Magical Moments

Our Family would like to share with you some of our very merry moments from this Christmas season.

Julia's love for the Silver Dollar City Princess

During the SDC parade, you are not suppossed to pass the white line where the dancers and floats are. The sweet SDC princess made an exception for my exuberant princess.

Christmas Pictures at First Baptist from a sweet friend in Sunday School

 Can you find the fifth member of our little family?

Christmas tree decorating

Sugar Cookie Baking on Christmas Eve

Lydia- she is more "floured" than she looks

Julia with her silly expression

 

Candle Light Service at First Baptist Church on December 24, 2011

Cookies for Santa are out and ready to be eaten by Jolly Old St. Nick. Some excited girls with their reindeers are also pictured here.

Julia and Papa with Julia's Christmas Gift.

 Julia LOVES her "ka-tar" from Mimi and Papa! (Dear Julia, please don't be a rockstar just yet.)

Marshmallow everywhere

 We had a good ol' camp fire at my parents house. The girls loved the mallows. Lydia loved hers so much that it ended up covering her and her new jacket. She decided that she didn't want anymore after she was finally cleaned up and unstuck.

The girls and their Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Andy

We are so blessed to have been able to experience so much love and laughter this holiday season. Our families are a blesssing from the Lord and every moment we get to share with them is precious.

(To my nephew, Josiah. You are precious too, and I am sorry I didn't get any good pictures of you to share. I'll do better next time. Alex and Mom, the same goes for you! )

To: Mimi, Papa, Granny Ruth, Papa Don, Grandma Christie, Grandpa Dan, Aunt Aubrey, Uncle Andy, Uncle Alex, Uncle Daniel, Aunt Xiaolan, and all of our other wonderful family members, we hope you had the merriest of Christmases! To all of our friends, co-workers, and blog readers, we hope the season was filled with joy and love for you as well!
Happy New Year! -Amber



Some of the yum



Visiting Santa

We visited Santa today. We go to an unconvential place to visit him because the lines are short, and because they have a letter writing station and a lot of other things to see. We go to Bass Pro Shops. The girls call it "the fishy store".

Before church this morning

Watching the fish and eating some cookies from church

Santa!

 Lydia decided she didn't want to smile for the picture. I have no idea why. The girls told Santa they want baby princesses for Christmas. (Duh! I already knew that.) Santa told the girls he has a bag of them, so he'll be bringing them one. --Good thing they didn't request ponies.

Making Papa Proud

Making Papa Proud - 2

The girls told me that the Santa they visited today was the real Santa.-- I only wish I'd taken a turn on his lap. How on earth is going to know what I want?
Merry Christmas, Amber

It's Finished!

Dave started painting the girls bedrooms several weeks ago! Due to our busy schedules and some painting mishaps, the girls have been sleeping in the nursery for quite a while. (Which needs painting as well.) So, Dave finally finished yesterday, and I painted the "ribbon" on the walls this morning. Then, we moved all of their furniture back against the walls instead of in the middle of the room, and voila! their room is back. :) Here are some pictures of the finished product:

The girls love it, and I am so glad they are back in their own room. Now we just need to paint the office, kitchen, two bathrooms, the game room, and as I mentioned, the nursery. We'll get there soon enough, I guess. :) Thanks for stopping by, Amber

Party Animals

I promise I'm not already taking maternity leave from my blog...I just have so much going on. :)
The first Christmas we were here in Houston, I was very sad because we only had one Christmas party to attend--after Christmas. But, God has definitely multiplied our blessings! We've already been to 3 Christmas Parties, and we have one on this Saturday. We even missed one of the Christmas parties because of our crazy schedule. :( We were sad to miss.
The first year we moved here, Julia didn't have a birthday party because we still didn't really no one. This year, while Julia had a very low key party, I still planned one. And, when it comes to any five-year-old's birthday party's, there is never a lack of things to do- no matter how low key you desire to keep it.
The girls also got to party for Christmas at school. Their party was Thursday. When I picked the girls up from their classes, Lydia said, "Mommy, I got a cookie today!", and Julia said in a dreamy voice, "Oh, I had the BEST day." What uplifting comments! (Especially when a majority of the comments coming from my 5 and 3 year-old these days are anything but uplifting.)
I also got to attend a fun little party with my co-workers where we exchanged gifts and ate goodies.
Dave's office decided to stop having parties. (Which isn't too dissapointing. This was the party that we attended 2 years ago and it was very strange.)
Anyway, the moral of this story is: I am so, so thankful that God blessed us with opportunity to know wonderful people and party with them. (Even when my party animal ways is another thing that keeps me from writing on my blog.) Happy Christmas parties to all of you! Merry Christmas! -Amber

F-I-V-E

Julia turned FIVE yesterday! She is getting so big. Every stage is so fun, and I am so proud of her. I am so amazed that it has already been five years since Dave and I went to the hospital to have our first kiddo.

