Happy New Year

The Best of 2012

“ A Series of Interviews and Interpretations”

Me: “Honey, I’m writing our Christmas letter. What was your favorite part of 2012?”

Dave: “Ummmm. I’ll give you one guess.” 

My Interpretation: “Peach, you know my favorite part of every year is being married to you. And after 16 years, I’m still head over heels for you. You’re an amazing wife and mom, and I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”

Me: “Cole, Christmas letter. What were your highlights of 2012?”

Cole: “Mom, ugh! Seriously? That’s so lame.”

Mom’s Interpretation: “Jolly good, Mom. Highlights of 2012 were getting my driver’s permit in July and torturing you with my mad driving skills. Oh, and having a girlfriend and being MVP on my JV water polo team.Thanks for writing the Christmas Letter again this year, Mom. You’re the best.”

Me: “Em, tell me your favorite thing from 2012 for the Christmas Letter.”

Em: “Coming home from our sailing trip and going back to school and seeing my friends. And put something in there about water polo.”

Mom’s Interpretation: “Wow. Our 5 month sailing trip aboard ‘Balance’ was such an enriching experience, Mom. It was a real highlight of my year. I really grew as a person and learned a lot. You and Dad are amazing (although a little crazy) to take us on such fun adventures. I was glad to come home to the 7th grade and see my pals. And I’m pretty proud of my stellar backhand shot in water polo. I love you, Mom.”

Me: “Evie, girl. Tell me the best part of 2012.”

Evie: “Black Friday.”

Mom’s Interpretation: “Well, I’m really excited to be turning double digits soon, Mom, and I’m feeling entirely grown up now that I’m almost 10.  And I can’t wait to get my ears pierced because you and Daddy promised I could get my ears pierced when I’m 10. And I’ll be 10 on Christmas Eve, Mom. Don’t forget. And I love it when you let me wear make-up on the weekends sometimes, Mom. And I love spending special time with you, Mom. Like when we went shopping together on Black Friday. You’re my favorite person to hang out with, Mom. You’re my BFF!”

Me: “Soleil Mia, tell Mama your best, favorite thing from this year.”

Soleil: “I don’t know. Going to Evie’s birthday party?”

Eve (from the kitchen): “You better not put that in the letter, Mom!”

Me: “Shoosh. It’s not your turn. Go ahead Soli.”

Soleil: “Mom, that’s all. I’m playing Webkinz right now.”

Mom’s Interpretation: “Gee, Mom. Let me think. Well, you know I’m a pretty easy going kid being the youngest of four and all. I pretty much have fun tagging along after all the Sibs. And I do enjoy the first grade so. Especially when you make me sit still and practice my sight words. It’s fantastic. So fun. I love it. And you know I love to carry around our new black kitty and not set her down for an hour straight sometimes until she finally scratches me because she has to go potty. That’s fun. But that’s all I can think of right now, Mom, because I’m working on my computer literacy. Thanks for asking! You’re the best mom in the whole world!”

I hope your silver lining is as shiny as ours. (It’s all a matter of interpretation.) 

Happy Holidays, 

The Stewarts

Dave & Heather 

Cole (16 in January), Emerson (12 1/2), Eve (almost 10), & Soleil (6 1/2)

A Vacation From Our Vacation

If you've been following our adventures in Mexico you probably know that, contrary to popular belief, we didn't come down here "on vacation". We came down here to live a different life, learn a different culture, teach ourselves to surf and eat fish tacos. Oh, and torture our kids by sending them to Mexican public schools where they would learn to sink or swim in a total immersion situation. My point is, aside from the fish tacos (note to self: Fish tacos and a Corona, does not constitute a low-cal meal, even if you forgo the tortillas. Nice try.) our time in Sayulita has not been vacation. Don't get me wrong. It's been amazing. AMAZING. But it hasn't been all poolside-pina-coladas, people. It's been school, and homework (in Spanish), and work, and building a house, and more homework (in English), and, well, it's been normal life with four kids, just sweatier. So let me just tell you, with the house finished, my sister in town for a visit, the kids out of school for Semana Santa and pina coladas aside our new pool, we feel like we're on vacation. Ahhhhh. Heavenly.

And, as you may also know, we love a good road trip. And since we have hardly ventured further than Home Depot since arriving in Sayulita last November, we decided it was high time to hit the road and take a vacation from our vacation. So we packed "el burro" with surf boards, sunblock, and Skin-So-Soft, and headed for San Blas and the "world's longest wave" in Matanchen Bay. Here are some pics from our Semana Santa. Salud.

We had a pool party potluck at the Barefoot House (do you see the foot shaped pool?) for Easter.

The Dads - Terry, Dave, Nick, Ed, and John. How cute are they all "dressed up" in their board shorts and collared shirts?

Dave on an everlasting wave in Matanchen Bay. It just kept going...

                                          ...and going

...and going....

