The first of many.

We took our first official family vacation as a family of 6. Steven usually rolls his eyes when I use the terms "this is the first time...." or "but this is the last time we'll do this!" usually because there's emotion associated with those statements. However, this time, he was the one to use the infamous words. As I stressed about packing and getting ready for our trip, amidst my first shift back to work, he said "you're stressed about going on vacation? Baby, this is the first of many little family vacations we're going to take, it will be fun!" Well, after this one I hope he still plans on taking more...vacation with 4 kids 5 and under needs another word. The definition of 'vacation' implies relaxation, sleeping in, long leisurely walks on the beach. While we had none of that, we did have a great time!  A few days before we left Steven was asked to speak in Richmond, VA, so we changed plans a little and left on Saturday to go with him, the church is always a blessing for us to visit and has a little "apartment" in the church that the kids love to stay in. Here's a pic of my boys Sunday eating lunch between services. 

 And here's my girls! Matching dresses thanks to my sister-in-law!

 After 5 hours in the car we finally made it to Myrtle Beach! Mary Jo is not a great traveler but she did pretty well, we actually had some time where all 4  were asleep! Poor Daddy had to unload the car all by himself so the kids decided they needed to try on their nametags. I should have made them wear them all the time...I actually lost D a couple times (once he didn't make it off the elevator, and another time he darted into the room across the hall while it was being cleaned). Thankfully neither time lasted too long so I didn't have time to panic. It has caused a couple nightmares, though! 

 The weather wasn't great so we spent most of the time in the indoor pool, which the kids loved. I tried my best to get them to swim in the outdoor pool while Mary Jo was napping with Steven and the sun was out (I really could use some sun, as Mama always says "tan fat looks better than white fat"), but they had already been in the indoor pool and knew it was warmer. I put up with whining for the sun for about 15 minutes then finally gave in and gave up on my dreams of a tan. Here's a pic of a little beach time in the rain.

D wasn't quite sure about the sand. 

 Or maybe he was just tired. 

 Mary Jo is such a trooper! 

 Luggage cart? No, to my kids it's a mobile gymnasium. 

 That afternoon we went to Broadway at the Beach and ate at Johnny Rockets, the kids loved watching them dance. Afterwards we got ice cream then let the kids throw darts at balloons - $10 for 3 stuffed animals worth no more than a dollar or two, but the kids really thought they did something. 

 Eli's hands are really big! :)

 The pack -n -play didn't fit in the bathroom so we had a portable crib on each side of the room. Since David hasn't ever slept in the same room with anyone we draped a curtain over his bed, but he's 1, not stupid, so he knew we were right there. He was so cute peeking his head out every morning. 

 The last afternoon we went to the boardwalk, "official Myrtle Beach" as Steven says. There was a few too many loud bikes for my liking but we held on tight to the kids, found a pizza joint and an arcade, and had a good time. We decided to try this newish thing called the Skywheel, pictured below.

 We sat in glass-enclosed seats and went really high, Eli LOVED it.

 We put on a brave face but we were pretty happy when the ride was over. 

 Mary Jo finally gave up on a nap in her bed and zonked out in the baby carrier. 

 The last night I finally grabbed a hotel employee to take a family picture - you gotta have at least one on vacation! Here we are, "fancied up" as Sadie likes to call it, going out to dinner. Notice Eli's sleeveless shirt, he doesn't get quite as excited as Sadie with dressing up. 

 We decided to splurge a little and took the kids to a Japanese Steakhouse. We had never taken our kids there and I thought it would be fun for them to watch the "show". They had fun and ate better than I had expected, especially D. Sadie enjoyed the chef so much that when he was finished she asked if we could take him home. D was working on his 3rd bowl of sherbert and I told him he ate "like a king!" which he kept repeating after that with big inflection. He really is becoming the ham of the family, he keeps us laughing. 

It was a great week, the kids got a lot of swimming in, and we made some sweet memories. It was also exhausting. There was a couple mornings I was by myself with all 4 and people I didn't know were offering to help me. I guess we don't have it together very well, and it shows, but we're doing our best! As for the next couple trips we have planned we thankfully have grandparent back-up, which will be soooooo nice. And safer. Our kids are wild but happy, energetic, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Most of the time. In a few short years our vacations will go back to sleeping in, lounging at the pool, and hotel rooms without candy trash (no, actually Steven produces most of that)....and while we'll enjoy that time together we'll probably talk about our crazy family ones, hopefully many more to come! 

Harrell Funnies

A few conversations in our family this week have made me laugh out loud, so I thought I'd share them. Sometimes these things aren't funny repeated, if that's the case I do apologize. I'm also blogging with Mary Jo in my lap and this is her high maintenance time of night, so this might be brief.

