Grow Up With Reading ...

This year the Eudora Elementary students had a chance to create a bookmark for the school library. Each kid took home a blank bookmark and then had the option of drawing something on it to be entered in the school competition. Each grade was competing against itself. A few from each grade would win the competition. If your bookmark was one of the winners from your grade ... then they would make copies of your bookmark and other students could take one and color it when it was their class time in the library. Well ... Little Miss Harleigh Jene's bookmark won for the 1st graders!!! They blew up her bookmark and she got to go into the library and color it ... so it could be displayed on the wall in the library. Then they made copies of her bookmark, put her name and grade on the back of it, and hers are proudly sitting on the library tables in the Eudora Elementary School along with the other school winners.

Can we put on makeup???

Threw out the years, so many people have bought the girls makeup for presents. I have to admit ... when they were younger ... this Mommy did NOT mess with getting it all out. With Breeanna and Harleigh being a year apart ... could you imagine what my bathroom would have looked like if I turned a 5 year old and a 4 year old loose with a zillion different makeup cases???!!! Yeah ... I knew some of you out there could relate. Any Who ... we often get out the makeup, costume jewlrey, dress up clothes, hats, sunglasses and fancy shoes. We have had so many fun moments ... just being girly girls ... just the 3 of us. A couple of weeks ago, the girls asked if they could have a "jewelry store" and a "make up store" ... they played for hours!!! They put makeup on each other, nail polish (yes ... I let them do it themselves ... a big "letting go moment" for this Mommy), they did one anothers hair ... and had differnt "stores" set up in the living room where they could shop for accessories. Here are some photos that they took of each other and their "spa day"/"shopping day".

Here is a section of their "store" that they had set up in our living room ...

Breeanna modeling her hair do ...

Self portrait of her make-up ...

Harleigh's finger nails. Not bad for the first time she did it on herself ... Haa Haa ... this photo makes me laugh. Breeanna told her to close her eyes so she could take a picture of her eye shadow. I thought she was pretending to be alseep at first. Haa haa.

Harleigh all "dolled up" ...

Where have these 7 years gone???

7 years ago at Clint and I welcomed our second child into this world. She was a beautiful baby girl ... with SO much black hair. The nurses told us they had never seen a baby that had as much hair as Harleigh did. She was adorable!!! She looked just like Breeanna did the day she was born. She was everything that I had been dreaming of for those past 9 months.

Then ... an hour after we had Harleigh ... here came our 14 month old little girl, Breeanna, waddling into the hospital room. She instantly went over to Clint ... who was holding Harleigh ... and said "Baby!!!!" Even Breeanna fell in love with this perfect little gift from God the moment she saw her. She was just so darn loveable ... and still to this day ... I just wanna scoop her up and cuddle her.

From the moment that Harleigh arrived into this world ... she loved to be cuddled. She did not want to be put down ... ever. Did I mention ... EVER!?!?!? Her extremely LOUD scream would inform you ... that you better pick her back up ... or all hell was gonna break loose!!! And THAT was a promise she delivered on more than once!!! She had to be swaddled up really tight (a baby burrito as Clint always called it) until she was 10 months old. (Yes!!! I typed 10 months ...)She even had to be rocked to sleep EACH and EVERY time ... up until she was 10 months old. (Yes!!! I typed 10 months again ...) As tired as I was at moments ... rocking her to sleep was such a peaceful moment. Looking down at her ... with her head all snuggled up against my chest ... are photos in my mind that I will cherish forever.

To this very day ... Harleigh and I still have "Cuddle Bug Time". It is just a time we set aside once a week that we snuggle up under the covers in my bed ... and cuddle. Most of the time we both fall asleep ... and Clint is stuck sleeping on the couch (sorry Clinton). But when he sees that perfect innoncent little daughter of his sleeping ... he does not wanna distrurb her. Everytime we cuddle ... I make her promise me that she will always be my baby girl even when she is a grown adult. So far she keeps telling me yes ... so far!!!

I am not even sure how to describe Harleigh. There is not really one word that comes to my mind. She is ... a perfect piece of work. That about sums it up. A perfect piece of work!!! She definatley went through the terrible two's AND three's (YES, we had TWO SOLID YEARS of it with little Miss Harleigh Bug). Clint and I have so many "Harleigh moments" that we will never forget. (From my first "fit thrown in public" at the Oak Park Mall to crawling up on the top bunk where Clint and I could not reach her when she was in trouble. Looking back at it now ... makes me laugh just thinking about it ... gotta love our little Harleigh Bug!!!

She has such a huge heart!!! She some how knows that exact moment that someone is sad and needs some "Harleigh loving" (as Clint and I call it). She instantly walks over to you ... gives you a hug ... kiss ... and tells you that she loves you. Then suddenly ... you forget why you were down and out. She is everyones friend ... and everyone wants to be her friend. I love how she is always there for Breeanna and Eythen. They know that if they want to play something ... all they have to do is ask Harleigh ... and she is there for them no matter what she was previously doing. She is always telling me that I am the best cook in the world or the best Mommy. Then she never misses a beat and looks at Clint and gives him a compliment as well. She tells him that he is best worker in the world (I guess that is what a 7 year old calls a Plumber???) or the best Daddy.

Harleigh ... I can hardly believe that you are 7 years old already. You will forever be 4 in my eyes. I feel like I blinked and you were suddenly in preschool ... then I blinked again and you were off to kindergarten ... and here you are in 1st grade celebrating your 7th birthday. I do not wanna blink again and you are suddenly 17!!! I wish Father Time would slow down the sands of time ... just for a moment. I love you Bugs!!! Do not ever stop being that sweet perfect little girl that Daddy and I love so very much!!!

P.S. I will never forget on your first day of kindergarten ... when I was holding your hand walking you up to the kindergarten doors ... I whispered "I am gonna miss you so much while you are at kindergarten." I kissed you goodbye and waved. I then turned around and cried all the way back to the car (well ... sobbing might be a better word for it actually). I could hardly wait till 11:00 to pick you up and hear about your first day of kindergarten. When I picked you up ... you came running to me all smiles and hugged me. Mrs. Sweany followed came up to me as we were walking back to the car, and told me that you started crying at one point in time during class. When she asked what was wrong ... you told her, "I need to go home because my Mommy is gonna miss me while I am at kindergarten. I do not want her to be sad. I need to go home."

Markers, paper and imagination ...

One rainy evening, Harleigh was sitting at the kitchen table very "caught up in the moment" of what she was doing. She would not let anyone come near the table to see what she was up to. She kept calling Eythen over to the table to "measure" something on him. Clint and I just went about our business ... secretly really wanting to know what her imagination was coming up with next. Mask! Harleigh made MASK for her and Eythen. BUT ... she did not stop there ... she added tails, paws and other things to add to the animal that she was creating. Here are some of the ones that made Clint and I laugh the most.

Ok ... I had to start off with the best "costume", Harleigh's big imagination came up with. This was the last creation that she did ... but it was the one that I laughed the hardest with. I wish I knew what went on in that head of hers. Amazing!

This is the fish costume. She had the fish face ... on top of her head she has a fin taped to her ponytail holder, taped to her rear end is another fin ... the BEST part of all ... look by her elbow ... she taped "gills" to herself as well! PRICELESS!!!

Harleigh is a cat ... and Eythen is the mouse! I thought this was so clever!!! Notice that Eythen is holding a piece of cheese that Harleigh decided he needed to hold. Haa Haa

Tails ... Clint died laughing over this part of the costume. Harleigh came up with putting tails on everyone. Harleigh has a cat tail, Breeanna has an elephant tail and Eythen has a mouse tail. Who would of thought of doing that? Certainly not me!

The famous pig! She even went and got one of her dolls bibs that was pink ... to add some more "color" to her costume. Do you see her curly pig tail? I love the red dots on the face for the pigs cheeks!!!

Harleigh as a cat. This was the first costume she made (the she added the mouse for Eythen). She even did paws on the front of her hands ... and of course the tail!!! Haa Haa

Final touch ... Harleigh thought Lucy needed to be apart of the costume parade!!!

Can I take a picture???

I am always snapping pictures of the kids. I normally have the camera in my hand at all times. I never know when I am gonna have a "moment" that I wanna remember forever. The older the kids have gotten ... the more I seem to snap. I feel like ... I am gonna forget moments in their lives ... and if I take a photo of it ... then I will never forget it (well, hopefully!!!).

I guess my children wanted to try to see if they had their Mommy's "great skills" at "photography". Haa Haa! They were wanting to try hitting that "snap" button to see what moments they could capture in time. So ... with my battery completely full ... I gave them complete control of my camera and let them snap away. I have to say ... 94% of them were close up of their rear ends, the carpet, eyeballs, pieces of paper ... etc. So most of them got deleted. Although, I did save a few of the ones "with possible potential" Haa Haa.

All in all ... I got a really good laugh out of most of them. Oh yeah ... they handed me back my camera when the battery was so low that it shut off the camera.

Harleigh ventures out on her own ...

For awhile now, Harleigh has been saying that she does not want to do the samethings as Breeanna. "She likes to do things on her own". In fact ... at first she did not even wanna do dance again this year ... just because Breeanna "does dance". Need I remind you ... they are not even in the same dance class. So, the time came ... that an activity was available for Harleigh to do without Breeanna. On September 26th, the Eudora cheerleaders were having a cheerleading clinic for the little kids. On Saturday they would have a clinic ... and then the following Friday they would preform at the Eudora Homecoming Football game. 30 minutes before I was suspose to drop her off at the clinic ... the tears began to fall. She did not want to go without Breeanna. She told me "That she did not know how it was going to feel without having Breeanna." Suddenly, "It was too lonely." After alot of encouragement and pep talking from Mommy, she decided to give it a shot.

She clung to my hand the whole time, as we walked into the building ... as her eyes were focused on the floor. I was not really sure if she was gonna do this or not. Harleigh has always had Breeanna by her side for things like this ... but this time ... Harleigh chose to do the clinic and Breeanna decided not to go, and go to the KU football game with Clint instead.

I have to say ... the second we walked into the gym ... she turned around and gave me a nervous look and sat down by a group of kiddos. Two seconds later ... 6 other girls came running over to Harleigh. Suddenly that scared little look on her face ... was giggles, smiles and eyes full excitement! It was a moment of relief for me as well. I did not want my little girl to be scared and wish she was at home the whole 3 hours. So Harleigh entered the clinic with a smile on her face ... and Mommy left with a smile on her face.

Friday rolled around and Harleigh was ready to preform! She was all smiles! She danced her little heart out, cheered withthe big girls, smiled the whole time, waved at people she saw in the crows that she knew and did an outstanding job for her first time not having big sister by her side.

Oh yeah ... how could I forget ... Harleigh's favorite part of the evening??? You guess it ... the snack they got when it was all said and done. That's my girl!!!