Mission Accomplished

One of Harper's New Year's resolutions was to learn how to swim without her floatie this summer. Mission accomplished with a little coaching from Dad!

Mish Mash

1. Harper took the Kindle Fire to bed last night and, unbeknownst to me, purchased 3 cartoons. Luckily, the damage was only about $25. But, jeez oh man! She's 4! How does she even know how to navigate my Kindle to the amazon webpage to buy cartoons!?! I was surprised at how willingly she went to bed last night. Now I know why!


2. Morning sickness is no joke.


3. Cereal and Law & Order are a pregnant girl's best friends at 4am.


4. I've resorted to looking at Harper's baby pictures to remind me that the end justifies the means. Here are two of my favorites.

See? Totally worth all the sickness. 

Coming Soon

Coming Soon... from Elaine Shelton on Vimeo.

Water Bug

One of Harper's New Year's resolutions was to learn to swim without her floatie. To that end, she has been taking swimming lessons every day for the past 2 weeks. Last night was her last class. 

with her certificate and t-shirt

Coach Kate

She can't quite swim on her own yet, but she's really close. I think one more set of lessons and she'll be doing laps in no time!

Flower Power

I love Nashville. It's so lush and green and embellished with colorful flowers.

We pass this garden on the way to work and school every morning. I've been waiting all spring for these irises to bloom.

It was worth the wait!

There was some sitting...

and some smelling (although I'm not sure irises actually have a detectable smell)...

and some roses...

and some dancing in the sunshine...

and then there was this...   Flower Power perhaps?

I don't know what that was all about.

Always Thinking

Questions or statements Harper has made in the last 48 hours:

• Fossils are dinosaur bones, right? Then how do we know what their skin looked like?
• Why does God make tornadoes? 
• If everybody keeps throwing stuff away, the whole earth will be full of garbage and die. 

I often feel ill-equipped to answer her questions. 

But, I'm glad she's asking them. 

Family Dynamics

Conversation I had while tucking Harper into bed last night:

H: Mom, I love you.
Me: I love you too.
H: I love you more.
Me: Probably not. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.

She smiles and snuggles into her covers.

As I'm just about to close the door to her room...

H: Mom?
Me: Yes...
H: I love Dad more than I love you.


And there you have it.

Pro

Spring is in full swing around here. The sun has been shining and the spring showers have been rolling through -- all of which makes for lots of blooming trees (and lots of pollen!). 

Luckily, yesterday's showers subsided long enough for us to do some Easter egg hunting. After three years of practice, this kid is an egg hunting pro.

Her Easter basket runneth over.

She even got the seal of approval from this guy!

Seedlings

About two weeks ago, Rob and Harper started seeds for this year's vegetable garden.

Green thumbs must be genetic because these things are growing like wildfire!

I love that Rob and Harper are working on this project together. There's a lot more growing here than just plants. 

2.20.2012

Dear Harper,
Happy Birthday!

One thousand four hundred and sixty two days ago, you were born. And every day since then, you have been a source of absolute joy for your dad and me.

You have had a pretty exciting year. You went to disney world twice, started playing golf, and performed in two dance recitals!

While I'm pretty sure that I can still beat you at a round of putt-putt, your dancing skills have far surpassed my own. I am amazed at how naturally rhythmic and graceful you are. Sitting in the audience watching you dance at your Christmas recital, I was taken aback with the amount of  pride I felt for you. I have accomplished some big things in my life, but I think I was more proud of you on that day than I was for any of my past accomplishments. And it was just a blip on your little radar. Not really a big deal for you - certainly nothing earth shattering. You weren't even nervous about it.

I can't wait to see what you accomplish that will be earth shattering. I know it's coming. No pressure or anything.

I just can't believe that four years could go by so quickly. I feel like my little girl is slipping through my fingers. While I thoroughly enjoy watching you turn into a beautiful, smart, and kind young lady, I do admit that sometimes I miss my sweet little baby Harper.

Mostly it's when you are crying in order to convince me to let you wear a puffy princess dress to school instead of the jeans and t-shirt I picked out for you. Those are the times when I miss my easy going adaptable, fashion unconscious, little baby girl.

