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I filled my Word Quotient

September 15, 2009 by Kelli

The proverbial “they” say that on average women speak roughly 20,000-25,000 words per day while men speak anywhere from 8,000-12,000 per day.

Thus the importance for women to have good girl friends. Our husbands – they’re great. But, you know, we ladies need to have time to talk incessantly without the recipient of our conversation glazing over and slipping into a coma.

Thus the reason I love “rendezvous” weekends with my college girlfriends. I am blessed beyond measure to have friendships with ladies who are likeminded, funny, fashionable (they helped me out with my wardrobe this weekend) and who, no matter how long or how far apart we’ve been, can always fall right back into the same fun, loving friendship that dominated our years at Baylor.

I love these ladies.

I am positive that we fulfilled our daily talking quotient this weekend and we likely banked a few hundred thousand words. We talked from morning to the wee hours of the night, fully enjoying one another’s company. It felt as if time hadn’t passed by at all.

Never mind that between the five of us, we have 14 children. FOURTEEN. That actually gives us more to talk about! Yeah! I’ve known these women since I was 18. We shared so many dreams and hopes back in our college days and it’s so fun to see many of those dreams and hopes being realized and lived out daily. These relationships are unique and special and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.

Jillian, we missed you so much. There was a piece of our group noticably missing. Hopefully it will work out next year...

Upon returning home from my lovely weekend of movies, pedicures, massages, shopping and talking, I had a minor panic attack at all that needed to be accomplished in my sweet little home. First off, apparently the house threw up while I was gone. So, you know, I’ve got to deal with that.

Secondly, Tia started preschool yesterday and since I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t leave everything until the last minute, I was up half the night Sunday night searching for all the forms and information that I needed to give the school so she could officially start.

But doesn’t she look precious?

I’m finally able to sit down and do a bit of writing today and that’s a good thing because I am behind on several projects.

So today I will be hunkering down, trying to piece the house back together and tap, tap, tapping away on my trusty computer in the hopes of making a dent in the long To-Do list sitting on my desk.

Put up a post on my blog? Check!

Filed Under: Family, Life, Motherhood, Random, Tia Tagged With: Baylor friends

Photographic evidence that gymnastics was a good idea

September 10, 2009 by Kelli

Yesterday, I looked out the window and caught Tia like this:

So today, I took her here:

To do stuff like this:

I spent many years coaching gymnastics at the competitive level in a gym that has produced two Olympians. I don’t have high aspirations for my child to become an Olympic gymnast, primarily because I’m pretty she’ll outgrow most Olympians by the time she’s in 4th grade.

But for now? Gymnastics is a great outlet for her unending energy and her constant desire to climb up, flip over and jump off of anything she sees. I’d sign her up everyday if I could afford it. She had a blast.

I’m off for a few days dear internets. I’m headed to Texas for a little R & R with some dear friends. Enjoy your weekends. Hug your babies tomorrow and if you see someone in the armed forces, let them know that you appreciate them for their service to our country.

We have not forgotten!

Filed Under: Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Random, Tia

For the Love of Money – Part 2

September 9, 2009 by Kelli

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about our desire to better teach our children how to handle money. Last night we had the opportunity to reward Sloan for his patience and great attitude in working and saving his money.

For two weeks now, Sloan has done little chores around the house to earn extra dollars. He’s cleaned baseboards, taken out the trash, watered the flowers, cleaned the bathroom and a whole host of other household tasks.

Each time he got paid, he raced to his wallet and carefully counted out his earnings. The coveted toy cost $25.00, so he had to do quite a bit of work.

During this time, Sloan had a great attitude. He didn’t complain, he didn’t whine and beg for more money faster. He was brilliant. So Lee and I decided to help him out in his goal.

When he reached $20.00, we told him to take out three dollars and set it aside for savings. Then we had him give us two dollars to give to the church. We then gave him the last ten dollars he needed and we packed up last night and headed to the store where he got his beloved Star Wars doodad.

(He says it’s called a Nancho Fighter. I’m pretty sure that’s not right, but whatever it is, he’s very proud.)

Not to be left out, Tia has been saving money herself. Because she tends to, ahem, lose focus in just about any task she’s given, she didn’t earn quite the same amount as Sloan. But she did have ten dollars to spend, so after taking out a dollar for the church and two dollars for savings, we gave her enough to buy a princess jewelry set, of which she is equally proud.

This was a very fun way to help the kids learn money management. It also gave us a chance to teach them of God’s blessings on those who are good stewards of their finances. It was a good lesson for both kids and for Lee and I as well.

