New Hair Do!

For Christmas Shelby got a new do! I took her to Karla's and she performed her magic and made her even cuter than she was! I cant believe i have TWO babies that are teenagers! I think this is my favorite hair do of all time and i think she is the most beautiful young lady in all the world!

Nathans Birthday

We had a surprise Birthday party for Nathan on Tuesday. It was alot of fun. He got a new Bible and a Lego type action figure (neo shifter). The look on his face as he opened his presents was priceless! He had begged for the Bible all year and when the Book Man came to our church he really poured on the begging but we told him that we just couldn't afford it right then and to wait. He didn't like that answer and huffed off to sulk in the van..lol Meanwhile I bought it and had Amy Burkholder take it home and hide it for me:) The Lego thingy i got when we were shopping at wal-mart. I found it and asked if he thought Justin would like it. He expressed that YES his brother would like it but so would he. He stressed that he really liked the green one and I told him i would get the green one for Justin because it was his fav. color and in the buggy it went! He looked like he had just lost his best friend for the rest of the shopping trip! So anyway, when he opened his presents the first thing he did was apologize!!! It was a great time! But i cant believe he is now 14!!!

Sandpoint & The Samples:)

This weekend we took a trip to Sandpoint to visit with the Samples family. Saturday night was the Christmas Ladies Meeting with guest speaker Amy Burkholder ( My A ) She spoke about our Sweet Savior! Each point in the devotion referenced a candy bar. Each time I see a Rocky Road candy bar it will remind me of the rocky road that Mary and Joseph had to travel to get to Bethlehem. The checkout line at any grocery store with candy will from now on remind me of this devotion. While all the ladies were fellowshiping at the house, the men folk went on a manly trip to a hunting store which was closed so they did the manly shopping at Wal-mart..lol. Then had a manly dinner at Burger King. After they returned Angie took our family pictures. That was a ton of fun in itself. (trying to make two toddlers and a newborn pose for pictures.... funnnnnnnnnn!!) Of course when I'm there I dont have the accent!!!! The baby boys really took to Asa! Jason warmed right up to Angie too. He had her kiss a boo boo twice!!! The bigger kids enjoyed playing video games and sledding in all that snow!! It was a fun weekend and we enjoyed our time with this wonderful family!

A month late but its better late than never right?

For Amy's birthday we all went out to eat at Azteca. It was a fun time! Yes we were the loudest bunch there and we also seemed to be having the most fun.

After we had stuffed ourselves with huge amounts of yummy mexican food, we headed off to Build A Bear. Amy built a bear for Baby Burkholder and we all put a heart in so he or she will know just how much The Group Aunties love him or her. After that we walked the mall a bit doing some shopping. I should say that Amy, Jackie, and Cindy walked! I was pushed around in a wheelchair! (I was still pregnant and on bedrest ) It was a great night filled with fun and laughter! Here is a pic of her wearing the traditional Mexican Birthday Sombrero and one of Jackie at build a bear!

Justins Birthday!!!

Tuesday was Justin's birthday! Can you all believe he is 11 already? He is growing up so fast. He gets more Amazing, and Handsome every year!! So for his 11th bday we had a spiderman theme and he got a pair of Heelys and a bionicle! He was super excited about the shoes and tried for a long time to try to skate around the house. I guess this is actually harder than all the little kids zoomin' past you in Wal-Mart make it seem. Im sure having a broken little toe wasnt helping anything:) But i bet he has it down in no time!

Surgery Day for Shelby

Today was surgery day for Shelby. She had her tonsils and adnoids taken out. She did good through the surgery and the nurse said that the first thing she did when she woke up was take a deep breath and say "I can Breath" She is having trouble taking her meds so be in prayer for her to heal quickly. For now I am going to pamper and spoil her like she did for me when i was on bedrest.

Sarah Ellen Howes

Our new baby girl was born Saturday Nov. 10th at 8:36pm. She weighed 7lbs 5oz and was 20 in. long. She is perfect and wonderful! Here is her photo from the hospital. Thank you all for your prayers!

