Christmas letter- Blogging style

Howell Family To-Do List 2008:

• Sign up Bradley for piano



• Work more shifts to pay for piano lessons-($120 per month in CA- whew!)



• Decide the day before to go to Disneyland with friends for spring break- pack in a fury



• Suzy and Addison fly to Utah for Grandpa King’s 90th birthday



• McKenzie start high school and mom be positive about driving her to early morning seminary



• Celebrate Addison’s first birthday ON Halloween



• Go to Southern California for cousin Sara’s wedding and see Grandma on Mother’s Day



• Nathan graduate from Kindergarten



• Mom get McKenzie to Snow College Flute Festival, EFY, Jazz Band Camp and Girl’s cam



• Serve Homeless meals at the Upper Roo



• Bradley start the crazy world of middle school and run cross country



• Celebrate Mike’s big 40 birthda



• Go to Sydney’s dance recital and choir concert



• Start Sydney in ballet again, this time- LOVE IT!



• Convince Sydney there are other ways to wear your hair to school besides the ballet bu



• Suzy-plan Pinewood derby for 4 wards combined



• Laugh at Addison’s dance style, “the jig”- see on http://www.sumehowell.blogspot.com/



• Mike- help plan Stake Road shows as high councilor over stake activities



• See “Wicked” on Broadway in NYC- trip with just Mike and Suzy- no kids- surprise for Suzy from Mike



• Try not to call home more than 10 times a day while in New York



• Crack up at Bradley’s funny comments during the day



• Mike take the boys fishing



• Try a garden again for Bradley’s Gardening Merit badge and hope the animals stay away from it this time



• Try to convince Addison to stop nursing



• Have fun playing Ticket to Ride with family and friends



• Finish the Book of Mormon as a family (only took 3 years!)



• Make lunches and feed the homeless in downtown Sacramento with Hands4Hope



• Go to the Beach and watch Addison eat sand and bury other kids in sand



• McKenzie learn how to knit hats with Mad Hatters knitting club



• Bradley to finish his tree house and all the inventions that are included



• Sydney learn to sew scarves and hats at Girl Scouts



• Laugh at Addison’s ONLY word for everything, “MAAA!”



• Enjoy Nathan’s zest for life and his imagination



• Be grateful for our fun, busy, and crazy family



• Be grateful for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ
  
  **We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and pray that your To-Do lists
  will include some wonderful things that will happen this next year!
  We love you all!
  Love,Mike and Suzy Howell and family

Feeding the homeless

I took the kids to a Hands4Hope activity (it's a kids community service group we are involved in). We assembled 200 sack lunches and drove down to downtown Sacramento to hand them out, along with donated warm clothes from the "Warm and Fuzzy Drive". As we drove in, the kids saw all the tents lined up and all the junk around and the homeless wandering the streets. One of my kids with tears in her eyes said, "Mom- I feel so guilty!" I asked why, to which I got the response, "...Because we have SO much!" What a great learning experience for all my kids. One in which they will never forget. We'll be doing more of these types of activities. Free, and PRICELESS!

Road Show

McKenzie in the Road show- she's in the back row plugging her nose (swimming) in the dance. She's in purple. She had SO much fun and everyone couldn't believe how animated she was on stage! And some people think she's quiet! Her mom and dad know better!