kellicrowe

Resolutions 2015

Christmas #nailedit!

What I asked for. What I got.

He did order it for me because, it is so me. But it was made in Israel, for crying out loud, and didn't arrive in time for Christmas. SO, naturally, he fashioned this place holder gift out of a pre-existing work-out shirt and some washi tape. 

The other shirt arrived and now I have TWO. Sweet. 

Resolutions:

1. Blog every day.  

    Ummm, starting on January 2. And then, probably just on weekdays....

    Not that I have lots of important things to say, but I miss writing. And I need

    an outlet to get some of this gibberish out of my brain.

    (Husband: Maybe you should try for just twice a week....)

    Eye Roll.  

    (Wouldn't "Eye Roll" be a great name for sushi?)

2. Begin my Book Club of One.

    Basically, I have no business buying any more books until I read the kajillion I

    already own. This month: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg...just as soon as  

    figure out where I put it.....  And as much as I love the idea of discussing a book

    with a group, the idea of reading on someone else's time table is exhausting. And

     then I have to make finger foods....

3. Meal Plan. AND THEN MAKE THE MEALS.

    Basically, the part of the day where I am just about to congratulatorily self high-

    five for making it through home school, therapy, music, parkour, rock climbing,

    more music and errands and laundry...someone walks in the room and says, "What's

     for dinner?" And I stand there like a fool for 1. Ever thinking that a self high five

    isn't just an opening for something to go awry. And 2. Feeling the shock at, once

     again, completely forgetting that people around here like to eat dinner. 

4. Wear my clothes 

    As opposed to other's people's. They don't like that. 

    Actually, as in, I am going to wear my way through my closet. No more wearing only

     a few things or keeping stuff that is too complicated or scratchy or saving

    something for a special occasion. I am going to wear it all or donate it. And if that

    means sequins at the grocery store...then, that is what it will be. 

    (If I plan a meal and remember to make it, then that would probably qualify for

    formal wear....)

5. Do creative stuff

    Maybe scrap booking, maybe photography, maybe fixing my house...but something

    planned and creative. 

6. Get rid of the stuff I don't need

    Honestly, I like most of my stuff. It is good stuff. But I need to systematically clean

     out and refresh my house...life....so that I can actually locate and use my stuff.

7. LESS SUGAR

    Sigh. I am already gluten free so this is going to mostly mean no Starbucks and my

    cheap white wine. (Sniff). Who are we kidding?  (*SOB*)  I am feeling so much

    healthier and having less anxiety. But I still have days where I feel like I am in a

    fog. If this is the best it can get, the fog ain't all that bad. But I think it can be

    better. 

 

Hmm.... 7 sounds like a lot to remember. Especially since I can't even recall what my One Little Word was for 2014. (If it was Netflix, I totally get an A+)

A Thank You Mini-Scrapbook for Our Last Trip to See Our Mall Santa

Last year, I knew it was the end of the era of dragging my teenage boys to see our Santa at the mall. We are fortunate that we have lived in one place for the past 16 years and have gotten to visit with "our Santa" at our mall most Christmases.

The first thing I did was to dig through my huge container of unorganized photos, my drawer of unorganized photos and my file folder marked "Santa Photos" from back I thought I was gonna get organized about 7 years ago. The folder was empty.

I was actually able to locate almost every yearly photo within 20 minutes. Which is shocking considering the current state of my craft space. Paper from wrapping gifts shoved onto the floor. Tubs of photos. And my iPad....because I apparently now need Netflix in order to craft. #netflixisthenewDr.Pepper

I used a little book that Starbucks sold along with their gift cards a few years ago. It had cute trees on it so I just added a Santa sticker. It is a lot like those skinny Moleskin journals like this one.

I taped two pages together on the sides and bottom to create a little pocket so that I could slide journaling tags into them. 

I added a wallet sized photo and some stickers to indicate each year.

On each tag, I wrote a little note about the kids. For example, this photo is the last time David ever wore jeans. I had to make a deal with him to wear them for photos at Picture People and then he got to go and visit Santa. (Don't judge. It was 2002. Mall photos were still classy. Ish.)

I also included a few details, like what the kids liked at the time, asked for and even about their diagnosis with Asperger's Syndrome and Dyslexia. I just wanted Santa to feel like he was a part of their lives. I know, it sounds cheesy as I relate that. But it was pretty easy for memories and milestones to come back to me as I looked at these Santa photos. 

I also included a note of the year there was a different guy at the mall and Max, at 6, got in the car as said dryly, "Well, that wasn't OUR Santa. I don't know who that guys was...."

I also included a memory of the time Santa looked me in the eye and said, "They are getting so tall. So much taller than last year. You are doing a great job raising them."

I got in the car and called my husband and said, "Santa Clause thinks I am doing a good job!" 

Then I tied it together with a little ribbon. 

I did, however, leave the last page blank and I took scissors and glue dots with me for the final photo.

We took sunglasses for the boys and Santa to wear on their last picture. Santa was all in. This is a bad photo of a photo because I "filed" my pictures in my flawed system of tossing all loose photos into a huge non archival-ly safe box. Also, that dang elf wouldn't let me just snap a photo of the boys and Santa with my phone. I was already buying the pictures in our selected package. But it seemed like a bad moment to go crazy mom on the 17 year old elf just doing her job....so I did not. #don'tbeTHATcrazymom 

And then the boys gave him the mini-album. He stood up and looked at every page with them...much to the consternation of the people who were still standing in line with squirmy 2 year olds. And then he realized their were notes in it about the kids. He teared up. He said he was looking forward to sharing it with his wife that night. Mrs. Clause!

