2008 in Review

I didn't send out a Christmas letter so this is as close as it will get to one.

In January, I was 6 months pregnant when we closed on our house January 18th. January 20th the movers came with our furniture that had been in storage for 8 months. January 30th Charlotte turned 18 months.

February 2nd Charlotte made the big transition from sleeping in a pack and play (all she had slept in) to a big girl bed and didn't have any problems. She inciated it, and loved it from day 1. On the 18th we had a 3D/4D ultrasound done. Xander had his face smashed up aginst the uterine wall so his nose was smushed up. It was still a neat experience since this would be our last and we didn't have it done with the girls.

March I decided now was the time to start painting rooms and within 1 week I painted 5 rooms. Dan did help some in the kitchen and family rooms because being pregnant I shouldn't be on a ladder with 9ft. ceilings. I did use a step stool in the kids' rooms but our upstairs ceilings are 8ft. The 31st brought my birthday and I turned 25 for the 7th year in a row.

By April Charlotte's vocabulary really began to blossom. She could already say Mama, Dadda, ball, and duckie, but she added words like bubble, juice, and apple.

May 5th Alexander Elijah Howell came into this world at 10:30am weighing 8 lbs and measuring 22 1/4 inches. His two sisters loved him from the moment they saw him and his Daddy could not have been prouder to have a son.

June 7th Bella had the long awaited Ballet Recital a the Victory Theater in Dayton. She did as well as a not quite 4 year old would do. Now Bella sees the video and says, "I wasn't doing what I was supposed to do." On the 21st Bella turned 4 and had a birthday party with all her friends from church.

July 4th it poured rain but we decied to brave the weather and go see a local parade. The girls had such a great time playing with their umbrellas, I don't know how they stayed dry. The 30th brought Charlotte's 2nd birthday party attended by the neighbor's kids.

September was back to school time. I decided to do preschool at home with Bella and she loves learning. Mid September, Dan, Xander and I went to my 10 year Reunion at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. During this time I had a wonderful visit with my cousin.

November Xander turned 6 months and we had a half birthday cake for him which he couldn't eat. For Thanksgiving we went to Chicago to visit my mom.

December we started potty training Charlotte with little success.

Christmas of Firsts

This Christmas we had many firsts occur:

1. First Christmas in our house.

2. First Christmas we didn't have to travel out of town since we were married

3. First time Dan's Grandmother traveled to see us

4. First tooth broke through (Xander)

We had a lovely Christmas with my mom, Dan's parents and grandmother. My mom came in Christmas Eve and we all went to church that evening. The day after Christmas, I went shopping with my mom to get the post Christmas deals. I don't feel the need to go the day after Thanksgiving, but the day after Christmas is a must. Dan's family came in the day after Christmas in the afternoon and the kids had a 2nd Christmas with their gifts. They of course enjoyed that. We had a nice Christmas dinner with everyone. Saturday, Grammy, Grandma, the girls, and myself went out shopping to spend some of the money that Great Grandma had given them. I have to say that it was the perfect day. The temperature was a nice 65 degrees. You can't beat that 2 days after Christmas in Ohio. Sunday we all went to church and took naps in the afternoon. Monday all the crew left but not before trying to get the kids Christmas picture taken for the second time. I thought that more hands might help. Not so much. It did help in getting everyone changed out of their Christmas clothes into their play clothes after the picure was taken. When a picture involves all the kids, I tell myself, all I need is one good or even decent picture. I got an ok picture. Charlotte is the child that doesn't want to have her picture taken. This is not a 2 year old problem, it began when she was little. She didn't like the platform she had to sit on. Now everything is done on the floor and she still doesn't like it. It kills me because she is so photogenic that when I do get a picture of her it is so cute. I keep telling myself maybe she will grow out of it, but chances are she won't.

Bella's Haircut

Bella decided that she wanted her hair short like Charlotte's, so she wouldn't have tangles in her hair anymore. However, I wasn't going to go quite as short as Charlotte's hair just in case she didn't like it.


