Archives for 2010

Today

December 8, 2010 by Kelli

– Opening night for The Christmas Post was last night. It went really, really well. I’m not going to lie – I was a little concerned. As of Saturday we had never made it all the way through the play. There was so much work to be done, so many little details to be fine tuned that it seemed we might never get it all pulled together.

But God is good and we did it and it was a lot of fun! There are still tickets available for the rest of the week – please come if you can! We have spent countless hours over the last few weeks pulling this together and we would love to see a packed house every single night.

– Today, mercifully, we have the day off. And I am thankful. The muscles in the left side of my body have decided to have a party and have all bunched up so that turning from side to side, leaning for forward, picking anything up or moving in general has become a bit of a task. I need a day to unwind, go to bed early and be with my family.

– Speaking of my family, my husband rocks. Seriously. He’s doing this parenting thing alone every night this week. That’s a lot of work. But he’s been great about it and I couldn’t appreciate it more.

– While this musical is great fun, it’s also a sacrifice. I’m sacrificing my own time and, while I’m having fun, I’m also working really hard. My husband is serving me and through his service, I am able to serve others along with all of the other members of the cast. Service is hard – even when it’s fun. It requires that we step outside what’s comfortable and easy and we sacrifice – we sacrifice our time, our resources, our sleep and more.

– I’ll be honest. Service has never been really natural for me. I’m very selfish, especially with my time and my gifts. But I don’t think service is ever easy. It really goes against our human nature. I’m grateful for the chance to serve others this week. It’s hard, but it’s fun and it’s rewarding!

– Switching gears…

– Sometimes this blogging thing stresses me out. Particularly in weeks like this one. I’m wiped, both physically and emotionally. I don’t have a lot to offer my readers. Yet I feel pressure to offer something quippy and funny. I have to remind myself that I don’t have to do this. It’s okay to take some time off. The world as we know it won’t cease to revolve if I don’t write a post or two.

Will it?

– I’ve had this little issue with my shoulder for awhile now. Like eight years. Ever since I coached gymnastics a lifetime ago. All that overhand spotting caused all sorts of craziness to take root. And instead of having it looked at, I ignored it. Until a few weeks ago when I realized I was having a hard time pushing elevator buttons without wincing in pain. I headed in to see a physical therapist and since that time I’ve been wondering what took me so long to do something about my shoulder. I have severe tendonitis, perhaps a bit of bursitis and who knows what else.

At some point I may see an orthopedic to get an MRI, but for now I’m sticking with my PT because he rocks and he’s nice and he has a great southern accent that makes me happy.

– Christmas is coming up in a couple of weeks. I’m not sure if you heard. It falls on the 25th this year. Someone I know is not ready…she hasn’t even finished her shopping. I’ll give you one guess as to who that is…

– Okay, this is the part of the post where I wrap it up.

Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief together.

I’ll be back next week with real content. 🙂

Filed Under: Christmas, Family, Holidays, Lee, Life Tagged With: Christmas, Motherhood, Random, service, The Christmas Post

He gets it all

December 6, 2010 by Kelli

He came to me yesterday as I prepared myself for dress rehearsal. The musical is set in 1947 so I had on dark eyeliner, a skirt, lips so red they glow in the dark and hair so curly that I vaguely resembled Simba.

He looked up at me with big eyes, then a slow smile spread across his face.

“You bootiful, Mom,” he said.

“Thank you, buddy,” I replied. My heart sort of melted at that point.

Then he grabbed my hand and gave it a tug. “Come down here,” he said, pulling me to my knees. “I wanna give you a hug ‘tause you bootiful.”

We hugged.

Then I promised everything he ever wanted and more. Money. Cars. His brother and sister’s inheritance.

He gets it all…

Photo courtesy of Lulu Photography

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Landon, Motherhood Tagged With: Kids, Landon, Lulu Photography, Motherhood, Photography

Friday Links

December 3, 2010 by Kelli

– Shaun Groves wrote this post yesterday that made me laugh out loud. If you’re not reading Shaun you really should be. He’s a great writer – genuine and funny. Plus, who doesn’t love a guy in his thirties with a mohawk, right? Or is it a faux hawk? Anyway, read the post.