But honestly, I wouldn't trade you or any of the glitter and accessories that come with you for anything. I love you more than I ever thought possible.

Happy birthday.
Love,
Mom

Houston, We Have A Smile!

Finally!

2011

This was the year that Harper finally smiled in her Santa picture.

Last year, there was a slight suggestion of a smile.

2010

And the year before that, I can only describe her expression as "Santa Paralysis".

2009

I'm glad she's finally warming up to the old guy.


`

Pulling The Santa Card

A mother-daughter exchange from last night:

Harper: Can I have some candy?

Me: Nope. It's time for bed.

Harper: Santa, are you watching? Mommy is not being good.

Touché, young one.


On a similar note, I just got an email from Amazon that one of Harper's Christmas presents is on its way.

Here is the actual title of the item on Amazon's website:

Double Layered Rainbow Fairy Princess Butterfly Costume Dress-up Wings w/Pink, Purple, Blue & Green Rainbow Fairy Wings

Never in my wildest dreams did I think my life would include double layered rainbow fairy princess butterfly dress-up wings...

`

Party Tricks

Harper and I have a 45 minute commute to school/work in the morning. While some people might hate a long commute, I actually rather enjoy this time. Sometimes we listen to music or kid books on tape. Other times, we talk about the things that we see as we drive.

Lately, I've been trying to make our morning car time more purposeful by using it to teach her something specific. At the beginning of the week, I set a goal for what I want her to learn. For instance, one week I taught her the order of colors in the rainbow. Another week, I taught her how to spell her first and last name.

While my goal is to have her master these things in the span of a week, it really only takes her a day or two.

I've found that the trick to getting her to remember things is to put it in the form of a song. This kid will instantly absorb any bit of information if it's set to music. I just make up a song that contains the "lesson" for the week, sing it to her a couple times, and by the time we get to school she pretty much knows it.

Last week, I taught her how to name all of the planets in order of their proximity to the sun. Below are the lyrics to the little song that I made up.

Try it with your kids. It makes for a fun party trick.

And that whole learning thing is probably good too.




To the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Pluto used to be a planet
But the scientists said it was too small
Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune

Knock It Off Already.

2008

2009

2010

 2011

I have repeatedly asked her to stop growing up.

I think she's doing it to spite me.


`

The Sanctity of Pumpkins

A couple weeks ago, we went to Walden Farm to pick out our pumpkins. I look forward to our pumpkin pickin' outing every year. I don't know about you, but for us Fall doesn't officially begin until we have pumpkins on our front porch.

Did you ever wonder why pumpkins are associated with Halloween? Well, I did so I looked it up. 

The tradition of carving vegetables seems to have originated in the British Isles. Particularly in Ireland, turnips, potatoes, and beets were carved and illuminated with pieces of burning coal and set on porches or in windows to represent the souls of departed loved ones in celebration of All Saints Day and All Souls Day (celebrated on November 1st and 2nd respectively to remember departed loved ones in heaven and those who may be in Purgatory) . 

In the mid-1800s, over a million Irish citizens immigrated to North America to escape the Potato Famine. They brought with them their rich traditions including the carving of vegetables. Turnips, potatoes, and beets were not as readily available in their new homeland, but pumpkins were in abundance. Hence, pumpkins were carved and illuminated instead. 

I'm not big on carving pumpkins. I put so much effort into picking just the right ones that I can't bear the thought of cutting them up.

However, Rob and Harper are not of the same opinion when it comes to the sanctity of pumpkins and I may get out voted this year...

Oh well. I do enjoy roasted pumpkin seeds, so all is not lost.



`

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

This kid cracks me up. Sometimes I just can't believe the things that come out of her mouth. For instance...

She's in this phase where she like to narrate everything that's going on around her. If you've ever watched a dvd with the bonus director's commentary feature on, you know what I'm talking about. During a trip to Target, she single-handedly offended just about every person we came into contact with. First there was the overweight lady that she pointed to and said, "That lady has a baby in her belly." Next, there was the teenage boy (bless his heart) with acne that she pointed to and said, "That boy has spots on his face!". And finally, there was the old man that she pointed to and yelled (literally yelled), "Hey old man, why don't you go to Florida!".

