I've been tagged...

I've been tagged by Janeen and Tasha so here goes...

4 Random Things About Me:
1. I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to sweets... if it's in my house, it's in my belly. That's why the cabinets stay empty of sweets.

2. I dream of someday going to Fiji or someplace similar and staying in one of those over the ocean bunglows where you can see the ocean through a glass floor and walk down stairs into the shallow ocean.
3. I used to be a Sweet Valley Twins fanatic as a girl, I even wrote a book called Triplets of Long Beach when I was 10. I'd love to have my hands on it now. :)
4. I love to rearrange rooms for a change... but my living room can only be moved so many ways!

4 Occupations I'd Love To Do If Talent & Money Were Not Qualifications:
1. Author/Speaker
2. Barista in a sweet-action bookstore/yarn store that I own. (I've always wanted to be one!)
3. Musician... wish I'd kept up with those piano/violin lessons
4. purse/bag/knit item/throw pillow designer... and make big bucks doing it from home.

4 Guilty Pleasures:
1. a latte, carmel macchiato, or frappechino type drink
2. quality truffles
3. shopping for clothes or home decor
4. movies... not so guilty, but I love a good movie

4 Things I Am Drawn To Buy Even When I Don't Need Them:
1. candles

2. fabric
3. yarn
4. notecards

4 Challenges I Face On A Daily/ Weekly Basis:
1. patience when my kids are loud while Annika is snoozing
2. wasting time on things like the internet... Uh like now
3. getting household things done... putting clean clothes away, dishes, dusting
4. being a people pleasing yes-woman

4 Books That Have Helped/Inspired Me This Year:
1. The Bible, I've taken the time to read it each day for the first time in years
2. Youniquely Woman

3. A Thomas Jefferson Education
4. Eating for Energy

4 People I'm Tagging:

my sis Jen

Heather P.

Rachel W.

Maria C.

My gotta have Mommy stuff!

Here are my favorite things to either do with

my kids or have on hand for them to do when I need some space!!!

Board Games! We are a game lovin' family. Above is one of our favorites: Blokus! We also love Gobblet, Monopoly, Chess, Bendominos, Sequence, and Sequence for Kids, Candyland, and many more!

Skippyjon Jones (and sequels) and Knuffle Bunny (and sequel) are our favorite family laugh out-loud books. We just checked out Skippyjon Jones and the Bad Bones at the library last week.... we had yet to read it. They're our favorites... Anita E. got us hooked on these in Mexico last summer on a youth trip. And thanks to the Browns, we added Knuffle Bunny and Knuffle Bunny Too to our gotta have (or check out frequently) kid's books! Check them out, you'll see!




One of our favorite places to go during the week (about every month) is the public library. I guess it ends up that we go almost everytime our books are due. We keep a big basket in our living room with all of the library books in it. They can look at them all they want upstairs, but they aren't allowed out of the living room! That saves us from going on a wild goose chase for missing books around the due date. :)





Legos, legos, and more legos!

A huge hit around here for the past 4 years or so...

Morgan even got a pink set for her birthday!





Our Winter Promise American history curriculum.

We just made this 3D map last week... we're loving it!

Each winter we stock up at Costco on these yummy packets of hot cocoa.

On those days when we're snowed in or just feeling

a tad bored, we break out the hot chocolate and

everything just feels better in my kid's world.

They had a cup today, in fact.

The whole family loves listening to Adventures in Odyssey.

Jeremy grew up with it and I've grown to love it!

It's on 89.3 at 3:30pm each weekday, or you can

listen anytime at http://www.whitsend.org/ also at http://www.oneplace.com/

Pet Bettas! We currently have two.

Snoopy and Blue. One, Twitchy, kicked the bucket while

we were on vacation, so we went and

bought Snoopy last week. They are so much

fun to watch, and the kids feed them.

They're super easy to take care of too.

No special water to deal with.

Go Fish!! And this CD, Snazzy is our personal family favorite.

Never heard 'em? You gotta check them out!

Songs like Get Your Jammies On get you movin'!

My Pampered Chef Apple Wedger is a necessity

around here, I use it pretty much

every day for apples and pears.

Can I get an Amen for remote care starters??

In my garage-less freezing cold world, this thing rocks!

