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The First Sleepover

August 23, 2009 by Kelli

On Friday night, we hosted our first sleepover. Sloan had two sweet friends over and they spent the evening playing Star Wars, watching Star Wars, eating S’Mores, playing UNO, and altogether wearing Lee out.

In typical sleepover fashion, they hopped up on junk food and got very little sleep. But they also made sweet memories. We are blessed with good, good friends. The two boys Sloan had over are great kids. They’re the kind of kids you want your child spending time with. They bring out the best in Sloan and we altogether enjoyed watching the three of them play together.

Tia and I went to my mom’s house while the boys played. Mom was out on the town, but Tia and I had fun girl time watching Little House on the Prairie and painting our fingernails. I let Tia paint my nails – she also managed to paint a majority of my fingers as well. Though my nails are now an assortment of colors (red, purple and orange were her color scheme) she was so proud, I couldn’t bear to take the polish off. So I sported my sassy nails at church this morning. I think, though, that I’ll clean them up tonight 🙂

Suzanne and Nicole, thanks for lending us your children for the night. They were absolutely fantastic. For your enjoyment, I’m going to list some of my favorite quotes from the boys and a few pics from the super awesome, totally cool first ever sleepover!

Me (upon returning home and finding the boys all nestled shirtless into their sleeping bags in the tent): “How was your evening, guys?”
Bobby: “Mr. Stuart just told us an…unusual story…
Apparently Lee told them a rather animated story that scared them just slightly…Luke ended up practically sleeping on top of Lee.

Sloan: “When I go to heaven, I’m going to see Granny. I have a Granny (his great-grandma) from my Arkansas. She died.”
Luke: “My grandma died one year ago. She made the best muffins.”
Sloan: “Your actual grandma died?” I love his distinction between a great-grandma and an actual grandma…
Luke: “Yeah – she made good muffins.”
(Don’t you love their sweet honesty?)
Bobby: “I have a great-great-great grandma who’s an Indian. An American Indian I think.”

Bobby: “The only thing that would make this sleepover better is if we could stay two nights.”
Luke: “Yeah. I like everything about this sleepover…except the sleeping.”

There were so many other sweet quotes from the evening, but those are the only ones I could remember. Listening to 6 year old boys communicate with one another is a hoot!

Summer '09 153 Summer '09 157 Summer '09 164

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Sloan, summer fun

For the love of money

August 21, 2009 by Kelli

Thanks to everyone who participated in the conversation yesterday regarding vaccinations. It’s an important topic and I’m glad people are talking about it. And thanks for being so respectful of one another and of the differing opinions. It was nice to read the different perspectives without feeling any tension. You guys are great!

On Wednesday, I took the kids to Target to buy Tia a new stroller for her baby dolls. An overzealous neighbor boy broke hers and I promised her a new one if she did a good job getting her ears cleaned out. And since she didn’t scream (thank you Vercet), she got the much coveted stroller.

Sloan had seven dollars in his wallet. Lee and I don’t give the kids an allowance, but on occasion we reward them for work they do around the house, particularly when that work is done from a serving heart.

And, oh my, that seven bucks was burning a hole in his pocket. So, after picking out the perfect baby stroller, we headed to the Star Wars isle. Did you know there is little to nothing you can buy for seven dollars?

Sloan found the toy he really wanted, but it is 25 dollars. So he put it down and looked around and said, “Well, I guess I’ll just buy something I don’t really want because I’m ready to spend my money.”

At that moment, a huge light went off over our heads and a voice blared over the loudspeaker, TEACHABLE MOMENT, TEACHABLE MOMENT!!!!

Okay, not really. But wouldn’t it be nice if that happened?

I did however, get down on Sloan’s level and explain to him the wisdom in saving his money so that he could buy the thing he really wanted.

“But that will take too long,” he protested.

It took a little convincing, but I finally helped him understand that waiting and working to earn the money for something he wanted would be better than wasting his money on something he didn’t really want. What a lesson, huh? I need to remember that myself sometimes.

So, we came home, Sloan’s back pocket still burning with unspent dollars. Last night, Sloan rushed to his room and “cleaned” it up – which means he tossed all the loose toys into the closet and shoved the door closed. Because that’s how we roll in the Stuart house…

“Can I have a dollar?” he asked. Sound the alarm! TEACHABLE MOMENT, TEACHABLE MOMENT!!!

