Last day of school and last soccer game

Noah had a big day today. Tyler (one of his good friends) at Miss Reynda's school gave him a big hug before he got on the bus today. He will be going to kindergarden next year and won't be in the same class as Noah... it was so sweet, but a little sad too. We had a busy day, Audrey came over and played and then Granny and Grandmom came over and stayed with the kids while I picked up the trophies and the cookie cake for the soccer game tonight. Noah played in his last game of the season. It was really nice of Dad and Kara to come out and join us. After the game the team gathered in a pavilion and we handed out trophies and the kids got juice and cookies. The kids were excited about their trophies and loved the fact that the girls had girls on top and the boys had boys on top. The parents surprised us with a card, that they had all the kids sign (too precious) and had all chipped in on a Red Lobster gift card for us! How cool is that... totally unexpected, but someone must have done their research, or gotten really lucky... RED LOBSTER IS our FAV!! We didn't expect it at all and it was so thoughtful of them to do that for us.
Noah said these funnies today: "mommy you have batman eyes" --- I still don't know what that means, and if that is a good thing or a bad thing... and sometimes when he says pacman it sounds like batman, so I don't really know which he meant. Would
one be better than the other?
Also, I told him to pick up toys and he whined and held his hands up and looked at them and said, "I can't, my hands are too wittle" That's funny, because they weren't too wittle to dump ALL of the toys out??? Strange....
Harper stayed at Granny and Pa's Tuesday night and Pa let her paint and do markers. She told Judd it was called "art".
Judd's on a baseball kick again, but today he used a grape and a baseball bat and hit the ball (grape) like that for awhile, then ate it and got a new grape to play with.... I think I can see a grape under the tb from here... oh wel..

Harper Jane pooped in the potty!!!

Last night I was sitting at the table, and HJ was sitting by me. Out of the blue, she started crying. I smelled something stinky. I knew she was or was about to poop in her pants. I ripped her skirt down, pulled her panties off and sat her on the frog potty just in time! She sat there and cried, refusing that she needed to go... I calmly got out my make up bag, and said "Now that you are pooping in the potty, you are a big girl and can wear make-up." Boy, did that take her mind off of pooping... Her eyes lit up and she sat up straight and tall and let me put make-up on her. With in a few minutes, she yelled "I poopin', I a big girl now, I not scared of bwana's any more!" and she did. She pooped for real in the potty!!!! Wowsers, I am so happy for her, hopefully she'll continue. This morning I took the kids to Chuck E's for a celebration. We played for about an hour, then J met us there for lunch. We all cheersed our cokes to Harper and her grown-upness!!! We played for another hour, got our glorious prizes, and came home.... What a great memorial day! (check out the makeup)

Much Needed Mini-Vaca

Thank you Nanna and Pappa for the 24 hours you spent at out house watching the kids! Josh and I took off to NW AR for a late anniversary celebration and had an incredible time. We ate Red Lobster for dinner, ate HOT FRESH KRISPIE KREME doughnuts for breakfast, and Famous Dave's ribs for lunch, oh my, I must hit the gym hard this week!!! Those were the highlights of the trip. Just Kidding, but they were all unbelievably good. We also shopped, and watched Star Trek (boo) and climbed the rock wall at Lewis and Clark... Fun Times. We had some romantical time in the room exchanging gifts. This was year 6--iron was the gift. I got Josh an iron stand that holds a picture frame and had his favorite verse framed for him. He wrote me a sweet card and got me a hand stamped necklace (stamped with iron--he says :) ) We tried to swim, but the indoor pool was cold and about 4 ft. long (and 3 ft. deep) so we didn't... By hour 23 we were terribly missing the kids and were hurrying home. About the same time, Pappa called saying Harper was missing us and was ready to see us. We brought the kids doughnut holes, but not enough, they were gone in minutes. Harper just said "Noah, give me a hug when you are done with that game, ok" Ahh, how sweet. Pappa and Nanna said they were great and I came home to a super clean house--- thank you Nanna for the extra help (even though Pappa tried to take credit for all the work) :)

Little Cuties

Please note her unique ending to the song....

