Festivities

These pictures start today and go backward. Ooops. This picture is of the girls in their sweet little Christmas dresses. They looked so cute.

The tree is filling up with presents (and girls)! Yeseterday we went to Candy Cane Lane at Houston's First. There was a lot of fun things to do, including petting animals. Some of these animals were in the Christmas Concert that Dave and I attended last week. During the show, Celebration, they actually paraded in a camel, a donkey, a baby elephant, and at the beginning of the show, Santa came riding in from the sky. I can't wait until Julia and Lydia are old enough to go with us. Below is Julia with a baby goat.

There were pony rides at this Church social as well. They're always a big hit!

Both of the girls enjoyed them.

Below is a pic of the camel. It was beginning to be uninterested in the hay that hundreds of kids were attempting to feed it.

Lydia loves to jump and bounce!! She is so cute jumping and falling, falling and jumping.

Julia loves the huge slides.

This pic is of the girls in their new aprons that Granny Ruth sent. We colored them with fabric markers, but it is hard to see here. We will have lots of fun when baking time comes again.

Here are some pics from our most recent baking escapade. Julia really enjoyed it. Poor Lydia only got up to see a few times, but she did get to sprinkle a few of the cookies.

I let Julia frost one or two cookies. She is always very generous with her frosting.

Here is a beginning pic.

Here is Julia and I stamping cookies. I was too lazy to change out of my Sunday dress clothes, but a little flour will wash out just fine.

I'm sure that, due to our current situation, this Christmas will be one of the most memorable ones for me. I hope that we all four look back on this Christmas as a year that we got to spend a lot of time together and talk a lot about the birth of Christ. Maybe next year we will get to go to some Christmas parties and travel to see relatives, but this year, we are focusing on each other and Christ. I am choosing to be thankful instead of whiny, and learning a lot in the process. Merry Christmas!

My Phone

My phone was broken last week after Lydia threw it in the toilet at the library. Yuck! Dave took it to a phone place to have it fixed and it was going to cost $85. However, they said that it was un-fixable, so we decided we were going to need to use our back-up phone that Xiaolan has been using. Sorry Xiaolan! (I didn't even remember we had this back-up option and tried to weasel an iphone out of the deal. That conversation only lasted 2 seconds. It was as if Dave knew I'd be whining for one.) But...Daniel was over tonight and told me to just try plugging it in to my charger and....it worked! My phone turned on and it is working! Ha! I'll take $85 to fix people's phone's anyday! Those people don't know what they are doing, and I'm glad they don't. I would have had to pay a lot of money for nothin'. So, if you or your loved one ever ruins your phone, try plugging it in...it may just work! Call me!

Christmas Lights

We got to go to a community tonight called Prestonwood and see a ton of Chrstmas lights. Evidently, Prestonwood is known for their lights. The girls loved it and so did we. I decided to let Julia sit on my lap when she couldn't see this cute little nativity scene. Then, I felt bad for Lydia and let her sit on my lap too. We enjoyed it, but the girls were quickly escorted to the back when we saw cops directing traffic. Seriously, everything is a big deal in Houston. There are traffic cops everywhere. Hopefully they are as good at keeping all of us civilians safe as they are at directing traffic! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Decorations

Well, we got out a few Christmas decorations out of our mound of boxes for our house yesterday, and then we ran by walgreens because I noticed they had some trees on sale. I am so happy with the small little tree we got!!! It's 4.5 feet tall and it was half off. We haven't finished decorating it yet because I don't know where our Christmas ornaments are, but here is my $12.50 find!! Praise the Lord!

Julia's Birthday

On Julia's birthday, we hung around home almost all day and had a lot of fun. The girls woke up to a room full of balloons. There was some on the floor and some in the air. We had a great time playing with them. Lydia was whining for cake.

Julia and I baked her birthday cake together. She loves to bake.

On Julia's Birthday, it actually snowed in Houston! You can't see it in this picture, but I was having camera issues when I took it.
Then, after all the fun we'd already had, we went to Chuck E. Cheeses to celebrate. It was crazy having just the four of us there, I am glad we decided to wait for another year to have a party there with a lot of kids running around. That would have been mayhem.

Julia got this little Dora outfit from Granny Ruth for her birthday. We put it on right after she opened it.

This is the stick horse that Dave and I got her.

Here is Julia in her little princess outfit again.



The girls had a lot of fun on all the rides.

Julia enjoyed the pizza, and it is way better than the cardboard stuff they used to sell when I was a kid. Before we ordered our pizza, a nice lady in front of us gave us a coupon for our meal. How nice, huh? It was way cheaper than it could have been, and we were very thankful.

Here's Lydia on the horse before we left.

