Awww.....Christmas

I love my family. I love Christmas. Today is great. Daniel, Xiaolan, Ruth and Don are here spending Christmas with us this year. I miss my family, but I am enjoying time with Dave's family just as much. Last night we read the Christmas story, left cookies and milk for Santa, had the girls write letters to Santa, let the girls open one present, attended an awesome Christmas Eve service, had meatball soup and biscuits with family and shared previous Christmas memories with one another. After the girls went to bed, the adults watched "A Christmas Story". What a blessing Christmas Eve was.

This morning, we slowly and leisurely unveiled the items in our stockings, ate breakfast casserole, opened presents, listened to Christmas music, ate candy and enjoyed each other's company. I've already snoozed, and the girls are now snoozing. Since it cooled off last night, I hope that Dave will light a fire soon. We plan to eat steak and shrimp scampi among other things this evening. It's been a nice Christmas. I love all my gifts!! Thanks, family. Thank you, Lord!!!

I hope to get the girls to write a letter to Jesus today, continue to celebrate the fact that we are commemorating His birth, and maybe go for a walk. It might also be nice to shower sometime too.....

But for now, even though it's long, I'd like to share Julia's letter to Santa with you:

Dear Santa, How have you been? Have you had a nice summer? How has it been? I've been extra good this week. Did you make sure Jesus' lives in your heart? I'd like you to tell your mommy that you have your milk..--Your mommy, Mrs. Claus. Ever so quick, hurry there's a monster! I want you to please sing songs. I want you to sing songs and play. I love you so much, that I wanted you to come here and have cookies. Love, Julia


Dear Mrs.Claus, I hope you be so kind to Santa Claus. I hope that you can bring presents. I really want a baby with blonde hair. I wanted you to do something that is so kind. Say "Dear Santa Claus, how have you been?" I want you to bring lots of presents for my mom and Aunt Xiaolan, and Uncle Daniel and to my daddy and Granny and Papa Don and every one in the whole land who talks. But not everyone that doesn't talk. I love you. Goodbye, Julia.

And Lydia's letter:

Dear Santa, Do you talk to God? Oooh! Eeee! Love, Lydia

(I don't know where they get this stuff!!!!)

We have been blessed to attend a lot of Christmas parties this year, and have enjoyed this wonderful, busy December. I need to get a lot of pictures on here soon from this month, but I'm not sure it will be today. I would love to hear how your December went. Merry, merry, merry Christmas!!! Love, Amber

Why?

Not too long ago, I posted about my friend who found out she was having triplets. In October, she had three preemie babies who were eventually very healthy. But, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. One of the babies went to be with Jesus today. How does this happen? Why does this happen? It's so hard to understand. I know that God is Sovereign and he works all things together for his good. But somehow, sometimes, in the midst of that, our hearts get broken. And sometimes life just sucks. I'm sure the crevice of brokeness in my heart is nothing compared to the vast abyss of ache that Sabrina feels. That just makes me ache all the more. Please join me in prayer for the Hay family, and their other 4 children. Only the Father, who was there when his own son died, can understand how the Hay's feel right now. I love them dearly. -Amber.

In Love with Jesus

Dave and I took Julia to see our church Christmas production on Sunday. Julia loved it and did a pretty good job paying attention the whole time. (Little Lyddie isn't quite old enough to come, so she had to go to child care.) The musical started out with an act featuring toy characters, and Santa--who came flying in from the balcony at one point in the show. It was very exciting. Next, the choir sang some wonderful Christmas songs with beautiful solos and the kids choir accompanying at one time. The last act of the show portrayed Jesus' life from infant hood to death on the cross, and then resurrection from the grave. There were angels on cables hanging from the sky, and a lot of other neat effects involved. The message was intentional and powerful.

The funny thing is that after the show, Julia was dead-set and determined on meeting Jesus as soon as possible. I thought it was interesting that she wasn't caught up on meeting Santa, the toy princess, the angels or the much-loved ballerina. She really wanted to meet Jesus. I tried to explain to her that the man playing Jesus was an actor, but I'm pretty sure my explanations fell on deaf ears.

We went out of the sanctuary doors, looking forward to meeting some characters. We met some of the angels, and other characters, including the toy princess. But, Julia was still most excited to meet Jesus. Finally, we found where Jesus was located. When Julia saw him she shouted his name in excitement and ran up to him to hug his legs. When he picked her up for a hug around the neck and a picture, Julia gave him a peck right on the cheek. "Jesus" was overjoyed at her enthusiasm for him. It was super sweet.

