Big(ger) Girl!

Celebrate! Yesterday I took Josie to the gastro doc again. Remember how she was throwing up all baby solid foods? Well she was starting to lose weight and we all got quite concerned. On Dec 21st, our first gastro visit, Josie weighed a mere 13 lbs 6 oz, less then what she weighed at 4 months mind you. Yesterday my sweetie was 14 pounds 8 ounces! Praise God for that! I was so thrilled I could have kissed the doctor! He said that she looks great and let's keep on doing what we are doing and he will see us again in 5 weeks. What we are doing is--feeding her big people food, no more baby food for this girl, she is getting chicken and veggies, spaghetti, whatever we are eating. And the girl does LOVE to eat. She eats more then my boys at some meals, no I'm not kidding! She'll have 5 pieces of adult-sized bites of chicken, 5 slices of peaches and a 1/2 can of veggies! And then Cherrios or crackers after that. The doc told me to keep feeding her until she stops eating so that's what we'll do. Josie is doing so well, a much needed answer to my prayers! Thank you to everyone else who prayed for my angel girl.

A Rockin Band

So like I said, after Gabriel's birthday party we had invited over a bunch of people that work with Michael. We had too much food and too much fun. It was supposed to be a Game Night but turned into Rock Band night (after the Giants beat the Packers anyways...) Another Mike had brought over all his Rock Band stuff, for those of you that don't know it's basically the Guitar Hero game with a microphone and drums as well. You can play up to 4 instruments/4 people at a time. My goodness did we have fun. Unfortunately I didn't get enough pictures of when most people were there because I was feeding Josie and dealing with all the little ones running around. But here are some shots of those of us jammin' in the late hours:

Michael was singing Radiohead's "Creep" and it was hilarious, everyone was dying laughing. What a goof he was:

Here's a friend playing drums, there is a foot pedal too and you can see what the screen looks like, there are 3 "tracks" in the middle for the drums and 2 guitars, and then the lyrics and voice track are along the top.

Mike is lead, I'm bass, Andy's singing, and man do we not look serious!

No pictures of me singing but I did, I rocked out to Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'" (ALL NIGHT LONG), the Monkees "Last Train to Clarksville", and "My Sharona". I can't remember what all Michael sang but boy he was something else! (Love you honey!) Next time I will record him singing, that will be awesome. And there will be a next time because I think we are going to have to buy this. It is soooo much fun and I loved playing! Michael wants to play with you Gienkes so badly. He can't wait to bring it to St. Louis! Course we have to afford it first... And next time we are together, I can't wait for you to sing for us Belva Jean! :)

What goes around...

STAYS around! Where I have been you ask? Sick, we are all sick. Ugh. A quick recap for you. After Gabriel's party on Sun afternoon we had a Game Night at our house. I thought Michael was going to invite a couple of couples over and he invited about 20 people! It was loads of fun though, pictures to come I promise. The sick week: Mike threw up all Mon night and then left for Seattle 5AM Tues morning. Josie has had a pretty ucky cough for a while. I took her to the doc on Thurs and they did a chest x-ray, thought it was pneumonia--thank God it wasn't, her lungs looked great but she is on an anti-biotic. Respiratory virus and ear infections. But she is still her sweet, sweet self and is eating like crazy! She is all but better now! Thurs I started feeling terrible, cold and sinus junk. Kaden threw up all night bless his bones. First all over the dining room, I quickly sent him to continue in the bathroom but the toilet seat was down and you can imagine what that did. It took me over 40 minutes to clean the bathroom, the floors, the WALLS! (Mike--my darling husband--from thousands of miles away in Washington says "What? Is that a long time?" GRRrrrrrr.) Kaden didn't go to school on Friday but did stop throwing up. He has a terrible cough now but mainly at night. He hasn't thrown up again but he also won't really eat anything. Luke has a cough. Gabriel has a terrible cold. I am still pretty sick but am beginning to see the light at the end.

I think about blogging, I just didn't have the energy. I blog in my head, as my sis-in-law tells me she always does. One night at 3:30 AM as I was playing "Whose cough is that?!" I was thinking about how lucky we are that we are such a healthy family (now--not back in the rotovirus days--check Feb-Mar-Apr of 06 in the archives) When we get sick it's usually all together and for a week or so. I'm glad this one is almost over. I have been pretty wiped out! I don't think I have slept more then an hour in a row the past week. What important jobs we Mommys have!

On Friday when I could hardly function and Josie was sleeping in her crib, I brought all the boys in the family room for a rest party complete with bedding. They laid there and watched Aladdin while I slept on the couch. Kaden and Gabriel ended up sleeping too. My boys were so sweet that day! You can play "Where's Waldo" with Gabriel in this photo:

So, I'm back and I have a lot to blog. Fun times, no more sick blogs (hopefully)!!!

