ABF Costume Part-ay

Lucy & Ricky!

small town (and/or 80's) weather lady with a chance of rain

Chef Boyardee and Betty Crocker (complete with cans of Chef Boyardee stuff)

Adrianne and Peter - as each other - hilarious

Alfalfa and Darla

Nick and Scarlett

Drew Carrey and contestant - perfect

Deanna's 80's hair and makeup killed me!

Tony Romo and Jessica - HA!! also perfectly done

LOVE this shot - Alfafa was very bothered by "Adrianne's" advances

pictionary

LOTS OF FUN!! Thank you sweet Parkers for opening your house!

I love our ABF!

Costumes Past

(These are already on Facebook, but wanted to include non-facebookers too.)

Every year our Sunday school class (aka, ABF) has a costume party. Our church has a big Fall Festival for the kids, and the party is when the adults get to get silly. It's always been really fun.

So apparently we enjoy looking really bad at the costume parties.

2004 - old people
2005 - nerds
2006 - truck driver and Waffle House waitress
2007 - Thing 1 and Thing 2 (completely ran out of creativity and time on this one - don't even have a pic of us together. But, I look just like Andy. :))

And we do have a plan for this year...we'll see how it goes. Can't wait to see everyone else's costumes!!

Ten Year High School Reunion

So strange, but fun. Glad I went. It was amazing how easily all the silly, 16-year-old fears would creep back just being in a room with those people! I had to remind myself that I'm a grown woman (who is striving to have more trust in God than fear of people :) )...and then I relaxed and got to love on those old friends. It was at Primo's Tex Mex in Rockwall.

Adrianna, Me, Kari, and Ali
Ellen, Abby, Alissa, Me, Adrianna, Ali & Kari

So much fun seeing all those sweet girls and hearing where God has taken them in 10 years. And I was so proud of my Andy too. He had fun talking to other husbands. Fun times. :)

Quiz...though I don't know that I agree...?

You Belong in 1980

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

I do feel comfortable with the 80's and I'm sure I'm occasionally cheesy, but "colorful at night" doesn't sound very nice.

Maybe because I stay up too late watching 80's movies on the weekends...?

Accident, We Promise!

My good friend, Deanna, and I showed up at church one day like this...


It's not like it was a subtle black shirt or something... rather, just about the loudest, bright pink shirt out there...and there were 2 of us! So funny -- she got hers at Kohl's and mine at Macy's, but the exact brand and everything. We look pretty cute, huh D? (Thanks, Stephanie, for having your nifty iPhone so handy for the photo...)

Also, sorry for the delay in blogging. Things have been super busy lately with the start of school for the boys (and my going back to work part-time at their preschool) and Jake's 4th birthday party, etc. I have lots to blog about -- it's just still all in my head! Waiting for a good chunk of time...

Back in the Day...8,9 years ago?

Some other friends have been putting up old pictures from our crazy single days, so I wanted to share mine too. Such fun memories. We were single (some starting to pair up) and so responsibility-less, it seemed. Below, we're at the Crissey's house where we had lots of game nights ("not the Mafia"). See Andy? Can't remember if we were "talking" here yet or not... Deanna, this is for you... Doing robot moves at a singles retreat. :)
Aren't they cute? R & R did not ever take a bad picture. Jonathan sticking his nose in.

This silly pose I would do - I don't even know. At On the Border.
See, Robin NEVER takes a bad picture! There's my overalls again. Joy and I recently discussed how we wore those way too much...

So sweet...were you just dating here?
(Joy, Robin, Sheila, Tara, Stashia - fill in any details I've forgotten in the comments)

One night some of the girls were spending the night at Joy's for some reason (some kind of girls' night?) and somehow a bunch of the guys caught wind and decided to come crash our party. I've forgotten so much, but they were outside driving around and hiding around the house and I can't remember what else. (Help me girls.) So we decided to sabotage their plans and attack them...or something. We scrounged up dark clothes and put mascara all over our faces (Tara! HA!). I just remember it was fun and silly. So menacing...

Me, Sheila, Robin, Liz, Stashia...and Joy on our laps :).

I have tons more, but, I have to go to a store to scan them in (!) so I won't do it too often. (sidebar: did you know that you can get a CD of scanned photos at Sam's - $2.88 for as many as will fit - but at Walgreen's, it's $3.99 for a CD of 10 scanned photos. What a rip!)

Anyway, really fun to remember. Fun times. :)

Happy Anniversary Sweetheart

On Monday Andy and I celebrated 7 years of marriage! Cannot believe how time has flown by and how much has changed.



