Good Housekeeping Recipes

Christmas cookie time ----- our friend Jamal came over and we made Christmas cut-out cookies galore. We rolled and we rolled and we cut and we cut and then we frosted and sprinkled and decorated until

we could hardly stand it anymore.

Little Miss Manners

London loves to play with Piper. I think she sees her as a human doll.

After they had been playing quietly for a while I decided it was time to check things out.

When I entered the room Piper Finnian was wearing a costume Kevin had made for Riley years ago - and it seems she was quite fond of it. When I tried to take the dress off for nap, she wailed and shook her head "no" vehemently.

Forever Young

Our house is a funny house. (Well, not the literal structure of our home - it's pretty normal, not very amusing.)

The people who live inside of our house are what makes this such a funny place to live.

In the normal course of one day, let alone one week, the most random, adorable, humiliating, precious, frustrating events occur. Without ever leaving through the front door.

Too cute moment.....One morning we were getting ready to leave for Gaffney to meet Emma and her boys to get Riley back after a pretty long sabbatical from us in Florida and Charlotte. I told the kids we all needed to help to leave on time. (Leaving by 9:30 a.m. seems like more of a challenge than it should.) London asked if she could make everyone breakfast. I was changing Piper Finn's diaper and directing Bergen on the proper way to wear one's underwear so I apparently said yes. When I entered the kitchen, every place was set with a bagel spread with cream cheese and Piper's bagel was even already torn into tiny bite-size pieces on her tray. It was breakfast. It was good. And a five-year-old made it. Amazing.

Next morning....London knocked over a very full glass of water onto my bed, drenching my pillow, the wall, the bookshelf beside the bed and the nearest guitar. Nice. I pulled out the bed from the wall and ice cubes were flying everywhere. Not so fun.

Piper regularly poops so much poop that it drips from her diaper and down her right leg. (Yes, she favors the right leg.) That's gross.

At a restaurant lunch yesterday during a Christmas shopping trip, a gentleman gave each of the kids a quarter to get candy from a gumball machine. Without prompting, every Keigley kid said "thank you". I was so proud. And when we got into the car, London said, "Mom, we should thank God for that man tonight when we pray." And so we did.

Bergen Hawke insists on announcing his every bowel movement in loud and clear yells from the toilet.

On their own, without being asked, Mosely, London and Bergen brought me breakfast in bed recently. On my plate were two cookies, a bag of fruit snacks, an orange, an apple and a pear. (Berg ate the apple, London requested the orange, Mosely devoured the fruit snacks and I think some little boy took the cookies as well.)

Bergen climbs into Piper's crib every chance he can and pretends to be a baby - stuffing her prized Eagle into the most curious of places for future discovery.

Okay, that is just a glimpse of what you would see if you stepped into our house on any day. It's a funny house...but it's a good house. And I do like its small inhabitants.

Cranberry Thanksgiving

I don't even know where to begin.

The drive to Florida was ..... long. Me, "alone" with five kids. (Kevin came the next day with Austin and Jon.) But it was a good drive overall, thanks in large part to a great lunch at Five Guys and an audio tape version of the The Princess Bride.

The times were great at the Wickstrum house - Florida-side. The kids all played together really well. Piper Finn loved pushing everyone around on their cars - we need more of those! Cooking was fun, eating was great, everything was delicious. It was really fantastic - what a fun way to spend a holiday! I do not have enough good adjectives or phrases to give the day justice. "A day well-spent brings happy sleep." (DaVinci)

Rehearsal day was fun for me ---nails done while Kevin stayed at the hotel with kids. I think they actually watched Jeremiah Johnson. Seriously. The dinner after the rehearsal was so tasty! And the kids are all big enough to sit at their own table - such an odd experience. Following the rehearsal, back at the hotel, hanging out in Terry's room may have been my favorite part of the day!

The wedding day seemed normal and on schedule until a naked Bergen, on his way to the bathtub, slipped on the wet floor and cracked his chin on the edge of the toilet. Yes, he did. Thankfully, marching down the hall like some super medical team, came our own army of professional men -- doctor, paramedics, x-ray guy and Austin. With some gear from their cars (!) they fixed up Berg's chin with strips of stuff and he was good to go. Although Pappa Dale did say he would take him to a "plastics" guy on Monday. Do we have a plastics guy yet? We probably need one! (Maybe Riley should train in the medical field to save us a few dollars in our future!)

The wedding was lovely - I will never promote boring black tuxedos again.....brown is the new black! Sarah was beautiful and she Erik looked wonderful together. The dance floor was a success and Piper was a tiny Dancing Queen.

