So, I'm getting a little tired of these years in review as I'm sure you are too! We really did have a lot happen, and its fun to see how much my kids grew up in just 3 years. When we moved to Columbus they were little kids and toddlers. Now, they are kids and have minds and personalities of their own. Our last year in Columbus was fun, and we tried to play hard, to do all the things we would miss once we moved. John had gone on the job market a year early and we weren't sure if he was going to get a job or not. But we tried to make the most of it, but sadly life got in the way as did my stress so we didn't do as much as we would have liked to, but we still were able to play a lot and we had great friends to play with!
Memorial Day... making ice cream with liquid Nitrogen! Nice to know people in the science departments!
Ward Memorial Day picnic/breakfast.. The Harpers were able to join us, so my kids had a blast playing with friends.. Weston was off playing whatever sports the adults were playing!
Jason, John's older brother, graduated from Med school. We were all so proud of him and wanted to support him and celebrate all he did with a nice family gathering! Jared and Ali were in Chicago already, so we made the drive up and Ed and Sandy flew out from Utah. We were only missing Brenda's family, but they were in Oregon, and that would not have been a do-able drive!
Always fun with grandpa and phone apps!
Elayna LOVED having girl cousins!!!
The Awesome Jason and ever beautiful Becca!
Show'n some lov'n to Jason after his speech at one of the ceremonies! He really did a great job!!! So awesome to have such a wonderful family!! My kids would be in heaven if we were able to see Jason and Becca and their cousins every week.
Once we got home, it was back to basics... that means legos!
Grandma Sandy had stayed in Chicago for a week to help Jared and Ali get ready for their move to Houston TX. Then she was nice enough to come and visit us for a week! John was out of town for a few days of the visit. But all our site seeing would have been more than he could have handled anyway! We went to COSI at least once, I think the zoo. Amish country, a few close things and the Longaburger to see the oversized basket, and basket shaped office building. It was awesome - and very random!
playing with puppies at one of the Amish farms
Tyler's surgery finally came.. I was really eager to see if it would help. He was a very grumpy kid most of the time simply because he was always so tired. He tried so hard to be happy and to be good, but sometimes it was just too much for him.. I was planning to get a picture afterwards, but he was so sad and in a lot of pain and looked awful. It was all I could do to concentrate enough to not cry in front of him. I wasn't about to try and take pictures. I just sat in the chair and cuddled him until he could calm down and was feeling better enough to try to drink something and start working on being discharged. When I saw the ENT post surgery I had to laugh. He had told me at the office visit that Tyler's adenoid was 'huge'. But when he started telling me about the surgery the ENT's eye's lit up and he started getting very animated as he described the adenoid as 'gigantic'!!! He used hand motions and everything. The size and object of Tyler's misery for the last year or so had given such amusement to his surgeon! Gratefully, after a week of high fevers and finally having to snort out a mucous 1 plug the size of a large slug (seriously looked like he was trying to give birth through his nose - I had to assist with tweezers as much as I could) and the other a large worm - more tweezers less child birth like snorting, Tyler could finally breath. The fevers were gone and Tyler was better than ever!!!
The Squires came for a week visit and we played hard. We met in Kirkland and tried to delay their visit to Columbus since we had just gone a week with no power and it was about 100 degrees everyday with high 90% humidity. We finally did make it to Columbus and they only had to spend one or two nights in a hotel before we got our power back and then they came to stay with us. Kirkland was great, seeing them was even better! Our kids, especially Elayna, think they are our cousins. So we have unofficially adopted them!! We took a trip to the Dayton air museum, played around Columbus and generally just enjoyed their company. It is always so nice when we can see them. Sadly, I can't find any pictures except this one from our trip. Hopefully I'll find them by the time I start putting scrap books together!!
Elayna turned 5. The big 5 years old!!! Sweet and Sassy and just so cute! She did not get a birthday party, but didn't seem to care too much.
At the age of 10, Weston finally lost his first teeth!
The Harpers played with us as much as our schedules would allow over the summer, and we loved it. We finally took a trip to some of the Indian Caves just a little north of us. We had a blast!
