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It’s Been One of Those Days…

December 10, 2009 by Kelli

It’s a busy week. It just is. And today kicks off an extremely busy weekend. I started the day off with an adjustment by a chiropractor because I’m going on almost two weeks with limited mobility in my neck and shoulders. I’m not sure what I did, but whatever it was, it’s left me a bit like Frankenstein as I have to move my whole body in order to look side to side or up and down.

So I did that. Then I headed to drop Tia off at gymanstics, noticing on the way that I had no gas. My Distance to Empty button was ticking down the miles as I raced to get her there in time. I coasted up to the gas station on fumes, then headed to a party store to purchase cups for tonight’s Christmas musical.

I finally found the much needed cups and went to pay only to discover that I was missing my license. Apparently some two year old took it out of my wallet yesterday when he was playing with it. And because I had nothing else with a picture ID on it (and no cash – who carries cash?!) they wouldn’t let me purchase the cups. Never mind that I completely emptied my wallet and showed them all manner of identification, they refused to let me pay by credit card or check.

I left very annoyed. I mean, I get it – you have to be safe, but come on! It’s 16 degrees out and I have a toddler with me! Show a little bit of compassion. I even offered to call my husband and have him verify my identification. But they still refused. I’m not going back to that store.

So in the car on the way home from gymnastics, I had to call the person who asked me to buy the cups and leave a message explaining that I was unable to get them. And while I tried to talk, Tia and Landon were yelling in the background.

I was already frustrated and this frustrated me more.

So I overreacted, which necessitated an apology to my children when we returned home.

Then I went to make lunch and realized that while we have a lot of food in the house, very little of it is quick and easy to prepare (remember, we’re trying to overhaul the eating habits here) which means I had to come up with something fairly easy and healthy that my kids would still eat.

I failed. They did not like the tuna fish, crackers and cheese I fed them – well, Sloan did, but the other two were not impressed. They ate crackers and a piece of our ginger bread house for lunch.

Now it’s time for naps, then russian school, then opening night of the Christmas musical. And I may still have to swing by another party store to buy cups. At some point I need to fit in a shower as well. *I may be starting to hyperventilate a little here*

It’s just going to be one of those days…

Filed Under: Christmas, Family, Holidays, Life

Because I only have time for bullet points

December 8, 2009 by Kelli

– I have just a short amount of time to spend on the computer today so this is going to be a random bullet list of all the things on my mind today. Aren’t you excited?!

– I was at church until 11:00 last night rehearsing for the musical which opens this Thursday! Please come watch it if you’re in town. It’s going to be great. Tonight is dress rehearsal, tomorrow we have the night off and Thursday we open. There are six performances you can attend and you can purchase tickets here. There are only a few tickets left for the Thursday evening show and the Sunday afternoon show, but Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night all have plenty of seating still available! Bring your kids – it will be fun for everyone!

– It’s amazing how productive I become when my schedule is jam packed. Already this morning I’ve bathed, fed and dressed three kids; I’ve vacuumed the floors in the entire house; I’ve folded a load of laundry and I’ve cleaned a bathroom. I will be gone most of the morning helping set up for the musical, then I plan to stay busy this afternoon getting my house in order before going back to church. Whew – it’s like running a marathon.

– When I gave the kids their gluten free cereal with Almond Milk the other day, Sloan asked me if I was feeding them poison. Nice.

– On the plus side, I did manage to get Landon to eat an entire plate of Salmon yesterday! And Sloan and Tia both polished off a large helping of broccoli last night. Landon took one bite and gagged, but at least he tried it. We’re making progress.

– While I’m done with a majority of my Christmas preparations, I still have a lot to do. Next week will be as crazy as this week trying to prepare.

– I went to a Bible study yesterday morning that really convicted me on my need to be more intentional about educating my kids on the true meaning of Christmas. I came home with a ton of ideas. Now if I could only find the time to implement them…

– I really want to send out Christmas cards, but I’m not sure it’s going to happen this year. We’ll see how next week pans out.