“Son, did you do that because it needed to be done, or because you wanted money?” Lee asked.

“Because I wanted money,” Sloan replied oh so honestly.

Lee then tried to explain to Sloan that there are certain things we do because we’re supposed to. But I could see Sloan get more and more dejected and confused, and I could understand why. You see, once, maybe twice, we have given him money for cleaning his room. It wasn’t because he cleaned his room, but because his heart was so pure and sweet and we were rewarding him for that. But we obviously didn’t do a good job explaining that to him, so I could see why he would feel frustrated with us last night. But then it got worse…

“I LOVE money, though. I just want it so bad!” he cried.

Yikes. We have some training to do. Teaching kids the proper way to think about and handle money is a little daunting. While Lee and I don’t spoil our children by any means, we are blessed to be able to provide them with not only comforts, but special privileges as well. We try to make them aware of the fact that Lee and I work hard for our money and we work to spend it in the proper manner.

I know as they grow older, there will be more opportunity to have a discourse over how and where it is wise to spend money, but we want to start training them now.

We also talked with Sloan about giving a portion of the money he earns back to God as a tithe. Oh, he was not happy to hear that. We had a lot of discussion about it this morning.

What are some things you’ve done to train your children in finanaces and the responsiblity that comes with money? Nicole, could you leave the name of the piggy bank you guys use in the comments? I would like to get one of those.

I think it’s important to not only model to our children the correct way to spend, save and give money, but also to give them the opportunity to practice. So Lee and I are working on some projects that Sloan can do around the house to earn more money. Today, I’m going to have him and Tia wipe down all the baseboards in the house. Which, wow – I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of this earlier! I hate cleaning baseboards! Is it bad that I’m excited about the benefits of teaching this life lesson? Ahem.

So, please, help me out. What are some ways we can teach our children to be responsible in earning, saving, spending and giving money? What are practices that have been effective for you?

Filed Under: discipline, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan

Blink

August 18, 2009 by Kelli

I’m not sure how it happened, but it seems that I blinked my eyes and this baby grew up…

Sloan Alexander Stuart

Blink...He's 1

Blink...He's 2

Blink...He's 3

Blink...He's 4

Blink...He's 5

: Blink…He’s 6 and he’s in Kindergarten!

I never thought I’d get emotional sending Sloan off to school. In fact, I haven’t been at all emotional about it…until yesterday when I sat in the cafeteria of his school and it all hit me. Even though he’s only going a half day (which I’m so thankful for), it’s still a big step in life. I’m now the mom of an elementary school student. I am getting information on the PTO. How the flip did I get here?

Sloan had a blast at school. When asked what his favorite part of the day was, he replied, “Everything.” He thought riding the school bus was “rockin’ awesome,” and “super loved” gym.

So there it is. I blinked and my baby grew up. And I spent the entire morning blinking hard against the tears that kept pricking my eyes. Especially after the big yellow bus drove away with my boy inside it’s belly.

Summer '09 143

Blink…blink,blink,blink,blink,sniffle,blink,blink…

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Life, Motherhood, Sloan Tagged With: starting school

He-ey Wait a Minute Mr. Postman!

August 13, 2009 by Kelli

Several times a week for the last month or so, when Sloan is home, he’s run out the door as the mailman came by to collect the mail. I haven’t paid much attention to this – I’ve just assumed he likes having this little responsibility and I’ve been grateful to him for it.

Yesterday afternoon, however, I got a further glimpse into this amazing little boy I get to call my son. Sloan and I were enjoying a rare moment of quiet together on the front porch when the mailman drove up. Sloan leapt to his feet and said, “Oh, Herman!”

As he raced down the driveway, I wondered what on earth he meant by “Herman.” Then I heard him call out, “Hey Mr. Herman!” as the mail truck came to a stop.

Our kind old mailman leaned out the window and replied, “Well hey there Mr. Sloan!” He handed Sloan our bundle of mail, then he and Sloan proceeded to talk for several minutes. I just sat on the porch and marveled at my son’s ability to engage this man in conversation. I’m a grown woman and I’m not even that good at talking to strangers. And here is my 6-year-old, sharing life with the mailman.

It was so sweet and tender to watch Sloan talk with Herman and to see the delight in Herman’s eyes. And I felt convicted as I realized that my kindegartner is better at showing the love of Jesus than his stodgy old mom.

