Two Scoops!

I've never seen a kid take the raisins out of raisin bran so that she can get to the bran flakes better! I guess she knows what is good for her.

Eating out

You know that you have gone out to much when you five year old ask for her hot dog" on the side" instead of in the mac and cheese you just made.

Taeya

To a loving companion,

It seems like it was yesterday, ten years ago today. You took a chance and got married to me. As I have looked back I have realized how deeply I have fallen for you. When we first got together I knew that you were very special. I knew that I would only get one chance to marry a intelligent, loving, compassionate person. I thought that I loved you, after these ten years and experiencing life, challenges, joy, children. Only now have I developed a love for you that I wasn't sure was possible in life. You still melt my heart with those loving green eyes. thank you for loving me and laughing at my stupid jokes. Giving birth to two passionate girls. I am looking forward to new adventures.
I love you Taeya

Jason

Comprehensive Exams

So, what kind of test really takes 7 days? Who had that bright idea?? Those were my thoughts as I started my comprehensive exam almost a month ago. The first two days of the exam were spent critiquing a journal article, which was just the warm up. Then I had the weekend off. Starting on Monday, I received an email with 6 questions, and I needed to answer 3 of them plus write up a way to test one of those answers. All in all, it was 46 pages of writing for 5 different parts over 7 days. Along the way, I made comparisons in my mind between the Bar exam and Comps. I would say that preparing for the Bar exam was much better organized than preparing for Comps. However, I think that the actual testing situation of the Bar exam was much more stressful than taking Comps. There is a lot more creativity when taking Comps, but the Bar exam is almost all memorization and recall. I would prefer to never take either of them again!

I am very grateful to Jason's parents, who came and stayed with us for 3 weeks so that I could study for and take the test. We could not have done it without them. So, while I was studying away, the girls and Jason were having fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

And, in case you were wondering, I conditionally passed Comps...which means that I passed 4 out of the 5 parts but need to re-write one answer. When the graduate advisor told me my results, she said that the faculty were impressed with my major answers, but oh did I miss the boat and completely fail my minor answer. Considering that only one person out of the 7 of us who took the exam passed without problem, I don't feel to bad about re-writing one answer. Now if I could only get it written!

No time at all!

So there I was just minding my day. Amelia was bored so I let her have a friend over while Aliza was asleep. So our little neighbor friend Emaline came over. There's one, a few minutes later a friend came over and asked if she could drop her daughter over because she couldn't get a hold of the neighbor that was going to watch her( she is Aliza age). Then a few minutes later the couple that was going to watch her brought there little girl, to pick up the other little girl. While I was catching up with them their little girl (also Aliza's age)disappeared into the girls room. I figured why not everybody in the pool. So there I was with five of the cutest little girls in town on my couch. I could only think now what?

Aliza, Age 2

Aliza turned 2 a couple of weeks ago, and my goodness does it show! She loves to mimic everything everyone does, but I am not quite sure where she learned to throw things when she doesn't get her way.

She loves going to nursery and seeing her little friends. She loves to make things work, and will spend lots of time buckling things up (and then screaming when she wants them un-buckled). She also loves clothes, and wearing as many clothes as possible. Her current record is 4 swimsuits at once.

She is still working on her words, but she has learned the important ones for being a younger sister, like "stop", "don't", "no". She has also learned words like "bubble", "wow", "thank you" and "bless you". Her favorite words are "shoes" and "let's go!" She has a very sweet personality, but no hesitation in telling us when she doesn't agree with what we are doing.

She has also started using the potty, which is very exciting! Here she is enjoying her treat after a successful attempt!

We love you Aliza!

Milestones

It's been a busy few months at the Howell house.

First, I cut Amelia's hair. She grew it out to 10 inches so she could donate it to locks of love. So big step by Amelia to allow her hair to get cut, and big step by mom to actually cut it! I had avoided cutting it because I didn't want to lose her curls, and unfortunately, her curls are now gone...

Next, Ameila turned 5! She had a party with a few of her friends from church and school at a jumpy place. It was a lot of fun.

This past week, Amelia learned how to ride a two-wheel bike! Her bike sat riderless for almost a year because she didn't like the training wheels (they made it "tippy"). Then, Jason decided to take the pedals off so she get her balance figured out. After two weeks, she could balance, and now she is riding it like a pro!

She has been doing such a good job being patient with herself and not freaking out when it gets a little wobbly. We are so proud of her!