The Stewart Stuff

Sydney's Audition

2009-11-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sydney is auditioning for Sedona's
version of American Idol on Wednesday.
She is singing Taylor Swift's 'You Belong
With Me' a cappella. She is really excited
and we know she will do great. It is open
to everyone from 8-80 years old.
Good luck, Sydney!!!

Balloon Time Giveaway Winner!

2009-11-13T19:43:00.001-08:00

Sydney picked a winner for our
Balloon Time Giveaway!
The lucky winner is....

Mom2anutball!
Congrats! I love her post name!
I should have been Momto3nutballs!
Thanks for the great giveaway,
Balloon Time!!!

Honor Roll

2009-11-12T09:37:00.001-08:00

Since the kids had school off for Veteran's
Day, we headed down to Phoenix for the day.
While I went in the temple, Jason took the kids
through the Visitors Center and they did some
modeling for him. :0) After that, we headed
to Target and daddy spoiled all the kids.

Back to reality, the girls had their
Honor Roll Assembly today. Sydney
missed High Honors by a small fraction.
To get High Honors you need straight A's.
Sydney had one B+, which still qualifies
for Honor Roll...good enough for me!

Summer and Savanah were two of the
smarties in Jr. High. Way to go girls!!!

The picture below shows how few actually make
Honor Roll in Jr. High. Amazingly, only 3
of them made High Honors (all girls).
Summer says that's embarrassing,
but I say she gets to go to college
for free. WooHoo! Keep it up, Sum!!!

I'm so proud of my girls!!!

Balloon Time Giveaway!!! (NOW CLOSED)

2009-11-06T08:16:00.001-08:00

I am so excited to get to offer this
to all my readers! Balloon Time
contacted me and they want to
offer one of my readers a
FREE BALLOON TIME KIT!

They are promoting their 'Put a Face
on Fun' contest. You simply submit a photo
and enter your child to win a spot on their
packaging and $1,500 toward their education!
Pretty cool, right!?!

Now, here is my entry. It may not be
the best photo I have ever taken, but I love
the joy on this kids face. Isn't my son
Balloon Time Modeling Material!?!
I thought so!!!Entering to win the Balloon Time Kit
is so easy! It is valued at up to $29. I
got mine at WalMart for $19.99....but
it was free with the voucher they sent me.
The winner will receive a voucher, too.
There are 3 ways to enter!Leave a separate comment for each entry!!!
1. What would use the Balloon Time kit for?
*Tell me in one comment
2. Tweet about the contest and the giveaway
They are @BalloonTime on Twitter
*Leave a comment that says 'Tweeted'
3. Subscribe to Celebrations e-newsletter
by clicking here
*Leave a comment that says 'e-news'

Easy, right!?! 3 chances to enter for 1
awesome prize! Don't forget to enter their
photo contest, too!!! My kids
will pick a winner Friday
(November 13th) .
Good luck!
Winner has been chosen!

Kade is coming to visit!!!

2009-11-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

Kade is our superhero! He is doing
so well and we get to see him! We are
so excited to get to spend the evening with
him and his family. 2 months have passed
since the accident and he is doing great!
You can read his story & updates here.

Trick-or-treat

2009-11-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Dummy me, I left my camera at the
Parrella's after the Halloween party.
Luckily Amy saved the day and brought
me it today. So, better late than never!

I cannot believe the one full-body
shot I have of Ty is out of focus! :0(
He was the cutest cowboy sheriff ever!!!
He got 4th place in the costume contest!

Summer even looks beautiful with her neck
and forehead cut open. I love those blue eyes!!!

Our piece-de-resistance was our very
own KFC chicken. Sydney was the hit
of the night. She won 3rd place in the costume
contest, but I swear the judges must not
have realized it was a homemade costume.
They must have assumed it was store-
bought because it is so cute!!!
Humble, aren't I!?!

We got the feet idea from a
Martha Stewart baby costume.
Kitchen gloves...too funny if you ask me!!!

