Annual Fall Pics

Around Thanksgiving each year, it is time for our annual picture for our Christmas card.   Trying to get a picture of 5 people is a challenge, particularly when you have three little kids three and under.  This year was great though!  I tell everyone that compliments our pictures that alot of the credit goes to our awesome photographer, Kym Jackson.  She is fantastic with my kids, and they absolutely love her!

Could he be any cuter with those dimples?

My precious girl!  So glad we got a pic together!

Sweet Daddy with a precious boy who adores his Daddy!

Halloween -- Pumpkin Patches, a Festival and Trick or Treating

We had tons of fun with Halloween this year!  Brooke and Chase love all things Toy Story so it only made sense to have the Toy Story trio, Jessie, Woody and Buzz Lightyear.  I decided I was going to try and make costumes this year, and surprisingly, they turned out pretty good if I must say so myself.  Brooke's costume was better than anything I could have bought.  Chase's was a great Buzz Lightyear from Party City complete with a set of inflatable wings, which he promptly punctured while falling off the rock and into our rose bushes minutes after the picture below.  Nothing that couldn't be fixed by Daddy with a little duct tape :)  Kyle did actually take a pair of rain boots and make him some "Space Ranger Boots" with a little paint.  Chase loved them.

The kids got to dress-up for school the week before Halloween.  I had bought Brooke a Jessie costume in the store just in case my attempt at making her costume failed miserably.  After I had finished making her costume, I decided I didn't want it making a trip to preschool so she ended up wearing the store bought costume for school.  I am sooo Type A it is scary!  The morning that we were leaving for school it was a bit chilly, but I wanted a picture in front of the house nevertheless.  Brooke was a trooper, but poor little Chase kept telling me . . . I'm cooooold Mommy!  The picture below says it all.  He wore his Buzz Lightyear pajamas to school.

We of course made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch for an afternoon of fun.  These types of outings are fairly nerve racking just because I am always terrified that I will lose somebody, but this time was actually pretty enjoyable.  Jaxon happily rode in the stroller, and Brooke and Chase enjoyed all that the pumpkin patch had to offer . . . animal feeding, hay rides and of course PUMPKINS!

It is almost impossible to get a picture of these three together, but we have a good time trying.  Jaxon was just starting to try and walk so he was good standing with his brother and sister for a little spurts at a time.



The kids enjoyed searching for their pumpkin.  Chase enjoyed searching for his pumpkin and insisted on carrying it back by himself.   Brooke and Chase each searched for their own pumpkin and then "helped" Jaxon find his.

We finished up with a hayride, which my girl was super excited about.  Jax enjoyed it quite a bit, and I was thankful to get a picture with Jaxon :)

We had so much fun at the pumpkin patch that we continued celbrating at Aunt Lauren's Fall Carnival that evening.  Sooo much fun for the kiddos.  She had prepared fun crafts for them to do and then had a weiner and marshmallow roast.  Poppy gave everyone a hayride after eating hotdogs.  It was a little chilly that evening, but my kiddos got smart and insisted on "driving" the tractor.  Driving meant they were enclosed in a heated cab, and that made Momma happy :)

What a crazy crew!

 My three with their two cousins, Avery a/k/a Olivia and Jett a/k/a Little Monster.  Sweet, sweet kids who, I pray, are going to have a lifetime of memories growing up together.

 Buzz and Jessie enjoying a hotdog!

Love this dimpled little boy a/k/a Cowboy Woody!

Finally, we made it to the big night, Halloween!  Brooke had been asking me for over a week every day if that day was Halloween, and she was pretty excited the entire day!  Halloween was on a Sunday this year so we started the morning with church and then home to rest before the night's activities began.   My sisters came over that evening so that the kids could trick or treat together.  We fed everybody pizza in the shape of a jack-o-lantern :) and then started trick or treating on our street.  Brooke and Chase had a blast and insisted on trick or treating not only on our street but on an additional street that intersects the street we live on.  So fun to walk with them and see their joy in visitng neighbors.

 What a pretty Jessie!

 My two insisted on driving for the first part of trick or treating.  The cars ended up being too slow!

While costume making seemed to consume most of my October, it was sooo worth it in the end.  We had a great time!

Jaxon Turns One!!!!

We celebratedJaxon's first birthday with a party at home surrounded by family and friends.  Hard to believe that our Jax is a year old.  Jaxon seemed to enjoy his birthday, and Brooke enjoys anyone's birthday so she had a great time too. I jokingly asked Brooke and Chase driving home from school one afternoon what type of birthday party Jax should have.  Brooke replied that he should have a truck party.  I thought that was a great idea so away I went planning with dump trucks. 



