Announcing Sabrina!

Toddler love

Sabrina Smiles

We've posted far too few photos of our little girl... without further adieu, here are a few papa caught of her smiling and cooing at mama... that's right, she's smiling already! What a beauty! More to come as soon as possible.

Sabrina

We've had a few things going on lately, sorry for not posting more frequently. There are some photos of Sabrina when she was much younger but they haven't been posted yet (obviously). We'll try to get some up soon.

CorningWare

So, in the garage (which formerly belonged to Adam's grandma) there was a shelf above the minivan which held a 20 year collection of Pyrex, CorningWare and glass dishes. One quiet afternoon during nap time, Annette heard a loud CRASH. She got up and discovered that the shelf had broken free from the wall and all the dishes came crashing down. A really really big pile of broken stuff was ALL OVER the garage - and several pieces landed on the hood of our minivan causing some pretty nasty dents.

This all happened in late March. Fast forward several weeks to last Thursday ... Adam is taking grandma (aka Babo) back to her home when the discussion about the dents on the hood is brought up. Adam said, "Remember all those dishes you had in the garage?" She replied, "Uh, no."

"You know, the Pyrex and CorningWare stored on the top shelf in the garage?"

"Nope. Don't know what you're talking about."

He insisted saying, "They're dishes you used to bake with." She still shook her head. He went on, "Well, the shelf fell down and all the dishes dented the hood of my wife's van." Without missing a beat, Adam's 90 year old kind grandmother shot back, "Well, I'm not gonna pay for it! You broke my dishes!"

Seriously folks. You can't make this stuff up.

Chaos

Annette was taking a break today around dinner time so it was my (Adam) turn to feed the older two kiddos and attempt to keep things orderly. We were playing outside while the pizza cooked in the oven when Clara spotted a cat coming near the fence. I raced outside to see this black feline and was surprised by how patient it was with them. Duke, the backyard dog, however was not. He lit out a litany of barks that really irked kitty. It was hard to get the kids distracted from all the excitement long enough for them to come back inside but eventually I won them over. Duke had calmed down by this point and the cat seemed disinterested in him. Nevertheless, while we were eating pizza he lit up his barking cacophony again. I stood up from the table and muttered "Aw shhhh..." but stopped myself before you know what slipped out. Of course this caught Christopher's attention but he was more interested in why I said "Awsh" rather than what I was saying it in response to. Annette was in the back trying to sleep despite the dog's incessant barking. The picture below is what I saw when I got up from the table. I went back to check out the view from her window and must admit it was a much better angle but let's just say pain pills prevented me from taking the photo I really wanted.

For the record, Clara eventually explained to Christopher that Papa was actually saying "Aw shoot!" Funny stuff.

Photos from Sabrina's birthday

Baby Sabrina

Yesterday afternoon, Sabrina Howard was born. She weighed 8 lbs 10 oz and measured 21 1/4 inches long. She and Annette are healthy and well. From her father's perspective, the most unexpected part of the whole thing is her strawberry blond hair. Enjoy the photo below taken earlier today. We'll certainly have more images very soon after Annette gets a chance to take Sabrina into the studio.

Hungry

This is what happens when you try to spend an evening doing something other than playing "Guitar Hero." No Alcohol was involved in the making of this film.

No baby yet

'Nuff said.

Our little book worm

Here's one of the shots of Christopher and I messing around in the studio tonight. What better way to spend time while waiting for Baby #3 to arrive than making pictures of "baby" #1?!

Sleeping

Sometimes these little people can act so grown up, but other times they still look really really small.

Birthday Girl

What a great time we had celebrating Clara's 2nd birthday today! There was the fiercely competitive game of musical chairs, the challenging 'Pooh Flinging Contest' and of course the beautiful (and delicious) Pooh bear birthday cake (thank you grandma). All in all, it was a wonderful way to celebrate our little birthday girl.

Photo Shoot

Christopher was a willing (mostly) participant for Papa's photoshoot downstairs tonight. For this photo, he brought out all his Darth Vader props (except for the boots which are still wet from playing in the snow earlier). This isn't art - but it will be something that will be more meaningful whenever he's older. At least, meaningful to his old man.

Mouth Full

After all the birthday celebrations this weekend, we decided to continue our time together with 'new cousins' at the Newport Aquarium. We saw fish and sharks and (coolest of all) divers in the tanks there and had a great time hanging out! Thanks Chuck, Kelly & Kids for a great time!

