It's Going to be Legend...wait for it...

A Weekend with Grandma

Margie got into town last night. She just came to visit because she wanted to. This morning we went to the Children's Museum and then to the Bier Garden's. The girls had a BLAST at the Children's Museum! They have a "bank" there where you can learn about safety boxes and how to write checks, they have a huge ship where you can "go fish" and then you put the fish in the shaped hole that it matches, they have a grocery store with registers that work as opposed to the play ones (the girls LOVED that!). Let's see, there was a firetruck that you can get in, a vet where you can take care of stuffed animals, and the two places that the girls loved the best? The bubble room where you can actually get INTO a bubble, and the library where they have real books that you can read and they allow each child to take one home. McKenna chose an American Girl: Mia book. That's my girl! :)

Mark and I went out tonight...ON A DATE! We had a good time...even if we had to change our plans a bit. We went back to 456 Fish for dinner and then went to the mall and walked around and got coffee. It was a really good time.

(The pics are dark, sorry! I was afraid the flash was bothering others and haven't had a chance to go back and lighten them yet.)

Daddy's Home!!

Life is all right now. :)

This morning, before we picked Mark up, Margie and I took the girls to Kangaroo Jack's. It is kind of like Monkey Joe's so the girls had a blast!! McKaela is still not a big fan of the slides but she did go down a few times. 

Keeping Busy!

Since Mark is still gone I am trying to keep the girls busy and make the time go by fast. I think I've been doing a pretty good job of it. :) Today, I surprised the girls with another picnic in the park. I think I might be spoiling them. Oh well. haha 

When we got there I opened the truck door and saw this...EEK! Not something that is fun to see when you get to a children's park. :/

The girls really love the park! Swinging, sliding, climbing, they love it all!

The park wore everyone out!! Once we got home I put Maisie down for a nap while the big girls watched a movie and rested and I took a nap, as well. haha Have I ever mentioned that Maisie sleeps with her eyes open? Oh yes, she does! I used to sleep with mine open, as well; according to my parents. Mark, on the other hand, it creeps him out. haha What do you think? ;)

And then there was dinner. I made taco salad and had this new container of cherub tomatoes that I set on the table....McKaela ate probably 95% of this thing HERSELF! Her two favorite foods, and she has songs to prove it, are tomatoes and lima beans. ESPECIALLY lima beans!! The child wants lima beans with EVERYTHING. I think it's so amazing. I love it!! haha

A Day of Fun, Learning, and FaceTime

Well, we didn't get out and go anywhere today but we stayed home and still had a good time. During the morning, McKenna worked on her writing, McKaela worked on her letters, and Maisie finger painted. It was a lot of fun. McKenna and McKaela are doing so well on their letters and writing! It is so much fun to see them grow and learn. They both surprise me and never cease to amaze me with what they pick up on. 

Maisie had a great time finger painting and the big girls even joined in after they finished what they were working on. Today, instead of the traditional finger painting I opted for the "clean" version. As opposed to just squirting paint onto paper I put it into a gallon ziplock bag, sealed it, and then taped it to the table. The girls had a blast!! They also "painted" with shaving cream and I did the same with that but I put it into a quart-sized ziplock as opposed to a gallon.

After lunch, I put Maisie down for a nap and the big girls FaceTimed with McKenna's BFF, Abigaile. It was another day full of Play-Doh and racing. I don't think watching them together will ever get old. They are so funny together. You can't really tell in this picture but McKenna and Abigaile are wearing their matching BFF shirts. :)

All in all, it was a very good day!!

'Pray for those who persecute you..."

