The Stewarts

first tennis lesson

2012-01-29T18:38:00.000-05:00

scavenger hunts

2012-01-15T19:58:00.000-05:00

Scavenger hunts are one of our favorite ways to spend time outside. We make long lists each morning of things to find {flowers of certain colors, dandelions, pine cones to make bird feeders, etc} and set out after John's early afternoon nap.

Recyclable Castle

2012-01-04T08:00:00.002-05:00

It was a fun project during a cold snap! The kids did all the building, designing, and decorating. (I did the cardboard cutting. The smaller box was "John's castle.") Ellie even put curtains with fabric scraps on the inside. They worked all morning building and then played and played and played all afternoon until dinner time.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T09:24:00.000-05:00

party at the zoo

After dinner we shot off fireworks.

It was very easy to determine which child shares his mother's love of fireworks ...

and which children share their daddy's love of fireworks.

*Poor David never recovered. He shut all the doors to the house and hid under the couch pillows for the remaining 45 minutes of firework time.

please put my brothers to bed so Santa Clause can come

2011-12-27T15:41:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve chasing seagulls

the happy face that woke us up and announced Santa had come

continuing hayley's tradition :-)

2011-12-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

Since I didn't have siblings, I obviously never had matching Christmas pajamas. In college, one of my roommates gave me one of the sweetest gifts ever when she gave me a pair of Christmas pajamas that matched her and her sibling's. We hope to extend our circle of matching pajamas someday to good friends as well.

Christmas-ing

2011-12-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

We've had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. The events of our past year have been pretty tough but when I was reflecting on the past I realized that this is the first Christmas in quite a while that I have not had a baby in my womb or arms. {It's actually been since 2005, but who's counting.} It's refreshing to be out and not worry about a nursing baby, and I'm calling this "the year of Jubilee."

We acquired a {new to us} swing set and the kids spend hours outside every day. I try to let them play without my supervision and I must say that the view from my kitchen sink is one of the best that I have ever had. David has trouble getting started so Ellie helps him.

I thought that John would now be able to have the little slide all to himself but apparently not. They've always preferred life piled on top of one another.

We've had lots of performances...

and another adorable "Christmas star."

John officially made the growth chart and we breathed a sigh of relief! He had the scratch allergy test last week and is still allergic to lots of foods.

David has taken a real interest in housekeeping. He mops, he bakes, he unloads the dishwasher, he gets the mail, he voluntarily wipes the dining room table every night, and now he also does the laundry. As soon as the buzzer goes off he yells, "IT'S READY" and proceeds the empty the contents. (Like below) Tonight I came home and he had emptied the dryer without me even being present.

And we celebrated my mom's birthday with a kid free dinner out and a layered peppermint cheesecake (recipe from Southern Living this month).

David's third birthday

2011-12-10T12:28:00.000-05:00

pencil cake. not my best cake but David loves to color.

These two have the sweetest relationship. They've been best friends ever since we brought him home from the hospital. :-) Their teachers told me last year that if they were on the playground at the same time, they only played with one another. This year they are on different playgrounds, so they go to the fence and talk though it with each another the whole time.

When David was finished unwrapping, Ellie told him that she had some more presents. She went into her room and brought out a bunch of her toys that she had wrapped up with Kleenex and ribbon.

Ben setting up the outside tent (lots of fun!). It was like straight out of an episode of Modern Family.

Our tradition has it that we go to Chuck E. Cheese on birthdays. (But we don't actually eat there.)

David is a maniac at basketball, and he wins lots of tickets. The funny thing is that he doesn't care at all about the prizes (which Ellie is obsessed with), so he gives her the tickets and she gets the prizes.

We finished the day with a spaghetti dinner.

cross it off the list

2011-11-27T20:32:00.000-05:00

Last year we brunched with Santa and he proved to be a real Grumpus. So when we were at the market on Saturday and I saw this "no line Santa" I jumped all over it. If I had to do it over again I probably would have 1) brought John along and 2) dressed the kids some form of Christmas attire. Though I definitely think David's fleece hat gives the picture a real wintry / "it's not really 80 degrees outside" feel.

Kate's wedding weekend

2011-11-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

a ring bearer and a flower girl

Despite the freezing temps, the kids stayed true to their Floridian roots and refused to wear long sleeves/pants/sweaters. David rocked some extra thick knee highs.

After the wedding I drove through the mountains to meet up with my college roommates, who had gathered together from the corners of the earth. We had not all been together (or on the same continent) since college graduation! I thought that I might finally have visible proof that I am capable of a life outside of my children, but for privacy reasons we were unable to take pictures. I had the most wonderful time with the most beautiful people and I was very sad to leave, but I had a nice 10 hour drive home by myself to work through it.

photography tip

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

Take your Christmas card in October. So that when it comes and your husband's head is chopped off, there is still plenty of time to reshoot and reorder. We have a whole supply of cards without Ben's head.

Auburn and Halloween

2011-10-31T21:08:00.001-04:00

We made our pilgrimage to the plains. I've been going for as long as I can remember and our trips have always been the highlight of the year.

We had a lot of important lessons to pass down,

like there is little in life more fun than a tailgate ...

or new shoes ...

it's o.k. to skip class for lunch at Hamiltons. Because in the end, friendships and good food are more important than macroeconomics. But for the sake of your GPA try to limit it to once a week....

and if you play your cards right you might get to live here.

Ellie really got into the spirit of things and made friends with the people tailgating next to us. They formed their own tailgate behind the Magnolia trees.

Halloween came and went. We put our same costumes to use for the third year and I think that next Halloween deserves a splurge. Notice that we didn't carve a pumpkin or go to the pumpkin patch. I completely forgot about Halloween until the day of when I saw a picture on facebook while going through the carpool line. By that time the pumpkins had all been removed from the pumpkin patch. Say it with me - We'll get 'em next year.

John didn't participate in any of the festivities but we love and adore him.

from "failure to thrive" to walking!

2011-10-19T20:34:00.000-04:00

We've been so thankful for thoughts and prayers and can happily report that John is walking from room to room now!! He's come a long way from a baby who forgot how to eat and was too weak to cry. Though the road ahead still seems long, we try our best "not to plan, dream, or worry." (some of the most comforting "deal with today" advice)

On a funnier note, I totally sewed the applique onto the back of John's shirt! I thought maybe no one would notice since it was a tagless tee, but I picked up him from BSF and it was turned around. I like to say that my sewing projects are not complete unless I have sewn them shut or backwards. ;-)

back outdoors

2011-10-13T16:17:00.000-04:00

We've finally ventured back outdoors here. Last weekend we thought that it would be the perfect evening to eat outside at our favorite "Floridian" restaurant, and it was. John can count the times he has eaten out on one finger and we have the picture above to document it. We gave him a few french fries, and they must have had something in them because he broke out in boils. Then the boils got infected and we were privileged to return to the pediatrician for the seventh time in two weeks. good times! :-)

We spend most afternoons outside to ensure that John gets a good nap. Ellie and David each picked out 3 plants and are in charge of tending to them. The plants are still alive and well, which would not be the case if I had been in charge of them.

I was cooking this afternoon and looked out my kitchen to find Ellie in the tree and David on his way up. ~~After I took a picture~~ we clarified that unsupervised tree climbing is now allowed.

Ellie's BSF class sang yesterday for the first time ever. I was so excited because my first memory was singing "o for a thousand tongues to sing" at BSF on stage. {Apparently there has been a legal issue with singing on stage for the last three years and they just got it worked out. who knew?}

so thankful to finally receive a good report ...

2011-09-29T19:33:00.000-04:00

He's far from out of the woods but the news today was better than on Monday. We have been so thankful for thoughts and prayers!

Smile

2011-09-27T20:41:00.000-04:00

Life doesn't seem to be at its peak (we hope), but we still find time every now and then to smile. I was able to move some testing up for John on the premise "that it is not normal for mothers still in their 20s to look so tired from worry." It was maybe not one of my most informed performances but apparently it was convincing.

