July 16

Well today we learned the answer to a few questions that have been on our collective mind for several months. We learned that Clara is going to be heading up to Detroit for her year long mission and we also heard from Christopher's former co-op employer that they'd like to have him back at KZF. There are many moving parts for our young family at this stage and today is one to reflect on and be thankful for all the gifts that God gives us.
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Twinning at camp

Clara and Lucy are at Challenge Camp this week. Clara is the teen leader for a group of middle schoolers which include Lucy. We're waiting to see how this goes for them but I suspect they'll have a great time together.

Here's a photo of the two of them on Twin Night.

This photo of Lucy looking older than I think of her in my mind reminds me that the days are long but the years are short.

Outstanding recognition

Clara was honored as the outstanding YCET Member. Here she's pictured with the Bishop.

‘Twas the night before moving out

I snapped this photo of Annette and Christopher shopping at Kroger around 9 pm on Sunday May 11 2025 aka Mother’s Day. I was tired and ready for sleep but instead of slumbering in my bed I was lumbering at the grocery store with my bride and my son shopping for a week’s worth of groceries. Christopher had just completed an internship at an architecture firm in downtown Cincinnati and was preparing to start summer classes the next day

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Verona Vineyard on a Saturday night

Here's a photo of Annette and I snapped by one of our girls (either Sabrina or Lucy) at Verona Vineyard from a Saturday evening a week or two ago. We went out to listen to a former school counselor who is trying to make it as a Nashville musician. Sabrina seemed to really enjoy the performance.

We had a nice time but the beautiful evening stroll with my beautiful bride was absolutely lovely.

Lots of happenings

There's a lot happening in the Howard household these days.

Clara's senior photos from Ault Park. Christopher meeting his goddaughter in Milwaukee. Sabrina and Molly singing in a Boone County joint choir and band concert and Lucy being Lucy at Verona Vineyard.

Lots of fun and happenings!

Ryle Choir Concert

Earlier this week the Ryle Choir program held a concert with Gray Middle School's 8th Grade Choir.  Molly and Sabrina sang with the acapella group featuring Molly's first solo!  Later in the concert Sabrina was recognized as one of five outstanding choir students who have been invited to UK to audition in person for the Governor's Scholars of the Arts program.  If she's accepted, she would likely attend this summer at a local college campus in KY and continue to learn about singing and vocal performance.  We were fortunate to have our entire crew attend the concert with us so the moment had to be commemorated with a family photo.    

Pre-Assessment Concert

 Ryle and Gray combined their bands for the pre-assessment concert held earlier this month.  Unfortunately because of a time mix-up, I arrived late and didn't get to hear or see Lucy perform.  However, I did happen to snap a photo of both Molly and Lucy along with their friend Jessica sitting in the stands clapping whenever the 8th grade band completed their set.  

NKY Select Band

In February the NKY Middle School Select Band held their annual concert at Highlands High School.  Lucy performed and was watched by most of the family.  

Molly's face is directed toward the photographer, not the musicians.  

Blessings abound

This story needs to be remembered because it's a concrete way we can know of God's abundant blessings.  

Christopher is in his second year as an architecture student at UC.  He has entered the phase of his academic journey when he's expected to rotate between classroom and co-op experience.  He took a class in the fall that was intended to kick-start his job search. Unfortunately time after time he ran into issues where either the position that was previously vacant had been filled or the software program he is learning in school doesn't match the one used by the firm.  He went out with a manager of a local architecture firm hoping to get a position but unfortunately the firm wanted someone with experience in their software program so again he was left looking for a position. 

So this was the way of it for several weeks and later months.  I tried to help by introducing the topic of architecture with anyone I encountered.  One afternoon I was on a walk in the county building when I bumped into someone I met at a luncheon several months ago.  She was in the building along with another associate from her employer for a meeting.  Since I suspected they knew or hired architects I once again dutifully brought up the topic of architecture and co-ops.  Her associate said he graduated from the same school as Chris with an architecture degree and discovered through his co-op experience that he wanted to go into construction instead.  He agreed to pass along Christopher's resume so I fulfilled my end of the bargain by connecting the two of them.  This conversation happened in December.    

The weeks continued to pass and even though he was on Christmas Break, Christopher had to continue to try and connect with firms seeking a co-op position by early January.  Low and behold around the week of January 6th, Christopher received an inquiry (I can't recall if it was a phone call or email) from a local architecture firm asking if he'd be available for an interview.  This was completely out of the blue but it turns out the chance encounter with the construction company representatives resulted in this connection.  Chris interviewed and then waited for the committee to make a decision about his qualifications.  The following week he was offered the position and he started working on Monday, January 20th. This opportunity was truly a blessing from above but the blessings didn't stop there. 

Sometime in late December or early January my brother called saying he was thinking about selling his Mazda.  It was on a Friday afternoon when he told me some of the details about the vehicle and what his selling price was.  It was an attractive offer but I didn't have a reason for another vehicle nor extra money laying around to pay for it.  I jotted down the dollar amount from his offer and simply continued to go about my business.  Fast forward a few weeks when I received at home a package from a vendor I worked with 3 years prior when I owned the insurance agency.  Inside the envelope was a check with enough money to pay for a small car.  As it turns out, this package arrived on the day after Annette's Evening of Reflection with Regnum Christi when she agreed to formally join the organization.  So it could not be ignored that she was taking steps to get closer to God and at the same time His generosity flowed abundantly this time in the form of a check that had been previously promised over 30 months ago.  

I say all of that to pre-empt this photo below.  Here, Chris is getting a last minute hug on his way out the door to his first architecture co-op job.  

Even budding architects can use a hug from their mom from time to time.  

Sledding with South Americans and Repairing a Dryer

Yesterday we hosted some Regnum Christi folks at our house for sledding and dinner. We outfitted the 5 missionaries and 2 consecrated women with snow clothes then took them up to Ryle for an hour worth of sledding. When they came back, they placed all the wet, borrowed snow clothes in an heap on the floor and then chowed down on some delicious venison barbacoa tacos that Annette prepared. We played a game of multicultural charades and then around 9 pm they left and headed back to the consecrated's house in Cincinnati.

It was at this point when the children informed me that the clothing in the dryer wasn't drying. Consequently, I researched the dryer on YouTube and after using a multimeter to test it out I ordered the parts on Amazon. I'm hopeful I can get it fixed using locally sourced parts because Amazon won't have them to me until Thursday.

It was not how I expected the evening to go, but then again you never know what's going to happen some days.

Lavender Farm

We went and picked two bundles of lavender today at a farm in Campbell County. We bought a lavender cookbook and will hopefully be trying out some recipes soon.

We're down two kiddos this month. Clara is on her month long mission trip and Chris is working this summer at Camp Gray.

First Portrait of hopefully many more

Today was an interesting Father's Day for us.  In a house that consists of five kids, all of the teenagers were out of the house.  We have three in Delaware and one in Wisconsin.  This allowed us to visit for an extended period of time with Granny and Pops over brunch as well as a visit at Grandma and Grandpa's this evening for dessert.  

For Father's Day (celebrated with my kids on Saturday brunch this year), I was given a new background and stand for a portrait project that I'm working on.  Pops was the first to pose in front of the new background stand for me.  He stood in front of the black background while a huge background stand with a sheet draped over it served as a soft box of sorts to diffuse the light.  I snapped the shot and then did a little bit of post editing to get it the way I wanted it.  Here's the fruits of my Father's Day photography project and hopefully the first of a portrait project I have in my head.  

Sabrina sings at Reds Game

Last night Sabrina with the Ryle Choir at the Cincinnati Reds game versus the Cleveland Guardians. They sounded great!

We stayed for a couple of innings before returning home to take an evening walk in the neighborhood. We got to see Grandpa on the walk and even toured a vacant home in our neighborhood when we bumped into the neighbor who is flipping the house.

Last Choir Concert at GMS

Today we saw the end an era at Gray Middle School.  These photos are from our last middle school choir concert.  We've enjoyed the years of listening to Molly and Sabrina sing at Gray and we've already been treated to a couple of Sabrina's performances at Ryle.  

Duveneck Art Fair and Mother's Day

We had some nice time together this weekend for Mother's Day.  We went to the Duveneck Memorial Art Show in Covington on Saturday and looked at many interesting artist's creations.  

One last Spring Break Adventure

Chris and I were scheduled to work at NKU for a band event from 4 pm to 7 pm on Sunday 3/17. I figured after we were finished with our shift I'd return him back to UC. When we arrived at NKU, the work had already been done and there was nothing left for us to do so we started to make our way to Clifton. As we crossed over the Dan Beard bridge, my son who wanted to stretch his spring break just a little bit longer looked over at the Cincinnati skyline and said, "I've written a paper about the 'CARE-roo' Tower but I've never been to the observation deck." I corrected his pronunciation of Carew and then contemplated the diversion.

The trap was set and all of a sudden I found myself as an accomplice to the Spring Break extension by veering off the return trip to Clifton and instead making our way to park underneath fountain square. On St. Patrick's Day.

We walked into Carew Tower and stumbled upon the bank of elevators that go to the top of the building. We walked past a sign and security guard who took no interest in us whatsoever and tried to figure out which elevator was working. None of the buttons responded so we walked back and queried the hourly employee who couldn't care less about our predicament. That's when I saw the sign that said the observation deck was closed temporarily. To get this other human being to show a sign of life I asked how long it had been closed. She lumbered with the enthusiasm of a sloth and said, "It's been closed since COVID."

Not deterred, my young architecture student proceeded through the art deco building and called my attention to all the features that I otherwise wouldn't have seen. We strolled through the building and fell into the bar at the Orchid Restaurant where I drank a blue moon and Chris enjoyed a double shot of water. Because it was St. Patrick's Day there were many older men wearing tuxedos with green bow ties seated around the bar. It seemed that they had all gotten an earlier start to celebrate the day based on their behavior.

We left the bar, walked around a little bit more - he actually disappeared upstairs at one point - and then made our way back to the truck which was sandwiched in between two sedans in the parking garage. Seemingly satisfied, or more likely accepting his fate, we arrived back at his dorm among many long sighs and groans. As we were parting ways I realized his teeth needed some serious brushing. This was when he realized he left his toothbrush and paste at home. Go figure.

And so, Christopher's spring break came to an end with one last little adventure in a building constructed nearly 100 years ago.

Christmas memory

 

I believe this is an image I'll remember for a long time.  Lucy wrote a note to Santa Claus and received a reply.  In a nutshell, she wrote that she wasn't sure that she believed anymore and S.C.'s reply was pretty touching.  It's both happy and sad that the days of Santa Claus are in the rearview for our family. 

Concerts and more concerts

We're at the end of the semester and it is the season for concerts.  Tonight was Molly's 8th Grade Winter Concert under the direction of Mrs. Kozar.  Last week we heard from Lucy's Winter Band Concert.  Later this week we'll hear both Molly and Sabrina perform at Ryle High.  'Tis the season!

The story of one lab coat

 I was going through some photos from Halloween over the last few years and saw something I'd missed previously.  Christopher's lab coat from ~2017 has made an appearance in three Halloween costumes.  I wonder if that's a Howard Family record?  

2023's crew of trick or treaters

2020 trick or treaters with some Italian neighborhood friends

2017, the first year of the lab coat (I think)