Christmas at the Howes

This weekend was a busy one at our house.  We had our annual Christmas party!  Ryan and I cooked and cleaned for two days to prepare.  We ended up with way too much food, but it was fantastic!  We had a gift exchange, a white elephant exchange, decorated sugar cookies, and played a game.  The kids ran/crawled around like animals all night!  This weekend really got us in the Christmas Spirit; we are so excited to go home and celebrate with our families!  We leave in just 3 days!

Also below are some new photos of Clay because he is just too cute not to post any!

He is such a little man.

We like to call this pose "Spider Baby".

Poor Milo.

Waiting in line to see Santa! 

I think he had more fun waiting in line...

Merry Christmas!  Love, Clay

9 Months Old

Tomorrow Clayton will be 9 months old.  My, how time has flown!  In the past couple weeks he has really grown up.  He eats many different foods and feeds himself snacks.  He started pulling himself up and crawling with his belly off the floor.  It is amazing that just 9 months ago he couldn't even hold his head up.  Ryan and I are having a hard time remembering his that tiny.  (Samantha make as many memories as you can because it all changes so quickly and it's hard to remember).

Here are a couple videos of our little man.  Enjoy! 

The First Thanksgiving

Clayton made it through his first Thanksgiving!  We went to a friend's house for dinner.  He ate a couple rolls, asparagus, and a puree of turkey, mashed potato, and yam.  He enjoyed trying all the new flavors and being part of the dinner conversation. 

He really just pulled the rolls apart, slobbered on them, and threw them in his seat!

But look at how cute he was while doing it!

 

Then he played in the living room with the girls and the overwhelming amount of Delilah's toys! 

 

Overall, a good Thanksgiving was had by all! 

The next day, Edna and I took the kids for some island style Black Friday shopping.  We scored some great Christmas decorations at the hardware store!  It is so different than what I grew up doing, but we sure had a blast! 

We then met up with the rest of the girls and kids for coffee!  Clay and Grif are starting to play with each other.  It's very neat to watch!

That evening our family went over to Edna's for dinner.  While we all ate her delicious creations, Clay tore apart the kitchen!  By the time we were finished eating he had things scattered all over!  Are you all still ready for us to come home for the holidays!  ;)

 

Last night while I was making dinner, Clayton crawled around the floor and whined at me to pick him up.  The solution we came up with was to stick him in the Moby wrap.  You may notice I tucked his hands in because he kept trying to "help" me cook and do dishes. 

Over long weekend I did three different photoshoots!  Photos for Edna's husband, a few senior pictures, and a family Christmas session.  It was a blast! 

I also got my first Christmas present from Ryan...yes, I know it's early.... but he got me a really nice external flash!  It made a huge difference and I am so excited to take more photos!

Blueberry Surprise

Is there something on my face?

Clay has been trying all kinds of new foods.  Yesterday he enjoyed a blueberry-banana smoothie.  The day before that he got to gnaw on a piece of bacon.

I have some great videos and photos to share, unfortunately my computer is full and I must delete things again before I can add the newest one.

We are planning to take family Christmas photos today!  Also we finalized our vacation plans, so make sure I talk to you about where we will be and when so we can see everyone while we are home.

8 Months Old!

Clayton turned 8 months old yesterday!  He also cut his first tooth.  Today we had a little photo shoot inspired by the holidays!  Check out our little indian...

He also wants to grow-up to a be reader just like Daddy! 

That smile gets me every time.

Oh also here's the best video from the whale watching excursion...

Only in Southeast Alaska

This past weekend I took my first big trip with Clayton.  He and I went to a neighboring town for the girls basketball mini-tournament.

I wanted to share with you what it really means to coach a sport in Alaska because it is so different than anywhere else in our country.  Games must be scheduled in tournament style and take up an entire weekend in order for it to be worth the expense to travel to and from other towns.  We almost always miss some school and sometimes we miss a lot of school.  My next trip we are currently scheduled to miss 3 days!

So here goes my best attempt at painting the picture of how things work up here:

Our adventure started Friday morning.  Clay had to go to school with me so we would have enough time to make it to the boat at noon.  

 We got on the jet boat and took a short 30 minute trip over to a drop off point.  Clay was very interested for about 5 minutes, then he passed out for the duration of the trip.

 We were then rode on a bus for 45 minutes.  Clay slept through that too.

When we arrived at the school, Clay, my assistant coach, 17 middle school girls, and myself made our way to our home sweet home for the weekend.  It was the health classroom.

After unpacking our things, it was time to explore the town.  We had about 4 hours before we had to play our first game.  So Donna, the assistant coach, Clay, and I went shopping.

Clay really enjoyed the toy store and he got a monster finger puppet!

He was also kind enough to carry our goods.  Donna had to buy a bed because she forgot hers at home!

The rest of the weekend was filled with a lot of basketball, kids, and noise!  

The girls fell in love with Clayton right away and it was like having free babysitters all weekend long!  They were so cute with him.  They took turns passing him around during the games.  One of the moms told me that they would tell each other things like, "He really likes to sit up and watch the game" or "Let him bounce up and down".  

The girls bought him an onesie and decorated it so he could cheer them on! 

And a neat teething toy!

 

Clayton was such a good boy.  He played hard and slept soundly! 

He also ate in a big boy chair.  The whole time he was so interested in the surroundings it took forever to get him to eat! 

On Saturday evening, I found a nice corner by the biology room to have some "alone time".  Clay took a nap and I ate a salad and ice cream.

Early Sunday morning we took the bus ride back to the drop off point and waited to in the frigid morning air for the boats to arrive.  

The girls were worried Clay would get cold, so they stuffed a fuzzy pillow around him!

We arrived home about 30 minutes later.  I took one second to breathe and unpack, then we took off to get on another boat and do some whale watching!  It was unbelievably incredible!  I will try to get the photos and videos off the camera for the next post.  We love you all!