Liza and Sydney had a ball. We took a hayride
to uptown and never saw them again. Luckily
Ty still enjoys hanging out with his parents!
Happy Belated Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T14:09:00.000-07:00

Our kids are getting too old!
They've reached the ages where
they refuse to allow mom and dad
to have complete creative control
of their pumpkins. :0(

Jason had them draw their pumpkin
faces by themselves. Ty decided on
a bat....look carefully! :0)

Jason helped Ty carve out his bat
with two big eyes. He was quite proud!

Sydney had a cute pumpkin design.
Her jack-o-lantern even had blush!

We've been addicted to Food Network Challenge.
They recently had an ultimate pumpkin carving
episode. Needless to say, Summer decided
she had the skills necessary to pull off an
extreme pumpkin. We'll let you decide!

She had raised features and she carved
away the excess. It looks pretty cool, but
it doesn't show well in 2D pictures.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

How's your weather?

2009-10-28T19:30:00.001-07:00

We had soccer practice in the snow!
SNOW before Halloween in Arizona
is just plain crazy! LOVE IT!!!

Ty was playing in it barefoot.
He is one warm blooded soul!

Sydney was cold, cold, cold.
Notice her fun earrings?
Clip-on skeletons!

In the attempt to stay warm, Summer
decided to stay inside and entertain me
with her Michael Jackson impressions.
Guess we need to go see his
movie this weekend.

What's your weather like?

Let's Talk Talent!

2009-10-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

I have the most talented son in the world!
If you are about to try to dispute me, let me
stop you right there! Ty has proof!
Let me turn the blog over to him.

1. I am only 4 years old
2. This trick I am about to do is called
'dropping in'. Yep, I'm only 4 and I've
been doing this for years!

3. Notice my 'no fear' face. It's because
I have NO FEAR! I freak my mom out
all day long. I love watching her squirm!

4. Do I even need to mention that I
scored 4 goals in my soccer game
yesterday? No? I didn't think so!!!

5. Now, that skill is called a 'kick flip'.
It's new to my repertoire and I plan
on perfecting it before I hit the big 5.

6. Look at her hands all over me for balance!
Is my sister (who is 5 1/2 years older than me,
by the way) a wimp or what? I'm offering lessons
at only $350 an hour. Call me to set up an
appointment. My calendar fills up
pretty quick, though! :0)
OK, it's Jen again. Sorry, he is a little
cocky, but rightfully so. What a little stud!
I told you he is a pretty cool kid.
Like father, like son!!!

Summer's First Jr. High Dance

2009-10-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Sydney and her friend Clay are singing
a duet in church on Sunday. We arranged for
him to come over after Syd's soccer practice
to practice. Luckily, he brought an
entourage to help us get Summer
ready for her first dance!

Heather did an amazing job with Summer's
makeup. She was such a good sport...she even
let Sydney put crazy makeup on her!
Thanks, Heather!!!
I even made them taste Summer's fake
blood: Karo Syrup, Red Food Coloring,
& Chocolate Syrup. It was tasty!!!

The theme was Vampires & Zombies.
When we arrived at the dance, we were
greeted by 2 of Summer's team mates.
Collette looked amazing. That is her real
hair! Katie looked really good, too!

My friend Connie was there dropping of her
son Alexander. He walked right past me and
I didn't even recognize him. Can you tell that
Connie is an artist? Put me to shame!!!

Savanah looked adorable! She had the coolest
mummy dress! Summer looks like she is about
to attack her with the fake nails she's hating
me for. I hope they come off easily! If not,
I will never hear the end of it!!!

The best part of my busy day was
coming home and finding this:

Ty had done all the dishes and loaded the
dishwasher. He looked so cute standing on the
chair and scrubbing away! I love my kids!!!

Cute and Easy Cupcake Toppers!

2009-10-20T19:15:00.001-07:00

Tonight was our Spaghetti Dinner at our
school. Summer is the Jr. High Secretary
so she had to bring some baked goods for the
Bake Sale. I found these and had to make them!

I made my typical yellow cupcakes and
added these adorable white chocolate
toppers atop chocolate frosting.

I found the idea here. They even have
a downloadable template for the spiderwebs.
Just put a sheet of parchment paper over the template
and pipe away (freezer bags work great). E.A.S.Y!

