You just can't plan pictures like this

Cale discovers one of his mommy's favorite childhood toys

Faith digs into Cale's first birthday cake

Cale and Faith play tug-o-war with Faith's new favorite toy.

We must have all toys out of the basket. It is all about choices.

Merry Christmas

Hard to believe that the season is upon us. The years go by too quickly as we get older. And every minute is so fun these days that I almost wish they lasted just a few seconds longer.

The family enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving. My sister, husband, and son came to Billings and we had a wonderful day watching the babies play and pull on each other as babies are bound to do. We had a private little birthday party for Cale who turned one in November. Just another reminder that time flies.

Everyone will be pretty spread out for Christmas so Ben and I are looking forward to having Faith experience her very first Christmas in the comfort of her own home.

For now, we wish all friends and family a happy and safe holiday season. Hope you enjoyed the most recent pics.

It's November already

Hard to believe that next week is Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner. Yikes. I keep thinking that this time last year I already looked as big as a house and my feet were starting to resemble oversized marshmallows. Such fun.

The Billings Howards are hard at work with weekends full of play, play, play. The daycare is always prompting me to try new foods with Faith and whatever else so that she is ready to graduate to the pre-toddler room. I have started informing them that sadly they spend more time with her so they should just let me know what they have tried. I think this will work in their favor.

Faith is learning that making very loud noises in public is distressful for her mother, but very amusing for grandparents and anyone else watching me suffer. She has no desire to crawl or attempt to do much standing outside of when she pulls herself up from the zipper or tassle on whatever I happen to be wearing. I suppose I should be grateful that I have not yet found her wandering all over the house, but surely she'll find the need to move at some point, right?

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving with Erica, Alex and Cale. It is almost his one year birthday and we can't wait for the party. It is amazing how far he has come from that 3 pound little squirt he was a year ago. And that sweet little smile gets bigger and brighter every day.

So as per usual, we hope you enjoy some of the latest. Enjoy your Thanksgiving. There will be more to come before Christmas I am sure.

Mom can entertain her enough to keep her semi-focused. She was trying to get Bear to join us.

Pebbles is finally worn out after the daycare party and trick-or-treats.

It is far easier to keep Faith focused on the camera when the photographer is not a tripod and a timer.

Pebbles gets ready for her day of Halloween fun.

This is Bear's way of saying "Hey stay put would you!"

This part I really had to watch because my good little eater will truly try and eat just about anything.

Exploring the gooeyness of pumpkin carving.

Getting ready for school pictures. Yes, I said school pictures. What daycare centers will do these days.

Fall has approached with alarming speed. My latest excuse for the delay in new updated pictures is simply this...there are too many pictures to choose from. We had a wonderful weekend in Missoula a few weeks ago now for Homecoming. The cousins Cale and Faith got to play together. They already act as though the other has coodies and they are not sure that sharing is the way to go when it comes to toys. All in all though, I think they are growing on each other.

Tomorrow we are heading to the pumpkin patch, so with any luck we will have more candid moments to post in the near future. Until then, the Howard family in Billings wishes everyone well as the holidays approach at frightening speed.

The Cheerleader and the Football player are either learning to share or learning to tackle here.

Faith is modeling one of Grandma Darlene's adorable purchases. We try everything at least once before she grows right out of it.

Faith is discovering that she does not like mashed potatoes thus far. That is not a Howard trait.

Faith and Poppy are bonding, she loves the camera.

Grandpa Glenn and Faith have a grinning contest.

Hello all

I know it has been forever since I have added pictures. And there are so many it is hard to choose which ones you all will enjoy the most.

Faith is growing like a weed, she can sit on her own if we put her into the position, she loves tummy time and may think about crawling soon. She is very talkative in her own little language so she keeps us very entertained.

Ben and I continue to be busy worker bees and enjoy a calm weekend now and then to play with the little one and get some household chores out of the way. We wish we could travel everywhere to show off our little bundle of joy, but we sure do welcome the peaceful moments at home.

We hope this update finds everyone well and as usual we will promise to try and keep this updated.

Love,
Ben, Hil, and Faith

More pictures

How cute, she fell asleep standing up

The young Bronco fans pose for our amusement

That is the "this photographer is weird" smile

Grandpa Glenn introduces a banana to the diet

Faith happy as a clam with Great Grandpa Chuck

Keeping Bear close at the cabin

Our smiley, happy baby.
Enjoying the outdoors at the cabin with Papa.
Ever in front of the camera, cute as a button.

The cousins. Faith was 2 weeks old, Cale was 2 months old.
Just a newborn
About a month old, showing Griz power
2 months old and proud of it.

Welcome

Hello All,

Welcome to the family blog. I thought that since it is so hard for us to find time to sit down and send out individual emails with pictures and whatever else, I should do something that people can look at periodically and hopefully it will get updated as frequently as possible.

Now that I am getting this started, we are well into the heat of the summer. Faith is now nearly six months old and growing like a weed. And of course, Ben and Hil are hard at work during the week and never finding enough time to relax and accomplish stuff around the house on the weekend. We are loving every minute of life though.

So sit back and enjoy a few pics. We will do our best to keep it as updated as possible.

Love, Hil