Mother's Day

I do not think I've had a better Mother's Day in the 7 years I've been able to celebrate. This past weekend was fabulous. There wasn't any one particular thing that made it so special...I just simply felt loved. The weekend was spent running a few errands, having lunch with some new friends, playing together outside as a family (swinging), and then cleaning up after Harper being sick. 

Hal and Harper went over to Jonathan's parents' house Saturday afternoon to decorate a cake for me! It was precious! 

Saturday night, Harper woke up with a fever. And then she followed that with vomit. We all slept in Sunday morning. And then Jonathan and the girls surprised me with breakfast in bed! What a treat!

Because Harper was feeling a little icky, we skipped church and rested. I'm almost positive someone was asleep from breakfast until lunchtime. We just took turns being awake! For lunch, we went to Jonathan's parents' house to celebrate. Harper was feeling a lot better by then, so we ventured out. We had made a pretty special gift for Jonathan's mom, so we were thrilled that she loved it!

Jonathan made one for me, too!

We had a super time Sunday afternokn! I am so thankful for my mom...sure do wish I could have spent the day with her! She is so strong and loving. She is crazy about our girls, and loves Jonathan like he's her own! I hope to be at least half the mom she was for my brother and me! I'm also thankful for Jonathan's mom--she loves me like I'm her own. And she loves Jonathan and our girls fiercely. 

We had a beautiful day! I am so thankful for my two precious girls...they are everything to me. And I'm thankful God chose me to be their mommy. I don't always get it right, but I always love them with my whole heart! 

Easter 2014

WI'm pretty behind in my blog posts...so I'll just start pretty close to the present. A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Easter. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our Risen Lord. We did Easter baskets for the girls before church and are lunch with Gramps and RahRah after church. Jonathan's parents got Ressirection Eggs for the girls, so that was pretty special. Jonathan read through all the eggs, and each egg had something that symbolized Christ's journey to the cross. The last egg to be opened was empty. We know God is working in Hallie's heart. She has been asking a lot of questions about God, Jesus, and Heaven. We are praying for her heart to seek Truth and for it to open wide to Jesus's calling. 

Easter baskets from Nonna & Pop. 

Baskets from Mommy & Daddy

He is Risen! He is Risen indeed!

The Start of Spring Break!

03.07.14-03.08.14

Hallie finished up her Friday with a class-wide egg drop. First grade had been studying eggs and students were supposed to create a protective covering for a hard-boiled egg. A few little friends didn't quite get the hard-boiled memo--despite our attempts at them understanding (notes sent home, constant reminders). Let's just say those eggs didn't survive the 8 foot fall. Ha. But...thanks to the protective covering Hallie and her daddy made, her egg survived!! She was thrilled! 

Right after school, we went home and literally threw some clothes into the bag and headed to Alabama. I think it took less than two hours to get everything  together. We headed to Alabama as the sun began setting. 

Saying good-bye to Daddy...

One of our children appreciates sleep. One does not. Haha. We drove through the night and it wasn't the most pleasant experience thanks to the littlest HSE. 

Once we got to Nonna and Pop's house, both girls were very excited to get reacquainted with their American Girl dollhouse!

Everyone is ready for a relaxing week!

Baylor Basketball

03.04.14

While my parents were in town, we headed to a Baylor basketball game! It was so much fun. It was Harper's first game and our first game of the season (which was, sadly, the last regular game of the season). I think my parents had a good time...it was definitely something out of the ordinary for us to do while they were in town! 

And my Baylor TA (a junior student teaching assistant) is a cheerleader...she came up to say hi to Hallie & Harper! So fun! And so sweet of her!! 

Sweet at Seven

03.02.14

Hallie is officially seven! How did that happen?! This precious girl has brought us so many smiles and so muhch joy! I don't think we knew the happiness, the laughter, the tears, the frustration or the sheer exhaustion parenting could bring...but we are so thankful our journey began with our sweet Hallie Shea!

Happy birthday, love!! 

Lucky Number Seven

03.01.14

Hallie planned a beautiful picnic party...and the day could have not been more fun or more beautiful! We had a wonderful time at Whitehall Park with lots of friends and family. My cousin, Clay, and his family recently moved to the DFW area and they came to party with us! It was nice having more of my side of the family with us! 

I think the party was a hit. The kids played on the playground, ate all the cookies and cupcakes, picnicked, and planted flowers! A lovely picnic indeed! 

