More from the past

Rewind to Feb 10th. Almost the whole St Louis clan came over to celebrate Kaden's birthday with us. We had wonderful time together. First was present time. Here's the all important t-ball glove:

Kaden was certainly happy with his presents (thanks everyone):
Most everyone playing Disney Bingo together:

Cake time, yummy. Surprise, it's Nemo!!!

Don't really know how my cousin Rob got roped into sitting with all the kiddos during cake time, but thanks for that Rob! And as for Kaden that is one big bite, makes a Mom proud! I love birthday cake. :)

Little did I know this party would go right into my surprise pink shower from college friend Becky. I will blog about that soon, there's more pics to be seen!!

Hubby update: Michael called a little earlier!! It's so wonderful to hear his voice. He is still stuck waiting for the plane to be fixed. Supposedly the part is in Miami and will arrive to them tomorrow and then depending on what time they get it they will leave Thursday or Friday to come home. Let's all pray for Thursday!

Big Boys Beds

Tonight is the boys' first night in their big boys beds. Michael and I decided to get them bunk beds so we could move Gabriel into one of the toddler beds so Josie can have the crib. Well then I got cold feet with the whole bunk bed thing. I am afraid of them playing and falling off the top, especially my little monkey-man Gabriel, the boy climbs EVERYTHING. So when the beds were delivered today, I just had the man set them up as 2 twins. Luke and Kaden were very excited to get to sleep in them tonight. How cute are these pictures???

And here's to Michael who is stuck somewhere south of the border, south of many borders, please stay safe and may you come home quickly! We miss you around here Daddy!! Love you.

Creative Love

This is a post dedicated to some of those in my life blessed with a talented gift, those creative souls of which I am not. Some of the dearest people in my life have used their talents to make something beautiful for Josie. I want to thank them and also show off their gorgeous work:

This is a blanket (and booties) made by Grandma (Mike's Mom) with love. She has made one for all the boys, but this was her first chance to make a pink one for us and it's just beautiful!!!! We love it and I know that Josie will cherish this, thank you Grandma.

Here is a quilt made for Josie by the ladies from my bible study in Florida, my PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) friends. They worked hard on this together and it's amazing. Thank you ever so much.

And last but not least, here is a photo of what one of my best friends from college made for Josie Claire. Niki is one of the most talented people I have ever come across and there is almost nothing she can't do! You're crazy good Niche. Thanks so much. This was given to me at my surprise shower when I was home in St. Louis.

Thought you all would enjoy seeing these creations. I know they were all made with love. Thank you again everyone!

Kaden's Birthday Replay

Kaden's birthday was the day after we went to St. Louis. Grandmom had made him some cupcakes, well, actually she made LOTS of cupcakes to take to work with her on his happy day. But while Grandmom and I put the boys to bed that night, Flash (my basset) decided to eat 9 of them, paper and all. They just vanished right off the counter top. They were great cupcakes, I'm sure Flash really enjoyed them!

Here's Kaden waiting while we sang to him:

Present time!! Luke the ever-helping big brother:

A police car from Grandma with the Gienke tongue:

This time both brothers were willing to help Kaden-man out:

Disney DVD Bingo from Grandmom, a HUGE hit, everyone LOVES it:

On the weekend the whole fam came over to celebrate Kaden's birthday and I had my surprise pink shower for Josie. More pictures soon.

Present time update: Still not sure when Michael is coming home but it should be next week, hopefully Wednesday! Had my OB appointment yesterday, Josie and I are doing great! Just 4 weeks left :) Thanks to Michelle for watching the boys for me, what a great help!

