Claire has been screaming "BEANS!!" over and over again, with varying degrees of despair and tears, for going on a half hour now. I say, "with your dinner, Claire," as I hurry to fix pasta primavera for the rest of the family. Occasionally, she says, "okay," and is quiet for maybe four seconds before starting in again. "BEANS!!!" The girl loves baked beans.
Which got me thinking: what is the strangest thing your kids have ever thrown a fit about?
For us, beans are definitely not it. Not even just looking at today.
This morning, at about 4:45, Kate came into our room sobbing because a ribbon she'd tied around her ankle in a dozen crazy knots (presumably before falling asleep last night) wouldn't come off. So, I fumbled around in the dark to unknot the ribbon so she could go back to sleep.
Not sure that one takes the cake. (I'm inclined to say no, since it was bizarre but easily resolved, but I can't think of any more right now.
What's the craziest fit your kids have ever thrown?
Monday, January 20, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
12 Pics of Christmas
The Christmas season has been gone as long as it was here, so I guess it's about time I share some of the photos and activities of our family's celebrations. I'm limiting myself to twelve photos, though, so here are the essentials:
The Sunday before Christmas, which also happened to be Matt's parents' 40th anniversary, we took them to lunch and then went back to their house to open presents (since Christmas Eve was going to be so busy!) I typically do something memory-oriented for the girls' gifts to their grandparents—handprint mugs, a photo calendar, etc. This year, I made "memory keeper" boxes on PaperCoterie.com for the grandparents to keep cards, photos, and artwork from the grandkids.
Christmas Eve, as expected, was jam packed, starting with our noon service at church, done in the style of our Sunday evening casual service, The Road. We offered kid activities so little ones could stay in the service. I printed manger coloring sheets (outline of the stable and star) for kids to color and add their nativity scene. And so the kids could have "candles" for the singing of Silent Night, I had supplies to help them wrap a glow stick in white paper and add an orange tissue "flame."
And this one of the whole family, including BGC. Kate determined that anyone not wearing red on Christmas Eve was on Santa's naughty list. Sadly, this meant that the only one on the naughty list was Uncle Gary, whose birthday we were also celebrating. What a way to treat the birthday boy, Kate! (Maybe Gary feels like I did on my sweet sixteen, when I decided on a pink theme instead of the usual red, white, and blue for my July 4th birthday!)
From there we went to a nearby nursing home where both of Matt's grandmothers reside, to visit with them a bit. They are both quite elderly and can't get out to join family celebrations elsewhere. I always think about how, when Matt and I got engaged, we both had three living grandparents. Then I lost one a few months before our wedding, and the other two just months apart in 2010. Matt still had his three until his grandfather died on our anniversary this past October. It was good to see the grandmothers this Christmas.
Then, it was back to church for the evening Christmas Eve service. Since the day had been so crazy and I'd had the girls to wrangle during the noon service, I cherished the opportunity to sit and celebrate the Incarnation with some presence of mind. Then we headed home to read "The Night Before Christmas" and set out milk and cookies!
We enjoyed Christmas morning with just our nuclear family, opening stockings and gifts, eating our traditional egg casserole and singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. (And by nuclear, I do mean nuclear, as BGC is a super-late sleeper and missed the morning festivities!) We got a Kindle Fire for the family.
After BGC got up, she got her own little present party, with gifts both from us and from an "angel tree" sort of volunteer gift giver DCS recruits. Kate and Claire loved helping BGC with her presents. We saved some for her to open when my parents arrived later, but then she was napping, so she missed it and had another private present party!
After getting dressed (the kids all in new outfits they'd been gifted) we went to the hospital to visit a church member. We hated that he had to spend Christmas in a hospital bed, and felt bad for the nurses that had to work, so we picked up doughnuts on the way to spread some cheer!
When we returned in the early afternoon, my parents arrived for their visit! We opened more presents, hung out and played, and enjoyed a nice dinner.
