When we moved, you may recall that we inherited a garden that mostly had already ripened, but we did enjoy some tomatoes for  a while!  My dad asked if he could plant a garden this Spring, and I said, YOU  BET!  We are not the best of vegetable eaters, I will admit, so maybe easy access will make it easier!  I made the comment that we should plant an organic garden to Jason, to which he responds, “How much more organic does it get- it’s in your backyard.”  You can see we are as far from granola as they come, but hey, baby steps!

Last week, we finally had a clear, sunny day, to plant the garden, so Dad and the kiddos went to work.

Poppy telling them about planting.  Check out Emery’s winter gloves to work in.

Showing them how to cover it up…

Making rows.  Those are our tomato plants.

We ended up planting squash, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon, canteloupe, radishes, ocra and the tomatoes.

Bro and Sister

I will be curious to see how this all comes out due to the experience of our farm workers….

Grow little plant, Grow…

Our neighbors, who also go to church with us, gave us their trampoline!  Their kids are much older and don’t use it anymore!  See, Recylcling at its best!

My 100 pound lab, Knox, even got in on the fun!

There you have it, the Stew family’s version of going green!

Here  are some pictures from Emery’s Birthday trip to Atlanta!  We had a great time, but she is totally complaining of wanting a birthday party!  Sorry sister, not gonna happen! Due to scheduling, we went before the birthday, which is Saturday, but we will have a few things up our sleeves!

We went to see the Hannah Montana movie.  It was actually pretty good.  I loved the booster seats for the girls!

Picking out what they want before going tooo……

the American Girl Boutique and Bistro!!!!

We spent a good hour and a half in this place!

Emery did so good.  She was decisive and knew what she wanted.  Parker on the other hand…

not so much!

She decided to get her doll’s hair done and her ears pierced. I let her decide because she

was spending her allotted amount of money!

It turned out cute and she has kept it fixed since then!

Parker decided to have her doll’s hair done, as well.  This is when I learned that she had cut her dolls hair in the past!

When the hair stylist informed me that it had been cut, I defended my oldest child and said, “No, we must have bought it that way!”  Then, I looked at Parker’s face and

she was sooo busted!

Emery and Nana doing a little shopping.  Emery still loves her Bitty Baby and chose some really

cute things for her baby.

Morgan is getting so old.  She does such a great job with her younger cousins!

We took a break before going to eat and went and rode the carousel.

We had a good time eating at the Bistro!  They had their dolls right beside them and were

surrounded by pink. Who could ask for anything more?

The one picture I got with the girls the whole weekend.

We even celebrated with a cake!

The trip had its moments of insanity, but I loved it, and more importantly, I think the girls did, as well.  I can’t wait to take many more girly weekends with this crew as they grow up!

I am officially returning to the land of blogging. I have been so inconsistent lately.  Writing my Africa posts took a lot of time and mental thought for me, so I took my sweet time doing it!  I have hardly posted anything about the family, so I am ready to get back to my fluff writing as opposed to my, in your face, go on a mission trip, share the Word, poverty stinks writing.

We have been busy, of course! The girls had two weeks of Spring Break, which was fun, tiring, and relaxing all rolled into one.  We were able to go see the grandparents in Kville and then went with our peeps, the Hales, to Chattanooga for  a couple of days.  We went to the Children’s Museum, an arcade, Coolidge Park, the Walking Bridge and swam in the indoor pool at our hotel.  It was so funny when we walked in, Parker asked, “Is this it?”  Yes, darling daughter, a one room hotel room is it for your one night away.  She is used to going to the beach and staying in a condo!  Funny.

I did have to jump in the pool with my clothes on (all my clothes, not just a bathing suit clothes) (I am not saying I swim in public places without clothes on normally) to save my daredevil son.  We were at the pool and we had taken his swimmies off (stupid parents) and he was in the hot tub with Jason and Nathaniel.  He, of course, hops on out and hops on into the pool.  I don’t normally freak out in these situations, but after the second drop, come up, gasp for air, I figured I should help the kid out.  Jason was on the other side of the pool, on his way in, but what can I say, I took one for the team and got soaked.  Swimming lessons are on the list for Bradley’s summer activities.