This guy is a part of our lives and forever in frames of Christmas photos that I pull out and sprinkle around the house in December. I just wanted to say thank you in a way that felt meaningful. Our Santa showed extraordinary kindness. And also, he showed up. Every year. 

My kids talked about the importance of showing up and being kind on the way home. Thanks, Santa. You are doing a great job. 

Our 2 New Puppies

This is Zoey.  

She is a 2 month old schnauzer / terrier mix.  

She is is black with brown eyebrows and loves to sit in my lap.

She does not like to share my lap.

She would really rather you carry her over the frosty grass early in the morning, thankyouverymuch.

Next to my lap, her favorite spot: In a sun beam, by the back door, next to the heating vent under the table (just in case we spill).  Beloved Moose is in the background.

This is Chewbacca.  Chewy, most of the time, except when she is in trouble.

She is Zoey's sister and mostly shades of brown.

She likes anything Zoey has.  

It took about 42 photos of her to get one mostly in focus because she does not sit still for long.

Most of Chewy's photos turned out like this.

Or this.

They did not enjoy the photos that put a window between us.

 

It was almost as if having their picture made wasn't a priority to them at all.

Of course we have high maintenance hamsters...

You know you have high maintenance hamsters when it requires safety warnings for the neighbors who are feeding them for you over Thanksgiving.

Sweet little Hammy.  Our "free" hamster who only needed a cage.

Sunshine, yellow with red eyes, poking her nose into a hole in Alex's math notebook.

We got her because hamsters are supposed to be social animals and enjoy each other's company.

She beat the daylights out of Hammy and anything that Hammy had ever touched.

That is when we got the second cage.

Sunshine's cute little bum.  And even that I couldn't get in focus....

We got Vader to be friends with Sunshine.  

Vader was sweet and small.

But then she started to get bigger.

And spent a lot of her time chewing on the metal cage in an effort to escape.

And then she turned on Sunshine and started attacking her.

That was when we got our third hamster cage.

Because if you give us a free hamster, we'll turn it into a managerie of cages and water bottles.

And...

Possibly a hamster fight club.

(You know the first rule of Hamster Fight Club is that you never talk about Hamster Fight Club....)

So of course, our "Would your kids like a free hamster" turned into high maintenance, in need of therapy pets.  

Moral of the story:  There is no such thing as a free hamster

Also: If you name a sweet, docile hamter after Darth Vader, you shouldn't be surprised when she turns to the dark side.

 

 

I have a really good reason for not cleaning the house today....

Last week I spent a lot of time meal planning and cooking.

Alex threw up.

(O.k, probably not my fault and more like a stomach virus.)

This weekend I went on walks (in the actual outdoors) and even jogged a little bit.

(Mostly beside Max as he rode his bike.)

Today, I woke up with a wicked cold.

Eyes, ears, throat burning.

I was planning on some house cleaning today.

But I am afraid the house might burn down.

 

In other news, I came across these deflating balloons on the floor.

(Reg was the first one)

David had not only drawn faces on them but given them names.

 

The balloons were pretty hard to photograph....they kept scooting away from me as if repelled.

Does that mean I'm carrying around too many electrons? 

Maybe they thought they were going to have to eat my chicken parm.

 

"Don't make me scrapbook about this...."

ME - Max, if you do not stop being gross, I am going to make a whole scrapbook page about the gross things you have done today.

MAX - Well, ok.  But just don't put it on Facebook, o.k?

 

Modern children.

Seriously.  

I walked by him reading over his brother's shoulder....with a drumstick up both nostrils.

And I got into the car and the boys are laughing so hard I thought someone was crying.

Alex was the one who fessed up that Max had discovered, quite by accident, when you are sweating profusely in a hot car....those lovely underarm noises are much more "authentic" when your arm pit is a bit...juicy.  

I should be happy they were entertaining themselves in a 90 degree car while I chatted with the neighbor....

I didn't mean to use scrapbooking as a punishment. 

But it was very hot in the car and it was the end of a long day......and he had been very gross.

 

The photo: from Easter where Max wanted me to take a picture of him re-enacting the Sandpeople yell from Star Wars with a tree branch.

Watch his cousin Madison in the background of these pictures almost take out Alex:)

 

Hey Madison....whatcha doin' with that stick?

The next photo is too gruesome to show.

Kidding.

He's a black belt, people.

 

i have been tagged

The National Wildlife Federation came by. I have been tagged. Actually - Heidi Paulus...aka HIP at 2 peas - tagged me. http://heidipaulus.typepad.com/hip/ Here is her link...but I doubt it will link correctly... and that brings us to #1 I have no intuition when it comes to computers, directions or spelling. They are all like foreign languages to me. I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was a sophomore in college. I don't read backwards - but the info goes into my brain and sometimes it comes back out in the wrong order. So that is part of it. The other part is I am lazy and really enjoy having people do things for me. #2 Half of my life occurs inside my head where there are like 3 cd's of things playing constantly. Music, movie clips, funny things that didn't happen but if they had it sure would have been funny, scary things....not like voices....more like diff tv channels. (yeah - cause voices would be weird:) And sometimes it all clicks along and makes my head a bit of an Alice in Wonderland experience and sometimes....it is like someone pressed the "shuffle" button and things are all mixed up. I am hoping to get that shuffle button fixed. My current plan of oiling it with Dr. Pepper is working just ok. #3 I heart Dr. Pepper # 4 I scrapbook just for fun. Like it is a total release for me. I relieves stress. (Not that I have a very stressful life) So I am baffled when people get stressed about it. But I guess we all do it for diff reasons. And I am not a professional with deadlines. To me - the process of scrapping is just as great as having the finished project. I don't scrap in order either. I gotta spread out the love and supplies. Sometimes - 1988 needs a little KI. # 5 I think I have blond hair. Really. I go to the salon and get my hair dyed the natural color. See the photo. My hair was very blond until I was like 7 or 8. My eyes were also blue. Now - I am down with the hazel eyes that look greenish when I wear certain colors. My hair though, I am actually surprised when it starts looking very brown. Every time. So there you go. Of course - every blog entry has a bit in it about just how random I truly am. Now - who to tag?......If you read this blog on Friday, Sept. 2 ...consider yourself tagged. (I can so do this because I have seen other bloggie ladies tagging people by the handful.) In the comments - just let me know so I can come and see just how random you are. AND - if you don't have a blog - feel free to list your randomness here. This is a SAFE place for random. Trust me. Thanks Mz. Heidi!! YOU are the rock star! kellicrowe