Here's to hoping all of us are as excited as Julia to meet Jesus this Christmas season!! Love, Amber

The hustle and the bustle

With Christmas quickly approaching, things have definitely been busy around here!! Julia had a princess party for her fourth birthday, we've opened presents from relatives, been to Christmas parties, decorated for Christmas, dropped my sister and her infant son off at the airport to return to their home in Cheyenne Wyoming, baked cookies and enjoyed other festive eateries. I am exhausted and already sick of rich foods. But, don't let me lead you astray. My Christmas spirit is still in full swing and looking forward to all that the month of December has in store. We have church functions, worship of our Lord, more parties, more presents, family time and fun to look forward to. I just love this time of year!

Here is a picture of our princess before her party:

Here she is with her Cinderella dress on:

 Below is a picture of a cute and very pouty Snow White:

 I tried to tell her it's not her party, and she can't cry...even if she wants to....but she didn't listen.

Princess party cake:

 I love the picture below. On the right, we have our neighbor girl, in the middle Julia, and on the left, we have Lydia. It's looks like she's saying, "Whatch'u looking at, fool?"

 The next day, we decided it would be best to go ahead and rip into the presents that Grandma Christie and Grandpa Dan sent for us and the girls.

 Cute pink coat!!!

 Here is Julia showing off one of the adorable outfits her grandparents sent. She actually really loved all the clothes despite her unhappy look in this photo.

Thanks Grandma Christie and Grandpa Dan!!! We all loved our presents!! Merry Christmas to you!

 Happy Baby Josiah!

Julia got to hold Josiah a lot while he was here. Julia loved it....Josiah, not so much.

Lydia also got some time with her little cousin.

 

Another cute cousin shot.

 

Dave and Josiah

This is one of the last times I got to kiss Josiah before his mom made him go home with her. So not fair!

I like this pic of me and my sis. We don't think to take a lot of them, so I am glad to have this one. (I'm glad Josiah was there too.)

Bye Aubrey and Josiah, we miss you! We also miss Mimi and Papa, Uncle Andy and Uncle Alex!!! Come back and visit soon!

For Christmas, we get to have more family in town. We look forward to seeing Dave's mom and step-dad, and Dave's brother, Daniel, and our sister-in-law, Xiaolan. We'll have one more Christmas get-together in January in Norman, Ok before the season is totally wrapped up for us. Have I ever mentioned on this blog that I love the holidays? 

Before I sign off, I'll add a few Julia-isms and a Lydia-ism.

Julia to Aubrey: So, you got to pick out your baby at the hospital? Josiah was the baby you picked?

Lydia: Dear God, thank you for Santa Claus coming to town.

Me: Julia, when we stop at the gas station, I'll buy you milk or juice-one or the other.
Julia: Mom, I want one, but not the other.

Aren't they the cutest? Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!!!! -Amber



Stop the Clock!!!

AAAHH! How did this happen? My oldest baby girl is turning four tomorrow!! Stop the clock. Say it ain't so. REWIND!

It's not that I don't want Julia to grow up. It's just that I don't want it to happen so quickly!!!! I just need like a year and a half longer to get used to her being 3. Then we can move on to her being four. --Then we can start thinking about how she's going to go to school someday. --Then we can start the transition from babyhood to childhood. I know Julia hasn't really been a baby for about 3 years now, but she still has that sweet little baby face with the chubbyish cheeks. I don't want that to go away. I don't want her to grow so fast!!

Dear Julia,

You'll always be my baby.

Love, Mom.

Gobble, Gobble.

I'm sad that I haven't gotten a chance to get on here sooner. Thanksgiving has long come and gone. It feels like this blog is out of date already, but I have two really good excuses. 1st excuse: Dave had our computer out of commission for several days. 2nd excuse: I am still enjoying family, and haven't had a lot of time to sit down lately. Andy, Aubrey and Josiah got to fly in the Monday before Thanksgiving. Andy flew out last Monday, but Aubrey and Josiah are still here!! Isn't that fun? I'm so glad they got to stay.

In addition to my sister and her family being here for Thanksgiving, my parents and brother got to come as well. I am so glad that they all got to be here. We have done Christmas with my family on Thanksgiving for the last few years, and this year was no exception. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day: eat a lot of wonderful food. Friday after Thanksgiving: open presents and decorate for Christmas. It's great.

I have a few pictures of the cute cousins:

Bath time.

 Time for a walk.

 Time to cook.

