Book Club: May 2013

Some friends of mine started a small book club and it's been so much fun so far. We just finished Great Gatsby for this month and are planning to have our book club meeting and go see the movie. It's fun for me to do something with my friends that actually requires me to think and also encourages great discussions. We have not picked our next book yet but since we are already done with Gatsby, I am starting another book until we pick another one. My friends Lindsay and Kelly recommended the book, Safer Than A Known Way by Pamela Rosewell Moore (who ended up being one of the closest friends to Corrie ten Boom). I just started reading it and I am really loving it so far. The author is so genuine in her struggles with the Lord and how stubborn she was at first against His calling of her. If anyone wants to join me in reading this book this month, I know it will be an encouragement to our faith.

Random Howard Happenings

Life is just so full of fun these days. Yes, we have our rough days where I think I am going to go nuts, but overall we are loving this season with the kids and with our friends. 

Something that's really been a fun treat for me to enjoy with friends is the painting classes that are popping up everywhere. One of my best friends in the world- Mrs. Lindsay Schott- had a special birthday in April but we weren't able to all celebrate until May. Us four ladies got to go out for some fun painting and a great dinner. I loved getting to spend time with these ladies. The 3 of them both have baby girls that are under the age of ONE so I did get a little bit of baby fever hearing them talk about their precious ones in what seems like such a distant stage to the one we are in. Maybe one day we will get to experience that season again :) Here is a picture of us with our finished products! Linds is the artist in our group and decided to mark her own trail instead of following the instructor- we all loved seeing what she would come up with! Happy Birthday sweet friend!

This next picture makes me SO happy and very nostalgic. When my brother and I were little we loved to float the bayou in anything that would float (yes, that might be news to you, Mom!!). We would climb in plastic pools, ice chests, anything that we might be able to turn in to a boat! Fast forward many years later... our family was at a church picnic this past weekend and one of our college guys floated across the lake in one of these green lids. Of course our little adventuresome son wanted to try to ride in the boat with his Daddy. Though I was on the side of the lake dreading them sinking, I held my tongue and let them "be guys." They made it across the lake and Asher was beside himself! Can't believe my little son is growing to be a real adventure lover! Love that side of him!!  

Honestly I cannot really think of how Asher and Zoee could be better siblings. They do have their fights but overall they simply love being together. Asher is loving the protector role and I often hear him telling her, "Sissy, you HAVE to trust me." The other day she asked me to hold her and I said I needed to get something done first and that she needed to be patient. Sonny took this picture as he caught Asher trying to "hold" his sister because she wanted to be held! Makes my heart so happy to see them so kind to each other. We pray so much for the Lord to give us wisdom in shepherding them in the truth, wisdom, and love of the Lord and it's moments like these that encourage me to keep going! Love them!!

Little Miss loves her couscous! I am trying to not be as OCD with the kids when it comes to being clean when they eat but this moment reminded me why I am the way that I am. I must have cleaned the floor 5 times when she was done eating to get all of the couscous off the floor... and counter... and walls... and chairs...! She had it in her hair, by her ears, on her arms and obviously all over her face! Silly little munchkin! I am thankful though that she will try and eat almost anything.

Mother's Day 2013

When Sonny asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I was eager to say that what I really wanted was a day of rest where we could just enjoy being a family. That's what I love and that's what we got to do! It was so relaxing to get home from church and take a nap, go for a run and just enjoy my sweet family that evening. Mother's Day evening we went to my brother and sister's house and enjoyed great food and family time with them and my parents and Rachael's parents. I love getting to just slow down and hang out with the family!

Here are some pictures I manages to get at church... As you can see, the kids think it's really funny to try NOT to take a great picture! Silly kids!!

Random Howard Happenings...

Somedays when I have time to stop and think I cannot believe how fast time is flying by. In January it will be 10 years since the day that Sonny and I said "I DO." Wow!! In June our son will be turning 4! Double Wow!! There are weeks where I feel like we have not even had a chance to stop and enjoy just being a family. Today we have decided to just stay home and relax (and clean of course). Something that cracks Sonny and I up is seeing what our kids chose to do on our relaxing days... My Dad passed on a little OCD to me and I have unintentionally passed it on to my kids. Here they are lining up ALL of their cars and animals. This is an almost daily occurrence in our home. I will walk in a room and see everything lined up. It cracks me up and makes me so thankful for the fun and interesting personalities that the Lord has given our little ones. It was also funny because I went to clean the kitchen and came back about ten minutes later and Asher had put all of his cars away (I have also INTENTIONALLY tried to pass on my desire for cleanliness to my kiddos though it doesn't always show). I am so thankful for these restful days. We have been watching Pitch Perfect (mainly for the fun music and dancing) and trying to dance along- doesn't get much better than this!!  

Picture from this mornings OCD line-up!

Little Man boxing with Daddy the other day...

The other day we had told Zoee not to come out of her room at nap time. When we went in late to get her up, we found her sleeping like this right behind the door. Sweet girl!!

A few weeks ago we went to this awesome kids place called Wonderwild and our little man could not get enough of all the fun things he could climb on. They both had a blast!

The other day it was nice and sunny outside so we let the kids have ice cream cones and run in the sprinkler. Me and my girl had Daddy take a picture of us in our new shades =) Love her!

 Here is a picture of Sonny and I from a few weeks ago that I forgot to post. We still love every chance we get to have a date night =); Marriage is simply amazing!

First 5K After Kids!!

I have an amazing sister in law. She is such a hard worker and she is beautiful and she is such a great wife to my brother. I seriously could not have picked out a better wife for my brother. Period. One really cool thing that we have in common is running. She actually has a running/fitness blog that is very encouraging, motivating, witty, and real- HappyHealthyRunner. While she is definitely more familiar to the racing scene, I try to stay in shape by running consistently at home and at the Y. I have done races in the past (before having kids) but had not braved the racing scene in a few years until yesterday. I knew Rachael would be doing a 5 K run at City Center in Houston AND I knew it was an all women race (huge races intimidate me), so I thought I would join her. Though I was really nervous leading up to the race and even got a little dehydrated later that evening after the race, it was so fun getting to run with Rachael. I felt like we ran very well together. There were times where we both got weak and were pushed by the other to keep going. We ran hard and finished strong and actually came in 2nd place with over 300 ladies running! We were even able to stay together the whole time and cross the finish line together! It was so great. The best part was approaching that finish line with Rachael and hearing all the cheers from the people on the sidelines and seeing our hubbies as we ran through the yellow finish line tape. I am so thankful for Rachael and our wonderful husbands for being so supportive and encouraging. Thanks Rache for letting me join you! Here are a few pictures from the event... 

Pre-race photo with Rachael...

Random candid shot taken by my amazing hubby!

 Here we are crossing the finish line! (The time in the background says we crossed at the 37 minute mark but our group didn't start till about the 15 minute mark so that's why the times don't make much sense.)

Post race picture... nice and sweaty!

 Final race results! 

Game face!!