Whoso Shall Offend One of These Little Ones

I cry.

When innocence is lost,

When tiny hearts are crushed,

When precious jewels are trampled.

I cry.

When selfishness replaces peace,

And agendas are too full for grace,

Fragile lives kicked to the corner for convenience.

I cry.

Oh, Come!

All of your Christmas Card questions can be answered in the blog entry below, but I needed to post this, it's incredible.

It's the Piano Guys playing O Come, Emmanuel, with some footage filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Beautifully done.

Hey, Nellie!!!: Strategic Parenting 101: Full Course

Here is a link to a post I accidentally posted a long time ago before it was complete.  Now that I'm ready to post it, it wouldn't go where I wanted it to, so if you want to read it, here's the link.  Hope this works.

Hey, Nellie!!!: Strategic Parenting 101: Full Course

2012 Newsletter

First of all, if you received a family picture this Christmas, this is what you saw:

It was a joke, folks.  We didn't have a new baby--we just thought it would be fun to see who noticed!  The baby belongs to my sister.  We remain firmly an 8 monkey family.  

Keeley 2012 Top 10 Quotes:

1.  "I'm an adult, I can just call the school and EXCUSE MYSELF if you won't do it."  Liz age 18 (and don't you forget it!)

            Liz is a senior, and is taking AP Psychology.  Cap and gown, senior photos, graduation requirements, college and scholarship applications, friends and work at Sonic dominate her life.  She has decided to continue to live at home for now, so she does not call the school, excuse herself, and take a day off.  Next fall she hopes to attend BYU-I DAHO majoring in psychology with an animal sciences minor.  She plans to go on an LDS mission after one semester of school.  She misses Niko, (Ding-a-ling dog and last year's newsletter writer), who escaped the yard and was hit by a car early on in the year.  

2. "Oh, and I have a date next Friday."   Andrew 16 yrs, as coolly-understated as possible.

            This year Andrew started College at UVU through UCAS, a public charter school that will allow him to graduate from High School with an Associates Degree.  He also got his driver's license and started dating.  OYE!

3.  "I might have some friends over after school.  Can you get rid of the little girls?"  Mayli, 14 is still a great help, but not an eager-beaver  babysitter anymore.  (Sigh.  It was bound to happen.)  And she might have friends over like the Pope might be Catholic.  She still has a 4.0 with extra credit (geek!) but shot down the perfect attendance  the day she climbed to the top of Mt. Timpanogos with Sam and Paul.  Here's hoping she'll potty-train Anna next summer.

4.   "Uno momento."  Busy Sam, 12.   Sam earned the Hope of America Award in 5th grade last year, has earned a sash full of scouting merit badges (Paul is his leader), and can usually either be found playing football, night-games, or Monotony (Grandpa Keeley's name for Monopoly) with friends.

5.  "You wanna read my new book?'  Sarah, 9, has written a full library of books this year, and is hoping to film one soon.  She is very imaginative and dramatic, which is both good and bad, sometimes.  Sarah continues to sing all day long. 

6.   "I want a cup of coffee.  And a cigarette, please."  Pat, 6.  Uh, yeah.  She really said this at the abrupt and almost hilarious end of one of her spectacular tantrums.  Fortunately, we hit upon a new set of "tantrum rules" and she has pretty much stopped a lifelong habit.  Yee, haw!  (Of course, the new habits she picked up that night are keeping her pretty busy.  Just kidding!)

Pat is now officially a reader, and  continues to collect bugs and slimy things.

7.  "Uno Timentos"  Katie.  (Her version of Uno Momento.  Yes, we're quite the bilingual family.)  She's 4, and is still a constant source of amusement.  She shouts "Open Sesamony!"  in front of automatic store doors, and tries to take over as the teacher at Pre-School.  The colored markers, shredded papers, and piles of art everywhere are evidence of her playing preferences.  She is also the biggest helper for EVERYONE!

8.  "Where's my SWIMMIN' SUIT!?!"  Two year old Anna.  She wore one of her many suits most of the summer, and into the fall.  She calls herself "Eevee" after her favorite Pokemon character, and is also heard saying, "Me, too!" a lot.  She has some great dance moves, and sings, "B is for Bubble" all day long.  She is a professional cutie.

9.   "Hmmm…"  Paul still uses his non-committal sigh to communicate, but has used his great computer skills to begin a new job at Ancestry.com.  He put together a beautiful video tribute to his father at his passing recently.  He is in scouting about as deep as a man can get, and is Sam's leader. 

10.  "Circle Time!"  Jeri.  Preschool, organizing, nagging, driving, reading, blogging.  Same old, same old.  
http://jerianna.blogspot.com/2012/07/strategic-parenting-101-full-course.html

We love you all!  Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Part 1

I have a dear friend who just posted her list of things she's thankful for the other day, and since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I've decided to steal her idea.

