Ella meets the Stahle kids

My cousin Kurt & his wife Kerri have 3 kids...Sophia, Ali, & baby Nick. Kurt's brother Kyle & his wife Jennifer have 4 kids...Colby, Jack, Joe, & Sean. 5 of those 7 kids I had never met. However, naturally, as kids do, they all bonded immediately. Sophia & Sean were the flower girl & ring bearer in the wedding & they were busting a move with Ella almost immediately after we arrived at the reception. They were definitely the guests' dinner entertainment! Every so often Ella would break from dancing to run over to the dessert table (situated conveniently next to the dance floor) & grab a mint from the bowl next to the cupcakes. She would spin with Sophia, then jump with all the boys off the head-table-platform onto the dance floor, followed by a little jig, and back to the mint table. Repeat. And repeat. 37 mints later...she was passed out cold & snoring soundly in bed. Here are some pictures of the kids. The last pictures are the morning when the girls were treated to leftover wedding cupcakes, followed by races up & down the hallways of the hotel. What a weekend!!

Another Stahle Wedding

This past weekend we packed out bags and headed to Iowa for my cousin Kevin's wedding. 10 hours there & back in the car took a toll on Ella, but she was quite the trooper. We watched a LOT of movies on the road, and in between each one, we would go through the videos and Ella would tell me, "No Dis, No Dis, No Arrrr" (translate: "Not that one, Not that one, Not Lion King) until we would come to "Madagascar" & she would eagerly shake her head yes and jump around in her car seat. We did this close to 10 times, and every time the same reaction. How is it that kids can watch the same thing over & over again and never get sick of it?! It's truly a phenomenon.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful, at a cute little hilltop church, nestled in the middle of endless acres of corn fields (remember...Iowa). I breathed a sigh of relief after the 20 minute ceremony was over as we managed to get Ella through it without a peep. It was so fun to see all of our cousins again, all on the "Neumann" side. And, Grandma Ella (Ella Rae's namesake) was just elated to see all of her children & grandchildren again, too. Pushing 90, she's looking fabulous! The last picture is Grandma with BJ & I, then Grandma with all of her grandchildren (the 10 great-grandchildren were left out, probably out dancing!) Then there's the new happy couple, Kevin & Jackie (wearing a gift from the Elvis impersonator who showed up to serenade us all...). And, of course, the top picture is my family, and according to Ella our names are, from left to right, "Dukle, Gway, Deegon, Mama, Ya Ya".
Stay tuned for more from the weekend...