CRAZY DECEMBER

Well the holidays sure do go by super duper FAST!!! Especially when one is having fun! Thanksgiving seemed like only a few days ago and Christmas is next week.... AAAHHHH!! We have been keeping busy with our everday life routine and Christmas. We've been doing a lot of "park days" since the weather here in California is "perfect." We are having a lot of fun and are so much happier now that we get to see Ryan more. I haven't been in "camera mode" just because I haven't even remebered to have it with me at ALL times. But I will have to post pictures when I get a chance.
A little update on how everyone is doing:

Owen: He is such a little smart boy! I know as mothers we all think so, but he REALLY IS!!! He is always on the go and has so much energy to do just about anything. He loves helping us out and is always asking so many questions. He is such a "big brother" although recently he has been telling me he has a big sister. I ask him who she is and he replies, " I don't know her yet." I'm wondering if he is receiving revelation...... I know I'm not pregnant ;) He is such a funny boy, that's for sure. He still loves playing all types of sports and is always interested in fixing things right now. He is enjoying Primary even though I still think he is a baby. He just started going to his Primary class all by himself and helps this Primary presidency erase the board at the end of church.

Isabela: SHe is such a sweetheart. She really is the "girl" of the family. She has become so danty and so girly! I am not sure if that's a good thing or not. She is now completely potty trained through the night and during her naps. I am so happy, even though she sometimes has accidents. She is so sweet to everyone and she loves spenind time with mommy. She loves strolling her red teddy bear everywhere.

Jacob: He is such a little man! He has recently started to talk more and copying a lot of words lately. He reminds me of that commercial that the little boy is constantly saying, Mama, mama, mamma...." When I finally repsond to, "WHAT?!!!, " he has a smirk and mumbles. He is still a good sleeper and has recently become a daddy's little boy.

OWEN TURNS 4!!!

Happy Birthday Owen!!

Oh my goodness, my oldest baby turned four this year!! I cannot even believe it! I remember the day I was in the hospital in labor and how I thought I was going to die after pushing for a couple of hours. I remember asking the doctor to cut me open because there was no way I had the strength to push anything out of my body at that moment and somehow, he finally came out! I remember hearing just ONE cry, " WHAAAAHH!!" And that's it! He was staring at me and at the room the rest of the time. I was thinking to myself, "Is there something wrong with this baby?" But let me tell you, this boy is as active as a boy can really get. If I had to describe Owen in a few words, it would be a ball of energy!

He has such a strong, confident spirit and is not afraid to be outgoing and learn new things. This year he has mellowed out a little and has been such a great big brother to Isabela and Jacob. He even loves all of his cousins as well and is always excited to see each one of them. This was his first year in Primary and he is a Sunbeam. He has loved it up until he had to say his part in the Primary Program this past OctoberL. My poor baby was so nervous when the day came and he started to cry before going up, but somehow he pulled himself together and said his part perfectly. And to make things worse, when moving into our new ward, the Primary had not yet had the program yet, and "lucky" Owen got to stand up again in front of the congregation and say his part yet AGAIN!! He was a lot more prepared this time and enjoyed a little more the second time around.

This past year, he has grown so much as of course speaks clearly and has some of the funniest comments. Here are some things I can remember him saying this year:

"Mommy, don't hit me…… Just talk to me Mommy, just talk to me, ok?"

On another occasion, I was so frustrated with him one day and told him, "Owen, why are you being such a…… such a bad child?" And his response was, "I'm not a bad child mommy, I'm a Child of God." I tried to keep a straight face, but it made me smile just hearing him. He really is such a sweet little bot. He is willing to help me with most things and wants to be a "handy man."

Here is Owen eating ONE of his many cupcakes on his birthday. I put an apron so he wouldn't get dirty!

 

One of his presents this year was cars, of course! You can never go wrong with getting a boy CARS!! Even if they are 28!!!

random pics

Here are some more random pictures from Fabio and Stephanie's wedding

FAMILY WEDDING

On Saturday, November 7th, my cousin Fabio and Stephanie celebrated their marriage. We had a great time. You get food, dancing and family together, you're guaranteed a good time. Teri and her family came down for the special occasion and it's always nice to get all the cousins together as well. They had so much fun dancing and hanging out.

Here are the 3 girls: Sydney, Isabela, and Olivia holding hands, showing their dancing moves. They all loved the music and you know how little girls like to dance together!

Here is another attempt at getting a descent family picture, but failed miserably. And that's that we were all wearing Christmas colors :( We tried taking them at home before the party.... no use!

