Harrel Family

Wordless Wednesday

2010-10-13T12:38:00.002-05:00

I'm Back!!!!

2010-09-11T09:29:00.005-05:00

It has been five months since I have last posted, I have been LAZY! I'm sure there is no one who even checks my pathetic little blog anymore, but I do hope to print it into a book someday so I am going back in time to post some highlights of the Harrel household. This past spring was Cooper's first time to play t-ball. This boy lives and breaths sports, but t-ball is his very favorite. He begs to play catch all day, everyday. Josh coached Coop's little team, if that's what we can call it. I am pretty sure they drove Josh crazy more than once, they were 4 and 5 year olds, but the kids had a blast and that's all that matters. Coop loved having an audience there to cheer him on. He is growing up so fast and we are loving all the new experiences he gets to do.

Coach Harrel and Cooper

Ready for the first game of the season- Go Cubs!

Ruby was so funny, she saw that Lily and Coop had on baseball hats so she ran to get one out of Coop's room. She was so sick this night, poor baby girl. Sweet Stephanie Morris came over so I wouldn't have to miss Cooper's first game.

Cooper and Mimi, just one of his many admiring fans.

Ready to catch the ball at pitcher, he would cry if he never got a chance to touch the ball during the game.

Getting some hitting instruction from Coach Harrel

Look at that form :)

Coop's preschool went to the zoo at the end of the school year, we had so much fun together ;)

The monkeys were so cute and entertaining, I think Coop could have stayed there all day watching them swing and play together.
The petting zoo is always a favorite

Cheese!!!

Easter Weekend

2010-04-05T20:48:00.003-05:00

No you are not seeing things I am actually posting on my blog. :) I have been a terrible blogger and I have so many things I want to put on here, so I will be playing catch up this week. (Don't hold me to that :) We had a wonderful Easter weekend with our family. Like always it went by way to fast, but we enjoyed every minute. Saturday we got to watch Emily, Max, and Sam play soccer and just about got blown away. Later that day all the kids colored Easter eggs together, in case you are wondering that is eleven dozen eggs. Yep Mom thought Ruby, Brock, and Heidi needed a dozen to color too. Sunday was a beautiful day, we went to church with my parents and enjoyed a wonderful service. Sally sang and did a beautiful job, I am so glad I got to hear her. After church we went to Hammon to have Easter dinner with Josh's family. The kids played outside the entire time we were there it was just too pretty to be inside. We had a great weekend and can't wait to see our families again.

Coop is ready to color his Easter eggs

Sweet Lily posing with her eggs

No you are not seeing things, that is my fourteen month old drawing on her egg. Is she talented or what? :)

Easter morning the kids woke up to goodies in their baskets and they had to find eggs that were hidden around the house.

Lily had to search high and low to find hers

Ready to go to church

Family photo

Me and my handsome man
Josh and his girls

Last but certainly not least- Cooper or the Easter Bunny?

Happy First Birthday Sweet Ruby!

2010-01-20T13:43:00.004-06:00

One year ago today at 7:17 am our precious Ruby Ann joined our family. She shares her birthday with a very special lady, my grandma Lillian Whiteley or as everyone called her Ma. I wish my grandma could have lived long enough to have met her grand kids, but I know she is in the Lord's presence and wouldn't come back if she could. I can't wait to see her again, what a wonderful reunion that will be.
This last year is such a blur to me. It seems like yesterday we were bringing Ruby home from the hospital and adjusting to life with a new born again. How is it possible that she is now one year old? She is just the most precious baby girl. (Yes, I will still refer to her as my baby, probably forever since she is most likely our last). She makes the funniest faces ever, she loves to scrunch her nose up, give a big pouty face with her lips, and it always gets a reaction out of us which she loves. She is quite the little dancer, if she hears music she will stand up and shake it. Ruby has started walking a little, she still crawls but will walk several feet before falling and Lily and Cooper think this is soooo cool. I will tell her to say Mama and she will repeat me and say "mamamama". It just melts my heart. She is by far my most independent child, she will just venture off by herself and I won't be able to find her. Ruby gets into everything, so I can also say she is my biggest messer. She keeps me on my toes and I love every minute of it. She is a gift from God and we thank Him daily for her. Happy Birthday Ruby we love you so very much!! I thought it would be fun to post pics of some of Ruby's "firsts". :)

First pic of our family of 5

Ruby's first Easter, look how little she was, awwww

Here she is at her first Fourth of July fireworks celebration, the rolls are starting to set in. :)

Ruby loved floating around the pool, she would just splash and splash

She was Wonder Woman for her first Halloween

Playing outside and loving every minute of it

Ruby spent her first Thanksgiving at Mema's house and was such a trooper, she didn't get a nap and you wouldn't have been able to tell.

Hanging up her first Christmas ornament

Ruby at one year, we love you baby girl!!!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-13T16:35:00.000-06:00

It's Never too Late for a Christmas Post...right?

2010-01-09T10:28:00.009-06:00

I can't believe I let it get to January 9, 2010 before I posted our Christmas pics. I hope this isn't a sign of what is to come this year. :) We had four wonderful Christmas celebrations. We did have to cancel one Christmas at Josh's grandma's due to the yucky weather. That was a big bummer, especially when you only get to see them a couple of times a year. Our first Christmas was with our little family, we had a great time and I just love this special time we put aside for each other. Christmas day was spent at my parents house. We always have a great time when we all get together. There were three new members to our family this year. We used to tease Mandy that if she would get on the ball and have a 2009 baby then we all would have had babies the same year. She didn't think we were serious or funny. Mandy and Chad brought over the new Super Mario game to the Wii. By far the biggest hit of the day, the poor kiddos just tried playing with their new game but the adults wouldn't give them the chance. You know who you are. :) Josh loved this game so much that we now own it for our house. It really is super fun and addicting. The day after Christmas we went to Leedey, OK to spent time with Josh's dad and his family. Again, we had too much fun and our kids got way too much stuff. Sunday morning we headed to Yukon to spend time with my Dad's side of the family. My grandparents were able to rent their church gym and we had a blast. The kiddos loved running around, playing basketball, and just being extremely loud. That night we went to Edmond to see Josh's mom, we didn't get to see her on Christmas Eve like we were supposed to, so we wanted to make a special time for the kids to see her and her husband Tim. We finally got home the Monday after Christmas, exhausted, very full, and very blessed. I hope you all had wonderful celebrations with your loved ones. :)

Josh is reading the story of Jesus' birth to the kids, even little Ruby listened :)

We love presents!

It didn't take Ruby long to figure out how to rip open presents

Santa came to Mimi and Pa's house. I always tell the kids that he knows where they are, this sometimes worries Lily. Ignore Ruby's sad little pile, she is only eleven months and she has a birthday in eleven days. ;)

Ripping into their gifts, I wish Ruby was facing the other way- oh well

Lily got the doll house she "always" wanted

Ruby got her first purse, it's so cute

Coop got a cool batman cave, he loves it

Coop also got a bowling set, here he is displaying his mad skills :)

Ella and Lily got some press-on nails, these girly girls LOVED these nails

Lily and Ella played all day long with their new doll house and castle. They told me they were next door neighbors. ;)

Best family pic I could get, Coop couldn't even pry his hands or his eyes off of the Wii game. He was probably afraid one of his aunts would take it away if he put it down. :)

Sweet Ruby and sweet Mimi, ready to open some gifts

Our 2009 additions, aren't they cute?

We had lots of little helpers pass out the gifts this year

Ruby was just as happy sitting on her gifts as she was opening them, she was so fun this year and it was her first Christmas. Almost one year and she had her first Christmas.

Aunt Krystal with the girls. We love Aunt Krystal!!!

The Harrel babies, they had a lot of fun playing together.

Opening presents at the Harrel Christmas, I swear these kids get way too much stuff

Sisters with our daddy and our Pa, we love these two men so very much!!!

Uncle Bert knows how to make cleaning up fun!

*My baby with be one in eleven days, EEEEKKKK, where did the time go!!!?

What We've Been Up To...

2009-12-22T10:30:00.005-06:00

I cannot believe that Christmas is in three days. It has literally flown by this year, I hope I can make the next few days last and really enjoy this Christmas season. The past week was crazy. We had parent night at Lily's dance studio, three birthday parties, Ram Rally, Lily's school Christmas party, and my family came down to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. WHEW...I am tired even writing that down. :) I just finished making sugar cookies with my two oldest. I love making these cookies, and sharing this love with my kiddos is so much fun. We are going to decorate them during Ruby's afternoon nap. Don't worry she won't even know about it. :) Tonight we are going to have a Christmas celebration with our little family. We travel so much every year that we like to have one special night with just us and give the kiddos their gifts from me and Josh. We really like to focus this night on the best Christmas gift ever, Jesus Christ. Josh always reads Jesus' birth to the kids, then we give them three gifts to symbolize the three gifts the wise men brought. I bought a book that comes with seven little gifts from Mardels that is called What God wants for Christmas, we have been reading and opening one gift for the last six days, the little statues inside have made up the nativity scene. Tonight the kids get to find out what God wants for Christmas and they are so excited. The last box has a mirror inside so when you look in it you see yourself. This will be my last post until the new year, so we would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May God bless each and everyone of you this holiday season.

Getting ready to head to Bass Pro to see Santa, can you see the excitement on Coop's face?

My precious babies with Santa. Coop was waving to him while he was in line, Ruby could care less, and this was Lily's first time to ever sit on Santa's lap willingly. We had a great time.

We walked around and looked at all the Christmas decorations. Ruby was fascinated with this elf and his beard.

You can't go to Bass Pro without trying out a gun.

We were invited to a parent night at Lily's dance studio where we got to see part of their dances. They are precious and Lily did a great job. I thought she would be nervous with a big audience but she did fabulous. Here is Lily and Alora waiting for their dance to start. They were so cute.

You have to stretch before you can dance. :)

Lily's class made these antlers at their Christmas party. She loved wearing it around with her Rudolph nose, again I was very surprised.

We had a great time with our family this weekend. Here is Uncle Bert and his little mini me, sweet Heidi.
Ruby loves to climb on anyone who is on the floor :)

The kids great-grandparents got them these really cool wands that use static electricity to move around the little foil pieces. I think the adults enjoyed them more than the kids, they are really cool.

Lily loves to sit on Pa's lap

And finally here is little Ruby hanging up her first Christmas ornament...

She didn't want to let go. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-09T12:56:00.001-06:00

Finally- A New Post

2009-12-01T16:35:00.005-06:00

I have been a terrible blogger, I notice it more when I get mad at others for not updating and I realize I haven't blogged in a month. So everyone who is reading this- get to blogging! Anyway, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving week. We started off in Camargo at Josh's dad's house. Josh stayed the rest of the week to hunt while the kiddos and I headed to Woodward to spend time with my family. We met for Thanksgiving dinner at Josh's grandma's house, then split again so Josh could of course keep hunting and I could head to OKC to shop til I drop. I also got to see New Moon with my mom and sisters (my wonderful dad kept my three kids- thanks dad!) This movie was FANTASTIC!!! Just in case you haven't heard me say so, I LOVED IT!! I am a huge fan of movies staying true to the book and this one didn't let me down. Friday me, my mom, and sisters shopped for fifteen hours. It is so much fun and I truly look forward to spending this time with them every year. We all met back in Owasso on Saturday and started putting out the Christmas decorations. Josh and I were more than exhausted, but the kids were so excited how could we say no. So right now life involves me trying to get a weeks worth of laundry done and getting myself motivated to get back into the gym. I am going back tomorrow, what is it about freezing weather and never wanting to go anywhere. I have got to get my rear in gear. :) Well, I hope to see many, many new posts very soon so get busy!

The kids have so much fun visiting Josh's family. They got to drive all around the land and loved every minute of it. Side note: everyone is bundled up like it is freezing and poor Ruby is coatless and sockless. It was not that cold and we were inside, but ran outside for a pic opportunity. No judging ;)

Each year the kiddos get to decorate my parents tree. Mimi is showing the grand kids some of her favorite ornaments. They didn't sit this still on week.

Trying to get all the kids in front of the tree. As you can see Ruby and Ryder are being held in against their will.

Thanksgiving day was spent at Josh's grandma's house. The food was delicious (like always). We always have a great time at Mema's house and can't wait to go back in a few weeks.

Mema is the best place to catch a nap after a long and busy day :)

Josh's big kill. I am sorry I just don't get hunting. Sitting out in the freezing weather, hoping to shoot something, then having to gut it and clean it? Not for me, but he sure is cute (Josh not the deer)

Lily loves to decorate our tree, she's so pretty.

My handsome Coop is pointing to his favorite ornament.

Trying to get all three in front of the tree. It's hard to keep Ruby sitting in one spot for very long. Please ignore the boxes in the back, it had been a very LONG day.

Lily and Cooper love the sign my mom painted for us. She is working on a Ruby snowman for us to add, until that time Lily said Ruby could be her doll she is holding. ;)

Halloween Fun

2009-11-02T14:14:00.005-06:00

We had a great weekend at Mimi and Pa's (when do we not)? It went by way too fast, but we'll be back in a couple of weeks for Thanksgiving. The kids woke up Saturday asking to go trick or treating. Needless to say the day was a little long for them, but then time seemed to get away from us when it came down to getting eleven kids dressed and ready to go. My poor mother's house will never be the same. ;) The weather was gorgeous, we were really lucky especially because my two girls' costumes didn't cover them up and keep them warm. Mom and Dad's kid fest at their church was a big success. I think they had around 800 people come and go. My mom's booth is by far the most popular. She is the fish lady, throw a ping pong ball and win a fish, my mom made sure all eleven grand kids had a fish of there own. Thanks a lot Mom! Lily named hers Goldie, Coop's is Shrek, and Lily named Ruby's Nora (from Pete's Dragon- they have been watching that movie a lot lately). So far the fish are still alive, I hope they last a few weeks, the kiddos LOVE them.

Wonder Woman

Spiderman

Chubby Wonder Woman :)

All eleven together: Lily- Wonder Woman, Ben- Dragon, Max- Headless Horseman, Cooper- Spiderman, Sam- Knight, Ella- Elphaba (the misunderstood witch), Ryder- Frankenstein, Brock- Mad Scientist, Emily- Ninja, Heidi- Teddy Bear, Ruby- Wonder Woman

Mimi and Pa are good sports and dressed up for the kids fest. They are by far the best Mimi and Pa and we love them very much!!!

Token family shot before the gathering of candy :)

Enjoying the trunk or treat
Here is the best pic I could get of my two Wonder Women, Lily loved dressing the same as Ruby. Lily's costumed had to have some creative sewing techniques from Mimi to stay on her tiny frame and poor Ruby's chunky frame barely fit into her costume. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-28T10:41:00.002-05:00

Painting Pumpkins

2009-10-19T16:21:00.004-05:00

Every year we let the kids paint pumpkins for Halloween decorations. They love this and beg and beg to do it as soon as they see their first pumpkin in September. :) We took them to the pumpkin patch a couple of weeks ago to let them pick the "perfect" pumpkin. They had so much fun. The pumpkin patch was the place to be. There were games, face painting, mazes, juniper jumps, horse rides, etc. We didn't come prepared for all the fun activities, Ruby was needing a nap so we didn't get to stay long. The kiddos didn't care they were ready to get home and paint. Each year the kids have just colored their entire pumpkin a variety of colors. I encouraged Lily to paint a face, picture, or something on her pumpkin. She did a great job! I tried to get Coop to do the same, but he just wanted to paint his entire pumpkin. He loved it!

