'Tis the season to be stressed out!

I don't know about everyone else, but I am stressed this holiday season!  I honestly think the reason why is because not only do I have a child now, but his birthday is a couple weeks before and I have to get through THAT first before I can REALLY start to think about Christmas! Hopefully as the years go on I can master this situation because I don't know if I can do this every year!  Mind you, he will NOT be having a party like this every year.  He is going to be ONE so I have to do a little something, right? 

Not only do I have the party, but my car officially died 3 weeks ago and we only have had James' truck between us!  And with him remodeling a clients bathroom and me & him working our normal jobs, and doctor and vet appointments, it's challenging!  So we are looking for a car on top of that.  We think we found one but we have opposite schedules so we can only go Saturday.  So let's pray the one we are interested in is still there! I swear the car dealers hate us because we are the "we're just looking" couple, not the "we are going to buy tonight" couple.  It is a HUGE money decision and James and I pride ourselves on being pretty good with our finances, so we have to REALLY think it out.

And to make matters worse, Tucker has been sick for a month now and having a sick child is NO FUN!  We found out he had croup the day after Thanksgiving and he is still trying to kick it completely.  Never ending I tell ya!

So, I know this time of year brings stress, but I REALLY need to learn to manage it better!  I feel like when my life is stessful, my house completely falls in disaray!  I have yet to put up my Christmas decorations also and honestly, I am contemplating doing so.  I know I will end up doing it just because we have Tucker this year, but MAN, it's a lot of work!  So, maybe here in the NEAR future I will post fun things like Christmas decor, new car, Tuckers first birthday party, clean house, projects completed for Christmas gifts, James' remodel of a clients bathroom, etc.....but, until then,  you get my stressed out, neurotic, somewhat crazy post.  I hope you enjoyed my rant.

Nothing but smiles around here!!

Man, does time fly by!  I can't believe it has been so long since I last REALLY blogged.  Here is an update of what has been going on in the past 3-4 weeks.  Brace yourself for a long post!!

 

Us Sailor girls got together for a MUCH needed craft day!  And I mean a FULL day of nothing but crafts we have all been meaning to get done.  I brought 5 full totes full of stuff including my silhoutte cameo for doing vinyl and whatnot for everyone.  I got lots done!  Here is just one of my many projects I got completed.  Thanks Pinterest for the idea.  I just painted my knife block white then put vinyl on it and sanded the edges.  I also bought little number stickers that coordinate with the knifes so I know where each knife goes=)  I love how it turned out!

 

 We rarely go out and eat since we have Tucker, but we ventured out and went to good ol' Sizzler.  He did really well and found a new love for raisins!  He LOVES them!  He gets his little thumb and pointer finger and pinches them so carefully.  So cute!  He does this really funny thing where he blinks for a long time.  I just happened to get a pic of it while at Sizzler.  He does it a lot when he is excited or when I get mad at him.  I think he does it like he is disappearing or something when I get mad at him. haha.  So fun to see his little personality coming out!

 For Halloween I was debating whether to go all out or not since it was his first Halloween.  I opted to just borrow a costume my brother had.  Cutest giraffe I have ever seen!  I figure I will wait to spend money on outfits when they get to an age when they really want to dress up as something.

 This year rather than going and making so many rounds to relatives homes, my grandpa decided to come to my parents to hang out so he could see all the kids at once.  I love this pic of him with Tucker! 

 Here is my mom with all the kids.  Connor is the storm trooper of course.  He has been OBSESSED with storm troopers from birth I think!  Then Braxton is Indiana Jones.  Miley is a cute witch. (my sister made her a really cute witch skirt but forgot it, so this is her substitute skirt).  Then Bailee is a princess.  LOVE them all!

 I had to work Halloween night so James got to make the rounds.  After my parents he went to his parents.  Here are jut some of the cousins.  So fun to see them all growing up!

 Have I mentioned that Backyardigans are Tucker's FAVORITE!??  He's obsessed!  I am so glad it is a way cute show and I love it as well!  I sing the songs to him and dance.  He loves dancing to the music.  He claps and bounces uncontrollably.  I have to say though, he has GREAT rhythm!

 I took this pic when we were at Joann's and James said I should send it out as Thank You cards since the cart says Thank You! So, don't be surprised if you get this as a thank you card in the mail=)

 Tucker is so lucky to have such great grandparents!!  This is a cute pic of my dad with Tuck watching Backyardigans.  People die when they see how obsessed he is with Backyardigans. 

 Tucker is cruising around like crazy now!!  He is also obsessed with this walker!  First thing he does when he wakes up is grabs this thing and he is off until bedtime!  No joke!  I am glad though cuz he is SOOOOO close to walking!  He stands by himself and took a couple steps today.  So, any day now!!  So fun to see him grow up!  Sad though, too. 

 Tucker has been sick for what seems FOREVER, but that doesn't stop him!  Every tuesday and thursday I get to watch my niece for an hour or so and Tucker was sick but he just pushed her around for a good 20 minutes!  I wish I had that kind of energy!  Imagine the possibilities! I would get so much done! 

 He loves the dogs and loves watching them run around outside!

 We went shopping a couple time with my sis in her car and Tuck got to ride forward facing.  He LOVES it!  He also loves sitting next to his cousins who entertain him!  I would like that better too if what I normally got was staring at the back of a seat everywhere I went! 

 This shopping adventure we brought Connor along.

