Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Greetings

This year we received Halloween well wishes from

The pumpkin patch!

The North Pole!

The Italian Renaissance












The neighborhood black cat

and Mideval Times.

Everyone had lots of fun and way too much candy, we just wish we could have trick or treated to all of your doors!

PS Sorry that formatted so weird...not sure what I did, but it's 11 and I have been up since 5 writing a grant for the kids school and I am exhausted so I am not going to try and figure out how to fix it!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Happy Halloween!!

Tonight was our ward's "Trunk-or-Treat" and Chili Cook-off. Every year we say we/I say we're going to plan out our costumes way ahead of time,...but NO!, night before or even night of comes around and we scramble around the house. The kids are awesome sports about most outfits that are part of the final outcome.

Nathan even sacrificed some of his precious sleeping hours this morning after the kids went to school to make an awesome chili! He has become quite the chef around here, especially in the soup and chili dept. And you must know that he cannot cook in silence,...no fail Pandora is blasting through the kitchen. Actually the whole house and maybe even the neighborhood can listn in to Andrea Bocelli or Josh Groban, accompanied by Nathan. Love this man! He is amazing if I do say so myself!!!

Here are a few pics as we headed out the door. Had to document their costumes since we might change things up for the next party on Saturday! :)ha





***Little side-note: Check out our amazing new vinyl siding and windows (at least part of one).....More pics to come. We have been working, working, doing all kinds of projects. Of course working together on projects has it's challenges, but in the end I am so grateful to be able to spend time and work along side my best friend. We make a pretty good team! :)

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Corn Maze





We had a fun family afternoon at the corn maze. We went a couple years ago to a different one, and I must say it was much more fun now that the kids are older. We managed to make it through the whole thing, filling in our whole worksheet, with 18 missing words and 9 rubbing images. It took just over 2 hours.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Christmas Exchange 2011

So I don't know if any of you even look at this anymore...but I thought I would post our Christmas exchange names so we are all thinking the same thing. We are at 2 younger than us, so:

Scott gives to Nathan
Shannon gives to Megan
Nathan gives to Amber
Megan gives to Cassie
Amber gives to Scott
Cassie gives to Shannon

Love you guys!
Amber

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Stewart Family News

So I know some of you have already heard my news, and none of you would have a hard time guessing...but I am pregnant with number 3! We will have a little boy, due on January 25th. So far everything is going really great, we were having some trouble getting our medicaid sorted out at the beginning and due to the cost my doctor and I decided against getting a cervical cerclage put in this time. We talked a lot about my history and all the unsuccessful pregnancies as well as the ones with Ayana and Asher and he said he felt comfortable trying it without this time. I will have an ultrasound every month at my appointment and if there is any sign of my cervix opening we will do an immediate rescue cerclage. It is a little scary because it is something that could happen quickly if it does, but we just couldn't justify using all our savings plus getting debt on the speculation of one doctor years ago who said I might have incompetent cervix.

We decided to find out the gender this time for a couple of reasons. Trever said he knew Asher would be a boy from what he saw on the ultrasound, and I didn't believe him, so I told him to prove it. He did and knew immediately it was a boy, I didn't have a clue until every part was pointed out to me, everything looks the same to me in an ultrasound, they are all just fuzz. So he is pleased that I now believe that he did know what he as talking about with Asher. Also, I have been spending quite a bit of time sewing since getting my fancy new machine last Christmas. I have been doing some quilting and am excited to make stuff for the baby, however, I did not want to make everything in neutral colors, so we found out. (Though I have to say finding things to sew, even quilt patterns, for boys is much, much harder) Along those lines, I am not sure we would find out before birth again. It just isn't as exciting, I like the anticipation and the wondering the whole 9 months. Finding out half way through I felt like I barely had time to think about it much before I knew, and Trever agrees. Waiting just makes the excitement for the baby to come that much more sweet because you finally will know what you get. Maybe my feelings will change before the next one, we'll see, but for the few of you left in this family that will still have more kids, you should consider waiting to find out, I really think it is a lot more fun!

We are excited to have another boy, though Ayana bawled her eyes out when we told her because she wants a little sister so badly! Asher keeps us on our toes a lot more than Ayana ever has, and he has a mischievous streak 10 miles wide, but he also makes us laugh all the time and when he wants to be, is the sweetest little boy on the planet. Plus Trever thinks Asher needs a brother so he will stop asking to get his nails painted and playing with dolls, etc. He just likes to copy his sister, so Trever is hoping another boy in the house will give him reasons to not want to be quite so girly.

