March Madness....

Hello. Happy March! For us it came roaring in with lots of rain, wind and hail. But now it's all clearing up and we are left with beautiful green hills and white mountain tops.

So clear and amazing!

This is our youngest daughters side kick Milo. He follows her everywhere and in the mornings when I peek in on her, Milo is asleep on top of her. I guess here he has decided to help with her laundry.

So raising Ryanne is going to be the title of the first book I write. Here is what is sure to make the cut as one of my entries:

Ryanne: "Oh mom I finally got that boys number from church."
Me: "Umm... what boy and no you aren't allowed to call boys and sit on the phone talking to them."
Ryanne; "Seriously mom he is not even my type. He's all computer and game geek. I want a man who can pump his pecks."
Me: (Choking on my own saliva) "Excuse me? A man that can do what with his what?"
(My husband feels the need to jump in at this point)
Dan: "You do realize she gets this from you?"
Me: "Oh really? Since when can you pump your pecks?"

My cats sit outside of the shower and watch me shower every. single.morning. Ya I know creepy. Anyways, they wait and they wait and they wait for me to be done and then they sit and watch. Yup' that's it they sit and watch the last drops of water drip.drip.drip.drip.drip.drip.drip. Every.single.morning. I'm not sure why it's so fascinating but this is how they roll.

I saw this in a store and had to take a picture of it because really, some days I just want to say,"Forget it all!" And then shove an x-large pizza down my throat. Don't worry I won't. I'm getting therapy for these outbursts.

I'm loving so many things about being a mom right now. But before you log off because you think I am going to brag about how great and perfect my girls are; be comforted in the fact that THIS is NOT that post. I just want to say that life/parenting is funny. It's like the most humbling job you could ever have. The minute you think you might actually have a handle on one area of it, the rug is ripped out along with the mother of the year award you could almost see sitting on your mantel. Sigh....I'm in this weird transition place of counting down the days until my kids can move out because I'm certain they are sucking my last living brain cell and then feeling badly because well, I really do love them and think they are awesome people. But let's be real, I home school. I am with them ALL OF THE TIME. So when our youngest asked if she could go to winter camp with the youth group I obediently(cause that's how I roll..wink-wink!) answered,"I think that is probably okay but you need to call daddy and see if it's okay." All the while writing the check as fast as my little hand could go and mailing the permission slip before she even dialed my husband at work. Whaaattt? Then our oldest asked to go out of town with her friend and her parents for the weekend and again obedience first ladies :) I told her to call my husband at work but was offering to buy her a new bathing suite for the trip I was shoving her out the door for ha! I love them. I love them so much. I just am also loving that they are spreading their wings. They are trying new things and wanting to go out and succeed and fail on their own. I also love that God has given me a peace about it. A peace about my oldest asking to get her work permit and working for someone that has nothing to do with me. It's good. It's the order of things. I'm excited to see what God has for them. I'm excited to grow old with my husband and have that time but this, this crazy season is good. The letting go a little more and a little at a time and watching them seek God in even the little things is good. It's a sweet time. Mostly I sit holding my husbands hand convincing them it's all going to be okay and they are always going to be his little babies ha! He's taking the growing up part very hard.

I also parent a 180lb. dog who by the way wants to be at my feet every single minute of every single day. She's not spreading her wings at all ha! She had to have 5-6" of her tail amputated and is on the mend.She looks even more silly than she did before but lucky for her a mothers love does not go void. Have a happy weekend be blessed!

         

February Fun

Dan & I celebrated 18 years of marriage this past weekend. He had one night off so we took off to Desert Hot Springs and laid in the sun, went out to dinner and then topped it off with a couple's massage and a soak in the hot springs. Just what we needed to catch up and regroup. I love what Greg Laurie always says about marriage,"Instead of saying they lived happily ever after people should say they lived happily EVEN after." I think that sums up our marriage. We have had some terrible lows and some extremely amazing highs but it's the middle of the road everyday living that just keeps getting better and we are determined to live even after life throws at us what it will and smile and laugh all along the way!!

Two days after our anniversary we helped our oldest celebrate her 14th birthday!! To say she is a joy would be an understatement. I sat down to write in her birthday card and felt like there were not words in the English language to describe my love for her. She loves passionately, learns with passion, seeks the Lord's will and is a peace maker with passion. She laughs freely and still runs and dances down the store isles like nobody is watching.

I was watching her with her friend at lunch and thought,"Man are we lucky!" She makes me want to be a better person and because she is a teenager often reminds how that can be done ha! Happy 14th my sweet. It's all I can do to hang on and wrap every.single. memory into my mind and heart as you grow into a lovely women of God. A daughter of the king. I want to remember it all and take for granted nothing. Be blessed this year sweetie!

MORGAN IS 14!!!!! YAHOO!!!

Raising Ryanne.....

So if you know me at all you know I am always telling stories about raising our daughter Ryanne. The stuff that comes out of her mouth is just hilarious. Don't get me wrong when she isn't a laugh a minute she is very much the handful. But seeing as she has the heart of a giant, is almost in Jr, high and yet is still pocket size or as my husband likes to say, "fun size." I guess it's all just part of the adventure. So yesterday just me and Ryanne were in the car running a quick errand and I'm just singing along to the radio minding my own business when this conversation starts up;

Ryanne: "Mom, I just want you to know I'm not going to stress about you dying."

