Pathetic Silence

I can't find my camera cord. The camera is dead. I thought that it was somewhere in our room but now I have no idea. It's depressing. I've been waiting to post, hoping that the cord would mysteriously appear so we could have pics galore. But no such luck. So here are some pics from my phone (which aren't great) to give you an idea of what we've been up to.

Entertaining ourselves in the basement. The winter is beginning to wear on all of us. Howie is repeatedly asking for summer and can we go on a picnic despite the snow and ice on the ground. Since we are desperately missing playing outside, we're playing with outside toys down in the basement.

Here is Howie looking like a million bucks, doing the aforementioned basement entertainment. He was dressed to the nines for church and we squeezed in a quick bike ride before we left. Howie actually has an amazing turn radius, which I never would have discovered had he not found it fun to veer so sharply between poles in our basement. Who knew??

A Close-Up of the Outfit... Josh said he looked like a therapist. I could see it.

Bundling up for quick walks- we got out for a while on a bit of a warmer day to get some fresh air and reacquaint ourselves with our neighborhood!

This pic needs no explanation.

Grocery shopping- the boys thought this was pretty awesome. Especially when I busted out the lollypops.

Watching the Colts be completely un-clutch and dissolve in the playoffs yet again- I have nothing more to say on that topic.

Well, I'm hoping to find our cord and get some more pics up! But that's something for now!

Thanksgiving in Peoria

We had a delightful trip to Peoria for Thanksgiving last week! Howie and I baked a vanilla cream pie for our contribution. This was my first attempt at a pie with a real pastry crust, and it was hard. I can't say that I was very proud of the crust- it was pretty tough and crunchy, but the filling was delightful. Howie was a good little helper. We cubed butter together for the crust- he tried to convince me to let go of the knife and let him cut by himself, and that gave me a good laugh. I had a very difficult time getting the crust rolled evenly and smoothly and then fitting it into the pie pan. Oh well- I'll hope for a better result next time but at least the inside was good. We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Martha and Uncle Glenn's house, and it was delightful as ever. The boys always so enjoy being with family!

The newlyweds! Carrie and Brent!

Grandma and Grandpa eating with the crazy 3-year olds

Marnie and Carrie

Aunt Marnie reading to John, Howie, and Pax

This is just because I thought my nephew John looks hilarious. Here he is, playing in Grandma's basement with Howie, saying "cheese" as enthusiastically as he can for the camera

Harry Potter, Interrupted... The Tale of a Date Night Gone Wrong

On top of the lovely surprise party Josh threw for me (see below), he also took me to see Harry Potter #7 on opening day! (yes, they picked my birthday for the opening of Harry Potter. That means something.) We went to a local theater called The Moolah on the campus of St Louis University- it was such a fun place to go because you can sit on couches (if you get there early enough) and eat food and drink beer- not your normal movie theater fare. We were very excited to go there and see the movie!! So we gave the boys their dinner and put them in bed and left them sleeping in the care of our dear friend John, who was so gracious to come sit on the couch and listen for the boys, heaven forbid that they should wake up. We left with plenty of time to get to the show, confident that the boys would sleep peacefully and wouldn't even know John had been there (although we did brief Howie earlier in the day so he wouldn't be freaked out if he did wake up. Unfortunately that's not possible for Justice... oh wait, is this foreshadowing?). Our overconfidence was our first mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We got to the theater with 30 minutes to spare, but we were still the second-to-last people in a very long line. So obviously our shot at a couch was gone. But we went into the theater undaunted when the doors opened and still got a good seat in the back. I put my phone in the cupholder so I would see it light up if John called. The movie started and was going swimmingly when all the sudden, to my shock and horror, my phone lit up. John was calling. Oh dear. Not good. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Justice was awake and inconsolable. (An aside: Justice has always been somewhat of a fireball. He has known what he wanted since Day One, and he has always made it known. Usually what he wants is Mama. When he wakes up all the way usually only Mama can get him to go back to sleep. So waking up to a strange man? Not a chance that he would go back to sleep. Not a chance.) So Josh answered John's call, and proceeded to talk to him a couple times in the next 30 minutes while John tried to settle Justice. All for naught, we thought, so we left the theater and got in the car to head home. (This all started maybe a little less than halfway through the movie.) As we were pulling out of the theater John called back and said that Justice had gotten quiet after John put a movie on for him to watch, and he was able to lay him back in his crib and so far no more noise. So John told us to go back into the movie theater and finish the movie. So we re-parked the car and ran back inside (don't forget that we had read the book, so we had a basic idea of what was going on). We sat peacefully for probably 10-15 minutes when I saw my phone light up. Again. This time we knew it was for real. There was no going back, no finishing the movie. It was over. So we left for the last time to go home probably about 30 minutes from the end. Justice had woken up and was quite upset that Mama still wasn't home. Poor John got much more than he bargained for and was so gracious. Oh well. We decided to netflix the movie when it comes out and for the next several years just hold our breath on date night! It was fun anyway! Such is life with little kids in the house!

Surprise Party!!

My birthday was November 19th, and it was very well-celebrated! Josh threw me a surprise party, complete with 45 friends (counting kids!) in our very packed apartment and delicious Mexican food! It was such a blast! I've got to say that Josh was acting a wee bit suspicious all day, but he did a wonderful job- it was so much fun! Thanks to my friend Coralie for these photos!

WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??

In truly Josh fashion, all of our friends came to the microphone (Josh did manage to procure a microphone) to announce the Mexican dish they brought to the party. Here Lisa displays her glorious food.

Mary Beth with some luscious cupcakes

John with Corona- always a safe bet

Our awesome new neighbors Justin and Danielle

Our wonderful friend Dick from church- he brought some fabulous tacquitos

Add a lot of kids to the mix and you get some serious craziness!

Thanks to everyone who came! It was such a blast!

Justice Claps...

Justice just learned how to clap!! Please notice in the first few seconds of this video he chucks a carrot onto the floor and is then quite preoccupied with saying uh-oh, as if I didn't notice. Enjoy!

... And He's Walking

The Wedding of the Century

My dear sister Carrie got married this weekend, as I mentioned below. It was such a wonderful event! I could not be happier for her- she is an amazing woman and I just want all the happiness in the world for her. We knew that this party would bring down the house, and it did. The ceremony was wonderfully personal and God-honoring, and convicting for me too as I looked back on our wedding! And the reception was on a boat... enough said. We had all been looking forward to the wedding and "Aunt Carrie's party," as Howie called it (after which he proceeded basically every time he thought of it to ask me if it was time for the party yet... finally this weekend I could say YES!). The boys looked dashing in their tuxedos and shockingly didn't complain about wearing them! We are just thrilled to welcome our new brother-in-law Brent to the family. He and Carrie are a wonderful match and we really couldn't be happier for them.