We have also started soccer! Parker is back with her pals, Evan and Peyton for another season.  We also have added Morgan, whom we know from church, to round it out!  Fun times.

Emery decided to give it another go.  She is also taking dance and we are normally a one activity at a time family, but we made an exception, because we so love sports.  We will see how she holds out!

Today the girls both had games and I would have pictures, but I am still not happy about the theft of our amazing camera and I am protesting by not using one at all.  Maturity is my middle name, in case you were wondering!  They both did really well and mixed it up!  They also both scored and played hard, so it was a great day for the Stew girls on the soccer field!  They are both on good teams, so it should bring up their game.  Bradley, of course was filthier than the girls were by the time we left the park.  He is such a boy….. and I love it.

We rounded out the day by going to sister’s house to celebrate Morgan’s birthday.  She is my niece and she turned a whopping 11.  I can’t believe how old she is getting.  She is a beautiful, fun, kind big cousin.  She does a great job of loving on Parker, Emery and Bradley.  I am so proud of her and the young lady she is growing in to.  She is a blessing and I am excited to see how God uses her for His Glory.

So, there is our life, in a brief synopsis.  Kids, school, church, soccer, dance……..

I can’t believe that I just wrote that.

He has been such a huge blessing, joy and completion to our family.

I remember so much about the day he was born, the nine months before that, the devestation of a miscarriage before that, and always the hope and prayer that God would give us a healthy baby.

We are so glad He gave us you, Bradley!

In this past year, you have continued to capture our hearts. You are all boy and everything you do is with energy and motion!  You love cars, trains, and any kind of ball.  You love to be outside and can often be found playing golf or shooting hoops!  You are full force and do not do things half hearted.  You love to wrestle with your daddy and the sisters when they will indulge you.  You refuse to go #2 in the potty.  This has shown your extreme stubborn side.  You are strong willed when you  have made your mind up about something.  You are a talker, as well. You talk all the time, in a deep voice, in a way that will probably require speech therapy!  But, I love it.  You can’t say your r’s or your l’s and it makes me melt.  You LOVE your mommy.  You give great hugs and sweet kisses.  You especially like to pray and always thank God for mommy and daddy.  I am so glad God ordained you to be in our famliy.

We celebrated Friday with my family since they were going out of town.  We also threw in a few friends and called it a birthday party!

I decided on a golf theme because recently, he has been a tad bit OBSESSED. He kept telling us he wanted blue golf clubs and white balls.

We found him a golf bag that is blue, since he really doesn’t need new clubs to replace his mini Nike clubs!

Here are some pictures:

The table setting..

My centerpiece- golf balls, tees and some shredded green filler! Bradley wanted his yellow practice balls thrown in, as well!

Trying out his new bike

Green and brown cake- I went for cute!

Checking out the candles, which were golf balls on tees!

His groupies....

Today, we went bowling!  Jason even dropped in at lunch!  He also had a few friends come and hang out with him to bowl a round!

He had to carry his own 9 lb ball..

Bowling was a big hit for the 3 year old boys! Bradley, Mason and Jonah were all about rolling the ball down the ramp!

Hanging with his Dad

He's a natural...

Quick picture of Jason and I with Bman.

Happy Birthday, Son!  I pray that you will be a lion chaser who leads this next generation to love God and serve others.  I pray that you will be bold in your love for Him and have a heart for the nations.  I am praying that you will reek of integrity, character and loyalty.  I am praying you will be a man who leads leaders, your family and those around you to a deeper walk with Christ. Love you Bradley!

Well we did it!

We had our first official Stew Family Night tonight!

Emery wanted to play Uno, so we went with a colors theme!

I decided to have pancakes with fruit for dinner and mixed it up a little by having green pancakes!
We had strawberries, scrambled eggs, blueberries and oranges. We also had bacon and sausage but that was just to eat not because it went with our colors theme!

