pump and gosh forbid we ever have to use a syringe again. Parents of children shouldn't need to know how to use syringes.

It's knowing how to argue with the pharmacy. Or the insurance company. Or the school. Or the ignorant person you encounter.

It's sleepless nights. Lots of sleepless nights.

It's worry.

It's fear.

It's logging numbers.

It's looking for patterns in crazy numbers.

It's taking a gamble with an insulin dose. Which is really taking a gamble with your child's health.

It's saying no when you really wish you could say yes. To the treat. To playing with friends.

It's tagging along because no one else knows how to care for diabetes.

It's writing health plans.

It's giving special instructions.

It's being different.

It's knowing your way around the hospital.

It's getting good at injecting your child or inserting needles into his or her skin.

It's getting used to the sight of blood.

It's all this and so much more...

The outside world doesn't know what it takes to look "fine".

It's so frustrating. I WANT people to know all that we do. All that we HAVE to do to keep our kids alive.

Not because I think we deserve special treatment or a medal or something.

But because I'm sick and tired of people hearing "diabetes" and thinking "no big deal".

Thinking that she'll grow out of it.

Thinking that she ate too much sugar.

Thinking that it's easily controlled.

Thinking that it's NOT a life threatening disease.

I want them to know the truth.

Because no one actually knows. All that we do is largely invisible.

And while I wish people understood what Type 1 truly is....

Isn't that what we're going for?

We want Morgan to be like everyone else?

We want her to look so healthy that no one knows she has a chronic disease?

We want her to be so happy and well adjusted that no one would guess that she has to make herself bleed countless times a day? Every day?

We want her to be so active and involved that people would be surprised that she wears an insulin pump?

I think so.

I think it's our goal.

That diabetes won't hold her back.

Could it be that diabetes is largely "invisible" because we do such amazing job?

Diabetic parents don't give ourselves enough credit. We all are hard on ourselves. We strive for good numbers and low A1c's.... We don't get a break for growth spurts or illnesses. We feel failure every time we see a certain number staring back at us. And we hide that emotion for fear of transferring it to our kids. The fear of actually losing it in public when fighting for your kid...(this actually happened to me yesterday).

It's hard to be a pancreas. No, it's impossible. It's not a job that we can ever do perfectly. Although we think perfection is the standard.

So...

Maybe... when people tell us about someone that is "doing fine"....

Maybe we should still smile and say, "That's great!"

Maybe Jason and I should take it as a compliment when people assume it's easy to control.

Maybe we should smile to ourselves because we know the "secret".

My girl is strong. She is tough. She is a fighter.

And so are we - her parents. The people who love her.

And then... maybe we should tell them the truth about diabetes. Because really - don't we want it both ways?

Unfortunately....I had a moment of jealously

2011-08-15T09:08:00.000-04:00

I really hate to admit this, but just this past weekend I had a moment where I was completely jealous of all of my friends that we were attending a pool party with. You see, I was the mom that was having to watch her child every moment, I was the one having to calm down a child that started having a low, and the list goes on. I wanted so badly to be the parent that sat there, watching their child have fun with friends instead I was having to worry about was my child's bandage keeping her pump site OK and intact, was her sugar numbers within range.

I came across the following by Erma Bombeck and it made me appreciate that God has chosen Jason and I for the task of raising this special little girl because he knew that we could handle it.

HOW GOD SELECTS THE MOTHER OF A CHILD WITH DIABETES
by Erma Bombeck

Most women become mothers by accident, some by choice, a few by social pressures and a couple by habit. Did you ever wonder how mothers of children with diabetes are chosen? Somehow I visualize God hovering over earth selecting his instruments for propagation with great care and deliberation. As he observes, he instructs his angels to make notes in a giant ledger.
"Armstrong, Beth, son. Patron Saint Matthew."
"Forrest, Marjorie, daughter, Patron Saint Cecilia."
"Rutledge, Carrie, twins. Patron Saint Gerard. He's used to profanity."

Finally, He passes a name to an angel and smiles, "Give her a child with diabetes." The angel is curious. "Why this one, God? She's so happy."

"Exactly", smiles God. "Could I give child with diabetes to a mother who does not know laughter? That would be cruel".

"But has she the patience?" asks the angel.

"I don't want her to have too much patience, or she will drown in a sea of self-pity and despair. Once the shock and resentment wear off, she'll handle it. I watched her today. She has that feeling of self and independence that is so rare and so necessary in a mother. You see, the child I am going to give her has her own world. She has to make it live in her world and that's not going to be easy."

"But, Lord, I don't think she even believes in you."

God smiles. "No matter. I can fix that. This one is perfect. She has just enough selfishness."

The angel gasps. "Selfishness? Is that a virtue?"

God nods. "If she cannot separate herself from the child occasionally, she will never survive. Yes, here is a woman whom I will bless with less than perfect."

"She does not realize it yet, but she is to be envied. I will permit her to see clearly the things I see .... ignorance, cruelty, prejudice ... and allow her to rise above them. She will never be alone. I will be at her side every minute of every day of her life because she is doing my work as surely as if she is here by my side."

"And what about her patron saint?" asks the angel, his pen poised in mid air. God smiles. "A mirror will suffice."

I am grateful for my little girl and her sisters but every now and then....I wish our normal life that existed on November 30, 2008 was the life we had now.

We have just signed up our team for the JDRF walk in Atlanta on October 15th. We are Morgan's Motley Crew....please join us. Morgan and all the kids just like her NEED a cure.

Life As We Know It

2011-08-10T10:17:00.000-04:00

I know that I should be grateful that to say the least my kids are relatively healthy. We don't have to deal with chemo treatments and other unimaginable things. However, our life is not normal. In December 2008, our normal became a new normal.

I saw this posting on Hallie's website and it explains our life perfectly so I thought I would share.

"No one could ever understand what a family goes through who has a child with diabetes. I mean it is ‘just diabetes,’ right? To those who know, no explanation is needed and to those who don’t, all the explanation in the world isn’t enough to truly explain.

Truth is, it isn’t ‘just ...diabetes.’ It’s a world that scares the hell out of all of us as parents. It’s a world where no parent should watch their child, or their children, suffer daily.

We don’t need to be told again and again that it could be worse; it could be this disease or that disease. We don’t need to be asked again for the millionth time, “Will they grow out of it?” We don’t need to hear from someone that it’s really not that bad to take a few shots. We don’t need to be called up to the school. We don’t need to worry if the falling down in soccer, or football, or lacrosse, or playing in the yard is part of their activity or if they are collapsing from a hypoglycemic reaction - and we hold our breath until they get up again. We don’t need that.

It’s these times. It’s the sleepless nights. It’s playing the diabetes police to our kids. It’s the feeling guilty on playing the diabetes police to our kids.

It’s the constant and burning wish that our lives be normal again.

OUR LIVES ARE NOT NORMAL.

But we don’t live like there’s a problem, do we? The feelings of fear, anxiety, guilt - and did I mention fear? - are kept inside though, aren’t they? They are kept inside because we want normal again, or as close to normal as can be, for our kids and for us too.

So we smile, we try not to overact when things go haywire, we smile when a relative we love says something stupid like “So you just cut back on their sugar, right?’ We cry alone, we cry in silence, but most of all we move on.

Most people just do not know what we go through because we do not live our lives in defeat. We try to stay upbeat.

But still, deep down inside we all have the fears and showing them outward is something we work real hard just not to do. But they are there, we all know they are."

I think as parents of a Diabetic and the many more like us we are awesome and God knew that we would be able to handle this journey that we were going to be on.

I believe people have a tendency to look at us some and say how bad can it be. It's not a big deal with the site changes and the numerous finger pricks. The constant worrying that no one actually sees you going through is a totally different feeling. We put up that front that everything is fine. We don't want our kids to feel different. We don't want our kids to think of themselves as ABNORMAL or UNHEALTHY. We know that most people are not interested in the fact that we were up checking blood sugar 1-2 times during the night (on good nights) it can be hourly checks when she is sick. People don't care that we're trying to figure out how the running around with friends activity is going play into the current blood sugar and insulin on board. We know people don't have any idea what we're talking about when we start using words like "bolus" or "IOB" or "basal rates" or "ketones" or other such language. We know that no matter how many times we've said that a) our kids will not grow out of this b) no, there is no pill c) yes, they can really eat sugar d) no, it's not really under control - that's kind of the idea behind a chronic illness or e) all of the above - we'll have to say it all again - probably sooner rather than later.

There are days days I just want to go to the highest mountain and scream. But who would that help expect for me. I will continue to educate people and have them understand that Miss M will fight this for the rest of her life. Even though she may deal with this for the rest of her life she and others like her shouldn't have to deal with the ignorant people out there that choose to only understand it the way they want to understand it.

New changes are coming

2011-08-10T00:05:00.000-04:00

I have decided that while this is a family blog to keep friends, family, and a few strangers out there updated on our life. It is also a place for me to talk about what is on my mind and let out some of my feelings. Those of you that know us personally, know that our youngest little person was diagnosed with Diabetes 2.5 yrs ago. I have never really talked about it but I am needing to let out some feelings that I am feeling. So if you are interested please continue to visit. If not then just tune out at those updates. I am getting my thoughts together on where to start. Maybe I will just go back in time to the day that changed our lives FOREVER....December 1, 2008.

Friends

2011-07-18T20:22:00.000-04:00

See these people:

They are our two best friends...Jason and Clay have been friends since they were elementary school together and Ashley and I got to know each other while Jason and I were dating SO long ago.

We have gotten married the same year (7 months apart), had our first babies (4 months apart), have spent many evenings together and have shared many tears and laughs together.

After 15 years of being friends....I can't imagine them not being in our lives. So anytime we get a chance to get out without our kids (we have 3 girls and they have 3 boys) it is a special time and one where many things are said that only true friendships can appreciate. Friday Night was one of those times. It had been a very long week at our house with the passing of my uncle and so when we coordinated this I knew it would make the perfect end to such a long and sad week.

I am greatful to be friends with them and consider them family. I appreciate the fact that they care for my girls like we do and know that my girls can depend on them if they ever need someone other than us to talk to. But more important, I especially look forward to growing old with them.

In Remembrance

2011-07-13T20:50:00.000-04:00

Aside from my husband, I have been blessed to have 4 influencial men in my life. My dad (who passed away unexpectedly in 2005), my older brother who is my confidant and most of the time one of the best people I could ever talk too, my father in law who has taken me in just like one of his own and harasses me like one of his own, and then finally the greatest uncle that I could have ever been blessed to know.

However, hearts are heavy in my family this week as we lost that uncle on Saturday morning 7.9.11. My uncle Bill married my aunt Donna in 1968 and they had just celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary on the 28th of June. He had been sick for as long as I was alive. When he was 19 years old he lost a kidney and then in the 1970s he gradually started losing his left lung. He lived for at least 30 years with only one lung and one kidney so to say he was blessed would be an understatement.

He was a man who would take everyone under his wing and love them like they were his own. He and my aunt were unable to have children of their own. I might not have been able to see him as much as I would have liked but I knew that he loved me and would have done anything for me if he could have. I can only imagine the welcome he received when he walked into heaven on Saturday morning.

This picture of him was taken on my wedding day. He is talking to my dad.

I was blessed to have him in my life and even though I know that I will see him again one day. My heart is saddened. I know that he is no longer suffering. As my aunt said at the funeral home, "he now has both kidneys and both lungs." He is healthy and as a family we know that he is "fishing" with Peter & Paul.
One of the greatest honors that my aunt gave me was to put together a celebration video of his life and I thought I would share that now.

Please continue to remember us in your prayers especially my sweet aunt Donna.

Rest in Peace Uncle Bill....until we meet again.

AHHH

2011-07-06T00:45:00.001-04:00

This blog is under going some changes....please bear with me

4th of July Extravaganza

2011-07-05T22:03:00.000-04:00

We are so lucky to live in a wonderful country.

To celebrate, every year we get together with some of our favorite people and dearest friends. We usually start with dinner, hang out, and then eventually move outside for fireworks. We had a bit of rain show up this year and while we are thankful for the rain....it put a little bit of a damper on some of the festivities but we still had a great time

To close out today...while at school today one of my best friends/secret sharer/laugh so hard you cry friend told me today that her and her husband learned that they are expecting a new baby. I am so excited for them. They have a little girl that is 6 months older than Miss M and her name is Liv. I can't wait to follow her on this new journey especially as we all finish school today this next year.