– Every morning after Sloan gets on the school bus, I let Tia watch Handy Manny and the Imagination Movers. I feel a little guilty about allowing her to sit and watch TV for that long every single morning. But it allows me to get things done like blogging, showering and cleaning up so I push the guilt aside. Is that terrible?!

– I feel sad about the Tiger Woods situation. My heart hurts for them.

– I just sneezed all over the keyboard. I need to go get some cleaner and wipe this up. Have a happy Tuesday and get your tickets for the Christmas dessert musical theater at First E-Free this weekend!

Ba-Bye.

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Kids, Life, Random Tagged With: A Time for Christmas, First Evangelical Free Church St. Louis

The Three Wise Men, the Construction Worker and the Lady Down the Street

December 7, 2009 by Kelli

How’s that for a title?

I don’t have a nice, fancy nativity set. Actually, a few years ago, I got the Willow Tree Nativity set for Christmas from my mom. But I think, in an attempt to organize my exploding basement, I may have accidentally thrown it away the very same year I received it.

See – that’s what happens when you try and become organized. That’s why I choose to remain blissfully un-organized…

We do have, however, the Little People Nativity set and I love it! I love that the kids can play with it and I can teach them about the birth of Christ without being worried that they’re going to brake or harm a precious heriloom.

I also love that every day as I walk past the shelf where the nativity is housed, there is a new addition to the scene. It makes me laugh:

There are, of course, the three wise men (one black, one white and one Asian), the Angel, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a camel, a donkey and a sheep. Traditional, sweet, politically correct…

But if you look closely, there’s also an alligator from the Bayou:

A Panda from the Orient who stands alongside some random conductor guy who, I assume, works for Union Pacific:

Then there’s the construction worker and grandma from down the street:

And Lightening McQueen – because nothing says the birth of Jesus like a talking race car:

And, of course, not to be left out – Luke Skywalker and C-3PO have made it into the scene. Because Jesus loves the Jedi just as much as he loves you and me, I am most certain.

At one point there was also an older fella who I believe was Moses from the Little People Noah’s Ark set that graced the stable, but he seems to have wandered off for the time being. And I mean really, can you blame the guy? If I’d spent 40 days and nights aboard a ship full of animals, I might not want to hang around a stable either…

What I love most about the little scene my kids have created, though, is the fact that no matter how they lay it out – they always have all the characters pointed toward the center – Christ. And it’s a good reminder of what the season is all about, isn’t it? It’s about the birth of a Savior who came to save us all.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Kids, Kids do the darndest things Tagged With: Little People Nativity Scene, Willow Tree Nativity Scene

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

December 2, 2009 by Kelli

We have Decked the Halls here in the Stuart home. The house smells of pine and there is a lovely glow as the lights from the tree, the mantle and the outside warm up the living area.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…although they have been carelessly pulled down more than once by a certain soon to be two year old.

We’ve laid beneath the tree and ooh’ed and aah’ed as we looked up between the branches at all the twinkling lights.

Everyone had a turn placing the angel at the top of the tree. And Lee came out with scratches on his nose from his face being shoved into the branches of the tree.

When I took the picture of the three of them in front of the completed tree, Tia insisted upon having her picture taken with her best friend, her doll Jadem. Yes, Jadem.

Incidentally, I received that very doll for Christmas 22 years ago. I called her Jessie. I told Tia that and she looked at me as though I’d sprouted a second head.

“No, mom. ‘Dis baby ith a boy baby and boy babies ith not named Jessie. Hith name ith Jadem.”

And that was that.

Hope you’re all having a Merry Christmas season. Fa la la la laaaaaa, la la la laaaaa!

Filed Under: Christmas, Family, Holidays, Kids, Tia

I am a Black Friday Convert

November 30, 2009 by Kelli

I hate shopping. Really, truly hate shopping. It ranks just below going to the dentist or the gynecologist. I just don’t find it to be enjoyable. Unless, of course, I have money to spend (which is rare) which makes it just slightly more fun.