Gabriel's PAR-TAY!

We invited over our fav fam to celebrate with us, what would we do without the Ritz's? The boys had so much fun together as always. The week before Gabriel picked out a Mickey Mouse cake from the store. We got it in cupcakes, turned out pretty adorable, huh?We opted for presents first, Gabriel didn't complain about that! Wow--that's a lot of boys in one picture!!!

Gabriel got a racetrack, a lot of dinosaurs, and a singing/karaoke Spider-man--such a hit with everyone, thanks Grandmom! :)
Gabriel did a great job blowing out the candles and everyone enjoyed their cupcakes:

So the boys spent the rest of the day playing all together. We had dinosaurs attacking the cars going around the racetrack all to Gabriel's rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It, Spin a Web!" Check it out, he's got the microphone!Such fun, thanks Jacob and Jonah for coming to play with us! Happy Birthday my sweet Gabriel!

One, Two,

THREE!!!

Today our Gabriel Todd is 3 years old! Oh, my sweet boy, I cannot believe that you are 3 already. You are the cutest thing and you know it too, don't you?! Thank you for bringing such joy and happiness into our lives.

Jan 20th, 2005: we had a houseful waiting for this baby. Mike's Mom and Grandma were there and my Mom as well. I went into labor on the way to the hospital for my induction. I had an epidural that actually worked and it was by far the easiest of my 4 deliveries! It took less then 2 hours from when we got to the hospital until he was born. Both Grandma's and Daddy were in the room to greet him and what a gorgeous baby he was! At the beginning of my pregnancy there was a chance I was going to lose him. But through God's blessing we have our angel Gabriel. We could not love you any more then we do! Happy Birthday!

Birth Day--Panama City, FL:

1st Birthday--Panama City, FL:

2nd Birthday--Oklahoma City, OK:

Yesterday, dancing it up at Luke's basketball game (until he saw me filming him of course!):

Infomercial at it's best

Okay, here is the story. On the way home from picking up Thaddeus and Jackie from the airport, I was telling Jackie a story about Luke. I was explaining how Christmas is pretty easy for my kiddos right now because they don't really know how to ask for anything. They don't see a commercial on TV and then ask for that toy, they hadn't really put it together yet--an advertisers worst nightmare. Well THAT morning I came into the living room and Luke was watching an infomercial about the Pancake Puff. He was explaining to me that we needed one because they put chocolate in there. I said "Okay Luke." He kept insisting "Mom, don't you get it?! There's chocolate in there. We need one of these." Well Aunt Jackie got a big kick out of this story. She had actually seen one of these wonders at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Aunt Jackie decided on that fateful night that Santa just had to get one of these for Luke Thomas. And he did. You should have been there to hear Luke when he opened his present from Mr. C. "It's a Pancake Puff. There is chocolate in there. And it's perfect because you can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a snack." Yes, my boy who never forgets anything started to monologue the commercial for us. We were dying laughing, I thought my Mom was going to drop Josie on the floor she was laughing so hard! Luke was so sincere about it all. He was thrilled! So come Friday morning it was time to make our much awaited puffs. There are lots of pictures, but that's because this was too much fun!
The mixing begins:

My brother is such a goof, gotta love him! We baked the puffs though the directions (SERIOUSLY) do not tell you how long or at what temperature. "In medium heat cook until done" Yeah, thanks for the help. It was time for Luke to inject the chocolate:This turned out harder then it seemed so Aunt Jackie started to help:

Afterwards it was time to use the included wooden skewer-thingys to get out the puffs. Just look at Thad's face, that will tell you everything about how that went!

But in the end Luke was so proud of his puffs. They actually didn't taste bad either. Sadly though, the pancake puff didn't really survive. We took care of it how they suggested and it rusted. It's days might be numbered. But oh the fun we had that Friday afternoon!

More of the holidays

After our busy beautiful Christmas it was nice to get to settle down. On Wednesday Josie and I kidnapped Jackie and took her to lunch out with two of my best college friends Becky and Niki. We had a great time even though they forgot to bring Jackie's sandwich, but other then that lunch was awesome. We did a little bit of shopping with the crowds. I got to see the plates Jackie and Thad are registered for. It was a great time with my new sis-in-law. Thanks for going with me Jackie! We went into Babies-R-Us and Aunt Jackie bought some SWEET shoes for her niece, just in Jackie style--see:

On Thursday, Mom's day off, Jackie, Thad, Mom, Josie, and I headed over to David's Bridal to do some bridesmaid dress shopping! Aunt Deb met us there and the next 2 1/2 hours flew by! Well, maybe not for Thaddeus... It was so wonderful. We all went to lunch and had a good time laughing! Thanks for letting us be a part of that Jackie, we all loved it!

