Stamps (aka Stickers)

Really what is the difference between stamps and stickers to a 2 year old little boy who loves to peel them off and stick them all over his hand?

This is the description of what I saw yesterday. I was on the phone and look up to see Alex walking out of the den with his arm covered with stamps. He found the stamps in the box of office supplies that we keep on the desk. He covered his arm with the stamps. He came over to me to show me his artwork and said a very typical "Daydoo, Mamma". I managed to salvage some of his artwork.

I asked him where he was going to mail himself to with all those stamps on his arm. Knowing Alex and understanding his love of the park, I wasn't a bit shocked when he simply replied, "I go a swings." Silly Alex. You don't have to mail yourself there, we'll go later.

The House that Eric, Erika, Alex and Sarah Built

This year we started a new tradition at our home of making a gingerbread house and then decorating it as a family. Our friend Nicole taught me how to make the gingerbread and let me borrow her pattern that she does with her family.

It was a long process, but it was so much fun to decorate as a family. It is a three day event where you make the dough the first day, roll, bake, and cut it the second day and then assemble it the third day.

Everyone got in on the decorating, well eating too. It was nice to have no plan for the design and then it just started to have a life of its own. Here are some of the pictures to show the process. Alex was all about adding sprinkles and was very good at unwrapping the mini Santa Claus candies. We almost didn't save the last Santa from being eaten. Sarah was just content to sit in her high chair and let Alex hand her candy to eat. It was a fun time to be together and to do something as a family.









But as all good things come to an end so do our kids patience as witnessed below. Sarah was ready for bed and Alex wanted to take a shower. I guess all of the creativity really drained them.

Alex Graduates

Last week Alex had his graduation from ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). They are a government service that provide help and assistance to children from birth to age three. Since Alex turns three before his next visit, he was up for his graduation.

He was first tested for a speech and language delay last year a month before Sarah was born. At 22 months he said and signed approximately 10 words. Now he is speaking in sentences and can tell us what he wants and is feeling. He has had a language explosion. With the help of ECI and his speech and language pathologist, Beverly Carroll, he has just taken off and we couldn't be more excited to now understand what some of his needs and wants are. They have come once a month for the past year and have shown us how we can incorporate ideas into normal routines or play in order to get the most of the language experience. It has truly been an amazing blessing in our life to have Beverly come to help with Alex. The knowledge that I gained by working with Alex will help for all our children and any future children that we have. Here are a few pictures from Alex's "graduation".

Tunnels and Towers

Alex loves to play with his blocks and is really excited to build two things, tunnels and towers. Ever since going to Virginia to visit my sister's family he had been so excited and fascinated with tunnels. We had to pass through one on our way to and from the airport. It made quite the impression on Alex because he loves to see trains go through tunnels and identifies them for us in books. Living in Houston there isn't much tunnel action going on in this city where flooding is somewhat a common event, but we do the best we can. Our "tunnels" are comprised of underpasses. Maybe he will get a tunnel for Christmas or his birthday. Here is a snapshot of Alex doing what he does best playing and having fun. We love our sweet little boy.

Extra Hands???

Have you ever run out of hands and still have need of extra hands to hold things? Sarah is very ingenious and had come up with a solution for her problem. If she has something that she wants to hang on to and wants the use of her hands then we often see this.





She will also crawl around the floor or up the stairs with one of Alex's cars in her mouth. It is so funny to watch because Alex never did that.

Snow in Houston

On December 4th it snowed in Houston. It was the second year in a row to snow. Last year's snow storm was more impressive in our area than this year's. Although I did hear that there was more snow in other parts of Houston than where we lived. Even though there wasn't any to play in, we took Alex outside and bundled him up so that he could experience what little snow we had. I think he was most excited about being outside and running around. See for yourself.

We have famous relatives... well, almost

Alex and Sarah have famous relatives. Well almost. Both of their Papa's have famous look-a-likes.
I am assuming that you know who Papa Jung looks like...





Papa Stewart's famous look-a-like might be a little more difficult to recognize.
But Alex had no problems recognizing Papa Stewart's "twin" while watching the Frist Presidency's Christmas Devotional. Does that give you any clue?


It was so cute to hear Alex say "That's Papa Stewart." It was the sweetest thing ever. What great shoes his two Papa's fill. We love all of our famous relatives.