Bumpity Bump Bump Goes the Noggin

(This was originally written 02.23.14)

Well, Harper has managed to get yet 

another knot on her head! I guess she's trying to get the world record. She's certainly well on her way to surpassing the number of bumps Hallie had during her toddler days! She may even surpass her own daddy from *his* toddler days! And according to his mom, he walked around with a goose egg for years! 

Nonetheless, Harper has had bump after bump on her sweet little noggin. I believe this may be her 4th. Maybe 5th. Thankfully, a bump has always popped up, and she has never acted abnormal. Today a she was morning her own business, walking around outside while Daddy trimmed Charley's (our dog) fur. It was beautifully sunny, so she and I both had on sunglasses. She was very excited about the sunglasses (which happened to belong to 18 month old Hallie back in the day). It all went downhill from there. 

She started off all Hollywood cool 

She strutted around the yard before heading back up the driveway to oversee Charley's trim. 

I told Jonathan I was going to put something away inside, to keep an eye on her. As I turned to go inside, he didn't get "ok" out of his mouth before we heard a thud followed by screaming. 

These were under a screaming baby. (Taken long after the fact...Harper got monkey ice and lots of love before we returned to the crash sight.). These babies fell into two pieces when we picked them up. Harper said they were "shash" and wanted to throw them away. As soon as she threw them into the trash can, she cried and immediately wanted them back out! Sentimental like her Mommy.  

Daddy tried to snap the bruise but caught gorgeous baby blues instead. 

Poor thing! She's a trooper, heading to RahRah's for a little while. 

She got a ponytail to take her mind off the scrape and bump! Cute!! 

Calling it a night. Poor baby!! Even with scratches and bruises and bumps, she's still the sweetest thing! 

So. Hopefully it will heal quickly. And then she'll bump her head again, I'm sure. She's talented like that!! Runs in the family!

18 months

(This was written 02.02.14 and I didn't realize it didn't publish! Sigh.) 

Our sweet Harper is 18 months old today! I cannot believe it has been a year and a half since she burst into our lives in record time. Her little personality is really beginning to shine through, and lately she has become quite opinionated. It is absolutely adorable. She has more words in her little vocabulary than I can even list. She will finally try to say just about anything you ask her to say. A few favorites lately: 

*buffalo (buh-buh-lo)

*tiger (tiiii-guh)

*turtle (tur-tuhl)

*Elmo (el-momo)

*book (boo)

*more (moy...a reminder from Hallie's baby days)

Her vocabulary and understanding is amazing. She can follow two step commands and really loves trying to explain things to us! And she has a new love for Elmo that's just too cute to not let her see an episode now and again. 

Today she spent her half birthday with two bottom molars coming in, a runny nose, and a low grade fever. She was a bit grumpy, but we headed to church where she surprised Gramps and RahRah by walking up and saying hi. Then she sat with them during a large part of the service (we sat right behind them). We "celebrated" (um, we just are lunch) at Rosa's. Harper had some rice, chips and queso and some chicken. Then she got a little treat of M&Ms with her goldfish while I went to school to work. :o) Seriously, Harper did turn 18 months today...but we didn't make a big deal out of it. Jonathan did take her to Toys R Us to get a new Nose Frida...and came home with an Elmo chair! Haha. Daddy is a sucker! 

Happy 18 months, sweet love!! 

It was hard to get a picture of this little girl...she's always on the move! 

Who needs a fancy PBK chair when you can have Elmo?! Ha!

Oh yes. And she had a powdered donut!

So big, she can just read to herself!

27 days in

We are 27 days into 2014 and I would already like a do-over. Seriously. Here are a few reasons why...

*Stress. I've got it. Some people eat when they're stressed. Some people don't eat. Some sleep. Some clean. Well, I do none of those. I get ulcers ALL in my mouth. Lucky me, huh? *ouch*

*School. I've got some seriously stressful issues going on at school. And that's all I will say about that. 

*Hallie came home from a sleep over (where she slept covered in a down comforter) breathing approximately 60 breaths a minute. Nostrils flaired. Wheezing. Cheeks red. Sweaty. Lethargic. Abdomen rising greatly with each breath. We freaked out. Got her into the doc. She had an asthma attack, it seems. We still aren't sure. She had a nebulizer treatment at the office. We came home with oral steroids and an inhaler to be given every 3-4 hours. We will go back to the doc in a few weeks to

Actually do breathing tests for to check for asthma. 