My parents stayed a few days, during which we saw a movie ("Saving Mr. Banks"—so good!), ate out, visited the Frist art museum's Norman Rockwell exhibit (and hands-on kid area, which Claire is enjoying in the pic below), and ice skating!
Popi entertained the little girls on the bleachers while Matt, Mom, Kate, and I skated. The girls went back to my parents' condo with them for a sleepover that night, and I enjoyed a lot of scrapbooking time on our child-free morning!
I was determined to make sure the Christmas fun didn't stop with the 25th or with grandparent visits. For one example, "after Christmas" sales at Michael's made possible some fun Christmas crafts on the cheap!
So that was our Christmas. Whew! I'm glad I didn't decide to blog 25 pics of Christmas. I noticed that this is blog post #901 on The Parsonage Family, so maybe—despite my blog-aversion of late—I can resolve to hit the big 1000 this year! Hope your 2014 is off to a good start.
The Sunday before Christmas, which also happened to be Matt's parents' 40th anniversary, we took them to lunch and then went back to their house to open presents (since Christmas Eve was going to be so busy!) I typically do something memory-oriented for the girls' gifts to their grandparents—handprint mugs, a photo calendar, etc. This year, I made "memory keeper" boxes on PaperCoterie.com for the grandparents to keep cards, photos, and artwork from the grandkids.
Christmas Eve, as expected, was jam packed, starting with our noon service at church, done in the style of our Sunday evening casual service, The Road. We offered kid activities so little ones could stay in the service. I printed manger coloring sheets (outline of the stable and star) for kids to color and add their nativity scene. And so the kids could have "candles" for the singing of Silent Night, I had supplies to help them wrap a glow stick in white paper and add an orange tissue "flame."
After that service, we went over to Granna and Opa's again for a light mid-afternoon meal and visiting with Matt's aunt and uncle, who were there as well. Love this pic of my girlies in their Christmas finery.
And this one of the whole family, including BGC. Kate determined that anyone not wearing red on Christmas Eve was on Santa's naughty list. Sadly, this meant that the only one on the naughty list was Uncle Gary, whose birthday we were also celebrating. What a way to treat the birthday boy, Kate! (Maybe Gary feels like I did on my sweet sixteen, when I decided on a pink theme instead of the usual red, white, and blue for my July 4th birthday!)
From there we went to a nearby nursing home where both of Matt's grandmothers reside, to visit with them a bit. They are both quite elderly and can't get out to join family celebrations elsewhere. I always think about how, when Matt and I got engaged, we both had three living grandparents. Then I lost one a few months before our wedding, and the other two just months apart in 2010. Matt still had his three until his grandfather died on our anniversary this past October. It was good to see the grandmothers this Christmas.
Then, it was back to church for the evening Christmas Eve service. Since the day had been so crazy and I'd had the girls to wrangle during the noon service, I cherished the opportunity to sit and celebrate the Incarnation with some presence of mind. Then we headed home to read "The Night Before Christmas" and set out milk and cookies!
After BGC got up, she got her own little present party, with gifts both from us and from an "angel tree" sort of volunteer gift giver DCS recruits. Kate and Claire loved helping BGC with her presents. We saved some for her to open when my parents arrived later, but then she was napping, so she missed it and had another private present party!
When we returned in the early afternoon, my parents arrived for their visit! We opened more presents, hung out and played, and enjoyed a nice dinner.
My parents stayed a few days, during which we saw a movie ("Saving Mr. Banks"—so good!), ate out, visited the Frist art museum's Norman Rockwell exhibit (and hands-on kid area, which Claire is enjoying in the pic below), and ice skating!
Popi entertained the little girls on the bleachers while Matt, Mom, Kate, and I skated. The girls went back to my parents' condo with them for a sleepover that night, and I enjoyed a lot of scrapbooking time on our child-free morning!
I was determined to make sure the Christmas fun didn't stop with the 25th or with grandparent visits. For one example, "after Christmas" sales at Michael's made possible some fun Christmas crafts on the cheap!