I am so blessed to have such a godly, honorable hubby. I am more sure now than ever that God made us for each other. I love you Sweetheart!

Tag - About My Man

1. Who is your man? Andrew John Kelley
2. How long have you been together? together 8 years, married 6 1/2
3. How long dated? dated 11 months, engaged 5 months

4. How old is your man? 32
5. Who eats more? usually Andy, but lately he's been Mr. Healthy and it's a toss-up
6. Who said “I love you” first? so terrible, neither of us could remember! pretty sure we were dating. it wasn't hard to decide if we loved each other.
7. Who is taller? Andy, by 8 inches
8. Who sings better? he does...he's not shy about singing like I am
9. Who is smarter? definitely Andy. one of the things that most attracted me to him...articulate and smart, but also humble
10. Whose temper is worse? neither of us have much of a temper, but he can get riled (sp?) up a bit
11. Who does the laundry? Me 90% of the time, but he's great about folding a basket of clothes that I haven't gotten to for days (maybe because he has no clothes to wear...? I've been bad lately...blogging too much?)
12. Who takes out the garbage? Andy most of the time
13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? me
14. Who pays the bills? me
15. Who is better with the computer? (D, I liked your response to this one! ;D) Umm...not sure. Andy probably.
16. Who mows the lawn? Andy. He's so great at keeping on top of it - the edging, mowing and blowing.
17. Who cooks dinner? me. Andy does like to grill steaks.
18. Who drives when you are together? usually Andy
19. Who pays when you go out? usually Andy
20. Who is most stubborn? dunno...him maybe if he's REALLY sure about something
21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? me. Like Robin, I like a resolution to a conflict so I like to get the apologizing ball rolling.
22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine. His dad is 5 hours away.
23. Who kissed who first? We held off kissing for a long time and we were in my car after a date discussing when we should. Andy said something like, "let's stop talking" and planted one! Because we had waited, there were major, MAJOR sparks. I remember that well.

24. Who asked who out? He called me, out of the blue, and asked me to a co-worker's wedding.
25. Who proposed? Andy...on the Great Wall of China. :D
26. Who is more sensitive? definitely me
27. Who has more friends? me, I guess
28. Who has more siblings? he does
29. Who wears the pants in the family? definitely Andy, but he's great usually about conferring with me. I'm glad he wears the pants -- he's wise and level-headed.

This was fun! Thanks girls!

Mothering to Please Jesus

I was lying in bed reading this new book, My Heart's at Home: Becoming the Intentional Mom Your Family Needs by Jill Savage. I had to write this in an effort to encourage my mommy friends -- it really encouraged me. I recently found some old high school friends on Facebook (so addicting - I've wasted entirely too much time on it already) and it's easy to get discouraged. Some of them have big, important, money-earning careers and I find myself not proud to announce that I stay at home with my 2 kiddos. We hear over and over how mothering is the most important job, but it doesn't always sink in. That almost seems like a way of consoling mothers because they don't have "real careers," you know? Sorry to sound harsh, but I'm being honest. So this poem in the book struck a chord with me:

Continue On

by Roy Lessin

A woman once fretted over the usefulness of her life.

She feared she was wasting her potential being a

devoted wife and mother.

She wondered if the time and energy she invested in her

husband and children would make a difference. At times

she got discouraged because so much of what she

did seemed to go unnoticed and unappreciated.

"Is it worth it?" she often wondered.

"Is there something better that

I could be doing with my time?"

It was during one of these moments of questioning

that she heard the still small voice of her heavenly

Father speak to her heart.

"You are a wife and mother because that is what I

have called you to be.

Much of what you do is hidden from the public eye.

But I notice.

Most of what you give is without remuneration.

But I am your reward.

Your husband cannot be the man I have called him to be

without your support. Your influence upon him is greater than

you think and more powerful than you will ever know. I bless

him through your service and honor him through your love.

Your children are precious to Me.

Even more precious than they are to you.

I have entrusted them to your care to raise for Me.

What you invest in them is an offering to Me.

You may never be in the public spotlight.

But your obedience shines as a bright light before Me.

Continue on. Remember you are My servant.

Do all to please Me."

I get in the mindset that Andy and I have had 2 babies and they are ours to raise. Our boys. Wrong! These are God's people that He's given us to raise for a short time. He gave me an incredibly important task with major purpose. He entrusted me with 2 of His own to bring up that they would know and glorify Him. I also am encouraged to remember that Andy is blessed by God through my service and love. I want to think of my dinner-cooking and floor-cleaning and bottle-feeding and Jake-tickling as all service to Jesus. Jesus, may I do it all for You!