Christmas Wrap Up

Well, now that the Holiday hubub has settled down, I have had a chance to write about all that has gone on the last couple of weeks. We've had visits with lots of friends and family and made lots of memories.
About a week before Christmas, the kids and I drove down to Columbia with my oldest childhood friend Jenny to see our dear friend Ami and her kids. They live in Florida now, but every time she visits SC, we try to get together. I hadn't met her son Andrew yet, so this trip would be special. The three of us spent a few hours catching up while our kids played together. We got to give Jenny the low-down on raising kids as she is expecting her first baby in May!!

The next day, Kyle had his preschool Christmas program. He had been singing the songs from the program for weeks before, getting good practice. I was always telling him to turn down his volume because he was practically screaming. Well, that's because they had to for the program. Being one of the smallest in his class, he was front and center and enjoyed every minute of it. Patrick videotaped it and I hope to get a little of it on here eventually. Here's the only decent shot I got from my camera (Kyle's just to the right of the mic).

Then, the weekend before Christmas, we were back in Columbia to celebrate with Grandma Rummel and my Uncle Curt before they drove to Cleveland for Christmas. We opened gifts, then had a delicious dinner that Mom made and then went to see Christmas lights at Saluda Shoals(after waiting in a line of traffic for an hour and a half!!). The kids had so much fun opening the gifts from Grandma and Uncle Curt. Then, Kyle and his cousin Olivia got to spend a few nights with Day Day and Papa. They went to see the lights at the zoo and make Christmas cookies, among other things.




On Christmas Eve, we made another day trip, but this time to Greenville, SC to Patrick's parents' house. After Opa's delicious German dinner of sauerkraut, sausages and potatoes, we exchanged gifts with his parents, his brother's family and his grandmother from south Texas. Our niece Mia wrote down everyone's name on a list and that was the order we went in. Such a little teacher. After some dessert, we put the kids in their Christmas pjs and headed home.





On Christmas morning, a very excited Kyle woke us up and said "let's go downstairs and see the presents!". Anna was still sleeping and he couldn't even wait for her. I held him off a little so Patrick could set up the video camera. Santa came through for him, and Anna. Kyle's favorite was the RC Rocket ( from the Little Einsteins), which has already gone back to Santa's workshop after only 1 day. Anna's favorite was her baby doll and stroller, also needing to be fixed after a couple of days use. I just loved seeing the looks on their faces - it was a memorable Christmas morning. My parents had spent the night so they were there with us. After opening gifts, we had breakfast then went to mass. My brother and his family came over for dinner later that afternoon and then we exchanged gifts with his family.





I've always loved Christmas and I have enjoyed introducing some of my childhood traditions to my own kids. Like making a gingerbread house, decorating cookies, checking out as many Christmas light displays as possible and listening to Christmas music as often as I can. Our favorite this year was Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas. Anna has learned to sing - she chimes in with "hula hoop" when Alvin sings it ("I still want a hula hoop"). It's so adoable! Hopefully I can capture that on video and post it later.

Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas! Let this holiday bring you closer to your loved ones and remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. If you are traveling, we pray for safe travels for you and your family.

Game time!!!! I though that this might be fun to play. All you have to do is make a list of ten of your favorite things. But there is a little catch. Everything on the list has to start with a specific letter of the Alphabet. That letter is randomly assigned by the blogger who you are playing with!

I got assigned the letter B from Susan.

1. Baking - not really, but I do love to cook, but that doesn't start with a B.
2. Bubba - that's what we call Kyle around here. Love him to death!! It's so cute because he refers to himself as Bubba to Anna when he talks to her. It's also what they call my brother since that's what I called him when I couldn't say his name, which leads to my next favorite...
3. Brian - my favorite sibling!
4. Brixx - they have some of the best pizza! Just had the Chicken Florentine last night and for lunch again today. This was the first lunch place I went to when I worked for the bank (it was right next door), and probably went there about 200 other times in the 8 years I worked for the bank.
5. Bank of America has to be my favorite bank and favorite former employer. Great place to work and I made some awesome friends there!
6. Blue Moon - my favorite choice of beers - with the orange
7. The Beach - a must-have for any vacation if you ask me! Just take me somewhere sunny and warm. Not a big fan of the ocean, though. Bad memories of stepping on an unidentified sharp object in my childhood.
8. Blue Bell ice cream. This is hands down the best ice cream out there. My favorites are Cookies and Cream, Strawberries and Cream, Peppermint and good old Vanilla. Now that I think about it, my other favorite ice creams brands also start with B - Breyers and Ben and Jerry's. Yummmm.
9. Blueberries. Too bad they aren't as delicious as they are in the summer all year long. And what's up with how expensive they can be?!?
10. Bailey's - on the rocks. Yummy.