The older two seem to be having a better year at school this year but still prefer to be home with one another. They started their third year in the preschool program at Bible Study Fellowship a few weeks ago and LOVE it! I think that the elastic in our suits is almost completely worn out.

David diligently holds John on our walks to keep him from crawling out of the wagon.

Ellie made a drum in her preschool musical art class. (best deal in town!)

Ellie's solution to prevent John from opening the cabinets.

John's favorite meal is butternut squash risotto. {One must be creative to find something that he can eat.}

Ellie made me a mommy and three baby birds. I spent a good while wondering why she made three baby birds and then I realized that it was because I had three children. Symbolism has never been my thing.

happy 4th birthday Ellie and happy 1st birthday John!

2011-09-11T12:03:00.000-04:00

It was also Pippa's birthday. Tuesday was a big day.
Ellie had a princess castle birthday cake and John had a John rice krispie treat. Baking for John was a little tricky since his birthday treat couldn't have dairy, wheat, or eggs. :-) My cousin actually has a degree in vegan, gluten free baking. It kind of seemed like a specific niche until I had John, and now I find myself cornering her and asking her all kinds of crazy questions. I used this video for Ellie's birthday cake and it was pretty easy.

Liz helped me make John some special chicken fingers and he was so happy to finally have a real meal! :-)

Instead of a birthday party we decided to spend the night in a hotel at the beach. I had the car loaded up when preschool let out and we got down to the beach early. The kids were so happy to be in a hotel that this is how they stayed for most of the afternoon. They had their own room and I overheard Ellie telling David that "he could pick up the phone whenever he wanted to and talk to the lady." I bet that the front desk was happy when we left.

After venturing out we spent many, many hours on our beautiful north Florida beaches.

*John was very present at our beach party but since he had pink eye in both eyes I did not photograph him.

New York

2011-09-05T14:19:00.000-04:00

I'm tempted to title this post "breaking free." We took a good ol' vacation to our favorite place - Arthur Ashe. No work. No kids.

Our hotel was as wonderful as I remembered it, minus Madonna in the bar.

After Ben complained several times about our lack of ESPN, we spent plenty of time on the sky terrace with complimentary drinks and breakfasts. (not together)

extended restaurant week at Butter

The higher the seats in Arthur Ashe, the better the view of the sun setting on Manhattan. :-)

here we go again

2011-08-30T08:47:00.000-04:00

I decided to give preschool another try this year. The first day finally arrived and we went on our merry way. We even made it out of our neighborhood without the troops voicing their disapproval. And then all of the sudden as we drove over the bridge Ellie said, "Mommy. I'm so sorry but I just don't think that I'm going to be able to go to school today. I tied my legs together with a string and I just can't walk out of the car." I looked back, and she was right .... she had tied her legs together with a string and a knot.

I had a lot of fun with their outfits. Several months ago I was flipping through a pricey catalog for children, and I realized that the same fabric was at Joann's. I used a 40% off coupon (so I bought the fabric for $10). Then I bought 3 plain white shirts from Target and just copied the appliques from the catalog and monogrammed them. As long as you don't look too closely you probably wouldn't know that it was 1/10th the price.

We took the kids out the other night and Ben disappeared. I found him all by himself trying to beat the highest score.

exactly how i will always remember him

2011-08-24T09:55:00.000-04:00

2011-08-21T15:00:00.004-04:00

We haven't been up to much of anything. Some mornings I wake up, fix my coffee, and find comfort that there is a bit of a chill in the air. When my coffee finally kicks in I realize that there isn't a trace of fall in the air and it's already 90 degrees outside. I just have our A/C set on 70 degrees. But we have endured the heat of August, and we should have a pretty fun fall lined up.

I broke my cardinal rule (never take children to the supermarket) and took all 3 to Costco.

We've enjoyed playing with our neighbor and she brought Ellie one of her old dance costumes. I nearly had a heart attack.

a jump place

We met MJ!!

John looks like he is doing a lot better. He spent July recovering after we ran out of food for him the Bahamas and almost had to get him Medjet-ed home. I'll get cool grandmother points when I'm old and tell that story.

Ellie on the guitar, David on the xylophone, and John shakes the shaker.

David has been completely out of diapers for a while, and after the toilet was clogged a few times we realized that he was also (unbeknowst to us) lysol wiping the toilet down after each use.

Ellie made this at VBS and she has been diligently collecting money for it all summer. I offhandedly asked her what she was saving her money for this other day and she said ... "clean water." They sure start 'em young nowadays.

We completed the public library summer reading program and the kids got to pick out a book for the prize. Apparently we were the first to complete it, which is code for "we were the only ones with nothing better to do."

2011-07-26T19:12:00.000-04:00

"Picking the baby up every time he whimpers" is not part of my baby raising philosophy. It is, however, part of Ellie's. As a result, John spends most of his waking hours like this. "But I don't mind carrying him, mommy."

We've been bowling a lot ... which has been an amazing outlet with the heat of summer. {insert snobby comment that I would make about people in their 20s looking forward to bowling} at least fun shoes are involved?

bahamas 2011

2011-07-10T14:52:00.000-04:00

feeding the fish before sunset

our summer was complete after the junkaroo at seaspray. at sunset, the ferry from marsh harbour arrives and the locals parade around in costumes. they play a lot of different instruments but the party really gets going when they play the saw.

curly tail

introducing john to Cracker P's. we always love telling the kids about the legend of the Cracker.

2011-06-26T18:20:00.000-04:00

Our monarch hatched and it was nothing shy of magical...

Until we checked on him a few hours later and he was stiff. Ellie laid him to rest in the bushes. If there is soon a shortage of monarch butterflies it will probably be because they all died in my backyard.

early morning round of golf

late working daddy meets quiet wanderer

and the little guy who proved my entire theory wrong on the cause of food allergies. the humbling task of raising children.

here comes the sun

2011-06-13T06:11:00.000-04:00

We spent most of the spring dealing with a sick baby. After a lot of sweat and tears we think that he is finally a little better. He got tubes in his ears Monday and has not had a crazy side effect {yet}. Cheers!

We spend most afternoons and evenings at the pool. In summers past we have paid big bucks to have fancy swim lessons. We had great experiences but I thought that I would try a different approach this summer. It was the "pay a 13 year old $20 to take the kids around the pool for the afternoon" method and it worked beautifully! Ellie can fearlessly touch the bottom of the pool with her hand now and David is pretty proficient as well. Nothin' like some healthy peer pressure!

beach day

first strawberry ice cream batch of the season

on her way to see a movie with my mom

monarch caterpillars (one is in his chrysalis and one died)

Some of my favorite summer childhood memories were spent back in here water skiing. We would wake up, put on our suits, and my mom would find the glassiest part of the river where we would ski all morning. When I was taking this picture I realized history isn't too far from repeating itself. How many tubes do you think we'll need, Ray? :-)

lots of fun

2011-06-01T08:33:00.000-04:00

we hope to close out the summer as merrily as we started it.

mrs. freeman got the better shot.

(focused. not perturbed)

john crawling. david instigated and then ran away for picture.

five years

2011-05-22T09:54:00.000-04:00

We celebrated our 5 year anniversary this week. I normally don't think of five years as being a large amount of time, but the children (3.5 yr old, 2.5 yr old, and 8 month old) carried and birthed make the time span seem...extremely productive. Cheers!

Aunt Anna came to our rescue! I was embarrassed when her first mission was getting urine stains out of various surfaces, but she handled it like a champ. She kept us laughing for days and we cried when she and uncle Zak left.

Ellie in her end of the year preschool program.

I bought the boys' shorts on Kelly's Kids clearance last year and then made their shirts and Ellie's dress last week to match.

a full heart this Mother's Day

2011-05-08T20:39:00.000-04:00

We took a break from our worries today and celebrated at the pool. The snack bar has reopened, the lifeguards are on duty, and not one of them has jumped in to save my children.

