Happy 10th

Our 10th anniversary was today. To commemorate the happy day I pulled up the old "Happily Ever After" video I made a few years ago and replaced a few pics but I had issues posting it so here's the link to the old video:

Love you Babe! Thanks for marrying me.

Technical Diificulties

Sorry I haven't posted in a long time and it certainly hasn't been because I have nothing to post. Apparently I post too much and have overfilled my capacity and ya'll know I'm not about to pay for more space so I have a new blog. Here's the address: thesteeders.blogspot.com. You'll have to give me some time to make it look cute with a Steed header and links and all but I'll post some pics and updates in the meantime.

Fire Station Field Trip

Our preschool group enjoyed a fun visit to the fire station.

Springs Preserve

Bank of America has a Museums on Us program that has allowed our family to get into the Springs Preserve the last two months only paying Emma's admission ($5). It has a neat museum and fun outdoor trails, a playground, gardens. Good way to gain appreciation for the desert.

They had a neat Wings Over the Springs raptor show we enjoyed.

The remains of the house that was built over the main spring to protect the water.

I like family outings and how they tend to stop the little bickerings amongst my kids and we just enjoy each other.

And cousins enjoy each other too

I don't know that I truly LOVE the desert but it certainly has it's beauty and redeeming qualities.. How many places can you sleep outside in the open without getting eaten or drenched in sweat from the humidity? And there are beautiful and interesting flora and fauna like these flowers, one of my favorites.

And Andrew made friends with the local wildlife.

Playing archeologist, the favorite activity of the day.

Weston's (5-yr-old) Words of Wisdom

My little Westie turned 5. But he still snuggles his mama lots and cocks his head to the side with puppy dog eyes when he's sad and I think he's just as cute as ever. Love those chocolate eyes and kissable cheeks! He's really blossomed this year. He's suddenly a dedicated little preschooler, reading, writing and soaking up all the info he can get. Weston acts all grown-up in all his five-year-old wisdom. So here's some of that wisdom in honor of the wise birthday boy:

Weston- "How do superheros pee?"

Mom- "Same way as you bud. Everybody does it."
Weston- "Yeah but in my comic books they never pee and my batcave doesn't have a bathroom."

Mom- "Do you ever see them eat in your comic books?"

Weston-"No.... Maybe they eat the bad guys."

Weston noticed his uncles braces for the first time.

Weston- "Do you have a necklace on your teeth?!"

Nate- "No, those are braces."

Weston- "Bracelets?!"

My mom introduced Weston to pork n' beans and the boy's in love. A couple days later I made burritos and Weston said the dinner prayer:

"Please bless that the burrito beans will taste as yummy as pork and beans."

A friend of ours was showing Weston inside his undercover police car and telling him how he traps the bad guys. He asked Weston if he knows any bad guys.

Weston- "Satan's a bad guy. He's sneaky so we have to watch out."

Deep in the Heart of Texas

(Although my sister-in-law refers to Austin being a different anatomical part of Texas)

Jamie and I went down to check out Austin. My sister-in-law and her family put us up and showed us a good time. Thanks to ya'll for a great weekend! Here we are at Lake Travis.

Nice view from Mt. Bonnell (kind of cute that they call this a mountain, silly southerners).

Jamie giving Austin his okay.

Lest we should forget where we were.

But the thing that won Jamie over was this place. It's very Texas but Jamie says their brisket tastes like beef jerky and he could've drank a bottle of their special sauce. He's in love and ready to move!

This sign was over the register and I decided I need one for my kitchen

Definitely in Texas

I like Austin. But I spent a whole lot of time staring at the Southwest Airlines napkin map on the way home. 21 hours cross half the country is no small drive home.

View Larger Map

Dr. Emma catch-up

I haven't posted any Dr. Emma stuff in a long time so some if this may be repeats but it's been so long that you probably won't know either :o)

Emma- (admiring a beautiful porcelain doll with dark ringlets) "Her hair looks like Uncle Nate's"

Mom- "What should we give Nana & Pop for Valentine's Day?"

Weston- "Maybe we can give them grown-up toys."

Mom- "What are grown-up toys?"
Weston- "Things grown-ups like to play with"

Mom- "What do grown-ups like to play with?"

Weston- "Dangerous things."

Mom- "Weston, how would you feel about moving to Texas."

Weston- "Good."

Mom- "Why?"

Weston- "Because they have real guns in their house."

(He seems to remember a real gun that shot fire at my brother's house in Dallas. Shame on you Jesse for letting him play with that.)

Andrew- "One day Deborah said, 'turkey, turkey turkey'" (uh, good one Deb)

Andrew- "Isn't Josh wonderful?!"

I explained the Newberry Award to Emma when she noticed the medal on her Ramona book

Emma- "Did Beezus and Ramona get one too?"
Mom- "I don't think so but that was a good book wasn't it?"

Emma- "Yeah, it even included naughty details."

Emma- (trying to make her brothers write) "Can we jazz that up a little?"

Emma- (describing the delicious crepes Stephanie made) "They're like sugar plum burritos."

Emma- "Sometimes I talk to Rascal and say why is [this person] such a disaster?"

Emma- "I was scared in bed last night, and then I remembered my primary line 'The Holy Ghost can protect us.' Then I felt better."

Emma was pretending to talk on the phone, "I heard some tweeting on the phone. The birds are my friends. They don't know how to talk, just tweet."

Emma- "When you give people a cute smile you get stuff."

(A long time ago) Jamie taught Weston how to pee standing up

Weston- "Can I poop standing up?"

