Newmans Are Back.

Our beloved Newmans are back! Yay!

Ryan's sister, Tanya, her husband, Tim, and their boys, Sterling (2.5 yrs) and Thorin (1.5 yrs) are home for the summer from the Kurdistan region (northern Iraq). Collectively, they are really the Mewmaws, but the running joke comes from the most common way their last name is butchered. They even had to go through the hassle of changing their son's birth certificate because of a clerical error. So Newmans they are. It seems so Seinfeld-ish to me. Maybe because I hear "Newman...." running through my head.

So the first time I could get the boys all to myself, they gave me plenty of photo opps.

For some reason, feminine products are a common attraction for toddlers.

Maybe they look like big band-aids to them? 

Thorin and Naiya weren't impressed with the panty liners. Instead, they were taking phone calls.

Oh, it's for you Thorin...

Auntie Tanya having story time with her pregnant self. That's right. Baby #3 due in October. You can hardly tell she's even pregnant, right? 

Love this shot:

That would be a Nasal Rinse bottle he's chugging water out of. I'm just going to assume that it was clean when I filled it with water for him. No really, it was. I think.

The Newmans are currently in Indiana visiting Tim's family, but we will be having our 2nd annual Family Vacation (last year's was actually a Staycation) in the beginning of September. 

                                          

Family Staycation

(Click for more Staycation photos.)

We spent this last weekend with Ryan’s family to spend every last minute possible with his sister, Tanya, and her husband, Tim, and their two boys (Sterling and Thorin) before their departure to Kurdistan on Sunday afternoon. So our “stay-cation” took place at our house and began Friday evening with fine dining at Chart House (without the kids) and ended with a three car caravan to the airport to drop the Mewmaws off and say our heart-wrenching goodbyes at the security gate. We came to the conclusion that the airport is a highly emotional place. The upstairs (departures) is full of sad, goodbye tears and the downstairs (arrivals) is full of happy, so-good-to-see-you tears. Unfortunately, we were upstairs. Unlike my MK (missionary kid) husband, I haven’t had to deal with too many goodbyes that hurt so much. And I swear once kiddos enter the picture, it’s a whole new ballgame of emotions! The next time we will see the Mewmaws again will be June of 2010. It is so strange (and sad) to me that we will have to re-introduce our kids to one another. But I know it will be a sweet reunion and I can’t wait to see those two boys interact with our two girls, all as toddlers by then.

So our last few days with the Mewmaws (no, not the Newmans or the Newhaws) was full of good food, card games and Beersbie (minus the beer).

We had the last of our family pictures until next summer.

There was a wrestling injury, some R&R at our neighbor’s pool (they let our family have the pool all to ourselves!).

There was a lot of packing, minimal sleep, more packing, and we concluded our time at our house praying for Tim and Tanya and the boys. Oh yeah, and lots of tears and lots of hugging on Sunday. Okay, and some more tears for me the day after too. But memories were made and we were all blessed by the Grossman-Mewmaw Stay-cation 2009. It was a perfect way to say farewell.

We miss and love you T&T, Sterling and Thorin!!!