Little Quirks I Love

Just like all kiddos Miss Sophia has some of the funniest habits. She loves to get ready for prayers (not always when it's really time to pray) and "folds her arms" like this...

She also has a thing for ice. The way she gets it off of the floor when she drops it is both horrifying and amusing... it might be a little less horrifying if the maid at our house (that would be me) had a regular schedule for cleaning our floor.

And this is her, so proud of her innovation in not letting any of her ice go to waste. Waste not, want not.

She likes to show us her body parts too, and more often than not she shows us her nose by putting her digits inside of it.

Funny girl!

First Cone

This cute little girl had her first taste of an ice cream cone the other day... of course she has had ice cream before, but when it's on top of a cone it's a whole different treat. Coleman shared his cone and taught her how to stick her tongue out and lick it.

She was so delighted--she would lick it and laugh for a few seconds before going back for more.

Her little laugh is so cute!



I have to admit, I feel the same way about ice cream.

Good for Giggles

I love reading Coleman's creative writing assignments.

Not sure where the desire to go to Four Corners came from... but hey, I'm up for a road trip! I love that he wants to bring me along.

Glad he is thinking ahead... I hope that his $100 will pay for many of semesters of tuition and books :).

Coleman has wanted to start a sticker collection for a long time, and we finally dug up this little notebook...

...and his categorizing skills made us laugh so hard. I'm not sure he is going to find too many BODY PART stickers, so if you happen to see any stickers of legs, arms, or torsos, could you please send them to my cute boy?

Coleman's Valentine

Guess what Coleman gets to eat tonight :) ?

Our Family History

There are definite perks to having Ryan be both computer savvy AND employed by a publishing company--and of course the fact that he is generous with his time and talents helps as well. My Mother's Day gift (volume I) is a reality...

We designed the cover of the book to look like our blog background

I'm so excited to have this in print. As I've read histories on many of my ancestors I am amazed that their lives can be summarized into a few pages. I wish I had more detailed accounts of their day to day activities, their joys, and their sorrows. I know that our blog is sometimes silly, but I am so grateful to be able to reflect on the things we have done and the things we have learned. We joke about how our blogs are our "journal" but at this point in my life, it's the best family record we have.

**How do you record your family history?

Is it crazy...

...that this recent purchase (with my "play money" of course) makes me giddy?

Midgie Man

Coleman has been taking a gymnastics class from our local Rec Center for a little while now and loves it. A few weeks ago they had a little exhibition where they could show proud parents and grandparents what they've been working on.

My mom came down to see him perform.

His favorite thing to do on the balance beam is this little "Midgie Man" which he made up when his teachers told him he could do anything he wanted on the beam. I must say, I'm amazed at his ability to stay upright and keep his balance in this position. His teachers just laugh every time he does this. He has started to learn to do a handstand on the beam (with a good solid spot from his teacher).

They are also working on straddle swings, skin the cat, and other fun things on the bar. Coleman really loves swinging on the rope because he feels like he's Indiana Jones :). He loves bouncing on the trampoline and he's working on landing on his feet doing cartwheels, back handsprings, and he has already perfected the forward roll.

We're proud of you Coleman!

I made it!

After eight months of injecting this into my body twice a day, I am thrilled to say that

I am done!

(If anyone knows someone who uses this and could use some 80 mg/mL syringes, I ended up with a few extra... they are fully sealed so they'd be safe to pass along. I was very blessed in the early days with some medication from some friends and would love to pay it forward!)

Night of Culture

We try to have Harper Family Fun Night on a pretty regular basis... which usually consists of getting a Redbox movie, making some pizzas, and eating treats while we hang out together. Tonight we decided to take our Family Fun Night on the road for a night of culture... not the kind of culture you'd find in New York City or San Francisco or Chicago, because let's face it, it's pretty hard to come by in our neck of the woods... but we had a great time together and got out of the house...

Our first stop was for dinner... we experienced the southern cultural cuisine and consumed tasty fried chicken--sandwiches for the grown-ups, nuggets for the kiddos, and lots of lemonade and fries for us all (hooray for free sandwich coupons).

Then we got to the heart of our evening and saw the BYU Cougarettes in concert... it was so great to watch 20 young women with creative dances, great music, fun costumes, and very interesting uses for props. I loved that we didn't have to worry about immodest costumes and suggestive dance moves... it was great!

Our last stop embraced the culture of obese America as we stopped at Krispy Kreme for the kids to redeem their report cards... did you know that Krispy Kreme gives kids a half-dozen donuts for a good report card? It was so funny to see Coleman... he was excited when he thought he'd be getting a free donut just for showing his grades... and the sheer delight on his face (jaw-dropping happiness) made me smile inside and out. The donuts were warm and sticky, just how we like them.

Our Night of Culture was a great success... we might have to take our show on the road more often!

**As a side note, I probably should go easy on the fried foods... several people have kindly told me that I look "too small" to be this far along in my pregnancy... one even went as far as to say I was "tiny" which has never been a word that applies to me... but Coleman brought it all back into perspective this morning as I was going through some clothes my friend gave me... I held up a cute jacket and told Olivia how much I liked it... Coleman didn't skip a beat and said,

"You're going to have to get MUCH smaller to fit into that, Mom."

(Somehow I don't think Chik-Fil-A and Krispy Kreme are going to help me with that!)

This sign made my day...