The Howard Happenings

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Kolby on my Bike

I just had to capture this on camera because in December, Kolby all of the sudden decided that his bike wasn't good enough anymore and he thought that he was big enough to ride my bike. Well, he was. It was pretty funny...it reminded me of the book of the Little Red Hen and the pictures in there where the hen has to have extensions on its feet to be able to reach the pedals and the hen is just so small compared to the big bike. Kolby looked very small on a big bike. But he loved it. He even attached the child carrier stroller to the back of the bike and rode it around. He did it a few times with kids in it but that made me a little nervous, along with the rest of the parents in the neighborhood. I'm happy to say that I am writing this 6 months later (that's not the part I am happy about), but he is actually out of the phase of needing to ride my bike. He still wants a new bike, but he has to earn it!
And I had to include this beautiful sunset photo. It looks as if he were riding off into the sunset. the colors were amazing!

Christmastime Disneyland in the Rain

Well, we took a chance and went to Disneyland on a Saturday before Christmas, knowing that we might regret it because the crowds could be out of control. But we lucked out, sort of. It was pouring rain so there weren't very many people at all. We were soaked, even though we were wearing ponchos. Our shoes and socks were drenched and I really never have seen it rain so hard in Southern California before and for such a long period of time. The positives were: few crowds...we rode everything we wanted to as many times as we wanted to, we got to see Santa and mrs. claus and the reindeer without any crowds either, we still saw the snowing castle which was beautiful and maybe best of all, the kids were ready to leave at the same time we were. We also ran into our friends the Williams that day, which was a fun little treat. We conquered the park pretty quickly that day and got out at a decent time. It was a great way to spend our last day as season pass holders. We told the kids were are taking a break until Carson is five so we can appreciate the magic again. They are bummed and so are we, but it will be worth it!

Beautiful Minnie with Eliza, Mom and Carson...another plus...no line to go in and see the Princesses at Princess Fantasy faire!

One of the highlights of the trip...Carson was tall enough to go on Matterhorn so the whole family was able to go on a roller coaster ride. However, I am pretty sure the that Snow Monster scared him to death. He was the best sleeper before that trip and just hasn't been the same since. Definitely not worth it! I miss my good sleeper!

The family and Santa

Cute Mrs. Claus with Kolby & Eliza

Kolby's first time on Splash Mountain. It was so much fun we did it a few times and even got Eliza to come with us. I was too cheap to buy the actual picture but here is the picture of the picture and Kolby and I are at the very back.

While we were on Splash Mountain, Carson and Geoff were having fun meeting Tigger and Eyeore.

the End...we were tired and wet but had another great day at Disneyland!

Family Photo Shoot

These are some family photos that we took in November 2009 for our 2009 family Christmas card. We just went down to a local corner (at Fruitvale and Hageman) with the Salinas family and they took our photos and we took theirs. Seemed to work out ok. We are definitely not professionals, but we captured a somewhat decent family photo and that was the goal! (However, looking back I would never put Carson or any other child in a snowman sweater vest again. Just not quite my style. I thought it would be cute for the season, but poor kid doesn't look so hot!)

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

To all my Loyal Readers

Of course I say that with a big smile cuz I know there aren't too many of you! But I am glad there are a few of you who want to know what is going on with the Howards. I have had serious computer issues with photos but now they are resolved so I will get my buns in gear and hopefully start updating this blog over the next few weeks! Cross your fingers! (Mine are!)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Geoff in San Antonio

Geoff was so lucky to go to a convention with my parents to sell Pro Glides and they stayed at the Riverwalk Hyatt in San antonio, TX. It looked so beautiful and was all lit up for the holidays. It sounds like a place where we definitely need to take a vacation. I can't seem to find the pictures that he took there, but it was beautiful. Guess I'll have to wait til we go there sometime together and post some photos then. BTW, the convention was pretty successful...they were able to sell a good amount.

No More Car Seat...woo hoo!

Kolby, my big boy is already 60 pounds and will be 6 in just a couple of weeks so that means that he doesn't have to sit in a car seat anymore. Yippee!!! This is so great because this kid is super stuck to the rules and even in an emergency if we didn't have his car seat, he would go. It would turn into a huge fight, even if we were only driving around the corner. So we are all happy that Kolby weighs a whopping 60 pounds and can be nice and safe just sitting in a regular seat belt. Ahhh...the freedom of having only 2 car seats to worry about instead of 3! Here is a cute picture of my little Kolby cowboy:

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Kolby's 5th Birthday

Happy Happy Birthday Kolby! He turned 5 on December 29 and was so looking forward to being the big #5. We had a really fun birthday with his cousins and a couple of friends from his church class at a gymnastics gym where 2 coaches entertained the kids on the equipment doing obstacle courses, etc for 1 1/2 hours followed by cake and presents. I think everyone had fun and was pretty exhausted by the end of the party. Besides being freezing in the gym, it was great and most importantly Kolby had an awesome time. After opening all of his presents he said to me, "Mom, Dustin gave me the best present ever (a remote control car)." And then he paused for a second and said, "No. Everyone gave me the best presents ever." That made me proud that he was so grateful for all of the nice things that everyone gave him and that he recognized that he shouldn't just single one out.

Since it is his birthday, it is a great time for me to brag about what an awesome little Big boy I have. These are just a few of the things that I love about Kolby:

He loves for me to tickle his back and sing him songs every night
While singing songs and trying to be peaceful he always needs me to tickle his "underpit" so he can get a really good laugh. He always wants more and more.
He has the best laugh
He definitely helps out in time of need
He is a great big brother who really looks after his little sister and little brother
He is a great teacher (to me, his friends, his siblings)
He loves his Grandpa
He loves Mya & Chloe, the dogs and always wants to make sure they are happy, well fed and well exercised
He is brave
He likes to do what is right. He loves his CTR ring and has always been a stickler for the rules (just one example: he is already a backseat driver making sure that I am not going over the speed limit because he doesn't want me to get a ticket)
He is so afraid of going to jail (maybe that explains #10)
He has a tender heart. He doesn't like watching any movie or show where people are mean to each other.
He loves being social and active. Having nothing to do is the worst day for him and for me. He wants friends around and activities planned. Thank goodness for preschool.
He loves his Book of Mormon and likes to mark it and gets so excited about memorizing scriptures and AofF for Primary.
He befriends everyone at school and is always good for his teachers
He loves to tease his mom and give me a hard time about everything, especially going to bed at night
He loves performing "magic tricks", which Grandpa got him hooked on
He loves his trucks/cars/emergency vehicles/construction vehicles
He is a great singer and is beginning to memorize lots of songs which I love listening to him sing
He loves looking out the window and waiting for his Dad to get home and then running out to greet him
He loves to ride his bike, play football and baseball
His favorite ride at Disneyland is Big Thunder Mountain and could do that over and over again all day
He loves helping with any project: helping put up the ceiling fans, work in the yard, put on the knobs on the cupboard door...anything that involves working with tools and is very competent with them
He loves his friends from Visalia and misses them SOOO much
He is a sweet, tender, handsome, silly sense of humored boy whom I am glad to have as mine

Here are LOTS of pictures:

Birthday Boy & His Dad Before the Party (Kolby was so cute, while we were waiting for his friends to arrive, out of the blue, he started kissing Geoff on the cheek and saying "Thank You, Daddy", "Thank You, Daddy". It definitely took us by surprise. It was very sweet)