"No David. You don't need your hat. It's 90 degrees outside and we're going to the pool."

John learned to sit (in between bath treatments) with siblings right beside him and they squealed with delight and cheer.

It's back to the doctor for us tomorrow morning ... we'll see if we make it back onto the growth chart.

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T08:21:00.000-04:00

I always consider the holiday to have been a success when I am ready to deem the day "over" by 1:20 p.m. We have thoroughly enjoyed preparing for and celebrating Easter over the last 3 weeks. But by mid Easter afternoon I think that I had very effectively communicated that I had stepped on my last Easter egg.

David is a resourceful little guy. He decided his Easter basket could best be used to haul his crackers around.

Ellie dominated the neighborhood egg hunt after having been pushed aside at the preschool egg hunt.

John couldn't go to church, but I dressed him in his outfit and photographed him anyway. He is so well loved by his older siblings that he makes me want to come back in my next life as a third child.

This picture has had me singing "It's the most wonderful time of the year" for the past week.

It's the hap-happiest season of all.

climb every mountain

2011-04-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

Lucky ear infection #13 hit our house this weekend. Most of them have been accompanied with screaming and vomiting. Time seems to be blurred together, but at some point we figured out that John was not growing. The theory was that he has been so severely sick for so long that he has an aversion to food. We had a weigh in this week. He finally gained a little weight and graced the growth chart with his presence. In the meantime, John has been quarantined for another month and has an appointment with the allergist at the end of the month. He can't go out in public or see people until mid May, but the doctor hopes this will keep him well so that he can eat and gain weight. While we wait for strength and health, very little comforts our hearts like the Sound of Music. :-)

Spring Break

2011-04-04T08:34:00.000-04:00

I'm glad that they are too young to compare spring breaks with their friends. Because this is 2011, and the days of climbing trees and trips to the zoo for spring break are out. And as usual, I got the memo late.

We are hoping that John is really going to start packing on the lbs...nothing like soy free / dairy free milk! ;-)

correction

2011-03-25T09:01:00.000-04:00

* 9 ear infections and a skin infection

** the dosage prescribed was so large that the pharmacist had to manually override it.

"not a wimpy bug bite"

2011-03-23T13:01:00.000-04:00

My roommate from Wheaton came to visit me during her spring break. It was wonderful to have her and I begged her to pack up her bags and move in with us. We could relive the old days and stay up laughing hysterically for nights on end. But she had to go back and I was sad when she did.

I thought that her arrival meant the end of the storm for us. In the last few weeks the kids have had 8 ear infections and a case of bronchitis. I had three tooth infections from a failed root canal. We spent little time being contagious but lots of mornings pumping ourselves with antibiotics and ibuprofen. John went to his "well" child 6 month appointment. He is underweight and the doctor took him off of both dairy and soy. (He also had both ears infected.) Then John got the chicken pox, which is apparently rare these days since children are vaccinated at 12 months and statistically speaking it is almost impossible to get it before that age. We can't figure out how he got it, because since he is not very well we have not taken him out much. Just in case you are wondering what infant chicken pox look like ... here he is on the first day ....

We were pretty worried about him for a few days because he was already underweight when he got sick. His case was pretty severe and he did not eat or drink anything for 2 days. But the doctor is extremely laid back, took pictures of John, and called in the entire medical staff to look at him with "this is not a wimpy bug bite, folks!" We feel like ~~hope that~~ he has finally turned a corner and are hopeful that our vaccinated older two will avoid it. In conclusion, I am looking forward to April and pool season commencing.

Citrus Tree Planting

2011-03-09T06:00:00.003-05:00

Because our idea of fun is playing in the dirt and because all good Floridians need a citrus tree ...

2011-03-03T06:00:00.006-05:00

our kitchen sink is being used for double bath duty ... because the bath tubs are not yet fixed

John's baptism

2011-02-28T06:00:00.006-05:00

John is baptized: Check
~~Not that I viewed his baptism as crossing something off of a list. Rather I should say:~~
Welcome child of the Covenant!

John wore the "family" gown, which is an old Feltman Bros that my mom wore as an infant.
David walked into a wall of wet paint while wearing the outfit that I originally bought for him to wear.
Ellie wore a dress that a good friend let us borrow. She made the dress for her daughter 20 years ago.

(in)courage

2011-02-24T06:30:00.012-05:00

I'm the daily guest on (in)courage today! The article is on James 4.

2011-02-22T06:33:00.000-05:00

boating season has resumed, and all is right with our world again.

kitchen's closed

2011-02-15T23:25:00.000-05:00

It's therapeutic to say, but not therapeutic to look at.

Ellie made Valentines this weekend for her class party.

While Ellie was in art class this week, the boys and I played at the adjacent park. David spent 30 minutes throwing leaves and sticks into the grate gutter. {Just like his uncle Greg taught him.}

failed natural remedies

2011-02-09T13:56:00.000-05:00

With the flu and stomach bug being ever present in our house last week, I thought that it would be my perfect opportunity to use natural remedies to heal everyone. I failed miserably. Four ear infections and one tooth infection later and we have never been so thankful for modern medicine. Ben jumped for joy when our health improved. Bottom line: mama's healing love can only go so far.

we're moving!

2011-02-04T06:30:00.004-05:00

We're not moving far, but we're moving! Sadly, this means that we will no longer have a child sleeping in the dining room. *tear* We closed earlier this week which has prompted several renovations. While we are waiting for things to finish, I should be packing...

...But so far all that our boxes have been used for are "bear caves." You might already know that I have the hardest time finding motivation to pack. {and unpack. and organize} Burton knows that all too well, as she packed up all of my things my freshman year at Furman.

While several of our friends in other states have been inside all week because of snow, we have been inside all week because of the flu. We have all had our flu shots so the children only had a high fever for a few days each. My mom watched the kids for me this morning so that I could run to Blockbuster to rent Mary Poppins. Just when I thought that I had finally nursed them all back to health, one started throwing up. I guess it's a good thing that we have a three day rental on Mary Poppins. :-)

nutty

2011-02-01T07:57:00.000-05:00

And notice the box fan in the background? We own 5 of them and have been known to carry them into a hotel or two.

I'm convinced John will write essays someday titled "I could rock a tiara and purple bumbo." Hopefully he'll be able to add "and turned out normal" to the concluding paragraph.

David is not the slightest bit nutty. Except his teachers told me when they were cleaning up last week and all was quiet, they heard a little voice sing "HOLY! HOLY! HOLY!" He proceeded to sing three verses.

The Circus

2011-01-28T08:36:00.000-05:00

We had three tickets to the circus this weekend and at the last minute Ben was called in to work. My stepdad went in his place and he was quite the pinch hitter. Overpriced plastic toys and sugary, non-nutritional snacks were all complements of him. I won't tell if you don't tell.

Bright Eyes

2011-01-21T08:07:00.000-05:00

I was going to jump on the "wordless Wednesday" bandwagon with this picture, until I realized that it is Friday.

moving or movie?

2011-01-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

my mom wanted to take ellie to her first movie. sweet ellie. she thought that she was "moving" and spent all morning packing. she packed 5 brown paper bags and 2 boxes full of her toys and then waited by herself out in the rain for 20 minutes until my mom came and picked her up.

when ben got home from work he noticed that the bathroom soap was missing. a few hours later we found it in a box that ellie had packed. she's a helper.

2011-01-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

My father-in-law gave us a new camera lens and I have been having a lot of fun with it! I usually have the camera on action mode to photograph Ellie (otherwise you can't catch her), but David holds still long enough to let me play around with some of the settings.

