Our Christmas

Stringer boys 2010. We are going to Kyle's parents for Christmas, so we opened our presents today so we wouldn't have to haul them up there. Later that morning, Seth said, "You know these Christmas presents aren't the best ones - the best one of all is that Jesus was born so that He could die for our sins." Amen!! I've never been so proud!

Kyle took the boys to a pottery place in New Braunfels and made this! He drew and painted it himself, with the boys' hand and fingerprints. What a treasure! I cannot believe I married such a talented man.

Okay, not Christmas related, but had to share. Went in to check on the boys before I went to bed the other night and couldn't find Blake anywhere. Finally, I located him asleep under the bed in a box. Why did we buy bunk beds?

More Fall Portraits

I LOVE this pic. They only lay still for about 3 seconds, but I got one!

Thanksgiving - part 2

After we visited Winnsboro, we went to my parents house on Tuesday and stayed through Sunday. My dad's whole family came out for the feast, which was awesome because I don't see them nearly enough. Mom set up dinner in the barn at a huge table and we sat on hay bales. She is a wonderful hostess! The food was amazing, of course.

My cousin J.J. with her daughter Caitlin and my aunt Joyce - so good to see them. So many relatives I didn't even take pics of, but I was so thankful to see J.J. in from Oregon and Tyler in from California.

I don't know what other families do when they get together, but we hitched up toboggans behind the golf cart and pulled the kids around. Even Cullen loved it.

His favorite activity was getting rolled around in the new duffel Kyle got for Christmas. He would screech if you tried to remove him.

And we all swang on the tree swing. So fun!

Kyle and I in the hammock

Grammy and Papa with all the grand kids. It was so cold! Look at how the kids are all scrunched up!

Grammy with her boys.

Thanksgiving

This is one for the wedding video....well, one can hope. SEth was kinda sweet on Mallory. So adorable. Seth had the whole week off for Thanksgiving, so I took the boys up to Winnsboro for the first half of the week while Kyle was still working. We had so much fun! The Porters came down one day and we had a big time - the kids played on the hay, and Gloria pulled them around in a wagon behind the four wheeler.


This is the only photo I got of us three. Seth took it. Obviously.

This is the Porter's newest cutie, Luke.


Pa with Cullen. Glo-Glo and I are so last year whenever this guy is around.


Seth abslolutely loves Man vs. Wild, so one day Gloria and I played "Survive in the Woods" with them and we showed Seth how to build a shelter/ teepee in the forest. Holy Cow, what a hit. He cut vine to use as rope, and green branches to weave in and out. At one point he said "I'd be fine out in the woods, and all those other babies would go cryin' to their mamas!" Then later he said something about "boys who can't do this must be wearin' pink panties!" (WHOOP! Yes, my kid just quoted Bob D.) Anyway, he thinks he's ready to go live off the land.



We also went horseback riding...



I also (finally) took some time to get fall portraits of the boys:






Why I had boys: little slim cut wranglers.

Kaufman Girls Weekend

Last Weekend I met my best friends from Kaufman at my mom's for the weekend. She spoiled us and made fabulous things to eat. We didn't do much. I did get to take pics of Stefanie with baby Merrick, which was fun. We did shop on Saturday, but other than that we just talked and talked and talked and basked in each other's presence. It was awesome. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such friendships. I think a large part of the reason we are so close is the hardships we have endured together: fertility struggles, marriage problems, depression, you name it. We had some years of trial! but, you grow closer when you are helping each other and praying for each other's daily struggles.

Being with these girls makes me also thankful for my San Antonio life. We are so happy to be here and God has blessed Kyle with a great job, us with a fabulous church family, and me with wonderful friendships here, too. I really feel they've deepened over this last year.

Here's how my brain works:

- I've known my Kaufman friends 7 years.

- I've known my San Antonio friends for 3.

- How awesome is it going to be when I've known them 7?

Thank you, God for awesome friends!!

Camping

We went camping a couple of weekends ago to Guadalupe River State Park with our friend the Pattisons. We had such a great time! Friggs took one look at Ryder, who is younger, riding his bike without training wheels and decided to take his off. Off he rode, no looking back! It felt great during the day and was very cold at night. We felt great though because Kyle and I always bring the electric blanket. That might be cheating. Don't care.

We played in the river, sang while Nate played the guitar, had fun cooking out, and just really enjoyed good company. I am so glad Cullen is getting to an easier stage to take camping; I have really missed it.

Cullen video

I don't know if I've posted a single clip of Cullen yet because it took about an hour to put anything together on my computer. But since my fabulous husband bought me a mac, this took about 10 min. Yay!