Now, they aren't perfect, but it was fun.
They disappeared instantly at the Bake Sale!

Just add a spider ring and these will be a
sure hit at any Halloween party!

When you're bored...

2009-10-18T20:41:00.001-07:00

What do you do on a lazy afternoon?
We lay down in Ty's room and snap
some pictures. Cute kids!!!

Ty was sick all week with a bad cold and
double eye infections. I have some nasty
pictures of that, but I will save those for the
Halloween post. :0) He's all better now.
We've never had those before...yuck!!!

Our kids are great. Here's this
weeks soccer updates:
Ty scored 2 goals and tied 2-2
Sydney was awesome! Won 2-1
Summer's team dominated! Won 10-0!
Keep it up kids!!!

Pumpkin Juggling

2009-10-14T19:05:00.001-07:00

Becky and Brad had heard of a nursery
that sold pumpkins in an unusual way.
$16.99 for as many pumpkins as you
could carry (w/o touching the ground).

Brad was the one who did it,
but the kids gave it a try the
next night with Randy, Cheryl,
Brittani, and my parents cheering
them on. Ty maxed out at 2!

Syd was able to get 3!
Her hair looks great, if I do
say so myself! :0)

Summer pulled off 5!

Becky managed 7....with
them crashing down after
I took the picture.

But Brad was the champion!
9 full sized pumpkins! 2 in-between
his legs and 1 in his teeth.

I wonder, will the nursery offer
this again next year? Way to
go Brad. He gave us 3 of his
prized pumpkins. THANKS!!!
We love pumpkin juggling!

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-12T21:43:00.001-07:00

We had a 3 day weekend for Columbus Day
(thanks, Columbus) and headed down to Southern
California. My parents just bought a new house
(2 people living in a house bigger than mine
that houses 5). We helped them paint and
fun things like that. I'll post about that later.

While Jason and I slaved away, Becky and Brad
gladly took some time off of slave work and
took our kids to the Pumpkin Farm.

Apparently, Summer didn't get the
memo on this one. Nice face, Ty!

Becky and Brad will be the best parents when their
turn comes. My kids adore them! I think
my kids would gladly swap lives and live
in their awesome house year round!

Summer was the first to enter the pen
with the food and they attacked. It
makes for one cute picture!!!

Brad and Summer tried to walk off
with a few. I guess they didn't succeed
since I made it home to Arizona goat free.

Um, Syd....you aren't supposed to nurse the goats!
THANKS, BEC & BRAD!
They had a great time!

The Silver Lining!

2009-10-06T18:48:00.001-07:00

My sister-in-law, Christina, had to have knee
surgery today. I know this sounds horrible,
but it was awesome! OK, maybe not so great for
her, but we got to help her out in the best way
possible: We got Tanner for the whole day! Yay!!!

If Christina only knew what goes on here,
she probably wouldn't have allowed it. :0)
*Dart Guns
*Falling off the trampoline twice (shhhh)
*Lots of pumpkin bread
*No discipline (not that he needed any) :0)

These boys were in heaven!
Oops, hopefully Christina didn't notice the
chocolate chip cookie he's eating in that picture.
:0P

You name a wild activity....these boys did it!
We had a great time at the store, the park,
and ALL OVER our house. It was really
fun. Ty went straight to bed after he left!

Tanner helped me bake some Pumpkin
Bread and it was tasty! Glad he was such
a help around here. I can't wait 'till the
next time. Thanks for allowing me the
opportunity, Will and Christina. Now that you
know all that went on, am I still on your
babysitter list? I hope so! Get well soon!!!

It's Saturday!

2009-10-03T15:03:00.001-07:00

I have featured Sydney
and Ty and their soccer careers
thus far. That leaves one more!
It's Summer's turn!

First off, we made a dangerous decision last
night. We let Summer sleep over at Savanah's
before the game. Usually this is a big no-no,
but her game wasn't until 11, so we figured
she would get enough rest. Well....

