Growth

My pastor touched on something not too long ago that got me thinking about my life. In essence, he said that with growth comes complications and sometimes pain, but that the growth is still worth it. I thought about this statement until I came to the undeniable conclusion that this is so true in every aspect of our lives. A quick example: all parents want their children to grow, but watching them do so is bittersweet and sometimes hard. (Of course, the real pain comes when kids hit the teenage years, but I've yet to learn about that.)

Even though all parents know that growth is a natural and essential part of life, it is still painful to watch at times. When my kids first learned to walk, we were so excited, but then they got their first skinned knees and my heart leapt. Or what about this heart clencher: your child makes a friend for the first time, and that friend ends up letting your little one down. How do you teach them to grow through that situation into forgiveness. Especially when you may not feel very much like forgiving that kid yourself?

Our little family has experienced growth in many ways over the last few years. Obviously we've had growth in family numbers, with our newest addition, Saige. --I wouldn't trade any of my kids for anything in the world, but I'll be darned if they don't make my life a heck of a lot more difficult. As we add more little ones to our family we experience less sleep and alone time, but more joy and fulfillment then our lives would ever have had if we didn't have them. (Lydia is currently singing her abc's very loudly and kicking me in the back. Concentrating is increasingly difficult.)

Then there is growth in my new business. I love being a real estate agent. And, I've really been challenged to get out of my comfort zone and form relationships with people while asking for referrals for them to buy or sell real estate with me. It is uncomfortable, but, so good! I've already made so many relationships with people that I normally wouldn't have. It's not because these people aren't great! It's because I sometimes tend to be more of a people watcher than a conversation starter. I get a little shy.

So, those are some of the areas me and my family have grown in lately. It's not to mention growing spiritually, sending my eldest kid to kindergarten, or trying to shrink my post baby size (which is the opposite of growing...). How have you grown lately?
I'd love to have your comments below.

P.S. Growth give me writer's block. Sorry I haven't been on here in a while. It's my goal to get back on top of blogging.

P.S.S. What keeps me going while growing? Please see the picture below:

School, Hair cuts and Birthday Party Pictures

Julia has adapted to going to school 5 days a week pretty well. She seems to obey her teacher pretty well, and she is making friends. My heart still breaks a little every day that she gets on the bus; I don't know if that will ever go away.
About a week and a half ago, I met Julia at school for lunch. She was so excited to see me, which I loved, and we had a great time. I got to meet some of her classmates, and she got to eat the cafeteria pizza. She has been begging to eat the cafeteria pizza. (Yuck.) As I sat there at the lunch table with her, and she fluttered around to say "hi" to all of her friends and teachers, I felt something I haven't felt very often lately. I felt shy. I was shy in my daughter's kindergarten class' cafeteria? Why? Was it just because I was at school? Will I always feel insecure just by being in a school cafeteria? I'm as perplexed as you probably are. I made myself engage in conversation with the Julia's teachers and classmates despite my feelings, but I don't know if I'll ever understand.
Last Thursday I got to go back up to the school again. I helped with the science lab where the kiddos learned about their 4 senses. All of the students got to taste: bitter unsweetened chocolate, a salty pretzel, a sugar cube, and a piece of lemon. I had such a great time with those kids! I wasn't shy at all! The experience reminded me of why I used to want to become a teacher. It was fun to watch the kids learn. Kindergartners are the best.
So, do you want to see something crazy?

Julia's hair before haircut

(Okay...my caption button stopped working...the above is Lydia's hair before she got her hair cut.)
Julia and Lydia both got 5 inches of hair cut off last week. The crazy thing is that you can hardly even tell that it was cut.

 

This is the after picture. Sometimes I just can't keep them from being completely goofy.

 

 

This is my beautiful baby Saige at a birthday party for the big girls.

 

This is Julia and Lydia at their sweet friend's sweet and sassy birthday party! What fun!

 

This is what's happening with the Stewart's! What's happening with you?

Thanks for reading, Amber

 

 



Bartlesville

In the small town of Bartlesville, there are big things happening. Dave and I moved from this  lazy, little town of 40,000 a little over 3 years ago. Moving from there was very difficult because we left family and many sweet friends to come to an overwhelmingly large place where we new only two people: Daniel and Xiaolan Stewart. (And I'm very thankful for them.)