feeling scrappy

I scrapped a little. I will be scrapping and cleaning a lot over the next few days. No leaving the house. The gas stations here are closed. 4 of our 5 pipelines are closed. Guess where they come from? La. Yep. Not a big deal for us considering what all is happening there. Now, with no transition from the serious to the silly at all - here is what I scrapped today. "I heart Cowboy Dave" My David - at like 16 months. I didn't like the pic at all when I took it - now I love it. It is a scraplift of Suzanne Quillen (squillen) at 2 peas as part of a Pub challenge today. I think she is super cool and has just had so many amazing Lo's lately. And she seems really nice too. AND she was scraplifting Dagmar. I think Dagmar was scraplifting Kevin Bacon. Oh, he is goooood. The next one - Vibrant - inspired by this back cover of The Land of Nod catalogue. My Alex. I just knew he'd love drama classes. He is always getting us to watch his shows at home. Welp - I signed him up. He was cast as Max in Where the Wild Things Are. The lead. Yep. He was great. He knew his lines...no thanks to me who forgot to help him learn them. He was adorable. He hit his marks (note the pic that he is standing on a taped x on the floor). And now he really never wants to do it again. The pic - I love scanning them and then blowing them out with the contrast and light. I do not know why. I guess it is more graphic feeling or something. I will post these in the morning - when the 2peas in a bucket garden blooms!! How exciting! kellicrowe ps - Weird thing is my hubby is in Pennsicola, Fl until tomorrow night. Gas there is $2.38. 

for iman

For Iman, with love:) She requested to see the hallway that we call our Art Gallery This is only 1/2 of it I do not like the fact that our house is long. I like houses that are nice rectangles. Not snakes. I have a real affection for rectangles. Not snakes. Anyway - we have this art gallery going down the hall. It also has a few real pictures in it. The rest of the hall has turns (and snakes around) I started collecting these way inexpensive frames from Micheal's a few years ago. I have collections of B&W pics through out our house in these frames too. I figure - my kids are so cute...who is gonna notice the frame cost 5 bucks? ;) kid art pics of my kids and a few Brian Andreas prints...which look like a kid drew them That is what is all over our walls I am not a nature girl But I realized - these kids - they are my nature The thing about God's creation that just stuns me So there you go Iman. A whole blog entry just for you. kellicrowe

kickin' it old school

OLD school. I saw a blazer on the cover of Bodin. (think J Crewish type of clothes) Wanted to make a lo like it. This Lo, when done - so reminded me of my old scrappin self. See, my style changes HUGELY like every 6 months. We could say I am really hip and cutting edge. But that would be wrong. Or, that I am greatly inspired by what I see each day. I was inspired by this jacket. BUT - it so reminds me of my old scrappy ways. Like you can take the girl out of 1999...but you can't get all the 1999 out of the girl. (And can we pause for a moment and agree that it does seem like just yest. that we were partying like it was 1999? Man - these 00's are flying by!) 1. patterned paper as the large back ground 2. matting the picture - baby, the more matting the better the lo used to be! 3. portrait picture 4. no journaling 5. die cuts - well, I didn't buy them - I made them. (saving money - of course;) Ah well, I guess I haven't come so far after all. The pic: My sister Sara (note how I cleverly used the Sarah Script AC letters) at 9 weeks. (I was 11 at the time). This one is for Mom's album. OH - and Sara turned 21 this past week. She still looks cute in that bonnet. JK Sara! Happy Tuesday! kellicrowe

two cowboys

Two cowboys.

Yee haw. Alex is on the right...with his hat on backwards. (Funny because that is SO Alex) Alex and his friend John.

They were both at a b-day party at the Art Barn this weekend. Art and animals...but not at the same time. I am using this as my picture of the day. Even though I didn't take it today. I know. That is cheating. BUT I did make the picture sepia today. That is new.

Anyway - it is just so cool to see who my kids are connecting with. We are still at the stage where their friends are the kids of my friends. Super cool when that works out.

 kelli.

PS I have been glued to this hurricane on TV. WHY - do these news people feel the need to stand IN the actual hurricane? "Well, as you can see the roof of the building almost got me there. I can barely stand in this 4 feet of water. Yes - everyone else was forced to evacuate two days ago." But then again....people like me watch. 

matisse art project - homeschool

Matisse Art Project.

We did this several years in a row in pretty diff ways. I like to pick out a fun artist (ie - someone my boys can stand to look at several of their pictures in a row without asking how many more we have to see) to highlight every week or so.