We had a small birthday party for Julia at Chick-fil-a. Dave and I decided to invite a smaller number of kids than we usually invite because December is such a crazy time of year, and we are especially busy right now. Julia loved her party, and hopefully all the kids had a great time! Of course the kids played, ate chicken, drank lemonade, and wore party hats. They also decorated cupcakes, sang happy birthday to Julia and watched as she opened presents.

The partiers

Julia and her cupcake

Julia was about to open gifts.

The celebratory squeals from the little girls as they watched Julia open her gifts were truly sweet. We did have to quiet them down, though. Look at the people in the behind the girls, trying to see what on earth we were letting our kids get away with!

Lydia, Julia's friend and their cupcakes

Family photo at Chick-fil-a. (Thanks Heather.)

After Julia's party on Saturday, Dave went to tutor, and I brought the girls home so the three of us could nap. That evening, Dave and I went to my work Christmas party, and had tons of fun. I was very soar the next day from dancing the night away. When we got home, Dave blew up balloons and filled the girls' room with them (as is our family tradition before a little one's birthday), and then we both hit the sack!

Sunday morning came early. Julia had to be to church early to sing with the little 4 and 5 year old choir. It was so precious! Julia was excited to get to wear a brand new birthday dress and sing on her birthday. (Thank you, Granny Ruth for the birthday dress.)

Our Birthday Girl

After church on Sunday, Dave and took Julia to a restaurant. Her only request was that we go to a place that had ice cream. So Dave and I drove to a Mexican restaurant that had ice cream the last time we were there. But, low and behold, the machine was broken, and there was no ice cream. Julia got to have sopapillas with whip cream instead. It almost, kinda, sorta made up for her lack of ice cream. She also got to wear a sombrero as the waiters sang happy birthday to her. After the waiter left, Julia told me she did NOT like wearing that hat. I had no idea that even 5-year-olds would have an aversion to wearing a huge hat while being sang to.

Can you find her? Julia is on the bottom right.

On Sunday evening, Julia got to open her gift from Dave and I. She got a few small things and a kids pump style ice cream maker. She has been begging to make ice cream, but I still haven't gone to the store to buy the cream. I should really get with it! --My only excuse: I guess I thought it could be made with regular milk....

Julia and her princess cup

Julia, blowing out her birthday candle.

This last weekend was crazy and overwhelming, but tons of fun. I am so grateful for our sweet girls and our little one on the way. God has richly blessed us our family with each other! Thank you for reading my blog. -Amber

Thanksgiving 2011

As we packed up to leave our home for the week of Thanksgiving, I at least wanted to get our Christmas tree partially put up.

--This week, as is all the other weeks in our lives, has been crazy. Because I had an inkling into the future and this week's craziness, Dave, the girls and I took a break from doing laundry and packing our suitcases to get out this old faithful:

This is our crooked, half-lit tree. It looks a little better now.

Since we've come home from our trip, I've done a little better about Christmas decorating, but I haven't quite finished yet. I'll get some information up on this here blog when I finish.

Our Thanksgiving festivities included time in Bartlesville with Dave's Mom, Ruth, and Step-dad, Don, and time in Branson with Dave's Dad, Dan, and Step-mom, Christie . We had a fun and wonderful time in both places, and have been sorry to come back to reality and leave the vacation life. (What's not to love about enjoying time with family while other people do the majority of the cooking? It's delightful.)

We got to Bartlesville late Friday night, and got to hang out with our dear family and friends on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday we got to visit the church we used to attend in Bartlesville, and then we got to go to lunch with Dave's family. We also got to see our spectacular and fun friends, Jared and Lela and have a play date with our wonderful Bartlesville church friends and their kiddos. (My, how our families have grown!) We loved every minute of down time with Dave's family and our friends!

We had two Thanksgiving dinners- one in Bartlesville on Wednesday, and one in Branson on Thanksgiving day. (We are lucky ducks!) Both turkey dinners were delicious, and I enjoyed every minute of them. On Wednesday, we got to see Ruth, Don, Dave's step-sisters, and neices and nephew, and on Thursday, we had lunch with Dan and Christie. Poor little Lydia didn't join us for our second holiday meal, though, because she had come down with a cough and a fever. She asked me right before dinner if she could lay down and take a nap (with tiredest little eyes and face anyone has ever seen). We gave her some Tylenol, and granted her her wish. She was a little under the weather on Friday and Saturday, but she wasn't feverish anymore and seemed to be doing better.

