Monday, December 8, 2008

What's up in the Howe household this Christmas


So it's Christmas time again, and I am soooooo not ready for it. Last year I had my shopping done by December 1st, but here it is December 8th and I've barely even started. Of course, I've had a cold for going on 2 weeks now, is that a good enough excuse? Anyways, I made the kids pose for pictures for our Christmas card, which Darin did without hesitation but the other two griped. So what if Gavin is wearing a Devil Wears Prada shirt on our christmas card, right? At least he is smiling, or that is what I keep telling myself. It still amazes me how much they have grown. Gavin is so independent now, 16 and driving. He is still into his drums and guitar and has now decided he wants to play LaCrosse, I don't know if his tiny little body
will hold up but he is determined so we will support him. He was asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance by a Junior, nice girl who played in the band with him, but the next week he's got a different girlfriend. That is where he spends most of his time now, at Sam's house. Or he's hanging out with his buddies, Benton, Nato, Miles, and Jaron.



Courtney just gets prettier and prettier each time I look. Courtney is now officially a teenager (13 on Nov 18th) and is doing quite well at Piano and Ice Skating. She's still the drama queen but it has gotten a little better. Is it really that hard to hang up your towel when you are done with it, or to put your makeup away in the little box you store it in, or put your clothes in the laundry instead of on the floor in the bathroom? I guess so because no matter how many times we gripe about it those things just never change. I am glad I only have 1 girl. For her birthday this year Dad painted 2 of the walls in her bedroom purple, her favorite color. If it's purple she likes it, doesn't matter what it is. But I guess it's better than her friend's obsession with mini-vans, talk about quirky.

And Darin, I just can't believe that he is 5 years old. Seems like just yesterday he was born.
Darin is onto his Wii kick again, he has mom and/or dad playing every day, sometimes hours on end. Although Dad doesn't seem to gripe too much. In the summer we barely saw him, he was outside most of the time with friends (most of them girls I might add), jumping on the trampoline or being pushed into the neighbors fish pond (a whole other story there). But now that the weather has changed, and snow is finally on the ground he has reverted back to his indoor obsessions. He was extremely clingy for a long time, we were sure that Dad was going to have to spend the first 3 months of Kindergarten with him, but over the summer he changed. He LOVES kindergarten and his teacher, Mrs. Peterson. He is absorbing it all like a sponge and never ceases to amaze us with his knowledge. Hard to believe he is reading now.

Bruce of course has the house full of lights again this year. It won the North Logan City lights contest last year, but their rules do not allow the same person to win 2 years in a row so he is hoping for second place. Doesn't matter, he would still put them up, contest or not. We get comments from everyone about how festive our house is and how much it brightens their spirits as they drive up our street, even the kindergarten bus driver commented. A college student wrote an article in their online news cafe about the contest and had quotes from Bruce and a picture of the house. You can read it here : http://www.hardnewscafe.usu.edu/artlife/features/112508_lights.html

He is adapting well to the life of house husband, he enjoys his yard and garden in the summer, and then the break from the yard work he gets in the winter. And we are still speaking to each other after 2 years being at home pretty much 24x7 so that says something.

I am busy, busy, busy at work. Which in this economy is a good thing. We are extremely blessed to both be at home and living in this beautiful home, in a really great neighborhood. The kids are doing well in school and happy and healthy. Can't ask for much more.

Well I'd better get back to work now.

The beginning

So I've spent the day reading blogs of friends and decided it might be fun to try and do one for our family. We always talk about setting up a website so families can check in on each other, so maybe I will start a trend so here it goes.