I pictured us doing lots of fun things on our 10th anniversary...

but this was not one of them. Yes, that's my husband of ten years. And yes, he is breaking into our house.

The story goes something like this. We left our mini van at my mom's house. She was watching the kids and it made sense. I left my keys for her to take the kids in the van wherever they needed to go. We took her Durango because we thought it would be fun to rent a car but the prices for renting a car made us gasp! The Durango was the next best thing.

Friday morning we left for our day of fun. We went to the Walker Art Center, the Sculpture Gardens and to the Stone Arch Bridge. We also visited Mill Ruins Park, the Guthrie (for a tour) and to Pracna on Main (for dinner)! We had an amazing time together. After this past year and Brian finally getting an amazing job, we felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from us and we truly felt like we connected and enjoyed each others company! It really was wonderful! We stopped at Byerly's for dessert...two "Death by Chocolates" and some movies later and we arrived home. As he stepped out of the Durango, it occurred to Brian that he hadn't brought a set of house keys. Although he knew the answer, he asked if I had my keys by any chance. We were locked out of our house. Luckily, the back door of the garage was open and we got a ladder out and borrowed a flashlight from our neighbors, the Elsen's. Prying the window open, pushing the screen into the house and me climbing through the living room window (in a skirt, mind you) was definitely priceless memories in the making!

at the stone arch bridge looking at the mississippi and ruins of an old flour mill

flour mill damaged in 1991 by fire

looking out of the ruins at the stone arch bridge

at the edge of the guthrie "bridge" looking down at the river and SAB

it's not the eiffel tower in the back but i'm sure gold medal flour is "hot" somewhere! well, maybe not.

In honor of 10 years of marriage...10 highlights of the past 10 years

10.when brian asked me to marry him (nov 21, 1997)

9.our honeymoon in duluth (oct 18, 1998)

8.finding out we were expecting #1 & birth of caleb thomas (oct 27, 2000)

7.moving to California (june 1, 2001)

6.finding out we were expecting #2 & birth of Zachariah Joel (march 3, 2002)

5.wow! expecting #3 in 2 years! and birth of Kalie Raenell (jul 17, 2003)

4.driving cross country from CA to MN (8 months preggo) (june 1, 2003)

3.buying our first home

2.everyday i get to be home with my children!

1.the next ten years

A Minnesota Fall

The leaves are quickly changing and with it the weather. Crisp fall days are on their way. Now that the kids are back in school there are less spontaneous opportunities to go to the Orchard or rake leaves and jump into them. We cherish family dinners because we are all sitting together (not too many things on the calendar yet) sharing "our favorite part of the day". But as we were sitting at dinner last night I just had to run out to the back yard with my camera. The way the sunset was hitting our trees was incredible. But the most amazing part was our bright orange tree nestled in with trees that were still green. I'm not a very skilled photographer and I think the beauty was only slightly captured. Just thought I would share it with you anyway!

It truly was a beautiful sight created by our Creator! It reminded me of an old Catholic Hymn that I loved.

CANTICLE OF THE SUN
Refrain
The heavens are telling the glory of God,
and all creation is shouting for joy.
Come, dance in the forest,
come, play in the field,
and sing, sing to the glory of the Lord.
1. Praise for the sun, the bringer of the day,
he carries the light of the Lord in his rays;
the moon and the stars who light up the way
unto your throne.
2. Praise for the wind that blows through the trees,
the sea’s mighty storms, the gentlest breeze;
they blow where they will, they blow where they please
to please the Lord.
3. Praise for the rain that waters our field,
and blesses our crops so all the earth yields;
from death unto life her myst’ry revealed
springs forth in joy.
4. Praise for the fire who gives us his light,
the warmth of the sun to brighten our night;
he dances with joy, his spirit so bright,
he sings of you.
5. Praise for the earth who makes life to grow,
the creatures you made to let your life show;
the flowers and trees that help us to know
the heart of love.
6. Praise for our death that makes our life real,
the knowledge of loss that helps us to feel;
the gift of yourself, your presence revealed
to lead us home