October

Seth played flag football for the first time this year and loved it. It was really neat to see a group of boys go from knowing nothing to actually running plays. Seth wishes it were tackle football, however. He tried to work in as many dives and rolls as possible. His coach was always saying, "Seth, let's stay on our feet today!"

Find the Friggs! That kid definitely has Bennett blood in him. He is such a monkey. This is the magnolia tree in front of my brother Roger's house. We went down this weekend for Laura's birthday and had a good visit.

Seth and Colton in the tree.

Seth showing off his missing teeth - all four front teeth at once.

Love this pic! Blake and Cullen went home with my parents for a few days at the farm. On the way home, Seth and I stopped at Van's BBQ. The light was perfect so I snapped a few pics while waiting for our food.

At the party they got to dress like chefs and decorate cupcakes. Blake also wore Colton's goggles. He looked like a mad scientist.
Cullen and his Papa
Grammy and Cullen. For those of you wondering, he does have a nickname. Not like Friggs, which he goes by 3/4 of the time, but just a little nickname that will eventually phase out: Nutters. When he was born, he was a little peanut. Clearly. Then he was my Nutter Butter. Now just Nutters. I'm not saying it's cool or catchy. It just is.

Cullen loves to give sugars now and puckers up his lips like a little fish. So cute.

My sweet little walker! He is 17 months now. He has been walking for a few months, but it's just weird to see my baby so big.

Brilliant ideas

I can see the appeal. Didn't work, though.

Another great idea. A snack for later.

Grocery List

This is the grocery list Kyle made for me:

- meeyulk
- kuhreeuskoh
- too powundz uv powderd shoogur
- dressin
- buhnayuhnuhz
- vehjeez
- ahf
- rayunch stahl beenz
- spinuch

August Happenings

Tabouleh is yummy. My kids love it. But what's especially nice is rubbing it all over yourself after you're done eating it. It makes you quite happy.

The weekend before school started we went down to the coast to go fishing offshore. It's a bit of a pilgrimage, I suppose. I miss The Gulf. I love San Antonio and trees and I want to live here, but I need to go out on the water more often than I get to. It feels like home. August is the best time, usually flat for going offshore. Not that day - 5 foot seas. Since Kyle gets sick in the bay and we had the kids with us, we decided to stay in the bay off the Liddy Ann channel. Andy and Katie took us out. We even got a sitter for Cullen so I could have fun (no offense, kid). But alas, the fish were not biting. Here is Seth with one of few fish caught - a skipjack that he reeled in. I am thrilled that my boys seem to love being out there as much as I do.

It was a beautiful day! Blue green water, blue sky, and lots of dolphins that day!

I caught the only keeper of the day - a redfish. Yum. I got him while Andy and I were wadefishing. Andy was great - he was patient and cast my line out for me and baited my hook at times (both things I am fully capable of doing, for the record. He was just being sweet). As a grown-up, a sister doesn't get much quality time with her brothers and it was great.
We also went cooning for Rock Crab. In case you don't know what that means, you put on a glove, muddy the water so the crab doesn't see you, stick your arm down his hole, yank him out (easier said than done), and rip off his claw. Then you throw him back. He'll grow a new one. This is the best food on earth and if you haven't tried it, I feel sorry for you. Roger and Andy got most of them, but I got a few. After feasting on crab that night with all Bennetts and Stringers, Roger and his family took Andy and the girls and Seth and I flounder gigging. Also one of my favorite activities. It was fun and exhausting and by far the latest Friggs has ever gotten to stay up - I figure he fell asleep in the canoe around midnight. But we only saw one 4 inch flounder. Boo! Nevertheless, we all had a blast. You may have noticed Kyle did not do many of these activities. Not because he wasn't interested, but because he's awesome. He knows how much I love these things and watched babies while I had fun. I married well :)
Friggs's first day of school. He is in first grade now and loving it. Doesn't he look adorable with missing teeth? And he lost another one that night. By the way, yes "Friggs's" is correct. A singular possessive should have " 's " even if it ends in "s". Sorry. I couldn't help myself. I'll stop now. Blake's 3rd birthday cake! He loved it, talked about it all week. Was so excited to see it. It turned out very well, thanks to the buttercream icing recipe I used. It's much easier to make the star things (don't know the term...) than to make smooth icing look good. I baked 2 13 x 9 cakes and Kyle cut the pattern out and arranged it - he drew it himself. I just iced it. We used mini marshmallows cut diagonally for the teeth. Success! This was my nicest looking cake yet.I will post pics of the birthday boy later! I need to take some new ones. He is changing - losing the toddler look.