Tuesday Tangents

We have had SOO many fun days!!

This weekend we had birthday parties where we swam in the rain-that was a lot of fun watching little girls swim, get poured on and eat ice cream cones in the pool...hehe. The moms were totally on high alert and surrounded the pool at all times!

We had some of our favorite friends over for dinner and Mr. Dan showed the kiddos how to make parachutes and how to cheat at Uno. Mrs. Janet made a great cake, loved holding and learning about the chickens and oohheed and ahhheed over the kiddos room decor (mostly Ribbit's).

We dyed the kids hair...yup, I got major cool points for that one. Goober wanted blonde tips on his flat top and the other two wanted blue. It was blue for all of 2 days, until we swam and then the pool turned their back to light blonde too. All 3 kiddos actually look GREAT, like they have sun kissed highlights!

We grilled out for Memorial Day and had a great time eating outside and reading the bible. Adam got a lot done on the master closet and designed the playroom build ins. We also met up with Olyve and her mom Veronica who we befriended on a camping trip in Glen Rose over Spring Break. Olyve and Ribbit look like twins and ADORE each other. We swam with them for 2.5 hours yesterday and enjoyed catching back up and setting up more play dates for this summer!

I'm still working on this big road trip...I have "Amazing Race-Team Harvell" shirts being made and I am slowly putting all the clues into yellow envelopes. I also went back and read through our American Heritage Girls book to make sure Ribbit is earning badges as she goes.

Something neat to think about from our recent bible reading:
Genesis 7
¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.

The Lord shut them in. Even in the midst of the Lord destroying his creation and being grieved at the choices his people were making he still protected and sheltered and provided for Noah and his family. They faithfully served God and so he SHUT THEM IN...to protect them against his wrath. Sometimes we see things in life as God punishing us or keeping us from enjoying life...when in fact he is SHUTTING US IN to protect us from things we should not experience....things that we think sound easy or fun but are actually life threatening. 

We have really been enjoying reading through Genesis as we prepare for the Grand Canyon-I can't wait to see the kids faces and guide them to think about how God created everything, how we can see the history of Genesis played out through the Grand Canyon's layers. (Watch "Is Genesis History?" if you can...Adam has purchased it for us and even though it sounded boring in the first 5 minutes I kinda liked it :)). I can't wait to show the kids how artistic and creative the Lord is and how he made this earth very beautiful for us to enjoy. He could have made it any other way and yet its beautiful and majestic and all for us!

End of the year AHG party! The face painter was awesome!

Kisses for Baby Levi...we so enjoyed keeping him!

My sweet little Tenderheart got 9 badges this year!

Trail Life went to Laser Tag for their year end party!

Little Man had a fun play date with Nate!

The only thing she wanted to do was feed Baby Levi!

Entertaining him with magnets!

We were outside most of the day-Levi loves it and my kiddos had fun showing him all of our chickens, bike tricks and bugs-Goober was at basketball practice!

Getting some walking practice with Uncle Adam

Peek A Boo was a big hit!

THAT SMILE!!! Ribbit loved taking his picture!

I took him on a walk and he got a good 5 minute nap while I got lots of snuggling!

Her favorite way to read at the library!

Check out the cool man's new hair do.

Blueish tips...really hard to see on jet black hair :)

Her tips turned out more purple but she loved them none the same.

My hair do? Looks like a rats nest to me ..hehe.

Imagine Olaf singing "S U M M E RRRRR"

We are just as happy that its summer as Olaf when he sings about it in Frozen. Actually maybe a little more. I find myself waking up later and later, not going to bed later..just sleeping in a little bit. And you know what, its just fine. Most of my workout group friends are teachers too so we have adjusted to meeting each other later....and its soooo weird to exercise in the daylight ;).

We are currently at the library and all 3 kids are trying their best to win the top reading award that Goober won last year. They are reading fools and I am so thankful for it.

We have started every morning off with bible reading, songs, lots of dancing, breakfast and then sending Daddy to work. Today we also got to work and fully rearranged my room. Yesterday 16 of my upcoming 8th graders met us to tackle moving all of my drying racks around and today me and the kids finished up the details. Then we met our neighbors (on the left and to the back) to swim for 2 hours.

Yesterday we also got to have Baby Levi for the whole afternoon. We had so much fun trying to make him smile. The kids loved to entertain him and Adam and I were in baby heaven. He loved playing Peek A Boo with Adam. I got clobbered as he would reach for my face and smother me with drooly kisses. It was the best. I took him on a walk when he got a little fussy and he took it all in...even fell asleep for the last 5 minutes...you better believe I took all the cuddles I could get! On the way back from picking him up he sat by Little Man and I heard him say "Hey Levi, wanna have a staring contest". A few minutes later he said "mom, I keep winning, he keeps blinking!". Then we got home and Little Man said " Lets watch Wild Kratts..I think that is good for babies"!

When we got to church last night there was a young lady who wasn't dressed as modest as I would like. From the back seat I hear Ribbit say "Why is she wearing that...we are at church, not a rock and roll concert"...hehe. She really annoys Goober when he says things like "that was the best ________ ever" or "that athlete is the best at _________"...he sister quickly says "they aren't better than God, thats not better than what God can do". Our little holy roller :).

We are counting down the days until our Grand Canyon trip....but first VBS, art camp and some time with family!

