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! :)

Busy Week!

We have been busy this week! Today is our first day to just stay at home, so I thought I'd post a few pictures! On Monday we went to Nana and Papa's house and canned tomatoes! Papa planted over 100 tomato plants this summer and they are all coming in fast! So, I had my turn to get some tomatoes and Bettye and I canned 13 jars of tomatoes and 6 jars of salsa! Yummy! We will certainly enjoy all of these tomatoes this winter! Thanks Nana and Papa! Beckett and Helen enjoyed playing with Lillie and Connor while we worked on the tomatoes! It was a good day!

On Tuesday, we went to the last free family movie at Regal cinemas and saw "Firehouse Dog". Beckett loved it! He says it is his favorite movie of all time! After the movie we met our friend Julie and her nephew Mark at his neighborhood pool and swam all afternoon until the storms rolled in! That was a lot of fun! Thanks to Mark and "Jujy" for inviting us to swim with you! Sorry I didn't get any pics for the blog!

On Wednesday, we went to Dollywood with the Kirklands. "Kids Fest" will be over on Sunday and we wanted to get up there to see the Kratt brothers from the PBS kids show "Zoboomafoo"! Beckett has always enjoyed that show as well as their National Geo shows for kids, so we didn't want to miss them "live" at Dollywood! We are so glad we did! It was a great show! Very well done! Unfortunately, no flash photography was allowed in the theater, so we didn't get any pictures, but I did include some other pics from our day. It was very warm, so the kids wore swimsuits and did all of the water rides!

While we were there, we ran into our friends, "the heaters" aka The Baileys! Wheat, Lake, River and their mom and dad were at Dollywood too, so we had a quick picture with them!

Helen, the Man and the Horse

Beckett wanted me to blog about a funny thing that Helen said last night. Our family went to a wedding shower and when we got there, we quickly realized that we had made a mistake by bringing the boys! It was an "all ladies" shower! So, Sean and Beckett stayed for a short time and then decided to leave and return later to pick up Helen and me. So, when they were getting ready to leave, Helen heard us talking and said, "Where are you going, Daddy?" and he replied, "We are going to see a man about a horse." We all just laughed and they left not long after that. Helen and I enjoyed watching the bride open her gifts and after about an hour, Sean and Beckett returned to pick us up. As we were driving home, Helen looked over at Beckett and said, (as serious as she could be) "So, how was the guy riding the horse?" Beckett LOVED it! He laughed so hard and we all enjoyed it. She was a little embarassed and kept her arm over her eyes for a minute when she realized that she had said something silly, but she honestly thought that they had been to check on a man and his horse! Finally, Sean told her that the man and his horse were well, and Helen was happy again! Just a fun story to hopefully make you smile today! Have a happy Tuesday!

Blackberries

My Aunt Marilyn (or as we have always fondly called her..."Auntie Mame") came over today for a visit. We went out to Sean's mom and dad's property and picked blackberries this morning. She is planning to take them home tomorrow and make her famous blackberry jam! We got to drive Nana and Papa's "Gator" all around to find the best blackberries and we had quite an adventure! Let me just say that blackberry pickin' ain't easy! You have to work hard for those little berries! We all wore our long sleeves and long pants and it was HOT! And did I mention all of the briars? We all have lots of little scratches! But it was worth all of the work! Beckett enjoyed the competition of seeing whose bucket filled up quickest and Helen enjoyed eating all of the berries! She did not contribute any to the bucket! If you've ever read the story, "Blueberries for Sal" then you could compare Helen to "Sal" who ate more blueberries than she put in her pail. Helen would pick one and put it in the bucket, then pick one and eat it, then take two out of the bucket to eat and so it went all morning long! She loves blackberries! We had a fun time and we want to thank Nana and Papa for letting us use the Gator and for sharing their blackberries with us! Thanks to Auntie Mame for driving over to spend some time with us! We enjoyed having you visit!

Even though Helen is holding a bag of pretzels, she was eating blackberries!
Beckett was determined to get more in his bucket than Auntie Mame!
Our first time to see a passion flower growing in the wild! Very unusual and pretty!

Mother-Daughter Dress-Up!

Just Playing Around.......

I've been wanting to do this for a long time, but I just figured out how to use my scanner today! My wonderful husband helped me load the software onto our computer and I was able to scan some old pictures. So, in the following pictures, you will see Helen wearing an old dress that my mom made for me! (38+ years ago!) Then, you will see pictures of Helen playing with the Noah's Ark that my grandfather made for me with the animals that my grandmother made to go along with it! (Yes, my mom saves EVERYTHING and I'm grateful for these treasures!) So, we had a little photo session the other afternoon and I was trying to re-create some pictures that mom had of me wearing this dress and playing with Noah's Ark. The neat thing is that now, with my scanner, you can see the pictures of me as well! I was 2 and a half years old when the pictures were made of me, and Helen is 3 and a half, but I don't think the dress would have fit her a year ago! Obviously, I was a bigger child! Anyway, hope you enjoy!

First, Helen!

Then, me!

Helen again!


And me again! You can see Mickey's (my grandmother who made the stuffed animals for the ark) reflection in the glass!

One more! Pulling the ark!

Last one!

Sean says that the one noticeable difference that cannot be re-created is the mullet!

Fun in the Mountains!