On other notes, Trever is in his last semester here, and will graduate in December. After that, who knows... We will be going to graduate school, but that will not be until September, and they will not even be making their acceptance decisions until march or April, so we will graduate here without any idea where our next school home will be. He is applying to 5 schools that are spread all over the country, so we could end up almost anywhere. We will have about 8 months of empty time between one school and the other to fill, the plan at the moment is to get an internship during that time. At the moment we feel like just trying to stay as close as possible to here will be the best financial decision to avoid expensive moving costs, but that depends on finding an internship nearby, so wish Trever luck in that regard. As soon as we know where we will be next year, we will let you know. I am excited for the time in our lives when we can plan more than a few months in advance, but I am enjoying the excitement of this time too.

The kids are doing great, Ayana turned four in July and is a constant joy to us. She had a pirate birthday were we hid a treasure chest in some local caves and then made her a treasure map and she led her pirate crew on a hunt to find it. She had a great time and loved the party. I made her cake and find I enjoy doing that quite a bit, but just a few times a year are enough for me, that way I don't get too tired of it. She is not in preschool right now ad misses it terribly, but I am sure she will survive. She loves to imagine and has imaginary kids that are almost always around (and usually blamed for any trouble that occurs) She loves books, and playing store. She talks pretty much non stop and has some crazy ideas. She also loves to sing, and will sing a song about anything for very long stretches of time. She also enjoys pretending that she is a dog and playing with her toy puppies.




Asher loves anything Ayana loves. He also loves food , and will eat almost anything that is not salad. He is a mama's boy through and through and will always choose me over anyone else, but he also loves to roughhouse with his dad. He loves puzzles and books as well as jumping and trying to do everything by himself. He is a constant ball of fun with energy coming out his ears most days. He is a very silly boy who loves to make people laugh and will do just about anything to accomplish it.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

One of th perks of CA

One of the great perks to living in California is that there is a lot to do without having to fly somewhere. We spent a few days in San Francisco a fwe weeks ago before the kids head back to school (in the morning). The kids loved getting to go to the Exploratorium and the science academy place. Their favorite was the exploratorium because they got to do so much stuff. THey were so busy that RYan and I were juggling to keep up with all three of them. My favorite part was that it is much cooler in SanFran than it is in Fresno. I loved just walking around the streets near our hotel and enjoying the cool weather.
Other than that trip, we have not done much since the trip to the beach with mom and dad. THe kdis did swim lessons and loved them. JOnathan is now a really good swimmer and gets himself all over the pool. He likes to scare me by jumping in and then sinking himself to the bottom and sitting there until he can't hold his breathe any longer. I really do not like that game. Robert is learning that the floaties are really not that cool and he can have a lot of fun without them.The poor kid sinks like a weight so he is working hard to stay up. Katelyn is insane. That girl has no fear. She was by far the bravest kid in her little beginner class. She has no fear when it comes to the water. I think it is because she always had floaties on and did not need to fear, but now she does not want the floaties because she wants to dunk and swim. She can dunk or "swim" a little bit and then push her head up to breathe but only once before she needs help. She likes to be a Starfish where she lays on her tummy and spreads her legs and arms out and puts her face in the water. I am glad she loves the water and is not scared but seriously, her teacher may call it a starfish but I call it the dead man's float and she just makes me nervous because she will hold her breathe for quite some time.
Anyway, that is about all there is to report. Like I said, the boys start school in the morning and they are excited with the mixture of nervousness. They both have teachers that I have heard a lot of good things about so I think all will go really well.
I love you all.
Megan

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Summer in bakersfield

We had a little different summer where for the first time we did not leave California. Mark worked all but two weeks and spent 4 weeks at the University of California Santa Barbara- not a bad place to be! Then, he taught a class at the local university and loved it.
So, we hung around here with lots of swimming and popsicles to keep us cool!
Some of the highlights of our summer in pictures:Christian played t-ball. He was a natural and loved it. Elijah did basketball camp, but I can't seem to find the pictures!We went up to Fresno for Jonathan's baptism, which coincided with a visit from Mom and Dad and a few days at the beach all together. Thanks mom and dad for making the effort to come!

Before heading back to work, we snuck in a few days in San Francisco- hiking in the Redwoods, the Exploratorium, wandering the city, and touring the jelly belly factory. It was a fun few days.

Caleb turned 2! We can't believe it, but our baby is now officially in his terrible twos. He is an absolute joy.

Tomorrow is the first day of school and the kids are all in bed- too excited and nervous to sleep, but they are there! Can't wait until next summer when we get to see everyone.
Love you all.