Ella's haircut

This post should be under the following post. The post all about the girls' 1st haircut follows this one. I'm sorry that it is out of order, but I am too tired at this point to redo these to get them in order. Ellie clinging to Daddy, clearly saying she DOES NOT want a haircut.

This was a MUCH better arrangement for El...she was content the WHOLE time!

Snip, snip!

Our souvenirs from the girls' 1st haircut...11-27-07...21 months old.

We got hair.....

That's right! This evening we took all of the kids to have their hair cut. I will from now on go to "Cool Cuts 4 Kids" on a week night! It was great...we were the only customers in the whole place. If you know anything about Cool Cuts you know that this is a VERY rare occurrence! This was the girls' very first haircut. They have gone 21 months without a cut, so the process was a little sad for me. However their hair looks very cute. We left it all one length, and just had the lady trim the jagged ends (as Sam calls them). Emma was a very good girl. She sat very still for the lady, and was thrilled that she got to watch Barney. Ella decided that she would rather not have her hair cut when she was put in the chair. She decided that sitting on Mommy's lap with a paci worked out much better for her! The boys had their hair cut too, but it was definitely not their first time, so the girls were the stars of the night! We left Cool Cuts an hour and $70 later...all looking very spiffy for our family Christmas picture this Saturday! : )

Carson and the girls were about to walk into Cool Cuts for their hair appointment.

Emma Claire is waiting her turn for her haircut.

Emma Claire's hair before....very "jagged".

Sweet Emma after...still GLUED to Barney.

Sleepy Sam!!

Getting out Christmas decorations with 4 very excited kiddos is HARD work. Sam decided to take a nap after all of the decorations were down from the attic. The kids were glued to The Doodlebops DVD. This year was the girls' 1st Christmas to have decorations at our house. Last Christmas season we were slackers. We decided to skip the decorations for fear that the girls would pull the tree on themselves. I felt bad when we didn't have a tree on Christmas day last year. It made me feel better that Caden didn't even remember not having Christmas decorations last year!

This picture was taken later on that evening. Notice the tree is still ornament-less....we hung the ornaments after the girls were in bed.

Caden and the girls were posing in front of the decorated tree the next day. The girls were about to have their bath...this explains little streaker Emma Claire!!

Turkey Time in Texarkana

On Thanksgiving morning we loaded up the car and headed to Texarkana for Thanksgiving. I have spent every Thanksgiving for 29 years in Texarkana, and Sam has spent the last 10 years celebrating Thanksgiving there. It just wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving if we weren't there! Needless to say it was a whirlwind of a day. We arrived at MoJo's and Wiss's (my maternal grandparent's) at noon for lunch. At 2:00 we headed to Reon's and Curt's (my aunt and uncle) house for dessert and a visit with Nana and Papa (my paternal grandparents). After that, we headed to Granny and Pa's (my great grandparents) to see them. Every house (except MoJo's) felt like I was having to contain wild animals. The girls and Carson were everywhere, and I just new that they were going to break some decorative item. This was my first Thanksgiving with the girls being mobile...and it was not easy to say the least!!! After visiting with Granny and Pa we headed back to Mo's to watch some of The Cowboy's game. By 5:00 Thanksgiving evening we were back in the car heading home to Arlington. It was so great to get to see everyone, however by the time we got everyone in bed Sam and I were TOTALLY beat!!!
The picture above is of The Stewart 6 in front of Mo's house. I really wish that I would have moved the ugly white chair, but oh well...I will take what I can get...family photo-ops are few and far between!!

The girls and Carson covering Cade with pebbles from Mo's driveway.

Eating dessert at Reon's (where the kids really caused a ruckus). Shortly after this picture was taken Ella spit out a mouthful of nuts that she seemed to have stored in her cheek. I guess Ella prefers Nana's "Chocolate Delight" without pecans!

Uncle Caleb and Cade at MoJo's. I forgot to flip this picture before I uploaded it, and I am too lazy to go back and redo it!

Cade and Emma Claire at MoJo's and Wiss's house.

Our family minus the boys (they couldn't be rounded up) with Mo and Wiss.



