AWANA

Last night was our first AWANA.  Again for those of you who don't know, AWANA stands for Approved Workman Are Not Ashamed (from 1 Timothy), it's a wonderful program centered on memorizing bible verses with story and game time.  This AWANA, while the same program, is run quite different at our Vegas church.  It will take some getting used to but I know all 5 of us are going to enjoy it!  Yep, now have 4 clubbers :)  Josie is a Cubbie, Gabriel and Kaden are Sparks, and Luke is in TNT (Truth and Training).  I am a Sparks leader again, same as the past 3 years in Oklahoma.  I tried to take pictures before we left last night but my camera is acting up, time for a new one I'm afraid!, and then Josie didn't really want to join in the fun.  She was ready to go to church to see her friends.  But here is what I do have (Luke's green shirt has been ordered, just not arrived yet):

I told ya she didn't want her picture taken.  She was in a good mood, just didn't want that photo!  All the kids had a good time last night.  I am SO happy with our church here.  I'll have to do a separate post on that later.  YAY for Canyon Ridge! 

And one more bit of info.  K-man lost his "number 6 tooth" (as he calls it) last night.  He is very happy!  And Gabe has his first loose tooth, the tooth fairy should just set up shop here for a while.  :)

And so it begins again

Today is a big day.  Luke began 3rd grade.  Kaden started 2nd.  My Gabriel is in Kindergarten.  And boy am I thankful!  I have been longing for the start of school.  I seem to think that school is going to fix all our problems.  Luke and Kaden won't fight so much.  I can finally get Josie out of these pull-ups, we are SO close.  I'll start exercising regularly.  We'll get on a tight budget.  I will have "free" time to do all my projects that are cluttering up the house.  Our routine will save my sanity.  I have such high hopes for this year and these hopes were set to start with school.  And that's today.  I'm so thankful.
It's no secret to anyone that I really didn't want to move to Vegas.  We've been here since Memorial Day and I'm still not sure I want to be here.  Something I need to get over, I know it, but it's a struggle for me.  I know that many won't understand but that is simply how it is.  This summer has been a huge emotional rollercoaster.  A rollercoaster I don't wish to ride again.  I have had some amazing times and I have been deep in some valleys.  But that is all behind me now.  You see, school started today.  Everything is going to change, you'll see :)
Onto the photos.  The REAL reason you're here :) 

Day 2 at Epcot

Day 2 at WDW.  After Luke spent all Thursday night throwing up, we decided to delay our start by a little bit Friday morning.  Luke was looking pale but kept saying he was ready to go.  The bus ride made him a little sick to his stomach so poor Luke had to lay on a bench for about 10 minutes when we arrived at the park.  He was a real trooper though and felt better quickly, thank you God for answering our prayers!  By noon he was scarfing down his lunch and ready to go!  We had another great day at Epcot.  We rode a few of our favs--Soarin! for sure is one of the best!  Got to see Nemo and Crush so you know Kaden-man was thrilled :)  We met the fab 5 characters on this day.  It was good times for the Harmons :)
Here are the boys waiting in line for Nemo and Friends:

The boys with Chum:

The boys in Bruce (they LOVE this picture!)  Michael's there too, don't miss him:

The fam with Anchor:

Here's Kaden waiting for Test Track.  He was a little nervous about riding this and ended up LOVING it!  Nice pose, huh?  What a goof!

Here are my boys under the sea, Josie wanted no part of this but I promise she was there :)

Here come the characters.  M-I-C:

I know, my eyes were closed.  Darn it all!  Here's sweet Pluto:

Minnie.  This was a memorable moment.  For the first time Josie wasn't completely freaked out and actaully touched Minnie, blew kisses, and waved goodbye.  It was adorable!:

Donald:

Goofy, or Goopy as Josie calls him:

And here's our parting shot:

We decided to forego the fireworks that night because we wouldn't have gotten back until after 11.  With everyone still recovering we went back for a 'full' night's sleep.  We were sleeping by 10:30.  The next day, my favorite day, my favorite park, my favorite place: Magic Kingdom :)

Disneyworld 2010!

We weren't planning on going to Disneyworld this year.  No really, I mean it.  But then Disney offered the military 4 days for $100 and gave us 40% off hotels.  Still we weren't 100% convinced.  The airfare is killer, espeically now that Josie counts as a person.  We looked kind of half-heartedly and found Frontier Airlines with their non-stop from OKC to ORL $88 each way.  Well, that's not too shabby.  But then there's the kids school, my PTA stuff, and of course all of Michael's TDY's, office inspections, ORIs, OREs, etc., etc.  The stars aligned and we got it done!  We went in February so decided it was a trip for Kaden's happy birthday!  It was a fantastic trip looking back but it started off pretty rough.
The Thursday before we left Gabriel got a little bug.  He threw up during the night and then seemed pretty much fine the next day.  Hhmmmm, anything to worry about?  We were leaving in 6 days.  The weekend went fine but then Josie threw up Monday night.  Our flight was Wednesday.  At this point I was NOT worried about Josie being better, I was worried about Kaden and Luke catching the bug.  All seemed fine.  We flew down on Wed. afternoon, kids SUPER EXCITED and they did a great job.  We got to the hotel about 7 and decided to grab some food to eat in our room.  We walked outside and BAM!!, poor Kaden-man started throwing up in the bushes.  I was up with him all night, once or twice an hour as he forced out his bug.  We, of course, had the whole trip planned but were forced to change things up.  Kaden said he was feeling better and wanted to go to a park.  We decided to bite the bullet and just go.  We chose Animal Kingdom because he had the most shows and least amount of rides.  We arrived at noon and our fun started!!!  (okay, so that's a BIG deal for us, we are usually there BEFORE it opens and stay until they force us out!)  I wish I knew then what I know now...Kaden was fine that day but I spent the entire time stressed that he would start throwing up during the shows and we'd be packed in with all these people not able to get out.  I was pretty freaked but then it was all good.  We ended up having an amazing day :)  Here are the pics from our day at Animal Kingdom!
Our kiddos ready to head to the bus depot to start our day:

