We had a great Christmas this year...just take a look for yourself!
Travis and Mom came to visit for Christmas this year!
Abe made out the best with all of his gifts including books, puzzles, toys, and Pottery Barn chair! As always he was the life of the party! I hope you all had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS! now I am off to set my goals for 2010! This year will definitely be life changing for the Kelso Klan!
Not Me! Monday is a blog carnival started by MckMama; a way to admit our faults while not admitting anything. Click the link above or the box below to see everyone else's non-confessions.
This week, I did NOT eat an entire can of Pringles by myself in one day, that would be completely un-healthy and a very irresponsible thing to do for my growing baby!
While stopping a Target for just 'a few things', I did NOT see a co-worker and her spouse and make a complete u-turn and head out the door as fast as I could. I would NOT avoid someone I know simply because I was embarrassed by the way I look. Furthermore, I would NOT go to the store looking like a hot mess in black sweats and brown purse and NO makeup! I am much more put together then that!
Finally, I am NOT looking forward to seeing my family this week and picking up my brother from the airport tonight. I am NOT anticipating a great week with some great food!
Robert Rogers visited our church today and spoke with a profound message of hope. Watch his story on the you tube video below and keep the tissues nearby!
"Out of every great test comes great testimony!" What an amazing way to look at life! Lamentations 3:19-21 says, "The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time,as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this."
Throughout the hardship and difficulties Robert Rogers faced and as he portrayed them to the audience he kept referencing 1 Corinthians 7:17 which says, "Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you..." no matter where life finds us, GOD wants us to ask NOT how can I get out of this BUT WHAT can I get out of this?
In the deepest and darkest of troubles God does not abandoned us Isaiah 43:2 says, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown..." But we can rejoice when we go through suffering because Psalm 71:20-21 says, "You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again."
Robert Rogers lost his entire family in a matter of seconds, but he has taken that loss and turned it around to glorify GOD! He is now in the process of sponsoring 5 orphanages in honor of his 4 children and wife that he lost! He has a great book called :
Into the Deep that recounts in detail the trials and difficulties he has faced and overcome. Because God is merciful and full of love, Robert is now remarried and has 2 children, and a 3rd child (his new wife recently miscarried) is now in heaven with his other children! God is STILL good!
Here are some photos of our recent adventures this fall: in the beginning of October we went apple and pumpkin picking with some great friends
My friend Charity and I (she will be leaving me in January and I am already sad just thinking about it)
As a tribute to fall here is my favorite tree from the neighborhood. The leaves were both red and yellow it was so beautiful! and good thing I had Pat snap the picture from the car because the next day the wind blew all the leaves off!
My mom came to visit a few weekends ago, so Abe, DJ and Lindsey came up for a visit. Unfortunately when babies are involved they seem to get all the photos taken of them :)
My favorite picture of Abe from the weekend!
On beggars night, we dressed up the kitty's and here are the results of our attempts to capture their costumes...Diego was Super cat and he strutted around all night like he was king of the castle
Cleveland didn't like his costume and it had to be put on 20 times that night! It says "Bite me" on the back with a gingerbread man missing a leg :)
My cooky pumpkin
And Patrick's annual pumpkin. The kids get a kick out of his pumpkin and their reactions are priceless!
So I know this is super exciting and I obviously have little else to talk about so I will again blog about the upcoming meals I plan to make this week :)and hopefully soon will upload pictures of fall festivities!
Monday: Chicken Teriyaki stir-fry
Tuesday: BLT sandwiches
Wednesday: Baked chicken with stuffing and green beans
Thursday: Pork chops with rice
Friday: Spagetti with tossed salad and rolls
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner
Sunday: Chicken and dumplings with Ted and Charity
So in an effort to conserve money I have decided to start planning out our meals. I feel that I will stick to it more closely if I write it down. So if anyone cares what we are eating this week here it is:
Monday: grilled cheese (Pat is working til 11:30 pm and I am too lazy to cook a meal for just one person)
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Parmesan chicken with stuffing and corn
Thursday: Pork chops with acorn squash (Beggar's night)
Friday: Pizza and french fries
Saturday: White chicken chili (if I can find a good recipe) along with other Halloween treats for our spooktacular party
Sunday: dinner with Charity and Ted (and I believe Charity is cooking! YAY!)
May you all be inspired by our delicious food choices! Have a great week!
So We are PREGNANT!!!! Baby Kelso is due May 5th 2010 and we are so excited! Baby and mom have been doing well. I have only gotten sick once (sorry Heather and Jordyn) so far but I have been very exhausted ALL the time! and for those of you who know me well know that I NEED my sleep! So I have been taking lots of naps. and the best part...I don't have to clean the litter box until May! YAY! So we were able to get a few of the reaction on video from when we told our families! Enjoy and I will keep you posted as we find out more. Here is a picture of our little jellybean:
I couldn't get Pam and Jared's reaction video to upload so I will try again later.