A fascinating tidbit from our bible study yesterday morning.
Genesis 5:6-24
⁶ When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father^[b] of Enosh. ⁷ After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸ Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
⁹ When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
¹² When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
¹⁵ When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
¹⁸ When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

So, did you see it? In this long lineage only Enoch is noted as "Enoch walked faithfully with God" in both vs. 22 and 24. All these other guys lived a total of a bunch of years and fathered kiddos and died. BUT ENOCH WALKED FAITHFULLY WITH GOD. There is a huge difference between living and walking with God. Its the difference between claiming to believe in God and truly letting him be Lord of your life. Its the difference between slavery and freedom, between night and day, death and life.  I don't know about you but I want my tombstone to say "She walked faithfully with God"....not just 1984-?????. Its amazing what the bible reveals to us as we read it over and over again, even in the "boring" genealogies there is so much to be gleamed!

Oh, and Enoch didn't die!!!!! GOD TOOK HIM AWAY!!! Thats kind of a big deal too!!!

Field Day Sack races....oh the cutest BUNNY!

Already enjoying ourselves at the library..sister was curled up in my lap!

These 2 won the 3 legged race both times...look at that tongue!

They were fast!

Big Brother and Brendan followed up with another win!

Love this energy!

Sack races aren't so cool for 6th grade boys...they like to CHEAT!!!

Sweet friends enjoying sno cones!

The tug of war team that was serious enough about winning to bring gloves just for this event!

THEY WON!!!!

Pass the leaky bucket was an instant favorite as the sun came out!

We had two friends come home with us for lunch after the last day of school...and then go with us to Jump Street!

Introducing our pet chicken Phoenix to our friends.

More beautiful hair styles!

Ribbit and I can tear up some mussels!!!!

We found matching shirts and instantly had to have them....I know she won't always want to match me but it sure is fun now!

First official day of Summer break

Oh glorious day...and I do mean glorious!!!

I didn't set an alarm clock....swam 40 laps in record time, sat in the sauna a little bit longer than normal and still made it home for breakfast.
We read a chapter of the bible, sang Awesome God 2-3 times and sent Adam to work.

Then we cleaned out all of our uniforms that no longer work, did dishes, went to the grocery store, read for 1 hour and 15 minutes at the library, cleaned out Big Man's toy box and threw away tons of JUNK ;), made lunch and I FINISHED OUR GRAND CANYON ROAD TRIP.

I have easily spent 15 hours planning this AWESOME trip for us this summer. We have 60 stops over 14ish days of traveling. The kids don't have a clue that its an Amazing Race but I am sooo stoked. Each day will be filled with surprises. I have booked us lots of fun and educational things to do and I have read tripadvisors for all of the hints of how to do this trip WELL with kiddos.

So far we will be camping in a tent, staying in retro hotels, a wigwam, a tipi, a cabin and the famous Econo Lodge ;).

We have horseback riding tours, a jeep tour, the Texas musical, rattlesnake museums, natural springs, sliding rocks, hiking, buffalo wing soda taste testing, tons of statues and about 5000 neat landscapes and cultures to explore along the way. I AM SO READY TO GO!!! I can't wait for the kids to get their first clue, rip it open and navigate us there.

The school year ended yesterday with the best field day ever. Honestly. The 6th graders and 1st graders were side by side in rotations through the events. This  meant I got to watch Goober and Ribbit compete in almost everything. I got to take pictures of them having a ball and I got to see them win and lose. Little Man had PreK fun day and I got to pick him up early after he told his teacher and his senior bye.

Then we came home with an extra Prek 4 friend and an extrea 6th grade friend and ate lunch. From there we headed to Jumpstreet with SEVERAL other CCA families to spend the rest of the afternoon jumping!! (school was a half day). You better believe when we got home at 3 all of the kiddos took an hour nap! Then it was off to swim team and finally  home to watch a Planet Earth episode, cuddle and go to bed. It was a great day..the kids kept saying that over and over! We have graduation tonight and absolutely nothing on the calendar for Saturday-SCORE!!

I wanted to surprise my 3D class with a FUN last day. So I dressed up like Bob Ross and had everything ready when they walked in to paint one of his paintings. Aren't they AWESOME?

I let them watch Bob Ross as they are finishing up projects throughout the school year. They all said this was soo much fun, my cute red head on the left said this was the best day of her junior year!

I have so many memories of watching this guy with my grandma and I made sure to use all his little sayings "rascals", "happy little trees", "its your world", and I beat the tar out of my paint brushes!

Mothers Day Breakfast in PK4. Oh I love these times..I cried and got lots of snuggles.

Book character day...Meet Mama Junebug Jones. She made every bit of her outfit, including painting on her kitty cat stripes!

Their favorite tree on campus. Before we got to school we prayed for our teachers. Goober said " thank you God for giving me teachers that love you". Ribbit said " God help our teachers not be sad that we are leaving". Little Man said " Help our teachers remember to come see us so they don't forget us!"

More hair creations from Ribbit.

Our new favorite breakfast. Egg Waffles!

Mothers Day photo booth at church!

We tried to all fit in!

My one request was to see The Little Mermaid in Fort Worth....

because my 8th grader was one of the mer-sisters, a fish, a chef and in almost every act!!! So proud of her!

Super Fun cast!!

Of course we ate at Yucatan Taco Stand...its our go to place when we are in Fort Worth. We then walked away downtown some and introduced the kids to Sweet Sammies...cookies with ice cream in between..perfect for a hot day!

Adam and his bud/mentor/stand in grandpa for our kiddos....playing with the props for teacher appreciation!

First day on top, last day on bottom....6th, 1st and PreK 4!

She LOVES doing my hair and LOVE that she wants to!