We deemed Wednesday as baking day. This is how it started.

This was one of the results of baking day.

 This is what our turkey soaked in Wednesday night.

 

 Here is what the turkey looked like after it had been soaked all night and baked for 4.5 hours.

 Hors de oeuvres

Basically this could have been our lunch.

Family Time!

Starting on the right, you can see Aunt Aubrey's head, then Julia's, Baby Josiah, then Lydie Lou, and Uncle Andy. Isn't pre-bed time one of the best times?

Baby Jo.

For some reason, I didn't get a lot of pictures of us opening presents, but I did get this one of Julia with her new Cinderella play set. She looks like she is underwhelmed by her present. But, in acuality, she was just underwhelmed by me telling her to take a picture before I opened it for her. She kept saying, "I love it, I love my Cinderella." Her discolored lips are thanks to the m&m's she got to eat during the entire gift giving extravaganza.

Also during the last week, we went black Friday shopping, went to church, visited a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, and got pictures taken by my friend, Sarah Craig. Her business is called Fish Lips Photography, and she's awesome. Click on her name for a sneek peek. 

I hope to update more later! Thanks for reading ya'll. Love ya! -Amber

Girl's Night

Dave went camping last night with the other men in our Bible Study group. Evidently, they ate a lot of meat, shot some guns, slept on the ground, and had a lot of fun. All that to say, the girls and I stayed here, and did girly stuff. I made a wonderful dinner for us, and then we watched Cinderella while eating ice cream. We also made those three videos in my previous post. I'd planned on painting our finger nails too, but we didn't get to that. I decided not to mention it as an option.

I got the girls down on time, and sat down to relax. I stayed up way to late doing nothing on the couch, and then Lydia woke up at 5:15a.m. I got her laid back down and re-quieted, and then Julia woke up in a state of panic because she had to go to the bathroom at 5:30. I laid her back down just wishing and hoping she would go back to sleep. I came down to bed, and tried to sleep myself, but Julia was in bed with me before I could reunite with the Mr. Sandman at 6:20. Lyd was down at 6:40. And then, our day began. I really don't understand why my girls won't sleep sometimes.

I got up and made myself some coffee and the girls breakfast. We went to some garage sales, and then came home to play awhile. The girls and I had lunch next. With their lunch, they had milk. With my lunch, I had coffee. Then I laid the girls down. They didn't go to sleep as quickly as I thought they would with such an early rise, but they were both conked out by 1:15. I was thinking they were going to sleep forever, that I would have to wake them up, because they were sleeping too long, or something like that. No dice. Julia took a little over an hour nap. Lydia's was longer, but not by much. I barely had time to catch up on my emails.

But, with all that being said, the girls and I really enjoyed each other's company. We had a great time. And by the way, I didn't coax them to sing for those videos at all. They kept asking if they could sing more. They're just my little divas! Dave finally arrived home at 4:30 and we all took a walk before dinner. The girls are in bed now, and I am thinking that going to bed soon is a good idea for me. Praise the Lord that his mercies are new every morning! Peace out. -Amber

P.S. I am so excited that we will have our first wave of family members arriving on Monday. All four of us Stewarts are so anxious and impatient to see you three Hazelet's!!! Yay!!

A Succession of Songs

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star


Jingle Bells




We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Happy little tunes, aren't they? -Amber

Baking Day

With the holidays coming up, I wanted to get a head start on Christmas gifts and be prepared for last minute party needs. So, I figured it would be good to start some baking. If I bake a little on Saturdays during the girls' naps, I should have a bountiful supply of baked goods in our freezer for whatever may come up this holiday season. I hope my idea comes to pass. We shall see.

Anyway, I decided to make some pumpkin bread this afternoon. The girls were not quite asleep yet, so I was not able to devote my full attention to the project at hand. After coming back from yet another distraction, I realized that I had made this:

 I decided to take a picture of my "candy corn" in a bowl.

 Here's a top view....doesn't it look like it'll turn out to be delicious?

Above is the finished product. These loaves are fully cooled and just about to go into the freezer.

Ok, fine. Don't twist my arm. Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the following ingredients together:

2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
2/3 shortening (I used butter...it's what I had.)
1 lb can pumpkin
1/2 tsp allspice
1 Tbsp cinnamon
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup nuts
1 cup chopped dates or raisins (optional)

Bake in 3 loaf pans (or two regular size and 3 mini loaf pans) for about 45 mins. (30 mins. for the minis) at 350 degrees.

