January fun...

The kids are growing up so fast. It has been fun lately because they are both into more "toddler" things so that has been opening more doors of fun for us. This month we started going to the library with Aeva and Ian for storytime. We try to go once a week. After storytime we just play at the library with all of the books and puzzles, then eat some lunch. The Tomball library has so much for the kids to do- we usually end up staying for almost an hour and a half. The kids usually come home exhausted and ready for naps and that's when I get to rest too =) Here are some pictures from the kiddos at the library...

Zoee and Ian playing with balloons...

Zoee and Aeva playing with the HUGE bear! Today Asher asked if the bear could come home with him!!

What the Howard kids do during storytime- EAT!! Oh my how they can eat!!

Asher working on a magnetic puzzle. He and Ian are usually pretty quiet and content to play with puzzles. Aeva and Zoee usually end up going from station to station laughing and being silly little girls.

This was not at the library obviously, but gives a little insight into our little crazy man's personality. Every time he puts on this hat he tells me that he is a fireman- I think we need to get him a more appropriate hat for a fireman...

Lifelong Friends...

When we got pregnant I started wondering who my kids would hang out with. I know that might sound silly but new moms think about those things and at times it can be a little scary. My friend Marcy found out shortly after me that she was pregnant and our kids would be 5 1/2 months apart. I was really excited about that. It was fun to have a friend at work (we both taught at Rosehill Christian School together) that was also pregnant and could sympathize with all the pregnancy issues. Since their births, Asher and Aeva have seen each other almost weekly. Also, now that Zoee is getting bigger, she is joining in the playtime with the 2 older kids. It has been so fun to watch these friend "grow up" together thus far. Though at times they can drive each other nuts- they ALWAYS love seeing each other. Asher talks about Aeva very often and gets so excited when I tell him he gets to see her. We are so thankful for this special "lifelong" friendship that the kids have

Asher, Aeva and Zoee all in their jammies one night before the adults had bible study =)

Sweet little kiddos!!

Aeva and Zoee...

My little ones giving each other kisses... it was blurry but I could not resist posting it because I love to capture these sweet moments....

Oh Asher!!!

I have been waiting for a time when I can do a January update because we have had some memorable January moments, but the kids have not been sleeping well at night and thus I have had very little energy to blog. That being said, this picture just had to be shared ASAP. Asher is potty training and something new that he has started lately is saying "You go out please" when he is sitting on the potty and trying to "go." Trying to respect his privacy, Sonny and I usually go in the other room for a few minutes then come back to help him get a diaper back on. Well, we waited a little longer than usual tonight and this is what Sonny found when checking in with our little pooper =)... he had managed to unroll all of the toilet paper into a pile next to the potty on the floor!! How can you not crack up when this is what you see when you walk in!! What a goof ball. I guess we need to monitor his privacy a little more!! Gotta love this little guy!

Christmas 2011...

Christmas this year was lots of fun. We got to spend time with family and the kids loved getting to open all of their new toys. Unfortunately I did not take a lot of pictures this Christmas but here are a few that I did get. At least I was a able to snap a few cute ones of the kiddos. I sure wish I would have gotten our traditional "jammies" picture but with the kids both very mobile and somewhat crazy, it just didn't happen! Maybe next year?

Here is Ash giving Mimi kisses =)

Zo being her crazy self!

Ash saying cheese for the camera...

Zo with her new kitty that says "meow." She is still loving this kitty and loves to copy the noises it makes...

We got to spend some time with Sonny's Dad and all the Wharton family over the Christmas break. It was lots of fun- especially since the kids have so many cousins down there. It was nuts at times with all the little ones but it was so much fun. It's always a fun adventure going to visit "Great- Grandma with the Chickens" as Asher calls her =). Sonny's cousin took these pics from our trip to Wharton...

The Swingset...

The small moments are so easily forgotten. I have said this before, but I am so thankful for the families that Sonny and I have. They are all so selfless and lavish so much love on us and the kids. For Christmas the kids grandparents got them a swingset and we set up a date to have everyone come and help build it. My brother came, along with Mimi, Papa, Grandma and Grandad. It took all afternoon and we didn't even get it all finished. Sonny was finally able to put the finishing touches on it yesterday. It has already been such a blessing. We had our neighbor, Kielee, over to play yesterday and it was so much fun. I am continually thankful for our neighborhood, our neighbors, our home and now our new swingset!!

I just thought this picture was quite funny. Our neighbors are so sweet and I love their girls (they are a little older than our kids and are SO sweet to both Ash and Zo)...

Asher playing... he has not been in a picture-taking mood for quite some time...

Grandma and Zo being silly...

The guys building the fort...

Zoee trying to "help" Grandad and Daddy...

