Merry Christmas to all....and to all a goodnight.

I just wanted to take a minute and say Merry Christmas to everyone. I am so grateful for the blessing of Christmas time. I love the song playing, A baby Changes Everything. I can't even imagine what Mary went through. Also the faith that it took for Mary and Joseph. I am grateful to them.
I am grateful for that baby who came to earth and lived and died for mankind. I am grateful for my Savior and his gift of the Atonement. He gave to us what we could not do for ourselves. How blessed we are to have the things we do today. A nice home, cars that run, four beautiful healthy children, great friends, and many, many other things. I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is such a comfort to me to know that there is a true prophet leading this church. I am grateful for the sacrifice and service they do for all of us.
I wish I could tell even a small part of what I feel for my Savior, and for Christmas time. The Christmas feeling of joy, and for one small moment, peace on earth. In the Ensign article, The Best Christmas Ever, President Monson says this:

"If we are to have the very best Christmas ever, we must listen for the sound of sandaled feet. We must reach out for the Carpenter’s hand. With every step we take in His footsteps, we abandon a doubt and gain a truth.

It was said of Jesus of Nazareth that He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”7 Do we have the determination to do likewise? One line of holy writ contains a tribute to our Lord and Savior, of whom it was said, He “went about doing good … ; for God was with him.”8

My prayer is that at this Christmas season and all the Christmastimes to come, we may follow in His footsteps. Then each Christmas will be the best Christmas ever."

This is my prayer as well. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU!!!!!!!!

PS

If you would like to read the whole article here it is.

Confession.

I saw the funniest commercial today. Burger King is running new spots showing people who have never had a Whopper in their lives, crazy to think about huh!!! Well these people are from places like remote tops of mountains and have more goats than teeth if you know what I mean. The spot goes on to call these people "whopper virgins" well I'm just here to confess that I Nathan Harward, more affectionately known as BIG NATE to my homeboys, for obvious reasons, am a A-1, bona fide Whopper WHORE! There I said it, I step from the shadows and face the light. I'm a dirty, dirty boy!!!!!


P.S. I was eating one while I wrote this.

It's beguining to look alot like Christmas?

Ummm...not really. OK yes there are beautiful decorations, but the weather is crazy! It is kind of hard to think about Christmas when you are running around in shorts! Don't get me wrong it was a wonderful day yesterday! I couldn't keep Noah inside for nothing. He played in the back and dug up the yard for hours! I guess the more outside he is the cleaner the inside stays. Alright I will stop complaining, but come on Jack Frost would one tiny little flurry kill ya!

10-3 BABY!!!!

I just have to give my shout out to the Panthers!WOOOWHOOOOOOO!!!!!!! They played a great game last night!

We went to watch it over at Momma Brinkmans. (she has satellite we don't.) So the whole fam went to have a sleepover. Yep you read that right...all of us. It was a lot of fun. Me and the kids got there at about 6:30 or 7:00pm. Kelly was already there with her kids.(don't worry she didn't stay.) Nathan came after work, so he got there shortly after the kickoff. It was a great game!!! So Dena' MVP's of the game were....... Diangelo Williams #34 and Jonathon Stewart #28. Great game guys..sniff..sniff...it was beautiful....sigh....=)

Don't worry Peppers. You're still our #1.(teehee.)

Nathan working on a Saturday!

Today Nathan had to go down to Charlotte for a annual drivers meeting. This year there was a little twist....they had it at Panthers Stadium! I am sooooo jealous!!!!! These are the pictures of Nathan hard at work! Poor Baby!

The Sign says, "Please stay off the field.

Nathan and Waseem testing Panthers security.=)
And here is Nathan ignoring said sign.Tempting the old security guard. Needless to say the next picture has Nathan being tackled by a 80 yr old security guard. just kidding.=)


Shot from the media box. Makes you want to become a journalist don't it!

Nathan and Waseem sitting at the commentators desk where Panthers do their broadcast from.

Waseem is the professional commentator, and Nathan looks like he had a little something to loosen him up before the show.

"Hey come on guys!I'll do better next time!"

Ahhh...beauty and the beast. You decide which is which!LOL!

He sees you when your sleeping.....

He knows when you awake. Who am I talking about you say. Why Santa of course. Ever wonder how Santa sees everything? Introducing the Santa cam.

What?! It looks like a home security system. That's the beauty of it. It helps Santa keep up with your children, and keeps your home secure. It also is a great behavior modifier. Don't believe me? Well let me give you a few examples:

Ex#1- Noah and I were sitting at the computer yesterday, when he began to get... well let's just say a little rowdy. You know attacking me for no reason. Me, being the good Mother that I am and wanting Santa to see the very best from him, simply pointed out that the Santa Cam was on and that Santa could see everything he was doing. If he would stop fighting everyone, and tell us that he was sorry, then maybe Santa would bring him some presents this year. Noah looked apprehensively at he camera and tried to play it off like he was just joking around.He said,"Sorry Mom.heeehee(nervous laugh) I love you." Priceless.

Still not convinced?

Ex#2- Noah loves to flip over my rocking chair in the living room. I won't lie to ya folks it drives me crazy! So I simply informed him that he needed to sit in it the right way. Well after 3 tries of this I remembered the Santa Cam. Once again it came to my rescue. This is how it went....

Me:"OK Noah that is the third time I have told you to put up that rocking chair! Remember Santa can see you with his camera!"