Let me know if you decide to make some bread. I'd love to know how it turns out! Thanks for reading ya'll. -Amber

A Year Ago

Last year around this time, I wrote a blog about Daylight Savings Time. I had a lot more angst (not teenage) and aggression about my situation in life at that time. I am so thankful for how things can change in a year. Although things aren't perfect, they are great. I love my family, our church, my job, and our home. Thank God that His mercies are new every morning. I praise Him that a lot can change in a year.

But, if you want to know the truth, I still hate daylight savings time. It screws up my life, and I hate that. I think most mother's of preschoolers feel the same way as I do. (At least, that's what I overheard in the bathroom at church on Sunday. I have no real proof...just hearsay.) Most moms in my situation have a little one who does anything but sleep extra during this time of year. For example, Lydia wakes up with the sun, and enjoys the act of promptly waking her sister up to tell her "good morning". (Disclaimer: this doesn't always happen. Sometimes Julia wakes up with the sun, and enjoys the act of promptly waking her sister up to tell her "good morning".) This little tradition can cause turmoil for our family. Like it did this morning. --Since Lydia was sleep deprived, she got over tired today at "school". (Plus she smacked her face on our backyard slide last night, and her big fat lip was probably soar. I hate it when she does that. It makes me cry and ache all over. Lydia is always making herself susceptible to fat lips, bruised cheeks and black eyes. She is fearless.) Lydia's teacher/daycare provider/babysitter called me this morning and told me she thought Lydia was sick, and that I needed to come get her. I picked Lydia up, and took her home to lay her down. She didn't want to stay in bed at first, but a promise of medicine and lunch kept my littlest quiet til I got back. When I did get back to administer her Tylenol, the poor little sweet heart was already mostly asleep. After Tylenol, Lydia slept for about two and a half hours. She woke up hungry, but pretty perky. All she needed was a snack, and then all was right with her world again. I'm glad she wasn't really sick....just in need of a good nap. (Dearest Lydia, I really wouldn't mind if you decided to sleep-in tomorrow morning; despite the 6:30 sunrise.)

But, speaking of sleep, I better start heading that direction myself. (I don't really have a lot of hope that either of my girls will be sleeping in too late.) I hope all of you are doing well, and enjoying your sun-shiny mornings and cool, dark evenings! Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love ya, Amber

Halloween Was a Scream

This weekend was a lot of fun. The girls had a great time dressing up two days in a row, and we were all very excited to see my parents (i.e. Mimi and Papa).

Mimi and Papa came for almost 24 hours. They didn't get to stay for long, but we are so glad they could come. They showed up for a late dinner on Friday evening, and then hung around with us on Saturday. They left from First Fest (Houston's First Baptist's Fall Festival). Below is a picture of my mom with the my little cupcake bakers. These little bakers were labeled as chefs, cookie makers, strawberry shortcakes, but mostly just cute.

We got these cute little costumes from Granny Ruth a while ago. I originally thought it would be fun to dress them up as little cowgirls, but then I remembered these outfits, and couldn't go back. I love the picture of them below. They look as sweet as can be.

 After we got to First Fest, the girls jumped, played, petted animals in the petting zoo, received candy, and had a grand ole' time. I only wish we would have made it there a little earlier. It was hard for us to decide when to go this year since the festival is during nap time, but we had a great time with the hour and a half we had.

 The group of four below is (from left to right) Kelly Matte as Olive Oyl, Amber Cessac as Kelly Matte, Joey Cessac as Gregg Matte, and Pastor Gregg Matte as Popeye. How fun!

 Lydia and Julia were very into the candy this year! Well, they still are very into the candy. And, admittedly, so are Dave and I. Dave and I both took some to work to help get rid of it a.s.a.p.

We were all sad that we only got to see my parents for such a short time, but the girls rallied their spirits tolerably when they realized there was another night of candy collecting awaiting them. Dave and I wanted to use Halloween as another opportunity to get to know our neighbors better. We got lawn chairs and sat outside chatting with them until we went door to door and asked for candy. It was a lot of fun to re-learn every one's names and get to know them better.
My mom told me she wasn't allowed to go trick-or-treating when she was growing up because her dad felt like it was begging. I was sorta' in agreement with Grandpa this year. At least we gave away candy as well. Below is a picture of my little candy-mongers.

 Below is a (blurry night-time) photo of Julia chatting it up with Cinderella.

And, I also took a picture of some of the candy. So many people encouraged the girls to "take as much as they want". It was sort of hard to politely turn down the offer as my children scooped handfuls of candy into their bags, but we did our best. (One of the ladies had full size candy bars. They let the girls take from her bowl more than once.)