...she played the best game of the season!
From now on, she is sleeping at Savanah's
every Friday night. :0) The crazy thing
is, Summer's team is now co-ed. Unless you
make varsity at our high school, you will be on
a co-ed J.V. team. For that reason, we now
have all U14 teams running co-ed. Now,
look at the above picture. Keep in mind that
Summer is closest to the camera. She is the
smallest girl on the team and there are 'men'
on her team. SERIOUSLY! Puberty must have
come and gone for some of them years ago.
It is quite comical to see her defending
men twice her size.

They won their first game (out of 4) today.
She was one tough player and we were
really proud of her. As for the other kids:
Ty scored 3 goals!!!
Syd scored 1 goal and we ended
up with a 2-2 tie.
I LOVE SOCCER SEASON!!!

35 and feeling fine!

2009-09-30T18:23:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful birthday it has been!
New clothes, money, chocolate,
chocolate, and more chocolate...
it doesn't get any better than that!!!

Liz and Kerry took me out to lunch
today. Later in the day, Liz surprised me and
put together a birthday surprise from my
soccer team. I have the greatest friends!
Unfortunately, Amy was sick or she would
have been there, too. We missed her!
By the way...Ty was the photographer for that one!Yes, I know...I've never looked prettier
than the above picture. I just got home from
soccer practice. My friends gave me a huge
basket of my favorite goodies....including Dr. Pepper!
Yep, for those of you who don't know, I have been
off Dr. Pepper (I had a major addiction) for 2 years
to the day. I allowed myself 2 mini cans...just today!
My friends are my dealers! They're GUILTY!!!

Since Jason was in Phoenix all day,
he took me out to dinner last night
with the whole gang. We love Javelina
Cantina...where they give you a sombrero
and fried ice cream! Yummy!!!

Jason also left me hidden notes all over the
house for me to find throughout the day...
in the new clothes dryer, on my toothpaste,
under the loaf of bread, & even in the toilet.
I sure do love that guy and his crazy self!

Is it fair to call it a birthday present?

2009-09-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was sad to lose my dryer
that has been with our little family for:
*3 babies
*4 houses
*11 years (at least)
I won't say that I shed any
tears (I was actually a little excited)...
until we had to pay for the replacements! :0)

How sad am I that I am actually so excited
about my new LG's! They are so cool!

Are they cool enough to pass as a good
birthday present from my hubby?
NOT QUITE! I'm still expecting something
grand on Wednesday. Just teasing!

Now that we have been without a washer
and dryer for a week, these new machine's
will get a grand welcoming to the Stewart home!

Ty and Sydney immediately started
building a fort with the big boxes.
It reminded me of my childhood and
the Voting Booths my parents had after
they held the voting center at our house.
I would spend hours decorating
my new 'playhouses'. :0)
KIDS ARE AWESOME!

Well, I guess I'm off to actually
enjoy doing some laundry (OK,
hours worth of laundry). Maybe
that's not so enjoyable after all!

She's a Young Woman!

2009-09-27T17:24:00.001-07:00

Almost daily, Jason and I find ourselves
looking at each other and exclaiming,
'Are we really the parents of a 12 year
old?' Yep! And everyday, she finds
ways to remind us of this fact!

Last night she had her first paid gig as a
REAL BABYSITTER! $5 an hour to watch
the grandsons of some people in our ward.
She brought games, popcorn, and helped them
change in and out of their Halloween costumes
all night. The Grandma called afterward to
tell me her grandsons are officially in love.
As Summer put it, 'What's up with all the
young ones falling for me?' Too cute!

Another way she is showing her age is the
excitement she shows for her Tuesday night
Young Women's Activities. She loves getting
together with her friends. They have had a few
stake activities lately where she has had a chance
to hang out with her Girls Camp Buddies.

I missed her soccer game this week, since
Ty's was at the same time. I will get some
photos of her soon to post.

So long....Thomas!

2009-09-21T20:07:00.000-07:00

Many missionaries have entered our lives
that we really liked. We LOVE Elder Wolcott.
His time finally came and he is being transferred.
:0(
The above picture depicts the way
we always were around him!
He was too much fun!!!

He could make a game of 'indoor soccer'
the coolest game ever. Let's not
even mention Ninja Destruction!

