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.