Harper was just watching this video and she got off the couch and said, "I gotta jannie" and started pulling her panties out of her crack and I said, "You have a what?" and she said "a jannie." I said "a wedgie?" and she said "yeah, a wedgie" like she'd said it 3 times.... in the meantime, Noah was yelling "mommy, mommy" trying to get my attention, and I was laughing so hard at "jannie" I didn't look, so Noah put 2 fingers in his mouth and went "Whoot woo" in a yell... like he was trying to whistle to get my attention, hilarious..... Also, I need to write down before I forget, that HJ calls trampolines "jumperines."
When Judd hears something, he puts his hand over one ear and says "Hear dat mommy, hear dat airpwane mommy, up ere." and points... or "hear dat baby cwie mommy" or "doggie barking"...

Lately...

It seems as if we've been super busy. Last Friday Emily came over and we started work on our bedroom. How sweet of her was that? She and her husband Chad, spent their weekend helping me re-do our bedroom. First she and I borrowed a compressor from my neighbor, we textured the walls and ceiling, painted the trim and painted the walls. Halfway through with the ceiling and it was too wet and fell... Nightmare, but Chad and his mad handyman skills saved the day! I still need to put the finishing wall coat and ceiling coats of paint on, but haven't had a chance yet. I have also been upgrading my photography equipment and have been trying to get more serious about turning my hobby into a business. Soccer has started up again and Noah remembered how to play. I have a little video clip of him after he scored, giving hi-5 to all the parents on the sidelines... He didn't forget about that either. Harper Jane was outside eating dirt like it was chocolate today. I guess she still has pica. She said it was good and got sad when I made her quit eating it. Maybe she got some iron out of it, she acted really good all day. Juddson is starting to not whine as much as usual, maybe his teeth or whatever was wrong has gotten a little better. He has learned how to run and can really scoot... I am impressed by how fast he's gotten. He has also started playing the Wii with Noah, which is hilarious and his favorite games are baseball, bowling and boxing.... which he shouts out over and over until you turn one of them on for him.

Crazy Kids

The kids, well, Judd and Harper like to watch First Baptist Church on tv, so we dvr it. We look for Miss Becky, who sings in their choir. Judd would point and yell "That Miss Becky" and it wouldn't be and Harper would get mad and say, "No Judd, she has curly hair" "No Judd she has glasses" Etc.... So, we didn't see her and Harper started saying how she loved her and how nice she was and how she wanted her to come over and I said, I know, she'll be over next week, and Harper said, "I am sad" and pointed to her eye and said "See this, I have a tear." This week, they showed several people being baptized. Harper LOVES to watch them get "bath-tized." How appropriate!

Yesterday Granny and Grandmom stopped by to visit. The kids had just gotten out of the tub and were still running around naked. Judd ran (with bootie shakin') to open the glass door and stood on his tip toes to turn the handle and let them in. He said "come on it" as clear as a bell... too cute!

Lastnight, we had the Summerhill's over for dinner. I was trying to get the house picked up all day and while HJ and Judd were asleep, I let Noah got outside and play in the rain. When I went to check on him, I found this:

Josh was thrilled.... and spent an hour scrubbing the shed before they got here...

Mothers Day

was wonderful! Thank you Josh and sweet babies for making it so special for me. The other day while I was tanning, Josh sat the kids down and interviewed them to the best of his ability and the card he got is as follows:

Dear mommy,

Thank you for…

Reading books to me,
Singing twinkle little star,
Letting me sleep in your bed,
Getting me pretty clothes,
Playing blocks with me,
And Chicken Donald’s.
-Harper-

Calling me baby boy,
Letting me watch shows,
Letting me play rocket ship, Mario wii, and friend game,
Taking me to Jennifer and Michelle, and Miss Reynda School to help me,
Giving me honey buns and juice,
And taking my pictures.
-Noah-

Holding me every second of the day,
Giving me a roller coaster,
Appreciating my personality,
Saying no no to daddy,
Coming to my rescue every night,
And treating me like a baby.
-Judd-

Raising our children in the name of the lord,
Allowing God’s love to constantly flow from you into us,
Putting our children above everything else,
Taking care of me like I am your eldest child,
Supporting me in every high as well as every low,
And guiding me to be a better father.
-Josh-

We love you and appreciate everything you do for us…

-Your Family-

How sweet is that? Throughout the day, the kids told me Happy Mother's Day. When Noah is happy with me he says "that's my mommy" and I got a lot of those sweet words and hugs and kisses today. Plus, Josh hung pictures and shelves-- all of my pretties from Hobby Lobby! Thanks everyone!!!