Finding the perfect pumpkin can sometimes be a challenge

Making the kids pose with the pumpkins, it was a beautiful day

CHEESE!

Look at those faces, they are working hard

Here is Lily posing with her pumpkin. As you can see she painted a scene of a beautiful day...

and on the other side she painted a cool cat!

Coop is posing with his master piece

And for your viewing pleasure, here is a pic of the kids before they went to Awanas on crazy hair night!! They thought they looked GOOD!

Lily Had a Birthday Too!

2009-10-04T16:58:00.004-05:00

I am the worst mom ever, I forgot to post about my princess turning six years old! Lily celebrated her sixth birthday on September 26th. WOW- six years old, still can't believe it! Lily had a few girlfriends over to help celebrate her birthday. The first place that we hit was the Beauty College where the girls got their fingers and toes painted, they were all so precious and really seemed to enjoy getting made over. Next, we came back to the house where the girls got to decorate their own purse, this also seemed to be a pretty big hit. We followed up with presents and cake and ice-cream. We had a great day and all of the girls were so sweet and they all got along great! :) Lily, you are such a kind, loving, sweet little girl. I love watching you grow and see you change each year. I love you very much!! You may be growing up, but you will ALWAYS be my baby!!! Happy (late) Birthday Sweetie!!!

Lily and Ella loved getting their toes painted

Showing off the electric blue finger nails :)

Lily and her girlfriends

Present time :)
Blowing out the candles

Ella and Alora getting in touch with their creative side.

And finally, here is Lily posing with her clown ballerina her Grammy and Grampy sent her for her birthday. She LOVES it!! I don't know if you remember Chuckles the clown that they sent Coop for his birthday, but the clown is still going strong. Soon we will have a little cluster of life size clown people in our living room. :)

Ruby is 8 Months Old!

2009-09-23T13:00:00.002-05:00

My baby girl turned eight months on Sunday. WOW! She is such a big girl and this time is going by too quickly. She accomplished a lot in her seventh month. She crawls everywhere and has now found the door stoppers and loves to flip them back and forth and make noise. She has also learned to pull up, which just amazes me because Lily and Coop didn't even try to do this until ten months. She loves to pull up on everything. I can't keep her sitting during her bath, and its way to slippery for her to stand during bath time. :) I heard her belly laughing like crazy today, when I found her she was holding onto the kitchen table bench standing up and laughing at silly Coop. She also cut her first tooth on her eight month birthday. Several months ago we thought she cut a tooth (Josh and I swear we felt it) but it must have been one of those "phantom" teeth. I just can't believe how big she is getting. She loves to follow Lily and Coop around the house and "mess" up whatever they are playing with. Ruby has become the easiest little baby. I never thought I would say those words about my little Ruby. She is so content at this age, she just loves to be on the go. I hope these next four months go by really slowly, I can't imagine my baby as a big one year old. :)

"Look at me I did it!"

This was the first time she pulled up, I was at Wal Mart, so Josh took a picture for me.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-16T10:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Cooper!

2009-09-14T13:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I am a few days late. Cooper turned four on Saturday the 12th. I cannot believe my baby boy is four!! You expect your oldest to grow up and hit milestones, but when your babies start to do it, it makes me super sad. He thinks he is a big boy now, he told me today that he doesn't have to take a nap because he is four now. :) You know the saying, "terrible twos, trying threes, finally four", well lets just say I hope that comes true with my little Cooper. He has really been a stinker lately. He has a hard time controlling his anger and he has zero patience. I guess only time will tell, but you all know what I will be praying about. Cooper we love you more than anything and are so thankful God gave you to us. You can make me smile faster than anyone and you always give me the best hugs and kisses. I hope this year is fantastic for you and I can't wait to see what the future holds for my little man. Happy Birthday!

Sept. 12, 2005- our first photo with Cooper
Sept. 2009, Coop thinks he is super big holding his baby cousin Heidi

Coop is a huge water dog, he is not scared at all, and loves to swim under the water

Coop got a surprise in the mail on Saturday. This is Chuckles the clown. Yes, she is huge and the kiddos love her. I just know I am going to be walking through the living room at night and that thing is going to scare me to death. Thanks Grammy and Grampy. :)

I wanted you all to get a good idea of how tall Chuckles is, Josh is 6'3". Chuckles is easily 8' tall, Ruby loves her too! :)

BIG Week

2009-08-27T16:04:00.007-05:00

We have had some very excited things happen around our house this week. I'll start off with Coop's first day of preschool. He has been ready to go to "school" for a very long time now. When we took Lily to Pre-K last year and she cried, Coop said, "I'll stay and I won't cry". So, I thought Coop's first day would be a breeze, but wouldn't you know it he cried when we left him. I couldn't believe it, he never does that. Later when I picked him up he said he had fun and he wasn't going to cry the next time. :) I can't believe how quickly my little man is growing up, he is going to be four in a few weeks and it just doesn't seem possible. When Coop is having a bad day he can be a REAL stinker, but when he is being sweet there is NO ONE sweeter than him and I just love him to pieces.

First day of school pose with his new backpack

All three together and happy :)

Josh is such a good daddy he stayed at home that morning to take Coop to school and Coop loved showing his daddy where he gets to go this year.

Cooper is looking at the fish with his new teacher Mrs. Tweet. I asked Coop if he liked Mrs. Tweet and he said, "Yes, she lets us dance around!"

Cooper led us to his favorite section of the classroom- blocks, cars, trucks OH MY!

Continuing on with our big week, Lily made the biggest and most important decision of her life. She accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior Tuesday evening at our church's revival. She was in a kids revival the two previous nights and their guest speaker is amazing. He does a fantastic job explaining salvation to children. She walked forward by herself that evening (Josh and I were not in the kids revival) and said she wanted to be saved. PRAISE GOD!!! Obviously we couldn't be happier for Lily and her decision.

Ruby turned seven months old on the twentieth, and yes before you say anything that was the day I turned (gulp) thirty. My baby is seven months old- WOW!! She is getting too big, too fast. She can now drink out of a straw, feed herself Cheerios, and crawl. Yes, she has started crawling. I can't believe it, my other two didn't crawl until eight months and Ruby started at six and a half months. She also has started throwing fits. I didn't think that was possible in a baby so young, but yes Ruby is quite a little pro. She screams if I take her out of the bath too soon, take something away from her that she is chewing on, or when we put her in her car seat (she HATES laying back). I am afraid we are going to have our hands full with this little strong willed child. We love her to pieces, fits and all. :)

She started sitting up right after she turned six months old

Ruby loves to crawl and Lily and Cooper love to cheer her on

Ruby and Brock are getting some snuggle time in with Aunt Sally and baby Heidi. She is set to arrive in less than two weeks-YEA!!!!! Can't wait to hold and love on her!!

All Day Kindergarten Here We Come

2009-08-19T10:01:00.003-05:00

Lily's first day of all day school is today (me sobbing in the background). I knew this day would come, but I was hoping it wouldn't be here until first grade. I am not thrilled about all day kindergarten, but it is here and there's nothing I can do about it, so I must accept it. Lily's morning went great. She jumped out of bed, ate a few donuts, got fixed up and was ready to hit the road. Josh went to work late so he could come with us to Lily's school. Coop thought he had to wear his backpack just like Lily. And sweet Ruby was just along for the ride. I did really good walking Lily into her classroom and I was still doing good when we got her situated and ready for her day. I did not do so great when I was talking to her sweet teacher. Yes, I started to cry. I was embarrassed and was trying to hide it from Lily. She wasn't crying and I didn't want her to worry about her over emotional mama. In fact I have already cried three different times today and its only 10:30 am. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be, I have always had my Lily with me during the day. Even when I taught, I only taught half a day so she was with me for the greater part of the day. Enough about me, Lily was really excited this morning and much to my surprise did not cry or act nervous when it was time for us to leave. I am so grateful for that, I want her to love school and to be comfortable there. I can't wait to pick her up this afternoon and to hear all about her day. :) 3:00 can't get here soon enough!!!

The original first day of school pose. New outfit-check, new backpack-check, new lunch box-check :)

Lily got a new pair of shoes and LOVES them, here she is showing them off

All three together, love this pic. Coop is pretty lost here without Lily and its only the first day of school :(

Forever mama's girl

Lily posing by her new cubbie :)

Wedding Invitation

2009-08-04T22:37:00.006-05:00

I wonder how many of you thought I was inviting you to a renewal of vows for me and Josh? :) I really just want to share my wedding invitation with my blogging family. Pam wrote a fun blog on weddings- bests/worsts. I shared with her that one of my favorites parts of my wedding was that my grandpa wrote our invitations. So, I thought it would be cool to share this wonderful poem with those of you who haven't had the chance to read it.

I have a vision in my mind, a grander one no man can find.

There's a knitted cap on a wee blonde head, a snow-white sweater, and a skirt plaid red.

The wearer scarcely measures to the knee, but a prettier lass you'll never see.

I walk along, she runs beside, I'm a beaming out with pride.

I pick her up and hug her tight, and pledge to keep her in my sight.

Twenty years now come to pass, I've another vision of the lass.

You can't imagine how she's grown, with a touch of magic all her own.

She wears a gown with frilly lace, a veil of net surrounds her face.

Those gorgeous blossoms everywhere, with her beauty can't compare.

Arm-in-arm we'll walk down the aisle, I only wish I could tarry awhile.

But a handsome lad is standing near, outwardly showing signs of fear.

He has sacred vows to say, and I must give the bride away.

Now, Dear God, we boldly ask, provide the strength for each his task.

Please, oh Lord, we know you can pour out Your blessings on our clan.

You have the power, wisdom, grace, to lead us through life's joyful race.

May Your love with us remain. We give You praise in our Savior's name.

Amen

My wonderful "Pa" wrote the invites to my sister's weddings also, maybe they should share their's too. :) I also wanted to add that my amazing husband is a beautiful writer. He actually asked me to marry him in a poem he wrote to me, he also wrote all three of our chidren a poem before they were born. They are tear jerkers. I have asked him if I could share them and he says "No" (he's too shy) maybe I'll break him down someday.

It's been awhile...

2009-07-20T16:12:00.003-05:00

since I have posted and I am trying to get back into the swing of things. Josh has been in Ecuador since July 10th and is finally coming home today!!! We all super excited!!! He isn't actually getting home until really late tonight so the kids probably won't see him until tomorrow morning. He asked me to keep them up, but it may be after midnight and I NEED Cooper to go to sleep so I can regain my sanity for the day. :) Katie and I loaded up all six kids into her minivan and headed to Woodward on the same day the boys left on the mission trip. We intended to stay until the following Thursday, but we didn't come home until Saturday. I don't know if we were just trying to kill time until Josh and Jason came home or if we were just trying to delay the awful ride home with six whiny kids. We had a great time in Woodward, we pretty much stayed busy the entire time we were there. I haven't downloaded my pics yet, but when I do I will post about ALL the fun times we had in Woodward.

My baby girl is six months old today. I know I sound like a broken record, but I just can't believe she is getting so big so fast. Six months old seems really big to me, they have flown by- if the next six months fly just as quickly she will be one year old in a blink of an eye. She is really becoming such a great baby. We had a rough start, with reflux and a little colic, but now she is so happy and will jump in her Johnny Jumper all day long. She is super close to sitting up all by herself. And just last week she has started to pull up to her knees and rock back and forth. She is cutting teeth and it is AWFUL. She will not sleep at night when her teeth are bothering her, I have to get her up to give her medicine to calm her down, poor baby. I am ready for her to get a little relief, seems like it is taking forever for them to pop through the SWOLLEN gums. She gives kisses all the time, smack on the mouth with hers wide open. I love it!!!!! Anyway, just a little update on my precious baby girl. She is still very popular with her brother and sister, they just love her to pieces. She has been rolling around the floor for several weeks now, but every time she does it they say "Good girl, look at Ruby!" :)

Happy baby girl!

Don't I look so sweet and innocent?

Our little pool is still a great hit, the water is super warm and Ruby loves to float around watching Lily and Coop swim

My little water dogs

The kids went fishing with Josh and his dad while we were in Camargo last month. I believe Lily is pouting here, not sure why she just loves to pout.

My cute little fisherman!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-08T16:29:00.003-05:00

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-25T16:03:00.006-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting pics of some of the fun we've had this summer outside. Josh bought the kids a pool for our backyard. You know, one of those portable pools that you actually have to treat with chemicals? I thought it was going to be a big mess and I wasn't very excited about the idea, but the kids ABSOLUTELY love it!!!! I have to admit I now think its a great idea. It has been extremely hot outside and you really can't go out unless you're going to get in the water. So the pool is easily the best idea we've had in awhile. We also took the kiddos swimming at a big pool that friends of family own and insist we use as often as possible. They are super sweet! Ruby and Brock got to swim for the first time and they both really liked it, luckily the water was warm. Ruby turned five months old last Saturday. Just typing that out makes me a little sad, she is almost half a year old!!! Where has the time gone? She is a big girl weighing close to 16 pounds and 26 inches long. She is so fun right now, smiling all the time, laughing out loud, squealing, and starting to play with her toys. Lily and Coop fight over who gets to play peek-a-boo with her in the mornings. (This is Ruby's favorite game) She had to go to the doctor this past Wednesday because she had a nasty cough. She ended up having a double ear infection, poor baby. :( I have to admit that I was relieved that she had an ear infection, she has been soooooo fussy I was glad there was a reason for it. Sorry this is so long, I've kind of been rambling. We're heading to Camargo tomorrow for Josh's family reunion. It's always fun to have the kids on the farm, they love it. Hopefully I'll have a lot of good pics to share on Monday. :)

Josh with his three sweeties on Father's day. Do you like Lily's clip on earrings? She loves wearing jewelry to church, she says "Ms. Pam is going to love these?"
Josh is giving a big thumbs up on his pool idea

Ella, Lily, and Cooper enjoying the pool together. They LOVE each other!

Coop and Lily are making a fast dash to see Ruby in the water
My sweet Ella Bella
Ooooo....so much sweet chub I don't know where to look first! :)
Ruby loves splashing in the water
Me and my two beautiful girls!

Happy Anniversary

2009-06-22T23:05:00.003-05:00

Josh and I celebrated seven years of wedded bliss today. I asked Josh to show me how to download pics from our new camera today so I could post about our anniversary and he said, "Don't say anything too sappy, I have a rep to protect". Ha-Ha!!! Well, without saying anything "too sappy" I will say that these last seven years have been more wonderful than I ever imagined they would be. He is such a wonderful and loving husband and I don't deserve him, but I'm keeping him!!! ;) Thank you honey for the best seven years of my life. I will now quote from the great Cooper Harrel "You make my heart feel super happy!!"

I also want to thank my FANTASTIC sis Katie for keeping all three of my stinkers so Josh and I could enjoy a dinner alone. WOW! We haven't had dinner alone in a REALLY long time. Thank you Katie you are super mom and super aunt!!!!! Oh, and I guess I better thank Uncle Jason too. :)

Disneyland Pics

2009-06-18T22:05:00.001-05:00

We're Back!!!

