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Yesterday was Lily’s 3rd birthday.  I cannot believe that she is already 3 years old.  Where did the time go?  John and I went over to their house after work to give her her presents.  John decided that we needed to take Annie because Lily loves Annie.  Needless to say, she was thrilled. 

Elijah and Josiah were just as excited as Lily was.  Somehow we got them to finish their dinner before we opened presents.  Grandma Betty came in just in time for the gift opening.  Lily was so happy and excited with each present that she opened.  She would say, “my favorite” to almost each one.  It was great.  After presents, we had cupcakes.  She sat very patiently while we sang to her, and then she blew out the candles.  It took her a while and many blows, but she finally got all 3 candles out.  I think her brothers had to help her in the end. 

All the time we were eating our cupcakes, she kept saying, “It’s still my birthday.”  When we left, they were getting ready to watch her new Veggie Tales movie.  I hope they went to bed for Grandma Betty.  They each had lots of sugar, so they may be up all night!

Thank You Lord for our beautiful granddaughter Lily!

This week was spring break for Elijah and Josiah, so I got to hang out with them some.  On Wednesday, I took them to Decatur to the Children’s Museum.  It was great because it was not crowded at all.  We wandered around for a bit, and then they settled at the water table.  We built walls to funnel the water into rapids and watched our various boats and rubber ducks manage the rapids.  Somehow Josiah’s sleeves just could not stay rolled up, so the arms of his sweater were drenched.  Josiah always “immerses” himself completely in his playing.  Elijah came up with the idea to make the rapids, and he was very impressed with the whirlpool that was created at one of the turns. 

Then we headed to Dairy Queen (Grandma’s favorite) for lunch.  Again, it was not crowded, so the boys were able to play in the play area with the few kids that were there.  We had ice cream for dessert and headed out for a sight seeing trip.  Elijah wanted to see where his dad went to school, so we drove to TJ where Ryan went to junior high.  Our good friends Jeff and Judy live right across the street from TJ, and Jeff happened to be home raking leaves.  We stopped to say hello, and I believe he was quite surprised to see us.  Then we drove by our old house, and I pointed out Ryan’s bedroom window.  I don’t know if they enjoyed this trip, but I did.

Yesterday, Sara and I took all 3 kids to St. Louis for a trip to the zoo.  The day promised to be beautiful with a forecast of sun and upper 60′s.  We stopped by to pick up Grandma Nell, and headed over.  When we got there, the traffic was backed up across 44.  This line of traffic was bumper to bumper.  Grandma Nell knew how to get to the zoo a different way, so we bypassed that line of traffic.  Or did we?  We met up with it again on the other side of the zoo, and it loomed up the hill heading around the back of the zoo.  After 15 to 20 minutes of sitting in traffic just to get halfway to the parking lot, we decided to give up.  Even if we ever got to the parking lot, who knew if there would be any places left to park.  We headed for the Science Center instead.  I think the kids had a good time there, but we were all disappointed.  Lily wanted to see the bears, and we could not find any at the Science Center.  We did see the dinosaur exhibit which had big, moving robot-like dinosaur replicas.  We will try the zoo again another time.

The State Fair is on right now, and Sara and I took the kids last night.  Ryan, Jay and John are on their canoe trip, so it was just us girls and the kids.  The boys had fun riding the rides, but Josiah was still too short to ride some of them.  This did not make him very happy, but we got through it.  Lily was only able to ride the kiddie cars, but she really liked them.  Sara rode the Spider with Elijah, and both of them felt a little sick afterwards.   I got to ride the Himalaya and the Ferris Wheel with the boys, and it was fun.  I love riding rides.  After dinner, we watched Katherine and her group do their Scottish dances.  They performed for about an hour at the Ethnic Village.  Sara and I really enjoyed the dancing, but the boys, of course, were bored.  We left the fairgrounds at about 8:30, and everyone was tired.  I helped Sara get the boys to bed, and then I headed on home.  It was a good day.

This past weekend Jeff and Judy came over for a visit.  We always enjoy these weekend visits so much.  We play cards, eat, visit and just relax.  On Friday night, Ryan brought Elijah and Josiah out to camp.  They set up their tents by our firepit and got to do all the fun camping stuff without having to drive too far.  Sara and Lily came out for a while too, so she got to enjoy too.   We hung out with them for a while in the early evening too.  Lily and I went into our garage to get a drink, and there was a big black snake right by the fridge!  I grabbed Lily and ran out of the garage screaming for John.  I got everyone’s attention quickly, and they all came running.  Of course by the time John got there, the snake was behind the fridge.  He pulled out the fridge, and there was the snake.  When Sara saw it, she screamed and grabbed Lily.  She told me that she was not expecting it to be so big.  The boys loved seeing this snake up close.  Josiah did not want Grandpa to kill it, but Grandma insisted.  John carried the snake (on a garden rake) to the woods with all three kids following him.  Even Lily went along.  I don’t think she knew what was going on.  She just saw her brothers and Grandpa going, so she wanted to go too.  Just another exciting evening at the Howerter’s!