A gift for Heidi

Sarah's First Birthday

We celebrated Sarah's first birthday a few days ago. We are so lucky and blessed to have Grandma and Papa here for the big event. They arrived a few days earlier and we couldn't be more thrilled to have them here for her big day and Thanksgiving to boot.
It started off not the best day for Sarah, she had her 1 year check-up at the doctor's office early that morning. It was a good thing too because the day before she broke into hives and had a rash. Not the best way to celebrate. She was a real tooper though. She had four shots and the H1N1 flu shot too. Our suspicions were confirmed when they produced the stats.
Weight: 22.8 lbs-- 50-75%
Height: 30 1/4 inches-- 75-90%
Head size 75%

We have one healthy baby girl. She needless to say came home and had a very long nap and then we were able to celebrate her birthday with cake, ice cream and presents.
She had a great time opening her presents and loved playing with them when she was able to get her hands on them. (We seem to have a little possessive big brother, when it comes to new toys.)

Grandma and Papa Stewart have a tradition of making a lamb cake for their grandkid's first birthday. Alex had one on his first birthday and now it was Sarah's turn to be a part of a family tradition.


Unlike Alex and his birthday cake, Sarah was not shy about digging in. She loved the cake and couldn't get enough of it. We had to take it away so that she would eat some of her dinner. All the time she was eying it and wanting some more. One of the funniest things was that I put a small scoop of ice cream on her tray and at first she thought it was the frosting. She scooped up the entire thing and jammed it in her mouth. She didn't know what to do with it and she froze solid and after she got used to it, she swallowed it.



Since my parents couldn't make it for her actual birthday we are holding a small party celebrating this weekend. I am sure that Sarah won't mind diving back into another cake and opening more presents.

As a little side note, we had a little goof up on the birthday presents and Alex opened his present from Aunt Heidi a tad bit to early. Here is a little sample of his reaction.

Our Exciting News

Well, it has finally happened, Alex went to the potty in the toilet twice tonight after church. WE were so excited!!!!!!! I sure hope that it continues. Now we need to also concentrate on the direction. I hope the exciting news continues tomorrow. Alex celebrated with two potty treats. Whoo-who!!!! Hip Hip Hooray! Sorry no pictures of the momentous occasion.

Halloween 2009

This year Alex dressed up like a lion and Sarah was dressed like a witch. They looked so cute. Before we settled on Sarah's costume, we also dressed her up in a pink cat costume. Both were cute, but the witch costume won out, mostly because the pink cat costume was a little snug on her.
We celebrated Halloween a day early with our ward's Trunk or Treat activity. The ward activity was fun, but I am learning that Alex does not like change, things that are new, or loud music. Since the Trunk or Treat involved a carnival too with 300 people, let's just say that Alex spent most of his time wandering the hallway and the parking lot and would almost refuse to go into the carnival. Maybe in the future he might enjoy doing some of those activities. After we got started Trunk or Treating, Alex warmed up to the idea that people were just giving candy and treats away. He kept on going from car to car.
Here are the cupcakes that Alex decorated himself for the Trunk or Treat.He did a fabulous job! Oh, and of course he had to be the quality engineer and see if they passed inspection...
Yep, I guess that they are alright.

The next day (Halloween) we decided to have a few of Alex's friends and their parents over for a little Halloween get together. It was nice to have some company and share in the kid's excitement for this fun tradition. We had chili cheese hot dogs, some great dip, chips, carmel and apples. We even got to decorate a cupcake with sprinkles.


Then we got the kids dressed in their costumes, took pictures and then hit the neighborhood in search for treats.
And then you know you have to do the traditional family and group photo sessions until all the kids and you are starting to lose patience. So with out further adieu, here are ours.
Here is Sarah with her friend Brielle. They were due about a week apart, but were born a few weeks apart because Sarah came so early.

Alex did great saying Trick or treat and even remembered to say thank you every now and then. The kids got a ton of candy. Sarah and I headed back a few minutes earlier so I could get her in bed. Alex stayed out with Dad to finish trick or treating, but then totally lost it when he kept asking to "see the yellow" ( the yellow road reflectors). Eric didn't know what he was talking about and kept taking him to see anything that was yellow... Trick or Treating ended shortly thereafter for us.

It was a lot of fun to see the kids' excitement of going from house to house. What a fun day to spend with our family and friends. We look forward to doing it all again next year.