Ya-ya's Wedding

Good friends are really hard to find. People that you trust to watch your kids are very hard to find too!! When we got pregnant with Asher, I was not really sure if I would ever find someone that I would completely trust my children to. By God's sweet mercy, I was able to have a wonderful girl in my class when I was teaching at Rosehill Christian School. She and her friends stood out to me so much because while they were often super silly (Mande, Myriah, Karly =)) they were SO incredibly respectful and hardworking and pure. Eventually Kaitlyn started coming to our student ministry and it became evident to me that she loved kids. Our friendship grew as she started coming regularly to small groups. I loved her purity, her kindness and joy. When Asher was about 3 months old, Sonny and I asked her to watch him while we went out on a date. It was so great to get home and hear that our little reflux baby didn't run her off and that she enjoyed watching him. From then, our families continued to grow closer and Kaitlyn became our regular babysitter and one of my closest friends. On the day that we came home form the hospital with Zoee, Kaitlyn and her mom came to stay with us overnight and watch Zoee while Sonny and I got rest...

Needless to say, I am so thankful for Kaitlyn and her family. When she asked if our family would be part of her wedding, I was honored, excited, and a little nervous (my kids can sometimes get a little nuts when they are around a bunch of people that they are not familiar with but I was hoping for the best). Our sweet Kaitlyn (who was nicknamed Ya-ya by her siblings when she was young and now we call her that) got married just a few days before Christmas (December 22nd). It was such a blessing to be a part of Rope and Kaitlyn's wedding. I wish I was able to take more pictures of Kaitlyn and Rope but I was very busy trying to keep my kids from having a breakdown and trying to keep myself all put together while both my kids were tugging at me. Here is the best picture I got of them just after the ceremony...

It was such a sweet ceremony. I look forward to seeing what the Lord will do through both of them. Here are some pictures that we were able to get of our little family at the wedding....

Here I am with the kids before the ceremony (thank you Meagan for taking this picture and for ALL of your help that day. You helped me so so so much!!). Asher did not want his picture taken and he would not leave my side...

Here is our family after the wedding (thank you Kali for taking this one)

Here is Asher eating his push pop after the wedding (this was his reward for walking down the isle as one of the ring barers).

Zoee eating after the wedding... we brought so many snacks for her and I think she ate the entire time the bridal party was taking pictures!! (thank you Ms. Lizanne for helping keep her happy during picture taking).

Sonny got this picture of her. I love this one!!

Sweet Siblings =)

Even though Ash and Zoee have their moments where they seem like they want to destroy each other- they have MANY of these sweet moments where they are cracking up while they copy each other. In this instance, they are both sitting on their "name" puzzles that are turned upside down. I love after bath time when the kids are all clean and running around in their diapers. I know these days will not last long so I try to soak them in when I can....

Family Christmas Pictures...

Well, one things I WAS able to do in the midst of the chaos of November/December is get a few good family pictures for us to use for Christmas cards. I even got the cards made and got envelopes! Did I end up sending out the cards? NOPE! I ran out of time. The only people who got a Christmas card from us were people who happened to be at our house the week before Christmas. I feel pretty bad that I got the cards printed and ready to send but never got around to sending them. If anyone ends up wanting one, just ask- I still have a bunch!! We took the pictures at Sonny's Nanny's house in Fayetteville. They live on a bunch of land and the scenery is so peaceful. Anyways, here are some of the pictures from that event. The weather was nice and the kids actually didn't mind getting their picture taken.

I got the idea for this picture from Pinterest. I love how it turned out... life with our two kiddos can sometimes be a crazy mess but it sure is fun!

Our family of 4- December 2011

I love this one too. I love the expression on both the kids' faces...

Decorating with Great-Grandma...

It is a small tradition in my mom's family for all of the kids and grandkids and now great-grandkids to come help my grandma decorate her Christmas tree. I wasn't sure how this would go with my kids both being under 3 years old but we gave it a try anyway. It turned out just fine and Asher got to spend some time playing with his cousin Gavin (my cousin's son). They played really well together and I know my grandma enjoyed getting to see all her great-grandkids.

Ash and Zo after decorating Great-Grandma's Christmas tree!

The kids playing in the empty ornament box. I love Zoee's "I'm not so sure about this" expression.

Asher and his cousin Gavin...

They played very well together. Both of them love cars, trains, trucks- anything that has wheels!

Dear Zoee...

Our little dancing girl!!

Dear Zoee,

As with your brother, WHERE DO I BEGIN!!?? You are growing so fast sweet girl!! You are really forming a personality of your own and it is fun and sometimes a little scary. You have a very intense personality. When the nursery rimes say that girls are full of "sugar and spice" they are right. You are just that. Sometimes you are just so sweet and you will come running in and hug me. Other times you want nothing to do with me because you have your own mission to fulfill. I think that you are going to be harder to discipline than Asher. Even though we continually train you not to touch things like power cords and electrical sockets, we still sometimes see you going for them!! Just like Asher, you LOVE life and love to laugh and smile. Tonight when I was giving you and Asher a bath you just started laughing for almost no reason. Yes, I was being a little silly but you just bursted out laughing and continued laughing for a few minutes. It makes me so happy to see how such little things make you laugh. Here are some things going on with you lately...