If you'd like to play along let me know!! I'll assign you a letter.

Kyle's artwork

Since Kyle doesn't take naps anymore, he spends a couple of hours in "Quiet Time" while Anna takes her nap each afternoon and he "quietly" plays, reads, builds Legos, draws, etc. Yesterday, while my mom was visiting, they drew some pictures together. Well, Kyle drew while Day Day watched. This is really his thing now - art projects. Just give the boy some plain white paper, which he raids from his Daddy's home office supply, and something to write with (a highlighter does just fine) and he's set. Give him some tape and he's in heaven! He drew some really nice pictures that we can actually understand what they are, so I thought I'd share them with you.

Anna is 18 months old!

I don't like to use cliche's that much, but I can not believe my baby is already 18 months old! The past year and a half has flown by. She sure has changed a lot, too.

Her favorite things to do right now: chase Kyle, Daddy or Mommy around the house, play with Kyle's firetruck, climb up and down the stairs, turn on/off the hall light, which she has to climb up a few steps to do, pull out my pots and pans and corningware (yes, the breakable kind!), dance, unplug her CD player (don't turn me in to Social Services, please), pull books off the bookshelf, play with the computer mouse & keyboard, play with cotton balls, hide in our clothes in our closet... (Notice that all of these favorites involve some sort of movement. This girl will not sit still! I can usually get her to sit through one book when I put her to sleep for her nap or bedtime. She is not much of a cuddler and doesn't stop to watch whatever tv show Kyle is watching. This could be why she consistently is below the 5th percentile for weight!)

In the last few weeks, her words have been more understandable. She still babbles more than says real words, but it's progress. Her "words" now are baby, puppy, mommy, daddy, bubba, no, uh-oh, bye, hi, ball, quack-quack, wawa(water), nana (banana), juice...If you start counting slowly, she'll chime in with "twwwooo" just as slow - it's adorable!

Anna's got quite a personality. Let's just say she's "spirited". You know for sure when she doesn't like something. And when she's happy, she often dances around with her right foot on tiptoe and kind of goes around in a cirle. If she's trying to tell us something or is asking for something and we guess correctly, she shakes her head Yes very clearly. Her big brown eyes also "talk" for her. She plays bashful and turns her head away and sort of looks out of the corners - so stinkin' cute! Or if she knows she's doing something she shouldn't, she'll put her head down and look up at us.


What a perfect addition to our family! We all adore her, especially big brother Kyle. He is so sweet to her - I hope it continues forever! She brightens our days! We love you, Anna!!

Now that I have my little girl...

I can dress her in my own baby dresses! I've been waiting a long, long time for the chance to dress my own little girl in my favorite dresses. I remember putting them on my Cabbage Patch kid and then dreaming of putting them on my own baby girl someday. Well, here we are! My mom surprised me and gave about 5 of them to me as a shower gift at one of my showers when I was pregnant the first time. Since I didn't find out what we were having, she gave them to me. That was an emotional moment, let me tell you! Well, we of course ended up having a boy first (also a dream of mine) and so I had to wait patiently for my girl to wear them some day.

Sarah, ~18 months old:


Anna 2008, ~18 months old

Anna, September 2007 (4 months old)



I love my Anna!

(My plan was to take pictures of her in the exact dresses, or find pictures of me that match the pictures I've taken of Anna in them, but that is harder than I thought. I figured I can always add them in here later when it works out)

Help a mother out

I'm all about supporting moms who have their own business. I have two friends for you to support as you start gearing up for the holidays:

Browse for fun monogrammed baby gifts at Amy & Lynne's Hobby Blog. Amy is a good friend of mine (and a fellow Clemson alum) who makes these items for fun and now is "expanding" to offer these items to anyone. You can't beat these prices!

Also, check out Two Monkeys for adorable gifts for children. Jennifer, the owner/designer, is one of my brother- and sister-in-laws' best friends. I have one of her wipe cases and always get compliments on it. She handmakes everything - pretty impressive if you ask me.

