Pearls from Heaven

2009-03-06T14:22:00.000-08:00

Well, over a month since my last post. Since then, I have been called "radishing" by my 6 year old and encouraged to buy "pupcakes" for my 4 year old. Trey is now 11m old and had his first trip to the zoo today. We all had a blast. February was a blur. We went to the mountains- what fun! It was absolutely beautiful.. The kids and my mom survived. My next trip is the women's retreat with our church to the beach. Trey went to the dr for another sinus infection and was 22 lbs. I need to schedule a 1yr and 5yr checkup for April. Why does everyone else's blog seem to be so interesting.. yet I have nothing to say. This is why I don't blog.

Trey is standing on his own, but won't take a step. He just sits down instead and crawls as fast as he can (which could easily match the cheetah). He likes the sound of his voice and tries to overpower me when I am talking to someone else. He absolutely loves his big sisters. He is eating lots of "finger foods" and I am looking forward to putting the formula away. However, I don't know if he'll do soy or cows milk...??? the girls did soy.

Sarah spends hours in the bathroom. She does her own hair, lip gloss, clip earrings and clothing. She now prefers a "private bath" and likes me to read to her while she bathes. Can you say spa treatment? Hannah loves animals and will wear whatever I put on her. I took her to Pets Inc yesterday for a field trip. She has been begging to go back. She doesn't know (thank goodness) that people actually BUY pets there. She thinks we just go to visit. That is what WE do!

Now that Trey is 11m old, he is getting easier to tote around and predict sleep needs, so I am able to get out more. he is a great kid, fun and easy-going (until he is crossed...at which point he is very fiesty).

More later. Stay tuned.

2009-02-04T15:02:00.001-08:00

OK- I know. It's been over a month. It has been a busy one. Trey is crawling and pulling up on everything- traveling on furniture, cabinets.. and even standing on his own. He will be another one walking before a year. His top two teeth broke through at once this week, so the past few weeks have been difficult with a non-sleeping 9m old! We are back in full swing with school: upcoming Valentines Day parties, alphabet songs, and World War II. Hannah is really doing well with her letters and numbers and almost has writing her name down pat. On a daily basis: not much going on, however we are somehow extremely busy. We went to the library today. Today's fascination is mummies. Actually quite interesting. I learned about the Iceman from 3 different books and they spelled his name three different ways...

Chad and I are going with friends to the mountains this weekend thanks to Drew and Ennis, Chad's aunt and uncle. We will be with 6 other couples and it is actually our first weekend away from the kids in years. It will be a first for Trey.

Trey's last appt was about a month ago, 9m appt and he was 21 lbs. he is in the 80% for height and 50% for weight. Both of the girls are pretty tall- Hannah being in a higher % than Sarah. They must get that from Chad.

2009-01-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

2009. What a great time to reflect on 2008. This post will serve as our "Christmas Card" since we didn't get one out in time. Wow, what a year. A new baby boy, two beautiful girls turning 4 and 6, trips to the beach and to see family. Chad is now the Director of the Intellectual Property Office at the University and also Associate Director of Innovista Research Campus. He participated in two triathalons this year.

Trey was born on Saturday, April 5th at 10:30 am. Interestingly, I went into labor at MIDNIGHT the past two kids. At least Trey was born 3 hours earlier than Hannah. He was 8lbs at birth and is now 20.5 lbs at less than 9m. All of our children have brown eyes and blonde hair. Trey was pretty laid back, although he suffers with reflux, but has recently become quite fiesty. Now that he can express himself a little more, he does so. He squeals in pleasure AND displeasure, screams, says "mama" - but smiles almost all the time. He is a joy to have around. He is crawling, pulling up and traveling around furniture, and can sit up well.

My sister had a baby 2 months later, named her Samantha Kelly, and she and Trey have lots of fun together. Samantha can't defend herself yet, so Trey considers her a baby doll to play with. Trey also has many other friends his same age, many of my friends had babies around the same time (Jennifer, Vanessa, Liz, Christina, Amanda ... am I forgetting anyone?).

Hannah and Sarah started ballet this year. Hannah's class is fun and worshipful, with some basic technique, form and areas of discipline. We started Sarah out with Ballet 1 and she is doing very well. Both girls LOVE ballet and can't wait for dance night.
Hannah is in 4k and is also loving her preschool year and teachers. I began homeschooling Sarah this year, first grade, and we too are having a good time.

Our house flooded in 2007 and we moved back in almost one year ago. I am starting to feel moved-in now and have started to entertain more at the house. We put a new floor on the back porch in 2008 (wood) and had some exterior painted.