Alot has happened---warning ALOT of pictures

2011-07-01T08:51:00.000-04:00

Can't say I could catch you up on everything that has happened to us since I last posted but I could tell you how our month of June has gone.

June is one of the craziest months for our little family. We usually do a family vacation with Jason's family during this month, which we did. I will post those pictures at the end of this update. Mimi (Jason's mom) has a birthday on the 9th, Jason's parents anniversary is on the 14th, Jason's birthday is on the 18th, Father's Day usually falls around Jason's birthday, Miss M's birthday is on the 24th, and Papa (Jason's Dad) has a birthday on the 26th. We are so busy with parties and traveling that we barely have time to breathe On the 19th Jason and I went with my brother and his wife to see Hall and Oates at Chastain. While the company was great and the evening wonderful, the concert itself was a flop. They didn't even do some of their number one hits. Throw in Bible School at church and the month is over before it even begins. I am so happy that it is now July and there is a little breathing room and the calendar is not already full.

We have a couple of parties that we are attending in the next couple of days. I will try to document those as much as possible. I know that you don't want to read alot of words so I will proceed with the pictures at this point. It is all of June wrapped into one.

Family Vacation

The first night there....had to go put their feet in the water.

The original O'Kelley gang....minus Jeffrey who couldn't come.

The view from our room

Morgan's first attempt at going under the water....after that there was no stopping her.

The Three Musketeers....all on Kenzee's shoulder's

Our favorite hot dog/hamburger man

All buried together

Dad's turn

Mimi and 2 of her boys

Our little family

Papa, Mimi, and their rotten granddaughters

Like father, Like Daughter

One of my favorite action shots that I have been able to capture with my new camera.

Jason's Birthday and Father's Day

The Birthday boy before everyone arrived for dinner and desserts. This is when we chose to celebrate his birthday and father's day with him.

This was just the beginning of the loot that he racked up on. I guess turning 33 isn't so bad after all.

Daddy and his girls

Morgan's 5th birthday.....The outfit and shoes was just some of the presents she got from Mommy and Daddy

Here she is holding one of the pairs of shoes that my brother and his wife got her....in the end, this little thing got 10 pairs of shoes for her birthday. She LOVES shoes and clothes.

Since she has diabetes....it is hard to just go our and buy a cake for her. So Mimi always makes cuppcakes (which are her favorite) with just a little icing.

Well, there you have it....our June in review. I tell myself that this blogging thing is going to get better and I will be more consistent. Maybe that can be my mid year resolution. Let's cross our fingers.

I am coming

2011-06-27T17:40:00.002-04:00

I have lots to catch you up on....however, my new computer is to arrive this Friday and I will then catch you up with LOTS of pictures. Hang on....Friday's Coming.

We are still alive

2011-03-13T19:03:00.000-04:00

I am so sorry for the long delay. We have been incredibly busy the last 2 months. School this semester has been one of the most difficult of my life and it still has about 6 weeks to go. On top of the school difficulties, we also had another water pipe bust and we are still in the process of getting all of that fixed. All of our recent adventures have been documented (thanks to my husband and the purchase of the Nikon D3100) and I will sit down soon and do a full update.

Sorry....Minor Inconvenience Had My Attention

2011-01-27T19:46:00.000-05:00

I was so looking forward to sharing the minor, but major improvements to me (at least) with you but then a minor inconvenience reared it's ugly head and it called for my attention.

Let me explain.....

I had a way of convincing the mister to take a personal day on Monday January 17th to start some home improvements. Those such home improvements consisted of this:

We painted our laundry room. which is also our pantry..woo hoo. It had been a light green color since we moved in nearly 8 years ago. We also got rid of the stained trim in the room. This improvement came to be because of the beautiful blue items that are in the first picture which we purchased on the 14th. So that is just part of the love that is in this room now. We still need to change out the switches and plugs outlets to be white and I still want to add a curtain to the window that is behind the door but that will come.

However, life was just about to throw us a curveball.

When the mister got up on Wednesday at 4:30 to go the gym, he said he heard water running. after checking all toilets and upstairs bathrooms he proceeded to the half bath just off the kitchen and discovered water coming out of our exhaust fan. The water had piled up in the bathroom and had went down to the basement from the hole for the access pipe. So HUGE mess.

Luckily, we were on the phone with the insurance company by 6:00am and by 8:00am water mitigation was out at the house to start accessing the damage. We have a good friend who does home restoration and his team came in and after cutting a hole in my half bathroom ceiling and my kitchen ceiling discovered a broken pipe. The pipe was fixed on the 20th, water mitigation came in with their drying out machines (which stayed in until the 24th), and then our friend has been making the repairs to our ceilings. The total process is going to take about 10-14 days to completely have fixed but after being reimbursed by the insurance company and since we have such good friends we haven't had to come out of pocket for any of the repairs which is a blessing.

Since I was limited on what I could continue to work on with large drying machines in my home I decided it was time to organize underneath my kitchen cabinets. Take a look:

This is the before shot. I love my baskets underneath my cabinets but having cabinets that are 24 years old they look a little rough.

This is the after picture...I laid down some leftover shelving mats from my pantry and I still plan to add a "cleaning bottle holder" to my cabinet door to hold the kitchen cleaners we use on a daily basis. It is a start and it feels so good to be taking back my house this year and making it fit us.

While all of this was going on we had a friend at church whose 34 year old husband passed away very unexpectedly and they have 2 small children so the mister helped with that funeral. Please pray this family as she has to start adjusting to a new "normal" if there is even such a thing for her and her children.

Sorry for the long post, hope I didn't bore you too much.

It's here

2011-01-18T22:06:00.000-05:00

Home Improvements for 2011 have started at the O'Kelley Casa.

I am so exctied at what we have already done and we will share a major one (at least to me) with you by this weekend.

In other news, with just becoming a new DIY and a knock off DIY of decorations around my home you can't imagine my excitement when my first Pottery Barn magazine arrived in the mail today. I can't wait to go through it and see what kind of mischief I can get into.

2011 Home Goals

2011-01-13T20:56:00.000-05:00

This is the year that I am bound and determined to see drastic improvements around our house. We have lived in our home for 8 years this March. I am going to layout the plans that I have... the mister is not completely on board with everything just yet but hopefully once we get started maybe he will be a little more excited and want to see all the changes.

Let me preface my goals by saying that I take great joy in doing projects in our home, my main hobby has become my house and always will be now. Plus, through this blog I write about my house, I can't do as many projects as I would like at one time but I have to start somewhere. For this house project loving girl, I feel like I am going to have the time of my life with my new projects.

1. Living Room

sorry I was doing laundry when this was taken....not usually THIS messy. However, the plan for this room.

a. possibly slate the fireplace (this is the biggest dream for the entire house...it might extend into 2012)
b. large bookcase from Ikea on the back wall that you can't see in any of these pictures
c. replace the curtains...these were handed down from my mother in law and they have seen better days
d. paint the room a little darker
e. new ceiling fan
f. new slipcovers and pillows
these are just a few ideas

2. The Kitchen

a. paint the cabinets and add hardware
b. sand and paint the table and chairs
c. get a window covering
d. cabinet for the microwave by the table
e. a new faucet
f. a new countertop----(will probably extend into 2012)

3. The Office

It is a mess b/c I had started working in this room when I took the picture, this room has already seen alot of changes since these pictures were taken but I have some more things I am wanting to do

a. window treatments
b. new light fixture
c. new paint color
d. possibly board and batten treatment (still trying to decide if that's what I want to do)

4. Master bedroom

The Mister will not allow the color to be changed as this is his favorite room color in the whole house. So operating on that concept here's the plan

a. build a new bed
b. new dressers 2 or 3
c. new fan
d. new bedside tables and lamps
e. new bedding...I haven't found anything I like since I got rid of my duvet a year ago :-(

5. The Hall and Stairs

a. new color---this color didn't turn out anything like I had hoped
b. wall of pictures all the way up the stairs

6. Girls Bath

a. new color----K,L,and M are over the purple
b. new decorations (these have already been purchased just need to paint first)
c. new light fixture
d. paint cabinet
e. frame out the mirror

don't have pictures of the other rooms but these are the plans:

Miss K's room:
a. new window treatments

Masterbath:
a. new shower curtain
b. new faucet
c. curtains
d. repaint cabinet
e. frame out the mirror

Downstairs bath
a. new faucet
b.cabinet over toilet area
c. decorations needed

Laundry room
a. it just needs LOTS of love---enough said

So how much will I accomplish not quite sure but I can dream that most of these will be accomplished in 2011. Come on the journey as we go and follow along on this new project.

Well It Happened

2011-01-10T15:22:00.001-05:00

The snow found us here in Georgia and let us with 6 inches. We haven't had this type of snowfall in almost 18 years.

We are actually snowed in. The mister and I are enjoying being home with the girls and having a great time playing out in the snow with them.

Enjoy the pictures

Will It Happen

2011-01-09T17:08:00.000-05:00

So as we sit here in the Southeast we are anticipating a Winter Storm.

A local forecaster compared it to both the Ice Storm of 1981 and 2000 mixed with the Blizzard of 1993.

We have stocked the pantry and have hopefully planned accordingly to be stuck with each other until about Wednesday.

I hope we don't all "kill" each other while living in tight quarters.

The camera is ready to go when the ground is covered.

We will keep you posted.

Stay safe to all our dear friends out there.

Update in the morning.

Has It Really Been That Long?

2011-01-08T07:56:00.000-05:00

Am I really old enough to say that I have been married for 11 years?

He is my best friend and a great father to our girls.

I have been blessed with an amazing extended family through our marriage.

I can't wait to spend the next 70 years with him.

Good Grief

2011-01-05T19:38:00.000-05:00

So I am techinically one day late in posting this but I thought I would share this. On the day the girls are to FINALLY go back to school and guess who decides to get sick.....Miss K. She could have taken one of the 17 days they were out of school to get sick but NO she decides that she wants to add an extra day to her vacation. Just so you will know....she had strep.

Luckily, we caught it early and with 2 doses of antibiotic she was back to school today fever free and enjoying life. Infact, to get to praise this same little person. She returned to school and participated in her class geography bee and won it for her class. We are so excited for her. She competes in the school Geography Bee next Wednesday. The girl doesn't miss a beat.

With her returning to school I was fortunate enough to catch up with an old friend and have lunch together. It is nice to be able to catch up with someone that you have seen in almost 2 years (aside from visits to the dentist) and be able to talk like you saw each other just last week. We promised each other that we will be getting our families together this year. Which I am holding her to that!!! :-)

I hope everyone is having a good week so far getting back into their routines. I know we are and we are enjoying it.

Can we return to our routines....PLEASE

2011-01-02T20:53:00.000-05:00

Routines.... don't ever realize how much I LOVE them until I don't have them for a couple of days (17 to be exact). The girls are done with being at home and with each other constantly. I am DONE with the fighting, whining, and just all out craziness that no routine brings.

The mister returns to work tomorrow after being off for the last 2 weeks. That's starts us back in the direction of routines.

The girls return to school on the 4th and I return on the 10th.

The sweet sound of routines and homework is close approaching and I am looking forward to it.

2011---A New Year, A New Approach

2011-01-01T20:56:00.007-05:00

So as I was looking over this blog, I was quite ashamed. This is suppose to be the history of our family but if I am not updating I am not going to have much history for my girls. So as we head into a new year, I have decided that I am going to start this blog all over.

Sure you can go and read about our 2010 and 2009 but you aren't going to find out much about us as I have done a currently HORRIBLE job keeping this thing going. So if you are an old reader to this blog you can skip this post as I fill everyone in on all of us and if you are new to our hodgepodge, well nice to have you and I hope you enjoy what you read. Please leave comments and let me know that you are out there. I would love to meet new people even it is simply via a blog.

Welcome to the O'Kelley Hodgepodge.... there are 5 of us in this little group. Let me introduce you to everyone.

My name is Rebecca and I am a 32 SAHM and a full time college student. I am currently pursuing my bachelor's degree in history education. Almost finished but with 3 kids it is a feat that I am determined to do.

Second in the house in the "mister". He is also 32 and is a Tax Systems Manager at one of the AT&T corporate offices here in Atlanta. We met in 1996 when he was a senior in high school and I was a junior where we became best friends. We started dating 7 months later and have been together ever since. We were married on January 8, 2000. People have told us that there is no way that anyone ever marries their high school sweetheart and I say yes you can because I did.