I wish I were so crafty. Maybe one day I'll come up with a great idea for something I could make and sell, but right now I'm at a loss.


For more sites to shop, click on the ornament icon on the right side panel.

Apple Pickin'

I have very fond memories of going to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Flat Rock, NC as I was growing up. There were hayrides, cider tasting, doughnuts and lots of grass to play in and get dirty. When we decided to go to the mountains last weekend, I thought it would be fun to stop at the apple orchard on our way up to Maggie Valley. We invited Patrick's parents, who were babysitting for our niece and nephews from Myrtle Beach, and our sister-in-law and her girls. We all had so much fun! They've added a few playhouses and swingsets to make it more fun for the kids. It must be late in the apple season because they were almost gone, but we managed to find some trees with fruit left in them. Even though it was windy and chilly, I think the kids could have picked apples forever!

Here are Kyle and Anna with their cousins Mia and Christian.


Here's one of Opa enjoying his apple, fresh off the tree.

And here are my babies! Anna managed to eat an entire apple - she wouldn't let go of it until she was finished.

Halloween

This year, we celebrated Halloween a few times and were able to wear costumes a lot! First was the Moms Club Halloween Party last weekend, then there was the Halloween Parade at our YMCA, and then of course there was Halloween night. The skeleton and the witch were well represented. Aside from being a little under the weather, they enjoyed the holiday very much. It's one of my favorites, too. So, I got into it, although I didn't dress up. My contributions were making Kyle's costume and carving the witch jack-o-lantern. Here are some pictures of all the fun.

A Saturday in the 'Burbs

Today the fam went to a Halloween Party, then to a Fall Festival out near our house. The kids wore their Halloween costumes to them and they were so cute! Had to share some pictures. Kyle is wearing his homemade skeleton costume from last Halloween (no, those are not capris, just 2T pants on a 4 yr old) and Anna is borrowing cousin Olivia's witch costume. Next year we'll see Evalyn wearing it, I'm sure. Kyle is already planning out his costumes for the next few years (vampire next year, then a knight, then a mommy - he means mummy), so Anna can wear the skeleton next year. We met up with the Snyders and Rummels at the festival, where we got to go on an infatable obstacle course and a tractor hayride through a shopping center parking lot. Who knew how fun that could be! Like Amy said, "Oh, the things we'll do for our kids!"

Happy Weekend!

A good question

While Kyle was finishing dinner, he asked a good question and I wonder if anyone knows the answer:

Mommy, what did they call Captain Hook before he had a hook?

Girls Weekend

Last weekend I went to Litchfield with some of my friends from Charlotte (and Chicago). We had a nice, relaxing, kid-free weekend. My friend Nicola wrote on her blog about it and included a few group shots. If you haven't done the kid-free thing yet, I highly recommend it.

Life with the Steffens

Pumpkin Patch

We stopped at the St. Giles pumpkin patch yesterday on our way back to Charlotte and snapped some cute pictures of the kiddos. It's the same pumpkin patch we went to when Kyle was 13 months old, so the first picture is of Kyle from that trip. It's fun to see how much he has changed in 3 years and to see how Anna resembles him.

A look forward and back

I saw this on an old friend's blog, so I thought I'd create a similar entry, just for something different.

10 Years Ago~October 1998
I was in my junior year at Clemson. Patrick and I had been dating a little over a year. Football season was in full swing and we went to all the home games, sitting in the Sigma Pi block. Tommy West was still the coach, but not for much longer. For Fall Break, I went down to Charleston to visit one of my best friends (and future MOH). We went out with some of her dental school friends and had a blast. It was raining the whole time, but we didn't mind too much. Well, it rained all night long - pretty heavily. The next morning, I woke up and my little red volvo was sitting in water. Charleston floods very easily, especially when there is a tropical storm! After a couple of hours the water went down enough for me to get into the car and head back to Clemson. But, I'll never forget that Fall Break!

I'm thinking gas was under $1 then...

5 Years Ago ~ October 2003
Patrick and I had been married for 2 1/2 years and were living in Charlotte. I was working as an operations analyst at Bank of America and Patrick was working for a mortgage broker. We had been in our house a little over a year and Pumpkin was our "baby". We were season ticket holders for Clemson Football games and made it to pretty much all of the home games (some things will never change). We headed down to Kiawah Island, SC for a long weekend and to go to one of my sorority sister's weddings. Kyle was starting to become a blip on our radar screen. We were getting the itch after our neice Mia was born around this time.