After about 5 minutes, Sloan waved good-bye to Herman saying, “Have a great day delivering mail, Mr. Herman!”

“Okay, Mr. Sloan,” Herman replied. “I’ll see you again soon.”

As he walked up and handed me the mail, Sloan said, “That’s Herman. He lives in Afton, Missouri. I like him.”

I’m proud to be Sloan’s mom. Some days are really, really difficult. He is a passionate child, which can lend itself to passionate responses, both negatively and positively.

But Sloan is a lover of people. He genuinely loves to be with others and he has an uncanny ability to make others feel loved. He’s so much like his daddy in that regard.

Needless to say, I was very proud of him yesterday. It’s amazing what we can learn from our children when we take the time to observe the positive qualities they possess. Because days can be difficult with Sloan, I sometimes forget to stop and recognize all the goodness and sweetness that God has instilled in him. He’s a neat kid and I’m so excited to see how God is going to use Sloan’s passion to impact the world.

I also resolved that I need to walk down to the mailbox with Sloan and meet Herman myself. Because I am not ashamed to follow the example of my child.

Filed Under: Family, funny stuff that happens, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan

Six Years

July 10, 2009 by Kelli

Six years ago at this very moment, I became a mommy.

Six years ago at this very moment suddenly my life wasn’t about me any more.

Six years ago at this very moment I was in the worst pain of my life. But it was quickly followed by the biggest surge of joy I’ve ever known.

Six years ago at this moment, I was baffled, flabbergasted, nervous and excited all at the same time.

Six years ago at this time, I knew exactly what to do even though I had no idea what I was doing.

Six years ago at this exact moment, Sloan was born.

It was 6:21 am on a Thursday morning. It was crazy and hectic as nurses scrambled to accomodate my extremely fast labor. The house doctor was coaching me since my doctor didn’t make it in time.

And out he came out, a wriggly, chubby little man with a head full of white blonde fuzz. And we fell in love immediately.

Fast forward six years. Sloan is a joy. He’s smart, he’s funny, he’s friendly and he’s loving. He loves people and needs companionship as much as he needs oxygen. I can’t imagine life without Sloan. In fact, it’s hard to remember life without him.

Sloan,

You are my first born. You’re the one who made me a mommy. You make me laugh every day. You are a good, good little boy and it’s a joy to call you my son.

Today you get to become a pirate for the day. That’s your gift from us. You told me yesterday that instead of taking a pirate cruise, you wish that we could find a Star Wars ship and fly into the galaxy. I told you that maybe when you turn 12 we’ll be able to find a Star Wars ship to fly in.

I hope you grow out of your Star Wars obsession by then otherwise you will be sorely disappointed.

Since you were born, you have been the most loving, outgoing ,verbal little boy. It’s been a challenge for me as my first inclination is not to say hi to everyone I meet and ask them to come and play. But it’s a trait I love about you because wherever we are, you make a new friend.

Last night you told me that you were going to miss 5. “It was a good year,” you said very dramatically. Yes, it was a good year. You grew up a lot this year. You’re not a little kid anymore. And while I’m going to miss 5 too, I look forward to 6. It will be another good year. I just hope it goes by a little more slowly because you’re growing up way too fast.

I love you, Sloan. Have a Happy 6th Birthday.

Mom

Filed Under: blast from the past, Family, Kids, Life, Sloan Tagged With: Happy Birthday

Bug Off – and Some Other Stuff

July 7, 2009 by Kelli

We have bees. Or, a better way to put it…

OMG-OMG-OMG-BEES!WE-HAVE-BEES-BEES-BEES-BEES-BEEEEEEEEES!

That’s kind of how I felt as I tried to water my flowers about 10 minutes ago. I mean, I know I should be grateful for them, what with their penchant for pollination and what have you, but I am, indeed, not grateful but rather terrified and mad.

I’m not talking one or two bees flying about, enjoying the meal I’ve planted for them in my front yard – I’m talking at LEAST 25-30, maybe more.

We have the big, scary, hairy bees like these:

summer-09-049

summer-09-051

I’ve heard in the past that these bees don’t actually sting – is that true? Of course, why would they need to sting when they know that people like me will just break my neck trying to get away?