We joined another church in December 2008 after being at FBC for 13 years. We also looked around for an Awana program and choir, which the girls love. Sarah and Hannah sang in the "Christmas Present" musical in December, which was a highlight after practicing for several months. Both of the girls love to sing, dance, and act! Their voices are lovely, especially when they are singing for the Lord.

Hannah was so cute today explaining to Trey why Jesus died on the cross. Sarah in her prayers tonight thanked God for sending Jesus to be "our righteous man" with no evil in his heart. I receive so much insight into their thoughts when I listen to them pray or talk to each other.

My brother, wife and kids are still in Birmingham AL. My sister is in Florence with her two children. My sister was diagnosed with brain cancer in 1991 and after several surgeries and many rounds of chemo, radiation, it disappeared about 6y ago. Unfortunately, it returned in July 2008. She is taking chemo again and her last trip to Duke (monday) shows that it is preventing the cancer from growing, thus killing the cancer cells. We are prayerful that God will perform a complete healing in her.

Chad's brothers all live in Greenville, with the exception of Robert who went to USC this year.

We are thankful for all of our friends and family and hope you will keep up with us in 2009 via this blog.

2008-12-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

I am working on getting Christmas cards out, but things are beginning to pile up around here (literally). Cookie baking, card making, present wrapping... maps to color, flashcards to memorize and toys everywhere! Laundry piles, paperwork piles, to do lists and more. Please check out this blogspot in a few days for new pictures and some words from our family. We are never too busy to thank God for our friends and thank Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins. Merry Christmas!

Kerri and Brent Come Home from Africa

2008-11-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

After looking over my pictures I realized I made no comment about the picture with all the beautiful women in it. Our friends Kerri and Brent returned from Zambia last Thursday, one week ago today, and we are SO glad they are home. We are in prayer for Kerri as she awaits the arrival of baby #4 and as they do their homestudy for adoption upon their return to Zambia. Please join us in prayer for this family as they are in the states and for when they leave again.

Fun Day

2008-11-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

We had a fun day today. I don't wish to be eloquent about it, just let you know what we are up to these days. I'd love for Trey to stop crying and let me take a quiet, relaxing bath. For now, that's not happening. Almost every Thursday my Dad comes into town to watch Trey so I can spend the day gallavanting around Columbia/Lexington with the girls to our various activities. Almost every Thursday night, Trey has a hard time going to bed. I think we've figured out that he just wants to stay up and see Mommy- since Daddy usually also has activities on Thursday nights.

Today we went to the Lexington County Museum with our homeschool group. The museum was doing a tour to specifically discuss quilting, along with the other items from the 1800's. It was wonderful. The kids enjoyed it, although it was 2.5 hours long. We went into a one room cabin (home to 14 children and 2 adults in the mid 1800's) as well as the larger home with separate rooms, a separate building for a kitchen, the privy (outhouse), chicken coop, smokehouse, etc.
The kids made their own little quilts from felt and also did a model of one on paper. We learned that quilts were used by the slaves to communicate plans of escape. Very cool!

After the field trip,we headed on to dance, where both girls are students. I took a picture of Sarah, to the left and I don't feel like taking the time to figure out how to rotate it... so just rotate your head to see Sarah and her friend before class. If I have a chance I'll post one of Hannah, too. Her hand and foot are healing nicely and she was able to participate in class today (without hose ofcourse but she did well!)

So Thankful

2008-11-16T20:40:00.001-08:00

It had to be. Chad was out of town and Trey was hysterical. Frazzled nerves. Stress.
Then it happened. I went upstairs to get Trey and hysteria from downstairs. I'm numb. Hannah runs in, shaking all over.... she can hardly walk. She is screaming and holding her hand out. Oh no. She has no skin on the palm of her hand. Oh no. Long story short. She sat down on the treadmill while Sarah was walking on it and got pinned behind it. Her hand, foot and leg go under the belt. Praise God, the doctor treated the boo-boo's like burns and they will heal fine.

Praise God!

Too big for the swing?

2008-11-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to post a picture taken this afternoon in our attempt to get Trey to take a "catnap" in the swing. Since he has been born, Trey has enjoyed a snooze in the swing. For whatever reason, when he is unable to sleep, we just pop him in the swing and off to dreamland he goes..... until today.

Sarah's resolves to respect her parents and siblings

2008-11-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

After implementing an incentive chart last week, Sarah has decided that the best way to respect her parents and her sister is not to talk to them.
After the kids got into the Halloween candy once again without asking, I told Sarah that it was all going to Daddy's work. She quickly pointed out to me that if I got rid of all the Halloween candy that we would have nothing to use to add, subtract or divide in math class. "We wouldn't want to do that, now would we?", she chimes.
I walk into Hannah's room after the election last week and she is playing Barbies (her favorite thing to do). Only today, one of her Barbies is named Sarah Palin!

