Lengthy Photo Update... It's Been A While, Folks

All right, Folks, these are in no particular order, and for some reason I can't figure out how to move them in an efficient manner, so since I don't want to sit here for 30 minutes moving them, I'll just explain. I think these pictures do a good job of illustrating what's been happening over the last few weeks.

1. JIM PLUNK. The man just got married over the weekend, and Josh was privileged to be at the wedding in Mississippi. Howie and I were planning on making the trip as well, but we were seriously prevented by a bout of the plague. More on that later.
2. HOWIE and PASTOR CHARLIE. This picture was taken with our dear friends the Stakelys on one of our last nights in Augusta (we've moved, by the way)- they had us over for dinner and Howie's first pool party! He wasn't too keen on the pool and spent most of his time on the side of the pool wrapped up in a towel.
3. The STAKELY FAMILY. Charlie is the pastor at Redeemer and we were so glad to have become friends with this precious family. They were so good to us during our 2 years at Redeemer.
4. The YOUTH at our last youth group. That was sad. We'll miss them!
5. JOSH at JIM PLUNK's wedding!! What a blast!!
6. JOSH MATHER, RYAN FISHER, and MATTHEW GILLIKIN- wonderful friends at JIM PLUNK's wedding!!
7. JOSH and HOWIE at our friends SCOTT and KELLI's house. Scott and Kelli were in our small group at Redeemer and we went out to their house for some fun a few weekends ago.
8. SCOTT, KELLI, US, TIM, and EMMA at our last small group gathering.
9. HOWIE and ME at the pool party. He looked completely precious in his swim trunks borrowed from a little friend!
10. HOWIE wrapped up, sitting by the pool- he was content to watch the other swimmers but wasn't crazy about being in himself.
11. HOWIE, contemplating life by the pool.
12. HOWIE turning pages in one of his favorite books, amidst the chaos of boxes and moving. By the time we were ready to move, Howie had been playing with some truly random things for several days... papers he found under the couch, plastic forks and spoons, cups, etc.
13. HOWIE and JOSH on Howie's first 4-wheeler ride! I think we've created a monster... he loved it.
14. THE WHOLE FAMILY 4-wheeling away.
15. HOWIE's first encounter with a horse at SCOTT and KELLI's house!
16. THE LITTLE RIDER.
17. HOWIE, our handsome little boy.
18. AUNT CARRIE feeding HOWIE on a visit in late April.
19. HOWIE getting excited about a tower built by AUNT CARRIE and AUNT STACY.
20. STACY, CARRIE, ME, MARNIE, and HOWIE enjoying the visit!
21. HOWIE eating his first spaghetti lunch! He has now advanced to all kinds of adult foods... macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, pizza, etc.

We've got much more coming!!

EyeGate & Hoecakes

Let me start out with this quick story. I've always read that you should wash your hands very carefully after chopping a hot pepper, and especially be careful to avoid touching your eyes with hands until after they're washed. Well, folks, I now realize firsthand why that caution is out there. I was chopping 2 poblano peppers last night (which aren't even that hot) for some turkey burgers, and I thought that I washed my hands when I was done. Josh cut an onion and yeesh, was this a strong onion. Josh's eyes started burning since he was on the battlefront with the onion, and it was so strong that my eyes started stinging from across the room. Then I made the horrible mistake of rubbing my stinging eyes in search of some relief. Not only did I not get relief from the onion stinging, but I inflicted upon myself the full fury of that poblano juice in my eye. It's hard to describe what it feels like to essentially get squirted in the eye by a hot pepper. Let me just say that amidst all the chaos of Josh's eyes burning from the onion, my eyes stinging from the onion and then getting scorched with pepper juice, the turkey burgers cooking, etc., Howie was in his high chair, screaming at the top of his lungs. I suspect that either the onions had started burning his eyes, or he was extremely disturbed by the sight of his mother bemoaning her life and running around with a hand towel doused in cold water held over her left eye. That was one of the worst feelings in my life, second only to the time that my roommate Kelly and I were dared to eat a habenero pepper in college (which I think is the hottest pepper) and took the dare. That scorching INSIDE your mouth feels slightly worse than in your eye, but now I know that I NEVER want to be pepper-sprayed. Take it from me, who only endured the wrath of a poblano in the eye- pepper spray is an effective deterrant. Josh responded to the screeches of our son and took him outside to cool off his eye sockets, and I stayed inside with the hand towel over my eye, watching the turkey burgers and marveling that your eye could feel like it was on fire. Anyway, eventually our eyes all returned to normal and we could eat in relative peace.

Howie and I had the pleasure of traveling to Savannah with my sister Marnie earlier this week, which was such a blast! One of the many highlights was eating at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady and Sons. Anyone who watches Paula Deen's show on Food Network knows that she has one staple and one staple alone in her cooking: BUTTER. I knew that I wouldn't be disappointed in her restaurant, because when butter is your main ingredient, how bad can it be?? Marnie, Howie, and I had a wonderful lunch. Soon after we sat down, a server came with some garlic biscuits along with some HOECAKES. Now those of you who aren't familiar with Southern cuisine need a little lesson at this point. Hoecakes are these fried little cornbread pancakes, and they're fantastic. Josh and I have had many hoecakes at Goolsbys, a local restaurant in Augusta. So anyway, the lady brought out hoecakes, and I gave a piece of one to Howie. Yes, perhaps fried food isn't the best for young babies, but seeing as Howie is a Southerner by birth and we're leaving the South in 2 short weeks, I thought it wise to give Howie some hoecake to see what he thought. He loved it. Throughout the course of our lunch, he ate more and more hoecake. I tried to give him some more traditional baby food as well, but what he wanted the most was the hoecake. I also fed him some of my barbeque sandwich, which he loved. I always knew that he would embrace his Southern roots at some point, and I witnessed it right there in Paula Deen's restaurant. Since then I've seen a longing look in his eye many times as he sits in his high chair- I think he's hoping that the next thing on the menu will be a hoecake.

Have a wonderful day!