 Daniel, Dave's brother, and our sister in law, Xiaolan were suppossed to fly in the evening of Thanksgiving, but the parking lot at the airport had no free spots, and so they couldn't board their plane and fly to see us all for the weekend. They plan to go to Dan and Christie's later this month. This was one of the only sad parts of our vacation.
On Friday, after Thanksgiving, we got to go one of my favorite places on earth, Silver Dollar City! We had a great time, but it was so crowded! Every time I go to SDC, I can't wait to go back. Dave got to ride a bunch of the roller coasters by himself (since I am with child) and the girls got to ride on some "big girl rides" for the first time. We also watched the Christmas parade, and Santa looked right at Julia and Lydia, smiled and said, "Be good! I'm coming to town." The girls were in awe. Just today, Julia said, "Santa is watching us, and he wants us to be good. I'm so glad I have been."

On Saturday, we celebrated Stewart Christmas. We usually wait until after the new year, but, we celebrated a little early this year, and got to count the Stewart Christmas event as our first Christmas of the season rather than our last. We got to see almost all of Dave's Aunts, Uncles, and beautiful cousins on his Dad's side. The kiddos exchange gifts, and the adults play a game to earn theirs. Lydia got a Snow White doll, and Julia got a glowing art dome thing. They both LOVE their gifts. Dave and I also got some great stuff playing "Dirty Santa". --Yeah for Christmas games that cause you to steal from others! (It's the true Christmas spirit, after all.) It was so fun! :)

Well, on Sunday we headed home again, so, I guess that just about sums up our fun holiday trip. Here are some pictures from our adventures in random order:

Christie, Dan, Dave and the girls walking behind Christie and Dan's house.

Dave and Lydia down on the walking trails behind Dan and Christie's house

Christie and the girlies making desserts for Stewart Christmas

Bundled babies in Bartlesville

Happy Julia on trails

Lydia, playing in the backyard

Stewart family

Jaycee got a poker set...just what she wanted.

Lydia, talking to her cousin Daisy. Lyd is 3, and Daisy is 2.

Cousins- staying in a room separate from parents

On Saturday night, Dave and his Dad had to pull out the old chess set.

Thanks for reading about our family happenings! (I may try and add some more pictures at another time, but I was having camera issues and will have to steal some pictures.) Anyway, I hope your Turkey day was as gobblecious as ours! Love, Amber

Traffic

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! We get to start the celebrating today, though. Bring on the turkey! We are in Oklahoma, enjoying the coat weather, our family time and seeing good friends. On our drive here, Dave and I noticed some big differences between Bartlesville/Oklahoma and Houston/Texas traffic. I thought I'd share a few with you.

1. In OK, u-turns are outlawed everywhere. In TX, u-turns are seemingly encouraged.

2. In OK, it costs $2 in turnpike tolls to get across the state. In Houston, it costs us more the $2 just to get to church.

3.  Rush hour in Houston equals most of the morning, most of the afternoon, the lunch hour, Friday evenings, and sometimes Saturday afternoons. In Bartlesville, people think they have a rush hour at lunch and that Christmas traffic in Tulsa is bad. It's not bad.
4. In Houston, you can easily get into a wreck if someone cuts you off too close. In Bartlesville, people just stop right in front of you while they figure out where they are trying to go.
5. In Houston, if you turn on your blinker, people speed up to keep you from getting over. In Bartlesville, they sort of move forward, but they give in easily when you start driving like someone who drives in Houston.

6. In Texas, there are people on the highways at all times of the day-- including the middle of the night. In Oklahoma, the roads get pretty deserted at about 8:00 p.m.

7. In Houston, you can slowly inch forward at a stop light while watching the light change from red to green, red to green, red to green....I've waited almost 10 minutes at one stop light in Houston. When I lived in Bartlesville, I used to get a little put out if I'd been waiting more than 2 minutes to get through an intersection.

8. I bet there are more drivers on 6-10, at any given time of the day, than there are drivers in the whole state of Ok!

Sorry I've been late in getting posts up this month. I really did write this the day before our wonderful turkey day, but couldn't get it posted because I didn't have time to finish it or a computer on which I really could finish it. Pictures and happenings of our fun trip to Bartlesville and Branson will be coming soon! Love, Amber

I know I'm wierd,

But I'd rather....

...spend time with family in front of a glowing fireplace while sipping hot drinks while it snows outside than sit on a hot beach.

...talk on the phone than sit on facetime. Video talking is awesome when you want to see how kiddos are growing or how a house improvement is going, but just sitting, talking face to face with another adult is a tiny bit awkward. (Especially when there is a small video of you in the corner.) On a regular basis, I don't sit with my face super close to someone else's while we talk. It's also awkward if you can't stop checking out your complexion in the small side box.

