Neeley Family Blog

Sadly, on Tuesday, December 11th, a man went into my mall at work and opened fire in the Food Court Area.  He killed 2 innocent people, injured another and then killed himself.  There were around 10,000 people in the mall at the time.  I was not working that day.  I was home with the kids when this all happened, but very well could have been there had circumstances changed.  We are short handed at work right now, so I could have been called in that day.  I was also planning to go do some Christmas shopping, but decided I would wait till Brad came home from work to do it instead.  We also had just been there the night before to see Santa (all 5 of us). There were quite a few of my co-workers in the store though. All the stores in the mall went into Lock down.  We close all of our gates and usher all employees and customers to a secure location in the store.  They remained there for over 2 hours before authorities came to say they could lea...

The kids are soooo ready for Christmas!  They started their lists for Santa before Thanksgiving.  They wanted decorations up right after Thanksgiving (I think this is the earliest we have gotten them up before).  Brayden made a chain countdown at school.  Each morning he pulls off one link and is counting down the days till Christmas. We got our tree the first weekend in December.  We of course, went out to my parent's house and picked out our perfect match this year.  The boys also chose a small tree for their room (as they have done the last couple years).  We made a trip to see Santa before he got too busy and left to return to the North Pole. Waiting in line.... And....Brylee wanted no part of sitting on Santa's lap or even getting close to him.     We have added a new family tradition of Elf on a Shelf.  If you have little ones, you really should have an elf.  They are so much fun! You get to name your elf, ...

We just got this years' family pictures done again.  It is always a process making sure everyone is happy, fed, well-dressed and ready to go!  I once again found a Groupon for Picture People.  They have some good deals they run a couple times of year.  They take good pictures, and I love the fact that you can leave with your pictures that day.  They are a little spendy if you just go in and pay regular price. So with that being said, here is the preview of our pictures: Picture People Album And here is the one we selected as the winner: Enjoy and until next year! :)

My birthday fell on a Friday this year. I wanted to take the opportunity to get out for a bit with my hubby and some friends. I asked my parents to watch the kiddos and started working up plans. Brad was great and just let me pick out my festivities. I chose going to happy hour at Huber's. this is the restaurant that catered our wedding reception. And to be honest I had never been in the actual restaurant. They have amazing food though! The happy hour was great too! Super cheap and large selection of foods. I highly recommend them!!!!! After our "happy hour" dinner, we headed to Harvey's Comedy Club. And after the crazy week I had, a good laugh was in order.  Dante was the main comedian at the show. I had never heard of him, but he has worked with Robin Williams, Jamie Foxx, and several SNL folks. I mean how can you go wrong? Even if they are bad, you are guaranteed to laugh a little, right!?! Dante was funny! Super funny actually! Brad and I enjoyed a littl...

Halloween is definitely one of the favorite holidays around the Neeley house.  The kids enjoy everything about it (I mean what kid wouldn't!?!)! They started talking costumes at the end of August.  We made final decisions at the end of September and then went shopping in early October.  They each chose their costume on their own.  I took them to Krispy Kreme for their free donut. I set out decorations at the end of September as well.  I even got to put a few dried corn stalks from the garden to use at the front of the house!  We made a couple yummy Halloween desserts too...a Halloween Trifle and Worms and Dirt. :) We ventured to the back yard to pick our pumpkins. ;)  We did not get them carved until a couple days before Halloween, but hey who is paying attention to that!?! The kids picked their own designs for their pumpkins.  Then they helped pick designs for Brad and I to carve on our pumpkins.  They dressed in ...

I have for two years now been wanting to change the curtains in the house.  They have been non-existent in the family room.  They have been older lace white/cream curtains that I believe were John's mother's.  They are not terrible, just not me.  But this project is one that just falls behind the large and ever changing list of things to do around here.  I'm sure you all know what I mean. So I recently found a Groupon deal for some curtains and went for it.  It really was a good deal that would provide me with curtains for the dining room and the family room.  I checked reviews, as well as the discussion boards to gather enough info to make my decision. When the curtains arrived, they looked great and as I imagined, except for....wait for it....yep, not light-blocking as promised. :(  They were pretty sheer in all reality.  I was bummed!  I thought on it for a couple days, conferred with Brad and decided I would keep them if I could ...

