Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy 6th Birthday Helen!

First, I must address the song selection on my blog today. I told Helen that in honor of her birthday, I would let her choose a song to put on the blog. She chose this Justin Bieber song. I like to choose songs that might go along with the post, but today, it's about Helen's favorite song. So enjoy Justin and Jaden Smith singing "Never Say Never!" :)

Today our baby girl turned six years old! She is growing up so quickly! We have had a great day celebrating Helen and we still have more partying to do! I took this picture of Helen with the birthday flag earlier this afternoon.

 We started the morning with some presents!

 Beckett and Will watching as Helen opens their gift.

 Helen loved the clay craft kit that the boys gave her and she was all about hugging everyone and thanking them for her gifts!

 Here she is checking out her new secret diary that Sean and I gave her!

Josh, Kathy, Ty and Marley gave her this cool peace sign shirt and bracelet. She put them both on immediately!

 Helen picked her birthday breakfast. She wanted scrambled eggs, bacon and cinnamon rolls. Here she is with six candles on her cinnamon roll!

 Later in the day while Beckett was at his boys book club, we took Helen out for a yummy pizza lunch!

 Hanging with her daddy at the restaurant.

 On a side note, has anyone noticed that I cannot take a picture of my oldest son these days without him crossing his eyes or making some incredibly goofy face? Case in point.........

Well, today I give you a partial explanation for these goofy faces. I caught another one on camera today. Looks like Beckett comes by it naturally..........

Happy Birthday sweet Helen! You are a blessing to our family and we love you so much!

Happy New Year! (11 Days Late!)

How did the Harpers ring in 2011? Well, it was pretty crazy.....but fun! On New Year's Eve morning, Sean and Beckett began to talk about jumping in a lake on New Year's day! What? Were they crazy? Yes. But as the day went on, the whole idea took shape and it turned out to be one of our most memorable New Year's events yet! Jumping (running) into the lake for no other reason than to get wet and cold seemed pretty nuts to me, but as Sean and I talked about the spiritual applications that went along with what we were thinking about doing, it became clear that this would be an awesome way to ring in the new year! So on December 31st, we sent out an email to many friends and family with the following message:

God calls us to join Him in what He is doing. Many times He calls us into deep, cold water and at times it is uncomfortable and out of our “warmth” or comfort zone. As we welcome a new year and the adventure that it holds for each of our families, we thought that this experience could be a great way to embrace and acknowledge that God wants us to join Him and be his hands and feet on earth even if it gets a bit uncomfortable. Matthew 14 tells the story of Peter being given the opportunity to get out of the boat and walk to Jesus on the water. Peter, against all logic and reason, jumped out and started walking. The rest of the disciples stayed in the boat and watched. Our role as believers while we are here on earth is not to sit in the boat and watch, but to get out of the boat even if it makes no sense at all. (running into 40 degree water for no reason!)

So on New Year's Day at about 11 AM, we gathered at a local park's recreation area with four other families and took the plunge! (FYI, the local temp was about 45 degrees.) Sean led us in a prayer before we went in, just asking our Heavenly Father to call us out of our comfort zones and to dive in to all that He has planned for our families this year!

And as soon as he closed the prayer, everyone turned and made a break for it! Thanks to Libby (maybe the only "sane" one of us) who took these pictures! She had five week old baby Ian all bundled up and strapped on to her, so there was no water for her.

After the plunge, we took a few minutes to take some family pictures.

 The Baileys were there. Love this family! So excited to see God working in mighty ways in the life of this family! Can't wait to see what all 2011 has in store for them!

 "Some" of the Parsons were with us. This family has seven children and four of them are under the age of four.....so Janice stayed home with the little ones while Matthew brought two of their crew!

 2011 has one sure blessing in store for this sweet family! The Kuhns are hoping to hear news about baby Christopher very soon. They are waiting on a referral for their baby boy from Ethiopia and we are so happy for their family!

The boys had a blast! Most of them took more than one plunge that morning. They kept running back into the water! This event is what every boy dreams about! (Did I mention that this whole thing was Beckett's initial idea?)

The girls. No crazy "muscle" poses here. They are the smart ones....all wrapped up in towels! And there is Abigail. Her momma is Libby who took many of our pictures. I'm sorry that I didn't get a pic of them together. Stephen stayed home with two of their kiddos while Libby brought Abigail so she could jump in with her friends!

 It was pouring down rain all morning, but right about the time we arrived at the lake, the rain stopped. Will was dressed to stay all warm and dry, but at one point, he waded in about knee deep. He had fun throwing rocks in the lake.

 The rain began again as we headed back to our cars. Loved this shot of Will and Sean walking together in the rain!

 So that was our crazy New Year's Day activity. Believe it or not, we are planning to do it again next year. We are hoping that it will just get bigger and bigger each year and that more people will want to participate with us!

Just wanted to end with a couple of pictures that I've taken in the last few days. The first is one of Beckett reading to Will. I found them all piled up in Will's bed reading his favorite books. I was able to sneak a picture before they saw me.

 This picture was taken the same day as Will returned the favor and "read" a book to Helen's baby Jaden. Actually, Will was "reading" his favorite coloring book about cows! Sweet!

