Best Friends

Before the weather turned bitter cold, we went on a picnic to the school by our house. Lilly told me that Luke was her "Best Friend" the same day this picture was taken. I love how she always likes to sit by him, and she likes to lay down by him and drink a sippy cup when he is laying down drinking a bottle. Rilee and Cameron are usually doing their own "big kid" things and Lilly gets left out a lot. I'm glad Lilly can pal around with Luke (or "Wuke, Wuker, Wukie" as she likes to call him).

I tried to give Luke some pieces of sandwich and he threw it right on the ground! He wanted the whole thing, and he did a good job devouring it too. I think this kid already eats more than Lilly.

Chad and Luke

My first attempt at salsa - Chad's first attempt at a deck

This is our first year ever having a garden. We grew many different things, but ended up with loads and loads of tomatoes. What better way to use up tomatoes than to make a nice garden salsa?! We grew all the peppers and things to go in it as well, but our onions didn't produce anything so we had to buy those at the store.
After much chopping and dicing, it finally started to look like the real thing!
And here are the fruits (vegetables) of our labors - haha. In my research about making salsa, I ended up finding too much scary information on canning your own salsa and that it can be very dangerous - even deadly if it doesn't have the right level of acidity or canned in a pressure canner. I didn't want to get or give anyone else botulism so we just ate it all. That's right - all 10 jars!! It helped that we had the Stewart family reunion at the time and were able to take chips and salsa to many-o-gatherings! I would call it a success and definitely do it again now that I have my pressure canner that I will be able to safely can and store it.

Chad's big undertaking this summer has been our back deck. After many many LONG hours of labor - he has delivered! Haha. We appreciate all the hard work he has done and I was so glad to get my husband back and no longer be a single mother!

Bear Lake

Stewart family trip to Bear Lake. It's amazing how many of us were able to go up to Bear Lake on such short notice. The kids had sooo much fun running around the house together with cousins, playing on the beach, going boating (thanks Uncle Gavin and Aunt Heather), and riding on the jet skis and four-wheelers. It was so much fun to have everyone together and to have to room to all stay together and play together.

It was a group effort of cousins to get this huge pit dug - the kids really enjoyed their fortress!

Luke really enjoyed getting dirty and sticking sand in his mouth - gross!

Here's Lilly on the little jeep we used to cart everyone to and from the beach.

Summer of Swimming

This summer the kids were lucky enough to partake of swimming lessons many times up at Grandma's. They love having Uncle Blake for their teacher and love that it gets us out to the pool every day.
This was Lilly's first year taking lessons. . . . . don't let the smile fool ya. She cried and screamed a lot during lessons and was completely uncooperative. At the end of class the kids always go up off the diving board while their teacher catches them in the water. One class I was surprised to see her march right up there and be the first one in line to jump off. I was very impressed with her bravery until she realized what it was she was doing up there, turned around and started pushing the five kids behind her over like dominos to get off that thing! At least she still had fun playing in the water after class.

Somehow I didn't get a picture of Rilee during her class, but here she is in her swimsuit at least. Rilee was just like Lilly in swimming when she was her age, and has turned out to be an EXCELLENT swimmer.

This was Cameron's first time in the deep end class. As you can see, he liked to swim pretty close to the rope. This was earlier in the summer though. He now swims all over the pool.

While Luke was not in any of the classes, he often enjoyed a little dip after lessons were over.

This was Cameron's second season of playing soccer, which it turns out is kind of an advantage with this age group. Many kids have never played before, don't really know what to do, or aren't aggressive enough to do much. Cameron got many goals for his team, and the main coaching advice given to him this season was to try to pass the ball to someone else and let them make a goal once in a while. This season was especially fun for him because: a. it was outside, b. he was on a team with a few of his friends, and c. Chad was an assistant coach. I think his favorite part though is the last game when they all get trophies. His trophies have gone many places with us, they even made it on a trip to Bear Lake!