I've been volunteering in Sadie's class recently (which is one laugh after another, really), and the other day the teacher was doing a lesson on the difference between turtles and tortoises. On the way home I was telling Sadie that I learned some things in her class that afternoon that I didn't know about turtles. She responded "Well I guess you didn't listen very well when you were in Kindergarten."

Eli is pretty obsessed with Steven's new jeep, especially since we took the top off. If I can't find him, there's a good chance he's in the garage playing on the jeep. This morning on the way to preschool our conversation went like this.
Eli - "Why does Daddy have 3 cars?"
Me - "Good question, buddy."
Eli - "When I get bigger, Daddy can just drive his car, David can drive the pick up truck, and I can drive the jeep."
Me - "What about Sadie and Mary Jo? What will they drive?"
Eli - "Um....they can ride with us."

I can't leave out my fiesty #3 as he is quite the conversationalist these days. On Tuesday I ran into Starbucks to get a couple gift cards for Teacher's Appreciation Week, and while there David grabbed an applesauce (right at eye level, darn marketing), I.was holding Mary Jo and trying to pay for the cards, but had to get it out of his hand before he opened it. Unfortunately, right as I took it from him a police officer walked up and said hi to him....he was furious at me for taking away his food so he took it out on her and yelled "Stop it! Shush!" I wanted to go through the floor, instead I mumbled an apology, grabbed his hand and got out of dodge. I pray he gains a little fear and respect for authority in his 3rd year of life.


That night I made a new recipe, "Spring Green Fried Rice" from Better Homes and Gardens. I thought it was good but noticed Steven just picked at it. This is the conversation that followed.
Me - "So you didn't like the fried rice?"
Steven -"You know I don't like onions, and there was more onions than chicken."
Me - "There was no onions or chicken in it."

I hope you've laughed with your family this week! Goodnight.

Life

No real subject tonight, I just felt like blogging and had some new pictures to share. I don't talk about this enough, but the Lord has been so good to our family. I've been studying the life of Joseph in Bible Study Fellowship (awesome bible study for ladies), and how the Lord was with him even in his darkest, most trying, times. I am not trying to compare my life to Joseph's, by any means (for those who aren't familiar with the story from Genesis he was sold into slavery by his brothers at 17, thrown out of his master's house into prison after being falsely accused of rape, then forgotten in prison by those he had helped). Despite those trials he always trusted the Lord and where ever he went people recognized the Lord was with him. The other day I went to Aldi's with my 3 youngest and thought I was all prepared; I had my bags (they don't provide those), a stroller for the baby (which Eli was going to push for me), and a working debit card (they don't take credit). On the way there I realized, however, that I forgot my quarter....which you have to have to use a buggy. I didn't know what to do but pray that someone would let me use their buggy, possibly, after they were done. Shopping without a buggy was not an option. I pulled up in the parking lot and as soon as I stepped out of the car a lady asked me if I wanted to use her buggy. I was amazed, and told her the Lord was using her to answer my prayers. I tearfully proceeded in and was blessed even more to have a friend in the store who had just 1 child and was very Aldi-savvy, she helped me bag the groceries and get my 3 safely back out to the car (after Eli fell and pulled down the stroller, thankfully not dumping Mary Jo out since she was strapped in the car seat) . All that to say the Lord is good and faithful, in the big and small issues of life, and I hope to share more of that with this blog. Here's some recent pictures of 4 of my blessings....

Sadie had "fun day" at her school, it brought back memories of my childhood.

She does know how to have fun!

 I have been able to volunteer some in her classroom lately and have loved being in there. I have felt kind of out of the loop in her life this year with her starting school so I am enjoying seeing what her every day looks like. As an added bonus (and probably not a coincidence) her behavior has also improved!

Eli's enjoying soccer more, but he's still far from being any kind of soccer star. This is how he starts out.....

And this is how he finishes the game....distracted (and usually hanging from the goalposts).

Steven has fulfilled a near 20 year dream of owning a jeep, which will mainly be used to drive to the bank, post office, and pool. Here we are picking Sadie up at the bus stop (just at the end of the road), pretty exciting (not safe) to ride not only in a booster seat but also with no roof! I did make them buckle up for the 200 feet we drove.  

I can't believe this little guy is almost 2! He's talking up a storm and so funny. Here he is after his "hairtut", Grandpa took him and will from now on as he reportedly only shed 1 tear! (when I took him he screamed the whole time). Go Grandpa!! 

He is paying more attention to Mary Jo lately, he calls her "Ay Jo". 

Here he is tonight giving her a kiss.

And here's my little sweetness! Not quite 12 weeks old.

Not so sure about all this.

We love these sweet smiles!!!!!

I hope you and yours can count your blessings tonight, as well! Goodnight!