KellyStewart.org

Before Christmas, Bradley was a wiseman in his MDO’s program.  He did so well….the last time he was on stage, he showed the church his belly and wore sunglasses the entire time.

He, of course, was adorable with his costume and gift for baby Jesus.  When we asked him what his present was for baby Jesus, he told us…”a box.”

So cute!

Bringing his gifts…

This is his good buddy, Jonah in the blue.  They are quite the pair together…I can’t wait to see the trouble, great things they do for the Lord!

He looks so much like Emery here..

Starting to get bored…

Still a little bored…

Precious…

My prayer is that Bradley will always seek to Worship the King and bring to Jesus all that He has!

Welcome to our Home…

I love decorating and I will admit, this 70′s rancher has stretched me!

This year, we are at the tail end of a six month addition to our home and I honestly, did not go ALL OUT, like I normally do!

We are just too worn out!!

But, the result is going to be worth it…at leas it better be!

This is my third year to do the tour, but the first time in this home, and it has been a blast!  So, here we go!

Here is our entrance…I love my door bucket…

We used traditional wreaths for our windows… I am definitely stocking up after Christmas to do the entire house.

And, I was super excited about putting a wreath with colored lights, on our little red barn! If you have been following our addition,

you will notice my beautiful, completely paved driveway…more to come….we can’t wait to get the b-ball hoop up!

Next up is our fancy tree…it is mostly red and silver with a lot of fruffy, sticks and poofy things sticking out! I love it…it is a little over the top, but it works!

This has been my office, but by next Christmas, it will be our dining room….more excited than I can say to get our dining room back!

Nighttime…

My topper…it looks different each year, but I am pleased with how it turned out…

Here is the breakfast room. Since we eat here everyday, I didn’t want to make the table complicated…

Some glass, some red, some beads, some candles….decoration done!

My fur trees..they normally go on the dining room table, but they worked well on the hutch…

My apothecary jar and Dollar Tree star….

One of my most favorite decorations and the reason we celebrate the season…

Our playroom has our funky, kids tree. I use pink, green, orange, blue and purple ornaments and ribbon.

I adore this tree more each year. It has a nine foot tree since our old house had vaulted ceilings, but it works!

We are finishing the reno in this room after Christmas…color recommendations??

all lit up at night…

love monogrammed ornaments…

The grosgrain adds a lot of fun to the tree..

In phase 2 of our reno, we are going to add a fireplace and mantle, but for now, the picture ledge will have to do. I really miss

our mantle and fireplace at Christmas, especially, but one day…

I used white canvases and threw some ribbon on it…easy.

This is an ebony,  hand carved nativity, we got on our trip this past February to Africa.

I love it…(Baby Jesus has parts, which makes me laugh…had to throw that in..)

Here are a few of my favorites, some Parker and Emery have made, which makes them more precious!

They are a true reminder to focus on the birth of Jesus and celebrate His love for us!

Thank you so much for taking time to visit our home. I pray that Christ becomes more real to you this year and that you rejoice

at the miracle of His birth!

Blessings from our home to yours…

Kelly

I am all for starting Christmas shopping early and this year, I really want to put some thought into what I am buying, as well as stay in budget.

So, when I saw that Just a Girl was hosting a “I Can Make That” party, I decided to check it out and I am already loving some of the ideas.

Then, I remembered this precious little craft and decided to join in.

I absolutely adore these little homemade nativities that Emery made a few years back.

They were so cute, we made them for all the grandparents.

Not only are they cute, they will the “ahhh” award on Christmas, which is really what we are going for, right?

Materials:

2 small terra cotta pots (the smallest one)

1 small terra cotta saucer

wooden round balls

raffia

yarn

scrap material

glue gun

First, have your sweet kiddos paint the pots or the “bodies” and the “manger” or the saucer! Next draw faces on your “heads” or wooden balls.

Next, cut out material in a half circle pattern to fit around the head. Just play with it until it looks like the right size.

Next, use your glue gun to attach the fabric to the “heads.”

Baby Jesus is a little more complex….not really.  Fold fabric until it looks like swaddling, leaving an opening at the top, and glue to keep it from unraveling.

Next, glue baby Jesus’ head in the center of the opening.

Next, glue raffia to the saucer and once dried, glue baby Jesus to the saucer.

To finish up, glue yarn around Joseph’s fabric!

This is such a sweet gift and one that reminds us the true reason we celebrate Christmas!

Blessings!

I for one can not believe that Christmas is here in a week. I love this time of year and yet it always goes by so quickly. My kids are all now out of school! Hopefully, this next week will be full of fun, celebration, relaxing and enjoying many fun Christmas traditions.

One thing we have been doing is reading a devotional by John Farrar, called Looking Forward the the Nativity. I have loved looking through the Old Testament at the prophecy of the coming Messiah! This is a short devotional, great for families with younger children or older ones as well.
I know that this is something we will continue to do.

We have also decorated our home. I will try to post some pictures later, even though I am so late to the tour of homes. It is really different this year, being in a new home. We have poured so much energy into getting the house livable, and still have a lot to do, that I didn’t do a lot of decorating! I also, do not have a fireplace or mantle, so that cuts out quite a bit! It has been quite freeing! We still have 2 trees up, the kids have one, and several Nativities and things, but does not look like my home threw up Christmas!

We have been to several programs, parties and get togethers, as well. I am looking forward to finishing up some last minute gifts and wrapping this weekend. Just like everyone else, I am sure!

I love this time of year….

Hey Peeps,

As you are planning your Christmas list, think about sponsoring a child for Christmas.

