Harper is 16 Months Old

 My mercy she is getting big....too big. I cannot fully express in words just how much joy she brings our entire family. She is so sweet and immediately draws the attention of any room she enters. Brad, Harper and I went to lunch today and she had perfect strangers walking up to us from across the room to comment on just how precious she was. The table across from us got a few super cute waves from our baby girl and a super sweet "Hi". You will see grown men crumble at the cuteness and the pure preciousness from our Harper Grace. One of the lady's at the resturant made the comment that Harper "has a way of making everyone feel special". Yes, yes, I would completely agree. One tiny grin, a wave, or a giggle from our baby girl and your world will never be the same!!
(Can you tell we are all completely smitten with her?) I still think that Maddox is the one that is wrapped around her finger the tightest. He absolutely adores her. He will give up any toy, his time, his attention simply to make her smile. He gets so sad if she gets in trouble or is crying. In fact, if we ever have to get on to her and she starts to cry, he gets so upset and asks me to "never get on to her again. Just let her have what she wants!" Ha. Sorry Madd, that didn't work for you and it won't work for her either...but that pout, oh my that pout. It sure is tempting to just give her anything...we won't...but it's tempting.

What are you up to these days Harper Grace:
- weigh 23 pounds
- wear size 12-18month clothes
-size 5 shoe
-size 4 diaper
-you are not a big fan of eating these days...but when you do eat you love tomatoes, cheese, meat, spaghetti and breakfast bars
-you are still on organic, hormone free lactose free milk (we tried you on regular whole milk and you didn't adjust very well. You were very cranky)
-you were a wonderful sleeper until you came down with a strange virus where you ran a high fever and just felt miserable. Now you think waking up at all hours of the night should mean that I come in there to cuddle you. Hoping you feel better soon and we get back to that awesome sleep schedule
-you are gaining a pretty good signing vocabulary. You currently sign:
     -more
     -eat
     -drink
     -please
     -night night
     -you can do all the motions to "Patty Cake"
-You currently say the words: ice, hi, please, thank you, momma, daddy, gigi, puppy
-you LOVE dogs. We have to remind you to love the puppies gently, but you are perfectly content petting a dog, chasing a dog and watching the dogs from the window
-you adore your daddy. You squeal with delight when he gets home from work (makes every hard day at work more worth while to be greeted that way)
-you are a great walker/runner. You are getting harder and harder to keep up with you when you are on a mission. You are fast! Tonight you started walking backwards. So funny!
-You still love to cuddle and you give precious hugs and kisses
-You are becoming more aware of other peoples feelings and you comfort the boys when they are in timeout

Oh Harper girl. We are thankful for you and we are proud of the little girl you are becoming!

I love the sweet expression on her face while she looks at her daddy

Harper in action. Just "chatting" it up with the hostess at a resturant

EEEK. I never want to forget this fluff

She's finally getting a little hair

Harper the hoarder. This girl is happiest when her hands are full. Her favorites are carrying laundry and shoes. Big helper

Adorable. She's such a delight. 

First Field Trip

A few weeks ago I had the awesome opportunity to accompany Maddox on his first field trip of the school year. His class went to the corn maize. They attended corn school and learned how corn grows, they went through the corn maize, road the cow train, went on a hay ride, picked a pumpkin to bring home and looked at the various animals they had at the farm!

I love this little boy and I love to watch him in his element with his school friends and his teacher!

Fall

We are experiencing some beautiful fall weather these days. Fall is my favorite time of year. It is easy to play outside with the kids without getting too hot and unlike our spring weather, it is not a constant dust storm with high winds surrounding us. The colors are beautiful, the weather is peaceful and the transition from summer to winter as far as wardrobe is concerned is my favorite, especially with kids and even more especially now that I am blessed with a baby girl to play dress up with. Jeggings and boots on that tiny little body...yes, please!! I could just gobble her up!!!

And just for giggles, here is miss Harper Grace wearing the same outfit this time last fall. It was a full dress on her last year and now it is a snug little top!! My oh my how quickly the time goes!

Coloring

Paxton likes to color. He is fantastic at coloring. He colors in the lines. He chooses his colors carefully. He is ambidextrous. If is right hand is tired, he just switches and uses his left hand to finish his art work. He is meticulous. He is obsessive about everything being perfect. He is SLOW at coloring so often times anything he brings home from school has barely anything colored on it because he takes so long, but when he does color, the outcome is fascinating!!!