Julia wants to say thank you for all her birthday gifts. She has been enjoying all of them!

Julia's Family Birthday Party

My Baby is 3!!! While we were in Bartlesville, we had a small family get-together for Julia's 3rd Birthday. There was cake, ice cream, and family...enough to brighten Julia's day. Ruth was attempting to read to the girls.

Lydia celebrating her older sister.
Dave posing as Groucho Marx

Mimi and Aunt Aubrey celebrating.

Julia got to blow out candles twice. Once here and once on her actually birthday.

This is Julia and her cousin Mattisyn. Julia loves and looks up to this sweet little red head.

Julia and her present from Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Andy. This was a combined Christmas/birthday present, and she loves it. Even she knew what it was before it was unwrapped. (Pictures of her riding it on earlier posts.)

Uncle Andy and Julia with her new bike.
We miss all of the family and friends we got to see while in Bartlesville!!

*Here is a picture of the girls turkey shirts with out them in them. Someday I'll know how to stitch the edges of these little home-made shirts.

Hopefully I'll get the chance to make some Christmas trees for Christmas too!! Love to all!

Germs

Dave has bronchitis, and I haven't been feeling particularly whippy, but we're all getting better. Anyway, I was sharing this information with Julia as the Stewart girls drove to the library today. I told the girls that Daddy had germs that his body was fighting off and that he needed to rest. Julia and I discussed a bit further and then she said, "Oh Jesus, please don't let my daddy have germs in his bottom". It was really sweet and pretty hilarious. I have been trying to explain to her that body and bottom are not the same thing....

Thanksgiving

Well, I have a lot of pics to share, but these are definitely not representative of everything we did or everyone we celebrated Thanksgiving with. We had a GREAT time in Bartlesville, and only wished it could have lasted longer. Staying in Houston for Christmas will definitely be bittersweet.
Here are the girls in their turkey shirts I made for them. I stole the idea from a friend at church, Sarah Craig. I have some pics of the shirts without the girls in them, but they aren't accessible right now. Anywho, it was fun to dress them in something so festive. Julia got a bike from her Aunt Aubrey and Uncle Andy over Thanksgiving break. Her birthday is this Friday, so she got some gifts a little early. She loves it!

This was Thanksgiving day at my parents.

We helped my Mom put up her Christmas tree on Thanksgiving day as well. It was a lot of fun and somewhat therapeutic for me because I will not really be able to put up many decorations around our house this year. It was really cute that both of the girls were involved in hanging ornaments and hanging lights. They really enjoyed it.

The girls also got one early Christmas gift. They are both pros at opening gifts now.

This was the finished Christmas tree product:

We also went to Woolaroc the day after Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun and so much better than the Galveston's Festival of Lights. In comparison, there was tons to do and see. Julia loves buffalo, and they were very close to us. (We were in the car still.)

Julia loves this playground.

Lydia loved the animals!! She stared at all of them, and was only willing to move on when she saw there was more see.

Here's the Woolaroc Santa Claus. When I posted pics of Julia with this Santa on facebook last year, my friend Lela said "this was the scariest looking Santa" she had ever seen. Lydia obviosly agrees with her. Julia loves Santa, but Lydia was only gung ho about him until she was actually in his lap. They both enjoyed the candy canes though.

There were also a lot of characters at Woolaroc this year. Here is Julia with the gingerbread cookie people. She loved all the characters and hugged several of them more than once.

And, here is Lydia's reaction. She was in my mom's arms, and seemed happy to go, but not so happy once she was there. Poor kid, all this fun is so torturous.

Here's one last pic of my parents with the girls after the hay ride. We were in the Frank Phillips lodge in this picture.

Well, like I said, we had a lot of fun with family and friends over the last week. I know that I have some pics of some celebrating at Ruth's house, but they are on our external hard drive, so hopefully I will get to post some of them soon. Happy belated Thanksgiving to all and Merry Christmas!

Bartlesville

It officially feels like the holidays now that we have seen family and friends and are having such a nice time with everyone in Bartlesville. We are so excited to get to stay for the week. Turkey, here we come! (I'll post some pics soon.)

Sleep, Slumber...Zzzzzs

Sleep is such an interesting concept to me. Some people are so prone to it, and other's fight with it and for it. I've never been a person who can go to sleep in 2 seconds, and I've always been a light sleeper, but ever since I had Lydia, I have definitely fought with and for sleep. It takes me at least 30 minutes to sleep at night, and if one of the girls wakes me up at night, it usually takes longer. Also, I can hardly sleep through movies or in the car, like some people. It's a rare occassion for me to catch up on sleep like that.

I had some crazy insomnia when I was pregnant with my little Lydia, and ever since then, I don't go to sleep easily. I was attempting to sleep for two hours right before going into labor with her. Those hours of sleep would have been precious to me.