Timon was outside the gate ready for pictures, the boys were very excited to get autographs again:

Gabes and K-man waiting for Finding Nemo, The Musical, one of our favs!

Happy Gabriel and Josie Claire:

Smilin' Luke:

Kaden-man showing off his Mardi-Gras beads.  We stayed at Port Orleans and they were handing them out like candy to the kids.  Our babes wore them the entire trip!

My family on the safari:

Josie watching the parade, what a beautiful girl!

The fam with Pumbaa after The Lion King show:

Ta-da!  Here we are with the Mouse himself :)

Stopped for a quick pic with Terk:

Saw Donald as well:

Kaden wore his Happy Birthday button the whole time and EVERYONE made such a fuss over him, it was awesome and he LOVED every minute of it.  We were walking away, ready to go home and Donald grabbed K for another squeeze.  I love this picture!

We headed back to the hotel for a good night's sleep and to rest up for the next day at EPCOT.  And then Mr. Bug came back.  At 10:30 Luke started throwing up and didn't stop until 5 am.  I was heartbroken and was questioning why this had to happen on our vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth.  I prayed and stayed positive.  (Sneak peak to the next post, Luke bounced back quickly---just as everyone else did and we had a GREAT day at Epcot.  :)

Happy 7th Kaden-man!!!

Wow!  Just got over the shock of having my baby boy turn 5 and now my Kaden is 7!!!!  SEVEN years old.  Unreal.  Happy Birthday sweetheart! 

We were living here in Oklahoma when Kaden was born.  1st and 3rd child in Florida, 2nd and 4th, my evens, were here in OKC.  Kaden was my most popular birth.  I was joined in delivery room by Michael, my Momma, my sis-in-law Belva Jean, and one of my best friends Kelly.  I won't soon forget any of my children's births but Kaden's left quite an impression.  I was induced 2 weeks early because I had trouble with my leg, deep vein thrombosis, and the docs wanted to make sure I didn't throw a blood clot because it would go to baby first.  Plus I was HUGE and they knew Kaden was a good size already.  Showed up at the office and Kaden had no desire to be born that day, he was happy staying put.  I was just mildly contracting even with pitocin.  When I finally started feeling the contractions, they hurt and I was ready for an epidural.  Really ready but the policy there was no epidural until 6 centimeters.  Are you kidding me?!  I was extreme pain and not getting to 6.  Just when I was thinking I couldn't do that extreme pain anymore (I actually screamed out to my Mom to "make it stop please!") I reached 6!!  Yay!  The nurse left the room to get the anesthesiologist, who was next door by-the-way.  WHAM!  Next contraction hit and I screamed "I HAVE TO PUSH!!!!"  And my sis-in-law jumps up and screams back "NO YOU DON'T!"  I yelled again and Michael headed to the door to get the nurse right as she walked in.  I'm screaming and she calmly walks over to check me.  Yep, I was right.  Time to push.  6 to 10 in one contraction.  Thankfully the doc was close and he came in and barely had enough time to sit down.  On the 2nd push out comes beautiful 8 lbs, 6 oz Kaden-man!!!  Never have I felt that kind of pain, never will I forget it, and never was pain ever worth so much.  I LOVE YOU my sweet K.  Mom and Dad love you so!

Beautiful Boy:

Hospital photo:

1st birthday:

2 years old:

Kaden's 3rd:

4 already?!:

5th b-day:

He's 6:

And here's K-man yesterday:

Kaden's birthday/Superbowl Party today at Uncle James and Aunt Belva's house.  Come and join us!

A couple of pics

Day 5 of the inside.  We've been iced in since Thursday.  I haven't been out of the house since 11 am on Wednesday!  (Okay, I did walk to the mailbox this morning but other then that houseBOUND!)  The kids are doing great and I'm thankful.  We had a visit from Uncle James, Aunt Belva, Logan, and Aurora on Saturday so that helped out a lot!  Today I promised myself I'd be productive since I have been sick through this ice-in and haven't done too much.  Here's hoping I do get some stuff done!  This impending move has already got me a little freaked!!!
For now though, the pics.  Here's the fam all watching Peter Pan together.  Daddy's favorite, he was in heaven!

Last Wednesday was the 100th Day of School.  All the kiddos were pretty excited about that.  Kaden was supposed to bring in a collection of 100 things.  We decided to bring in a puzzle.  We built it together and then glued it to cardboard separated so you could see the 100 pieces.  Kaden was very proud, as he should have been, he worked hard!

(it's a Toy Story puzzle, just in case you were wondering!)