Happy 2011! I hope that you will all "dive in" to what God has in store for you this year! What are you waiting for? What have you got to lose? When you take that first step Into the unknown, you know that He won't let you go!

Christmas 2010 and Snow!

I video everything on Christmas morning and never take pictures! I wish I would have learned my lesson last year, but I am glad that I got some sweet video footage from Christmas morning....which included impromptu and heartfelt hugs between Beckett and Helen when they opened their gifts that they had specially picked for each other. Priceless! So when I looked at the pics on my camera from Christmas, the only one I have is taken at Nana and Papa's house with all of the cousins. The rest of my Christmas memories are on the Flip video camera! After our morning of opening gifts at home, we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for breakfast and fun with family. N and P always make a big (late) breakfast for everyone and then we enjoy opening gifts and playing with new toys with all of the cousins. Josh, Kathy and the kids were able to be with us this Christmas (afer a scary and slippery drive to N and P's house!) It was fun having everyone together this year!

It snowed off and on all day on Christmas and then again the day after Christmas. We were not able to get out of our neighborhood to go to church, so we had an early morning sledding appointment with our neighbors, the Guldans! Here is a picture of Sean and Matt getting the kids ready to sled down the street in front of the Guldan's house.

 Beckett and Carson on their sled.......

 Turner, Helen and Will on their sled......

 Will enjoyed being pulled along in the sled!

 Helen pulling her sled after a trip down the street!

 Beckett, Helen and Will feeling pretty cold and wet, but still posing for a picture!

 The whole family got in on the sledding action and Matt had us pose with props to remember our sledding adventures!

We enjoyed having Sean home for the long weekend which included Monday and just resting and taking it easy. Grankaki and Granbob were able to come over on Monday to celebrate Christmas with us. Their travel plans were delayed by a day due to the snowy conditions, but we enjoyed some time with them on Monday and Tuesday. As soon all the Christmas celebrations were over, Helen began asking how long until Tuesday night! The reason? These sweet girls promised Helen a "sleep over" at their house. The King sisters are good friends of ours and have been talking with Helen about a sleep over for many months. We "booked it" right before Christmas, and Helen has been so excited about it. I took this picture yesterday afternoon when they came to pick her up.

 

I picked her up late this morning and she has not stopped talking about all the fun that she had! She had a fantabulous time at her first official girls sleep over! (Of course she has stayed with cousins and grandparents, but this was the first friend sleep over.) Thanks to the King sisters (and their mom and dad) for the wonderful hospitality and giving Helen such a fun night to remember!

Looking forward to this coming long weekend with Sean home, celebrating the end of 2010 and anticipating the new year and all the new adventures it holds!

Christmas Eve 2010

After the annual picture on the hearth by their stockings...the children are nestled all snug in their beds with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads! Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Santa Visit 2010

Every year we go to see Santa at Sean's company Christmas party. They do a great job and the pictures are FREE which I love! Santa is always so great with the kids! There are many kids who want to see Santa, so they have a "policy" it seems, that says if a kid begins to show the least bit of fear or trepidation when it comes to sitting with Santa, then they invite the whole family to have their picture made with him. It isn't really an "invitation".....they make you sit down with your child so that there are no tears. As a result, we do not have any pictures of our children sitting with Santa as they scream their heads off! We had the family Santa pictures when Helen was one and two years old because she was totally freaked out by Santa. We did not set out to have a family picture made with the big man this year, but it seems that in the last year Will has developed a healthy fear of Santa and wasn't about to get anywhere near him. So, I give you the Harper family Santa picture for 2010!

Merry Christmas!



Helen's First Ballet Recital!

This time last Friday, we were getting ready to watch our sweet 5 year old ballerina perform in her first ballet recital! I am very sad that I do not have ANY pictures of her in her costume!! I have purchased a CD that will have individual pictures of Helen, but right now I do not have any! I really appreciate that her teacher is very economical and that we borrow the costumes rather than buy them, but I never had my camera with me when she had it on and when I did have my camera, they had already helped her undress from her costume! Anyway, she had a blast and I don't think she stopped smiling ALL night! It was a wonderful performance....so honoring to our Creator and each dance truly shared the message of Christmas so beautifully! All of my pictures show the smile that was plastered on her face the entire evening! This first picture is after the recital was over and she received her flowers!

Posing for more pictures with that big smile!

Lillie was there to watch Helen!

Abigail and Kaelyn with Helen after the recital. Abigail was in two dances and the drama. Helen loves these girls!

Nana, Jill, Connor and Lillie came to see Helen. Papa was there, too....just not in the picture.

Helen and her friend Sophie posing with their flowers! Sophie is in Helen's class every Monday afternoon.

Helen with her biggest fans and supporters...Mom, Dad, Beckett and Will!

Granbob, Grankaki and Auntie Mame traveled a long way to come see Helen's ballet debut! So glad they could all be here with us!

When we got home, we celebrated with ice cream and opened Christmas presents from Auntie Mame since we will not be with her this Christmas!

Helen received a new pink "peace sign" lap quilt that Auntie Mame made for her! She is loving it!

One last picture of our ballerina posing in front of our Christmas tree!

She is already talking about the Spring recital! Such fun!