Happy Birthday to Clara

Clara enjoyed eating her cupcake both last night at Granny's and again this morning at breakfast time. At 5 years old, she's already figured out how to turn a birthday into a birthweek.

Smiles to brighten your day

This pleasant smile brought to you by Sabrina (age 1,064 Days) and Lucy (age 92 Days).

Posted by Papa (age 11,981 Days).

Axel inspection

In this photo, Christopher is inspecting his axels at the Pinewood Derby Car clinic sponsored by his Cub Scout Pack. The Pinewood Derby Car kits provide you with 4 plastic wheels, 4 small nails, a block of wood, some stickers and instructions. The nails have tiny (and I do mean tiny) bumps under the head that need to be removed. Using a lathe at 2,500 RPM, you can take those off pretty quickly. By polishing on a lathe, and then subsequently inspecting, you cut down on the friction and produce a faster car.

Seriously.

Skills and Drills

Christopher has participated in Skills and Drills the last few weeks at St. Paul's. He has mentioned several times interest in playing at the YMCA's court with me one early Saturday morning.  We just might have to make some arrangements for a pick-up game of Horse. 

Watching Pooh Bear!

This is what Molly does when you tell her you're going to watch Pooh Bear!

Lucy smiling

Annette snapped this photo of Lucy on the afternoon of Monday, December 26th.  Lucy has started to smile and coo occasionally.  Pretty soon she'll be stacking blocks and then trying to defend her intelectual property. 

Christmas Family Photo

This photo was snapped on Christmas Eve 2011 of our crew.  We had a great time celebrating Christmas with our families.  We are very blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.  More images to come later.

Paging Dr. Dave

So, Svarit came up recently to meet Baby Lucy.  Clara was holding her and Dr. Dave took the opportunity to share some instruction. 

Leggings and 4-wheelin'

Too much to pass up.  She didn't want to spend much time behind the deer in the back of Paul's truck, but she definitely wanted to ride the 4-wheeler. That's our Clara!

Caption Contest

Okay gang ... What's Molly thinking about? What did she just see to cause this face? Bonus points for more creative answers.

Lucy sleeping

Thought you'd enjoy this photo of Lucy Therese from her nap earlier today.

Donuts With Dad

Yesterday morning I (Adam) heard for the first time about an event at St Paul's Elementary school called Donuts with Dad. I just recently saw a photo in the local newspaper about an elementary school asking dads to come to school to help their kids with reading. So, when I heard about Donuts with Dad at St Paul's, I immediately assumed it would be the same thing.

I was wrong.

It was a trap.

Donuts with Dad is in conjunction with the Book Fair taking place this week at school. The book fair is an opportunity for Scholastic to sell books to kids at St Paul's - and I'm hoping the school gets a cut. We left the house at least 10 minutes earlier than normal so we could go to Donuts. Unfortunately, traffic turned what is normally a 12 minute commute into 25 minutes. We arrived to find the parking lot FULL of vehicles - presumably driven by dads who just wanted a good donut. And then, there was the line. The long line. The line that stretched the entire length of the building. There must have been 50 dads in line this morning waiting to cram into the tiny library. Christopher got progressively more and more excited as we got closer. In fact, he was chattering non-stop at everyone and anything. He wanted a Ninjago book that came with a ninja and a sword. That's it. Pretty simple request. And earlier in the morning we told him he'd have to pay for it with his own money. So, we counted his money before going in. He had $8.50 in quarters, nickels, dimes and dollar bills. We told him he could only afford a book that was $7.99 or less. This lead to a discussion about sales tax but that's for another post.

So, after the line wraps up and we've had our danish, we go in. Immediately he goes straight to where the ninja book had been whenever he last salivated over it a day or two ago. I proceeded to follow him.

It was gone.

He bounced around the room like a ping pong ball trying to find his book. He looked in the little kid books, the big kid books, the boy books, the girl books ... But to no avail, the ninja book with the sword was not there. We looked and looked. Nothing. Class was starting soon. The announcements were coming on and time was running out. I tried to persuade him by getting a Star Wars book instead, but that didn't work.