2012 Things I'm Thankful For:  (In no particular order)

1.  Clean.  I can turn on a tap and have clean water, at any temperature I choose.  I can shower, with soap, everyday!  I have lotion and toothpaste and deodorant and perfume and baby wipes and laundry soap and dish soap and disinfectant and  hand-sanitizer.  It is easy to be clean.

Along with that kind of clean, I can be clean inside, too.  

A wise person once said, "Freedom is being able to live with yourself."  The only way I can do that is through the grace and forgiveness of my Savior.  He paid the price for my sins, so that I can repent and be clean.  Remarkable!

2.  Peace.  I never need to wonder if I'll be safe when I leave my home.  I'm not on the lookout for snipers.  Going to church isn't risky.  I don't need to worry that I'll never see my family again when I kick them out the door each morning.  Peace is such a part of my life that I rarely notice it.  I am thankful for peace and safety.

3.  Literacy.  I can read!  I have access to books and scripture and google!  I can learn.  My kids can read!  Books, books, books!  We're rollin' in them over here!  Read at the table, in the tub, in the car, in bed, with the kids, share with friends, learn, escape, experience, reflect.  Oh, glorious words!

4.  Plenty.  There's plenty of food, space, snuggles, songs, friends, family, colors, music, variety, opportunities.  Walk into the store, buy pineapple in February.  Choose your brand, color, size, price.  

I can change my clothes.  Snuggle under an extra blanket, change my lipstick color, try a new ice cream flavor.  I'm showed with blessings!

5.  Love.  I feel God's great love.  The love of a good husband.  The indescribable love of children.  Friends.  Family.  

6.Good People.  There are so many good people in the world.  People who quietly sacrifice for others, who serve and love.  Who smile in the grocery store.  Who share their talents.  So many who came before with their examples and goodness and selflessness.  So many all around us now.  They're rarely on the news, but they change the world.  I'm blessed to know so many good people!

7.  Warm Feet.  Love warm feet.

Icy cold creamy milk, the Hallelujah Chorus, screamin' hot deals, funny people, hammocks, preschool, an extra hour of sleep, roses, happy surprises, handwritten letters, quiet, inside jokes, the warm scent of baby head.  

There are so many things to be thankful for!

O is for Organize and P is for Pudding!

It smacks me on the side of the head every year, and though we had a little preview the week before Halloween, I was again unprepared for it when it was the true article.

SNOW!!!
I hate it.

I hate the, "Where are my snowpants?  Where are my boots?  Would you tuck my slimy wet gloves back into my coat?"  The smell of wet, the puddles of cold slush everywhere.  Cold feet.

So, I did the only rational thing I could think of.  I went shopping.  Then I organized with a focus that only one with an OCD problem could appreciate.
Last year when this happened, Handsome prince hung up some hooks and a coat bar in the garage.  By Saturday night, all the snowsuits were hanging there, the coats were organized and hung, and the gloves were paired and hanging in the closet.

Dinky entry closet organized

Linen closet with gloves

Under the computer desk, organized.  New school supplies.

These are actual pictures!  It's a little more crowded when the kids are home, but it works!


New subject.  Last Friday was one of my favorite preschools.  We did P is for Paint with Pudding.  It was (always is) a riot!!!  It was a great day for 3 kids to be absent.

 
This week:
Monday:  Fried Chicken, squash casserole, and pasta
Tuesday:  Meatloaf and baked potatoes
Wed:  Chicken soup
Thurs:  Leftovers
Fri:  Kid food
Sat:
Sun:  Crock pot something

Preschool:
Q is for Question.  The scientific method.  Paint with colored milk on bread and toast it.  It turns neon.

Found this online.  Cute and true!

R is for rice.  Making shakers and gluing rice to paper.

My goal this week will continue to be "Shampoo the Upstairs Carpets."  (I'm sure someday I'll get to it!  Maybe it could be my New Year's resolution.)

Unbelievable

This picture was taken at the funeral.  See the sweet lady in the middle?  She made the Handsome Prince who he is today.  (She also helped raise me from the age of 14, as I spent a lot of time at her house.  She is one of my "Other Mothers".) These are her kids, grand-kids  their spouses and children.  A few are missing.  All together, counting the ones who are gone, there are 105 of us.  

Wow.  

All in all, it's a pretty amazing circle of love and support.  We are so blessed to  be a family.  Thanks, Daddy Roger, for taking the pictures.  They turned out great!

