My Deepest Apologies!

I know I have been terribly remiss about the whole blogging thing... I don't really have a good excuse, other than that I have been reading lately. I absolutely LOVE to read. The problem is, when I start reading a book, it practically becomes an obsession, and every spare moment is spent reading. Seriously, I take the book with me in the car and read at stop lights, every moment that I'm at home and not required to do something else, I read. Which means the house becomes a mess, I neglect my husband, and I totally forget about blogging! So, my deepest apologies, but here's a quick catch up on the last few weeks!

We invited Josh's Sunday School class (he teaches the college/career class) over for a Wii Game Night. It was... well, awesome! :) We played a few rounds of boxing, and then spent most of the night playing a game called Mario Party 8. It's like this giant board game, and you can play with a bunch of people by putting them on teams, and you get to play these different mini-games... it really is perfect for a big group of people... definitely on our Christmas list this year!! We ended up having 15 or 16 people, which was pretty awesome. Several people invited friends, so it was a good time to meet some new people. Unfortunately, I missed a good portion of the party because I was getting sick, but I managed to have a good time, and I'm thankful everyone else did, even if I wasn't a good hostess! But, being that I was sick, I didn't get many pictures taken... so here are just a few!

The girls... boxing! They totally got into it, but it's hard not to with the boxing game. It's quite the work out! After this I totally dominated Josh... and then I puked... what a fun night! :)

James and Corey REAAALLLY got into this game... they turned the remotes sideways and had to act like they were in a mine racing in those rail carts that you have to push up and down on the lever to move... given that they weren't ACTUALLY pushing up and down on a lever, just flailing about with little plastic wiimotes, it was pretty hilarious!

The next day, we had a youth service day. We almost always spend a Saturday in November raking leaves as a service project, but we decided to twist it a little this year, and turned it into Leaf Pile '08! We took all of the leaves out to my mom & dad's place and made a giant leaf pile to jump in. It was pretty awesome... again, due to the sickness, I didn't make it, but from the pictures, it looks like it's a definite repeat event!

This is the group with HALF of the pile. Isn't that amazing?!

My husband... he's kind of an idiot, because sometimes he forgets that he's 27!! Needless to say, he was a little sore the next day...


...but they did look pretty cool! This one has pretty good form!

And these pictures are for my friend Julie, in Japan! Elena finally fits into the Japanese onesies that you got her! The funniest thing about them is that they are actually kind of shorts at the bottom, so they go partway down her legs. She spent a good part of the day running around the house with no pants, and it looked pretty hilarious!

A close up of the front... gotta love the Engrish... :)

Well, sorry for the delay, but you can tell there hasn't been gobs going on! Elena continues to grow, she is a total maniac now, racing everywhere! She has also become quite the jabbermouth, and she LOOOVES to read. Now, that could be because she's been watching me read a lot lately, but she just keeps bringing books to us to read to her. Some of them are getting rather old (Brown Bear, Brown Bear had to go into hiding for awhile). She is also starting to talk more coherently, she says a few words- mostly "Uh-huh" (yes), and the occasional Dada and Mama. She has certainly started developing some stubborness and attitude, so life has been getting interesting. She is becoming quite the climber, mostly she just likes standing in her rocking chair and looking to see what I'm going to do because she knows she's not supposed to. There was much screaming one night when I took the chair and put it in the kitchen (on the other side of the baby gate) after 3 warnings. Ahhh, life is going to be so interesting for the next couple of years!!

The daycare issues have eased off, she has transitioned into the toddler room, and I am getting to know those teachers. I am still keeping my eyes open, but for now I think we will stay there. She is happy to get there in the morning, and happy when I pick her up, and that's about all I can ask for. No daycare is perfect!

Josh and I are off this weekend on our annual trip to Springfield to start our Christmas shopping. This is a weekend that we take for us, to go to Springfield and Branson and shop and just hang out together. It is a much needed break, and we are so excited to be going! I will try really hard to post pictures soon after we get back!!