I’m the kind of person who usually knows what she wants, runs in the store, picks it up and I’m out again. I am not good at finding deals because I don’t have the patience to sift through racks of clothes. I admire people who can do that.

So I never thought I would venture out on Black Friday. You know, because it involves shopping – and shopping in the dark, no less. Thursday afternoon I laughed at all the Facebook status updates as people exitedly proclaimed they were getting up at 2:30 am to go shopping. Ugh. Sounded miserable. I sat in my little comfy office chair and scoffed at their foolishness.

Then I talked to a friend who brainwashed convinced me that there were really good deals to be had and that it was fun to get up early and save money. And, against my better judgement, curiosity got the best of me and I began to wonder if maybe, just maybe, I should give it a try.

“You should make a list,” she suggested. “Write down the things you want so you’ll be organized and can really hit the best stores.”

That was a brilliant idea. Except that a list requires organization. And organized I am not. I tried to make a list – I really did. I got on the Black Friday deals website – but the sight of all those stores completely overwhelmed me and I began to panic and gave up on the list making. I was just going to wing it.

So I decided, despite my lack of a list, to go for it. But I was not going to get up in the middle of the night. No sir. Because I am smarter than that.

I set the alarm for 5:00 on Friday morning. As I did so, I once again questioned my sanity. Was I really going to get out of bed at the crack of dawn to shop?

But, having made up my mind to try it, I shut down the little Jiminey Cricket in my head and pushed set. And true to my word, the next morning I rolled out of bed around 5:15. Five minutes later, I turned my frigid car on and tried to warm up. Then I looked at the clock.

It said 4:22. It said 4:22 IN THE A.M. What?!

Then it hit me. The kids were messing around the day before with the alarm clock. They must have set the clock an hour ahead. So there I sat – one of those looney people who gets up in the middle of the night to go shopping. I briefly considered going back to bed, but decided since I was up I’d better make the most of it.

And you know what? I had a blast!

I did score major deals and got the kids some great gifts that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. And the other people that were shopping with me weren’t a bunch of crazy robots – they were just enjoying the experience. We laughed and talked as we waited in line. There was a fun energy in the air. We were all hopped up on adrenaline. We compared items, talked about our families, laughed at how crazy it was to be standing in line at 4:45 in the morning. It was fun!

At one point, as I stood in the longest shopping line I’ve ever stood in with my cart full of crazy cheap items, I got a little light headed. It was a combination of the money savings, the adrenaline rush and extreme fatigue. It was awesome. Better than any drug.

At 8:15, Lee called as I stood in my fifth line of the morning and told me he needed to leave for work in a half an hour. So I raced home, picked up the kids and headed back to the mall.

Because I wasn’t done. Me – the girl who hates shopping. I wanted more. And I got more!

But only a little more because I forgot a stroller and I can only wrangle three kids for so long before the experience becomes miserable for all involved.

And then we went to see Santa. Because, you see, I bought the presents the kids have been asking for and, knowing my kids, it would not be entirely unlikely for them to change their minds before Christmas and say they wanted something else.

So I made them give their wish lists to Santa so that when they change their minds later I can say, “Oooohhh…Sorry – you already told Santa what you want. Can’t change it now.”

So at 11:00, I came home for good. My shopping is all but completed and I saved close to 300 dollars in the process. Just typing that makes me get all giddy and shaky.

I, my friends, am an official Black Friday convert.

Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays, Life, Random, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Black Friday

Re-post: The Pilgrims Have Landed: A Brief History

November 26, 2009 by Kelli

I originally posted this on November 21st of last year, but it bears another posting mainly because I don’t feel like coming up with anything original today and because sometimes you just need to laugh at yourself…

When I was fifteen years old, I went on my first mission trip to the former Soviet Union. We spent two weeks in Belarus and Moscow. Part of our program was to go to different schools and show pictures of our every day lives and explain what life was like for us as American teenagers.

