Won't you join me

Tomorrow is Oct. 1st. I am not too sure how it got to be October already, but that is neither here nor there.

To me fall starts in October with our county fair, the pumpkin show, hayrides, fall festivals, caramel apples, apple cider, you get the picture.

So in honor of fall, I am going to feature a fall picture each day, here on my blog. If you have a fall picture you would like me to include, feel free to email it to me @ closetohomeblog@gmail.com .

It can be anything fall related. (ie. your home decore, a picture you found on the web and like, your children in the leaves, or painting/carving pumpkins, etc)

I look forward to seeing your pictures. Please include your name and if you have a blog, your blog addy, so I can link it to the picture.

THANKS in advance for playing along.

Look what I got today...

Thank you so much to Monica, over at life on the hilltop for this honor. As you know I am new to the blogging world, so it means a lot to me that Monica thought enough of me (and my blog) to pass this award along to me. I have known Monica for a couple of years from a playgroup we were in when our boys were just babies. (times flies, they are now three) She moved away and we have kept in touch here and there and I am so excited to get to see her (in person along with her little guy) this Thanksgiving weekend. I can not wait. OK, now to pass the award along... I have thought about this all day and I just keep going back to the same lady. So, He & Me + 3 , will you please accept this token from me? I so enjoy reading your blog each day. You make me smile and laugh each day. I am in awe of you and all you do with three young'ns. Not to mention I love your blog name. (I am a huge Jon & Kate fan) I look forward to getting to know you and your family better through the blogging world. HUGS to you.

What is this shelf for?

This is what CJ did with his clothes that he took off when getting ready for his bath. Earlier in the day I had dug this shelf out for PJ to hang in the bathroom. It was just sitting there, so I guess he thought that his clothes belonged on the pegs. AHHH...the mind of a three year old.

A day of pictures

Today has been a lazy day. We got up this morning and went to church. We came home, I fixed lunch and had a list of things I wanted to get out and do, but I was so tired. So instead I laid down on the couch while hubby watch football and CJ played in his playroom and I fell asleep. I woke up three hours later!!! ??? WoW, I guess I need that. So clearly there is not much to blog about, so I decided to share with you a few pictures that always bring a smile to my face. Of course they are all of CJ, because once you have a child, you seldom take pictures of anything or anyone else.

CJ checking his "knee mail". I think it is so cute he calls it "knee mail" cheesin it up. (if memory serves he spilled water all over him before this)

don't you just love the upside down goggles? (i do) this was taken at AHA. (A Hands on Adventure) We LOVE this place.

CJ being a potato head

this looks like such a genuine smile and picture, it is definately one of my faves.

I hope you enjoyed and stop back soon!

The Public Library

I am starting to question why I even bother going there. I came across a new author that I wanted to check out, so off to our public library I went. As usual they do not have any of her books. They do not carry her at all. I had done my research before going to the library, she is a popular author. Our library is not small, it is a big library. No reason for them to not carry her. UGH! This is not the first time I have not been able to find an author or a book that I want. I usually end up trying to find them on ebay, bc we do not have a decent book store here either. On the up side, they do have a nice childrens floor with a lot of good books, dvds, cds, & games for the kids. As well as offering story time, sometimes with characters and activities. I guess it is a trade off and one I am OK with, I guess. It is more important for the kids to have the library as a resource then it is for me.

My Little Fireman is all set now

Halloween is coming up and while it is far from my type of Holiday, I feel that it is a fun part of being a child to get to dress up and go door to door and get some goodies.

We (the boy and I) decided a few months back that he would be a fireman. This after all is his favorite thing. We here all day and night..."woo woo woo". (his version of a fire trucks siren)

So today we went shopping for his costume. We go into the store filled with hundreds of different costumes. And now my son wants to be spiderman, Thomas the Train and many others he saw. Some how we were able to convince him that he would indeed rather be a fireman.

We bought the fireman costume and I came home and ordered him the coolest backpack. It looks like an the oxygen tanks the firemen where on their backs when going into a fire.