2009-06-18T11:10:00.002-05:00

Well we made it back to Owasso yesterday around 8:15 in the evening. We had a FANTASTIC time at Disneyland!!!!!!!! I don't know if you all heard or not but we ended up having to drive to California- UGGG! When we arrived at the airport last Thursday all of the flights were cancelled due to severe storms. They couldn't get us to California until Saturday. We HAD to be there by Friday so we could redeem our Disney tickets. We didn't have any other option and with a very upset five year old (whose little heart was breaking) we took a deep breath and pressed on in the car. It truly wasn't that bad, the kids were excellent in the car. The only time they got cranky was at night when they couldn't get comfortable to fall asleep. We arrived in California around 3:00 pm on Friday and got our tickets redeemed and then relaxed for awhile. The kids went swimming and were loving it, the pool was heated and just beautiful. We went to Disney Saturday through Monday and had the time of our lives. Everyday we got to Disneyland around 9:30 am and didn't get back to the hotel until 11:00 pm, the day was long but soooo much fun. We were busy all three days, we were on the go the entire time just so we could work everything in. I think I am going to try to do a slide show for ALL the pics I took. Hopefully I can get it done by this evening, so keep your eye out. :)

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T10:52:00.001-05:00

Busy Weekend

2009-06-09T10:11:00.004-05:00

Last weekend Cooper was in Josh's cousins wedding. He was so cute he stole the show. He did a great job, the only job he did not want to do was hold the girls hands. He said NO when they asked him too. Lily was concerned that she had to walk down the aisle, she was relieved to know she wasn't going to. I posted several pics from that weekend and I was trying to put them in a certain order, but for some reason blogger won't let me rearrange them and it is frustrating me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics of my super cute ring bearer. :)

Josh's grandma and the kid's great-grandma played with the kids all weekend long. She's such a good sport, we love Mema!

Coop had to lay down before the wedding so he would be in a good mood, so his daddy laid with him. Coop still sleeps with his hands behind his head.
We also started giving Ruby baby food for the first time for lunch. I know it won't come as a surprise to tell you that my little piggie LOVES her food. She smacks her lips and "yums" when I give it to her and then when it's all gone she cries.

Mmmm....sweet potatoes

Ruby all dolled up for the wedding

My three little angels

Coop told me this is what he was going to do when he stood at the front during the wedding. Luckily he did not!

Coop was so stinkin cute in his little tux. Love my little man!

We are leaving Thursday for Disney Land- YEA! I'm not sure who is more excited me or the kids. My mom is keeping Ruby, which will be super nice. I can't imagine having Ruby with us and keeping her happy for three days at Disney Land. Thanks Mom, I hope Ruby isn't too much trouble for you. I will of course miss her like crazy but I know she is in good hands.

Memorial weekend pics- finally!!

2009-06-01T10:07:00.009-05:00

We took our annual camping trip over memorial weekend and we had a blast!! Except for the millions and millions of mosquitoes, seriously they were BAD this year! We went to Boiling Springs this year for the first time and it was super nice, the best part was that it is ten minutes from Woodward so Katie and I were able to take the babies to our parents house to sleep them at night. I don't know if I would have braved camping with a four month old if I wouldn't have had my parents house as an option to sleep. Another bonus about it being so close to Woodward was my grandparents got to come out for the day and then go back and spend the night at my parents house too. The weather was gorgeous, it only rained one afternoon and for probably only 45 minutes. The kids of course had a fabulous time playing all day long together. We brought our bikes this time and Coop rode his bike for the majority of the time we were there, even some of the grown ups spent some time riding their bikes. :) I love going camping with my family, we have gone as long as I can remember and now I get to make memories with my own kiddos. I hope we continue to go and spend this special time together.

Mimi and Emily take a break to pose for a quick pic

Aunt KK surrounded by some of her admirers- Sam, Lily, Ella, and Emily

Sally and baby Heidi, we can't wait to meet that precious baby. I have to give a big shout out to my sis, she was extremely helpful with Ruby-don't know what I would have done without you that weekend. THANK YOU!!!!!

Josh and Ryder taking it easy, actually Ryder looks a little scared of his Uncle Josh

Me and Lily, yes people this is how I look when I camp, pretty huh?!

My parents brought their huge slide, it was a big hit with the kids. They only got about an hour of play before the park ranger shut us down, they were fuddy duds!

Emily is ready to give Lily a high five as she slides down

Coop loves to ride his bike, he is pretty fast when he pedals

Josh got a new bike while we were camping (another big bonus about camping so close to Woodward, Wal Mart was only ten minutes away). I had to take a pic of Josh riding his new bike because its the first bike he's ever had, kind of like Phoebe on Friends. He did tell me he had a bike as a child but the pedals didn't work so he had to push it up the hill and then ride it down. :(

Ruby spent most of the day in the safe mosquito free tent, she was such a happy baby being outside all day. We did have a few moments of fussiness, it's Ruby after all! :)

I told Sam to smile for the camera and instead I got this "cool dude" look! Too cute!

Mandy and sweet Ben

I got to see my great friend Hilary and meet her new little guy Thad, he's only 8 days younger than Ruby. It was so nice getting to spend a little time with her. I probably won't see her again until Thanksgiving or Christmas- sniff, sniff. She of course looks fabulous, and I- well you can see for yourself. Miss you Hilary!!!!
Hilary's oldest is only three weeks younger than Lily, we liked to be pregnant at the same time :) (although she did wait a year after Coop to have her little Rhett) Hollace and Lily play really well together, even when it has been months since we have seen them.

Thad and Ruby, aren't they so sweet? They don't know it yet, but they are betrothed!!! ;)
I also included a couple of pics of Lily's messy art day at school. She didn't play at all, I'm pretty sure the wild and craziness of that day was just too much for her. She stood by my side the entire time, but we had fun watching all the other kids get messy. She did meet up with Alora for a short time and they posed for a pic, they are so sweet together. I wish they were going to the same school next year together too.

Lily had the best teachers this year. Mrs. Statum and Mrs. Clifton were fabulous and so incredible for Lily's first year of school. We will miss them like crazy next year!!!

4 Months Old!

2009-05-20T10:51:00.006-05:00

Ruby is four months old today!! I can't believe it, I feel like I blinked and now she is four months old. I really want things to slow down because she will more than likely be my last baby and she is changing so much every single day. I found out last Friday that my little baby has a tooth!!!! Almost one week shy of being four months old Ruby cut her first tooth. I thought she was trying to learn to suck on her thumb because her little hands were constantly in her mouth, but no she was cutting a tooth!!! It has not been easy on her either, she is constantly drooling, chewing on something, and she has even woken up in the middle of the night fussing and I know it is her tooth- poor baby. I have tried to get a pic of her new tooth, but her little tongue is always in the way. Ruby is such a precious baby, sooooo happy in the mornings. Coop and I love playing with her when she wakes up because she laughs out loud, gurgles, squeals, and sometimes she even watches Dora with Coop. :) I think she likes the songs. She does still get pretty fussy as the day goes on, we've been able to lay her down earlier (around 8:30) that is extremely helpful when you are messing with a fussy baby. She sleeps all night getting up anywhere from 6:30 to 8:30 (mama prefers the 8:30 stretch, but they aren't near as often as the 6:30 stretch). I am just sooooo extremely thankful that I have a healthy baby and I will try to remember that more often when I am complaining about her fussiness. God has truly blessed our family with our little gift Ruby. ;)

Coop, Ruby, and Lily are "playing" in their tent.

Aren't they just so precious? I will show them this pic one day when they can't stand to be around each other! :)

My first Mother's Day as a mother of three, I am extremely blessed and I love my little stinkers more than anything!!!!!

Ruby loves to bounce on Mommy's knees, she does end up drooling all over me! ;)

This is how we eat most of our meals, Ruby has to be the center of attention at ALL times or she's not a happy baby. She thinks we're all at the table just to talk to her, which of course we are.

Ruby likes to relax and watch TV with her dad before bedtime. I'm pretty sure they were watching the sports channel.

Fun at the carnival!!!

2009-05-15T10:00:00.005-05:00

Well we took the kids to the carnival last week and they had a BLAST!!! This was the first year that we went when our kids wanted to actually ride the rides. I couldn't believe how brave they were, especially my little Lily. She rode everything like a champ, she even did more rides than Coop would do. She is just growing up more and more every day. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the carnival rides, but they have these slides that are HUGE!!! The kiddos wanted to ride them ( I couldn't believe it, these are really TALL slides). Anyway, they had to ride with a parent so Josh and I got to have some fun at the carnival too, seriously people those slides are crazy fun - I was lovin it!!! It was a beautiful evening, Ruby was actually very good and rode in her stroller almost the whole time which is saying something for my little spoiled Ruby. The kiddos rode ride after ride, at the end of the evening Lily rode the Tilt-a-world with Uncle Jason and Ella then they jumped straight to another spinning ride. When Lily got off this ride she was crying, her face and lips were WHITE!!! She could hardly stand up and looked awful. She never did loose her dinner, I was sure it was coming up. I was afraid this would be all that she remembered from the carnival and I was so proud of her and the way she rode the rides. But the next morning she woke up and said, "Hey, I feel so much better. The carnival was super fun!" So her queasy stomach hasn't scared her away from carnivals yet! :)

Attempting to get a shot of all three before we headed to the carnival.

The merry go round is always a favorite
Coop liked having his daddy close by

It was super nice having Austin there, because Coop didn't want to ride until I told him he could ride with Austin. Sometimes I wish Coop had a brother, but I just don't think that is EVER going to happen. ;)

Alora, Ella, and Lily enjoying some fun on the elephant ride

Lily's favorite ride of the evening was the dragon roller coaster. This was the first year I could get her on it and she LOVED IT!

Coop loved the airplanes!

Sweet Ruby was so good, I think there was so much going on that it all kept her entertained and happy!

Brock is always a good baby, Katie sure got lucky with this little guy!

I had to take a pic of Josh's hair after he rode a spinning ride with Coop. Too funny!

I also added a pic of me and Lily at her school during the Mom's spa. Lily was so excited to give me my massage, fix my hair (notice there are about fifty clips in my hair, more in the back where you can't see them), paint my nails, and serve me a desert. She did a great job and I enjoyed spending that special time with her.

Best invention ever & a bunch of random pics!

2009-04-28T22:50:00.003-05:00

As I have mentioned before on here little Ruby was sleeping eight to nine hours until she learned to flip to her back, which has been very stressful because she LOVES to do this during the night. Josh got on the internet and did a little research and found Guardian Sleeper, it is actually made to keep babies off their bellies, but we're using it to keep our baby on her belly. :) We got it in the mail last Saturday and since then she has slept about nine hours EVERY night!!! Woo-hoo!!!!! I know some of you who read this are thinking I am a horrible mother, but she sleeps really great on her belly and HATES her back. She's super strong and can lift her body off the ground- please no haters! I have posted a pic below of Ruby sleeping peacefully in her Guardian Sleeper and if you would like to know more go to www.mommys-little-helpers.com it is truly a great blanket, it helps them feel secure and snug and is supposed to add hours to their night, it did for our little one. I have also posted the most random pics below just to show off our cute little crew!!! :0)

I love my Guardian Sleeper

Ruby is getting so big, here she is sitting in a Bumbo chair, she loves to be up right

We have also discovered that she is now big enough for the Johnny Jumper which is FANTASTIC!!! She really loves to hop around in it and it helps with our fussy evenings.

Coop went to pick out his pajamas the other night and came back with a top and bottom that didn't match and ones that were two sizes to small. We have since given these to Ryder. :)

Sweet Lily sure loves to bowl. We took her for a special night when Coop got to stay the week with Mimi and Pa.

A few weeks ago we went to visit Josh's Mema, she got to meet Ruby for the first time and the older two LOVE going to see Mema and all her cows!

This is how I found Lily and Cooper the other day-waiting for Daddy to get home from work. How cute is that, unfortunately he was about 30 minutes from home so they got tired of waiting. Our kiddos are pretty crazy about their dad, and so am I!!!! :)

Ruby is 3 months old!!

2009-04-20T19:13:00.004-05:00

My baby girl is three months old today. I can't believe it! Time seems to have flown by as one big blurr. She is still so very much loved by her brother and sister, they just can't get enough of her. Ruby is my hardest baby. Lily was super easy (I didn't know how good I had it with her because she was my first). Coop was harder than Lily, but a lot easier than Ruby. Poor little Ruby, she's just fussy most of her awake time. I am hoping that now that she is three months old it will get better. Her doc thought she had a touch of colic and they "say" at three months it tends to get better-we shall see. She LOVES to be held, can you say spoiled? I have to let her fuss quite a bit, because well, she's fussy. Lily and Coop don't like this at all!!! But when my precious baby is happy she can melt your heart. She gives big adorable smiles and coos and coos, we LOVE it! She learned to flip from her belly to her back when she was one month old, so very young. She has perfected it now! I sleep my babies on their bellies (I know you are all gasping), but they WON'T sleep on their backs and they love their bellies. Anyway, now that sweet Ruby is rolling to her back, and I mean that girl puts one leg up and hops right over there is NO stopping her, she doesn't sleep as good. :( I am so sad! Just a week ago she was going 8 or even 9 hours, but now she is waking up throughout the night because she has rolled onto her back! ARGHH My other babies went through this stage, but not at three months, more like five months! I am needing some serious prayer, because it is getting to me. Oh well, onto the precious pics of my precious Ruby. We love you baby girl, even if you are my fussy wussy sweetie!!!! I just posted several pics of her cute little smiles, check out the first pic, too funny!

After I took some pics of Ruby, Coop plopped down and started talking to her, she was LOVIN it!!!!!

Easter 2009

2009-04-16T22:05:00.005-05:00

Yes, I realize that it has almost been a week since we celebrated Easter, but it is sooooo hard to find time to get on here and post. I don't know if I've mentioned before but my little Ruby is VERY spoiled!!! If she's awake she wants to be held. I spend a lot of my day holding her, I do let her cry quite a bit because I just can't hold her ALL day long, I get very little done as it is! We had an incredible Easter weekend as always. We went to Woodward on Friday and just had a great time spending time with family. My grandparents (mom's parents) celebrated their 60 years of wedded bliss this past Tuesday, so we had a little party for them on Saturday. My mom's brother and sister and all of their families came to town for the party and Easter, it was a very special weekend to have everyone there together. On Saturday we spent the day playing outside, attending soccer games, coloring Easter eggs, and celebrating Pa and Nanny's life together. Then of course on Sunday we went to church to celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was an incredible service where God's presence was felt by all.

Lily loves to color eggs! There were ten children coloring eggs together, talk about CRAZY, but it was a blast and what great memories we are all making!!!!

Sweet Coop, this was the first Easter he has really gotten into coloring his eggs.

Posing with her master pieces

On Easter morning the kids wake up to goodies in their baskets and eggs hidden around the house to find. Coop was pretty good at hunting down the eggs!

Lily has really grown up so much this year (sniff, sniff). She never did like to hunt eggs with an "audience" watching her, but this year she was an old pro!

The Easter Bunny brought Lily a High School Musical purse full of goodies, she LOVES it!

Coop got a soccer ball, what was the Easter Bunny thinking?! There is constantly a soccer game going on in my house!

Ruby is very excited about her gifts!

My precious babies ready to go to church.
Family pictures have seemed to become a little easier now that Lily and Coop are older, I am assuming they will get hard again once little Ruby gets mobile! I just LOVE my family so very much!!

We all had a fantastic but tiring weekend!!!

