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!

Addison laughing...makes me laugh!

Addison learns to walk

Halloween pictures for Grandma

Sorry so late, but Grandma wanted to see the kids' Halloween costumes. If you can't tell, McKenzie is "sheet music"(of course, with her addiction to music), Bradley is a skeleton, Sydney is a baby, Nathan is spiderman, and Addison is a ladybug.

Addison turns 1!!!

We had a little party on her birthday, which was Halloween. BUSY Day! We had Leona and Herb (our neighbors that we have adopted as grandparents) come over for cake and presents! Mike insisted she have her own cake, and eat it she did!! I told him if she was up in the night, he will be getting up with her. Lucky for him she slept through the night!

Our Traditional Fall trip to Apple Hill... Eating the "Walking Pie" from Kids, Inc. farm...

The kids had a great time! We packed a picnic, shopped, and played with animals, tractors and rope swings. We came home with 40 pounds of apples and ate them all week!! Apple pie, Apple crisp, homemade applesauce, sliced apples with caramel dip, pork and apples in the crockpot, apple/snickers/coolwhip salad...Tired of apples you think? Not this family!

Trip to NYC

Mike suprised me with a much needed trip to NYC.
Although it was hard- really hard- to leave Baby Addison, it was fun and a nice break for both of us. We stopped at the Manhatten Temple...

At the top of the Empire State Building...


Central Park...

Saw Wicked (LOVED IT!), Hairspray, and Mary Poppins on Broadway...

Ate New York Style Pizza (every day!) Funny thing was that the cheese pizza was the favorite!

Ground Zero...

Here we are in Times Square...

Mike at the NY Stock Exchange...



We wondered, "Why does everyone gather over at that end of the bull? OH! Where in the world is people's minds?" What kind of sick society do we live in? ha ha

At the Metropolitin Museum of Art, the guard had Mike take a picture of me in front of a famous piece of modern art- and the above picture is what we ended up with... Below Mike stands in front of the modern art that is worth more than most things in the museum... CRAZY! I think I could do that!

My Knight in Shining Armour( I know- sappy!!) in the Arms and Armor displays at the Met...

We had a great time, and the kids did too at home with the YOUNGS... THANK you so much to them and Karyn and SuAnne for the help with the kids. If we had to leave them with anyone, these were wonderful choices! Thanks again for taking such good care of the kids.

Thanks Terri and Morgan! We are forever grateful!!

Bradley's Cross Country...

Bradley is cutting time off his Cross Country running. This is his first year, and is doing well.

Like Mother, Like Daughter...

I guess it's true what they say about kids learning everything by copying everyone around them. I looked over on the couch and saw Addie talking on the phone. Listen close to the end of the video to hear her say very clearly, "Hi". BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT this baby sees you do, she's likely to imitate it!!

Mopping fun...

Mopping Fun with the girls! We got a new mop, and the girls started "slip slidin' away" on the wet floor.

McKenzie's First High School Jazz Band Concert

McKenzie was excited for her first concert for Jazz Band. They let her in with the flute, and she loves it!! She played solos in 3 out of the 4 songs, and was very excited!! Way to go McKenzie!

Sydney as Raggedy Ann

Sydney wanted a rag doll so bad, so Grandma, being the grandma she is, made it happen. She gave her a Raggedy Ann and Syd found a costume in the dress up box to match. FUN! Thanks Grandma!

My girl is growing up!

Addison standing. She's not walking yet, but has taken her first step at 10 months!! CRAZY!