It has been soooo long! I am sorry that it seems like I forgot about my trusty followers. Life has been crazy here at the Stewart house. Here are the updates:

• Brian got a job!!! Praise God. Last Thursday he was offered the position of Adult Ministries Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Brooklyn Park. We are happy to say that this was the job he REALLY wanted. It's a little out of his comfort zone since he has worked with Junior High and Senior HIgh students for 15 years(!) but he is going to be amazing at this job. I am a lot sad to leave Woodridge. It has been my home for 5 1/2 years and I love the people there and I love seeing friendly smiling faces. It was very hard for me to walk into Grace last Sunday and not see one person I knew. I sat in my seat and sniffled through the service. On a good note, Grace is a lot like WR. Both churches are Baptist General Conference, are growing and reaching people and showing people the love of God. Both have amazing pastors, in fact the pastors at both churches are great friends. I think it will be a hard change but a very good one.

• The kids are great. Adjusting to school and homework *gulp*. The thought makes my stomach squirm. They are tired of visiting "new" churches and are glad that we have finally "settled". Caleb is enrolled in the Delano DI (Destination ImagiNation) team and is really excited for it to start. I think Kalie is going to be a Daisy girl Scout, though I haven't told her this yet. So don't buy your cookies from anyone else. Now I just need to find something wonderful for Zachariah!

• I have been busy making stuff of all kinds. Bags, more aprons, I bought stuff to make jammie bottoms for the kids (not started yet), I might try my hand at ballet flat slippers, I also made a 4 tiered skirt for my cousins little girl. You know the usual. I never find a project I don't need to try. I'm keeping busy and my house is paying for it. It's a mess right now so today is House Beautification day (just as soon as I'm done blogging, of course!) I also joined the Army of Women. It's an organization that needs healthy women to do research for breast cancer. I heard NBC Nightly News put out a call to action and I felt compelled to join. Please check it out.

• Just in case you were wondering, Froggy (as I guess he has been named) is doing really well. After the cricket incident, I have not bought any more food for him and we have just been collecting bugs from outside. It's crazy what that little guy will eat. I am amazed that he has lasted this long and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do this winter to feed him. He may need to be released into the wild.

Well, that's all the news I know for now!

WIshing you a weekend full of wonder!

Toad vs. Pholcus phalangioides

Because Kim said I should.

Pholcus phalangioides or Daddy Long Legs lived a pleasant and beautiful life that was cut short today as he was eaten alive by a small toad. His friends witnessed him happily spinning a web in the sunny window humming a catchy tune ("whistle while you work", perhaps?) Later they heard a small scream and saw him vanish in a large hand, appendages flailing. One friend even suggested he was taken as some sort of cruel game such as "eaten for entertainment" or "look at the interesting things my frog can do".

"Legs" as he was known around the window, is survived by 30 spiderlings and a loving wife. He will be dearly missed as he was a vital part in the catching of many pests around the window.

For the love of Toad

Critter Keeper...$11.99

10 Crickets...$.90

Cricket Food (to keep the food alive)...$6.99

One happy three-legged toad...priceless

toad

one girl in love with Toad!

A few days ago, Zach came running into the house with his hands clenched around a poor defenseless frog (or so we thought). This frog had only three legs and I'm sure he was missing the fourth as he tried to hop away as fast as he could from little hands. But alas, he was caught and forced to live in a rather small bowl with a few rocks and 1/4 inch water for two days without food. Until I discovered how exciting it was to watch a frog catch live food! (I am not being sarcastic here) Apparently, frogs do not think dead bees from my office are very tasty, how was I supposed to know that?

Determined to find our little frog some sustenance, I hunted around the front door for some bugs...a few ants later and I was on to something. It was incredibly interesting to see him eye an ant and thrash his tongue out to catch it. I watched him do this for an hour (after catching about 20 ants that had gathered around a goldfish cracker under Emily's highchair-but that's another blog!)

