Grandma Renaud’s 80th birthday

All the Renaud family together in one shot! Photo by Justin Renaud

Grandma cuts her birthday cake.

My parents, aunts, and uncles got together to plan a special celebration for Grandma Renaud’s 80th birthday.

They held the party here in St. Louis, where Grandma was born and lived for many years. Around 70 people came from Texas and places farther afield. It was a lot of fun to see Becker and Renaud relatives together in one room again.

There was a dress code, so I was required to go out and buy a new suit. Yoli and I ended up cleaning up pretty nicely, I think.

Photo by Justin Renaud

Back home after the party finished.

Joseph: one and loving it

One year ago, it was after 1 a.m. and Yoli was making crepes in anticipation of our new baby’s arrival the next day. As she was cooking, her first contractions began. After a while we had to call in my folks and head out to the hospital. No rest for the weary that night!

But what a wonderful year we have had with Joseph. He is such a lovely, playful, curious boy who fills us with joy. He’s not perfect, but he has been a sort of respite compared with some of our other babies.

Tonight we had a lovely birthday party, attended by my parents and Jon and Brittney. Much pizza, cake, and mate/chai was consumed.

Joseph got some clothes and a toy camera and a play workbench. I wasn’t sure if he would take to the workbench but he began playing with it right away. Happy first year, lil guy.

Josie turns two

Our little girl is growing up so fast. As I mentioned in a recent entry, her language ability is growing by leaps and bounds. She picks up new words and phrases all the time. We still have to do a lot of “decoding,” but she is becoming more and more understandable.

My brother Jon and my parents came over to help us celebrate. We had some Imo’s Pizza and a nice cake to mark the occasion. The Imo’s was good, but pricey. I’ll probably stick with Cecil Whittaker’s or Faraci’s in the future, but Imo’s was nearby and open for lunch.

Check out the photos…

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Joseph’s half-birthday photos

Yesterday was Joseph’s “half birthday,” at which he turned six months old. To celebrate, Yoli made a half-circle chocolate cake. (Not to mention the turkey, Yorkshire pudding, and green beans)

This morning we took him out to a new portrait studio to have his baby photo taken, so we can hang it on the wall next to his sisters’ photos. They got a lot of great shots, and we got a CD with low-res versions of most them. Here are our favorites….

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