The many faces of Jo and Quin

Jo and Quin were hanging out in my room as I worked... They were supposed to be keeping Ash occupied so I could concentrate. Well, Josiah was doing crazy faces to Ash and I just had to stop and have him do them for the camera too... Boy he's a ham!!


Quin got in the action as well... he still needs a little work on a crazy face though. He just keeps smiling harder and harder!! :-)

And here is Asher's response to all of this nonsense...


Sort of like... am I part of this family??

till later... Nic

Ry Jr... Budding Photographer!!

So, my first born believes he is good at taking pictures. Yes, Ryan is 7 and knows how to use a digital camera better than his mother!! What is weird for me is that he KNOWS what a digital camera is....

But he actually wants his own camera and I know he will be good at it. A couple of nights ago he asked if he could take pictures of me and Asher... I just got home from work and was tired, but I must remember to encourage their talents always... yeah right! Well he had Michelle's camera handy so went ahead with it and they came out OK... so below is his first "photo shoot"

Asher was definitely game... check out his expressions...
We called dad up to the room and he sat for a few shots too.
Daddy got the camera and tried to get a shot of me and all my boys... Quin felt he needed to show off his flexibility.
But we finally got a shot with everyone looking... well almost everyone.
And alas... Josiah got into the action and took this shot of us... sort of cut out Quin there...

...but it was a fun photo shoot none-the-less and I think little Ry will be a fine photographer if he ever wanted to pursue it.

till later... Nic

Happy Anniversary Josh and Celestina!!

I know you guys are in Dallas right now and wont see this, but I just want to say CONGRATS on #7.

Well you know I like to think it was this day 8 years ago that sealed the deal for you two... Josh caught the garter at my wedding and the blessing came true... a year later he was married!! :-) (Oh and Mary was also married a year later too!!)

September 29, 2001 you made it official...

...and we are happy that the Josh branch of the family tree flourished!!!

Blessings, Blessings and MORE Blessings to you guys!!

...till later, Nic

Mariah's here again!

Uncle Ry picked up our little niece Mariah from the airport, we went to brunch and they she was off with Shelly and Casey for the day. We are happy she is here!




Till later... Nic

School is in session

So September rolled around... and with that the start of "school time" for the boys again. They were supposed to be catching up from last year over the summer, but with the baby and busy work schedule, that was sort of put off and the boys enjoyed their free time!

What has been great is that they have attacked the work and are just about caught up in less than 3 weeks! About a week and half ago I rearranged my dining room to be their classroom. With all 3 doing work now, we needed a more structured area. So we have 3 stations now: The computer, The Desk and the Art table. The art table also doubles as our dining room table :-)



Praise God for our new house that will have a designated "school room", until then I'm happy they have their own space now.

Till later... Nic

Michelle is Engaged

Our baby sister, Michelle Janelle Moore will soon marry Mr. Casey Korac. They met about 3 years ago when Shelly moved to Seattle (Kirkland). They were both part of the City Church Interns (A ministry leadership training program). Though they were friends for a while, things started to change and in August of 2007 they became an item. The courtship has been a great time for us to get to know Casey better. He really loves the Lord and loves our Shelly!! Which is all we ask!! :-)

So, this past Saturday the 20th Casey popped the question and Shelly said yes. There is a video somewhere, so I hope to see it soon! Today it started to sink in that Shell will be someones wife and that seems so surreal right now. But we have some time to get used to the idea. Shelly has mentioned August 2009 for the ceremony, so we are looking forward to it!

Congratulations Casey and Michelle!!

till later... Nic

Asher - 3 months

Our little Asher turned 3 months on September 18th.

He and Josiah visited in my room and I got the following shots.

Happy 3rd month Ashbug!!

till later... Nic

August is almost over!

So many of you know that I work at a university. The months of July and August are traditionally the busiest time at work for me because I oversee the housing department. So basically we are getting everyone "in" before classes start. The amount of planning, organizing, documenting, plotting and re-checking keeps me busy more hours than I'm willing to actually admit. And tack on the fact that I just had a baby and still have school work... well its been definitely fun.

So needless to say, I haven't been able to get on here to update like I would like to. I normally finish the month of August feeling guilty for putting my family on the back burner while I work all hours in the night and just see them for "breaks" and now this year... whenever I have to stop and feed the baby. Big Ry is my superman. He takes over many things in the house to keep us afloat. AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIM FOR THAT!! And mind you, he does this without even complaining... well he does get a little snipish sometimes in the evening... but lack of sleep for him is generally the "excuse." :-)

So all of this to say that we did actually get to do some things this month that didn't involve housing @ Northwest. We even got to celebrate some birthdays and our anniversary... so here is the Cliff Notes version.

Keeg and Tam - Mexico trip

Well, Ry's brother Keegan and his wife, Tammy, went on down to Mexico the second week in August. Tam's brother, Reuben, was getting married and this was a great time for a mini vacation for them. So we got to keep their 3 kids, Keegan II, Chloe and Judah for a week. They are great kids, so it was a fun time for the cousins to have an extended play time. I don't have any pics of our events, but you can imagine it was a blast with 7 kids under one roof. I've said in the past that once you have 3 kids, anymore than that is just another kid to mix... so no big deal. But I would like to add... that once you reach 6 or more kids where the oldest is 7 years old; bath time, brushing teeth and potty time do make a difference :-) So my advise: Don't have 7 kids within 7 years. Space them out so that the older ones can help. :-) See there, you get great advise on my blog! :-)

It's our Anniversary... #8

Ryan and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on August 12th. Whoo hoo!! We did dinner and a movie while Casey and Michelle watched the boys for us. Fun times :-) Asher actually came along, which didn't really make a difference because he slept most of the time. Even while we watched Hancock. Hancock was ok. Not awesome, but decent enough.