We do this during homeschool on Fridays. Matisse. Like him. The boys like him. I ordered these little booklets on some of the major artists a few years back from some educational catalog. It has info about his life and kid friendly (ie - not naked) art inside. It also suggested some art projects.

Personally - I think all this could be achieved in a few clicks on the computer. I do not like the library. I know - what kind of homeschool mommy am I? One who doesn't like the library. The books feel germie to me. I know germs can not thrive on books on a shelf....but still.

Matisse project #1 Did this with a 4 and 5 year old I mixed reg. glue and water in a bowl to make the glue thin. I let the kids paint brush the glue onto a piece of poster board. Then the kid tore tissue paper and placed it on the glue. Total time - 20 minutes from start to hand washing. The kids loved tearing the paper. The glue will become the color of the tissue paper if you slide the paper around. SO - I encouraged the boys to just lay the paper down and not slide it.

Matisse was a painter. But he also painted bright pages and then cut the shapes up to use in his collages. My boys were pretty young - so I let them tear the paper. We looked at Matisse's work when he painted and when he used paper. We compared and contrasted the two.

Alex - 4 - made a colorful collage with his papers. David - 5 - made a warrior These pictures are framed and in our long hall way upstairs. In our "gallery."

Matisse Project #2 The following year we talked about Matisse again. This time the boys were 5 and 6. I selected several pictures by Matisse to show the kids. Reviewed his life. The kids were given the squares of colorful paper to fill in the back ground - like in our sample pictures. Then I gave them a bunch of Matisse like shapes of brightly colored paper. They both chose to make a picture of themselves. David's is a tiny figure of himself with shapes (that represent the music) all around him. Alex's figure of himself is much bigger. His lines coming from his head are him talking and singing.

The idea was to lead the kids in a project where we imitated the artist's style. But the kids were not re-creating a particular picture. They still got to play and be creative within the parameters I gave them.

Oh - David liked it so much - he made a dinosaur and several warriors out of his shapes.

The following year we used the bulletin board to make more pictures with these shapes. Matisse would pin his pictures up on a board and move around the shapes for weeks before gluing them down. I think this year when we talk about him - I will let the boys paint and then cut the shapes themselves and have a little more flexibility in what they produce.

 I am not a "memorize this picture" kind of art of teacher. I just want to expose the kids to different ways of being creative. I know some will totally bore them. But some may get them so excited that they can't wait to make more. I just can't ever tell which way it will work out.

dead lady bug larva

Don't count your lady bug larva until they have hatched.....or morphed...or whatever they were supposed to have done. The pic of the day: our dead lady bug larva. Here is a tip. If you get one of these little habitats for viewing the miracle of nature - don't place your order for your lady bug larva during the biggest heat wave of 3 years in Ga. They will arrive in the mail....fried. Not so amazing for the young lads to view. Yep. We did the same thing with our ant colony last year. The company is very nice. I am sure we are tagged as bug killers somewhere in their system. They are sending out the next batch at the end of October. Now - for the something old pic: My hubby. We met in Oct of my freshman year of college. He was a senior. Furman Universtiy is on a tri-mester system. So we had a short session for two months in Jan & Feb. Winter term. Doesn't look so winter where he is - does it? He is in the Galapagos Islands with a rare blue footed boobie (try not to laugh) on his shoulder. We had only been going out for a few months at this point. But I knew we would get married already. Just this little problem that I was only a freshman and had a lot of school ahead of me. Anyway - my biology major boy friend...now hubby of 11 years. That is my old pic of the day. Hope you are having a grand weekend! kellicrowe ps - the best stuff in this blog happens in the comments - you all are cracking me up!!

mud balls and fashion designs

Goodness Gracious Great Mud Balls...of fire?

My picture of the day: Alex and Max making mud balls in the driveway. Yes, a bath took place immediately afterwards.

My old pics for the day: HAHAHA - ya know how as you grow up you want to be all kinds of things? Well, mostly I wanted to be a princess. Although, I do understand that is more a station in life than an occupation. Well, for a period in Jr. High, I wanted to be a fashion designer. Yep. Me of little fashion ability. Me...who still kinda likes the idea of geranimals.

So I found these sketches that I made. I am sure that I was looking at some magazine or something when drawing these. (I have been idea lifting my whole life:) Can you TELL it was the 80's by these picks?? Shoulder Pads. Yes ma'am.

Anyway - the same container that yielded the fun b-day pics of John David's birthday had these smooshed down in them. So I am scanning these too. I am not sure why. But am. 

monster truck love

The days of Barbie are so long ago.

Now, I am all about Monster Truck Love. Hi. My name is Kelli. And I am a mother of boys. And I like big trucks. I can not lie.

Mom called and mentioned that Big Foot would be in town this past weekend. We were like - "Wow, the boys would like that...but we have some stuff to do, etc."

Well race fans, stuff was blown off and we decided on Fri morning to leave...um on Friday....for the rally on Sat. WOOOHOOO! I am not spontaneous at all. Well, if I plan to be...I can do spur of the moment all right.

This was our first race. So we have some tips that we gleaned from this excursion that we would like to share.

1. Attire is important for the ladies - bra straps and banana clips are really in vogue for the kiddos - you need to get them shirts with their fave monster truck on the front THEN you get the drivers to sign them (we did this and the boys thought it was so cool...mostly just because it was ok to write on their clothes)

2. Hearing protection is good for the kids. I liked the ear phone cover dealies (what is the word I am looking for???) over the ear plugs. These can be picked up in a sporting goods shop in the hunting section.

3. You need to decide your loyalties before you go.   Are you Big Foot fans (like us) or do you root for Samson, Grave Digger, The Avenger...etc? You will be expected to cheer and foot stomp to show support.

4. It is very different to see a monster truck roll over on a DVD (fun) and to see it in real life. The Mommy red flags go off in real life.

5. Crash cars are mid 80's beat up sedans that race around the track and, well, crash 6. The free style is the best part of the rally...but it is last and if you have young kids - you may need to take them home before it is over. It is A LOT of stimulation for young kids to take in. And there you have it. Now we are race people.

Actually, there were all kinds of people there. Lots of families with boys.  Lots of great pictures:)

operation: we are not disgusting

So we got back from NC last night.

Had 1 hour to de-sweatify ourselves and get all the drive thru food off of us before Bible Study. I am thinking - doable. Then I realize that JD, who drove the truck with the piano and ping pong table and desk all the way back from NC, has called some buddies to come over and help him get previously mentioned heavy items off the truck...BEFORE Bible study.

Commence Operation: The Crowe's Are Not Disgusting. (C.A.N.D.)

We weren't cleaning - people. We were stashing. We were grabbing empty containers and tossing stuff in them like mad. Max too. The boys were running around...loving just tossing stuff in containers instead of putting it away. Abbie and I we hitting different areas. See....someone was going to have to come thru my craft room and the play room in the basement. NOT areas that get cleaned up everyday.....ahem.

THEN - I realized they may come to the FRONT DOOR. EGADS! We hit the family room. It was very sweet to see the family pull to gether in a crisis. We had bucket brigades going to all areas where stuff was stashed. I just don't want THIS to be the thing the kids really remember about childhood. See, when we left on Friday - it was spur of the moment. I had a lot to get done so we could leave. I just told the kids to go play and let me "take care of stuff..."

So we left a lot of stuff out. Oh, and who am I kidding? My house gets out of control. I am just as messy as the kids. We need ti work on that:)

3 words

What could make us ditch our weekend plans and head out of town...today...for NC? 3 words: MONSTER TRUCK RALLY! woooohooooo! I can not beleive how excited I am to surprise the boys with this. Barbie seems sooooo long ago:) have a super duper weekend.

kellicrowe

its a loud loud world

My loudloudloudloudloud boy!!

10:45 pm and I just finished it. I am tired. I have been in a funky mood lately. And it felt good just to scrap something. Anything. And I am happy with this one. I am really into swirls and squares and circles right now. Solid card stock. 

I also seem to be into labeling my kids. (ok for me to do but not other people)

Alex is my loud boy. Doesn't mean I don't have other loud boys. (Have you MET Max?) Alex is loud. And chatty. Talks A LOT. Really.

Hmmmm. Who else do we know like this? Yeah. The apple fell right below the womb on this one. I can so remember my mom saying that we should play the quiet game when I was a kid. This really only made me want to talk more. It made me actually think about what I was saying.

Like when I was a kid and thought about breathing. I became obsessed with breathing. Making sure I was doing it right. Not forgetting.

Yeah - the quiet game made me obsessed with talking. Alex too. I don't think I have walked out of his room at night in the past two years with out him calling out to me for just one more request. One more question. One more comment.

The picture is from our pre-church sunday morning photo shoot 2 weeks ago. So tell me. What are you into scrapping with these days?

kellicrowe

ps - so loved the houses you liked from the movies!!

the 70's: come as you were...

I gave John David a surprise birthday party a few years back.

Theme: 70's Come as You Were. I sent everyone a photocopied pic of JD and asked them to decorate it. As people arrived - we hung the pics on the clothes lines I strung thru the house.

Ok - so not that many people decorated the picture. I guess some people freeze when you ask them to do something like this. It is like public speaking or a spelling bee (for me:) - being asked to do something creative strikes fear into the heart of some.

I don't get that.

SO - I actually made a lot of these. I really like the Zoro one. The Biker one - note - there is a I heart Kelli tattoo on his arm.

I just found this stack of stuff yest. I am cleaning out things. The threat of maybe moving is starting to cause me to clean out stuff. This was def. found in a container of stuff. These are my old pic of the day.

Here is my new pic: My sweet Alexander had another top tooth pulled today. We were off to the dentist for all three boys to have appointments today. Early. Then off to my chiropractor. Then by the church to pick stuff up. Then, home again, home again jiggity jig.

I am watching 3 other kids along with mine right now. I am so good at it - I can even type this at the same time. Actually - they are one of those rare families that seems to fit with all my kids when they come over. All ages are happy. SO here is my boy. When you have a tooth pulled - weeeellllllll, now the tooth fairy fairy pays pretty good for those teeth. OH - and none of my boys had cavities!!! A FIRST for us! Amazing. Happy Thursday to ya! kellicrowe

thank you al gore

Thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet.

Man - this thing rocks. Guess what I found on it? The floor plans to the Father of the Bride house! How groovy cool it that?  Just type in Father of the Bride House and there ya go. Several sites with stuff about it and pics. As previously mentioned: groovy cool rad, even:)

So, why am I looking at the floor plan of the house?

1. Been a fave house of mine from the movies for a long time.

2. We may just build a house. I have been talking about that house. So hubby stopped and bought F of B II last night. (Wasn't that sweet?) We watched it (while waiting for Rock Star to come on...10 pm...is that really necessary?). I sketched it as I watched. THEN we found the site. The floor plan is flipped backwards. I figured that the inside of the house probably was the set and the outside was a facade.