We have been in full garden production, here at Chez Neeley.  Our first year garden has produced lettuce almost the whole summer (I had to buy a little the last couple weeks of summer), tomatoes galore, green beans, corn ( I think we got about 15-20 ears), strawberries and of course pumpkins. In the last couple weeks I have begun to trim things back and get it ready for fall.  I would say it was well worth the effort to put it in the yard.  As a first year gardener, I have been pleased with the production and the amount of time I had to tend to it in order to see results.  Most of the plants did not need my help.  The majority of my time was spent watering a few times a week to ensure we did not dry out anything. :) Here are the last pictures of the season: And here are a few of our pumpkins: We are looking forward to carving them at Halloween! This will be the first year we will not need to go to a pumpkin patch! Here is hoping that we c...

Just wanted you all to meet our newest family member, Raven.  She joins our automobile family.  She is Bradley's new vehicle.  And you may say, "wait a minute, didn't Brad get a new car about a year ago?" Why yes, yes he did.  But the BMW has come and gone quickly in our ownership.  It had a little accident as well, and let's just leave it at the BMW lost.  So onto our new member, Raven.  Here are a couple pictures of her.   It took a long time to find the right car, at the right price, with all of Brionna's (and some of Brad's) requirements.  Literally, a few months! So in the mean time, we were grateful to be able to use a rental car for a couple weeks, then borrow my parent's truck.  Yep, the good ole' truck! It has been my fall-back vehicle and I have been thankful to be able to use it, but let's hope I don't/won't need to anytime in the future (unless it is to haul my new bed ;)).  I am a happy girl to have my c...

Brayden decided he wanted to play soccer again this Fall.  He really enjoyed it last year and wanted to pursue his soccer skills! Brock is still a little too young (though I might have been able to get him on the team) and he said he did not want to play soccer right now.  This seemed totally off for Brad and myself, considering how much Brock LOVES to kick a soccer ball in the back yard.  Anyhow, we decided to let him decide when and what sports he would like to play. Brayden's team consists of a couple kids from school and his class even.  Three of the boys have been on our T-ball teams in the past two years.  So this made Brayden feel comfortable right away. Brayden's team also voted and chose their name.  The kids all brought ideas for their team name and then they narrowed them down with a vote.  Brayden was super excited to have his name suggestion chosen for the team name- "Quack Attack!" I thought I would share a few "action s...

In asking the boys what they would like to do for their birthdays, they both wanted a party. Great! I thought.  Well, turns out Brayden wanted his party at one of our favorite places, JJ JUMP and Brock wanted his party at the Bowling Alley.  OK, I took some time to think about 2 birthday parties 5 days apart with similar friends, family and the costs associated with doing 2 location-oriented parties.  And my conclusion...not very economical or practical at this point. So, I went for game plan number 2 and started putting plans and ideas in their heads. ;) I asked if they would like a bounce house? The reply was yes!!!  I asked if they would like certain people to be there? They gave me similar lists of friends and family.  I gave them the option of being able to go to the places they chose above on their actual birthdays and they were intrigued.  So our new plan came into form: joint party with the all the family and friends they had chosen, at G...

Okay so it is time for Brayden and Brock's birthdays.  Remember that post here , where I made a cake for the DiFrancisco's birthday party.  Yeah, well that was a trial cake to see if I would be able to put a cake together for the boys' birthdays. On Brylee's last birthday I had an epic fail with paying faaaaarrrrr toooooo much for a cake! Don't ask cause Brad still reminds me of it till this day and probably will for many years to come.  I thought to redeem myself I would attempt to bake and decorate the cakes myself for the next few years. :) So, I started by asking the boys what they would like on their cake.  The response from Brock was very casual and he simply stated he would like a Cars 2 cake, more specifically Finn McMissile ( he is a new main character that is a Spy).  He didn't give anymore details than that.  Okay, I could run with this as I immediately took to Pinterest and started scouring for cakes and ideas (LOVE Pinterest!). When ...

So we have hinted a couple times that we would be taking a trip at the end of summer and we finally got it all mapped out! Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu, Hawaii!!!!!!  We were brainstorming ideas of locations for the next Brotha's ball (aka. a family trip with Brad's brother Eric, his wife Jenn and our niece Audrey) and I believe Eric mentioned Hawaii, we all jumped on board of course- who wouldn't want the hard decision of pool or beach!?!  This is the largest post I have ever done and the videos are also posted to our YouTube Channel.  Jenn also did an amazing post on our trip for their blog and you can see it here .  So grab a beverage, snack and make sure you are ready for loads of pictures as we explore the Oahu Brotha's Ball. :) Jenn and I did most of the planning.  The Brotha's had their input in things that were a must for them as well.  After careful research, modifications, mapping, re-mapping, review reading and Groupon/Liv...