Growing up :(

Yesterday was a sad day in the Howard house! Yesterday morning, Ryan signed Zoe up for Pre-K and last night we signed her up for gymnastics....on top of that, Jack decided to cut his first tooth and was doing a great job sitting up alone. :(  :(  :(
I'm not ready for my babies to grow up!

Italian Sausage/Chicken Soup

We had a carry-in at work last week and there was this delicious soup! I was so excited when Sara got the recipe and that it was a super easy one!  I was able to find an Italian Chicken sausage that I used instead of pork and it turned out just fine.  When I figured it on Weight Watchers, i think it was about 8 points per cup.

3/4-1 lb Italian Sausage
1 can beef broth (I ended up using a large carton of it, which I think is 29oz)
1 can Del Monte died tomatoes with garlic, basil, and oregano
1 can French Style Green Beans
2-3 cups of water
1 package cheese tortellini (refrigerator section)
2 green onions, sliced
Fresh Parmesan cheese

Brown sausage in a pot and drain.  Add next 4 ingredients, bring to a boil, add tortellini.  Cook for 8-10 minutes, then add green onions and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.  Serve with cheese on top.

YUM!

Just kids :-)

 Zoe got ahold of the camera and took pictures of Jack eating :-)



That sweet little lady...

...is growing up so fast.  Her fascination lately has been writing her name.  She is doing a great job and concentrates so hard.  She has also been perfecting her ABC's and counting to 10 (which she can finally do about 99% of the time).
When I bought Valentine Cards for my class, I bought extra for her to take to the kids at Donna's. I showed her where to write her name and she went at it! I figured she would do a few and quit, but instead, she wouldn't stop until she had her name written on 14 cards :-)

Happy 60th Bob!

Last Sunday we went back to London to help Papaw Bob celebrate his 60th birthday! We went to church, then to Ann and Tony's (YUM!) and then to Kathy and Bob's house for cake. It was a very enjoyable day with lots of laughs! Happy Birthday Bob!

 



No matter how hard we try - he always finds his thumb!



Toes

Look who found his toes!!! Jack was sitting in his Bumbo last week and just started grabbing...and found his feet! This is one of my favorite stages of "babyhood" because he just lays on his back, grabs his feet, and tries to put them in his mouth. He has also started to figure out that he is in control of his arms.  He will be sittting on my lap and just whacking me while doing the "wave" - waving his arms up and down over and over. I tried getting pictures of this, but they just show up blurry.

Lovely Ohio

I have always said that I love living in Ohio and having the 4 seasons. This year isn't any different, but I can definitely say I'm sick of winter! We have used 6 calamity days (we only have 3 this year, unless the new Gov. gets the bill through to give us back 5) and we still have the rest of February and March to go! I'm actually excited about the thought of working 5 full days this week!
Last week, we were part of the massive storm that went across the U.S.  Our storm came in the form of lots of freezing rain, a little bit of snow, and a whole lot of wind! When you live on flat land.....ice and wind don't go well together! We lost our power for about 6 hours, but people in the area were out almost a week! Did I mention that it's cold?!?! 
When Hurricane Ike came through a few years ago, we decided to install a generator backup (Thanks Bob!).  So, even though we were without power, we really didn't notice because we could run the major necessities!

 



This would be the top of the electric meter. 
Wish I would have held a ruler up next to it for the picture!



The back-up...



and our massive generator (no, we didn't use it in the garage)



5 Months

Jack turned 5 months on January 26th!
He is really becoming aware of his surroundings and loves to look at people.  He has the cutest giggle and loves to laugh! He is really learning how to use his hands (and bring everything he touches to his mouth) and has also discovered his feet.  He has outgrown everything to sit in (Bumbo, swing, bouncer seat) and can roll, so he has become quite the handful :-) This is definitely the last monthly update in his swing - we have put it back in storage.

 

 He has also become a professional at rolling from his back to his belly! He hasn't quite figured out how to roll back though, so he just gets on his belly and screams.

 

 I wanted to get a side-by-side size comparison, but he was so excited, he just kept kicking his legs!

 Sweet kisses!

I was able to get a few "happy" pictures of him on his belly - and I LOVE them! :-)