Quintessential Zeke

Panetone Love!
That's what happens when you leave Zeke with a roll of floss! (Again it won't rotate, how annoying!)

Making Wrapping Paper!

Zeke is ready to move on to red!
For some reason I can't get this one to rotate. I love the look on his face!
Yep thats the plate with the paint on it! Luckily I didn't put too much on it!
Focused Zeke.


I never seem to have the patience to make Christmas cookies with my kids. So this year I decided to save all of us the stress and mess and make wrapping paper! For me wiping up a little paint is much easier than all the dishes and flour dust that making cookies creates. So here are a few photos of the boys having a great time being creative!

Thanksgiving

Barnabas and the kids watching Ratatoullie while we get the table set.
My best good friend Paula and my awesome mother in law in the trenches.
The lighting on this turned out so poor, but this is the table! Some how my box of Thanksgiving decorations has disappeared. But luckily enough my mother in law brought a table cloth!! Talk about being prepared!
These great flowers that I got from my sister and brother in law (Molly and Jed) while in the hospital this past week. I used them as a center piece last night but you couldn't tell how beautiful they are in that photo, so I took one this morning in the sun light. Aren't they amazing?

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We had a great time here at the Howard home. My in laws and my best friend celebrated Thanksgiving with us. My family stayed up in Duluth this year. My mom has taken a job at Yonkers (which she absolutely adores!!!) and was assigned to work "Black Friday" so she hosted a smaller than usual Thanksgiving dinner at her place (a chunk of the O'Leary clan went out west for the holiday).

This year we bought ourselves a free range, slaughtered the morning before Thanksgiving, fresh turkey that we (meaning Barnabas) cooked on the grill. It was so tasty! We had a couple funny snafus. The turkey was a little less than fully cooked when we brought it to the table and after we decided to cook it a bit more in the oven and get started on some sides we opened up the stuffing to find that it had gotten put in the oven with out any liquid! Crouton's with sausage and apple anyone? But in about 5 minutes we were able to fix up the stuffing and we were enjoying a great Thanksgiving feast. We finished off the meal with Barb's amazing pies (pecan and pumpkin!!!).

I am so Thankful for being able to make it home for the holiday and for all the support that we have gotten from our family and friends. We could live this life with out you all. Thank you for being a part of our lives!!!

Zeke being Zeke

Mmmmmmm yogurt.
What you don't see in this picture is that Zeke was wearing my headband, necklace and carrying a light saber and a squirt gun. Not to mention fighting the bad guys. Our camera is a bit slow so he had a chance to drop his weapons and pose.

Annetta is sick

Hello all. This is Barnabas posting on Annetta's blog. She is in the hospital again. More details at my blog. It is at the right listed under "my husband's blog."

Change Your World!

Hey Y'all! You may have already gotten an email from me about this. HGTV is going to do some renovations in a neighborhood and mine is on the list. So if you would be so inclined to vote (you can once a day till the end of December!) we would love it! Just click the link and you will be there! No need to register! Thanks!

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_change_the_world/text/0,,HGTV_30676_65470,00.html

Tigger!

This is a little blurry but cute! I have more photos of the the kids for Halloween that I will post as soon as I can snag the photos from my parents camera!

Now This is Multitasking!

The Sculpture Garden

Whats more fun than being 2 and finding a stick?
Zeke chasing and treeing squirrels.
A little out of order here but this is Zeke on the way there. Barnabas was wearing a hat and Zeke started screaming "Hat!!!! Hat! Haaaaat!" So he took it off and gave it to him. Zeke put it on himself then started to fall asleep.
Grace posing at the spoon bridge.
Not sure whats up with the arms in the air but it works.
Zeke on the hunt for an adventure.

We had a "family day" on Saturday. We went to the sculpture garden in Minneapolis and had a picnic and enjoyed all the great interactive art. Here are a couple photos from our adventure!

Happy 5th Birthday Asa!

Ahh, the cake. I made an eggless cake the night before, it was a total flop! So this cake is actually Rice Krispy Bars that I put into a spring form pan and frosted. Can you say sugar bomb?!

Under the sea decorations.