God has a plan -- His way is perfect

No matter what is going on in your life you have to remember, God is in control... He has a plan, and His way is perfect. You don't have to like it or understand it. Just accept that He is in control and know that whatever your going through He knows about it.... If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it!
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Lots of Good food and I didnt make any of it....

So bed rest does have its benefits! Sunday Amy Kobernat came over and brought 2 big pans of enchiladas.They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!! The food was amazing but i loved the fellowship just as much! When she got here i honestly felt like poop but it wasn't long before she had me laughing and i was feeling much better. She is a wonderful friend and blessing!! But wait the blessings don't stop there.. Monday night Mrs Tucker and Mary brought some kinda potato,corn,cheese,ham casserole. It was very very YUMMY! Mary made the best cookies. They were so soft and chewy.. they were all gone before i could have the whole batch. I believe that the kids learned that if they didn't hurry they wouldn't get any...lol Last night Sarah Morley brought a (better than i have ever made) tater tott casserole. Then Amy B and Jake came by with flowers and chocolate!! Me and Amy hung out in my little section of the couch and talked longer than we probably should seeing how our men have to get up at 3am to go to work, but it sure was nice and it gave me an excuse to continue eating the chocolate she just brought. I wanted to be sure that she knew i appreciated the gift of yummy goodness!! I have the best friends/church family EVER! I cant wait to see what the rest of the week has in store. I know that Jackie is bringing something Thursday (has Jackie ever made anything that wasn't delicious?) Amy is bringing Chili on Friday and Bobby and Lisa are coming over Sunday between service for PIZZA (MY PREGNANT FAV) This is helping my bed rest time to just fly by. I am so so soooo blessed and spoiled. I could go on and on but i will end the blog here for now. Stay tuned for more tales and blessings from the sunken hole in the couch at the Howes House.

Bed Rest... Arggggggggggg

So let me just tell you all right now how i DO NOT like being on bed rest. It is very hard for me to sit around and do nothing. Most of you know that i am a little obsessive about cleaning my house so to not be able to get up and "clean" is killing me. But don't worry I am being good and staying on the couch or in the bed. Jackie asks Shelby everyday for a report on what i have done..lol, Cyndi calls to check on me and she made me a AMAZING dinner last night. It was better than Olive Garden! Amy sends texts messages to keep me encouraged and my sister in law has been doing my laundry, getting things from the store for me and a bunch of other sweet things! Everyone is being such a blessing. My friend Karla even went running around town trying to find a pharmacy that could fill my prescription! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful group of friends and family! God is so good to me! Please keep praying that everything continues to go ok and that i dont go crazy on bed rest!

Cyndi's Birthday

So I know that this is wayyyyyyyyyyyy past Cyndi's Birthday but I just had to blog it anyway.
We went downtown to the Italian Kitchen (very very fancy) When we got there we told the waitress that she should probably put us somewhere away from all the other customers cus we tend to be a little loud. LOL But she didnt. (thankfully they were not that busy anyway) To start off the dinner we all had a round of lemon water and Pepsi. Of course that gets us all crazy and so we go straight into opening the gifts. We wanted to do something special for Cyndi so we all chipped in and got her a spa day! She is such a great friend and is doing an amazing job of keeping her house running, faithfully serving the Lord and continually having a good attitude and smile on her face all the while she is missing her best friend / other half who is serving our country in Iraq. What a wonderful blessing she is to us all.:) So enough mushy stuff.. on to the funny... After the food and about the 3rd round of Pepsi we were laughing and cutting up so much that in the far corner opposite of us, a man started to stare and wonder what in the world must be in our sodas.. (this line is for you Amy) I wanted to shout over to him .. NOTHING its all the Lord.. We are just happy in Jesus!!! Happy Birthday Cyndi!

