Fourth of July

Our July 4th turned out to be super fun considering the holiday fell smack dab in the middle of the week, and Eric had appointments surrounding the holiday.  Our neighborhood had its first ever Fourth of July parade thanks to some party planning Moms in the 'hood.  People decorated wagons, strollers, bikes, & pets.  It was a "if it can be decorated, decorate it," type of parade.  So in true Stewart fashion, we bought into the idea 100% and decided to decorate the four wheeler.  Eric really gets into this type of thing, so it was a FAMILY trip to the Wally World for decor.  Forty something dollars later, we were prepared to decorate the four wheeler.  Gotta love my husband!  Anyway, the girls LOVE to ride the four wheeler, and there was NO way Madeline was going to make it on her bike in a parade.

Eric and I had fun on Tuesday evening jazzing up the four wheeler with red, white, and blue.  The funniest part was the fact that we were concerned about all four of us riding safely, so my engineering husband rigged Madeline's Britax carseat onto the back.  Madeline was most definitely the safest person on the vehicle.  That seat would not budge after Eric used tow straps to hook it onto the the four wheeler.  We may have been the reddest family there, but our child was still in her 5-point harness.  ha ha! 



Back of the ride



Side view that shows the carseat.  See those long blue tow straps anchoring down the seat?

Our neighborhood has several policemen, so one of the guys so kindly provided a police escort for the parade, flashing blue lights and all.  He even sounded his siren every so often.  The kids loved it.

The Stewart Clan

What a fun day!

A Ballerina Halloween, 2011

Madeline LOVED Halloween --- dressing up in her favorite ballerina gear, knocking on doors, getting some candy, and being up past her bedtime!

Our little ballerina remembered trick-or-treating from last year, and she was very excited to go again this year. However, Madeline was content to just leisurely walk from house to house on our street. Once she got to the door, she was very polite with a timid, "Trick-or-treat!" and a soft "Thank you!" once she received her goodies. She enjoyed chatting up the person at the door, and at first, at several houses, she tried to go inside to continue the conversation! It was so funny. It took her a few houses to remember that we must keep our conversations short and sweet in order to move out of the way for the larger, pushier kids who were clearly candy hunting experts. A handful of houses remarked how refreshing it was to have a polite child come to their door, and Eric and I appreciated the compliments.
We didn't venture too far from our house, and we mainly stopped at the neighbors' houses that we know well. Madeline didn't care to go up to every door, and Eric and I were certainly okay with not having a large amount of candy hanging around our house. Madeline was content to walk, chat, and admire all the other children's costumes. We've noticed in large crowds, Madeline tends to hang back and take it all in.

Overall, we had a very simple, low-key trick-or-treating experience. We made it home in time to hand out a bunch of our candy, put Madeline in bed at a reasonable hour, and have some Anne-Eric evening time once the front porch light went out.

Football Party

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we have formed some really great friendships with some of our neighbors, so Eric and I decided to throw a little football party this past Saturday. We had a blast.

Eric and I completed our last backyard project of this season when we planted fragrant tea olives along the back of our grass line to make a nice transition to the wooded area. Our back porch and backyard is one of our favorite areas in our house especially in the fall and spring.
We set up a cornhole area and had lots of yard toys for all the kids.
I kept the food simple --- meatball (homemade using my Italian uncle's recipe!) sub sandwiches, chips, and snackies.

The porch was all set up with a screen & projector for the "big games" (the Clemson game, Eric's Wolfpack game, and the Bama game.) We had two other TVs going with other games to accommodate all of our guests and their loyalties.
At the end of the night, all the big kids were cuddled up with their technologies. Of course, the beauty of hosting the party is that our children were able to go to bed at their regular times! :) Madeline and Amelia are by far the youngest in the crowd, and they just can't hang with the big kids yet.
Eric was loving his big screen TV on the porch, the fall coolness, football, and being surrounded by his buddies.
By the end of the night, some of the Dad's were having fun with the projector & the screen:
Of course, the gals were chatting it up.
And, last but not least, my nearest and dearest friend of 25 years was able to join us for the fun. I was extra happy about my Clemson Tigers and their WIN!
Eric and I are pretty sure the Stewart Football Extravaganza will be an annual event!