We made a trip to NJ to celebrate with Pam and Jared who tied the knot on September 5th 2009. We didn't get alot of good pics (but her photographer was amazing!) but here are a few pics that we did get:
It was such a beautiful wedding and everything turned out wonderfully and Pamela was so beautiful! And to top it all off they went on a cruise through the Greek Isles and Italy! So jealous!
So I have been a blog slacker lately. Life has been very busy with lots of changes and things going on the past couple of weeks. I had the privelage of going to Chicago a few weekend's ago with my OT friend Jordyn to viist our OT friend Heather. It was a great trip and so great to catch up with the girls! Here are a few picks from the trip:
And last weekend we went to Athens Ohio to visit DJ, Lindsey, and Abe. We had a blast visiting with them, ate some great food and got in some snuggle time with Abe. Abe was hilarious. Pat had allergies and his nose was all stuffed up so he was sniffling alot. Every time Pat would sniffle Abe would stop what he was doing and turn his head right to Pat with a like that said 'What was that? I've never heard that before?" It was so funny and he would do it everytime! Here are a few pics of our visit with Abe:
So it has been awhile since my last post...let me see if I can recap the highlights. A few weekends ago we drove to NJ for a VERY quick weekend trip to celebrate with Pam at her bridal shower. We drove out on Friday after work and drove back Sunday morning, we spent more time on the road then time we spent in NJ! The weekend after that, the family came out for DJ's whitecoat ceremony at OU. It is an induction ceremony for the school of osteopathic medicine where the first years students receive their coveted white coats. We spent the weekend in a cabin in Hocking Hills. I made a fire all by myself! and enjoyed smores, the hottub, hiking at old man's cave, swimming, playing games, and hanging out with Abe! Abe's new best friend is Patrick. This is rather ironic since before Abe came along, Patrick never held a child unneccessarily, fed, or changed a diaper, but thankfully Abe has changed all of that! It was too funny because anytime Patrick would make a face or say something to Abe, Abe would crack up laughing! Speaking of Abe, DJ, Lindz, and Abe came to visit and stay with us this past weekend. It was such a treat to spend so much time with Abe. He is almost 4 months now and is laughing up a storm and his personality is starting to show through! In other news, last night I was inducted as a new member into the ALMC which stands for the Assistance League of Metro Colmbus. It is an not-for-profit organization that seeks out unmet needs of Columbus and develops ways to meet those needs. I am really excited to be a part of this organization and look forward to donating my time and resources to help those in needs. There are many different programs including, hygiene kits, kids kits, and birthday kits for women and children living in local shelters, tutoring, reading, dental program, PALS (providing for needs at assisted living facility), assault survivor kits, and many more programs. It is a great way to reach out and meet the needs of the community. If any of you are interested in joining Let me know! Now we are gearing up for another trip to NJ over labor day weekend for Pamela and Jared's wedding! We are flying this time! and as for work we are SUPER slow, so much so that I only have to work 1-2 hours tomorrow, with the rest of the day to myself! Yay! I have been started taking more pictures with my 35mm camera so as soon as I get them developed I will post more. But for now, I will leave with a pic of Abe in his new Pumpkin hat that Aunt Stacey and Uncle Pat got him!
Well for those of you that follow my blog (I don't know if there actually are any!) you know it has been awhile since I updated. Life has been busy, full of lots of summer fun! Two weeks ago we went to Nashville TN for the weekend! It was so much fun! We went to the Wildhorse Saloon, visited the Gaylord Opryland Resort and saw Carrie Underwood at the Grand Ole Opry!!! I had a blast and Patrick even enjoyed himself! Nashville makes country music so cool! :) I recommend everyone should visit this town! Here are some pics from our road trip...
At the Wildhorse Saloon!!!
At the Gaylord Opryland Resort
They had tons of vegetation inside the resort and even a boat ride inside!
And we saw Montgomery Gentry bus in Kentucky on the way back!