"mommy and me" picture

Sibling Love: These two are usually together. Whether it's fighting and taking toys away from each or playing together and looking after each other.

I am proud to day that these are my little babies! They are growing up so fast. I found myself shopping in the bigger boys section for Owen today :(

Overall, we had a great night. Stephanie and Fabio looked very happy and it is always nice to get together as a family.

NEVER LEAVE A 2 year old unattended!

Okay, I have always heard this statement! Well it's pretty much goes like this, " DONT LEAVE CHILDREN UNATTENDED!" And of course I get so distracted doing things around the house that I begin to think that because my kids are being quiet, they are being GOOD....... YEAH RIGHT! Why do I always fall for that trap?! I was downstairs getting ready to make dinner and Ryan comes walking in and asks, "Are the kids still sleeping?" I told him I hadn't put them down because they were being good and there wasn't really a need to. So he goes upstairs and this is what he finds:

She thinks she can put bright red lipstick on since she got to put it on for Halloween!

Beauty is PAIN

She looks a lot better NATURAL!!

Halloween 2009

Since Halloween was on a Saturday this year, the whole family went out for Halloween. Ryan didn't have to work which was really nice and the kids took a nap right before going so they were in a good mood the whole time!! We even had dinner for them and were out the door by 6:30p.m. WOW!!!!! I was pretty impressed. We first went out to the elementary school near the house which was only a few blocks away. I guess this is their 2nd year doing a little Halloween Carnival and it was great! We stopped by a few houses on our way over to the school to get some candies. When we got to the school, it was jammed packed!!! But it was so nice becuase the neighborhood had cars parked all over (trunk-or-treat) and we were able to collect candies in a matter of minutes as oppose to having to walk door to door. I know, I've gotten lazt over the years! :) Anyway, they had a little jumping maze for the kids to play in and of course Owen was eager to go in it. We met up with Dain, Nat, Sydney, and Baby Noah and they even has cotton candy, popcorn, and drinks for FREE!! We were all over that! We ended up waiting in line for all the goodies longer than "trunk or treating."
Owen dressed up as our little "scary" skeleton man. Isabela was our little tinker fairy. She has been watching Tinkerbell and loves it! Jacob is still too young to even care what he would be for Halloween so we bought him a Kung Fu Panda costume that was on clearance. He was enjoying his sucker pretty much the whole night!

Howes Babies!!!!

Kung fu Panda

Daddy and the kids

my princess fairy

Jacob with his lolipop

cousins

Isabela trying to be Noah's mommy

Here are just some ransom pictures that I have taken in the last few weeks. I subsribed to a new program called picknik.com and they have some pretty neat tools to edit your photos.

Mommy and Isabela!!!

The Howes Clan

Isabela decided to try on her boots from last year with Daddy's black socks. Owen decided to join in on the fun!!

And of course the Baby of the family...... Jacob :)

Halloween 2009

I know I've been slacking on recording all these fun things that have happened in the last few weeks. It's been crazy but I will summarize everything in a "nutshell" and try to be better at recording all these memories! Our little family has been quite busy. Ryan has found a new job in California and has been working in California for the past 3 months! And the kids and I have been living in Las Vegas all that while. We finally had the opportunity to move to California this past week and we have been living in "chaos" these last few weeks. AAAHHH!! But we are all doing well and are always chaotic anyhow. We will miss our friends and family in Las Vegas but are definitely excited to be close to family and to be back "home." Owen, Isabela , and my baby Jacob have kept me super busy and by the end of the night, I'm pretty exhausted. We are definitely not ready for Baby #4 yet, nor will we be in the near future!! As crazy as it might sound, no, we I am NOT expecting! Pretty weird, huh? Anyway we are all doing great and I am excxited to start our new advventure in California!

Crippled!

Okay so for those of you who have been thinking that I've been MIA.... I have been. Let me just say, it's been a crazy few weeks. I threw my back out!! I 've been crippled for the last couple of weeks and let me tell you I've been MISERABLE!! Luckily Ryan has been helping me out through out the weekends and my family has been a great help a well. So anyway, I'm pretty much stuck in California for another few days.

TIME FOR A HAIR CUT!!

Okay so this is also a late blog entry but I wanted to post it anyway. I have been feeling pretty lazy the last few weeks about cutting all my boys hair. I just hate cleaning up afterwards as if I don’t already do that with everything else at home but I just was not in the mood to be cutting hair. Well I finally got the energy to just do it and here are the results. I love “clean cut” little boys and so this will serve as a motivation to keep me on schedule with their regular haircuts.

My "little" surfer!