Howard Pizzaria

I wasn't planning on blogging about our family night tonight, but I wanted to share a funny line from our lesson by Keaton (at least it was funny to me!).  Plus I snapped a couple of cute pictures. We found these cute personal pizza pans at Williams Sonoma and we thought it would be fun to make a family night out of it.  So we covered our table with butcher paper so the kids could color on it, just to make it a little bit more fun!  Then we started by making bread sticks, then on to the pizza.  While we were waiting for the pizza to cook in the oven, I gave the kids a quick little lesson.  I'll just give a very short summary of it:   I was relating our family to a pizza.  (a little nuts, but I'm trying to get thru to 6, 3, and 2 year olds, you just do what you have to do right?!)  I told them that every person in our family is important.  Just like each ingredient in pizza is important.  You wouldn't want a pizza without cheese or sauce or the yummy toppings, would you? Then I said that Dad is like the dough, mom is the sauce, Keaton is the cheese, Jack is the pepperoni, and Olivia is the Olives.  All of them are good seperate, but they are even better all together, just like each person in our family.  I said a few more things, and then ended and Keaton looked at me so serious and said, "Mom, I want to be the dough!"  I don't think he listened to any of my crazy analogy, but we got a good laugh out of it, and Hey, we had a lot of fun and made a HUGE mess!  

Getting ready, notice Olivia drinking the Olive oil....

KJ rolling out the dough, he could be a chef he loves the kitchen!

Olivia spreading out her dough in the pan.

KJ being so particular, just like his dad!

Jack stacked his toppings in different sections, totally Jack!

Her toppings disappeared faster than she could put them on! Caught ya...

"How much longer mom?"

Their masterpieces!  MMMMMM....

What'd I tell you, Domino Effect!

This kid changes everyday.....literally!  Keaton lost his 2nd bottom tooth today.  He was so excited because he can now put the straw in his mouth without opening it!  He thinks he's so cool!  

Proud day for Daddy!

Keaton has had a loose tooth for the past couple of weeks and it was to the point where it was pretty much just flapping when he talked.  We kept telling him we'd just pop it out for him because he was obsessed with playing it, and we kept reminding him that that's what his dad does everyday for a living!  He never took the bait, but after school he wanted apple slices and that's when it happened, it just fell out!  Finally!  Luckily I took a picture of him last night because I knew it was getting so close and I wanted one last picture of his 'full toothed' smile.  It's a domino effect, when one tooth gets loose, they all start to get loose.  I was actually surprised at how sad I was....my baby is growing up and there is nothing I can do to slow down that process.  He was super excited though.  We got out our special 'glow-in-the-dark' tooth fairy box and put it under the pillow so he could cash in!  Way to go KJ!

Sun Valley!

We packed up and went to Boise the day after Christmas to spend some time with my family during our holiday break.  We were able to visit for 8 days, not just our typical quick weekend visit!  As usual, we had so much fun!!  We were able to pack a lot of things into one week; we opened Christmas gifts, the girls got together for some shopping 2x, salon visit, four-wheeler rides with cousin, sleep-over at Tyler's house, cookie decorating, snow forts, celebrated my sister Nicole's birthday, visited my parents ward, ate dinner at my Nana and Pops' with all the extended family, went to see Benjamin Button (great movie!), KJ went on a special date (movie and dinner) with my parents, had a New Year's Eve 'party', Dan was able to eat at his favorite restaurant 'Famous Daves', but the best part of it all was that my parents and Dan and I were able to make a 3 day trip over to Sun Valley for some skiing!! (without the kiddos)  My sisters watched them so that we could get away for a few days, and it was a much needed break for us and the kids!  I don't think they wanted us to come back, they got completely spoiled and had so much fun with them.  I hadn't ever been to Sun Valley before, it is such a fun place to visit.  We will definitely be going back, in fact, we may just make it a yearly tradition!  Great food, fun shops, but even better skiing.  It was a perfect day up on the mountain.  Fresh powder, no wind, and long, wide runs!  We even got to meet Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lodge and again as we were waiting in line for the lift.  He is much smaller in person and I loved his accent!   Now we are home and it's back to life as usual, but we are refreshed and ready for the New Year!  We hope this year is just as great as the last, and look forward to all it has to bring.  We hope all of you have a healthy and happy New Year as well. 

 

Girls Day out for some shopping and Taco Bell!  We all got new sunglasses.  

My beautiful sisters, mom, and daughter!

 Some of the signs we saw at the mountain

 

Dad and Dan trying on some sweet ski masks

 

Soo tired after skiing all day

'Look Mom, no broken bones!'

In front of the Sun Valley lodge. There were all kinds of snow sculptures

Me and Mom riding a snow sleigh!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Music to my ears!