It was also good for my house as I now have clean baseboards for the first time in, well, a really long time. So, you know…Mama got a bonus too.

Filed Under: Kids, Motherhood, Sloan, Tia Tagged With: teaching kids to manage money

Monday’s Funnies…

August 31, 2009 by Kelli

Here it is – the video of my sedated daughter. Again, don’t think I’m advocating the sedation of children. But, you know, sometimes it needs to be done and why not have a little fun with it, right? Honestly, I just think it’s the sweetest thing and it makes me smile.

There are three different videos. They’re only 30 seconds a piece so it won’t take long to watch them The third is the best – that’s when she discovers her hand. The quality of video is not that great – I don’t have one-a them fancy phones, ya know? Also, the video is sideways – sorry, I can’t do anything about it. If you turn your head just so, you’ll be able to see just fine.

Aren’t you excited? Do enjoy…

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Moving on. Have any of you seen the site, Awkward Family Photos? Well, if you haven’t, you absolutely must! Lee and I surfed it the other night and laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes. What a brilliant idea – take the random, horrible, awkward photos of families and post them for all the world to see.

Glorious.

Just to prove to you the the hilarity of this site, I’ll give you two sneak peeks. Then, you’ll have to head over and see for yourself…

That last photo – oh the glory. That’s just so funny. So, for those of you out there struggling with Monday, remember, the world is full of goofy, awkward moments that scream for a laugh. So, in that spirit, may you all have a day full of joy and laughter!

Filed Under: funny stuff that happens, Tia Tagged With: Awkward Family Photos

I laughed till I cried…

August 19, 2009 by Kelli

This morning we took Tia in for the procedure to clean out her ears. I was a little apprehensive before going in. It seemed like such a silly thing to do, putting our child out just to clean her ears. And because none of my children have ever been under anesthesia, I was just a little fearful about how she might react.

I needn’t worry. In fact, the morning was down right enjoyable…at least for Lee and I. Not only was it enjoyable, it was hysterical. Hys-ter-i-cal.

Because we know of Tia’s penchant for freaking out at the last minute, we decided to let them give her a sedative to ease her nerves before taking her back for anesthesia. Now, I’m not one for medicating my children. In fact, I generally try to not give them any medications unless they absolutely need it. So don’t think I’m a terrible parent for what I’m about to tell you.

Every parent should have the opportunity, just once, to see their child under the influence of a sedative. Because it’s about the funniest thing you’ll ever see in your life.

And no, I’m not advocating drugging children for fun. ‘Kay? So no one get bent out of shape. I’m just sayin’. It’s pretty daggum funny.

All that to say, seeing my daughter drugged was one of the sweetest, most hilarious things I’ve ever witnessed in my life. She wasn’t just punchy, she was just plain out of it. Giggling, waving her head around, making funny faces and so on…I laughed until tears streamed down my cheeks. It was awesome.

I didn’t have the video camera with me, unfortunately, but I did take some video with my camera and as soon as I figure out how to download it, I will share. Because, seriously – it was hysterical. At one point she waved her hand in front of her face and found that to be the oddest, funniest thing she’s ever seen. She kept waving it back and forth in front of her eyes, giggling the whole time. When we asked her her name she said, “Bootiful Tia,” then broke out in a peal of silly laughter. When we asked her her brother’s names she answered, “Bootie,” then dropped her head back and let out a high pitched, totally un-Tia-like giggle. Awesome. Just awesome.

On top of having a thoroughly entertaining morning, the doctor was able to fully clean out Tia’s ears and informed us that she did indeed have severely impacted wax and that she was likely experiencing a 25 decibel hearing loss because of it. So we were very glad that we had the procedure done, even if it did seem extreme.

So now we’re home and the drugs have worn off and Tia is back to her old self, tormenting her brother playing with her brother and having a good old time. She doesn’t remember anything about the procedure and has no pain. She’s a little groggy, but a good nap this afternoon will take care of that.

And I now have one more memory of her childhood that I’ll take with me to my grave.

Filed Under: funny stuff that happens, Kids do the darndest things, Motherhood, Tia Tagged With: ent, waxy ears

The one with all the vomit – and other funny stuff…

July 24, 2009 by Kelli

It is amazing to me how two children from the same two parents can be so very different.

Sloan has a penchant for melodrama. He gets that from me. I know you’re shocked. I’ll give you a minute to let that bit of information sink in before we move on…

Better? Yes, as a child I tended to be slightly over dramatic about a few everything. I like to think of myself as a passionate person. And Sloan is my passionate child. Thus the reason he and I butt heads constantly. I’m positive my parents prayed fervantly that I ended up with a child just like me.

