Neeley Family Blog

I finally had the chance to make a cake for a friend.  Her younger son was turning 5 and wanted a Pirate themed cake to go with his party.  I asked him for details of what kind of cake he would want and went to work gathering ideas from Pinterest. I will admit this was hard and more stressful on me because I wanted it to turn out so well! It started out super well!  I had shape ideas from Pinterest and another blog I found about how to create the ship. I also ordered and went on a hunt for Pirate of the Caribbean figures (turns out these are much harder to find these days since the movies are a bit older now!) Here are the some of the steps: base of the cake- chocolate as requested. :)  Cupcakes to go with...fishes included to look like the sea.  The boat constructed and frosted.  A few more details  And the final product!   Now the boat started to shift (I apparently did not get the cake pieces level enough) and...

Merry Christmas! Today is the day we have been waiting for.  All the preparations, baking, wrapping, cards, get togethers, and so on come to today.  We stay in our jammies opening presents, eating and playing with our new things until we go do it all over again at my parent's house. :) Here is the start to our day, each one sitting next to their pile of presents:   And all the kids at my parent's house: We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and joyous times with your loved ones!

We took a trip to a local Christmas Landmark- Peacock Lane.  It is in Portland.  Every house on the lane decorates with Christmas lights.  Several do amazing things! I had not been since I was younger.  I had wanted to take the kids in the past couple years, but we just did not make it. We had a clear, dry night and took advantage. :)

We recently did a fundraiser at Brayden's school.  A local Tae Kwon Do offered to give 4 weeks of classes, with a graduation party at the end for any students in the school that wanted to sign up.  They had the student pay $20, all of which the PTA got to keep! Pretty easy and awesome! I signed up both the boys to give it a try. They really enjoyed it! It was twice a week for two weeks.  They would ask me each night if it was Tae Kwon Do night or not.  Brock especially. At their graduation, they got to show off all their skills they had learned and break boards! Yep, break boards! Check it out!!!   It was such a great experience.  Tae Kwon Do teaches respect, confidence and strength.  We haven't made the decision yet to sign either one of the boys up yet.  They both would like to, but I am not sure they understand the commitment it takes and that they would probably not be able to participate in other sports as well.  So we ar...

Brayden worked for several weeks on his songs for the Winter concert.  He practiced at home and was happy to give us a preview every so often of what his big night would be like. It was a pretty packed house by the time we got there, so I could not get as close of seats as I would have liked.  So please don't judge the photos.  I did what I could. Brayden is in the middle under the boy in the blue shirt. He has a grey plaid sweater on.    Brayden even was picked to play an instrument that night for one of their performances.  He did an excellent job!       The kids invested lots of hard work and it turned out really well.  The music teacher Mr. Noyes is really great at creating a whole performance with the kids. 

Our friendly, mischievous elf, Clover has returned!!! He made his appearance on the 1st of December.  We had been having some discussions about when he might return.  The kids were wanting to start giving him Christmas present wishes.  Clover listens to the kids tell them their wants for Christmas.  He also watches their every move so he can fly off each night back to the North Pole and report to Santa.  He uses magic.  So the kids cannot touch him or he may lose that magic and not be able to get to Santa.  When he returns the next morning he is in a new spot and sometimes is getting in trouble himself! He doesn't always set the best example that little elf. Anyway, he flies back with Santa on Christmas Eve and does not return until the next year.  So here are a few looks at what we found Clover doing during some of his time here with us. :) If you don't have an elf, you should think about adopting ...

