how about you?

what’s going on in your world right now? are you guys still reading? if you are, fill me in and asy hi. i’d love to know what you’re up to. 🙂
xoxo

 

ten years ago this past spring i was smiling because i had a really cute boyfriend who happened to look good in a uniform.

this was his graduation day. i could have NEVER guessed that I’d be visiting 10 1/2 years later and that we’d have four children and that we would have been through all we’ve been through.

going back was a little surreal.

i really didn’t take many pictures and i am KICKING myself for that. but i was too busy laughing. and talking. talking so much i’m hoarse today. but i would have loved to have a snapshot of jimmy talking to all of his old football team mates. oh well. 🙂

friday night was the class dinner and j and i went without the girls. it was SO fun to dress up.

seeing all those boys (who are now men–but i can still see the boy in them) was incredible.

they are all just as handsome…even more handsome,actually.they are happy. and successful. and handsome. and most of them are daddies and husbands. they have been through deployments and some of them have lost their friends. they have led men into war,flown helicopters,run corporations.

they drink scotch instead of beer, they are calmer and more settled, more world-weary…but the laughter,the inside jokes, the fact that they love being together..those things are the same.

they are the best of the best.

i got to see wives that i’ve known since we were all just girlfriends,and i was able to “meet” wives that i feel like i’ve known forever, even though it’s just been through a computer screen. i got to meet this girl and it was the highlight of my entire weekend. she’s smart,funny,beautiful,and snarky all rolled into one. my kind of girl.

saturday was the football game. we stayed on post with my best friend sarah. you’ve probably heard me talk about sarah over the years. we have been friends since sophia and harper were one. we’ve been through the scariest deployment possible, we got pregnant around the same time and had babies three weeks apart. she is the friend of my heart that i miss SO much. being 3 hours from her this year is a huge gift.

please note that we were accidental twinners. or “sister wives” as jimmy calls us when nick is gone.hahaha!

her husband is in saudi arabia for the year and there was a huge Nick-shaped-hole this weekend. but we thought of him and talked about him nonstop.

first up was the mandatory bloody mary (to go in a coffee cup of course)

then we got the girls into their cheerleader outfits:

and the babies into their t-shirts (they had a sitter for the game but they still had to show army spirit!)

and we were off! we walked to the game and watched the black knights lose..boooo. 🙁

we might have lost, but at least we got to see lots of people we love and introduce them to the girls. you should have seen people’s faces when they found out j had four girls.HAHAH!

we went to get the babies and then we walked to a tailgate. you walk everywhere on west point…i would LOVE to live there. it’s an amazingly beautiful place.

man. i had no idea all those years ago what an honor it truly was to go to west point. i didn’t even really know what it meant. when i met jimmy i had NO idea that wp was the army service academy. i didn’t even know where it was. (it’s in new york- about an hour from nyc-for those of you who don’t know either).

but now…especially when we go back to visit…i’m really humbled by the magnitude of what it means to be a west point graduate. it’s awe-inspiring.

they are the best of the best. they were then, they are now. they always will be.

happy tuesday,y’all.xoxo

if you don't get the reference but want to see why i think this pretty much the funniest thing ever, read here.

to say this amuses me would be a MASSIVE understatement. sadie is a mess.

happy wednesday!

 

keep the captions on yesterday’s photo coming. y’all they are making me laugh SO hard. a few of them had the tears streaming.

i’ll share a winner tomorrow (along with the in a creative bubble winners) but today i thought i’d share the entire series of massage photos.

i have to tell you that if these don’t make you laugh (or at least bring a smile to your face)…i don’t know that we can be friends.

just kidding.

sort of. but seriously, i think these are so dang hilarious, i can hardly stand it.

the babies were sitting at the counter “talking” to me and jimmy came up behind them and rubbed their shoulders. i just happened to have my DSLR out and snapped some photos.

SO glad i did. oh.my.gosh. their faces? ahahahhaa!

first up is cate:

and then lucy:

hahahahahha. okay. that is all. hopefully that brought a smile to your lips today.

oh, one more thing. if anyone is still reading, i have a fun hint. not only have i decided to do a december daily for the first time ever this year…i’ve had a really fun opportunity to contribute to a class.  i’m really, really excited as this is our first year to truly be together and start traditions.

xoxo

 

i love taking photos with my iPhone because i can snap photos without having a bulky DSLR in my face.

an iPhone is much lighter than a canon.

but this week i had my DSLR out on the kitchen counter. i had to take a few photos for a magazine assignment, and i just never put the camera away.

i am SO glad that i didn’t put that sucker up. because i ended up grabbing it all week at random moments and i got some great photos.

i don’t use my big camera often at all, so i noticed that i could really sneak some shots before the babies knew what i was doing. when they see my iPhone they say “cheeeeee”. haha!

here are the moments i caught.

 

sweet baby feet and silly babies rolling on mama and daddy’s bed.

lucy on the left and cate on the right. their hair is WILD these days.

also, you’ll notice that i’m slightly obsessed with picking up $8 play dresses at old navy.

this mama of four girls canNOT have enough affordable play clothes.

 

silly big girls before school. i was daring them to not laugh at me.

the babies put on harper’s headbands and were VERY pleased with themselves.


lucy “drooly mcdroolerson” howell

each day when sadie comes home from pre-k, we put the babies down for nap and then spend some special time together.

she pulls her stool up to the kitchen counter and does some kind of art activity while she tells me about her day. LOVE her face in these photos.

cate “reading” a book. 

she’s concentrating so hard with that little tongue out.

those curls are delicious.

then lucy wandered up and cate realized her alone time was over.

but she was fine with it because she loves “sheshe”- that’s how she says lucy.

their faces in these pictures make my heart hurt. i mean…have you ever seen anything cuter? EVER?

you can even see those sweet pudgy/dimpled elbows.

yeah…i think i’ll leave that camera out on the counter. because these make me happier than i can put into words.

happy friday,precious friends.