One of my pictures was of my family celebrating Thanksgiving. The first time it was my turn to speak, I was very, very nervous. I wanted to make sure I spoke slowly enough for the students to understand me and I was afraid of leaving out important details. I should have been more worried about giving false information…

When I got to the Thanksgiving picture I was on a bit of a roll but was still dealing with my nerves. As I spoke about Thanksgiving, suddenly our leaders and interpreters in the back of the room started laughing. As I went on, I noticed them laughing more and more visibly. After the program was over, I came over to them, wondering what on earth I’d said that was so hysterical. Apparently, my explanation of Thanksgiving was this:

“This is a picture of my family celebrating Thanksgiving. In America, we celebrate Thanksgiving to remember…the…pilgrims landing, um, on earth. So we get together and have a big meal together…”

Seriously? The pilgrims landing on earth? That was my first legitimate and real blonde moment. I’ve only had a handful of those in my lifetime, most between the ages of 15 and 20. Needless to say, I have never lived that down. People still bring it up – namely my parents.

So here I am, much older and wiser. And to comemorate my wisdom and the Thanksgiving holiday, here is a brief history of Thanksgiving:

*In 1621, the colonists of Plymouth and the Wapanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest. Gathering together for a large feast, everyone pitched in to prepare the meal. Historians can’t say for sure what foods were actually consumed during the feast, but they know that venison and wild fowl were on the list due to journal records. *

Gathering to give thanks for the harvest was actually a longstanding tradition with the colonists, and there are several recorded events that took place before the 1621 meeting. Nevertheless, the feast of 1621 has long been acknowledged as the first official Thanksgiving and it is this meeting that we celebrate yearly. We celebrate to thank our Maker for the blessings He has bestowed upon us, for the way that He has provided, for the bounty that we are all blessed to share.

And we thank Him that the pilgrims landed on earth…

Geez.

*For more information go to this website.

Filed Under: blast from the past, Holidays, Life, Thanksgiving Tagged With: History of Thanksgiving

Today…

November 25, 2009 by Kelli

I am thankful for a husband who let me go out last night with some girlfriends, then let me sleep in this morning because he knows I don’t feel good.

I am thankful for girlfriends who will go with me to see Little House on the Prairie: The Musical and who will wait outside the stage door in the cold in the hopes that we might get to meet Melissa Gilbert only to be disappointed when we find out she had a reception to attend so she wouldn’t be greeting fans. *sad face*

I am thankful for a blond haired little boy who crawled up in bed with me this morning and gave me a slobbery kiss on the cheek to wake me up. Then we snuggled and he told knock knock jokes as only a near two year old can. Best. wake up call. EVER.

I am thankful for a little girl who is running around the house in a bright blue dance leotard.

I am thankful for the speech patterns of a three year old. Tia came home from school yesterday and told me this: “Hey mom. Hayden bwought a thnack to thchool today. He bwought ’nuffins (muffins). Well, but dey wasn’t weally ’nuffin. They was somfin. They was somfin talled ’nuffins.” Oh my gosh – cute.

I am thankful for a bigger little blonde haired boy who has found a passion for reading and who is getting better at it every day. And I’m thankful that he’s trying to write his own stories now. The other day he drew a picture of a house and wrote underneath: I like my haws. My mom and dad like it to. My haws is prite. I have 5 pepl in my famle. They ar lee, kele, sloan, tia, landin.

I am thankful for five days in which we have nothing to do. We haven’t had that amount of free time in a long, long time.

I am thankful for the family and friends that we are going to spend the day with tomorrow.

I am thankful that even though we’re all feeling a little under the weather and are all fighting colds, this is the first sickness that’s invaded our home so far this winter.

I am thankful for the many, many things that I’ve been blessed with. God is so good.

What are you thankful for?

