Almost a Year Old!

Maggie is turning 1 on May 28th! We just cannot believe how quickly the time has gone by. She is such a big girl now. : ) Her Birthday party is scheduled for Saturday, May 30th at 1:00pm and we really hope to see everyone there. Invitations went out early for those who might be coming from out-of-town and hopefully everyone received them. We will have cake, drinks (including beer), and food for everyone! Please call or e-mail me if you won't be able to make it...832-607-2633 or tlum09@comcast.net . I will be blogging more later with new photos...I know it's been a while.

SCCA in Houston

We went this weekend to watch Uncle and his buddies race. It's always a lot of fun to watch...we wish there were more races in Houston. They set up the track at Gulf Greyhound Park with cones and everyone races for the best time. SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) racing is considered more of a skilled event rather than a sport, according to Uncle. I believe Uncle and Tommy (his racing partner) placed 2nd, although they held 1st place for a long time...you can't win every singe one I guess! Scott's dad came up too, so we all had a great time visiting. This was Maggie's 1st of hopefully many! She did extraordinarily well, didn't seem bothered by the loud cars at all. Here are some of the good photos I managed to capture. Good job guys!

Our Sunday in Beaumont

Scott, Maggie, & I met up with Pop & Deborah in Beaumont to visit Grandpa. We had such a great visit! The weather couldn't have been more perfect than it was on Sunday...sunny, breezy, around 70 degrees. Pop & Deborah got in on some good Maggie time, and I can tell that Pop & Maggie are going to be BFF's already. Grandpa was enjoying his usual leisure time in the swing on the front porch. We're glad to report that he's doing really well and hasn't forgotten a single story. We always seem to breeze through the neighborhood to and from Grandpa's house...one of these days we'll take our time and soak up the historical sites that make Beaumont what it is today.

Dinner with The Snowden's

The Lumpkin & The Snowden cousins have finally decided to start our own tradition. We will meet a couple of times a month at each other's homes for dinner, drinks, and lots of great cousin bonding. We had our first gathering a week ago in Kingwood, at Michael & Amanda's house. It was a blast! And kudos to Mikey for the excellent grillin'. Scott & Brian played some Guitar Hero...I even got hooked, Noah & Maggie played very nicely together, and the adults got to catch up over some appes & beers. Good times!

Spring time

Wow, it has been a long time since we've blogged. There has been soooo much going on in our lives, but nothing exciting to blog about. My grandmother passed away almost 2 weeks ago from liver cancer. She was diagnosed mid January and passed the morning of Feb 18th...it all happened very very fast. Our lives were pretty much consumed with visits to New Ulm, TX to see her and my mom (who was giving her hospice care). I am and always will be thankful for those visits and the time I was able to spend with her. We miss her very much.
On a lighter note, Maggie just turned 9 months old and is such a big girl now. She babbles, crawls, has 2 bottom teeth, & is trying to learn to walk...oh boy, get out the safety locks!
Scott is giving the truck to Rusty (my brother) and taking my grandmother's car at no cost...pretty sweet deal. The car is a '98 Chevy Lumina and has a little over 55k mi on it, has been kept on a pretty regular maintenance schedule at the dealership, and looks like new. It will be a great family car. Thanks again Mom & Dad!
More later...and hopefully some pictures to go along.

DADA

She did it! And I even managed to catch her doing it...somewhat. She's still figuring it out.

More Holiday photos

Heather having a good time

Mom & Granny New Year's Eve

Mom, Maggie, & Sydney at the farm

Aweeee! New Year's Eve kiss

Uncle Rusty & Maggie having fun together

Dad, Papa, & Granny at the farm

Hello 2009!

New Year's group playing Yahtzee

Papa & Maggie 12-26-08

4 generations (Mom, Maw Maw, Maggie, & Me)

Maggie & Pablo (there's a story behind that name) on Christmas

Maggie opening her stocking

A New Year, a fresh start. 2008 was pretty tough for us, so we're hopeful that this year will go much smoother. Christmas '08 was great, a lot of friends and family around our home for the holidays. Nana, Papa, Maw Maw, and Rusty all drove in and stayed at our place for several days. Everyone of course enjoyed seeing Maggie and the excitement of her first Christmas. She even unstuffed her own stocking! : ) She got all kinds of neat toys and gadgets from her Grandparents. Uncle Rusty bought her a really cool red wagon, which Mommy put together...thanks Uncle Rusty! We can't wait to pull her around in that thing.

Heather, Chase, and the kids drove down from Kansas with a U-Haul in tow. They gave us one of the greatest Christmas gifts ever. We are now the proud owners of my Great Grandma & Grandpa Heinze's dinner table/chairs, purchased in 1919...WOW. It was passed to my parents in 1972 (so I ate on this table for 19 years), and then to Heather & Chase when they moved to Kansas, and now to us. The whole set needs some TLC, which it will definitely get, but we love it. Thanks again for bringing it Stewart Family!

Our New Year's celebration was fun. We spent our days at the farm as we do every year. All of the Yahtzee, food, & 4-wheelin' you can handle. I even joined in on a couple of rounds of Yahtzee & Blackjack, as I perpetually give into the pressure. The cousins had a great time playing together...there are always plenty of kiddos in the house. Pictures to follow...HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Car

Scott & I finally had a chance to do some car shopping this past weekend. We spent all day Saturday going from dealer to dealer, looking for the perfect vehicle...and we think we found it! We visited about 6 dealerships, and the last place we went to had an '08 Hyundai Veracruz Limited Edition fully loaded, with almost 28k mi on it. Apparently there was another one (identical to this one) in the back that hadn't even made it out on the lot yet, except this one was an '07 with 14k mi on it. Can you believe it?! We took a look at it and both agreed it was love at first sight. It's a beautiful crossover vehicle with seating for 7...something we can definitely grow into over the years to come. Needless to say, we are happy to have this big hurdle out of the way so we can focus on the holidays.
We hope that everyone is safe and warm over the holidays. Have a very Merry Christmas!

Totalling the VUE

Okay, I finally have photos from the adjuster. So it doesn't look totalled does it? Hard to believe, I know. It's the inner damage that was done. There's a picture with the front bumper taken off for better viewing, but the bumper didn't fall off during the accident...as you can see in this first photo.

Tuesday, December 9th I wrecked my car on the way to work. The roads were wet (rear tires a little bald) and I hydroplaned right into the back of a Nissan Titan. Luckily the Titan sustained no damage and the gentlemen driving was very friendly. It's a totally different story for my Saturn. The insurance company determined the VUE to be a total loss due to the inner rail being damaged...along with the radiator, air compressor, and of course the front end. Luckily no one was hurt, and Maggie wasn't in the car...thank God. I probably lost control around 20mph, so the sudden stop was pretty substantial (obviously).
Of course the Saturn was due to be paid off in January of '09...sniffle, sniffle. It sure would've been nice to not have a note for a while. That's life, right? As I always say...Everything happens for a reason.
Anywho, Scott and I have not even begun to car shop, but will need to do that this weekend. At least it's year-end and there are a lot of great offers out there.