The Land of Corn

Kitchen remodel demo-while looking at the pictures, Stella said "It's a picture of our broken kitchen!" Well said...

And this is what we came home to from Nebraska!

The new bar area

James Arthur Winery in Nebraska-Carrie, Amy, Aunt Debbie, Cousin Brittney

Aunt Debbie, Britt, Carrie and Aunt Marty

Grapes!

Posing with the creepy owl

Stella was making some phone calls

Stella and Cousin Alix

Cousin Alix and Brittney at the waterpark

Cousins Hunter, Audra, and Joy

Carrie, Grant, Wendy and Jackson

Jackson was having a pensive moment

Stella is always a lady-even when she sleeps

You must be "yay high" to use the big water slide-we weren't there yet

Trying to capture her first freckles on film

Stella, Grant, Alix, part of Hunter's head, Jack and Audra

Riding Tony the Pony with Cousin Cletus

The kids were very impressed with Tony

Grant on the boat

Audra

Alix-always camera ready

Sophia (or "Sophus"-as Uncle Butch calls her) with Uncle Butch

CORN!

Grant on the pony-I think his feet were dragging the ground at one point

Sophia loved Tony-he was so gentle and sweet.

Kind of how my hair looked in high school-Stella just wakes up this way

Spencer

Aunt Carrie and her boys

Papa reading to the girls

Mimi having a tea party

Carrie came to Atlanta on Friday night and hung out with us in the remodeling mess at our house on Saturday. At 5:21, we were discussing the drive that we would be taking at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning to Nebraska. Josh was looking on the computer and realized that it was 1000 miles instead of 800. How did we not know this? This trip had been planned since March! Leave it up to us to check on the map the night before....

So we looked at each other and said "Wanna leave tonight?" So we ended up leaving at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and made it to Nashville. We were so proud of ourselves for knocking 4 hours off of our trip. Saturday morning, we woke up and were on the road by 8 a.m. Fast forward to somewhere in Missouri when we realized we had taken a wrong turn....I'll spare you the details and just let you imagine what it like to travel with a 1 and 3 year old in a loaded car from 8 a.m. to 12 midnight. Let's just try not to think about it and be grateful that they will not remember it. I am sure Carrie and I will try to forget it as well.

We finally made it and had such a great time with the Nolting family! We stayed on the farm in Bancroft-in the home where Mimi Sandy grew up. Aunt Debbie and Uncle Butch were so great to let all of us stay and feed us really well for the week! We got to hang out with all of the cousins (minus Cousin Carl's girls-we'll get 'em next time) and made some wonderful memories. Highlights of the trip-James Arthur Winery with the grown ups, Fremont Water Park, BBQ at Marty's, my first Runza (delicious sandwich), Stella's first pony ride, boat ride with Mr. Fogarty and family, and lots and lots of delicious fresh off the stalk sweet corn!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Aunt Carrie for taking this road trip with us. We'll fly next time, I promise! And thank you to all the cousins, aunts, and uncles for showing us such a great time!

Wish us luck-the Newman girls will be leaving for Texas on Saturday for two weeks with Grandma Polly and Papa John. Josh will be here taking care of business with the kitchen. Hopefully it will be complete when we come home!

Young Chefs and Stage Fright

Young Chefs Cooking Class-they made lasagna cupcakes!

Taking a drive

Watching a movie in the "boat" that Daddy made

Princess Lunch

Sophia's first movie-she wasn't very impressed

Stella's 1st movie-she was VERY impressed! (especially with the popcorn with Whoppers provided by Mrs. Jennifer)

Sno Cone at VBS Fish Fry

I get no respect...

So we had the camera ready and video camera ready to catch her first stage performance-this is what we got....for about 10 minutes....and she wet her pants while on stage....maybe not Broadway bound? She's still cute, though.

Daddy and Sophia didn't enjoy the heat so much at the fish fry.

Me: Stella, have you seen a big bag of marshmallows?"

Stella: No. Me: Are you sure?

Stella: Yeah, I'm sure.

Me: Are you positive?

Stella: I'm positive. Wait...what's "positive?"

The kitchen demo starts tomorrow, Carrie's flight comes in Friday night, and we are leaving for the land of corn on Sunday morning! It should be interesting and I will be chock full of stories when we return.

Texas Trip

Well this should be an easy post. My camera is out of commission, so I can only write about what we have been up to lately and hope to try and add some pictures from my mom's Shutterfly account at the end.