So that was our Christmas. Whew! I'm glad I didn't decide to blog 25 pics of Christmas. I noticed that this is blog post #901 on The Parsonage Family, so maybe—despite my blog-aversion of late—I can resolve to hit the big 1000 this year! Hope your 2014 is off to a good start.
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
New Year's by the Numbers
Building on a Facebook status my husband posted, here are our New Year's Day stats for the Kelley house:
Times Claire made it to the potty on her first day of training: 0
(Worse, she didn't really care that her panties were wet, so if we didn't notice when she'd gone, she'd just hang out in wet panties for a while!)
Kinds of meat my hubby slow smoked and we all devoured: 4
(A rack of ribs, a beef roast, a chicken, and salmon for his pescatarian mom. I should add that he then boiled a chicken carcass for four hours to make stock for some future recipe. He rocks.)
Sound of Music viewings: 2
(Though, to be honest, it's very hard to calculate, because Kate jumps around, watching her favorite scenes numerous times and never actually finishing the film.)
Black eyes Kate gave herself doing gymnastics: 1
(Seriously. After about 25 leaps from the couch onto her new bean bag chair, her knee got in the way of her landing, and she now has a purple shiner under her eye.)
Years the fancy scotch Matt and his dad enjoyed aged in a fancy barrel: 30
(No comment, beyond the fact that I was told in no uncertain terms not to mix this whiskey with ginger ale, Coke Zero, or anything else... or really, just don't touch it at all, because you don't appreciate its wonderousness.)
Scrapbook pages completed by yours truly: 10
I had an awesome day. Matt and I had about six hours of sleep between the ball dropping and the kids rising, drank mimosas with the leftover champagne, made scrambled eggs, and the girls played together without parental involvement such that I was able to scrapbook our self-taken family photo shoot, Thanksgiving, and 24 days of Daily December. Matt's parents joined us for a mid-afternoon dinner, helping us eat the many meats and witnessing the gymnastic black eye. We all enjoyed such a relaxed, wonderful day doing things we enjoy in one another's company. I barely remember that yesterday was a work day and that tomorrow is not Sunday (lazy family days at home register as Saturday in my mind, so I end up all confused!). We may get snow overnight, though, so if day care is closed, tomorrow may be much of the same. If so, I may get to scrapbook the first through seventh days of Christmas, AKA Daily December 25-31.
Hope 2014 treats you all right. Many blessings from Team Kelley.
Times Claire made it to the potty on her first day of training: 0
(Worse, she didn't really care that her panties were wet, so if we didn't notice when she'd gone, she'd just hang out in wet panties for a while!)
Kinds of meat my hubby slow smoked and we all devoured: 4
(A rack of ribs, a beef roast, a chicken, and salmon for his pescatarian mom. I should add that he then boiled a chicken carcass for four hours to make stock for some future recipe. He rocks.)
Sound of Music viewings: 2
(Though, to be honest, it's very hard to calculate, because Kate jumps around, watching her favorite scenes numerous times and never actually finishing the film.)
Black eyes Kate gave herself doing gymnastics: 1
(Seriously. After about 25 leaps from the couch onto her new bean bag chair, her knee got in the way of her landing, and she now has a purple shiner under her eye.)
Years the fancy scotch Matt and his dad enjoyed aged in a fancy barrel: 30
(No comment, beyond the fact that I was told in no uncertain terms not to mix this whiskey with ginger ale, Coke Zero, or anything else... or really, just don't touch it at all, because you don't appreciate its wonderousness.)
Scrapbook pages completed by yours truly: 10
I had an awesome day. Matt and I had about six hours of sleep between the ball dropping and the kids rising, drank mimosas with the leftover champagne, made scrambled eggs, and the girls played together without parental involvement such that I was able to scrapbook our self-taken family photo shoot, Thanksgiving, and 24 days of Daily December. Matt's parents joined us for a mid-afternoon dinner, helping us eat the many meats and witnessing the gymnastic black eye. We all enjoyed such a relaxed, wonderful day doing things we enjoy in one another's company. I barely remember that yesterday was a work day and that tomorrow is not Sunday (lazy family days at home register as Saturday in my mind, so I end up all confused!). We may get snow overnight, though, so if day care is closed, tomorrow may be much of the same. If so, I may get to scrapbook the first through seventh days of Christmas, AKA Daily December 25-31.