This afternoon we headed up to the mountains to play in the water (which means fly-fishing for daddy) and to have a picnic supper! We had a great time and Sean caught several trout! Beckett and Helen had fun sliding down the waterfall that you see behind them. Beckett also enjoyed climbing up the falls. He felt like he was Bear Grylls from the Discovery Channel show, "Man vs. Wild"! We recently saw an episode of that show where Bear was climbing a waterfall, so Beckett had fun with his own version!

"Boy vs. Wild"!

Helen always rode down the falls with Sean holding her tight. This time, she wanted to go by herself! I was a little nervous, but Sean was right there to catch her!

Last video clip! I just couldn't choose, so I put them all!

Water Fun on a Hot Day!

Beckett and Helen both had dentist appointments this morning. When we were finished with that, we went to a park by the lake that has a "splash pad"! We had fun swinging on this swing and having a snack before they played in the water! It has been a beautiful week!

We're goin' in!
Follow the leader!

Beckett getting dumped on by the water bucket!

Happy Half Birthday, Helen!

Yesterday (July 14th) was Helen's "half" birthday! She can now officially say that she is three and a half! We have a family tradition of celebrating half birthdays with a trip out for ice cream, so this year we went to Dairy Queen! Helen enjoyed her vanilla cone (which ended up in a dish after a short time!) She really wanted a cone, but it is hard to keep your ice cream from melting too fast when you are three and a half!

The Week in Review.....

We've had a good week! Monday was Sean's first "scheduled day off" in several years! He started back on the four-tens schedule where he works ten hour days Tuesday through Friday. We enjoyed having him home on Monday and we made trips to Home Depot and Wilburn's to gather information about columns. Yes, we have finally decided to replace the columns on the front porch. We are supposed to have four columns and we only have three because one of them rotted and fell off the porch! Now that two of the remaining three are about to do the same, we decided that we better finally go ahead and replace them. So, looks like tomorrow we are headed back to order the columns we chose and the work will begin! Tuesday was our second week at the LC public library for "Story Time". Every July they have a story-teller from a different country. This year the story-teller is from Africa and each week the kids have heard a traditional story from her homeland! Last week they had warm chai tea and "biscuits" (cookies) after their story and this week I heard that they will be tasting goat milk! I'll let you know how that goes! Wednesday was free movie day at Regal Theaters and we saw "Charlotte's Web". We met several friends there and actually took a whole row in the theater! After the movie, we headed to the Pridmore's neighborhood pool to swim and eat pizza! That was fun until the storms moved in and we had to head home early. Beckett got a hair cut on Thursday morning and then we met our friends Marilyn and Elyse for breakfast at Cracker Barrell. We then went to Marilyn's school and started helping her get her room ready for the upcoming school year! On Friday, Beckett and Helen went to Nana and Papa's house to play with Lillie. They had a great day! On Saturday we went to a picnic and Beckett had his face painted like the Incredible Hulk. Today we went to church and then had lunch at "Cinco de Mayo" with our Growth Group friends! The kids all sat together and did very well! The following picture is "the kids table"! We had a great time at lunch with our friends!

The Incredible Hulk!

The following are pictures from supper one night. ALL of the Harpers are working on obedience and we are ALL works in progress! Helen is having a little bit of trouble with this one.... especially when it comes to meal time! Let's just say that a few nights this week, we were at the table for much longer than normal trying to help Helen through this. She has quite a stubborn streak, and did not want to eat her chili one evening. The faces that she made as her lip hung over into her chili while she pouted were priceless. I kept thinking that I should get a picture of her to remind us of this "stand-off" but I didn't want to antagonize her. I was able to get this first picture without her realizing what I was doing. When Beckett saw that I was putting this picture on the blog, he said, "Mom, dad said that it says in the Bible that you aren't supposed to put sad pictures of your kids on the blog." :) Then he said that it probably didn't say that exactly because they didn't have blogs back then! Anyway, I think that he must be referring to Ephesians 6 when Paul says "fathers, do not provoke your children" which Sean brought up when I took Helen's picture that night! Anyway, this blog is meant to document our daily lives and believe me, the kids aren't always "all smiles" like you see posted here most of the time! So, today you get to see a sad Helen. Everything ended well. Helen ate the chili and she was happy when it was all over. She even got her snow-sicle for dessert!

We had a great Fourth of July celebration! We started the day with a cook-out at Sean's mom and dad's house. After a few hours there, we headed over to the Kohlmeyer's home with several friends from church and had another cook-out! The kids enjoyed playing with all of their friends and we all had fun visiting, eating and shooting some fireworks. We all left their home in time to get to our church for the big fireworks show. It was great! I didn't get many good pictures, but I hope you will enjoy the little slideshow below!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

This one's for you, "Oatmeal"!

The last couple of days have been fun as we have gotten together with these four new friends! These are our friend Neal's neices and nephews! They have been in LC visiting their "Grandy" and we met them at the park a few times! We have had fun with Maggie, Jacob, Ian and Kelsey! They affectionately call their Uncle Neal, "Oatmeal"! Isn't that cute?

Another Song From Sunday Night!

Here is a clip of the song "Everlasting God" from the Worship Camp Service Sunday night! Beckett sang the first part of the song before the whole choir joined in! He did a great job!

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~Isaiah 40:28-31