Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

...how tedious it is to decorate you.

or

...how beautiful your branches when I'm done with you.

(And just by way of information, this is my Mom's tree,

with mostly her decorations. My little tree is packed away.)

Last night as we set things up

I couldn't help but let each ornament's story spill

out of my mouth like nastalgic regurg.

I echo, as others before me, "You can have your designer/matchy trees,

I like my hodge-podge of memories."

And with that said, here are some of my
favorite decorations.
(this year)
This part of the tree I call the shrine.
Here's my sister Britlynn as a baby, preschooler,
kindergartner, and first grader. Precious.
***

Sweet Jilley's 1st Christmas
***

Jack @ 6 months old & my Dad's favorites- bubble lights
***

A Santa sea star from a family friend,
blue &white china (my Mom's obsessed),
a crochet snow flake made by my Grandma,
a quilted tree ornament from a longtime
neighbor, and a mickey bulb to remind us
of our 2009 season passes.
***
A symbol of the true meaning of Christmas.
***

'Tis the season to wear jammies

1.Don't mind the finger prints on the fireplace glass.

2. I think my mom deserves major props
for finding matching pjs for this brother/sister duo.

their sassy photo
***

Jill's top reads Santa's Best Gift
***

I'm One Tough Cookie
***

And this concludes our jammy presentation!

happy songs

Here's a video showcasing-
Jill's new word
(happy, happy, happy, I happy) &
Jack's first Christmas song.
***
I think it's worth a minute of your life,
but than again I am their mother.

BAD Blogger #1

Its been too long.
I'm sure you've all come to the conclusion that
I'd fallen off the face of the Earth
and in a way I guess you'd be right.

Here are my excuses for not blogging:
1. my computer melted down irreversibly
2. Jill palmed my camera with sandy hand,
then Kent took it apart to "fix" it.

Here is what it looks like today...

3. We moved to Ventura
4. I've had some health issues (I'll expound later)
5. I'm having fun away from the computer.

Here's the rest of the family:

***

***

Sorry we've all been "at large."
More past/catch-up posts to come...
I promise.

And Now a Public Service Announcement - From Jillian

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!