The Midway Stratfords captured on film

Once again Sally Stratford Deford is responsible for some beautiful documentation. I copied and pasted the pictures here. But you can see her original post here and you can see some great pictures of Stella here. I love having a real photographer in the family! What an awesome Christmas present. THANK YOU SALLY!

In case you missed it...

Luckily we have the very talented Sally Stratford-Deford at our fingertips to document our personal lives (at least when we are lucky enough to have her visit Midway). Seriously. In case you didn't see this spectacular post about our house on her blog, here is a link to it.  You should check it out.

The Bath

Until I learned to embrace it for all its strengths, I was kind of annoyed by Stella's obsession with bathing. If it were up to her she would spend most of every day in the bathtub, just hanging out with the bubbles and the plastic fish. She doesn't need a real tub, a kitchen sink will do, even a bathroom sink will suffice. And if there are other kids, well, the more the merrier. She strips down every chance she gets. Now I know better and sometime encourage a frolic in the kitchen sink--its amazing how much I can get done while she is entertained in the water.

a tub full of cousins

doing it solo

making bubble beards

This is one of my favorites. After dinner I noticed things were a little too quiet so I went downstairs to see what Stella and Lily were up to. Hanging out in the bathtub. Water running. Cause what else would you do when friends come over?

with the twins

Another favorite bathing moment. I came in from cooking dinner in the kitchen to find this one.

clothes, or no clothes, she loves a good tub.

this is Stella's new tub. no water in the house yet, but she has already spent some good time here.

I don't even have pics of bathing at the babysitters, bathing with Mateo & Eli, bathing in the kitchen sink, and the hot tub will be another entry itself.

Someone Else's Blog

Creede from GrassrootsModern did a blog post on our house project. Maybe one of these days I will get around to doing my own post on house updates. But until then, read about our project here to get the brief on our house to date. I love how he captures so much time and work in one post!

House Update (because I know you've been waiting)

I finally feel like we are on the home stretch. But time is relative, right? This has been such a big project and Calder has been working like crazy, getting far too little sleep and doing nothing but house house house and occasionally flying airplanes or sleeping. We plan to move in sometime before the snow flies. Hopefully long before then. We finished the concrete floor polishing today, bathroom tile is almost done, cabinets next week...things are really coming together. Here are a few pics to hold you over till you come in person--because that will likely be before I blog about it again.

south-facing kitchen window.

looking north down the stairs

Calder taking a breather--probably talking house stuff, which doesn't really make it a break--with someone on the phone

looking west from the kitchen to the cabin through the breezeway

Little Munchkin

(Written in March, and I just now uploaded photos...so I never claimed to be technologically competent or a REAL blogger)

Stella is nearing two. Crazy. It seems like she was just born (I am totally going to be saying that same thing every year for the next 20 years). She is growing up so fast. I can't believe she can already tell me off and push buttons. What will the teenage years bring? She is really starting to love to play with other kids, and is getting over some clingyness. She is a chatterbox and it is getting easier to tell what she is saying. Dadda wok (work). Mama hold. No nightnight. Ah hoo (love you). She wants to call everyone on the phone. She still is rather hairless and skinny with a big head which makes her seem even smaller than she is. People are constantly amazed that she can walk--and she has been walking for almost a year! She loves playing with Ma and Grandma and sometimes likes to peepotty (pee in the potty). Here are a few pics to catch up.She may be little but she sure takes up a lot of room in bed.

Choosing her own outfits--note the pink shirt turned scarf...she is very versatile.

Playing on Grandma's piano

using the potty for the first time. her excitement was nothing compared to mine.

Please forgive the naked baby pics, but she just looks too small to be climbing on that thing. She can climb on and off and use it without any help. And people still ask if she can walk...

Girls Trip

A long-overdue trip with Janna to visit Nicky without kids or husbands (except Spence). So fun. Was life really once that simple? Can't wait for baby Quick-Price.