16 months in. when people ask me how is she doing, I struggle to find words to articulate how she is. she is hilarious, so expressive, independent, feisty, so sweet, gives kisses to everything and everyone, laughs so hard, is ticklish, thinks she is something, loves to ramble on a phone, loves anything that lights up, way too inquisitive, lights up when she see’s her daddy, playful…I could go on. How can you wrap all that up… So the other day I realized my busyness has led to not enough pics of Lenabean…so we went to take some pictures (got the dora phone on the way on our stop at Big Lots so the phone makes an appearance as well…). I just love all the silly pictures, captures her little essence. enjoy!

a dora cell phone that talks to you:)

Flat Stanley is a elementary school project based off a book about a boy who gets flattened by a falling bulletin board (i know…gruesome!) but makes the best of it by seeing that his uniqueness by sliding under doors and being able to fit in an envelope to see the world. So, the kids color their Flat Stanley, write a letter, and send it to a person who writes them back with their adventures.

Kaitlyn decided to send her Flat Stanley to us! In perfect timing, as he arrived the day before we left for Las Vegas. So, he traveled with us and had all sorts of adventures. From rock climbing, riding on a motorcycle, seeing the Las Vegas strip, and even a little arm booboo that had to be fixed with tape (we’re blaming it on the rock climbing…even though the real culprit is my needing-to-be-organized purse!!)

I am putting all the pics in a little book to send to Kaitlyn entitled Flat Stanley Goes West. Here is the beginning paragraph to give you a little taste:

“Hi! My name is Flat Stanley. Kaitlyn colored me at her school and sent me in an envelope to Brad and Shannon’s house in Knoxville, TN. It got a little dark in the envelope but I sang songs to keep me busy and before long I was being opened by Shannon, who was quite excited to see me! They said I was just in time to go on a trip with them to Las Vegas, Nevada. I have never been there! So we packed up and headed out on a plane the next morning for our journey out West.”

Here are some pictures from our adventures….(click on it to see it larger)

2008…a tumultuous year for many. A new year brings a renewed sense that change is in the air, can you feel it!? For the Kelley’s 2008 was probably, in the best word, normal. We lived, laughed, and loved with all the ups and downs. Since 2005 we’ve had a lot of change, married one year, moved the next, and in 2007 added on to the fam. So it was nice to be normal in 2008. Beans grew up, we worked and played, went to Ecuador, redid the bathroom, had the infamous slip and slide party and took lots of pics along the way. I was going to do a top ten fave of my personal photos but decided to do a look back instead at Beans and how she’s grown on the blog (out of laziness really, don’t feel like getting out the external harddrive:) ). So, this is the picture that started the blog out in 2008, my fave pic of 2007…

january:

february:

march:

april:

may:

june:

july:

august:

september:

october:

november:

december: