Just me My Soldier and our 4 little chicks

My Happy List- April Edition

All photos created with my favorite new Iphone app...Phonto.
Happy Thursday!

Tomorrow I get a bob and I'm going red. Wish me luck...EEEEK!

xxo

S

things making me happy right now

taking a lovely things hiatus today...

just got back from a family trip to orlando (an army marriage retreat+a day trip to sea world) and i am WIPED out.

 

no brain power to come up with content right now. today is blah. gloomy outside...i'm dreading an upcoming inevitability...just feeling "ugh".

hopefully tomorrow i'll be back with a fresh *love*ly things idea!

but for today...

i thought i'd share some recent iPhotos...all making me happy for various reasons.

making me smile:

a surprise valentine  from a kind friend right when i really needed a piece of happy mail.

flowers from my favorite ranger.

valentine's cupcakes from the bigs.

bathtime licking from the littles. this one makes me laugh SO hard. lucy is so sadie in this photo.

an ironic photo of cate.

family trips to sea world...so grateful to sea world and their generosity. we got in free since jimmy is active duty military.

howell triple deckers (can't see lucy, but she's there)

big sisters that are really really good helpers.

new scrap supplies from dear lizzy,pebbles,and marcy penner

 

well i feel a bit less gloomy after this post. :) here's to a happy,blessed day for all of you!

xoxo

s

 

 

october madness

Oh October, what is it about you? I love you with all of my heart but you are NUTS.

I feel like everyone talks about December being busy (with the holidays) or September being busy (back to school)...but no. For us it is October.

I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's Jimmy being home and us adjusting to that. Or maybe it's that the babies are into everything, so I'm running all day long with no time to rest. But whatever it is, it's a whirlwind!

I thought I'd share some iPhone photos of what we've been up to. We are having so much FUN!

But a sidenote: corn mazes with "mr army ranger i have my own gps built into my brain" are not so fun.

*i* am the queen of ineverhaveanyideawhereiambecauseihavenosenseofdirection

and harper is my doppleganger. so she lead the procession. which is HIGHLY humorous in itself.

i wasn't really paying attention to where we were, as i was wearing heels and it was muddy. i know WHO WEARS HEELS TO A CORN MAZE!!!! clearly i was not thinking ahead.

major howell was looking at the sun and doing weird secret calculations before we went in and every time harper would choose a way to turn he'd smirk or mumble "i don't think that's a good idea".

hmmmph.

but don't worry. we made it out and did not call 911.

the best part? we didn't have a map with us but found one afterwards. we had gone in circles in a TINY portion of the bottom corner of a HUGE maze.

i had no idea.

by the smirk on jimmy's face we'll assume that secret agent GPS knew the entire time.

 

hmmmmmph.

xoxo

s

my week in photos

first of all, thank you all SO much for your "welcome homes",your "happy birthdays" and your sweet words of encouragement and love. i've said it once, i'll continue to say it a million times...y 'all are the best. the absolute best.

we've had a great week. it's nice not having to WORRY. i can't explain it. i sleep better. i smile more.

j is back at work (gotta love the army, no rest for the weary) and both of the bigs are now in school. i spend most of the day driving. both girls are in different schools on different sides of town. sadie is half day, harper is full day. so...yep, i drive. :)

this week in the howell house:

our very first ENTIRE family dinner. the babies were too small to do this before he left. this one's blurry, but please look at j gulping his wine. hahahahah! makes me giggle every time.

 

barbies...can you see lucy and cate? love.

       

sadie's first day of preschool. this was the one day j had off so it was perfect. he got to walk her in (she was SO excited) and then after we took her out for mac&cheese and hot chocolate (her  two absolute favorite things).

 

family date at the splash park in ellis square- these pictures might possibly be the best photos EVER. especially the bottom one. hahahahhahahahhaha! oh my gosh, i'm laughing out loud. i swear. classic.

 

more harper back to school fashion. she makes me take a picture of her every.single.day. it's so funny. i'm thinking it will make an awesome scrapbook page...

 

carpool line...i had to share this b/c this is one of my all time favorite photos of sadie. that nose!!!

 

       

birthday date night, i got to wear my new ann taylor loft dress (i worried i might never get to!) and dress up. we went to dinner at vic's on the river and j surprised me with a new iPad. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! it might be the first time in 11 years together that he completely, utterly surprised me. no idea.

and now? i'm OBSESSED. big time.

 

so that's the week in photos. free of worry. :) lots of smiles,blessings,and sheer relief.

 

happy friday, y'all!

xxo

s 

   

week in photos

sitting practice

 

teacher gifts (thanks for the idea lisa!)

school awards (i LOVED this)

and speaking of 'ashion, is it odd that i love the outfit harper chose last night and want to wear it?

