Nothing earth shattering...

no, thank goodness, we were not victims of a driveby.

yummy, no wonder he didn't want to eat it in a boat or in the dark...

This picture makes it look like Micah was sick but he wasn't.

Sadie Jane and Rex playing

...going on just trying to love Jesus, each other and others! Just door shattering over here at the Harper's. We have had a really good last week or so...hanging out with friends and family...playing as a family when possible and I have even started going to a real Bible study for myself (not one that I force others to do with me, but one where we have a real teacher:)) The first two pictures are two stories in one- I don't know if you can tell but we had a miracle in that Mick was cutting grass yesterday and a rock shattered our sliding glass door. Sadie Jane and I were standing right where it hit not two minutes prior. Thank you Jesus! On the other side is where Micah and I have been having school with some cool dry erase crayons! You can't really see it but it is a tracing of Micah himself and everytime he walks by it, he says hey Micah and gives it five! Next are our attempt at green eggs and bacon...we were all out of ham:) Micah had read the book and insisted we make it for dinner and because we were home alone I figured why not? Sadie Jane enjoyed them too. The other pics are from Sadie Jane's date with a friend, baby Rex, who apparently enjoys getting sick as soon as he leaves our house. We are hoping he feels better real soon! Keeping up with two kids and a coach these days plus working and on and on is taking up all my bloggin' energy. It also is doubly challenging now that I have TWO walking babies...even though one is a great deal wobblier than the other. Although I would still bet that our Micahbird falls more! I just needed a catch up post so I can continue on with blogging. This is more recordkeeping. Micah and Sadie Jane are just both growing and changing like crazy...and praise Jesus I am learning to handle it as it comes and enjoy being the mom of both of them. This weekend we followed Mick out of town to a tournament and stayed in a hotel ... Mick wasn't around much but we got to see him so that made it worth it. I traveled unpacked and packed all with both kiddos. At one point Micah was in charge while I was getting things packed up and I couldn't find SayJ. Micah had actually lifted her up and put her in the bathtub. It wet her last outfit that we had with us but it was funny to think about the fact that he did it all and she never wimpered...just let him do it. Sadie Jane isn't the most verbal girl...don't know how that is possible...but she is saying night night when she is tired, hello when she puts anything to her ear and bye bye but only if she is in the mood. Mama and Dada are pretty rare these days. Micah is starting school in a few weeks and I am still trying to decide if I can balance his school and trying to home school. We are just trying to see if it would even work. So lately I have been working with him with a few books we've been given and just recently I got him dry erase crayons that we can write on the sliding glass door with...as a sidenote it is really important to me that as a boy Micah doesn't begin to hate school activities because he was not designed to sit behind a desk and be sedentary (not that he wont be expected to be ABLE to do it if need be) but for the majority I want him to be engaged. So we have been working on numbers...writing them and identifying them. Math of course. He has been able to identify some but any number with a circle in it gives him trouble...you know 6, 8, 9. He gets them all confused. Well we worked hard on the window this morning then went to Mick's school for lunch...then Aunt Amy's school to deliver chicken house coupons. Both places I let him show his new skill on their board. He did ok at Mick's school but I knew that those three numbers weren't happening. I tried them at Aunt Aims and Micah got them right!! I am sure it is a fluke but it sure was fun to see him succeed at something that I had taught him. So that got me feeling what it would be like to homeschool. Minus all the frustrating moments where he doesnt listen, etc. :) Another game and day at the ballfield this afternoon...hoping it isn't a hotdog night!

Tutu Fun Tuesday!

Bubba Love

Eye!

More kisses!

Now for a bellykiss...

pure joy!

Daddy and his babies

Rearview Tutu

Oooo, that sun was bright bright.

Look who is walking...

and playing ball.

Singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

watching Bubba ride his motorcycle.