In the 12 or so years I lived in Bartlesville, I: met and started dating Dave, graduated highschool, started college, married Dave, bought my first home with Dave, had two sweet baby girls, sold our first home, experienced the first ever blizzard in Oklahoma, and bought and sold our second home.

Since we moved from there, Bartlesville has experienced record snow falls the last 3 winters (I really love snow), has been the location for a movie starring Ben Affleck and Amy Adams, another one with George Clooney,  and has also opened a cupcake bakery. (This is definitely exciting for Bartlesville.) Many of my friends posted pics of Jennifer Garner in the wal-mart that I used to live less than a mile from. One of my favorite Bartlesville restaurants, Frank and Lola's, recently fed George Clooney on an evening when some of my other Bartlesville friends have been there.

I new when we moved from Bartlesville, that I would miss my obgyn and pediatrician. I knew I would miss our church friends and our new home. And, I did. I new there would be times I hate it that I couldn't drop by my parents house or Dave's mom and step-Dad house to say hi or leave the kiddos. And, I definitely have. I miss that little place. I always will.

But despite all of this, I have peace. Houston is where this Stewart family is suppossed to be for the time being. Hot, loud, crowded Houston is where God has called us for now. And what has happened here? Dave and I bought and sold our third home, we've had the wonderful opportunity to meet all kinds of people with different backgrounds and cultures, we've tasted new foods, I've given birth to another beautiful daughter, Dave's career definitely took off, I started a real estate career, and we have established a church home with new friends. Our family has bonded, and I've even had the opportunity to meet the infamous Beth Moore. (She's way better than any of the aforementioned stars.) God has blessed our obedience to him in moving here; even if I was dragged down here while my spirit kicked and screamed. For now, I am home.
-Amber

Happenings

I've been in a funk lately. Dave has been working like a mad person, and I've been trying to catch up with everything else we have going on. I will finish my real estate training program this coming week, and I am really, really looking forward to helping some clients of my own buy or sell their homes. I have learned so many things about being a good agent and providing good customer service as an agent that I am finally becoming less scared and more excited about the whole thing.

This week, we plan to have some awesome friends over for dinner. I always look forward to having people over, but I think that inviting friends over in advance is almost harder than just having an impromptu visit. I re-plan the "menu" about one hundred times. And, I get a little worked up about getting the house perfectly cleaned. But, in end the end, I'm always so grateful for time with friends.

Speaking of cleaning...on Saturday, we went to a few garage sales near our house. We bought a mini-trampoline for $5. We've been wanting one of those for the kids for awhile because it's a great way for them to burn some of that pent up energy of theirs. However, we found out when we got it home and the girls started jumping on it, that it must have lived outside for awhile. Leaves and dirt that were once stuck in the trampoline's springs littered our rented carpet. Dave got out the vaccuum to get the dirt sucked up, and Julia immediately asked, "Are we having friends over?" It's a good thing we have friends over semi-often. Otherwise, we'd probably never vaccuum.

After the garage sales on Saturday, our family tried out a new gym. They have a lot of stuff for the kiddos to do, and an awesome work out facility. I'd like to start going to a gym to get some different exercises in besides jogging, but I definitely don't enjoy going to the gym for the treadmills. I hate jogging on treadmills. The numbers on the huge machine stare at you, gauging your rate of success (or failure). It's depressing. Plus, I much prefer looking at homes, landscaping and birds while exercising than jogging in place watching dumb music videos portraying imfamous teenagers laying on top of each other while singing for 30-45 minutes. But, that's just me.

In October, Dave and I plan to run our first 5K together. We really don't know how the logistics of this will work out since we have 3 kids, and we probably won't be able to push them all in strollers during the jog. We'll see how it works out.

This is the second Sunday in a row that Dave has had to open his laptop right after we get home from lunch and work all afternoon and evening. This is a big reason why I've been a bit funky. Family time is so important to me! So, in an attempt to keep from being very irritable, I took the three girls for a very short walk this evening. The girls skipped, hopped, jumped and ran. Lydia even pretended to fish. When she "caught" one, I asked her if she planned to eat it. Her response went like this: "No, it doesn't have any chicken in it. It's a pretty fish with long eye lashes and butterflies on it's sides, so I'm going to put in the fish tank and watch it swim." Okay.