This is Miss "K" she is our 4th grader and is 9 years old. she loves softball and girls flag football. She is also very active in the kids production group at our church and is on the news team and the student government group at school. She keeps our calendar busy and if you can find room on her social calendar then you are very important to her.

This is Miss "L" she is our 2nd grader and 7 years old. She loves to hang out with her best friend but still try to be the baby of the family. We tell her that the middle child is the best because she is both a little sister and a big sister. She is in the kids production group at our church and this past fall had her first solo. She also loves girls softball and last fall she cheered for the girls flag football team at a local church but has said that this year she wants to actually play flag football, we shall see.

This is Miss "M" she is 4 years old, in Pre-K, and is the baby in the family. The picture above of her was taken in October at the annual JDRF walk in Atlanta. In December 2008, she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It has been a learning experience for all of us. On December 27, 2010, she was admitted to Scottish Rite here in Atlanta for being in DKA. It was a horrible experience to watch our child go through that but she has since recovered and we are on the road to successful recovery. We are truly blessed to have a pediatrician, endocrinologist, and a local children's hospital that make you feel like you are the only patient they have when your child gets as sick as she was last week.

This year I am going to take you on many different journeys with our family. The mister and I are in the process of becoming DIY's and taking back our house. so I figure that this blog will keep me going on those projects as I show you what is happening with those activities as well as the activities of our family. This blog is the only resolution I making. I know there are things that I want to change in other parts of my life and I will attempt them but I refuse to make resolutions because I will feel bad if I can't keep up with them.

So welcome to the O'Kelley Hodgepodge....I hope you enjoy our journey as much as I attempt to share that journey with each and everyone of you. Remember leave me comments and let me know you were here. I look forward to meeting each of you.

Christmas Open House--Come On In

2010-12-13T09:42:00.014-05:00

This Holiday season we have been blessed beyond measure. We have healthy girls and most of the time everyone is "cold" free. So we have added some new decorations to our home and I thought I would share them with you.

This is our family tree that is in our family office. It is covered with ornaments that are sentimental to our family. I am looking forward to the fact that this color scheme is making its final appearance this year (if all goes well). The girls in fact actually did all the decorating on this year and I think they did a rather nice job.

This is the first thing you see when you walk into our home. Our living/family room. This is a large picture of this room that I am going to break down into smaller portions but I wanted to give everyone an almost full view. You can't see the decorations to the left of the fireplace.

This is my first attempt at making an expensive knock off piece of art. I took the decorations from Thrifty Decor Chick (her blog is amazing, but I digress). This is a pottery barn piece that sells for $169 and I made it for $10. Not to shabby and I love it.

This is right below the Noel art. Jesus is the reason for the season. We have two nativities. One that is ceramic of some sort and one that is little people. The little people is loved by the girls but Miss M enjoys it the most.

This is the fireplace area. We just got our stockings monogrammed for the first time with the help of Jason's cousin's wife, Kristen (they look amazing in person). This is also the first year that I have ever put pictures on my mantel and I love the way they turned out. Thanks to Craftily Ever After.

This is Jason's tree. He is a collector of Santa Clauses so this entire tree is Santa themed.

The next room is the kitchen. This is our kitchen table decorations this year. A new theme idea. I love how it all turned out and most of it was bought at the Dollar Tree (gotta love that place sometimes).

This is the first year that I have ever decorated our kitchen chairs and I love how they turned out.

This is the first year that I have ever tried this. It is intended to display all the Christmas Cards that are usually covering the back of our front door. It would appear that I attempt something new is the same year that we receive very FEW cards. Oh well, I like it and will most likely continue it for years to come.

My kitchen wall with the new pictures that will be changed out every season. I love these pictures as I try to encourage the girls to enjoy the season and remember the season.

Finally, this is MY tree. While the little girls each have a tiny tree in each of their rooms. This is the first year that I have ever had a tree. This is in our bedroom which is extremely nice considering that I usually go to bed before Jason so I usually get to enjoy my tree all to myself for a while. I got all the ornaments half off last year after Christmas. An added bonus... my littlest helper.

I have enjoyed showing you around our house and I hope you enjoyed the Christmas tour.

Christmas Time

2010-12-09T10:21:00.002-05:00

the last final of the semester will be complete as of 7:00PM tonight. WOO HOO. Life will be enjoyed by me until January 10th when it all starts back up again. On Monday I am participating in the Christmas Around the House Blog Party. Come back as I share the Christmas Decorating I have done this year. Can't wait for you to see it all.

Help Out a College Student

2010-12-01T21:05:00.001-05:00

"If you are a woman who writes a blog with content predominantly about her family, and you have 10-15 minutes to spare, we would love to hear from you! We are doing research on bloggers, and invite you to take a survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/mommyblog Your participation will help one graduate student get one step closer to completing her thesis, and one step closer to graduation! Thank you for your input and for your time!"

Christmas Cards, OH MY

2010-11-30T09:09:00.002-05:00

Christmas is my favorite season of all. We are able to reflect on the true meaning of meaning and at my house I am able to reflect on joy that is seen through the eyes of my girls.

One of my favorite things about Christmas is going to the mailbox everyday to see who has sent us a Christmas Card and my favorites are those that are photo cards also. I love to see how so many people that I don't get to see often during the year, i get to see them on the picture cards that we get.

So you could imagine my joys and excitement when I learned that Shutterfly was giving away 50 photo Cards to bloggers. YIPPEE.

You can check it out here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards (sorry I don't know how to link you directly)

I really like these:

Merry Blossoms Christmas Card
Red Revamped
Merry Modern Collage

I might also take the opportunity to buy some stationary for thank you cards for the girls with this special opportunity: My favorite there is Keep Believing.

Everyone have a great day and a full update is coming this week.

I am coming

2010-11-23T16:36:00.001-05:00

We have alot of good pics and videos to share and they are coming....check back in later this week

It's Been A Day...and it's only 11:00AM

2010-11-18T10:58:00.003-05:00

Ever had one of those days where you just want to throw your hands up in the air and say I give up. Well today is that day for me, it has actually been that way for about a week now but today it started at 6:30am. Can you believe that I had only been up for 45 minutes and I was ready to give up. My oldest one and I are having a difficult time right. We butt heads CONSTANTLY and I am not handling that well. I want to be a great mom but there are mornings when I feel that I am failing her and myself right. In the midst of that her sisters are watching and I don't want them to think that this is good for them, me, or the rest of our family.

If anyone has good suggestions out there I would love them at this point.

I never dreamed raising kids much less girls would be THIS hard.

Angel Baby---Light a candle on Oct. 15 for babies lost to miscarriage or stillbirth

2010-10-15T09:14:00.000-04:00

Today we are focused on rememebering our angel baby that we never got to hold 5 years ago at 12 weeks gestation. Also, remembering so many other angel babies.

Do you ever feel judged

2010-09-23T16:18:00.002-04:00

It has been awhile since we have been around and while I need to give a full update, school has taken over my life and at this moment can't imagine giving a full update that is due. It will come though. As I am sitting up at campus I was trying to catch up on some of my blog readings (I check in about 3 times a week) and came across a fantastic post that I wanted to share with you. I have incorporated my story into hers somewhat but I feel that it has the same meaning. In case you are interested in reading the blog or the post where I got this from you can visit www.mycup2yours.com.

Do you ever feel judged as a mom? I know I do even from some of those closest to us that should be on our side, i.e. FAMILY. However, I know that I have been guilty of judging moms. Consider this story and see if you can grasp why as moms we need to help other moms instead of judging them. Nothing like a little perspective to make you sit and think

(most of this comes from the above mentioned blog however, I have put a little bit of our story in it)

She was about 8 1/2 months pregnant and looked exhausted. Her daughter (about two) was clinging to her leg, and her son (about four) was running around the chairs in the waiting room.

Her little girl was the one who was sick--coughing and crying, her nose running and her eyes watery.

When the girl's cries got louder,

and the mom didn't respond,

other people in the waiting room began to stare.

I could almost hear them thinking...Why isn't that mom doing something? Why isn't she taking her daughter out of here?

After several minutes, the mom tiredly leaned over and picked up the little girl,

when all of the sudden,

the crying stopped...

and the girl threw up,

everywhere.

There was an audible gasp in the room.

And plenty more stares.

I hurried to the counter and asked for some paper towels, grabbed the Kleenex box off the nurse's station, and brought them back to the mom, whose look of appreciation gave me a lump in my throat.

I could feel her embarrassment and exhaustion.

I could the feel irritation in the room too, as if it was the mom’s fault her daughter got sick.

I wondered if she noticed the stares like I did.

And I realized,

I've been guilty of the same thing before...

Judging other moms.

Watching them with their kids and thinking they should (or shouldn’t be) doing something.

With this mom in the doctor's office, I just felt sorry for her. But there have been other times I was the one doing the staring...

When Jason and I had our first daughter, we read a bunch of books, sought counsel from those that had been in our shoes before. We tried to get as many tools under our belts as we could.

And as she has gotten older and started to test us, she doesn't get away with much (the poor first child...). We implemented what we learned, worked through the challenges, and were happy with the results.

Up to that point, when I'd see other kids having a tantrum and the mom not doing anything about it, I'd sometimes wonder...

Why is the mom allowing that? Why isn't she doing X, Y, or Z?

In other words,

I judged.

Then there was that fateful day in Target when my youngest daughter was about two and she had a tantrum in Target and she was inconsolable.

No matter what I said or did,

no matter what X, Y, or Z consequence I promised (and she knew I'd follow through),

there was no stopping her.

It was humbling, to say the least.

What we didn't know at the time was that our youngest daughter, could have been suffering from a diabetic low. During the low phase, especially with a toddler, all they know to do is cry and scream and act out. Since we hadn't been diagnosed with diabetes then we didn't know that she was extremely low.

I got more than a few judging stares as I carried her out of the store with her arms and legs flailing wildly.

Ever since then, when I see kids acting out, I feel for the mom.

Because I've been there.

We've all been there at one point or another, no matter how well we discipline, what methods we use, or how many parenting books we've read.

Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to sound like I have a throw-your-hands in the air or anything goes approach to parenting. I don't. I think consistency, boundaries, discipline, setting clear expectations, and following through are all important.

But I also think every child is different,

and every mom is different,

and what works for one parent or child,

may not work for another.

And sometimes--yes--we moms mess up.

We don't handle situations the way we should,

or we aren't consistent.

Still.

Let's not judge each other.

We come from different walks of life, backgrounds, and families...

We don't know what that mother is facing that day...it could be a child newly diagnosed with a disease that is either curable or maybe she is looking at a child that will not survive much longer and she is trying just to grasp the daily everyday life with that child.

If we've perfected our babies' nap schedules, we shouldn't judge moms who drive their babies around so they'll fall asleep in the car. And if we don't think a nap schedule is important, we shouldn't judge moms who do.

If we decide to nurse our babies for a year and a half (or longer), we shouldn't judge moms who don't. And if we nurse for six months or not at all, we shouldn't judge moms who nurse for a year and a half.

If our kids go to private or public school, we shouldn't judge moms who homeschool. And if we homeschool, we shouldn't judge moms who don't.

The list could go on and on.

We’re different people and we have different reasons for the decisions we make,

or have to make…

But we’re all moms.

And we're in this together.

Motherhood is hard enough without the judging stares or whispers from others,

or the finger pointing that can make us feel like we're failing.

Because there's nothing worse as a mom than feeling like we’re failing.

Right?

So the next time we see a mom struggling or handling a situation differently than we might handle it,

instead of judging,

let's help her,

or smile at her,

or pray for her,

or encourage her.

If we all did that, just think how much easier being a mom would become. :)

Family Pictures

2010-08-09T14:54:00.001-04:00

One of my best friends was able to capture my family in pictures.....enjoy.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's getting close.....

2010-07-21T11:10:00.002-04:00

Hard to believe that school will start in just 15 days. All three girls officially go to school this year. Miss K will be starting 4th grade. This is hard for me to say at times becuase most of the people I graduated with have infants and toddlers and I have a 4th grader. Am I old enough to have a 4th grader? :-) Miss L will be starting 2nd grade and that seems just about right. However, I think the other weird one is that Miss M will be starting Pre-K. SHe will be attending all day Georgia Pre-K at the same school that both of her sisters went to but to think that my youngest is in school full time is mind blowing. We look forward to school in fact my kids have countdowns going on keeping up with how many more days of summer are left to go. My girls have always enjoyed school and look forward to seeing friends that they haven't seen all summer and from being away from each other for just alittle while each day. Plus school brings back some serious routine and structure which is what Mom LOVES.

Have a great day

Coming Back....

2010-07-05T11:28:00.002-04:00

We have been so busy lately that the last thing on my mind has been updating my blog. However, we are finally calming down and will find a time to update. Many changes are coming and can't wait for everyone to experience the changes with us. Until I get all the changes made I have decided to take a challenge from another blog that I read. I have decided to take the Read The Bible in 90 Days with MomsToolbox.com. It is not to late to join me.

2010-04-19T13:28:00.002-04:00

One of my best friends did a photo shoot of the girls this past Sunday. Enjoy them and my babies.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

blogging

2010-04-08T21:53:00.001-04:00

i don't know about everyone else - but i have been in a blogging slump lately.
i do have some fun and amazing things going on in my life - but i'm just not inspired to blog about anything.

don't know what that's all about - but i might just take some time off from blogging.
no idea how long might be soon or it might be after finals - i'm just not FEELING it right now.

hope to be back soon.

You still checking in

2010-03-23T13:18:00.002-04:00

If you are then I am amazed. This month has not only flown by but we have been so busy that I have barely found time to read the blogs that I love to keep up with. You would have thought that since I had Spring Break from school that I could have at least updated once that week. Well, just because I was out didn't mean the girls were out so we kept up the same routine as usual but didn't have to use Grammy much since I wasn't at school. I did use her for a couple of hours on the Thursday of my break to go have lunch (kid-free) with my wonderful husband.

The beginning of my break I had started to feel kind of crappy but didn't really know what was wrong and my the end I knew something was wrong but didn't really let it bother me. It seemed that everything I ate would somehow make it's way out of my body one way or another within a mere 2 hours (sorry to much detail I know). When I was still having the problems on my first day back to school (the 16th) Jason and I decided I needed to finally go and see the doctor. After discussing my problems with her, she sent me for a CT Scan with contrast. If you have never had the enjoyment of experiencing it (contrast that is)...I covered it for you and hope and pray that none of you ever have to. After a couple of hours we got word that i was suffering from Diverticulous (not diverticulitis)----so I am going to be seeing a GI this Thursday which my doctor has already warned me will probably lead me to a colonoscopy (LOVELY). This has resorted to be not being able to exercise much b/c of feeling so bad so I am hoping that once we get the GI seen I will be able to work out again.

Also, this past weekend (the 20th to be exact) Little Miss L turned 7....it is hard to believe that she is already that old and I won't go into much detail about her birthday b/c I want to save that for the post with the pictures included.

I had 2 papers due at school today which took up some time and I have 2 book exams on the 1st of April so the next 8.5 days i will be taking in ALOT of reading. The girls are looking forward to their Spring Break especially Miss L since her dad and I promised that we would paint her room that week. i will post before and after pics. What I have in mind i think is going to look really good so we will see.

So until next time....which is hopefully soon

Welcome to March

2010-03-01T16:58:00.002-05:00

Well, it is officially March. Can you believe it we have already went through 2 whole months of 2010. I can't believe time is flying by so quickly. This is already starting to shape up to be a great month and a busy month. Liv turns 7 in 19 days so you can imagine how is constantly talking about her birthday and what she wants and how that changes from day to day but oh well, we will see what we end up with once her big day gets here.

Also, the girls have there big church play at the end of this month so I sure that this month will be busy on their end. We booked our summer vacation last week and we are already counting down until we leave and it is still 3 1/2 month away, but after last year and not taking a vacation we are all very excited.

Finally, I found this blog on Kelly's Korner and even though I haven't read their full story I am asking that all of you pray for this sweet couple and their soon to be little boy Cohen. I can't imagine what they are going through and I am blessed everyday with 3 little healthy girls and each day after I read stories like this one I am more thankful.

Survivial of the Fittest/Thankful Thursday

2010-02-25T13:18:00.004-05:00

No....I am not going to talk about exercise and weight loss. I am still on the No Sweet Tea diet from an earlier post however I am stuck at 15 pounds down. But I know that if I would just get my hiney out of bed in the mornings and exercise I might be doing better.

However, my survival of the fittest is the fact I have survived 2 papers, 2 tests, and 2 midterms this month. Just found out that I have another one in one week but knowing that it is not in February is a great thing. This semester is still kicking my tail and makes me wonder sometimes why I am doing it to myself but I know in the end it will be for a great cause.

Thanks to everyone out there that might have said a prayer for us that I mentioned in my last post. The circumstances that I asked you to pray about was what in God's plan for my life and even though last Friday I was a little upset about it, I totally understand now and look forward to what is.

Next Friday (the 5th) we will begin redoing many parts of the house so I will start posting a lot of pictures about the schemes and the ideas going through my head. I can't wait.

There are no pictures with this post since I am at school and don't have a way to get to any of my pictures.

Finally....bringing back Thankful Thursday (let's see how long this can go on)

1. A wonderful husband that loves me for me and let's me explore a lot of options without complaining TOO much

2.Three of the sweetest little girls that make each day a new adventure.

3. The group of ladies in my Bible Study on Wednesday Nights entitled 5 conversations you MUST have with your daughter. If they had even had something like that for my mom to attend when i was little I think somethings I would have known about marriage and wouldn't have had to discover on my own.

4. Wonderful friends and family that make life worth living

5. Knowing that February is finally behind us...well almost but enough that I can say it.

Have a great weekend everyone

BTW, Today Only....free 8x10 at Walgreen's....get yours today, I know I am.

Playin Catch Up

2010-02-14T19:52:00.003-05:00

It has been almost a month since I posted last and I can't really tell you where that whole month has gone except that we have been really busy. For me school has been really wearing me out and I am glad to be getting to go during the day, my mom helps with the girls when they get out of school the 2 days of the week that I am in. I am currently taking 4 classes. This is the busiest part of the season for Jason at work so it seems that if he isn't working late right now he is signed in here at home working.

February started out horrible for us and at this point I am ready to see it go February 2nd Liv got sick with the stomach flu and was up throwing up and with diarrhea until about 1:30am so she was home from school the next day. February 4th Kerigan came home and immediately threw up (in the end she had the lightest case of it), February 9th Morgan came down with it and lordy that was probably the roughest of any of the girls because it is very hard to keep a diabetic up. The worst part of her getting sick was that she ate dinner on the 9th and we gave her the insulin she needed and 10 minutes later she was throwing up so needless to say it was a long night for us and ALOT of calls to her doctors between Tuesday Night and Wednesday Evening. Then Thursday Night Jason came down with it too, so he and I were up ALL night again. This week was probably the worst because Morgan and Jason had it the worst of everybody. Luckily I had a very very mild case of it with only stomach cramping and uneasiness.

The best part of the month was February 6th when we got together with some dear friends of mine that we haven't seen since our wedding. Charles (Chaps) and Cathy Sewell went to church with me when I was kid. Chaps was kinda like my adopted dad especially when my dad and I were going through our tough time. If it hadn't been for Chaps and Jason I am not sure I would have repaired my relationship with my dad so I am grateful to have had them help me through this difficult time.

Finally, here in Georgia we have officially had an ice and snow in 2010. We had snow fall this past Friday starting at about 1:00PM and it didn't stop until about 9:00PM. We got about 3 inches at our house. However, can I say that I am OVER winter. Where is Spring? March can't get here soon enough?

One little prayer request: We are considering doing something "crazy" at our house if it works out. It has been a dream of mine for quite a while but we need major prayers lifted up for it to happen. So when you say your prayers for the next couple of weeks, can you include us in those? However, if you know us personally, please don't ask about it because it is just a prayer right now and if it works out I will shout it from the roof tops and tell everyone on here and in person.

Have a great week everybody. I have a paper and 2 midterms over the next 2 weeks so it might take me that long to update again. Please keep checking in on us though.

New Year---New You

2010-01-20T14:16:00.002-05:00

I am bound and determined to become a new person this year. Both healthy and spiritually wise. I am doing good so far. I have lost about 10 pounds since the first of the year. I told a friend who asked me how I was doing it that I was doing the "no sweet tea diet." Being in the south, sweet tea was my "drug" of choice. I would go to either McDonalds or Chick Fil A every day and get a large sweet tea and so far this year I haven't done that. However, I am also working out and Jillian Michaels and The Shred are kicking my butt. I have muscles hurting that I didn't know could hurt. I guess the phrase No Pain No Gain is true.

Finally, to get spiritually fit....our AWESOME church is doing a awesome series written by our pastor called rooted. This is a 6 week series where you read a different Bible verse everyday and memorize one verse a week. This has been a powerful series and we are only on day 3. I have never really read my Bible daily but with this series I am more involved in the Bible and I am truly enjoying.

So with the new decade comes a new me.

Have a great day and we will talk to you soon

Ice Day

2010-01-08T12:53:00.001-05:00

I know that snow days are usually common all around the country but in the South we are known more for Ice Days that shut down almost all school systems. I am ok with that because that means that my kids are safe at home with me and not in a school bus. Here is what we have been doing today.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

10 years ago

2010-01-08T09:24:00.000-05:00

I know that I just recently did a decade in review but I have to write again about it because today we are celebrating our 10yr wedding anniversary.

This is us on our wedding day. We were so young back then but at the time I remember feeling so old.

We have been through a lot in 10 years:

Built a house
had 3 little girls
lost one child
sold a house and moved
moved churches
lost jobs and quit jobs
working on finishing school
met great friends
been through some things that have made us a stronger couple

I remember meeting Jason in high school in 1996 in Anatomy class. I was a junior and he was a senior. At the time we were with different people but I knew that one day when the time was right we would be together. 7 months later we started dating and have been together ever since. Jason proposed to me one week after my 20th birthday and for the next 15 months we planned a very low budget wedding that turned out beautiful in my opinion. That's all that matters right? I have been fortunate enough to be his wife for the last 10 years and I look forward to many more years.

Our family today

A Decade in Review

2010-01-04T06:56:00.000-05:00

When I "signed off" right before Christmas, I never dreamed it would be a new year before I would update. We have been SO busy that it was difficult to even sit down expect to sleep. As the first decade of the 2000s comes to close, it marks an interesting point in my life to ruminate on the first decade of my adulthood.

*****Warning NO Pics in this post***** but keep reading this was fun to put together.

I entered 2000 as a 21-year-old adult and will enter 2010 as a 31-year-old much older not sure wiser woman. So I thought I take an opportunity to reflect upon the "zeros" decade...

2000:
I ring in millennium at mine and Jason’s new house with dear friends.. All Y2K fears are unfounded. Got married to the love of my life. Lived by myself for the first time in my life when he traveled to NYC for 2 weeks on business (not fun) but now the memories. Jason’s mam-maw passes away. Both of his grandmothers are my first experience of grandmothers. I love her a lot. Family vacation to Florida with Jason’s family. The USS Cole is attacked. George W. Bush narrowly wins the Presidency. We all learn about hanging chads. Learn a lot about taking care of a house, decorating, and cooking. Start at Wellstar. Finish this busy year with the knowledge of learning that we are expecting a baby…with a lot of jaw dropping WHAT. I slip our jaw-dropping surprise to a very special friend on Christmas Eve.

2001:
We tell our families of the surprise on New Year's Day. George W. Bush takes office. Learn what it is like to be pregnant and how life will soon change. Experience pre term labor and miss a shower held in my honor. Miss K is born in August. The September 11th attacks happen. I watch the tragedy unfold as I feed my newborn baby. I continue to grow close with many of my current closest friends. Jason travels to Washington D.C. 3 weeks after the attacks (we have pics of the Pentagon). The US goes to war with Afghanistan. Return to work part time and that later changes to full time.

2002:
Jason’s other grandmother passes away from ovarian cancer. I miss them both dearly.Jason gets an unexpected ‘layoff” from work in April. Not much happened this year expect another baby surprise in July. Jason starts with Cingular Wireless as a contractor in July and goes full time in December.

2003:
We decide to try and sell our house and move closer to work and school. The US starts the Iraq war at the exact same time that I am in the hospital welcoming our second daughter (Miss L). We move when she is 6 days old. Bush declares “Mission Accomplished.” It’s not. Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes Governor of CA. I give my notice at work so that I can stay home and be a stay at home. Take a much needed vacation with Jason’s family to Florida.