So, as the last person in line, I bought the Star Wars book. I thought this would at least satisfy the urge to have something from the book fair. I was wrong.

He held it together, but once we left the library, that's when it happened.

The buildup of anticipating Donuts with Dad, the later than usual bedtime, the early wake up, the sugar high from the danish, and then the let down ... As my wife says, "This can only end in tears."

The tears began to flow. Just a few at a time - not full on bawling but just enough where the other kids could probably tell when he went back to class.

I walked to his classroom and then we started our negotiations. I offered to take him shopping that evening. He said that was “No good” because the book fair is the only place for this particular book. Then, I offered donuts tomorrow morning at Dunkin Donuts. Not acceptable. I practically offered him everything I could think of just to help ease the pain and get him to class gently. He said he was so embarrassed that he didn’t get the book he wanted he couldn’t go back to class. Since skipping school wasn’t an option, we finally walked down the lonely hallway toward his classroom where his teacher had already begun her instruction. And we stood just outside the doorway and once more I made my pitch that we'd get the book somewhere else while he made his last ditch effort to get out of school for the day between small tears.

Cue First Grade Teacher Mrs. Keyser
She walked up and asked what was wrong. Christopher told her his version of the story (leaving out how he negotiated a trip to Barnes and Noble tonight and Dunkin Donuts tomorrow). She said, "Christopher, we could order the book."

What!!?? Order the book?!

Cue Librarian (who happened to be passing by).
"Yeah, Christopher, I'll order it right now and we'll have it by Monday."

So, whatever this book costs, we're now on the hook for it.

But Christopher went back to class and seemed satisfied.

To Be Continued …

Baby Lucy photos

Here are a few photos of Lucy over the previous 24 hours. I wanted to post these for you in case you hadn't seen the Facebook album.

Lucy and Annette are learning how to dance with one another. So far things seem to be going pretty well. We're still working on getting Molly acclimated to her new sister, but that will come with time. Sabrina has done fairly well in my opinion. Clara has been a real strong helper and I'm starting to wonder if she will parley her desire to help as well as her confidence into becoming a doctor, nurse or someone in the healthcare profession some day. Guess we have to work on her numbers first.

Granny and Grandpops inspect Lucy Therese.

This was the first Howard baby that Grandpa saw before the bath.

Sabrina is getting some instruction from Annette while Clara is holding back Molly's hand.

A well deserved rest.

Adam and Annette Howard Family, 11/1/2011

Song for a Fifth Child

We received this song via email today and thought it was worth sharing.  It came to us from another person who is a fifth child, who originally got it from Ladies Home Journal in 1958.  It made us cry - but it was a happy cry.

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

Hang out the washing and butter the bread,

Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust, go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby. Babies don't keep.

[The poem by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton first appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal magazine in October,

1958.]

Baby Lucy Therese

Baby Lucy was born yesterday at 4:02 pm. She eats like a champ, sleeps very well and gives some of the biggest baby poops I've seen in a while. She has brown hair and some have argued there's a tint of red in it.

Here's her specs: 9 lbs, 2.9 oz, 21.25". She and Annette are doing well.

Later this week we hope to post photos of the other kids and they're reaction to Baby Lucy.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Con-DISH-un-er

Clara used conditioner (with emphasis on DISH) in her hair this morning. Sorry for the fuzzy photo, but thought you might appreciate the genuine smiles.

Sent from my BlackBerry

A beautiful fall day

This morning, Paul, Denny and I went out for muzzle loader season. It was a lot of fun being in the woods on a nice fall day.

No shots were fired at the deer.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Fun times making sorghum cookies

We didn't make it to Wool Fest this year, but we stilled carried on the fall tradition of baking sorghum cookies. 

Which did you see first?

Which did you see first in this image? The insect or Christopher picking his nose?
Sent from my BlackBerry

In the woods

Christopher and Clara joined me for a walk in the woods today. We went to put up the trail camera and then see what we could see. We encountered a frog, snail and a salamander (which was first thought to be a tiny snake).