– Another blogger I love is C-Jane. Her perspective on faith and God are very different from my own, but I love reading her thoughts, learning more about what she believes and laughing at her posts. She’s an amazing writer and is very engaging. She’s a daily read for me. I particularly enjoyed this post. (A few Cliff’s Notes: She calls her husband Chup or Chupa, her son is the Chief and her daughter’s name is Ever Jane. This will help when you’re reading the post.)

– Nicole has an awesome advent plan for her boys. If I were crafty, I’d be all over this. But I’m not. So I just look on in envy…

– A few years ago I had the privilege to work alongside the awesome Dana Loesch. While doing this I got acquianted with her husband who is a wickedly talented musician and producer. Recently Chris and his team at Shock City Music filmed this music video to go along with a song that he co-wrote. Becky Kelly is the singer. The song is really beautiful as is the video. It’s a great reminder of what the season is about. Enjoy.

Happy Friday everyone. I’m headed into a week of insanity. Taking deep breaths today. 🙂

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Random Tagged With: Becky Kelly, Courtney Kendrick, Links, Nicole Diehl, Shaun Groves, Where's the Line to see Jesus?

The Brawl

December 1, 2010 by Kelli

BASED UPON A TRUE STORY

The Scene

Three kids, all blonde, varying heights, clearly in posession of shared DNA. They are heading downstairs to play a game together with the largest of the three rallying his troops to action.

The Setting

A Basement. Vibrant colors, pathetically filthy, scattered with disregarded toys and costumes.

The Protagonist

The largest of the three blondes. Male. A smattering of freckles and deep blue eyes. Sweet natured but easily frustrated. Possesses a strong desire to be in control and a swift and thorough sense of justice. A natural leader who inspires others to action when he’s not using his leadership for personal gain.

The Antagonist

The middle blonde. Female. Dangerously cute. Freakishly strong. Possesses the rare trait of being able to push others to the very brink of their sanity then backing off as they self destruct. Can widen her eyes abnormally giving her the appearance of a lost puppy and making her nearly irresistible. Cannot say her ‘R,’ ‘TH,’ or ‘L’ sounds. A master of psychological warfare.

The Tagalong

The smallest of the three blondes. Male. Bright blue eyes. A mischevious grin. A natural born sidekick with the ability to alternate partners seamlessly throughout the course of an altercation, sometimes more than once. Has a seemingly unbreakable love for the word “stupid” and the phrase “I hit your butt,” despite repeated admonishments. Also unable to say the letters ‘R,’ ‘TH,’ or ‘L’ as he spends much time listening to, and mimicing, blonde number two. A free spirit, The Tagalong is prone to fits of bouncing and can rarely focus on any one activity for more than 60 seconds at a time.

The Conflict

The Protagonist orders all blondes into the filthy basement for covert operations and a mad game of tag. Naturally, The Protagonist begins laying out rules and restrictions upon the game that directly violate The Antagonist’s awareness of what is fair. In addition, The Antagonist has spent much of the afternoon being nice to The Protagonist and is simply in the mood to ruffle his feathers.

The Tagalong is just glad he was invited.

The Antagonist agrees to play the game as laid out by The Protagonist. She waits until the opportune moment and then, mid-stride, stops, turns and declares, “I don’t wanna pway anymore.” She throws a look at The Tagalong that lets him know he should take her side for a good time. He quickly chimes in, “Yeah, I not pway anymore too.”

They wait. But not long. The Protagonist falls into a fit of frustrated rage. He stomps. He begs. He pleads. “Please play with me, guys.” But they hold their ground. It’s just too much fun to stop. To really set The Protagonist over the edge, The Antagonist throws in, “We don’t wike to pway your games.”

The Protagonist responds, “Fine! Then I don’t like either of you. You’re not my friends!” This is declared at the top of his lungs at a decible that reverberates off every window in the house. The younger two blondes stomp upstairs indignantly.

“He’s mean,” they declare as they move to the couch, The Tagalong’s arms crossed over his chest in a mini protest. Minutes later The Protagonist runs up the stairs.

In two leaps he lands on The Antagonist, digging his nails into her arm. She lets loose a dramatic scream and brings forth a few tears for added effect. Then the smaller, freakishly strong Antagonist flies at the larger blonde, her hand finding contact with his face with a crack. Her finger somehow burys itself in his eye.

