Hanging out in the backyard

 Four of the kiddos are just gathered at our home in the backyard eating ice cream and making observations about life around them.  

The Graduate

 Clara at her Preschool Graduation event last night.

Ice Cream on the back porch

 Cousin Emily came over for ice cream on Friday night. Sabrina, Clara and Christopher were happy to oblige.

Photo from Spring Break

We went to John Bryan State Park with the Brown Family on Thursday, April 12.  This was after a visit to the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and National Air Force Museum.  I'll post some  photos from that later.  

As you can see, Clara was not excited about having her photo taken.  Everyone else seemed to be in good spirits.

Christopher at the park

 Just swinging away!

Books and more books

I snapped this photo a few days ago of Annette reading to the crew at bedtime.  You can see that the princess book holds everyone's attention - even Lucy.  And don't worry ... Annette read Christopher's Spider Man book too, but only after Molly was in her bed. 

Do you think we're gonna need a bigger chair?

Just chillin'

Whatchya doin Lucy T?
"Just chillin"

Christopher at Newport Aquarium

Christopher and Clara went to the Newport Aquarium this afternoon with Svarit and Sarah. Apparently good times were had by all.

Clowning Around...

Last Thursday we went to the circus in Cincinnati.  We took the whole crew with us and everyone had a blast.  Clara dressed up in the clownsuit she got for her 5th birthday to mark the occasion.  Cousin Emily also took her turn with the clown wig.

Lucy's baptism

 We are blessed to welcome Lucy into the church this weekend!  

Hope for the flowers

 This is one of my favorite photos.  The contrast of a father and son enjoying a yard full of dandelions while neighbors have beautifully manicured yards in the background seems to fit the stage of live we're in.  We've got to take time for things that will pass.  There will always be a yard to mow or fertilize but the kids are only small for so long.  ~Adam

Sabrina turns 3

Sabrina enjoyed a Tea Party at Church on her birthday, and then had some Howard family over for dinner and presents. Here she is shortly before she leaves for the afternoon Tea Party.

And here she is at dinner later that night blowing out the candle on her birthday cake. At Clara's birthday, Sabrina blew out the candle. As circumstances would have it, wasn't close enough to return the favor.

Birthday Dinner Photo

Shortly before bedtime, we gathered for a quick photo with the Howard Clan.

Wait your turn

Look at Clara in her pink snow boots showin' the world who's the boss. This was snapped at Cherokee Park last weekend with Todd, Heather and Tim. Clara wanted a drink - and the other guy was just going to have to wait.

Crime and Punishment

When you hit your sister twice in the head with a toy car, there will be consequences.

Remember that time...

A few weeks ago, Clara was trying on shoes that Annette borrowed for a dance on the upcoming Saturday. Little did we know the entire family would become ill with a stomach bug completely derailing the plans for the weekend.

And if that wasn't enough, the washing machine crapped out on Sunday evening. Fortunately, Adam was able to get it up and running again the next day which happened to be a holiday.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday ... For Lent begins tomorrow!

Thoughts in my head

The other morning Christopher and I got into a conversation about songs or other thoughts being "stuck in our head" while on the way to school. He said, "Almost everything he has ever learned is stuck in his head."

I believe him.

Other school drive time quotes from him: "My favorite holiday is St. Patrick's day because if you catch a leprechaun you get their pot of gold."

Family Photo

Here's a quick family photo from Lucy's Baptism this past Sunday.  Our kids from Left to Right - Sabrina, Christopher, Molly, Lucy and Clara.  

Clara turns 5!

We celebrated Clara's birthday (immediately after Lucy's baptismal brunch) on Sunday.  We had a circus theme for the party with Clara making a guest appearance in her new clown costume.  So far her clown remains nameless ... and she's open to your suggestions so leave a post below if you have a good name for her to consider...  

Lucy's Baptism

Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated Lucy's baptism on Sunday.  You are all a blessing in our lives as well as those of our children.  

Rainbow Molly

Todd snapped this yesterday at Clara's 5th Birthday party. It was too cute to pass up so I thought I'd share it with you here.

More photos coming from the baptism and birthday.

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.

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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.

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