More recently, this past weekend, we started off by going to the Dublin Irish Festival. We met up with some firends form work who entertained us with their version of an irish jig which actually ended up looking more like a russian robot dance. It was hilarious! On Saturday we went to a BBQ for some friends who just moved to a new apt. And Sunday we went to the Ohio State Fair! We started off the afternoon with a hot dog, a cheese steak and a sweet tea. Then we headed to see all of the animals including the pot-belly pig races (which were totally worth the wait!). Then we had cheese on a stick and more sweet tea. After which Charity (my neighbor friend) and I decided to ride some of the fair rides. you know the spinny ones that seem like they are going to break at any moment since they just arrived off a trailer! Yeah those ones. So we start by going on the Fireball, the viper and the tilt-a-whirl...no big deal. We had enough tickets for one more ride and we let Ted chose the ride....so he choses Zipper. The one where they lock into a cage and you go around in a circle flipping over and over in your cage! The whole time I am flipping around trying not regurgitate my cheese stick thinking this is almost over and the ride stops while we are at the bottom. I am thinking at this point "OK I can handle that, now get me out of here!" and just when I think the ride is over we start up again and go through the whole all over again! This happens a total of three times! (all b/c people were screaming bloody murder and the ride attendants were letting them off!) I seriously thought I was going to die or vomit or BOTH! and in the mean time all the change fell out of my pocket and was tossing around in the cage! It was terrible! I should have noticed the vomit piles around the ride before I got on! WARNING: DO NOT RIDE THE ZIPPER!!!!
After I recovered from that ride we had funnel cake, fried snickers, and more sweet tea! All in all it was a great weekend with some great friends and only a few thousand calories!!
Recap since my last post: All of our visitors have come and gone. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me. My mom came out to help my brother and sister-in-law move to Athens almost 3 weeks ago! I still look out my window to see if they are home so I can play with Abe, but alas they are no longer there and that makes me sad :( My younger brother also moved out and headed back home to NJ (tear). I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with him! what an adjustment it has been to go from having people around all the time to being alone all the time. Very weird! After they left my mom-in-law came and stayed with us for a week to celebrate the fourth of July! We had lots of fun....
We started off the holiday by going to Red, White, and BOOM! since I work downtown we got tickets to go up to the deck of my building to watch the fireworks! It was such an Awesome view!
On the 4th, DJ, Lindz, Abe, and Brad joined us for a cookout and some cornhole! and we helped Abe be patriotic for his first fourth of July! my mom-in-law bought this hat at Red,White,and Boom (One of the residents called her Lady Liberty...the balls light up too! too funny!)
Then on Sunday we went to the zoo to meet the new baby elephant! we barely caught a glimpse, he was so popular!
And then we went on a boat ride and saw exactly ZERO animals with a 30 min wait time! So after the boat ride we had to walk around and see all the animals we were supposed to see on the ride! ugh! but all in all it was a great day with great weather to boot!
Now we are settling back into the swing of normal life and trying to make the most of every day with all the beautiful sunshine!
So funny story.... I started golf lessons tonight with some friends at work. Now I just want to say up front that am not familiar with the game of golf and I don't pretend to know what I am doing on a golf course, so I arrive at the course and go into the club shop to sign in (key point: while carrying my golf bag). The lady at the desk says, "please leave your golf bag outside on the bag racks." So, being completely embarrassed for not knowing that, I turned toward the door and whack a stand of merchandise with my bag. My face turned beat red and I got out of there as quickly as possible without looking back, totally embarrassed! So FYI, you should never bring your clubs into the golf shop. :) Lesson learned.
Yesterday was a great day. We drove up to Detroit Michigan for the Red Bull Air Race. It was a 3.5 hour drive and we left around 8:00am. The air races started at 2pm with some side shows ahead of time. Let me just say, Detroit is not a place that I plan on visiting again (sorry to those of you from Detroit)I can't tell you how many abandoned buildings that were in that city it was like a ghost town, kinda eerie. And to top it all off, Bonnie, our GPS system was unable to identify some of the roads we were on making our travels very interesting to say the least. But despite the location, the air race was really awesome! Our road trip friend, Brad came with us and provided us with endless entertainment. Here are some photos from our trip:
Patrick after he had some red bull
The pylons that they have to race through on the Detroit River with Windsor Ontario on the other side of the river
A plane flying vertical through the pylons. They get a 2 second penalty for not being at the right angle going through the pylons.
this is my favorite shot with Caesar's Palace in the background. Maybe next year we can stay there! :)
Group shot with our red bull drinks!
In other news, next month is going to be crazy busy! Travis will be heading back to NJ on Friday, and my dad will be arriving from NJ on Friday to stay the weekend. the following weekend, my mom will be in town to help my brother and sister-in-law move to Athens, and as soon as she heads home my mother-in-law will be joining us for a week to celebrate the fourth of July! whew, I am exhausted just thinking about it all, but it will be great to see everyone! And in addition to that I am doing a 6 week Beth Moore bible study at church on Wednesdays, taking golf lessons on Thursday with some girls from work, and work my other OT job every day this week! All I have to say to that is......BRING IT ON! And now I am going to enjoy some steaks that my husband has grilled up for us and maybe even have some graeter's ice cream! Hope you all are enjoying what is left of your weekend!