1. You love animals (which is funny because I am not much of an animal lover). I think your favorite animal is the elephant (you like the sounds that he makes on Baby Einstein) or the cat (you got a cat that makes noise from Mimi and Papa for Christmas and you carry it around with you constantly). You also got some plastic animals for Christmas and you love to carry them around with you- especially the giraffe and the lion.

2. You LOVE to watch Baby Einstein. You will go to the TV and say "mo-mo" (movie) when you want to watch it. I think that you would keep it on all day if I would let you.

3. You love to eat still! You love veggies (green beans seem to be your favorite), blueberries, bananas, waffles, yogurt melts, grapes, vanilla cookies and graham crackers, and chicken. We had to take you off of all dairy because of your spitting up and you seem to be doing well. Finding food for you can be a little more challenging because so many foods have milk. Hopefully you will grow out of that soon!

4. You are talking a little more now. You can say "Momma" "Dada" "Mimi" "Papa" "Ah (Asher)" "ball" "bapa (diaper)" and of course "nak (snack)"

5. You love your brother! Sometimes you love to annoy him but most of the time you just love to be with him. You will sometimes run up and almost tackle him!

6. You LOVE to dance. ALL-THE-TIME. You even dance when there is no music on!! It cracks us up. If someone starts singing a song, you start dancing!!

7. You love to read books. You like reading the Baby Einstein book that has lots of animals in it. You especially love seeing the elephant in those books because I will try to make the elephant sound and it makes you laugh =)

8. You actually are pretty "girly." Sometimes you will bring me your headband and start trying to put in on your head! I look forward to doing lots of girl stuff with you in the future!!

Little Zo-bear, you are such a gift. At times it has been harder with you lately because when you do not get your way you can sometimes throw a fit. We are working on that, though and I believe that the Lord can use your "determined" personality for good. Zoee, we love you so much. You are such a joy to be around and you make us laugh everyday. We pray that you will love the Lord with all the strength and passion that He has given you!

Love,

Mommy

Dear Asher...

Dear Asher,

Where do I begin??!! You are growing so fast and becoming your own little man! I cannot believe that you will be 3 in June!! Yikes!! You have one of the kindest, funniest, most sensitive personalities I have seen in a toddler. You LOVE to laugh (runs in the family) and you love to make others laugh. You simply enjoy life. Even when you are sick (which you have been for almost a week) you still love to be your adventurous, silly self. Here are some things going on with you now at 2 1/2 years old...

1. You LOVE sweets. You and Daddy love to eat pretty much any kind of hershey kisses and Daddy recently introduced you to his favorite chocolate- Toblerone. You obviously loved it!

2. You LOVE the new fort/slide that you got from both sets of grandparents for Christmas. The other day we spent about 4 hours outside. I love being outside and now that you have this new slide to play on- you love being outside too. You love to get to the top of the slide and roll down all of your cars.

3. You are really into monster trucks. You and Daddy will go on YouTube and watch tons of crashes and jumps and all kinds of monster truck videos. Hopefully Daddy will be able to take you to a real monster truck show soon =)

4. At the opposite extreme of monster trucks, you also like to watch Barney. It was weird how we even discovered it. I was browsing Netflicks and you saw the big purple dinosaur and wanted to see it. Now you like to watch a few minutes of that show or Bob the Builder every morning while drinking hot chocolate.

5. You are very close to being potty trained. This might be too much information but the other day you told me that your poop looked like a bunny. You are quite an imaginative little man!

6. You like to do puzzles and color. This is our version of school right now and it makes me really happy that you enjoy it.

7. You still like to build towers for your cars to go through. Almost every day you will ask Daddy and me to build towers with you. I love when you come in the room and say "play with me Mommy"- I seriously cannot resist! Your sweet little voice and adorable smile are irresistible!!

8. Here are some foods you like- apples, bananas, chicken (especially from chic-fil-a), blueberries, peas, brocoli, yogurt, prunes, peanut butter, cheese, macadamia nuts and cashews (you will pick through a whole can of nuts to find the ones you like), dip (any kind- guacamole, hummus), and of course you cannot forget that you love anything with sugar and you eat all of your chicken with these 3 condiments: ketchup, honey mustard, and ranch dip!!

9. You sing the ABC song about 20 times a day (at least) and you often make up your own words to it. Cracks me up!!

Asher, you continue to be a joy to raise. We love the silly and sweet things that you do. You are very good at stalling before bed and I sometimes smile at the reasons you make up for why you cannot fall asleep yet. You love Daddy and me to read you the story of Noah in your bible because you love the picture of the animals and the rainbow. You make us smile everyday. You are a great big brother and such a blessing as a son. We pray that you will follow the Lord with your whole heart!

Love,

Mommy

Additional Grandparents....

In writing about grandparents, I had to add this additional post... in addition to having 2 sets of wonderful grandparents, Ash and Zo also have some "God" grandparents that continually bless our family. The Burkes (Nana and Uncle) continue to love and adore our kids and us as their own. We are so thankful for them and the love they continue to shower our family with so much love.

Asher giving Uncle some icing =)

Nana and her precious grandbaby, Kinley (daughter of our friends Jake and Kristen) taken almost 1 year ago!!)