One saturday John took the kids on a bike ride while I ran to the library. Planning to meet me there since the bike trail went up to the library. Well, I guess they found a bird that was dying slowly and decided to bring it home. They met me at the library with a bird cradled in one of their bike helmets, and had to run in to get paper towels to swaddled the now dead bird in to bring home. The next day the kids demanded that we burry the bird and have a funeral for it. So as soon as we got home from church that is what we did. Kind of weird if you ask me!
It was really upsetting to the kids though, so as good parents we just loved and supported them as we went through the fake funeral.. When they each started saying something nice about the bird, I couldn't in good conscious say anything. 1. Because I would have started laughing if I ever got the sarcastic tinge out of my voice. 2, because I thought it was silly and wouldn't have been able to pretend long enough to think of anything to say!
Elayna's outfit of choice for several days when we went out to run errands!
Garry and Sachi were awesome, down the street neighbors, and had such cute, fun dogs. Weston, Tyler and Elayna LOVED any chance they had to play with them and about died when Gary suggested that they give the dogs a bath!
First day of school!! Weston 4th grade, Tyler 2nd and Elayna Kindergarten... So fun. We were a short 4 minute drive to the newly renovated school, but it was still in a busy and congested area. We were too close to get bussed, as was most of the school so we had to drive and park about 2-3 blocks away and walk into the school. Pick up was about the same. If I got there 20 minutes early I could usually find a parking spot fairly close and then I'd just wait till the bell rang, then go sit on the playground (black top) while the kids played for the next hour. Then we'd head home and start all over again the next day. To and from that school was mostly obnoxious, but the school itself, AWESOME!!! I miss that school and the principal/teachers a lot!!!
90+ degrees outside and not raining... this was what she wanted to wear though!
As things started to cool down. Dalyn and I took a few days to play here and there. One of which was to an apple farm where I found that eating apples straight from the trees is amazing enough that I might want apple trees of my own someday!!! Ohio apples are awesome. Sadly, I didn't take advantage of this more than I did.
I had great ambitions of training for a 1/2 marathon. So I could finally run one at the same elevation I trained at.. Assuming I could prepare for the Columbus half in May. So I signed up for the leap for Ligers 5K and when we got there decided to let the kids run too to help support the scouts! The kids loved it.. Theirs was a 1 mile run with an option for the smaller kids to turn around and do just a half mile. Weston came in first I think, or within the first 3 kids. Tyler was right behind him and Elayna took a while getting back, but she ran the entire mile and I was so proud of her!!! She was proud of herself too! It was hot and humid and kind of miserable, but we had a great time!
Exploring the powers of Kindergarten and the possibilities of fashion with 2 different shoes! She wore it all day and loved it!
Soccer... a Howell must!
The Harpers joined us as we enjoyed Pirate day on board the Santa Maria. A full-sized replica they have in Down town Columbus. It was a lot smaller than I would have guessed, and I am really glad we don't travel by small boat anymore! There were lots of people, lots of cleavage and lots of pirates.. They even put on a little pirate dramatic display with cannons and a prisoner being boated off in a little side boat. It was pretty cool.
Age 8, loosing his first 3 teeth!
We finally made it to an OSU football game. We were sitting in the student section and had to put up with drunk students trying to impress each other. Gratefully a few girls had enough sense to see that kids were around so they were able to tame the language a bit. But still, not one of my favorite memories! I can't figure out why everyone stood through the entire game, and even more so, why it's such a big deal! In my estimation, foot ball is a bunch of guys who huddle a lot then run around and huddle some more. John keeps trying to explain why it's more than that, but either I'm really dense, or I just keep tuning him out. Cause I can't stand the sport! I think I'll survive better if I never have to sit through another football game again!
Fun times at a very fun pumpkin farm.. There was tube rolling, mini and big zip lines for kids. Petty zoo, hay bales to play on and jump around.. Really these pictures don't do it justice, but just know. Fun was had by all! We spent most of the day there and loved it! Especially because we got to play with the Harpers again!
So John ended up with a corneal ulcer. That wasn't this... this was something different but he can't remember what the name is! But his eye was bleeding out through the white part. It was really gross and a little scary, but as bad as it looked here, it was worse in real life.. but now is completely fine and forgotten!