Lilly Pilly Punkin' Silly

This is our sweet Lilly after she has gotten into mommy's makeup. If there is anything that can be gotten into and made a mess of - this girl can find it! She LOVES makeup, lotions, soap, shampoo - all that stuff is like gold to her. She will find it and find somewhere to spread it - usually on herself, and then somewhere in the house. Scissors are to cut anything she can find, pencils and crayons are to write on anything she can find, and gum is (of course) to put in her hair. What else?! She has been my WORST toddler at getting into things. I think it's a combination of being in a bigger house that has been harder to babyproof, less supervision because of the bigger house and more kids to supervise, older kids leaving things out for her to get into, and the simple fact that she is just a stinker! Hence the name "Lilly Pilly". If Lilly visits your house and you haven't seen or heard from her in a few minutes - you better go find her!

"This and That" (so you know we're still alive!)

April? Is that really the last time I posted ANYTHING?! Well, let's just say I'm kind of a blogging loser! The time just goes by too fast! I'm just quickly looking through my photos over the past few months to see what may be worth mentioning or seeing - to me anyway. These will be in reverse chronological order as to remain consistent with how the blog normally posts. That way we can pretend I've been blogging all along. :)
This is in the month of May. The kids helped plant flowers in our yard and this is where they were planting the giant Sunflowers. If you've been to our house in the last few months, you've seen that these Sunflowers that started from seeds are bigger than our trees!

This is also in May. This marks the beginning of my coupon shopping. In the past, I've just taken the kids with me to the grocery store. Shopping with coupons is quite another story. It just takes a lot more time and effort. As you can see all 3 kids knocked out after we finished - they were not up for the challenge. I now leave them home if at all possible if I'm doing couponing. :)

Luke

No, I'm not trying to start a new trend! This is just an example of something a rushed mother might do. I grabbed a pair of pants - the ones I thought Luke had been wearing that day as we rushed out the door to go somewhere. I didn't put them on until we got to our destination, and after a few minutes noticed that indeed these were not Luke's pants, but Cameron's shorts. Too late! He would just have to wear them. When we got home I decided to take a picture and document my stupidity. Glad I can laugh at myself!

Chad and Lilly

This was up at Bear Lake over Memorial Day weekend. The kids had fun at the beach, and I DID take a lot of beach pictures of the kids playing, but I thought this was a good opportunity to include Chad on our blog once in a while! :)

So the next thing I found was Easter. Yep - Easter was a long time ago, but here is the best photo I could get of all my kids (and Yoda). It's not very fun trying to get all the kids in a picture at once and from my photo files I can see that I only tried 7 times and this was number 7. I guess by that point we were all just DONE with trying so this is what we got. They are all looking, and smiling (sort of - Lilly) and I suppose that is about all I can ask for. Nice diaper shot Lilly!

This has caught us up to summer - and boy we have had a whole summer FULL of family, fun and sun so that will have to come later.

Easily Entertained

What more can I say? I guess zipping is funny!

20 Pounds of Chunky Goodness!!

Luke had his 6 month check-up and he was just 2 oz. shy of 20LBS.! He is going strong in the 95% for his height and 90% for weight - or the other way around I can't remember. This picture is very indicative of his personality. He is a happy, mellow baby, who smiles easily and pretty much loves life. We love our little Luker!

For comparison's sake, you can see how he now measures up to Lilly as she lovingly strangles him around the neck!

Beautiful Day at the zoo

This was the last week of February when there was still snow on the ground, but there was this gorgeous day out of nowhere and we were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of a free day at the zoo. Rilee was at school, but Cameron, Lilly and Luke got to go and my mom came along too. The kids had a lot of fun, but Lilly had a little trouble with the kids on the playground. There were a lot of kids old and young that didn't have very good manners on the snake slide. She got pushed down and shoved out of the way several times, but insisted on going on it several times anyway. Gotta love that girl's determination!
Luke and Grandma

He's GINORMOUS!

Isn't your 3 month old baby supposed to be smaller than your 2 year old? I can't believe how BIG this boy is getting! Luckily, Lilly thinks "baby Loot" is very sweet and loves to hold him and hug him. It's probably in her best interest to keep him on her good side since at this rate he'll be bigger than her in a few months!