Guess who's coming to our house tonight?

2009-03-31T19:34:00.002-05:00

The Tooth Fairy!!!!! Lily lost her first tooth tonight, and she is PUMPED! It has been very loose for the last few days and finally tonight I told her I had to get it out, it would just flap back and forth while she talked. If you know Lily you can guess she wasn't thrilled with the idea of me pulling her tooth, but we talked her into it and she said it only hurt a little. I actually pulled it myself which surprised me I always thought I wouldn't be able to pull my kiddos teeth, but this one was literally just barely hanging on so it wasn't much of a challenge. ;0) The poor thing is also fighting off a TERRIBLE cough, she has coughed more today that she has not coughed (make sense?) She spiked a fever earlier but it has gone away, I hope it stays away! If you get the chance to see Lily in the next few days I am sure she will love to show off her new hole in her mouth! :)

Losing teeth always makes a kid look older, sniff-sniff

Proudly showing off her tooth!

Coop had to have his pic taken, he's ready for mama to "yank" his tooth out too!
This is the look I get from Ruby when I put the camera in front of her face, a deer in the headlights! On a happy and exciting note she had her last bottle at 9:30 last night and didn't get up until 6:40 this morning- that's nine hours people!!!! YEA!!!!!! Ruby goes to the doctor for her two month check up tomorrow, I can't wait to see how much she weighs now, she is turning into quite the little chunker. Poor little thing is going to have to have shots-BOO!

I had to share a pic of my little "hunter", he threw Josh's hat on and went around this house with his gun pretending to hunt. I guess he remembers its cold out when daddy hunts so he thinks sock hats are strictly for hunting!

Snow Fun!

2009-03-29T14:57:00.009-05:00

Well I decided to post our snow pictures along with everyone else. It started snowing Saturday afternoon and my kids were beside themselves with excitement. We had to talk them into waiting until there was actual snow on the ground, Coop wanted to go out as soon as he saw the first flurry! :) I will admit and say I'm not a fun mom when it comes to playing in the snow, I actually dread having to dress them up then dry them off. Honestly I think it is because we don't have any good snow gear and its hard to find things for them to wear. Lily did have snow boots from last year that still fit, Coop had of course out grown his so he is sportin a pair of Lily's black boots. They worked great, and he thought it was funny to wear "girly" boots. Josh is always ready to let the kids go out and "be kids", and he just happens to go out and play all day with them. He's a big kid at heart. Enjoy my little snow bunnies! All bundled up and ready to play!

Lily is preparing to make the perfect snow angel

As soon as Coop got outside he started throwing snowballs at his daddy, I got him in mid throw!

Of course they had to make a snowman, notice that Josh is behind the snowman using his own hands for the snowman's hands, they didn't have anything to use for his arms. :)

The kids went out again today, the snow is pretty slushy as it is melting off quickly, but they were able to make a snowbunny family. Note to Mom: The kids wanted to make a snowbunny like Mimi's, Josh wants to challenge you with his master piece. I told him that he was crazy, I have seen your bunnies and they are super cool. Josh is pretty confident in his sculptures. :)

Lily and Coop wanted to make a "Ruby" snowbunny, how sweet!
Lily thinks hot chocolate always follows a hard day playing in the snow...YUM!

And finally I thought I would post a few pics of Ruby and her adorable smiles. Here she is getting warmed up.

We rarely get a smile out of Ruby without her little tongue sticking out.

My sassy little sweetie!
Here she is just a cooing and smiling at her daddy.
Learning how to smile sure can wear a girl out!

Videos of Ruby!

2009-03-19T22:17:00.005-05:00

So we broke out the video camera today to get little Ruby's cute smiles, coos, and little squeals on tape. The first video is our last attempt after we had put the two older kiddos to bed. Ruby was just grinning and smiling at her mama we just had to get the video camera out. The second video you will view is our attempt to video with all three kids around. It also gives you a glimpse into our everyday life with three kids, crazy is an understatement. Lily and Coop swarm to Ruby like bees to honey all the time, so throw in a video camera and they couldn't stay away. It was hard to get Ruby to smile because she was over stimulated by all the noise and her siblings fighting around her. Can you believe my little Ruby will be two months old tomorrow!!! WOW! She is getting big too fast! :)

Baby Contest...

2009-03-17T14:29:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I didn't fool anyone (except maybe Noelle, but she changed her answer). That precious baby is indeed Lily. I just couldn't believe how much it looked like Ruby to me when I saw it. Their hair is identical, it even parts the same way. Ruby makes that same expression all the time. It is truly incredible how similar they look. I had Ruby in that outfit when I came across that pic of Lily, so I was inspired to share it with the blogging world. I couldn't convince Coop or Lily that they were looking at a pic of Lily and not Ruby. :) Ruby is eight weeks today- WOW! Time flies by! She is smiling all the time now and coos at you too, just so precious. I have captured a few smiles on camera, but am still waiting for her to give me a big one. She freezes up when the camera is out (okay so she is more like Lily in just the looks department). I will post pics later of her few smiles we have managed to capture. Have a great day and enjoy this beautiful weather. :)

Ruby or Lily????

2009-03-16T17:13:00.002-05:00

I posted a pic of one of my baby girls. Take your best guess, who could it be- Lily or Ruby?!! :)

A Couple of Weeks Ago...

2009-03-07T20:29:00.006-06:00

I meant to post these pics the night before Katie went in to have Brock, but life just got crazy busy- as they seem to do now that we have Ruby. :) My parents came down the weekend before and like always the kids got to soak up some good Pa and Mimi lovin. We had a family dinner Saturday at Katie's, one last hooray before Brock made his debut, and we had a blast. Lily and Cooper go into serious Ella and Ryder withdraws if they don't see them on a regular basis. Ella and Ryder have been in Woodward all week to give their mama a little time to heal from Brock's delivery, and Lily and Cooper have been dying to go see their cousins. It is truly wonderful how close they are. These pictures just make me smile, so I thought I would share them with the blogging world. Enjoy!!! :)

Cooper is a serious Pa's boy!!!! He doesn't leave him alone for long when Pa is around. :) I kept trying to get Coop to get down and leave Pa alone and my dad would tell me to leave Coop alone!

Mimi is also a BIG hit around the grand kids. They fight over who gets to sleep with Mimi when she visits!

Best Friends!

Josh likes to have documented proof that Ella does indeed love him! :)

On the other hand... Ryder does not like Uncle Josh to pick him up! If you can't tell in this pic Ryder is screaming!!!

A little dance entertainment from the one and only Ella Bella!

Coop LOVES for his Uncle Jason to throw him up in the air. Boy does Jason throw him high, this pic does not do the height justice.

One last belly shot before the big day (that was two weeks ago)!And I hated to post without one pic of our new princess. Here she is getting some love from Ella as Mimi plays referee! ;)

Ruby is Six Weeks Old! WOW!

2009-03-05T19:47:00.004-06:00

I cannot believe how fast these last six weeks have flown by!!!! I am anxious for time to fly by so she is sleeping all night and can play with toys, but at the same time I want to freeze time because she will more than likely be our last baby and I want to cherish this time with her. She is starting to smile, not all the time but will occasionally give us a little grin. This morning she gave me and Coop her biggest, most adorable smile but of course I did not have my camera ready. I have tried to capture her smile, but she doesn't like to smile for the camera. ;) Last night she slept for seven hours in a row!!! Woo-Hoo!!!! I hope she makes this a habit and she's not just teasing me with one good night. I have to remind myself not to get frustrated during the day because my house is dirty (yes folks, I know you don't believe me because you all think I keep a clean house all the time, but with the arrival of Ruby who has time to clean?) Unfortunately this can really put me in a BAD mood when I look around my house! UGH! I also have to remind myself to not get frustrated with my other two angels. I am constantly saying, "Quiet Ruby is sleeping, Don't touch the baby she's in a good mood, Get out of Ruby's face" I hate that I am always on Lily and Cooper's case, I need to chill and know that they also LOVE their sister and are just so excited to share there day with her. I also need to remember to have more fun with my kids instead of getting stressed if we don't get a good nap for the day. I am just venting, please do not hold me to any of these cases, I will more than likely get stressed again and again, but at least I know I need to do better. And isn't admitting your problem the first step!!! :)

Last week my WONDERFUL grandparents came to town to meet Ruby and Brock. My Nanny and Pa are truly two of the most incredible grandparents around. Any of my girlfriends can testify to this!!! They LOVE all their grands and great-grands!

I wanted to get a good comparison size of Ruby and Brock, but what you can't tell from this pic is that Brock is also two inches longer than Ruby. He is one big fella, and I LOVE those cheeks!

I was trying to capture a smile, a little late on the button.This is a horrible angle, but at least you can see a little smile.

What does a mama do when she has lunch to make and her baby won't stop crying? Hand her over to the best babysitter in town!!! Lily is a fabulous help!

Josh loves to sit and talk to his babies, I have a pic of him like this will all three of our kiddos. His favorite stage is when they start to coo at him, they will sit and coo for hours! :)

I couldn't leave these two stinkers out of the post, they are really becoming great friends.

And finally, I believe this picture best describes how I feel lately..... exhausted!!!

Brock Colson Karn is Here!!!

2009-02-23T21:41:00.004-06:00

I have to apologize to my sisters for taking so long to post pics of the adorable Brock. This has been a crazy day, and I am just now able to sit down and post pics. I was very upset earlier because I was going to be able to be with Katie when she had Brock, but she went crazy fast. Josh was going to come home at noon and I was going to go to the hospital. She was at a 2 at 8:30 AM, so I thought I would have plenty of time. Katie called me at 10:40 AM and said I better get there because she was at a 10 and was going to start pushing soon!!! I was super sad, Josh rushed home but I just didn't make it. I got there very soon after and I was bummed, but then I got to hold my precious nephew and all was well in the world again! :) He is of course adorable and had an easier time coming into this world than her last labor (she was worried about him getting stuck like Ryder). He did get stuck but it wasn't quite as big of deal as Ryder's birth, and her doctor was able to get him out pretty quickly. He was bigger than Ryder weighing in at a whopping 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 22 inches long. He is one BIG boy!!!! Isn't it hilarious how Katie and Jason have these big babies when they are such small people. Ella is going to have two BIG brothers to look out for her one day. Katie is doing great, a little tired and ready to get a good night sleep tonight. :)

Brock the Rock, as he will now be called because he is one solid boy!!!

I love this pic because he shows off his delicious chubbiness, LOVE him!!!!!

I got there just in time to pose for a pic! Great job Katie!!!!

Ella thought Brock was wonderful and I know she will be a great help to her mom, probably too much help!!!!

Lily loves all the new babies in the family!

Brock weighs almost 2 pounds more than Ruby and is one inch longer! I just know they are going to be the best of friends!!!! :)

Ryder finally decided Brock was pretty cool, but he really couldn't care less...

he was much more interested in his mama!

Here are my parents, Pa and Mimi, with all of their Owasso grand kids. We are beating Mandy and Sally so they better get the show on the road!!! :)

Ruby is One Month Today!!!

2009-02-20T16:37:00.004-06:00

My sweet little Ruby is one month old today!! :) I cannot believe how fast this month flew by, and now she's a month old and cousin Brock will be here on Monday. She is still very much the center of her sister and brother's life right now, they just love her to pieces. Coop can be crying (most likely because he's in trouble) and he will spot Ruby and just start smiling and talking to her in his "baby" voice. This week she has been a much better baby, she's finally sleeping in her bed and not having to be held during the long, long night. I am just so thrilled we have accomplished that goal, its hard for me to get a good night sleep when I'm holding a baby in my arms. This morning she was on her tummy and rolled to her back! I can't believe it, I thought Cooper rolled crazy early and he was two months old. Her doctor did tell me that she seemed very strong, so maybe she used her cute little muscles and hopped on over. :) She was weighing 8 pounds even on Tuesday, so she gained one pound in two weeks, she loves to eat so I am seeing a very chubby baby in my future. Her doc said to add a little bit of cereal to her bottles to help sustain her between feeds, because she is wanting to eat ALL the time. It has helped a little and it made me feel great because I give my babies cereal early anyway (they are better babies at night when their tummies are full), but its always nice to have a doctor's approval. My parents are coming down to spend some time with the grands before Brock's arrival on Monday. I know we will have a great weekend, and lots of people will be here to hold Ruby! :) Please keep Katie, Jason, and little Brock in your prayers and I will update everyone on Monday. YEA!

One month old and almost smiling at Mama

Sweet baby girl

Kisses from big brother, how sweet

Ruby's first bath, she hated it!
I thought they would get better once she could sit in the bath, but......
nope she still hates it....

really hates it!!!!

I couldn't leave off these two stinkers. Here they are posing with their Valentine presents. Cooper the incredible Spider-Man....

and Gabriella the High School Musical star!!! :)

Lovin on Ruby!

2009-02-08T20:15:00.005-06:00

Ruby Ann will be three weeks old on Tuesday and as you will see in the pics below the new has definitely not worn off yet! :) Her brother and sister just can't get enough of her! They just smile and smile when she is around and get right in her face. I will admit to getting irritated at times, it seems like I just get her to sleep when they want to kiss and hold her. The past three weeks have really seemed to fly by, I can't believe it has been that long since we have brought her home. I forgot how much work a newborn is, it is hard to get anything else done around the house when I am constantly trying to get my little Ruby to sleep or keep her content. I think it was my last post where I wrote about what a good baby Ruby was, well let's just say I can now eat my words. She has had a rough couple of days where she just cries and cries and there's nothing we can do to make it stop! NO FUN! I love my sweet little Ruby more than life itself, but it is really hard to have a baby who constantly cries and two other little ones around that need my attention. Hopefully we're just going through a rough patch and she'll go back to that easy going baby I saw in the first two weeks of life. :) And to add icing to the cake, she's really congested so this means she WILL NOT sleep laying down for very long. She also won't sleep sitting up for very long, so mama is doing a lot of holding in the middle of the night so we can both catch some zzzzzz's.

Lily is a great second mama to have around, she really is a great help!

Coop gives Ruby too much love!

WE LOVE RUBY!

They are just too sweet when they are sleeping. :)
Awww...love those long naps in the morning!

Nothing is better than sleeping on daddy's chest.
Here are my three stinkers all cleaned up and ready to go to church. Ruby went to church for the first time today, she was a big hit!

I wanted to write a little something about my incredible mother. I know I have mentioned before about how I could not have survived my first week home without her and I hope she knows how very much I appreciate her. Not only does she care for my family but she takes great care of me as I mend from my c-section. The only time I ever really get emotional after I have a baby is when my mom has to go back to Woodward. With each of my kiddos I cried when my mom left. She is such a blessing to me and I love her more than I can ever say. Thanks again mom and I hope I can be half the mom to my kids that you were and continue to be for me!

WE LOVE MIMI!

One of Ruby's biggest fans! Love you Mom!!!!!

Family Bowling Night!