 And, this has been the story of my life it seems the past few months.  Our "Blue Boo" (Blue Malibu) that we purchased from James' grandma about 4-5 years ago, has finally breathed its last breathe.  It has been a great, old, grandma car..but we are definitely needing a newer, more reliable car.  Especially since we have Tucker now.  I am excited to get a new car, but NOT looking forward to a car payment! BOO!!  We have prolonged this long enough, and it is time I guess.  We are going this week to find a car, wish us luck!!

 

 

 Seriously, I love these men!  What a great pic!  James can REALLY get Tuck laughing!  Especially before he goes to bed cuz he is super slap happy!  Love it!

 

 And to end this post I thought I would leave you with a cute video to make you smile today!  (side note: James took this video HENCE the snotty nose and messy face! haha.) 

ENjOY!!!!!

Fall Family Pics 2012

Well...we finally did it!  We finally went and got our family pics done.  The ENTIRE family...dogs included.  I have been dreading doing it because I knew it was going to be a lot of work with a 10 1/2 month old boy who HATES being held and just wants to explore.  And on top of that, 2 dogs that ALSO just want to explore and play rather than sit and smile...go figure!  So, I hunkered down and just did it. 

We have been blessed to have Steve, my ex-uncle who has stayed close to our family, take our pics.  He is a great professional photographer and am so grateful for his patience with my little family.  His backyard is amazing and I am lucky that we had the beautiful change in leaves the day we went!  Great timing!  Get ready for picture overload!  These are some of my favorites!

 This is the panoramic pic he did.  It turned out awesome!  I think if you double click on it you can see it bigger.  I think I am going to blow it up and put it down my hallway.  Thoughts?

Let me know what your fav's are so I can try and decide which ones to make big and put on my wall.  Decisions, decisions... 

For my non-facebook BFF

So this post is mostly for my BFF, Jessie, but everyone else may enjoy it as well.  Jess doesn't have facebook and really wanted to see these pics.  In July me, my sister in law and my sister all chipped in and got pictures done of my mom and dad with all the grandkids!  They turned out very cute!  Fotofly does a great job!

 

I love this pic of my parents!  LOVE THEM!  We truly are so blessed to have them!

 

 

Here are all the grandkids: from left- Baylee, Connor, Braxton, Miley, Tucker

 

Here are the sweet girls!  Baylee (Brad's girl) and Miley(Sara's girl)

 

I love how Baylee's face is so smooshed in this picture!

 

This one is adorable because you can just see their little personalities!

 

The boys!

Braxton (Brad's boy), Tucker (MINE!),Connor(Sara's boy)

 

All eyes on Tuck Tuck.  It's funny to see these pics.  Even though it was only like 3 months ago, Tucker has changed so much!  He looks like a baby here and now he looks like a toddler!  SAD!

 

The clan. 

My parents are seriously such awesome grandparents and know that my kids (as well as Sara's and Brad's) will have so many fun memories with them because they make such an effort to be in their lives!  They are always willing to help out babysitting because they just love having that bonding time with them.  And they love watching our kids grow and develop into their own little person just as much as we do!  I am glad our kids will forever have this pictures!

This and that

Kind of a lot has happened...nothing big...but it seems like it has been non stop compared to our normally slow, boring lifestyle.  Here are the updates.

First of all...my car...the "Blue Bu" is what we call her. (Blue Malibu).  We were still having major problems with her and no matter how many times we prayed to James' grandma Margie in heaven, she was still having issues!  (The reason we prayed to Grandma Margie was because it was her car before she passed)  So, because we are so cheap and didn't want to buy a new car yet, what did James do?  Take the engine apart of course!  I guess he had to replace the head gasket, and in order to do that he had to take a portion on the engine apart.  Here is the engine all gunked up and nasty.

 And here is the pretty engine all cleaned up!

And then here is what Tucker was doing while dad was working on this big project!  SO CUTE!

 Here is the intermission presented by TUCKER himself! 

Isn't he freakin' adorable!  Anyways....

Tucker turned 8 months old...crazy...so he is our big boy!  He is seriously getting the cutest little personality!  He loves to do little things to see if he can get a reaction out of you!  He hasn't started crawling yet, which I am ok with!  Right now he can't get TOO far, so I don't have to worry too much, but the day is quickly approaching!  Especially now he officially gradutated from his helmet! YAY!  We are pretty satisfied with the results!  It's not perfect, but we weren't shooting for perfect, just better, and that's what we got!  This picture is the last time he had his helmet on! We were at the doctors office.

And here is the best picture I could get of the back of his head.  You can see now it is rounder.  I will have to post pics of his head before in another post because they are on my other computer.

So for those of you who have boys, you know that it is hard to come by "buy me now, must have" boy clothes.  Girl clothes...those are easy to find!  Boy clothes, not so much.  So when I was at the mall with my bestie (best friend) Annie, and saw these shoes at H&M, I had to have them!  Look how adorable!  These pictures don't do them justice, but you get the idea.

 (Doesn't he look so big in this pic???  Now that we can put gel in his hair, he looks so old!)

And yes, he wore them to church.  James dressed him and when I saw he put them in the shoes, I told him I didn't know if they were very churchy.  His response was, "He's a baby, he can wear anything to church!"  Yeah...I guess that's true.

And my favorite thing that happened this month was the fact I got to meet up for dinner with my old co-workers Lynne and Kelli!  We went to Guadalahonkey's, which was just ok, but I loved just catching up with them!  I miss these gals!

(Notice my long hair...it will no longer be that long here in a couple weeks.  I will be donating 10+ inches to locks of love.  So bring on the short hair!)

Well, that is most of what has been going on in the Stevens household!  Stay tuned for more of our boring lives! haha