We were able to babysit a friends Guinea pig a few times. The kids LOVED it. I wasn't as thrilled, but put up with is, hoping it would give the kids their needed animal fix. Ohhh, I should learn that will never be filled without getting a pet. But I did learn, that even with weekend pets - I still ended up doing all the cleaning up!
These were test/silly Halloween costumes! Day of, Elayna was a fairy princess and Tyler was Harry Potter.. Weston was Percy Jackson from one of the Rick Riordan books, and surprised me by asking me to get black hair spray so he could really look the part! So he walked around with black hair and an empty backpack, and an orange shirt that we wrote "camp half blood" on with Sharpie!
(Weston making a mummy out of Tyler)
Again, we got to go see Erik, Min, Spence and Ella for Thanksgiving! And just like the year before, we had a blast!
Weston performing at his piano recital. He ended up taking a little over a years worth of lessons and was actually very good. But soccer and school and playing outside has won out, so now we're on a break!
Our Family picture for the year!
Winters in Columbus were a hit and miss thing. We had been told horror stories of 5' plus of snow and ice storms that took power out for weeks at a time. But we really didn't notice anything to painful about the winters. Don't get me wrong, they were cold - the nasty humid cold. But we never really had much snow to work with or play with. Weston was determined to build a snow man! This he made and we watched it get smaller and smaller as the week went on. I think total, it was about 12" tall. There was a week though when we got a decent amount of snow, and a few days of school because of it. So we followed the neighborhood and found a great hill to sled down. The kids had fun, and I did what I could to keep my toes and fingers from freezing! We didn't stay out too long, it was just tooooooo cold! But we didn't enjoy some nice hot chocolate and warm rice bags on our toes when we got home!
Clinton Elementary had a yearly skating party with the principal that the kids always wanted to go to. I wasn't thrilled about ever going because my kids didn't know how to skate and we 'conveniently' were never able to make the schedules work to go. But it was inevitable I guess. Elayna was invited to a birthday party that we just couldn't miss and so the boys came along and they all had their first go with roller skates. We learned from that outing that 1. No, my kids were not naturally coordinated. 2, roller skates are death traps and roller blades make it actually do-able! 3, that all 3 kids wanted roller blades of their own. and 4. That really it was just me that was scared, they got over it and had fun!!! I just kept remembering the birthday part I went to as a kid at a roller skating rink. I fell so many times that my wrists still hurt if I put too much pressure on them! But again, it's about the kids I guess... not me and my fears!!
The brain child behind John's plan to be "pants" for Halloween one year!
Columbus is awesome, I'm not sure I can say that enough!!! I LOVED Columbus and would have loved to stay there. One of the many awesome things about the city was a fun recreational outlet building that allowed free play 2 mornings a week. So when school was out for any reason we could go over to this huge building with trampolines and play sets, basketball courts and more. I just let the kids play and play for hours, while I sat and read or talked with friends. It was awesome! There were a few times when I just needed a break and it wasn't free play. But the cost to go was so cheap that we took advantage anyway! Like I said... Awesome!!!
A pict. from one of the many metro parks around the city. Sadly, we didn't take advantage of this park sooner. We just went this last year, and loved it.. it was such a great place for kids to run and play. I'm so glad we had good friends to explore with!
John started making artisan bread. Amazingly enough, if made with natural yeast my celiac seems to be able to handle the wheat flour. I'm still experimenting, but it seems to be okay at least occasionally. It's not such a good thing for our waist lines though - this is yummy bread!! And John and really good at making it!
This was at some scout activity. And though I normally don't post pictures of myself because I never look good in them. This one was so obviously not a good picture that I didn't see the harm in not posting. Especially since I'm not in any of the other pictures, I'm always the one taking them. This is to show that I do exist, and occasionally have to think really hard!!
This is from the 1/2 marathon I ran. I didn't do as well as I would have liked, but I did finish and in a reasonable time frame. Sadly I sprained a tendon pretty badly, so I had to stay out of running mode for a few months. And by then we had left to Utah and my desire to run was done. I'm trying to get back into it, but I might need to wait until it starts warming up in the spring!
As for the Columbus 1/2. It was pretty fun. They had bands playing on the side of the road, spread out throughout the first 10 miles. The last 3 were hard, but the ending hoopla could be seen so it was enough to keep you going.. especially because they had you running into the heart of the city. It was pretty cool. Even better because I had John and the kids there to cheer me on! They found me at the beginning then drove through the madness to the end of the route to cheer me on at the end. I felt loved!!