Today was our annual Christmas meeting at church and once again, it was amazing (well, at least what I was able to listen to while I wasn't fighting off Jack and Olivia!)!  It was a meeting FULL of beautiful Christmas music and good stories.  It actually made me think about joining the choir and then reality set in and I realized that they probably wouldn't even want me in the choir! I can't get enough of Christmas music, it's too bad we only get to listen to it for such a short time each year.  There is just something about the Christmas meeting that really puts life into perspective.  I especially love celebrating the real meaning of Christmas as it sometimes gets forgotten in this crazy, busy, time of year.  May we all remember the birth of our Savior. May we all remember our blessings not only during Christmas time, but throughout the year.

"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:35) 

I wanted a family picture taken in the kids' Christmas outfits

and this is the best one we could get!  Not too bad for propping the camera

on the couch and using the timer.  Obviously Jack wasn't too thrilled!

Here's KJ's famous 'cheesy' smile

This is all I could get out of Jack!

Olivia's pretty 'hair-do' didn't last long!  But she's still pretty darn cute!

Happy 2nd Birthday Princess Olivia!

Olivia Michelle Howard 2 days old.

Olivia turned 2 today!

Our little blond haired princess turned 2 years old today!  I can't believe how fast the time flies, I know how often you hear that, but it is so true.  It seems as if I was just getting ready for her arrival into this world, it is hard to believe that she has already reached her 'terrific two's'!

Even though she is small, she has taught us many things in her short 2 years: 

She has taught us that;

• Girls are completely different than boys
  
• Shopping for little girls can be a very dangerous thing
  
• Stubbornness runs in our family, it doesn't matter how cute and innocent you are
• Little girls can melt a daddy's heart
• Girls are born with the ability to be caretakers, especially for their dolls!
• Girls are not always delicate
• Long blond hair gets the attention of all strangers
• Girls can hold their own in a fight with their older brothers
• Life passes by way too quickly, I'd pay all the money in the world, if I could, to keep her this age right now forever.... Although each new age is just as much fun as the last!
• Girls are not immune to breaks and falls or bumps and bruises
• Nothing is sweeter than watching her sleep with her 'gigi' (blanket) and her baby doll
• It's way more fun playing dress-up with her than the boys
• When she pouts her bottom lip, it can literally break your heart
• When a girl has 2 older brothers, she'll always be protected whether she wants it or not
• 'Drama queen' moments happen very early on in a girls life
• Girls are born to love the color pink.  She'd pick a pink crayon over a blue crayon any day 
• The love for shoes and purses starts very young
• When the princess of the house is not happy, no one is happy!
• Girls are born with curves
• The 'terrible two's' starts way before two...or maybe it's just the female attitude?
• It's so hard to say no to her when she bats her big blue eyes
• "I wuv you" can pretty much get her anything she wants
• I wish I could change the 'dating' age to at least 25
• I want her innocence to last as long as possible
• Rolls on a little girl in a swimsuit are so kissably cute, (wish it were the same as an adult!)
• Girls love to help out in the kitchen
• Girls light up when their daddy walks into the room
• Little girls need their daddy's
• Pig-tails only look cute on little girls
• Painting my daughter's toenails and doing her hair brings me lots of joy
  
• She makes our home a happier place

Sweet little Olivia, I hope that one day when you have children of your own, you will finally understand the overwhelming amount of love that we feel for you.  It is immeasurable but somehow it continues to grow and we love you more and more everyday.  All of our lives are better for having you in it.  Happy Birthday!

We had her party at Kiddoz on Saturday!

Merry-go-round with some of her friends

We had 24 kids including ours there, all to celebrate Olivia's Birthday!

By the end of the night, she was so tired.  These are some of the gifts from her friends.

Her real birthday morning!  We had breakfast in bed,  got to stay home instead of taking the boys to their schools because it was a snow day, YAY!  We played games, made popcorn for movies and then went out to pizza for dinner.  It was a great day.

Opening presents from our family!  She got spoiled, but she deserved it!  Love you little girl!

First snow angels of the year!

We finally got our first 'real' snowfall of the year!  It makes me realize how much I love living in a place that has all four seasons, the kids find so much joy in it!  Although, I could do without such long winters, it is so beautiful to look out your window to a blanket of white!  It seems to make everything seem so peaceful and quiet.  Something I don't get enough of these days!  Here are some pictures of our first 'play day' out in the snow.  We didn't take the camera sledding with us, but I did take some pictures of the kids playing in our backyard.  This snowfall makes it feel a little bit more like the Christmas season. 

 

Snow Angels!

"Mom, I love this"

"Mom, help, I can't see!"

"Mom, I want the doll to play in the snow with me!"

Thanks Tomlinson Family!

Well, we had our White Elephant Christmas party tonight and once again, it was a success!  I always laugh so hard, where do people come up with their crazy ideas!?  My cheeks actually hurt by the end.  We came home with boxes of Tag body spray, relish from Amish Country, Fish Oil Vitamins and an Osborne doll. ??  We drew the 'clean' gifts!  Somehow some of the gifts from last year appeared again, it was just as funny this year as last.  Thanks to the Snows for having the party again this year.  Thanks for all the laughs! Oh, and we got home and the kids were happy as clams with the babysitter watching a movie with popcorn!  A fun night out with Dan!  I didn't take my camera with me so there are no pictures, I'll be sure to bring it next year!