2009-01-31T15:12:00.007-06:00

I had good intentions of getting this post up and running before we had little Ruby, but my plans didn't go as I had expected. I got WAY too busy the weekend before my c-section and I just ran out of time to post these pics. The Saturday before we had Ruby we decided to do one more family of four outing and decided to take the kids bowling. We have never taken them bowling before and we thought they would be pumped. Coop was super excited and Lily you ask, well she started crying when we told her of our very fun plans. Crying?!! Yes, our daughter cried when we told her we were taking her bowling!! She has only been bowling once before and that was when she was 3 with her cubbie group. She didn't bowl at that time so I'm not sure why she was so traumatized, but she DID NOT want to go. We calmly told her that Mommy and Daddy wanted to spend a special day with her and Coop and we were ALL going to have fun. Well with much persuasion on our part Lily has now become a BIG bowling fan, she cannot wait to go back! I just love making her try new experiences because I know she will like them. The kids truly had a fantastic time and I had just as much fun watching them (I guess big and pregnant girls can't bowl). Josh was a great teacher, I'm sure he got a little frustrated because Coop is at that point in his life where he can do everything BY HIMSELF! We plan on taking the kids back pretty soon, as soon as I feel up to it, and they cannot wait. I hope you enjoy the pics, we sure had a great time spending special time together.

Josh is trying to "convince" Lily that bowling is not that bad. It didn't hurt that the lightest bowling balls were orange, you know that is her FAVORITE color and always has been-which is pretty funny considering her daddy despises the color orange (OSU) Ha-Ha!!!

Look at that form, my little guy is a natural! :)

I did it, let the celebration begin!

Lily is a bit more timid when it comes to bowling than her brother, but she did end up loving it.

Josh showing us just how it's done.

Look at that smile!!!
I was also there that night, but I sure hate taking pregnancy pics!! Last one I took before Ruby decided to join our family.This pic wasn't taken that night but I thought it was too cute I had to post it. Josh got a new computer and the kids had more fun playing in that box than I thought was humanly possible. It finally got torn up enough we got to throw it away!

And....I can't post without adding a picture of our little sweetie. Ruby is ready to go to her first doctors appointment, they had to check her jaundice after we got home from the hospital, everything checked out great. She is doing soooo good at home, she is such a great baby. I understand that she is not quite two weeks old and things can certainly change, but as of now she is super easy going and doesn't really cry unless you are changing a yucky diaper or during bath time, she HATES her baths. Ruby got to have her first official outing with her mommy and daddy yesterday, where did we go you ask? Well we had to take mommy to the Urgent Care because yes folks I passed another kidney stone. This was a BAD one I thought I was going to lose my mind. It hurt so bad I didn't know what to do, I couldn't drive anywhere. By the time Josh had made it home from work the kidney stone passed down and I was feeling much better but my OB still wanted me to get checked out. While I was there I passed the thing, and let me tell you what it was HUGE!! I consider myself an expert on kidney stones now that I have passed about a million, so I can safely say that this one was HUGE! The doc thought I should string it on a necklace and wear it around my neck it was sooooooooooo big! That might have been a little too much info but I just had to share my horrible day with my blogging family! Hopefully I will be seeing the end of these stones since I am no longer pregnant, one can only hope!

Sweet Pea!

2009-01-27T13:58:00.003-06:00

This is Katie! I broke into Annie's blog to post another pic of RUBY DUBY!

Welcome Home Ruby!!!!

2009-01-23T18:43:00.004-06:00

Well, as you have seen from my mom's and Katie's blog Ruby made her appearance January 20th at 7:17 AM. I was a little nervous, but everything went off without a hitch. My nurse successfully gave me my IV the first time (usually it takes about 5 times), and my spinal was completely pain free!!! YEA! I was so relieved to finally get my c-section out of the way. Ruby entered this world weighing 7 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long. All of my babies were 19 inches long. She is currently weighing 6 pounds 13 ounces but is eating like a champ so I don't think it will take her long to catch back up. We had a nice little stay at the hospital and now we are enjoying the comforts of being home. By the way if my mom wasn't here I would be going crazy. So a big shout out to my mom- Thanks Mom!!!! We had a nice little homecoming on Thursday from our kids, my mom, Katie, and her kids. None of them could have cared less about me or Josh, they only had eyes for Ruby. She is just so precious and we couldn't love her any more.

I had the BEST anesthesiologist, he was so friendly and offered to take our first "family" photo with Ruby.

A few of Ruby's fans!!

Sweet baby, exhausted mama!

Lily is so proud of Ruby, she literally WILL NOT put her down unless we make her and just try to get her to share- it's not easy!!!

It was a hard day for daddy too!!!!

Coop finally got to meet Ruby on Wednesday, he didn't even mind wearing his mask. He even says "cheese" when he takes a pic with the mask on. :)

Ruby found her thumb within hours of entering this world! I think I have another Lily on my hands!! :)

I LOVE my family!!!!

Ruby is dressed and ready to go home!

Lily and Cooper made coming home signs for Ruby. They were very excited to show them off.

Coop gets a good look at her without his mask!
And finally Lily is doing her "job" she said she would do since the day she found out I was pregnant-feeding the baby!!!!

Can't Sleep the Night Before...

2009-01-20T00:33:00.002-06:00

Actually I could say THE DAY OF Ruby's arrival!!! I am just too anxious, I feel like I have sooo much to do, I have met myself coming and going today. Between my pre-op and Coop's doctor appointment, I was doing laundry and getting the house ready so I could leave it for a few days. Speaking of Coop's doctor appointment :( my poor son is SICK. He had to have two shots today, he is on two antibiotics, and two different breathing treatments. His doctor told me Cooper could not be around Ruby tomorrow (today), I am not ashamed to say I cried. I am sure the doc thought I had lost my mind, but I just felt so sorry for Cooper and myself. He is soooooo excited about his sister coming and I had visions of having my whole family with me to celebrate the life of Ruby Ann. I have felt like there has been this dark cloud hanging over my head today, I have just been having a pity party for myself and Coop. We are going to let Coop come to the hospital and see her behind the glass, but then he will have to leave :(. We're just going to tell Coop that Ruby has to get some sleep and he can see her tomorrow. If his fever is gone he can see her on Wednesday with a mask on! Can you believe this has happened this week!!!!? My poor mother gets the fun job of nursing Coop back to health. I am soooooo thankful she could be here to help.

I had planned on posting pics of our last "family of four" fun night at the bowling ally, but I just haven't had time. I will post them later because I just think they are too cute! Well I guess I better get off here and try to get some very needed sleep. Wish me luck!!! I am super duper excited to meet little Ruby and give her lots of lovin!!!! Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers!! I love you all!!!

Book Its are Back!

2009-01-13T08:33:00.002-06:00

Actually, Book Its probably never left, but they are now back in my life after almost twenty years. WOW, that makes me sound REALLY old!!! Lily gets to participate in the Book It program this year at school. If she reads or I should say if we read to her 15 books a month she receives a Book It, we then get to head to Pizza Hut for her very own little pizza. She is very excited about this entire process and begs to read all 15 books on the first day of every month, but I make her slow things down a bit. Josh went to the "Men's Beast Feast" at church last Friday so we decided it was a perfect time to cash in a Book It. We invited Aunt Katie, Ella, and Ryder to come along and the kids had a great time.

Sweet Lily posing with her Book It coupon.

Ready to get inside and devour some pizza!!

Lily and her Aunt Katie, she loves her Aunt KK

Coop wanted to pose with Ryder, "just the boys" he said.
We love mini pizzas!!!!!!

**** One week from today I should already be holding my Ruby, she is set to arrive at 7:15 am. YEA!!!!

Christmas in January?

2009-01-05T12:09:00.006-06:00

Yes, I know I have been a horrible blogger lately!!!! It has taken me forever to post pics of our Christmas celebrations. I have no excuse, I am just lazy! We had a wonderful Christmas with our families, as usual. I love this time of year when we can all be together and enjoy each others company and see our kids play together. We ended up having 5 different Christmas celebrations and lets just say our kids could NOT be any more spoiled! Josh and I also get pretty good and spoiled from our families as well!!! I would have loved to have been able to put together a slide show of ALL the pics I took, but I am sadly lacking in the computer skills department and I need my husband or Katie right beside me to show me how. Maybe next time?! I have posted an outrageous amount of pics and actually wanted to post more, I took a ton of pics this year so we could savor the memories in the years to come. Oh and on a side note: 15 more days until Ruby is here!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOO READY! :)

When we first arrive at my parents house the kiddos swarm to Uncle Josh (especially Ben), don't worry he never rubs it in! Ha-Ha

Lily and her Mimi, ready to open presents

Do you think Ryder's wagon is a little small? :) He loved being pulled around in this cute little wagon.

Seriously people, do you think we have enough kids around?! And we are still a growing family!!

Bert, Sally, and Dad are ready to dig into their goodies!

My mom and dad got Lily this baby doll bathtub. The shower really works and mommy wasn't so sure this was a good gift to buy, but this is definitely one of Lily's FAVORITE gifts!!!!

Cooper and Lily quickly dug into their gifts that Santa left them on Christmas morning, they were sooooo cute and excited!

Lily really wanted this Sleeping Beauty Barbie!!

Cooper is modeling the OU hat Santa brought him, or as Coop says, "O ME hat" :0)
Family picture on Christmas morning. I HATE pregnancy pics, they are just NOT attractive!!!
At Josh's grandma's house the kids enjoyed playing in this chair. You can use the remote to go UP and DOWN.
Mema had to get in on all the fun!
Here is the Harrel bunch. Josh's dad, brother, uncle, cousins and every ones cute kids!
Josh's mom got the kids a Wii for Christmas, the kids are pretty good. Lily can smack the ball when she plays tennis.

Cooper loves to play and doesn't want ANY help, much to Josh's frustration. I also think Josh gets a little frustrated because he has to wait his turn to play until the kiddos are done. :)

Our First Round of Christmas Celebrations!

2008-12-22T23:10:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful weekend full of fun, food, and family. All of my family came up this past weekend (but we did miss my sweet dad, he works WAY too hard) to have a family Christmas with my Mother's side of the family. We had such a great time, I love getting together with my parents, sisters, brother-in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course all of my nieces and nephews. Everyone had to go home on Sunday to get ready for the big week of Christmas, we are actually heading to Woodward tomorrow to spend Christmas Eve with my family then Christmas day with Josh's family. Because we travel every year at Christmas we try to have a special time with just us four. We let the kids open their gifts that we get them, then of course Santa is able to find us where ever we are on Christmas morning. We started a new tradition with our kiddos this year, usually we do dinner together, drive around and look at Christmas lights, Josh will read the story of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then the kids dig into their gifts. Well, this year we decided we would give each of them three gifts from us to represent the three gifts Jesus received from the Wise Men. I love starting new traditions and I am really excited about this one. It is very important to us to have our children know the true meaning of Christmas, why we celebrate, and to know that we have already been given the most precious, perfect gift in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Josh reading the Bible to Lily and Cooper
Happily posing with their presents! :)

YEA!! A Spiderman flashlight!

Lily loves getting new books!
They both really wanted this puppy that swims in the water, yes even Coop, and I couldn't get it for Lily and not Cooper. (Josh thought it was a little girly, but it is for boys and girls and he was soooo excited).
Josh and I bought each other a new video camera for Christmas so we weren't going to get each other anything else. Well, our kids enjoy "buying" us something almost as much as they enjoy getting gifts. We let the kids "help" pick out one gift for each of us and they were PUMPED! I got new house shoes and I needed them badly.

The kids got their dad a Bass Pro gift card, okay so we might have got a big hint from daddy on what he wanted! :)

I just had to share this pic of Lily and Cooper before church on Sunday. They just look so precious!

We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!!!

BUMMER!!!

2008-12-20T10:19:00.003-06:00

Well, as I have mentioned in previous posts little Ruby Ann was to be born on January 16th via c-section. But, yesterday my doctor took my dream away and added four more days for me to be pregnant. UGH!!! He changed my c-section date to the 20th, he went back and looked at my records and decided she needed to cook a little longer. Boo-Hoo! :( I couldn't believe four little days really mattered, but apparently while the baby is in utero it can really make a difference and I of course want a healthy, happy baby. As I stewed in my disappointment, my mom reminded me that Ruby will now share a birthday with a very special grandma. My "Ma" my dad's mother was born on January 20th, she went to be with the Lord in 1992. What a fabulous woman my Ma was, she left us way too early and is missed dearly. Lily and my Ma share the same name and now Ruby and Ma will share the same birthday! :) My kiddos have been driving me a little crazy wanting to know exactly when Ruby will be here so the old teacher in me decided we would make a count down chain to Ruby's arrival. (I secretly added four new chains yesterday, they will never know). They are more excited to remove a chain each day than to do their Christmas count down. I love how excited they are and poor Ruby will be the most spoiled and loved little sister around! :)

Here they are posing with our countdown chain

They wanted to show how long it is (31 more days to go)

I also added a few pics of Lily's Christmas party, her class stood up to sing a few songs for the parents. Sweet Lily didn't sing of course but she stood there looking adorable and I was very proud of her for that!
Enjoying the yummy pizza!

Mrs. Clifton and Lily, what a cute pic. Mrs. Clifton just happens to be a great friend of mine, we met in college, worked together, babysat each others first babies, and we love to be pregnant at the same time! :) She is due 2 weeks after me with her third blessing!!! :)

Decorating the Tree!

2008-12-09T12:17:00.004-06:00

Well, we put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving and the kids were super duper excited!!! Josh told me he would take care of everything because I am huge and pregnant. I tried to sit back and watch him sling the lights on the tree but I just couldn't sit still. My sweet husband gave it his all but I am way to particular when it comes to the lights on my tree. :) Listen, God made me this way so don't judge! This was the first year Cooper was really into hanging ornaments. He actually stayed with the action until every ornament was hung. Lily has ALWAYS enjoyed decorating the tree and is a great helper! I cherish this time with my kiddos and I hope we are making wonderful memories they can look back on as they get older.

They all had to pose with their favorite ornament before the party got started. Lily has her "Belle", Cooper has his "Tigger in a Box", and Josh of course has his "2000 OU National Championship Football"
Lily also really loves her ballerina Barbie

Lily does such a great job decorating our tree, she spreads the ornaments out and works very hard to make it "perfect".

Cooper is still wanting to pose with his Tigger in a Box

Most of Coop's ornaments ended up on the bottom branches, he was so proud of himself.

I just can't believe how big my babies are looking. Where has the time gone! I of course want them to grow strong and healthy, but sometimes I wish I could keep them from growing up on me. Sniff-sniff !

Sweet Pics of My Baby Girl!

2008-12-02T20:50:00.002-06:00

I went to my OB today and I got to have a 4D ultrasound. It was sooooo cool!!!! I didn't get one with Lily and when we tried with Coop he did not want to cooperate. Cooper usually goes with me to my appointments because I make them for the mornings while Lily is at school. He was really excited to see his baby sister and knew immediately what he was looking at. We have decided on a name, but I have been reluctant to post it. I get two reactions from people when they ask me her name, I get a smile and a "I like that!" or a funny look and "Really!?" I know I shouldn't care what other people think because I LOVE her name, so I am going to try to not let it bother me because I know her name will suit her perfectly. Anyway her name is..... Ruby Ann Harrel. She is already such a big part of our family. Lily and Cooper are counting down the days until she will be here and I know I can't wait to not be pregnant anymore and to hold my precious gift from God. We love you Ruby and can't wait to meet you!!!

