Neeley Family Blog

We are getting ready to start another adventure here in the Neeley house, Brayden is going to be playing tball this year and Brad and John will be coaching! Brayden has been saying for some time now that he wants to play sports.  He lists about every sport out there as one he wants to play.  I told him one at a time, because I would like to have a little life other than running him (and his brother when that time comes) to sporting adventures.  I can however see that my social life (not that it is much of one anyway) will be slipping away in the distant future to a mom of driving to and from games and practices almost 7 days a week.  Upon signing him up, the tball president asked if I knew anyone that would like to help with coaching or games and events to write that down.  John had said that he would help and I knew that I could help with things at games as well. Fast forward a month later, to her emailing me if we would be interested in coaching....

This Neeley family will once again be walking in the March of Dimes "March for Babies" walk.  At this point it is a little over a month away.  I think my sister and her family, as well as my parents (for the first time ever) said they will be joining us on our walk.  I LOVE IT! It is such a beautiful walk through Downtown Portland.  The people are awesome, all the families that walk are amazing, the entertainment factor is a 10 and the food and music at the end of the walk is great.   Now that we are done having children, I can safely say that I will not have to make another trip into the NICU for any of my children.  2 out of 3 children was more than enough for this momma and let me tell you it does not get easier the second time around.  I have said before, it was very surreal to have Brylee in the NICU after "living" there for 3 months when Brayden was born.  I felt so blessed when Brock was born and we did not have to go through th...

Well, just this morning we hit yet another milestone in the Neeley household.  Though, it is not one I am pleased with or one that I was hoping to see anytime soon.  Two of our family members were in a car accident this morning.  Brad and Brock.  They are OK.  Let me just start by saying that they could have been injured more seriously than what occurred if you were to just look at pictures.  They have bumps and bruises.  "Violet" on the other hand is pretty badly damaged (this is affectionately the name Brad has chosen for his Ford Mustang).  Brad decided to go for a quick run for our morning breakfast- donuts.  Yes, if you know our family very well, this is almost a weekly routine.  We had missed the last couple weekends because of my work schedule, the kids being sick and who knows what else.  Brock wanted to go as well for a ride and Brad said if he hurried to get dressed he could go.  I have not seen the kid get dressed ...

Recently I was given a copy of my father's death certificate.  I have since had many thoughts on this piece of paper now in my possession.  Does this piece of paper make it even MORE real?  Am I suppose to treasure it as an artifact?  Should I carry it around so that when I am having a bad day I can just pull it out to let people know that is my excuse?  My first reaction: I don't want this! I don't need this! It is just so odd to me.  I don't possess hardly any material items from my father, yet now I have this paper that says he is no longer living.  Where does one go from here?  He chose a bad path.  He let himself slip away into alcohol day in and day out.  It is sad and unfortunate.  He once was a great guy, full of energy, knowledgeable in cars, electronics, gardening, horses and a force to be reckoned with when it came to Wild Horse Races.  He lost that all and his family.  You could feel really sorry fo...

I have to say I am soooo over my kids being sick! SERIOUSLY!!! Can we all just be healthy for more than a week at a time!?! This afternoon we made, yet another trip to the pediatrician for Brayden and Brylee to be seen.  Brayden came home with a cough on Tuesday of last week.  That turned into a fever of 102 overnight, then vomit on Thursday with the fever, and by Friday things seemed to be looking better.  I was crossing all my fingers and toes that Brock and Brylee would not get it and on Friday I did not see anything that would show they were developing this illness this time.  Wrong.  Way wrong.  Brylee had coughing too, but she had been coughing since her last round of illness (2 weeks ago) when she had RSV .  Her cough never fully went away.  So here we are 2 weeks later and she develops a fever Saturday when I get home from work.  I give her Tylenol and begin thinking, well here we go.  I gave her lots of juice and finally bro...

We just saw the Imagination Movers !  For those of you without younger kids, they are a group on the Disney Channel that the boys watch almost daily. They sing, dance and solve problems.  They are four guys from New Orleans, that were all affected by Hurricane Katrina.  They have families of their own. The boys saw a commercial for the tour on TV and asked if we could go.  Brad looked up tickets and we still had time before the show came.  They would ask all the time if they were coming yet.  As the date neared, I got an email from Sony that they would be making a personal appearance at the Sony Store in Washington Square Mall (on the other side of town).  I asked the boys if they would like to go get their picture taken with them, and of course it was a yes!  It worked out perfectly to be on a Tuesday, when Brayden does not have school. We arrived at the Mall about 40 minutes early.  The appearance was ...