Mom- "Weston you have to wash your hands, they have germs."

Weston- "But I love germs."

Weston telling me how to get dinner- "Look for the spinning 'M' that's shaped with a french fry."

Ender Boy

Ender Boy duh duh duh duh duh duh

Looking super stoic and mysterious as he "fixes" the hose

Flying through the yard

Flying off buildings

His trusty Superdog

Just so you know

Alright, I did it, I finished getting all my Christmas stuff posted. I don't know how this works for you reading this on google reader but I posted the things that happened first, first. Which would make sense if you were getting one post at a time and could keep up as they come but seeing as I posted these all within a couple days you will likely see the last post first and scroll down getting everything backwards, giving little sense to some intros. Clear as mud? Just know that the top of the blog page is the most recent and scrolling down is going back further on the timeline like it would be if I had posted daily and you hadn't visited in a long time.

Santa

The Cannons had a special visitor. The older kids thought the voice sounded strangely familiar but it was a voice they associate with fun and spoiling so it worked.

Weston whispers whimsical wishes

Andrew hesitates when asked if he's been a good boy this year. (is this graded on a curve?)

Emma's at ease

Fun with the Steeds

Grandma gave the kiddos jammies for Christmas Eve and my SIL read a Christmas story, because SIL is an event planner and throws the grandest events giving me excuses to take pictures (if you ever get invited to one of their birthday parties be sure to go. She's very clever with the themes. But don't feel bad if you don't because it's really a family thing. There are a couple of single brothers though :o) ) I like how little Nelson seems to have a santa hat hovering over his head in this picture.

Jeff and Andrew dance to the dragon spinner from his stocking Christmas morning. It spins on the floor shooting out lights and playing music as it goes.

Jamie carries on the tradition of dollar store" treasure" giving. He gives ridiculous gifts to each family member and writes poems to mock the absurdity. This gem was for his mother, scroll down (and enlarge) to read the caption for this lovely.

Steed Nativity

As I was going through my Christmas pics, I was bothered by an obvious flaw. Where are the Steeds? We saw them over Christmas and had good times and truly love them as much as these picture-hog Cannons. Being a Cannon I worried I was subconsciously being biased and had to do some self-introspection. But then I discovered the pics on my old camera and felt a little better. And I reminded myself that a) I had my camera always accessible with the Cannon clan whereas I had to remember to bring and pull out the camera at the Steeds and b) My family seems to have a photography fascination- my brother Nate is really quite amazing and Jesse is right next to me trying to capture all the kid's playtime. We even had conversations about photography. The Steeds are less obsessed and I feel silly kneeling down in front of everyone, in their face snapping pictures and I think they would be less than thrilled about that invasion and I am not not good enough at photography to justify such a move. c)Pictures are generally something you take at events or activities. My family is into scheduling activities when we get together. We have a weird need to have something planned and organized for each day. Maybe it's the size of our family (22 people with no plan is kinda dangerous) or maybe it's that we only see each other once or twice a year now or maybe it's just a sickness but we are activity people. The Steeds aren't as big of planned event kinda people when it comes to family time. They just get together and enjoy each other ("just" here not indicating plain or boring but rather simple, refreshing, and unassuming). I think part of it is that they all live here so getting together isn't a limited, organized event. And part of it is that they are mostly adults that can enjoy sitting and talking and sharing stories and humorous anecdotes, not so much kiddy entertainment needed. The point is, you take pictures of activities like talent shows and hikes but it would be a bit awkward to pull out a camera and start shooting pictures of someone as they tell you about their week. So although those times are just as memorable and fun, they're not exactly picture-appropriate material.

So after the incredibly long intro. I did get some pics with the Steeds. We had our first Steed nativity reenactment. And it went over well. With four boys and one girl to choose from, Emma was a shoe-in for the part of Mary and every child had a major role. the oldest cousin, who is quite taken with Emma, stood by her side as Joseph. this left one child each for the parts of the angel, wise man, and shepherd. And being at a boys' house the best Baby Jesus we could find was Curious George.

Younger cousin was less than enthused about my costume designing but he made his stage appearance.

Weston was drowning in his wise man robe

Emma beamed with pride at the importance of her part.

Night on the Town

Just as you thought you were being released from the flood of posts I've been throwing out, I realized I never unloaded my old camera. I got a sweet camera from my awesome in-laws and husband and I am in love. So my poor old camera got forgotten and pictures just sat waiting to be shared. So you're in for a few more posts.

As one of our Christmas presents, my parents gave each of the couples a room on the strip and babysat our kids. We all met at a buffet for lunch one afternoon to trade shifts and hang out then we walked around the strip and played tourist.

Here we are at the Venetian. They have a really cool photo gallery there.

The Belagio fountains. My favorite. The conservatory display was awesome as well.

We checked out the new Cosmopolitan and City Center which was pretty cool with a very trendy, hip/modern look. Cosmopolitan had a funky, impractical but intriguing furniture store with this long metal bench filled with glass marbles. You sit on these plates and slide across on it. That so would not last in my house but was kinda fun.

After walking the strip and seeing all we cared to see we headed to the Flamingo to enjoy our newly redone room with it's lounge couch overlooking the fountains, tv in the bathroom mirror, and back/tummy jets in the shower. It was nice to have the night off. the next morning we walked around the pools and saw the birds and ate at Hash House a Go Go at Jamie's new stomping grounds, Imperial Palace (although at the time he was still over at Ceasar's). Thanks Mom and Dad!