Stewart Christmas Party

The annual Stewart Christmas party was low-stress, no-mess, and super fun. How is that might you ask?! The surprising answer is Chuck-a-Rama! Sweet Grandma Nana Stewart reserved a private room for us all to come and eat what we may. I know the little ones (meaning James) loved the all-you-can-eat style, especially when it came to the dessert selections. I sure love my sweet grandparents and all that they do and give to us. They truly are the greatest!

After lunch we got to go back to Grandma's for a relaxing visit with cousins. And of course, Grandma Nana out-did herself with the thoughtful abundance of gifts to everyone. Lily was ecstatic when she opened her very own pink wiggle car!

We are so blessed to have such an amazing family. I feel each year I realize more and more just how much sweet Grandma and Grandpa Stewart do for their family. I hope to be as charitable to my family as they have been to us.

Six years and counting

My sweeet husband knows just how to make me happy... Through yummy yummy food! For our anniversary, Paul took me to my newest favorite restaurant Fleming's. It has been an amazing six years and I'm looking forward to all the many more to come!

ridin' around

This winter was really calm and kinda not normal! There were lots of warm December days for Lily to go play outside. It made for terrible snowman-making days but at least she had her bike to ride around on :)

After the shot above we weren't sure what what kind of face we'd find. I was thinking one with little tears welling up in her eyes. But to our surprise...

a giant Lily grin!!

Long Awaited - MOVIE NIGHT

A couple of weeks ago Paul and I were SOO excited to take Lily to the movies. Tangled had just come to the dollar theatre - so we packed some goodies in our bag and set off. When we got to the theatre, it was INSANELY crowded. The line curved around the block! But we were determined to try it anyways. When we finally reached the ticket office, there were only 12 seats left in the whole theatre. They told us we wouldn't have a chance of sitting together...BUMMER! I felt really bad for all of the little girls who were standing in line behind us, at least Lily didn't know the difference. So, we went to Red Box and had movie night with Lils at home.

So FINALLY - we found a night to try again. Only I was going to make a whole night of it and go to dinner before! YUM...Tasty's...

After a scrumptious sandwich, fries, and of course DONUT, we were off to the movies! Surprisingly, the theatre was still pretty packed, even though it was a Wednesday night. But we were still able to get good seats. I got 3 boosters so that Lily could see over everyone, Paul got the popcorn and we were set!

Lily loves your "popoos" with a good movie. She ate the whole bag all by herself!! Success! Lily loved the movie - especially when the princess with the pretty long, glowing hair sang. Gotta love those dollar theaters.

Attempted Potty Training....Failed!

Baby Stewart is due to arrive in just 10 weeks. The thought of changing two sets of bums, however cute they are, is not overly appealing to me. I knew I had to start the potty training immediately if we were to avoid the crazy expenses of two diaper sizes. I had heard about this amazing 3 day crash course. I looked into it:

1) Mom needs to be ready - 3 days full of frustration and cleaning pee trails all over the house

2) Child needs to be ready - Lily is a smart girl, she can handle it

3) Don't leave your house for 3 straight days - that already seems to be life some days.

Seems simple enough! So Lily and I set off to Target to buy all supplies for our 3 days of fun. I made sure that we had food and ingredients for all meals. We bought big girl panties, night-time panties (pull-ups), a 20 pack of Capri Suns, chocolate milk, potty treats and prizes. Expensive - but we were set and I figured if we didn't have to buy another gigantic box of Costco diapers, anything was worth it!

Day 1 begins - Lily is all ready in her big girl panties. Blankets are set out covering the floor to catch any and all stray pee. 5 sippy cups are full and ready with a variety of drinks. A box of treats and prizes are out to tempt her to use the potty and we have a big selection of movies, books, and toys for the big day.

2 1/2 hours into our day - things weren't going so well! We were already on our third pair of panties. Not an ounce of pee had made it into the potty, no treats or prizes were taken out of the box, and I was seeing no light at the end of this tunnel! So we decided to go naked so the second she started peeing, we would make a run for the bathroom. Still drinking plenty of apple juice and milk!

3 hours in and we are calling it quits!! So much for Days 2 and 3. Although my child is incredible smart - she is not even close to getting the potty thing. The whole "holding" thing is not working out for her. She just constantly trickles pee and just lets it go when it comes when it wants. So our 3 day potty training turned into a 3 hour disaster but I still love my little Lily!! So bring on the two little diaper bums...