Christmas Eve

Those in my family that still live in the Houston area met over at my sister Becky's house to celebrate Christmas Eve together. We planned a big meal and had lots of presents to open. Before we ate, and before it got dark, Tommy, Becky's friend, had gotten all of the kids and teenage boys new Nerf guns. So the big gun fight pursued! The rules were that they had to go outside and the big boys couldn't hit the little boys. It was a very windy day, but that didn't seem to matter!

Robby heading outside for some of the fun!

Richard got a hold of one of the boy's guns! Everyone got in on the fun!

New House

We moved in November, right at Thanksgiving to be exact. We love our new house, but we are still trying to get unpacked. It is awful to have to move during the holidays, but the last time we moved it was July! Nobody should move in Texas during the summertime! The weather was nice, but a little cool.





We finally have a contract on our other house! We are supposed to close on January 28th. We are asking for prayers that close goes through as planned! We will have to take the time to say good bye to our other house. We will always have great memories from the other house, but ultimately it was just too far to drive to work! After my illness last year, it was very important to cut out stress where we could. Cutting my 50 mile, one direction, commute in half certainly cuts my stress!

Lots of Projects

I'm in the middle of a lot of projects right now. We bought a new house in November and moved over Thanksgiving weekend. I'm still missing items though! One of the big things that I'm missing is my Photopass CD from Disney which has pictures from our trip to Walt Disney World that we took in September. Of course, these aren't just any pictures, these are the pictures that have most of the character visits and the family pictures at each of the park entrances.

Until I find the CD, I've been working on the Christmas pictures. I hope that you will be patient with me as I update the blog over the next couple of days. I see lots of new posts in the very near future!

Happy New Year to all of my friends and family!

Easter in Tyler

We went to Tyler to my parent's house for Easter this year. Usually we don't travel on Easter, but with so much of my family up there this year, it seemed silly to not take use of the long weekend to travel. We had a family lunch on Saturday since the weather was going to be bad on Sunday (rainy and cooler). Afterwards, my teenage nephews were great sports and hid all of the eggs for the little boys. They did a great job! I think everyone had fun watching my boys hunt eggs. I think little kids add so much to family holidays!

And they're off!




Robby thought he was so clever putting his basket down to gather eggs. He was very proud of himself!








Showing off their finds!




Next, Aunt Becky introduced the boys to confetti eggs. John didn't like the mess ( my type A child who doesn't like his hair messed up), but Robby thought it was hysterically funny!


Robby was laughing so hard that he was crying! He just kept hitting his forehead over and over again breaking each egg and laughing harder and harder!


John stayed by Mommy and just watched the fun that Robby was having.


Look at all the cars that Easter bunny brought!


First family picture with our new dog! This is in my parents' front yard.

Christmas Pictures

So those of you who thought that I forgot to post pictures from Christmas, well here you go. You see, I didn't forget; we just didn't take very many...more like 2. I know, I know...bad mommy. I didn't take any because, Aunt Tracy came to celebrate Christmas with us, and she took lots of pictures! Check out her blog! There is even a video of Robby!

Carnival at the Rodeo

After we finished the pony rides and Robby somewhat calmed down, we went to ride another "horse" on the carousel. They had a good time. However, Robby threw another fit when it was over. We were beginning to wonder if this was going to happen every time!






After taking a water break and letting Robby calm down, John convinced Daddy that he really wanted to go down the long slide! So, John got a sack and climbed the stairs all by himself. Daddy went up with Robby. Here they are climbing up the long stairs!


Here they are at the top of the slide. John is at the top of the yellow slide and Robby and Daddy are at the top of the pink slide.


They came down so fast that I totally missed the picture! :) They were all smiles at the bottom.

Then the boys rode this ride all by themselves. The ride's arms took the boys high and low. They had a great time.

The last thing we rode was the Ferris wheel. The loading and unloading process was a little scary for Mommy, but the boys had no fear! Once the ride got moving it was a lot of fun.

We ate a funnel cake and then headed to the car. The boys had a great day of "firsts". We will come back to the Rodeo on the last weekend. We figure we may let the boys ride a few rides again, but we will take the boys to enjoy the rodeo part and may enjoy part of the concert if they make it that far.

