A few weeks back, Emery had her first dance recital.  She has been taking ballet and jazz this past year and has LOVED it.  She is constantly dancing around the house and asking her daddy to dance with her.  She can also provide her own music, which is quite entertaining, I must say!  If you knew me growing up, gracefulness is not a term that could be used to describe me.  I loved all things sports, so to have a kid interested in the artsy stuff, is out of my element.  But, it isn’t about me, it is about Emery, so we started dance to see how this interest progresses.  So far, I think we will be continuing in dance.

I talked to a lot of people before choosing a dance studio.  Many families from our school go to this studio, so I felt comfortable with the choice.  The owner is also Emery’s dance teacher.  I think her picture could be under the word ballerina in the dictionary.  She doesn’t walk, she floats across the room!  She was pregnant most of the year and I kid you not, she was doing splits while 7 months pregnant.  Pretty sure I thought my babies could fall out any day when I was seven months pregnant!

Emery was dancing 2 dances and the recital had a Beatles theme.  I must admit we almost did not do the recital.  I am not a fan of paying a fortune for two costumes she will wear once and paying for dance lessons for her to learn 2 dances, as oppossed to technique and actual moves.  But, Jason and I decided that if she is truly interested in dance, we have to give her the opportunity to be on stage and see if she likes it.  Which, um, she did!

Emery did great.  She knew her dances and smiled, huge, the whole time.  She was loving it.  Having her hair and makeup done all up didn’t hurt either!  I also must give a huge thanks to my mom, who took Emery to the dress rehearsal because J and I were in Atlanta.  It lasted forever, or so she told me.  She is a trooper!

The recital went well. We sat through about 30 dances and this was the first of three shows. They are broken down into ages so we were with the younger ages and they were cute.  I thought a couple of the solo dances, which were older girls, were a little to0 flashy.  I mean seriously, a 10 year old dancing to “You give me fever.”  After talking with other families, afterward, we were in agreement, that it was over the top.  That was really disappointing.

Doesn’t our camera do a great job with no flash, in the dark?

Emery after the show in her ballet costume.

Nana, Poppy and LuLu came for the show.

She insisted on being “lifted.”  I told you she is dance crazed.

Trying to get a family picture. We left Bradley with friends and were so thankful we did!

During VBS last week, she also was on the praise team and helped in the big worship time.  She loved it and did great for a 6 year old.  I look forward to seeing how this dance thing plays out!

So, obviously  our children are close in age which brings challenges, but also great blessings!  We were able to celebrate with Emery this past week for completing her Kindergarten year.  She has done so well and we are so proud of her.  She has shown herself to be a great reader and has gotten along well with all the kids in her class.  She has always been the social one, so that is no surprise!  This year each student had several lines to say during thier program.  The program was about Praise and boy did they shine their sweet little lights for the Lord.  They preached the Gospel and it was precious to see!  One technique in classical education is to start at an early age having students memorize and recite what they have learned in front of the class or in this case, the whole school, faculty and parents.  This helps develop them as speakers.  They all did so well and I loved it!

Here is Emery reciting that Jesus is our Redeemer.

We adore Mrs. B, who has been Parker and Emery’s teacher.  She has been such a blessing and is the picture of what a Kindergarten teacher should be!

We are praying Bradley is in her class as well, in a couple of years.  We hope….

Here she is proclaiming that He is our Eternal Father.

Sweet graduates!!

Emery’s Kindergarten class…. they made it!

Nana and Poppy came for Graduation and gave Emery her own purple Bible.

Emery Kate, we are so proud to be your parents.  We think you are an amazing little girl and are excited to see what first grade brings for you.  You have worked hard, been a helper to your teachers and have made some great new friends.  You have a joy of learning and we love how well you have done!

We are reminded, yet again, that our kids are where God wants them to be for school.  We are thankful for the example the teachers have set for them, the love and grace that has been extended to them and for a  faculty that truly cares for our girls.   We beleive that God leads each family to the school situation their kids are supposed to be in whether public, private or at home.  This was a leap of faith for us, and God has proven faithful over and over and we are forever grateful for His leading.

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!

I can not believe that it is already May 12.  Seriously?  Almost half way gone is the month of May?

We, like many, have a crazy amount of things going on this month.  Most of it centers around end of the year school events. Throw in soccer, dance, dance recitials, birthday and you get the picture!

I wanted to share some pics of our month so far!

Emery and Jason going on a date for her birthday!  She wanted to wear a dress and for me to curl her hair. How cute is that?  She is already beginning

to understand what it means to be treated well by the men in her life because Jason has done such a great job of setting an example for her.  They went to IHOP to eat breakfast for their date, which is where she chose!

