Lake Powell

"Funny Faces"

Brodey just started preschool with five girls in our neighborhood. All of us moms take turns teaching about once a month, or so. Today, preschool was at Brodey's house! He could hardly wait for his class to arrive :) We learned all about the letter F! We had so much "fun"! Here is Brodey, and all his "friends" doing "Funny Faces". We also made some "fish" out of paper plates, sang Old MacDonald had a "farm", played with "farm" animals, had some "fishy crackers" for a snack, played the "freeze dance" game, traced some "fall leaves", and decorated "frames" for our "funny faces" picture...and to top it off, all the girls got to take home a "fancy bag" full of the crafts/art they had made and some "flower stickers". It was a blast to watch Brodey learning and discovering new things today. His little brain was running a million miles a minute! It is always so rewarding, as a mom, to watch your own children grow and learn. What fun.

Heritage Park

Brodey, Hazel, and I, had lots of fun at Heritage Park today. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn about the pioneers and all they have done for us. I am grateful for their faith and self-sacrifice which has brought me, and my little family, so much happiness.

Summer Fun!

Brodey has 4 stapels in his head...

One of my best friends just moved to Chicago, yesterday! As we hugged each other goodbye, I promised that I would update our family's blog often and consistently :) That's going to be a large commitment for an "only-post-once-every-four-months-person", like myself. But, however, the commitment has been made....so I'm going to give every effort to keep it! And, luckily, as of recent, I have a pretty good story to kick off my new commitment!

Sundays have become Brodey's favorite day of the week because on Sunday, his dad isn't at work or doing homework, and therefore spends oodles of one-on-one time with Brodey; Brodey soaks up every minute! Yet, on this particular Sunday, as my husband and son were wrestling (with their usual intensity), Brodey jumped onto Jared's stomach and fell backwards, leading with his head, right into the corner of the return vent adjacent to the baseboard. OUCH! Brodey began to whimper, and Jared quickly picked him up, giving him a few "toughen-it-up-pats" to help Brodey brush it off like a man, but suddenly the blood came gushing, and Brodey's orange shirt had now turned red. Jared yelled for a gauze...and that's when I came running to the scene (with great distress in my voice and half of my chest exposed having leaped to the first aid kit right in the middle of nursing Hazel). About 3 hours later, after a quick trip to the instacare, the wide gash, atop a plump goose-egg on the back of Brodey's head was numb with litocane, and fastened back together with 4 staples. Brodey did a great job at the doctor's office, though. I was very proud of him for being so strong and brave! He even said thank you to the staff, on our way out the door...ha ha! I've posted the evidence below...

Brodey's Special Birthday Present...a sister!

There was only one day during the entire month of February that I did not want to have a baby on, and that was Brodey's Birthday....February 18th. Fittingly, at about 3:00am, the morning of February 18th, my water broke! Yes, you guessed right, Brodey recieved quite the birthday present that afternoon...a baby sister! And boy, was he excited about it :) Whew! No tounge can tell the joy that a family feels upon the arrival of a new addition. There are no words to express the amount of love and gratitude that have filled our hearts these past several weeks. Our deepest apologies for not posting updates sooner; we have been completely and utterly consumed in enjoying our new baby girl, Hazel. Here's some highlights from the last 6 weeks...

Here we are waiting patiently...




Introducing Hazel Maryln Harper....born Thursday, Febrary 18th, 2010 at 12:57pm. Weight: 7 lbs 5 ounces. Length: 19 inches.




This is a picture of our "little glow worm". Hazel was on the billy reuben lights for two weeks after she was born in order to help cure her jondice.




Here is a picture dipicting the Harper Family's effort in adjusting to a new sleep schedule...





Hazel loves bathtime!



And lastly, here's a picture of Brodey finally getting to celebrate turing 3 years old with the whole family...just about 2 weeks postponed!

Oh, Baby Girl, why haven't you come yet?

This picture pretty much sums up all of my feelings at the moment. I haven't slept at all during the last several nights, my hips, pelvis, and back are screaming, and too many random sessions of false labor contractions have lead me down an emotional roller coaster of excitement, frustration, anticipation, and disappointment. Our baby girl is being incredibly indecisive...oh, my poor, poor husband.