I took John in for his well child appointment a few weeks ago and the doctor was very concerned about his skin. At the doctor's recommendation I changed some things and we think now that he is allergic to dairy. While I am thrilled to (finally!!) have a pediatrician who is so concerned with my children, I am slightly perturbed that that David more than likely had the same (undiagnosed) allergy and just recently outgrew it. It also would explain a probable cause for David's colic, but I suppose the colic was like the rest of parenthood ... humbling and grew my anxiety exponentially. :-)

We also made Valentine's mice by folding hearts in half ...

... and have had a lot of fun with a $5 bird feeder from Walmart.

waarrrr eagle!

2011-01-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

Because it's not everyday that our Auburn Tigers play for the National Championship... :-)

a smocked bubble, a pink car seat, and a tiara

2011-01-05T08:14:00.001-05:00

"don't fuss, john. you're not a bad princess, you're a good princess!"

{the tiara was a leftover New Year's Eve party favor that his sister inherited}

Guten Rutsch

2011-01-02T11:51:00.000-05:00

My dad sent us this picture and it is the closest that we came to celebrating the New Year, as we were fast asleep by midnight.

A few weeks ago a family friend gave me a book called Loving the Little Years. At the time I had yet to put up a Christmas tree and never did decorate the house beyond the strand of lights and three ornaments on the tree. (Thanks Mrs. Jackie!) One part that made me laugh hysterically said "When taking the garbage out becomes a 'destination,' you know that you are in the trenches." You mean it's not normal for that to be the highlight of your day?! :-)

I had three little ones with the stomach bug this week and it serves me right for pumping them full of blueberries right before they came down with it. Every last crib bumper, sheet, and blanket has been ruined and we found ourselves thankful to not have spent much money on them to begin with.

We spent a lot of time this week doing what (in my opinion) my children need to spend a lot more time doing - playing in the dirt. Ellie got some new gardening tools for Christmas and they have proved to be a good purchase.

It was finally time for John John to jingle and so we sewed jingle bells onto his socks. Not only is it fun for him, but his jingling aids me in locating him. :-)

Christmas

2010-12-26T19:26:00.000-05:00

David didn't want to get out so Ellie brought his presents to him.

David was tired from staying out way past his bedtime on Christmas Eve. We have the most fun Christmas Eve tradition, and we have spent it with the same friends for over twenty years.

The kids each got a book, new art supplies, and a toy for the backyard. John got a bath. I got 10 lb dumbbells.

Ray and John at Christmas Day oyster roast

best friends from high school - HEB (now Dr. Heb H after earning her PhD in biomedical engineering with her own bundle of joy on the way) and Lins (in town from Seattle and special ed teacher of the year)

2010-12-21T09:20:00.000-05:00

The kids before their "Happy Birthday Jesus Party" at preschool.

We actually participated in the school Christmas program! {We are not known for our stellar or enthusiastic participation in anything extra.} The sweet little guy to Ellie's left is also in her BSF class. It was pretty obvious that the teachers told the kids exactly where to stand because Ellie was the first to her spot, and she WOULD NOT MOVE once she so diligently got there.

I finally broke down and took the kids to see Santa. We went to "brunch with Santa" and skipped the brunch part. Upon seeing the line, a family member (who will remain nameless) asked me if I wanted a Bloody Mary. I appreciatively declined, but that is my kind of Santa experience.

We were 2 for 3 on Santa.

Is it just me, y'all, or is that the grumpiest looking Santa that you have ever seen in your life?!?! And to top it off Santa was a lit-tle stingy with his gifts. David knew a lemon Santa when he saw one.

We also celebrated my mom's birthday with a delicious meal, great wine, and quite possibly the ugliest caramel cake I have ever created.

Cheers!

This week ...

2010-12-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

We celebrated our Auburn Tigers, honored my grandfather's life, and celebrated David's second birthday.

Plan B landed us at Chuck E Cheese for lunch, ~~which I'm embarrassed to admit I kind of enjoy~~. The kids spent almost all of their tokens playing basketball.

Like most 2-year-olds, David loves bubbles so I ordered a bunch online. {Who knew that bubbles were "seasonal" at Walmart and Target?!} We had our traditional homemade pizza for dinner.

David had an Auburn football birthday cake in celebration of our big win and the Auburn legacy that my grandfather started and loved. {And on a more selfish note - I wanted to work out the glitches before I make it again for the National Championship next month. ;-)}

Christmas in Avondale

2010-12-04T09:08:00.000-05:00

Life is full this holiday season. I wish that I had time to make the season more meaningful by contemplating things like thankfulness and Advent. But I don't. So here's to making it through another day!

We had a blast at Christmas in Avondale last night!

I cannot seem to get rid of this very old $17 stroller from K-Mart. I keep trying to leave it places. No sooner do I "accidentally" leave it somewhere than some heroic person chases me down. "MA'AM!!!!! You left your stroller!" Seriously, it's like a boomerang.

I'm really not proficient at snow terminology so I hope that the following pictures speak for themselves. Thanks to The Ice Man there was snow present. Check out that kid's awesome red unitard.

It is often said that Ellie closely resembles my mom in both looks & personality. We were reminded of this when she disappeared {causing a panic} and this is where I found her.

I sprinted up to the top and she said, "Don't worry, mom. I'm not scared. I want to go down by myself." I had flashbacks of my mom going down steep water slides head first and jumping off our dock to go barefoot skiing. All occurred while I looked on with fright.

She went down again and again...and probably would have gone head first if I had let her. ;-)

WAR EAGLE!

John

2010-11-23T14:34:00.000-05:00

He has been so wonderfully sweet and easy. I wish that I had known some babies are just born easier than others ... maybe I would not have spent so much time beating myself up when the other two were newborns.

The other day I could not remember where I put him. This sounds so terrible, but it's true. I was with him, then the other kids needed me, then Ben came home from work, and then all the sudden I realized that I didn't know where he was. This is where & how I found him...I was obviously changing him when I got distracted. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!
*yes, ray ray - david had another golf club. that is one enthusiastic clown!!... i think that mac needs one just like it soon! :-)

Arts market

2010-11-20T15:25:00.000-05:00

We love spending Saturday mornings here among local artists and farmers.

Tip the balloon guy and street performers a few bucks and we have enough entertainment to last the morning.

I broke down and bought John a new outfit. The lucky guy lives in Kissy Kissy pajamas because none of his clothes fit yet.

Auburn Georgia

2010-11-15T13:40:00.000-05:00

Incredible!

In July some very good family friends offered us tickets to the Auburn Georgia game. Because it is a huge rivalry this was a very generous offer in the summer, and when Auburn kicked off the week ranked #2 we felt like the luckiest people on earth! {I think that we have probably dropped "Yeah ... we have tickets to the Auburn Georgia game" at least 500 times in the last few months. :-) } So Ben took his first day off of work in about a year, and five happy Stewarts drove up to Auburn.

It had been several years since we had been to Auburn, and five years since we had been to a game. I realized how excited I was to be going back when I listened to Outkast the entire drive up. We went to reverse tiger walk on Friday afternoon.

"The Beach House" ... where the nicest 5 girls let me live with them for 2 years. I got myself invited in, and it looks just like it did when we left it ... minus an American flag that we mounted the afternoon that we went to war in 2003 (and had "Bombs over Baghdad" blaring on repeat in the process) and minus the tree swing that we bribed some boys down the street to put up. {I honed the important "I'll cook you dinner in exchange for manual labor" lesson while living here. :-) }

I don't know this girl's name but she sure was nice.

John can one day say that he attended his first Auburn tailgate at 9 weeks.

We tried to walk down to Samford to take a potential Christmas card (i think that we have sent one from there before ... hello 1995...) ... but it was a little too tricky to walk any distance with three small children. I'm tempted to use this one and write "The Weary World Rejoices" on it, as I think that it pretty much sums up our year- blurry, off-centered, hands full, weather conditions ideal. Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

And what would a trip to Auburn be without some of Momma's Love?

down, but not out

2010-11-07T17:20:00.000-05:00

A few minutes after my last blog post, I got a phone call from the mother ~~of the girl against whom Ellie defended herself~~ of the sweet girl whom Ellie hit and she invited Ellie to her birthday party. Within a few hours I was at the store trying to buy back this sweet girl's friendship with a good birthday present.

