Harper's Baby Dedication and Mother's Day

Harper's baby dedication was on Sunday, May 13 which was Mother's Day as well. The Friday before my parents, sister, and niece came in for the weekend. On Saturday Jess and I participated in our community's garage sale. We were so happy to get rid of a bunch of stuff and also delighted to make a little money in the process. It ended up turning into a beautiful day, so we spent a lot of time outside. My dad grilled out for lunch and we just had a wonderful day spending time together. My mom was selfless enough to scrub our shower for hours. A single guy lived in our home before and needless to say, the bathroom was disgusting. 

Sunday was a wonderful day. I very much enjoyed Harper's dedication and I loved having both sides of the family at church with us (Jess's parents also drove in on Sunday).  After church we came back to the house to have lunch. We had lunch catered so the women didn't have to cook. My family left shortly after dinner as did Jess's parents. Jess put the kids down and I took a two hour nap. 

Harper and my mom before heading off to church.

My sister and my niece.

Harper did great during the dedication. Her paci fell on the ground thirty seconds before being called up to the stage. She talked a lot, but didn't cry. :)

Harper was getting fussy during the rest of the church service, so my mom left with her and Harper feel asleep on her the rest of the service.

Our beautiful girl!

Our attempt to get a family picture. Canon was not having it.

What a great day of dedicating Harper to the Lord as parents and for celebrating being a mommy to our three precious children. 

Tips for Air Travel with Children and Packing

When we lived in North Carolina we flew very frequently with Canon to visit family. We also did many weekend car trips. I am now packing and preparing for our family to fly out this weekend for Jess's graduation, so I thought I would share a few tips that make things easier when traveling.

YAY!! School is finally over! 

(Did I say that out loud?) 

Anyway, back to air travel tips. Here are a few tips that I find very helpful with little ones when we are flying.

1. When you are packing snacks for your kids to eat on the plane, don't bring a whole bag of goldfish/pretzels/graham crackers, ration them out in snack bags or little snack cups. Then put all your snacks in one gallon ziploc bag, so you can find all the snacks very easily when your child needs them ASAP (or so they think). 

- Also organize your diaper bag by putting all toys in one ziploc, all diaper things in one ziploc, etc. This will help cut down on the rummaging you do on the plane trying to find something. 

2. Make sure to have all your baby food, hand sanitizer, bottles, etc in a clear ziploc so you can get them out during security. 

3. It might cost a little extra money, but buy things that are going to make your life a little easier. I buy pacifier wipes, disposable paper changing pads (who wants to get their cute cloth changing pad nasty in an airport?), take and toss sippy cups, baking soda bags to put dirty diapers in, and a few other things that make traveling easier.

4. If you are bringing baby food, label each baby food for which day and meal with a sharpie. This makes it a lot easier when you are on the go so you don't have to sort through and remember what he/she ate at the last meal. Do all that prep work before you travel. 

5. Bring extra ziploc bags. If you have a wet swim suit you can just throw it in a gallon bag. Also, I always like to go to the grocery store and get a few fresh fruits and vegetables to put in the hotel fridge. I then can put them in baggies to take to dinner with us or for a healthy snack. 

6. If you are bringing bottles, bring a bottle brush and put some dish soap in a travel sized container, so you can wash bottles in the hotel. 

These are just a few suggestions. I could probably write twenty tips, but I will stop at six. Hope this helps! 

Random Pictures of Life Lately

Our sweet girl playing on her play mat. She is crawling now. It takes her a while to get where she wants to go, but she WILL get there. 

Love this picture of these two. There really is a connection between them and I am so thankful. I hope they continue to love one another and have a sweet bond. 

Kisses before bed.

It is hard being a little sister sometimes.

Grocery shopping with mommy.

Harper and I met up with Jess one afternoon for lunch while Canon was at school.

Laughing at daddy.

Jess took Harper out to eat for missions night for our church. Their first little daddy/daughter date.

Sweet memories. I love my family!

Zoo, Birthday, and Dogs

At the beginning of April we took advantage of a beautiful Saturday and a break from packing and went to the zoo. We packed our lunches and our double stroller and headed out. We rode the carousel and the train and saw most of the animals. We had a great family day!

We celebrated Jess's birthday just a few days after we moved. The poor birthday boy was sick (we all were, but he was the worst on this day) and he did house work all day so we could function. We did go out for hibachi with some friends and then came back to the house for cake. 

Canon insisted that we get party hats for Jess. 

Last weekend we took Canon and Harper to the Children's Theater to see Go Dog Go. We had tickets to see it a few weeks ago, but the stomach flu had invaded our family including my mother. We promised Canon we would get tickets for another day. We love the book, Go Dog Go, so we also enjoyed the play. 

Getting ready for it to start. Alvin the chipmunk was excited too. 

One thing I love about Canon is he picks something new about every two or three days to be attached to. He slept with Alvin and it went with us everywhere for about three days, but now it is on the floor and hasn't been touched for days. Right now he is attached to a Tigger stuffed animal. :) 

Both kids were excellent during the play! We will for sure be going back!

Canon says his favorite part of the show was when the red dog came into the crowd and gave him a high five. 

New House

We have been in our new house for about three weeks now and I am able to sit down for a few minutes instead of packing, unpacking, or sifting through boxes trying to find bandaids or there is going to be a major break down because Canon has a teeny tiny scratch. Whew. This has been a long process, but I am so thankful for this new house. We bought the house forever ago. We ended up not moving in for months because the previous owner wanted longer to get out, so he ended up paying us rent because we owned the house. We also wanted to get the entire house painted and get the kitchen cabinets painted. But we are in now and we are loving it. The Lord provided so much for us in so many different ways and we couldn't be more thankful!

I am so behind in my posts of Harper and just every day life happenings, but I hoping to get caught up soon. Canon has dropped his naps pretty much and Harper is so inconsistent with her naps, I am never sure when I am going to get some time to myself. In the evenings Jess and I have been trying to get the house together if we don't have church events or friends to hang out with or Jess is finishing up his master's degree. Life is busy, but I am honestly loving it (most days).

Here is a picture of our kitchen.

Before

(This was taken before the previous owner had moved out)

After

(Not the best picture and the kitchen is not super clean, but you get the idea.)

There of course is so much to be done still and we might not get it done right away, but I am okay with that.