And lastly, we just started these chore charts today! The kids were so excited to wake up this morning and see what their chores were! The boys were out in the living room starting chores at 6:45 am!!! Ugh. After a night of Miss Morgan throwing up, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping to wake up to. After waking up at 1am, and every 15 min. after that until 3am with her, then 5ish, then 6:45 with the boys clinking around in the bathroom for their toothbrush when their sick sister was asleep on the bathroom floor! So.... anyways we had a great day with it. It's a fun little system, and it sure beat saying, "Did you brush your teeth? Can you go wet down your hair? Did you clear your plate?" It was heavenly! Hopefully it will last! They get tokens for each chore completed at the correct time.. all the yellow ones need to be completed by 9am when we start school, etc... or no tokens! Tokens can be turned in at anytime for rewards... some worth 250 tokens!

Well, that's the last on my list of "Mommy Gotta Haves"...

These are a few of my favorite things...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways!

I thought I would share just a few of my favorite things...

they are in no particular order. Earlier in the year,

I shared my favorite things as a Mom of a newborn...

And today? My favorites as a woman. Tommorow?

My favorite things as a Mom of kiddos. Enjoy!

Who knows? Maybe I'll make this a month of favorites!

Movies, books, magazines, games, verses, etc...

Gerbera Daisies

I love, love, love these flowers.

And yes, my husband knows it. :)

They are so cheery and bright.

I also love regular daisies too.

"Don't you think daisies are the

friendliest flower?" ~ You've Got Mail

Lindt Milk Chocolate Lindor Truffles

Mmmmm... Mmm.. and Mmmmmmm!

These melt in your mouth and have

been a favorite of mine since I was

a little girl. They haven't changed a bit.

You can get them at any

grocery store. I've checked.

Burt's Bees Lemon Poppy Seed

Facial Cleanser

I love this because it works

really well, of course, but it has

the best lemon-y scent and feeling

AND it has poppy seeds

to do a bit of scrubbing. I wanna eat it.

Mother's Taffy Cookies
aka: Cookie Crack

My Mom always bought these

for Jen and I growing up.

If you've never had them,

go grab a bag!! Jeremy and

I bought some yesterday and

it just felt like home in my mouth.

Now I've got my kid's hooked too.

Too bad it's been a couple

years since I'd had them! Finger Lickin'.

Michael Buble ~ It's Time CD
This is my: working in the kitchen,

relaxing middle of the day when

the house is semi-quiet, nostalgic CD.

Anita E. introduced me to this

CD like 5 years ago at at youth

group retreat... we listened to it in our

cabin. It's one of his old CDs, but it's a goody!

Burt's Bees Honey Lip Balm

My favorite everyday lip balm.

It's not the original Burt's lip balm

that burns your lips off...

it's so yummy and sweet.

Plus, I love honey everything.

Sante Pressed Powder

My new favorite makeup product!

I've been looking for a couple months

at changing over all of my makeup

to natural products...

and I finally found the perfect powder.

(In my humble opinion)

It's from a natural foods store, and you

apply it with a brush.

I wear Transleucent...

gotta love that. My skin is so fair,

that they call it see thru! :)

But as I've always been told,

I'll have less wrinkles when I get older.

I'm clingin' to that one.





Starbucks Cinnamon Dolche Latte

Heaven in a cup. A year or two ago,

I switched from Mochas to Lattes whenever

I was out and got a treat.

I figured I'd save a few (a ton)

calories by dumping the chocolate

and I've never looked back.

This drink is so yummy... I'm also quite

partial to the seasonal Pumpkin Spice

Latte and Honey Latte. I don't care if

it's caffeinated or not, I just love the taste.

Addi Turbo Knitting Needle
This is the needle I use for all of my

hats in a 16" size 7. It is the best!

I've had it for about 4 years. It is well used.

If you wanna learn, let me know!

Alba Moisturizing Shave Cream

I stumbled upon this recently and love it.

It's a thin, lotion-like cream to shave

with and it is great! And natural too.

I have it in Cocoa Butter.

The Best of Passion (so far) CD

I got this CD last month on my last

night in Tennesee with my sister.

It's a 2 disk set, with all of our favorite

worship songs on it. I think they're

all live too. Good stuff.

