Neeley Family Blog

Christmas Day is traditionally very lazy for us.  We stay in our jams and wake up whenever the kids decide.  We spent a couple hours opening presents this year.  Then Brad cooked a lovely brunch for us while I tried to open and set up several of the kids toys. We then did a video chat with Eric, Jenn and Audrey.  We got to see them open our presents and they could see us opening theirs.  We had an awesome conversation and Christmas tour with them!  We then quickly got showered and dressed and headed to my parents house for our gift exchange with them and my sister and her family.  This was followed by a leftover dinner from the Kraus Family Christmas Eve party the night before :).  After the kids opening and playing with all their gifts, and a little relaxation time, we headed back home to tuck everyone in for the night.  Ahhhhhh! Here are a couple of pictures and video clips from our gift opening.  Enjoy! Here is Christmas Eve as...

Just wanted to share a few Christmas pieces around our house.  The kids have all been very excited for Santa to visit.  They keep asking how many days!  So I thought I would just put together a couple of pictures to show that we are ready for his arrival! The tree and Santa: Christmas card love from our friends and family: The outside of the house with lights up: My wreath (ah-hem that I personally made): And a couple others: Hope you all are ready!  Merry Christmas!!!

Brad and I have not been to Zoo Lights in years.  It was pre-children time since our last visit.  We thought it would be enjoyable for them, especially with the train there.  We ventured off the night before Christmas Eve.  The place was packed! We arrived about 6 pm to find the parking lots full, shuttle buses being used and lines to get in. We were all bundled up though and hunted down some people for their parking spot.  :) My parents and sister and her family joined us for the festivities.  We walked through the beginning enchanted by the lights guiding the pathway and the sounds of the trains passing.  Most of the animals were tucked away for the night.  We did get a glance at some monkeys and the elephants.  We also saw the line for the train which was 1 1/2 - 2 hours long!  We decided to check back after seeing more of the lights.  Here are a few glimpses at the magic we saw: With the train line still h...

The boys worked on their lists for Santa several times.  They scoured through the Toys R Us Big Book and circled, starred and wrote their names near items they wanted.  Since most of our weekends in December were taken with the Christmas Tree Farm, we waited a little later this year to venture off to see the Big guy. We got in line while Santa was on a break.  From the information online it looked like he would be back in 20 minutes.  He was a little late getting back.  And while in line after his return, their camera broke and the line was held up again.  Once they got it going again, we slowly, but surely moved forward.  2 hours later we reached the front of the line!  The kids had been really good waiting the whole time.  They kept themselves occupied with Angry Birds on our cell phones :).  Brad had to stand "Behind the perimeter" in order to use our camera, but here are a couple photos we got.  Brylee was no way no how...

Brayden's class planned a Christmas party for the last day of school before Winter Break.  I got a tray of Santa cookies and brought Brylee and Brock to join in the festivities.  We helped with his Halloween Party and they enjoyed being in class with their big brother. The class parent always organizes the parties and invites parents to help out when possible.  This time they had a cookie decorating station, an ornament making station and two eating stations with healthy and holiday goodies for them to choose from. Father Maxy joined the festivities for the first few minutes of their party.  He brought his dress-up attire and guitar.  They sang "Jingle Bells" together.  It was lots of fun!!! Here are a few photos:  Brayden concentrating on his work ;)  The cookie decorating station:  Enjoying some goodies! All the kids had a great time and were nice and sugared up for their parents! Ha! Well, no school till the new year!  E...

Last year Brayden was in the school Christmas Program.  He sang a couple songs.  It was the first year they decided to include the preschool classes.  This year both Brock and Brayden got to join in the fun.  Brock's Preschool class sang "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."  Brayden sang "Good St.Nick" and "The Snow is Falling." They both practiced at home the weeks leading up to the big night. Here are the clips of their performances!  They are both too cute for words!!! Hope you enjoy!

My parents have been running their U-cut/We-cut Christmas Tree Farm again this year.  I think this is about the 3rd or 4th year now.  They always recruit help this time of year.  Brad and I and the kids stepped up to help.  We sent out the flyer to the parents at the boys' school as well and offered a donation back to the school for every tree purchased.  John has done this for a couple years with various local schools and it has been a good way to spread the word about the farm.  I once again have made wreaths this year to sell at the farm as well.  I'll give myself a little pat on the back cause I think they look pretty good. :)  Brad helping to load a tree onto of a car. We of course had to pick our tree as well.  We pulled on the rubber boots and trekked out to find a winner.  We spent 2 full weekends helping at the Farm.  Man is it work! The boys had a great time "helping."  They rode the tractor hauling trees out o...

