A little snippet from the other day:

So all morning I felt like I was repeating myself ad nauseum with everything I was telling Ammon, so when we finally got in the car to go to swim lessons I said, "Ammon, you really need to work on your listening." (Should I mention the fact I had to repeat that sentence a couple times too?) He said, "But Mom, it's so hard to listen. My ears are just little ones. I can't hear good yet."

Touche.

Parenting Advice

I've received a lot of unsolicited parenting advice in my day, haven't we all? But I never expected it from my own daughter! The other day I was sitting at the computer, kinda getting lost in my virtual world of Craigslist, emails, and such, kind of noticing a lot of laughter coming from the kitchen. Nice, kids are having fun, I think. Then I hear maybe some sliding?! Slip and sliding? Hmm. Should I go see? Nah.

Then Ammon and Shayla come chasing each other into the office, sopping wet. They both start blaming Liam after they see the fire in my eyes as I start imagining the mess I'm about to find. I walk in the kitchen and Liam is STILL pouring water on the floor from the water dispenser in the fridge, laughing and having a good old time. I start my ranting and raving as I grab dish towels and start mopping the pond covering my kitchen floor. After I calm down I sit with the kids and have a chat...

Me: You guys KNOW that putting water on the kitchen floor was a bad choice.

Shayla: Yes Mom. Did you hear us in there playing?

Me: Yes I did.

Shayla: Did you think maybe, that you should have gone in and checked on us? Did you think, "I should check on them?"

Ammon: speechless, awaiting my response, wide eyed.

Me: I shouldn't have to....um.... yeah... I guess I should have.

Booyah. Me=0 Kids=1

P.S. There are no pictures of the actual incident. That's probably a given though...right?

Is Awesomest a Word?

So I have to admit to all that I went to the midnight showing of New Moon with a bunch of my girlfriends on Thursday night/early Friday morning. I also have to say....LOVED IT!!! It was the awesomest!! Did you expect I'd report otherwise?

Josh was a sweetie and manned the house and kids while I went with my gals to Red Robin and then the movie theater. We had fun standing in line in the rain, looking for tickets to trade so we could all be in the same theater, and meeting new people who are just as insane as I am. I got the kids all excited that Friday morning would be "movie morning" since I knew I'd have New Moon hangover, and I was right. They LOVED hanging in their jammies and watching Cars. I didn't get to laze around for long unless I wanted to have my house look like a tsunami struck, but all in all recovery from my late night wasn't too bad. I'm planning on doing it again next June when Eclipse comes out. Who's with me?

A Whole Month Has Passed Already?!

SO..I realize it's been over a month since I posted anything. I'm terrible! Ok not terrible. Maybe lazy?! I will slowly catch things up with what we've been up to, but I think I'll start with most recent and go back from there. It's easier for me. Again. The laziness. I know. I'll work on it.

Liam doing his GQ pose for me. This literally lasted about 2 seconds.

Yesterday was a sunny day...ALL day. No, that's not a typo and no we didn't move. It was sunny for a whole day in Western Washington. Miracles happen. So we went outside and raked the leaves into a giant pile and the kids jumped in and had fun. Aria preferred sleeping in the warm house, and Ammon, Shayla, and Liam went hog wild. I got ambitious and grabbed the video camera AND took pictures with the other camera to document this rare and enjoyable November sunshine.

Ammon's smile just cracks me up. Has anyone seen Chandler smile on the tv show Friends? I love it!

Chasing and running all his energy out...he took a great nap after this!
Running, there was lots and lots of this.

The Matthew is Back

We went to my parent's house last week to welcome home my little brother Matthew from his mission in Albania. I can't believe two years went by already! Ammon and Shayla were excited to see Uncle Matt again, and Liam warmed up quickly to him. Ammon was glued to his side like best buddies. Hopefully Matt will be able to come over and visit for a bit and share some of his new recipes and stories (no BBQ sheep heads though please.)

I Tried...

