Happy Halloween Eve From My Four Little Pumpkins

On Sunday afternoon we FINALLY went to the pumpkin patch. We have been passing "the patch" for weeks! Poor Carson thought that we were never going to make it. He was so excited when we pulled up, as were the girls. Caden has "been there, done that". In this picture in front of The Peanuts characters display we have a typical picture of the Stewart bunch where NOONE is looking at me!

The gang holding their pumpkins after we got home from the patch. Caden's pumpkin looks worse than it really is in this picture...bad angle I guess. The fact that Emma has one shoe on and one off is priceless. At least one girls is missing at least one shoe and/or sock after a car ride.

Sisters Start School

The girls started school at All Saints Lutheran Church (Carson's school since he was their age) on Monday morning. The start was a bit unexpected since we hadn't planned on sending them until next year. Their Nana is not able to help watch them anymore so we decided to put them in school. We are very lucky that the director found a spot for our girls since school has already been in session for 2 months. They go to school from 9:00-12:00 on Monday and 9:00-2:00 on Tuesday-Friday. Our sitter LilliAnn is helping with drop off and pick up. It is a big change, but so far (only 2 days in) things are going very smoothly. Here is a picture of the girls holding their pumpkins (that they think are balls...they have been chunked over and over) on Monday morning just before Daddy was about to load them up for school. Emma is on the left, and Ella Cate is on the right. They were exactly 20 and 1/2 months old on their first day of school.

What "big" girls we have!

Here is the trio getting out of the van to walk into school. Ella Cate is in front. Sam said the girls insisted on holding their backpacks. He also said that Carson held Ella Cate's hand on the way in, and nurtured the girls.

Walking in with another little guy.

Pat and Willie

On Saturday Chels, Brenda, Gary, and I went to the Pat Green and Willie Nelson concert at Smirnoff. It was pretty wild! I am no longer used to "that kind" of concert scene. We smelt and saw ALL kinds of things! The concert was good, and the evening was pleasant...not too hot or cold. It was just like old times. Thanks to Brenda a.k.a. "Event Planner" for organizing our evening!

Before the concert we ate at one of our favorites....Chuy's! It was yummy as always! I love this picture with Chels!

Gary took this one of the 3 girls in front of Chuy's

Brenda scalping her extra concert tickets. She wound up getting rid of the tickets, but she took a $20 loss on each ticket.

This picture was taken right after Willie finished singing. By this point we were chilly, tired, smelling of many varieties of smoke, and ready to head home.

Just my boy and Julius...

This evening Sam took Caden up to the mall for an autographing signing by Julius Jones of The Dallas Cowboys. Cade spent $50 (of his own money), and waited in line for an hour to have Julius Jones sign a football that he already owned. When asked Caden said that the money was well spent! He was soooo excited!

Julius Jones and Cade

Cade waiting in line

A sideview of Julius Jones

Falling for Fall

This past week was a rough one for The Stewart Household! It started with Sam losing his wallet with $150 inside, and ended with losing Carson in Target. Both the wallet and Carson were found...so happy endings in both cases. In between the wallet and Carson incident; I backed into my ESL teacher's car, Dolly (my mother-in-law who babysits for us part time) quit on us, and Sam got a ticket for expired inspection. I guess the saying " when it rains it pours" fits perfectly here! However, we had a really fun Saturday with Chels, Carter, Brenda, and Colt. They all came to Cade's football game, and afterwards we spent a fun afternoon at Frightfest at Six Flags! I only included pictures of the happy times last week. : )

Carter...sweet as ever...showing off his fun new noise.

Cade, Carson, and a scary vampire.


The whole group just after we entered Six Flags.

Cade, Colt, Carson, and a Halloween Bugs Bunny.

Chels waiting in line for the spinning parachutes. Chels said that Carson almost threw up on this ride. I guess he got Mommy's motion sickness!

Bruster's and Big Girls

This evening we went to Bruster's Ice cream ( my new favorite place for treats). Our school was having at fundraiser there so Cade, Carson, and I headed there for some yummy ice cream. They had the very best fat free/sugar free raspberry swirl ice cream! That was of course what I ordered, Cade had an Oreo cone, and Carson had a chocolate ice cream cone. Kids under 40 inches get a FREE ice cream cone! So, I only had to pay for Caden and myself! Carson was free....I love free! We will be frequenting this place lots with all of our less than 40 inchers! : ) Here the boys are posing with Mrs. Cotton...the banana for the night.

Here I am with my ice cream face boys!

Carson and his "cute" chocolate cone.

Emma Claire and Ella Cate turned 20 months on Monday. I just got around to taking a "20 month picture" today. I guess in this picture they are actually 20 months and 1 day. : )

Look at Emma Claire's cute pigtails that Lilli Ann fixed!

Yipee...Carson is 3!!

Carson turned three last Thursday (October 11). I had hoped to post on his actual birthday, but that didn't happen. He had a great birthday that he is still talking about! First, he celebrated at school with birthday cupcakes. After we got home from school he played with toys from Mommy and Daddy. That evening he had a carousel party at the mall...he couldn't have been more excited!

I decided to write an acrostic poem for my sweet three year old boy. I just LOVE acrostic poems! I make my poor students write at least 5 a year.

Cute as a button

Action packed always

Really long eyelashes (courtesy of Daddy)

Sweet food lover

Older brother to his "babies" ( as he still calls them)

Never lets me go without kisses

I love you my sweet Car!! xoxoxo Mommy

9 things I love about my 9 year old

Caden turned 9 on Sunday. It seems like just yesterday that Sam and I were brand new parents with no clue what to do with the sweet baby that was born October 7, 1998. Caden had a great birthday...he said that it was his best yet! Here are 9 things (in no order) that I LOVE about Caden:

1. He loves to be cuddled.

2. He still enjoys being read to...even though reading a book on his own hasn't really caught on with him. : )

3. Caden is very well behaved, and I am so proud to have him at my school with me.

4. Caden loves his little brother and sisters to pieces. His face lights up when they are affectionate towards him.

5. He never complains about sitting in the very back seat of the van (it is the only seat available with all of the carseats that we have).

6. Cade loves to watch plays with me. Thanks to Brenda we have seen MANY plays over the years.

7. Cade is my new workout partner. In the last couple of weeks he has been walking on the treadmill while I run, and he waits while I workout on the machines. It is great to have his company!

8. He loves routine/traditions just like I do. The traditions we have are small, but a great comfort to him! He loves making brownies on the weekends, going to Target on Sundays, Texarkana on holidays, and watching football with his daddy.

9. Cade has taught much of what I know about being a mommy. On Sunday Sam told Cade that when he was born we knew nothing about being parents. Cade quickly replied that he wouldn't turn out as good as Carson and the girls because mom and dad "knew" what they were doing by the time we had them. We assured Caden that this was not the case! With the likes of Caden in 9 years I will be blogging about a wonderful 18 year old (wow only 9 more years :( ....) with a world of possibilities awaiting him!

I love you Mr. Cade!! xoxoxo