All in all, the long drive there and the even longer drive home was more than worth it. What a great way to spend a week!!

Curious George Visits the Museum

Asheville's Pack Place featured a traveling Curious George exhibit. We live in a house almost completely overrun by Curious George stuffed monkeys - some with clothes, some without. Naturally, we couldn't resist the lure of a museum featuring George.

We spent Saturday exploring the museum (after turning the wrong way down every one way street in Asheville's crowded downtown area). The kids loved George. Finn walked over to a stranger her same height, and after giggling and pointing, began poking this poor child in the eyes. Uh-oh. Bergen found Chippy, a chipmunk from the Curious George shows, and carried him throughout the rest of the non-George museum until we realized the stuffed chipmunk was not ours and forced our young, thieving son to return said chipmunk from whence it came.

For a lunch break we walked a few blocks down to the coolest pizza place in the world. (Yes, it really is.) The Mellow Mushroom was so funky and fun. The pizza was the best pizza I have had in recent memory. Delicious. And they are all about local and natural so that was really fun. Plus, the waitress said our family was beautiful and who doesn't like to hear that when you are eating at a restuarant with five kids who you know will leave the floor much messier than how they found it and all you can really think about that is, "Hey, at least it's not in my kitchen!"

A Pair of Red Clogs

This week we have been reading A Pair of Red Clogs for kindergarten. The wee ones really wanted to make their own wooden clogs, which I am not crafty enough to pull off.

I am, however, crafty enough to cut "wooden" clogs out of cereal boxes and weave yarn through them - which seemed to satisfy their clog desires.

Then we created "kimonos" and they felt like the real deal. They put on a show for Kevin when he came home for lunch. Midway through the show though Bergen ditched the kimono for a Batman cape and insisted that Batman become part of the Red Clogs tale.

Ring Around the Rosy

The following blog was written by London Eli Scout, age 5.

That picture is when we were doing Ring Around the Rosy. And we liked it. We liked Piper with us.

I just holded out my hands and she holded onto my hands and we went around in circles. She likes playing Ring Around the Rosy.

I try to hold Piper.

Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin

Disclaimer: This story may make the Keigleys sound as if they deprive their children of holiday joy. In fact, we do not. (Or maybe we do - it depends on your perspective.)

It was Halloween day. In our house, that doesn't mean an awful lot. Or, well, anything really. For the whole of our children's lives we lived on the farm in Virginia where no honest soul dared traverse the long dark drive through the woods to get a measly candy bar from a stranger. Hence, no Halloween for Keigley kids. I bought Riley a bag of her candy of choice. The other kids were very young. They didn't know. They didn't care. It seemed to work out just fine.

So along comes our friend Jane on Halloween afternoon. She asks if the kids are dressed up. Well, they aren't currently naked - so....yes. She asks if we are going anywhere. We aren't. And then she tells us of a nearby college that decorates their dorms and passes out candy. Our Friday night held no plans. At all. And I like candy too. Especially bite sized amounts of candy.

"Hey kids, you should go find some fun costumes and wear them," I told them. They didn't even question me. They just ran to the dress up trunk and found some dandies. When they came back, dressed as tiny ninja, ninja boy, ninja turtle and, in Mosely's own words, "Ummm ....[cute head tilt and crooked grin]....I don't know." I told them that we were going to go to a college dressed up and say "trick or treat". They happily agreed. "Do you know what will happen when you say that?" Blank stares all around. "You'll get candy!" Then applause, glee, rapture, such joy as three ninjas and an I Don't Know could display.

We went to the college, we got our free candy. Bergen approached every door and first said "thank you" and then as he exited he followed it up with "shrick or shreat"!

As we got in the car Berg announced, "I like Halloween. Let's do it tomorrow!"

Grandfather's Journey

Surprise! Dad drove up from Florida to visit us recently.

We loved the surprise. The kids loved having Grandpa around. I loved having extra hands to help and Dad to chat with. He drove Riley to her co-op class. He read Stellaluna to the kids, shared a bedroom with Bergen, pushed Piper on the swing, made a campfire, cleared out a bunch of brush by the stream so the kids could have easier water access. He was a busy guy!

We took him to Look Up's chili cook-off and pumpkin carving evening. We visited Lake Jocasse and Bee Well Honey Market. Kevin made sure Dad had a Snow Leopard - Kevin's favorite beverage at his favorite coffee shop. We tried out the new Huntin' Camp restaurant, where animal carcasses adorned the walls in a truly Southern fashion.

All in all, it was a great visit! Come back soon Grandpa!