The Judge steps in, seperating the two brawlers. The Tagalong looks on with wide eyes as The Protagonist is taken to another room.

“Yeah!” The Tagalong says to The Antagonist. “You dot him, Tia. You beat ‘im up. Ha. Ha.” They give each other five. The Judge’s wife stifles giggles.

The Resolution

The three blondes are sitting at the dinner table. Little has been said about the earlier altercation until The Protagonist pipes up. “Why did you poke my eye?” he asks, pure offense dripping from every word.

“Because you hit me and you was bossing me,” The Antagonist answers.

“Yeah,” The Tagalong interjects.

“Don’t start again, guys,” The Judge says and shoots his dagger eyes in their direction.

“Hey! I have an idea!” The Protagonist says, throwing his hands up in the air.

“What?!” The Tagalong asks, clearly excited.

“Let’s all be best friends.”

“Yeah!” The Antagonist and The Tagalong reply in unison.

“Let’s all say it together,” The Protagonist says, relishing the fact that, once again, he is in full control. “Ready? One, Two Three…”

“WE’RE ALL BEST FRIENDS.”

And they all lived happily ever after.

Or at least for the next few hours…

The End.

Filed Under: funny stuff that happens, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Life, Motherhood Tagged With: fighting, Kids, Sibling rivalry

Christmas/Advent Plans

November 30, 2010 by Kelli

With December just hours away, I find myself thinking more and more about how to make Christmas a special time for the kids. I should probably start thinking about this before November 30, but I’ve never been known to think or plan ahead so why start now, right?

I’ve instituted one major plan with the kids for this holiday season, but other than that I feel like December has snuck up on me. I mentioned the Christmas musical my church is putting on last week – this musical, while great fun and a great ministry, has taken a lot of my mental energy. Starting Saturday I will pretty much live at church until the following Sunday.

So here’s what I need from you, bloggy friends. I need ideas. Christmas tradition ideas. Advent ideas. I want to help the kids focus on the miracle of Christmas and not just the “stuff” of Christmas. We are going to do Elf on a Shelf for fun, but I also want to incorporate some kind of simple, daily exercise that helps them understand why we celebrate.

I need ideas that are simple and won’t take hours to plan ahead of time. Because I simply don’t have that in me. I’m not a crafty gal so if your idea involves extensive use of scissors, glue or glitter, I’ll have to pass. I’m sure it would be beautiful, but it just wouldn’t get done.

What do you all do this time of year to celebrate advent and to help your kids learn, see and experience the glory of the Christmas season. How do you mold their hearts to understand the magnitude of Christ’s birth? What do you do to make the season special and memorable and magical for your family?

I don’t just want to survive Christmas – I want to experience it. I’d love to hear what you all are doing to experience the season. Thanks for sharing!

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays

Sleeping in beds with boys

November 29, 2010 by Kelli

It was early 2002-ish and Lee and I, along with Lee’s brother Eric and his wife Becke’, attended a conference. It was held…somewhere. The details are really fuzzy. Wherever the conference was held required us to get a hotel room. Because we were young and poor, we decided to share a room and to secure it on Priceline.

It seemed like a really good idea when we got a hotel room just around the corner from the conference for only $50 a night. Score! Until…

We got to our room and found that it had only one bed. What to do? We couldn’t change the reservation without incurring much higher charges. So we did what any respectable couples would do in such a situation.

We all piled into bed together.

Eric slept on one end, then Becke’ next to him. I slept next to Becke’ and Lee laid on the other end. So as not to make the situation any more weird and awkward than it already was, we all slept fully clothed. Four people, fully clothed in one bed makes for a hot night’s sleep. Sometime during the night, Becke’ slipped out of bed, unbeknownst to the rest of us, and attempted to get more sleep on the floor. The rest of us were not aware of this transition.

When the early morning sunlight mercifully streamed into the room, I slowly opened my eyes. I looked to my left at Lee and smiled. He was on his back, straight as a board, arms stiff by his side, snoring. He looked wildly uncomfortable in his jeans. Then I looked to my right, expecting to find Becke’.