Due to my recent reading of C.S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair," the salamander kind of gave me the willies.

We also spent some time on top off some rolls of hay.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Cub Scout meeting

This is a quick snapshot of Christopher at his first den meeting. They were working on putting together the Cub Scout promise on slips of paper but were having a tough time. Someone suggested that they use the book to help and then someone else said that would be cheating. Fortunately someone who was Wood Badge trained explained to the Tigers using the book would be using your resources. And so, my boy is using his resources in this photo.

At the end of the meeting he earned his first Tiger bead which he will gladly show you.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Hubbard update

The Hubbard has landed. After some frosting, we'll let you know how Quality Control evaluates it.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Hubbard what?

This past weekend, we paid a visit to McGlasson Farms in Northern Boone County. We were having a fine time hanging out on the hay bails and enjoying the freshly picked pumpkins. Clara observed that one pumpkin was different than all the rest so she investigated further. After picking up the 13 lbs grayish colored gourd, she promptly dropped it.

We are now the proud owners of a giant hubbard squash. The fella at the farm says it should make 8 - 10 pies. The first batch has been cooked, sliced and is in the freezer. In this photo, Clara is happily cleaning out the seeds and such from her hubbard. We'll let you know how the pies come along.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Coming to a farm near you

We had a great time shooting clays last Sunday afternoon. I think we're all still looking over our shoulder for mad cow #10, but we also know that Stella would protect us if necessary - or at least be a temporary diversion.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Another photo of Clara

As promised, here's a better photo of Clara from her first day of school. 

Lessons learned

Sorry for the few posts these last several weeks.  Christopher and Clara have started school and things are beginning to pick up with Baby #5 coming into town.  I (Adam) thought I'd share a few thoughts from the past few weeks just to keep you bloggers out there up to speed. 

As you may recall, Clara and Christopher have been moved into the finished basement for their new bedroom.  Things have been pretty smooth with this, but there are still a few bumps now and again.  Recently, Christopher wasn't ready for bed yet and Clara was out of her head tired, so I took her downstairs and was trying to get her to calm down.  I placed her in her bed and in protest she threw her blanket and stuffed bear onto the floor.  She insisted that she didn't want to be downstairs alone because she was scared.  I told her there is nothing to be scared of and then proceeded to pick up her bear and blanket.  Suddenly out from underneath her blanket scurried a small spider that completely refuted my claim of nothing scary.  She freaked out again.  I killed the spider.

 

I hope the other spiders were watching and learned a lesson. If you scare my little girl, I'll kill you. 

Herd of Worms

Saw this in the restroom at MegaCavern in Louisville last week. Went on the underground zip line with Pops, Todd and Tim. Had a great time, but couldn't help share this sign with you. What's a herd of worms?

Sent from my BlackBerry

Clara's First Day

It was raining this morning so I wasn't able to snap an appropriate "First Day of School" photo of Clara in the parking lot.  Annette took some photos at the house and snapped one of me walking Clara into school.  Annette told me Clara requested the pig tails this morning, which is highly unusual for our little girl who doesn't even want a brush through her hair.  As of 12:30 p.m. this afternoon I received a report that all went well on the first day.  I'm sure there will be more details later to share and probably even a better image, but for now this is the best that I have.

Driving to School

Christopher rides with me (Adam) in to school daily. He tells me some off the funniest stuff. I thought I'd share with you today's comment. This morning he told me he has Xray vision. He could see the cars lined up at the traffic light in front of a giant SUV directly in front of us. Also, he told me his 3rd favorite holiday is Christmas, 2nd is St Patrick's day and 1st is Halloween.