So now I am ready for the Halloween festivities. Trick or Treating and Boo @ the Zoo. Bring them on.

wordless wednesday

National Stay at Home Week

Well it is here...fall, football, school, and now a new season of new shows and the return of some favorites.

Here is a list of my faves...I will try to keep up with them, but this will not happen. TV always gets put to the back burner in our house.

Dancing with the Stars. Ok I confess, I am only watching this to see a couple of the stars...Susan Lucci, Ted Mcguinley, and Cloris Leachman. (that woman was HILARIOUS)

Biggest Loser. Not sure I will actually keep up with this one this season. I prefer the seasons where the contestants compete individually, not neccessarily the ones where they are teamed up with family. (not sure why that is)

Grey's Anatomy. Yes I am so addicted to this show. It premiered while I was pregnant and stuck at home with nothing else to do but watch TV. I have been glued to my tv ever since.

Desparate Housewives. I actually started watching this with my Mom and have continued since.

Brothers & Sisters. I LOVE this show. I think it might be my favorite one. I think it is a touch realistic. As far as how the siblings interact. And I LOVE Sally Field.

Samantha Who. I really like this show, all I do is laugh when it is on. I absolutely adore the best friend. Not the mean one, the bubbly one.

I think that is it. So what are your fall faves? Anything that you can not miss or plan your life around?

to be a kid again

I will be turning 30 in just 11 days.

For a while now my BFF has been asking my what I want to do for this milestone birthday. I have thought of several ideas and changed my mind 100+ times.

The thing is I do not like asking my friends to spend money that they may or may not have to go out for me. So I wanted somethig simple and cheap, but fun. Lots of fun and memories.

In years past we have gotten togeher with friends and gone to dinner for each of our birthdays at an Italian restaurant, Bucca di Beppo's. (great place, I highly recommend it for large groups, must make reservations though) My BFF thought we needed to something a bit more than this for the big 3 0.

So I decided to have a sleep over. Yes a sleep over for 30 yr old adults. GIRLS only, NO BOYS ALLOWED, NO KIDS ALLOWED. Just us girls!!! Fun times and lots of new memories to be made. Each girl will bring a girly movie or a fun game to play, and a snack of some sorts. And we will get ice cream cake. I teased that we will need to use the Wii fit to burn off the extra calories we will consume. We will have 8-10 girls coming. One which was my best friend from grade school, that I have not kept too much in touch with and another who was my co-best friend in high school. Neither my BFF or myself have kept in touch with her in years, but I have her parents and address and I know she still lives in town.

So it is set...towards the end of October, we will be having a sleepover at my house for just us girls. It has to wait until the end of Oct. as we are BUSY in the month of Oct. We have our county fair and Boo @ the Zoo, the birthday will have to wait for all of that.

But it should be a lot of fun and I am really excited, just like a little kid.

a new use for an ab lounge

I have the ab lounge. You know the piece of exercise equipment that is supposed to be fun and give you a flat tummy. (ha ha ha, it is not so much fun)

Anyway it is in our bedroom, bc that seems to be the one place it fits and that I will use it the most.

On the weekends, one night CJ gets to sleep in our room if he wants to. He used to just sleep in the bed with us, but lately his body temperature gets so high while he is asleep that he makes me hot. So we started making him a bed on the floor or we would bring his toddler mattress in for him to sleep on. Well this past weekend, Daddy made him a new special place to sleep. A tent...under the ab lounge.

Have a look...

As you can see, he loves it. So much so that we will probably have a hard time getting him to sleep in his fire truck bed tonight. Wish us luck.

Lazy Day

Well it is official, I have accomplished NOTHING today. I was not feeling too well yesterday and did not sleep too much, so today I have just bummed around and surfed the net. It feels good sometimes to just take a break from the everyday, but I feel so un-accomplished for the day. Tomorrow I will have to work twice as hard. I hope everyone is feeling as relaxed as I am. Have a nice, quiet saturday evening.