During dinner we each told our favorite color:

Jason-blue
Bradley-red
Kelly-red
Parker- red (really pink, purple and blue but she chose an Uno card color)
Emery-blue

We focused on HONESTY for our virtue and Jason used Psalm 24:3-4 and Matthew 15:18-20. It was appropriate because our girls have a tendency to try and CHEAT at cards. We had to call one of them out a couple of times tonight for trying to sneak in a Draw 4! They may be 5 and 7 but it is on like Donkey Kong when we play a game!

It was a fun night! I am exhausted but so worth the effort. I was praying as I was preparing that God was use these nights to draw them each to Him, to create memories, to teach them about life and to point them a deeper walk with Jesus. One Uno game at a time…

Here is some pics of our night!

Here is our table- Nothing fancy but the kids pitched in and loved it!
Any ideas on painting my kitchen and breakfast area? Should I go with the same color?

We had green pancakes! Parker was at first leary until she realized it tastes the same!

We dressed in Uno colors and somehow the kids all ended up in red!

Love her dimples so much!

We interrupt this family night for an accident! Just when you think you are
almost there, he goes and has an accident! Don’t get me started
on going #2 in the potty- he is seriously afraid to go!

The girls got Hannah Montana Uno cards for Christmas (no we don’t
watch HM, but I thought this was picture worthy!)

Bradley did great! He sat and played the entire time!

Good times…

Read about some cool family nights here..

We headed to Franklin for our annual Halloween get together!
Jason’s aunt and uncle and my sister live in the same neighborhood, so we head their way to go trick or treating! Our costumes were pretty simple this year and can be used again, which is the way I like it!

Morgan was a hippy, Parker a Rock Star, Lily was a Titans player, Emery was a cat,
Lauren was a flapper, Bradley wore his UT basketball jersey and Elizabeth was a Titan, as well!

Emery was not in the mood for pictures!

Parker rocked it!The semi silly shot!

We had a blast being with our family. I am so glad to be close. The funniest thing last night was when Bradley gave crayons back to a lady. He was in it for the candy. He also asked every house where their dog was, even if they did not have one! Too funny!
We also were offered an “excellent merlot” at one house- the adults, not the kids! We didn’t partake, but quite interesting, none the less.

To say that I am back in reality is putting it mildly! I just left the girl’s school, after picking Emery up, with Parker having a complete meltdown because she wanted to go with me. Then, Bradley cried half the way home for Parker. Emery was upset because her take home book from her teacher is way below her “skillz” and she was not happy about it!

So, since Calgon can’t take me away, I am going to settle for some beach pics!

The highlights of the week:

• Date night with Jason- I must say that it is nice to go with family or friends to the beach because you have a built in babysitter. We traded off date nights with the Hales and it worked out well. We ate at Landry’s, which is one of my favorites! It did not disappoint
• Riding the waves. I spent hours riding the waves at Myrtle Beach as a kid, so I have a deep love of doing this and watching my kids starting to learn! The waves at MB are so much better than Orange Beach. So, I spent some time braving the cold water and caught some waves!
• Eating out every night! Such a blessing to not cook.
• Watching the kids play with their friends. The kids were so good this trip. They all played well together. Poor B, got tattled on, continually. It was like having 5 sisters, as opposed to 2. He didn’t stand a chance!
• Being with friends. The Hales have been such great friends to us since we moved here, almost 5 years ago. Our girls have been bff’s since they were 2. We have been in small group with them, watched Nathaniel come on staff at our church, walked through the early years with twins with them, had countless laughs and gone on trips together! We value their friendship and feel very blessed to share life with them. We also got to spend time with the Sullivans. They are a precious young, married couple who celebrated their first anniversary while at the beach! We were amazed that they chose to spend time with us old married people with 6 kids between us! We had a lot of laughs and fun with our friends!
• Sleeing with the door open to the balcony and hearing the waves crash. LOVED IT!
• Having quiet moments with the Lord, early in the morning, listening to His Creation.
• Going to Alligator Adventure with the kids. We saw a lot of alligators and crocodiles. We also saw snakes and “wiserds” as B calls them. Loved being with my family.