Sunny San Diego

So, this past week, our little family of 5 packed up and flew to Coronodo Island right off of San Diego, California. It was so much fun. Brad had work meetings there and we were able to tag along. This is the same place in California that we had the amazing opportunity to visit with Maddox when I was pregnant with Paxton. It was great to go back and have two more in tow this time. Crazy and hectic at times...yes, of course, but oh so worth it.
The weather was amazing. It was around 80 degrees during the day and the evening time cooled off just enough to need a light jacket. The boys LOVED the beach, splashing in the super cold ocean water, building sand castles and digging holes in the sand. Harper Grace on the other hand absolutely hated the sand and would cry the most pathetic cry if you even put her tiny little finger on the sand. Ha. She eventually let me set her down on a beach towel but she definitely preferred to be held. She did however love the various birds that flew and walked on the shore of the beach! She would wave at them and say hello and giggle her tiny, precious giggle when they flapped their wings! She is definitely our animal lover.
The kids and I spent the morning and early afternoons together while Brad attended his meetings. We would walk to breakfast and then play on the beach and head back in the hotel for a nice quiet nap until daddy was finished. Then it was more time on the beach exploring and off to dinner somewhere. There were so many fun shops and restaurants all along the streets by the hotel. It was lovely!
Saturday Brad had the entire day free so we loaded up and went to Sea World San Diego!! What a crazy, chaotic outstanding time we had! The weather was great and the kids did fantastic. Maddox got to ride his first roller coaster (he LOVED it), and they all really enjoyed watching the shamu show. Paxton's favorite were the penguins and Maddox loved the sharks!! Harper loved Shamu and the flamingos as well as the penguins.
And now for picture overload.....

My breakfast dates!

Waiting inside the lobby of the hotel

Brothers during one of our morning adventures

This is how I looked on the beach most of the time

sweet siblings soaking in the sun

Maddox digging a hole and Paxton running in pure delight

Digging for treasure

Sandcastle building

"I'm the king of the world"

Hand in hand my brother you'll be

I love this picture. Love their little foot prints in the sand as they soak in God's glory

The water was so cold, but Maddox didn't care one bit

Pax splish splashin

All smiles

He couldn't get enough of those waves

So much fun

Love these beach bums

Happy as can be with her shovel in her hand

Harper loving the birds and her walk with daddy

A late night cup cake treat in the hotel while sister was in bed

Breakfast before we went to sea world

Such a happy girl

Boys feeding the sting rays

Harper and I at Sea World

Pax was thankful for his sisters stroller for a bit

All tuckered out! Sleeping Harper. 

Excited after watching the Madagascar Show

Maddox loved the sharks and the big shark teeth

He was SO happy seeing the penguins and getting his penguin toy

This was just minutes before leaving Sea World. This was our "we survived" smile

Such good little travelers

I just can't get enough of them holding hands and playing in the water.

Bath Time

Bath time in our house has changed up a bit as the kids get older. Maddox decided during the summer time that he would rather take showers than a bath, which actually makes things a bit easier because our bath tub was getting pretty full with all three kiddos in the tub at the same time!! He is a pro in the shower and I am very impressed that at the age of 5 I can tell him to run hop in the shower and he is fully effiecnt at getting that task accomplished without making a huge slippery mess!!

So now, Paxton and Harper are bath tub companions. Now, if you know anything about Paxton, he is very particular about how he wants things and he is super sensitive if things get out of order. Well, add a 14 month old to the bath tub and he can get very vocal about his feelings with her in his space. 

Well, the other day Pax and Harper were taking a bath and I was cleaning the bathroom counters, when all of the sudden Paxton jumped up and started screaming and gagging. I immeditly thought the poor kid had chooked on something so as I am assessing his needs, I look at "innoncent" Harper as she giggles and splashes, then I notice the floater. Yes, poop, floating in the bathtub. The innocent Harper pooped in the tub and Paxton was freaking out!!! I cannot stop laughing at this point because I see the poop, I see a smily happy baby and then there is Paxton attempting to crawl his tiny little body over our massive bath tub all while dry heaving and gagging at the sight!!!
The popular saying  "Poop hits the fan" has changed in our house..........its more like when poop hits the tub. Ha.