Happy Birthday Brian!!

Today Brian turns *gulp* 29!

I think it must've been the warmest it's ever been on his birthday this year. Brian and Gerrit wore shorts all day... absolutely crazy. We had family over for lunch to celebrate. And for dessert we had a pumpkin cheesecake... I just love making dessert!

Happy birthday my sweet!

Our Christmas

Monday

the week in a nutshell

So it's been a pretty busy week.

Last Friday was the Stewart Christmas Party. It was at L&N Wine Bar and was super fun. I think Rachel and I were the only ones not wearing a pant suit... I don't know what it is about pant suits lately, they're just funny.
Gerrit and Amparo spent the night at Nellie and Bobby's. On Saturday Gerrit made a craft with his aunt Nellie... a paper wreath, using Gerrit's hands as a stencil. It's very cute and is currently residing on our refrigerator. And Gerrit is so proud.
Saturday night, Britton and Kristin watched the kids while Brian and I got to grab a bite to eat at Cafe LuLu's. I had the potato pizza (oh my goodness, so good! even the next day) and Brian had the hummus (well, we shared both).
















Monday we headed over to Erin's house for a sugar cookie baking extravaganza. And it was!















We finshed our baking on Tuesday night and met up at the store for some more supplies on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon I took a loooong nap. Who knew baking could be so exhausting.

Emmy shared her "blanket" with a one very tired miss Amparo.















Thursday the kids went to Brian's parents. Of course they went to the Ark (Gerrit requests it often) and of course Gerrit attached himself to one of the other mothers. I went to my dad's to help get ready for Christmas. Oh, and we took the Volvo to get worked on in the morning and then picked it up in the evening. And when we got home we decorated those Christmas cookies.

















Today Gerrit helped me make some hot chocolate mix...





















Other news this week...
Amparo no longer takes an afternoon nap. She hasn't all week. She's a big girl now. And Gerrit turning into a big boy too. He climbed in to bed with me one morning and pulled the covers on himself... such a big boy thing to do. He says things like "just one" and "for just a minute" now.
Oh, and the weather has been pretty crazy... from sleet to warm temps, I think we've had it all this week.
Whenever Amparo hears a dog bark, she gets super excited and barks back.
Have I said how much I love this time of year? I Love it all, but boy do I LOVE getting the Christmas cards. I look forward to seeing the mailman for most of December. Christmas cards make me happy.

Little Sickly

Amparo, Gerrit, and I have been sick for the past 5 or 6 days now, congestion, cough and all that fun stuff. Well 2 days ago Amparo got a fever. We took her in for a chest x-ray yesterday, no pneumonia. She has been so lethargic, sleeping most of yesterday, and unable sit up on her own. Today she's doing a lot better. She's playing some and eating and drinking. To help bring down her fever and to get liquids in her, I gave her a popcicle for lunch (she had that and toast... much better than yesterday).

Then Gerrit wanted one too...

After he was finished with his, he helped Amparo...

Christmas Fun

Today we took photos for our Christmas card...

Amparo

Today someone was asking what Amparo's name is and I told them then started to spell it. All I got out was A-M-P and then he finished, A-R-O. Well, I was pretty shocked. He said he had known an Amparo and, being a fairly small town, I thought maybe he had met my mom before. Then he said a cardiac surgeon out in California was named Amparo. That's something you don't hear everyday...

Surprise Party

Today Gerrit went over to his grandparents and Brian, Amparo, and I went to Mrs. Atkins surprise birthday party. And I think she was surprised (hopefully she'll get that lasagna she was expecting on the 3rd). It's was fun to see the Atkins family again. We've known them for 22 years and they moved on Whitehall 19/ 20 years ago (they've since moved... and we miss them being right across the street, but they're still close). I was in the 3rd grade and Megan was just a baby... My dad and Mrs. Atkins used to take turns carpooling the kids. My dad recently told me that he loved listening to our gradeschool conversations. I guess that's why he was so quite in the front seat... he was just listening. Goodness knows what absolutely important things we were talking about. I just can't believe we're all grown up now, but here we are...

Of course everyone wanted to know where Gerrit was, but it was nice to be able to sit and have a converstation without worring what trouble he might be getting in to.

Meanwhile, at nana's, Gerrit went to Sunday School at Southeast. He had a good time playing with the other kids. He even brought home a craft...

Thanksgiving Part 2

I finished the tree this morning and I plugged it in to see all it's glory and you know what Gerrit said... he said, "ooooh, pretty". That made stringing up all those lights and hanging those ornaments all worth it.

At about 2, Dawn picked me up and we headed over to my dad's house. Nellie soon followed. Thanksgivings are so different for me now than they used to be... they're so much more work. I used watch the parade or some Christmas movies on tv while my mom cooked in the kitchen. I did have vacuum duty, but really, let's face it, that is a pretty light job. I never realized all the hard work my mom did to put together such a beautiful and tasty Thanksgiving dinner. And you know, there was only one of her... there's 3 of us. Well, we did it! Oh I just have to put a recipe up here for the stuffing we made. So VERY yummy...