One night Aunt Jackie ASKED to give the boys a bath...they had a good time.

Look at these sweet faces:

Seems like a long week Thad and Jackie spent in St. Louis, but there is more to come. Pancake puffs and a surprise wedding shower! Stay tuned!

Christmas afternoon

So we headed over to Aunt Deb's for the rest of Christmas with the whole fam. We had a wonderful time of course. Jackie was initiated into the family with the hours-long opening of the presents. Yes folks, we go one at a time so everyone can enjoy. It's awesome! First we let the kiddos go so they could go and play:

An awesome gift for Josie Claire from her Great Granny---for those of you who don't remember, Josie was Granny's Mom name. This is really a gift for me I think. Isn't it beautiful?!

Mel and Mom enjoying some wonderful presents!

Here are some of my favorite pics from Christmas. This is Jackie's "I just got the sheets I registered for" look:
And here is the "it's my dishes" look:Great pics, huh? Josie looks as if she is practicing her can-can for the Rockettes. Somehow I don't think she will be tall enough!Though it seems as if I have covered all our Christmas break, there is still so much more to come! Another day...

Christmas morn

We woke up Christmas morning pretty early considering how late the kiddos were up the night before. Gabriel was the first to figure out that Santa had gotten all his goodies. He kept saying "What happened?!" Adorable.

Grandmom's tree (that she brought in and set up all by herself)--it was gorgeous!!!Josie enjoyed her presents, as did the boys of course. Thanks to Santa, Grandmom, and Aunt Jackie and Uncle Thaddeus for all the cool presents. They are a hit!!!

Jackie and Thad got a special present from Michael that he bought in the Middle East. It's a blessing for a new house. Very cool and I think they liked it very much!I bought my angel girl a Momma and baby tiger. Fitting, huh? MIZZOU-RAH :)We all got dressed and ready to go over to Aunt Deb and Uncle Don's to join everyone else in the fam for a Merry Christmas continued!!! This is Josie's outfit special from her Daddy:

Seriously, could she be ANY cuter?! I think not.

Christmas Eve fun

We had so much fun this Christmas. Our kids are at the perfect age for all of the excitement and wonder. And because we have 4, some will be at these ages for many more years to come. That thrills me! After a wonderful time at Grandmom's church service we came home to get ready for Santa Claus. Thanks to the Gienke family for all your help with our kiddos at church!!!
Kaden brought some Magic Hay from school that will fill up Santa's Reindeer so they can get to all the houses to deliver presents. Kaden and Aunt Jackie spread the hay around Grandmom's tree--the "perfect" spot according to Kaden-man.

(That's my breath in the picture, isn't that cool?! I guess I didn't know it would photograph)

It was kitchen time next. Each of the boys picked out a cookie to give to Santa and they chose one for Josie. Grandmom got some carrots for the Reindeer. Grandmom asked Luke what cup to get for Santa's milk. She reached for a tupperware one and Luke said "No, get one from the second shelf." So Santa got a special glass:

I think Aunt Jackie is still laughing about that! Here are the boys taking the goodies over the fireplace, they decided it would be best to leave Santa's stuff right where he comes inside. Kaden, the sweet boy that he is, said we have to have water for the Reindeer to drink. Grandmom is carrying that, and they did get tupperware!!

We got a quick pic of the kiddos with the treats and Grandmom and Aunt Jackie lobbied for a family photo too:

Aunt Jackie got Luke and Kaden so they could write a letter to Santa:

We got the kiddos off to bed soon after. What a special day it was! Thanks to Uncle Thad, Aunt Jackie, and Grandmom for making this such a wonderful holiday!!!

Welcome 2008!

So, I'm back! I realize that I have been gone awhile, but I will catch you up on everything, promise!

Is anyone else having a hard time believing it's actually 2008?! I sure am. What an exciting year we have before us. The biggest news of course is Jackie and Thad's wedding in early August! We are so excited, I can't stand it! We have a family vacation to Disneyland planned with both Grandma's in July (seeing that we will already be in LA for the wedding, it only makes sense, right?!) So much to look forward to!

I am always inspired at the beginning of the new year, like so many I guess. I am praying for the endurance to stick to my hopes this year, got some big plans for myself and my family.
Now onto catch up time:

It was truly a wonderful holiday season for these Harmons. We were so blessed to get to see so much of our family this year! Thanks again to Belva and the kiddos for coming up here to see us on their way home for Christmas! Thanks to Thad and Jackie for flying home to see all of us! Jackie, I hope that you loved your first full Christmas in St. Louis. So many more to come and we are thrilled to have you in the fam! I'll get to the St. Louis fun soon but first...

Before we left for our St. Louis Christmas we opened up our Harmon presents.

Thank you, thank you for all our wonderful gifts! We are so blessed and thankful---just look at these faces: