THIS is why:

I have been complaining:Those were taken from my front door yesterday during one of the downpours. I didn't know if they would come out, but you can definitely tell how flooded the streets are. It seems it has been raining non-stop and I really need a break from this. I think it has rained everyday for over 3 weeks now! That is just nuts. I need sunshine, hopefully I will get some when I go to St. Louis next week!

Speaking of STL, check out my sweet, sweet girl:

(thanks Becks for the shirt, it's adorable!) Josie is all ready for a trip to the ballpark!

Rocky Mountain High!

Thanks Grandmas!!! Grandma Harmon and Grandma Short sent the kiddos some fun summer clothes all the way from Colorado (hence the title of the post). The boys were absolutely thrilled to have something to open up and they loved their own pictures on the front of their cards (what a great idea that was!) And I still can't get over how cute girl clothes are, Josie's 2 outfits are adorable! You guys must have had fun shopping. Here are some pictures I took for you both:



The theme for VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church this year is "Get in the Game" and it's a sports theme. The boys all got the All Star t-shirt and will be hit tomorrow in their classes (get it, a hit! Ha Ha, I'm a funny gal---that one is for you Kelly!)
We did get to go church today and everyone had a blast. I volunteered in the 14-18 month room and I swear all of them were bigger then Gabriel. Josie was the fav in her nursery, they raved about what an angel she is. See, it's not just me who thinks that!!

The bug

Here it is Monday morning, we are supposed to be at church because VBS starts today. Luke is enrolled and I am volunteering in the nursery but we are not at church, I am home blogging. Why you ask? Well because Luke has a fever, just a slight one mind you, but enough that I obviously cannot take him to church to be with 1000 other people! (seriously there was over 1100 enrolled for VBS!!) Bummer drag. I was sick last Sunday, Gabriel was sick from Thursday night to Saturday morning, and now Luke has it. It seems to be just a fever and it goes away quickly (thank goodness) so hopefully we will be able to make it to church tomorrow! I am really bummed that Luke has to miss the first day and I cannot be there to help out but I know they will understand, it's just pretty frustrating! Oh well, here's to a quick recovery and some 'down' time for our family. Hopefully we are getting this out of our system because we leave for St. Louis next week. :) :) Let's pray that my angel Josie and Kaden-man don't catch this bug!

I took some quick pics of the kiddos this morning just to remind you all how cute they are: (remember to click on the picture to make it super big!)

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Birthday to my brother Thaddeus!! Last year (pic #2) Michael and I were actually with him to celebrate his 30th b-day. Jackie threw him a surprise party and a good time was had by all, especially Thad :)
Thaddeus--Just wanted to let you know we were thinking about you today! Have a great one! We miss you and love you.

Thumbs up maybe?

For the past couple of days when Josie has been really tired she has been finding and sucking on her thumb. She starts out sucking on her hand and fingers but eventually gets her thumb in there. She rarely uses a pacifier, only when she is really fussy which seriously has happened only 3 times I can remember. (I'm so blessed, don't think I don't know this!) I am wondering if I have a thumbsucker or this is just something she has figured out how to do. Time will tell I suppose. She's pretty cute though, huh? And can anyone be cuter in searsucker?! I think not!

The Happy Couple

WOW, EIGHT years ago today Michael and I were married. What an amazing day that was. Everything went perfectly. My Uncle Don performed a beautiful ceremony and my Uncle Todd gave us such a sweet blessing. We were so fortunate to have so many of our family members involved in our big day. A huge thank you to all of you who played a part in our wedding, we appreciate it and we love you so!
As I look over these past 8 years one thing is for certain, life has certainly blessed Michael and I. God has blessed us time and time again. In 8 years we have had 4 beautiful children, 6 (relatively easy) moves, and countless wonderful memories. I treasure these years and look forward to many, many more!
Michael and I have known each other since preschool, about 27 years now! Isn't that amazing?! I cannot express the way I feel about Michael so I decided to post the lyrics from Tourniquet's "When the Love is Right", a song we had played at our wedding. These words say everything I feel:

The journey through our life can bring

A place and time for everything

A day of hope, a year of fears

A thousand smiles, a million tears

Our paths were meant to cross

And I couldn't forget you

No matter what the cost

We both had to see this through

Take my hand, take my heart

We will never be apart

Never be apart

Because I love you

Follow me and I'll lead you

Lead me and I'll follow you

Anywhere, anytime

When the love is right

The path is bright

From the Father of lights you came

And I know I'll never be the same again

A beautiful gift has been given to me

Your smiling face is all I see

The look that's in your eyes

And your smile that sets me free

Has made me realize

All that you see in me

Take my hand, take my heart

We will never be apart

Never be apart

Because I love you

Follow me and I'll lead you

Lead me and I'll follow you

Anywhere, anytime

When the love is right

The path is bright

Together now and forever

You are the one

You are my everything

To me you bring

The love that I have waited for

The look that's in your eyes

And your smile that sets me free

Has made me realize

All that you see in me

Our paths were meant to cross

And I couldn't forget you

The soul in you is the soul in me

The way that it was meant to be

The countdown continues

Every day is one less day, that's what I keep telling myself. Saturday night was day #25. Our deployment chain though still long is getting noticeably shorter and that is a good feeling. We miss you Daddy.Here's a picture of what Ms. Josie wore to church yesterday, a dress from her Grandmom that says "Love is my teddy bear" Is that too perfect or what? Josie got lots of compliments from so many people. Having a baby girl is more amazing then I thought it would be. Who know you could get so much joy out of bloomers? :)

Happy Father's Day!

