Christmas Day in the Townhouse

We got to stay at home for Christmas this year! We were sad to miss seeing extended family, but it was also nice to relax. Here are some pics from the month:

Cindy Lou Who for Celebration

Lydia and Donner

Wow! She let him hold her! 

Lyddie and the Grinch

Hermie and Juju. She had to wear shorts under her costumes.

Cindy and the Grinch on their last performance

The show from T.V.'s outside the auditorium

Lyddie Lou Who

Candlelight Service

Looking at lights on Christmas Eve in Prestonwood

Santa Came!

Stockings on Christmas Morning

Before presents

Lion Lydia and Excited Julia

Sisters, Sisters. There were never such devoted sisters.

 I think I'm going to have to go watch "A White Christmas" now.

Our Tree on Christmas morning.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.

Stockings!

The Christmas Story

We are so very blessed. We had a great Christmas and it was a pretty great 2013. I hope you had yourselves a Merry little Christmas and a beautiful and wonderful 2014!! God's blessings on you and yours! Sincerely, Amber

Video of Lydia's Solo

Please click here to see the video of Lydia singing the world's sweetest little video.

In a Nutshell

Oh my! Time has been flying by!

Please excuse me as I do some much need "Back-up Blogging"...

We had a great Fall. (I can't believe I didn't even post any pictures from Halloween.)

Trick-or-Treaters...2 ballerinas and Minnie the Mouse

Crabby Minnie

Jacqueline-o-lantern

We had a lot of fun Trick-or-Treating and reverse-trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Dave is the one who came up with the idea to carry a bowl of candy a long with us to pass out to people who gave the girls candy. It seemed like a really weird idea to me, but it ended up being really neat. Adults who were passing out the candy to trick-or-treaters seemed very appreciative and the girls enjoyed not only receiving, but giving candy. It was a good lesson, and I think we'll probably do it next year too.

Crying Baby Shot

Looking forward to the Memorial City Mall Lights

New Coats for a Cold Thanksgiving in Bartlesville

We had a great November. We got the girls new coats, traveled to Bartlesville to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with family, and visited Santa early. Julia began practices for her part in the Christmas Production at church and Julia and Lydia started Daisy Troops. Time has been whizzing by, and I barely know if we are coming or going.

Along with all of the fun we had in November, we also had a really scary thing happen. Saige had her first trip to the E.R. Thankfully I didn't completely break down mentally, but I was on the verge for a minute there. Without drawing out the story for too long, here is what happened:
Saige used to like to climb the ladder on her sister's bunk beds. She did it a ton of times with out falling, but I would usually grab her off the ladder if I saw her climbing her way up. However, I didn't see her climbing the ladder the Friday before Thanksgiving, and neither did anyone else. After we heard the thud and then her cry after falling, I rushed into her sister's room and held her until I felt prepared enough to check her little face for bumps or blood. When I held her up to see her face, her shoulders and neck stiffened, and her eyes rolled back into her head. That's when I became hysterical and started screaming. I handed her to Dave to call 911, and after Dave held her for a second, he let me know that she was awake and breathing fine. In my hysterics, we decided to get everyone into our minivan as quick as possible and get Saige to the E.R. ourselves. The drive there was short, but scary. Saige was very quiet and had a greenish tint in her face. I remember thinking...this is what "green around the gills" looks like. Thankfully, the wonderful staff at Memorial Hermann's E.R. unit got her back to check vitals right away. Once they gave her some tylenol, and got us in a room by ourselves, Saige finally started acting like herself again.-- It was a very sad morning. The poor baby had to get her temperature taken rectally for the first time, and that is never fun! She ended up with no major issues (except for a psycho mom)--just a black eye. Praise the LORD!

This first week of December has been CrAzy! I remember the first year our family moved to Houston. I cried because we had no Christmas party invites. That is not the case this year! We have two this weekend and three next weekend. Julia also had her birthday party today because she had to go and turn 7 last Wednesday!!! I tried to convince her to start getting younger instead of older, but she doesn't listen to me all the time.

Julia was lucky enough to get to celebrate her birthday at this ice skating rink. She had a blast. It was way too packed full of people, and the staff was way to un-friendly for me, but like I said, she had a blast. Saige wasn't exactly enjoying herself during the party either. She was only interested in running off and not being confined to a seat to watch her sisters skate around a rink with a ton of other people. Dave helped the big girls skate, and I think he had a good time doing that. Lydia got bored of skating really quick, but she enjoyed seeing friends. That's about the only thing I liked about the whole thing too. 

Our sweet Lydia has a solo at church tomorrow. I am so very, very proud of her! I plan to take pictures and video her. I also plan to get those posted to my blog!! She is going to do so well! I can't wait to share that with you all. I look forward to posting more regularly again. 

Well, this is us in a nutshell! Thanks for reading. Blessings to you all! Love, Amber.

Remember September

At the end of September, our family of five traveled to a family reunion at my aunts house in Topeka. It was great to see family! Unfortunately, I didn't anticipate the weather well enough, and Saige ended up not having clothes to wear for part of the time. But, her jacket and jeans ended up working until we made it to the Topeka K-Mart.

The girls jumped on the trampoline at my Aunt Jalayn's.

My great Aunt Catherine, Cousin Melanie, Lydia, Grandpa Mitchell, Dave, Saige, Dad, Julia and Cousin Sierra

Unfortunately, I think this is the only picture I have of the five of us. We need family pics!!

Aunt Jalayn and Uncle John's picturesque farm

The bonfire!

Uncle John and my Cousin Melanie's littles, Vince and Eva

Saige at Topeka's Gage Park (No shirt...)

We had a great time in Topeka, and the weather there felt a lot more like fall than the weather in Houston does now, a month later. I always wish I had a little more time in Topeka every time I go. 