We also have plain old boring bees (that I know for a fact sting) like these:

summer-09-052

They seem to particularly enjoy the flowers that have bloomed on our Hostas, which I intend to cut off tonight after they’ve all headed off to Beeville for the evening. But they are also all over my Impatiens and I don’t know what to do about that. Is there anything I can do?

In addition to bees, I noticed some little Beetle-like bugs all over my rose bushes and it appears they are eating the roses. This is what they look like:

summer-09-054

Do you have any suggestions as to what I should do about these guys? Ugh – I hate bugs…

In other, completely unrelated, news – We had a birthday party for Sloan last night at BounceU. Seriously – that’s the way to go when throwing a birthday party. We actually split the party with some friends whose kids also have July birthdays, which made it even more fun and exciting for everyone.

Remember last year’s birthday party? This was way better – for me anyway. I didn’t have to do anything but show up and take pictures. And pictures I did take…

Sloan and his frined Nick beating the youknowwhat out of each other. They lasted a long time!

My friend Suzanne and I also beating the youknowwhat out of each other. We did not last nearly as long.

The kids bounced, wrestled, slid and climbed for an hour and a half. And they came home tired.

The three in the top middle were the birthday kids - Ian (8) Gini Lu (4) and Sloan (6)

The bouncing was followed by cupcakes and presents. Sloan came home with a large bag filled with new Star Wars toys. In fact, I think he only got Star Wars toys, which thrilled his little galaxy lovin’ heart. The final gift he opened was from Lee and I. We decided to give him his gift early since we’re leaving tomorrow for Florida.

It’s a new light saber. One that lights up and makes noise. He’s been asking for one for a very long time now. His reaction was priceless.

summer-09-097

May the force be with you all.

Filed Under: Family, Gross, Kids, Sloan Tagged With: bees, BounceU

Sloan-isms

July 2, 2009 by Kelli

My boy (who’s almost SIX) has had a few great one liners lately. Enjoy the deep thoughts of Sloan Stuart:

Sloan: “Hey mom – you know what I’m the awesomest at?”
Me: “What?”
Sloan: “Oh, just about everything.”
Me: “You’re modest too.”
Sloan: “Yeah…Mom, what’s modest?”

One morning, after he crawled in bed with us at the crack of dawn, he started rubbing my face.
Sloan: “Mom, do you have sunscream on?”
Me: “No.”
Sloan: “Why is your skin so lotiony then?”
Me: “I put lotion on my face before I went to sleep.”
Sloan: “Oh. Is that to help you not look so old.”
I had no comment…

When I called about 5 days into my trip, I spoke with Sloan who is the only child who apparently missed me while I was gone…
Sloan: “Mom, where are you?”
Me: “I’m in South Caicos.”
Sloan: “What are you doing in South Caicos?”
Me: “I’m just looking around.”
Sloan: “Okay, um…this is getting a little weird. When are you coming home?”

After I returned home, I enjoyed some sweet snuggles with my oldest. As we cuddled up he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
Sloan: “Mom, I missed you so much.”
Me: “I missed you too, buddy.”
Sloan: “You know mom – I always loved you. Like, always…”

And finally – A couple of weeks ago as I was folding laundry, Sloan pulled out one of my bras and held it up.
Sloan: “Mom – when I grow up and turn into a girl, will I wear a nest holder like this?” (he still calls the female chest a nest – at what age do you think I should correct him? Never? Oh good, that’s what I was thinking...)
Me: “Honey, you’ll always be a boy – you will never be a girl.
Sloan: dropping my bra and clapping his hands together as though they were dirty – “Oh good, because that does not look comfortable.”

I seriously don’t know where he comes up with some of this stuff…

Filed Under: funny stuff that happens, Kids, Sloan Tagged With: kids say the darndest things, Sloan

Bits ‘N Pieces

June 10, 2009 by Kelli

– Today is a MckMama McKDay for me. I made these pancakes this morning, which I was completely unsure of but was pleasantly surprised when the kids gobbled them up. Anything made with flax seed meal and flax seed oil sounds a little, uh, gross to me. But, in an effort to reign in our not so great eating habits, I followed the recipe to a T.

I’m going to make the cookies this afternoon. And next week I’m going to try the Nut Butter. I feel so domestic! (And Barbara, I’m going to wear the new apron – can’t wait!)

If you’ve never read McKMama’s site, you really need to add it to your google reader. She’s hilarious, she’s an amazing writer, and I think that she just might be supermom. Plus, she makes me think that if she can manage four children in four years, one of whom has serious health problems and still make meals that contain flax in them, then I can too!