Sweet Saige is doing really great. She can roll from front to back, and will get to start having rice cereal next week. I can't believe she is already old enough to start solids! She is still the happiest baby I know. I love her.

Thanks for reading an update on our lives. Next time I get on here, I plan to be as happy as a clam and funk-free. I also hope to have a real estate client! Here's to hopin'! -Amber

More Confessions

We had a great weekend. We did hardly anything, and I loved that. We have been going 90 to nothing lately, and I am wearing down and starting to feel a little sick. So, a weekend of hanging around the house is just what the doctor ordered.

Because I had a little extra time this weekend, I made pumpkin muffins for breakfasts for this coming week. I love having something already made and ready to go, and I love fall and pumpkin, so I started early. At least I haven't started wearing scarves, sweaters  and boots in this 90 degree heat. But I won't lie...I am tempted.

Speaking of temptations, here are some of my latest confessions:

1. I have to sample batter of any kind. Cake batter, muffin batter, brownie batter and cookie dough. I still sample it...raw eggs and all.
2. If my girls are around or are helping me bake, I let them sample batter too....raw eggs and all.
3. I embarrass myself when I am too blunt. Like when I say "I have to pee" instead of saying "I need to run to the restroom".
4. I like to be the center of attention from time to time.
5. I like to sing. I even like to sing for an audience and wish I had the opportunity more often even though I get nervous.
6. I like to teach. I even like to get up in front of other people and teach stuff. Not because I think I am smarter than others, but I guess it just goes back to the center of attention thing. I got comfortable teaching in front of people a few years ago when I was leading the wednesday night children's program at my church.
7. I am a traditionalist. No really. I am.
8. I don't like typos. They bug me. I hate it when I am looking at old blogs and I find them....
9. I am very scent sensitive. It's hard for me to go to the zoo.
10. I consider myself a good cook. It's what my friends and family tell me. I hope they aren't simply saying it to be nice.
11. I wish I had enough energy to do all the projects I cook up in my little brain.
12. I feel like a better person when I am learning or have been reading a good book. Not better than others, just a better me.
13. I really am as emotional as I sound like I am on this blog. (Probably even more than I sound like on my blog.) Just imagine the crazy emotional wreckage I put people through as a teen.
14. I used to be extremely shy and hardly talked to people in highschool. I think I shocked a lot of people at my 10 year reunion when I came out of my shell. I really do and did like people. I just didn't know if they would like me.
15. I am often surprised at how out-going my Julia and Lydia are.
16. I have mommy guilt if I work, and mommy guilt if I don't. The reasons for the guilt are not the same...
17. I already ate 2 pumpkin muffins. (This is actually very hard for me to admit.)
18. I get on facebook too much.
19. I love reading honest toddler tweets. You can check it out at @HonestToddler or thehonestoddler.com
20. I wish I had come up with the idea for The Honest Toddler.
21. I didn't do hardly any laundry this weekend even though we had hardly any plans.
22. I often think about where we will move when the lease is up on this here town house. I long for a yard again.
23. I envy women who have a baby and then are "instantly" the same size as they were before they had their babies.
24. I am a night owl and stay up way later than I should almost every night. I am like a kid, and I don't like to go to bed.
...and last but not least...
25. I am pretty sure I am not nearly as techie as I would like to think I am.

Well, I guess that about sums it up for now. Did I repeat any from the last time? I don't remember. All I know right now is that I am tired and my relaxing weekend is coming to an end. :( Another whirlwind of a week is coming our way, and I am under prepared. I guess I'll get to going. I need to gather my thoughts and collect our weekly gear (i.e. backpacks, lunch bags, snack bags, water bottles, diaper bags, laptop/work bags...) so that hopefully, the shock of preparing for another day doesn't smack me in the face first thing in the morning. Blessings and happy monday to all of you! I hope nothing smacks you in the face! Love, Amber

Seeing the World at Sea World - Day 2

So, I did not plan on taking over a week to write this post, but, oh well.  Late is better than never, I suppose!

 

The second day at Sea World was also my 30th birthday. We watched more shows, fed the dolphins, rode rides and then left a little early to go eat at a restaurant. Here are some of the pictures from our fun day.