We went to her birthday party on Wednesday night at Chuck E. Cheese .... and it was pretty obvious that the girl and Ellie had never, ever been to Chuck E. Cheese before. They had a "deer in headlights" expression plastered to their faces the entire night and we laughed so hard at our two bow-wearing girls that it hurt.

The weather was "cold" this weekend and so we celebrated like good Floridians with a fire and pulled out the Christmas pajamas.

We had Owen's birthday party on Saturday and sadly I didn't get a picture with Owen. (I guess that I was a little busier than expected.) Our only two friends have birthdays the same week ... and it sure made for a fun week!

One is never too young for "The Sound of Music" ...

in the spirit of keeping it real ...

2010-11-01T08:33:00.000-04:00

One of my precious angels was sent home from preschool with this book and told to return it on Tuesday...

The funny thing is that I didn't even know that she was a hitter! Thank you, Ms. Willis, for exposing my parental oversights.

She is so helpful and delightful at home ... I promise ...

On Saturday we happily traded in our "cocktail party" tailgating days downtown for a fun party with friends.

Halloween ... it was my very favorite holiday until I had children. {They could flat throw a Halloween party in Germany and Chicago!} Something about ... getting small children dressed again + the witching hours + massive amounts of sugar + lots of walking for little legs + no "punch" ... I have to admit that it's just not what it used to be.

But we got it together in time to take out a fairy (costume from last year) and a basketball player.

David went as his daddy, who was number 22 and played for the Red Elephants.

Typical Ellie - happily carrying her load and David's ... there's NO WAY those sweet hands are capable of hitting!! :-)

Corn Maze

2010-10-26T13:43:00.000-04:00

As far as a corn maze in Florida goes, it was very fun and well worth it. Now it was no Midwestern corn, but y'all were right- if we lived in the Midwest I would probably have to learn how to sew on sleeves. :-)

This is my favorite picture from the day (below):

My mom took David (who is potty trained) in for his first porta potty experience. They were both very proud (maybe her more so than him) while Ellie and I were both completely horrified. "But mommy. that potty is sooo dirty." Yes, you're right sweetie. Let's look the other way and pretend like we don't know them.

as a generational Auburn fan ...

2010-10-24T13:28:00.000-04:00

.... you learn to take it one week at a time.

And since we were ranked in the top 5 this week, we wore our Auburn outfits all over town with pride.

{They have a sweet little game where they sit side my side in the purple chairs, then yell "MARK! SET! GO!" and run around the tree holding hands. Ellie came up with it and ~~occasionally~~ oftentimes David will cheat with a false start.}

I thought about teaching them bodygetta but decided they were still a little young. What do you think? "weagle weagle war damn eagle, kick 'em in the butt big blue." Yep, I think that we'll stick to learning the words to "Praise to the Lord the Almighty" for now. ;-)

on the up-and-up

2010-10-21T13:38:00.001-04:00

Things were getting a little mundane. Fortunately some good friends invited us to the Monday night Jaguars game and fortunately a good babysitter kept all three at home while we went out for the night.

It was not a good game for the Jags but I confess that I did not watch a single minute of it. We were in a box and I had 6 weeks worth of catching up with friends to do.

Ellie was star of the week at preschool this week and I finished her new dress just in time.

I would like to pretend that Ellie did something very noble to be honored with "Star of the Week," but I think that it was determined by birthday. This great accolade meant that I had to bake 2 dozen cookies for the class and pay a babysitter $12 an hour so that I could have lunch with her at school. Way to go, Elle!!

John at 6 weeks

We're really starting to get some "fall" weather around here. Ben came home from work the other night and said, "Hey Abby, it's supposed to get down to 66 tonight. Do you want me to turn the heat on?" I just about fell out. That's probably a good indication that we are not yet ready for the "great move to the midwest" that I have been scheming since 2005.

2010-10-16T20:22:00.000-04:00

We haven't taken many pictures lately (thus lack of updates) because we've been stuck inside the last 10 days potty training David. He is a little young (22 months) but Ellie was potty trained at the same age. I'm a big fan of the jelly bean method.

David got his first bad black eye this past week. We have a few oversized down pillows from Germany & David likes to take a running start & belly flop onto them. He apparently also caught the corner of Ellie's bed.

He finally put his shoes on correctly by himself .... he was SOO proud ~~and i was trying to avoid making him feel like a middle child~~ so I took a picture of him. And posted it on our blog. And "ISN'T HE BRILLIANT?!" There I said it.

We had our fall festival at preschool. This is Owen. He is one of Ellie's two friends.

David was completely uninterested in the fall festival until he found a few small pumpkins that he thought were basketballs.

And we've been enjoying a nice visit from Ben's family this weekend.

Hopefully we will have more exciting pictures this week. I can't work up enough love or excitement to tackle the pumpkin patch just yet. Maybe I can send Ben's parents with them tomorrow. They can chase them around, keep them from the road, and photograph every moment like it is the most priceless experience ... and then send me the pictures so I can post them to my blog and act like I was there.

whitey's

2010-10-03T14:57:00.000-04:00

Whitey's (Fish Camp) = Northeast Florida's finest....

the river. boats. warm weather. cold beer. gator tail & fried pickles. and a band that plays endless variations of Curtis Loew.

When the band started playing "Honky Tonk Women" we all started dancing, and I wondered if the kids were too young to give them the same lecture that my mother would give me. "The first line is I met a gin soaked bar-room queen in Memphis...make sure that you get it right. I don't want you to misquote the Rolling Stones."

John is near perfect.

and in case you're wondering ... we are still using the pink car seat. we think that it gives our boys character.

week 3 ...

2010-09-26T15:11:00.001-04:00

... is when things go awry for me...
1) During Ellie's third week of life she cried for 9 hours straight and I tried to give her away to my neighbor.
2) During David's third week of life he developed colic and I tried to give him away to the pediatrician's wife.
3) Not once this week did I try to give John away. I did, however, consider giving myself away to some friends living on the west coast. Mid planning my own disappearance I grabbed Ellie and we headed out for some ice cream. That did the trick ... my child will sleep through the night at some point, i will not be nursing for the rest of my life, and I just might fit into my skinny jeans again.

David stayed behind to watch football and enjoyed a "flippin good cookie."

since it's fall & we have "cooler" temperatures in the low 90s we decided that it was time to start going to the zoo again.

i even splurged and paid $4 to feed the giraffes.

John had a week of firsts: First bath, first time to the tennis courts, first auburn t-shirt over his feltman, and first time sleeping through an auburn party. They all were ... exactly how I remembered them to be.

and when we made it though the week we celebrated with a babysitter & a martini! cheers!

2010-09-22T21:12:00.002-04:00

I decided that we weren't going to use any baby gear this go round. We have no room for it, and I have been listening to the SAME rotation of high pitched songs every day for the last 3 years 2 weeks and 2 days. (not that i've been counting) But today I caved. I decided that "skip to my lou" was less annoying than John's persistent crying and the enormity of the swing means that David can no longer use my China cabinet as a backboard. (and when he's really feeling confident he ricochets the basketball off of the china cabinet & into the hoop. "SWOOSH!")

we'll have more pictures later. john is in his third week of life, which is usually the week of life when i want to head for the hills.

david loves to sing. he is a very loud singer. he looks like this when he sings and he is only sometimes covered in applesauce. i could eat him up.

2010-09-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

We've all had a delightful week! I am not sure if the road to recovery seems to be going especially well because it was my third birth or because there weren't any drugs involved, but we really haven't missed a beat {yet, anyways}.

We spent all Saturday morning at the Arts Market...