Anyway - do YOU have any fave TV / movie houses?? Nothing likes Bate Motel material, though. I ain't living there. But...that wasn't the question - was it:) Nope. What is your fave house? Hope you had a groovy cool discovery today too:) kelli

up the down staircase

Wasn't there a book or a movie or a British sitcom called Up the Down Staircase? If Meg Ryan wasn't in it and Jane Austin didn't write it...then I am just not an expert on it. SO do you have these? The blue tub. Stuff to go upstairs to the boy's rooms. Tomorrow - there are going to be three halloween buckets there. No more Mommy taking things up for you. I am going to put each thing I find into the bucket for the kid that brought it down the steps. They don't even have that much stuff in their rooms - how does it end up all over the house? The basket - That goes on the steps down to the basement. The playroom, storage, classroom/craft room are down there. Dude - I was amazed that this basket wasn't over flowing when the pic was snapped. I am the one who mostly fills this up. There is always stuff not only in the wrong room of the house - but a whole level or two off. At least I am getting a work out. When people ask me if I exercise - I tell them I do the stairs. And that is just for returning things to their rightful spots. Don't get me started on how many times I go upstairs and find myself in Max's room...just standing there. I go back down the steps. Hi Max. Oh look, you are naked. I guess I went up the stairs to get you clothes. Get clothes for Max. Get clothes for Max. (whap - haha - ok, no one else will think this is funny - but if you saw Montey Python's search for the Holy Grail and remember the part with the monks chanting and then whapping themselves in the head with a board....well, that is the little derailment my brain just took.....now what was I talking about?) Get clothes for Max. I chant that from room to room. Bummer if some young lad, probably not clothed either, asks me a question on the way. So, just in case you wonder what I do with my free time. Here it is. I specialize in taking things that are in the wrong place and putting them in the right place. Tomorrow... the children are gonna learn a little something about that. OH - and if you want to tell me to just take the stuff I find away - it doesn't work on my kids. They are fine with that. Off to get out the Halloween buckets. However - I so can see a discussion about why Halloween has to be so far away is in my future once the buckets are out. Hope your Wed is swell:) kelli ps - Max quote for the day Me - hey Maxie, we are going to the the Dr. for you today. Max- but I'm fine He had a 3 year old well check up today. He is in fact 3 and well. He weighs - get this 24 pounds. I was stunned. They were happy. He gained 3 pounds this past year. He doesn't look scrawny. Ok - looks like we gotta get back on track with going to Chick-fil-A at least twice a week again:)

pics of the day and other randomness

Something new pic - D&A looking up at the not Allosaurus or Tyrannosaurus bones....but some other one that was close to it and bigger. Great. Bigger than a T-Rex. That is so what you want. Old pic: I pulled out D's 1st year scrapbook. Blech. It WAS like 7 years ago that I made this. But still - ooooooooo! Not good scrapping AT ALL. This is actually one of the best pages from it. I am scanning each of these pages - just in case something happens to the book ever. Ok - Random: Yes Stacey Kingman - the quote "Baby talk isn't a word but baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation?" Is from When Harry Met Sally (when they were playing win, loose or draw) No one else guessed at the Meg Ryan movie with the line "Swim around in it until your fingers are all pruney" - French Kiss. Random pics - my boys outside the grossology exhibit pretending to be grossed out. Max pretending to read about ducks. Can I just say that going to the museum the first day of Public school was so pleasant?? NO crowds. NO lines. A few other families milling about. And us. I should have gone to the museum's web site to print out some of their educational stuff to go along with our trip. Next trip:) Happy Tuesday to ya! kellicrowe

david's prayer

Last night at the dinner table.

"Dear God, Thank you for making everything in the world. Thank you for brains so that we can think. Thank you for making intestines so we can go to the bathroom. Amen."

I have never ever thanked God for my intestines before. My body - but not specifically my intestines. Thanks for bring that to my attention D! 

ps - picture by Abbie:)

pic of the day

My old and new pics for today. Me - with REAL BLOND HAIR! See - this is why I think I have blond hair. It was very blond when I was growing up. So when I pay the big bucks for the highlights these days (thanks honey for working so hard so I can pay the guy to make my hair pretty:) it really is like it is natural. Like - please fix my hair back to what it should look like. This brown hair isn't me. I know on an intellectual level that my hair is really brown. But on an emotional level - I am not there yet. And the thing is - I like brown hair. My sister has beautiful brown hair. But that IS her hair color. (Not that her hair hasn't seen it's jet black and so-blond-it-was-almost-white days;) Me. Denial. I know. And yet I don't know. Anyhow - I think I am wearing my Mom's sun glasses. It makes me smile to see a blurry 70s pic of me as my small Geranimal wearing self. Everything in the picture is familiar to me. The curtains, the toys, that table. Like warm soup to look at this. Pic of today - ok, ok....last night. Me ready to go to the fancy wedding. AND MAN - it was FANCY. One of the most elaborate shin digs I have been to in a very long time. And everyone danced at the reception. Like I have never seen so many people hit the dance floor at once. It had a real Jane Austin feeling to the whole evening. It was fun to go and witness a young couple who seems to get what they are entering into. I think this will be my new avitar pic. NOW...lest you think I am vain to post a pic of myself as my pic of the day....here is the one that will NOT be the new avitar. (Ok - so maybe posting a 3rd pic of me in a row is not exactly evidence that I am not vain.) Meet my forehead. Dude. I had no idea my forehead was so huge until I held up my camera and tried to get a self portrait. Seriously - this pic is BAD. JD took the better one. Hope your weekend is swell. (except you Stacey - no swelling for you) kellicrowe

our abbie

Ok. Let me say it has been nice being friends. I am going to now tell you what I try very hard not to tell anyone.