For the second year in a row since we have lived here, the Operation Santa Claus comes thru the neighborhood.  They come to collect canned goods, toys and money to help local families in need.  The fire trucks come through and Santa waves from one of the old fire trucks! How cool is that, huh!?! It was a super cold night, but we were able to make it again this year. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure :). We donated a bag of goods and the kids got candy canes from Santa's helpers.  It feels good to help some others during the holiday season and we enjoy the bonus of seeing Santa another time! :)

You may have wondered with the title, did Brionna get some nice new earrings? Nope. Brylee got her ears pierced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had talked about doing this when she was 2, but Brad was hesitant and wanted to wait till she could decide for herself if she wanted them pierced.  I thought it would be better to do it earlier so she would not remember as much of it. A couple of weeks ago, she started asking to have "sparkles" in her ears like mine.  She had noticed my earring and kept mentioning she wanted some like momma's.  I told her to ask her daddy about that.  Well, she finally did and he was super surprised. We discussed it and said maybe we would do it in the next couple weeks. I totally jumped at the chance and took Brylee when she was home with me a few days later!! She was really good about it.  She picked out the earrings she wanted.  She sat in the chair like a big girl.  The lady working there even said maybe I should sit with...

You know Christmas is coming when you have to start helping out on the Kraus Tree Farm! We usually are out at my parents house for a couple weekends to help with their tree farm.  This year they are only doing two weekends and mostly it is people that they know that come out to get trees.  Lots of friends and family and a few people that just happen to come across their property. I make wreaths to sell out there too.  There is always hot cocoa by the fire pit and lots of conversation, tractor rides and of course tree cutting! Here's hoping your holiday season is merry and jolly!!!

Each student in Brock's class, takes turns leading calendar time for a couple days.  When it was Brock's turn, he requested that I come watch him.  I made it in a minute or so late, but here he is. Warning: it has counting till 40 something! :) I am so proud of him!!! He is really getting into his own comfort at school.  Not to mention the counting in Spanish!

Brylee and I were once again able to go on a field trip, but this time with Brayden and his class.  We even got to ride the bus there with them! This totally brought me back to my school days.  Brylee was super excited to ride the bus like a big girl! They sat in a seat with Brayden's friend Grant. The short bus ride ended quickly and we were off exploring the facility and the trucks.  The firemen gave us lots of details about the truck and what kind of equipment was on it.  They showed us around the firehouse, including sleeping quarters, kitchen and the pole they use in emergencies. We couldn't try it out though! :( The kids then got to go through the trucks and check out the controls, seats and all the gear. The kids got to ask questions and got a demonstration of what a fireman looks like when he has all his gear on and has to come rescue someone.  They reassured the kids that they are there to help them in a case of an emergency. Super imp...

We just got our annual family pictures done again.  We have been going to Picture People for the last couple years now.  They do pretty well at getting us a decent picture. This year it was harder to choose which one we liked.  But here is our family picture we chose: And then I chose one of the just the kids too (I have not had a professional picture of the 3 of them yet that I liked enough to purchase): Here is a link to the rest of our pictures for your viewing pleasure. :) Picture People Album Nov. 2013

My how sometimes it feels longer and yet at the same time, feels like he is still here. November 11th marked 3 years since my dad pasted away.  Since it is only a few days before my birthday I sometimes think that I will still get that early morning call saying "Happy Birthday!" The call that sometimes (OK many times) ignored over the years.  I would let it go to voice mail and listen later.  There were many years there, where I did not want to have that same conversation of, "how are ya Bugs (that is my nickname he called me)?", and the "what's new?", and the other questions that were like we were just getting to know each other.  But today I feel some regret for not picking up all those calls.  I know you cannot go back, but I just think man I should have humored him and picked up the call.  I think about how things could have been so different with him and I.  How different my life could have been if some of his choices had been different. ...

Well this late Fall, early Winter has been a busy time for me in the craft department. I signed up to help Brock's class do their auction art project.  Thank goodness I enlisted the help of a couple other moms in the class, cause one is super talented and painted a good portion of the project! We gathered some ideas from Pinterest and put our heads together to come up with this: Each leaf is hand-painted by one of the students in Brock's Kindergarten class. The mom painted the background...she is an artist and does some paintings to sell.  Another mom cut out the leaf shapes from the kids painted pieces of cloth and I sewed them onto the canvas.  We also used the kids finger prints at the bottom to create flowers and I wrote their names next to each stem.  I think it went for over $800 at the auction! Not bad. :) I also made this diaper cake for one of the teachers at Brayden's school who was going on maternity leave.  I bought supplies at Target an...