Weekend~Part 2!

After Beckett's game on Saturday, we met Jill and Connor and went to the Franklin Graham Festival to see Toby Mac in concert! We all had a great time! Helen was so excited to finally get to see Toby! Beckett put on his own little private show for everyone who could see him! He is a dancing machine! I am including a video clip from the concert. It isn't very clear because you can't really hear Toby, but you can get an idea of how Beckett moved for most of the show!

On Sunday afternoon, I drove to Brentwood and went with dad to hear The BUMC Chancel Choir and the Orchestra as they joined together at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville. Mom sang with the Chancel Choir for this event. The evening featured many wonderful hymn settings sung by the choir and audience. A highlight of the evening was guest artist Wintley Phipps. He was amazing! I experienced quite a range of musical genres this weekend and it was all wonderful!

Toby on the big screen!

Helen wore her Toby wristband!

Not the best video clip, but you can get an idea of how much fun they had!

It has been a busy weekend and we are only half-way through!

Sean and Beckett got "camoed up" last night and went turkey hunting. They have been down to Sean's mom and dad's land a couple of times this week calling, listening and looking for turkeys! They had a great time last night, but still no birds! Helen and I had "gulls only" night. ("Gulls" is how Helen pronounces girls!) We made bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and bird seed and then we waited and watched to see if any birds visited our new feeder.

Can you even see the guys??

Just the "gulls"!

Beckett had a baseball game today and I finally got a decent video clip of him hitting the ball! He had fun today and was excited about a defensive play that he was involved in! It is fun to watch all the boys as their skills improve! Great day at the ball park!

A Few Pictures from our Week.....

Here is a picture of the kids with a statue that is in front of the library. We went there on Wednesday afternoon to see a play. The Penguin Players from Dolly Parton's Imagination Playhouse are traveling around and presenting a musical adaptation of "The Gruffalo" at all of the Knox County libraries and we are so glad we went! They do a great job and the kids really enjoyed it! On Tuesday we celebrated Earth Day by having school outside! It was a beautiful day and we spent as much time as we could outside learning about "being green". I've posted pictures of both Beckett and Helen doing some of their work and then a picture of them building towers with our bag of "to be recycled" plastic! We are headed to see Toby Mac at the Franklin Graham Festival on Saturday night! I hope to get some good pictures! Beckett and Helen are so fired up!

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

The "Gruffalo" and the mouse!

What a beautiful day to do school outside!

Worn out after a busy Sunday!

We had a busy Sunday and the kids both fell asleep before we put them in their beds! The day started with a great morning at church and then it was off to the ball field to make up a previously rained out baseball game! Beckett hit the ball very well.....way out in the outfield all three times! After the game, Helen and I went to a birthday party for a friend and then it was time to go home for Growth Group!
We have a group of friends from our church that meet at our home on Sunday nights and we have a Bible study or we will sometimes follow up on our Pastor's sermon series and discuss life applications from those. We love Sunday nights and look forward to them each week! Beckett and Helen love it because we have anywhere from 4 to 14 kids here on any given Sunday night! So, after everyone left last night, they were worn out and they just crashed! (Helen is wearing her favorite "pajamas"! She likes to wear boxers like her daddy and brother, so Nana bought her some extra small boxers and she wears them with her Strawberry Shortcake shirt that her friend Emma made for her!)

I'm trying to figure out how to show video clips on my blog! I thought I'd practice with one I took of the kids on the "Lemon Twist" at Dollywood the other day! You saw a picture of them when they were all smiles before the ride started, but here they are as they spin around and around VERY quickly! It is pretty fun to watch!

I think you can pause the music on the playlist bar to the side so that you can hear what the kids are saying! But I'm not sure how it will work! Enjoy!

Put Me in Coach! I'm Ready to Play!

The Rockies got to play their first game on Saturday afternoon! The weather was beautiful and although it was a little windy, it was a great day to play ball! Everyone had a great time and Beckett hit the ball well! He has made some new friends and is enjoying playing with these guys! Sean is enjoying coaching them as well! That's what it's all about! On Saturday evening, we traveled back in time and went to Jerusalem! Well, actually we went to the Jerusalem interactive marketplace that was put together by New Providence Baptist Church. It was really neat! They made tunics for the kids to wear and we walked around and experienced sights and sounds from over 2,000 years ago! We had a great time looking around and visiting with friends!