... and of course lots of time playing

Ellie, David, and I started BSF this week while John stayed behind with Mrs. Elaine. In an answer to prayer, we pulled up to find a family friend parked right beside us. {It is so hard to make it anywhere on time that I often find myself praying for people to help us safely across parking lots.} She took David's hand (he's by far the weak link in hurrying), led him inside, and we were seated by the opening song.

*If you have ever been involved with BSF this might shock you ... 1) my leader (who is probably in her mid 60s) asked if we would like to communicate with her via facebook 2) the children's leader told me that I could nurse John while in group discussion. {I told her that I have no problem leaving him with a bottle in the infant's class.} I'm not sure how I feel about either of these "developments."

Labor Day

2010-09-08T17:40:00.001-04:00

Ellie's 3rd birthday was Labor Day and I got to the pool early to stake out our lounge chairs. It was a perfect early morning- the boats & water were still and all was white.

We enjoyed swimming all day.

David was thrilled to no longer be required to wear water wings in the baby pool. :-)

And Gai-Gai brought a mid-morning birthday present for the pool. (a long coveted mermaid that we have been stealing from leilah all summer.)

The kids had just woken up from a nap, Ben was in the OR & I couldn't get in touch with him, and I was starting to think that we could have two kids with the same birthday. So ... I had two options: check into the hospital and get hooked up to a bunch of monitors OR .... see this face open her birthday presents.

and this little guy play golf for an hour

And so we made it to the hospital just in the nick of time (emphasis on the JUST) to deliver this little guy...and fortunately the doctor made it just in the nick of time as well. :-)

John Adams

arrived at 7:40 p.m.

7 lbs and 6 oz

We're all home now, healthy, and happy ... and safe in the arms of ~~Ellie~~ love.

a great week

2010-08-31T14:23:00.002-04:00

my very best friend got married!!

not only was the wedding ceremony beautiful {how could it not be with her as the bride?!}, but i think that the reception might now be legendary. the food was fantastic (complete with red snapper), the band extraordinary ( the same band that we had ... only instead of playing usher they now also play the black eyed peas), and i heard that the best wine was present since the wedding at Cana. Ben is still talking about how much fun it was and ... he's not really one to rave about wedding receptions.

and these two started preschool today. they will be two days a week {it is debatable whether their mom will ever allow them to attend school more than that} and they are at the sweet little preschool where i went and my mother worked for years. i am thrilled that someone else will be cleaning up their finger paint & watching them slide while i exercise. at orientation we were so sweetly surprised to walk ellie down to her classroom & find out that it is the same classroom where gai-gai taught kindergarten for years & years. :-)

ellie's 3rd birthday party

2010-08-27T08:35:00.001-04:00

it was simple. it was old-fashioned. and it was perfect!!

we decided to use our "birthday present money" for ellie to rent a bouncy house for the day. {yes, mom, we DID wash their hands and feet thoroughly afterwards so as to avoid lead poisoning} mrs. elaine proudly patrolled the little ones...though her bluetooth might lead you to mistakenly believe that she was in the secret service.

i made ellie's outfit. she chose a party hat to go on her shirt. i made all the food. and it was nothing extravagant.

we went with a homemade ice cream cake for practical purposes. and because i didn't want 3 yr old boys eating from a teapot. ben made a surprise appearance at the end.

overall it was age appropriate,
we didn't spend a fortune,
all the children were well-behaved,
no child had a meltdown,

and my faith in birthday parties for small children has been {somewhat} restored.

Beach Days

2010-08-25T08:20:00.007-04:00

We've been blessed with close friends / family who have generously let us use their beach accommodations this month.

Ellie & new little friend McKinnon

the best deal in town ...

2010-08-19T13:25:00.008-04:00

thank you for the encouraging comments on the last post. :-)
if you live in jax this might be a fun thing to check out.....the trolley driver told us about it. we took the trolley from riverside to downtown. {$1 for the 3 of us round trip} we walked a block to the bank of america building, took the elevator up to the 42nd floor, and had lunch at the deli overlooking the city. the kids LOVED it - so many bridges, trains, helicopters going by and our lunch was very affordable. {$7 for the 3 of us}
i learned to sew this summer. my mother is a good sewer and reluctantly taught me. and when i say "reluctantly," i mean reluctantly.
"Now Abby! There are just some things that mothers know about their daughters and I KNOW that you will never be a good sewer." I must admit, I had my doubts about my own domestic capabilities & limitations {though I have never doubted my strength at playing the deuce court!}. Anyways with enough persistence, I learned. We started with a few easy summer outfits {above} and then I moved on to auburn outfits {below}.
and then i made some new outfits for school/fall. {i made all of my own appliques but don't have a fancy embroidery machine so they are all flawed. :-) }
... and for some reason decided to dye a bunch of whites to make these holiday outfits. {i think that i calculated it would be cheaper ... but raised a few eyebrows in the process of ruining pots & nearly ruining a new sink}
all in all - we have new matching clothes that perfectly fit into our budget ... and i think ben might be ready for me to go back to work & channel all of this energy elsewhere. :-)
i am full term this week & i celebrated with my favorite mental escape - sweater ~~browsing~~ shopping at anthropologie. if I close my eyes hard enough, i am at the anthropologie on state street and about to meet friends for martinis & dinner at carmine's. :-)

athey boys' birthday party

2010-08-14T14:09:00.004-04:00

their backyard is a boy WONDERLAND (trucks, more trucks, tractors, hoses) and david spent 98% of the time by himself doing this.

{david in background using a bowling pin as a golf club ... how he spent the other 2% of his time}

and after 2.5 straight hours of playing sports by himself, he finally stopped long enough to enjoy some cake.

Destin

2010-08-08T13:16:00.005-04:00

Ben found out that he had a very last minute work trip in Sandestin. Reservations were made, previous plans were canceled, and four happy Stewarts were packed & loaded in the car within the hour.
We paid homage to my college roommates and went to the Red Bar immediately upon arrival. It was everything that they ever said it was and we all emerged with t-shirts....{certainly a little classier than our usual "I got nipped and Nippers" t-shirts that we bring home from the islands ... }

"

who do you think had more fun? ...

2010-08-02T19:32:00.005-04:00

Ben or the kids?

Memphis

2010-07-23T14:42:00.007-04:00

We planned to take a direct flight from Jacksonville to Memphis. Easy. But thanks to a glitch in Delta's online booking, a canceled reservation despite a confirmation number, and poor customer service ... this is more what our ~~trip~~ journey to Memphis looked like.
But once we finally arrived we had a dear time with family, lifelong friends, and college roommates.

The kids swam ("like fishies!") morning, noon, and night in "Gan Greary's" pool. heaven!
One knows that they descended from a long line of accomplished teachers when he/she walks into the Childrens museum and the grandmother and great grandmother look at each other and say "Obviously no one who knew anything about early childhood education was in on the planning of this museum." {can you see the unimpressed look on their faces?....they left with similar expressions on their faces and muttered something about the museum being a little pricey for the reaped educational benefits.}
Playing with Louise!!! (David and Nathan also present and off doing manly things.)

when mama's happy everyone's happy

2010-07-12T19:26:00.005-04:00

Following some long work days/nights/weekends/holidays, Ben snagged us a last minute deal at the beach. We proved this saying to be nothing shy of the truth and had such a dear time together with just our little family.

And if you have been following this saga ... look who is back in our life!! I'm not sure who is more excited - Ellie or Mommy, Gai Gai, Mrs. Elaine, and Mrs. Sharon. {I think probably the latter :-) }

Happy Birthday

2010-07-05T14:28:00.007-04:00

We celebrated with my very favorite meal: Wiener Schnitzel and Spaetzle ...
... and made a birthday cake: strawberry butter cake with white chocolate cream cheese icing {our favorite cake made so far}
We also tried a new recipe for cookies n cream ice cream .... and Ellie has been sneaking bites ever since while {she thinks} we're not looking.
As per Bebe's recommendation we checked out the Fire Station museum downtown ... enjoyed by all {& free!} ...