Zeke enjoying the rice crispy cake.
Our house mates made this cape for Asa. On the back is a big red "A". He hasn't taken it off yet and actually slept with it last night. He also got some sun glasses, gloves, cleats and a headband to complete the look.
His Rescue Hero stash. We got a huge lot of Rescue Heroes off of Craigs List for his birthday. We gave him part and are keeping the rest for Christmas. He came across the bag this morning and asked who they were for. I told my first "Parent Lie". "Ummmmm, well there is a little boy who is going to get them for his birthday and his parents wanted to hide them here so he didn't see them." Does make me a bad Mom?

Mr. October

Asa is going to be a fire fighter for Halloween. I was pulled away mid-dressing for Zeke (I think there was some breakfast crisis of some sort) and when I came back Zeke decided it was time to put out a fire. I couldn't help but think of the NYFD fund raising calendar that gets put out every year!

As you have probably already deduced by the little image we are sick here at the "Compound" (that's what Barn has loving termed our house with it's new living arrangement!). It all started last week when the men of the house (Barnabas & Chris) came down with gastrointestinal woes. The Asa got it, then little Coal got it and topped it off with puking. And the past few days I have been taking my turn. I am having a harder time getting over it it seems. With the whole Crohns's disease thing it makes it more difficult for me to rebound. So what was a 24 hour bug for the rest of the gang ,for me I am currently at 48 hours and still sick. Last night Barn had to take me to urgent care. Not for my stomach but for my knees. They hurt so bad I was in tears. The Dr. said it was peripheral Arthritis. Because I couldn't keep anything in my system I got 2 injections one of steroids and one of a anti-inflammatory. It was magic. In a half hour the burning ache had been reduced to just a minor annoyance. Having gone through this small bit of pain I can only imagine how my father-in-law made it through all those years with his hips in such a bad way! So hopefully I am the last of the crew to be sick and we will have a healthy fall!

The Firt Hair Cut!

Look how long it is! And only in spots, in other places you cant even pinch a bit of hair.
Holding so still.....
only because of the movie!

Not a real fan of the spray bottle.
All the little curls...
The profile.
Handsome baby man.

Tears on the First Day.......

I pulled up in the school parking lot anxious to get Grace. While waiting my turn and I spy Grace through a small crowd of teachers-she is crying. One of the teachers seeks away to tell me (in English- the teachers cannot speak English with students present) "She didn't think you were going to pick her up!" she whispered. Turns out they were trying to figure out what carpool she was in (she isn't currently) so Grace thought she had to have a stranger drive her home. Poor girl! Earlier in the day they put all the scissors in a box, then the teacher redistributed them (it keeps kids who aren't able to afford the fancy stuff from feeling on the outside.) It appears that I didn't quite explain this well enough to Grace. So when another girl ended up with her pink handled scissors her heart was broken. I just looked in her "Home" folder and saw her first worksheet. A big red star on the lower left side. Grace knows how to read Chinese number characters 1-5. So now she lays on the couch with her brother who on the way to picking her up said "It's just not more funner to not have Grace around." I asked Grace what she thought of school she said, "It's not as much fun as I thought it would be. It's kinda hard." I told her that going ot school is hard work and that she would get used to it soon. She said, "Yeah, I think so."

First Day of School!!!

Well my first born is all grown up! I swear yesterday she was butt scooting across the linoleum in our apartment on 3rd street! Here are just a portion of the 30 (yes 30. and that was using restraint this morning!) pictures I took of Grace and her first day of school. She took this day in stride and was very excited to get on her way. She jumped out of the van with out a second thought and walked away. The teacher had to remind her to say goodbye! I will post again when Grace gets home from school with a full update of how her first day of school went!

Grace wanted to pretend she was running in this shot.
Hello Kitty? Grace? Who knows?
Grace showing her school backpack. Her and I decorated it this past week.

The happy schoolgirl!
All of Grace's school supplies.
Feeling a little goofy. She was so excited about today. I thought she might be more nervous but as always she surprises me!
Asa getting in on the goofy fun.Grace getting a happy first day of school talk from Nonna.

As you can tell by his face Asa ia a "Little nervous" about Grace going to school.
He comes in for a hug from to me reassure him that we will have a great day.
Yinghua here we come!!
Arrival and excitement! And in her usual style she is off with out saying goodbye just a hand wave while she was walking away. ;)