Kitty took her first step! And I missed it! :( We were all at Church when it happened. This happened to be the weekend I volunteered to help in The Yellow House with James' religious education class. James couldn't wait to tell his class about the arrival of his new cousin Julius w hen the (felt board) chalice was lit. The instructor read Oh, the Thinks You Can Think and about halfway through Carey came in with Charles, whom had asked his nursery caregiver if he could go to the Yellow House too. So Charles joined the circle but it wasn't until I had gone to an adjoining room looking for tape to repair Charles' name tag that Carey informed me about Kitty. Apparantly she took a step forward wanting something that Carey was holding and she started to take a second step before she lost her balance and Carey caught her. He was really excited about it, and the more I think of it, the more it seems to me that this is the first child whose very first step he has ever seen. So while I am dissapointed to have missed it myself, I am happy that he got to see it.

After Church we went home so the kids could have a quick nap before we left them with babysitters and went off for Carey and his sister Sarah's birthday lunch. We had no problem dropping off the boys and Kitty at a neighbors house. Deedee we hauled across town to be watched by the same girl who watches her in the nursery at Church. Deedee absolutely adores her and she had no problem waving bye to us when we dropped her off with her baby & backpack.

We went to the Sangria Grille and I think the term banquet or feast better describes it rather than lunch. The menus were small books with way too many choices. In the end, I had Carey choose for me so I wound up with some lovely lamb. Four appetizers were ordered. I especially liked the calamari. It's been years since I had any. There was also some sort of little egg roll type thingy with avacado and a wonderful minced garlic pesto sauce. Sarah had also ordered a large pitcher of a wonderfull golded sangria that had a nice variety of fruit in it. I don't want to even think about how much Carey's parents paid for it and this was on top of the generous gift they had already given Carey. We didn't have cake. That was planned for later, in the park, so the kids could join in as well.

We got there a little late, but traffic was terrible yesterday because of all the construction and it took us forever to get anywhere. We had to stop at Staples first to get Carey his school supplies, we had to pick up Deedee and then come back clear across town to pick up the other three before going to the park. We got a big surprise there Sometime in the last two weeks, all of the play equipmentexcept the slide has been taken out. That's really dissapointing because it had some really cool old metal stuff. The kids were perfectly happy with the slide though. Poor little Charles was really dissapointed. For some reason, when we got there, he got it in his head that Papa Ernie was there. I explained to him that he wasn't, so Charles moped for a few seconds, saw Grandma Sue and was happy again. But when he was about halfway to the picnic bench he saw his Uncle Jeffrey laying on one of the benches, mistook him for my father and just took off like crazy straight for him screeching "Papa Ernie!" at the top his lungs. So he reaches Jeffrey, reaches out to hug him, realizes that it wasn't my father and he just recoils in horror. The look on his face was so sad. He perked up a bit when he was given his cake though. Oh, and Carey's sister Sarah was pleased to announce plans for a marriage to Jeffrey. Apparently he asked her on her birthday and she waited until now to tell us. This will be her thrid one so perhaps the third time's the charm.

On Saturday, I played hookie for most of the day. Carey worked until 12 and then I took off at about 1. I went and ate lunch, and then met up with Marisa. We talked while she fed Avi lunch. He actually consented to stay with me for a little bit outside while she went in to get him some lunch. She was really surprised that he didn't fuss. He did walk over near the door, and watch people through the glass. He was just beginning to get upset when she came out. Then we went to the library. I put a request in for a movie about Saskatchewan. I thought it appropriate for James since that's where he's getting ready to go in about a week. I was also excited to get my hands on a couple of books on the libraries discard rack. They sell them for really cheap to raise money I guess. Anyway, for four dollars, I got a dirty joke book for Carey (I couldn't resist. I mean, come on, this is Carey we're talking about.) I also got the huge Scholastic Children's Encyclopedia. The kids love looking at it. The plan was to go to The Needle Nook next to see about getting some yarn to knit Deedee a heavy jacket for this winter and both of the boys heavy cardigans with matching caps for this fall. However, somehow that turned into a detour to Baskin Robbins to eat ice cream with fresh blackberries that we picked on the way there. LOL So that was really good. By the time we walked back to her place, we put the kibosh on the Nook since it closed very soon and we both had grocery shopping to do. So we both enjoyed that. I got back pretty late for me on a Saturday but I came back happy so I guess that's what counts. :D