Finally!

OK, so it's been a while, so I figure I should get on this and update before I let it go for another week feeling guilty. We've kept ourselves fairly busy in the interim, so let's get straight into it. I thought you might like this little vid of Steven enjoying his little rocking horse.

We haven't really posted much of anything since Matthew's birth, but we have had quite a bit going on. One of the biggest was B's family gathering for her Mom's, um, well, her 32nd birthday! ;-) All 4 of her kids were there, their spouses and children, and a good selection of cousins and other relatives as well. They stayed the whole weekend and we had lots of good times to chat and play, and I was once again reminded of the many ways I am not really culturally an American (the story of how we collected honey from an in-use casket when I was a kid always gets such a weird reaction here!).

It really was a good time, and we managed to get our cameras out for the gathering, so I'll just walk you through the festivities bit by bit. First, though, a picture of Steven playing with his friend Noah at a recent visit to his house (well, his grandparents' house, but close enough).

The weather here has been as close to perfect as imaginable for the past few weeks, so we decided to take a family trip to a local park one day while everyone was here. Here, Katy (I hope I spelled that right) takes Steven down the slide. The slides here are a bit higher and it seemed to scare him at first, but after a while he liked it.

B's cousin Tara also had a baby recently - exactly 26 hours after Matthew, as it turned out, and here's a picture of her with baby Natalie at the park.

Matthew was also able to meet his great-grandmother for the first time, which was nice:

The nice weather continued the whole time everyone was here, and the kids really enjoyed their time outdoors. Here Steven enjoys a wagon ride with his two cousins, pulled by B's cousin's husband Wes.

One of the most interesting events of the weekend was the "Un-Talent Show." Each one of us arranged to do something, centered around the guest of honor, to display our lack of talents. Here, Janice's sister Patti pretended to be a boisterous and rather garish "character," who came bearing some lovely clothing for the birthday girl so she could be as stylish as she. I wish I could show you the video, but I've been sworn to a non-disclosure agreement on that particular part of the act.

Anyway, I don't have time or energy to get into the various acts, but had to include this picture of Wes rocking a pastel blue wool scarf. Work it, sir, if I may be so bold!

Of course, my (J's) family are here in town as well. It's been fun to see my parents interacting with their grandsons and refresh my memory of some things about my childhood I had forgotten. One of those things was my mother's creativity. She spotted a large box that no one was using, and turned it into a sort of fort for Steven, who loves it!

Since I haven't posted in so long, I'm trying to make up for lost time by making this an extra-long post. Hope it doesn't feel like just filler, but I know some of you will like this video. It's funny to see kid's develop and grow in their understanding of the world, but I don't think Steven totally understands what a chair is really for yet:

OK, so that should about do it. Tomorrow morning I'm heading out to the mountains for a camping/hiking trip with B's dad and sister. I'll try to take some photos of what promises to be a fun weekend for next post. For now, I'll leave you with a picture I like - Daddy just enjoying being around his new little boy.