She got the whole salon treatment with a wash, cut, dry and style. Bella liked her new haircut, which is good because I cut around 5 inches off.

I Painted Our Master Bedroom

This weekend I decided it was time to paint our master bedroom the color orange or according to the paint chip, fall leaf. It definately is a bold color choice and I have to admit that I was a little aprehensive about doing it even after getting the paint. It is only paint and with a lot of work it could be painted over so why not. I finally got new bedding after seven years. I needed a change. I ordered new bedding: the gold duvet cover, and a printed sheet set. The printed Euro Shams are in the mail.


Here are the printed sheets which you can't see from the picture. The same print Euro Shams will help tie together the duvet cover and wall color. Our room feels cozier now that it is painted. I also found some faux silk curtains in brown online on clearence for $10 a panel. That's cheap even with paying for shipping. If Idon't like them, I can alway return them. I think the sheen from the curtains will go well with the slight sheen of the duvet cover. By now you are thinking, she watches too much HGTV and this room is the ugliest room I have ever seen. It is currently a work in progress and we are trying for a Moroccan feel. I don't know if it will work but I will keep you posted. What I didn't show is our sitting area with a fireplace that was behind me. That area too is painted orange, but we don't know what to do with it yet.

Happy Half Birthday Bella

Bella is 4 1/2 today. She thinks that she is much bigger than when she was four but will be bigger yet when she is 5. Her cake was yellow cake with Strawberry jam filling, white frosting and lots of sprinkles. We sang Happy Half Birthday and she told us that she wasn't going to sing because it was her half birthday party.





I think that Xander knew we were eating something good and wanted some too. Sorry, baby you will have to wait until you turn 1. I did give him an arrow root cookie to play with and when I took it from him, he pitched a fit. I then broke it up in to small pieces for him to eat and fed them to him. He doesn't quite have the skill to put them in his mouth yet. As long a he was chewing away on his cookie pieces, he could withstand us eating cake in front of him.

What a Lovely Day in the Neighborhood?

Today is dark, grey, and raining like crazy, which means that I will be staying in the house with 3 kids. Bella woke up with croup (Alexander had it 3 weeks ago), and everyone including me has a cold. I think that we will be having a mega video watching marathon. Not to mention that I have laundry piled up to the top of my washer to do. With all the kids sick, I feel inclined to wash everything in sight. However there is a bright spot. Today is Friday, and in our house we call it Happy Friday, because it means Daddy is home for two days when he arrives home from work. This week it is a Very Happy Friday as Dan is taking next week off! I will actually be able to clean my house uninterupted before our company comes in for Christmas.

Adventures in Potty Training

I have to say that potty training is one of the worst jobs a parent with small children has to do. A few days ago we ran out of diapers and I told Charlotte that she had to be a big girl now. She wants to be a big girl so bad and in many ways is more independent than Bella, however; that is another story for another time. So the adventure has begun with sitting on the potty for what seems like an eternity for me, and I can only imagine that it is a lifetime for Charlotte. During this time, I read as many books a possible until I am sure that she really doesn't have to go. What usually ends up happening is that there is nothing in the potty and not 5 minutes after getting up she pees. Then I wonder, "Did I keep her long enough on the potty?" Most days she goes once in the morning which is a given if she is dry when she wakes up. She may go one other time during the day if my timing is right. Charlotte loves chocolate, and so far my bribing her with chocolate has not motivated her like I thought it might.

Has it really been more than a month?

The answer is yes! It has been 1 month and 3 days since my last post. So here is a review of the last month: First hair cut, first snow, and first illness (Xander has croup). Alexander got his first hair cut.

Cute picture of Charlotte.

High fashion. Strike a pose.

Our first snow fall happened before Thanksgiving and was so small that you can't even see it the picture. The girls were so excited it was snowing they wanted to go outside and play in it.

Cute picture of Xander

This what happens when Charlotte eats cake. She would rather lick the frosting completely off than eat the cake. Although she usually does take a couple of bites of the cake too.
This lick looks good.
Yummy!