Well, if you're a blogger, why don't

you post your favorite things??

But to make it fun, add pics!

I Google searched and found them all.

It's super easy. Maybe you'll try some

of my faves and find some new ones of your own!

seen these???

I stumbled across these candidate Cabbage Patch Kids on the front page of Ebay today! They are so hilarious! As a recovering CabbagePatchaholic from my childhood, these really cracked me up!

They are up for charity auction on Ebay for the Marine's Toys for Tots. As you can guess, the Sarah Palin doll is winning... she's smokin' the competition... she's at $4,000 right now, and the auction ends on Election Day. It'll be interesting to see what people pay! At least it's for charity!

dream a little dream... or a big one

The MOPS Convention this year in Dallas, was packed full of speakers that spoke to right where I am particularly at this point in my life. The highlight for me was hearing Erwin McManus speak twice (once to all 5,000 of us, then again in a smaller seminar) about what he calls Living Wide Awake. McManus is the pastor of the largely diverse Mosaic in L.A.

I have been deeply motivated and encouraged by what I heard from him... So I thought I would summarize my notes here, so I can read this later and be reminded of what he said. Actually, there isn't a day that goes by in this last month that I haven't thought about it. Basically, he states that there is a dreamer/hero/adventurer in all of us, but we let fear/failure/doubt creep in a squelch those dreams. The world needs us to live our most heroic lives. This topic made me so excited because I have so many dreams just waiting to leap out of me and run at any given moment, but I tell myself that I can wait to see a few of those dreams come to fruition after my kids are grown... and at this rate, that's gonna be another 18ish years! That doesn't sound so good to this "gimme it now" kinda gal. He mentioned that we shouldn't use our life as our excuse. We tend to live the life we are obligated to live, rather than the life we were created to live. Of course, that's not to say that we neglect the life and responsibilities we have and chose.

So what dreams do I have??? Oh, there are so many to choose from! Well, for starters, I dream of my children/family seeing that the world is bigger than our home and community. I dream of them knowing the struggles of others and doing something to impact their world. I dream of writing. For years I've dreamed of writing children's books or non-fiction books for moms, women, or families. I dream of being the home that my kid's friends want to hang out at. I dream of visiting the east coast with my family and visiting Independence Hall, Civil War battlefields, Plymouth, Jamestown settlement, and Washington D.C. when the kids are older.

I could go on....

McManus mentioned that we are "busy creating a safer world for our children, instead of a better world." This one hits me right in the gut. How true is that? Well, it is for me. What our children are becoming is the environment they live in. That can be for their benefit or not. We train our kids to fulfill their duty, rather than their dreams. Ouch. Are we cheering them on in their dreams? We need to, or they will lose them. We have outrageous dreams as children until we grow up. My Drew, who is the dreamer, has a new job of his future almost everyday... Lego designer, inventor, president of the U.S., bathtub cleaner, astronaut, you name it... he wants to be it! I love that he sets no boundaries for himself, what would our lives be like if we did that for ourselves? What dreams are waiting on the other side of fear? What you fear, McManus states, establishes the limits of your freedom.

What dreams still haunt/prvoke you? Are you listening? God is still waiting for you to embrace them. All of the creative capacity in you will not emerge if you don't give in to God's calling. One of my favorite quotes from his seminar... "There are things you must do that God won't do for you... and there are things God will do for you that you can't do."

If your greatest dream became a reality, would the world become a better place? Yes, yes, and yes. But of course, my dear old friends fear and doubt come along and have a tea party on my brain, then move down to my heart and camp out. Hmm... I think it's time I broke up with them. :)

So since coming home from Convention this year, my outlook has taken a new turn. I've ventured into areas I've only dreamed of venturing into. I've started submitting articles for publication through MOPS. And (gulp) I've started writing a book or two. We're looking into possibly adopting or foster parenting in the future. (Then I keep thinking about how nuts that sounds... but maybe it's more about how other people may perceive it. Why do we do that to ourselves??? The collective "they" already think we're nuts for having 4 kids, then we'll just be nutsy-er, more nutsy, or bananas I guess.) I'm so thankful God gave Erwin McManus those words to speak. His newest book, "Wide Awake" is out and speaks on this very topic. I bought it for Jeremy, had it signed, and we're starting to read it together. I'm sure it will be much more food for thought. And maybe you'll hear more about it later. :) Here's the text from the back cover:

