Unpredictable

 How can the weather go from 60s to snow and back to the 70s in just a few days? Only in NC. I'm not complaning, we have been enjoying the beautiful warm winter days.

 Here is a picture Sadie took in our backyard. Budding photographer? She's learned how to get her finger out of the way, so she's making progress.

 And here we are a few days later in the snow!

 I was just excited we got to use our "no clothes" (as Eli calls them), this is the first year they both had clothes and shoes that wouldn't end up soaking wet.

 Clearly, it didn't last long, but it was fun to have a "snow day!" while it lasted!

 This is a picture of our busy little night owl. She broke records this week with the amount of stuff she was able to pile in the bed around her before she fell asleep. I had to take a picture. My apoligies if you saw this on facebook, but another Sadie funny this week was her telling Eli, "You must bow when speaking to me." His reply was the best, though, when he said, without hesitation, "well, i not speakin' to you." Neither one was offended at the other, the conversation continued on as normal.

Speaking of conversations, I took Sadie and her cousin, Bennett, to a movie tonight. Driving them home I was listening to their chatter (Bennett is 1 month older than Sadie) and they started talking about heaven and hell. They actually ended up in an eschatology debate, Sadie commented that "when the Lord Jesus retuns we will be with him here" and Bennett said "no, when the Lord Jesus returns He will take us to Heaven with Him." Don't ask me my opinion, even using the word eschatology makes me feel smarter than I actually am about such things. I'm just pleased to see my little girl and my nephew talking about the Lord.  

This one, on the other hand, may not be so bright. Or maybe a genius? I was taking just him to the doctor for a flu shot the other day and he was a little ticked that I put him in the car without feeding him first (I like to have a semi-hungry baby when he or she gets shots so I can comfort with nursing). He fussed a little bit then fell asleep, obviously after comforting himself with his own sock. Pretty cute he is, I must say. On that note, it is late, I worked last night....so off to bed it is. Goodnight!

Harrells are tough

 I was going to copy my friend's idea and post about a day in our life, but I keep waiting for a typical day to happen and we just don't seem to have many of those. So I apoligize, but this is probably just going to be a random post with a few scattered pictures. What's new, you ask? Above is an indoor "picnic" in their pjs, under my new old table. It's hodge podge...a table that was given to us from some of my parent's friends, 2 of my parent's old ladder-back chairs, 3 more ladder back chairs I bought off craigslist for 25 bucks that Steven's grandma stained to match, and a new bench (also found on Craigslist) that I paid 65 for. It's not perfect but it's big and looks kinda like an Amish farmhouse table...I love reading about Amish people and sometimes pretend I could actually live that way. Don't laugh, I'm serious. The kids love it, too, as they can slide up and down the bench during dinner. I doubt the Amish children do that.

 David is officially on the move...with a little help from his siblings. He loves to ride on this with Sadie and so far there have been no accidents. He does seem to get at least one minor injury per day, he is in the stage where he would be safest if I could lock him in a padded room without Sadie and Eli's toys. He is discovering his own ability to move and has led to many head bumps. But he is loving life.

 I just glanced at my title and it reminded me of what I was going to post about. Sorry if this is too much information but if I don't tell it the way it happened it's just not as funny. The other day Eli had tried to go potty (without success, although he is getting better), and Sadie decided to hop on and go. I don't usually watch her potty anymore but since we were all in there with Eli (it's a family affair right now) I noticed she had a rather large bowel movement. I said "Sadie, that's huge, did it hurt?" Without hesitation she said "Nah, Harrell's are tough". Trying not to laugh, I said "you are a good potty-er" and she replied "I think I should get some candy." She's an addict, I'm afraid, to anything sweet. As for the "Harrell's are tough" statement I'm afraid it's just something their Daddy has taught them to say. We actually are raising a bunch of scaredey cats in this house. Eli is currently obseesed with the old "Three Little Pigs" movie, but whenever the Big Bad Wolf makes his appearance he puts as much space between him and the tv as possible, still being able to see what happens. Bravery is not his strong suit, we'll work on that one.

That's enough rambling for one night. Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day! It was pretty much an ordinary day around here. Steven and I decided years ago to not put much time and money into Valentine's Day, instead we celebrate August 13th, which is the day, in 1999, that we started dating. Ask him what he's planning this year. It was fun to make Valentine's cookies with the kids and my sweet mother-in-law always gets us Valentines. For the kids it's just another day to rack up on some good candy. Hope your day was sweet, too!

Productivity

Another title I thought about for this post was "Quality and Quantity" but that reminded me too much of school so I chose the first one. I would like to think as I've gotten older that I've become a little more organized as a person, a little neater, maybe, than I was as a kid. If you knew me as a teenager I'm sure you would say that I couldn't have gotten any worse (rarely could you see the floor in my room), but compared to some people I know I'm still pretty disorganized and "messy." I don't know if I just didn't care or I didn't know how to keep a room picked up, but even when Steven and I were first married I only seemed to really clean the house well for company. Now I look back on that and think - what in the world did I do all the time? Did I really not have time to pick up my clothes off the floor? For some reason, with every child I have had the desire for my house to be clean has grown. As most of you know, those two things (children and cleanliness) do NOT go hand in hand. I have literally entered my just cleaned house (my wonderful husband lets me pay to have the house deep cleaned every 2-4 weeks) and as I carried the infant carrier through the house there was liquid poop seeping through the carseat and dripping onto the floor, to be discovered by Sadie walking in it and letting me know her foot had something on it. If it's not poop, some kind of red sauce inevitably spills on the kitchen floor, or the kids get cracker crumbs all in the carpet. And a vehicle that carries children? Don't even get me started on how dirty that can get....real quick. So why do I care now? Maybe it's simply wanting what you can't have, and right now...that's a perfectly kept house, and being supre-productive. But what I do have, I remind myself often, is a sweet husband (who does not share my affinity for clean, it seems), and 3 precious, dirty, children. So I try to keep a balance. I try to stay somewhat organized (at least know where my wallet, cell phone, lipstick, and children are at all times). Pick up the toys at night, except for all the ones Sadie gets out in secret and hides in her bed. But some nights, like the other day when I watched each one of my children fall asleep, it just doesn't happen. I know I could do better at running this ship, there are many better Moms out there that get so much more done than I. But I am improving on my productivity...and enjoying my "non-productive" time even more. Goodnight!