                               ...and going. He learned to "hang five" on one of these waves. Dude.

Jumping on the "Brincoline" in San Blas with new friends - Soli, Zada, Evie, Tristan, and Sienna.

                                                      "Step into my office".

We went on a real life jungle tour in San Blas. It was so fun. We saw tons of wildlife - birds, turtles, huge iguanas, and even crocodiles. They assured us there were no crocs in this swimming area. Hmmm.

                 I didn't even have to pay for this pose.

This one, I did. These huts were built to make a movie, Cabezas de Vacas. (Heads of Cows?) Supposed to be a comedy.

   "El Burro" in front of Matanchen Bay.

"Holiday Ro-o-o-o-o-o-oad"
A Mexican Family Vacation

The End.

Mother of all Mother's Days

I guess since this is my blog (and really my husband is the only one who reads it with any consistency) I can take this opportunity to brag about my darling children. This year was the sweetest Mother's Day I've had to date. Dave kept the kids quiet on Sunday morning (not an easy feat) and let me sleep in. I woke up to a button frame from Evie, a beautifully decorated flower pot from Emerson, and a lovely stepping stone from Cole. Thank goodness for teachers who make sure that kids remember their moms on Mother's Day. Then Dave took me out to lunch, having arranged for Cole to babysit the younger three. I was a little nervous about this arrangement as Cole has never really done any official babysitting. We've left him and Emerson home by themselves for up to an hour or so. And I've left Soli with him while she's napping and he's doing homework while I've taken Evie and Emerson to Em's guitar lesson (45 minutes of away time). But, never have we left all three in his charge. At 11 1/2 he's perfectly capable, but sometimes the sibling dynamics can be challenging (to say the least). So we put on The Bee Movie and told them they could have cereal for lunch (a "serve yourself" option that was sure to make everyone happy). We told them we'd be back in an hour and a half (hopefully right as the movie was ending). We left the usual instructions not to answer the door or the phone and left with our fingers crossed. We had a lovely lunch (cell phones close at hand) and we were back in the car and headed home within an hour. We could hardly believe what we came home to... Evie was arranging the pillows on the couch, Emerson was cleaning his room, Cole was vacuuming, Soli was down for a nap, and the movie was paused right at the beginning. They were disappointed that we were home so soon, as they hadn't finished cleaning the house. So apparently, right after we left, they paused the movie, had lunch, Cole put Soli down for a nap (even reading her stories) and then they went to work on the house to surprise me for Mother's Day. Quite possibly the best Mother's Day gift a mom can get -- happy kids and a clean house. That's all we really want, after all! I felt very spoiled. Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere!!

P.S. This day two years ago, May 11, 2006, we first received pictures of our beautiful baby girl. As soon as I saw her darling sleeping face, I knew she was meant to be ours. Then and now...

SNOW much fun!!!

We took the kids to my parents' cabin for New Year's and what fun we had! Dave (I mean Santa) got me a new camera for Christmas this year and so we took about a hundred million pictures of the kids in the snow. Here are a few of our favorites...

"I Love U"
It started snowing just after we put the kids to bed on the night we arrived. This picture was taken just after we noticed the flakes were falling. There is nothing more magical than waking up to a winter wonderland at Gramma and Grandpa's cabin. Sure enough the kids were up bright and early and outside playing in (and eating) the snow.

This cracked us up! When Dave and I got up this is what we found...Evie wearing Soli's snow pants with nothing underneath and bare feet eating a bowl of snow for breakfast. So funny!

Burrrrr!!

Mmmmmm! Snow for breakfast! "Mom, can I put brown sugar on it?" At least Emerson found his snowboots, although, apparently his jacket eluded him!

"Wait for me, guys! I just have to get my boots on and then I'll be ready to play in the snow! But, Mom, everyone else gets to play in the snow half naked!"

Soli with her cousin Ellery. They are two days apart...aren't they the cutest? They're almost 20 months here.

Here's our niece Haviland-7 with Evie-5 (cousins but they sure could pass for sisters in this pic!)

More cousins! Gaige ~10, Cole~11, and Emerson-7 1/2

My dad joined us for a couple of days at the cabin and he wasted no time showing the kids "how it's done" on the sled. This one might have hurt a little....We laughed so hard on this trip to the sledding hill. Good times, good times...

Where are the brakes on this thing????

Cole and Grandpa gettin' a little squirly!

Wipe out!

"Look, Mom! I'm doing it!!"

My new camera is so fast that it almost freezes these action shots. He's actually moving rather quickly down the hill!!

Click on this one to make it bigger so you can see the sheer joy on Emerson's face! Notice the snow flying!

Now that's a big smile! Soli loved sledding with Mommy..."Mo' ", she would say when we got to the bottom of the hill. So cute!

And there's my beautiful baby girl...warming her little fingers in Grandpa's vest. She just loves her grandpa!

Have I mentioned how much I adore my husband? Could he be any cuter???