The girls had a great time, and way too much candy. They got to stay up a little later than normal, but we did have to cut out a little early because the girls started school today. It is an at-home preschool that we are trying out. They had a great time this morning, so I am curious to find out what the rest of this week is like and how the following week goes.

I had a really fun time at work too. I got to sit in on instructional classes for realtors wanting to learn how to better use social networking for their businesses. I learned a lot! I really think I am going to enjoy my job, and I didn't even feel like I didn't get to see my girls. There were a few tears this morning when I dropped the girls at preschool. However, they didn't come from my independent, inquisitive daughters. Just me.

I am so excited about these next few months. We are already listening to Christmas music in the car, and I am looking forward to a cooler week. Lydia loves the "Tinkerbell song" which is actually the well-known nutcracker song. Julia asked me if we could take her to the ballet to see them dance to the nutcracker song today. Of course, I am just dieing to make this happen now. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for reading. You all are the best! -Amber

Par-tay!

This weekend was great fun! It flew by way too fast, but it was great for sure. Dave and I went to a costume/scavenger hunt party with our Bible study class on Saturday. The costumes were awesome, and the scavenger hunt was fun and challenging. Below, you can see Rainbow Brite, Partly Cloudy with a Chance of Rain, and Napoleon Dynamite.

 The scavenger hunt list was about a mile long. One of the challenges was to ask a stranger to take a picture of your entire group hanging spoons from their noses. There was definitely some cheaters in this shot (Dave, and Jeremy) but I noticed when we got back that we were really the only group who actually asked real strangers to take pictures of us. Hmmm...interesting.

 Below you'll see a facebook comment page, a baker, a hippie chick, Deb (from Napoleon Dynamite) and Napoleon himself. We are doing that beatles walk thing. What is it called? I, Deb, am trying to be funny in this shot, while pretending I know what in the world this walk thing is. (I understand now....I looked it up.)

 This is me, I mean Deb, "sneezing" onto a deck of cards.

 There were four groups playing the scavenger hunt, but the one that decided to do there own thing is pictured below. Can you guess what they did instead of wracking up scavenger hunt points?

They call it "wrapping" a house here in Houston. I am used to it being called "t.p.ing". But, either way, when their pictures came up, there was a lot of laughter. They ended up wrapping five houses, I think, and even though they probably had the least amount of points, this team won the game due to their abundant amount of creativity.

After the hunt, we went back to the Hill's house, where our kiddos where being watched, and Josh was making us an amazingly delicious dinner. We packed our kids up right after the last picture was shown, and headed home so that we could all crash. Whew.

Sunday night, we got to meet and fellowship with some people who used to attend Houston's First. They live in our neighborhood as well, and go to another church here in Missouri City now. But, it was a joy to get to know this great couple and their adorable son. We hope to get together with them more often. (Shannon's cooking was delicious as well.) 

Tonight, the four of us got to go out and celebrate by eating at P.F. Chang's and then Piccomolo's Italian Ice Cream. It was delicious. (I think I'm gonna have to run every day this week.) But, do you wanna' know what we were celebrating? I got a part-time job! I am so excited. God has given me peace about this job since I first interviewed for it in August. It's been a long time coming, but I know that God's timing is perfect, and I am praising Him for that. I am praying about Childcare/Mother's Day out programs for my kiddos. But, I know that God will smooth these details out as well. Life isn't easy, but it's so much better with Christ on your side!

Anywho, that was our wild and crazy weekend and week-beginning. How was yours? Thanks for reading my blog! I have enjoyed writing it, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading as well! Love, Amber

Weekend in Port O'Connor

On Friday, Dave, the girls and I loaded into our mini van and headed to Port O'Connor TX to visit family and have tons of fun! Dave's Uncle Erny lives in Port O'Connor, but all of his aunts and uncles joined the fun as well. We also got to see Dave's grandpa, and great uncle. As well as, some of Dave's cousins. But, the persons of the most import, especially to our girls, were Granny Ruth (Dave's mom) and Papa Don (Dave's step-dad). We didn't have much time, but we packed in as many exciting activities and delightful family events as we possibly could.

On Friday, after we arrived, we barely had time to say hello to family before it was time to get our wired girls to bed. After we got the girls to stop jumping on their beds (and bouncing of the walls) and lay down, Dave and I couldn't help but snooze ourselves. Getting to bed slightly early on Friday night proved to be a very good idea for us. We had no idea at that time that the next day would be loaded with great things to do.

