Indiana State Fair

We finally made our annual trip to the fair on the very last day! We were planning on going Saturday, but the rain kept us away. Sunday turned out to be a good day for it, since it was nice and cool outside. I remember roasting in the sun at the Midway last year, so this year was much better weather wise. We arrived just in time for lunch, which meant of course we needed to eat right away. Sofia had a corndog, I had my usual steak sandwich and so did Neil. Ben ate most of Daddy's sandwich and chips, and a bit of Sissy's leftover hotdog. Then we headed out to see the sights. We stopped by the old Hook's drugstore for a rootbeer float. We also saw a really interesting exhibit on the space program. Apparently most of the space missions have had a Hoosier onboard. Later Ben fell asleep for his afternoon nap while we saw some of the animals. My favorite are the baby pigs. We also ran into Sofia's Aunt and Uncle and their two kids, which was a nice surprise. Once Ben woke up we headed to the Riley park. We also had a good time with the big Lego activiy booths they had set up this year. Sofia played a quick game in the Wii park as well. After we had seen just about everything it was time for the midway. Since it costs an arm and a leg to ride anything, we just purchased a few tickets for everyone to ride something once and a funhouse trip for Sofia as well. Neil and Ben went down the big slide, and then Sofia and I went on a catepillar rollercoaster. Before we left, I succumbed to the deep fried twinkie. With full bellies and tired legs, we found our way to the car and went home to relax.

Walk, Dance, Play

From Summer fun 2009

There are so many milestones I have failed to capture this past spring and summer, so in an attempt to make up for that I am playing catch up now. Ben has suddenly become a toddler; walking, talking, throwing tantrums! He is very expressive and it is such a joy to watch him expand his vocabulary every day. Daddy is his favorite playmate, and says "Siistheee" if Sofia is out of sight. He wants to keep tabs on all of us. He dances and sings, and is totally obsessed with Elmo - much to our dismay! Our Miss Sue gave him a singing Elmo that holds a singing pizza and their song is stuck in all of our heads most evenings - so silly! Ben also continues his swimming lessons twice a week with Neil. He is holding his breath and going under water. Next week will be his last two lessons. I am really glad we decided to put him in the class because he really seems to love the water.
Sofia has turned 7, which is so hard for me to believe. Suddenly she is a big girl! Second grade started last week and she has been enjoying it so far. Homework is a bit more intense this year, with more spelling words and 2 small book reports due each week. She has also joined the board games club at school, which meets each Tuesday. She has always really like to play board games and cards, so I think this will be a good extra curricular activity as long as she remains a good sport. Our Sofia can be quite competitive! I have no idea where she gets that from. We had two fun birthday parties for her in July. One was at her Auntie AnnJee's house, and the other at ours. This weekend we will have a final celebration with Neil's family. Another milestone I have left out recently was Sofia's jazz recital that took place in early June. She had a lot of fun with this class, but I'm not sure if she will take it again.



Neil is finally finished with his summer semester. He has continued to work hard and receive excellent grades. He has also been acquiring quite the fancy set of golf clubs this summer, and hopes to put them to more use in the near future. As always it is difficult for either of us to get anything done but work and work and more work!
As for myself, I have been doing just that; work. I am looking forward to attending a conference in a couple of weeks that is taking place in Baton Rouge. It has been a long time since I have seen the South, and I am looking forward to attending my first professional conference. I dread flying though! Especially since I will be flying solo. I am positive that I will miss everyone terribly!
I also finally took it upon myself to see a doctor about my foot pain. This was only because I had a really terrible pain in my right neck/shoulder. I strained it and then kept carrying heavy children and purses and gym bags - all at once sometimes! I saw a sports medicine doctor and she recommended I seek physical therapy for my shoulder and feet. I am hoping that will be successful enough to delay surgery for a long while!
Well despite the fact that some of the stores are ridiculous enough to be peddling Halloween decorations at the beginning of August, it IS still summer and we intend on enjoying what remains! The recent storms took down a lot of trees in our surrounding area, and blew our chimney topper right off into the neighbor's yard. Luckily, we did not sustain any damage to our home. I am hoping that will be the last scary weather we see for a long while.
Enjoy the pictures from our parties!

Where did June go?