Oh, and as it runs out, my dad and Gerrit were wearing matching shirts... completely by accident.

Thanksgiving Part 1

Well a lot happened today. It's Thanksgiving, so that alone makes it a pretty big day...

This morning I decided to give Amparo a little trim. It was her first one. (Gerrit didn't get his hair cut until he was 18 months). I just cut a little off the back, but I think it makes a difference. Just don't look too closely, I failed cutting with scissors when I was in kindergarten.


Today was Thanksgiving with the Brooks'. We had a good time seeing Kate.... it seems like it's been so long. At this time next year, we'll have another little one added to the bunch. (nope, not from me... Kate's going to be the big sister this time). Don Juan Gerrit strikes again. He set his sites on Karen today and poor her... Gerrit wanted to sit in her lap and be held. He was definitly giving her the lovey eyes.




































































When we got back home, Gerrit and I put up the tree. And that's as far as we got... maybe we'll get to all that other stuff on Saturday.

and another one comes...

Amparo is getting her third tooth (I don't know, when do you stop counting?). It's on top this time. She makes this funny little face now... I think she's rubbing her top and bottom teeth together.

I found a little book where my mom had written down my height and weight when I was little. At 12 months, I was 2 inches shorter and 2.5 pounds heavier than Amparo. So I was a short chublet...

Another good find... my mom wrote a letter to me in 1992. Just a really nice thoughtful sweet letter and I found it and I'm glad I did.

Oh something else, just so much to tell, Amparo brushes her own hair. She's been doing this for a few weeks now, but I keep forgetting to blog about it.

Gerrit LOVES to roar like a lion. And the lions live in Clayton and Emmy and nana and uncle Britton's basements. ROAR

Amen, doctor

Today as soon as church started (believe it or not, we were on time today) Gerrit said, "Amen, go?". I told him that he was on vacation, but somehow he got it in his head that he went to the doctor's. Oh, I should mention that Amen is aka Pastor. So every once in a while he would say Amen doctor and I would explain the whole vacation thing. Gerrit was very concerned.

Open House

We went over to the Shannon's tonight. They had some people over for an open house.Gerrit was talking about seeing Sam and Nolan the whole drive over (and it's a pretty long drive), he was so excited. But when we got there, I think he barely noticed them... he was much more interested in Rachel.

12 Months

Amparo had her 12 month checkup.
Height 29 inches (50%)
Weight 17 lbs (5%)
Head 45 1/4 cm (50%)

Gerrit made Jell-O jigglers at nana's house.

Friends

While I had a photoshoot this morning, Erin watched Amparo and Gerrit. I just love seeing Emmy and Gerrit play together. You know, they have known each other forever. Gerrit first met Emmy in hospital, I think it was 2 days, after she was born. I still remember when Erin and I would sit them on the floor and they would just stare at each other. And now here they are, actively playing. It's pretty great. And they're about the same size, which is little, so it's awfully cute to watch them walk aound together. Oh, and when they're holding hands, forget about it... it's the cutest thing ever.

*Photo taken by Erin

When Brian came home from work, we all headed to the airport to meet our friends. They brought their little girl home from China. It was so great to see all the people that came out to support them. I'm sure after such a long flight and you know, the whole parenthood thing, they were exhausted... but I think they talked to everyone (and trust me, there were a ton of people there) and just seemed so happy and, oh it was good.

On our way home we decided to go for McDonalds... we were hungry and it was getting late. Gerrit got a kids chicken mcnugget meal, and this is where this story gets really good... they had the old cardboard mcdonalds happy meal boxes!! I was super excited. Oh the nostaligia was overwhelming...

Hugs

The mall closed right after Storytime today. The power was out... something about Old Navy and a generator. But while we were still there talking to Miss Debbie, Amparo gave Emmy the sweetest hug. She just reach her little arms out and put them around Emmy's neck and laid her head on her shoulders. It was just the sweetest thing... she really does love her. And the look on Amparo's face said just that...

We went to "Emmy's new house", as I think it will forever be referred to by Gerrit. We played for a bit then we all headed over to Puccini's for some pizza and calzones.

Haircuts

Today I went to the salon and Gerrit and Amparo got to hang out with nana and grandpa. The salon was having a haircutting seminar for their stylists so I had my hair colored and cut in front of the "class". I've seen the teachers ontv before, but I'm not sure what show I've seen them on. I let them do whatever they wanted, so neeless to say, my haircut is a little edgy (atleast for me anyway). I was there from 8 am till 1. It was a long day, but fun.
Amparo did great over at nana's. What a relief! They went to the ark and played for a bit. Amparo liked to watch the kids play and when nana told Gerrit it was time to go home, he climbed into the lego box. I guess he didn't want to leave.

Happy Birthday Amparo!

I can't believe she's one already.
We started the day with Brian-made pancakes (minus the egg and cow's milk, of course). We went to church then headed home to get ready for the party. The kids took a GREAT long nap so we were able to get a lot done.
Amparo enjoyed her eggless, milkless cupcakes and she got a bunch of very cute gifts, some much needed clothes.
She liked her birthday. And Gerrit did too, he helped make the cupcakes.
You can see more party photos here