I like to say she looks just like me and of course Josh likes to say she looks just like him!! I guess we'll see when she gets here!!!! ;)

Thanksgivng Week

2008-12-01T16:21:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had so much fun and it started off the weekend before thanksgiving. We first headed to Camargo, because Josh just had to hunt on the first day of gun season. I just don't get the appeal hunting holds for my husband but he LOVES it!!!! I am glad he gets to spend the week hunting, he was soooo excited, kind of like our kids on Christmas morning. After a few days in Camargo, the kids and I headed to Woodward and left our hunter to enjoy his time alone without us, I believe he prefers it this way. While in Woodward we were able to attend Sam's Thanksgiving program. He did a great job, Lily even asked me if Sam was going to cry because he had to sing in front of people? I told her Sam likes to sing in front of people and maybe she should give it a try. Yeah right!!! The rest of the week was spent relaxing and enjoying time with family. On Thursday we went to El Reno to spend the day with my family, and as my brother-in-law likes to tease me I did enjoy a mountain of noodles!!! In case you are wondering I did go with my mom and sisters shopping on BLACK FRIDAY! We go every year, we always know what we are getting into, but every year we are exhausted!! To make matters worse I got sick in the car, my poor, poor family. I was feeling yucky all that day and the next and I found out why Saturday night. Yes people I have now passed my third kidney stone! This one was the worst one so far, January 16th cannot come soon enough. Oh that's my c-section date in case I haven't mentioned it before! Besides the end of my week the rest was wonderful and I just LOVE being around family for the holidays. I sure hope everyone else had a very blessed Thanksgiving!

Cooper is posing with his sweet cousin Maddie, isn't she adorable?!!!
What is better than one child BANGING on the piano, that's right five!
The kids got to put up my parents Christmas tree and they couldn't wait. Note to self, never tell eight children about decorating until one minute before it begins!!

All eight grand kids posing in front of their finished project, we did have to encourage them to move a few ornaments around and off the bottom branches! :)

Poor Pa, when the grand kids are around he doesn't get a minute of rest. They love to play with their Pa.

Lily would sit on my dad like this forever, if I told her to get off of Pa, he would tell me to leave her alone!

My wonderful dad celebrated his 53rd birthday the day after Thanksgiving. He has been working soooo hard lately that he wasn't able to go to El Reno with us for turkey day. We missed him of course, so we decided to give him an early birthday party so we could all celebrate with this very special man.

It was a fun but tiring week!!! :)

A Few More Pics from Branson

2008-11-17T09:11:00.004-06:00

I have added a handful of pics from the rest of our week at Branson. I think the kids had almost as much fun hanging around the cabin as they did going around the town. I know I sound like a broken record, but we are super blessed to have this special time with family. My mom and sisters are my best friends and of course my dad is the most special man ever (a close tie with my husband at least) !

Our cabin had a hot tub on the back porch. The kiddos LOVED this and had too much fun swimming. We stayed with the Karn family which suits Lily and Ella just fine because they are best friends you know!

Look at Lily posing, she is turning into such a ham. I never thought I would be able to say that about my camera shy girl.

Lily and Ella love to dress alike, they are just so stinkin cute!

We of course spent one afternoon doing a little shopping. What happens when you turn your back on an adorable one year old? They tear into boxes and boxes of shoes. We all thought it was pretty cute, I'm not so sure his mom was amused by Ben's "hard" work.
I thought this pic was too cute. Mimi and Pa sat at the "kid" table for dinner one day and I look over and they are actively participating in the new game our kiddos LOVE to play. One of them will say "Who likes to ____?" and if you fit the category you have to raise your hand. It was pretty cute!Okay people onto one of my favorite activities we did in Branson, Noah the musical. WOW! This show was so amazing. During the second act they opened the sides of the theatre to reveal that we were inside the ark, the kids didn't know where to look first there were animals everywhere. They weren't all real but there were a few that were. Very cool!!! The story of Noah and his family was beautifully written and a true joy to watch.

The kids each got to take home their favorite animal from the show. They all loved it!

Silver Dollar City!!!

2008-11-12T16:08:00.007-06:00

Well, we had a fantastic vacation in Branson with my WHOLE family!!! We left last Wednesday and we came home on Sunday. This is the absolute BEST time of year to go to Branson, all of their Christmas lights are up and to say they are amazing is an understatement- you just need to go see them for yourselves. The weather was pretty nice, at least the two days we went to Silver Dollar City, so we got pretty lucky. It was also nice not having a big crowd at Silver Dollar City, our kiddos got to go on the rides, see Santa, and the parade without having huge crowds all around them. We went with nine adults and eight kiddos (six and under), but we wouldn't have it any other way, we love to all be together. We did miss Uncle Bert, he couldn't make this trip with us. My parents have gone the last couple of years during this time of year and were excited to show their grand kids all the Christmas decorations, let's just say the kids were extremely excited and didn't want to leave! Coop still talks about going "back to the camping", we stayed in cabins so I guess he thought we were camping! ;) I posted a ton of pics from our Silver Dollar City trip and I will post more pics in a few days from our other adventures while in Branson. Enjoy!

My adorable family posing in front of one of the "old time houses" at Silver Dollar City.

The men had too much fun checking out this all leather shop, Josh even enjoyed trying on a leather-camo hat! Perfect for hunting!

Cooper liked trying on the hats also.

The kiddos really enjoyed the Frosty show at SDC, they were all invited on stage, guess who didn't go with them? Yep- Lily!! :)

These two cuties got to spend a lot of time with Aunt Annie and Aunt Katie (okay so I know Katie is not Ryder's aunt), while everyone rode rides. I love to ride roller coasters, so it was hard to sit back and watch, but when you are pregnant there's not much else you can do! The guys had too much fun riding roller coaster after roller coaster. Another plus about going this time of year, no long lines for the big coasters!!

We saw The Christmas Carol while we were at SDC, Josh made me take this pic of his niece and nephew loving on him. It's rare for Ryder to let Uncle Josh hold him so Josh was pretty excited. I wish I would have taken a pic of Ben loving on his Uncle Josh, it is crazy but that kid LOVES his Uncle Josh!

Max, Sam, Ella, Emily, and Lily are ready to ride some rides!

Coop and Josh enjoying an exciting ride on a butterfly!

This was Lily's favorite ride, it hopped up and down like a frog!

Lily and Cooper sure love their Mimi and Pa.
Okay, so I wanted one pic of me and my kids in front of the giant Christmas tree, I just didn't know how GIANT I would look in this pic! I have lots of work ahead of me after our baby girl gets here!!!

There was a parade each evening at SDC, the lights were absolutely beautiful. Here is the last float on the parade line, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Coop and Ella getting some love from a light up Gingerbread Man, or what Cooper calls him "that teddy bear!"

Some of our crew watching the parade. Lily really enjoyed the parade, but when the characters came up for a high five or hand shake, off she flew to safety!

Cooper waved and shouted to everyone who walked by. I wish I would have been standing on the other side to take this pic, oh well!!

I am sure once my mom and sisters get around to posting their pics (hint, hint) you will see many of the same pics, but some new ones for sure!

*Update on the pregnancy: Getting bigger everyday, have now passed the weight I was when I HAD Coop and I have two months left, oh and also I have now passed 2 kidney stones!!!!!! Seriously people, what is up with me and kidney stones, I had 5 with Coop, I sure hope I don't beat that record!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-01T08:51:00.004-05:00

We had such a fabulous Halloween last night. The weather was absolutely gorgeous!!! Lily and Cooper were pumped and not very patient for the night to begin. I cannot believe Lily let me paint her face green, not only did she let me but she started begging me to paint it at noon. :) They were both so precious and fun to take trick or treating and then to our church later on. I love holidays and I REALLY love when my kiddos get excited for them, it makes everything so exciting to see things through their eyes! I hope everyone had a great Halloween night!!!!

Shrek and Princess Fiona are ready to hit the streets!

Lily was too beautiful to be an Ogre! :)

I also believe that Cooper is too handsome to be an Ogre! :)

Grrrr....here are their best "Ogre" faces.

Princess Fiona, Shrek, Ariel, and Michael Phelps met up at their Unci and Aunt Brenda's house. They all loved seeing each other in their costumes!!

Cooper and Brenden taking a break from eating candy to pose for a quick pic. These boys crack me up, they have their own conversations every time they meet up, I just don't know what they are saying to one another!

Halloween Flash Backs

2008-10-27T18:18:00.004-05:00

I have really enjoyed looking at the Halloween flash backs that many of you have posted on your blogs. So, I thought I would post all of the Halloween's our family has had since we have been blessed with children. I have really enjoyed looking back over the last five years and I hope you all post Halloween flash backs if you haven't already!! :)

Lily was just over one month on her first Halloween. She was dressed like a pumpkin and slept through all the fun of handing candy out at her house.

My little Ladybug was 13 months old on her second Halloween, isn't she just precious!!!

Lily was an adorable flapper girl when she was two, and Cooper was a cuddly bear for his first Halloween (he was also just over one month old, that's what I get when I have two September babies).

"Belle" was 3 and my ferocious lion was 1. Of course Lily thought he was her "Beast". :)

Last year we had a beautiful ballerina who was 4 and a "scary" dragon who was 2. They love Halloween and are very much looking forward to dressing up this year. Stay tuned for pics of their new costumes!!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!!

2008-10-24T10:04:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was Lily's first field trip at the pre-k program and she was sooo excited. We had been counting down the days for weeks! I was afraid it was going to be rained out, but no such luck! Ha-Ha!! I hate to sound so negative but I really wasn't looking forward to standing around in the freezing weather. But luckily it wasn't too bad, and Lily's smiles made me forget all about being cold. I just cannot believe how much Lily is growing up. Last year we went to the pumpkin patch with her preschool and she wouldn't leave my side. This year she did so good, she stood in line and participated in almost all of the activities (I did have to run with her during the relay race). The biggest surprise of all was when her teacher asked the class to look at the camera and smile and Lily actually looked at the camera and smiled!! I know, I know I am stunned as well!!!! My beautiful little girl is growing up way too fast for me.

Here is Lily's class when they first got to the pumpkin patch. Who would have thought that my daughter would be one of the tallest kids in class, she definitely takes after her daddy!
Look at that sweet smile!!

Lily loved playing the parachute game this year, last year she refused to touch it!
YEA!!! This is so much fun!

Alora and Lily holding up their pumpkins they got to take home. They aren't in the same class but they love to see each other at school. What sweet friends!!!!

Happy Birthday Josh!

2008-10-16T15:40:00.004-05:00

Today my wonderful husband is the big 3-0!!!! I cannot express with mere words how incredible Josh is. I would never do him justice. He is the most loving, caring, giving husband, dad, brother, uncle, son, etc. that I know. I really hit the jackpot when I met my Josh, and our kiddos couldn't be luckier with the father God blessed their lives with. He takes such good care of all of us and puts up with my bossy, controlling personality. Thank you Josh for loving me despite my MANY flaws. Happy birthday honey, we LOVE you!!!!!

Josh and his first baby sooner, Lily.
Josh and his second baby sooner, Cooper. Do you think our third baby stands a chance?!
My great deer hunter and the BIG kill!
Josh is such a great father, he's always up for anything...

Playing in the snow until the kids want to come inside...

Or taking them fishing in 100 degree weather. He's the best!!!
Josh and me in New York City

Our family at Sally and Bert's wedding.

Love you Josh and Happy Birthday!!!

Best Gift Ever!!!

2008-10-13T12:41:00.004-05:00

Josh and I both agree that Mimi and Pa gave Cooper the best gift ever for his birthday. Not only is this many gifts in one, but best of all it has kept our little man from dressing up into pink princess dresses. WHEW!! Cooper LOVES his new dress up box full of MANLY costumes. Every time Lily and Ella play with him he will remind them that "it's for boys".

Here is our little firefighter, ready to save the day!

A handsome cowboy, out to go exploring.

The sheriff of the town is getting help from a local cheerleader. :)

My knight in shining armor, fighting off a scurvy pirate.

Coop's favorite piece of costume is his helmet. He wears it everywhere, even to the dinner table! ;)

I just had to add this adorable pic to the post. Kayli came over to play with Lily the last time they were in town and the girls had a blast together.

Busy, Busy, Weekend!!!

2008-10-02T09:31:00.005-05:00

We had a very busy but fun weekend. It started off in Yukon to celebrate four birthdays, yes folks I said four! We had a big bash for my wonderful grandma's 80th birthday. It was nice to have a special day for this incredibly special woman. Those of you who know my Nanny know what a wonderful, lovely woman she is inside and out. All of my friends grew up calling her Nanny and I know she loved having everyone around. After my Nanny's party we jetted off to the park to celebrate the other three birthdays in September, Max turned 6, Lily turned 5, and Cooper turned 3. We actually got tired of eating cake, I know I can't believe I would ever utter those words. The men of the family were less than thrilled about potentially missing the big OU game, but they made it to my Pa's house just in time for kick off. Finally on Sunday we had work day 2008 at my grandparents house. They have some land and my Pa, who is 81, loves to be outside working. He has had several trees he has needed cut down and dragged off so all of our hardworking men put on their work clothes and gloves and went to town. They did a fantastic job and got things cleared away in no time. As for us ladies, we gave Nanny's house a good cleaning. It goes by pretty quickly when we have a lot of help. Hey guys, work day 2009 will be at MY house!!! :)

The birthday girl, Nanny, and my wonderful "Pa".

My kiddos love their Nanny and Pa

Nanny and Pa with their great-grands, we are actually missing baby Kain.

My wonderful Father, also known as Pa, with two of his biggest fans. Don't they all look so cute in their blue?!

Emily got Lily a necklace that says "Best" on it and Emily has the "Friends" sign on her necklace. Could they be any cuter?!!!

The three birthday kids in front of their cake.

Lily loved opening all of her presents!!

Coop got a dress up box from my parents. We are all very happy that he now has boy clothes to dress up in instead of Lily's princess dresses. Here he is modeling his new pirate hat.

Coop wasn't the only one to enjoy his new dress up clothes. I'm sure Ryder is thinks his Pa is CRAZY!

I guess it runs in the family!

Lily sat on Nanny's lap all evening while Nanny showed her pictures from her childhood and told her stories, how sweet!
How many men does it take to cut down a tree?
They all did a great job and I know my grandparents appreciated their help.

Happy Birthday Lily!!!!

2008-09-26T09:52:00.004-05:00

My sweet precious Lily is five years old today! I cannot believe my first baby is five years old, where has the time gone? She has blessed our lives in more ways than I could ever recount. She is a lovely person inside and out. Lily is very tender hearted, sweet, and caring. I love how she daily tells me she loves me (all day long, out of the blue), or how she'll come up to me and say "I didn't get a morning kiss Mom". She is a great big sis to Coop and I know she will be such a big helper with our new baby. We love you Lily and thank God every day that you are ours to hold and love.

We had to of course give Lily donuts with candles, just like Coop's birthday. She was so excited she blew them out before I could take a pic.

We gave Lily her present a few days early so she could enjoy it, we are going out of town this weekend. This was her cute expression when she first saw her bike.
Lily loves her new bike. She kisses it every morning before she goes to school. When we gave her the bike she kept saying, "This is the best day ever!"Although Lily loves her bike, she is pretty timid on it. She wants her daddy walking beside her at ALL times! She is getting braver everyday and we are so proud of her.
This pic makes me laugh because it describes my kiddos perfectly. I had Coop start off right beside Lily so I could take a pic of them together riding their new bikes. As you can see I was barely able to catch Coop in the pic because he zooms so fast and his sweet sister is cautiously riding her bike by her dad.

Happy Birthday my sweet princess!

