Six Weeks of Happenings

Alright. We all know the drill. I pretend to be shocked at the lack of pictures I've taken. I select a few. And I write a little quip about each. 

First.... She's Back!!!!!

Destinee is Home.

My life can be whole again :)

At the airport we were all a little anxious. And we all know what happens when you give a 'Welcome Home' sign to an anxious group of toddlers :)...

We're all together again! (The sisters anyway) Can I just say: I'm so... happy!...

Halloween, was awesome. (Un?)Fortunately we still have loads of candy left. 

A bumblebee (again) who, when given the choice to select her piece of candy, would wave her hand back and forth over the bowl, pick up a piece, quickly throw it back and say, "Actually..."

Every time.    :)...

This is Taylor. After a few trips and scuffs. The "before" was a beautiful ballerina-fairy. This is the "after." I kinda liked the ballerina-fairy-psycho look myself...

And the beautiful ballerina (not to be confused with ballerina-fairy). She somehow ended up with three times the amount of candy as the other two...

And the Goodlads came down, so there were of course late nights, good times, and good food (provided by Red Lobster, not myself)...

And this is me getting spoiled on my birthday. I... am a lucky girl...

Wait. Where are the Thanksgiving pictures?! Oh. Right, they're... nonexistent. But it was wonderful. I am Thankful for my beautiful family. 

Kind of an abrupt end... but... That's it!

He... is Here

Yes, the post we have all been waiting for. Jack Russell Harrington was born on October 6, 2012 at 2:25 AM. He weighed 6 lb 15 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. And besides all of that, he is absolutely perfect. 

We'll start with the hospital pictures (do you see that? It's a BLUE hat!)...

Can you tell these two are a little bit happy?...

And the proud papa with all of his little ones (isn't he cute with four kids??!)...

Mom, Dad, and Junior (I haven't actually called him that out loud, but as those are his initials, it may or may not happen)...

And leaving the hospital (in the blanket Russ left the hospital in... as a baby--not recently)...

And now for the good stuff. Glamour Shots by Deb  (Haha, just kidding Deb, I couldn't resist) Our good friend Deborah with FunnyFace Photography came and took some pictures. Which I tried to pick out just a few, but it was tough. I love ALL of them. But here goes:

Our little handsome guy... 

Now give us a man face (awe!!!)...

So. Cute...

 I know, I know. I won't give commentary on all of them, but... how sweet?! (Oh, I love him!)...

Do you notice he is wrapped around daddy's finger in the last picture? Oh, how it is the other way around. He has us all wrapped around his, teeny tiny little fingers. And he doesn't even try.

A word about our little newborn:

I love having a newborn in our home. It is amazing to me how much my thoughts are directed heavenward. What a miracle it is that he is here. What a miracle that all of his teeny tiny parts are so perfectly formed--his fingers, his fingernails, his toes, his eyelashes, his little heart, EVERYTHING. What a miracle that he was in Heaven not long ago. In the presence of Heavenly Father, with our sweet little Kamry. What did they talk about those last moments before he came to earth? How I want to be a better mother than I am now. I want him to know that I love him. And most importantly I want for his sweet spirit to stay as close to Heaven as it is now. 

There is nothing more perfect than holding this sweet little boy, eyes wide open, perfectly still, tiny fingers resting on my chest, the only sound are his little breaths. That is truly Heaven on Earth.

Summer Favorites

Since it's been a while, I thought I would just go through my (painfully few) summer pictures and just share a few of my favorites (note: several major events are admittedly not included--I'm that lazy).

This camping trip had some of my favorite pictures of my girls. The first set is Hallie painting a stick. Her concentration was adorable...

Cleaning the brush...

The masterpiece in progress...

And the our good friend and AMAZING photographer, Deb, took these:

Taylor, posing (what else?)...

Oh, this one melts my heart!..

This one captures these girls to a T. Nothing better than having your children become best friends (except for having that coupled with "and never worst enemies" But a mother can only ask so much)...

And, yes, Brecken was there too (I love the tooth-losing stage he he)...

Most of the gang...

And this little girl (a favorite camera smile here)...

Turned two! This is her on the big day, showing off the birthday eating goodness...

A word about the terrible-two's, if I may:

Are they really terrible? Yes. Yes they are. With the favorite pastimes including, getting into toothpaste, the makeup, the pantry, and every other item attached with the phrase "no-no," there is a lot that is terrible. BUT (and a big huge but here) as terrible as it is, it is every bit compensated by cuteness and beyond. This is by far the most fun stage of toddlerdom. Every little, "Eekie my weedee, eetha MOON!" (which translates into "Look out my window, it's the MOON!" and "Ope! Pff" is heart melting. I could go on, but, I'll stop. She's cute.

And this little girl (that's Taylor under there)...