I usually go to sleep listening to Dave snoring beside me. He can go to sleep instantaneously. I'm the kind that can't get myself to go to sleep, while he's the kind who has to keep himself from going to sleep. It doesn't matter how exhausted I am when I go to bed- I can hardly ever fall to sleep quickly. I've tried to convince Dave to rub my feet every night before he goes to sleep (as this usually helps), but he just murmurs something about getting up and 6 a.m. while drifting off into sweet slumber.

The problem is that when I am laying in bed trying to sleep, I think more clearly than ever! Maybe it's the only time I actually think all day! I wish I could invent a machine to hook up to my brain to record my thoughts as I am going to sleep. I can write an awesome to-do-list, design a whole house, and have real revelations about God, all while I am trying to go to sleep. All of this thinking is wonderful; but I am always so tired. I wonder how I could keep these two events seperate during my day. I mean, I would love to be able to adequately think and sleep daily. I'm pretty sure my brain invention is the only way to go. Then, I won't have to fret about whether or not I will remember what I am thinking about. We'll see how that goes. :)

This is Dave sleeping while holding Lydia on the chair over a year ago. He just closes his eyes, and he's asleep. I have a lot of pics like this one. He always hiked his leg up for extra support in holding Lydia, just in case he took a little nap.

You are Stupid.

Chocolate!! Lydia almost always goes to sleep in the stroller when we go for walks. I guess she gets that from Dave.

Today Julia walked into the room that I was in and said, "Mom, you are stupid". And then, as quick as she said it, she walked away. I called her back to talk to her about this lovely new word she just used, and could tell as she came back to me that she was just trying it out to see if it was acceptable. She has no idea what it means, accept for now she knows not to say it. So, now she has been saying, nearly continually, "Mom, I won't say stupid. Stupid. I won't say that anymore. I won't say stupid". She's getting the hang of it, I guess.

We just discovered today that Lydia has her first few molars! No wonder Dave and I have been sleepless zombies lately!! Why do teething children sleep so much better during the day than they do at night? It's a great mystery to me!

Other than these little updates, we don't have a lot more to share. We are excited to go to Bartlesville and see family and friends over Thanksgiving week! Julia has been talking about going to Woolaroc daily. Her Papa promised her, and she can't wait. She daily says, "We're gonna go see the buffalo with Papa. We can go right now, if you want to." Thanks for reading!

Uppercase Living

Hey everyone. The holidays are here in full force, and the pressure of Christmas is already on. I personally love all the hype and everything that goes along with it, but I definitely also realize that I am an odd duck. I just wanted to remind those who know and enlighten those who don't know - I sell Uppercase Living. I too am wondering if you would like to purchase some of your Christmas presents through me. :) My business has been pretty slow since I moved to Houston, so I would like to get back to consulting others on how to make their homes more beautiful. I just got in new catalogs and Christmas flyers if anyone is interested in them. You can order personally or have a party. Of course, the parties are fun because you get a lot of free of stuff. I know you all know the drill. I just think that Uppercase Living offers something a little unique and fun. So, please give me a ring or shoot me an email if you would like to. My number is (918) 440-7977. www.uppercaseliving.com (You can also order online.) -Amber

A Day in the Life

I hope this video loaded correctly!! I love these girls.

Daylight Savings Time

So, I officially detest Daylight Savings time. Before having kids, I hated springing forward, but loved falling back. Now I equally dislike both! Lydia woke up at 5:55 this morning. How am I suppossed to gracefully deal with that? You know, I really don't like the sun before 8 a.m. Why would anyone need it to rise any earlier? (Rhetorical question.)
Anyway, I don't know why I'm complaining. The fact that Lydia woke up super early is beside the fact because I was already awake. I mean, it's always a pleasure to awake to traffic traveling by your house at 5:20 a.m.
Well, while Dave and I contemplate putting sheets over the windows to keep our room and the girls' room quiet and dark in the morning, I keep praying that we will just move soon and forget about having to do all that.
Here's a pic of the house we would like to purchase in Sienna Plantation. Here's the fireplace. It's a 2 -in-1; it goes through to the other room too.

Here's the dining room that I can't wait to get my hands on....

So, please know that this post was not written just to complain or vent, but to continue to ask for prayer requests. :)

I took some pics of how "packed" things are for us at the Chetman place:

I miss all the stuff in those boxes. I mostly miss my muffin tins and my crock pot.

I decided to take these pics about a week ago...I wanted to have something to look back on and to remind me to be thankful- after we move. Well, I hope that daylight savings time is treating the rest of you well, and that our family is the only one that was negatively affected. Hopefully today is the last day it will bug us. Thanks all! Tootles!