Happy Anniversary baby!!

I truly love you more today, than the day that I married you!! ((SHMACK))

And Birthdays...

Happy Birthday Aunt Becky (Nic's aunt from Philly)

Happy Birthday Tammy! (Ry's sis-in-law)

Happy Birthday Mariah! (Josh's oldest daughter)

Happy Birthday Anthony and Christopher! (Miles's twins)

Happy Birthday Terry! (Ry's dad)

So now that things are on the downward slope of the mountain of work... I'll be able to do more things I like to do. Such as spend time with my men and share with all of you about it! :-)

Much love and boy am I glad August is almost over! :-)

Till later... Nic

The Annual Kelly Reunion

My husband, Ryan, has a large family.

A large Irish family...

When we first met it was August 1999. I had just came back from Philly where my mother's side of the family had our first official family reunion. I was pumped and feeling like we had just started something special. Family is important to me and it was great to meet someone that understood why I felt the way I did. He mentioned his family did a reunion too. But his reunion was a little more historic than mine. :-) It wasn't until we were married that I went to my first Kelly Family Reunion in 2001.

Every year, during the first weekend in August those that can make it gather at the original homestead near Randle, Washington to catch up and keep the tradition going. Ryan and I live in the Seattle area, so for us it is a 2 hour drive to the "back woods" as I call them. I can distinctively remember my first time going... I was thinking... no one will know how to find me if something goes down out here... but my crazy thoughts were drowned by the enveloping beauty of the surrounding mountains, trees, water and wide expanses of sky.
Yes, there are signs put up to help those of us that do not know the logging roads... this is the end of the county road that leads you to the base of the logging road.
I always love crossing this little creek... it reminds me of some place I seen in a calendar...
And of course a little tune keeps rearing its head ever year we go down these roads... "Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go..." I know cheesy... but I can't help myself.
Another fork in the road... and another sign to help lead the way.
"....la la la la la and through the woods..."
alas... when we hit this clearing, I know we are getting closer and almost there...
...and the final fork in the road, last reunion sign, and the official Kellys posting leads us to the ranch.
The entrance of the ranch...
I'm not sure how many acres are out there, but there is no camera angle that will capture the whole thing. Its basically like I said earlier... a endless expanse of sky, mountains and trees... it is so gorgeous out there and peaceful too.
The picture below is towards the end of that picture above where we all park our cars. The reunion site is actually in the middle of those trees. Family members set up camp around the property on Friday night and then on Saturday we have the lunch, activities and dinner.
You know you have arrived when you see the flags... :-)Now, the lunch starts at Noon, but we were late this year. (Not my fault) :-) But we got there in time for the family pictures. Well we missed generations 2 and 3, but we got there for generation 4 (Ryan's generation. :-)) He's in the grey sweatshirt on the left side.

Generation 5 is our kids... little Ry is holding Asher on the left side of the group and Jo and Quin are on the right side in green shirts.

And then there is the in-law shot... or as they say "The folks that would marrying into this family." Its a great family, so I'm honored to be a part of it!

Picture time done... so we set up a spot for our chairs/cooler and headed on over to sign in. This year was a smaller reunion, but fun none-the-less! So it is official, Asher has been to the Kelly Reunion... he is #67. So this can be added to his list of firsts...

...and for the boys, they can do what they came to do...eat & play.

One of the activities for the kids is a guessing the candy or money in jars... Josiah won one last year. They also had a fundraiser for the Kelly reunion fund with a raffle... I put in for the $50, but didn't get it this year! :-)Another activity is "story time." It is great to hear old letters and stories about the "good ole days"

Someone (I believe it was Joe) brought this picture of the old homestead. There were 3 houses on the property... the first two were destroyed by fire, I believe. I couldn't hear exactly where this house was situated on the property, but it wasn't in the same location as the house now. I think all 3 houses have been in different locations. ...and of course the picture books come out. There is photo book that has been around a few years, I can't remember who made it, but it has a bunch of photos from past reunions. Helene also made a couple of amazing scrap books . Below Ry and Carol looking through one of Helene's books and Papa Kevin talking to Asher...

This is the book of past reunions...

Let's not forget the poker sessions. Some have run late into the night... my brother even participated a couple of years there. There are usually 2 or 3 games going. This was just the start of the first round of games.

We normally have a family baseball game... which this year no one had the equipment I think. So no baseball game this year. Some of the teen guys played football though, which I didn't get shots of. :-(

One of my favorite things to do while we are there is to find a spot and just listen to the wind. It is sooooo peaceful there. You can literally sit on a hill and just listen to nothing... which for a city girl is a rarity. When you hear about people "listening to trees"... it makes more sense when you are out there. Man, its gorgeous out there!

Of course, I have to get in a quick line from the Sound of Music... "The hills are alive with the sound of music... ahhhh... ahhhh... ahhhh"

...and to interrupt my musical homage... this is also where Ry and Keegs go hunting in the fall...

The best part of the reunion though is the people and seeing family grow! Tammy is now part of the production crew... just part of the cycle of life... passing it on to the next generation...

Great times, great food, great memories till next year at the...