So I tried to get a picture of all four kids yesterday, since I realized I didn't have one, and this is what happened. The kids did all get on the couch for me, but Liam tried to take off when Ammon wanted to hold him on his lap. Aria wasn't too happy about being held either.

Then I thought, how about on the ground? On a soft and cuddly blanket? Um. No. Ammon and Shayla thought it was HILARIOUS butting heads. Aria...still not entertained. And Liam? Don't even THINK about making him lie by those crazies. So I gave up. I'll try again another day.

Moving on though, here's a quick photo I snapped of Aria on a better day. Isn't she just adorable? :) Of course she is!

Two weeks out...Time is flying!

So it's been just over two weeks since Aria was born, and we are getting adjusted to having four kids. Josh and I are both a bit shy on sleep, me a bit shy on patience maybe (who me?), but we're trucking along.

Shayla's daily dose of Aria time

Aria has switched around to sleeping at night now instead of partying, she's great at eating and squeaking and making us all swoon. Shayla is her guardian for sure, always wanting to hold her and take care of her (even carrying her around...yikes!!! Noooo....) Ammon is a great babysitter while I'm taking a shower (keeping her safe from the carrying), and Liam loves sharing and stealing her binkies and giving her loves ALL day long.

Aria did not enjoy this bath...but normally she's loving it!

So all in all, we are enjoying this sweet little bundle of joy, and feel a bit closer to heaven, now that we have a little piece of it right here in our home.

All the cousins on the Kelley side

Details of our exciting day

Shayla loving on her new little sister

Dad and Aria bonding

Our happy family of six now

Mommy and Aria

Liam and Ammon having adventures at the hospital Coming home outfit

I went in to get induced on Friday, Aug 28th, in the morning. I took a couple of pills that are supposed to jumpstart things and nothing worked. So I started pitocin around 3:30pm-ish and had the baby at 6:10pm. I went too fast for an epidural, but did get a different shot in the spine that numbed me up so much I felt like my legs and stomach weren't mine...I loved it! Aria was born sunny side up, and all in all we are fine and dandy and back home today.


The kids came to visit us while we were there (special thank you's, hugs and kisses to Colleen and Grandma J for watching our little sweeties for us!!) a couple times, and both times Shayla wanted to hold Aria the whole time, while Liam and Ammon preferred scoping out the hospital room for adventures. We also had other special visits from family and friends, and it was so great to see everyone! We love you guys!


Josh was a great labor coach and switched into his role as sleep deprived dad very well. Aria seems to love the party lifestyle, being up all night and sleep during the day. Maybe if I would've done that kind of life the last few weeks of pregnancy she'd be on the right schedule now. Hm..something to think about for the next one...wait..next one?!


All in all, it's wonderful not to be pregnant anymore, and to have this sweet angel in our family. Josh gets to be home for a week now and help out, and I think we'll have a fun week of adventures ahead of us for sure. Yay!

She's arrived!!

Aria Belle was born on Friday August 28th at 6:10pm!! Yay!! She was 8 lbs 2 ozs and 20 inches long. She's the sweetest baby ever, of course! Just the darkest and prettiest eyes, cute and petite little features, and a cry that can drown out any sound her siblings could create. I've tried about ten times to upload pictures of her on here from the internet connection at the hospital but something is wrong and I can't do it, so I will upload them from home tomorrow, with more details about the fun-ness of delivery and being a family of six now. Wow. We are blessed!

Umm...No comment

Background to this conversation: I'm 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant, sitting on the couch after church (me leaving early, I couldn't make it past sacrament meeting...sorry..)

Josh: Oh, did you hear Vanessa R. had her bab...
Laura: Don't even tell me...*sigh*....ok....when?
Josh: This morning.
Laura: That's nice (in a very polite tone of course). She wasn't due for 2 more weeks. (again, a very pleasant voice..lol)
Josh: I wonder how Leanna and Alex are doing....
Laura: She probably had her baby too (she's due Aug 28th)
Josh (thinking out loud, still not aware of the venom headed his way): Maybe I'll call them this afternoon and see how they're doing.
Laura: How about how I'M doing? Maybe you should give me a blessing or something? (ok maybe a little sarcasm is sneaking into my otherwise angelic voice)
Josh (a little apprehensive): Um...Do you need a blessing?
Laura: (dripping with acid, I have to admit it) DO I?????
Josh: I think what you need is an exorcism.

