THE HARALSONS

{CATCHING UP}

Blogging has fallen to the bottom of my to-do list lately. Actually, there has been much to blog about in the past month because of the crazy winter weather and Cleve & Parker both celebrated birthdays. However, our family has caught every sickness going around the past few weeks. First, we all got the stomach bug and now Parker has a double ear infection and a bacterial infection that settled in her eyes and nose. I have pneumonia and Cleve's hip has been bothering him so much he can barely walk some days. We are all pretty pathetic and it's making me long for warm Spring days with cold/flu season ending.

Since I'm home bound for a while I figured I'd try to catch everyone up a little. I haven't taken great pictures lately because I'm not too fond of my little camera and also Parker is in a phase where she almost always refuses to look at the camera, much less smile. But here's the best I've gotten from the past month...

CLEVE'S BIRTHDAY & BONFIRE

I decided to surprise Cleve for his 31st birthday since I was a bad wife last year and pretty much let the big 3-0 pass without much thought. The plan was to have a big bonfire party at my Aunt & Uncle's place. They live on 10 acres in Franklin and their place is absolutely beautiful. However, it decided to pour rain the night of the party so we were confined to the porch and inside. Thanks to my sweet Aunt, the party was still a success and we had a great night with friends.

Since we didn't have a bonfire that weekend we did have the third annual Christmas tree burning in our backyard the next weekend. It was a great time (as usual) and all the kids LOVE seeing the trees burn up and then roast marshmallows afterward. We managed to successfully burn three trees without catching anything else on fire or having the fire department called. It's now officially a tradition to have a Christmas tree burning every January at our house.

SURPRISE!!

Our sweet friends, The MacDiarmids, came from Knoxville

The guys setting up the bonfire

Our flaming Christmas tree

The spectators (a.k.a. Friends & Neighbors)

ICE STORM

We had a huge snowstorm hit the first week of February. It was beautiful snow that quickly turned to ice that coated the city of Franklin for several days. It wasn't great for snowball fights, snowman building or making snow angels, however it was PERFECT for sledding. Luckily we have a wonderful long hill on our street that we enjoyed sledding on. Even Parker had a blast zooming down the hill. It was a fun weekend where we stayed at home and enjoyed the beauty that God gave us in the form of snow.... however, the next week was the horrible week of the stomach bug. I'm so glad that is behind us and I pray we never all have it at the same time again!!

Our winter wonderland. The yard is a solid sheet of ice

Sledding down the driveway with the girls

Parker sledding her baby doll

PARKER TURNS THREE

Every year is the same. I look at my baby girl and can't believe we're celebrating another wonderful year in her life. She is precious and every day I am amazed at her brilliance and tenderheartedness. She is truly a compassionate soul and we know God will use her in great ways. We had a wonderful time last weekend celebrating her third birthday. It's hard to think of inexpensive winter birthday party ideas that will be fun for a herd of 2 - 4 year olds. We decided to fill up a baby pool with 500 balls and it was by far the best idea we've had in a while. The kids had a blast, no one got hurt and my house was not destroyed. The party was a success and Parker really appreciated all the attention. We had a Pink Poodle theme (partly because she wanted a pink doggie theme and also because we call her "Parker Poodle Pants"... not sure how that started). She told me about twenty times, "Mommy, thank you so much for my birthday decorations and my party." However, she loved celebrating so much that she still says it's her birthday. She's so cute I just go along with it... birthdays are special and life is nothing to take for granted. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU our precious "Parker Poodle Pants". We love you more than you'll ever know!!