"Phrase of the Day"

Jake's "Phrase of the Day"

"I am so tough, I can't even stand up."

Isaac's "Phrase of the Day"

"bow, chica wow wow"

Happy Easter

family picture!

Chris' mom and dad

Easter bunny!

I can't believe how fast Easter came and went. With us being gone on spring break last week, I wasn't able to put much effort into Easter this year. I was at TJ Maxx one afternoon looking for ski clothes for Jake and realized that Easter was the Sunday that we came back. They happen to have matching polo shirts that I liked, so that is what they wore! The Easter bunny was provided by Chris' parents this year! We got home from Colorado on Thursday night and they came Friday morning for the weekend. Grandma and Granddaddy were nice enough to take care of that for me. It could have been a late Saturday night at Wal-Mart for me!

We had a nice busy weekend. Chris' dad is very "handy" so we like to put him to work when they come. We (he) replaced 3 ceiling fans and built a new fence gate. I painted my fireplace brown! Now I have to go to Hobby Lobby and find all new things to put on my mantel. I hate when I have to go spend money! :) Sunday was a depressing night of getting ready to get back to real world. Laundry, paying bills, making lunches, making a to-do list of the thousand things I have to do this week, etc... I think I need a vacation after my vacation!

Spring Break Ski Trip '08

Jake, Chris, and I went skiing for spring break! We went with teenage boys. Don't be too jealous! We did have fun and Jake did so good skiing for the first time. He did two full days of ski school (you don't even want to know how hard it is to deal with ski school and food allergies!) and then skied with Chris and I the last day. He is usually so scared to try new things and has always been terrified of heights. I was completely shocked when I saw him get off the ski lift with his ski school. He went down 3 green runs and did great! Our condo had an awesome view and we had so much fun staying with Ray, Jared, Denton, and Chelsea! Good times!

Don't worry about Isaac! He didn't get to go skiing, but he spent the week in Kansas with GiGi and PaPa. He was completely spoiled and loved the one on one attention!

New Haircuts and Spring Program!

Chris won't let me buzz the boys hair in the winter, but I am considering March officially spring! We went yesterday and cut off all of their hair! They may not feel any better, but I sure do! I love that they can both be ready in less than 3 minutes!

Isaac had his Spring Program at St. Marks last night. He has been so excited! Jake always hates these things and hates being in front of people, but not Isaac. He couldn't wait! He never sang, but he did stand up there and smile! We also got to see our good friends Peyton and Kellen! Peyton was all girl and loved performing. I tried to get Kellen's picture, but he just kept sitting down! Good Friends are the best! Isaac couldn't wait to show Jake his classroom, so we had to hang out in there for a few minutes afterwards.

Poor Chris almost didn't make it there in time! He had gone to funeral yesterday morning and left his car at the funeral home, because he rode with Jimmy to the grave side. He went to get in his car at 6:15pm (program started at 6:30pm) and there was no car in the church parking lot! He freaked out! He ran in the building yelling for Jimmy. Jimmy had to jump in his car and drive Chris to St. Marks! It was a close call, but he made it!

After the program we took Isaac to Sonic to get a special treat. He smiled all the way to bed!

tornado pictures

Tornado Clean Up

I thought I better go ahead and post about last Saturday since I have finally figured this whole blogging thing out! Chris had to speak at a retreat in Memphis last Saturday and I was so tired of being in the house that when they announced at church that they were taking a bus full of people to go to Zion, AR to help clean up from the recent tornado, I jumped on it! I sent Isaac over to a friends house because I knew that I couldn't handle both of them. Jake and I got on the bus and 6:30am Sat. morning and were ready to work. Actually, I was ready for work and this was one of those moments that I had to pull out the whole "that is just what Harrell's do" phrase with Jake. He didn't quit understand why we were going to pick up trash, but quickly caught on. We got to the house that we were helping with and the nice old man asked us if we could help clean up his blueberry bushes. He grew blueberries for a living and they were covered in tree branches. It wasn't really hard work, but a lot of work. Jake did great and had fun with all of the teens that were there. He worked with them most of time. We probably filled 25 trailers full of branches in 2 hours. This is how one of the conversations with Jake went:
Jake: Why are we cleaning up these blueberry bushes mom?
Me: We are helping him because this would take him a really long time to clean up.
Jake: Why does he need them cleaned up?
Me: He grows blueberries to make money and if these aren't cleaned up he won't make any money.
Jake: Why does he need money?
Me: He needs the money so that he can buy food for his family.
Jake: OH...so we are helping him clean up the bushes so that he can buy food for his family?
Me: Yep! And ...Harrell's like to help people because it makes God happy.
Jake: Got it mom.
I don't know if he still gets it, but at the time it made me really proud of him. He went running off to tell one of the teenagers all about it too. Go Jake!
The day was really great and the weather was perfect. It was great to get outside and get some sun along with helping some really wonderful people.

SNOW!

Here are a few of our pictures from this morning. We got about 4 in. yesterday afternoon and evening. Last Sat. it was 70 degrees and this Sat. we are playing in the snow! (I will post later on last Saturday. It is story of its own!) Jake has on his new ski outfit. Chris and I decided to take him skiing with us on the youth ministry spring break ski trip this year. Of course, we never plan these things, so we just decided this week and we leave next Friday. We have been scrambling to find everything he needs, but I think that it will be worth it. He is so excited and today provided us with the perfect opportunity to try everything out. He looks pretty cute in his long underwear! Today was the first time we have gotten Isaac out in the snow for more than 3 minutes. He is not a big snow kid, but today I put on a ton of clothes and his water-proof boots so he hung in there for awhile. I thought it was going to be over when Jake got him in the face with a snowball, but after a few minutes of crying he was back to throwing snow at Chris. It was a good morning!

The blog beginning!

Here are a few family pictures to get us started!