Jacob

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Jason Being All Boy

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Photographer Shelby

Shelby is the little photographer of the family!! She goes around snapping pictures of everything. I think she is amazing and does such a great job. Her favorite thing to photograph is flowers. Here are a few samples of what I like to call her "art work":) Enjoy!!

Nathan's 1st Day at FBC 8/28/07

For the first time in his life (and maybe the last lol) Nathan LEAPED out of bed this morning! I didn't even have to enter his room. He heard me in the hall and before I got close to his door I heard him say.. "I have to start my day" then leaping out of his bed he hit the floor and all I saw was a flash of boy racing to the bathroom to take a shower! He was very excited to be going to school! He put on his uniform and went down stairs to wake Shelby up to ask her how he looked!!! She being the good sister she is mumbled under her breath and told him to go away!! OF course I had to take pictures of this momentous occasion (which he did not like, but who cares I'm the mom and had to do it) After he ate and did his chores, we left a little early so I could stop and get him a 1st day of school surprise coffee! THAT made him smile all the way to school. Now when we got to school and he was walking in he totally played it cool. He acted as if it was no big deal and he had to be trying hard to keep the smile off his face that had been there all morning (teenagers!!!!) So here is a picture of my handsome 13yr old Nathan on his first day of 8th grade at Faith Baptist Academe

Family day at Manito Park

Saturday we went to Manito Park. It was

beautiful and the kids had lots of fun. Shelby was the photographer for the day and she took lots of great pictures. We also went to Riverfront Mall and then to Burger King. It was a wonderful day! ( I

should say it was an almost all family day... Nathan wasnt with us. He got to spend the night with his good

friend John they camped out over the weekend and he said that it was the BEST

sleepover of all time!! )

Jaocb Starts K3

We actually started last week but I havent been on the computer to add any new blogs. This was his first days work. He learned the letter A and the #1. He can tell you that the letter A says a as in Apple A says a.. a.. a :)

Family Fun Night & Fireworks

Saturday was a "Clue" marathon! We played on and off all day. So of course right before bed the kidos wanted to play one more time ( i had beat their pants off all day!!) So we get into the game and started to hear what I thought were shots but it was just fireworks. Close to our house was a parade and they ended it with fireworks. We went outside and it looked as though they were right above our garage!! It was AWESOME! The kids love it! It was a perfect night! Except I didnt win the last game. Larry did! (He has a good game face..scary actually) Here are a few pics of the Fun that we had!!

Mother Daughter Day

Teenage girls can shop!! We were going from 10am this morning till almost 4 this afternoon! Of course the boys and Shelby had energy to spare! I was doing ok as long as the bathrooms were not too far apart! We started the day at Target and Shelby found the cutest pair of shoes on clearance (& she used her own money). Then we were off to Old Navy and the Valley Mall! We ate some Chinese and the boys had Wendy's then we were off to Bath and Body Works! We put on lots of smelly good stuff. We thought that we smelled nice but Jacob very loudly and clearly (so that everyone could hear) let us know that we were STINKY!! It was very funny! We ended the day at the photo center thing and had our pictures taken so we could forever remember this wonderful day!

The Big 30 for Jackie!!

Today we (A, B, and C) took Jackie out for a Bday celebration! We all went downtown for a fun filled time of food and friends. And that is just what we had. It was non-stop laughs as usual as we ate and watched Jackie open her musical presents!!!!! We proved to the people around us that nothing beats being high on the Lord!!! Happy Birthday Jackie!! Your friendship makes us all RICH!!!

Cute Kids

Kids are a blessing from the Lord. Just look at these cute kids and tell me they are anything but wonderful!!! Jacob and Jason are always good for a laugh. Nathan tells the most unfunny jokes that end up being funny. He truely is just a clown. Shelby is the actor.. always poseing or making faces (here is her Nanny McPhee pose). Justin .. well hes funny when hes not even trying to be but its hard to catcch it on camera so here he is being his normal handsome self!