Gas was probably just over $2.

1 Year Ago ~ October 2007
Still living in Charlotte, in the same house with the same dog, we now have 2 adorable, lovable children. Kyle had turned 3 and Anna was 5 months old. I was still working for BofA as a financial analyst and Patrick was working for a division of Wachovia. We took them to Clemson's homecoming game. Kyle had a blast running around the floats on Bowman Field. Anna probably won't remember anything since she was so little, so we'll be taking her to many more. We ran into a lot of our friends from college at that game in our tailgating spot. Good times. We stayed busy with work, preschool, a new baby and Clemson football.

Gas was almost $3, I think.

1 Year from Now ~ Ocotober 2009
As long as the global economy doesn't completely tank, I'm hoping Patrick's career will be stable, if not thriving. Wellschovia will have plenty of money flowing and mortgage rates will be attractive again. We'll have a new president - certainly one who will make the changes they've promised. Kyle will start his last year of preschool, and Anna may start her first. Clemson Football won't disappoint or let us down again because there will be a new, high profile head coach in charge and a decent quarterback. We'll still be cheering from the West End Zone, too.

The price of gas. It was $3.39 10 minutes ago, but who knows what will be in one year. Let's hope it isn't $5!

5 Cities I've lived in:
Charlotte, NC
Clemson, SC
Columbia, SC
Orlando, FL
(I've only lived in 4 cities - how sad!)


5 Jobs I've had:
5. Bank of America
4. First Citizens
3. Clemson University - Information Desk
2. Frankie's Fun Park
1. Drs. Marsh, Sasnett & Cross


5 Reasons I love this season:
5. Pumpkin flavored EVERYTHING!
4. The upcoming holidays
3. Cool weather for running outside
2. Back to School
1. Clemson Football

5 Things on my To-Do List:
5. Finish organizing bonus room closet
4. Clean out toys
3. Pull out maternity clothes for my dear friend
2. Go to Target/Aldi/Bilo for weekly groceries
1. Go to Hallmark for birthday cards

Tag - You're it! Share a little about yourself!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We just returned from a very relaxing weekend at Litchfield Beach on the coast of SC. We arrived on Thursday night, just in time to experience the "Coastal Low"/Tropical Storm. Lots of rain and wind and a brief power outage, but that was the worst. You'll notice how windy it was the first morning we were there (Anna wasn't just having a bad hair day), but after that storm passed by, it turned out to be a beautiful weekend! Kyle and Anna had a blast playing with Katelyn Misiaveg in the sand. The kids also got to go fishing in the creek and crabbing. Us adults had fun doing pretty much nothing.

Thanks to the Misiavegs for inviting us to spend the weekend in your beautiful beach house!

Kyle's 4th birthday party

Kyle had his 4th birthday Friday, September 19th. What better way to celebrate than have a Curious George party! For those of you who may not know, Kyle is a bit of a monkey fanatic. He has a monkey themed bedroom, loves to read Curious George books and watch the t.v. show on PBS. He also loves watching (and re-watching) the CG movie. I think he got that gene from Patrick b/c I never watch a movie, or t.v. show, more than once. Anyways, he loves monkeys. I even made him a monkey cake. It was pretty good, although not as good as Martha's. I love getting into all the details of birthday parties for my kids - it's only once a year!

We had an inflatable in our back yard for entertainment, which was a great idea I must say. The kids would have stayed in there all day if I didn't ask them to come inside for pizza and cake. Then we had to bring out the Curious George pinata. Kyle had a blast and he kept saying it was the best birthday ever! It was worth all the effort, then.

It's hard to believe how much he has changed in the last week. It may just be that I'm paying closer attention to what he can do. I feel like he is much more independent now. He doesn't need me to pull out the plastic bowls from the cabinet, he can just push his little chair over, climb up on the counter and get one himself. Then he can pour the goldfish that he got out of the pantry by himself into the bowl, too. That's just an example. I'm thinking he's getting this confidence from preschool. It makes me a little sad, but I love to watch him become a little man.

Finally

Well, we finally joined the world of bloggers. I'm going to do my best to keep this updated and post pictures. I don't know how interesting our lives really are, but this will help keep friends and family updated on what we're up to.