...drink coffee from a small, locally owned coffeehouse than from a large franchise coffeehouse.

...be with family over the holidays than go to the bahamas or even Europe. I'd rather go to those places at some other time.

...put up Christmas decor too early than too late.

...have a ton of pretty sterling silver or costume jewelry than one small diamond necklace. (Not that it wouldn't be nice to have a diamond necklace someday!)

...read a good book than watch a scary movie.

...dance with my daughters than watch Dancing with the Stars.

...listen to Christmas music than just about any other music.

...have peace and quiet from time to time than constant noise/music/television. (This has definitely changed from when I was in highschool.)

...buy a house that needs paint and a little restoration than a house that needs no work at all.

...eat at home than eat fast food.

...have a sentimental Christmas with no gifts than get everything I've ever wanted and be alone.

...look out my window and see snowy mountain tops than just about any other landscape known to man.

...live in a small to medium size town than a huge metropolis.

...Dave be happy at his job than make a ton of money. 

...my kids memorize scripture than 100,000 facts about other things. (But my kids are smart. They'll probably be able to do both.)

...dream up fun adventures with my family than become bitter and crotchety.

...learn to let go and have a crazy-messy house than have my kids remember me as someone who cared more about having the house clean than about them. (But I can't wait 'til the girls start real chores start around here.)

...have spontaneous fun with family and friends than plan the rest of my life out. -- Even though I love a plan.

...experience life through the eyes of a child, than the way most adults do.

...lose some sleep than go several days with out a quiet time.

These are a few of my "I'd rathers" I'm sure there are more. But, right now, I'd rather get dinner on the table, and feel like a good wife than keep thinking of "I'd rathers". I would love to hear some of yours, though. I'm curious what yours are, even if they conflict with mine. Tootles, and Happy Thanksgiving to you!!! More holiday blogs to come! :) -Amber

Costumes, Candy and Chaos

This weekend was filled with fun and craziness. We were "busy bees", and I have the pictures to prove it! We went to a birthday party and a block party on Saturday. We went to church on Sunday, and then to First Fest followed by Trick-or-Treating on Monday.

I didn't buy costumes this year. I actually had some stowed away. I think most of them were given to us by people whose kids had grown out of them, but I'd totally forgotten I had them. I laid out what we had, and let the girls choose.

My Bumble Bee and My Hula Dancer

Bumbelicious!

Luau Ready!

A friend's birthday party on Saturday

 So there's a story that goes with that pinata picture. (Don't worry, the little boy is not injured. He was moved before Julia started swinging.) Julia went first to hit the pinata because she was outside, and ready to whack the cute little Minnie face. (She went without a blind fold the first time.) So, she hit the pinata, and it broke. They taped the pinata up with all the candy back inside because no one else had a chance to go, not even the little birthday girl. Julia was dieing to go again but, I kept telling her she needed to wait until last. They let her go before the two older girls got a chance to go though, and even blindfolded, she whacked the pinata and broke it open again. I felt bad that not everyone got to go before the candy was spilled. :( Maybe I should get her in t-ball?

This was at our neighborhood block party.

A bumble bee with her glow stick.

 Lydia won best costume in her age group at the block party. Julia, of course, was in Lydia's age group, and did not win. This brought Julia to tears, but she got over it pretty quickly. I tried to encourage her to be happy for her sister when she wins, but I think in the end, it was the bajillionith peice of candy that someone at the party offered to her that made her feel better.

My girls on Sunday- goin' to Church!

Petting Zoo at First Fest

 First Fest is our Church's outreach on Halloween. There is so much to do, and it's tons of fun. There is a preschool area, inflatables, food, pony rides, live music, and obviously, a petting zoo.

I'm not sure if it's 'cause she didn't win at the block party or what, but Julia decided to switch to an OU cheerleader for Monday's fun.

Julia got to sing with her little choir at First Fest. Julia kept telling me, "Mom, on Halloween, we have to be at First Fest at 5:00." If she told me once, she told me 1,000 times! The choir was so cute and did such a great job.

Lydia can't wait to be in choir next year, and loves the choir teacher, Miss Star, almost as much as Julia does. Tonight, we were eating dinner at our church cafeteria, and Lydia said, "Mom, that's Miss Star! HAAAAA, she eats too?" Miss Star is definitely celebrity status to my little ones!

I hope that you all had a fun and safe Halloween, whether you stayed in, dressed up, or partied 'til the cows came home. Enjoy whatever candy came your way.

Blessings, Amber