"The Pact" has been broken!

About 14 years ago, Sean and I made a pact that we would never own a mini-van! We swore that would never be us! Boy were we naive! Today, the pact was broken and we drove off the Oak Ridge Nissan car lot with a brand new Quest mini-van! And we were excited!! We love it! Who knew? Never say never! :)

With an $11,000 cash back incentive going on, we knew we needed to move on this! Sean did a great job researching, crunching numbers and finding out what the vehicle was worth. He is SO good at the bargaining part of buying a new car! He loves the challenge! We found a "base model" (no bells and whistles) at the Oak Ridge dealership and started negoitiating! No fancy packages, no DVD player and we didn't get to pick the color....but who cares? It was a fantastic deal, and we are very blessed to be the owners of a new MINI-VAN! :)

This time last year......
I started blogging! I began this blog when Beckett started Kindergarten. We started back to school this week and I thought it would be fun to show how much the kids have grown in one year! The small picture is from the first day of Kindergarten and the big one was taken this past Tuesday when we got back to work! He is doing well and for the most part has been excited to get back into our school routine! He is reading everything that he can get his hands on and we will begin chapter books in a couple of weeks! Helen is doing well, too! She really wants to "do school", so I've set up her little area and she has been working on learning her ABC's! She is able to handle more independent time this year, so that helps a lot! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Check out my friend's new blog!

I know a very special first grader who is creating a blog to share his experiences this year! If you would like to check it out, click here! Enjoy and check back every week or so! Not sure how often we will get it updated, but I want to use it as an opportunity for him to do some writing this year! I'll probably let him take a few pictures along the way as well! :)

End of Summer/Back to School Blast!

Today is Beckett's first day of first grade! To celebrate a great summer and to give us a kick off to a new school year, we spent the day at Dollywood yesterday! It was Sean's first time to EVER go to Dollywood! It was such a fun day! Beckett discovered a whole new Dollywood with his dad! They rode all of the "big" roller coasters and water rides that he had never tried before! He went upside down in the "Tennessee Tornado", he rode "Thunderhead" three times and we all got to do the "Slidewinder" and got soaking wet! We rode rides until 6:00 when they closed the park! Beckett didn't even ask for food! You know he is having fun if he doesn't think about eating! We totally skipped lunch so we could get in all of the rides! Helen had a great time too! The "Slidewinder" was a lot of fun for her and she was fired up that they had new booster seats for the cars at the "Rockin' Roadway" so she was able to "drive" the car! She even rode the Veggie Tales roller coaster all by herself! She is such a big girl! It was a fun-filled day and a great way to end a wonderful summer!

Beckett and Sean on the "Dizzy Disk"....another new ride that Beckett had never tried until this trip! There was just something special about having his dad with him that took the fear out of the rides and it became a challenge and a thrill to try them all out! It was so fun to watch him experience these "scary" rides for the first time! He loved it!
Helen was all smiles as she got to "drive" a Thunderbird for the first time! Pure joy!

Sunday Smiles

We had a good morning at church! We sang one of our favorite praise and worship songs today and I decided to share it here. Beckett learned it at worship camp this summer and we all love the message.....

Everyone needs compassion

A love that's never failing

Let mercy fall on me

Everyone needs forgiveness

The kindness of a Savior

The hope of nations

My Savior

He can move the mountains

My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save

Forever Author of salvation

He rose and conquered the grave

Jesus conquered the grave

So take me as You find me

All my fears and failures

And fill my life again

I give my life to follow

Everything I believe in

Now I surrender

Shine your light and let the whole world see

We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus

On Friday night we went to the park and had a picnic, rode bikes and swam in the lake. Here are a few pictures of the kids getting buried in the sand at the beach! They were just practicing for the real beach in October!

Piano Man

Beckett has really enjoyed "playing" around on the piano this summer. He has made up some songs...some with words, some without. This morning he asked me to record his latest "arrangement" and put it on the blog! Watch out Billy Joel!

