Hey, You're Not Irish

But they let us in, anyway. Wearin' o' the green gets ya in the door, which is good because John and Roxi's St. Patrick's Day party was a blast. They had corned beef and cabbage, potatoes, carrots, shepherd's pie, Mulligan stew (which isn't really Irish at all, but still good), and some other dish with pulled pork and cabbage and something that was like mustard all cooked in a crust that was really good. They passed around shots of Bailey's after the meal and we all cheered. It was cool to see other people that we knew there and to sit with the Herbs. I've done senior pictures for all four of their kids now and I feel like it was some big accomplishment on my part. I have this weird sense of pride when I see their kids all growing up and starting their adult lives. Geez, I'm old.

On the 16th, we lined up for our free ice cream at the DQ near our house. DQ was celebrating their 75th anniversary by giving away free ice cream cones all day and there's no way we're passing that up!

Cynthia dug out her old keyboard and Rose has been studying the music books that came with it and learning to play songs. It was really painful to listen to at first, but she practices every day and now she's got it figured out.

Ah, finally it's warm enough to sit on the front porch for supper. I missed grilling and sitting on the front porch. Winter sucks!

Faster Than Sound

Emily's Birthday Pictures

Emily is 7! How can that be?? She used to be this little girl who could easily sit in our laps and now she has almost caught up to Rose in height (Rose does not approve).

Even though her birthday was on a Friday, there was no school that day, so she invited her friends and they all had a big birthday bash at the Playstation. The party got off to a rough start when she tripped getting out of the car and fell hitting her chin on the pavement and splitting her chin open. The lady at the Playstation was really nice about it and patched her up and even gave her a stuffed animal for her troubles. Luckily, the rest of the day went better for her.

We had a second birthday celebration at home that evening and she opened her presents from her grandparents and from us.

Something's wrong with her eye!

Time for cake!

EMILY!!

Fun With Time-Lapse

Ah, Memories

OK, Campers...

... rise and shine, and don't forget your booties cuz it's COLD out there today!

We started off February with an anti-Super Bowl Party at our house. For everyone who would rather donate their organs than sit through a tedious football game, but you still like all the food that goes with that day, you know what I mean. The twelve of us dined on chili, chips with cheese and salsa dip, little smokies, hummus and crackers, cheeses and meats, cheesecake, and... I don't remember the rest. I think the food coma caught up to me by then.

Bush came to Cedar Rapids, so we went to see them at the Paramount (Bush the band, not the other Bush. I'd shoot myself in the face before I would go see the other Bush.) That was our first time going to the Paramount and man that place is tiny! It's a very cool building, but it's no wonder they don't have very many shows there. Bush rocked and put on a surprisingly good show. Gavin even came down into the crowd and danced with random drunk people, which was funny. We got good seats up near the front:

Meh, iPhones don't take the greatest photos. Which reminds me, we also got new iPhones earlier this month. Definitely an improvement over my old phone and I dig all the nerdy integration with our Mac tower and laptop. I can also control iTunes on my computer from my phone, which lends itself to some good pranks.

For Christmas we were given Toss Across. I used to have this game when I was a kid and I remember how violent it got, so I was pretty excited to play it with the girls.