Today we have had fun and the fun will continue if cutie pants will take a nap before Mick's first official ballgame today. Micah actually asked to hold Sadie Jane this morning and wanted to play with her. He also wanted a bottle (which she hasn't had in months!) so he could feed her. Better late than never, right? It was too sweet not to take pictures of...then my mom came and watched them while I ran errands so that we could take Mick lunch to school. We were all decked out in our purple for the game and I figured why waste the cuteness on the mud only. So at least someone saw SayJ before that white onesie turned orange. Thankfully now that Mick is back in the classroom we will be able to see him more often...the way we did before. His old job was supposed to be flexible but it wasn't. So we also get to see Mrs. AnneMarie who is about to have little Emersyn anyday now. We took her some CFA today and I remembered those hot days last summer when SayJ was in my belly and I feel for all you with child right now, because this heat is insane...I swelled but I can't imagine with it being THIS hot. Prayers for all of you...especially AnneMarie:) I am so thankful that Mick is back at Chapel Hill. After that we came home and got some pictures before Micah's and (I hope) SayJ's nap. Sorry there are so many I just couldn't help it. These are more for Nana and Jenny. And to document her walking...she can't decide if she wants to walk or just crawl because it is so much easier. She walks so much better with something in her hand though...weird. Ok, this is not a blogpost it is a scrapbook post. My apologies.

Spur of the Moment...

Micah Centerstage...aka Centertable

With his biggest fan!

taking it down a knotch

The priceless behind the back move...

that he came up with by himself!

the kiddos with baby Rhett!!

...weekend.
...dinner with friends.
...dance party.
...concert by Micahbird.
...trip to Sam's.
...run with Aims....on a trail!
...trip to Kroger with Micah and Hayden.
...night of sleep.

So this weekend we had alot of fun. Minus Mick's first ballgame in the pouring rain that we saw two seconds of then headed back home. We had good family time plus got in some time with the Hane's and a run with Amy. The best part of the weekend was a thirty minute jam session with Micah in the lead. Priceless. Almost everything we did this weekend was spur of the moment. No planning just last minute. I am a planner but it was so nice to just hang out and do very little. If you need something to jam out to Blake Shelton's "It's All About Tonight" helped us get our swerve on at the Harper House. PS- there is an a** in it. Sorry!

comic relief

This week I have been stressed for a variety of reasons(family, work, school, kids, sleep, etc.) and things in general just feel tense. Ever feel that way? I don't usually let stuff get to me this hard core. But it is...didn't really realize it til the pounding in my head and the tension in my neck almost bought me a small panic attack. Nonetheless things are never as bad as they could be nor as dire as they seem at the time. And when you live with children no matter the stresses they are bound to give you just what you need...comic relief.

If you need some too I thought I'd share...if not skip it:)

Sadie Jane is walking...not like normal people do but in the weird four to eight steps at a time. Yes, we count people, I'm a Harper and I am married to Mick, we must count.
I find it humorous that Sadie Jane is figuring the walking thing out at almost exactly the same time as Micah did...as if to say...I wont be outdone by my overly obnoxious big brother.

And lest you think I am doting my boy has had his moments too...HAHAHAHA

Like just today at the mall:

We went into Bath and Body Works because I had a coupon for something for free, and while I don't use those trial size things one of you might get some from the gift closet. It is the thought that counts, right? Anyways, we ended up spending a little money (sucker, their marketing worked, but it wont ever work at Vicky Secrets and the free panties...I am still way up on their company with that one) I digress again. So we were getting those cute little hand sanitizer thingies with the things you attach to the bookbags. I let Micah pick out one and I got a new one and we had a coupon. This will all be relevant when I tell you we went to the elevator to get on and Micah holds up one already put together that neither of us picked out and says "I have this one and you did not pay for it." Agh. So I explain he was stealing, whatever his intentions were and we march back in for our little lesson, (haven't we already had a stealing lesson, I'll have to look back on the blog, apparently it wasn't memorable enough for Micah or I) Hopefully this time will do the trick. So he apologized and returned it to the lady. She had apparently encountered quite a few three year old thiefs because she helped enforce the lesson while also thanking him for being honest. Nice.

While we are getting loaded into our car Micah says he needs to tee tee on the ground. He loves to watch the pee role down the asphault toward either another car or more preferably, my shoes. I am loading and holding Sadie Jane so I acknowledge his request thinking he meant on the wheel etc. I get back to fold up the stroller and he is middle of the back of the car shooting it out into the parking lot for all to see. The arc went to the middle of the street. There was no stopping it once he started so I just laughed and covered his manhood up once he finished and dripped on our bumper. Really nice.

Thankful for Friday's and hoping for better days ahead. Hoping and more importantly praying for them.

