HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Well, it is the last day of the year. This time last year I was gearing up to have a baby. I can't believe Ben is going to be 1 soon. 2008 turned out to be one of the best years ever! I just wish it hadn't passed us by so quickly. We have been so very blessed to have such a wonderful family, good jobs, and our health.

We also have much to look forward to. Neil is starting grad school to obtain his masters in occupational safety management. I am taking a nutrition class through IUPUI. Ben's 1st birthday is January 18th, and Sofia is waiting on her two front teeth to appear. She continues Girl Scouts and jazz class, as well as being 6 going on 15. We are also excited about having new carpet installed in our downstairs bedrooms and hallway this weekend. That goes to show you how lame we are - getting excited about new carpet. I hope that 2009 is just as joyous as 2008. With a historic President in office and two young children in my house, I'm sure it will be at least as interesting!

Here are some pictures from our holiday marathon. Happy New Year!!!!!

Christmas Pictures

From Christmas Pictures

We had the kids pictures taken last night, and they turned out pretty good. Ben was a little scared of the photographer in the beginning, so Sofia went first. He got some good ones of them together and individuals too. They both ended up cooperating nicely, but not really at the same time! Everyone at the studio noticed Sofia is missing her two front teeth, as you can see. Look for prints to come your way soon!

Welcome Gavin Cole Kirstein!

Sofia has a new cousin! Gavin Cole was born 12/5/2008 on his sister Abby's 2nd birthday. He was 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20.5 in. long. Sofia and I went to see them in the hospital on Saturday, and everyone was doing fine. They are home now recovering, and we plan on visiting soon. Sofia says he is "so cute", and I agree!

Halloween Fun!

We had a really great Halloween, making Ben's 1st a fun experience! There were parties, trick o'treating, costumes, and goodies galore! Not to mention such fabulous warm weather. It was only a tad chilly after dark while trick or treating. We started the night at Grandpa Tim's. Aunt Madison and Grandpa took Ben around the neighborhood and he ended up with a bag full of candy. They also got gift bags from Grandma and Grandpa with books and toys and other goodies. After that I took Sofia to her Nana's for dinner and trick or treating. Now our house is full of candy and baked goods, which is NOT helping me stay on track with my health kick! I've had more candy in 2 days than I've had in the last 6 months. Never the less, I would say this has been my most fun Halloween ever. Ben was oh-so-cute in his Tiger costume, and Sofia Bea was a cute toothless witch. She did a really good job helping take her cousin Abigail out for her 1st trick or treating experience. Abby's giraffe costume was hysterical! I finished my evening at my friend Jen's house. Staying with tradition, she has an over the top party every halloween, decking her house up in style! It was a lot of fun, and really good to wind down the night with friends. The kids were konked out on the way home with Neil, and he followed suit. Enjoy the pictures from the whole evening!

Loosth Toofs and Other Growings Up!

Well it finally came out, that darn tooth! It has been wiggly for ages, and now the Tooth Fairy will have to come to our house tonight. A red-Gatorade mustachioed Sofia says "Eww, it kinda tastes wierd". She has 2 more loose ones too, the one next to the giant hole, and one on the bottom. Ben has his 2 top ones coming in, for a total of 4. So, I have one losing and one gaining - trying to keep everything balanced! It is fun to have them in totally different stages. Ben reminds me of Sofia occasionally, but I would say that they are very different in that Ben is quite a bit needier when it comes to requiring attention and entertainment from the rest of us. Sofia and her imagination are often content to play by themselves. Ben is at the perfect baby age that I just love! He is curious and noisy, chubby and sweet, and adding to his repertoir every day.

We dressed them both up in their Halloween constumes for our neighborhood festival today. It was REALLY cold and windy, so we didn't stay long. Sofia jumped in the bouncy house for a while, and we stopped in the library to check out some books for her school report. We have a busy week ahead, and are looking forward to Halloween next Friday. I am working, helping at the school, taking the kids two places for trick or treating, and then going to a party!

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

From Fall 08

Ben picked out his first pumpkin at Waterman's Farm on Sunday! We went on a hayride too. He tried to eat the hay of course. Who knew picking out a pumpkin could be such a monumental decision? Well, it was hard finding just the right one, but at last we did. It was a small one, not the big one in the pictures. I will post a picture after it gets carved.

Happy 30th Hubby!

From Neil's 30th

Thanks to everyone who came to Neil's 30th birthday party! He is taking turning the big 3-0 quite well. I have a few good pictures from the party to share. Thanks to Grammy and Grandpa for watching the kids too! We went to the IMAX theater for the first time to see the movie Eagle Eye. It was nice to have a night to ourselves.

Time Flys!

