A moment for Esme

Esme is 20 months old and it seems awhile since I blogged about her. This girl is so much fun and soooo much work right now. She gets into everything- I never really had to kid proof my home like I do with her. She tries to plug things in the outlets, eats tips off all the markers, puts her hand in the fishbowl and eats the rocks, takes permanent markers to the computer screens (believe me I try to hide some of these things). She keeps us on our toes to say the least. She may however be the most affectionate of all our children at this age. She will put her hands around our neck and squeeze so tight and then top it off with a few kisses. She is starting to have a lot of fun with her sisters and I love hearing her laugh hysterically with them. I love being home with her and Sophia-the two are becoming quite a pair. We miss Ava while she is at school and she loves to come home and lead the pack with games and songs.

Want to know what Dan was busy doing over the holidays?
a little bit of skateboarding,
a lot of reading,
spending plenty of time with me and the girls,
and...
building this ART TABLE in our breakfast nook.

Oh we love him so!!!

Simple, Splendid, Stewart Christmas

We have always had so much fun going away for Christmas- Nebraksa snow, Austin charm, France beauty, but there really is no place like home so this was a special Christmas for us...

Christmas Eve
We had a wonderful 24th with Kris and Crystal and their kids. It was lovely to see the girls and their cousins indulge in the joys of the holiday-gingerbread houses, singing carols, new pajamas, and treats...lots of treats. I can't believe I snapped a pic of the gingerbread house together because the icing was so runny it kept falling apart. We were all laughing and the kids were good sports about it not turning out so great.

Thanks to a dear friend and her idea we decided to start a new tradition this year of giving the kids a Christ centered gift on Christmas Eve. It is nice to be able to teach them the true meaning of the holiday and watch them grow older and begin to understand.

Christmas morning

Santa brought Sophia a bunny rabbit this year. One night she stood in front of the Christmas tree and kissed her hands then threw them up in the air and said "I wish for Santa to bring me a cat." Well, Santa was not ready (nor will he ever be) to give her a cat but he did find her a bunny and as you can see it was a hit. She looked at us and said, "I am glad I got a bunny rabbit because I hate cats."

She doesn't usually talk like that especially about an animal but it just goes to show how overwhelmed and excited she was.

Have you ever seen two kids get so excited over oranges in their stockings? (they were actually grapefruits- silly santa)Esme loves books so she enjoyed her gift and reading with Dad first thing that morning.

Surprise, Surprise, Ava enjoyed a little more HSM- mom is just about done with that... soooo wanting to go back to the Little House on the Praire craze. (Ava is giggling with her hands on her hips as I type this)We wish you all a Happy New Year!