Pony Ride at the Rodeo

When we finished with the petting zoo we went outside to see what else we could get into! To our surprise, both boys really wanted to ride the ponies! Robby, of course, loves animals; see post below. John, however, is a little more cautious when it comes to live animals.

They very patiently waited in the long line with Daddy until their turn finally came! They had the biggest smile on their faces the entire ride!


John's pony was named Tex.


Robby's pony was named Twinkle. He called her "Winkle".

When the man took Robby down at the end of ride, Robby told him, "I not finished." And then proceeded to throw a typical Robby tantrum because he didn't get his way. We quickly moved on to the next ride! More on that later!

Petting Farm at the Rodeo

After visiting Agventure at the Rodeo, we let the boys go into the Petty Farm. We didn't buy any food since, well, we didn't trust the boys. It was a good thing too since we spent most of the time trying to make sure Robby didn't kiss the animals.

Robby loves animals. He is always kissing the TV when he sees a dog or a reindeer or something else "cute". Now he kisses on GiGi all the time and I guess he could kiss these animals too.

Here is Robby trying to kiss the pig here!


Say Cheese! John and Robby standing next to a very pregnant goat.


Robby trying to kiss a goat.


John petting the pig.

Robby trying to kiss a deer.

As far as I'm aware of, Robby was never successful in his kissing attempts! We used a lot of Purell and wipies once we left though!

John Deere Tractors

We took the boys to the rodeo today for the first time today. They had so much fun climbing in each of the tractors.

We went around to each of the exhibits in Agventure. They got to pet rabbits, see baby chickens, baby goats, and lots of cows! We also saw a few very large pigs! It is amazing what they have set up for kids...and it is a lot of fun for adults too!

She has Eyes!

My sister asked if Gigi has eyes. Well, of course she does! Here is our pretty girl once she finally got her hair cut and trimmed up! Her little pink bow lasted a couple of days, but Daddy suggested we get her a clip with a bow so we can fix it better. The groomer left the hair on top of her head a little longer so we could keep the bow in easier.

The boys have decided that they "love" Gigi so we should keep her. She has been a great new addition to the family!

Gigi

We got a new Yorkie this week. She is a year old and a pure bred. She was left as an outside dog for the last year. We took her to the vet this week and other than an ear infection she was in pretty good condition. She will go to the groomer this week.

These pictures don't show her good personality, but it does show her pretty colors! She is a good girl and the boys are very glad that she's ours!

My Funny Boys

I'm always telling people how funny my boys are, but I can't always come up with the things that they say. So, I've decided that I need to start writing about them in my blog.

John is so smart, but it always comes out in the strangest ways! Tonight, we were pulling into the parking lot at Arby's for dinner. All of sudden, John yells out, "Park it Daddy!" Mind you, we have never heard him use this phrase before!

The other night, I was trying to open Robby's sippy cup to add more milk for dinner. John asked what I was doing when he saw me struggling to get the lid off (my fingers were actually cramping up from the grip). Out of the blue, John yells out "Go, go Mommy!" He is such an encourager. I started laughing and got out a new cup.

One night this week, the boys were in their playroom having a good time. John comes running down the hallway shouting, "Mommy! Mommy! Robby's poopy!" then he starts to gag! Yes, he is just like his father! I look up and Robby is standing in the playroom doorway saying, "I not poop-py!" He was; he just didn't want to stop playing to get changed. John couldn't look at Robby without gagging until I finished getting him changed!

It is never boring at the Steadman House!

Children's Program at Church

Robby and John were able to participate in the children's Christmas program at church. The church used the little kids to be part of the nativity scene in the program. Robby was a cow, and John was a camel. I think they were the cutest animals ever!

The Morning After

I posted below the night it snowed in Baytown. Here are the pictures from the morning after. It was estimated that the east side of Houston received around 3 inches of snow; more than any other part of Houston. I think my house looked beautiful!





It was strange going to work that morning. As I traveled west towards Houston, I could see the amount of snow getting less and less until finally just west of Channelview there was no more snow left on the ground. I, on the other hand, had a couple of inches still left on the back of my car when I got to work, 50 miles later!