Time is flying WAY to fast! This blog has come full circle now, it has been over a year already since I started with my first post about family vacation. This year the kids and I stayed for (almost) the whole week. Unfortunately, Neil had to leave after the long weekend for work and school. We missed him but managed to have a great time anyway! Ben was quite the water bug and got to go on his first boat ride! Sofia was also able to boat, and had fun tubing with the cousins. We all really enjoyed spending time with family, the nice weather, and all the great food. I was even able to acquire a nice tan. Since we have been home the kids have been enjoying what little time we have left of summer before Sofia starts school at the end of July. Her charter school is on a year round schedule so she only gets six weeks off. I'm not complaining, but it does seem a little wierd to be shopping for school supplies in the middle of summer. She has been attending IUPUI's daycamp this week, taking swimming lessons and learning new games. She really likes going so we might try and send her for two weeks next year. Ben started his swimming lessons this week too. He will be going twice a week for 30 minutes in the water with Daddy at the Natatorium over the next 6 weeks. I think he is going to be the next Michael Phelps!
As usual I am completely confused by how fast time moves. We have been busy bees and that makes it even worse. I do try and stop every now and then to recognize how very lucky we are!

Quick Update

The Stinnetts have been chugging along! I finally got some plants in the ground in our new front flower beds. Neil is overly paranoid that his wall is going to cave in, but it is still holding! I planted a peony, a couple of miniature bushes, some petunias and my garden on the side. This is my first attempt at growing food. We always had a big garden growing up, but I never really participated in the process except for the eating part. So, I am trying to grow tomatos, squash, basil, and a potted strawberry plant. I keep eating the ripe strawberries so I don't know if it will ever bear enough for the rest of the family.
Sofia has a jazz recital coming up on June 7th at 1pm. It is being held at Beech Grove H.S. and anyone who wants to come is invited. There are no tickets to buy.
Since my last post Ben has started walking. He still has a bit of a drunken sailor swagger going on, but he is getting faster every day! His curly hair is becoming something of a mess, but I love it too much to cut. He is growing fast and keeping us very entertained with his sweetness and funny personality. If you laugh at something he will crinkle his nose and start laughing too. He has recently started saying "dooooor" and "bubble". For a boy he is quite the chatty cathy!
Neil and I both made A's in our academic endeavors. I received the highest grade on the final exam in my nutrition class, and Neil received many compliments from his professors. He is now in the throes of summer school and stressing over the load. We remain busy as always and looking forward to some summer fun!

Our Project

Neil worked hard all last weekend to finally finish our landscaping project in the front yard. Last year we decided to remove the "sooooo 1970's" bushes around our front porch. Then winter came and the front of our house looked rather dismal. Now that the weather has improved we finally decided it was high time to finish the project. Our neighbors all commented on how much nicer it looks, and on how hard Neil had worked! It was a nice pat on the back for his accomplishments. It really does look much better!
Last October:


Now:

Thank You Easter Bunny!

We had a great Easter this year. Ben was not happy about wearing his bunny ears, unlike last year when he had no ability to protest! We had pancakes for breakfast and then Sofia hunted for eggs. The Easter Bunny hides eggs in our living room every year. Both kids liked discovering what was in their baskets. Afterwards we all got ready and went to Papa Tim's church for another easter egg hunt. I took Sofia to Nana Vicki's to play with cousins Abby and Gavin, eat lunch, and hunt for eggs a third time. By the end of the day we had full bellies, full baskets, and were worn out from the long day!

Chasing the Hyundai

So I have been leasing my Hyundai Tuscon for 3 years now. My lease officially ends at the end of June, but I have decided that, rather than buy or lease a new car, I am going to keep my Tuscon. I called Hyundai to see what steps I needed to take and the man I spoke with was very helpful. He told me that all I needed to do was go to the bank and they would take care of everything. He also gave me a pay off amount. The pay off was less than the 3 remaining payments plus my residual, so I thought it would be a better deal to go ahead and buy the car early. I had been to the dealership the week before and they were very unhelpful. The sales guy tried to sell me a new car and didn't give me any useful information on what I needed to do to purchase my current vehicle. So, annoyed with the dealership I decided to do a little homework on financing a used car. It turns out that Chase, where I bank, has very low interest rates right now. In fact, they have the best rates that I could find. How great, right? Well, so I then I went to Chase. The lady that helped me there was nice enough, not really nice or exceptionally nice, but nice enough. However, she needed a 10 day payoff amount. I filled out the necessary paperwork to get the ball rolling on my loan based on the amount the nice Hyundai man had given me. Then I called Hyundai a second time to confirm that the amount was a 10 day payoff amount. This time a lady answered and told me that they were not licensed to sell cars in the State of Indiana and were not allowed to give me a quote over the phone! The first really nice man should not have given me that quote. I needed to purchase my car from the dealership. Well, I do not like car dealerships. I had been so happy because I thought that I could just deal with the bank and cut the dealership out of the loop! So I had to call the dealership, then they called Hyundai, then Huundai told the dealership how much I owed, then they forgot to apply my $400 deposit, then they had to call Hyundai back several time, etc. Meanwhile, I had to call the bank and the dealership back and forth to keep everyone informed and to try and get the darn loan before my next car payment is due! Around and around we went until now, finally, 3 days and countless phone calls, faxes, and trips to the bank later, I am on the road to car ownership!
Smarty Pants Neil has received excellent mid-term grades in both of his grad classes this semester. One of his professors said that he submitted the best work he has seen yet. That is quite a compliment! He has also been obsessing about the remodeling project that we need to undertake next year. More on that one later!
The kids are great and growing up fast. They just got home from the park. I am stealing a minute to update this blog as Sofia complains about her foot blisters. There are never enough minutes in the day! Enjoy some recent pictures of the kids outside playing with bubbles and enjoying the nice weather we have had of late.