Tia, on the other hand, is relatively even-keeled. Unless she loses a race or gets beat in a game, then the gloves come off and she releases with a mighty fury. She only slightly competitive – just slightly like her daddy.

But when it comes to things like falling down, getting sick, etc… She’s our tough one.

When Sloan throws up, the world will know. There is great wailing and gnashing of teeth. There is a fair amount of bemoaning (Why did I have to get sick?) and he makes it plenty obvious that he’s not happy. And I can appreciate that – I really can.

So when Tia started throwing up last night, I braced myself for the hysterics. But they never came. In fact, we didn’t even know she had a stomach ache. (This is the same child who, the last time she got the stomach flu, threw up in her bed and went back to sleep in it – we never knew she’d gotten sick!) And as I held her over the sink and washed her mouth off, our conversation went like this:

Me: Are you feeling better now?
Tia: Yes. (heaves and spews)
Me: Does your tummy still hurt?
Tia: No (heaves and spews)
Me: Do you want a little drink?
Tia: No – I want to go night-night. (heaves and spews)

Sweet little girl threw up on and off all night last night, and each time she leaned her head over her bowl, took care of business, then rolled over and went back to sleep with hardly a word.

Yes – they are different. Both sweet and spicey in their own little ways.

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In other, slightly less disgusting news, Sloan and I had an interesting discussion yesterday. I won’t recount the whole thing because it’s not entirely appropriate for this public platform, but let’s just say it involved him giggling over the word penis.

Boys! Honestly, they don’t have to be taught do they?

And finally, this morning I took my brood (yes, even the sicko) to the Social Security office where I had to get all of our cards replaced due to them being stolen last year. That’s fuuuuun.

As we left, we walked past a man taking a smoke break. And my terribly un-shy 6-year-old piped up, “Why do you have a smoker? Don’t you know that’s bad for you? It makes your lungs black.”

Out of the mouth’s of babes…

Filed Under: Gross, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Sickness, Tia Tagged With: kids say the darndest things, stomach flu

Moving Forward

May 14, 2009 by Kelli

Well, Tia’s hair still looks awful this morning. You were all so kind in your comments about her “fixed” hair, and I appreciate your sweetness, but it really does not look good. In a couple of months, when the right side has grown out a little, I think it will be a little cuter.

I have attempted little-bitty ponytails today, which require massive amounts of hairspray and barretts to hold back the super short hair on the right side of her head. I keep telling her she looks beautiful and she really is a doll, but that hair – oh my…

A friend and I are throwing a Mother’s Day (a week late) tea party on Sunday so I’m ramping up for a few days of baking. Orange Cream Scones, fresh Strawberry and Lemon Curd, Fruit Salad with Spiced Syrup, Watermelon-Feta Salad, Spinach Tartlets with Cream Cheese Crust…who’s hungry? And those are just the things I’m making – you should see my friend’s half of the menu.

I love tea parties. I love the food and the leisure, the tea’s and the accessories. I’m going today to pick out the tea’s and get the final ingredients. I’ll post some pictures when it’s all said and done…I know you can’t wait.

Today is Sloan’s last day of preschool. That’s very strange. He will never be a preschooler again. It feels right, of course. He’s so big and so mature that I’ve sometimes questioned our decision to hold him back this year. I know in the long run we’ll be glad, but for now he seems way too advanced for where he is. I hope we can keep him challenged next year in kindegarten. We’ll see.

And finally, can I just say that I love my husband? He’s a good guy. But I will tell you that the other night, when we were flipping the channels and we landed on Grease 2 and he started singing along to the songs – I was a little baffled. After nearly 9 years, I’m still learning new things about him. Grease 2? Interesting…

Filed Under: Kids, Life, Random, Tia Tagged With: grease 2, tea party

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

Easter Blunder

April 13, 2009 by Kelli

I loved Easter as a kid. My parents made it a big deal in our house. There were new dresses and bonnets (for me, not for my brother ’cause that would’ve been weird); baskets filled with goodies magically appeared on the fireplace on Easter morning, and, of course, we headed to church where there was always a feeling of excitement and joy in the air as we celebrated our risen Lord.

I try to create an equal amount of excitment and joy for my kids and it seems to be working. They had a wonderful Easter weekend filled with family, food and laughter. We are thrilled to have my brother in town for a little while. Sloan has been wanting to have a Star Wars party with his Uncle Brett for a long time now, ever since he found out that Brett liked Star Wars when he was a little boy too. So Friday night we made a cake, got some decorations and watched Star Wars together. The kids had a blast – and so did the grown-ups! We even played pin the voice box on Darth Vader. It’s a slightly odd way to celebrate Easter weekend, I’ll admit.