We have an Abbie. She is a cross between an Au Pair and a personal assistant. She has lived with us for a year and a half. I figured I should tell you about her since I reference her all the time.

Actually - first - let me address two responces I get when people find out about Abbie.

1. "Well, it must be nice." The answer to that is - "Yes. Yes it is."

2. "You must be rich." Not really. It costs less than sending our kids to private school to have Abbie live with us.

(Remember - we took them out of that private school and I teach them at home. Now - about Abbie:)

She is 20. We found her...on line (thru an Au Pair service). Sounds sleazy to say that - doesn't it? She is our third Au Pair. She is the ONE that worked out. Super duper sweet. She is very mature in her faith and amazingly responsible. Sometimes I think she is more prepared than I am for this crazy life that I have homeschooling my 3 boys.

Interestingly, she was homeschooled all 12 years. She is my evidence to people that you can turn out totally normal after homeschooling. She is so grounded in scripture, domestic and practical skills. Yeah - I am working on all those.

One of the greatest serendipities of having her live with us is that I have someone to talk to during the day. That is something I couldn't have planned. She is working for us thru June. I am starting to get sad already. She will most likely live with us when she starts working at a "real" job. But she won't be here during the day to hear whatever random thing that just crossed my mind. Or to help me brainstorm what would taste good for dinner. Or to drive with me into the very scary city.

We just adore her whole family. Yes - we know them well. When you invite somone to come and live with you - they bring some luggage in the form of the way they were raised and their family. That would be our biggest learning moment with the other Au Pairs....we didn't check out the luggage.

Anyway, she is a huge blessing to our family. John David says I am a ton nicer since she came to live with us. I am trying not to read too much into that comment and just be thankful that he orchestrated the whole Au Pair idea. So. We have an Abbie. And now you know.

Happy Sunday. kellicrowe

PS - OH - AND I GOT HER SCRAPBOOKING!! Oh yeah. Here is a lo she did about a week ago. (She has been published in Scrapbook Trends too:) This one looks so great in real life - not sure you get the full effect. It reminds me of a white cotton summer dress.

something old / something new

OK - so there is this fun things that Tracey Kyle started. You take and post a picture a day. Cathy Z - on her blog - is going with more of rediscover and post an old pic a day. (you can get to Cathy Z's blog via the Moments In between link on the bottom left) Over achiever that I am...I was thinking about doing both. I just love having the scanner. When I find a great older pic - I scan it in. Then I put the original wherever it should go. (Album, photo box - etc.) So now I have a screen full of pics that I can't wait to scrap...but are not cluttering up anything while they wait. Let me just tell ya - if I start a tiny pile of anything - soon I have the leaning tower of Piza on my hands. Pic for today: Alex (hey gluestickgirl - note MY kid is still in his pj's) at lunch. He was eating a chicken wing. Oh wait - no, it is a Kentucky Fried Gun. Lovely. He was blasting Max with it at the table. See, here, he is blasting me. Older pic:: My parents. Yes - now you have a little more insight into why I am the way that I am. I stole this from my folk's house. I SO need to think of how to scrap it:) (I made a copy Mom - the original is just fine) It cracks me up every time I see it. And on a completely random note - my anniversary gift arrived today in the mail. Isn't my hubby the funniest? He heard there was a board game Pride and Prejudice - MY ALL TIME FAVE BOOK AND MOVIE (You gotta see the BBC version of it on DVD) - and he ordered it for me. Now you have a little insight in to my whole geek-aptitude. I am so pumped about this. I got my new computer/scanner/photoshop back in January. I knew that this covered all gift opportunities until Christmas. So, it was very sweet for him to search and order this. Now - off to polish my toenails. We have a fancy wedding to go to tonight:) Something fancy only comes my way about every 2 years...so I am excited to dress nice and go dancing. This, however, is when I start to wish I was a better dancer. Like - organized sort of fox trotting stuff. Now at the Jr. High school dances - I could bust a move. I doubt they are going to play any Salt n Peppa tonight though. Happy Saturday. kellicrowe

play to your strengths

Ok - there are not a lot of things I am good at. I am OK with that. I know that I can be better in a lot of areas. But really - you can't work on EVERYTHING at once. I always say I am "specialized" in certain areas. 1. Because I like to refer to myself as special. (OH, I can still hear that 1st grade teacher telling me I wasn't special) 2. It helps me feel good about all the things I CAN do. 3.Potential energy - the possible energy in something. I feel very potential. I know I have the potential to learn and do a lot of things. And that is enough for me. I could be a wonderful photographer, tv producer, small time actress, artist, even organizer if I applied myself and took time to learn. But right now I think I should probably focus on learning to feed my family healthier food. It just seems more important. (I am not saying I rock at all that stuff - but those are the diff fields that I have considered thru out my life) What I can do right now, is set a lovely table. That isn't the whole list. But it is on there. Here is the table I set yest. for our company last night. Fine china, ladies and gentlemen. Flowers selected just for the evening. (1/2 price at Whole Foods because they were 2 days old). Candles. Clean. A little gift for them. It isn't in the pic - but we had that pork tenderloin roast from the Mayo Clinic cookbook, salad and crunchy corn. (we could only have a few side because that is all the serving dishes we had;) Wine. (I don't drink for a lot of reasons and none of them has to do with my faith...just FYI for if you invite me over). That actually was my grandmother's table. Curtains my my mom. There isn't anything else in our dining room just yet. Except usually some scooters. You may have picked up on that. Anyway - we had a lovely evening last night with our dear friends. The kids ate, bathed early and were angels watching their new DVD while we ate and talked. (There Goes a Spaceship/Boat/Mail Truck - these are GREAT DVDs). It would have been perfect had I not broken one of our pieces of china while hand washing this morning. Oh well. It is made to be used...just not dropped:) kelli