 

Julia feeding and petting a dolphin

Lydia petting and feeding the dolphin

Sesame Street 3d Movie

 This movie was interesting. Right after it started, the characters on the movie said that it might be a little scary for really little kiddos. I hoped that wouldn't apply to my kids, but unfortunately it did. About half way through, Julia took off her glasses and wanted to sit with me after the seats started rumbling. Lydia freaked out and started crying when she got squirted in the face and the "wind" started blowing. We made it through the whole short film, but the girls were both unhappy afterwards. Lydia kept telling Dave that he was wrong, that she did NOT love the movie, and that she never wanted to see it again.

But, the next show we went to was great! I loved it. It was a play involving seals, an otter, a walrus and two trainers. There were a lot of funny parts and the animals were very well trained. We didn't get sprayed at this show; to Julia's dismay and Lydia's delight. But, some people did.

Trainer/Acturess voluntarily getting "spit" on by a huge tusked animal. She deserves every penny she makes.

Mr. walrus waving goodbye

This is the Sesame street show that my girls loved.

Sweet Saige being a great trooper!

 

I was missing Houston food when it came time to find a restaurant on the evening of my birthday. We went to a mexican restaurant, and the service was pretty bad. The food was okay, the manager apologized, and the wait staff did sing "Happy Birthday" to me. Regardless of that, I had a great time because Team Stewart was all together. And, I am extremely thankful to have these wonderful family memories.

Next week, Dave turns 33. We will not be going out of town, or spending time at any amusement parks, but we will be going to a restaurant and celebrating Dave as much as we can. I'm looking forward to it!

 

Blessings to all of you, Amber

Seeing the World at Sea World - Day 1

Last week, our family went on a vacation. It didn't start out as planned, but we had a great time as a family anyway. We planned to go to San Antonio on Wednesday, and stay until Saturday. But, Dave's grandfather passed away, so we went to Arkansas first. It was a sobering trip, but I was glad to pay respect to Dave's family by being there. The trip to Arkansas before driving to San Antonio definitely made for a lot of time in the car, but our girls were real troopers, all in all.

Saige "found her thumb" the day before our trip started. So cute!

 

 In Arkansas, we stopped to eat a little hamburger joint in a town called Hope. It was a great little place to eat and the downtown ambiance was really neat.

Dave and the girls were grooving to the music.

I wish we could have toured the home.

I thought it was really neat to have stumbled upon the home of a former president.

 

What trip would be complete without Lydia hurting herself?

 This goose egg turned into a black eye that is still not completely gone. She got this little bump after Julia and her were playing in a rotating chair. Lydia was evidently spun too long, and came out of the chair dizzy. She ran into a piece of furniture....

Sweet Thumb Sucking Baby

 Day 1 at Sea World:

The front of the park

We were so excited to spend time as a family in San Antonio. The first thing we did was visit the dolphin pool. Julia wanted to touch them so bad!

 

Shamu Show

 

Saige watched too.

We went to 2 shows on Day 1. The Shamu Show was good, and we definitely got splashed. The water was freezing cold! It helped us cool off though. We protected Saige with a blanket when the whale tale popped up to splash us. She still got wet, but we didn't want her face to get directly splashed.

Lydia loved seeing baby Shamu, and Julia wanted to be as close to the whales as possible. She decided that she wants to be a trainer, and work with the whales when she grows up. But, she's also been stuck on being a "hair styler" for a while. Before that, Julia wanted to a rock star. Whatever Julia ends up doing with her life, I know that her life will be interesting!

Second show of the day: Azul Show

It was a great show! I actually liked it even more than the Shamu show. There were synchronized swimmers, women riding beluga whales, extremely high high-divers, flips by people and other animals, trained parrot flights, and amazing dolphin tricks. I think the girls were too tired to truly enjoy the show. They kept begging for miniture bags of popcorn and bottled water that cost $3 each.

See the Beluga?

The whole time we watched these shows, I couldn't help but think about a show that Dave and I recently watched about captured animals attacking their trainers. Thankfully, we didn't witness this happening at any of the shows, but seriously, can you imagine? These people work with humongous, strong, wild animals. Those trainers are really brave.

Sea World has a fun place called "Bay of Play" where Sesame street characters hang out and take pictures and have shows. Lydia was so excited to see Elmo. We saw big bird right before heading out on the first day. What fun!