Elder Sundles has some big shoes to fill,
but we know he is up for the task!

Like I said, he could make
a game out of anything!!!

The girls really enjoyed his visits!

Cheesy poses,

awkward pyramids,

and successful

(or not-so-successful) body
building exercises!

We will miss you, Elder Wolcott!
We WILL keep in touch!!!

Syd's Turn!

2009-09-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last week, I blogged about Ty's soccer
'success'. Well, this week he really did have
success. He scored 3 goals and dominated
the game. His dad said that earned him an
EggMcMuffin. Our kids are easy to reward!

Sydney gently reminded me that it should
be her week to be blogged about. Well,
let me tell you! This girl played the best
1st quarter I have ever seen her play (sweeper).
I was able to put her in as a forward for the
last quarter and she was really close to scoring
a few times. Now she thinks she wants to try
forward every game. As the coach, I will see how
well she does at home. :0) Is that her reward for
a good week? Sounds easy enough to me!!!

Our team RED DYNAMITE is awesome!
1st game was 9-0
2nd game 5-0
We could have scored more, but I keep
swapping the field to spare the feeling of
the poor little girls we are playing against.

Next week will be Summer's turn!

KFC for Kade!

2009-09-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday was the big day!
The city was abuzz with the news
and we had a great turnout!

The crew was fantastic! They
were truly touched by the outpouring
of love they felt for Kade from all the
wonderful families in the Verde Valley.

Ty was my biggest helper. He stayed
all day and helped clean tables and
entertained the customers.

Between school and soccer, Summer
was only able to spend a little while
there....during the slow time. She
was sad that she didn't get to be there
longer. We appreciate the time she
did spend there. What a good friend to Kade.

The Elder's helped Sydney with her
homework and showed their support
for the Backus'. Elder Wolcott had spent
a lot of time with their family and he
was there for Kade, too.

All in all, we had a very successful day.
Especially for a Monday, we did really
well. A check is being deposited for
Kade in the morning. Thanks, everyone!!!

DONATION BUCKETS ARE STILL UP!!!

Amy had the baby!!!

2009-09-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

*****Updated with picture!*****
His name is MAX!!!

My brother-in-law called my cell phone
tonight in the middle of KFC for Kade chaos
to let me know that Amy had just had her baby!
So far he has no name, he was
7 lbs. 8 oz. (if I remember right),
and 19 1/2 inches long.

Congrats! I'm so excited to have
another nephew! Amy now has
4 boys and 1 girl!!!

Today's Kade's Day!

2009-09-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

KFC for Kade Day is here!
It has been announced on the
radio, all the Firefighters in the area
have been invited (125+), and HUGE group
e-mails have been sent out! I cannot
wait to get there. We will be pulling the girls
out of school early so they can be there and
'work' the lobby of the Cottonwood store.
We are really excited to see the support of
such a wonderful community. I'll take my
camera. Wish us luck!!! We love you, Kade!!!

He's got mad skills!

2009-09-12T21:56:00.001-07:00

Are Jason and I insane? I think the answer
is undoubtedly YES! We have all 3 kids
signed up to play soccer this year. Today
was the first game day....and picture day.
Needless to say, I am exhausted!

Let me introduce you to the cutest
soccer team ever. We aren't quite
sure who picked the team name
(we'll just pretend they are the
Raptors, or something a wee bit
cooler than Angel Wings).

Check out that dribbling! Right through
his competition. That's my boy!!!

The entire game we were in awe
of this boys talents! Check out that
foot trap. The whole crowd was
oohing and awing!

He was scoring goals left and right!

OR....
he ran a few steps and then put his hands
on his head in the above fashion
(the entire game!!!). What
is that? I'm not quite sure, but it reminds
me of how he used to call water 'ice'. I
swear he almost gave Uncle Brad a heart
attack a few years ago at Lake Powell
when he was constantly calling the lake
water 'ice'. What we thought was 'cute',
almost drove Brad to the loony bin. Well Uncle
Brad, we would invite you to a soccer game,
but what we think is cute may just push
you over the edge. He is cute, I swear!!!