Thanks for stopping by....

Ducks, Dogs and Rats

So. I have recently made a schedule for my real estate business. Maybe I will be able to work a little more efficiently instead of working non-stop. And, maybe, I will have time to write on this here blog again. Maybe.

Because I wait so long between posts, all I feel I can do right now is give you a monthly update on my family. So, with out further ado:

Saige LOVES ducks right now. She can spot them anywhere and quacks like a pro. (She also quacks at flamingos, crains, geese, and most other foul like birds. She does know the difference between a duck and a chicken.) A close second to ducks in Saige's heart are dogs. She barks at any dog she sees, and is rarely afraid when they come over to her to be petted. (This works out because we see dogs and ducks nearly everyday.) She has a picture book that just has a ton of pictures of animals. It is the book she currently "reads" the most often. Julia also loved this book when she was Saige's age. Perhaps they'll open their own vet clinic.

Saige is still very good-natured. She is usually smiley and sweet, and happy to go to mother's day out or her Sunday school class. She definitely shows some sass to me and her sisters, but to Dave and the rest of the world, she is usually friendly and happy.

Lydia still loves school! She comes home singing songs and sharing about fun things that happened I school. I hardly ever have to pry it out of her like I have to with Julia. Lydia is learning to read and has three sweet friends that she plays with almost every recess.

Dave has been helping me around the house a lot ever since I became a real estate agent. We still have a very hard time getting things done, but his help is so important to me! Sometimes, though he gets a little mixed up and puts Saige's clothes in the girls drawers. Tonight, I was at the church with Julia. Dave came home to lay Saige and Lydia down for a nap. When they came back to the church to get Julia and I, I noticed and was surprised that Lydia had on some pretty short shorts. It finally dawned on me that Lydia's shorts might be a bit small for her because they were the wrong size. I checked the size, and sure enough...my 5 year-old had on shorts that were size 12-18 months.

Julia is still quite a leader in our family. She doesn't particularly love school, but she is learning like crazy. She recently learned to write her last name, but sometimes gets the a and the r in our last name reversed. Have you ever thought about what happens to the word Stewart when you do that? That's right. We become Stew rats. Nice. :)

Julia also has had a very exciting thing happen! She has been chosen for the sweetest little part in our church's Christmas play. I can not share what part she has because I am sworn to secrecy, but, I am so very proud of her because this is a huge honor! Our church had 18,000 people attend their Christmas production last year. Is that crazy or what?

I'm a little sad that our church will be taking a one year hiatus from the Christmas celebration in 2014 because Lydia can't try out for a part, but rumor is Celebration 2015 is going to be awesome.

Here's to a great holiday season that is just around the corner!

Thanks so much!

Life with Saige!

Dave and I started going on Saturday morning dates. Isn't that wonderful? Last week we went to get the van washed, and then to Starbucks. This week we went jogging at Memorial Park and then sat down at a picnic table and did some paintings. It was really fun painting with Dave. I haven't painted in years, and I've never painted with Dave. I hope we do it again and again.

Dave also tells me he had a great birthday on Friday. He turned 34, and the girls and I celebrated by making him cookies. The big girls made him cards. Saige and I brought balloons and dr. pepper to him at his office. Saige mostly walked in circles around the office and got into everything. (As usual.) Then we took him out to lunch. Dave and I went on a date that night, and, as requested, we ate burgers and then watched a movie. It was a great day.

Because of Saige's new antics, I wanted to write this post mostly to brag on/talk about my Saige. She is so opinionated. It's hard to get her to eat anything except fruit, cereal and sweets. She loves her sisters. She says both of their names, but the difference in her pronunciation of their names are pretty much indistinguishable. Julia is "Dooda" and Lydia is "Diida". She can also say her own name. It sounds like "Sade". She is such a crazy character. She will shower you with kisses one minute, and refuse to give you a snuggle the next.

She still loves to have a blankie with her at all times, and she loves to suck her thumb. She often steals toothbrushes from Dave and I and walks around the house brushing her teeth and then leaving our toothbrushes on the floor. We are going through toothbrushes pretty rapidly these days. 

Saige is loving Mother's Day out. She doesn't cry when I drop her off on Tuesday an Thursday. She usually walks in and looks at or pats the babies there that are crying. She then walks over to the board books in the room. She loves to read. 

First Day of Mother's Day Out

Saige went to Mother's Day Out today. She was so good! She didn't even cry when I dropped her off. She was very excited about the books in the classroom, so I snuck out of her classroom with so much as a quivering lip! Doesn't she look cute for her Mother's Day out debut?

This girl loves her thumb!

Yay! She looked at me!

Look at her little curlies. Love them!

Saige says "Apoo" for yes, please and "ME" when she thinks she needs to have something. She is still a great eater and is very opinionated about what she eats. (And everything else for that matter.) She already has her molars and is getting her little eye teeth. She doesn't like for me to look in her mouth, but sometimes I can get a quick glimpse when I tickle her. She loves to be tickled!

Thanks for reading, Amber

First Day of School 2013-2014

The first day of school has already happened!

My Kindergartner and my first grader

She wrote the K herself.

Showing their excitement!

Julia and Lydia were so excited for their first day, that they woke up at 11:00 p.m. asking if it was morning time. Then when we came and got them in the wee morning hours, they jumped out of bed enthusiastically and hurried downstairs.

We actually had lunches and outfits altogether, so we had some time to spare this morning. Dave told the girls a story while we waited the 10 extra minutes until it was time to leave. I've already made their lunches for tomorrow. -- Let's see if we can keep the routine up!

I am excited about this year because Dave is going to be helping me get the girls ready for school because we live so much to closer to his office.

My girls LOVED their first day! They loved their teachers, and can't wait until school tomorrow. :)

Thanks for reading, Amber