2 birthday parties and Halloween

Where do I begin? First of all I'm sorry for this post being forever long I think it is the longest post ever in the history of blogging. :) Well probably not but it is still long. This past month was busy to say the least. First we had Julianna's 2 year old birthday party, then Halloween and then Noah's birthday party with family. His birthday party with his friends is this Saturday. Whew then it will be our anniversary and Christmas. This time of year is so busy for our family but I love it and would not have it any other way. First are pictures from Julianna's party, then Halloween and then Noah's party. I hope you enjoy all of the pictures! :)

JULIANNA'S 2 YR B-DAY PARTY

Elmo cookies that were so yummy. Thanks Laurie!

Video of Julianna beating up Elmo. Too cute.


Julianna kissing her little boyfriend goodbye

She is such the little mama with her new baby doll

Eli and cousin Claira playing with the wooden dress up dolls

Noah hiding in the box

Opening presents

Throwing a fit. Make sure you watch the video at the end to see her fit on Halloween.

Elmo and Cookie Monster. They were a hit.

NOAH'S 7 YR B-DAY PARTY

Remote controlled helicopter that he loved and it broke after about 15 minutes. I called the company and they are replacing it. He can't wait for his new one.

Papaw trying to fix the helicopter

And here is the Pillow Pet that I was talking about in the last post.

I think he likes it.

Pumpkin pie instead of cake. How many 7 year olds ask for pumpkin pie for their b-day?

And to top off the great birthday weekend he lost a tooth. This is his 3rd tooth lose but the first up top.

TRUNK OR TREAT AT OUR CHURCH


Eli changing a tire on the RA Racer

Noah changing the RA Racer tire

Daddy holding all of the candy

Magic show that the kiddos really enjoyed

Family pic at Trunk or Treat

Noah, Noah, Noah!!!

Noah is my precious, strong-willed and lovable first born son. He found one of our old digital cameras and takes pictures of himself, his brother and sister all the time. He is enjoying it and I think it is fun to look at the pictures, some of them are quite good actually. He says some of the funniest things sometimes and we have always said that we can see his wheels turning in his head. This week they are on Fall Break and I have had something planned for them everyday. Monday we went to the zoo and yesterday we went to the Children's Museum. I was so tired yesterday morning after a day at the zoo so I was just letting them play hoping that they would not remember that we were supposed to go the the museum. But I was not so lucky when I heard Noah ask me when we were going. I told him I had decided that we stay home today and go tomorrow. He would not have any part of that and started crying. I felt so horrible I mean what was I thinking this is their Fall Break and I'm wimping out. I told him to get his brother and tell him that they needed to get dressed so we could go. On the way home from the museum Noah was thanking me for taking him and telling me he had a fun time. He then said "I was crying at home and I was thinking that my crying would not work but it did and you changed your mind". WHAT?!!! Had I just been played by my 6 year old? I think so! Then last night John was putting the boys to bed and Noah informed him that he wanted a pillow pet. John looked at him and asked what a pillow pet was. Noah said "It's a pillow. It's a pet. It's a pillow pet. A million kids already have one and love them and I want one for my birthday. I can even take it to Mamaw's house." He pretty much repeated the entire commercial. The boy cracks us up! That's our Noah.

First day of school and Grandparent's Day

We have been busy around here. I can not believe I have been away from my blog for so long. I'm so sorry about that and I promise I will not be away for so long again. I have so much to catch y'all up on and I will do that. I have been sewing like crazy around here and I will post pictures of those projects soon.

The boys are both in school now and I can not believe that it is just me and Julianna at home now. Noah is in 1st grade and Eli is in Kindergarden. They both love their class and their teachers. Atoka is growing so quickly that they had to add another kindergarden class this year. Of course Eli would be one of the kids in his class to be moved to the new class. He made the transition with no problems and is excited because his friend Chloe is in his new class. I know his teacher to so it all worked out perfectly!

It is so quiet around the house now and Julianna asks every morning where her bubbas are. It's too cute. I think she has gotten used to being at home without her brothers and is enjoying the one on one time with mommy. I'm enjoying it too. I am still teaching Kindermusik once a week and we are having fun. Here are a few pics of the boys at school with their teachers.

The first few pictures are from Grandparent's Day at school. Memaw brought them lunch from McDonald's. Papa was supposed to come to the Grandparent's Day Breakfast but he had to work for the first time during the day for months. He normally works nights but that week he had to work days. The boys enjoyed having Memaw at their school for lunch.