Locks, parks, and thanks

Hey there all. How's it going? We are hanging in there and just taking things day-by-day. I am ready for Michael to be home, that's for sure. And for those of you who don't know, he called me last night!!!! I was SO thrilled to hear his voice, I kicked my sis-in-law off the phone to talk with him. (she understood, it's all good :)

We have had a pretty good week, a few down moments like when I locked the boys in the van. Oh yeah, it's true. I got all inspired to clean out some of the garage (we still have a TON of moving boxes in there, no one comes to pick up boxes here, it's really frustrating) I loaded up the van to the ceiling, packed boxes around the boys and everything, shut the sliding door and the doors locked, why? I don't know. All kiddos can get out of their car seats at an early age except for mine apparently. I kept trying to get Luke and Kaden to undo themselves, Kaden didn't understand, Luke tried and starting crying when he couldn't get it done, he kept telling me "Mom, you just come in and do it." Well after about 25 minutes of me trying to stick a wire hanger through the window and telling the boys to keep trying, I decided to actually call someone. And literally when I hung up the phone Luke screamed "I'm out Mom, I did it." So I called back to cancel, but just so you know, when there are kids locked in a car it's only $35 to get it open!!! Good to know right?! So we eventually made it to the recycling place, and then I took the kiddos to the park so they could play. Good times there:

And I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been checking in on me since Michael left. Thanks for the phone calls (Mom, Belva, Becks, Kelly), the e-mails (Mel, Aunt LeeAnn, Michelle), the prayers, and for my flowers. Heidi you are a dear and the flowers are just gorgeous, they brightened my heart and then my kitchen :)
Tomorrow I have an OB appointment, almost 35 weeks now :) And then on Tuesday, I have an appointment with the ENT doc. Remember a long time ago when I told you guys I have to ear surgery after the baby is born? Well, we are coming on baby time and need to know how quickly I need my surgery after she arrives. I will keep you informed.

MVP's in the making

Kaden and Luke started t-ball practices last Thursday. They were pretty cute believe me. They started out by getting grounders from the coach. Kaden tended to roll the ball back to Coach Ken, I swear he does that because he is used to his mother saying "you don't throw a ball in the house, if you want to play with it, you have to roll it." Here's Kaden going after the ball:

Check out this lightning bolt of an arm (and the flamingo next to him):

Kaden got a little bored with fielding practice, but loved to run those bases!!!! Isn't this picture hilarious. Uncle Thaddeus are you thinking Billy Elliot at all? :) I promise he was running, not leaping as the photo suggests... Here's Luke getting instruction from the coach and he got a good hit:
I know it's blurry, but here's K-man up at bat, he got a good hit too: (no he is not swinging the wrong way, that was his follow through, he just is still looking at the tee instead of where his ball went)
And Grandma, thanks for this picture, here is Daddy in his t-ball uniform back in the day. What a cutie pie! Luke got a BIG kick out of this picture:
And here's how my angel Gabriel entertained himself at practice, laughing at himself in the passenger mirror, ADORABLE:

We have another practice tonight, seems Mondays and Thursdays are to be spent at the field from now until mid-June. I'm sure there will be lots of t-ball photos to come. So good to be blogging again!!!

Success!!!

Alrighty, we did it. Michael showed me how to get the photos onto the laptop, we are good to go. I have so many things to blog about I just couldn't figure out where to start. So I figured what I would do is start now and work backwards. Why you ask? Cause Kaden-man got an official haircut and I know family is excited to see him. So we will start with him. For comparison purposes here was Kaden back in St. Louis with all his crazy semi-curly hair:

And now here is my guy with his big boy haircut, good lookin' kiddo:

Why does cutting their hair age them??? I don't get it!!!

Well, Grandmas, what do you think? He's adorable in this Mom's opinion. :)

Now come back often, I figure I will blog everyday. I still need to cover the first t-ball practice, my shower in STL, Kaden's Happy Day...etc. So get ready for some new pictures of the Harmons.

And again I would like to ask for prayers for Michael, he left at 3:15 this morning. I don't have any details of where he's going or what he's doing and for the first time we won't be able to have any contact until he gets home. That will be hard on me not hearing his voice and knowing that he is okay. He is only supposed to be gone for 8 days, (praise God for that) and let's hope that stays the case! We love and miss you already Daddy!