Word to the Bird

Please stay tuned for pictures and fun from Day 2! Blessings to you, Amber

Kindergarten

Well, I believe Julia's first day of kindergarten was an overall success. She said she had a good day and that she liked it, but she was pretty stressed to report that she was going to have to be in kindergarten for 100 days! I didn't have the heart to tell her it's actually longer than that. Besides, I don't really want to think about how many mornings I'm going to have do this either.
So proud of my little lady. (She might even ride the bus tomorrow.)
Love, Amber

30

Well, tomorrow is the day. It is the day that I kiss my 20's goodbye forever, and start my (gulp) 30's. Woah. I'll be 30. It's a little bittersweet, as I'm sure all of you know. But instead of focusing on the bitter, I'll try and focus on the sweet.
So, here goes nothing:

Maybe in my 30's, I'll...

...stop looking like a teenager, and start getting mistaken for a twenty-something,
...be more confident in who I am in Christ, and less ashamed of so many things about me,
...run a 10K, and then, hopefully, a half marathon. (Goal: I want to run a half marathon in Disney World someday.)
...Be an excellent realtor,
...make enough money to afford to take my family on several fabulous vacations,
...get out of school debt,
...dream bigger dreams and think bigger thoughts,
...be a more patient momma and wife,
...get on the Agent Leadership Council for Keller Williams Realty,
...go out on a few limbs to make a friend, or be a friend,
...spend more time with the Lord,
...have another daughter or a son,
...get my hair and nails done on a regular basis,
...surprise others with thoughtful gifts,
...learn to be more content,
...memorize more scripture,
...get up the courage to try sushimi,
...be more generous,
...read more books,
...remember to listen to my daughters as I watch them grow,
...go on a vacation with my husband, and without little's,
...fall more in love with my husband,
...be a better daughter, grand daughter, sister, and in-law,
...look more like a "Proverbs 31" woman than ever,
...re-visit Disney Orlando,
...take unimportant things less seriously,
...buy a lovely house that my family and I can live in for more than 2 years...

Wouldn't it be nice if I could do those things?

Some things I know will happen in my 30's:

-Julia and Lydia will become teenagers.
-I will change and grow a ton- just like I did in my 20's.
-God will surprise me and love me, just like He always has.
-Dave and I will continue to be learners.
-Julia and Lydia will finish elementary school and move on to Junior high. Saige will be finished with elementary as well.
-I'll keep writing my blog.
-My husband will turn 40.
-My parents will begin their 60's.
-I'll keep the goal that my girls know their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins even though we live far away from most of them.
-I'll enjoy as many moments in the next 10 years as I possibly can.

So, here's to 30 years lived, and many, many more to come. Happy Birthday to me.
Love, Amber

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Lydia on our bed in our last home

I downloaded my pictures from my iPhone yesterday, and I realized I had a bunch of pictures that I wanted to share. I felt like taking you all on a trip down our 2012 memory lane.

The girlies before school at Cornerstone Christian Academy. I miss CCA.

Dave and Julia fixing the pipes at the Sienna house. This was after we switched out the faucet- before we updated the flooring.

Dave trimmed the trees at the Sienna house a little.

Dancing at Sonic

 We had a fender bender several months ago on my to take the girls to school. When I took the van in to get an estimate, we decided to walk to sonic instead of waiting around at the car shop. The girls were chilly, so they danced until our lunch came.

Bowling at a Birthday Party

Ready to Go

 The older girls are natural little mothers. They play with all of their billions of dolls, mothering and undressing all of them.

Julia's church performance

 This performance took place days before I delivered Saige. I was worried I'd go into labor during the performance. For some reason, when Julia caught sight of us (Dave and I were there with Lydia, Dave's Mom and my Mom), she started making faces at us.

Next to last day of Pre-K

Goofy Lydia

Monkeyin' around

 Julia was climbing on the chick-fil-a playground inappropriately. Before I asked her to stop, I clicked some pics.

May 10th- the Day we went home from the hospital

Summertime fun

When my sister came down, we all headed down to our neighborhood pool on the Sunday afternoon that she was here. Saige and I weren't ready for swimming, so she napped and I watched.

Saige started fussing at Aubrey

 I may have put some of these on my blog before, but I love all these life happenings so much, that I wanted to put them on again. :)
Blessings, Amber

Up in Flames

Well, the good news is I didn't set the house on fire. The bad news is that I almost did....let me explain.

So, our kitchen in this townhouse is small, tiny and undersized. I'm almost positive most master bedroom closets are bigger. And, I'm not even exaggerating. Because it's so small, I often use the electric stove as additional counter space. This is quite hazardous because I also can not seem to pay attention to which burner I'm turning on. I turn on the wrong burner about 50% of the time....

Anyway, I started dinner this evening, and then Dave took over for the last part of it because I was feeding the baby. He did a great job. When I was finished nursing, I came out and Dave was getting all the plates prepped, including one for our little neighbor-girl who was over playing. I started to help him, but decided to turn on my tea kettle to have some hot tea with dinner. When I went back into the kitchen, I realized that I'd turned on the wrong burner, that my one and only oven mitt was partially on fire and that I was about to burn the house down. I grabbed a spatula and scooped the mitt off of the burner and that's when the smoke started billowing. Dave came in, thinking of the girls and closed the door to the kitchen so that they wouldn't breathe the smoke. But, our tiny kitchen filled up with nasty, chemical, worse than usual smoke super quick, and I said, "Why'd you shut that door, the smoke is going to kill us!" I had to get out of that kitchen because my lungs were really hurting in just that short amount of time. We turned on the kitchen vent, opened both garage doors, reclosed the kitchen door and I opened the front door. I felt awful when our neighbor-girl, Gwen, started coughing because of the smoke and fumes. But, the smoke started to dissipate, and Dave and I sat down to dinner like nothing happened. Of course, the girls couldn't be so polite...

Lydia kept saying, "Are we going to die because of the smoke? Will it kill us?" Then Gwen looked at me, looked at Dave and got up to "whisper" into Julia's ear, "Does your mom always switch on the wrong burner and almost start a fire like that?" Julia looked at her and said "No!" with some sass to back it up. Dave and I couldn't help but laugh. We all coughed a few times and then changed the subject to school and what not.

My slightly singed oven mitt



And, speaking of school, kindergarten registration for Julia is tomorrow. I'm stll in disbelief. Julia is very excited, but I'm overwhelmed. Lord, help us. On Tuesday, we will bring food to new parents, and on Thursday we will have friends over for dinner. This Saturday, we will make a daytrip to Galveston because we haven't been to the beach yet this summer. Plus, our regular crazy lives. It should be exciting times. 

On a side note, I'd like to let my readers know that I've stopped watching Felicity. The show started out with a fun story line about an innocent, nerdy girl who was starting college and beginning new relationships. Somewhere in the last few episodes I watched, the story line dissapeared, and the plot became extinct. The show was reduced to scenes that take place in the bedroom. I don't appreciate that. So, while feeding the baby, I'm back to checking my social media apps repeatedly and twiddling my thumbs. I really need to just grab myself a good book.

Anyway, I am so thankful that I didn't actually burn my house down, or injure anyone with my mishap this evening. (Just think what would happen if I did start a fire--there are so many townhouses connected. That would be terrible.) I'm also thankful for a husband who takes my mistakes in stride and just helps me instead of yelling at me for the stupid stuff I do. Thanks, Babe!  Also, thanks to you for reading about our craziness, once again. I appreciate it. -Amber

Confessions of a Drama Mama

I just watched a man with no feet qualify to run in the semi-finals at the 2012 olympics.That is so amazing! We've been watching a lot of t.v. ever since the olympics started. I try not to feel guilty that we end up in front of the tube every night, but I'm a mom, and I'm pretty sure that feeling guilty is part of the job description.

We went for a walk to a park near our house this morning, and Dave and I took turns jogging a little while the girls played. It was so hot outside though! The heat has made it really hard for me to want to go for jogs lately. But, I know I need to if I'm ever going to get into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I also need to keep the calories down. Usually, I'm a vegetables and chicken kind of a girl, but for some reason I've been craving things more like a cheeseburger with fries and a large coke. Um, wait...maybe a milkshake instead of a coke. Well since I'm day dreaming, I guess I'll have both. :) So, tomorrow, I've got grilled turkey burgers on whole wheat buns on the menu. Maybe that'll do the trick?