Where Handsome Prince Got His Handsome Princely Ways

Art

One of the "Greatest Generation" gone. Arthur Ray Keeley (1926 - 2012)

HYRUM - Arthur Ray Keeley passed away Oct. 26, 2012. He was born to Alfred C. and Jessie Busby Keeley on March 30, 1926, in Salt Lake City. Art attended schools in the Salt Lake City area and graduated from East High School in 1944. Art then enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Philippines during World War II. Art attended Utah State Agricultural College (USU), majoring in physical education. He was a member of the football team from 1946-49 and participated in the ROTC. Art received a direct commission in the U.S. Army and fought in the Korean War. While in Korea, he was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received in action. Prior to a military assignment in West Germany, Arthur married Nadine Aagard in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple on Aug. 3, 1954. After the war, he taught seminary in Lovell, Wyo., from 1957 to 1966 and in Hyrum, Utah, from 1966 until his retirement in 1991. In his 34 years of teaching seminary, many students came to know and love "Bro. K." Since retiring, Art continued to be active in community and church. He was involved in family history and served in the Logan temple. Art is survived by his wife Nadine; children, Claudia Webb, David and Joyce Keeley, James and Marlene Keeley, Lisa and Thor Lindstrom, Kevin and Karen Keeley, Karen and David Davis, Marianne and Andrew Grasley, Paul and Jerianna Keeley, Rebecca Keeley and Christopher and Shennie Keeley; 47 grandchildren; and 28 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Helen and Jolene; and daughter Elizabeth. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in the Hyrum North Stake Center, 245 Apple Drive in Hyrum. A viewing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 E. Center St. in Logan and 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the church prior to the services. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.allenmortuaries.net. Published in Logan Herald Journal from October 30 to November 1, 2012 I guess it's one of the few times when I don't have words.  I sure love him, and will miss him. The world is a better place because he was in it.  Goodbye, Dad.  God be with you 'til we meet again.

OBAMALUNCH

Our Dear Leader's wife, Michelle Obama, in all her wisdom has become the "Lunch Czar."

She has made it her personal quest to show children throughout the nation that YES WE CAN make school lunches even less desirable than they previously were.

Think back to your school lunch experience as a child. Thought you could repress those moments, didn't'cha?  Fond memories of dish soap in brownies, stimulating games of Guess That "Cook's Choice" Origin, and trying to dodge the sturdy aide with the mole-whisker guarding the trash can.  "Go BACK and eat your beans, kid!"

Oh, for the good ole' days!


My kids came home complaining that their oranges had green fuzz growing on them, and the apples weren't ripe.  "But I ate them anyway, so I could get a token for the school store!"

WHAT!?!
They're paying my children to eat their sub-par lunch!  Unbelievable.

(I can just hear the discussion in the PTA meeting--"How can we get the kids to eat the required amount of fresh fruits and vegetables?  I know!  Let's give them a token for the school store!")

Hey, folks!  I know!  Ooh, ooh, choose me!  Why don't we actually give them FRESH fresh fruits and vegetables, and then teach good nutrition and model good behavior?

Now, at our house, the decision to eat school lunch or to brown-bag it is left up to each child.  I try to have healthy snack and all-you-can-eat peanut butter available 24-7.  We keep $ in their accounts.  If one of my kiddos is eating school lunch, it's either out of desire, or laziness.

Carol Brady, I am not.  I refuse to stand at the counter making individualized school lunches each morning.  My tender self-esteem can barely handle all of the negative feedback at dinnertime.  The last thing I want to hear as each cherub walks through the door from school is, "You made my lunch wrong!"  And I am NOT creating a token economy for lunch consumption. 

(Besides, in the mornings I'm rocking my baby 'cause babies don't keep.)

So...
      +  = 

New Math

After school is like a locust invasion, and I usually have a selection of  nutritious and also not-so-healthy snacks for them and their buddies when they arrive home.

So I say, "What the heck?" (That's Utahspeak) "You get a token if you eat your rotten fruit?"  Apparently so.

Don't eat the fruit!  (And for Heaven's sake, DON'T drink the Kool-Aid!)

Each of my Nellies has been instructed to tell the lunch lady, "I refuse to participate in your socialist agenda."

And the moral of this story is...My kids will do just about anything for tokens.

Procrastination

Little P, who is 6, wrote and illustrated a dramatic novel a couple of days ago.  It was about a girl (just happened to be named the same name as Little P) who loved a boy (neighbor kid's name) and the girl's mother didn't like the boy and wouldn't let them get married.  Pretty standard Romeo and Juliet kind of stuff. Then the girl turned 19 and moved out with the boy.  WHAT!?!  How did she get this from the Cat in the Hat and PBS?  Oh, they got married first.  Well, then, OK.  Still, though.  This little person has already given us quite the run for our money with tantrums.  Is she just trying to prepare us for fun things to come?  Part of me is just tickled that she has decided that she's a writer. I'm so confused.