On Easter Sunday, I got up at the crack of dawn to make sure I had everything ready for everyone because I had to be at church by 7:45 to prepare for morning worship. By 7:15, everyone was dressed and the obligatory photos were taken. The Easter Bunny left a note the night before telling the kids that he took their baskets to Boss and Bushka’s house (my parents) so thankfully we didn’t have to deal with that.

Here are our sweet Easter photos:

Dress #1

Tia in her Easter bonnet, which she didn't want to wear because she was afraid it would mess up her hair.

: The Brothers Stuart: Aren’t they handsome?

My babies

: Dress #2

What’s with Dress # 1 & 2, you ask? Well, therein lies the blunder. After I left for church, with my brood dressed and ready to go, I got to church anticipating their arrival at the 9:00 am service. But, my dear readers, my husband made a classic male mistake.

Because they were ready so early, he decided to swing through Starbucks on the way to church. And, because he was feeling so joyous and relaxed, he decided to bless his children by getting them hot cocoa.

Oh yes he did!

Somehow he forgot that our daughter is the. messiest. child on planet Earth. Thus, when they pulled into the church parking lot and he glanced back, he noticed she had spilled hot cocoa all down her dress.

So he took her home where he frantically tried to get the stain out of the Easter dress that I had so lovingly picked out – much to no avail. Thus dress #2. We are still working on the stain on the other dress. *sigh* Boys. Oh well – after I got over the initial annoyance, I actually found the situation quite amusing because only a daddy would think that giving a child hot cocoa in the car in her Easter dress was a good idea. Lee was sheepishly apologetic and we’ve been laughing about it since.

Hope you all had wonderful Easters filled with joy and laughter, and minus irreparable stains.

*sorry about the photos not all being in order. I get the distinct impression that WordPress might hate me. I’m still learning.

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Kids do the darndest things, Marriage, Tia

Sometimes a kiss and a bandaid won’t do

July 16, 2008 by Kelli

I’ve pretty much given up hope on finding Tia’s lovey. I know I’ve been talking about this a lot, but it really has been an upsetting thing for her and for me. I spent a little time thinking about it last night because I have honestly fluctuated between crying over that silly bear and laughing at myself for getting so upset. It’s more than just the fact that we lost a little piece of Tia. That, of course, does make me so sad, but it goes beyond those emotions.

As parents, we work hard to fix our children’s problems – especially when they’re little and the problems are so easy to fix. You got a scrape? Let mommy kiss it – all better! You’re scared? Here, come snuggle with mommy. And so it goes…

The problems, in general, are just easier to fix during these young years. But now, suddenly, my daughter has a problem that I cannot fix for her. It’s relatively minor, of course, compared to the real tragedies that could happen. But in her little two year old mind, she is missing her best friend and I am unable to fix that for her. I can’t turn back the clock and look for lovey before we left the hotel. I can’t will him to appear. I can’t find another one on the internet. It’s the first time I’ve watched one of my kids face disappointment and it stinks!

My mom wisely told me the other day that this will not be the last time I have to sit back and watch my child hurt and know there’s nothing I can do to fix it. We are approaching the school days when the sharp, pointed barbs of another child’s words could potentially devastate one of my kids. That is a wound I cannot prevent and it will equally cut through my heart to see them suffer such disappointment. There will likely be some snot nosed little boy that will one day come along and break my daughter’s heart and I will have to sit back and let her be refined through that experience.

There are so many disappointments to come, so many heartaches that mommy will not be able to kiss away. For now I will relish the thought that for the most part, I am their hero. I can fix their problems, but I am praying the Lord will give me the strength to handle the bigger disappointments to come because if I get this upset over a little bear, what will I do when something worse happens?

With time, Tia will slowly forget that little purple bear. Before long, his memory will exist to her only through pictures and the stories we tell. I, however, will probably always long to find her lovey bear. I imagine that for years to come, every time I pass a children’s section of a store, my eyes will automatically glance through the stuffed animals hanging up disply, looking and hoping to see lovey bear. Long after her affections have moved on to something else, my heart will still long to ease the pain of the few weeks when she longed for her friend, her comfort.

Am I obssesive, or is this just natural? I haven’t figured that one out yet.

Filed Under: Family, Kids, Life, Motherhood, Tia Tagged With: Animal Alley Purple Panda, lost toy, Motherhood, Tia