Anyway, I've always loved going on family walks because of the exercise and the opportunity Dave and I have to talk. But these days the big girls are old enough that they need to walk, and that makes things more complicated. The girls were complaining about the heat, and the walking, and I was really working hard to keep their "hearts happy" and their attitudes sweet. But, now, I'm the one who feels like complaining, and need to work on having a sweet attitude. I have a headache, and I'm ready for the peace and quiet that comes with evening. (Sorry to say, I really enjoy the time when my kids are in bed.) --That peace and quiet is one major reason why I go to bed too late on a regular basis. Unfortunately, though, it's not the only thing that keeps me up.

The other reason I don't sleep enough, besides watching the Olympics, is that I've also become addicted to a show on netflix. I started watching the show on my phone because I was bored while nursing, but now I'm all involved and I can't stop wondering what will happen next. --I usually only get this wrapped up in the lives of characters when I am reading a good fiction book, but this time it's a show that I want to stay up watching until 1:00 a.m. Usually, when I read, I NEED to know what will happen next. I always struggle with this dichotomy of wanting to be done with the book so that I can stop obsessing about fictional lives, and get back on track with my own, but I'm also always sad when the story ends. This time, like I said, it's worse because I'm obsessed with a show that lasts 4 whole seasons. Did any of you ever watch the show Felicity back in the 90's? That would be the show.

Also, I've been thinking lately, fanny packs should totally come back. I know they  look lame and everything, but I can't stop thinking how incredibly handy they would be. And by handy, I mean hands-free! How many times have I reached down to grab something with my huge purse over my shoulder just to have it fall to the floor and nearly knock me off balance? Sometimes it even knocks into one of my kids and narrowly sends the little one tumbling. I mean, I just need something that I can throw my wallet, keys and phone into that doesn't become one more thing to carry. (Aren't diaper bags, children, car seats, purses, and everything else enough to hold?) There's gotta be a way to bling out and rename the good ole' "fanny pack" and make them trendy again. I just don't know how.

Well, there you go, there's a few of my confessions. I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of any right now. Probably because I am tired, headachy and don't get enough sleep. -- Besides I wouldn't want to spill all of my juicy confessions right now. I'd love for you to come back and read the rest at another time. :)
Thanks for tuning in, Amber

Baby Babbles

Build-a-Birthday

Last weekend, we had a small (somewhat affordable) party for Lydia's 4th Birthday. --We can't have parties at our townhome because of the lack of parking. So, Build-a-bear Workshop ended up being the perfect pick. I didn't have to worry about party favors or cleaning house, and the party actually kept the girls involved and busy for a little over an hour. Since the Build-a-bear Workshops in Houston don't have designated party rooms, we couldn't have birthday dessert at Build-a-Bear, but we did celebrate with ice cream cake in the food court after the party. The girls love their personally stuffed animals, and I loved the heart ceremony and other fun party stuff the store had for the girls. (In other words, if you're looking for an easy, fun party, I definitely recommend this place.)

Silly Face!



After the heart ceremony, stuffing, naming, "bathing", and putting clothes on the stuffed toys, the lady hosting Lydia's party took pictures of the girls and printed out three of them for us to have. That was so nice because I'm so bad about actually printing out pictures. So now, Lydia already has a framed picture of her birthday party on the shelf in her room. --Something that probably never would have happened otherwise. 

Ice cream cake in the food court. YUM!

Lydia's 4th time to blow out candles for her 4th birthday.

So, who says that second child doesn't get birthday celebrations? For this particular birthday, Lydia got celebrated a number of times. I hope that she'll always remember this birthday and the fun memories we made as a family. Love you, Lyd! -Mom

Vacation Overload

The week before last, we took one long drive from Houston to Bartlesville to Branson, back to Bartlesville. We had a great time with family (and hope to see more friends the next time). We arrived in Bartlesville late Friday night, and spent time with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, Autumn, and his girlfriend's son, Jaden on Saturday. It was a whirlwind of a day, and we enjoyed it immensely. We ate lunch, hung out, the kiddos took naps, we made a run to QT (please come to Houston), we went for a swim at a friends, ate a grilled dinner, and then went to kiddie park until 10pm. Little did we know that this was a about the time the girls would be making it to bed every night we were on vacation!

Julia, Lydia and Jaden riding the kiddie park boat.



