Baby Ani thinks she's hot stuff

* Tooth--check
* Another tooth---Check
*Crawling--- check
* standing--- double check

Mom tries to push me over but I'm discovering that these flimsy sticks can hold me up and get me places. Not only can I ninja across the room, but I can also sceam like a banchee when I'm not the center of attention. Mom keeps telling me to pipe down and quit acting like aunty Adri, but I don't quite get what she means, so I ignore her!

ava's 2nd tooth fell out of her face:

Ava demands a dollar every time she loses something from her face. The toothfairy gets a little snippy however.

the pea culprit is still on the lam

After the dinner mess of fried chicken tenders, peas and potato wedges was cleaned up, I went to turn off the lights and I noticed some squished peas on my shoes.
Ewww.
I had just washed my floor last night so naturally I wasn't leaving the pea mess on the floor. When i was on my way up from the floor, to the sink, I saw the secret stash of peas.
But whose was it?
Who could be storing their peas at eye level?
Think Stewart think.
This mystery must be solved. But alas not tonight.
Tomorrow will be a new day and I will settle this quandary later.

Dear State-side Drole

Hey Sista, why you no post on yo blog no mo? I have 4 kids I work full time, I have a to-do list longer than your trek to work and yet I still find time to blog. I'm pretty sure Violet is not younger than Ani and yet your blog states that she just turned 4 months. Come on Drole,.. blog already!

Hotness UPdate

 

 

 

Just a quick hot hubby update. Still hot, still my hubby. Nuff said? I think not. WE are like 2 ships passing in the night as of late. We see each other after 8 p.m., after Gabe's football practice is over and my girl time is thrown through the wringer. On Friday's we cuddle and fall asleep around 9ish as the kids watch their movie during family movie night. He's busy as work, so am I. But the vaca to Mexico was a great break and it was much needed before the school year began.

All sunshine all day long

Clara loves what she loves, and we've learned not to argue. She lobves her vest.

Hating Halloween thru Creativity

Everyone knows I hate halloween. Other people's kids love candy, but not mine! My kids just cry when you put on their $20 costume on just to parade around begging for candy they won't eat..
I don't like celebrating Satan's birthday and besides I have to feed all the fat kids from OTHER neighborhoods candy all nite long (subtract another $50 dolloar from my food budget for that)!
In order to have a bit more fun on this heathen holiday, I decided to create our own costumes and try to one-up myself with ingenious craftiness each year. Im a sucker for fan fare and spendid reactions to the kids' costumes. Gabe wanted to be a box last year, I said, why?
He had no answer so I just spun his lame idea into my own creative idea. he was a hit.
Clara cried all night long until I started shoving candy in her face. And Ava couldn't even tell anyone what she was, because she refused to wear the entire Barbie horse riding c
heer leader wannabe oufit. Sigh... I hate this day.
Next year I plan to beat the UPS box idea with something greater.

fun photos for ya

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riviera Del Maya 12 years or bust!

 

 

 

 

Joe surprised me with a lil vaca to the Riviera Del Maya, 30 minutes south of Cancun. It was BEE-U-Ti-Ful! We had mucho funo!
Nothing but sun, sand and some snorkling in the fresh water centotes. We zip lined over the jungle fever, and repelled down a wall (unfun and not-so-extreme). Joe went diving and saw some cool stuff underwater and I laid out and burned my lips. Funniness.

Weve been Upgraded

 
Apparently a 1.6 processor on our computer is slow. Who knew. I feel better about blogging cuz I don't have to wait 5 minutes for my pics to upload. I may just get rid of my dial up now. Who knows... Sky's the limit now folks.

WE HAVE FRIENDS

Not only do we have friends (when I say we, I mean me), but they are moving 9/10th of a mile from us. They closed on their house and on Saturday we will help them move in. We will begin Clara's training this week to mindlessly walk over to their house and sit on their front porch until they notice her. She'll say "hi" of course. The problem is Liberty is full of "do-gooders" and will try and stop her from crossing the busy cross street. So traffic awareness with be the hardest part of our training process.
WELCOME TO Whitey-ville Zumies! The Stewart's welcome you.

 

 

A laundered diaper La Shay-style

 

 

There is nothing like an organized vacation. everything has its place, everything has its purpose. We arrived in MO with order. All my dirty laundry was in a bag. That bag went swiftly into the laundry room. Before we sat down for pizza, naturally, I started the load of wash. Mentally high-fiving myself for the job well done I enjoyed my pizza.
The next morning I pulled out the wet laundry and discovered gel like balls on all the clothes. Thinking nothing of it I continued to load my dryer. I first discovered between some wet shirts a tore up walmart bag. Shaking my head for my silly over sight I continued to unload the clothes. Hey now what is this, stuffed between the bottom of the wet clothes pile I thought to myself as I lifted up a fully loaded and exploded diaper of Ani's. And as I look inside my entire washer it is slicked down with gel-like beads, bursting from the wash. Ah yes. My organization had a small glitch. A dirty diaper was in my dirty clothes bag, and why not? they both begin with the adjective "dirty", why wouldn't it be categorized together.
Hmm, why is the diaper in a bag? of course because all my poopy diapers go in a bag. Sigh...

Here was my thought process: 1- I could place all the clothes in the dryer with 10 dryer sheets to make sure the gel-like balls separate from the clothes and shake it all off when they are done. Ignoring the washed out poopy diaper all together or 2- shake the clothes out now, wash out the dryer and rewash the clothes.
I choose the latter, due to the preservation of my dryer. I did not want gel-like balls melted onto my dryer barrel.
I left the clothes in the dryer for another day hoping to ignore the potential problem and have new insight a day later.
No insight found.

Clara's new Sweet Seat

 

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Tracy has a new business making these Sweet Seats! I ordered one for Clara not thinking she was ready for all teh independence around the dinner table and here is her reaction opening her seat. She loved it. She took it everywhere with her and was even excited to eat with us at the dinner table tonight. I'm excited to see where all this independence will lead, all because of one Sweet seat. Check her site out!

Satan's favorite toy

 

I kid you not, as cool as the whole idea of moon sand is, that's how Satan gets you with his crafty ideas and lies. His trick is too make it look really cool, and IT DOES! Moon sand looks cool and the minute you pull it out of the box your eyes go bug eyed for all its wonder! All the tricks, bells and whistles, the promises of creativity and a better life because you have moon sand in your house and all your friends envy you. They want moon sand too. BAM, next thing you know you're on your hands and knees weeping becuase all the fun and creativity has turned into a whole lot of "clean up". Pink sand is everywhere and now the mess is a 2 year old play ground.
Part of this story is metaphor the rest is literal. The worst part is, there's water bubbles spewing out the pink and purple sand and it jumps out the tiny sifter which only gathers so much sand. I am suppose to take this small sifter and pour it into a bottle that is too small to allow the sand in.
The worst part is before Ava and I played with this new set from her birthday, I gifted a bigger set to a friend just this weekend. I will have to call and apologize to the mom for giving the little girl such a devious and mean gift.

Oh, tricky Satan you got me again. I fell for your promises of grandure. They are nothing but lies.

Britax: the newest edition to the family

 

I won't even tell you how much it costs (you'll BING it if you care), but this is the newest edition of my family. It carts the girls around effortlessly and I love it. I have named it Clyde (after the horses) and we find ourselves veturing the neighborhods more becuase of Clyde's greatness. JOb well done Stew! Thank you.