Howie's Booty

How many of you were expecting to see a naked bum?? Well Howie had a fun birthday yesterday. He had a happy face pancake at Denny's for breakfast, I don't think he ate any lunch (for the record, he was offered mac & cheese and chicken nuggets, but neither plate got touched) and he got his favorite Hungry Howie's pizza for dinner. He was also sent on a "treasure hunt" for his presents. He didn't eat his chocolate cupcakes and ice cream yet, Matt finished off the ice cream the night before and we never frosted the cupcakes. But we've got ice cream and frosted cupcakes waiting for after dinner. He loves all his presents, thank you to everyone who got him something! And an advanced thanks to his Colorado cousins who will give him presents this Sunday. Anyway, one more funny quote. Howie had finished saying his prayers a few days ago and he sat in bed thinking for a minute before he said, "I guess Heavenly Father must be invisible, but he could hear my prayer."

Ode 2 - Sometimes Howie just crashes

So these pictures prove that I am being robbed from a Howie naptime. He clearly needs it! Anyway, I have done a little bit of thinking about some funny Howie sayings, right now I have a couple. 1. To add onto Jill's comment, "I like being cold" He says this everytime he wants to wear his Denver Nuggets basketball jersey, or his FC Barcelona jersey when he knows it's too cold to wear shorts and jerseys. 2. He walked into his room where Donovan and Nina were playing a game and he says, "what a nice and interesting game you two are playing." 3. Before he went to bed one night he told me, "Well, I suppose I'll dream about thinking tonight." 4. When Howie had to pinch hit for Donovan one Sunday (Donovan was supposed to give a talk, but he was sick)and they started opening exercises before Matt or I could get there to help. So Howie walks confidently up to the podium and starts to give his talk about how one of our hermit crabs died and when a hermit crab dies you have to flush it down the toilet. Clearly no fear of speaking in front of a crowd. 5. One night at dinner, shockingly Howie didn't want to eat what was on his plate, and he says, "Let's pretend like we're in opposite world and in opposite world yes means no, no means yes, and you really don't have to eat your food to get a Halloween treat." That's all I could come up with right now. I'm waiting for you mom to help me out here, you have a better memory than I do! Anyway, more Howie posts to come!

Ode to Howie part 1

Since Howie's birthday is tomorrow, I thought I'd dedicate a couple of posts to him. Being the neglected middle child, we don't have very many pictures of Howie before he was 2. As I was looking at some pictures from Howie's 2nd year, these ones made me laugh. I thought I'd share some of them. Howie is such a funny little boy. He's quite smart, observant, and very entertaining. I was trying to think of some of the funny things he's done and said and I've got a mind of mush right now. I blame it on this pregnancy. If anyone would care to share some of their funny Howie memories, I'd love to read them! I'll be posting more pictures later. We love you Howie!

Lighting of Downtown Littleton

So one of the Christmas traditions that we started when we moved to Littleton 6 years ago was to go see the lighting of Downtown Littleton the day after Thanksgiving. They close down main street to all cars and Santa rides down the street in his sleigh, turning on the lights as he goes. We saw fire dancers and two reindeer. It was totally freezing, but the kids had a good time. We are not the most photogenic bunch, as you can see.

What to wear??

Thanks to Grandma Marshall, we have the problem of wondering which dress to wear first. Nina loved trying on her new dresses, well, three of them. She got tired and wouldn't play dress-up anymore. As you can see, she was really cooperative while we tried to take a few pictures. These are such cute dresses! Thanks Pam.

Snowball Fight

Even though we didn't get very much snow, the kids have been dying all morning to go out and play. They were a little bummed they couldn't go sledding or build a snowman, but a snowball fight with Matt seemed like a good compromise. We are surprised that Howie is actually out there playing, he hated the snow last year. Way to go Howie! And Matt is just happy that he doesn't have to be at school.

Monday Night Football

Thanks for the Broncos tickets dad! We had a fun time watching the Broncos win on Monday Night Football. The weather was great and the game was exciting. We splurged and got the 12 inch Bronco Brat. Yum! And as a side note, the denture lady kept them in this time.

Nature Hike

On Saturday we went to the canyons to enjoy some nice weather. While Matt fished, we took a little nature walk. We found this tree that provided a good 30 minutes of entertainment. And of course, Howie wouldn't cooperate for a picture.

Last week's Spanish lesson

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Matt's best fried Brian Gill gave Matt a great idea for his Spanish classes. This is Matt's latest lesson plan! To Matt's credit, I am making up that whole part about him using it. It would be funny if he did though.

We're finally decorated

First off, it has been almost 4 years since we moved into this house and that red wall sat there, bare, the whole time. Thanks to some gifts from Pam and my mom, we had the means to decorate. When my mom was out visiting, we went to town and hung up all this stuff. In answer to a question you are all thinking - Yes, this is a shrine to us. We love ourselves.

The other half of the mammoth Red Monster

In the dining room, more pictures of us. We are slightly obsessed.

Our free piano with yet more pictures. You can tell my mom wasn't here to hang those ones since they are crooked and I just left them that way.

And there we are. We are finally decorated.

Some Soccer Pics

Matt and I got roped into coaching Donovan's U6 soccer team. Matt would come straight from his high school soccer team's practice and meet us at the field. Even though Howie wasn't old enough to be on Donovan's soccer team, he came to every practice and played with the big kids. We think he could have played on the team with no problems. He was tough, aggressive and surprisingly skilled.

Donovan got a lot better this year, he did a great job being our defender. Plus, he had a couple of 2 and 3 goal games.

This was a typical scene. When Nina didn't have to be held, we would find her moving goals and cones or trying to tackle someone. Overall it was a fun experience, but I think we'll take a break next season!

1 good picture, is that too much to ask?

After being minimally cooperative during our family pictures, Nina just lost it. Folding her arms to show her disapproval is new and I kind of like it. Luckily Rachelle is really great and she's doing Nina's retakes tomorrow. Howie was being a little stinker too, but his problems were limited to puckering his lips to show his "angry face".

Our Halloween Costumes

Donovan had to be his favorite NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon. Who knows where that obsession came from. Howie kept telling me he was keeping his costume a secret until Halloween. That made it a little interesting to try to come up with something, so we copied Matt's costume and made him a bull runner too. Nina had no say, she got a hand-me-down costume and wore it with a smile.

Big trees = lots of leaves

We had a great time raking up leaves! Matt and I would rake, the kids would play. Donovan and Howie loved this new wrestling arena and Nina wanted nothing to do with them after they threw her in once. She maintained a safe distance and watched them wrestle from her table. 30 bags later we are done with the backyard and can now work on the front and sides. I am guessing another 30 bags. We shall see.