2004:
Trains in Madrid are the targets of a terrorist attack.. George W. Bush is re-elected. We start attending an amazing church after much discussion about leaving the one we were attending. Jason had been attending that church since he was 3. I’m a Bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding. Meet people at our new church who are now some of my best friends I have ever met in my life and they continue to inspire me every day. The Tsunami swamps Indonesia.

2005:
Celebrate the 5 year marriage mark and how God has blessed us to this point. My dad dies TOTALLY unexpected. I miss him more today than I ever dreamed I would. We learn London subways are attacked by terrorists. We learn we are expecting another baby (this one was not a surprise). We take our first trip as a family (all by ourselves). Come home from vacation as Hurricane Katrina wreaks havoc on the South. We experience a miscarriage and I have a D&C and stay in bed all weekend. 6 weeks later we learn we are expecting AGAIN.

2006: The London liquid terrorists are stopped. We are the first to experience the new travel rules. Arnold is re-elected Governator. We welcome Miss M to our family. She is named by her sisters. Saddam Hussian is killed. Miss K starts Kindergarten. I join facebook.

2007: Nancy Pelosi becomes the first woman Speaker of the House. We attend Jason’s cousin wedding where he is the piano player. The Virginia Tech shooting happens. “Don’t Stop Believing” tops charts thanks to the Sopranos. The Dow Jones industrial average records it’s highest ever close.. Wildfires ravage San Diego again.

2008:
The China earthquake kills 90,000. Miss L starts Kindergarten. John McCain selects Sarah Palin as his running mate. Wall Street falls apart. Barack Obama is elected President. Miss M is diagnosed with Diabetes.

2009:
The miracle on the Hudson River happens. Barack Obama is inaugurated. We start the Dave Ramsey total money makeover and are still doing it to this day and look forward to screaming “We’re Debt Free” one day. Brother in law goes through a shocking and terrible thing but with all of us by his side is doing great today. I’m a Bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding. Meet one of the best endocrinologist ever for Miss M. Jason’s other cousin gets married where he is the piano player. Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson die on the same day. The H1N1 outbreak and vaccine scare Americans. We as a family have been sicker this year than any other year to date. Starting in August at least once a month someone is at the doctor. Reconnect with one of my biggest supporters of my life and his dear wife (thanks Facebook).

What will the next decade bring? ...

All I pray is that it brings faith, hope, and love and a college diploma.

Considering that I'll be 41 by the time the two-thousand "teens" end, I'm sure there will be more change in my life in the next decade than I can even imagine.

Happy New Year to you all even if it is 4 days late. Thank you for being my blog readers, my cheerleaders, my support group, and most of all, my friends. May your next year and decade be filled with peace, prosperity, and passion.

O Christmas Tree(s)

2009-12-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

I really love this time a year. I love the look of all the decorations in our house. I am following the Nester and her tour of homes and getting many ideas for next year but for now this is the best we can do.

This is the "main" Christmas tree. The one I decorate with pride. It is decorated with Red and Apple Green ornaments. I am planning on adding brown ornaments next year to them. We have some very special ornaments on each of our trees.

This is one of my favorite ornaments....it is my angel baby. We experienced a miscarriage in September 2005. I have an angel baby on 2 of my trees so that we will always remember that sweet little baby that is in heaven waiting for me and Jason one day.

This is my new ornament on the big tree. My MIL bought it for me when we were out shopping on the Day After Thanksgiving. I love the colors and the simplicity of the little gift.

This is "Jason's" tree. It is completely covered in Santa's. Jason has been doing this little tree for about 3 years. He takes great pride in this tree. It is covered in white and colored lights and red and dark green balls. It is in our family room and it winds up being the tree that we put all the presents under and it is the tree that "Santa" sees when he comes down our chimney.

This is MY favorite ornament on the Santa tree. I just love the detail on Santa.

This is one of two new ornaments that Jason added to the tree this year. It is Santa riding a jalapeno with a lasso. Jason said when he bought it he thought of our friend Tim and his love of New Mexico and hot things.

This is the other new ornament. Jason found both of the new ornaments at Hobby (heaven) Lobby. He convinced me to ask his mom to buy it for him so the day after Thanksgiving this was purchased. Santa is so beautiful in this one too.

No tree that Jason decorates would be complete without a Santa and baseball together. Jason is an avid baseball lover and fan, so this just brought two of his favorite things together.

This is the tree in our bedroom. We have a theme of brown and blue in our room so I incorporated that into our tree. It is still a little of a Charlie Brown tree but we just put it up last year so we still have a little bit of growing this tree.

Here is the angel baby for this tree.

Here is our mantel. I love the look and have already made some changes to it since I took this picture last night. My favorite part of my mantel this year is the light bulb ornaments hanging off the apple garland. I have a different idea for the mantel next year so I can't wait. Sorry for the camera glare on the TV.

This is Jason's village in the bottom of our fireplace. My mother gave us the entire village set right after we got married.

We have the outside of our house decorated but I only took a picture of the front door. I have really gotten into changing out our front door decoration lately. This is my second one I have done. I put everything into green Styrofoam and just pull it out and change it with the season or holiday.

Finally, the real meaning of Christmas. I am in love with the navivity by Willow Tree and look to one day have it however, this is perfect for us right now because all of the people are mounted to the creche and with 3 little girls around it works really well for us.

Thank you for humoring me a little while I shared some of our Christmas with you. We have a lot of family parties starting this weekend so I can't wait to share our upcoming week with you all.

Pink and all its glory

2009-12-17T22:02:00.000-05:00

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful piglet as pink as bubble gum and twice as bouncy. She had intelligent eyes, a winsome smile and her name was Priscilla."

We checked the girls out early on Wednesday after their class parties to go and enjoy some time with Mimi, Papa, Uncle Justin, and us so off to the Pink Pig we went. This has always been a big tradition with Jason and his family. I had never heard of the Pink Pig before Jason and I started dating so long ago and then it was stories because at the time the Pink Pig was no longer running. Then about 4 or 5 years ago they brought it back to Lenox Mall and we have tried to go every year again since.

This year was a really good time to go since we went during the day it wasn't nearly as crowded and it had a very limited wait. We posed as we waited.

The Girls with Mimi

The Girls with Papa

With Daddy on the Pink Carpet

We had the best time. It is great to be able to make family memories with them and their grandparents be there. I was never fortunate enough to experience that so I am thankful that my daughters are having the opportunity to do this.

I have taken pictures of the three main trees at our house but didn't want to post them tonight because I wanted to make sure all the blogs get read since this is a "new" experience for me once again of updating more frequently. So I will make a post about that tomorrow. I have some special ornaments on our trees that I want to share with everybody so that will make that post fun.

Can you believe it is only 8 days til Christmas? Where has 2009 gone....however, it was a rough year for us so I can't wait for a new year with new memories.

And We're BACK

2009-12-07T09:23:00.000-05:00

We have been so busy that writing an actual blog has been the last thing on my mind. Since the last "official" update we have started school and been having a really good time. Miss M officially started Preschool this year and is loving it, we have blessed with some really great teachers. Miss M just marked her one year anniversary of Diagnosis Day of Diabetes. While this has been a long year full of life changes and new experiences she is doing really well and there is a great possibility that she will get a pump in February which would be really nice because instead of giving her 8-10 shots day she would just have to be pricked once every 3 days. So please put in a little prayer for us that this will happen. Miss L is now is first grade and loving it she has been sicker than usual the year, in fact, she started missing school due to illness within the first three weeks of school. At the present moment we are waiting to hear results of whether Miss L will make the gifted program at her school. She says that she is definitely going to make it. Miss K is busy at school also. She has been in the gifted program for 3 years now and finally got to take a field trip out of state with the program. They were studying bats at the time of the trip so they went to a cave and looked for bats and the funny part is that she asked her Mimi (Jason's Mom) to go with her. For those of you that know Mimi you can imagine how "excited" Mimi was to be going to search for bats. As it turns out she had a really good time. Miss K was also diagnosed with H1N1 in September that was a really long week for her. Jason and I have both been really busy but we found time to get away in November for 5 days (training for Jason and relaxation for me) but it was great to be able to have some alone time.

We recently completed the football and cheer leading season with great success however, we decided to that Basketball season is the one that we will skip this year and we will take up sports again when Softball starts up in March. We are looking forward to the Christmas season and remembering the true reason for the season. I am going to take some pictures of our trees that we have in our house so that you can share in our holiday season. We have 6 trees so it will be nice to share them with everyone out in cyber land.

Still here

2009-10-13T20:02:00.000-04:00

It's been almost 3 months since I last posted but we are still here. Getting ready for the Walk For A Cure (Diabetes) this weekend so I will try send give an update after that. Please come back all 5 of you that used to read my blog.

Forgetful Friday = Thankful Thursday

2009-07-24T13:03:00.000-04:00

So yesterday was crazy busy seemed like we were on the go from just about the time we got up to the time we went to bed so Thankful Thursday was not even thought of but it is thought of today and here's my list for the week.

1. Pam, my nail girl, don't get me wrong I am not one that HAS to have my nails done but when they get done I feel "complete" and this week such a complete feeling happened.

2. Wonderful friends: We got to have dinner with our dear friends David and Holly and their kids this past week and we had a great time considering we haven't seen each other in quite a while.

3. Nights out ALONE---I love my girls but I also love it when Jason comes home and I can get out of the house for awhile even if it is just to the grocery store but this week it was the grocery store and the mall all in the same night. WOO HOO

4. A new vacuum: Doesn't take much yes I know but we have been greatful to be able to use Jason's grandparents vacuum (this vacuum has been around since before Jason was born and still works great to this day, too bad things aren't maded like that anymore) for the last 6 weeks since ours blew up and we was nice being able to but back the day vacuums didn't come with hoses so cleaning my steps was HORRIBLE so I can now clean my steps again.

Next week's Thankful Thursday will be good because our staycation starts Monday so I am already looking forward to it. If I don't see you before I will see you next Thursday.

Thankful Thursdays

2009-07-16T19:59:00.000-04:00

I am stealing this idea from a friend, Heather. I figured if that since she has a newborn and can manage to do this weekly ten why can't I. So here goes.

I am blessed beyond measure with a wonderful husband and three little girls and an awesome extended family so one can hope that I would be able to put together my Thankful list. I plan to get better each week but here is the first installment.

1. A husband that lets me gripe and complain about anything that is on my mind each day and sits there and just nods.

2. Three beautiful little girls that make each day a new adventure and through our good days and our bad days still love me.

3. A mother in law that has taken my little people to spend the night with her tonight and telling me that we don't have to pick them up until almost lunch time tomorrow. I am SO excited.

4. Swimming lessons that are over but on the other side has made Miss L fall truly in love with the water more each day.

5. A night out with my husband tonight even if we can't start our night out until after 9PM.

6. Jason's boss for telling him to take tomorrow off......YAHOO.

Silly list but I will take what I can get the first go around and will hopefully get better as this blog attempt goes on.

2009-07-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

We are not having a good Diabetes day. Her numbers are OFF the charts. Can everyone please just put in a little bit of an extra prayer for Miss M today? I know Diabetes does not compare to cancer and other life threatening problems and I am extremely greatful that it is all that we are having to face. Our dear friends daughter has cancer and have lost another daughter to cancer and I would take Diabetes to that any day of the week please don't get me wrong but it is our life and to know that people will pray for us when we have our bad days is very encouraging to us and keeps us going.

What A Week.....

2009-06-25T10:29:00.000-04:00

The past 10 days have been crazy that even though I read and kept up with blogs, I have not kept up with mine.

Miss M is 95% potty trained which I am very excited about just need to work on 2 others things (I will leave that to your imagination).

We had VBS at church last week and on Thursday they had wacky hair day and this is what we came up with

Later that night we celebrated the 31st birthday of this special person

I have been in love with him since I was 17 years old and wouldn't trade my life for anything. I am honored for him to be the father of my daughters and love to think that I will spend the rest of my life with him. Happy Birthday J

The next weekend we celebrated Father's Day. Dumb me didn't take any pictures but we had a great day. That morning at church we were honored to have a 24 voice choir from Kenya the kids are all between the ages of 8 and 13 and most of them are orphaned or close to being orphans. While they were there we had the honor of "adopting" one child and will be charge of that child's basic needs until they complete high school. So in true O'Kelley fashion we "adopted" a 9 year girl named Diana. The girls are looking forward to watching her grow.

Finally....yesterday this special little thing had her special day

Our baby is now 3. It is hard to believe that our lives have been blessed with her for 3 years and I love her so much. She has changed so much but she has changed the most in 6 months since being diagnosed with Diabetes.