Clear From California

Our awesome friends from California came to visit for a couple days--Mike and Teesha, and their three kids, Samantha, Jacob, and Makenzie. Our kids had a hay day playing with them from sun up to sun down, and we parents felt a little like Jon and Kate plus 8 (pre-breakup) with all the little ones under foot.

Ammon bonded with Mike, following him around everywhere and referring to him only as "my best buddy". The girls had fun playing princess while the boys trucked around looking for manly activities.

Mike was even able to stabilize our shelves in the garage that had been leaning a little worse than the tower of Pisa, and now it feels great to have them bolted down and secured. (see what happens when you visit us? We put you to work!)

Teesha and I tried to be pre-child wild, staying up Monday night until about 3am talking, but since we are both very much post-child-sleep-deprived-already, we were draggin the next day and making regular visits to my personal live-in physican, Dr. Pepper. We even tried to play games like old times, but Rummikub ended up being a lesson in numbers and matching for the older kids and stacking and throwing for the younger ones. Things are very different three kids ago for us both, but we wouldn't give up our kids for anything. They keep us young!

It was a great trip, and ended with a short visit to Cabela's, a shrine to all things holy for Mike. It was his first visit, and he was drooling...and the kids all enjoyed looking at the stuffed real animals (the dead zoo as Kayrena calls it). We loved having them over and hope to see each other more often than every 3 years. We miss you guys!!

Cutest Apron EVER

I made that ruffle apron yesterday (don't make fun, I'm nesting ok?!) that I posted a few weeks ago, and I think it turned out SO CUTE! So course, I'm showing it off. Here it is. Love it! And I managed to only eat one Snickers bar through the whole thing. Nice huh? (um, that's not my body, that's Josh's pillow the apron is on. You don't want to see it wrapped around this body)

The Baby Shower of the Year!

A few of my sweet friends treated me to a wonderful baby shower last week. Colleen, Kayrena, and Sarah worked like busy bees and planned the most relaxing and enjoyable evening ever. There were massages for everyone (wow!!!), beautiful and tasty treats of all kinds (I can't even narrow down my favorite), fabulous friends, and hilarious games. Everyone also made scrapbook pages for the baby book..what a great idea! I was treated like a queen for sure that night and wish we ladies could all have an evening like that about once a month! We deserve it right?

Thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my little heart to my ultimate party planners (I love you guys!) and my sweet friends and family that came (love you too!) I just feel so spoiled and now I'm more ready than ever for this little baby to come...*drumming fingernails*

The party planners-Sarah, Kayrena and Adelaide, me, Colleen

Marci, Allyson, Denise getting ready for the games

Juliet and Adrina during the choco-poo game

Jenn, Kristi, Shauna-- post massage?

Ali and Anna relaxing and enjoying

Bean Jar Bowling

We have a canning jar that we put dried beans in for doing nice things for each other, and when it's full we get to do something fun. The kids wanted to go bowling when they filled their jar, and so we just went last week with Porter and Claire and their mommy. It was a busy and fun time, with Ammon and Shayla both getting strikes. Poor Dad had to work, so we had to party it up for him too.

For our next full bean jar excursion, the kids decided they want to go to Chuck E Cheese. We'll have to switch from a pint to a quart jar for that one! And we also added a good deed to do as well, so Shayla wants to make cookies for someone who doesn't have any cookies of their own (wouldn't that be a devastating situation? No cookies? Not a world I'd like to live in).

Hey I want one of these metal frames next time I go bowling!