Close to Home

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Foto Friday

Yesterday I was upstairs putting laundry away and I come down stairs to the sound of running water. I immediately asked "CJ, what are you doing"? He answered..."Mommy, I am helping you do the dishes, I am washing them".

??????

This is what I find...

He looks at me with the sweetest face and says again "I'm helping you Mommy, look I wash dish".

If only he would continue to do this once he is old enough to, when Mommy does not have to re-wash everything.

*Note~he washed his sippy cup(s) with out taking the lids off. (too cute)

40 Days of Community

Our church is doing a small group study called 40 Days of Community. It was written by Rick Warren, Sr Pastor of Saddleback Church and author of A Purpose Driven Life. Our church has about 800-1000 members, so the small groups are made up of 4-8 adults. This small group setting allows you to get to know your fellow group members on a more personal level. Tonight is our second week into it. Last week was very enjoyable and gave us the chance to get to know a couple we met last year a little better. I am looking forward to the study and where it leads us as well as getting to know this other couple better and having a life long friendship with them. Do you take part in any Bible studies or small groups with in your church?

Was that Ike in Ohio???

Boy am I glad to be here. We just got our power back this evening after losing it Sunday evening. We got hurricane strength winds and some rain from Hurricane Ike, all the way here in Ohio. WoW. Most of the town was shut down Monday and still several places, tuesday and today. All the city schools have been closed all week due to no electricity. There are still some homes with out power. Please keep them in your prayers as well as all those in Texas who have been through so much more. It was not so difficult for hubby and I, but our son (3yrs) did not understand why he could not bowl (on the Wii), watch cartoons or a dvd, or why his light would not come on in his room. No matter how many times I tried to explain it, he still would ask for all the above. Oh how much we do rely on electric. We were fortunate to save most of our food and to be able to do laundry, and eat at my Mom's. She has power through a different electric company and was only with out for a few hours. Thankfully they only live about five minutes from us. I am glad to be back online. And will have more tomorrow.

My "Wedding" Story

Well, yesterday I told of my step sisters wedding and promised to share with you my own wedding (or lack there of) story.

So, here it is...

First a little background.

My hubby and I have been together for six years (married just over a year). We have a three year old son together, which is probably why we waited so long to get married. I was adament about not getting married just because I got pregnant. So, we finally decided after CJ turned one to get married. Our plan was to not tell anyone and just go to the courthouse. We set the date and all was good. Well, someone had other plans...who knew you can no longer get married at the courthouse here in our county. You have to go to the capital of the state and then it is by appt only and they were scheduling for five months later.

The date we picked had special meaning to us. First it was my gparents anniv. and second, it was our five year anniv of being a couple. So I did not want to change that. We decided to take it as a sign and go ahead with an actual wedding the following year on the same date. We told my parents and booked the church, minister, reception hall, etc. I asked the attendants and even went dress shopping. It was the end of Nov, just before Thanksgiving and I was planning a July wedding. All was looking good.

The day before Thanksgiving, I had plans to meet with my Mom and sister for lunch and go over some things. While I was getting myself and my son ready I received three phone calls from my Mom. My cell phone was down stairs and I was up, so I did not hear it ring. I check my voice mail and called her back. My Dad had fallen and was not responding and the squad had been called. My life for the next couple weeks went on hold. I rushed out the door to my Gma's, where my Dad lived and arrived and got in the house just as the paramedics were bringing him up. He flat lined a few times on the way from the basement to the squad and on the way to the hospital.

I am getting a little off course here, I apologize...a long story, short here...he had suffered from a heart attack, he received a bypass (not sure if it was double, triple, what). He was still unresponsive and remained this way for two weeks. After six days in ICU, he was removed from life support and moved to pallative care where he remained, as did we for the next nine days. Even though we knew he had no chance, I still prayed day and night that a mircale would come through for him.

While I this was happening, I knew that I could not continue with my plans for a wedding. Not without my Dad to walk me down the aisle and give me away. Not without him there for a Father/Daughter dance at the reception. I just could not go through with it.

After talking all of this over with my fiance, I went to my Mom and told her just that. She spoke with her husband and they decided to give us money to allow us to go away to be married.