Hope 2014 treats you all right. Many blessings from Team Kelley.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
7 Swans a Swimming
I feel rather delinquent in not sharing any photos of our family Christmas celebrations yet, but I am here to say—to myself as well as you—Christmas is not over yet!!
I find myself so frustrated with how quickly the world moves on from Christmas after Dec. 25. Even the Christian radio station stopped playing Christmas music at 5 pm on the 25th! They couldn't even wait until midnight?! Dec. 25 is just the beginning, the first day of Christmas. We could be enjoying twelve days, people! (Count them: Dec. 25 to Jan. 5; Jan. 6 is Epiphany, the start of the next season in the church year.)
I wrote a post about this several years ago called "Christmas Is the New Advent," saying essentially that the twelve days of Christmas are actually a better time for reflection and celebration of Emmanuel, God with us, precisely because most of society has already moved on. Without the pressure of "getting ready" for Christmas, buying and wrapping and baking and all (all of which I love), now is the best time to simply enjoy the season and think about what it means for Christ to have come as an infant, even when the festivities are done and we're back to the old grind of work and school.
Like so many families, we have our practices during Advent to help the kids (and us) to countdown and prepare for Christmas—Advent calendars, nativity scenes, keeping the baby Jesus figurine out of the manger until Christmas Eve, etc.—but how do we help the kids celebrate Christmas even after all the gifts are opened?
I started by telling the kids about the twelve days of Christmas, singing the song to introduce the concept and then announcing each day what day of Christmas it is. (Today is the Seventh Day of Christmas!) Kate has been keeping track even better than we have! Then, I transformed our Advent wreath into a Christmas wreath. Well, we just had a plate this year, no greenery, but in any case, out went the four purple candles and in went twelve tea lights. We light the Christ candle that was first lit on Christmas Eve to symbolize Christ's presence with us, and then light the appropriate number of tea lights.
Last year, we had a Twelfth Day of Christmas party to take down our decorations, drag out the tree, and demolish our gingerbread house. It's a fun way to mark the changing of the seasons, having carried our celebration of Jesus' birth beyond the gifts and big meals, back into everyday life.
I find myself so frustrated with how quickly the world moves on from Christmas after Dec. 25. Even the Christian radio station stopped playing Christmas music at 5 pm on the 25th! They couldn't even wait until midnight?! Dec. 25 is just the beginning, the first day of Christmas. We could be enjoying twelve days, people! (Count them: Dec. 25 to Jan. 5; Jan. 6 is Epiphany, the start of the next season in the church year.)
I wrote a post about this several years ago called "Christmas Is the New Advent," saying essentially that the twelve days of Christmas are actually a better time for reflection and celebration of Emmanuel, God with us, precisely because most of society has already moved on. Without the pressure of "getting ready" for Christmas, buying and wrapping and baking and all (all of which I love), now is the best time to simply enjoy the season and think about what it means for Christ to have come as an infant, even when the festivities are done and we're back to the old grind of work and school.
Like so many families, we have our practices during Advent to help the kids (and us) to countdown and prepare for Christmas—Advent calendars, nativity scenes, keeping the baby Jesus figurine out of the manger until Christmas Eve, etc.—but how do we help the kids celebrate Christmas even after all the gifts are opened?
Last year, we had a Twelfth Day of Christmas party to take down our decorations, drag out the tree, and demolish our gingerbread house. It's a fun way to mark the changing of the seasons, having carried our celebration of Jesus' birth beyond the gifts and big meals, back into everyday life.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Captain Fun Trap
Did your family watch the live television version of Sound of Music a few weeks ago, with Carrie Underwood? We let the girls stay up late to watch, and though Carrie's acting might have left something to be desired, we enjoyed it and I've especially loved how it introduced my kids to another great musical. (Kate is already a huge Phantom of the Opera fan.)