Yesterday for Father’s Day, we went to Jay and Katherine’s for dinner.  Ryan and the kids came too.  Sara is camping with her mom and aunts, so she was not there.  We had a wonderful time.  The pool was the perfect temperature, and we all got in.  The boys had fun with Grandpa while he chased them all over the pool or threw them up in the air for a splash and a laugh.  Lily watched the boys go off of the diving board, and then decided it was her turn.  She got up on the board, and Ryan put his hand on her chest.  She “jumped” in and laughed, squealed and giggled.  Then, the boys began telling us to watch them as they walked onto the board before their jump.  So, of course, the next time Lily went up on the board she yelled at all of us in her gibberish to watch her.  She then jumped off and screamed with delight.  We all laughed so hard!  It was great.  Katherine took video, so watch Jay’s website for it.  Thanks again Jay and Kat for having us!

Sara and I got Lily this pink tutu a few weeks ago, and she wore it to church yesterday.   I had to get a picture of her in it!

It has been a while since I have posted, so I will catch up on things.  Both Elijah and I have had our birthdays.  Mine on November 5, and Elijah’s on November 7.  John was in Europe that week, so I missed him.  Mom came up on my birthday, and we spent the day together.  That evening we went to the Cracker Barrel with all the kids, and it was wonderful!  Thanks Mom, Ryan, Sara, Elijah, Josiah, Lily, Jay and Katherine for spending my birthday with me.

Elijah had his birthday at Kicks.  Four of his friends came and played video games with him, and three of them spent the night.  He had a great time.  Ryan and Sara were very brave having 5 boys over night.  Josiah spent the night with me and Grandma Nell, so at least they did not have to worry about him. 

Then next morning, Ryan cut his thumb while working on his roof.  It was pretty deep, so I had to take him to the ER.  The doctor thought he cut the tendone in half, so she stitched him up and sent him to the hand doctor the next day.  Luckily, he can move his thumb fairly easily, so the hand doctor did not open it up to do anything.  He has to wear a splint for 3 weeks, but it has not stopped him from going bow hunting.  He actually went that afternoon.  Luckily, it was his left hand, so it is not the hand he pulls the bow with.

This weekend is shotgun deer season, so the boys are all a twitter.  Zeke came over this morning, and they all are practicing at our house this afternoon.  They will head out quite early in the morning to be in their stands before sun-up.  Hopefully, they will all have a succesful season this year.  It is so wonderful to see John, Ryan, Jay and Zeke enjoying something so much together.   Male bonding!

Lily's first birthday cake.

Today the entire family went down to Collinsville to have our family picture taken and to celebrate the 6 August birthdays in our family (John, Katherine, Sara, Brad, Lily and Jay).   We try to take a family picture every other year, and this was the year.  Haury, the photographer, does a great job getting all 14 of us to look good in the pictures.  The kids did great during the session, but when they tried to get shots of the 3 kids, Lily was too tired.  Jay will take some of them on another day.

After the photo shoot, we all headed to Bart’s for lunch and birthday cake.  Grandma Nell and Laurie had a great lunch ready for us, and of course we had birthday cake.  The birthday people opened their presents, and Grandma Nell and Laurie even had gifts for Elijah and Josiah.  Thanks Laurie and Grandma for thinking of them.  After Lily’s nap, we ate cake, and she had her very own since she is turning 1.  She enjoyed the icing very much, as you can see by the picture!  Thanks Bart and Laurie for hosting us all. 

Jimmy, Glenda, Jessie, Kelsey and Aunt Betty came over, and it was great to get to see the Vickers.  They are only here once a year, so it was fantastic that we got to see them.  Lily really enjoyed JImmy.  He had her laughing so hard that she got the hiccups!

It was a great day, and we had a good time.  It is always fun to get together with Bart and Laurie, and even better when both Brad and Donny are there too!  Elijah and Josiah love to hang out with Donny.  He plays video games with them, so he is definitely at the top of their list!

Lily started crawling over the weekend.  When I was with her on Thursday, she would move forward 2 “steps” with her hands, but she had not gotten her legs to move yet.  Evidently, she figured that out over the weekend because she was crawling all over our house on Monday.  She is not moving too fast yet, but it won’t be long!  I am not sure Grandma can keep up with all three now that they are mobile.

Lily cut her first tooth on Tuesday, and she rolled over for the first time on Wednesday!  She is 5 1/2 months old now, and she is the best baby!  She loves her big brothers and lights up when they come in the room.  She has started making lots of noises, including screaming for fun.  Sara says, “she is such a girl!”