She loves to wear dresses and I picked this one up at Target for a big $3.74.  She went for her well child check on Friday and we found out her lung functioning is great so we can come off of her maintenance med for her restricted airways.  We then found out through some allergy testing that she is allergice to ALOT of things.  Many are environmental, dog, cat, and some food allergies.  So we are going to see an allergist to determine a good course of action for her.  She is such a trooper!

This is Bradley before church last Sunday.  He is wearing his Lion Chaser polo!  That is our desire for him- that he would be a leader, bold and fearless!  Right now, he has the fearless down pat, except when it comes to bugs or the Chick-fil-A cow!

This is Parker in her favorite dress! She instructed me on how to fix her hair as well!  She is such a unique girl and Jason and I are working through how to parent her in a way that champions her strengths and challenges her in her weaknesses.  She is so sweet and loving, yet has her moments of fierce stubborness and righteousness.  She wants to have the last word and when you are 7, that is not a good thing, at times!  We are really seeing her personality being shaped right before our eyes and it is amazing and overwhelming.

Earlier this week, she participated in the History Fair at her school.  Her class performed a play about the Liberty Bell.  This year, she has studied and learned all the Presidents in chronological order, American symbols, and states.  She has learned so much and we continue to feel blessed for them to be at their school.  We absolutely adore their teachers and are so thankful for how they speak Christ into their lives.

This was her first time to perform in front of a crowd and she was nervous.  She did good.  Notice the arms….

and again…..

and again…..

and again….

As a trained counselor, I will point out that this is a defensive, self preservation pose!

While I am airing all her dirty laundry, I wanted to share what I read in one of her many notebooks this week.  She wrote in her Troy Bolton diary which came with a lock, but has since been lost, so I did not feel I was invading her privacy, but honestly, I won’t bat at eye and breaking a lock, if I have too!

In the words of Parker, age 7:

“I love my mom and dad but sometime I can get frushtrated with them. But I will olwas love them.”

Back at you, Parker, back at you……

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……..

Wow! It is hard to believe that 10 years have passed since I was a bride! A whole decade!
What an amazing day it was to marry this scrawny guy I had known since middle school.
We had a blast at our wedding and our reception!
I remember vividly our first young married sunday school class. We were the youngest ones in there! Mostly it was couples with 3 kids who had been married for 10 years and I remember thinking these people are old and not young married! How prophetic I was since I am now the old married gal with 3 kids!
So much has happened in our ten years together and I am so thankful that I am still excited to be married to Jason. I know it is the grace of God at work in our lives and the covenant we made to God and to each other.
Happy Anniversary!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I must admit that we are not big v-day celebrators around our house. Jason and I are committed to resist anything that is sappy and cheesy, so much of valentines day falls into this category! No offense though if this is your favorite holiday! I just tend to lean to the side that this is just a commercially created holiday to spend money on chocolate and some flowers.
Such the romantic, I know!
Anyways, we do buy each other gifts, which are more like happys, not full fledged expensive gifts!
I wanted to share my favorite valentines funny with you.
My senior year of college I had no special someone to spend valentines’s day with, but before you whip out the Kleenex let me settle you down and say, it was a good thing! So, my roommate, Robin and another friend of ours decide to go out and have some dinner to celebrate our lack of dates. Being that we are in college, which means the budget is slim, and we didn’t want to go wait for four hours to get a table somewhere, we decide to go to Ryan’s Steakhouse.
Now for those of you not familiar with Ryan’s, we are talking about an all you can eat extravaganza, with a salad bar, vegetable and meat bar, and most importantly, soft serve ice cream with toppings! Fancy, let me tell you! Ou reasoning being, who in thier right mind would take thier date to the greasy buffet? (Again, I hope I have not just ruined your high hopes for suprising your spouse with a fancy dinner at Ryan’s or offended you.)
To our shock, it was packed.
The funniest thing to me though was this precious young couple sitting next to our table. I could not help but stare. He was enjoying the feast and delight of all you can eat for 7.95 oblivious to his fuming date. She was ticked! You could just see the wheels in her head turning. “I can’t believe I got dressed up, painted my toes for this. Ryan’s. I don’t even like buffets. All those people putting thier hands on the same untensil to get their food. Gross. What was I thinking dating this boy. He does not have a clue how to treat a lady. NOT A CLUE.” Not that she said anything out loud, but I think that was probably what she was thinking. On the inside.
My friends and I realized being without a date on Valentine’s Day wasn’t all that bad!