Fall Fun

I love my boys! They keep me laughing all the time. Eli is definitely the joker and goofier one of the two, but they play off each other.

Our annual family fair visit would not be complete without a tractor ride or two. And really both boys enjoyed climbing around on the real ones even more than riding these.

Three generations of Stewards. And no, Eli is not walking on his own yet, but keeps up pretty good with a hand. I love this picture and wish I had an actual camera and not just my phone.

My sweet goose! He is so curious and loves to entertain and get laughs. Evan was way too embarrassed to pose for his picture.

Summer 2011

Here's a somewhat recent picture of our family. The boys are getting more excited about a sister, and with a steady trickle of pink infiltrating our ranks, her arrival is becoming a reality!

One of our favorite family activities this summer has been shelling black-eyed peas. We planted more this year than we have in the past, and have enjoyed eating them and stocking the freezer with them to enjoy all year! For anyone who has never had fresh black-eyed peas, not canned, not frozen... they are yummy! Evan and Eli both like to help pick them and that's been fun too. Here they are in some matching jammies that Mimi got them... firemen. And Evan loves to match Eli... wonder how long that will last? ;o)

And one from early summer - Falls Creek. Ryan bunked with the guys and I stayed in a room with the boys. We switched off so that both of us could have time with students and the boys. It was a really fun week, even though it was incredibly hot. We work with some really great students and it is always fun to have time away to share with them and allow them to see how our family works, or tries to work! ;o)

Miss Steward

We found out yesterday that we are expecting a baby girl! We are excited and nervous a little about raising a girl. We are blessed to welcome a daughter into our family and pray we will have the wisdom to raise her in a godly way. Evan is excited about a sister and has always told us since the day he knew I was pregnant that it would be a girl. He was right! If Eli understands, he isn't able to communicate how he feels, but I'm sure will have an opinion by the time she arrives!

Softball lesson

In addition to golfing, there has also been a lot of softball playing going on. Ryan plays in a league (or two) with our church and the boys LOVE to go watch their dad, play in the dirt, and cheer for the team. I like to go and enjoy a snowcone! ;o)

So here is Evan learning to play softball. In the background are my Mother's Day gifts this year, two new raised beds for more garden space!

Keeping his eye on the ball.... he hit several that day!

In the background here is our playset that the wind about got the best of. It's holding for now.

Golf Lesson

Evan got his first set of golf clubs for his birthday and has had fun "playing" and hauling his bag around in his truck. Papa gave Evan his first official golf lesson and Evan loved it. Also into golf is Eli. Evan gave him a plastic golf ball one day and that child held on to it the better part of a week - ate meals with it in his hand, took a bath with it, went to bed with it... multiple days in a row. Funny kid!

New camera

So we broke down and bought our first dSLR camera, and although I am still a little intimidated by it, just the simple shot takes a much better and faster picture than our old camera. I've had fun taking pictures again, knowing that my kids will actually be in them now.

Seriously, what spurred this shopping spree was me trying to get a picture of Eli when he was 11 months old. I took about 20 pictures. He was in maybe 4 of them and NONE of them were even decent. Not the case anymore! Here are some of my favorites so far:

May be TMI, but the honest truth about why is wearing only overalls... he had pooped or thrown up on every shirt that fit him in the last 2 days!

Evan is such a hard worker/diligent "player". He gets so into whatever he's doing. Cracks me up how serious he can be sometimes. Wonder where he got that? :o)

Crawling and Chores

Guess what?! Eli is now officially rolling, crawling, and pulling up... and all in about the span of a couple weeks. We really were concerned about him because he didn't do any of the above until he was 10 months old. However, I'm not totally shocked because Evan literally dances circles around him, gives him toys, and talks for him. Poor kid hasn't had much of a chance to need to do anything for himself. But I'm proud he's finally coming along!

Evan is now making his bed with very little assistance from me. This is a great thing for me, and he's proud that he can do it all by himself! Love it.

He's also putting away all his own laundry! I moved all his clothes to the bottom drawers where he could reach them and he does a great job putting all the items where they should go. Good job, buddy! (He's only 2!)

Love this manufactured smile! So pretty! ;o)

Eli 9 months

I am so inconsistent about blogging... my apologies. I love reading other blogs, but rarely feel inspired to post something of my own. I did have some pictures taken of Eli recently since he is 9 months old now and so I thought I would share. He is the sweetest thing! So content and gentle, he loves to snuggle. So far, he's not been motivated enough to crawl but has a pretty impressive reach.

Evan is so fun these days and into his stuffed animal "friends". He takes care of them and loves to include them in whatever we are doing. He's a great big brother to Eli.

Perfectly Imperfect

At the risk of being a Debbie Downer, I am posting this anyway. I just need an outlet to say what I am feeling, and then move on. When reading various blogs and facebook posts, I sometimes get the impression that a lot of people live in this perfectly perfect world where every day is romantic and relaxing. Nothing is ever sad or wrong. They are the perfect person, with their perfect spouse and perfect kids.

There are some bright moments in my days, but most of the time, I struggle. I mess up, do and say the wrong things, disappoint people, miss opportunities, fail. Stumbling through the days with great intentions and ideas, and everyday, falling short.

I could stop here and proceed to throw myself a pity party for how pathetic I am, but I won't. There is something more to life than just living in blissful satisfaction, being the perfect wife, mom, cook, and housekeeper. This world is not my home. I am not satisfied, and don't think I will have a perfect moment until the day I am taken on to live with Jesus forever in a sinless place. In the meantime, will I try to do better? Sure. I want every day to walk worthy of my calling, to please Christ, to be a blessing to my family, to be a good manager of the things I've been entrusted with. It's comforting to remember that often God uses the weak and the foolish. I am hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed.

'But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." - 2 Corinthians 4:7

Our little wheezer

This past week we became the proud new owners of a nebulizer, after Evan had his most recent episode of uncontrolled wheezing for over 24 hours. To look at him, you would have no idea how tight his little lungs actually were. The doctor was more concerned than I had expected. She is great though and I have so appreciated how aggressively she treated him. Poor kid has an ICU nurse for a mom that waits until he's really bad to treat him. I really did not realize how tight he was. So we are on a slew of medication this week and then hopefully down to just one and breathing treatments as needed.

Here are Ryan and Evan shelling peas to pass the time. Daddy has to wear his mask too! Evan has been such a trooper about it all and has quickly become accustomed to his new turtle mask and smoke medicine.