We love being her parents

Until next time.....oh and school starts back in 48 days let the countdown begin. :)

Brad and Mandy

2009-06-15T10:18:00.000-04:00

This weekend we had the honor of attending the wedding of Jason's cousin Brad and his new wife Mandy. Jason actually had the honor of playing for the wedding so the weekend was full of activities.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful except for the very rude wedding coordinator that the church provided. I have never met anyone so rude to complete strangers. I am so blessed to say that I do not attend that church.

Below is some pictures from our weekend and a new one of us.

Each layer was a different flavor

My girls absolutely love Mandy so for them to see her all dressed up was even a bigger treat for them. We had a really good time and wish only the best for them.

Until next time......

Growing Up

2009-06-09T16:00:00.000-04:00

So the Baby (miss M) is about to be 3 in two weeks and while I am sad to see her grow up she is learning SO much.

She can just about carry on a whole conversation with you.

The biggest step we have made is that we started potty training her yesterday and it was a very LONG day. Her sisters were REALLY easy Miss K was almost 2 when she trained and Miss L had just turned 2 so waiting til she was three was a big change however, she showed no interest and my pediatrician had warned us that it would be difficult with her Diabetes. Well, yesterday we went through about 30 pairs of underwear and today we have only went through 4. She really loves the idea so much in fact that over the last hour she has went every two minutes. Jason says she has leanred the system of how I give her just 3 M&M's every time she goes but hey it's working so I will stick with it.

I know we haven't updated we have been pretty low key so there hasn't been much to say but we have alot of birthdays and a wedding coming up so maybe I will be able to update some.

Today would have been my dad's 63rd birthday and I miss him more and more everyday. It is hard to believe that he died 4 years ago already.

Today is also Mimi's birthday (Jason's mom) so we are celebrating with her at her favorite place to eat.

Have a great day

What Have We Been Up To?

2009-05-17T19:53:00.000-04:00

I didn't realize until I was getting ready to write a blog just how long it had been since out last true update. We have been crazy busy. I told readers on Friday that an update was imminent and my friend Jess was not going to let me forget to update so here goes.

I finally finished the worst semester at school I think on record. I can honestly say it was the worst because we had some difficult family times during this semester on top of me realizing that the classes I had attempted were just definitely not for me, needless to say it was just an emotionally stressing and long 4 months.

Since finishing classes the girls have been crazy busy at school. On May 7th they were both invited and awarded in the Rocket Reader program at school. Over the course of the school year through this program Miss K read 42 Chapter Books and Miss L read 112 Kindergarten level books.

Miss L after being awarded with her medal

Miss K after being awarded with her medal

The front of the medals and the back is engraved with the child's name and year on the back

Our girls night this past Friday Night was alot of fun....I took the girls to eat at The Varsity in Kennesaw, we popped popcorn, and watched Bride Wars. A really good movie about friendships and Miss L really loved it because Kate Hudson's character had her name.

Also, this past weekend we finished up softball season for Miss K this has been one very rainy season. We had out first and last games of the season rained out and considering there are only 8 games in the season it was a short season. I cleaned the house from top to bottom. I am proud to say I think you could actually eat off my floors and I would never have said that before and it only took 6 hours and a blown up vacuum to accomplish this feat. The older I get the more OCD I become and want a very clean and neat house and absolutely hate clutter. Over the last 4 days I can honestly say that I have probably taken out 10 bags of trash.

We are preparing for the end of school which is this Friday and hopefully if AT&T doesn't strike we will enjoy our 3 day weekend and then prepare for our large O'Kelley Family Yard Sale that is set for the 30th of May and is being held at our house this year. So if you are in the area and want to check us out please stop by. With my new found OCD needless to say I will be selling a TON of stuff.

That's our wrap up. Until Next time

Blogging Break

2009-05-15T09:46:00.000-04:00

I have taken a bit of a blogging break so that I could get through finals, begin helping the girls finish their school year, and help with finishing softball season. I have an update to give and will do that this weekend. It is Mommy and Daughter's night at the house tonight since Jason is going to the BRaes game so I will get some pics and post those too.

See you this weekend.

Busy is the only word for it

2009-04-30T19:48:00.001-04:00

I know it has been a while but we have been incredibly busy that is crazy we could be so busy.

L and K both finished out the kids Wednesday Night church programs as of this past Sunday. K made her acting debut in the X-Factor at our church. She did incredible. She is one of a very FEW second graders chosen to ever get a part in the program so it was a big accomplishment and we were REALLY proud of her. The pictures are at the end. Miss L is not at the age where she gets to perform in the big play yet....that comes with frist grade so she is excited.

We were so busy with the kids play that we have tried to take it easy this week only to have Miss K come down with some kind of bug that she is currently fighting. She has had a fever between a 100 and 104 for 24 hours now. So either that will break tomorrow or she will have to go for blood work on Friday because all other tests have come back negative with the doctor currently.

School is FINALLY wrapping up for me and finals are next week. I am so ready for this semester to be over as I took a little of a U Turn in my studies this semester and I am ready to get back on track in the fall.

Everything else as been great and I promise if K is better there will be a sports update this weekend.

After one of her big speaking parts

a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_oL-qvcW8HxU/Sfo611lLAHI/AAAAAAAAAC4/Jncp9MmPZZ0/s1600-h/087.JPG">
The group at the end

8 Things

2009-04-21T19:55:00.000-04:00

Figured this could be fun and could learn some things about some of my fellow bloggers so here goes:

Copy and Paste and let me know when you do.

8 Things I am Looking Forward To:
1. Finishing this semester of school
2. Getting out of debt
3. Meeting even more new friends through blogging
4. Getting my house completely organized
5. Taking a vacation next year
6. July Hopefully
7. Enjoying my girls
8. Enjoying the summer

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Stayed on the couch....SICK
2. Went to Miss K's Softball practice
3. Laundry
4. Watched DVR'd Shows
5. Took a Nap
6. Ate at Chick Fil A (lunch) with my mom
7. Ate Chick Fil A (dinner) with my husband
8. Put my kids to bed at 7:30

8 Things I wish I could do:
1. Get a Completely Clean House
2. Part of me still wants a baby boy
3. Get my laundry caught up
4. Know that we can definitely afford a vacation and plan one
5. Pay off all of my debt
6. Eat out every day (I love to cook, but it is so much easier to just go out!)
7. Finish School
8. Get an I Phone

8 Shows I Watch
1. Desperate Housewives
2. Celebrity Apprentice
3. Dancing With The Stars
4. Grey's Anatomy
5. Dean and Tori (yes, I know it is pitiful)
6. Pitchmen
7. Private Practice
8. Chuck

I tag Jessica, Ashley. Pam

Told you

2009-04-14T21:33:00.000-04:00

In my previous post I told you I would post about Easter. So please be impressed that you got 2 posts in one night....don't know if that will ever happen again.

We had a great visit from the Easter Bunny and didn't do as much candy this year since Miss M now has Diabetes. I have since gotten ideas on even less candy baskets from all my "blog" friends that I actually can't wait until next year now.

We went to the 11:00 hour at church, which was AMAZING (it rained on stage during the last song). We then proceeded to head over to Mimi and Papa's for lunch where we enjoyed time with each other, Jason, his brothers, Papa, and Miss K and Miss L all enjoyed playing wiffle ball in the backyard after our egg hunt of course. Then we just hung out until 8:00PM when we decided to finally return home. It was a great day.

Miss M didn't do well yesterday with everybody's schedules returning to normal and no one being home with her except me. It was true delight when her sissers got off the bus yesterday afternoon.

Once again I am asking everybody to please keep my brother in law in your prayers as he is still having a hard time with everything going on in his life. He looks discouraged and depressed alot so any prayers that can be sent up for him would be appreciated. His wife is also in need of many prayers as she is choosing a different path for herself. This is hard on all us but not nearly as much as on Jeffrey.

Until next time.....

Spring Break

2009-04-14T21:24:00.000-04:00

We were so busy last week that I am still trying to catch up on all my blogs that I "stalk" that I had forgotten that I haven't posted in a little over the week.

We had a fantastic Spring Break with Jason being home all week. A friend of the girls spent the day and night with us on Monday and into Tuesday. On Wednesday we went and had lunch with Mimi, Thursday was the earliest day of all as we had to drive an hour away to Peachtree City to meet Miss M's new diabetes doctor....which was SO worth the drive. I am so impressed with a doctor that blocks off a whole hour to get to know you and your child and answer your questions and then proceeds to give you his home number if we were to need advice or help after hours. We then proceeded to take the girls bowling after we got back which was alot of fun considering the girls had never been. Then on Friday I took the girls to see the new Hannah Montana movie which was surprisingly good. I have been a little irritated with Miley Cyrus lately but this was really good and I was impressed.

I really have some good pictures of our bowling adventures but I can't figure out how to post them anywhere but at the front of the blog and that's not where I want them so if I learn how to post them any other way I will eventually add them.

Easter post is coming up so stayed tuned.

A Little Piece of Heaven

2009-04-05T20:13:00.001-04:00

We have finished another week of school and are looking forward Spring Break this week from school. We are especially looking forward to this week because Jason's company has decided not to strike. Even though the strike would not have necessarily affected Jason, it would have affected have family life as Jason would have been required to work 12 hour days 6 days a week. This can be hard when you are a one car family with 3 kids. We have been without our second car since the end of January and we have been able to handle it but it would have been hard to get the girls where they needed to go (sports, doctors, church, you get my drift).

Even though we are not going anywhere this week we are going to enjoy each other. I am going to work on the house, we plan to have a friend over for the girls tomorrow, we plan to go bowling, and while Jason goes to the Braves game on Friday night with his brother, Jeffrey, I plan to take the girls to the movies while Miss M stays home with Grammy. Miss L has been asking to move rooms this weekend so she and Miss M are going to change rooms so I have a big task ahead of me this week getting that done.

Finally, tonight we were able to get together with Jason's family and even the first night of baseball season. We are a HUGE baseball family so this is our favorite time of year. We try to watch as many games as possible so this is a good night to get started.

I am asking that all of my readers please send up a couple of prayers for my brother in law, Jeffrey. He is going through some life changes right now as his wife has decided to end their marriage after almost 5 years so it has been a difficult time for him. So any extra prayers would be appreciated.

Until next time....

I slipped

2009-03-28T10:32:00.000-04:00

So I have been meaning to sit down and write an update but life has been crazy.

With the girls and school and now that Softball has started back up for Miss K it seems that I am hardly able to sit down and update. I guess when I am catching up on the other blogs I follow I could write one also.

Last Friday the 20th....Miss L turned 6; It is hard to believe that she is 6 years old now. She has grown up right before my eyes. For her birthday she requested that us, aunts and uncles, and grandparents all go out to eat at Ted's (one of her favorite places). Then we came home and had gifts and cake time. We had a really good time.

The next night we celebrated my dear friend Angela's 40th birthday with a surprise party and then on Sunday we celebrated the birthday of one of our friends little girl Maddie. Her birthday was actually on the 1st of March but we were given a little snow storm that day so her parents had to cancel her party.

We didn't do much this past week that would be considered important. We have a family wedding shower to go to today and we are going through our 5th day of rain in a row. I love the rain and I know that we need it but I am over the wet stuff at this point.

Have a great weekend and we will talk to you soon.

Long Day Ahead

2009-03-15T06:21:00.000-04:00

It is a rainy day for the second day in a row here in our hometown of Marietta, GA. and I am up way to early so I thought I would update you on our recent activities.

Yesterday, my amazing husband let me get out of the house ALL by myself for the day. I left about 10:30 and didn't wonder back home until a little after 4:00. It was nice to be able to get out and do things that I wanted to do without someone complaining about not wanting to go into another store. Before we started the Dave Ramsey program in January on days like this one I would have spent and would not have had a care in the world about it. However, since we have set up on envelope system I knew that I was limited and knew that I would be more cautious about my purchases which I was. I was out and only spent $24.00 in 6 hours. Aside from the money that I spent on my weekly grocery trip and that was nice to do that by myself also. Rounding out the day, we were able to have my mom come over and keep the girls while we went to dinner with our dear friends, Clay and Ashley. We have been friends with Clay and Ashley for a VERY long time. In fact, Jason and Clay grew up together and Clay was in our wedding. Ashley and I became friends through our husbands and I consider her a dear friend. We have many memories with these dear friends. It is so nice to be able to get together for a quiet adult dinner with them when we can. Our first borns are 4 months apart in age so we have many stories to share.