Volcanoes and Pioneers

The kids were asking questions about Mt. Rainier so we took some time to check some books out at the library about volcanoes, and watched a few erupting on YouTube (who'd have thought that website could be educational?!), and then made our own exploding volcano on the deck. Ammon was the diehard, sticking with it to the end, building it out of dirt, and then mixing the magic ingredients together for a huge overflow of orangey-red "hot lava", which we got on video. *note to future volcano builders: making your volcano out of mud is awesome, because you toss the whole mess back into the dirt pile instead of having a wet and yecky paper mache mess to clean up* wink wink...

To celebrate Pioneer day on July 24th, we didn't do TOO much, but I did get the garden cart out and the oxen (Ammon or I) took turns pulling around the pioneers, singing songs and talking about what it would be like to live before toilet paper and gasoline engines. (I would've perished for sure) We also made wagons out of graham crackers and marshmallows, which looked good in the Friend magazine, but didn't exactly work out for us. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the wagon making, with Ammon and Shayla's wagons missing their cookie wheels somehow (both denied eating them), Ammon's wagon ending up transporting a marshmallow robot across the plains, and Liam's wagon didn't get past initial construction, but he heartily approved of the ingredients.

Can you see the marshmallow robot? How about Shayla's sleeping bags and pink bags on her wagon? My wagon kept all it's wheels on for the photo, but I think now it looks like it was left unattended on a shady corner in the middle of LA.

Camping is "So Awesome!"

That's what Ammon says at least. We went to Ensign Ranch for one night and camped our hearts out. Ammon and Shayla had their backpacks packed for about a week prior, they were so excited. It was hot and sunny, and of course we got there on the first day of the no campfire ban, so we roasted marshmallows over a camping stove flame instead of a crackly fire, but I have to say that the smores still tasted just as good.

Saturday we did the slip and slide (well, they did it, while I watched) and Ammon and Shayla rode horses (Liam was not a fan). One crazy coincidence..we ran into a couple of my old best buddies from college there with their families, so it was neat to catch up on things with them for a bit. All in all it was one night (thank goodness, me and a mummy bag are like oil and water) of camping bliss for our little family.

We had lunch at one of the A frame campgrounds and we're intelligent enough to figure out our camera timer for a family photo. Who is that woman taking up half the photo with that gigantic belly?!

This was "the awesomest" according to Ammon. Liam did NOT enjoy the slip and slide. Ammon said he wouldn't mind the cowboy life, minus the helmet...

Our little cowgirl (this was the highlight of her day)

The coveted camping chair, enjoying smores

Liam's favorite spot was on the picnic table, specifically by the food container.

Getting ready for that fancy campstove-y marshmallow roast

Ammon loved slipping and sliding with Dad

Fruits of Our Labors

The prophet said to plant a garden so that's what we'll do..we'll.....Ok so I don't know that primary song all too well, but I remembered the garden part right? We've been doing a community garden of sorts with our friend Colleen and we're just starting to reap the fruits of our labors (mostly her labor and a little of ours). We had stir fry the other night with all homegrown vegetables. All I need now is my own supply of butchering chickens and a rice patty and we're set. (I kid, I joke...rice patties don't work in this area do they?!)

It's SO neat doing this garden. In the past I have fizzled out of energy and end up growing weeds, green tomatoes, and sluggy filled zuchinnis in my own garden, so this garden is blessing me with a good experience to perhaps do my own again when the time is right. Thanks Colleen for letting us in on your green thumb talent and plentiful gardening space!!

A Career Woman

We have a new photographer in our family now. Shayla has decided she wants to be the picture taker for any family events. On the 4th of July she had a good ol time snapping pictures of anyone and everything. I was going through the photos on our digital editor program and thought, "Why did I take a picture of my skirt? Did I not know I was holding the camera, or that I snapped a photo?" But then I remembered I have Miss Photoshoot snapping shots too, and a picture of my skirt seems just about right for her height level.
So here you go, Shayla's start to her burgeoning photography portfolio:

Did I fail to mention her "pose off" with Dad?