Filed Under: Family, Holidays, Thanksgiving Tagged With: Thankful

Taking Care of Business

November 23, 2009 by Kelli

– First of all, I am going to announce the winner of the Testament Focused drawing. I now know why I don’t like doing giveaways. I wish every one of you could win and I hate that I only get to pick one winner – or that Random.org only got to pick one winner for me. If I could afford it, I would buy and ship a book out to every one of you.

But I can’t afford it, so you’ll have to buy your own! Ha!

Anyway, drumroll please…

The lucky winner of the Testament Focused drawing is…

Number 9 – Nicole from Here’s the Diehl!

Congratulations, Nicole. I’ll get that book to you as soon as it comes in and I’ve had a chance to look through it myself 🙂

To the rest of you – thanks for playing and I am really sorry you didn’t win. But you can still get a copy for yourself and don’t forget that 100% of the first 25 copies sold goes to Soaring Wings Ranch.

– It was another busy weekend for the Stuart family. Daddy was out of town, which always lends itself to insanity. We watched the movie Up on Friday night. I laughed to not cry through the first half hour of the movie, then genuinely laughed the second half. It’s a very sweet film.

– While Lee was gone, I noticed it was rather frigid in our house and realized the furnace was blowing cold air. so, with Lee talking me through it over the phone, I managed to relight the pilot light on the furnace thereby restoring warmth and order to my home.

Because I am She-ra.

– Saturday we got to stay home in the morning and I got some laundry done while the kids attempted to drive me insane played quietly around the house. Then we headed out the door to visit with a sweet friend who’s in town for a little while before going home to greet her husband who is fighting for our freedoms in Afghanistan!

We love you Jeremy!

– Sunday I woke up to discover that my voodoo face cream apparently works by burning the skin off my face. I guess I got it too close to my eyes because both eyes were swollen shut and the skin was rather enflamed. An ice pack and a lot of lotion later, I headed out the door where I spent the next 11 hours at church leading worship, making Christmas crafts with Sloan, singing Christmas carols for the craft workshop and previewing scene one from our upcoming Christmas musical!

Whew – I’m still exhausted.

– When I returned home, I wrote this article for the St. Louis Blogger’s Guild in which I took a rather unpopular opinion on an incident that took place here in St. Louis. You’ll have to read the article to know what I’m talking about, but I still firmly belive that while Kurt Greenbaum may be known as a bit of a jerk around town, the person posting the comment had no business doing so from school grounds and I therefore think he is suffering a dreadful consequence for his foolishness.

Not many people agree with me. There is widespread belief that Kurt Greenbaum violated an unspoken code of conduct on the web and he is being slaughtered for it. Perhaps that is the case, but the fact remains that this school employee still made a foolish choice.

It’s a tough situation.

If you haven’t read the article you have no idea what I’m talking about.

– Now I’m home, still nursing swollen eyes and trying to gear myself up to put away the mountains of laundry I washed this weekend. I also may pull out a few Christmas decorations, much to my husband’s chagrin. He has this crazy idea that we shouldn’t start celebrating Christmas until after Thanksgiving!

I know, right?!

Filed Under: Blogging, Christmas, Giveaway, Holidays, Life, Random Tagged With: A Time for Christmas, Kurt Greenbaum, Soaring Wings Ranch, Testament Focused

Photos and Links

November 11, 2009 by Kelli

We’ve had a beautiful Indian Summer this past week, but alas, I know it is soon to draw to a close. My hydrangea bushes still have some beautiful blooms on them and rather than see them shrivel up in the coming cold and rain, I decided to enjoy them just a little bit longer:

-My sister-in-law, Becke’, has just finished her first book and it’s amazing! It’s called Testament Focused and it combines her love of God’s Word with her love of photography. It would make a great Christmas gift. You can preview the book here. I highly, highly recommend it. And, bonus, 100% of the profits from the first 25 books sold go to an amazing ministry called Soaring Wings Ranch.

