Zeke dancing. He gets his moves from his Dad!

This was the way he looked for a good portion of the pagent. Checking out the audience with his fingers in his mouth.
The baby Jesus.

You can barley see him back there but he is doing the "twinkle, twinkle, special star" moves.
Little sleepy.
He wasn't a real fan of the little girl sitting next to him. He kept sliding her over.
Zeke realized that there were power points going on behind him.
Yep, still looking at the audience.

Girl's/Boy's Night Out

We had a great time out last night. We met some friends of ours that we met when we lived in Duluth (Scott and Rachel Stene (and children) who now live in Sparta WI) at the Mall of America. After dinner we split gals and guys. The guys went to see Monster Trucks and the gals went to the American Girl Doll Store that just opened at the MOA.

Grace and I had a wonderful time. She ooooed and ahhhed over all the dolls (especially Kit). The we went to the Bistro and had a dessert. There were special doll chairs that hooked up to the table and if you didn't have your own doll they had a bunch for the girls to choose from to have as a dinner guest. The doll was given her own menu and dessert too! Everything was perfectly girly but not over the top. Rachel's mom suprised Isabelle and Grace with a "pick any book you would like" gift. No suprise Grace picked "Meet Kit" she also got a free activity book too. So when we got home she stayed up till 10 reading and doing the activities in her book. The guys on the other hand didn't get home till 12:30!

Asa and Zeke had a great tine watching all the big trucks. I crawled into bed with Zeke this morning and he said "Mom, the trucks vroom, (crashing noise) vrooooom (crashing noise). " They also rode the light rail from the mall to the event at the Metrodome. When asked they were torn to decide which was more fun, the trucks or the train.

I do have pictures forthcoming. For some reason I forgot our camera, but Rachel's mom said she will send me he photos she took. I will post them when they arrive!

It's all in the genes...

The really scary part is that she had never seen this photo of her Dad...

The Naked Puppy!?

So the kids were playing dress up.Grace was a Bride Asa was a pirate and Zeke was wearing a "Goofy" hat and on all 4's barking. Zeke was in his PJ's and the Goofy hat. Then within the time it took me to say "Hey Barb, have you seen the puppy in the living room?" She took 2 steps and then said "Oh my! You mean the naked puppy?!" So within the 3.5 seconds Zeke had managed to get naked laugh and streak through the house! He will love these pictures when he gets older...

Thanksgiving, a new tradition...

Happy Thanksgiving! We went up to Duluth for the holiday and we had our first Santodonato/Howard holiday. Barb made a feast for 15! It was so much fun to have both families together. Although we sure did miss Uncle Jed and Auntie Molly. We had a great time talking over skype, it was almost like they were with us. We love you Uncle Jed and Auntie Molly. Looking forward to the days when you (both!) are stateside!

Zeke and Jaja having fun
The Santodonato-Howard clan
Great Grandma and her great grandchildren

The Santodonato-Howard boys having a good time.
One half of the table.
The other half (somehow I mangaged to get into both).
Zeke and Great Grandma were having a good time during the family pictures.
I adore this photo!

Rock Stars and Dancing...

Asa has always thought that the drummers were the coolest.
Zeke was right on rhythm. (hat one)
Such a beautiful dancer...
Zeke was jamming (hat 2).
We were working on packing to head up to Duluth. The kids had some energy to burn so Barn put on U2 loud enough to rock the panes of glass in the windows. This was the result. We joined in too but bummer there were no pictures of that! :)

Brett has such great style...

Hey Brett and Jess. Came across this photo while cleaning up our iphoto stuffs. We miss you guys!

Again with the genetics........

We found Asa's Thanksgiving outfit from a few years back. (Yes Asa is the one on the top)

Here you go Mom!

Asa and his new glasses! These look pretty similar to his old ones except these are metal and have spider man webs on the side. He feels pretty sassy in 'em.

Cute pictures

Asa now knows how to tie shoes!
totally zonked.

Halloween

Mermaid B hung out with us at MOA.
Zeke being Zeke. You can't quite tell but Zeke is wearing his curious George slippers. He felt all pilots wore slippers. Is that right uncle Jed?
On our way!

We went to the Mall of America for a Halloween bash. We had lots of fun and the kids got lots of treats both candy and non candy.

Which One is Which?

So my Mom says she sees no resemblance between Asa and Zeke. What do you think?

Can You See It Now?

There is something different........can't quite put my finger on it.........

The Force is Strong with This One.........

Asa has turned six! We celebrated his birthday this past Saturday and had a great time. Our house was packed with kids and family. It was Asa's first school friend party, needless to say he was literally bouncing with joy. It was all chaos to be honest but it seemed like all of the kids had a great time. Barn had a blast and took 128 pictures! Here are just a few...

Grace and the girl Jedi.
Present time.
Just a little excited!

My good friend and cake making wizard friend Jen was out of town this weekend. So Barb made Asa safe cupcakes for the whole crowd. Thanks Barb!
The party crew!
Death to the Death Star pinata!
Ben to the rescue!

My Fly Boys!

Yeah, he knows it looks good on him.
Uncle Jed, Asa is gunning for your job! Watch out world!
Thank you so much Uncle Jed and Auntie Molly! The boys adore their birthday gifts. The wore them all night and if Yinghua allowed it I am sure Asa would wear it all day tomorrow!

Two down...

Asa lost 2 teeth today! If you look close you can see that the other set has already com in behind the set he lost. He is very happy to have lost his teeth just before his 6th birthday!