Now, I have better things to do with my time than quest for ants so yesterday after church I took the kids to PetSmart to find alternative nourishment for frog. Crickets. Jolly good. Little did I know I was going to have to feed the food I was going to feed the frog. So I had to buy cricket food. Somehow I eeked away from buying a place for them to live as well. I also found out that we had a toad and not a frog (due to the bumpy, brown-ness of his skin. Hello. Frogs are green and smooth).

After returning home, excited to set up a home and feed toad, I made a huge mistake. Handing the bag of crickets to a member of my family. Said member shook the daylights out of the crickets...literally. We'll call it Shaken Cricket Syndrome. Now all but three of my ten crickets were dead. Most likely scared to death. *sigh*

Toad moved into his new residence. He is doing well among the weeds, mud and small dish of water for an occasional dip (toads are drier than frogs and need less water) and ate all three of the live crickets, though due to their large nature, took a few more gulps to get them down. Now I have to buy some more because apparently toads are gluttonous in nature. You learn something new everyday.

Now for a name.

New Projects~

"When a thrift store find turns into something beautiful"...sounds like the start of a cheesy novel or something!

Emily and I were perusing the Thrift Shoppe in Buffalo yesterday and happened upon some interesting finds. Well, we actually didn't "happen" upon them, we actually went there searching for them! Earlier in the week I got an email from a friend wondering if I could make something called a "pillowcase dress". What on earth is that, you ask? Well, I wasn't sure either so I turned to Internet to check it out. What I found was a web teeming with darling dresses made out of vintage pillowcases, new pillowcase and some not made out of pillowcases at all but fabric.

Because we all know that a pillowcase is mere fabric after all.

At Red Instead I found wonderful, and easy directions on how to make this adorable dress. A little snip here and a little snip there. Add some ribbon, elastic and a few stitches and Voila! It's ready.

ribbon ties make for an adjustable dress that, should it last that long,

would make a cute shirt to go with jeans when my daughter is in Middle School

Sage Grosgrain ribbon to trim off the bottom!

Back to school

I guess my blog is turning out to be way too crafty! Maybe I should pay more attention to my family and start blogging about them?!?!

It was the first day of school yesterday and my house was a flutter with anticipation, my anticipation not the kids'. Yesterday was the day I had been waiting for all summer. Sad. But after several weeks of fighting and weeping, it was time for them to go back to school. I love my children but as the old adage goes "too much of a good thing ___________" (what is the rest of that?) I guess you can insert your own blank here. They were ready and I was ready.

Brian made a wonderful breakfast for them: pancakes with strawberries and some sausage on the side. The boys got on the bus without a hitch and/or tears. They were really excited to see the bus but as it approached, so did the butterflies in my tummy! They climbed those steps a little older and a little wiser and barely looked back. I'm sure they will miss me yelling and screaming as much as I will miss yelling and screaming!

Kalie and I spent the morning with Nolan, Addison and Emily and soon it was time for her to have lunch and get ready. By now the sky was gray and rainy. And the 20 minutes we spent in the rain under an umbrella waiting for the bus, saw an outfit change. It was much too chilly for the little skirt and short sleeve shirt she had picked out when it was 80 and humid just hours earlier. Off she went in jeans and a jacket with an umbrella!

Burrrrrr. It's a cold first day of school!

She doesn't look scared at all. She doesn't even look like she's going to miss me even a little bit (maybe it's that yelling and screaming thing again?!?!?) I guess I have some work to do on myself while Caleb, Zach and Kalie are in school?!?!

Well, now for the crafts...I decided to try my hand at applique onesies. My friend Suze (http://suzenelson.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html) made some adorable puppy and kitty ones for her son Jasper and I loved them, so here's my rendition (for my friend's baby). Thanks for the link Suze ;)

Flowers, of course

princess crown, typical

M for Morgan

Butterflies, who can resist?

So there you have it...more to come later...baby's gonna get a blanket too~