We ate lunch with my parents after church, we got Granny and Grandmom a BIG Italian Cream Cake from Paul's for their gift... it's what they wanted. Nanna came by to visit after she got back from Hector, and the kids were very excited to see her! She brought each of them a Mickey/Minnie Mouse shirt from Orlando!!

Dad's Golden Apple!!!

First of all, thank you Jen, Hayley and Charles for taking care of the kids and Grandmom so we could go surprise dad. He was truly surprised and couldn't figure out why we were all at the banquet to watch Margaret get her "Golden Apple Award." When the department head was giving her "speech" introducing dad, one of the things she said was "he's the kind of teacher you make a movie about." and I think it's true; plus-- he probably thinks that's the most incredible complement ever, being such a movie buff!!! Congrats DAD-- and also to mom for putting up with his long hours and grading papers at home for the past 30 something years!!!

"The Golden Apple Award began in 1966 as a way to honor persons or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to education. The Golden Apple is the most prestigious award an educator can receive. It is given to those who have made an extraordinarily positive difference in education in the Fort Smith Public Schools. It is awarded for outstanding service to children and/or our professional organization."

Sweet and sour

Josh has been installing our new dishwasher for about 8 hours now. I have been wrangling the kids, keeping them out of his way. Judd is about to make me permanently plug my ears up.... He is ultra-sensitive right now (I have no clue why) and it's driving me nuts.
Harper is scared to poop in the potty. Pa came over tonight and tried to tell her that the potty is hungry and likes to eat poop and she needs to feed it... Ha! That didn't work at all. I am about to give up, and I guess home school her if she doesn't go by the time she hits kindergarten age.
Noah is being super sweet lately (thank goodness) the other night I was doing sit ups and he comes running in carrying my yoga mat, telling me I "meed this".. ahh! It was SO thoughtful of him. Plus, he had to go to alot of work to find it, and get it out of this trunk thing for me.... Today, when we were talking about HJ's poopin' problem, I said, "Noah poops in the potty...Noah-tell her it's not scary." So, he sweetly explained to "Hoppa" that it's not scary and then he broke out in the Gabba Gabba song "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, it's okay..." Oh my, brought tears to my eyes. It didn't phase her though.
I am beat, that's all I got...

This week

The house is still in shambles... so bad that Harper was walking through the dining room and yelled "this house is a mess!" and Josh just looked at me. I can't get caught up right now, it's overwhelming me. The kids have been great lately, Judd is talking up a storm. He'll say "what's dat mommy?" and I will say "a wall Juddson" and he will squeal "a wall, MA MAY?" and I will say yes. He is very dramatic, and it's soooo cute. We were playing on the bed yesterday and he rolled over and goes "Hi Shadow." When we leave the house he'll say "dat way" and point and get mad and throw a fit if I drive off in the opposite direction. Sometimes he waves and says "Bye home."
Noah is getting very social! I took him to the mall yesterday and he'd go right up to people and say "Excuse me, whats yo name?" and they look at me like "Huh?" and I say "what's your name?" and they say their name and ask his name and he tells them. Then he shows them his new rain boots or sock hands or something and walks off. He sometimes says "nice to meet you" or "bye." Miss Becky came over yesterday and we were all on the couch. Becky and I were talking, but Noah wanted her to concentrate on the book he was reading and he'd touch her cheek and say "excuse me Miss Becky?" and she loved it!
Harper Janey is still a little grumpy (I think her iron is low again) but she's still Harper Helper. She definitely is a Bice, she's the most stubborn person I have ever met. If I am telling her to pick something up or say sorry, and she doesn't want to do it, she won't, I can spank her, take stuff away, she doesn't care... She'll just peep out from behind the thumb and glare at me with those eyes, but she won't do whatever it is I want her to do. Last night Josh and I got home from a date and I was wearing some new earrings and she said "I wub deese" and touched the earrings and I said "thank you" and she said "are deese new, where you get deese?" I said "the mall." She said "Oh, they hurt you?" I said "No." She said "You better take them off before you go to bed." Ok little mamma... thank you!!!
Pics have been added to the Easter post... FYI