Today we have one of the longest days planned. I have been up since 3:30AM because I lost my side of the bed to Miss M. This is two nights in a row that she has come to our bed and yesterday I woke up sore and decided that I would just get up this morning. We have our usual church activities and afterwards, Jason has been asked to play at a funeral with our Creative Arts Minister and then after that we have another funeral of a mother of one of Miss K's classmates. Margie LaSalle battles breast cancer for almost 18 months and she passed away this past Thursday. I ask that you keep this family in your prayers. Margie leaves behind a 2nd grader and a Kindergartener. While we are unable to attend a 3rd funeral today, my heart is heavy for a dear sweet older lady that we went to our former church with that also passed away this past Thursday. Mrs. Betty Culpepper was loved by so many people and will be greatly missed.

We have busy week and another busy weekend coming up so I will update you when I can. I am also doing some changes around the house so be on the lookout for those. I am excited about what I am putting together and can't wait to share it with you guys.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun.....

2009-03-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

Finally, everyone is well in the OK Fab Five House and we are enjoying the fabulous weather that has found us here in Georgia. We have been crazy busy since our last post. This past weekend I had the honor to be in my Best Friend's Wedding. Kristen and I have known each other since about 2005 and I consider her a dear friend that I turn to when I need to scream, cry, advice, etc and she does the same. Our girls absolutely love her since she has been one of their favorite babysitters. The unique thing about mine and Kristen's friendship is that in 2003, Jason and I bought the house we live in from her parents not knowing that 2 years later we would be the best of friends with that entire family. Jason had the honor of playing the music for their wedding so the entire day was special for both of us. We are so excited for Ben and Kristen.

In other news, you may recall my last post and rant of second grade antics.....well, yesterday that little girl I discussed apologized to Miss K and said that she was wrong and wanted to be friends again. I feel that since they used to talk nearly everyday, her mom must have had a part in having her daughter apologize but I will take it. We will see what happens with them being friends again.

We are gradually making changes to the house and look forward to seeing changes to meet the looks that I am trying to achieve. I have gotten so many ideas from some of the blogs that I follow so if you are looking for a change take a look around. I look forward to posting pictures of the changes soon.

Until, next time.

My rant.....

2009-03-02T20:31:00.000-05:00

When did a child being teased and harassed start happening in Second Grade? Kids in Second grade are suppose to still be babies and not having their feelings hurt and crying when they get off the bus. Miss K has a "friend" that told her last week that she didn't want to be her friend anymore. Understand this....this has been a friend since they were in 2 year preschool together, this little girl has spent the night at our house and K and L have spent time at her house. Kids are not suppose to not have friends turn their backs on them in Second grade....I feel. When K came home last week crying Mr. and I told her that to let her friend clear her head and that they would probably be friends this week. Well, so much for that....Miss L walked up to the friend today and said K wants to be your friend and the little girl screamed at her. Then later she walked up to K and told her, her birthday parties were stupid. Come on people this is second grade. So Mr and I told her that she is going to need to make new friends and let it go....I said some other things but I will keep that off this blog. Besides it might be a good thing because we had noticed that K is a little different when she hangs out with this little girl. In fact, she is unbearable some so this might be good for us. But I just needed to rant about how mean girls just shouldn't exist in second grade.

Are You Kidding Me!!!!!

2009-02-26T20:26:00.001-05:00

I am so over the month of February. Yesterday we noticed that Miss M was running a fever so we doctored her up, kept her home from church and then decided to watch her overnight. This morning she got up running a fever of 103 so off to the doctor we went where she was diagnosed with an ear infection and the flu. However, this year's flu has 2 strains A and B. Medication is mildly working for strain A but nothing is working for strain B. Which strain does Miss M have? You guessed it....strain B. Fits our month, doesn't it? They went on prescribed her the flu meds hoping that it will keep her diabetes in line we will see.

I was telling my mother today that the months of January thru April are the worst for us and then we usually finish out the year barely visiting the doctor, at this point I am ready for it to be April. Everybody in our family has officially been sick already this year.

In other news....for those of you that ordered Girl Scout Cookies from us they will be in our hands on Sunday so we will get them to you ASAP. We appreciate you helping us get them ordered and supporting Miss L's Daisy Troop. This weekend we finish up basketball and end with a birthday party on Sunday Afternoon.

I have another post to write about but that is for later tonight because it is a complaining post and I need to get my thoughts together before I can write it. See you soon.

So much for being on the mend

2009-02-24T18:47:00.000-05:00

I guess in my last post I spoke to soon. this week sickies have found our home and again and it has struck two different people. L and I are the ones that are under the weather. Well, actually L is doing better after a 18 hour bug and I am still not the greatest but will get better.

L came down with a stomach bug right after we left their Upwards Basketball Awards on Sunday afternoon. That another post on another day...or maybe even laater tonight since I am in bed, we will see. However, I started running a fever on Sunday night which proceeded Jason to take me to the doctor yesterday where I was informed that it "walked like the flu, talked like the flu" but couldn't be given that diagnosis because the flu test came back negative because I had been on an antibiotic for a sinus flare up just the week before. So while my doctor is telling me to treat myself as if I had the flu it was not my official diagnosis. Late last night or early this morning I finally broke my fever but I am still extremely weak and just plain tired.

On other news....while Jason and I haven't had the best of times lately and those are improving like I discussed in my last post. I have just learned that a friend of ours as been having some really hard times lately. Jason and Kristen have known each other for many years in fact, his dad and her dad once thought that Jason and Kristen would one day get married but God had other plans and they each found outstanding partners (if I do say so myself) anyways, Kristen husband Vince has been laid off from work and having difficulty finding a job in the economy that we are living in right now. So while I know that Jason and I can't finacially help them right now I can spiritually and am asking that you do the same. If you would like to read about this dear fmaily look under blogs I floow for "life on the funny farm". They are a sweet couple and I have been blessed to know Kristen for about 11 years now.

I hope you each have a great week in case I can't post again this week.

I have a good excuse

2009-02-19T09:37:00.000-05:00

If there can be such an excuse for not blogging for 2 weeks. Our house has been CRAZY. Where do I begin.

Two weeks ago we celebrated my mother's 63rd birthday with a dinner out with her, my brother, and his wife at the local Longhorns. This was alot of fun and was especially nice because Jason and I paid with cash. You see this is a big deal because Jason and I just recently started the Dave Ramsey Course and we are learning alot of stuff about our money. Through the Dave Ramsey Book and the course that we are taking at church on Wednesday Nights we have been tracking our expenses for two weeks and are amazed at how when you actually track what you spend, you have a tendency to not spend as much.

Through this experience we have started eating at home and I have enjoyed learning new recipes and trying them on my wonderful family. I came across a new website that gives you 365 crockpot ideas and since we are extremely busy right now with me being in school and the girls finishing up Basketball Season this has been a HUGE help. However, we do allow ourselves one night out a week for all the hard work we have done for the week. Sometimes our nights out (usually Friday) consist of nothing more than Chick Fil A which is a big family favorite.

We didn't do anything for Valentines Day becuase we consider it more of a Hallmark Holiday more than anything else. The only big thing we did was celebrate the wedding of Q and U in L's Kindergarten Class. If you don't know what this means.....think about it you NEVER see a word that starts with Q without U being right next to it. That is my little Miss U at the beginning of this blog update.

Then all craziness broke out....the stomach bug found our house (or at least 2 of those occupying our house). K got sick early Sunday Morning and M got sick early Monday Morning. You can imagine how much laundry has been done at our house this week. I have washed everything that will fit into my washing machine. I am glad that everyone is on the mend FINALLY.

Other updates: K is doing really well in school. it is hard to believe that 2nd grade is almost over and she is soon approaching 3rd grade, L is also doing really well in school. We have been blessed with great Kindergarten teachers. They have been a big blessing and it helps to have great teachers when it is new surroundings for little people. M is the one that has changed the most. Since being diagnosed with Diabetes in December she is a totally different child. She is a typical 2 year old whose vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds since being diagnosed. We never would have guessed that Diabetes could affect a child's learning and growth. Some of her recently discovered words are Auditions, Love You, Thank Me, and L's real name, which is a real big deal. We still need to work on K's real name b/c she is still known as DoeDoe.

I am greatful to have such a wonderful family that loves each other even during our bad times and wouldn't change my gang for nothing.

What A Week!!!!

2009-02-05T16:23:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in awhile because we have dealt with many issues in our house over the last 10 days and while I do not care to share them in this format all I can do is ask that those of you that read this please continue to pray for us.

This week has been a growing experience in our marriage and one that the devil was sure he would win and while there are times that I still feel like he might win, I am bound and determined to not let him win.

This past Saturday we traded in old movies that we no longer watch and purchased "Fireproof" and would highly recommend that if you are married and have not seen this movie you take the time to watch it with your spouse. Even though it wasn't the type of movie that I expected J to watch with me, he actually enjoyed it and we both came away with some lessons.

I am greatful for the friends that have been there for J and myself over the last week and I couldn't have done it without each of you and appreciate each of you letting us share tears and trials with each of you.

Maybe the next post will be a better one. Crossing our fingers.

Four Years Later

2009-01-25T18:54:00.001-05:00

It amazes me how fast time seems to fly these days. You see four years ago this past Thursday I lost a very important person to me....my dad. The people who say that it gets easier over time must truly be out of their minds.

I will never forget getting the call on the Saturday of Martin Luther King weekend when my (so called) step mother had my Dad call me and tell me that he had been put in the hospital for some "lung" problems and he would probably be there for just a couple of days. I told him I would be up there within the next day or so to see him. I visited him on Monday and he looked REALLY good but was coughing some. He wound up staying in the hospital and was in the process of going home the next Saturday when he called and told me that he was in the process of going home when he all of sudden felt REALLY bad so they were doing more tests on him. Before I could even get to the hospital they had moved him to ICU. Now, let me feel you here that it was about 4:30PM that afternoon. Noone knew that I had slid past the nurses station to find my Dad in excurating pain and telling the doctors it just hurt really bad. When I was spotted I was escorted to the waiting room. Jason and the girls were at church at the time so I called Jason and I told him that Dad was in ALOT of pain and that they were trying to figure out what had happened. Within a 3 hour span things went crazy. They had determined that the blood thinners they had given him over the week for his other problem had made his arteries so thin that he had developed a small leak and he was bleeding internally and they didn't know what they were going to be able to do for him. By 10:45PM my dad had died, within 6 hours I had gone from seeing my dad and telling him that I loved him to stepping into his ICU room to watch his heart monitor beep that he had died. I never dreamed that my dad would die at 58 yrs old.

The funeral and visitation would take another whole post and it is so horrible that I don't want to even really go into detail, I can sum it up for you this way. The cops were called and escorted my dad's other three children from his first marriage from the funeral home and told them they were to stay away from the funeral itself. Then, my step mother and her children played the most ridiculous song at the funeral and to this day I can't listen to it on the radio....."Picture" by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. You all figure out where that fits in a funeral and if you can let me know.

To this day, I have nothing to do with my dad's other children and I am so glad that I don't have to see his wife and her children any more. I am so sad that Miss M and Miss L will never know who my dad/their PawPaw was and Miss K can't remember him at all. I am greatful for the memories I have and look forward to seeing him again one day.

Where did the week go?

2009-01-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

I have attempted and thought about posting all week and before I knew it here it is Friday. Crazy how the week passes by so quickly. Let me fill you in a little on what has happened to us over the past week. I started a new job last Thursday at Locust Grove Baptist Church as the Parents Morning Out Director. It is only 2 days a week and I am able to still take the girls to school and be home to pick them up off the bus.

This week our country (as you are well aware of) got a new President and even though he was not my choice and I agree with any of his beliefs we continue to pray for him on a daily basis and respect him because he is OUR President.

I have over the last week found alot of other blogs that I have become addicted too and love reading about people and their lives (it's the "noseyness" in me I guess) but anyways, I found the blog called Harrington House and it is written by a woman in the local area the OK FAB FIVE live, anyways I am digressing, she is a MAJOR collector of antiques and decorates her house beautifully with these items and because I have spent so much time in her post I am now itching to start collecting antiques. Lordy Lordy never thought I would say that....anyways, I look forward to one day being able to go in some Antique stores and some thrift stores to see what I can stumble upon.