I have a cool little widget on the side to link straight to compassion, so it is super easy.

Jason gave me the gift of sponsoring a child 12 years ago and we still support Marta, who is about to turn 18!!

We also sponsored her, in our very lean years of early marriage, so it is possible!

It is such a blessing.

And do we really need another magazine subscription or sweater?

We have finally finished our rounds of Christmas gatherings and it has been wonderful. I have enjoyed being with our family this year and it has been so nice to be in our home. I have savored this Christmas much more than those in the past and I think it has a lot to do with not traveling! In our family, each year is different due to schedules, so we will see what next year holds.

I am looking forward to beginning 2008. I am not excited about the crowd at the Y! Last year, it was crazy! All those new year resolutions which seem to fade by mid February, make for a crowded workout.

The Lord has blessed us so much and I never want to forget to give thanks for all He has done in my life. My life is His to use and I am praying that in this next year, I look for more opportunities to make His Name Great. He deserves all this broken vessel has to give!

May God reveal more of Himself to you as you live out each day in 2008!

We have had a fabulous Christmas week at our house!

We celebrated with Jason’s dad and his wife on Sunday afternoon. The kids had a blast with Grandad and Beth. Bradley got a tball set and about took out a few decorations with it. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to open it inside! Parker got the telescope she has been asking for and Emery got her favorite- High School Musical dvds. It was great. We actually purchased our very first Honey Baked Ham. We fell like we have marked adulthood since we have always had one at Christmas, but never had to actually purchase it! We love living off of others honey baked ham!

Sunday night, we spent with my parents and sister and her family. It was fun. We have 5 kids between us- 9 and under! Let’s just say there were a lot of presents in one room! We also had the token “lost” aka “misplaced gifts.” Don’t worry, we have found them since, but it is somewhat of a family tradition to hear my mom say, “I know there is something else…”
I am following in her footsteps since I also lost Jason’s collection of Chronicles of Narnia that I bought him last year, only to find it last month! I got this great Vera Bradley purse from Kim and lots of clothes from Mom and Dad. Good times!

Christmas Eve, we celebrated with our church family and my parents and Kim’s with a candlelight communion service. It was great. I did have to exit with Bradley and the concourse was packed with the 2 and under crowd! It was somewhat comical! Jason and I watched “White Christmas” which is a family tradition while we put together toys for our kids. We give them 3 gifts on Christmas morning, which are sitting out. Parker and Emery got the Rose Petal Cottage and Bradley got a Little Tykes golf set. They got a few more things, as well!

Christmas morning, the kids came down to see their loot and were so excited! I made some breakfast and after we ate, we opened our wrapped presents. I got Jason a private lesson at the indoor shooting range! We have driven by several times, but not actually owning a thing that shoots out a something that could hurt someone (think google won’t catch on??), we didn’t ever go in! We think it will be fun! He got me some fabulous gifts this year.
If you are a blogger, which most of you are, you have to check out blurb.
They will import your blog, pictures and all, and you can have it bound into a book. He got me a hardback edition of my blog! The pressure to scrapbook is gone! I now have so many memories from the last 18 months preserved in a hardbound book!! Yeah! It has been fun to sit down and read it! So, go now and have a tangible piece of history to give your kids when they are old and you are too! It is really affordable as well!
He also gave me these great silver hoop earrings from James Avery.

For the whole day, we relaxed, opened and played with some toys, watched a movie with the kids and then after they went to bed, watched Ocean’s Thirteen.
I hope we created some new memories and traditions with the kids this year. Christmas morning, Parker got her read to me Bible and asked if we could read the birth of Jesus from it before we opened presents. Ahhh!

Christmas is not done for us, yet! We are celebrating tomorrow with Jason’s mom, her husband, his brother, Papaw and aunt and uncle! We have had so much fun and it keeps going!

On another note, many of you know that Jason injured his leg the Thursday before Christmas playing basketball and his been in a walking boot. We found out today that he has torn his Achilles and will be having surgery soon. We will keep you posted!

Last Saturday ( I am staying up to date on my blogging, HUH?) Jason and I took the girls to the Promise Land- Neyland Stadium, home of the VOLS! I absolutely love Knoxville in the fall and a lot of it has to do with the 110,000 people who come with one goal in mind, to cheer on their team. We got to pass on the tradition last week, by taking the girls to see the game for their first time. I have great memories of going as a child and it was so fun to share it with my offspring!

Here is a sample of our day!

This is Logan, one of our former students, dressed as Smokey! Pretty obvious how Emery feels about him!

This is the VOL Walk where the players walk to the stadium.

We met up with some friends! Ruth and her family were there and we hung out
even though, they are Arkansas fans! We also ran into some many other friends from home!

Love this picture of Emery and Maddie

The family outside of the Stadium!
The Pride of the Southland in T formation and the players running through it!
The best college band in the nation!

On another note, we had a great night at church on Wednesday. We had a packing party for Operation Christmas Child, which is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse. We filled shoeboxes with toys, soap, a lovey and lots of candy. It is such a great way to share, with children of the world, the joy of CHristmas! Emery sang with her class and I remember to dress her appropriately this time! She was amazing!

Love those dimples!

Chaos set in quickly!Some of her crew!

Have a great weekend!

I just thought trying to get two children to look at the camera was hard! Three was a true test of my patience and sweet voice! Bradley is not crawling at 9 months, but he is a scooting man, so he kept scooting toward me and the camera. In his defense, it was bedtime and he was ready for his bottle. Hope you enjoy!
This was the first picture of about 20 that I took!