It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

A couple of days after Thanksgiving I put away my ONE box that holds all of our fall/Halloween decorations, and brought out about TWELVE boxes of Christmas decorations! This is my favorite holiday to decorate for :) This year the kids helped us put up the tree (we have the kind that is a pole with color-coded branches you put on at different levels...the same kind I grew up with!) and Aidan especially was very into it. We also had some Texas-style snow yesterday morning, Texas-style meaning it didn't stick once it hit the ground. But it was neat to see!

Turkey Day

We had a relaxing Thanksgiving at home this year! Both sides of Daniel's family came by last night and today so it was fun to see them. But as for the actual Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, it was just the four of us! I cooked a huge meal (well, huge for two adults and two little kids) although we decided to forgo the turkey for an easier ham instead. Also on the menu were dressing (my favorite!), macaroni & cheese (Luby's recipe, yum!), green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce, and cherry cobbler (Daniel's favorite!).

Watching the parade:

A busy oven!

Bon appetit!

We have so much to be thankful for this year, including:

* Our beautiful, healthy, happy children!!
* Our wonderful parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, niece (and nephew on the way) that we get to see often!
* Daniel's job...although it keeps him very busy, he is a hard worker and we are thankful he can provide for us especially during this tough economy!
* My being able to be a stay-at-home mom and enjoy my kids every day
* Our health
* Our freedom and safety
* A roof over our heads and food to eat
* Our church and church family, and being able to send Aidan and Avery there for MDO
* New friends, especially my fellow moms
* Old friends

We are thankful for YOU and hope you had a terrific Thanksgiving!

New Moon, iPhone, and Business Trips

I usually don't go this long without blogging but we really haven't done anything exciting! Daniel traveled to D.C. on business last week so I scheduled lots of playdates to keep me and the kids busy...unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of them! I went to see the midnight showing of New Moon with several friends from my mom's club. We went to a special showing at Studio Movie Grille where they gave out door prizes and even had the actual truck from the movie there. Our group wore matching t-shirts (made by Holly, the biggest fan of our group) and bracelets...I guess you could say that we're slightly into the Twilight craze ;) It was tons of fun (movie was great!) but I was exhausted...I am just not used to staying out that late anymore! Aidan & Avery are doing fine. I've had an iPhone for a couple of months and one of my favorite things about it is the kids' games that you can download. They're great for waits at restaurants, doctors' offices, or just hanging out at home! As you see Avery plays with it anywhere :) She is not going potty yet, she was just practicing. We tried no pull-up on Aidan last night for the first time and it went about as I expected. He didn't make it the whole night but we'll try again.

This and That

Nothing too exciting has been going on at the Steward household. Here are some pics of what we've been up to!

We filled a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child, which our church has participated in for the past few years. It's a great program that delivers shoeboxes full of toys, school supplies, hygiene products, and other goodies to needy kids from around the world. I let Aidan help me fill the box this year.

Avery had her first corn on the cob and loved it! She can tell you what a monkey, elephant, and snake say. She's working on the first consonant to a bunch of words ("mah" for more or me, "duh" for duck, etc...progress for her, since she used to just look at us and smile when we asked her to say something!)

Aidan had his last blastball game this past weekend. It was so much fun and we are looking forward to doing it again in the spring!

We had an interesting little visitor on our driveway recently. Avery touched him a few times but Aidan didn't want to. I was secretly glad they weren't more touchy-feely with him. I am not a critter person!

Open Wide

This has been a pretty slow week for us...which I've enjoyed, since October was crazy busy! Aidan had his first check-up at the dentist on Wednesday and did FANTASTIC. I can't tell you how proud I was of him. He was totally laid-back and not anxious about anything, even the x-rays. It's a pediatric dentist and they have it tricked out just for the kids. Aidan got to sit back and watch "Cars" right over his head while the dentist was working in his mouth. I didn't bring my camera so this is the only one I got with my iPhone. At the end he got to select a prize, and he picked a yo-yo. Go Aidan!

Happy Halloween!!

We didn't get around to carving any pumpkins this year, but I let the kids decorate a couple with markers today. We trick-or-treated on our block with Cousin Sage and then passed out candy to about 500 trick-or-treaters! Happy Halloween!!

Trunk or Treat!

Pics from our MOMS Club Trunk or Treat on Friday!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fall

I always forget about "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" until I read about it on my friends' blogs and on Facebook statuses, when it's too late. Luckily this year they had an encore presentation last night so I planned ahead and let A&A watch after bathtime. Today they had a Halloween Hat Parade at Wee School and these are the hats they selected to wear.

Church Fallfest

Here are some pics from the fall festival our church had this past weekend. They did an outdoor "Trunk or Treat" theme and the weather was great! The kids debuted their costumes and got rave reviews :)

In the bounce house with Aidan's friend Tate:


The fishing booth that our Sunday School class did:

Meow!

Cookie Walk:

Aidan and his friend Chase:

Avery was fascinated by this random kid wearing a pumpkin on his head. He was just sitting there and I was terrified he was going to jump out at her and scar her for life ;)

Baylor Homecoming

We went to Waco for Baylor Homecoming this past weekend. Jenna and I went to the bonfire on campus Friday night (I hadn't been to bonfire in forever) and then we all got up early to go to the parade. Jenna, Katy, and Hannah were on a float for the girls' school so they got to throw us some candy! After the parade I tried to get Avery to take an early nap...she didn't sleep a lot but at least she rested. She and I joined Daniel, Aidan, Grandpa, the Brooks family, and some more friends at the Baylor game at halftime. The game was terrible but thankfully we had great weather for the weekend! We had an early dinner with Grandpa and Nanna before heading home. Sic 'Em Bears!