Virgina Trip to Visit the Millers

At the beginning of October we made a trip out to Virgina to visit my sister and her family. This visit was especially exciting because we were able to meet the newest member of their family. We were blessed to have a wonderful friends take us to and from the airport, watch our cats, and get our mail. We had a great flight to Newport News, with a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was a frantic run through almost the entire airport of Charlotte because of an unexpected traffic jam in the sky. We had to circle the airport for about half an hour, which made our scheduled layover of about an hour almost disappear. Alex did so well keeping up with us and I thought that my arm would fall off from carrying Sarah running through the airport. Finally we made it there and got seated. We had a pleasant trip and only had one casualty. Right as we were going to land in Virgina, our plane did a sharp swerve and then we heard a thump. We found out later that the pilot swerved to miss hitting a bird, but the bird unfortunately did not miss us. We found out later that we hit a Bald Eagle. It was nice catching up with my sister on our way to her new home. All in all it was a pleasant trip out. Eric, unfortunately, was beginning to get sick with a head/chest cold so the plane ride was not the most pleasant for him.


It was fantastic weather, we could not ask for any nicer weather. Most days it was sunny with the highs in the low 70's. I knew that Alex would love it there at their home, because he had two built in playmates. His cousins, Brayden and Brianna, were so nice and loving. They included him in all of their hours of playing outside. There was so much to do there and Alex was in heaven. They had two swings hanging from a huge tree in their yard, a trampoline, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, sand box and a push lawn mower. I think that Alex "mowed" their entire back yard twice from all of the time he spent pushing that toy lawn mower around their yard. I also think that Alex got spoiled by all of that time playing outside and when we came home, he asks everyday to go to the park and swing.



We were not only excited to spend our time with my sister and her family, but we were also able to spend time with my parents, who drove out to visit them too, at the same time. It was nice being reunited as a family. I had a little glimpse of what heaven could be like, being surrounded by the ones you love forever. What a wonderful blessing the gospel is in our lives!






Ryan took most of the week off and we were able to visit together. We went to lots of different parks and the scenery was fabulous. I enjoyed seeing all of the different waterways and inlets that made up where they lived.

While we had lots of fun visiting and hanging out with family, we had some activities that we did while we were there. We went to the Virgina Beach Zoo. It was a very nice zoo and there weren't that many people there and the weather was perfect. It was an absolutely perfect experience... well, except for the part of loosing Alex at the zoo. We were all together there and were looking at the elephants and giraffes, and Alex was with us... we turned around for a few seconds and Alex had disappeared. I ran all the way down the raised platform and no one I was passing had seen him, so I ran all the way back up the platform and back down the other side, the way we had come. I was in a total panic and was very emotional. There he was walking down the path. At that moment I was so full of emotions that I couldn't contain myself any longer. I was just asking over and over, why did you go away. All he could say was, I want to see a giraffe. I immediately said a prayer of thanksgiving to Heavenly Father for protecting our son from danger. That was a learning experience, one that I hope to never repeat.


We also got to take family pictures while we were there. It was a frustrating experience for me, but one that I should have seen coming. Alex loves to have his picture taken, but taking his picture in a studio with big flashes, is a different story. We were all ready to take our pictures together, thankfully we decided to take the big group picture first. That was the smartest thing that we could have done because he flipped out and refused to take any more pictures. He was screaming and crying and saying "All done, all done!" At one point, he laid on the floor and was just sobbing. Well that means no more family pictures for our family. Thank goodness everyone was looking and smiling in the first one.

Another fun experience was having Alex's first shopping experience. Grandma and Papa Jung gave the grand kids 2 dollars to spend at the dollar store on something that they wanted. Alex picked out a squishy ball and some punch balloons. He was especially excited to put the items on the conveyor belt and hand the clerk the money. Thanks Grandma and Papa for that fun experience.

What vacation experience on the coast would be complete without a trip to the beach? We took about a thirty minute drive to the ocean and played at the playground on the beach before heading down to the water. It was fantastic, it wasn't crowded, the water was cool, and the kids had a great time. Sarah and Alex just chilled in some beach chairs for a while. Alex did finally make his way down to the beach and got into a little pool that the kids loved to play in. They would fill it up and then play in the sand. Even Brayden got buried in the sand. It was a lot of fun.






A few other hilights would include, Karen and my parents watching Sarah and Alex for us so that Eric and I could go on a date. We didn't do very much, but it was nice to just spend time together alone. Thanks Karen and family! We also celebrated Eric and my dad's birthday with a nice home cooked meal and some spice cake.

This was a great vacation. Thanks for all of the fun memories.We love you and are already looking forward to the next get together. Hopefully it is soon.