And there was Eric, sound a sleep. For a brief moment I was horrified as I laid all snuggled up to my brother in law. But after a few moments of wondering how on earth I ended up sandwiched between both Stuart men, I started to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. I sat up and looked down at Becke’ who was curled up on the floor. She looked up at me and we both laughed.

That’s the only time I have ever slept with my brother in law.

This weekend we went to Arkansas to be with Lee’s parents and brothers and friends. So much fun.

Except for the sleeping part. I’ve already told you my kids are systematically trying to ensure I never experience a full night’s sleep again. They were in full form this weekend. It all came to a head on Saturday night. Landon wet the bed (we had run out of pull ups and wouldn’t you know every night before Saturday he woke up dry) around 1:30. He bolted up and cried, “Mommy, I spilled! I need a towel!” I got him cleaned up and back down in time for Sloan to crawl in bed with us. I woke up around 3:30 to see Tia in bed with us as well. Around 4:00 Landon crawled into our bed. I didn’t have the heart to fight him on it so I put him on the end next to me.

And for the second time in my life I found myself sandwiched between two Stuart men boys. Sloan, being a fitful sleeper, kicked me in the kidneys all night long. Landon had his face right in mine and breathed on me for a solid two hours. It solidified my need to do a better job brushing his teeth at night.

Despite the lack of sleep, we had a great time eating, laughing, shopping and being together. It was, indeed, a Happy Thanksgiving.

The Stuart clan

Photo courtesy of Lulu Photography

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Holidays, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Lee, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Lee and Kelli Stuart, Lulu Photography, Thanksgiving

Thankful

November 23, 2010 by Kelli

The pictures above are older as evidence by the cast on Landon’s arm and the fact that Lee and I are standing stop the Duomo in Sienna, Italy. But they depict the people for whom I am most thankful during this season.

I’m a blessed woman.

Oh…and everyone slept all night last night. Well, that’s not entirely true. Landon got up at 2:00 but he went straight back to sleep and so did I. It’s amazing what a good night’s sleep will do for your perspective!

I hereby officially love Tuesday.

Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Kids, Lee, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Family Pictures, Lee and Kelli in Italy, Thankful

Monday in Bullets

November 22, 2010 by Kelli

– My children are systematically trying to ensure that I never sleep a full night again. This is the part of the mom blog where I’m supposed to say that it’s Thanksgiving and I’m thankful for the sound of their little feet pitter pattering through the house no matter how early it is…

I’m not gonna say that. I want to sleep. I want to sleep all night long without someone coming into my room for this, that and the other. I’m tired today. And a little crabby.

– In Landon’s defense, he has been dealing with winter illnesses for a couple of weeks now. He’s had a cold, that’s morphed into upper respiratory issues on top of which he’s developed pink eye and has so far this morning puked twice. Good times. In the midst of that, we’ve moved him out of the crib into a big bed allowing him the freedom to traipse into our room at all hours of the night. Because we’re brilliant like that.

– Yesterday we attended our church’s annual Family Christmas Workshop. I love this event. There are almost 100 rooms set up with different homemade crafts for the kids to make. There are Christmas carols and cookies (so many cookies!) and it’s a great way to kick off the holiday season. It also gives us several handmade gifts to give to teachers and grandparents. Score!

– Speaking of our church, we are putting on a Broadway style musical in a couple of weeks and, if I do say so myself, it’s going to be amazing. Wanna come? Purchase tickets here. Most of the front tables have already been sold, but there really isn’t a bad seat in the house. And in addition to a great show, you’ll also get dessert! All for ten dollars. Please come!

– I have a fantastic giveaway up on STL Family Life today. Seriously – you don’t want to miss it. The bracelet I’m giving away is gorgeous. I so wish I could keep it for myself.

– Landon is watching Toy Story 3 Monster’s Inc. right now. I am letting him watch all the TV he wants today. It keeps him still and near the puke bowl in case he needs it. And it keeps me from having to follow him around the house hoping to catch his upchuck because, as we all know, toddlers give no warning before spewing.

– I’m grateful to my husband. He’s been amazing this weekend. He helped me out so much in a variety of different ways and this morning before leaving he told me he knew today was going to be sucky and he was sorry. I so needed to hear that. I didn’t need a pep talk about how I could do this and how I would survive this day and how I just needed to power through. I just needed to hear some acknowledgment that today, indeed, will be a sucky day. What a guy…

– I’m going to sit down and take a nap on the couch fold laundry while Landon watches his movie. Here’s to hoping he doesn’t yak on me while I sleep work.

