Tea clothing on sale

My favorite line of clothing for kids, Tea, is having a huge summer clearance sale. I am all about good prices, but quality and look it also important. I feel like this brand totally has it all. Their sale prices are very reasonable right now, too. Check it out here.

in training

Maggie has really been into "pig-back" rides lately. While I was cooking dinner on Friday, she kept trying to put her doll on her back. I cleverly tied her blanket around her and she carried the doll around like this for quite some time, thoroughly loving it! Now, when our new baby arrives and I am carring him/her in the sling, Maggie will already be an expert with carrying around her own "baby." :)

dog days

She was totally captivated!

This guy has been a part of the club for 20 years. His dog jumped up on him and caught the frisbee--quite impressive!

On Friday, the Dog and Disc Club of Dallas put on a demonstration through the Highland Park library for the kids, free of charge. I called my friend Erin and we drove down together, stopping at Froggie's toy store afterwards (Celeste, I thought of you, as you introduced this to me). Here are a few pics from the morning. Hudson and Maggie enjoyed themselves, especially finding eathern treasures along our walk.

maggie update

We have one hilariously, spunky girl. She still says "hi" to most anyone and everyone she meets and even shakes the occasional proffered hand. She loves to hug little kids her age and give kisses. And she is one verbal child. She has recently begun using short phrases and more and more pointing out things/talking about things without being prompted. During lunch yesterday she said, "More broccoli" and I didn't even ask her if she wanted more. She says "bye bye" to lots of things on her own and even to things that don't really make much sense. As we were driving home from dinner last night she said, "Bye bye water." What?! Later, it was, "Bye bye car." We were driving in our car. I was a bit confused. Oh well. She's been learning some Spanish words and can say a few of the basics including "hola," "adios," "que tal," and "muy bien." She really loves to draw (still scribblings at this point of course) and color with her Color Wonder markers (in my opinion, one of the best kid-friendly inventions ever). Also apparently we go to the park often and as of late out to eat many a night, because whenever we get in the car, she usually asks one of two questions once buckled in: "Park?" or "Eat?" She also is obsessed with counting, joyously saying, "three, four, five, six!"

And this kids *loves* music, often singing at the top of her lungs in the car. It's awesome. While in Bishop, my dad bought her this book that had a little piano at the bottom of it. The piano is part of the book, it doesn't have actual keys that play music. But, Maggie cleverly decided to start plunking away on them and singing. I'm not sure where she has ever even seen a piano. And she started calling it a "p-yo." Mom and dad taught her "Jesus Loves Me" one afternoon while I was out shopping with Shannon and when I got home, she was singing over and over, "Jesus, Jesus, Bible, Bible." Just.Like.That.

I love this girl.

and we're back!

It's been a crazy, busy, fun, relaxing, family-filled, past 2 weeks. We arrived back in Dallas last Thursday night from our travels to CA. I went out a week early, my folks joined me on the flight in Dallas, and we landed in OC, then drove up to Bishop, CA to be with Shannon, Steve, and new baby, Jacob! We stayed with them for over a week, mostly hanging out, loving on the baby, organizing things (which mom and I *love* to do! call us!), and doing some sight-seeing. Maggie loved Jacob, calling him by name on a daily basis and giving him lots of kisses and pats. Maggie also had her first experience feeding the ducks at the park. We hung out one afternoon with Shannon's good friend Abby and her 15 month old daughter, Gabrielle. Gabrielle ate most of her bread and Maggie enjoyed throwing huge chunks in for the ducks. It was awesome.

Bishop is actually quite beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised. The moutains were stunning. One day we drove to a small fishing village called Cardinal Village (where Steve had done some YWAM training years ago), ate lunch, got a tour by the owners, and Maggie had her first horseback ride...yes, on a real horse, all by herself. The video footage is classic. I must figure out how to upload video to this blog! She wore a cowboy hat (mom and dad have that picture; I need to get it from them) and said, "Giddyup!" the entire time. She was fearless and held on for the 15 minute ride (someone was leading the horse). I didn't hold her or anything. When Aron saw the footage, he responded incredulously, "You let her ride All.By.Herself?! You didn't even hold on to her?!" Uh, no. Should I have? Over certain turns and bumps I would put my hand up to support her, but she did fine. I'm proud of my little cowgirl! Mom and dad loved on Jacob, dad ran errands and kept us well fed (esp. on treats!) and we were able to meet some of S&S' friends. They are super blessed with an *amazing* community of believers.

And it couldn't have worked out any better, timing-wise, because last minute, Aron had to be in SoCal on business, so he headed up to Bishop for a long weekend at the end of June. Steve, dad and A grabbed coffee together on Friday morning, and then Steve and A went fishing for several hours. That afternoon we headed up to Mammoth Mountain to shop and look around, then out for a fantastic Mexican dinner at Roberto's. Sunday, we visited their church again (he is the youth pastor and loves it!) and A led worship that night for the youth group; it was an incredible time. He hadn't led in 1 1/2 years; a very refreshing time to see him doing something in which he is so gifted.

