Catching Up With Some Big News

So I've been meaning to do this post for quite some time but we have been extremely busy. I will make it short and sweet...

we have a little bundle of joy on the way in November! Yep! It was quite a surprise to all of us but we are so overwhelmed with excitement. I struggled for a while about posting on it b/c I really wanted to sit down and record all of my emotions at the time but never had the time. Now that it has definitely sunk in there is not so much guilt or fear but just overwhelming excitement and feeling blessed. The Howell house is definitely going to be wild and crazy with 3 kids age 3 and under but I already cannot imagine it any other way. With a new child came the obstacle of figuring out where everyone would sleep and play. We were already filling up our house and decided that when a great opportunity came up we would take it...we bought a lot and are building a house! While that sounds super exciting (and it is) the timing was rough. Trey, as the architect, was smack dab in the middle of a huge project at work and did not have time to even think about designing a house for us. He was working ridiculously long hours and we were excited if we could even see him. The project is over, the house is designed-and beautiful if I may say so myself- and we hope to break ground next week. Last week we moved out of our house and into my parents house for the summer. All of our stuff (at least what we could fit!) is in storage. We will be moving back to Auburn in August when AM goes back to school. We will have a rental house until the new house is complete. Needless to say there has been a LOT going on. Oh, and don't forget a pregnancy in the midst, haha!! We will definitely not be in the new house when the baby is born and I am ok with that, there isn't anything we can do about it, but knowing that it is in the process will help. The kids are loving living at Grammie and Pop's and so are we. It is so nice to have extra hands and Trey loves being able to fish after work some nights. Now that we are finished with moving our stuff we can enjoy being here for a little while. We didn't turn over the keys until Thursday so much of last week we were still busy going back to Auburn to finish up. We were so fortunate to have some friends moving to Auburn who needed a place to rent so it was a God-send.

And on top of all of the craziness going on we found out yesterday that our little surprise is a baby BOY! I have never been right guessing the sex of a baby-mine or anyone else's but I was so sure this was a girl this time. Nope, another little boy and we are so excited. Anne Morgan will remain our little princess and Jason and his little brother can be the best of friends. They will be 15 months apart. Now the name search has begun. I was sure it was a girl and while we weren't 100% on a girl name we were pretty sure so we really have to start from scratch now! We are so blessed that God has chosen to expand our family. We always said we wanted a fall baby but our first two were late summer so I guess HE knew all along we'd have that fall baby!!

I'm sorry this is a bit of a run-on post and there aren't any pictures, but I couldn't put it off any longer! And I really have been meaning to do a better post for this but as you can tell blogging has not been at the top of my list lately. Now that we are up to speed hopefully I can do a better job of updating on here. Look for some pictures this weekend or next week. AM and I have a girls beach trip planned and are leaving tomorrow and we could not be more excited!

Memorial Day 2012

We had a great Memorial Day weekend at the lake. My sister and her kids were there too and we haven't seen them in a while. The kids have too much fun together! AM and Sophie are two peas in a pod. AM pretty much does whatever Sophie says though she also isn't afraid to speak her mind when she feels necessary. It's pretty funny. They did lots of dressing up as princesses and going to the ball, I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of all of the different princesses we saw. I guess I was too busy laughing to think about the camera. I'm sure there will be plenty more chances throughout the summer so stay tuned...it's precious!

Here the kids are with Grammie on Saturday night after a day of swimming and playing and then dinner at the nieghbors house. We came home to put on pj's and watch a movie. And Jason pretty much lived in the cute little car that Grammie bought. It was great! The kids loved pushing him around the house in it and he thought it was pretty awesome too. 

Peek-A-Boo!

Christopher trying to get AM to do silly faces for the camera

The girls in their matching nightgowns (thanks Gik!) brushing their teeth. I love this picture for some reason. They are so much fun together.

Rapunzel (Sophie) pushing Super Jason though you can't see that he is dressed up too!

AM and Pop

Bubble time!