Weston turned 10, and yes he got his roller blades! One happy boy. Tyler was so sad that he didn't have any and Weston wasn't always nice about sharing. But.......
Tyler turned 8 and got a pair of his own! So then it was just Elayna that needed someone to share with her! Lucky for her and us, our good friends/neighbors had a pair that they were getting rid of that fit Elayna. So all 3 had their own set and we had enough great weather that they all figured it out really fast! Elayna was a little more patient as she was learning so she picked it up faster than the boys, but they did all get it and now can speed past me and have even started to work on jumping and turning and spinning tricks! It's awesome to have such a fun outside activity.
Being a new 8 year old also meant that Tyler was able to be baptized. What a happy boy. We had a wonderful baptismal service with family and friends. Most importantly we felt the Spirit of the Lord there and knowing that we were moving made it even more special that we had so many good friends come.
Tyler got his scout shirt from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Ed for his birthday and to say he was excited is an understatement. He wasn't actually going to do any scouting in Columbus since he was leaving for Utah at the end of the week, the day after school ended. But the thought of being a boy scout, with or without any activities was enough to keep him smiling for days!
Since we didn't do friends birthday parties this year we all felt like we needed at least one last hoopla with friends before we moved. We had met so many good, dear friends over in Clintonville. I still miss them (even though I'm not good as keeping in touch), and my kids are missing their friends a lot. The last day of school was only a half day so we planned to have a little party at a park that afternoon as one last chance to say goodbye. The kids were flying out to Utah the next morning. We didn't get a huge turn out, but we had enough! I think it was close to 100 degrees outside and we were dying! We had boxes of those ice cream sandwich/cone assortments from Costco and a bunch of slushy popsicles. We learned quickly that the ice cream wasn't going to last and we should have just had more popsicles, that at least could still be used as drinks when they melted. Regardless though, the kids had a good time. They each had a school shirt that the other kids could sign and everyone had lots and lots of cold sugar.
This was on the way to the airport... we had to stop by the Park of Roses for one last look. And to show Grandma Sandy who had stayed since the baptism so she could fly with the kids to Utah while John and I stayed to pack, then head to his conference in Chicago. Yup... these are my kids!
In the airport. Yes, I did cry - yes I am a horrible cryer. And yes, we had to leave before they got much further because I was such a mess and didn't want them to see. I already had the rest of the adults in the line behind the kids feeling sorry for me. I really needed to get some fresh air!
Gary and Sachi came for one last good-bye with Kuma and Hock. We all missed the kids this time, because the dogs really loved the kids and even more, the kids LOVED their dogs!
I had most of everything packed up and since we had movers coming to 'pack' and move us, I wasn't worried about getting everything done. But I wanted to know where everything was and in what boxes, so I tried to do as much as I could. All in all, our move was cheap! I did a lot more than I though and we got rid of a lot more stuff than we had planned. Still a lot to do, but so much nicer without the kids! John and I were able to spend some time playing with friends, going out for dinner and experimenting with vacuum sealed bags! This is a puff quilt that is hardly able to fit into a large sized moving box... thanks to vacuum pack technology - it fit in a very dense 1' x 18" x 4" cube! very awesome!!!
The last of our apartment... So glad to never see this place again. We loved Columbus, but we did not LOVE this apartment.
And this was it.. We headed to Utah by way of Chicago for John's conference. It was so weird to not have our kids for 2 weeks, but it really was nice! As we drove along and came to this sign, it was such a weird feeling for me. I have never felt so at home, as I did in Columbus. We had no money and John was almost always busy, but it was home and it was wonderful. To think we were only visiting was kind of sad to think about. Pennsylvania is only a 6 hour drive and I thought we'd find time to go back every so often, but now that we're in Pennsylvania I'm not sure when we will go back. It's not our home anymore, and that is sad to think about. That chapter in our lives was over and we were on to the next. Our decision to leave a stable job and move east for school was a leap of faith, but such wonderful blessing were ours because we were willing to make the jump! As we start this next chapter, I look forward to making this our home, and hopefully we wont just be visiting this time.
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