Turned FOUR! Didn't four used to seem older? I did get a few pictures on her actual Birthday, but they didn't make the "favorite pictures" cut. So that's all you get. But these did:

Taylor's FIRST haircut (I know, four years without a trim is pretty pathetic) She was pretty ecstatic to be the one under the shears this time.

And I know what you're wondering: Is that a garbage bag caped around her? Yes. Yes it is...

And Ta-Da! Yeah. she looks the same, only in this picture it's wet...

This one is just cute (no back story, she was just whining)...

And I know this seems like a Taylor-Hallie post, but Brecken gets in here also. Here is the first day of school. She is attending The Harrington Academy of Private Education and she is #1 in her class. Her teacher goes on and on about her, and we are all so proud ;)...

And a highlight of HER summer was a butterfly that she caught AND it liked her ;) so it stayed around long enough to snap a few photos...

Well. That's a wrap. Not a particularly climactic ending. But summer was good. Very, very good.

OOooh.

I asked Taylor to fill a page writing O's. She took it seriously, and this is what I heard (in whispers to herself), in tones bouncing between frustration to pleased:

"Oh, man!... that's a D.... That's a good one... Uuuuuhh. Another D.... D... That's a good one... Hmmm, I don't know what that is... Uuuugh... Haha! An L?!...Uh, D... Oh. That's a good one..."

I could not stop chuckling to myself every time another exclamation burst from her mouth. This was her paper... 

I enjoyed trying to guess which ones were the, "good ones" and which ones were "D's." There were a few that fell into the category of, "I don't know what that is," but she only said it once. I wonder when :)

Russ Is Happy.

Of course I am too. But, for the few of you who haven't heard Russ shout it from the house top...

It's a BOY!!

The Harringtons finally did it. And Russ hasn't stopped grinning since he found out :)

(I think the twenty girly emotional meltdowns we witnessed today only fed the flame of his excitement--no more of that--riiiiiiiggght ;])

Brecken's Birthday and... Ok, Disneyland Again

It all started like this:

A cute little six-year-old was on the verge of a seventh birthday. Mom and Dad really wanted to go to wanted to do something extra special for sweet, little almost-seven-year-old . The idea was good, the plans were made, and then (drum roll, please) the Birthday...

Still unsuspecting, and yet in bliss...

Cupcakes were shared...

And all was good. Then the secret was out. The beans were spilled. The surprise unveiled Disneyland here we come...

What??!! No pictures or videos??!! Well, she was happy ;) 

This time we did it family style. Or, rather, bigger family style (this was a fun group)...

It was pretty awesome. In Disneyland, a must see with a family of girls are the princesses. Last year the favorite was Rapunzel. This year? Cinderella. Here are pictures of both :) (do you see it?)...

Brecken commented, "Wow, Cinderella is even prettier this year!"   ;)

One difference between trips is that the amount of pictures was cut by 90%. Really. But we got a few, here are each of our girls:

Brecken (complete with birthday pin you'll note)...

Taylor (no, I did not ask her to pose, this is how she was... the whole time... just crazy. and cute. heavy on the crazy)...

And Hallie [the vacant expression on her face is what she wore all of Disneyland--except when the bar was coming down across her lap--then she cried--a lot (tips and tricks: don't ride Haunted Mansion first with small children) she was still so fun!)...

And the iconic Teacup Ride...

Oh, Disneyland. 

Before I end, I have to add one more picture (I know, I should end with that, shouldn't I?). I have to say that--although unspoken--Russ has determined we will not vacation anywhere we can't see a major league baseball game (don't try to deny it, Russ--I know it's true ;])...

And wouldn't you know? We got to see the Angels pitch a no-hitter. For all you baseball know-not-much's: That's amazing. In fact, the whole trip was just that: AMAZING.

Happy Easter

It really was a nice day for us. Actually I was a little under the weather, so I didn't get to go to the park for the family Easter Egg Hunt. But my kids did, and here are some of my favorite pics (Thanks Vanessa!)

Brecken and her new favorite thing in the world kite...

Remember I was under the weather? Don't mind the scraggly hair (still pretty adorable)...

Awe...

With all the cousins...

This was on Saturday. On Sunday I didn't get any pictures. No video. But it was amazing. The Easter Bunny hid things all over the house, and not only were their squeals and screams upon finding things, but when there was an idea where to look as well.

After that we had a very peaceful Sunday. It was really neat to watch the videos from lds.org about Christ's atonement, death, and resurrection. Probably the highlight of my day was when the house was quiet, Hallie was asleep in her crib, I was laying in bed, and the girls had snuck their Easter Baskets; then Taylor broke the silence with, "I love Jesus. Do you?" and Brecken replied, "Mmmhmm. Me too."

It was a good Easter