On a sad note, Josh's grandfather passed away early this morning. Please pray for the Harrel family as they are preparing to say goodbye to their loved one.

One Week Later...

2008-09-19T18:08:00.005-05:00

And he's still going strong! It has been exactly one week since we gave Cooper his bike and he LOVES it. He wakes up asking to ride it and goes to bed asking to ride it "tomorrow". I can't decide if this was a good present to give or not, we are constantly being dragged outside to watch him ride, he's not quite big enough to be in the driveway by himself. It rained and rained the weekend we gave him his bike so Josh pulled two of our cars out of the garage to let Coop ride, he was pumped. Notice how he has perfected the pedal and stand technique. He is just too darn cute!

Happy Birthday Cooper!

2008-09-12T22:34:00.003-05:00

My baby boy turned three years old today! I cannot believe it has been three years since we brought him home from the hospital. When Lily was three we had a one year old-WOW! Cooper has filled our lives with laughter, joy, excitement, there is never a dull moment when Coop is around. He has been such a blessing to us and a precious gift from God. We love you Cooper and we thank you for the many blessing each day has brought by having you as our son.

Josh worked at the zoo today for a "Day of Caring", he was able to go into work later so we had a birthday breakfast with Coop. Gotta love those donuts!
CHEESE!!!
Getting to take Lily to school
Coop got a spiderman bike for his birthday. This present was a BIG hit, he did not want to get off the bike and didn't come inside until it was becoming dark outside.
I LOVE my new bike!

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-08T21:16:00.005-05:00

Well, I called my parents house the other day and my wonderful father answers and says to me "Don't call here until you post something!" So I decided to make the man happy and finally post pics from our Labor Day Weekend- camping at Oolagah Lake. We had a wonderful time yet again, we always do when we all get together. The weather was beautiful and the kiddos enjoyed every second of outside time. They were all so dirty at the end of each day, I don't even know how a person can get so filthy. They also enjoyed going out on "Unci's" boat. I didn't go so I don't have any pictures to share. I know Sally took some so maybe she'll post the pics. I couldn't believe that my timid Lily loved riding the boat and the inner tube. Just goes to show you that you never know what Lily is going to decide to do.

We may be camping, but what would the kids do without their portable DVD players?!
Aunt Sally and Cooper having a stimulating conversation.
Lily and Ella love each other so much, they each say the other is their best friend.
Aunt Mandy with Coop and Sam. Don't you just love how high Sam likes to wear his shorts?! :)
Sweet Ben enjoyed the eating part of camping the most, as well as his Aunt Annie!!
Yes people- I am a WHITE ghost!!!! Let's just blame it on the pregnancy or my thyroid (you had to be at our Ladies Weekend at church to get that one)
Coop and Lily are enjoying a little lunch and a break from the heat.
Sam, Josh, and Lily are enjoying their time together.
Max was ready to build the camp fire!
Aunt Sally brought the yummies for smores. Emily had a great time roasting the marshmallows. Check out Coop's face, not sure what he's doing.

Lily is still very shy around Uncle Bert. He's the best, I don't know what her problem is. Bert does his best to win her over and I just know that someday she will LOVE her Uncle Bert. She wasn't aware that he was sitting right behind her so we got a good chuckle taking this pic!
Cooper kept us all entertained during the weekend with his new funny faces! He can be quite the entertainer when he feels like it.

Spending Time With Family

2008-08-25T18:05:00.002-05:00

This past weekend we found ourselves in western Oklahoma yet again. We found out earlier in the week that Josh's grandpa Donald has cancer and it is everywhere. The doctors are saying that he doesn't have a lot of time left with us, so we wanted to go and see him and spend some time with him. On Saturday night they had a family/friend get together for Donald and the turn out was HUGE!! Josh was able to see a lot of family he hasn't seen in awhile and see his grandfather. Please keep the Harrel family in your prayers as well as Donald.

We were crazy busy this weekend visiting family that I didn't get any pictures taken. So I have posted some pictures from our last trip to Camargo, OK earlier this summer.

My kiddos love to visit Poppy (Josh's dad), they turn into farm kids and enjoy everything it has to offer. Lily is fishing while Cooper patiently waits his turn on Poppy's lap.

Lily LOVES to fish!

Proudly showing off the "fruits" of their labor.

The kids also get to "drive" on Poppy's land and they LOVE doing this!

Cooper is riding a rough and tough bull, aka-Poppy.
While we were in Camargo we also went to Josh's family reunion. Here are the kids with their newest cousin little Maddie. Isn't she just precious?!
Mema (Josh's grandma) and her three adorable great-grands!

We Are Having A...

2008-08-15T14:21:00.005-05:00

GIRL!!!! Yes, we are having our second daughter in January and we are very excited. I was the most surprised because I just knew it was going to be a boy. I didn't care one way or the other, I just really thought it would be a boy. Lily is beyond pumped and Cooper doesn't seem to really care. Now that I know what the baby is, it seems more real and I am getting excited about putting together a nursery! We haven't decided on any names yet, and I can tell you it will be a fight to the end. (Josh and I agree on nothing!) My poor little Coop will continue to be surrounded by women. I just hope he stays macho and doesn't let the girls influence him to much. :)

I also would like to add that Lily is doing GREAT at school. She only cried the first day and after that she told me she LOVES school and wants to go back. Yesterday and today she hoped out of the car with her teacher and waved good-bye. Praise God!

I didn't have any pictures to post so I thought it would be fun to share pics of Lily and Cooper from the day they were born. I wonder if Baby Girl will look like her siblings?

Lily on September 26, 2003, look are her CRAZY hair!!

Cooper on September 12, 2005, we were really glad he finally grew into his nose! :)

My Baby's First Day of School!

2008-08-13T16:05:00.003-05:00

Well we all survived Lily's first day of school today, including her, which I had my doubts. She was so excited to buy her school supplies and put them inside her new backpack, but when we talked to her later that night about how fun school was going to be she started crying saying she didn't want to go. I know Lily does usually get emotional over just about everything, but there is just something about your baby starting public school that makes you emotional as well. She was so upset that she wouldn't know anyone and she really wanted me to stay with her. This just broke my heart, and we did a lot of praying and talking about it the night before.
She woke up this morning all happy and seemed excited about her day until we arrived at her school and it was time for Mommy and Daddy to leave. Let me also just add that Cooper was more than willing to stay, little stinker! So of course I had to leave my crying sweetie in the arms of her very capable teacher. That was probably the longest 2 1/2 hours of my life. I just couldn't wait to get back to her. When we picked her up she was smiling and waving. Her teacher said Lily only cried for a short while and was fine the rest of the day. Wheww! I think she is ready to go back tomorrow, but I am sure we will have similar mornings for a few weeks until she is secure about being there. I think this year was so hard on me because this is the age I taught when I had Lily and now she is attending the school. Time does truly fly by so quickly. We love you Lily and only want the very best for you!

My beautiful Lily posing with her new outfit and backpack

Cooper couldn't be left out, they are just so darn cute!
Lily with her emotional mama, man am I looking huge at only 16 weeks pregnant!
Josh stayed home today, it was really nice having him around and Lily loved having her daddy take her to school today.
Josh let Lily decide where we would eat lunch, so she of course yelled out "Chick-fil-A".

I also wanted to mention that there was a man from the Owasso Reporter in Lily's class room. He was snapping away at all the cute kiddos. He came and asked me Lily's name and mentioned how cute it was that she was crying while the other children were excited. She just may be in the Reporter tomorrow! :0)

Tag

2008-08-07T16:41:00.003-05:00

This game of tag is a little different, instead of answering the questions yourself ask the questions to your child or children and replace my answers with theirs. Here are Lily's answers, she's just so sweet, she was afraid to say the "wrong" answer.

What does Mommy always say to you? Clean up the toys (man she's good)
What makes Mommy happy? If you be nice to people and no hitting.
What makes Mommy sad? If you hit (can you tell we have been having a hard time with Cooper and his hitting?)
How does Mommy make you laugh? makes a funny face
How old is Mommy? 7
How tall is Mommy? short (ha-ha)
What doesn't Mommy like to do? Go outside (how true lately, its too hot for me)
What is Mommy's job? Cook
What's Mommy's favorite food? Cereal (I wish I only ate things that were good for me)
How do you know Mommy loves you? Because of God

I thought it would be fun to ask Coop these questions. Keep in mind that the child is 2, I did think he did pretty well on some of them. I'm also pretty sure he didn't understand some of the questions. Enjoy!

What does Mommy always say to you? No! (man, how good was this answer?!)
What makes Mommy happy? Ball (okay- not sure?)
What makes Mommy sad? Ball (again-what?)
How does Mommy make you laugh? I don't know
How old is Mommy? 2
How tall is Mommy? Big (he held his hand above his head)
What doesn't Mommy like to do? Play at the play area (he means the playground at the mall, he loves that place)
What is Mommy's job? Play ( I wish!)
What is Mommy's favorite food? Pizza
How do you know Mommy loves you? Kisses

Okay I'm going to tag Noelle, Kina, and Sandy. Have fun girls!

What a Wonderful Week!

2008-07-27T22:15:00.006-05:00

We had such a wonderful week with our family. We always have a great time and this time was no different. Everyone came down to enjoy a family baby shower for Ashley and Kain, followed by a family cookout later that night. When my mom, sisters, niece, and nephews come down we always seem to have a jam pack schedule, lots of things we want to do. We took the kids swimming, to the movies, shopping (yes folks we took eight kids to the mall-we are super moms), and they played outside in the sprinklers about every evening. My dad was able to join us a few days later and the fun continued. I just LOVE having my family around and so do my kiddos, they weren't ready to see them head back west. Can't wait until they come back to see us!! Since I seem to never blog (so I've heard) I decided I would post a crazy amount of pics for fun. Actually the reason it seems I have so many pics is because I wanted to take a pic of each kid swimming, and when you have eight kids that makes for alot of pictures. :)

Ella prefers to hang out on the steps, isn't she cute with her goggles on her head!
Sam is a pro on the diving board, he is such a big boy!
Max can do it all, I tried to get a good pic of him on the slide but he's too fast for me. Sweet little Ben loves to swim with his mommy and mimi.
Lily has learned how to swim with her face in the water, I thought she would be closer to 15 before she braved this one. We are so proud of her!
My sweet little Coop, looks alot more innocent than he really is!
Emily is always such a big helper with the little kids, she was helping Ryder swim in his tube! :)

Max and Cooper are enjoying a nice relaxing bubble bath!

Uncle Josh is quite the big hit around the nieces and nephews.

I had to post this pic I thought it was too cute. Max sat on his Uncle Josh like this for quite awhile. This actually counts as hugging, which Max rarely does to ANYONE!
The girls were FREEZING at Red Robin, but...

poor Mimi couldn't seem to cool off! The many joys of growing older! We love you Mimi!!!

We are heading to Yukon tomorrow, my grandpa is having heart surgery on Tuesday. They will be replacing his heart valve and he will have triple bypass surgery as well. Please keep him in your prayers. He is such a wonderful Father, Grandfather, and Great-Grandfather. We love you Pa!!

Introducing....

2008-07-23T15:27:00.007-05:00

our third gift from God. Yes, we are expecting our third child this January. We are soooooo excited!!!! I waited a little while to share our news with Lily, I wanted to have an ultrasound at 12 weeks before we told her. She is PUMPED!!! She kisses my belly all day, everyday. I have been super sick with this baby, I wasn't at all with my other two. It is no fun and is just one of my excuses of why I have been such a bad blogger lately. I thought I was feeling better, but I have had a rough morning today, hopefully I'll be seeing the end of my sickness. I guess the one good thing about being sick is you don't put much weight on, not that I really care when I'm pregnant, I will eat ANYTHING that makes me feel better and sometimes that's chocolate! :) We'll keep you updated on our new little baby, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I have had such wonderful support since our miscarriage and now God has blessed us with another child. :)

Baby Harrel at 12 weeks, my doctor thought he would be able to tell what it was but just like my other children this one would NOT cooperate. It's umbilical cord was between its legs, maybe next month!

Better Late Than Never!

2008-07-14T09:57:00.005-05:00

Hi, my name is Annie, and I am a HORRIBLE blogger. I feel so much better now that I have admitted my problem! :) I LOVE looking at every one's blogs and I find I get disappointed if they are not new posts. Well I have decided I am probably disappointing everyone who happens to venture onto my little blog site. I am really going to try to do better in the future.
Well, we headed to Woodward for the 4th of July and we had a blast. It's just so nice to spend time with family. Katie, the kids, and I headed up a few days before our husbands so we could spend a little more time with everyone. Also my parents are finally getting new carpet, and I still had quite a bit of high school stuff in my room to go through and throw away. I know its pathetic its been eleven years and I am just now getting my old room cleaned out.
We had a wonderful holiday, the weather was beautiful, and the fireworks were entertaining. I think this was the first time we had ALL been together for the 4th and it was so much fun. The kids are growing up way to fast, and our husbands haven't grown up at all!! :) I'm not sure who enjoyed setting the fireworks off more, the kids or the husbands!

All ready to head to the party! Chad's parents are so wonderful and each year they invite us out to their land so we can cook out and set off fireworks.

Lily loved stepping on the poppers!

Sparklers are always a big hit with my kiddos.
Coop is getting to be such a big boy!This was the first year Lily was brave enough to set off a few fireworks...
but she did run for the hills when they went off, along with Ella and Coop.
I just cannot quite believe how brave my little Lily was this year, she was helping me hold a Roman Candle, which she has NEVER done before.
My wonderful grandparents, everyone knows them as Nanny and Pa. We just love it when they get to come around for all the fun holidays. They are the BEST!

While at Mimi and Pa's house Cooper found a bunny suit and he loved wearing it. He would hop around all day and say "I am a bunny"
We were also able to watch one of Emily's softball games, sure does bring back many memories!
"Emily's team is #1!!!!!"

It's a bird, it's a plane,...

2008-06-25T22:01:00.003-05:00

no it's Super Cooper!!!!! Josh and Cooper were playing outside the other day and Josh said, "You've got to see these pics of Coop." WOW! I have to say its pretty fun to have a fearless child after spending too many precious moments talking Lily into ANY activity. I just hope Coop doesn't send us to the emergency room too often! :0)

My cute little man!

Happy Anniversary!!!

2008-06-22T17:51:00.002-05:00

Six years ago today I married the man of my dreams. Josh is the most incredibly loving, doting, wonderful husband in the world. Most of you know I can be pretty bossy, but my laid back husband forgives me and takes care of me despite my many flaws. I never dreamed that I would one day be this happy and I can't wait for the next 50 years!!!! I love you honey!!!

I wish that I was capable of scanning a wedding photo in, but I am pretty much scared of all things "computer". So you will have to make do with this pic of my hot husband and cute kiddos. They both wanted to sit by Daddy, so he squeezed in between both of them. I also noticed that I don't have any pics of just me and Josh, I have plenty with him and the kids or me and the kids, but not us together. I will have to try to change that! :0)

Fun on the Splash Pad!!!

