Saturday, February 9, 2008


Zoo Trip!

On Tuesday, before Beckett's cold got pretty bad and before both of them ended up with pink eye, we took an afternoon and went to the Knoxville Zoo! With temps in the upper 60's, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to get out and enjoy the warm weather at one of our favorite places! Sean took off half of a day and went with us! We had a great afternoon!


Both Beckett and Helen are feeling much better! Helen doesn't care much for eye drops. You'd be amazed at how strong a 30 pound child can be when she doesn't want you to put a drop of medicine in her eye! It takes both Sean and me to hold her down! But the drops are doing the trick and both of the kids are doing much better! Beckett and Sean are going hiking today with several other dads and their sons and Helen and I are going shopping! Hope everyone has a great weekend!






Thursday, February 7, 2008

It is great to be blogging again! We finally got our computer back this afternoon, so I wanted to update the Harper Hullabaloo and let you know what's been happening here! Unfortunately, we've had some sickness. Helen had a 24 hour virus about a week ago. She is doing much better, but she still throws up at least once a day! It is a reflux issue that happens each time she has a stomach bug. Our pediatrician prescribed her some medicine to try to help sooth her reflux issues, but it hasn't slowed down yet. I'm just washing lots of clothes, sheets and towels! In the middle of all of that, Beckett has gotten a pretty rotten cold. I took him to the pediatrician today and he tested negative for strep and the flu, but does have pink eye along with a sore throat and a runny nose! No fun! The worst part was that he had to miss our service project and the virtue of the month celebration called "Riversplash" at church tonight! He was pretty bummed out! And if you happen to see me, you might notice that I turn my head kind of funny. One of those turns where your whole upper body moves instead of your neck/head? Anyway, I've pulled a muscle or something in my neck and shoulder and it has been driving me crazy for several days now! So, if you think about it, please pray for healing in the Harper household! Sean has stayed healthy through it all and is a champ at cleaning up puke while I clean up Helen! Oh well, on to other much more exciting things.......


The 100th Day of School!
Beckett celebrated his 100th day of Kindergarten on Monday. We had a great day doing everything 100! Of course, Beckett and Helen's favorite activities had to do with food, so I've included pictures of them getting ready to make their 100 piece snack mix. They took 10 pieces of 10 different snacks and made a snack with 100 pieces! They made necklaces out of 100 cheerios, too! Beckett did everything from counting to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's, filling in a 100 number chart, writing in his journal about what he would do with 100 dollars, singing songs and reading stories about the 100th day of school, learning how to make tally marks and guessing how many times a penny would turn up heads and tails if you flipped it 100 times, to even doing 100 exercises! (You'll have to ask Beckett how he did with the sit-ups!) Anyway, enjoy the pictures! It was a fun day! It is hard to believe we've been home-schooling for 100 days! It seems like just yesterday I was taking the pictures of Beckett's first day of school! We are experiencing such blessings being home together!













Friday, January 25, 2008

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to check in and let you know that we are experiencing technical difficulties at the Harper Hullabaloo! Our computer has "caught a virus" and not doing so well these days! Sean has tried all sorts of things, but it looks like we will have to take our computer to a professional to fix the problem! Things are going well here. Not much to report. It is VERY cold and we are spending a lot of time indoors! I'll check back in soon with updates, but wanted to let you know that it might be a few days before I am able to put any pictures up! Take care, all!

Monday, January 14, 2008

Happy Birthday Helen!
Helen turns three years old today! We celebrated her birthday last Thursday night with a "Strawberry Shortcake" birthday party! Helen had fun eating pizza and cake with her family and friends! The last three years have flown by! She is changing and growing SO much! We are so thankful that God has blessed our family with Helen Elizabeth!



Belly Dancing Princess!

This outfit was one of Helen's
favorite gifts! She
tried it on and danced
for everyone at the
birthday party!










Beckett played his first basketball game this past Saturday morning! His team is named the "Flash"! He had quite a cheering section with all of his grandparents present for the big event! It was fun to watch his team (who had practiced together two times and none had played basketball before) as they tried to figure out what to do! Beckett actually scored two points! We are so proud!

On Sunday, we went to hear the Oak Ridge Symphony. They had a special family concert. There were opportunities for the kids to make their own instruments as well as try out some of the real ones! Here are pictures of Helen making sounds on the violin and Beckett making a jingle bell paint stirrer thingy! :) We all had a great time!













Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Christmas 2007 Memories....
Leaving cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve!

Wearing their new toboggans and sweat-bands from Toby Mac!
Aren't they cool?
A new baby and stroller for Helen and a DJ machine for Beckett. He can really mix the beats!


Welcome to Who-ville!
Just before Christmas, we made a trip to Brentwood to see Granbob and Grankaki. They took us to see "The Grinch" created out of ICE! The kids had a blast! It was 8 degrees in the building which explains the blue coats that they gave us to wear in there! All of the Grinch characters and scenes from the book/cartoon were carved out of ice! Beckett especially enjoyed the ice slides!











Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year!
It has been a busy Christmas season and I fully intend to share a few Christmas pictures, but this is all I have time for today! I need to get Christmas decorations put away so we can begin school on Thursday! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season with family and friends! Have a blessed 2008!