EKjourney Backup

We went to this waterfall in Silver Falls State Park with a friend and his family that Phil met through the technology grant that he worked on this past school year. Poor Sawyer had an accident on a trampoline. He was running across it and hit right between his mouth and nose. It split his lip and got a bloody nose. It bled quite a bit and it still swollen. These pictures are the milder ones.

Scroll down to see 4 postings of pictures. We can only post 4 at a time so I have to create a new entry with every 4 pictures. My embarrassing moment...To set the stage, my MIL phone number has 666 in it. I frequently answer the phone by saying, "Yes, Satan?" or something to that affect when I see her number pop up on the caller ID. Just to clarify, I don't think my MIL is the devil! (Hi Tracy!) Anyway, the phone rings and I see the number 666 pop up so I answer the phone, "Yes, Satan?" The other end of the line is dead silent. Finally, a small voice says, "is Phillip Kelly there?" I hand the phone off to him in hysterics. It was a solicitor from a bank!! Evangeline's first solid poop. Now, you may be wondering why I would post about this. It is quite a funny story! So...Evie started eating solid food (yams) 3 days ago and hadn't pooped yet. Phil was changing her after her nap and low and behold, stinky yam poop! He changed her an...

My mom gave me some shade plants so I had to create another garden! I just finished planting these ferns the other day. This is the start to the hillside garden. You can see how steep it is. We will be working on retaining it with more big rocks. Lower down are two beautiful jasmine framing the little deck. This is the hillside as seen from the other side. I love this picture. This shows the fence that Phil built to keep kids safe. On top of the wall we have between 4 and 6 feet of width in which to plant our veggie garden. You can see all the rock down below waiting for its place on the hillside.

This is the front of the house, it is the new location of the tropical garden. All these plants will be moved to a new bed we are preparing on the side of our driveway. This was once 2 rhodies and a rose. This is the front garden and grape trellis. When we moved here there was a small round bed with a maple tree. A retaining wall once covered with ivy became this raised bed. We planted these bamboo to block out the neighbor's swimming pool a couple of years back and I finished planting the rest of the bed early this spring.

Getting along! Still getting along!! A rare family photo Lovin' those strawberries!!

Phil is working on framing doors today. I am SO lucky to have such a handy husband. He can do ANYTHING around the house and can earn extra money here and there doing odd jobs for friends, family, and co-workers. Allergy season has come on with a vengeance! Phil has been quite miserable. He is really congested and sneezes constantly. He has homeopathic allergy drops but they barely take the edge off. We were forced to get him some over the counter allergy drugs to give him some relief. He does ok if he is inside and the doors and windows are shut. Jubilee has been wearing big girl underpants! She has gone two days with only one accident. We have been outside so much that she just squatty potties in the grass (with help of course). She saves poop for her nap time diaper so we will have to see how that goes. Sawyer was up all night with a terrible cough and possible ear infections. (All the kids have been coughing). I went to the store at 10:00 l...

We have been busy busy busy in the yard this past week!!! We rented a trailer and hauled rock, top soil, and horse manure. We cut in a new shade bed against the house and bordered it with rock. We tilled the space above the retaining wall to make ready for fall veggies. Phil worked on building the fence on the wall while I planted a bunch of things that my mom gave me. I mulched the upper hillside garden and am hoping to get the shade garden planted as well as a few things in around the new patio garden tomorrow. Then it is veggie planting time and putting rock on the hillside for retaining purposes. I picked 4 pints of strawberries and 2 pints of raspberries yesterday. YUM!! That is at least 15 dollars worth of berries if you were to find them in the organic section of the grocery store. We are hoping to go strawberry picking at Olson’s orchards this week. I want to make jam, freeze a bunch for milkshakes, and maybe dry some in the food dryer. I think Jub...

How to read advice…I have read a lot of materials by different authors on the subject of marriage and parenting that have somewhat offended my sensibilities but also challenged my thinking. I like reading with the goal being what wisdom can I take away and apply to my life. I want advice from someone who is confident AND successful in their approaches and bases everything on the Bible. Some people respond better to a soft, gentle writing style and others enjoy a “2X4” approach. I personally like things sugar coated because it makes me feel better than someone bluntly pointing out my faults and calling me on it. Honestly, the latter makes me feel defensive initially, but then prompts me to want to change things because I feel convicted. Sugar coating doesn’t do that for me. Controlling your emotions and modeling through our mistakes…here is an excerpt from Elizabeth ’s book which is interesting and definitely something that I am “chewing on”: We are under a divine ...

Phil finished up his last day of school on Friday. He got home at 3:30. Both kids were still down for their naps. I gave him a great big hug and said, "Are you ready to start your vacation!? From Jubilee's bedroom we hear her holler, "Daddy, my have poop!" I guess Mommy is on vacation, too! Good and Naughty... One of Sawyer's favorite books is a children's encyclopedia. He found a page on beetles that shows two stag beetles (the ones that have pinchers/mandibles as big as their body). One beetle has the other grasped around the "belly" (thorax if you want to be scientific) and lifted high in the air. Here is what Sawyer had to say about it: "Look, Mommy!!". "Good bug and naughty bug". "Naughty bug bite me, good bug no bite me". "Good bug throw naughty bug." Last night Phil and I were sitting on the couch and all the kids were in bed (for those who don't know, they are in separate rooms). We hea...

I am excited to start some posts based on communication with family members. I have had the benefit of research and study over the past two years and Phil and I have made decisions that not every one understands. I am glad that my family is open to asking questions and I love the opportunity to share what I have learned. I want to precept my posts with the following statement: Many of my ideas are my ideals and hopefuls. I am working hard to make the changes that I need to make to be the kind of wife and mother the Lord has called me to be. This has been a long process and I have wrestled through many things and changed my mind on many topics. I am a work in progress!! This all started with emails to a close friend (hi Michelle). I asked her the tough questions about why she was raising her children the way she was raising them and she answered. She introduced me to resources that I could check out for myself – the Woodshed website and forum, No Greater Joy ...