I love blogs…

– I signed the kids up for the library’s summer reading program this week. And then I bought them canvas bags for their library books and let them decorate them. Just so you know, a five and three year old and metallic puffy paints are nothing short of an adventure…

So, the reading program: For every 12 books the kids read, they get a special prize from the library. I’ve actually added to that goal, though. I told them we would go back to the libaray to collect their prize when they read 12 books in English and one in russian.

Piece of cake.

Except they can’t read in English yet! Gah! Which means I am having to be much more intentional about reading to them. I started working with Sloan on his English reading. I bought a great workbook that seems to be helping a lot, so I think I’ve decided that for every 7 pages he does in the workbook, I’ll let him count it as a book read for the library. I’m not sure if that’s cheating or not.

Just FYI – teaching kids to read English is H-A-R-D. English is a dumb language. It makes no sense. At least in russian every letter has only one sound. Once you know the letter’s sound, you’re good to go. English? Good grief.

So we’ll see how it goes. Sloan’s already read three books (I read them to him and made him sound out the shorter words) and Tia has “read” two. When I’m done here, I’m going to search the internet for simple russian language books.

That won’t be hard at all.

– I’m going out of town in a week in a half. I will be gone for 8 days and it’s the longest I will have been away from the kids since they were born. I’m a little apprehensive about it. I’m not one of those mom’s who has a hard time being separated from her kids – in fact, I think it’s GREAT to get time away – but I’m going to be really far away and my kids will be spending a majority of their days with a babysitter.

This makes me nervous.

I’m also thoroughly overwhelmed at all the preparations that need to be done. Meals need to be baked and frozen, schedules need to be ironed out, diapers need to be bought, packing needs to be done, and major pep talks need to be given to my husband who is being very supportive and cool about this whole process but who I can see is freaking out just a little.

Whew.

Wish me luck.

Filed Under: Blogging, books, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan Tagged With: McKCookies, McKMama, McKPancakes, teaching kids to read

Can I Just Go Back to Bed?

May 13, 2009 by Kelli

*updated pictures below – it’s not any better.

I woke up this morning to a very quiet house. It was 7:00 and I thought, wow – today’s gonna be a good day.

I was wrong…

As I was getting dressed, Sloan came in to my room and said, “Mom, look at Tia’s hair. It’s short!”

He cut her hair off. He cut it off.

I just started crying and sent them out of the room. I know it’s just hair, but I love her hair. I love pigtails and braids. These are the things I love about having a girl. And I’m just so sad. Here are pictures for now. I’ll post more after I’ve taken her to the salon and had them do whatever they can with it. Pray for me!

Too bad the mullet is no longer in style

Why couldn't he have done this on the other side?

The bag of her hair that I'm crying over

I was hoping that blogging about it would make me feel better. But it didn’t. In fact, looking at the pictures has brought on fresh tears. *sigh* I guess I’ll find this funny someday?

Bad Dorothy Hammel haircut. Notice how the right side is significantly shorter than the left?

She's going to have to get used to head bands.

Filed Under: discipline, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Motherhood, Sloan, Tia

He broke me…

May 11, 2009 by Kelli

Sloan, who usually is required to have an hour long “rest time” in his room had a few, shall we say, attitude problems today. When it was time to come in and he threw a lovely five year old tantrum, I upped his room time to an hour and a half, which prompted a melodramatic drop to the floor and great heaving sobs. He then kicked a chair over, which led me to up his room time to 2 hours. Which prompted more wailing.

He has a penchant for drama. I don’t know where he got that from. Ahem.

As I put Tia to bed I heard his mournful cries and genuinely felt bad for him. The kid is so much like me that I know how painful isolation for two whole hours would be.

When I came out, I gave him a hug and explained to him that his attitude and actions have consequences. He nodded. “I’m sorry mom that I made that bad choice. It wasn’t wise to slam the door and kick the chair.”

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I agreed with him and told him I forgive him. Then came the kicker…

“Mom, I really don’t want to spend 2 hours in my room. I just really wanted to come out after an hour and spend time with you because I love you and I like to be with you.”

So I lowered the room time to 1.5 hours.

I know, I know… I’m a pansy.

Filed Under: discipline, Kids, Motherhood, Sloan