– Go Monday – FTW!

Filed Under: Family, Gross, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Landon, Lee, Life Tagged With: E-Free Christmas Dessert Musical, JewelMinx, Kids, kids with flu, Monday blues, sick kids, STL Family Life

How to go from reverent to irreverent without even really trying…

November 18, 2010 by Kelli

If ever you ask my seven year old to pray before a meal, I suggest you make sure you’re not starving. Because Sloan? He brings it when he prays. All I need is a tent and a white hanky and Glory, Hallelujah we’ve got a revival.

Landon and Tia, try as they might, have a very difficult time making it through one of Sloan’s prayers without sneaking a bite or four. Sloan has been known to pray up to five minutes or more. He thanks God for everything from his toys to the military. He prays for poor people and for everyone he can think of by name. He prays for his own attitude and, on any given day, could likely be heard praying that his sister’s attitude would change too.

Last night’s dinnertime prayer went something like this:

Dear Lord. You are the Creator. You created. Everything. God. You are our Lord. Thanks for being our Lord. And for being our Savior. Thank you for, um, the veterens (which he pronounces vechrins). Thank you that they protect us and keep us safe. Thank you for Mr. Nevil that he fought to protect our country. We are very glad for them. Thank you for the Army vechrins and the Navy and…um…the Air Force. And all of the people that serve. It’s just awesome that they do that for us. Give them glory, Lord.

We thank you for Jonri (our Compassion child), God. He is poor. But he’s not poor anymore because we can help him to not be poor. And thank you that he will get Christmas presents. We pray for all the poor people, God. We pray that they will have food. And toys.

Lord you are very great. God. Thank you for our family (lists everyone from grandparents to aunts and uncles and cousins). Thank you for all my friends (lists as many as he can think of by name). And, God. I pray that I would have a good attitude. Thank you that I had a good day today and was nice and happy. And thank you that Tia was nice to me today and we could have a little fun.

*It’s at this point that Lee and I are trying not to crack up as Landon, with his head down and his eyes squinted open begins grabbing food and putting it in his mouth, then clasping his hands together again while he prays and chews. My grandmother would have told him he was going to choke for sneaking food during prayer.

We just thank you for everything you give us, Lord. And it is in your Holy, Powerful Name we pray…In Jesus Name.

Amen

It’s not hard to understand why Jesus commanded us to let the little children come to him. There is no holding back in the sincere prayers of a child. I am always blessed by Sloan’s prayers, no matter how lengthy they may be.

As soon as Sloan finished his prayer, we all echoed the Amen and picked up our forks to eat. But wait! Tia wanted to pray. So we bowed again. Her prayers are generally short, sweet and to the point.

Dear Wowrd. Fank you dat we have a gweat famiwy. And fank you dat you dive us dis food. And…well…amen.

Amen!

Ah the reverence. I was momentarily tempted to pat myself on the back for raising such wonderful, thoughtful children.

Then I was humbled.

After the beautiful prayers, the meal took a slight downhill turn. We picked up our forks again and Lee thanked the kids for being willing to pray. Half of Landon’s plate was, of course, clean. Everything was gone except his meat…naturally. I made beef stew. It was delicious but I will admit…it didn’t look appealing. Tia put it a…different way.

She looked down at the pile of meat on her plate and wrinkled her nose.

“Is dis poop?!”

And thus, the reverence of the moment was totally gone. Sloan cracked up and Landon looked with great disdain at his plate. It took several minutes to convince him that I did not, indeed, prepare poop for dinner.

We started off grand, though, didn’t we?

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Landon, Motherhood, Sloan, Tia Tagged With: Children praying, compassion international, kids say the darndest things, Teaching kids to love God

Tigger

November 17, 2010 by Kelli

My happy go lucky third born rarely walks.

He doesn’t often run, either.

He jumps. Everywhere he goes…he jumps.

This makes it really hard to catch a decent picture of him.

Unless, of course, his gymnastics instructor manages to get him to sit still for 2.3 minutes. She might even convince him to kiss his knee. If he’s sitting still long enough to listen, that is.