Birthday Invitation

I make it a point to make my kids their own birthday cake for their first birthday.  This year I used the invitation as my template and then went from there.  I then decided to make Jaxon a shirt that would match his cake.   October kind of became a sewing month with Halloween costumes :)

Jaxon loved his cake!  I was actually able to get the black icing out of the shirt :)

Brooke enjoyed the festivities as well!

Everyone enjoyed Jaxon's gifts . . . Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen Powered Toys!



I haven't actually documented Jaxon's birth in writing anywhere so here goes.  Jaxon was actually due on October 20, but because I am a scheduled C-section, he was set to come on October 14.  I wish that I would have had him sooner.  It seemed as if I spent the last two weeks thinking I was in labor.  I even made a trip to labor and delivery on the Wednesday before only to be told that I was not in labor and to go home.  Apparently actually going into labor really hurts because all they told me is that I would know if I was in labor. 

My pregnancy with Jaxon seemed to have more bumps in the road than the others.  I had a bleed at 13 weeks that scared me half to death, but it turned out I had a subchorionic hemorrhage which was resolved by our 20 week sonogram.  At 32 weeks, they discovered that Jaxon had was missing a vessel in his umbilical cord.  That meant we got sonograms at every visit for the rest of the pregnancy to make sure Jax was growing adequately.  That was kind of funny because Jaxon measured large my entire pregnancy, and I kept telling Kyle and Dr. Nivens that he was a big baby.  They both just kind of smiled as if I had no idea what I was talking about :)

We showed up for our drive-thru baby (Kyle's term) on October 14 at 5:00 am for a scheduled 7:00 am C-section.  We got bumped due to an emergency C-section so we did not go in until around 8:15 am.  We were happy to be bumped because with Brooke I am sure we bumped someone else considering she was an emergency C-section.  At 8:48 am, Jaxon Kyle Howard entered the world at 9 pounds and 21 inches long.  My first words (after expressing my joy at hearing his sweet cries) were "I told you guys he was big." 

First Picture with Daddy

Daddy showing off his new boy and letting everyone know what we named him.



Big sister getting her hands on her new brother.  I think she likes him!



This is one of my favorites.  She was sooo excited to have a new brother, and the look on her face says it all.

 

Headed home with our sweet and handsome little boy.  He looks like he is a month old.



Home we went with our new bundle of joy, and I felt great.  Little did we know that we were about to go on a three week roller coaster ride.  At about a week after Jax's birth, my blood pressure skyrocketed getting as high as 195/105.  We spent an entire afternoon in an urgent care getting every test known to man ran to make sure I wasn't throwing a blood clot.  I was diagnosed with post-partum pre-eclampsia and was sent home on strict orders to rest.  They told me I couldn't even empty the dishwasher.  Kyle was the enforcer making sure I kept myself in a chair or on the couch, and he took over duties at home while also trying to work.  I must say he did an outstanding job.  After about 3 weeks, my blood pressure had pretty much returned to normal, and we were up and running again.  I'm not sure how we would have made it without lots of help from family and so many brought us meals which made things so much easier.  Jaxon was just perfect . . . he was a happy camper as long as he was fed and got to sleep.  My kind of newborn!



Brooke giving Jax a bottle while Mom was being checked out at the hospital.  Such a good big sister!

 

Love these boys!



Chase's Big Boy Bed

We moved Chase into his big boy bed today! Kyle went and picked up the matress this morning, and I picked up a few bed linens this afternoon. The conversion of his crib into his full-size bed took place after nap time. As Kyle took down his crib, Chase didn't really have that many objections to my surprise. Brooke was quite worried when we took down her crib, but Chase was almost giddy about it eagerly anticipating his new bed.

 

After the conversion was complete, Kyle and I enjoyed watching the two of them play and giggle as they checked out Chase's new sleeping arrangement. I always find myself emotional and reminiscing when we go through this process. Today flashed me back to those early weeks after Chase was born and I was settling into being the mommy of two children who were 13th months apart. It took Chase almost five months before he would go without a feeding in the middle of the night so there were lots of nights spent in the rocking chair in his room giving a bottle and soothing him back to sleep. Sweet nights when it was just the two of us and sweet moments that I will likely not have with him again, but ones that I will cherish in my heart always.

Tonight I watched as my very active two year old eagerly looked forward to going to sleep in his big boy bed . . . until it was actually time to go to bed. He then told us everything from he wanted Brooke to sleep with him to he wanted Daddy to sleep with him to he wanted to go downstairs. In the end, we kissed him goodnight and told him he would be fine. He cried for a few moments and then all was quiet.

