Park Play with Sammi

Kelly and I took the kids (and dogs) for a walk to the park yesterday. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a lot of fun. It was a great break for me between work and study.



The kids loved the swings and EJ made sure Sammi always had a "turn" even though they each had their own swing.




It wasn't too long ago EJ couldn't manage the "seahorse" without help. Now he's a big boy!



While I was posting these photos, EJ came to the computer while a picture of Sammi up and he said, "EJ!" I tried telling him that it was Sammi but he wouldn't believe me. It's amazing how much they look alike!

It's back to studying for me. My doctoral exams are in 2 weeks.

We got some good news today. Nebraska’s incoming baseball recruiting class was ranked 13th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball yesterday. This is a big honor for Eric and the other coaches as it is the highest ranking ever for NU. Eric travels a lot, watches a lot of high school and junior college baseball and works hard to get kids (and their parents) to commit to Nebraska. This is a big compliment to his talent as a recruiter. So now that the players are here, the next challenge is to take their abilities the next level.

C'mon Kellie!

Uncle Andy and Kellie are here for the weekend. The minute they pulled up EJ ran out to greet them with big hugs. They've been playing ever since. Andy couldn't even enjoy his Nebraska sweet corn because EJ was climbing on him!






We were going to take Kellie to her first Husker Football game but Eric woke up with a bad stomach virus this morning. Our doctor's office is open for an hour on Saturdays so Andy and I took Eric to get some help (yes it was so bad it took both Andy and I to get him there).
Kellie and EJ stayed home to eat waffles and play. Thankfully, Eric was negative for the swine flu so it's just a bad virus.
We all stayed at the house today so Eric could sleep and so Andy could watch the Notre Dame-Michigan game. Andy, Kellie and EJ had a blast as witnessed by the photos. Andy taught EJ how to say "C'mon Kellie" when we were at the beach and it came in handy this weekend when he wanted her to chase him, tackle, him or play cars and trains. She didn't get much of a break and was so sweet about it!

Little Slugger

EJ's been interested in "BP" (batting practice) lately. It started with Grandma Bobbie on her deck and has continued at our house. I have attached a 12 second video of a hit he got a couple days ago.

Celebrating with Katy

EJ and I took a road trip to Denver over the weekend to throw a shower for Katy. All of us except Trish went to CSU so we were elated at the CSU victory over CU on Sunday night. Carri, Trish and I all have advanced degrees from CU so we couldn't talk too much trash!

My Boys

It's been a while since I've posted a cute picture of EJ hugging Forsberg. I got this photo tonight of all three of them. My heart broke a little today when Forsberg was lagging behind on our walk from the start. I'm trying hard to lose my "baby weight" so going slow isn't an option. I will be really sad when he can't accompany us on our long walks. Check out all his gray in his paws and on his face in the picture!! Thankfully, he has a lot of life still in him and still has a playful spirit.

Trains!!

It's train central here at the Newman house! Kelly gave him the Thomas tent for his birthday and the whole family has spent considerable time in it over the past few days!


We got a train table from a friend at church and then Uncle Andy gave EJ a train set for it. My mom found a train store in Lincoln and got Deluxe Roundhouse and various pieces needed to make the coolest train table around. Eric and my mom worked tirelessly to get the right combinations of tracks and to glue it down since EJ is a little "destroyer" with the tracks. Just ask Andy, he had to rebuild the tracks numerous times each day when we were in California!!



So, here's the train table with an open invitation to come play! We even made a car race track on the table for the cars Uncle Brian gave him for his birthday.



Tonight EJ put his trains to bed in the roundhouse before he went to bed himself. It's so cute!

Another cute update...EJ has started saying, "I stink" when he has a dirty diaper. Once changed, he will take his "stinky" to the trash to throw it away!

The Boys are Back!

We are all back in Lincoln and getting ready for school to start on Monday. Thankfully, the baseball team is back and in full force since the draft didn't smash us like it did last year.

Today, the baseball team did a community service project in Lincoln. They painted and landscaped the home of an elderly woman who was selected for the project by the Lincoln Paint-a-thon. EJ and I stopped by the project and got pictures with Eric and Coach A. It was fun to see all the players and meet some of the new ones. We also got to see a baby garden snake. EJ wouldn't touch it but mommy petted it for him (I've come along way in my willingness to touch reptiles)!!

The clothes in my dryer haven't been drying very well lately so I figured something was wrong with the vent. Sure enough, the vent hood had disconnected from the wall. I saw all sorts of lint sitting there so I made an appointment to have a dryer vent cleaner come out to the house to do maintenance on it Monday. In the meantime, I have laundry to do so I took the vacuum attachment and tried to clear out what I could since it's a fire hazard. The minute I turned the vacuum switch on, a dead bird was sucked into the attachment. I have no idea how it got into the vent. It was really upsetting to me but I was thankful I found it because of the major fire hazard it was. So, be sure to check your vents every-so-often to protect your house from fire.

EJ is TWO!

Happy Birthday to EJ today! We've had lots of fun celebrating with the Thomas the Train theme.

Grandma Carol threw a birthday party in San Clemente. It was fun to celebrate with everyone since we live in different cities. We also had Eric's cousin, Melissa and her new baby, Guthrie came up from San Diego and another cousin, Lauren and her husband, Kellan, came in from Pasadena for the festivities.



Here are the uncles who were all very sweet to wear their train conductor hats...even when EJ wouldn't wear his!! He was in love with his Thomas balloon, though! He rarely put it down.


Here we are with Eric's cousin, Melissa and her little Guthrie. It was so fun to get some baby snuggle time!


EJ's eyes lit up when Grandma Carol gave EJ his Thomas balloons.


Here's EJ eating his cake with the train cake topper! He scooped the cake up with the train and licked it off. It was quite funny.




Today, we flew back to Colorado where Grandma Bobbie and Grandpa John were waiting with a Thomas the Train party. My mom spent all day yesterday creating a train cake for EJ. It is incredible! She used M&Ms for the wheels and it was EJ's first time eating M&Ms. He loved them. Tonight when we were looking at the cake, we found all the wheels missing. He must have picked off all the M&Ms he could reach when we weren't looking!






While my mom made the train cake, my dad made a bean bag toss game for him. It's really cute and when I get some good pictures I'll put them on. Here they are with the cake.


Thanks to all our family and friends who made EJ's birthday special!!