I have no idea where she got that last one from. Maybe she noticed that there were a lot of old people around on our recent trip to Florida? But, we certainly didn't point them out to her.

Just to give you another little glimpse into her mind... we were eating Dunkin' Donut munchkins the other day and she picked out a jelly-filled one. She took one bite and inspected the middle of it. Then she turned to me and said, "Mom, this donut has blood in the middle...and I like it."

Seriously? Please tell me that this is not the first symptom of an impending Twighlight obsession.

I took this video earlier this week. I wanted to show my mom and dad that Harper can spell her first and last name. She is in fact 3 by the way. Not 5 like she would have you believe. (She's on a 5 kick because she really wants to go to kindergarten and I told her that she can only go when she turns 5. So she's trying to will herself into growing up and in addition convince us to go along with it. Oh, when she learns how to channel that willpower into concrete things...look out! She is going to be a force to be reckoned with.)

Fore!

One of my favorite memories of being pregnant was the day we found out we were having a girl. I distinctly remember Rob's reaction. He was kind of hoping for a boy, so it took him a minute to process this new nugget of information.

Deep in thought, he started going through the following check list out loud: She can still play golf. She can still play tennis. She can still be a swimmer. She can still be a cyclist... He was audibly switching gears from blue to pink and reassuring himself that even though football was probably not going to be an option, she could still do many of the activities that he enjoys doing.

The ultrasound technician and I just looked at each other and smiled.

Well, I am happy to report that we are one step closer to achieving Rob's checklist. Behold what was waiting on our porch when we got home last night.

Rob has been teaching her how to putt in the living room using one of his putters. It was obviously too big for her, but she was actually pretty accurate with it. Now that she has some clubs that are a little more appropriate, watch out. We may have the next Michelle Wie on our hands!

Fair Rides and Fair Fries

On Saturday, I took Harper to the Williamson County fair. All in all, it was a pretty dinky fair - nowhere near the caliber of the Canfield Fair. Those of you who still live close enough to go to the Canfield Fair, you do not know how lucky you are. This fair didn't even have any good fair fries! Can you imagine? 

Although I was a little disappointed, Harper had a great time riding the rides. 

Until that day, she had never been on a carnival ride so we started out slowly with the caterpillar and bear. 

Then we hit up the bee and elephant. 

Look at the humoring fake smiles she was able to muster.

It was at this point when she politely asked me to put the camera away...

which I agreed to until she decided to brave the roller coaster. She'd been eying it all day and after a quick ice cream break she was ready to tackle it. 

The first hill

White knuckling it

Looking slightly more under control

Maybe a hint of a smile

Although it may not have looked like it, she enjoyed every minute of that ride. So much so, that she didn't want to get off when it was over. The lady running it had to unbuckle her seat belt and lift her out.

Overall, this trip to the fair was pretty fun. I enjoyed watching Harper be adventurous (did you notice that she instinctively sat closest to the front on the roller coaster? All of the other kids wanted to sit in the middle or the back. Amateurs.). It also became clear to me that we will need to go on a family pilgrimage back to Ohio so that we can go to the Canfield Fair. I don't think it's going to happen this year. But next year, look out. I'm coming for you, fair fries!

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I took this on the way to the airport as we were getting ready to leave Florida. Harper was so worn out from the week, she fell asleep mid-burger. I think she actually took another bite when she finally woke up.

Back

Well, our vacation is officially over. Today was our first day back to work and baby school. If Harper could read, she would object to the term baby school because she is not a baby anymore. She would then remark that she would like me to refer to her school as big kid school because she is in fact a big kid now. But alas, I digress...which is a major symptom of vacation withdraw.

In an effort to ease back into real life, I will be posting some of my favorite pictures from last week. I will then visit this page periodically though out the day and wish we were all still at the beach. You can play along if you would like.

 Harper and her crazy sunglasses 

Taking a break from swimming in the pool

Cinnamon Beach - don't you just love that name?

Harper holding a crab

Outside of our favorite breakfast spot

Having lunch after a morning at the beach