 

i'm pretty sure that this was not the reason she won "most fashionable" although you never know with four and five year olds. it's very..um...monochromatic?

letters to daddy (that make mommy cry when she reads them)

homeade bubbles:

and laughing until we cry (really, tears were streaming down my face)at lucy's reaction to pears.

girl's got some meat on her bones, huh?

LOVE. :)

hope your weekend is filled with happiness and laugh until you cry kind of moments.

xxo

s

eta: the cupcake toppers i made for harper's birthday party are on the SC Blog today. Go check it out!

 

savannah spring

it's GORGEOUS here. seriously.

and buggy. and humid. but i grew up in houston which is ridiculously buggy+humid.

the azaleas are in full bloom, everything is green, tourist season is upon us. it's just the best.

 

 

 

 

anniversary tulips from j, azaleas+moss,door decor, houses surrounding forsyth park

street performers, margarita at tybee,azaleas, wrought iron, forsyth park football, forsyth park

now if you'll excuse me, i need to go outside NOW. :)

have a beautiful monday!

xoxo

s

monday, monday.

first things first! the winner of KP's sketchbook 3 class giveaway is:

34Kim said...

Yes please!!

I also have already registered, but winning my spot would be swell!!!!

Looking forward to April!

Way to go Kim! Email me at harpersmama8(AT)gmail(DOT)com

♥♥♥♥♥

So how was your weekend? Mine was one of the best I can remember in a really, really long time.

Everyone had Thursday and Friday off, due to St. Pat's being a HUGE deal here!

THURSDAY

i surprised the bigs with a "leprechaun breakfast" and some special t-shirts i'd made for them using iron-ons from here and super cheap cherokee brand tees from targhay.

you can click on each image to see it full size!!!

the babies were in green too!

we watched J march in the parade...it was SO cool. i got chills just looking at all of those handsome men in uniform, and the pride our city has in them.

and then we braved downtown Savannah/city market for a bit.

a few st. patrick's day observations

1.don't tell your somewhat obsessive four year old about the pinching for not wearing green thing. she was TERRIFIED of someone pinching her all day long. even though she was clearly in green. ack. i never should have mentioned that!

2.driving through the liquor store in your minivan to get beer? is AWESOME. i have never felt less cool in my life. But we really wanted to make a green beer!!

3.i probably actually felt LESS cool when i was downtown. hey ladies? drunkenly crying on your cell phone? not attractive.

4.when letting your children pick a souvenir from the cart in the street, monitor closely what they are looking at. that seemingly innocent frog necklace?

well said frogs might have male genitalia on them. and say "i'm horny".

thank GOD she didn't see it when she reached for it, as i loudly yelled LALALALALALLALALA LOOK AT THIS PURPLE TRUMPET!!!

and that is how harper ended up with a squeaky purple trumpet and sadie ended up with a long blue horn that makes me pee my pants  little every time she blows it. and makes the babies cry. lovely.

 

 

FRIDAY

I FINALLY had the priveledge of meeting my sweet friend May Flaum. We've "known" eachother online for quite some time, but haven't gotten to hang out yet.

She came in town for a few hours and we had some quality GROWN UP TIME!! We both have wee girls, so just having grown up time was heavenly.

we hit up paris market:

and then walked to gryphon tea room to have lunch.

AMAZING lunch might i add.

i decided to pull a purkey and purkify my pictures. aka take food photos.

we had so much fun. i think we nonstop talked in one run on sentence for a few hours. and i think she's my sister from another mister. she's awesome.

and then it was home where c+l were sporting clear evidence of "daddy hair". and then it was time for wine in my new paris market glasses.

 

 

SATURDAY

we had a birthday party and then we had a small...uh...incident?

sadie apparently thought the lavender i got at paris market was to pretty to just sit in the dish so she decided to have a grand old time playing with it.

and for the record? i laughed. life's too short to flip out over ruined lavender. and i should have known better than to put it within the reach of the sadie bug. :)

j cooked us dinner, what a guy!

and we sat outside in the beautiful evening light and i tried the red version of my new wine glasses :)

 

SUNDAY

recovery.