*Harper spiked a 102.5 temp. Lethargic. Whiney. Wouldn't eat or drink. Double ear infection. 10 day strong antibiotic. Augmentin. Boo. This has lead to many a blowout. Thankfully, they aren't stinky. Just extremely messy. 

*Hallie has developed a weirdness about eating in public places. What's weird, you ask? Oh...how about she eats just fine. Enjoys the company and them vomits her meal in its entirety at the end. I'm serious. Dead serious. Except it only happens at nicer restaurants. Nice, huh? It happened twice in Alabama over Christmas (so technically that wasn't 2014...well, once was). And it has happened twice since we have been back in Texas. This past Saturday night, I wasn't the one she told that her tummy felt funny. Needless to say, the salad bowl at Olive Garden will never be the same. Nor will the four pretty cloth napkins. I'm praying all those went into the garbage. At some point, Hallie's vomiting erupted like a volcano all over my sweater, jeans, boots, and hair. I wish I was exaggerating. Crime scene tape could've been put up at our booth. I have NO idea how the people around us didn't notice because I was laughing almost hysterically. I guess we are just that good at covering our tracks. Hallie felt terrible. And the waitress was so sweet by saying "Don't worry about it--we all have either worked at a daycare or have our own kids. It's not a big deal." I hope Jonathan left an extra tip. I'm sure they would like to leave us one--don't bring your kids out in public! 

*Yesterday at McAlister's (ha--yes, we braved another restaurant), Jonathan said Hal should get water instead of a sweet drink to maybe help with the "funny tummy feeling". As soon as he acted like he had the vomiting issues figured out, Harper threw up ALL over him. I cannot make this stuff up. He proceeds to take Harper outside (not before she left a nice trail of vomit) where she continued to vomit over and over. Hallie followed them out and then came in to get her water looking rather green-faced. I told her to breathe and to go back outside (should she start vomiting again). I had to ask for a caution sign so no one would break their neck on my daughter's vomit before I could get it cleaned up. Sigh. Amazingly, we finished our lunch and made it home without anymore mishaps. 

*Our house is a complete disaster...no matter how many times someone cleans it or straightens it. 

*Laundry and dishes seem to multiply by the nanosecond. Sadly, Harper's pack-n-play is being used right now as a giant laundry basket (hey, I'm keeping it real and can hopefully help you feel better about your own house). One day this week, those clothes will get folded...right after I do a rinse on the clothes that are in the washing machine (again).  Oh, and after the pajamas, sheets and mattress pad from Harper's bed get washed...since she threw up all over herself again last night. Bless her! Jonathan called today to get a different antibiotic. So hopefully that'll help. 

I'm not sure what is going on, exactly. But I feel completely out of sorts. I really think it has a lot to do with some changes happening at school. Whatever it is, I hope my brain can kick it into gear soon because I just can't go on "like this" (of course I can...I would just rather have a little more energy in doing so). 

So...5 days left in January. Let's hope February gets off to a better start to turn my opinion of 2014 around! Because frankly, 2014 can skip on by if this is how he's gonna be! :o)

And now, a few pictures to make this (whiny) post a little less pathetic!

Happy Times in 2014:

Celebrating Jonathan's birthday!

Moments where sisters are being sweet

This cute girl and me!

Bathtime fun!

Painting

This girl and her cute pajamas!

Saturday mornings with my loves...

"Well, I need to sharpen some pencils today." (She brings them home on Friday to sharpen over the weekend!)

Playing outside with this cutie while her daddy and sister watch Frozen. 

Winter weather in Texas (give it a couple of days)!

Harper would not sleep Saturday night...so I put it on Pandora. She grabbed my phone and and minutes later, she laid down. Then a commercial came on, along with a picture. She sat straight up, "Puppa!!! Puppa!!! Puppa!!!"

She was so excited! Notice the time says 4:05 AM!! Maybe I should invest in commercial free Pandora!

And remember how it was winter weather on Friday? Well, yesterday it was 70. 

Looking at all the pictures, I suppose that even with the stresses 2014 has had in it's meer 27 says, there have been a whole lot of happies. We are blessed. Even at 4:05 AM...by the excitement of seeing a "puppa".