Spring Break Eve

Its the last day of school before Spring Break and boy does it feel like it. Half of my students are already gone on their vacations and the other half are traveling to Waco to watch our girls soccer team play in the State Championship Game this afternoon. Therefore I plan on painting the entire musical stage black and knocking out 2-3 props!

Bubbas climbing high at the rock wall at our gym. I tried it too...and didn't make it quite as high :).

She only wanted to climb so that she could repel down...I have to admit that its the best part!

We are all ready for a little break from our schedule....especially the getting up super early part. Fortunately our after school schedule has been pretty laid back as we are only committed to AHG and Trail Life. We like to play outside in the sun and go swimming at our gym most days.

The 4 of us went to see The Illusionist while Little Man was at a birthday party. Ever since then they have been practicing their card throwing and tricks.

We can't wait to see family next week in Arkansas and then spend the last half doing mini stay cations and backyard camping! We also have some plans to REST :).

Ribbit had a tooth extracted on Tuesday and she astounded the dentist. She never fell asleep,...she just sat there and talked and giggled at the movie she was watching. She even sat up in the middle of it, knocking off many tools, and said "Mommy, I miss my school friends". I texted that to her teacher and her friends made a video telling her how they missed her too!

I am glad to report that Goober is now PASSING (yes, just passing :)) all of his classes now. I hope to see a strong finish this year and see those grades match his ability....not all A's but grades that reflect his longing to put forth effort!

Little Man had a blast at his friends birthday party. They built a fort to watch Star Wars in.

They had a Nerf Gun war in the tree house! And ate pizza and smores!

They had smoke bombs, nerf guns and bandanas...a little boys dream!

Adam and I went to a Benefit Gala with our sweet friends, The Winsteads..Justin and Kathyrn are always so much fun to hang out with and I feel like our kids have grown up together!

My  hot date!

Another Daniel sticker for being gentle and helping others clean up their centers without being asked to.

Praise the Lord Saturday

We have lots of reasons to rejoice this weekend, and even if we didn't lots of reasons to be thankful that we serve a good GOD.

First, long story short, my aunt who has been missing for several years...maybe 7-8 has been FOUND. The best part is that she is a BELIEVER, she loves the Lord. That is a true 180 turn from where she was before we all lost her and I am so thankful that not only has she been found but she HAS FOUND GOD. I can't wait for the sweet reunion we will have with her soon..I can't wait to hug her neck, she was always so loving and kind to me and Chris. I will never forget how compassionate she was ...one time she took me to the beach and I wore a necklace I had just received....it was blue and had a bell (thats all I remember). Well of course, sometime during the day I lost that necklace and didn't realize it until we got back to her house. The next day she drove me home and I swear we stopped at 10 stores on the way home...I never noticed what she was doing because I would always stay in the car with her friend Jenni. Finally at the last store she came out with a bag and inside was a necklace. She apologized and said it was the closest thing she could find to the one I had lost. She truly had spent all day looking for a replacement necklace for me.

Another praise is that Baby Levi and Aunt Micah are feeling better. Micah texted us this morning while we were all in the car heading to Fort Worth to feed the homeless breakfast. The van read the text out loud that they were sick, throwing up and they were thinking of taking Levi to the ER. Little Man immediately said "we should pray right now for them" and Goober led us in that prayer. A few hours later we texted to check on them and Levi had kept down 3 oz and they think he is on the mend!! I love it when my children can psychically see God answer their petitions.

Another praise is just how blessed we are by people in our community. Yesterday the mom of one of my sweet 7th graders gave us tickets to see The Illusionist at the Music Hall at Fair Park. We of course jumped on that offer and off we went with the older 2 kiddos. Little Man already had a birthday party to attend and we were set for the night. We had such a great time and Goober has been practicing his card tricks all morning long with Ribbit as his lovely assistant.

We are counting down the days to see family again. My mom flies in next Friday and then Saturday we all leave to go see Uncle Chris, Aunt Micah and Baby Levi for 3 days!!!!!!

Little Man and his friends got a hold of my camera before school one morning :).

We went to Great Wolf Lodge for Little Man's birthday. His sweet sister made and gave him several presents including one of her favorite frog stuffed animals....do you see why her name is Ribbit now?

Opening more handmade gifts.

We normally have a big party for both K and Little Man as their birthdays are 4 days apart. This year they both wanted a trip Great Wolf Lodge so both families booked rooms. That night at 9 we celebrated with cake...Parents of the Year Award right here!

Singing with their siblings!

And because it was 9 o clock, and we were in a hotel we handed all 5 kids a fork and said EAT CAKE!!!

And they demolished that sucker!!! HAA HAA HAAA HAAHA

We love doing life with the Eberts...we cross paths at church, school and Leianne and I run together. 

Family photo at Story Time...the kids couldn't wait for this...they remembered it being fun from our last visit there. 

The next morning was DADDYS BIRTHDAY!!! We celebrated with Birthday Bagels...talk about a CARB filled weekend :)...I am thinking it was all used up at the Indoor Water Park though!!!

Morning Yoga at Great Wolf Lodge...she is such a little Yogi!

Cobra pose..complete with her pjs and  wolf ears!

