Christmas 2010

We had a great time up in Duluth for Christmas this year! It was wonderful to see all of the family and get to hang out with the newest Howard, Michael Barnabas. My dad made two amazing pasta dishes for dinner this year. However, Christmas ended with all of us getting a terrible chest cold. So today we all are cuddled up on the couch watching movies and passing the bag of cough drops. Tis the season! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Zeke's favorite every time, the penguins.
Warming by the fire.
Mikey's first Bentlyville trip.
The Howard's.

Mikey chewing on his stocking gift. It was love

Christmas Day with the Howard's.

Aren't they cute?!
The festive tree!

My sister Maria.
Helping Grace load songs on to her new MP3 player that she got from Nonna.
Zeke and his new footie pajamas
Grace's new MP3 she was so excited, it was her #1 gift request this Christmas.
Asa and his new spynet watch, his #1 ask this Christmas.

The amazing snowfall of December 11th, 2010. Fourteen inches!!! Yup, that is our minivan caught in the snowdrift.
The amazing Thanksgiving that my parents and parent in-laws put together for us. It tasted as wonderful as it looked!
Cici's photos...
The amazing photographer.
Aren't they cute?

My cousin Jessica's little guy meeting his 2nd cousins. It was love!
First snowman of the year!
Halloween!
Love the look on Asa's face in this one!

Asa's First Soccer Game

Action shot!
The happy soccer boy.
Asa's first throw in.
He is on his way to steal that ball!

First Day of School!!

Zeke and his uniform. Who was the one who thought to give the kindergarteners white polos?
I love this magnet. I laugh out loud every time I see it. The apple was supposed to be colored during activity time. But Zeke slept all the way through art! Zeke was too committed to rest time and didn't wake up till music class.

Renaissance Festival

As a celebration of the end of the first week of school we went with a few friends from Duluth to the Renaissance Festival. The kid loved all the costumes. Grace is making plans to go next year as a fairy. She has even made sketches of her outfit!

The kids run into the King and he even gave them gold coins!
Zeke and his bandit mask.
Zeke attacks a corn on the cob.

Asa and Zeke were glued to the jousting tournament.

It's in the DNA!

Following in Uncle Jed and Grandpa's (Santodonato) shoes! Asa is the proud new team member of D.C. Soccer! D.C. is the initials of the Duluth & Case Community Center. His coach said that Asa is his strongest player. No, he has never officially played before so it must be in his blood!

First Day of School!

First bus ride!!!
Ready to go!!
Zeke joining his brother and sister for breakfast. After I took this picture Zeke started laughing really hard and said "I was pointing to my underwear!!!" His first day of school is September 9th.
So Handsome!
Beautiful girl!!

No idea how Blogger loaded them backwards but here are the photos from the first day back to school!

Last Bits of Summer

Yesterday we decided to go to the park. We have 2 close to us and the kids could not agree which one to go to. So we went to both and stopped at Dairy Queen in between! It has been a cool 75 degrees and breezy the past few days. Much better going to the park weather than the 98 degree and 65% humidity days we have been having!

This is Grace's favorite park activity!
Brotherly love.

Margaret park. Park two of our whistle stop tour!
Cristin showing off her muscles before she gives the kids another push on the tire swing!
The trucks and man in white are from St. Paul Parks and Recs. they are cleaning up all of the summer's grafitti.

Summer Time...

Zeke turns 5!
July 4th sky in Duluth before the fireworks.
The boys being cute at Enger Tower in Duluth.

Newest Howard- Michael Barnabas!
Zeke, Jun Ha and Abdulla testing the waters of Lake Superior.

Our summer has gone much more quickly than we expected. I did a quick count of the past three months and they have been full of wonderfully happy, perfectly lazy days and the celebration of the lives of two amazing women.

So far this summer we have hosted three international students from Abu Dabi, South Korea and China. We have loved to be apart of Abdulla's, Jun Ha's and Shaui's journey to America and help them grow in their English language skills. The kids and I spent many, many days at my friend Cristin's house with Cristin and I relaxing poolside while the kids jumped in, splashed and swam. Zeke has seen the inside of St. Paul Children's Hospital more often than we would have liked with the stomach flu and Mono. Asa became more independent and spent five nights at camp SuperKids, an asthma camp put on by the American Lung Association and had the time of his life, thus far. Grace perfected her underwater summersaults in Cristin's pool and I enjoyed a summer with no classes!

This summer marked a point of change for my family and me. Both of my Grandmothers passed away in just over two months of each other. Although their passing wasn't unexpected there is still a sadness that accompanies the loss of those women in my life. It is a strange sensation to live in a world that they no longer occupy.

With the sadness that came with the loss of life this summer also came the joy of new life! My brother-in-law Jed and his wife Molly welcomed Michael Barnabas into the world! An adorable little guy with a great middle name!

This summers more dramatic events, Zeke's hospitalization and my Grandmother's passing caused us to have to postpone out trip to New York this summer and move it to next summer. So watch out NY the Santodonato-Howard's will see you next summer!

This fall I am looking forward to Nursing Clinicals, getting my own stethoscope and finally the ever coveted royal blue scrubs! Grace is going into fourth grade, Asa will be in second and the biggest change will be Zeke going to kindergarten! For the past two years Zeke has been my "going to school buddy" he would talk, sing and eat his breakfast while I drove us to Bethel. Alas, I will be going to school all by myself this year, sigh. Barnabas is training for another go at the Urbanathelon in October. This fall will be busy but wonderful. Goodbye lazy summer days, till next time!