Aunt Lowie!

I normally take tons and tons of pics while Aunt Lowie visits, but this time, my camera only made an appearance on just 1 of the days! Nana and Aunt Lowie booked a camping site out in Grayton Beach for Saturday night, and the two of them, the crazy sisters, pitched a tent, made a fire, grilled lobster tails and had a ball! (Every other site was occupied by an RV...they were the only ones that had a tent...ha!) We drove over to meet them Sunday morning for a good old camp fire breakfast and a quick trip to the beach...

The boys had a blast, collecting rocks, exploring the tent, watching the fire pit and eating bacon and eggs and biscuits...




We all loaded up into the van and took the 3 minute drive to the beach. Give a boy some space and he will run. And run. And not come back. hehe



It is always so wonderful to see Crazy Aunt Lowie. The love that she has for our boys, pours out of her every single second. We are so lucky to have her in our lives...wish she lived here! Until next time Low!

Besides our little jaunt to Grayton, we had another uneventful weekend. Guess that is par for the course these days...but I wouldn't trade it for the whole wide world.

Jack's first tooth has finally popped through! Little guy was pretty miserable and wanted to be held the majority of the weekend, which I gladly obliged... :) We also discovered, that just like his big brothers, he is not fond of cereal or oatmeal, but prefers the good tasting stuff, like sweet potatoes! He ate almost a whole jar last night...Speaking of jars, Lowie gave me my birthday present early, as it was a baby food maker!! I have actually always wanted to try making baby food, but to be honest, I just did not have the time with Brody and Wade. Now that I have the actual machine thingy, I have no excuse! If you are interested, click here: Kalorik

(I think it will be fun to have Brody and Wade help me make Jack's food!)

Not only does he have a tooth, but he is starting to sit up, is rolling all over the place, is extremely ticklish by his neck, loves to watch his brothers and continues to melt my heart every single second. He remains very low maintenance, has sparkling blue eyes and his smile lights up a room. His brothers love him so very much...


The B-man is STILL testing every boundary..........and spending lots of time in time out, to re-think his actions, exclaiming the entire time, "I will be nice! I will be nice!"


He is such a sweet boy, very tuned into to every one around him...very perceptive and smart as a whip. Can hold intellectual conversations, well...for a 3 year old anyway...he is loving, silly and stuborn. He would eat yogurt with every meal, doesn't understand why he cannot have skittles for breakfast and prefers milk over any other beverage. He is always the first to think of others, always wanting to get an extra for his brothers or his daddy. He can be manipulative, but in an innocent way. He will give Mommy and Daddy kisses and hugs all day long, but makes everyone else work for it. Brody can shoot a three year old free throw consistently and could spend hours playing baseball with Daddy. Brody becomes very attached to objects, ie. his bear, his dog, his watch, his goggles, but is always willing to share with Wade. He loves to tell everyone how to do things and is the loudest child in the history of kids. He is lovable, silly, goofy, intelligent, persistant, bossy, a natural born leader and will steal many hearts in his lifetime...

I do not happen to have a pic of Wade in time out, but trust me, he has spent his share of time thinking over his actions recently, as well! I do, however, have a few sweet pics, and one of him doing a puzzle. He is a whiz when it comes to puzzles. He amazes Todd and I with his patience and determination with putting them together. He can do a puzzle that says 'ages 8 and up' together within a 4 minute time period. We know this cause we timed him!

Wade is sensitive soul, a very picky eater and full speed ahead. He is intense, patient and does not seem to do well with change. He remembers EVERYTHING and is extremely bright. He would eat pringles pretzel sticks for every meal, despises chocolate and veggies and chugs all of his drinks. He is organized, and everything has to be just so. He is the class clown, and can at times, be the leader, as well. He can jump high, run fast and is quick on his feet. He loves to run the bases and slides into home plate. He is tender, a quick learner, fast, smooth, smart, determined, charming and will steal many hearts in his lifetime!!

Ramblings

Just a few things I wanted to write down so that I do not forget :)

1. Took you boys to the dollar store one evening to let you each pick out a toy. While we were there, I told you both you could pick out one toy a piece, and a present for Daddy. Well, the one toy per kid flew out the window, of course, and you both ended up with about 5 toys a piece...a duck whistle, a puzzle, army men, baseball cups, a cement truck with all of the accessories, motorcycles, to name a few...but the best part of the trip was when we went on a hunt for Daddy's present. You both took such pride in picking him out the perfect gift. We walked up and down each aisle, looking high and low...and this is what you ended up buying:
Brody, you bought Daddy a small yellow trash can. You exclaimed, loud enough for the whole store to hear you and giggle, "I am going to buy Daddy this trash can so he can put Miller and Buckley's poop in it!"...seriously, the things your little brain comes up with!
Wade, you first brought me a pack of superman gummy bears, telling me that Daddy would just love them. You were so excited...but then, we passed by the cleaning supplies, and you found a scrub brush...tossed the box of gummy bears aside, and said, "Wait Momma, this is what he REALLY wants!"