Me: "Oh you're not? Why is that?"

Ryanne: "Well let's face it, I know where you're going and that's heaven. I know I'm going to heaven too so I will see you there.

Me: "That's true."

Ryanne: "I mean, I'm not gonna lay around being all depressed after you die. I'll probably be sad for a day but then I'll land back on my feet and go on."

Me: "Good for you.....I think?"

I just started rolling with laughter. I mean what 10 year old says this?
I'm not sure if I posted this in the past but she also said,"Mom, please stop telling the silly stories that happen to me on your blog; how will I ever get a husband if he reads these?"

Our oldest said,"Really Ryanne, if some guy is reading moms blog NOW, he isn't your future husband." Ha!

Raising Ryanne is a lot of things but boring is NOT one of them!! Have a good day and I hope this made you smile.

Things I've been Up To.....

Trying to figure out why when at IKEA our youngest became best friends with a Broccoli stuffed animal. What, stuffed vegetable..whatever. Crazy kid. She then informed me she would have a hard time eating her broccoli tomorrow night because now she felt bad ha! 

Watching my oldest grow into a lovely, funny, outgoing, sweet spirited young women. Sniff...sniff, she is going into high school next year and I see the next four years going my in a blip.

Morgan with her friend Sophie in Palm Springs having some hot chocolate and treats!

Going with Ryanne to watch her friend Montana in a play; The Wizard Of Oz....the kids all did great and we love going to support her friend in all of her plays.

Wondering how I'm going to get all the sheets and blankets back in my linen closet after the girls made a "sister fort" in Ryanne's room one night.

Dan & I and my mom decided to fulfill Morgan's wishes for a bedroom make over for her birthday. We started hitting up IKEA for the bed, carpet and new chandelier and after a few trips to HomeDepot we have a new and improved Teenager room. Morgan wanted it to be two shades of purple with gray and black accents. It turned out beautiful and I love hanging out in there with her. She has also hung black and white pictures of big cities like Paris and New York.

Lastly, I have been drinking this new vitamin/supplement drink every morning for two months now that Dan's cousin found and am convinced it's top notch. I was terrible at remembering to take vitamins or different supplements throughout the day and it was getting expensive. This is easy because it's one little scoop with 6oz. of water each morning. I am feeling healthy, pain free and sleeping better. No swelling on a regular basis from my RA and I have avoided the sickness going around other than a few sniffles here and there. I started Dan and Ryanne on it as well. If you want to read up on it, click on the link below. To complicated for me to explain all what's in it. Ha!
Hope everyone is having a great week and an amazing January!!

http://clar8ty.com/harkers4

Happy 2015!!

I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!



We have had such a great Christmas break. Lots of down time. Family time. Just being together and doing things together.



We even got to go to San Diego and spend some time with all the nieces and nephews...



I think Macy is a little worn out from all the festivities....notice she is sleeping on her new Christmas present ha!



Morgan just donated 10" of her hair to locks of love. This is the second time in 3 1/2 years she has decided to do this. She wants to grow it out again and keep doing it.



We even had a little blessing in the form of an early season snow storm. Only got about an inch or so but it was still fun. Have an amazing week!

Merry Christmas!!

I am finally taking a minute to sit and post a few pictures and updates on what we've been up to lately. (I'm supposed to tell you my children named our tree Timothy) Anyways, I have been crazy bust trying to keep our girls motivated in school as they see Christmas break coming right around the corner. Also, I am normally done Christmas shopping well before December but because we were gone so much in October and November I am finding that I am still picking up odds and ends for people.



We have a handful of traditions we like to do with the girls every Christmas season and dinner and a carriage ride at the Mission Inn is one of them.



It is beautiful and it NEVER gets old; not even for our teenager. ;)

This year we decided to treat our moms...

Morgan wanted to make caramel apples for her competitive dance team so I was super excited because I had never made them before...

We went to Oak Glen and bought their container of caramel (highly recommended) and we set off to make some yummy all though REALLY MESSY treats! We double dipped them in chocolate as well. It took all afternoon but was a labor of love for sure!

In the end we had 17 happy little wrapped up apples...

And the girls loved them!

Yesterday I took Ryanne to run some errands and thinking the Target shopping center would be somewhat quiet on a Monday morning (uh no!) it was packed. Like I should have just parked at home and walked to Redlands because it would have been faster kind of crowded. Anyways, I looked around at all the people, traffic and long lines and my list of errands and decided I was going to have to chose patience and joy. I was going to have to chose not to drag my 10 year old around with my hair on fire and chose to be kind when others weren't. Crazy thing is; every time I pulled into a different parking lot a parking spot near the front opened up. My daughter probably thought I was crazy because I kept saying,"Thank you Jesus!" Ha! I decided to be grateful I had a safe car to drive into those spots, money in my wallet to buy my kids food and an able body to even be out and about. Then I heard this lady honk at this car in front of her and the guy leaned out his window and yelled,"SHUT UP!" It was then that I was most grateful for joy, for Gods mercy and for the real reason for Christmas. Then I got up this morning and my devotional was titled "How joyful are you this Christmas?" The author went on to say that Christians should be radiators of joy. Having a joy in Christ that is real and deep and lasting. Love it! I hope to post again in the next week but if not I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!!
 

Merry Christmas