Since the airing of that live TV special, we've watched it OnDemand a few times (for free), paid to watch the Julie Andrews version OnDemand (only to find that it expired after 24 hours, so we only got through part of it in that time), and watched part of the Julie Andrews version when it aired on ABC last night (only to have our cable go out just before the party scene).
Kate and Claire now love to sing and act out the songs from Sound of Music, especially "My Favorite Things," and "The Lonely Goatherd" (my favorite). They like the children's line-up too. Kate will hold her hands behind her back, step forward and say "Liesl!" and Claire will do the same thing, saying "He-drick!" (Friedrich). They do this over and over.
Kate has also been saying we need to have seven kids—no, wait, seven more kids—so that we can name them Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. She says she wants to play Gretl on stage, since Gretl is five and she is almost five.
Some of the lyrics are "beyond her ken," so to speak, so we've heard some funny twists on the original wording. For example. . .
Captain Fun Trap
Tea, a drink with John and Brett
and my personal favorite,
Meat, a name I call myself.
Since the airing of that live TV special, we've watched it OnDemand a few times (for free), paid to watch the Julie Andrews version OnDemand (only to find that it expired after 24 hours, so we only got through part of it in that time), and watched part of the Julie Andrews version when it aired on ABC last night (only to have our cable go out just before the party scene).
 |
| Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you |
Kate has also been saying we need to have seven kids—no, wait, seven more kids—so that we can name them Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. She says she wants to play Gretl on stage, since Gretl is five and she is almost five.
Some of the lyrics are "beyond her ken," so to speak, so we've heard some funny twists on the original wording. For example. . .
Captain Fun Trap
Tea, a drink with John and Brett
and my personal favorite,
Meat, a name I call myself.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Christmas Traditions
I can't believe it's December 20th, already. The season is flying by, but we've been having a lot of holiday fun. Our favorite things are some of the same things we do every year.
A few of our traditions:
Another thing we've been doing in recent years is having friends over for dinner a few days before Christmas. It's fun to share such a family-oriented holiday with friends as well, so tonight's the night for that! I better press "post" so I can get cooking. They'll be here in 50 minutes!
A few of our traditions:
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| Making a gingerbread house |
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| The girls go bake cookies with Granna, too. This year, they combined it with a slumber party at Granna and Opa's, so Matt and I had a nice date night! |
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| Kate's preschool Christmas program is special every year too. The pre-K kids have the biggest part, with costumes. Kate was an angel, and any time a song mentioned an angel, she pointed to herself excitedly :) |
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| One of my personal favorites: our annual jammies Christmas light drive! |
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| We did it last night, and always have to visit "the crazy house," the most decorated house around! |
Another thing we've been doing in recent years is having friends over for dinner a few days before Christmas. It's fun to share such a family-oriented holiday with friends as well, so tonight's the night for that! I better press "post" so I can get cooking. They'll be here in 50 minutes!
Friday, December 13, 2013
Decking the Halls
I'm linking up today with Kelly Stamps' Holiday Home Tour, and looking back at my post for that link-up two years ago, I see what a creature of habit I am. So many things are in exactly the same place! I've changed a few things, and some things I changed last year, but now they're just like the before that!
In any case, welcome to our lovely abode, all decked out for the holidays.
Welcome to any visitors, and Merry Christmas!
In any case, welcome to our lovely abode, all decked out for the holidays.
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| Lots of nativities around the hearth--advent calendars, play nativity, and the shiny metal one on the mantle. |
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| There are still a few gifts to arrive, but I've wrapped what we have. I love to wrap gifts! |
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| I did the dining room table differently this year, with a tray I found at a thrift store, filled with candles, ornaments, angels, and greenery, and ornaments hanging from beads on the light fixture. |
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| A simpler Advent wreath on the kitchen table this year (since I hung the actual wreath above the mantle!) |
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| stairway |
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| My favorite holly jollies: the kiddos, decorating our gingerbread house! |
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