... and we had a very happy and bouncy 4th!

not as glamorous as it looks....

2010-06-27T13:25:00.007-04:00

pictured: two adorable, {generally} well-behaved children eating Thursday night dinner poolside at the club
not pictured: 100 degree weather and nothing left to do {by Wednesdays we have usually made our weekly trips to the museum, library, and zoo}, husband unexpectedly working through dinner and bedtimes again, the amount of E N E R G Y required to hydrate + feed + sunscreen + ensure nobody leaves behind excrement in the pool + ensure children do not drown {i thought that the whole "drowning" thing was for the birds until the lifeguard jumped in the BABY POOL to rescue David*}

i've waited my whole life for that feeling of "having arrived" {that they promise comes after college, masters, job, marriage, children, etc.} and in hindsight think that i probably had it all figured out by the time i was eight: make the most of what the good Lord gives and hope to find a fun party along the way.
i made ellie this twirly skirt a few weeks ago, and it was easy and cheap. she loves it because it "makes her dance well and jump high." {if you notice all the box fans in the picture...it's because our a/c was out in the middle of a heat wave. awesome. but we made the most of it with fun dance parties :-) }
*after rescuing david (twice, actually), the lifeguards said "we have never seen someone so bad at swimming enjoy it soooo much! Look how happy he is!!!...can you believe he just almost drowned?!" now that'll make a mama proud!
**the "rescue" happened in early may...i lost a lot of sleep over it....considered moving to a landlocked state...and david is a much better swimmer now. actually, other poolside moms ask me how i got him to be such a proficient little thing. i laugh and tell them stories of ~~long ago~~ last month.

2010-06-20T20:14:00.007-04:00

There is so much that could be said about this photo, but I'll stick with the highlights....
1) Ben bought this mug for himself. {It says "World's Greatest Dad."}
2) One weekend in the spring when Ben was going on hour 80+ of working, I came home from the park with the kids to find this mysterious mug on our counter. After going over the possibilities of where it could have come from, I finally decided to casually ask if he knew {and assumed that he did not}. But when I asked him Ben welled up with pride and said, "Oh yeah!! Isn't it great?! I bought it at an estate sale today." ESTATE SALE? I was in the middle of thinking all kinds of ungodly thoughts that wives tend to think when they are tired, working, pregnant, & unexpectedly spending the weekend alone with the kids {and wonder what possessed their husband to stop by an estate sale} when he chimed in, "And you know what the best part was? It was 50% off of $.75! Abby, can you believe that I found such a bargain. I mean, look at this mug...It's my Michael Scott mug! Can you take a picture of it?" At this point, I was laughing so hard at the irony of the situation all I could find to say was, "well...huh. Good job...did you find any other bargains while you were away?"
Our Father's Day was rather low key, which I attribute to two things. One, Ben bought himself a bunch of new lawn gadgets last month. Two, we clearly do not need a Hallmark holiday to justify purchasing cheesy coffee mugs.

abaco trip 2010

2010-06-14T20:42:00.003-04:00

Hope Town lighthouse & Ferry boat

{Ellie still does not understand the concept of tee teeing with a bathing suit on}

Sea spray for the annual summer Junkaroo {Bahamian street parade}

watching the islanders dress in their costumes & warm up for the junkaroo

Cracker P's!!!!!! (on Lubber's)

Ben speared the evil lionfish under my dad's dock.

the outdoor shower was a hit with the kids

2010-06-08T14:39:00.011-04:00

We started the holiday weekend off with a bang and went on an all day boating trip to Bird Island. {Bird Island is a deserted island where the Intracoastal Waterway meets the Atlantic Ocean.} It's a family/neighborhood favorite destination and we never lack seeing familiar faces once we get there.
Ellie had been begging to "go to the beach in the boat" for months and this was a much anticipated day for her....so much so that she insisted on wearing two bathing suits (see picture below), lost sleep the night before over her excitement, and had a meltdown when we had to wait until 9 a.m. to leave. I learned my lesson and will probably not give her much notice in advance for future adventures.
Our plans since then came to a halt because my ears have had me down again. {8 days later and I am finally out of bed} Instead this is what our days have looked like:
I have been going through one of those "If only I had _______, then my life would be perfect" phases, and the only thing that has stood between myself and pure happiness was a new camera. So as an early birthday present, Ben got me a new ~~refurbished~~ camera. When I opened up the package {I had been tracking the estimated time of arrival for days}, I was horrified by the enormity of it and quickly schemed how to send it back without Ben knowing before he got home from work. But after some serious thinking I figured by admitting that the camera did not satisfy my utmost longing, I would ruin my credibility for future presents. {Don't get me wrong, the quality is amazing. it's just that...I'm not really a "camera bag" type of gal. :-)} So if you are thinking "is it just me or did her pictures drastically improve?"....they did.

goldfish mess

Our zoo offers classes for three-year-olds. {She is not yet three but I acted like she was} This week was "living animals" and it was a very exciting morning when they let her touch a bearded dragon. Ellie and David have not spent much {any} time apart and I was going to take her out to lunch afterward, but the second it was finished she turned to me and said "Mommy, that was very fun. Now I want to go home to see Dabid." And home to "Dabid," turkey, and blueberries we went.

trolley trolley

2010-05-26T13:08:00.005-04:00

It sounded like a fun, cheap way to spend the morning until I realized it might not be a good idea to wait on a busy street corner alone with my 2 and 1 year old. When I asked my mother if she would like to join us she acted vague & said that she "might have plans." So I did what any resourceful mother would do and had Ellie call her. "HIIII GAI-GAI!!! We're going to blow my new bubbles in the park & ride the trolley trolley!! Do you want to come with us?" And just like that, she told Ellie that she would be ready in 25 minutes. :-)

Sure enough, the first trolley flew past us going about 35 miles per hour. So Gai-Gai jumped in front of the second trolley and off we went through Riverside & downtown.

And when the driver got to take a 10 minute break after about 35 minutes of work, I started to think about having my second career earlier than expected and going back to work for the JTA.
All in all: $2 well spent ... and a job well done, Ellie, in recruiting someone willing to stand in front of oncoming traffic!

and i believe it could be, something good has begun

2010-05-23T21:20:00.004-04:00

While we were driving to swim lessons the other day David started singing "Choo Choo!!" We were miles away from a train track so I couldn't figure out what he was doing, and then I realized he was singing along to the Cat Stevens song we were listening to {Peace Train}. My 17-month-old might be a little behind the ball on identifying body parts, but he clearly demonstrates a nurtured appreciation for Cat Stevens. {I immediately called Ben to tell him and he was VERY proud! :-) }
Ellie is very into boats/water/bridges/fish. Every drawing, painting, pretend game is usually centered around a boat. {I am secretly very happy she is not into princesses, ballerinas, or fairy tales. well...actually since her mother is a German teacher she will probably never be into fairy tales....those morbid Grimm brothers}
Ellie & David in their "boat."
Nightly game of basketball. {Yes, E's swimsuit is on inside out.}
I had several seniors graduate this past weekend....many of whom I had taught for 4 years. (below: wolfgang, ingo, und andrea) It was a very proud day for the Frau!

2010-05-12T20:37:00.004-04:00

Sweet family friends from long ago came to visit this past weekend and we had a wonderful time with them. I think that their Chandler might be the first girl Ellie has ever played with (I'm obviously not very into play groups) and Ellie absolutely thought that she had died and gone to heaven!
My little guy brought me flowers upon return from his first Super Cuts experience.
*From reading other blogs and facebook statuses, it would appear as though I am one of the shallow few to not have had a truly contemplative, life-giving Mother's Day experience. I thought it was just a holiday to justify the purchase of a new kitchen appliance and to force all family members to go to the pool....then I checked blogs and facebook and wondered what deep meaning I had missed. I also should probably not admit how many times thoughts passed through my head (while at the pool) like "I really wish that I could still wear a bikini like before I had children" and "it sure would be fun to not be stuck in the baby pool and instead be tanning and talking with other adults."
We did have our last BSF lesson of the year. *tear* E & I made strawberry jam for their leaders {strawberries from the farmer's market were really cheap!}...
...and off we went.

