Every year a local restaurant goes to all the grade schools (well over 100) and serves all the 1st graders Green Eggs and Ham to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. Maggie's was a few weeks ago, but since I am a slacker I am just getting around to post it.

She loves food more specifically meat. She ate her ham and anyone around her that couldn't eat theirs fast enough! She also loved the eggs.

Always remember

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any

direction you choose."

~Dr.Seuss "Oh, the Places You'll Go"

Hello again old friend. It has been so long since we have talked, I bet you thought I had forgotten about you. I have not, I have just been neglectful.

We have been busy running here and there doing all kinds of things with the kids. That is no excuse I know, but we will be back in action starting tomorrow. Maggie has her Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat breakfast and I promise to post.

~Genai

Fall is in full swing!

Soccer every night of the week and an added bonus this year...

Brody is wrestling . So much fun!

Here are some pictures of the kids games. Hopefully soon we will have some pics of Brody doing his thing too.

Maggie has found her stride on the soccer field. She is so feisty at home but for some reason that attitude does not make it to the playing field. A couple weeks ago I actually caught her saying excuse me to a little girl from the other team as she was trying to take the ball. She never says that at home!!! This week she really worked the other team.

Wyatt is on a new team this year and having a blast. He had been with the same team for a long time, and even though he was disappointed to be on a different team this fall I think it is a great fit for him. He has been goalie every game and is great at it.

Of course the week I forgot the camera Wyatt was diving for every ball kicked his way; and this weeks game our team really never let the other team close to their goal (which is a good thing), but I still got a few good pics.
The rain seems to be here for good, so here's to soccer in the rain! Is there any other way to experience fall? I don't think so. Not in the Harper house anyway!

Obviously summer is not the easiest time for me to blog in the Harper house. When the kids are at school I usually write during nap time when it is quiet, but in the summer the house is always hopping so down time is minimal. Therefore I have neglected the blog.
Enough with the excuses, here is a quick recap of our summer activities.

The kids underground in a tunnel near the Ape Caves

Brody learned how to water ski this summer. He did a great job, he even got up first try.

This pretty much sums up our summer. Hanging life jackets up to dry. Once the weather turned warm enough to be out on the boat we were out almost every day. We totally lucked out and Rex took vacation the first full week of 80-90* weather. It was awesome!

You would think with it being summer and me not being at the kid's school most days I would get more blogging done. Well, that has obviously not been the case. We have been so busy.

"Doing what?" you ask.

"Nothing."

I am not sure what has taken up our days, but they have been full. I have started a new book series that has taken over quite a bit of "free time". That is in quotations because it really isn't "free" there are several things I should be doing but am not! This is the book I am reading now. 4th in a series of 5. The good news is I am almost done, the bad news is I have another series to start right after this one.

I have 3 of my friends kids for the rest of the week while they are on a trek with the youth of our church so prolific blogging does not look like it will make the "To Do" list at least until the beginning of next week.

Happy Summer!

A few months ago Rex bought an old Honda Prelude to drive to and from work. The boys think it is the coolest thing in the world.(apparently they inherited his love for trashy cars.)

Either way, Wyatt was riding in the front around the neighborhood and couldn't find the button to roll the window down. Rex told him he had to crank it down. Wyatt was a little put out but he did. When it came time to roll it back up Wyatt told Rex "this is too much work, holy cow!"

This experience sparked a barrage of questions about "old things". Wyatt realized there were no electric seats or mirrors in dad's new car, no built in GPS system, no DVD player, no heated seats. Nothing he was so used to having in our other cars. How spoiled is he I ask you?

After the boys came home we started talking about how much things have changed just since Rex and I were kids. The technological boom has really changed things.

Here are some pics I found on line I thought might bring back some memories.

And no it has not escaped my attention that this post makes me look and sound REALLY old!

Console Television. You had to get up to change the channel and there weren't 1000 channels to choose from. Although our family was the first to get cable in the neighborhood! Props to us.

Rotary Phones. 6...9...6...2...1...9...3... That was my grandma's phone number when I was little. Please note there is no caller I.D. screen. That is the best part of modern phones. That, and the fact that they are cordless. As a parent your kids being tethered to a common room isn't such a bad thing though.

Pay Phones You want to call someone when you are away from home? Pick up the nasty germ infested public phone, put in your quarter (when I was really little it was a dime) and then pray you don't dial the wrong number because you only have one quarter! I was somewhere the other day and saw a pay phone, it costs $.50 to make a call now. Holy Cow inflation sucks! Long gone are the days of using the excuse "but I didn't have a quarter to call you and tell you I was going to be late!" The good thing about pay phones? You had to memorize numbers. No one knows any ones phone number anymore.

VCR's. So cool, you could go to a store, rent a movie and watch it over and over. You could even record off of t.v.. it really was a game changer. I remember my parents debating if they should by a beta or a VHS. Our neighbors bought a beta and we bought a VHS. We won!!!

Music has an entire section

This Smurf record player rocks! I did have a MUCH cooler Strawberry Shortcake one back in the day. It was SUPER cool and came with records with pictures on the front.


8 tacks. We had one in our truck. Want to hear a song again? Too bad you have to fast forward the entire thing to get back one song! And you better not leave it in the car if it's too hot. That puppy will warp and you will have to use your foot to jam it in the player.

Oh yeah. Cassette Tapes. Wait all night next to your radio, wait for your favorite song, miss the first second, record it and then accidental record the DJ talking over the ending. Mixed tapes rocked. It took so much more effort that play lists do today.

C.D.'s come out and you have to be mobile right? Oh yeah, just don't move too quickly or it will skip.

As most of you know, Rex takes the 4th of July very seriously. Serious might be an understatement, but I don't know if there are any words to describe the madness.

Here he is proud of his new Burnzomatic torch and holster!

This year our grandma and grandpa. Great-Grandpa Harper, Tassie, Jereme and Bridger (Rex's little sister, her husband and son) all came for the celebration.

Great-Grandpa and the stash

The line of kids waiting their turn to shoot of a fireworks

Rex teaching the kids one at a time is never enough



Hudson was a natural. I thought he would be scared when it started shooting, but he just laughed.

Rex and our nephew Bridger. You are never too young.

Rex showing everyone how it is done.

Putting out the fire in the neighbor's back yard. We covered the pool to protect it and it still caught fire. Some of the lady bugs went rouge this year so we had to stop using them.

Pre-fireworks crowd. I bet there were 100 more people there once the show started. People from the neighborhood just kept filing in. Most of whom I had never seen.

Just a few pictures of the fabulous show. Rex really out did himself this year. I am not sure if he loves blowing things up or watching peoples reactions more.

One of the shots from this one caught Rex in the arm. He is burned pretty bad, but doesn't complain. He just hoped it leaves a cool scar!

Happy Independance Day!