Rilee's Baptism

She looks so old!!!! I can't believe we have a daughter old enough to be getting baptized. Rilee is just growing up so fast and changing so much. She planned the program for her baptism herself and made it very clear to me that SHE was going to make the calls to ask for people's participation and also to invite people. She wanted to invite all her school friends, but since school was out we could only invite those whose phone numbers we had. It was such a nice day and we really appreciate all those who participated and came and supported us.

This was the only family picture we got because Lilly was not exactly cooperating (as you can tell). The person taking the photo kept trying to get Lilly's attention and they were waiting for her to look at the camera. We know better than to wait for Lilly to be agreeable - -we just press on with whatever we're doing whether she likes it or not. Unfortunately Chad got caught in mid-sentence saying "just take the picture".

Another Tag--6 Random Things About MeThis is the second time I have been tagged to do this so here goes...
The rules are:
* Link to the person who tagged you http://rushingreview.blogspot.com/
*Post the rules on your blog
*Write six random things/unspectacular quirks about yourself
* Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them
* Let each person you have tagged know by leaving a comment on their blog
* Let the tagger know when your entry is posted

1. I can fall asleep at the drop of a hat! I have pretty much possessed this talent my entire life, but now that I have the baby waking me up all night and I work at 6 in the morning it's REALLY hopeless.
2. I love action movies, ESPECIALLY super hero movies. I don't know what it is - it's not that I like the violence, just the excitement. When the dramatic music starts and someone is saving the day - I just can't help but enjoy it.
3. I hate melons. All kinds of melons are disgusting to me and I don't know why. People keep telling me how good watermelon is so I have tried reintroducing it to my taste buds several times - blugck! Don't even get me started on canteloupe - I could vomit after one whiff of it's stanky aroma!
4. I have been told by many people that they thought I was "stuck up" when they first met me because I didn't talk a lot. I don't know why people think that instead of just thinking that I'm quiet. ??
5. Like Heidi, I do not like to sleep with my feet covered - unless they are freezing cold.
6. I make up little songs for my kids. They each have a different song that I sing with their name in it. We also have a song for brushing teeth, one for taking a bath, etc. Not sure where that came from, but the kids like it.
I didn't tag anybody else, but feel free to participate in this tag - I would love to read about you!

Merry Christmas!

Well, it's starting. All the Christmas parties and activites that go on this time of year. We also have Rilee's birthday in December, and this year will have her baptism as well. It's definitely a busy time!! I always get so caught up in wanting things done the way I want them regardless of how much time or effort it takes. Our little Luke is helping/forcing me to simplify things this year. He wants to be held ALL the time so I really just have to plan that I'm not going to have any time! Oddly enough, the world is NOT going to come to an end if I just let myself be satisfied with what I CAN get done instead of stewing about what I CAN'T.

If only ALL housework were so delightfully fun!

When I look back on Lilly's childhood, this is the little darling that I will remember. Maybe I'll also video a fit or two - just for accuracy's sake. :)

Halloween

The kids got dressed up in their costumes for a "trunk-or-treat" party earlier in the week and we had to get pictures of them all together since Cameron was going to be trick-or-treating in Chicago with his cousins this year.

Lilly was really funny about trick-or-treating this year. Rilee tried to take her to our door first, and she couldn't even make it from the garage to the front door without getting distracted by playing in the dirt with a glowstick. By the end of the night, she finally had it down and was saying "twick-o-tweet" loud enough to be heard, "thank you" and "bye" (usually after the door was already closed). I am so glad she can have her sweet moments once in a while so that I don't have to send her back to the factory!

Luke's Blessing

We had a wonderful day for Luke's blessing. I think it was probably the first time that we have all been on time to church since he was born! Chad gave him a beautiful blessing, and then after church we came home and had lunch with family and friends. We had so much help with people bringing food and helping clean up that it made it even more enjoyable. Both Grandma's even helped us out before by helping to get our house ready and helping out with kids. We are so glad that Luke's special day could go so smoothly. Luke is such a sweetie pie, and we are so happy to have him in our family. With this kids' dimples I think he will pretty much be able to get away with anything!