After waking up and eating a delicious breakfast, the four of us, and Granny Ruth went shopping for a little while.

After we got back from shopping, the five of us headed to the beach to walk on the pier and visit the ocean. We stopped at the swing set nicely positioned by the pier before we actually went for our walk. Here's a picture of the girls and Dave on the swings:

And then the same three cuties walking on the pier:

This next photo is the view from the swing set. I know that the gulf isn't as perfect as some other beaches, but it's still the ocean, and I enjoy delighting in it's beauty.

Below is a picture of me and my girls right before it was time to head back to Uncle Erny's for lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to ocean (it's about 2 blocks from Uncle Erny's) to see if we could spot a few dolphins with our girls. But all we saw on this trip was this fella':

It was about time for the girls to take a nap, and Dave and I were about to hop onto a boat! ---Thursday night before we left for our trip, Ruth asked Dave if he'd like to go sea fishing. Dave wasn't sure at that point whether or not he wanted to go. It wasn't until Saturday that this rare opportunity to fish in the sea was also presented to me. We decided it would be best not to pass the opportunity up!

We got to go fishing with Uncle Erny's neighbor, Darryl (a great fishermen) and his Uncle Delfido.  No kids allowed- just adults. As we took off, with wind whipping through my hair, I looked at Dave and said, "Isn't this fun? We are on a date!"

 First order of business? Catch a live cabbage head jelly fish with your bare hands. This task was appropriately managed by Darryl. Dave and I got to touch it. Here's a pic:

After that, we got to fishing. Darryl doesn't like to stay put if the fish aren't biting, so we moved the boat around a few times before Dave and I caught our first fishes of the day. They were both grunt fish. They look just like perch, and apparently taste like them too.

After we moved again, we caught some sea robins, and Dave managed to reel in this beast of a grouper:

I wasn't really sure how he even felt this little guy tug on his line. Darryl said we would let him go and grow to be about 300 lbs. In ten years, Dave and I are definitely coming back to find him again!

After catching the little fish, Darryl moved us to a place where he knew we could catch some small sharks. I reeled in the first one. He was about 2.5 feet long, and probably around 10 lbs. It was so great! (Obviously I need to pack more clothes next time, because I did not even have a t-shirt along to throw on to go out on the boat in. Packing light is overrated.)

Dave reeled in the second shark. This little 2.5 footer got a little bloody, but we figured he'd just attract some bigger sharks.

 We got to reel in a few more little guys, and our biggest one was about 3 feet long, 12 lbs. Darryl said he usually doesn't keep these kind of shark unless they get to be 4 foot long. Otherwise, there just isn't much meat. We didn't catch any "reds" (I think these are red snappers) that day, which are "good for eatin' ", but don't worry, we invited ourselves back to fish another time. Darryl was so kind to accept our invitation. He even took us fishing this day after canceling his personal plans, as a favor to Dave's uncle. He won't accept any gifts or money in return. Isn't he a saint?

After fishing, Darryl cleaned his boat up and came back to Uncle Erny's to eat some steak, and boilin' pot style shrimp, potatoes, corn and sausage.  Of course there was also gads of desserts to be consumed, but we won't talk about how much food was actually eaten yesterday....now, will we?

I was also glad to have grabbed a shower before dinner, along with clean pants and undergarments, but unfortunately the same shirt. (My other one from yesterday was dirty as well.) --Don't look at me like that. I know it's disgusting, but what else was I going to do? That's right, I just decided to go on with life.

Then, we had some quick family photo ops before we loaded the girls up to get them in bed late, just to hall them to church this morning. I liked this one:

Granny Ruth doesn't like to take pictures, so I am so glad to have one of all of us. I'm gonna frame it.

As the sun went down, and our girls whined about leaving, we loaded everything up again. I noticed Darryl leaving his house, fishing pole in hand. He's a tournament fishermen, so he's got to practice, I guess.

Today we went to church, and then brought the girls back for some much needed rest. We went to the playgroud to let them play after naptime while we played volleyball in the very nearby sand volleyball court. We thought it would just be the two of us, but another couple joined us and we had a great time. It was fun... however, I think I will be soar and bruised tomorrow.

Anyway, that was our exciting weekend. It was a great time. Make sure you check back soon because next weekend, Dave and I are going to a costume party with our Sunday School class. We are gonna pull off some pretty awesome characters, so stayed tuned! Thanks for reading, Amber