OK.  Here are my new goals, and I'm posting them for accountability.
1. Stretch every day.
2.  Some kind of aerobic exercise every day.
3.  Organize 15 minutes every day.
4.  Deep clean somewhere every day (except Wed and Fri when we have preschool)
5.  Temple once a week.
6.  Pray each day.
7.  Positive time for each child alone each day.
8.  Something above and beyond for Handsome Prince each day.
9.  Anonymous love note in the mail to one person each week.
10.  Healthy snack on the counter every day after school.
11.  3 servings fruits and veggies at dinner table.
12.  Be nice to self when life happens and this plan doesn't

This week's menu:

Mon:  Fried chicken, pasta, beets, squash, peaches and cream cheese
Tues: Chili from freezer, bread, applesauce
Wed: Zucchini stir fry pasta, bread, fruit and a veggie
Thurs: Leftovers
Fri:  Pizza
Sat: Cafe Rio pork in crock pot with rice, refried beans, etc...
Sun:   Meatloaf, baked potato, etc...

Just tried this recipe yesterday and it was FABULOUS!!!

Kinda looks like this when done.

Squash Casserole
Mormon Cookbook by Julie Badger Jensen

3 lbs Butternut squash
1/4 c butter, melted
1/2 chopped onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 C sour cream
1/2 C brown sugar
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 C grated cheddar cheese (divided into two 1/2 cup amounts)

Cut squash into large chunks, cook in boiling water until tender (20 min), drain, peel and mash.
Microwave butter and onions for 2 min.  Mix together with remaining ingredients and squash.  Put in Pyrex. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cheese on top.  Bake 350 for about 45 min

Handsome suggested adding bacon.  That seems like a no-brainer!!!  I'll try that next time.

My Mom said that if I have time to put recipes on my blog, then I'm not using my time wisely.  She's right.  But did you see the goals I posted?  Doesn't it make you tired just reading them?  (Sigh.)

This week is the Church Halloween party, and next week is the field trip with the littles to the pumpkin patch.

Preschool this week:  L is for lemon (we'll do the tongue, taste, and where the different taste buds are for sweet, sour, bitter and salt) I'll set up a taste-test and let them color a tongue and M is for Mom with some kind of craft.  Hopefully they'll be able to write MOM by the end of the week.  I also made a laminated cookie with each child's name on it and we've been playing, "Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar" so that they can learn to recognize their own names.  Some of them are reading all the names.

OK, Mom, I'm going to get my work done, now.  Sheesh!

Pow!!! Right in the Kisser!

Once upon a time, in the land of Nellie, the Hot Mama became seriously ticked off at and hurt by the Handsome Prince.(Gasp!)

She was really quite emotional.  This was not an exhaustion or hormone-related disturbance.  In her mind, it was a "Big D" kind of deal.

How to approach the situation?
1.  Get a good night's sleep.  

2.  Pray about it.  

3.  Try to be rational and pleasant.


4.  Another good night's sleep.

5.  Cry and growl and storm (In private.)

6.  Pray again.

7.  Go to temple where Satan can't add his two cents.  

8.  Pray some more.  

9.  Cry some more, for good measure (in private.) Pout discreetly (or not so much, but no one notices.) 

10.  Temple one more time.  (Added bonus) 

11.  Wait for relatively good time.  Alert said prince to need for a discussion with humor, "Hey, do you wanna talk about our relationship?"  (This is a trick question--I've never met a man who can answer that one honestly or with a straight face.)  "How about our relationship and our feelings?"


12.  Get him alone--NOT in front of the little people.  This one is more difficult than it seems.  


13.  Communications 101:   "When you_________,  I feel _____________."  Always try really hard not to hit below the belt, dredge up already resolved stuff, and never use absolutes like "always" and "never."  (OK, I dredged, but I apologized later.)  Also, I may have been a bit unreasonable.  BUT, I had some valid points, and I was festering.  Festering is not good.

14.  Accept apology.  Kiss and make up.


Then they all lived happily ever...Wait.

15.  One more night's sleep.  (Everything's relative, of course.)


16?  HP's well thought-out REBUTTAL  (um...)



Whoa, whoa WHOA, Nellie!  There are two ways to look at this!?!  Huh.

Being the prince that he is, HP played fair, and (sigh) even made some reasonable points.  (And he is just so dang golden to begin with.) I apologized.  We'll both work on giving each other the benefit of the doubt.

    or     Tee, hee!



Cue the sparkles, cue the music:

We cleared the air, shared our deepest feelings, and (mostly) resolved the conflict(s).

I love you, Handsome Prince! 

And they lived, married, ever after.

                

And we both know I was right.

Again, I apologize to all those whom I have stolen images and clip art from, I promise, I'm not benefiting financially from it.  Thanks for sharing your amazing talents on Google Images.  Everyone's welcome to whatever original material  I share.