It all started on the morning of June 5th at 3:00 a.m. We had packed the car and woke up early on Saturday morning to begin our road trip to Texas. We waited until the last minute to wake the girls and put them in the car. I have never had children that transferred, sleeping peacefully on my shoulder from the carseat to their bed, so my hopes were not high. The good news is that they were both in great moods for 4 in the morning. Stella kept pointing out all the "bright, shiny things!" (street lights) and Sophia just kept taking roll "Mama?.....Dada?......De-duh? (Stella)" We all finally fell asleep again around 5:30 or 6. At 7:30, we stopped for breakfast in Mississippi at the worst IHOP in the United States. And before you start judging, on the way back, we ate at the BEST IHOP in the United States. I just wish I could remember where they were. I don't need to-Josh will remember. Anyway, back to the trip-I have to admit, I fought leaving early and making the whole trip in one day with every part of my being. I did. I thought it was a terrible idea and would surely be the end of our marriage. But....ahem...it was actually not so bad. The girls (including me) were so tired from waking up at 4 a.m., that we all took naps during the day and it was actually pretty peaceful. And Josh even let me drive for 5 hours so he could get some sleep!

Anyway, we were able to visit with Papa and Mimi for a few days before we left for Mexico on Tuesday, June 8th. We had a wonderful time and while we were gone, the girls even got to spend some time with Aunt Carrie, Uncle Richard, and their cousins Hunter and Grant.

We came home on the 13th and on the 14th, Grandma Polly and Papa John came to get us so we could spend the week in Jasper. Stella had the best time fishing and riding on the boat!

I was concerned about the little animal/insect/all creatures great and small lover wanting to put the worm on the hook. She watched as Mom put the worm on the hook and didn't bat an eye. When she pulled her first fish out of the water, I said "Do you want to let him go?" She quickly replied "No! I want to eat him for lunch!" And the fisherman is born. She even woke up one morning at 6:30 to go out on the boat with mom and dad. Now that's dedication. She has even taken to couch fishing here at home. She has fashioned a fishing pole out of a bat and a whistle string. She sits on the couch, hangs it over the side and says "Shhhh....I think I've got a bite!"

The girls also got a chance to see some of their relatives that we rarely get to see. I told her that Aunt Donna and Uncle Robert were coming to visit and she excitedly clapped and said "I love them! Who are those guys?" My dad's sister, Donna, also came to visit with Gigi and when they left, she tearfully said "I sure am going to miss you." It was the same with Tori and Taylor-she is full of love, that girl.

Sophia had a great time as well. When we left her, she was walking like Frankenstein (she officially became a walker on May 21st). When we returned from Mexico, she was practically running! She is blowing kisses, playing peek a boo, trying to repeat more words (night night, bye bye, etc) She is understanding more words-if you ask if she is sleepy, she puts her fingers in her mouth and pats her cheek (what she does when she goes to bed), or if you ask if she has a dirty diaper, she points to her diaper.

A day in the life-

Sophia had a pooptastrophy on the way home from Texas. We were sitting at the table eating and smelled something that one should never have to smell while enjoying a meal. I told Josh I would change her and took only a diaper and wipes. Can you sense something about to happen? I open the diaper, only to discover that it has....escaped the confines and has travelled up her back. I quickly try to remove the onesie as she does what most babies do when you are changing their diaper-explore the contents. Well, the "contents" is deposited in her hair as I try to pull the thing over her head. (I still think they should invent breakaway outfits for these occasions-snaps all the way around instead of seams-think about it-it could work) I panicked. I think the whole restaurant could hear me saying "OH MY GOSH!" over and over. There was a woman watching me the whole time-an employee. I turned to her and asked her to find the guy in a blue t-shirt with a little girl and ask him to bring a change of clothes for the baby. She had a look of horror on her face as I put Sophia in the sink and began soaping her up with hand soap. She nodded and quickly left the bathroom. I waited....and waited....no Josh. So, I did what any mother would do in my situation. I dried her with about a hundred flimsy hand towels, deposited the poop smeared changing pad in the trash, wiped up the counter and put a new diaper on Sophia. I walked out into the restaurant holding my half naked baby and Josh nearly spit out his food. "What happened?" Yeah, I figured. The horrified woman in the bathroom didn't speak English. She just nodded and smiled and thought "This woman is crazy. I have to get out of here."

And while we're on the subject of poop-

The other night I was on my hands and knees cleaning spaghetti off of the floor under Sophia's high chair (We had decided to let her feed herself) I was thinking to myself, "This is disgusting. What is wrong with these kids? Can't they find their mouth? Sophia never seems to have a problem finding her mouth when she finds a screw, a pencil eraser, an outlet cover, a crayon, etc. I just cleaned spaghetti sauce off of the window. The window!" Then I hear Stella calling from the bathroom "DAD! I JUST POOPED!" I snickered because Josh hates poop. He doesn't like to talk about it and won't even admit to actually doing it. I glanced over my shoulder to see him making his way to the bathroom. Then, I hear Stella say "Look at it, Dad!" "Yeah, Stella. That's great." "Is it the biggest poop you've ever seen?!?!" "Yes, Stella. That's a lot of poop." I couldn't help laughing. You can't make this stuff up, really.

Oh yeah-and guess what word Sophia learned today? Yep, that's right. "Poo poo." Thanks, Stella.