We had a lovely Thanksgiving this year.  We once again went to John's brother's house.  They always host Thanksgiving and my parents host Christmas Eve for the family.  We all had the day off together, which does not happen very often these days.  Brad and I decided to go to mass in the morning.  The kids were all very good during mass and I was super impressed with Brayden knowing what to do and when to do it....guess that catholic schooling is working ;). We had a lazy afternoon and headed to dinner at about 2:30.  It was a feast! Turkey, ham, potatoes, stuffing, my famous cornbread, rolls, green bean casserole, fruit and veggie platters.  Oh man, I am getting hungry again just thinking about it.  It was delish! While I did not take any pics of the food, my sister managed to snap a couple pics of the boys and our family which now makes up over half of the people at Thanksgiving dinner.  Hope you all had a joyous Thanksgiving!

Well folks I have hit a new milestone myself...30! Yep, 3 DECADES as Brad's dear friend Tommy puts it.  I truely feel good hitting this milestone.  I am not upset about getting older, at least not yet ;).  I feel like this year is going to be great! I had been hinting to Brad to see if there was a party planned or some big surprise.  He kept assuring me that he had nothing planned.  First clue.  My family was pretty mum about the whole birthday thing too as we got 2 weeks away no one had really said anything about it. We usually talk about what you want, if we are getting together, and what is going on.  Second Clue.  We made plans to get together on Friday night and Brad said we would do something just the 5 of us on Wednesday, my actual birthday.  He was letting the boys pick what they would like to do.  Third Clue. SURPRISE!!!! He and my family and friends suprised me by planning a party at Big Al's.  It is a bowling...

OK, OK, so it has been since Brock was 6 weeks old since we have done a family picture.  I wanted to do some when Brylee was a baby, but we just never got to it.  This last weekend we finally did! We bought a certificate to Picture People months back.  With the holidays soon arriving I decided to get working on it so that I can actually get Christmas cards out this year.  Yes, I am putting it in writing! There will be a Neeley Newsletter this year.  I scheduled the photos so that nap time would be over and everyone would be perky and at their best.  We arrived on time to the photo store! This deserves a round of applause all on its own. :) I got outfits that coordinated so that our photos would look good.  But as they walked us back to the room, Brylee changed her mind.  She decided she did not like this idea and would not let go of Brad or I.  And when I took her binky away...oh man! There were fits, kicks and down right refusing to take...

Well, it has been one year since my father passed away.  I can hardly believe it.  Time goes by so quickly!  I have had lots of memories floating through my mind of him today.  I also decided to make a trip to the cemetery and take some flowers.  I have not been back there since he was buried a year ago.  I had gone to St.Paul (the town he is buried in and where my grandmother lives) once during the year for the Rodeo, but not get a chance to walk over to the cemetery.  I will say I did alright going out there.  I had all the kids with me.  They did not have school since it also happens to be Veteran's Day.  I did not get emotional.  I was answering a lot of questions from the boys about what a cemetery is, where the people are, how they know their names, and of course the question of where they go after they die.  All valid questions from a 4 and 6 year old.  We went to the spot in the cemetery.  My dad is buried w...

The boys' school had their annual auction recently.  The theme for this year was the Roaring 20's.  Since we are first year parents at the school I decided to jump in as much as I could and help out.  I signed up for to work banking the night of the auction and signed Brad up to work the "Speak Easy" as a Blackjack dealer.  I also signed up to be the Father/Son Laser Tag Coordinator. (This event is coming later ((April)) but I had to do a little prep work at the beginning to get things ready for the auction.  The night of the auction Brad and I dressed up in our 20's garb, sent the kids to my parent's house and headed out for the night.  They encouraged 20's themed dress of course.  I bought a few things off eBay ahead of time to complete our looks.  Brad wore a tux shirt with black suspenders and a black tie.  He also had an arm band and a hat for the "Speak Easy."  He was not feeling well at all that night so we did not get any ...