First Word and First Teeth

2008-11-09T12:50:00.001-08:00

Trey has accomplished many "firsts" in the past few weeks. First crawling, then pulling up, yesterday saying "dada" all the way to the corn maze and back, and on the way home I told Chad his bottom teeth would be in soon! Well today we see two bottom teeth poking through his gums. He is definitely growing up too fast.

Trey is crawling and pulling up

2008-11-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Just had to let everyone know that Trey is crawling (mostly army crawling) and pulling up in his crib. He turned 7m old 2 days ago on November 5th and we had to lower his crib all the way down so he doesn't tumble out. We had a rough few days of sleep until we did that because he chose to stand at the edge and scream for us to come get him and help him down- ONLY to get right back up. Cool trick, huh mom? Our little man is eating lots of fruits and veggies and likes to blow bubbles. We can't wait for his first Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Election 2008

2008-11-07T19:16:00.000-08:00

Election 2008 was meaningful for all of us this year. It was the first year the girls will remember going to the polls with us and somewhat understand what transpired over the last few years during campaign time until now. I carefully explained the process and we looked at newspapers and books to learn more about presidents and the United States, democracy, etc. On the day of the election, we were reading about Abraham Lincoln and his role in freeing the slaves... followed shortly by his assasination. Mistake #1 (shooting someone in the head isn't for 4 year old reading.. is it?). I went on to explain (mostly to Sarah, but Hannah is absorbing MUCH more than I thought) why he was assasinated and his sympathies with the southern states regarding the slave trade. We talked about his presidency and incorporated the Civil War.

Finally, Trey woke up from his nap and I announce "we're going to vote for the next president. Get your coats and shoes on." Sarah runs off. Hannah starts to cry. "But I don't want to get shot", she wails.

Oh well, at least she remembers presidents sometimes get shot. That is a lesson, isn't it?

Similar lesson, we are discussing Fort Sumter (while looking at a book with pictures of the battle) and I tell the girls that we are going to visit Fort Sumter in December. What fun!! Again, Hannah melts down. You got it... "I don't want to die"- she moans and falls on the floor in tears.

Maybe I should save the war stories for when she is in preschool making squirrel food out of cereal and peanut butter.

Sarah's Occupation

2008-11-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I spend lots of time together since she has a one-on-one tutor most days. She uses this time to engage in meaningful conversation otherwise lost between Trey's babbling and Hannah's conversations with her Barbies. The other day she inquired how she might obtain a job at McDonalds. "What do I have to do to work at McDonalds?" she asks. After explaining the application process (and that she must finish her math and language to qualify for a JOB) she announces "GREAT,when I am an adult and have kids, I can work AND take care of my kids. You see, Mommy, I can work the cash register at McDonalds while the kids play on the playground and then at lunchtime I can take them nuggets and french fries. We will always be together". Oh well, at least we'll need to get to middle school math and language for that.

My Very First Blog

2008-10-25T17:34:00.000-07:00

OK... How do I do this? Aren't I supposed to be cleaning, or cooking, or maybe checking out with a bath/book combo? Oh well, I figure since I'm so bad at picking the phone up, maybe you (my friends) can keep up with us this way.
Uneventful day in the Hardaway house. I finally got some time to myself-serious shopping time. 4hours. unheard of. Where did I go? The discount bookstore and Educational Wonderland. Then to top it off.... WALMART. Yes, Walmart. I'm pathetic. What did I buy, other than the obvious?
Discipline charts, incentives, marbles and a jar....

This week I'm sure will be much better!

Trey is now starting to crawl, Hannah has mastered the "th" sound, and Sarah can now play Pac-Man and some shooting game. Yes, I was gone a long time today.

Just went to our first Halloween party. Got the kids to bed on time (ofcourse:). Trey and I visited a very pregnant friend. This wonderful friend is expecting 3 (three!) babies in January. All boys.

What a miracle all of our children are. Today I thank God again for my little pearls.
Pearls are precious- priced at a premium for their uniqueness. Pearls are discoveries- embeddied in a shell deep underwater waiting to be found. Pearls are cherished- for they are gifts from heaven above.

Pearls grow in luster and beauty with age- we are children of the King. May our spiritual growth enhance our days.. for righteousness is ours.

Chad just called. He went back over to the Halloween party to pick up some things the girls left. That was an hour ago. The house is 2 doors down from us. Sweet little conversation moth. I should probably retire. Anyway- I was so proud of my little blog and told him about it. His reply "you should look at MINE". Now shouldn't I know that he has a blog? I thought so. Maybe we should talk more.

I'll try to keep up the blog. Check it out often to see what we are up to!