Here are a few pictures (we didn’t get any formal shots on the beach this trip because we waited to the last few days and it was cloudy or rainy. Live and learn.)

Fudruckers Stylin Hat!

This is the kids at Alligator Adventure- a reptile zoo. This is what most of our pictures
look like with B!

Group Dinner!
Me, catching a wave!

Putt Putt Extravaganza

Bradley and Reese chasing each other, which they did for hours!

A rare moment!

They found a tunnel and proceeded to inspect it!

Filling up holes with water- hours of entertainment!

Evan, Emery and Parker- catching waves

Recovering from catching waves!
Ryan playing in the sand!

I am a beach person, if you have failed to figure that out from reading my blog. The beach and the ocean have a way of relaxing me, reminding me of the Greatness of our Creator and refocusing my heart, like few other settings can. I love the sand, the waves, the time with family, the time away.

So, are you a beachy person? What place relaxes you?

GP camp ended well, I must say! The kiddos had a great time with Grandad, playing putt-putt, bumper boats, video games and a few kiddie rides. He managed all three kids, all by himself, which is not an easy thing to do! The kids loved it!

Yesterday, we finished our week in Knoxville with a visit to our dear friends, the Swaffords. They are planting a church in Kingston, which is outside of Knoxville. They are living on the lake for now, so the kids had their first chance to tube behind o boat! I had no idea how they would respond, but they climb on without hesitation and had a blast! It is so fun to watch my kids be adventurous and unafraid on new things. I was a daredevil as a kid, but as I got older, I lost some of it! I liked to do adventurous things, but I would not take a chance, very often. I am praying that our kids are unafraid to venture out into the unknown, being willing to follow His lead, wherever it may lead them.
We love time with our friends, and yesterday was an amazing blessing.

We are settling in back at home. Jason has been at camp with our students all week! I love hearing the stories from camp and seeing how God changes lives through an intentional week, set aside to hear from Him. Camp sharing service is always one of the highlights of our year, for me. I was really bummed not to go, but I am realizing that with the 2 year old boy factor, it is harder to leave all three with the grandparents! He is a hand full and requires all of your attention! I was reminded that I have many years ahead of me for camp!

I, like many of you, am in the throes of all kinds of end of the school year craziness!! Our calendar is full, as is my heart.

In a week, I have a first grader and a Kindergartener.

Where did the time go?

This seems to be the question that we moms ask fairly often, for various reasons.

For instance, how is it that church started 5 minutes ago and I am still getting the kids dressed?

Or, when you are packing for a trip and it seems like 10 minutes later, you are packing to come home?

I am not an overly sentimental person. I don’t hold a baby and want another one. I throw any craft that comes home with glitter IN THE TRASH. I take pictures, but most of them are stored on my computer!

But, I feel like God is leading me to stop and just absorb my kids right now. Actually, the Holy Spirit is convicting me to relax and play with the kids. He is urging me to cook with them, do crafts with them, read books and devotionals, have somewhat of a schedule of activities for the summer and just breath. I want them to remember the summers, as a child, with amazing memories. To remember time spent as a family, having fun and being together. For so long, I have been in baby mode, nursing mode, pregnant mode and I am so thankful for this phase of our family. To be where we are, still with young kids, but not planning life around 2 naps!!

I want to do this because I don’t want to hear some cheesy, sappy country music song one day describing how time goes by and missing those young years with your kids and think to myself…that is me. I let time get away from me and there is nothing I can do to get it back.

My plan is to make a list of activities we can do this summer. It will range from picking out a recipe, shopping for it and making it, to going to the zoo. I am going to attempt to have some crafty things planned and some structured learning/reading time. I am also going to have some family guidelines and scripture memorization for each week. I am going to move out of my comfort zone of mommying to actually being more diligent in scheduling certain activities.

So, what are some ways you are going to enjoy your kids this summer.

