The Zman Tuns Two!!!

We celebrated the big 2 with friends and family this past weekend. Here are way too many pictures of the event. Enjoy!

Happy 2nd Birthday Zeke!
No the food isn't tart, just great timing on a blink.
Chris and Cole 2 of our 3 new house mates!
The cousins playing the Wii.

The boys. Do you love those curls or what?
My friend Jen made these great cupcakes for Zeke's party. Amazing eh?
Handsome baby man on his second cupcake.
Happy to be 2!
He had something on his fingers and rubbed his face. This is the look that followed. It makes me laugh every time I look at it.

Zeke really liked the frosting.
Present time, present time, open it up and see whats inside!
Nanny (my mother-in-law) made this great cuddly blanket.
Zeke enjoying his new toys. Thanks Julia!
I am told he loves blocks just like his Dad.

Lost in Summer

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. Summer has been more than busy and to top it off our computer died and need a new hard drive. That was fun. ;)

Grace has just finished 6 weeks of Chinese Summer Camp. She had a wonderful time. It was a good prep for her in learning what going to school looks like and class room expectations. She loved the teachers and learned quite a bit of Chinese. September 4th is the big day! I will make sure to post pictures of her in her uniform and such!

Asa liked having me to himself for half days over the past 6 weeks. He worked on as he called it "being the big brother for Zeke". Which meant helping him with toys and such. Its going to be an adjustment for him with Grace gone for school in the fall. He looks forward to the day that he gets to go to Yinghua Academy also! Every day we dropped off Grace Asa would say "This looks like a pretty cool school. I sure can't wait till I am old enough to go."

Zeke. He sure is something. Still not quite talking all that much. He has quite the complicated babbling system though. He has been in a spell of biting and pinching his siblings to get his way. He is lucky he is cute is all I have to say!

Barnabas has gotten a new assignment at work! He is done with Boston Scientific and is currently at the Digineer office working on a program for United Health Group. The commute isn't much shorter but it seems to be a better job. I believe that this assignment is only 3 months long and after that there will be another job he heads to. Closer to home I hope!

I am continuing my break from VLI and have been tutoring Somali refugees in English on Mondays. I am having a great time getting to know the 3 ladies I tutor.

Chewie update: Turns out Asa is a bit allergic to dogs. After a heart wrenching decision we decided to give him back to the shelter. Asa was heart broken and cried for hours. We will try again in a few years to see if he grows out of his allergy. It was so sad because he was the best dog! Who ever gets him will be one lucky family!

Well there you have it a little update from the Howard clan. I will post some photos in a bit!

Puppy Love

Chewie.....dog or horse?
Sniffs of love!

Introducing Chewie, the newest member of the Howard household! We figured adding 4 house mates by September 1st wasn't crazy enough! We got Chewie from the Golden Valley Animal shelter on Monday. We had all of the current and future members of of the Howard house come and check him out. He passed with flying colors! He is 3 years old, hose broken and a champ with the kids (as you can tell by the photos). He is a Treeing Walking Coonhound and he "purrs" when you pet him. He's a sweet guy and a great addition! The kids adore him and are constantly feeding him treats. Can't wait to have you meet him!

The Professional RIng Bearer & Flower Girl

Here are some beautiful photos from the wedding the kids were in this past weekend. Thank you to our friend Jody Gavin. Make sure to use the "slide show" option. Enjoy!

Quoteable Grace

"I have a little basket I keep in my brain. It's full right now from Seussical. So I didn't have any place to put what I learned at Chinese Camp." In response to our question of what she learned at camp.

Going to Seussical!

I have a friend from church who works as a stage manager at the Guthrie. She will occasionally have access to tickets to other shows. On Friday she got 4 tickets to Suessical. Her and her hubby Jesse took the kids for a night on the town! They treated the kids to dinner at McDonald's (it was hard to tell if the kids were more excited about Mickey D's or the going to a show!) then to The Children's Theater! Jody went to say hi to all her friends and the stage manager invited the kids back stage for a hands on tour!!!! They had such a wonderful time! Check out the photos Jesse and Jody took for us......

Ready to go!
Belted and ready!
Strapped in and on their way!
Mmmmmmm McDonald's!

The picture says it all!
Grace saw the "sun" and begged Jody to get a picture of it for me. Such a sweet kid.
On stage after the show.

The kids getting a tour of the inner workings of the theater.
I have a feeling this won't be the last time she is on stage!
Exploring the set.
Checking out the props.
Grace and all her questions.

In the Protection of My Big Brother

It was really warm the past week. SO last night to cool off and relax we turned on the fans and watched Chicken Run. The movie was getting pretty intense (the people were chasing the chickens) and Zeke cuddled up to Asa. Excuse the fuzziness of the photo. Zeke must have gotten a hold of the camera earlier. By the time I wiped down the lens the moment was over.

Who's Shoes?

Zeke loves to wear all of our shoes around the house. Yesterday he decided Grace's shoes were the most comfortable, and he added Asa's hat to finish it all off. Too cute!

My Niece's Photos

My niece Ciarra took some phots today and sent them to me. I thought I would post my faves. She did a pretty impressive job if i do say so myself!

random pictures

I love it when Grace dresses herself. What you can't se is her blue flowered socks. "I have flowers on my chompo and on my socks. I match!"
My new hair. Its really awkward to try to take a picture of your self. The red doesn't come through in the photo but it looks great!!

More Ballet Pictures

Asa's happy face!
Group photo

Love that Face!

We went to Yinghua Academy's Spring Carnival and the kids had a great time (so did we, really). There were games and great food (the best Chinese noodles I have had thus far!). One of the teachers was doing face painting, this is what the kids dreamed up. Grace met the teachers and really liked it. After we left Asa said "When I get old enough to go to school I want to go there!"

Cousin Love

Just like Asa, Zeke has come to adore his older cousin Giovanni. This picture was taken after a wrestling session on the air mattress.

Just too Cute