Clara starts preschool today. Photos will be posted later.
Sent from my BlackBerry

First day of school

We insisted that the boy would ride the bus on his first day.  After looking up the schedule on the school district's website, we learned that the bus was supposed to arrive at 6:57 A.M so we prepared many mornings for an early start to the school day.  And so we worked and worked to get the routine down ... and then this morning the whole plan came crashing down.  We were ready at 6:57 a.m. at the place identified by the district's website, but unfortunately three buses passed but not the one going to St. Paul's.  So we looked for the information again on the school district's website but it had crashed (probably from several people doing the same thing that we did).  We made a game time decision and Adam drove Christopher in to school.  Upon arriving at the parking lot of St. Paul's, Christopher asked, "Dad, will you walk me in to my classroom?" 

And thus the photo. 

He did great this morning.  Can't wait to hear the stories later this afternoon.

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Our boy heads to first grade tomorrow. We are trying to squeeze out every last drop of summer so I was delighted when we walked out the back door and found our first sunflowers in the "Sunflower House" have poked their heads out. I can hardly believe these beautiful yellow sunflowers, blue sky, white cloud photos are in our back yard. And look, just how proud the kids are of their crop!

Of Doors and Six Year Olds

On our way to Todd and Heather's, Annette wanted to swing thru Louisville and snap a few photos of Christopher against some doors we inadvertently discovered the last time we were in town. Here's a shot of Annette working her mojo. We'll post photos from this shoot later.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Master and commander of the Ducks

Today we went to the duck pond to, um, entertain the ducks.  We had a great time picking out the geese from the ducks, the domestics from the mallards.  You may be interested to know we didn't see any male mallards today.  Christopher couldn't help himself and insisted on speaking with all the ducks.  Unfortunately they didn't feel like listening today. 

Gone Country

This past weekend, we adventured out all the way to Campbell County for their Backroads Farm Tour and had a blast! Some of the highlights? Petting a day-old calf, fresh honey, mooing with the cows and chasing chickens (see below).

Super Hero seeks Super Name

These characters are the reason I come home for lunch from time to time. Can you name the Super Hero in this photo next to Christopher?  Extra points awarded for creativity... 

Farm Tour photo in paper

Last Saturday we went on the Campbell County Farm Tour and had a great time. Turns out we were spotted by a reporter and subsequently our picture is in the paper. That's two weeks in a row now.

We'll post some of our own photos sometime soon.

Sent from my BlackBerry

Famous Turtles

This crew of Turtles was in today's Boone Co Recorder. Christopher and his buddies are in the paper from their Zoo performance several months ago.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Another

Another zucchini harvested, in case you were keeping track at home.  This one was brought in by Clara this morning - unbeknownst to Annette.  This happens from time to time.

A new blueberry tradition?

We went blueberry picking today up in Milford, OH for the first time.  We were invited by the Browns who made it up earlier in the morning.  Clara was the blueberry picking fiend ... Christopher was looking for the juicy tender blueberries... Sabrina was interested for the first 45 minutes ... and Molly kept saying "More!  More!" so that Adam would continue to slip her a few.  We had a good time and perhaps even started a new blueberry picking tradition.

Zucchini from the garden

Annette's Garden is coming along strong. So far we have harvested 2 zucchini and one red chili pepper. We see bean pods and tomatoes coming along. Oh yeah, and there are some black eyed susans as well.

In this photo, my young harvesters are searching for the next zucchini. At the time of this posting, Annette was cooking the zucchini to add to some spaghetti sauce for lunch.
Sent from my BlackBerry

Helmet while painting?

Christopher and Clara helped Annette recently paint Sabrina's new bed.  Of course the color of choice was pink.  After reviewing these photos, a question popped into my head.  Why do you need to wear a bicycle helmet when painting the foot-board for a bed?  

Sparkler Fun

Last night the kids came out for some 4th of July Sparkler Fun.  They were up MUCH later than usual so we'll probably pay for it over the next few days.  However, they were patient enough to allow us to practice writing with sparklers in the air.  Here are two photos of Annette's work in writing Christopher and Clara.  We tried to write Happy Fourth of July but it just looked like a plate full of spaghetti.  The camera was set at f/18 with a 30" exposure.