Thank You Judy!

I’m so sad and excited for Brecken today. Today is Brecken’s last day at Judy’s, and I did surprisingly well. I thought I might cry, and I started to for a minute, and then I got it together, and so far so good. We hadn’t planned to make this transition until this upcoming summer, but about 2 months ago, Parker’s “school” approached Chris about an opening they had, and if Brecken wanted it, we could take it. At first, I immediately said “no”..we were doing just fine, and I wasn’t ready to make that change just yet…Case closed! I mentioned it to my mom on our way to drop the girls off, and she suggested that “maybe Brecken is ready for “school” and she would probably really take off in that environment, and that I should consider it further”…well that was enough to put my stomach in knots for a few days! After much discussion with the school, and trying to put Brecken’s needs in front of my desires to keep everything as is, we made the decision to take the spot. Parker is very excited for Brecken to join her at “school”! Brecken will be in Miss Sara’s class, and they are all so excited to have Brecken join them. We stopped by and introduced Brecken to everyone last Monday, and I think she’ll do really well. So today is Brecken’s last day of being loved on by Judy, and playing with her friends Lila, and Ellie, and the little ones Easton and Evan! Judy, thank you so much for all that you have done for Brecken. We are so thankful for finding you, and you will always have a special place in our hearts as you were a big part of Brecken’s first 2 years of her life, and we are so grateful for your loving care! Keep in touch with us, and we hope you’ll follow us on our Blog! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you….. and now I think I’m going to go shed a few tears..

Lila, Brecken, Ellie

Last Weekend

Last weekend was a busy one for this Howell family!  On Friday night we had an extra guest as cousin Evan came to stay the night!  The girls were so excited to have Evan stay over, they talked about it all week.  Here they all are watching Frosty The Snowman that was featured on tv that night and eating their cookies!

Then Saturday morning rolled around, and our 1st round of Christmas celebrations started.  We headed over to grandma's house and celebrated Jesus' birthday with Uncle Brian, Aunt Emily, Lydia and Hannah!  The girls LOVED singing "Happy Birthday Jesus" over and over and over again!  It was pretty cute!  It is always fun to spend time with family, and I absolutly love that the girls play so well together!  A few pictures from this fun day is below!

Christmas Time

You wouldn't know it was Christmas time if you came over to our house this season. I just don't have it in me this year..not because I'm not excited for Christmas, it's just that our house has been in disaster mode for the last few months. We're in the middle of updating our kitchen and dining room a bit. The floor is gone, wallpaper removed, and new paint has been painted on the walls. We've finally got it put a bit back together, but the floors still need to be installed, and my guess it's not going to happen before the end of the year. We've just got too much going on. We didn't have room for a tree, and so now that we do, I'm not going to do it for just 2 weeks. I figured this was the last year I could possibly get away with it:) Last night, to help get us in the spirit of Christmas was Parker's very first Christmas program at school, and it was so much fun to watch her on stage singing all the Christmas favorites. I loved watching all the kids singing "Jingle Bells" as it was clearly their favorite!! Santa came at the end of the program, and I finally got the girls picture taken with Santa. The evening was fun, and Parker enjoyed having Grandma and Papa in the audience. Brecken loved the music, and was so good during the program too. They both got balloons to take home, and she wouldn't let go of it, and would have slept with her balloon if I would have let her. I've included a few photos from last night, and Brecken this morning with her balloon!

The Nutcracker

On Sunday afternoon, Nana, and I took Parker to see the Nutcracker. Neither of us had been in years, and thought it would be a fun opportunity to introduce Parker to it. She was very excited, she didn't take a nap, she just lay in bed waiting for me to come and get her to tell her it was time to go. When I got into her bedroom, she was ready to go with shoes on and all..(we had taken the shoes off before naptime) Too funny! Anyway, after arriving, we sat and waited, and then it started...after about 5 minutes in, she asked if we could go home....she sat on my lap the entire time, and by the time the 2nd half started, she said again, much louder, "can we go home"...the second half went by much slower, as she was clearly not very interested, and kept talking, and trying to get into my purse...when it was all over, she said that she enjoyed it, but I honestly think it was about an hour too long for her....and I think I've decided I don't like ballets. Nothing against this performance, I think they did great, I personally didn't care for it..We asked her if she would like to go back, and she shook her head, yes, then no...So I don't really know if she liked it or not. We'll probably wait a few years before thinking about taking Brecken!

Shopping!

One of my favorite things to do is shop. My husband’s favorite pastime includes hunting and fishing..I don’t have a hobby per se, but I love to shop..not necessarily to buy anything, but looking around is fun for me too. This year has been different, in that I haven’t had the luxury of just getting out of the house while the girls are napping to just look around by myself. When the holidays arrived, I wasn’t prepared for how it would feel to not be able to just get out and do my Christmas shopping. Last year, I went out over several weekends while the kids napped and got it all done reasonably early..This year has proven to be a bit more difficult…one, two, and three weekends went by, where I would have LOVED to get out and get started. Chris and I had some really fun opportunities over the upcoming weekend, and we’ve had to bail on them in my desperate attempt to get started on Christmas shopping..The other thing I found interesting what that I had NO IDEA what was out there that my girls might like, I might like or others for that matter, since I don’t get to get out and just shop. Chris and I skipped out on the KU game this week due to the weather, and instead took the time to start our Christmas shopping!! I was thrilled to finally get a chance to do this, as I was really starting to get nervous as we are starting the Christmas celebration next weekend! After the first stop, I was ready for the next store, and Chris was already tired:)  Too bad for him, cause we headed to 3 more stores, and got it 99% done. What a good feeling that was, and it was nice to have his input this year on ideas for the girls and other kiddos on our list. Not having that decision completely on me was great. It’s almost been a year of no driving, and I can honestly say that it has gone by so fast, and doesn’t seem possible that we’ve come this far. Adjusting to this change has been easier than I anticipated and I can only attribute that to my faith in God and his plan for me!