All of my kiddos in Curt's and Reon's yard.

adorable artwork

Carson made this cornucopia at school today. I guess this sums it up...he is thankful for everything. Me too Carson!! I have so many things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Annual Austin Adventures

Last weekend Chelsi and I headed to Austin for our 6th annual shopping trip and best friend's weekend. This year we had a special guest come along...sweet baby Carter. We had a great trip! All of our regular stops (minus just a couple) were made; Round Rock Outlet Mall, Chuy's, Einsteins Brother's Bagels (x2), San Marcos Outlet Mall, and Barton Creek Mall. The only 2 "regulars" that we didn't make it to were The Arboretum (lack of time), and Amy's Ice Cream,(the line was out of the door)! It is so cool to me that we have made this a tradition that we DO NOT plan on breaking! We talked about someday staying downtown in The Driscoll instead of staying in a motel like we always do. I think that might be many years down the road, but I am looking forward to each and every trip that we have ahead of us...I am so thankful for our special tradition! The picture above was taken after we ate at Chuy's.

Chels and Carter were posing in front of The Chuy's sign.

This was the sign in front of our hotel. The sign looks awful, but we actually had a very nice and peaceful stay at the hotel.

Here are Carter and Chels before we left our hotel for a day of shopping. Carter was the best baby EVER the entire trip!

Chelsi noticed that Carter's bottom right tooth had broken through the skin on our first night in Austin. I was glad to be around for this special 1st!!

Carter and Bevo at the co-op.

Carter learned how to drink out of a straw on our second night in Austin. How exciting!!

Carter's 1st bagel at Einstein's on our last morning in Austin...I was sad to leave!! : (

The kids got elfed!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9548380097
Click here to see the kids elfed! Thanks Chels!!

Really Rare

I am posting this picture because it is VERY rare that both Sam and I are in a picture with all (or in this case most) of our children. I love family pictures, but these days in our house they are not common. It is too hard to contain all of the kids, and then have someone else take the picture. I know that there are many places that we could go to and pay big bucks to have our picture taken, but time-wise and money-wise that is not an option for us right now. I am hoping that as the kids get older family photo opportunities become much easier. Anyway, I am thankful for this picture even if only 3 of the 5 people photographed are looking at the camera, even though our living room is littered with toys, even though the girls are not matching (one hang up of mine) because Ella Cate already has her jammies on, even though Carson's face can't be seen, and even though Caden isn't pictured because he is being sweet enough to capture this moment (he got the camera and snapped this on his own, by the way)!

Party at the Park

On Saturday Carson's girlfriend, Ashlynn, had her 3rd birthday party at Trinity Park in Fort Worth. The whole Stewart family went and enjoyed a gorgeous November day outdoors. We played outside, ate hot dogs, and then got to take a fun ride on the Trinity train. It was the girls' very first ride on the train. I love this train! It takes you on a very scenic, almost 45 minute ride, through Trinity Park. Sadly, I didn't get any good pictures on the train because I was sitting next to Ella Cate. Her idea of the train ride was standing up and trying to touch everything we passed. So, instead of taking pictures I fed her every snack that I had in my diaper bag to keep her seated.
Carson is hanging out with his best bud, Ethan, and his g-friend, Ashlynn.

Carsy and Ethy... their names for each other

Ella Cate and Emma Claire lounging in a Budweiser chair at the party....it's not mine!

Ethan, Carson, and the girlys getting ready to eat their hot dogs.

Tired Trick-Or-Treaters

After our evening of Halloween fun at Grancie's house we stripped off the kids costumes and started our long drive home. We finally arrived at our house around 10:00. Ella Cate decided to snooze on our drive.

Carson was out like a light!

Emma and Caden kept each other awake in the backseat.

Halloween Happenings

On Halloween night we all went to Grancie and Robin's house for our annual trick-or-treat. We have been going since Caden was 2....so 8 years now. It is always an undertaking for Sam and I to get all of the kids from Arlington to Carrollton, considering we don't leave Arlington until Sam gets home from work. However, it is sooo worth it. To the kids it wouldn't be Halloween if we weren't with Grancie and Robin! This year we had quite a group; all 6 members of the Stewart family, Grancie, Robin, Uncle Caleb, his girlfriend Jessica, Chels, and Carter (his 1st Halloween). We were quite a bunch. Here we are at the beginning of our walk around the neighborhood.


Here are my Minnie Mice! Chels and I got these costumes last year on our annual San Marcos trip. We found them for a great deal at The Disney Store Outlet. Chels takes full credit for talking me into buying them. I am so glad that I listened to her...they turned out really cute!

Here is Carson a.k.a. Red Power Ranger, Emma Claire, and Caden a.k.a. scary zombie. They are sitting on the stairs because that is the only way that I could keep them contained for a picture. Even that didn't work with Ella Cate...as you can see she escaped!

Our family in front of a random house that we trick-or-treated at.

After we trick-or-treated Uncle Caleb and Jessica relaxed on the couch with Grancie's dog, Tuxedo.