Happy Birthday Lilly!

Lilly is officially2 years old! We had a "low key" celebration for Lilly this year since we've been a little busy with the new baby, but she did luck out with 2 cakes! We went to Grandma Stewart's for dinner and birthday cake with all the rest of the Stewart clan the Sunday before her birthday, and then on her real birthday we had Grandma and Grandpa Weed over to our house for dinner and ANOTHER cake. You can see from the look on her face that she did NOT like the candle and refused to blow it out both times. Maybe next year! She also was NOT interested in looking at the camera or smiling for pictures. I kept trying to get her to look at me and smile to get a picture of her in her new dress up gear, but no such luck.

Seeing photos of Lilly always reminds me that I keep meaning to take her in to get her hair cut. I cut bangs a while ago because she wouldn't leave any ponytails or anything in her hair and it was always in her face. Those were some of the first 2 words that I can think of Lilly putting together . . . "hair, face". The bangs seems to accentuate the mullet even more though, and with her hair always being down it always became sticky with food and whatever else she came into contact with. So yesterday after she had accidentally dumped a cup of Sprite on her head, I was giving her a bath and decided to just go for it.

This is what we ended up with, and luckily she was very happy about it. She wanted to show everyone in the house and kept saying "pity hay-cut". She even looked into the camera and SMILED for a photo . . . amazing!

5 Days Old Already!

Sorry the picture is sideways. On my computer it is right side up. Go figure????? Luke is such a great baby, we are excited to finally have him here. I have been lucky enough this time around to be able to have Chad home from work for a few days to father all the other kids while I rest and just enjoy the baby. We've never really had that luxury before. I feel like I'm recovering really well, and I know Chad being here is part of the reason that I have felt so good. Night before last Luke had a really rough night and I didn't get much sleep, but I was able to shut myself in my room with the baby and just rest and catch up on sleep while Chad worried about all the other kids. Nice, when that horrible nights rest doesn't have to ruin the rest of your day! I wish he didn't have to go back to work! We have had help from neighbors and ward members bringing food as well, and of course my mom lives next door so she has helped with food, cleaning and kids as well. We appreciate all the food, help, gifts and well-wishes from all of you, and hope if you haven't met Luke yet that you'll be able to meeet him soon!

Announcing. . . . Luke Isaac Stewart

He finally came out!!! Not that I was overdue or anything. It just looked like I was!

Luke Isaac Stewart

8 lbs. 8 oz.

20 1/2 inches long

He was born at 8:08am on Sept. 19th. Luckily he did not come any earlier than 8:08, since I didn't even get into a hospital room until about 7:45am! I THOUGHT we were going in for an induction, but just happened to go into labor before they had a chance. Labor was fast and furious and before we knew it, he was out! Unfortunately for me, there was no time for an epidural. The whole experience was a little traumatizing for me because it just wasn't what I was expecting, but the end result was a beautiful healthy baby, so I can't complain. Unfortunately for Luke, I had tested positive for Strep and they didn't even have enough time to get the IV in me for the antibiotics. He has been fine though, and he will go back to the Dr. today just to make sure that he has escaped infection. So far, he has been a delightful baby and we are just so glad to have him here!

The proud daddy helping Lilly hold baby Luke. I was a little concerned at how Lilly would react to this new little person in our lives because she has always been such a "mama's girl". When she first came to visit us at the hospital, she put her hand over her mouth and was giddy with excitement and amazement. We all know Lilly's moods can be a little . . . shall we say unpredictable? When she came to pick us up from the hospital, she had a grouchy look on her face and kept saying "Don't like it, baby". Luckily, by the time we got home she had changed her mind again and was very excited about having the baby home, and bringing him lots of toys and books.

Rilee and Cameron are old pros at this stuff.