To all you wonderful dads out there, Happy Father's Day!!! And to my husband today I would like you to know that you were meant to be the father of our gorgeous children, no one else can do this job! God blessed us with 4 miracles! Happy Father's Day to you sweetheart! We miss you and love you so very much. Wish we could be together today.
We here at home got a Father's Day treat this morning, Michael was able to call us! We only had 15 minutes of time to talk but at least that's enough for everyone to say their "I love you"s. What a wonderful thing it was to hear his voice today! I went through our photos to find some that captured why we get to celebrate Michael today.

Doesn't he look young here?

This was September of 2001 the day he graduated from school at Tyndall. Luke was 2 months old.

Looks familiar, huh? This is right before Michael left in April 2003 to go to fight in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Kaden was about 6 weeks old here:Isn't this a beautiful picture? Gabriel was all of 2 days old:

And last but certainly not least (after all she is a girl!!!) Here's Daddy and Josie less then an hour after she was born:

WE LOVE YOU DADDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The late, late game

Last night we had a t-ball game that started at 8:20!!! Remember these are 4 and 5 year olds. My boys go to bed at 8, so I knew this would be interesting. Everyone did well actually, even Gabriel did (once I let him out of the stroller). The second to last batter of the game the ump asked our coach if he wanted to continue playing, he said sure let's do it. So the Red Dragons line-up went around again and then our team hit for the 3rd time. What a game to extend. We didn't finish until 9:30 or so. By the time I got the kiddos home and bathed (oh yes, had to do that, it had rained for 2 1/2 days straight and everyone was muddy and dirty---look at Gabriel's face for crying out loud!!), it was 10:20 when my boys went to bed! We shall see how they do today...so far, so good.

Taking it all in

I got out our Kick n' Crawl Playhouse for Josie the other day. She absolutely LOVES it. Just look how adorable she is looking at her toys. It's seems you can actually watch babies learn! Amazing! Here's Josie talking to it:Just look at the concentration. Luke came over to talk to Josie while she was 'playing'. This picture is just the best, she absolutely loves it when he talks with her:

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Remember yesterday when I was complaining about the weather? Well I took some pictures of the angry clouds. We had severe thunderstorms all night, you know the kind where the thunder shakes the house, I hate those, I'm almost 30 years old and they still scare me.

Needing some sunshine

We are having a dreary rainy cloudy ucky day here day. I do not like this type of weather at all. I appreciate the rain and what it does for us but I do not like these dreary days. I decided to blog some happy pictures to help my mood. Here are some way-too-cute pics of my kiddos from a day in the park back in May, there was lots of fun, lots of smiles, and LOTS of sunshine!!!

Woe is van

Though this isn't my actual van, this is probably what it looks like right about now. The van woes continue. We have spent a TON on our van already this summer and I'm now adding to the total. Ugh. My van overheated on Saturday, had no coolant in it what-so-ever, the boys t-ball coach came over with antifreeze on Sunday and I have been driving ever so cautiously without the A/C on (that is terrible!), not going far or anything. So today my GREAT friend Michelle and I took my van (along with the 4 kiddos) and dropped it off with the people who just fixed our whole A/C unit basically. The guys are really wonderful and I like them a lot. He just called to tell me that my radiator is completely shot. So since May I basically have a new transmission, new A/C stuff, and now a new radiator. He apologized that I had been 'hit' once again but then laughed and said that my engine looks great and it will last. Let's all pray for that shall we. I was so excited for this summer, we are actually paying off the van however, the cost of all these repairs adds up to more then 6 more payments, and all in lump sums. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Oh well, it's cheaper then a new van, right Mel? (she was here and talked me through the A/C issue). Oh well, such is life! (especially when Mike is gone!)

So on to happier things:

Here is Ms. Josie Claire in her 'going-home' outfit, that is only going to fit her for a little longer, she is getting so big! She was smiling and kicking her legs for me. What a gorgeous baby!!!

It's funny, every time I post a new picture of Josie I can just hear my Momma's reaction to it. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, how cute!!!" That always makes me smile.

And Luke Thomas was more then thrilled to take off the number 20 link off Daddy's deployment chain Monday night. We have every 5th link numbered and Luke gets excited when they have numbers on them.

More and more baseball

Yes we Harmons are baseball fools. Thursday night Kaden and Luke had a game vs the Polar Bears (odd name for a baseball team in Oklahoma, huh?) and Luke played again with the 'big' boys (6 and 7 yrs) on Saturday. In the Polar Bear game, that's Kaden on first, Luke fielding at second, Gabriel relaxing?, and then Luke celebrating an in the park homerun.

Luke is becoming quite the good little baseball player and he is LOVING it. He played for 1 1/2 hours on game 2 (extra innings) Saturday afternoon in over 90 degree heat, playing BOTH pitcher and catcher at the SAME time. Yeah, all he did was run back and forth. He sweat soooo much I didn't expect to find anything inside his uniform when we got home! Two coaches each gave Luke a dollar for the great job he did that game. He was SO excited!

Kaden put his hat like that by-the-way, it was so funny. He had everyone laughing! And here is a picture of my Josie as we were getting ready to load up to go to the game. Sweet baby girl.