We have THE BEST daddy! He knows being wet and cold is sooo not my thing. Therefore I do the wave pools with the kids so that I can get completely submerged and he tackles the lazy river and slides which drives me bonkers.

Big Man made friends from the minute we go there and spent almost the whole time the water park was open on both days playing basketball....works for us!

Birthday boy got to meet Wiley right as we were leaving.

When we got home there was a lot of MAIL for him to open...including one of our favorite things to get...a handmade card from Aunt Robin with his baby picture on it! Check out the ninja turtle mask he won at the Great Wolf Lodge arcade!

More awesome gifts from the Winsteads..our other church /life besties!!!

Celebrating these sweet friends turning 5 and 6!

They made bank at the arcade!

Mr. John and Big Man playing air hockey.

Mid celebration for Goober in the arcade!

I hope these two stay friends forever...they are the complete opposite in every way but LOVE each other dearly!

YOWZA

YOWZA...its been forever since I have blogged and there is no way I could ever document all the fun we have been having.

I spoke in chapel today and I feel 10 lbs lighter as I dread those every year...I am definitely a teacher, not a preacher. I think the only thing those 5th-8th graders got out of my "sermon" was my overwhelming loyalty to Auburn and that Haman was an awful man who deserves to have his eyes plucked out.

We are in the thick of musical season too which means A LOT of late nights, early mornings and planning periods that turn into painting time for mom. This of course means Adam picks up the slack and does his job plus makes dinners, pack lunches and keep uniforms clean...thank the Lord for my servant hearted husband.

February is also 1 big celebration for the Harvells...we have Homecoming Day for Goober and Ribbit, Gotcha Day for Big Man and birthdays for both Big Man and Adam....throw in Valentines Day and we need a DETOX for sure!!!

One thing I want to note about Ribbit is her love of BEING RIGHT and taking everything LITERALLY!!!! Heaven forbid I use any language that might suggest that God is not the biggest, bestest, hugest, longest, widest, anything est in the world.
 If I say "that is the biggest house I have ever seen"...she is quick to say "God's house is bigger". If I say "those are the brightest pair of shoes I have ever seen....she follows with "God's glory is brighter"...and its a very matter of fact statement.

She also does not pick up on ANY, I mean ANY level of sarcasm. Big Man said that his buttocks were hurting the other day and when I said "what are BUTTOCKS" in a very sarcastic, over pronouncing every syllable, silly kind of way Ribbit quickly shot back "Mommy, buttocks is another name for your behind, you know your butt butt". I also am not allowed to interachange words like "bath or shower"...."van or car" ....."sunday school or first hour"....."backpack or bookbag". Its a litle exhausting but Adam and I get a good laugh out of it.

Speaking of parents laughing we had the FUNNIEST dinner the other night. We had grounded Big Man from dessert on Monday night as he would not go to bed. So, in usual fashion we forgot we had taken that away and when the other two asked for dessert we told them all to pick out something and show it to us for approval. He quickly reminded us that he "lost it last night". I said "yup, thats right....and do you remember why?"....he said "no"...I DIDN"T EITHER...so I looked at Adam and he said " think about it Big Man because we don't want you to think what you did is ok"....then he gave me a panicked look and we both BURSTED out laughing...we had stalled as long as possible and finally admitted that we couldn't remember what on earth that poor little boy had lost his dessert over. Our other 2 finally reminded us :).

Speaking of the term "what on earth".....our 3 kiddos LOVE the SkippyJonJones books and we listen to them on CD in the car a lot too. Its a Siamese cat who thinks he is a chiahuahua and has lots of adventures in his closet. He speaks Spanish half the time and we LOVE all the songs and funny names. Our current favorite is "SkippyJonJones lost in Spice"....it basically sets up Mars as a planet covered in red spices..muy caliente!!!!  Our kiddos have started answering our questions with SkippyJonJones quotes and its stinking hilarious. If I say "Big Man, what on earth are you doing?"...he is quick to say "I didn't do anything on earth Mommy, I did it all in outer spice". Or if they are being held by someone slow they will say "Hurry, I'm in a big race to be the first kitty boy to jump in outer spice"....and of course we always say to one another "Dude, I am not a Siamese cat, I am a chihuahua!

My little kitty boy...rocking the homeless cowboy look for church!

They love these dessert bars made with coconut milk and cookies :)...hey, halfway healthy huh?

We love mashed cauliflower and purple carrots!!!

LOOKY HERE...ITS BABY LEVI and UNCLE A.....the most preciout little thing!

I love being his aunt..he has the sweetest little face and coos.

They will be wrestling buddies real soon!

Goober could not wait to hold Baby Levi....I mean was so anxious to finally see him!

He had our full attention!

Love my sweet family!! Aunt Micah is a just the best mommy, a natural!

I did some baking for my boys birthdays...banana, almond butter, chocolate chip paleo muffins!

Paleo Shepherds Pie with pureed butternut squash on top. Lots of tumeric and paprika in this. Adam said it tasted just like sausage pizza!

He spent his last day as a 4 year old dressed up as a Police Man for Career day. JUST THE CUTEST

I read to them while we wait for school almost daily. Teachers have to be on campus early and Big Bubba starts early to we spend our time reading through all of the Pre-Grammar books...one of my favorite times of the day!