Harper Hullabaloo Hiking!

We spent the weekend with my aunt and uncle in Waynesville, NC and had a great time! On Sunday we went to Black Balsam Mtn. and did some hiking, enjoyed fabulous views and amazing temperatures! The kids both did great walking/hiking/climbing! It was a great day and a wonderful weekend! Thanks for everything, Auntie Mame and Uncle Ron!

Family Shot!
Helen practically ran up the mountain!

Check this out!

Friday Night Fun!

On Friday night, the whole Harper crew got together at Jill and Darrin's house for supper and swimming! Here is a picture of almost all of the cousins getting ready to jump in the pool with Nana and Papa looking on! We are all excited about our family trip to the beach in October! Just under 8 weeks to go and counting down!

Sweet Memory
I just wanted to write a quick post to share a sweet experience that I had with my children this morning. I have been getting up at 4:50 (yes, that's AM!) for the past several weeks and meeting my neighbor every morning at 5:00 to walk. This just seems to be the best time before kids are up and Sean heads off to work. It has been hard adjusting to these early mornings, but I do seem to get a lot accomplished most mornings after we return. However, last night I stayed up way too late, so when we returned from walking, I must admit that I laid back down and fell asleep. (I was just going to "rest my eyes" for a minute! Ha!) So, when Helen woke up, I went in and got her and put her in the bed with me and turned on PBS cartoons so I could "rest my eyes" for a minute more. Beckett woke up not long after that and I could tell that he was whispering a lot to Helen. They both got out of my bed and said, "Mom, you stay here and just rest." So, I did. I did hear a little commotion in the kitchen, but I had an idea of what was going on, so I stayed put. Not long after that, they both appeared beside my bed with breakfast for me! There, on the yellow plate, was a breakfast bar (smeared with peanut butter....my favorite way to eat them!) some blueberries and a glass of water! They were so proud of themselves for fixing me breakfast in bed and I was so touched by their kindness! Sweet memories!

The Harpeth River

The kids had lots of fun this past weekend playing in the river that runs through Grankaki and Granbob's backyard. (It provided hours of entertainment for Susi and me when we were growing up as well!) Anyway, here are a few pictures of our river fun! We are headed to Waynesville, NC for the weekend to visit my aunt and uncle! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Fun with Grankaki's I-Mac!

We are still in Brentwood, but our car is fixed and we will be headed home in a few hours! Unfortunately, it was more than a simple fuse. It was the alternator! Several hundred bucks later, here we come! :) 

One of the fun things to do at Grankaki and Granbob's house is to play with the "Photo Booth" feature on Grankaki's I-Mac! So here are a few pictures from the last few days!

Tunnel vision!

Seeing double!

Stranded!

Aunt Susi was working at the Brentwood REI this past week and had a few days off before she had to fly to the next REI in Raleigh, so we came to visit Grankaki and Granbob for a couple of days so we could see everone! We have had a great time but our stay has been extended due to car trouble! We had planned to return home on Sunday in time for growth group, but we have been delayed! On the drive over here, I made a big deal out of our 99 Nissan Altima's mileage flipping to 189,000! We patted her on the dash and encouraged her and told her what a good car she has been for our family! However, I guess we didn't stroke her ego enough because on Saturday afternoon, everything electrical QUIT! Nothing on the dashboard works (MPH, RPM) no blinkers, no AC, no power locks or windows.....NOTHING! Fortunately, I was able to drive her to the repair shop here in Brentwood where we have always taken our cars and they got to work on her first thing this morning! Looks like we blew some kind of fuse and hopefully replacing that will take care of it! If you have to be stranded, what better place than at the grandparent's house? In a few minutes we will head down to the river in the backyard to play and ride in the canoe and then we will possibly take a trip to the museum to see the planetarium show later today! I'll have a few pictures to post when we get home! Hope you are all staying cool! Give your cars a little extra love on these hot summer days! :)