 

now...i'm fully aware i'm about to say something cheesy.i make fun of myself (to myself HA!) for being cheesy on the old bloggity...

but it doesn't make it any less true.

i love my family so much and i am so content with where i am in my life right now.

i'll take minivan drives, early dinners, messy sinks and baby bjorns

over

wild st. patrick's days, drunken crying cell phone calls, trashy necklaces

any day of the week.

i think all of the aparts we experience as a family really make us enjoy and appreciate the togethers.

hope you have a beautiful week!

xxo

 

 

our weekend in photos

this weekend was fantastic for several reasons. chiefly among them...j came home after a few weeks away! it was a GORGEOUS weekend, after a dreary rainy week.

i just love being together as a family on the weekends. why do they pass so quickly, though?

here's our weekend in iPhone photos:

l to r, top to bottom:

1.first time the babies ever kept sleeping after we brought them in the house! 2.stretching before our family walk. 3.sadie sleeping on daddy after a bad dream 4.blue moon with an orange slice at forsyth park. 5.j+all four of his girls- oh how his life has changed! :) 6.the greening of forsyth fountain 7,8. girls+j in bed earrrrly a.m. 9.drink for baby, drink for mommy. hee! 10.lucy+mama 11.my new bag came from gussy sews! 12.bigs reading to littles 13.treasures from the resale shop 14.me and my girls at forsyth fountain

 

and just because this might very well be my favorite iphone photo of all time...i have to share it in full size:

i can't even put into words how happy this makes my heart. they were over the moon he was home. when he first comes back from a trip, they just can't/won't leave him alone. it's awesome.

i hope you have a beautiful, blessed monday!

xxo

oh sadie. how i love thee.

Happy Tuesday Morning!!

It feels like Monday to me, J had yesterday off. It was great to be able to spend some family time together for three days...but WHY DOES IT GO SO FAST??

i tell you...when he's gone time crawls. but when he's home it flies. so unfair. :)

i thought i'd share some photos from sadie's birthday extravagaaaaaaaaaanza.

on her actual birthday she woke up in an AWESOME mood.

ummmm. yay?

happy birthday.

a special birthday breakfast perked her right up, though.

she picked her party "feme" or theme at the party store and wanted the backyardigans. :)

when j got off work we went out for "mexico" as sadie calls it, which means mexican food. our favorite.

once again, sadie was THRILLED to have happy birthday sung to her and she LOVED wearing the sombrero.

uhhhh

oh

my.

i was laughing so hard i was crying. tears streaming down my face.

i am laughing again looking at that photo. hahahahahhaha. oh gosh. she is NOT into attention. at all.

saturday was the day j told sadie we'd have our family "party party".

she woke up sooo excited, even more excited when she got to wear her precious custom amy tangerine tee.

how cute is that? oh it makes my heart hurt!

we let sadie choose where she wanted to go for her birthday. she chose chuck e cheese. shudder. now lots of you say "oh we never go there, it's just not an option!" and normally i would have said that. but you know what? she's a good good girl. doesn't ask for much. anything actually. and we hadn't been together as a family in a month. It was a great weekend.

we went to fresh market to pick her cake. it made me laugh that she picked the plainest, most vanilla cake.

that's the one i would have chosen!

i love her so much. she keeps me on my toes and ALWAYS surprises me. in a really good way!!

i hope your tuesday is beautiful and blessed!

xoxo

s

around the house

a few iphone pics from the past week or so

in other words, the most random post ever:

 

catie busting loose:

 

Ranger Sadie:

 

aaaaaargh!!! lunch at the pirate's house last weekend:

 

i found sadie like this the other day. crashed on the couch with one of the babies binkies in her mouth. i was very confused by that, but still thought it was pretty cute. heheh!

 

we've been saving empty toilet paper rolls forever and have finally amassed enough to start doing crafts with them!

so far we have made flowers:

 

and we are slowly adding to a "menagerie" making a new animal every day. birds, butterflies (yes, sadie's has no face, she ate it off...psycho!!), octopuses (uh, is that a word?) , and a random creature comprised of feathers and googly eyes. we are working on rabbits today.

 

Lucy Claire in a cute new onesie (and it's 0-3 months..YAY!)

 

baby wearing:

 

puzzle piecing:

 

 

tandem bottle feeding (GO SADIE- that's a hard one to master!!!)

 

i also took a few snapshots of decor/things around the house. i've been meaning to do this for a bit.

i've said it before and i'll say it again (um, it just took me way too long to type that phrase. i kept writing "i've said it again and i'll say it before"). anyway, moving on. my mom is the queen of vignettes. love this one above the window in my kitchen.

 

by the stairs:

 

came in the mail yesterday:

 

first thing you see when you walk in the door:

 

this is the top of our bar and it makes me so happy.

 

 

 

another cool thing my mom came up with...

using a vintage folding ruler and old ornament clips to make an art holder for the frig:

 

random post alright. oh well, i am feeling very random and scatterbrained these days. heeee!

happy saturday!

xoxo