Do you think the children in Jerusalem wore Colorado Rockies baseball caps and crocs?

Helen was excited to get to see Bailey perform! She did a great job!

Day at Dollywood!

Spring is in the air and we couldn't turn down a trip to Dollywood! We have season passes this year, so we decided to spend a warm Spring day hanging out with the Kirklands at Dollywood! Everyone had a great time and I wanted to post a few pictures of the kids on the "Lemon Twist" and with their funny hats!

We are hopeful that Beckett will get to play his first baseball game this weekend! All three of his games and one make-up game have been canceled due to rain! He and Sean are ready to play!! Sean is heading to Brentwood on Sunday with several other guys to hear John Eldredge speak at Fellowship Bible Church. He is really looking forward to that!

I hope that you all have a wonderful, restful weekend!

An Afternoon in the Mountains!

The sun is back! We have had so much rain lately and we were happy to see the sun again! Sean took the day off and we headed to the mountains to enjoy the beautiful weather.(Sean took his fly rod of course!) We enjoyed a picnic lunch and some fun in the water. Sean caught a few fish and we all had a great time! I'm also posting some pics from this past weekend when all of the Harper side of our family came to our house for dinner. We got our first picture of all six cousins together since Marley has been born! It was a fun night! And I'm also putting up two pictures from our trip down to see Susi in Atlanta. They are pictures of the kids with Susi's new puppy, Barley. See if you can tell who "isn't really into puppies right now." (Direct quote from Helen!)

Sean's second rainbow of the day!

All six cousins together!

Just the girls!

Beckett holding Barley and Helen sitting beside Barley as Susi holds her up close. Helen finally did pet Barley right before we left!

Our Trip to Atlanta

We had a very full day today! We are in Atlanta visiting Susi and we had all kinds of fun! It all started this morning at the zoo where we had a "behind the scenes" tour of the reptile exhibit with Susi's friend Dr. Joe. He is the curator of herpetology at the zoo and he let us get up close and personal with frogs, turtles and snakes! Beckett loved it and Helen was a little apprehensive! After a cool and rainy day at the zoo, we went to lunch at The Varsity! Susi has lived here for 7 years and had never been before! It was a treat for us all! After that, we went to my new favorite place....IKEA! Unreal. There are no words to explain how cool this place is! I am ready to re-do the interior of my house! This was the most unbelievable shopping experience! It has been a great day and I am happy to share some pictures with you all!

"What'll ya have?"

2 Naked Dogs with Fries

Beckett found a chair that he liked at IKEA and Susi gave him a lesson about gathering the information he needed. He was making his wish list! It wasn't nearly as long as mine!

Helen LOVED the see-saw at the zoo!

Dr. Joe introducing Beckett to a snake! 

The pandas were cute!

Well, the computer problem has finally been identified and will be fixed within the next few days. (I won't hold my breath!)

The latest from the Harper's......

Beckett's first baseball game was canceled on Saturday due to rain, so we had a nice, lazy day at home! We were afraid that tonight's game would be canceled as well, based on the weather forecast, but it has been clear and sunny for the last 3 hours, so it looks like the game is on!! Sean is coaching Beckett's team this year and they have a great group of boys on their team, so I'm sure it's going to be fun! Go Rockies!

Beckett and I babysat for our neighbor's (the Guldans) twins this morning while Martha went to an appointment. Matt took their 2 year old son Carson and Helen with him to a class that he teaches for their age group at his gym! Helen had fun "tumbling" and Beckett and I really enjoyed our time with Noah and Turner. They were napping when we arrived and we didn't know which one was which when they woke up! We made our best guess and we were wrong! Anyway, they were so pleasant and such sweet babies! It was fun!

The kids and I are heading to Atlanta tomorrow morning for a few days to visit with my sister! She has several plans for us including the zoo and a couple of museums! We are looking forward to our time with her! She also said that I could use her computer to add some pics to our blog! So get ready......it's been a while!