Monday April 15, 2013 - Bombs go off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. That was the headline of the day. Many details have come up since that time and three of those being, 1. Suspects names, 2. Suspect 1, Black Hat, is dead, and 3. Suspect 2, White Hat, is captured alive and in the hospital. I watched every bit of it unfold. I was not at the race myself but I got the notification to my phone when the first bomb went off...and 12 seconds later when the second went off. My first thought went to a friend of mine who lives right outside of the city and had talked earlier about the marathon and in that moment I could not remember for the life of me if her kids and herself were there or not. Lucky for them, the kids were at the grandparent's house and my friend was either shopping with or at home with the baby. *insert HUGE sigh of relief* From then on it was days of watching the news, CNN, FoxNews, local stations, Boston local stations, trying to figure out what had been found out and if the bombers had been found. Finally on April 18-19, 2013 it came to a halt. Funny, the night of the 18th/early morning of the 19th, I woke up from a dead sleep and was very distraught and upset and just had an over all bad feeling. I didn't know why. I checked on my daughters, I got some water, I went to the bathroom, and yet when I laid back down in bed I just had a feeling that something was not right. I was very uneasy and could not fall back to sleep. I chose to pray. I prayed that God watch over my girls, I prayed that God watch over my husband, I prayed for anything/anyone who came to mind. After that I felt a bit better but I was still a bit uneasy; however, I was able to fall asleep. I woke up to the terror that Boston had been through throughout the night. Initially, I didn't think much of it; I thought "I knew I was going to feel this way after last night" in the sense of tired and all from the interrupted sleep, but once I read everything that had happened I began to think, "maybe that is why I was up." No, I didn't necessarily pray for Boston in that sense and maybe my insomnia was just a coincidence but it made me just kind of stop and think. I don't know, and probably won't know, if that is why I was woken up from a dead sleep but for now we'll say that it was a possibility. From that moment on I kept the news up on my computer. I was glued. Then about dusk they released the fact that the people of Watertown and Boston itself were able to leave their houses. That is when it all started again and a resident noticed something amiss with his stored boat. Suspect number 2, White Hat, was hiding in there. After a while he came out and they captured him...alive. Critically hurt but alive. This is the part where I am sure many people are going to disagree with me. After White Hat was captured and it was confirmed he was alive I was overcome with a feeling of relief (I think many of us wanted him captured alive) and to pray for him; pray for his soul and pray for his life. I fought it for a moment saying, "he killed an 8-year-old boy and BRAGGED about it!! And You want me to pray for him?! I don't know about that." In the end I obeyed and I, already on my knees mopping my kitchen floor, prayed for this 19 year old boy's dark sad soul. I prayed for him to be alive and to live, not only because we, as a country, deserve answers, but so that someone could share Christ with him. I don't know if he has ever had anyone share the Gospel of Christ to him before but in the off chance that he had not, I prayed that someone somehow somewhere would show Christ to him. After all, we are talking about a 19 year old child! There is an old Britney Spears song called, "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" and although this boy was legally an adult, he was a child; not a boy, bot yet a man. My heart broke for him in a small moment. Now, do I feel sorry for him? Not at all. He chose his path. He made his decisions. However, in the spiritual sense, to my knowledge, he has been brainwashed for however long now. Who am I to say that he has been shown Christ and turned his back? In the same way, who am I to say that he has never been shown God's love. I don't know. So in that moment, as a Christian, as a mother, and as a human I prayed, on my knees on my kitchen floor that that boy be given a chance to hear about Christ and to hear about God's love. I don't know that he ever will. I don't know that if he does he will not spit in the face of the missionary. All I know is that God sees all sins in the same way......sin. He forgave me and saved me when I don't deserve my salvation and He has called me, as His child, to pray for those who persecute me. I'm not saying that was easy. I wanted to be right there with the rest of Boston, the world, and Facebook rejoicing that this terrorist who brought so much hate and hurt on my land was wounded and captured so that he could pay for what he has done. Instead, I was reminded that Jesus didn't rejoice that I got what I deserved but He took my punishment and He prayed for me and He saved me. It is not my place to judge this child but it is my place to look to God and look to Christ and do as He calls me to do, pray for those who wrong me and let Him take care of the rest.

The easy thing to do these days, dear friends, is to rejoice...the hard thing to do is pray. I am not saying that you have to forgive him right now for all of the terror he essentially brought on America and all of the hurt and all of the murder but I am saying to remember that during all of this God has been and is in control. He knew what was going to happen, He has called us to follow Him, and in that we need to pray. We need to pray for our fellow Americans who lived this horror first hand, we need to pray for these men's family that their hurt and pain will subside (the older brother had a wife and a young daughter) and that whatever their faith may be they come to know Christ as their hope and their strength, and we need to pray for this surviving child who has been so disillusioned that his "faith" now has him fighting for his life and his soul. It is hard, my friends...it is hard. As I said, I fought praying for him but in the end God broke me and brought me to my knees (even in the form of mopping my floor) and to tears for this young man's soul. After all, he had his whole life to live as a son, as a brother, as a  college student, as a husband, and as a father. His choices have now taken many of those away. God never said that our Christian walk would be easy, He said it would be hard...but He also said it would be rewarding. So pray, dear friends, pray for our country, pray for our leaders, pray for Boston, and pray for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

A Day of Rest

After such a busy week, we stayed home today. It was so nice, though. We did some fun things around the house, played with play-doh, blew bubbles, etc. but we stayed home. I think we all needed it. It was still a great day and a great way to end a wonderful week!!!! Now to get Lover home and life will be grand. :)

BFF's This Day in Age

After the zoo and naptime...haha...McKenna asked to FaceTime with her BFF, Abigaile, and I have to say, it was one of the sweetest, cutest, things that I have ever seen. They were so funny. They were watching movies via FaceTime, listening to music, showing each other their clothes, and they even raced. How did they race, you ask? They would both start in their respective rooms and then have one of their mom's say "Go!" and they would race to the kitchen. haha It was so great. Don't you love technology??

The Zoo!

This morning I surprised the girls with a trip to the zoo. They were so excited!! Well...until we got there. Apparently, the schools around town had the same idea because it was field trip day. It was so crowded! Not to mention, it was very hot. We made it around most of the zoo before the girls were just ready to go. I couldn't blame them, I was hot and getting hungry, too. I brought snacks but everyone was getting ready for lunch. I had planned to have lunch at the zoo but there were so many schools and daycares that the girls just asked to go. :( Poor things. I felt bad. I wanted it to be a blast and it just...wasn't great. :( We did have a good time together, though, and that's all that matters, right? Memories! :)

Recap of the week so far

Oh my goodness, what a full we have had so far in the Harris household! I just wish that Lover was here to share in the fun as well! He is out to sea, however. Boo! Anyway, Monday was errands (ok, so not that fun) then McDonald's for lunch (FUN!), Tuesday we went and had a picnic at the park (as you probably already read), Wednesday we had a picnic at the pool and then swam (which, again, you probably already read about..haha), and tomorrow I am thinking the zoo! Friday, we'll see...I might need a day to rest. This week has worn me out already! haha In fact, I am thinking I will head to bed soon since the girls are well in bed and been asleep for some time now. Good night!

Pool Day!!

Today's surprise? We went to the pool!! Again, it was the perfect day and the girls were so surprised. We packed a picnic and walked over to the pool where we stayed for a good 2 hours, at least. Maisie about drowned a couple of times but it's all good, I was right there. haha She would lose her balance and fall face first into the water. Oh that child. haha We had a good time though. After about 2 hours we went back to the house and, once again, all took naps. Well, the big girls didn't fall asleep but I am surprised! They just laid on the couch and loveseat and watched TV. Myself, on the other hand, took a nap. I couldn't keep my eyes open!

Picnic in the Park Day!

This morning the girls and I woke up, got ready, and went on a picnic in the park!! It was so much fun!! Goodness, it wore me out though. We got home and even I needed a nap. The day was just too perfect to pass up and the girls were so excited! :)

Balancing

McKenna's new favorite thing to do is balance with daddy. She is good, too! It took her maybe one day before she was completely steady on her feet and I didn't have to spot her anymore. 

Big Girls!

Today marked a huge moment in the lives of McKenna and McKaela...they got their ears pierced. McKenna has been asking for months but, of course, Mark wanted to be there so we took them today. Initially it was just to be McKenna but then McKaela said she wanted hers done. Even after seeing McKenna get hers done she wanted to get it done so we said ok. McKenna made a little, "ow" but didn't shed a tear. McKaela on the other hand, Miss Drama Queen herself, screamed. It was so heartbreaking. I wanted to cry right along with her! :( In the end, however, McKenna got daisies and McKaela got Minnie Mouse and they both look so grown up and so cute!!