Happy Birthday Babo

Adam's grandmother (aka Babo) turned 90 on Saturday. Family came in from Florida, Virginia, Texas, Louisville and Cannon Valley to celebrate. Christopher was delighted to meet his new cousin he didn't know he had.

Gabriel's Baptism

Gabriel, our nephew, was baptized this weekend. There was also a family photo from the day but that will be saved for later.

Lightsaber

This just proves you can make a lightsaber out of just about anything.

Cold

It's been really cold outside. This photo proves it. However, cold is relative. If you're from Wisconsin, you think this temperature is balmy ... at least that's what we hear.

Andrew's Baptism

Our Godson, Andrew, was baptized on the first weekend of 2009. We really enjoyed participating in his baptism and look forward to watching him grow over the years.

Excited

Dave and Tim are very excited about this gift. Does anyone know what it is?

Three sisters

These ladies posed quickly for this photo on Christmas Day.

Piano Lessons

This is a photo from the cousins taking a well deserved break at the piano on Christmas Day at Grandma and Grandpa Hoeben's.

Pigtails

(Adam here) I grew up in a house without pigtails. Seriously. Never had these around EVER. But now, my little girl has totally changed my world. Guess I'll have to learn the proper way to do pig-tails, headbands, pony tails and pink ... everything pink.

This photo was taken on Christmas morning right before we left for Grandma's house. Clara is wearing her new PINK dress and pigtails.

J, M & J

Sometimes you really can have a "Silent Night" when you hang around with two beautiful young children at Christmas time. On this quiet night at home, just a few short days before Christmas, Christopher decided he wanted to be Joseph. With a little help from his Papa (who provided the blanket, the rubber band to tie it back and the home-made shepherd's hook) and a little joining in from his sister (here playing Mary or "Mama") and a favorite baby doll, we had our very own live Nativity scene under the Christmas tree. May you and your family be blessed with just as much true Spirit this Christmas!

Christmas Tree lot

Although we didn't tromp through the woods to cut the tree down, we did snap this photo before leaving the Christmas tree lot. We believe this was an improvement over our experience from two years ago when we plucked the tree off the sidewalk at Kroger's and shoved it into the trunk of the Mercury Grand Marquis.

Breakfast with Santa

This morning we went to Breakfast with Santa. We had a great time hanging out with friends from church. Below, Christopher is asking Santa for a red lightsaber. I think I heard Santa say something like, "You'll blast your eye out" but I'm not sure. Clara was willing to sit on the Jolly Old Elf's lap, but she didn't have anything to say.

Cookie Day

Below are a few photos from the Rice Krispies Ornament Cookies from this year's Cookie Day. We got off to a slower start than normal on these cookies. There was a discrepancy on exactly how warm they should be whenever we attempted to convert them from Rice Krispies Treats to ornament. Eventually we figured it out.



(I caught this photo of Christopher in mid shake of the sprinkles for the cookies. Didn't think to stop the child from making the mess, just thought the moment should be captured....)

Pops' Birthday

Happy Birthday Pops! It was great to hang with you and the rest of the family at the winery.

Trip to Wisconsin

After the election, it was time to head north for a brief reprieve in Wisconsin. Thanks for the hospitality and really good food while at Camp Gray, Jeff and Rebecca.

Trick-or-Treaters

Our two little trick-or-treaters really got into the excitement of it all this year! Clara enjoyed flapping her wings as a butterfly fairy and Christopher became quite a convincing Jedi - the good guy of course! He enjoyed taking on the little Darth Vaders in the neighborhood to light saber duels. Clara found her calling by giving candy out with Granny and mama. "Kids! Candy! More!" she would call. Lots of fun and just the right amount of candy!

Pumpkin Carving

Behind the camera again ... for a little while

Adam here. Just recently got back behind the camera and these are the fruits of my labor. Hope you enjoy them. Maybe I'll be able to take some more shots during the first full week in November.

The first shots are from playing in the backyard on Wednesday night with Uncle Tim.






These are from the cookie making extravaganza on Friday night.

What's a good caption?

Give us your best caption for this photo. Just to prime the pump a little, here are some thoughts:

"In again and out again"
"Playing tops and bottoms"
"Isn't that terrific portrait light?"

Museum Center Visit

Jeff, his electric socks, and the rest of us.