Well, I guess I will quit boring you guys with a nothing of a post. I hope to have some pictures to post soon and a more interesting post soon but for now this is all I have got and homework and work work are calling my name so you all have a great weekend.

Wordy Wednesday---and it will come back to you

2009-01-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

Today is the Mama's Losin Wordy Wednesday post however, I didn't like any of the topics so in its place, I give you something even more fun! Ha. A meme! Now don't everyone jump up and cheer at once.

I found this on the blog of my friend Ann and decided I was going to do it.

So here's what you do, copy it to your own post, bold or change the color of the things you have done, and then tag 4 other people to do it. Sounds like fun, right??

Mine are all in BOLD what about you?

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

OK, so there's my list, and I tag Jessica, Audrey, Pam, and Marcy. Enjoy!

9 years ago

2009-01-08T22:06:00.000-05:00

9 years ago today, I married the love of my life and my best friend. We have literally grown up together and looking back I wouldn't have had it any other way. We have had our ups and downs but I am so thankful for a wonderful husband and a great father to our daughters.

Happy Anniversary Babe.....Here's to 99 more

My "bloggie" friend

2009-01-07T21:53:00.000-05:00

It is that time of the week where I take my writing assignment from Mama's Losin It and blog. This week's assignment was to talk about your first blogger friend and how I knew them and anything associated with our friendship, so here goes.

My first blogger friend was Jessica from fosterhome5.blogspot.com and I am so glad we are friends. Jessica and I have known each other since about 1999. We went to Smyrna First Baptist Church together and we have been friends ever since. Jessica and her husband got married about 6 weeks before and we attended the young marrieds class together. Brian and Jessica welcomed their first child SDF about 16 months before we welcomed KAO. We have since proceeded to have 2 more kids each and those kids have all been born the same years with mine being just a tad older than hers. We still attend church together however, we now all attend West Cobb Church in Marietta and we make up the Directing team of the 9:30 Preschool hour. I have been blessed to have Jessica in my life as a friend and I cherish her friendship more everyday.

So I wouldn't just call Jessica my bloggie friend but I also call her a friend and consider her a sister.

Now It's My Turn.....

2009-01-03T15:27:00.000-05:00

So I took this idea from Mama's Losin It and decided to blog about Things I Do That Drives My Mom Crazy. So here goes and I know that I can write because my mom doesn't have a computer and she can't critique me.

Lately, it seems that everything I do drives my mother crazy let me list them for you. I figure I have at least 5 so here they are. I can't really put them in order because you see I think in her mind they all rank number 1.

My list:

I am not the kind of mother she would have wanted me to be. I could do better in her world, however, it works for me and my family and I am pleased with how I have turned out. Even though I am learning something new everyday.

I don't keep my house the way she thinks it should be kept but it works for my family and when we get around to getting the extra stuff hauled away we do. There is no need to drop one liners to my kids about how you feel about my house.

I don't do laundry the way she thinks it should be done. Let me give you an example here. My mother's side of the family got together for Christmas 2 days before the actual date and my brother and his wife proceed to give my three munchkin's each an Ed Hardy shirt. (Now if you have never heard of these shirts let me just say that they are every NICE shirts that also come with a nice pricetag.) Anyways back to my story, she proceeds to look at my sister and say those things will be ruined quickly the way she washes her clothes. Happy to report....I have since washed those shirts and they still look AMAZING.

I am more like my father than she would care to admit and I believe that kills her. You see my dad passed away 4 yrs ago this month and I never knew until after he passed how much he meant to me. I lost some great years with this dear man and if it wasn't for my JLO then I don't know if I would have gotten to have the last 5 yrs with him like I did.

Finally, I didn't marry the person she would have picked out for me to marry. I have been blessed with an amazing husband and an amazing extended family (my inlaws). JLO and I got married rather young by today's standards and we have pretty much grown up together but I had have grown up with my best friend then with anyone else and I am TRULY, MADLY, and DEEPLY in love with him and this thing that we call our life.

So, while my list might be humorous to you it is a way for me to vent a little. I am not good at standing up to adults (especially those older than I) and these things have bugged me for awhile so I figured I could air them with "friends".

Finally, Mama's Losin It.....asked readers to list the top 10 things of 2008 that meant something to you so here goes.

Top 10 of 2008....

10. I attempted a blog under a different heading failed at it and have since restarted with this one. I feel I might do really well with this.

9. I only took off one semester from school this year and I am looking forward to going back next week

8. I changed my major at school and feel that my new path will be really good for me

7. I learned what was causing my migraines and thanks to Dr Weiss, Dr Weiner, and a spinal tap I have been heatlthy since August.

6. I learned why my MEO had been a totally different child than my other two and we have since learned and are still learning alot about Type 1 Diabetes. But thankful we have a pediatrician that cares the way she does about babies and kids and has an extra special spot for those that fight this disease.

5. My family went on a wonderful vacation with JLO's family and we had the best time.

4. I read about 5 books in 2008....not including school material. Which I feel isn't half bad considering all the school I did have to read. We will see how 2009 turns out.

3. My children still love me! I managed to go another year without destroying my bond with my children. 365 days. 8 765.81277 hours. 525 948.766 minutes. 31 556 926 seconds spent living with my children...and they still love me!!

2. I turned 30 this year and I am totally excited.....you see I know alot of people in their 20's that I just don't care to be associated with or that age group so I was extremely excited to leave that time period in my life. Someone told me that more respect comes in the 30's.

1. I have an amazing family....mother included. I have been blessed with a brother and sister in law who can't be replaced by any means, I have a sister and her family that even though I don't see them as much as I would like is still dear to me, I have an awesome aunt and uncle and love them immensely, I have friends that are just as dear as family, I have an amazing extended family, I have 3 AWESOME kids, and finally, I have a husband that loves me and all of my quirks.

Now It's Your Turn.

So long 2008.....FINALLY

2008-12-30T21:25:00.000-05:00

I think my title would sum it up really well however, in case in doesn't for some of you let me just say. I am SO glad to be able to see 2008 leave. While this year had some good memories it also seemed to have more difficult and bad memories for us as well. let me give you a brief synoposis.

Nothing big happened in January except that JLO and I celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary. Good grief where did that time go? January through May brought about school for me and little time to relax for us as far as the girls playing softball and just being busy. KAO finished first grade and LKO finished Pre-K. June brought to us an OKelley Family Vacation that was beyond awesome and relaxing. We haven't been on vacation with JLO's parents since 2003 and this was well worth it and I am already trying to plug a trip for 2009. Also in June brought to us a surprise birthday party for JLO since he turned 30. In July, some of closest friends experienced a crisis when the husband was diagnosed with cancer.....however, he is doing awesome

In August I had a spinal tap at Piedmont Hospital to relieve spinal pressure build up and relieve me of migraines and I am happy to say I have only had maybe 2 since which in awesome since I had them EVERYDAY for 11 months before then. KAO started 2nd grade and LKO started Kindergarten. In October I crossed the 30th birthday mark with 2 awesome dinners....one with my brother and his wife at Two Urban Licks in Atlanta and one with 25 of my closest friends at Johnny Carino's (the place closed its doors for good right after we left). In November I decided I decided that getting my teaching degree wasn't for and I plan to finish my degree with Management and will start pursuing that in January. Also, in November KAO performed in our church program for Kids Express.

In December we learned of our new life and way of living for MEO's sake when she was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. JLO played in our Christmas program and we celebrated Christmas and celebrated a dear friend's 3rd birthday and her little sister's dedication at church. However, in December we learned that some of our other friends daughter was diagnosed with cancer which has been been diagnosed as brain cancer and it usually only has a 10% survival rate. This is even harder since they lost their first daughter to cancer in 2004. Another set of our close friends lost a dear aunt just this morning.

So it has been marked with happiness and sadness but with everything that has happened in just December it seems that it has been a hard year so 2009 has got to be better,

While I typically don't make New Years resolutions one of my friend's on her blog asked what were mine so I figured I would name at least 3 that I would like accomplish....I plan to lose weight with her----haven't able to be at the gym in a couple of weeks so January 5th looks like a good day to start up again. I hope to be more successful at school and finally to get my house in the order that I would like to have it and keep it that way.

So what are you going to try and accomplish in 2009...let me know.

FINALLY Relaxing

2008-12-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

So did you all have a great Christmas like we did. I hope so. We were truly blessed this year and look forward to another year so being parents to some busy little girls.

Christmas at our house was nice and a "little" messy. Santa was good to the girls as you can tell in some of the pictures that I posted. He brought K-Bear and Lilo a puppet stage with 2 puppets and brought Miss M a train table with a train. Our house was a mess and it is still in the recovery process 3 days later. AHHHHHH!!!!

Later that day we ended up at Mimi and Papa's and boy you talk about gifts galore and a mess that takes 4 trash bags to accompany the mess out of there house. But hey when you have 11 people opening gifts I guess a mess is expected.

We look forward to seeing what 2009 has in store for all of us and look forward to updating you about our fab five in 2009.

Realization

2008-12-21T16:06:00.000-05:00

I have had some moments of realization over the last week, you know those type that hit you square in the face when life throws you or ones closest to you a curve ball. Let me explain.

You see while I am a mother of three little girls that I adore with all my heart there are those days that I wonder and think was I meant to be a mother. I have days where they are the light of my world and days where I am so irritated I am sorry that the day ever started. Then all of a sudden life slaps you with a realization of how truly greatful I am to have three healthy (Diabetes aside) little girls that adore me and their dad.

My realization came last Sunday when I got home from spending time with friends to learn that some of our friends were facing another heartbreaking time in their lives. We have known Kirk and Natalie since we were all in the newlyweds class at First Baptist Smyrna in 2000. In 2003 they welcomed Madelyn Grace and within 4 months learned that she was suffering from cancer. Madelyn would go on to pass away in 2004 at 13 months old. They would welcome a healthy little boy Grant in 2006 and then 10 weeks ago welcome another little girl, Annette.

Last Sunday, they found out that Annette has a tumor covering a portion of her brain and on her spine. This past Friday 95% of the tumor on her brain was removed and now the recovery game begins and the waiting game to have the tumor removed from her spine. It will be a long hard journey for them and as we continue to pray for them and their little family I learn that my life isn't all that bad and I am thankful for healthy kids.

So the picture above is of Little Miss Annette please continue to pray for her and her parents during this time.

The O'Kelley Family wishes you a Merry Christmas.

See I Can Do This

2008-12-21T10:20:00.000-05:00

Now that I know how to make my blog pretty I might be prome to keep it up. :) Thanks to my friend Jessica at fosterhome5.blogspot.com for the help.

Take Two

2008-12-17T16:32:00.000-05:00

You know what they say.....make memories...treasure time....never miss a moment with the kids.

I have attemped this blogging thing before and haven't been able to really keep it up but after nagging from my friend....Mrs Foster, I thought I would try this again.

December has been extremely crazy for us. It all started on December 1st when I took Morgan in to the doctor for what I believed was a typical UTI. Since she is NOT potty trained they had to do a catheter on her and when the results came back negative they wanted to prick her finger to find out why her sugar levels were so high. In case you don't know normal sugar levels are suppose to be at 130 or below. Upon pricking her finger...her sugar levels came back at 437 so we were immediately sent to Cobb Hospital for more blood tests. After the blood tests we had to play the waiting game for the results. About two hours later our pediatrician called and said that her sugar levels hadn't changed much so she wanted us to go to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite for more testing. So off we went.

Upon arriving at Scottish Rite we were pushed above everyone that was waiting to be seen and work ups immediately started on Morgan. By the time they got her workup done her sugar levels were at 589....FYI we were told that 600 is a diabetic coma. So we were admitted to the hospital. We started our journey of learning everything you need to know to treat a diabetic child and care for that child. Through our training we learned the signs of a diabetic and were surprised to learn that Morgan had 5 of the 7 signs. We were in the hospital until December 3rd and have been trying to learn anything we can about Diabetes ever since.

Our pediatrician's kids are both diabetics and she has taken us under her wings. Morgan has adjusted well to the changes as have the other girls. Morgan tells us which fingers she wants pricked and where she wants her insulin shot at. She currently has to have her fingers pricked 3-4 times per day and she to receive insulin after EVERY meal.

After we made it home it was time to get ready for the Christmas program at church for Jason, Liv has been busy with her new Daisy group (we will have cookies for sale in January) and Kerigan has been preparing for a trip to Ridgecrest NC with the kids program group at church.

We look forward to the Christmas season and we will love sharing our Christmas memories with you soon.