Just a few new pics to share of our recent trip to see Grankaki and Auntie Mame at their "quilting cabin" in Crossville last week! They each got a turn in the canoe with Grankaki and got crafty with Auntie Mame! Helen enjoyepiecing together fabric as well as dressing herself in scraps and Beckett was all about learning how to use the sewing machine! We had a great afternoon!

What a great trip! Our trip to Cincinnati was so much fun! I'm still not good at downloading the pictures how I want them to show up, but you can get an idea of what we did on our three fun days! Wednesday night was the Reds/Cardinals game! We had great seats and lots of fun. Beckett and Helen especially loved all of the ball park food! Our hotel had a great indoor pool which we needed in the morning and the evenings because it was so cool! We had fun swimming quite often! On Thursday we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. The highlight for me was the manatee exhibit! The kids loved the polar bears! Our last day was spent at The Creation Museum. We thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to everyone! Hope you all are doing well!

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to check in and let you know that we are headed to Ohio and Kentucky for the next three days! Last year during the World Series, Beckett became a Cardinals fan and we thought it would be fun to take him to a game! It was hard to find tickets in St. Louis, so we decided to go see them play the Reds in Cincinnati! We are going to the game on Wednesday night and then we are thinking about going to the Cincinnati Zoo on Thursday. We are coming home on Friday after we spend a good part of the day at The Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY! Some of you have asked us about it and their web site is http://www.creationmuseum.org/ if you want to check it out! I'll post an update and pics when we get back!

Helen is feeling much better and we are looking forward to the weekend! Beckett celebrated his half birthday on Wednesday with his favorite blue ice cream at Maggie Moo's! Hard to believe that he is half way to six years old! Hope you all have a great weekend! Go Vols!

No new pics today! Although I could take one of our new bathroom floor! Sean's weekend project was to lay tile in our guest bathroom. He has worked very hard tearing up the floor and laying the tile! Tonight he will put in the grout and on Thursday night he will put in the new toilet! Exciting times at the Harper's!

I just wanted to ask you all to pray for Helen. She has been very sick all weekend and is still having a rough time. She began vomiting last Thursday night around midnight and was very sick for about 48 hours. When she threw up again on Sunday morning, I took her to our pediatrician who discovered a double ear infection. All of that background to say, it is Tuesday afternoon and Helen just had another vomiting episode. I called the doctor's office and they said that "it's probably a bug!" You think? Anyway, she has had this virus and ear infection for quite a while and has lost about 6 or 7 pounds. Please pray that her little body will heal and that she will begin to recover soon! Thanks!

I hope to post good news and fun photos soon! :)

Always looking for a bargain, we decided to go to the grand opening of the old Riviera Theater downtown this past Tuesday! Regal Cinemas has restored the old theater and they were showing recently released movies for $1.00 each! The three of us went to see "Meet the Robinsons" and we each got our own popcorn and drink for under $10.00! (And parking was free!) My kind of day! We started school a little earlier than usual that morning so we could get to the 12:15 show! Of course, we had to make a trip to Mast General Store for candy after the movie! It was a fun afternoon!

I heard how easy it was to set up a blog site, so I thought I'd give it a try. My intent will be to ocasionally post pictures and Harper family updates so that our friends and family can keep up with our latest endeavors. So here we go.......

As you all know, our most exciting news in the last two weeks has been that our 5 year old son, Beckett started Kindergarten! He is doing well and loves everything about it, except for the occasional grumblings when it comes time for handwriting. We are homeschooling this year and it is going very well. Thanks so much to all of you for your support and encouragement. We have learned so much about the homeschool movement and have been so impressed with the many families we have met who homeschool as well as the organizations that support homeschool families. Most of all, we are grateful for the opportunity to continue Beckett's (and Helen's) education at home where we can pass on our faith and values and teach them the most important lesson of all... how much God loves them.

We would love to hear from you all. I'll try to post at least once a week and I'll try to learn about all of these options. Right now, I'm not really sure what I'm doing and I don't know how this is going to turn out. We'll see. Take care!