More Kiddie Park fun

Sunday was also a day filled with a lot of fun. We went to First Wesleyan Church, then to lunch with Dave's family.  After lunch we went and put the girls down for a nap at Dave's mom's house. This was followed by a little family get-together/Lydia Birthday party/Daniel (Dave's brother) Birthday Party.  I enjoyed watching Lydia open presents and eat cake, and we also got to introduce Saige to some family members she wasn't able to meet before. Good times were had by all.

On Monday, we ate lunch with my brother, his girlfriend and  her son, and then we headed to Branson. We got to the condo my aunt and uncle rented at about 6:00. We had some dinner with them, went swimming, and then we all went to bed too late.

Watching the dancers at SDC

On Tuesday, we headed to Silver Dollar City where "You've got a great past ahead of you!" We went with my cousins and my aunt and uncle and had a great time! Unfortunately, though, my cousin who is expecting a little one soon had to go back to our condo because she was sick. We later found out that she had overheated, and will need to stay out of the sun until after the baby is born. Thankfully she and the baby are alright.

Train ride with a tired little bumble bee and her daddy

Trevor, Uncle Mike and Julia

Our smiling bumble bee back at the condo. She was happy to be in the a/c!

On Wednesday, the Fourth, we all decided to hang around he condo in the morning. In the afternoon, my aunt and uncle treated our family to The Butterfly Palace. We all loved it! Julia, the controlling little being that she is, decided that a butterfly HAD to land on her. (You are not allowed to touch the butterflies in their sanctuary, but they can choose to land on you.) 

Our little butterfly hunters

Uncle Mike and Aunt Sandy



"Please jump onto my finger!"

Julia found out that if you sit really still, the butterflies have a higher likelihood of landing on you. So, she tried it. But, still, no dice. The butterflies flew very close to her head though, and I got to see something I've never seen before: Julia sitting very still for a whole 2.5 minutes. Luckily we didn't have any breakdowns when what she wanted didn't happen.

Hoping, wishing, waiting...



Monarchs are beautiful

After going to the Butterfly Palace, we headed Branson Landing for a yummy, early dinner and some shopping. Lydia fell asleep in the stroller and slept in it for almost 2 hours that day. The poor thing was exhausted from late nights and no naps. I felt her pain!

Saige and Dave hanging out at the Landing

After we went to the Landing, some of us walked down to the dock and hung around for a little while. Trevor fished a little, the girls played and asked people questions, and I watched Lydia like a hawk. I could just see her toppling into the water! 

Tablerock Lake

Dave helped the girls fish a little with Trevor's pole

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth!

Trevor and Saige

On Thursday, my family packed up to go back to Illinois, and Dave and I packed up to go back to Silver Dollar City. I was ready to just sleep all day, but we had paid for two-day-passes, and we aren't good at letting things go to waste. So, we went back and had a great time!

Later that afternoon, Christie (Dave's step-mom) and Tucker (our step-nephew) got to come with us and enjoy the rides. Also, Saige stayed with Dave's step-sister, Aimie for the afternoon. It was so super sweet of Aimie to offer to watch our littlest one so that we could run around faster and enjoy more of the park. I was really glad that she stayed at Dave's parents house out of the heat, and with such a reliable sitter to watch her. (But I did miss her.)

Butterfly ride at SDC

Lydia was very spoiled/blessed with another little birthday celebration on Friday.

Lydia blowing out candles on the cute little princess cake that Aimie made.

On Saturday, we headed home. We decided to stay at a hotel in Texarkana, and I am so glad that we did. It took us almost all day to get ther, even though it wasn't suppossed to take us more than 5.5 hours. Maybe we can rent an RV the next time we go. Built in bathrooms are a definite must.

Our beautiful view!

If you couldn't tell, that picture caption is totally saracstic! We didn't open the curtains the night we got there because it was so late. But, as we were getting ready to leave, I decided to let some sunlight in. I cracked up when this is what I saw. Good thing we weren't staying there for a week. That would have been depressing.

All in all, our vacation was wonderful and exhausting. Hopefully our next getaway will be much more relaxing! But, I think I would have been just as tired if I had stayed at home all week with my rambunctious preschoolers and new baby. At least we were having fun while I stayed exhausted!

Thanks for checkin in, Amber