So, Daddy received a trash can and a scrub brush. And he was thrilled and beaming with pride as they presented him with their gifts...

2. It was just me and you boys at home one night. Jack was in his Jumperoo, I was cleaning up the dishes and you boys were just playing around in the family room. One of you had to go to the potty, so you both stopped what you were doing and headed into the bathroom. Yes, you boys even pee together...So, about 2 minutes later, I hear laughing. Not just giggling, but full on hilarious, laugh from your gut dying laughing. You guys then come out of the bathroom soaking wet from your shoulders to your fingertips. Not good. And, you guys are each holding these little wooden pumpkins that were in a basket on the back of the toilet.

Not good.

I immediately go into the bathroom and the toilet seat is soaked, as well as the floor...and I see pumpkins floating in the toilet.

Not good.

To make a long story short, and $500+ later, you boys managed to flush 2 of those pumpkins down the toilet...clogging it...indefinitely. After a visit from Mr. Rooter, discovering that the pumpkins were permanently lodged...we now have a 'purty' new toilet.

Sweet CMH!

Our sweet little nephew/cousin Caden spent 9 days at Shands, primarily in the PICU, due to pneumonia, breathing difficulties, wheezing and his oxygen levels remaining too low....

It broke our hearts, especially since we were not able to visit, as we had to be germ free for 3 weeks to be aloud on the floor. We are incredibly thankful that he is back at home, off of oxygen and especially thankful for all of the prayers sent their way!

(I stole all of these pics off of their Facebook pages...!!)

Lazy weekend...

Not much happened with the Harrell clan this past weekend, except the time change. Nothing like the whole fam-damily up before 6am!!

Besides numerous trips to the park, we basically just spent time around the house with each other.

We cozied up to a roaring fire and watched Rio...


Little brother watched intently as big brothers painted masterpieces...


We made silly faces during dinnertime...




We practiced rolling and stretching and tried out our walking skills...


And spent time hunting for bears and dragons in the front yard...ahhh, to be young and cute when dressed in your underwear in the front yard!!

O Halloween...you shined!!

We had an absolute blast during the Halloween weekend!

We started off the weekend with a bang...the annual Halloween Party at their school! This is an event that parents, grandparents, friends, siblings, etc...all come out for. Each class has its own time to shine: 1st the teacher is announced, then each child, individually, then the whole class performs a song for the crowd!

Jack's class was introduced first...sweet boy was a Jack in the Box!! The teachers all told me that he was fast asleep right before they brought him out...


Then came the 3 year old class...introducing Fireman Brody and Cowboy Wade! Both were sweetly shy when they walked out and saw the large crowd, (notice B-man making his nervous face??), but stood up there with their little class and sang 5 Little Pumpkins! They are growing up so fast...


And of course, more pics from the party!


Thank you so very much to the teachers...I know you worked long and hard to make sure this event went off without a hitch!!


Saturday morning, we got the boys all bundled up and headed to the same pumpkin patch we have been going to since 2008! Wade could barely contain himself...there were so many pumpkins to choose from, that he wanted to gather them all up and take ALL of them home. Brody was content just strolling through the patch, checking everything out...just enjoying himself. And Jack, well it was his his first trip to the patch and he smiled and giggled the whole time! (Thank you Nana and Gator for helping us with the three kiddos!)










And, of course, a typical Harrell family pic...hehehe


When Todd and I finally got everybody loaded back up in the van, we looked at each other and giggled, because the pumpkins the boys picked out were the ugliest batch of pumpkins we have ever seen! They had dents and warts and are lopsided...one of them did not even have a stem and was partially cracked open. Oh well, those are the ones that they chose! :)

After a trip to the park, a snack and naptime, we painted the pumpkins! (We have secretly and methodically managed to not carve a pumpkin since they have been born...letting them paint it is sooo much easier and WAY less messy...)




While the big boys were napping, I managed to sneak in a few pics of Jack playing! I still cannot believe he is already 5 months old!


Then, came the actual day...Halloween! The boys were all decked out in their orange for school:


Immediately after school, we headed over to Campbell and Cailey's for trick or treating! After a quick dinner of pizza, we suited all of the kiddos up in their little costumes and headed out! (Wade had a slight tummy ache right before we walked out the door, wanted to be held the first 15 minutes and refused to wear the majority of his costume...after his belly ache subsided, he got into the swing of things and joined the rest of the kiddos, although sans majority of his costume :)) Campbell was like a little bullet, darting so quickly from house to house...Wade would jump in the wagon between each and every house (Todd kept asking him if he was really going to get in the wagon to go 5 feet? He would just look at him, like, well duh... and climb back up on in the wagon...hehe), Cailey bug was extremely content as long as she had a sucker, B-man loved each and every second of the whole experience, sneaking in candy around every bush and corner...and Jack wanted nothing to do with Trick or Treating. He cooed and played for about 15 minutes, then he was done. He was ready for bed!!




All in all, Brody and Wade's 4th Halloween and Jack's 1st Halloween was something I will always remember...I love the fall and the start of all of the holidays to come!