As I left the room with the crib mattress propped outside the door, I thought to myself and out loud to Kyle that I likely would not have multiple cribs again unless we decide to have another baby that arrives before Jax is two. What a season of life I have been in! I thank God each day for each of my children and even for their closeness in age even though some days are incredibly hard with so many little ones. Three years has flown by and I know that these years will seem all too brief as the kids get older. More the reason to cherish all of these moments and to not sweat the small stuff!

Jax is 6 months old!

Our little guy is six months old and a very busy little guy. He has been able to roll over both ways for a little while now and babbles a ton. You can almost carry on a conversation with him. He weighed 18.1 lbs (61%) at his 6 month checkup and was 27 1/2 inches long (83%). He pretty much skipped wearing 9 month clothes. Jax is still the happiest little guy and an awesome sleeper! Brooke and Chase love him so much, and Jax loves them. I can see that he is starting to have a real interest in playing with his brother and sister.

Easter 2010!

I love Easter! The weather has usually warmed up allowing for playing more outside, lunches on the patio and no jackets anymore. With three little kiddos, getting out of the house goes alot faster without having to bundle everyone up! This past week has been especially refreshing. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous, and we have had just a really fun week.

Easter seemed to always be my Mom's favorite holiday. She enjoyed Christmas, but Christmas at our house was always more chaotic it seemed than Easter. I guess when you really think about it Easter should be just as incredible as Christmas. While we celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas and the miracle of that event, Easter and the death and ressurection of Christ is just as amazing. I've tried this week to remind Brooke and Chase of why we celebrate Easter and that it is not all about egg hunting, candy and the easter bunny. I bought a great board book on Brooke's first Easter that does a great job of explaining the true meaning of Easter and to my surprise Chase finally will sit and read a whole book. He is usually too busy making car sounds and finding something to play with!

We've had several egg hunts over the last couple of weeks. Brooke and Chase were a little hesitant at the first egg hunt with our MOPS group and only came home with a few eggs. Brooke had an Easter egg hunt at school that she seemed to enjoy. By the third egg hunt with our playgroup, Brooke most certainly was into the swing of things, and we had to actually give some of her eggs to the other kids so that everything was equal. Chase had a great time too at the playgroup egg hunt, but wasn't quite as prolific as his sister. Chase has gotten down the fact that there is candy in those plastic eggs, and he is quite sneaky about getting into the egss when Mommy isn't looking :) Jaxon has enjoyed the outings, but it seems there is not much that Jax doesn't enjoy. He is the happiest little guy and such a doll. It is hard to believe
he is almost 6 months old. Jax's greatest enjoyment these days is eating :)

Easter Sunday is a bit crazy at our house (just look at our attempt at a picture) as we try to dress all of us to make it to church on time so I decided to do Easter baskets on Saturday afternoon after naps. Our Easter Bunny came during naptime :) The kids were thrilled to find their Easter baskets full of surprises (alot of which was leftover from Christmas crazy enough). Brooke squealed as she discovered two new Disney princess dolls. We now have Snow White and Belle to add to the collection.

 

We finished the Easter week with lunch and an egg hunt at Poppy's. Of course, each holiday is incredible as I watch my three babies grow, but there is always a missing piece without my Mom here, and this Easter was no different. God took an incredible woman from us three years ago, but has blessed us tremendously in the three years since. I am now a mother of three precious children, have a beautiful niece, Avery, who affectionately calls me "WeWe" for now :), and I will have a new precious nephew in just a few weeks. All of these babies are healthy thus far and pretty awesome kiddos! God gives and takes away and for that I am thankful this Easter!

The final egg hunt this Easter was a blast for everyone. We had lots of egg hunters this year and the joy on their little faces as they eagerly searched for egss all around Poppy's yard was priceless. Brooke finally gave up on finding all purple and pink eggs and enjoyed selecting a variety of other colors. Chase, as usual, was pretty indiscriminate as he understands all of the colors have special treats inside :) Brooke's highlight was finding the price bunny egg with money and a whole candy loot inside. She had a little help though. It helps to have sweet Uncle Allen who helps you locate the egg that your Daddy hid up in a tree branch. She squealed with delight when she "found" it and later told her Uncle Allen "thanks for helping me get that prize egg out of that tree." So sweet and polite (maybe some of it is sinking in!).

I can't wait until next year when we have three little ones running around hunting eggs!