The alarm sounds. Your feet hit the floor and carry you into another day. But what does that day hold for you? Will you be punching your card at work, catching up on TV at home, and crashing into bed before you rinse and repeat the next day? Or will you dare to dig deep and discover the incredible potential lying dormant within us all?
In Wide Awake, Erwin Raphael McManus challenges us to put an end to all the sleepwalking and settling, for each of us was created by God for a reason. He has called you to live as Jesus did - a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living wide awake is about realizing that the world desperately needs you to live up to your potential.
There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber.
It's time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream... Wide Awake.

So while we're on the topic... What are those dreams of yours that are waiting to jump out and be fulfilled? Please share, I'd love to hear them.

more wedding photos

one happy guy!

one happy girl...

singing around the fire... smores and all

love it, love it, love it.

Drew and Great-Grandpa Bacon... what a heritage.

Anita snapped this photo of me under this beautiful arch at Chico State... some of their wedding photos were taken there.

On the lap of Great-Grammy Jill.

my sweet girl

Tonight we had dinner at my in-laws house to celebrate the birthday of Jeremy's awesome Dad, David. While we were there, I was able to snag some of Anita's photos of our trip to CA last week.

Meeting Molly

Gavin, Annika, and I logging on to chat with Jen and Molly.

Yesterday we were able to meet Molly on the webcam for the first time! She is completely adorable... I just wanna tickle her, hug her, and kiss her little face. We wish we were still in TN to welcome her home, but I'm sure it's better we're not. The less chaos the better for the little sweetie. :) Whenever she would do a cute little trick like clap, she would hide her face in Jen's shoulder afterwards. Looks like all is well at the Howell household. Miss you guys like crazy!

Sorry for the glasses pics, sis.... :) What are sisters for?

Oh, the places they will sleep!

Jeremy and I were laughing and marveling on the

way home from the airport last night that our poor

children had fallen asleep the last 5 nights in a row

in the back of a mini van late, late at night. And they

never complained, not even once. As you can see... they

slept many other places too!

It reminds me of Green Eggs and Ham...

Would you? Could you? On a train??? Our version is

"Would you, could you in a van?

Would you, could you in a jam?"

I actually really love the picture of Annika's leg

hanging out of Molly's crib. I think I'll blow it up

and frame it. She borrowed her cousin's crib

and broke it in for her before she arrives. And actually?

She'll be home on Thursday! 12pm AK time,

they land with her in TN!!!!!!!

Don't know what in the world I'm talking about?

Go to http://www.nighthowells.blogspot.com/ to find out.

the Sacramento Zoo with Uncle & Auntie!

After the excitement of the wedding, we moved on to the excitement of spending the day with my brother, Sean and my sis-in-law, Vanessa! They live in San Fran, just an hour from Sacramento. It was just a 2 hour drive for us to meet them at the zoo for a fun day together. Mr. Orangutan hanging around. The monkeys were really

funny at this zoo. It seemed like they were catering to us goofy onlookers by the poses they sat in, the direction they faced, and the swinging shows they put on. I love monkeys, always have.

This vacation was so great for us mainly because we were able to see all of our siblings in one trip! That never happens! I'm so thankful for the special time spent with all of them. Just before leaving Tennessee, I was telling Morgan that we'd get to see Uncle Sean in California and Peyton, overhearing our conversation added a quick Peyton-style, "Oh, he's my favorite guy!"

Thanks you two for a great day and lots of laughs.

Yesterday morning, just before flying home, we drove back to Chico for a wonderful (though too short) visit with my step-mom Marla Kay's parents. We hadn't seen them in about 5 years. They are a dear couple and always show interest in our family. Thank you, Paul and Mary Alice for welcoming us for a brief visit. Mary Alice graciously let me sneak a peak at my sister's blog while I was there... It was the first time in almost a week that I'd had an internet connection to check out my sister and Kris' trip to Korea! I bawled like a baby upon watching the video of their first meeting with baby Molly, and I've cried each time I've watched it since.