Aron had taken the following week as vacation time, so we headed back to OC on Monday, had dinner with some friends that night that we hadn't seen since we moved away 4 years ago, were able to get a night away in Dana Point on Tuesday night, spent Wednesday with his family and our friend, Jason, then saw Dawnielle and Asher on Thursday morning right before we headed out to the airport. Whew...

My folks took some excellent pictures and I want to post some of them later, but for now, here are few.

wordless wednesday

Last Thursday, my aunt and uncle came to town on business and we grabbed dinner at Mi Cocina. Here are a couple of shots Aunt Peggy took as we were leaving. I love having some family close by!

back from the dead

I feel that way somewhat. It's been a super crazy, busy, tiresome, sometimes overwhelming last 3 weeks, but we succesfully moved this past weekend. And let's just say that moving is a pain in the ass. Well, it is. But, thankfully, we had some friends come out and help us make the move easier and more enjoyable. We LOVE Wil and Misty and Brad and Tammy! Pictures of their lovely selves coming soon. Then, Monday morning we arrived at the title company at 9am and signed all the papers to close on the sale of our house. Our friends Erin and Christian are on vacation on the East Coast and have graciously let us stay in their house (many thanks!!). Tomorrow we get the keys to the apartment and will start to move a few things over and do the final move on Saturday, where a few more amazing friends are coming out to move us from storage to apartment.

God's been so faithful these past few weeks, it's hard to believe we are on this side of things. I don't think everything has settled in. Maggie and I leave this Friday for 2 weeks in California. My parents are flying into Dallas, and we will all catch a plane to OC together. Upon arrival, we will drive straight to Bishop, to stay with Steve and Shannon and meet our newest family member, Jacob! Aron has to be in OC on business the last few days of this month, so he took vacation days the following week and we will have a week long family vacation together. I'm thrilled!

Pregnancy-wise, I'm doing pretty good. I have noticed that in the past week or so I get very nauseous at night and get a round of chills, like I'm getting sick. I don't remember feeling this way with Mags. Maybe I'm having a little boy!? :) We had our first appointment June 9 and got a picture of our sweet little peanut...due date is January 15, putting me at almost 10 weeks pregnant today.

Random thoughts: Disappointed the Lakers lost the finals, looking forward to reading our next book club book (Janet Evanovich's One for the Money; to my MIL: I know you love Stephanie Plum!), needing to finish Larry Crabbe's From the Inside Out (it's outstanding) and currently enjoying an episode of Bones while waiting for my hubby to come home from a Death Cab for Cutie concert.

18 months

Our little girl is officially 1 1/2 years old! This is hard to believe, and yet it also feels very right. We are loving life with her and she makes it more joy-filled each day. Currently, she loves to wander around the house while Aron is at working asking repeatedly, "Dada? Dada?" It's so sweet. She said her name for the first time on Monday...for the past few months it has sounded like "Mommy," but this week she finally made the "g" sound. Now she points to herself and says, "Maggie!" She is starting to put simple phrases together and has recently dropped her morning nap. In it's place we have 45 minutes or so of room time, which she loves. Today, we went swimming and she took a nasty fall at the pool and has a bruise across the bridge of her nose. Poor thing!

We sold our house!!

While many of you know that we have sold our home (within 48 hours of putting it on the market! How good is God?!), many do not, so here's a quick update. Basically, we realized in January that our goal of pursuing a job in full-time ministry (specifically, worship arts for Aron if possible) seems to be alluding us. And while Aron's current job (in the building products industry; he's been there almost 5 years) has always been a means to this end, we were feeling like the end was no where in sight. Therefore, we began to pray and talk to those trusted advisers in our life, and made a move to sell our home, so we can be ready to move out of state if need be, or be ready to take a job in the area. It's been pretty exciting as we take steps to make our passions a reality.

I don't think I ever posted pics of our house, so you can click here and see our virtual home tour. We close on Monday, the 16th, so after that time, you might be out of luck, so look now. This has been an awesome home. For now, we are headed to an apartment in Plano, about 10 minutes from where we live now. We'd love your prayers as we are in the beginning stages of launching into ministry.

Meet Jacob Steven Stutler!

My beautiful sister and her wonderful hubby gave birth to their first baby on Saturday, May 31 (which also happens to be Shannon's 28th birthday! His actual due date was June 10). Jacob Steven was born after a DREAMY (seriously!) 5 hour labor. Shannon was able to go all natural with no epidural. Jacob weighed in at 6 lbs., 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing well! Thanks for all your prayers and love. They will post more pics and details on their blog in the forthcoming weeks. Jacob looks just like his dad here! His future as a musician is off to a rockin' start.

P.S. For those of you who participated in Shannon's "Shower-in-a-Box," she will be blogging about it in the next few weeks. The plan was for them to open gifts and take pictures this past Saturday, and well, plans changed! :)