I did not want to be married by Elvis (not that there is anything wrong with that), so we decided to go to Tennessee, to the mountains and find a chapel. So through a lot of searching online I found something that was a little out of the ordinary, which was what I was wanting.

Here is a few pics, to see my "wedding" day...

yes, I got married at a drive thru chapel

us just after getting married

everyone that went with us.

the cabin that we stayed in while in TN

our view, breathtaking

A wedding and a Baby

Yesterday we attended my step sisters wedding. First you should know that I am closer to my step sister than I am to my full blooded sister. We have sons that are close in age and share several common interests.

OK on with the story...

My step sis has been with her now hubby for 5-6 years, they have a son together and have been engaged for four years now. Last month I get an email from her saying they set a date. (it is not unusual for her to email instead of calling) Little did I know the date they set was actually only ONE MONTH away. YIKES!!! She wanted a small low key ceremony with only close family. (no friends, with the exception of the lady who made her cake, she is like family)

Step sis and hubby help to run an executive golf course (I guess that means it is 9 holes instead of 18) that his parents built/own. So they decided to have the ceremony there inside the clubhouse banquet room and have a dinner reception following at Brio (and awesome Italian bistro).

All went well, our son was the ring bearer, her son was the best man and our niece was the flower girl.

flower girl, best man, ring bearer

At the dinner toward the end we were all given a fortune cookie and asked to hold onto it and open them all together. When we did...we found the "fortunes" reading things like... Thanks for being a part of our special day, Love, bride, groom, son and baby or Congrats to all of our sons gparents, there is a new grandchild on the way or Our son is going to be a Big Brother etc. I thought this was such a cute idea. I am so thrilled to be an aunt again. I mean I only have seven nieces & nephews. (hahaha) This idea got me to thinking, how did you tell your family/friends you were expecting. Also did you a have a low key or high end wedding? I would love to hear your stories. Tomorrow I will tell you about my anything but ordinary wedding (or lack there of).

A child's Imagination

My son has one wild and extremely vivid imagination. He, like most boys his age, LOVES fire trucks, monster trucks, dump trucks, etc. He also loves garbage and recycling trucks. (is this strange or normal for a 3yr old boy?)

He likes these trucks so much that he watches a dvd over and over and over again called All About Garbage and Recycling. Yesterday he was watching it and got the bright idea that his bed (which happens to be a fire truck toddler bed) could double as a garbage truck. So instead of collecting garbage from around the house (thank you God for the small things), he collected a bunch of his toys from his room and put them on the back of the bed to pretend he was driving his garbage truck.

As if that was not cute enough, he then proceeded to take his nap curled up in his makeshift fire truck/garbage truck bed.

Have a look...

the search for dress shoes for a 3 yr old

This Sunday, Sept. 7th, my son will be the ring bearer in my little sisters' wedding. We have a tux for him that my older sister bought for him about a year and a half ago and it now fits him really well. So we have been trying to find him dress shoes to go with it, since his dress shoes from last Christmas no longer fit, go figure. Finally today, after three weeks of looking, we went to Payless and low and behold we found a pair. YaY!!! They cost $18.00!!! ??? WHY? He is three!!! We will be lucky if he wears them more than once, possibly twice. So why the high cost? I was smart (or so I think) and bought them a little big, hoping he can wear them with his suit for Christmas Church service. (and of course Christmas pix)

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my first blog. Please be patient with me while I figure all of this out. And if you have any suggestions or tricks for me in this blogging world, please let me know. I am Kelly, wife to PJ and SAHM to 3 yr old CJ. I will celebrate my 30th Birthday next month. (woo~hoo) I can not wait!!! My husband and I have been attending a local church plant for the past two years and we absolutely love it and are becoming more involved all the time. I love to read and am currently reading His Needs, Her Needs with my husband and am waiting on my copy of To Love, Honor and Vacuum to arrive so that I can start it. I look forward to making some new friendships through this blog. I hope you enjoy my thoughts and stop back often. HUGS