– I am participating in our church’s Christmas musical called A Time for Christmas and it opens in just a few weeks. It’s a broadway style musical filled with singing, dancing and a whole lot of Christmas music! It’s been a pretty big commitment but I think it’s going to be worth it as the play is really starting to come together. Tickets went on sale this past Sunday. You can purchase them here (just click on the link that says Purchase Tickets). The show runs from Thursday, December 10-Sunday, December 13. I would love it if you could come! I’ll be the one singing the high D and shattering all the glass in the room. Good times…

– The Tooth Fairy made a second appearance in our home the other night after I pulled out Sloan’s second wiggly tooth. And, for the record, I don’t like pulling teeth out of someone’s mouth – even if that someone is my kid. It’s gross and it set off my gag reflexes big time. Here he is sporting his large window.

Notice the crooked smile? Yeah…Guess who has massive amounts of orthodontic work in his future?!

– And finally, I got my hair colored yesterday and I was feeling brave. So I told her to make me a brunette, and that she did!

You only get to see the back of my head because I haven’t washed or painted my face yet today and yes I’m vain enough to know not to put a scuzzy looking picture of myself on the interweb!

Happy Wednesday!

Filed Under: Christmas, Gross, Holidays, Life, Random Tagged With: A Time for Christmas

Memory of Halloweens Past

October 30, 2009 by Kelli

This morning, the kids got up long before Lee and I were ready. So as we laid in bed, they pitter pattered out to the living room. From the warmth of our bed, we could hear them digging through their little halloween buckets where the candy they racked up yesterday trick or treating at my dad’s office awaited their arrival.

Twice they came into our room to ask if they could have a piece. Twice I played bad cop and said no, not until after breakfast – because eating a sugar-filled-teeth-rotting-sugar-exploding morsel is way better after you’ve eaten a bowl of cereal. (eyeroll) Really, I just didn’t feel like I would be doing them justice as their mother if I allowed them candy at 6:30 in the morning.

Moments after their second rejection, I heard Sloan tell Tia that they should dump their buckets out and count their candy to see how much they had.

So with a tumble and a THWOP we heard the innards of their plastic buckets fall to the floor and the delighted giggles of two very excited children. After saying a silent prayer that they would have the same amount of candy I heard Sloan count to 14…twice.

“Tia, we both have 14 pieces!” he exclaimed. “That means we don’t have to fight!”

Yes. And it meant that mommy could lay in peace for a few more minutes. Praise God Almighty from Whom all blessing flow!

As I thought of them counting their little piles of candy, I remembered my trick or treating days when my brother and I would come home and share the same ritual. We would dump out our pillow cases of candy and take an inventory of our loot. Then, of course, the trading and bartering would commense.

I tended to trade the Twizzlers and M & M’s for Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and Skittles. Of course, I also hoarded the Bottle Caps and Pop Rocks and we both handed off the Sugar Daddies and Suger Babies to my dad, because those are his favorite. And we threw away the Nut ‘N Honey’s because, ew…

Then we would diligently count how many pieces of candy we had and hoot and hollar if we were fortunate to pass the 100 piece mark then squeal with delight if passed 200. We would plan out what we would eat when and how long it would take us to devour our treasures.

(Come to think of it, I wonder if my mom ever threw away a few pieces of our candy every day without us knowing so that we would ultimately not end up eating that much junk. Not that I do that…ahem.)

When it was all said and done and Brett and I were equally pleased with our final count, we would sit back and eat as much as mom would allow and rehash the night’s events remembering which house gave the best candy, who had the best costumes and how we nearly froze to death in the frigid Wisconsin weather.

Then we would head to bed, our stomach’s aching from over consumption and our head’s spinning from the rush of sugar.

Those are sweet (pun definately intended) memories. I miss my brother.

What are some of your favorite Halloween memories?

Filed Under: blast from the past, Family, Halloween, Holidays, Kids, Motherhood Tagged With: Halloween, Tick or Treating