The Harwell Fam: 2008

12/30/08

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

We had a great Christmas! We celebrated Jesus' birthday by making Him cupcakes on Christmas Eve and then we read about His birth on Christmas morning. All during the holidays, if you ask Madelyn, " Whose birthday are we celebrating?," she would say Jesus but I think she was a little confused with the whole idea of Jesus' Birthday and Santa coming. We shared our cupcakes with Santa (the reindeer didn't get any food at our house this year). Also, as you can see below, along with Santa, Brooks enjoyed the cupcakes! We hope everyone enjoyed celebrating Jesus' birth and we wish all you a happy new year! Last post for 2008! See you in 2009!

12/22/08

Our Santa Visit

Well, we finally got to go see Santa tonight. I really talked it up to Madelyn about how we were going to see Santa and how she could sit in his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. After seeing a friend of hers sit in his lap, she did pretty good (last year she would not get anywhere near Santa). The whole time Madelyn just stared in awe. Now Brooks on the other hand, was a totally different story. See above, Brooks was happy waiting in line. See below, not so happy.

He started crying the second we put him in Santa's lap (before we sat Madelyn down).

Madelyn looking confused and Brooks still crying

Madelyn looking at Santa like "who are you???"

Christmas with the Hill Family

This past weekend, we had Christmas with my family at my parent's house. It was so much fun to be together as a family. My brother lives in SC so we cherish the couple of times a year that we get to see them. We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and hope that you enjoy your time with your family. Above is a picture of Wyatt wearing paintball glasses.

Bobby and Ashlyn acting goofy

The four Harwells

Madelyn and her cousin, Andrew

Andrew and Wyatt

Patrick teaching Madelyn at a young age how to shoot a gun!

Graham, Carter, Andrew, and Wyatt posing in their new jerseys their Aunt Wendy gave them for Christmas!!

12/18/08

Look who's walking

It's little Booger!!!! He just started a week ago taking steps (he is 14 months old). Madelyn started walking at 15 months. Congrats to our little man! Right now he only walks 7 or 8 steps and then plops down. But I am sure, that soon, he will be everywhere.

More Whitefish pictures to come later! We had a blast!!!

I've been tagged!!!

I've been tagged - so here is my 4th picture in my 4th folder in my files -

This is our family picture the day that Brooks got Baptised at our church this past summer!!

I now tag: Brooke, Tawyna, and Sara B (yall might have already been tagged recently)

12/13/08

Whitefish Montana (Part 1)

Greetings from Whitefish, Montana! We have arrived and are having a blast. Getting here was no fun, though. Madelyn couldn't wait to get on the plane and then she decided to be a 2 1/2 year old on the plane and made several trips to the bathroom for a spanking. Brooks, on the other hand, was great! Yesterday was so much fun... we got to ski and sled all day! But today we are experiencing a blizzard and negative degree weather and have spent the day shopping and being inside.

The fam at the bunny slope!

What a beautiful view from the chair lifts!

Having fun in the sled

Our little snow bunny

Leslie and Aunt E playing in the snow

Aunt E taking ski lessons... now she is the best skier in the bunch

12/9/08

Fun Times with Good Friends

Yesterday, we went to Clay and Addison's house to play. Madelyn and Clay had a ball making this gingerbread house. Madelyn was mostly eating the candy before it made it on the house. See below for finished product!

Addison's toes are being painted pink and the boys are watching hoping that they are not going to be my next client. Hopefully, her toes will stay painted for her big day on Sunday (she is turning one). Oh, how fast a year flies! Addison, will miss you this weekend but hope that you have a fun party and know that we love you very much!!!!

Last week, we went to the carousel with our friend Meredith and had fun taking all sorts of photos. Susan and I happened to buy this same Christmas outfit for our daughters and thought it would be fun to take their pictures together. Aren't they cuties?

Christmas in Florence

This past weekend, we went to Florence, AL to have Christmas with Patrick's Grandparents, his parents, and his brother and his wife (Andrew and Elizabeth). We had a great time hanging out and spending quality time together. It was great to see everyone (esp. Granddaddy Al and Granny, since we had not seen them in a while). Above is a crazy picture of the four of us attempting to knock Andrew on the floor (what a face I am making!). We are leaving on a ski trip to Whitefish, MT this Thursday with Patrick's parents and Andrew and Elizabeth. Madelyn is so excited about getting on the plane. We are all looking forward to the trip.

The whole family!!

Madelyn and Granny playing the organ!

11/30/08

Fun day in Tuscaloosa

We went to the Alabama/Auburn game yesterday and had a great time. We tailgated with some of Patrick's college friends and their families (we missed the others that couldn't come). We had an awesome tailgate and then Bama played an awesome game. It felt good to end the streak and to end it by winning 36 - 0! Roll Tide!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a great time with family over the past few days. I am so thankful to have the Lord as my Savior, to have a wonderful husband and two beautiful kids, to have family that loves us, to have friends that are always there for you, to have good health, and the list could go on. God is so good to all of us!!! We spent Wednesday to Friday at my parents house. Above is a picture of my mom, me, my grandmother, my sister, Madelyn, and my sister's mother-in-law. Friday morning (at 5:00) the girls went shopping until 2:00 (I was completely exhausted). Before we left Montgomery, we got to have dinner with Patrick's family and my sister-in-law's (Elizabeth) family. It was fun getting to see them over the thanksgiving weekend.

Bobby carving the turkey (getting ready for the big meal)

Me about to shoot a rifle (move back I'm armed! :) )

My precious angel in her turkey outfit

11/18/08

Precious Smiles

11/9/08

Musings from a Two Year Old

We were in Madelyn's room today and she pointed to her cross hanging on the wall and said, "Mommy, cross ... Jesus!" What a sweet thing to hear!

Tonight, getting ready for life group, I put on a down vest jacket, and she said, "Mommy, are you going swimming?"

When we are talking about Alabama and Auburn, she totally knows who is for who. She will say, "Roll Tide, Mommy and right after will say War Eagle, Daddy or the other way around."

11/3/08

Weekend Fun

We had a fun, but busy weekend. Friday morning we went to a fall festival with some of our friends. It was loads of fun (Madelyn is now at a great age to do all the little booths). Friday night we had dinner with our neighbors and then walked to the block party in our neighborhood to trick or treat. Madelyn enjoyed getting all the candy. She was one cute little fairy (thanks to her friend Meredith for the costume) and Brooks was a cute little inch worm. He slept through all of the trick or treating. Saturday we went to Tuscaloosa to watch the Alabama Homecoming parade and walk around campus. The kids enjoyed watching the firetrucks and bands in the parade. While we were in Tuscaloosa, we also saw some good friends who just had a baby. Saturday night, Patrick and I went to a Halloween costume party and had a blast. I have not stayed up that late in a long time. It was fun seeing the creative costumes which everyone wore.