Mollie, Christopher and Trey headed out for some afternoon fishing

They were both so excited

And here is my beautiful Belle, I mean Anne Morgan. I think this is my favorite of all of the dresses, though all of them are beautiful Grammie. Thank you for making the fun dresses for the girls to play in!

And speaking of thank you, it would be a shame to not thank all of the men and women who have served to provide us with the freedom that we all enjoy in this great nation. THANK YOU!!

More Beach Pics

I just downloaded pictures from my phone, which I should have done before the previous post but didn't think about it. It's easier to to just add these in a new post.

The first morning, AM woke up and wanted to immediately go out on the balcony and see the beach. She said "Good morning, beach!"

 And she couldn't wait to take Mollie out for a walk 

 Just another pic of Jason getting a nap in

 AM has been asking for a Dora fishing pole for quite some time now. We took her to Bass Pro to get it while we were there. They didn't have Dora but she was super excited about her Princess fishing pole. She walked up and down the sidewalk casting and reeling it in. It was really cute. She was oh so proud of her fishing pole. 

 Couldn't even take her eyes off of it to take a picture!

 The kids love this wall of mirror at the condo. 

 Another walk for Mollie before we headed out for the day

 We finally convinced her to take a break from swimming and she was ok with it this time b/c it meant she could go fishing in the pool. 

And here is a quick little video of our little fish swimming. She actually swam all the way across the pool at one point all by herself. She stopped to float and catch her breath but then continued to swim. Wish I had that one on video!

http://youtu.be/pYdM7EKiP_I

(The video is showing up so blurry but it's crystal clear on my phone and computer before you tube. Do you know how to fix that?)

Weekend at the Beach

We had a great weekend at the beach! This was our first time as a family of 4 on the beach. I took the kids for a day back in March, but Trey wasn't there and we weren't there too long b/c it was cold and windy. Jason LOVES the sand. His diapers are still what I call a sandblast. You would not believe the amount of sand coming out and it's Monday! 

The weather could not have been more perfect. It was sunny, warm and not hot! The water was beautiful too. 

 I mean he REALLY loves the sand

 AM teaching her baby to swim and grab the wall like she does. I think she was telling her "good job!" in this picture. She is so funny and may have a swim teaching/lifeguard job in her future

 Jason's first time in the waves

 Time for a nap

 and a snack

 Then it was time for swimming in the pool!

 Granmommie and Granpoppie joined us for our afternoon swim!

Me and my little fish. The girl does not want to stop swimming. We have to force her against her will to stop and take a break to breathe. She just goes and goes and goes...

 Practicing her back float

 Sweet Jason loving on Granmommie

 There is actually a picture of all four of us!

 and another!

 Sunday morning Cheerios and Jason trying out his first pair of shoes

I wish we could have had another day there but there will be more beach trips to come. It's always great to get away but also nice to get back home and get back on sleep schedules. 5:45 is not my favorite idea of when to wake up anytime, especially at the beach! On the way home we realized that this weekend coming up is actually Memorial Day so we have to decide what to do!

**Before I forget again, Jason learned his first word "bye bye" and has the cutest little wave to go along with it. He gets a kick out of it and so do we. Also, on several different occasions this weekend, he took 3 steps. I don't think it will be too long before he connects even more!

School's Out

I thought the last day of school was supposed to be exciting. I'm so sad about it though and so is Anne Morgan. She absolutely loved school. She loved her friends, her teachers and all of the fun stuff the learned and participated in. Every Tuesday and Thursday when we leave once we get in the car she asks to go back. She really loves it. Today she keeps saying "I miss MY Penny and Shannon." Her teachers were fantastic. And they made the sweetest slideshow on DVD that you could imagine. It is pictures of the entire year...and personalized for each child! It is definitely something that I will treasure forever. I am so glad that we decided to send AM there this year. It has been such a blessing. 

Waiting for her ice cream...

Jason had fun too. He liked the trucks. 

The little brothers. They are going to have fun together too! 

They will all be in the same class in the future. 

With Mrs. Penny

 and Mrs. Shannon

I am not sure what we are going to do when Tuesday rolls around and we don't have school!!! I guess we will be going to the pool a WHOLE lot. :)