Memaw and Noah

Memaw and Eli

Eli and Chloe

Will you look at that face! TROUBLE!

Noah was also excited to see a few friends from last year in his class. This is his friend Douglass.

Eli and his teacher Mrs. April. We love her!!Eli and Mrs. Tracey. This was his first teacher until they switched him. We love her too and were so excited when he was put in her class. Oh well maybe Julianna will get her. :)

Noah and his teacher Mrs. Bonds. He is having such a fun time in her class.

Summer Fun

The kiddos and I have had a busy busy summer. These last few weeks I have tried to pack as much stuff in as humanly possible. We have been to the Children's Museum(look here for pics of that day), the zoo, the library, the sprinkler parks, Mud Island and we even went to see the Disney train to promote the new Christmas movie "A Christmas Carol". These pictures are from one of the sprinkler parks, the Disney Train and Mud Island. We had a fun summer and I'm sad to see it go. Eli and Noah will both be in school so it will just be me and Julianna at home. That's okay though because I have Kindermusik on Tuesdays and I'm sure we will have some playdates set up soon. Enjoy the pics of our summer fun!!!

Eli is 5!!!

I can not believe that my little Eli is 5 and is heading to Kindergarten. Me being the horrible mother I am decided to make his 5 year old check up with shots and all on the day of his birthday. He took all 4 shots like a champ because he knew we were headed to Chuck E. Cheese after the doctor's visit. The next day we had his birthday party at McDonald's. All in all it was a busy and fun weekend. Now he is ready for Kindergarten!!!! Enjoy the pics.

Gulf Shores Vaction Day 1

We went to Gulf Shores, AL with the kiddos for our first family vacation. It was fun, tiring, hectic, whiny, beautiful, sandy, hot and oh did I mention we had a blast. :) John and I had not been to the beach since I was pregnant with Noah 6 years ago. The last time we went on vacation together was 3 years ago to Gatlinburg and the boys stayed with my mom. Needless to say this was a long awaited much needed vacation for the entire family.

We stayed at this beautiful resort called The Beach Club. They had everything you could think of for the family and for kids to do. They had planned activities all week if we wanted the kids to participate, but we did not maybe next time though. We were there for only 2 full days and we spent the other two days traveling. It was a short trip but fun to say the least. Here are some pictures from our first day at the beach. Our kiddos had never been to the beach and they loved playing in the sand and the water.

Julianna was so excited to see the beach

Noah just taking in the beauty

Eli playing in the sand

John enjoying the water

Eli still playing in the sand. This is pretty much were he and Julianna stayed

Daddy and Noah "surfing"

These are the 3 towers of The Beach Club. We stayed on the 12th floor of the middle tower.

John setting up the tent

Julianna playing in the sand

Dragonfly that flew into our room.

Looking down from our balcony

Looking from our balcony at the property. This place had four outdoor pools and one indoor pool each with a hot tub.

The forever long boardwalk to the beach

The kiddos first look at the beach

Our balcony. We sat and drank our coffee there every morning and talked in the evening.

Julianna showing me the beach

The kiddos bathroom

The kiddos bedroom

John unpacking

Our laundry room

Kitchen

Living room

Balcony off of our bedroom

Vanity in our bathroom

Our bathroom

Our bedroom

Uncle Ben is off to the Navy

I'm the oldest of 4 and the only girl. I have 3 younger brothers Charlie who is 29, Ben who is 26 and Sam who is 25. There was definitely never a dull moment in our family. We had a lot of fun growing up and we still have fun. The middle of the brothers, Ben, just joined the Navy and is in boot camp as I type. He will graduate in August and I could not be more proud of him if I tried. From boot camp he will head to California for linguistics school through the Navy. When he is done with all of his schooling he will then go into the Intelligence Department for the Navy. He had to put all of our names on a list for the Navy and I can only imagine what that means. I'm not sure what to think about having my name on a list that the government owns but I guess it could be a good thing. Who really knows? :)

Three out of the 4. Sam lives in Franklin, TN and could not make it down. Left to right is Charlie, me and Ben.

Me and Ben

Mom, Ben and Dad

Me, Ben and the Harber kiddos

Charlie's girls Wendy in the back, Eli, Claira and Noah

Eli enjoying his ice cream

Noah enjoying his ice cream

Julianna and memaw enjoying their ice cream