Finally! Can I just say that I have had the busiest week since returning from NY.
Jason married a sweet couple on Sunday and we had dinner with our dear friends, Chris and Dawn. We had soccer and swim lessons on Monday, same on Tuesday, except no soccer but dinner with a couple from our church, swim lessons and church on Wednesday, Soccer and swim lessons on Thursday and soccer tonight, plus cleaning our garage. So, usually by the end of the day all I have wanted to do is veg on the couch. Therefore, I am only now posting about my little trip to NEW YORK!!

( Aunt Jackie, Haley, Kim, Mom, and Pam)

Our plane left at the crack of dawn, or 7am on Wednesday, so we were at our hotel by noon. We stayed here. We looked out our window from the 41st floor and here is what we saw: Times Square. It was a great location for us, since most of us had never been to New York.

After we ate at Juniors, we went straight to Macy’s, which takes was 7 stories and took up almost a full block! It was overwhelming, to say the least! After Macy’s we headed walked back to our hotel. We went and ate at Carmine’s that night, which is a great family-style Italian restaurant. We walked around Times Square and went to the M&M’s store, which was fun!

Tuesday, My mom, sis, and aunt Jackie went to see:It was so fun. Joan Rivers was a guest that day and she was a hoot! My sister actually got to ask a question for Joan during one segment! We had requested tickets from all the talk shows, but only got tickets for Martha, which was not my first choice, but it ended up being fun! She was very personable after the show and answered a few questions.
After Martha, we walked towards our next stop- lunch at Mesa’s!!! This was a good little walk, so we stopped for some coffee and some shopping. I made a few purchases at H&M. Loved that place! We all had different things to eat at Mesa’s and it was wonderful. I LOVED it.

After that, we walked to the SUBWAY and made our first subway ride to Rockefellar Plaza. That was just fun to see, live in person, instead of on t.v!
We also walked through St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is where the Pope conducted Mass on Saturday morning (and prohibited me from finishing my shopping, by the way). It is gorgeous and very large.
Next, my sis and I went to the American Girl Store. It was 3 stories. 3 Stories. They had a hair salon for the dolls, lots of clothes and books, a theater and even a cafe. We did a little damage here, I must admit. Emery’s birthday is next week and so, I picked up these. We already have the double stroller, so now she will have the twins to go in it! We also picked up several outfits for the girls! It was fun. Kim and I are going to take all the girls to the store in Atlanta this summer, we think.
After that, we went back to the hotel to rest for a few minutes and then went to see our Broadway shows!! Kim and I went to see Mamma Mia, my mom and aunt went to Jersey Boys, and my other aunt and cousin, Haley, went to see Wicked. I had so much fun! Kim and I loved it and afterwards, we all met up at Roxy’s for cheesecake and dinner. We all loved our shows, which is not surprising because it is BROADWAY!!!

(All of Us After our Shows!)

Friday, we all slept in a little and then headed to Little Italy and Chinatown. We took a cab, which was great because we saw more of the city. We ate some pizza at a great little cafe in Little Italy. It was easily the best pizza, ever. It was so relazing and we had the most fabulous weather while we were there. We then ventured into Chinatown and bought some fake purses. I got 2 Gucci’s, wink, wink. I also bought some sunglasses and a Coach sling, wink, wink. I called my dad while I was waiting around in Chinatown and jokingly asked if he wanted a “Rolex” and a man immediately came up to me and asked if I wanted a “Rolex.” Kinda funny!
My poor aunt Jackie was sick in the room, so she missed all the excitement and dead fish on the sidewalk!

We rode the ole subway back and then tried to get the half price tickets for another Broadway show, but they sold out of all we wanted to see, so we did an evening bus tour around the city. Definetely not the highlight of the trip, I must say. Mostly, because we had a very unprofessional, obnoxious tour guide. She actually reprimanded an elderly couple for talking, before we even left, over the microphone. It was still nice to see the city, but next time I would choose Legally Blonde, the musical.

Saturday, we were leaving at noon, so I had planned to finish up my shopping on 5th Avenue, but you might remember, the POPE was in town and security was a little tight. So, I came home with money that I had planned on spending. I was very sad about that.

It was such a great time with my mom, Kim, Aunt Jackie, Aunt Pam and Haley. I loved being with the ladies in my fam and I can’t wait for the next trip!