2008-06-06T21:50:00.003-05:00

It seems like it has been forever since I have last posted, I'm sure my family will agree with me. This week has been super crazy! Josh left on Sunday to go to Mexico with other members of our church on a missions trip. He will not return until next Tuesday, that's ten days without him here and I am slowly going crazy. The kiddos miss him and of course I do to. I am glad he was able to go, he was really looking forward to this trip and we just hope he returns safely. It will be nice to have him home, so he can have a turn spanking the children. Ha-Ha!!
I took the kids to the YMCA splash pad last week. They loved this!!!! I was again surprised how Lily ran and played in the water, this kind of thing usually has her sitting by my side and watching. But there weren't that many children there so she enjoyed herself. This would be a fun thing to do during the long, hot summer days, but when school is out this little area gets pretty busy. I'm sure we'll give it a try again sometime and hope we go on a slow day. :)

Lily and Cooper were obsessed with pushing the button to make the water go, even when it was already spraying.

Brrrr...that water is COLD!
Lily liked to step on this little water sprout!
The kiddos loved sitting inside this water bubble. They thought they were pretty cool.
My cute little man!

Lily also loved to run through the "rain"!

Memorial Weekend at Canton Lake

2008-05-28T21:32:00.004-05:00

We had such a wonderful holiday weekend. We went camping at Canton Lake with family and friends and enjoyed every minute of it. Okay, not every minute, I didn't love the LOUD thunderstorms at night. I thought our camper was going to take flight. We were blessed with beautiful weather during the day and we took full advantage of it. We ate delicious food, played games, watched the kiddos play, went to the playground, and just sat around and visited with family. This is such a special time, and I hope we continue to make memories with our family for years to come. :)

Poor Ryder, he gets some tough love from his cousin Coop.

Lily LOVES her cousin Zoe, we don't get to see them that often so its really nice to spend time with them during the camping season. My mom bought all the kids a squirt bottle, they worked out really well. Some of the water guns that we buy are too hard to use so she bought them something they could all squirt. Great idea!!!

Sam and Cooper take it easy in their chairs, aren't they cute?!

Cooper was a big fan of the slide! He did fall off of it once and got a pretty good scratch, but that didn't stop my Coop!
Lily has finally started to enjoy the swings. She used to be terrified of them, look at her now!
Here is a pic of Lily enjoying our "red neck" slip and slide. This was the biggest hit of the weekend. All you need is an old tarp, soap, water and your in for a good time!
Doesn't it look like fun? The adults wanted to give a try, but we didn't have any volunteers.
Coop thought he was freezing after playing in the water!
The kid table, we wouldn't let them eat with us. :)
The last night we were there we built a campfire. All of the kids dragged their chairs over and made a train, they got along really well together and we had a great time!

Of course we had to roast marshmallows. Lily was just too excited to do this, she talked of nothing else but roasting marshmallows when we arrived on Friday.

Lily's End of the Year Picnic!

2008-05-20T22:20:00.006-05:00

Lily had her last day of school today at Funtastic Island Park. She was so excited to go play and have a picnic. When we pulled up to the park her smile vanished and she became my painfully shy Lily. She would NOT talk to anyone! She shoved her face in my side and glued herself to me permanently. As you can guess I was pretty upset with Lily, because there was no reason for her behavior. We have been to this park many times and she loves it! So, finally after many attempts to get her to play, she broke free and became the fun loving little girl I know and love. It took her awhile, but she started playing with her classmates and I was able to sit and visit with the other parents. She ended up having a great time and did not want to leave. I explained that it was her last day of school and she needed to tell her teachers good-bye and thank you for a wonderful year, I'm pretty sure she didn't get it. Lily knows that Ella is going to attend this school in the fall and she says she is going to show her around. I have tried to explain that she will be going to a new school, I don't think she liked that idea. She doesn't do well with new things.

This is the mean look Lily had on when we first arrived at the park, she wanted to go home!

I finally peeled her off of my leg and climbed the ladder. I told her if she wanted to stand by me she would have to follow me. She did!

This was our first trip down the big slide, I had to get her excited to play. She loved sliding with her Mommy!

Pretty soon she began to run all over the playground asking me to take her picture while she played. I know, shocking isn't it!!!
Lily sure does love those slides!
Her class walked over to the flag pole to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Lily wasn't too happy that I wasn't holding her hand.
Lily is posing with her wonderful teacher, who was full of love, patience, and understanding for my little Lily! :0)

GROSS!!!!!

2008-05-13T13:19:00.003-05:00

As most of you know I am really working hard to potty train Cooper. We've been hitting it pretty hard the last 10 days or so. Well, today as I sit in Lily's room going through her summer clothes to put in her closet I start to think, "I haven't heard Cooper in awhile." I decided I better go investigate. As I walk through the kitchen Cooper is standing next to the trashcan with a horrible look on his face. At first glance I think he has eaten something really disgusting, but then I see the green mush ALL over his hands. YUCK! Fortunately he was NOT eating his poop, but he did decide to remove it from his underwear with his hands to throw it away so mama would not be the wiser! When I tell you this was disgusting that is a HUGE understatement!! I finally got him and the trashcan all cleaned up, and sent him to bed for a nap. I never had these issues with Lily and I sure wish I didn't have them with Coop. If Josh would have been the one to find Coop and I was gone, I think Josh would have thrown our trashcan away and hosed Cooper off in the yard! Hopefully we'll have better luck tomorrow!

I didn't take pictures of Cooper's adventure because it would have caused you all to lose your lunch. But I thought I would post a pic of him looking so innocent (don't let the picture fool you)!

School Program Success!

2008-05-09T12:32:00.005-05:00

Well, we had Lily's first school program last night and I am happy to report that she made a liar out of her mama. She went through with the entire program, I was so very proud of her. This is such a huge step for my little Lily. She has NEVER gone in front of a crowd to perform, she has never conquered her fear for church programs either. She was sooooo excited about her program, so I was really hoping that she would be able to go through with it. Each night leading up to the program we would pray together that God would help her sing on stage, she was so precious asking for God's help to stay up there and "not be scared".
I was hoping that Lily would just be brave enough to stand up there, and that's basically all she did. When Lily gets shy or nervous about something she puts her hands up to her mouth and leaves them there. She walked into the sanctuary with her hands up to her face and she left the stage with her hands up to her face. She did sing a couple of songs, which surprised me, but her hands were hiding her mouth. When they sang This Little Light of Mine, she had one hand by her mouth with the other hand holding up her finger for her "light" right next to her face. It was sooo cute! I, of course, was hoping that she would sing her fish song the way she did at home (see post before this one), but of course she wouldn't. I was just so proud that she was able to get up on stage and not cry. Lily has really come a long way this year, and we are just so proud of her. :)

Lily is ready to go to her program!

Family pic, posing in front of her school

Walking into the sanctuary, hands in mouth or beside mouth the entire time!

This is such a bad pic because it is so dark, but there is my princess with her hands up by her face!

After the performance Lily got to take us all through her classrooms to show us what they do all day. She couldn't wait to show Mimi her rooms!

She loves playing in the house center, with all the babies

Lily is showing Coop, Sam, and Ella the class fish, they thought they were pretty cool!

Lily is one lucky girl to have so many loved ones support her on her special night!
We celebrated the successful evening with ice-cream of course! Thanks Mimi!!!!

Sneak Peak of Lily's School Program!

2008-05-05T12:59:00.005-05:00

Lily is quite the little performer AT HOME, key words "at home". She is supposed to sing on stage this Thursday for her end of the year program at school. She has never performed in front of an audience before and has never wanted to. She is pretty much terrified of people watching her, but she has told me she is going to sing on stage, we shall see. In case she doesn't, and I highly doubt she does, I decided to video her singing her songs to show everyone that she can sing and perform when she feels like it. Cooper thought he needed to sing with his sister, so enjoy his little performance. They also decided to sing the B-I-B-L-E after they sang her school song. :o)

Lily's Special Day!

2008-04-30T22:06:00.007-05:00

Yesterday we dedicated an entire day to "Lily's Special Day", (you know like Boots on Dora Explorer when he gets his special day)? My mom came to town over the weekend to help paint Ashley's nursery. She had to go back to Woodward on Tuesday and wanted to take the grandkids with her. We sent Cooper and Ella with her, but Lily had to stay here due to school. When I tell you she was sad, that is quite the understatement. My mom wanted to make sure Lily understood that she wanted to take her home, but that I would not let her go because she had school. Imagine that!!! Anyway, because my little princess was heart broken I told her we could have a special day and do whatever she wanted. She was very excited and told me she wanted to and I quote "go on a picnic, play at the park, watch a movie, do lots of fun stuff, and sleep in curlers!!" Well we did all of those things except sleep in curlers, I think she forgot about that because she didn't ask again, but I thought that was soooo funny. :0)
Katie and I have enjoyed our little break from our terrible two year olds. We do miss them, but it has been nice having quiet evenings around here. We even went to the mall today with just Lily and Ryder, shopping was actually fun again! Here are a few pictures of "Lily's special day".

We were able to have a very nice picnic because we had beautiful weather, it was a little windy but not too bad!

"Ooooo I really want that acorn....."

Daddy came to the rescue!

Lily and her mommy checking out the ducks

Lily loves to play at the playground by our house, the slides are her favorite!
Playgrounds aren't just for kids!!!

CHEESE!!!

And finally, Mimi felt really bad because Lily was so sad that she left her some money and Lily got to go the store and pick out a toy. Yes, I know she isn't spoiled at all is she! Thanks for the Barbie Mimi she LOVES it!!!

Katie and I are headed to Woodward tomorrow to rescue our mother from Cooper and Ella. We are looking forward to a fun filled weekend with family, two birthday parties, a dance recital, and we get to see Emily get baptized!!

Obsessive Baseball Father! :)

2008-04-24T19:44:00.003-05:00

Okay everyone, those of you who know my husband you know he is a huge baseball fanatic. This has been apart of who he is for as long as he can remember. His mother tells me that Josh used to go around the house and swing an imaginary bat at an imaginary ball. Yes, people I have seen him do this as an adult since we have been married! :) With that said, Josh is super excited about our kids someday playing baseball/softball. He took them outside the other day and had them practice their swinging. Yes you heard me correctly our 4 and 2 yr old are learning how to hold their bat and swing correctly at the ball. The kids really enjoyed this especially Lily, which surprised us all. Josh was very pleased with Lily's ability and hopes that she will want to play softball someday. Cooper is into any kind of game that involves a ball so I have no doubts that he will want to follow in his father's footsteps! Ella was over, but she was much more interested cheering them on than swinging the bat. :)

Showing Lily how to stand correctly

She's learning how to line up the bat with the ball

Keep your eye on the ball...

and swing!

Coop got his lessons as well, and by the way, Josh is also super pumped because Coop is going to be a lefty and this will be great when it comes to baseball (but not so good when his mother is trying to teach him how to write, because I am not a lefty).
Cooper did pretty good at hitting the ball, he loved making the ball go far, if it didn't go far he would scream. He's going to be a poor sport I'm afraid!
And what would a baseball game be without the cheerleaders, they were chanting "Go Cooper Go!!!"

First Field Trip!!!

2008-04-17T22:29:00.005-05:00

Today was Lily's first school field trip, we went to the zoo and had so much fun together. Lily was pumped and ready to go. It was very strange to be on a field trip and not be a teacher. It's much more relaxing as a parent I must say. God blessed us with a beautiful day, and we were worried about rain, but the rain stayed away until early evening. Even though Lily was obviously not the most outgoing child in her class, she still was so sweet and funny. I noticed that she did talk to a couple of her classmates, which is a huge step for Lily. I know I give her a hard time about being insanely shy, but I will brag on her for a moment. She is truly one of the sweetest, kindest little girls to be around. Lily has a big heart and constantly tells me she loves me, at least once an hour. It was a blast to spend this day with her and to see the zoo through the eyes of a child.

Lily is ready to go and Coop gets to spend the morning with his Aunt Brenda, he had a great time at her house.
Awww....the life of a sea lion, nap, swim, nap, eat, nap!
Lily actually went into the petting area, I couldn't believe it. She thought it was pretty cool to brush the goats.
Here is Lily leaning over to get a better look at the peacock, definitely the most entertaining animal of the day. It kept yelping loudly and then raising its beautiful tail feathers. The children loved this and would yelp right back at him.
The elephants are one of Lily's favorite animals to see, there was a little elephant who kept picking up dirt with his trunk and throwing it in the air. Lily thought this was HILARIOUS!!
Lily is as big as an Emperor penguin.
This is by far my favorite picture of the day. The kids were all huddle together waiting for the penguins to jump in the water. When they finally did Lily looked at me with this adorable expression.Lily enjoyed each and every animal we saw, but I would say she was most impressed with this polar bear, she loved watching him walk around and around.
Lily gets to have a sleep over at her cousin Ella's house tonight. She was so pumped, she kept saying "Ella is going to be so excited that I am sleeping in her bed with her!"
Let the party begin!!

And finally, I couldn't resist to leave you with a picture of my little Ryder man and his new favorite "toy". Couldn't you just eat him up?!

New York Trip Continued!!!

2008-04-12T22:23:00.005-05:00

Okay, okay I know I promised more pics of NYC and it has taken me longer than I thought to post them. I feel like I have met myself coming and going this week. Anyways, I have several pics left to share and I was going to try to split them up into two more posts, but I know my family wouldn't leave me alone until I had them all on here. Sooooo, please excuse the ridiculously LONG post!! We had such a blast in New York City, have I mentioned that?! Just looking through these pics makes me really want to go back and see everything again. I tried to find pictures to share with you all that we were able to see, and still these pictures do not do our trip justice! ENJOY!!

Wicked was FANTASTIC!!!! Yes we are cheesy and we do not care! Do you think anyone could tell we were tourists? :)
My mom and I just loved this sign, it says it all Wicked was the best show I have seen so far!! I left the show so happy and giddy, I can't wait until it comes to Tulsa and I get to see it again. My new favorite line is stolen from Glenda the Good Witch "It's so good to see me"!!
Of course there were t-shirts bought and of course we wore them the very next day!!!!! By the way Josh and Dad liked the show, but they did not appreciate it for the fabulousness (is that even a word?) that it was!We were also able to see Mamma Mia while we were in NYC. And though it was a good show, it cannot compare to the awesomeness of Wicked!!
This picture cracks me up, we had just finished walking through the MET, can you tell my mom really enjoyed it and Josh's expression says it all!!!

Time Square- it feels like you are in a whole different country. The amount of people and buildings are incredible. Everything was lit up with fabulous lights, I didn't know were to look first.
Here is my honey and me, in the background you can see a big red bus. We rode that bus all around NYC for a tour on Sunday. Our first guide wasn't to great but our second guide was fantastic. Did I mention we didn't even need a tour guide, my dad is one of those people who has a head full of information. As we walked all through NYC he stopped to share and teach us all that he knew. Believe me it was more than the tour guides!
Here is Rockefeller square, isn't that cool that they are still ice skating in April! It was really beautiful!
Here is my beautiful mother, behind her is a gorgeous pond smack inside Central Park.
We all became quite the subway pros by the time this trip was over!!!

Josh and Dad had to pose by the bull! Aren't they lookin sharp?!
Yes, people this is my 52 year old father posing between the cheeks of the bull, he thought he was pretty funny!!
So my dad the tour guide, encouraged us to walk across Brooklyn Bridge. We were pretty winded by the time we made it across and decided to subway it back to Manhattan. The engineer in my father just couldn't get over this incredible bridge and how they built it all those years ago with very limited tools!!

I will end my posts about our New York City trip with a picture of the delicious cheese cake we splurged with on our last night there! We had such an incredible time and I can't wait to go back!