We can't believe summer is already over! Our family had a really nice summer with a couple of short trips and some fun at home too. We got to go swimming one last time at Ellenberger Park before they closed the city pools, and Ben had a blast! He is definitely a little fish and we plan on trying to fit in some swimming lessons this fall at the IUPUI natatorium.

Sofia is playing with Ben in her Halloween costume that I bought for her yesterday. She elected to be a witch, but a good witch not a bad one. Ben's costume is yet to be discovered, and we have frequent discussions on what he should dress up as, but we still have a month to figure it out. They are both growing so fast, especially Ben who is not crawling yet, but trying to. He still wants to be held mostly, and has a facination with mouths. He tries to put his little pointer finger in our mouths all the time to check inside there, so I say maybe he will become a dentist one day. Sofia continues to enjoy first grade, really likes her teacher, and is becoming a better reader each day. We are really proud of the progress she is making in both reading and math. Her latest facination is "what's 100 + 100 + 100 +....." and so on until you lose track. Or she will ask "What's the last number?". How do explain infinity to a six year old? The best news of the summer is that Sofia has been cleared of her food allergies. No more wheat free, soy free, dairy free diet! We celebrated the news with a big ice cream cone from McDonalds!

On the grown up front, Neil attended some OSHA training for work and is looking into grad school. I recently submitted an application to obtain my CHMM (Certified Hazardous Materials Manager), which is a professional certification. Also, we both have birthdays coming up. Neil is turning the big 3-0 in October! We definitely don't have any problems keeping busy, but I will try and update more often. The pictures are the summer in review, enjoy!

Birthday Party at the Park

Sofia had a great 6th birthday party at Garfield Park this weekend. Her theme this year was Tinkerbelle. Friends and family joined us at our shelter for grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and other yummy food. The weather was nice, but very hot and muggy.

After lunch Sofia was anxious to open her gifts. She received some craft projects, a guitar with strap and picks, two back packs with school supplies, shoes, a purse with make-up inside, sticker books, and money. It was a good haul for a six year old!

After gifts we sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candle on her beautiful Tinkerbelle cake. The cake was 1/2 chocolate, 1/2 vanilla and tasted great.

We followed up cake with a pull string pinata. Each child pulled a string on the bottom of the pinata untill the bottom finally came apart and candy rained out. It was a mad scramble to pick up as much as possible.

The hot weather finally got the better of us and we packed up. Some of us went to the water park to meet up with another group of friends and family. It was like two parties in one day! The aquatic center at the park is great and very kid friendly. We were able to cool down for a couple of hours until the sky started to look a little stormy, so we headed home worn out from a long day of partying.

Fourth of July Trip

Ben spent his first 4th of July in Cincinnati, OH! We packed up late Friday morning and headed to the Ramada Inn in downtown Cincinnati. The hotel received only two stars from the Stinnett Family. The staff was very friendly and the free continental breakfast was impressive. However, it wasn't the cleanest or most comfortable hotel we've experienced for sure. As was the case in Indy, the weather in Cincinnati was a bit gloomy on the 4th. It rained off and on and it never got very warm. We decided this would be a good day to visit the Newport Aquarium just across the bridge in Newport Kentucky. Though we had to wait in a fairly long line, and it was very crowded once inside, we still managed to enjoy our visit. The sea turtle and jellyfish were favorites, as well as the Frog Bog where Sofia was able to play awhile. Meanwhile, Ben took the opportunity to nap. We were tired and hungry by the end of the day so we stopped for dinner and headed back to the hotel. We were able to catch some fireworks from the 11th floor banquet hall at the hotel, but it was wierd watching fireworks from inside.

The next day we headed for the Zoo! We spent nearly five hours trekking through the lovely Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Sofia enjoyed checking the zoo map after we saw each animal, but we just took our time wandering with no particular route in mind. The animals were really active that day, which made the visit that much more enjoyable. A baby gorilla caught our attention - so cute!! They also have a fairly new plant conservatory and giraffe viewing area. We saw nearly everything and had great weather. We also surprisingly ran into one of Sofia's classmates from school and her family. After watching a manatee munch for a bit we decided to call it a day and headed home. Enjoy our pictures from both spots!

Family Vacation

We had a great time on our recent weekend trip to Green River Lake in Kentucky. The drive down went smoothly, though Neil complained about our stopping for potty breaks. We met the clan for dinner in Campbellsville and then drove to Holmes Bend Resort and Marina where we settled in with Neil's Mom Becky, Jim, & Jimmy in this really nice cabin.

Some highlights from the trip include learning to play Mancala, Sofia's first fishing experience, cooking dinner for everyone (26 people!) and Ben's first time 'swimming' in a lake. We also had a nice wedding shower for Neil's cousin Emily and her fiance Michael. It was very nice spending time with family and making memories!