It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

I've almost got the house completely

decorated for Christmas!
***

Not bad for December 4th!

(I made the count down to Christmas & I'm

totally pleased at how cute it turned out.)

***

My Mom's newest Creche.
***

Have you noticed a theme yet? Well you would if

I'd given you a better picture tour of the house,

we have 13 Nativities out. And the only Santa you'll

find around here is worshiping his newborn King.

We're not anti-Santa per-say, we just try our hardest to

keep our focus on more important things.

Plus, Jack broke my only Santa last year, so you know...

Look Mom we make a T!

***
***
The other day I was in the kitchen when I heard
loud raucous laughter coming from the living room.
That's when I found Jillian squealing with laughter
and Jackson tickling away. He stopped

long enough to say- "Look mom, we make a T!"

Giggling I ran to get my camera,
because I never want to forget this moment
or their sweet faces.

Plus, more often than this, I hear screaming coming from the living room, find Jillian crying, and when I ask what's going on Jackson matter-of-factly replies-"I was just biting her!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Preschool Thanksgiving Feast 2009
***

Jack's class made headdresses and came as
the Indians/Native Americans that helped
the Pilgrims that first Thanksgiving.
***
The 4 year old class came as pilgrims and
the 2 year old class came as turkeys (too cute).
***

After the feast the kids enjoyed some tribal drumming
from some members of the Crow Nation.
***

Cool Stuff!

***
Us Howes have so very much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Under Neat That

A friend sent this to me and I just had to share:

Okay, so this is how I imagine this conversation went:

Walmart Employee: 'Hello 'dis be Walmarts,

how can I help you?'
Customer: ' I would like to order a cake for a going

away party this week.'
Walmart Employee: 'What you want on da cake?'
Customer: 'Best Wishes Suzanne'

and underneath that 'We will miss you'.

STOP LAUGHING! You can't fix stupid.

Pebbles & Bam Bam

For Halloween I had grand plans of

making the whole family Halloween costumes.
***
Fred, Wilma, Pebbles, & Bam bam
***
I bought all the fabric & got started.
I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but
8 hours into my sewing project 2 things had
become very clear:
1. I desperately could have used a pattern
2. There was no way I was going to finish
all 4 costumes on time.
Bam bam & Pebbles
(Kent and I wore orange shirts for trick-or-treating.
My goal is to finish our costumes for next year.)
***
It was too cold to go trick-or-treating bare
chested, but I thought the costume
looked better without the orange shirt.
***
Here's my favorite part of Jilley's
costume- her bone bow.
This was the first Halloween everyone
was excited to trick or treat.
That's right, until now Jack's been a bit
of a party pooper.
***
But this year Pebbles & Bam bam were
happy to fill their sacks with
other peoples' candy!
***
Does anyone really like Payday anyway?
***
Trick-or-Treat!

edge-a-ma-cation time

It's official Jackson's a preschooler!

Jack's 1st day of school picture

***
He's part of the 3 year old Butterfly class at TLC Preschool

His teachers are Mrs. Kam & Mrs. Lucken.

And despite just moving to Ventura he does

know 2 boys in his class (from church).

***

Jack, Dad & I are so excited to watch you

learn and grow this school year.

Listen to your teachers, smile, don't eat the paste,

but most of all have fun!

Open for Business

Jack's Auto Shop

Motto: You break it; we fix it!

Location: Middle of the hallway

Ventura, Ca.

Fees: We take all major candy bars

Testimonials: "Jack, alligned the wheels on

my walk and go. It's never run better."-Jillian Howe

Eye Spy

***

Our new camera kicks our last camera's trash!

It's easy to use & I don't know when the

kids have looked cuter!

A perk of moving...

Boxes!

Jack was happily busy for hours with this box while all his loud,messy, expensive toys sat abandoned. Go figure.

Poor Jilley, it's really not fair to post this picture, it's not flattering, but I just can't resist!

***

PS-We're 99% unpacked, just one box to go...

Something borrowed

Today I visited one of my favorite sewing/crafty blogs
Little Bit Funky*
and found this beautiful thought.

I find myself praying
a lot
to be a better mother to my children.
I love this visual reminder.

I've added this to my blog with
the hopes that it will be as inspiring to
you as it as been for me.

*Crystal said this image was free to grab,
that's why I took the liberty of adding to my
blog, but not without due credit (of course).
***
If you "grab" this image too, make sure you
hop over to Little Bit Funky and leave
a little comment... I'm just saying.