Dinner of Champions

Spaghetti and Pintos and Yogurt. Yum.

Look at that tongue

and that face!

The tongue out is apparently Micah's new strike-a-pose.

Food was everywhere!

School has officially begun. After a fun trip to the lake this weekend we start the week flying solo for a few days. Last night was such a good time with just the babies and I. I just kept thinking how thankful I was because often those are the nights where everything that can go wrong does. And there is alright tonight for that, right? While I didn't get to watch the train wreck of Bachelor Pad we did get to play and eat as just us three. Sadie Jane loves to eat. It cracks me up so that Micah ate four things of baby food til he was fifteen months and would choke on a puff and SayJ is ten months and wolfed down spaghetti and never even thought about gagging. The only reason she would have would be out of the sheer volume of food she puts in that sweet mouth. Mick was not here which was good because his cleanliness couldn't have taken the sghetti and pinto paste that was made and stuck to every crevice on our sweet girl. We went outside to play and undress after and the ants literally tried to attack her on her blanket!! I have more to type but lots of work to do and shock of all shocks Sadie Jane wants to EAT!

Endless Summer...sortof.

Today we had a busy day. It was our last tiny tots tennis lesson. Micah was so excited about going today, because Charlee Ray was supposed to go with us. BUT she chickend out because she said she didn't want to get all hot and sweaty! Oh my am I glad I had a boy first. Charlee Ray and Bay are so funny and girly...just like I was. Were it not for Micah my kiddos would be the same way...and being like that is much less acceptable for a boy. Fortunately God made Micah just how He wanted to and it happens to be as manly as a three year old could possibly be. So Micah and I went to tennis while Nana stayed with all three of her girls. Then we all went to lunch. The girls go back to school this week so we wont get to see them as much. It was fun to hang out with them and go to the mall and we got to see the CFA minicow. You would think working at the chicken house I would get lots of pictures at my own events. But there is no time when I am working for such things so it was a nice surprise that the mall had their cow out and about. Not to mention smart marketing for them. Now we are at home looking at a long night without Mick. But I sticking to my positive attitude and going to try the most to enjoy our "endless summer". The pictures above were taken at tiny tots by Ashleigh, one of Micah's favorite teachers. I stole them because they were just too cute not to!

Steppin'

Baby girl is taking her first steps these last few days. She is by no means walking but she is steppin' if you will. She is so excited about it and I just love her to pieces more and more everyday. She has brought each of us such joy and changed our world for the better.
Speaking of making steps...I am trying to do the same...baby steps as small as SadieJane's I am sure but steps of positivity nonetheless.
Today marks Mick's first day of softball tryouts and the beginning of singlemomhood. Thankfully SayJ is a bit older this year and there (hopefully) wont be entire nights spent in hotel rooms with her screaming her brains out with reflux...wondering why her family would travel with her at just a few weeks old. Micah has reached the age that he so looks forward to our ballfield seasons and loves watching his Daddy coach. I am trying to wrap my brain around the fact that this is our life and no matter how grumpy I get that really isn't going to help or change anything (yes, six years in I decide to get on the happy train:) Seriously I am choosing to put my happy face on and enjoy what God has called Mick to...and therefore our family to. I have checked out a bit being either pregnant or with a newborn for the last few seasons. But prayerfully this year I can really get back in the mix of things. Spending all summer with Destiny...one of the players that we have basically adopted into our family (along with all of hers) has made me want to invest more in the girls again and I hope that God will multiply my time so that I can both take care of my kiddos and get to know the girls a little better too. I miss being a bigger part of Mick's ministry there. With that being said I just want to say that while Mick and I definitely have been challenged in our marriage with each child and with circumstance, etc. I am so proud of him and the jobs he chooses. While I have been resentful and difficult in the past I know that in my heart he is teaching me and now our children what it means to lay down your life in the name of Jesus and what greater gift could he give us. Things aren't always roses nor will I agree with every second he spends away. But more and more as he works his tail off at summer school, on the field, fundraising, talking to parents, fielding phone calls and teaching I see how thankful I should be. So thanks Mick and we love you much!
Disclaimer: I know lots of you are thinking cry me a river...and rightly so...but I am just documenting some commitment to be content where God has placed me so that when I get grumpy or resentful again I can remind myself to "get happy and thankful"