2010-05-03T19:20:00.003-04:00

While those we love most worked hard this past week, we played hard. :-)

Ellie reading her Bible to her friends.

A membership to the Museum of Contemporary Art has been one of our better investments this year. (not so much for the contemporary art as the 5th floor "educational center")

10 year reunion and a family picnic

2010-04-27T19:38:00.016-04:00

Amidst numerous doctors, lawyers, engineers, and PhD candidates, I would have been the likely recipient of the "least impressive career at present" superlative.
In fact most of my conversations went like this: "Wow! You're in your third year of residency! That's incredible!! Me?! Ohhh..." cough "well...my professional career isn't really at it's peak right now. I'm actually pregnant with my third child." laugh "that's right. I said my third." hardier laugh "yeah....I really didn't think I would show up at my 10 year reunion with the most amount of kids either. I actually thought that I would still be single and living in an exotic foreign country. Guess that one didn't go as planned."
There were several activities that we could sign up for during the reunion weekend and we decided on the family picnic. It had everything we were looking for: It was cheap, we could bring the kids and eat lunch on the beautiful lawn, and it didn't interfere with nap time. Apparently we were among the few who thought inexpensive, daytime entertainment sounded like a good idea because we were actually the only family from my class present.
And I felt even older when I realized I was the only one {from the class of 2000} present and thought "Oh well! More room in the bouncy house for the Stewarts!!" :-)

2010-04-21T20:04:00.002-04:00

While Ellie enjoys helping make {and eat} strawberry ice cream, we wonder if she might grow gills soon.

2010-04-17T13:07:00.003-04:00

Swim lessons began this week thanks to a fantastic teacher, a heated pool, and my faculty discount.
David is still a little too young to become a Bolles Shark so he was allowed to take his favorite tennis ball. (Yes, he has a favorite tennis ball....friends brought it back from a Federer match in New York.) While Ellie swims, he spends the entire time throwing the ball to himself and then chasing it. I guess one could say that he's going through a pretty "low maintenance" phase.

Easter Fun

2010-04-03T12:01:00.012-04:00

The Easter bunny really had to restrain herself to not also buy them matching recorders.
And if the Lord should tarry, we will need another Easter basket with blue gingham for next year. :-)

2010-03-31T17:58:00.003-04:00

while david's sleeping habits are somewhat simplistic in nature.....
elllie's are not.
she sleeps with every stuffed animal that was ever given to her or david. every. single. one.

the birdies are back....

2010-03-25T20:07:00.005-04:00

...and David is very happy for their return.
one morning before preschool {a huge gust of wind came & blew their hair right as I snapped the picture....thus producing David's part} I should probably admit that both children came home wearing different outfits. David found the only puddle on the playground to jump into and Ellie overestimated the small potties. I always find it a very humbling experience to leave with children dressed in well-worn outfits clearly owned by a preschool or church. (i.e. David in Dora?)
We gave up television/videos a few weeks ago in hopes of enjoying the simpler things. We have been.
I wonder if Nana ever imagined that her China cabinet would be used as a slide...

spring

2010-03-17T19:55:00.005-04:00

We do not have much new or exciting to report.
David continues to love life....particularly when it involves basketball. That apple didn't fall far from the tree and Ben's ploy (putting the goal 6 inches from his crib) seems to be working.
Ellie always prefers to play sports in dresses & skirts to staying inside with dolls and books. That apple also didn't fall far from the tree. (And when she starts dressing her dolls up as Hitler and marching them off to war, we will be certain that she is her mother's daughter.)
Ellie & I grew Easter egg grass while David played in the Tupperware.

St. Patrick's Day

"top reason to have a daughter"
who else gets out of the bath tub & wants to help mommy sweep?

Happy Birthday!!! ....

2010-02-28T15:30:00.006-05:00

.... "young Ben."

David did not enjoy the candles & singing .... dumb formalities one must perform in order to get a piece of chocolate cake.
The babes started preschool this week.....we felt like I had long put in my dues for the ability to do laundry & go to the store in silence. They are in the same class. I just told them the night before that they were going to school & asked Ellie whether she would like to wear her red or her blue shoes to school. She disappeared into her closet and came back with her new pink Easter shoes, insisting that she "wear her new shoes to school." And off to school she went in her Easter shoes....

work hard, play hard

2010-02-22T10:47:00.005-05:00

Ben's tennis team was in the city championships this weekend. Fortunately his win last week gave them "home court" advantage, which meant that we just had to travel a short stroll in the BOB in order to watch it.

Ben played 1 and won his match but the team lost overall. I think that there was some sort of injustice in the system (you can ask him) but during the short time in between when we returned home and when he came home and wanted to talk about it, the kids had come down with the stomach bug & I was cleaning kiddie puke off of the couch.
Ben used his early birthday money from his grandmother to build a garden. Nothing warms our hearts like fresh herbs & veggies!
We were throw up free long enough to spend Sunday in our favorite way possible- on the water. 70 degrees, sunny skies, and for a brief time all worries vanished.

I was stripped of my "first mate" title and it was reassigned to Ellie. It left me feeling a little displaced. She did not have to take an online boating course or learn her knots in order to become "first mate" like I did. But then again she does have binoculars.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-13T20:16:00.003-05:00

whatcha think?

2010-02-07T17:26:00.006-05:00

For about a year and a half my mom has been voicing her concern that Ellie might develop "knock knees" because she walked so early. I just thought that she was a hypo but then I was about to delete this photo and realized.....she might have a point.

This hunk-a burning love started walking this week. At nearly 14 months, he will certainly not be a candidate for knock knees. (But have I mentioned that he talks? I always thought people were making it up when they said that their child spoke so early.)

Here is a short video (59 seconds) of E singing her hymns. I added captions.

2010-01-31T19:22:00.005-05:00

We took Ellie to see our Church production of "The Wind in the Willows" this weekend. One of my German students was a weasel.
Over the past few months Ellie has developed a fear of noises, particularly in the middle of the night. We came up with a pretty elaborate system for getting her to stay in bed should she awaken and get scared in the night, which results in her losing "Bobby." (her Lovie) When I explained the system to her one morning, she said "Oh no Mommy!! Please don't take away Bobby!!! Please take away David instead!!"

san francisco

2010-01-22T12:22:00.007-05:00

We got to meet McKinnon, who is Jon and Ray's 6 week old! {This was undoubtedly the highlight of the trip!} They are living in California while Jon studies at Stanford. We have only been around three newborns to date, and he was by far the best {behaved}!
We also got to coincidentally meet up with my friend, Allie, in Fisherman's Wharf. Allie and I met our freshman year at Furman in a mandatory Music Theory class. (She is living in SF now.) We were sight singing partners and the only two non voice majors in the class. We had to come up with "a band" name and we were "The As." If there is an area of life that I really do not bring much to the table it is sight singing. Though actually...now that I think about it...there was my whole MARCHING BAND experience! A true friendship is surely formed behind sight singing and purple plumes!
Ben with the beautiful Golden Gate Bridge in the background. This was pretty much the extent of our {supposedly great} view.
Though they were not invited on the trip, both children are very proud of their San Franciscan roots!

2010-01-13T18:24:00.003-05:00

David's laugh is one of his best attributes....always hardest with his big sister.

*Ellie is telling him to "stand up" so that he can "roll the ball."

cold

2010-01-11T15:11:00.003-05:00

it's been cold. can you guess which child is starting to go stir-crazy....
...and which child is not?