Family Update

Nothing too exciting has been happening with us lately. I will say that we have been very sleep deprived thanks to our little night owl Ben Gunther. He has had a rocky road learning to sleep through the night. I have read books and blogs and even consulted doctors to no avail. We don't know what is waking him up. I suspect it may be a little bit of seperation anxiety. Whatever it may be, we are hoping that he grows out of it really soon!
Ben has yet to take his first steps. He cruises along furniture, but chickens out if you try to get him to take a step toward you unassisted. I remember Sofia didn't walk until she was 14 months, so I know it will happen when he is ready. I look forward to seeing him run around. Maybe that will help him burn off some energy to sleep through the night!
Sofia is doing really well in school, especially with spelling and reading. She really enjoys her school and likes her teacher, which is nice. She was asking me about bills and credit cards the other night on the way home from jazz. That child is just like me when I was a kid, always worring about something that I didn't need to worry about until I was an adult. She is very funny and sarcastic at times. She is also becoming quite the trash talker while playing Uno with Neil. THAT she got from him.
Neil and I have been very busy working, taking classes and keeping up with 2 little kids. I don't know how people find time to think with big families! I am still hitting the gym on a regular basis and training for the 5K coming up in a couple of months. I'm also looking forward to a cooking class I signed up for next week. I will let you know if I find out anything fabulously new about ground beef!

January

Well, I am at home with a sick child once again today! Ben has roseola. He is napping so I am taking the time to update this blog finally. Thanks to everyone who came to Ben's party!! I have thank you cards sitting on the built-in so one day they will make it into the mail. He now officially weighs 20 pounds and, despite being sick, is still doing very well. He is learning to eat with a spoon (kind of) and drink from a cup. He really likes straws and will try and flip them so water flies out and then laughs. He is also at the stage of putting things in and taking them out, whatever it may be. It is still so great to watch him develop and change, which is happening way to fast for me!

We all enjoyed being snowed in yesterday. I took the kids down the street to my friend Brooke's house so we could all play together. I love having an SUV! I didn't get stuck and just plowed right on through the drifts. On the other hand, I do not love shoveling so I took pity on the mailman and did the front walk but poor Neil had to take care of the rest.


Sofia has been sick as well with some nasty cough and cold symptoms. Both kids went to the doctor on Monday, but luckily it is just a cold and they will be better soon. She is still enjoying Girl Scouts and jazz. We recently ordered her costume for the recital in June. I had to buy her new shirts for school because she is too tall for her size 5/6 and is already in 7s. Miss Skinny-mini is growing like a weed! She is also very in to getting on the internet these days, which is scary. She likes to go to Barbie.com and sings along to songs about pink clouds and diamond castles and the like. It's really quite amusing.
We went to Grandma and Grandpa Gilliland's on New Year's since they went to Florida before Ben's birthday and enjoyed a meal and some special time with them. I have pictures from that day and the rest of January. Can't wait until Spring!

Hilarious Video of Ben!

We have the most wonderful lady who takes care of Ben each day during the week while Neil and I are at work. Her name is Miss Sue and she loves Ben like he was her own child. Which, by the way, she has 8 of her own! We just love Miss Sue because she loves Ben so much and takes such great care of him. This made going back to work so much easier last year when he was just 10 weeks old. Now, in just two days he will be 1. I can't belive how fast the time has flown by! For his birthday, Miss Sue dressed Ben up in a tuxedo, gave him a birthday cake and started snapping pictures. Then as a gift she gave us a DVD. I have made a few changes for this blog, but the effect is the same - pee your pants funny!