the lost blog

Dude. Does this ever happen to you: Suddenly my computer kicks me off line. See ya to whatever I was working on. Like yest.'s blog. Bye bye, now. It was a good one too. Brilliant, in fact. You will just have to take my word for it. I am sure I will never recapture the poetry that it was. Alas. Alack. Ok - well, actually - I think it was something like this: (if you are expecting real poetry you are gonna be disappointed;) Just in case you didn't see this at 2 peas - here ya go. If you already saw this - then skip to the next paragraph. If you didn't - keep reading. Really, I will be able to tell if you don't. So I have 3 boys. 2 have birthdays the same week in June. One does not. Alex is in the "does not" group. The group of 1. It is hard enough to be in the middle....and then to be left out in June. Well, you just have to know Alex to truly understand how sad this makes him EVERY year. So I did lo about him on not his birthday. I think I will do one every year about this. I like to do serial picture taking. (OK - I mean like taking the same pics over and over again - not like photo shoots of Cheerios). (Ok, every one together now? We are walking, walking, stay with the group.) So, taking pics in a series. I like doing that. We took pics of David at 2 weeks with a Buzz Lightyear toy. He was only 4.5 lbs when he was born. Tiny. I kept that Buzz. We have pics of him and his brothers with this same, one handed and wingless Buzz. (He has seen some amazing battles. Oh, the stories he could tell). We used to take pics of them and Buzz on their birthdays. And then I forgot a few times. I was bummed at first and then I let it go. I realized I was really trying to capture their size each time and they really didn't grow THAT much between June and August....so just take the pic in August. When we were dating, we were on our way to Furman's Formal dance (so sure they called it something better than that). My roomie was taking a picture for us. Suddenly, JD just dips me. Maggie got the picture. So now, we just take random dip pics. We have been married 11 years. We have them of us in Mexico, at our wedding, on our 5th anniversary, dressed up as Han and Leia (but really - doesn't everyone have a pic like that?). Some are better than others. My hair looks great in the 5 year ann. pic. They used all be framed and on our bedroom wall at the other house...3 years ago. I am not sure what I am going to do with them now - but I am going to keep taking them. We have a series of pics of the boys in some overalls that belonged to JD as a baby. Sadly - the overalls are ugly. But I took each kid to have their pics taken when they fit into them. I like pics in a series. BUT, like I said, once I let go of my NEED to have them taken on just the right day - I enjoy them more. Kinda like marking on the door frame how tall the kids are. Here are two more pics - David at 2 weeks with Buzz and Woody (when Buzz still had both hands). And then David at 5 (1 week after Max was born) with Buzz. Have a happy day and just know that this entry was perfect and spell checked yest. kelli

Sunday Morning Photo Shoot

The kids were all going to wear their matching blue shirts...it was a very overcast morning...that is all it takes for an impromptu photo shoot.

Ok, it actually takes less than that.

So, pretty much all I know about photography I learned on Tara Whitney's blog. Mostly I learn from her just by looking at the angels and light in her pictures. But she is also very generous with her photography tips on her blog as well. You can link there on the left. I haven't tweaked these yet - just wanted to see them on the screen.

Alex was the most eager - so I ended up with way more shots of him. He like photography, video taping and the computer a lot. He gets why I scrapbook..probably more than any of my other guys. He gets so pumped when he sees a page about him.

Max was as still and good as his 3 year old boy body would allow. Mostly - he wanted to move the flags in the ferns on the front porch around to other misc. locations...like deep in the bushes.

David, always the last one out of the house because he still needs to get one more thing...like cool sunglasses or a toboggan....I took his and JD's pics after church and lunch out. They are two very neat and tidy guys - I knew they'd still be clean:)

I have just the point and shoot kodak. I would like the Fancy dancey expensive camera. Any one of them. But there will always be a better camera than mine. So, I am trying to do a better job of utilizing what I got.

Oh, and JD ironed every one of those shirts for us that morning. What a guy:) kelli

family reunion

Our family Reunion. John David's Mom's family lives south of Atlanta. You may think - wow, that is close to you. You'd be wrong. Especially the way we went:) We live about 1 hour and 20 min. away from John David's Aunt June and Uncle Pat's house. We arrived 3 hours after we left home. The first delay was the Old Veteran's Day Parade (this is the real name). Then constucion on the highway traffic. And then plain old we were close but didn't know how to finish getting there problems. The kids were great. Great in the car, well behaved there. It was amazing. Abbie asked if she could go with us. I thought she was kidding. (Yes - there will be a blog one day to tell you about the mysterious Abbie.) Bless her, June asked us to only bring a watermelon. Easy. The kids swam. They got to see their Nana and Papa and cousin Kaleb (7 weeks older than Max), Uncle Patrick and Aunt Tanya. We left home at 10:10 am and got back around 8 pm. Pictures: David in the tube, Alex and Mommy's self portrait (I couldn't see that he was making a face), Abbie and Max, Alex in mid jump to John David in the water. Like the way I co-ordinated Alex's swim trunks with the orange flowers in the background? I came home with only pics of the people I went with. Wooops. kellicrowe