Noah:"No he can't! The Christmas tree is in the way! (So not the best placement of the Santa Cam in the living room ..the tree IS in the way.=)

Me:"Well he can HEAR YOU, and me, and he heard me tell you TO STOP DOING THAT!"

Of course He immediately flipped the rocking chair over and sat in it the right way.

**A word of caution though folks. The Santa cam can backfire in certain instances.

Noah:"Mom you are NOT getting anything for Christmas! Santa saw you being very bad!"

(That was when I woke him up this morning. I guess it was to early for tickle torture.=)

Music

I love music. I don't know what it is about it. I love almost any kinds of music. Lately I have been listening to the Twilight soundtrack. Well OK mostly one song from it. Can you guess what it is....I bet ya can. Flightless bird by Iron and Wine. You know the one when Bella and Edward are dancing at the prom. Emma is like, "Mom is that the only song on there?" and "Dude you have listened to that like 500 times already!" She cracks me up.=)

It's not that I don't like the whole thing, because I do. I just REALLY REALLY like that one. I am sure you guys do the same thing. (I know you do Renee! Remember Perhaps love.)

Anyway what are your favorite songs?

Nathan..Nathan..bonathan...bannafanna...

I love this picture Mandi.

Classic Nathan.LOL!

This tag was fun! Everyone should do it!

The Husband Tag



What is your husband's name?Nathan Andrew

How long have you been married? 11 years.



How long did you date? That is kind of iffy, Nathan said it was about 3 weeks.=) We grew up together so it is kind of hard to say a time.



How old is he? 32



Who is older?I am by 6 months, and he doesn't let me forget it.



Who is taller? Nathan. I think I come up to his chin.



Who can sing best? Nathan has the prettier voice, but I sing more than him. Does that count?



Who is smarter? Him, definitely! I am better a Jeopardy though. You know the dumb stuff that doesn't help anyone!=)



Who does laundry? I do the laundry, but I hate it!!!!!!!



Who pays the bills? Nathan. He is better at it than me.



Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?Nathan does. That is where the alarm is.



Who mows the lawn? Nathan does, but sometimes I will cut the top of the yard just to have some alone time.=) It is pretty fun actually.



Who cooks dinner? Me, most of the time, but Nathan likes to cook. He cooks on the weekends.



Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me. Only because Nathan is NEVER wrong. wink...wink.



Who wears the pants?I think we both do. I know I pout until I get my way.



Favorite recent quote of his: Oh boy there are so many to choose from! Lately he just keeps repeating Kung Fu Panda...."There is no charge for awesomeness...or attractiveness."

It's FIXED!!!

Sorry I took this picture with my phone, but as you can see Emma's tooth is fixed! It took almost two hours. She did great except for a lot of sighing. The kind that sounds like you just can't
stand it anymore! I guess it was more like huffing. Even the quiet, hardly says a word, dentist commented about it. I think her tooth looks wonderful!!!

Photo tag.

The fourth picture of your fourth folder.

My house will never be this clean again. LOL!

I tag whoever wants to do it!=)

Like.A.Pit Bull.

OK so most of you know that Emma got her tooth knocked out on sat by one of the girls friends who had come over to play that day. (Yeah don't get me started on that. Needless to say that kid is NEVER coming to our house again!) So yesterday we to the dentist to get it fixed. Well he sent us to an Endodontist(I think that is how it is spelled.) I won't go into too many details because it was not fun, but there are a few funny points of the visit that must be addressed.

#1- Emma hates to go to the dentist! With good reason. So to say she was a little stressed about this visit is a understatement. She went to the bathroom at least 7 times in a five minute wait in the lobby. She even had to go during the exam. Her words,"I HAVE TO GO NOW!!!!!!" yeah she yelled it.

#2-The doctor should have known better. When she was getting her shots to numb her mouth she grabbed his arm. When this didn't work she hit him. I was thinking "Hit him harder!!!" (He kept telling her not to scream out because he had other adult patients. Screw them!!)

#3- The doctor got his. As he was working on Emma I guess she had finally had enough. Her survival instincts kicked in.She clamped down on his finger and bit the crap out of him! Seriously folks, there was tears in his eyes! He kept flexing it the rest of the time. He told the nurse that he wasn't putting his finger back in there.Not only did she bite him, she did not want to let go! Hence the title like a pit bull.

Can you believe after all that I can say that he was a good doctor. Very nice man. After it was over he just kept patting Emma on the back telling her what a good job she did. The funny nurse just said, "Aw, he gets bit all the time." So now that is done she will go on Thursday and get the last part done. Then we can show you the after pictures.

Christmas comes early to the Harward Home.

Yep this is what we did today! Can you believe it! The funny part is I was going to decorate last week. I don' t know what has gotten into me!=) This is part of my snowman collection. I love snowmen, snow women, snow babies, you name it!

Here is the tree. I could only find 2 strands of lights...so this is a work in progress.

As is the mantel. My grandmother made this little cuties. I should have gotten a close up for ya. Maybe next time.

Welcome to the Harward Home!!!

I forgot all about these snowflakes. I bought them last year, they were like a dollar. So it felt like Christmas finding all my good deals that I got at the end of the season.(placemats, cookie jars, trees, etc...)




Do I have to say it?LOL!!!

(I found this beauty at a thrift shop.25 cents.=)

Let's get this party started!

So I wasn't able to go to church yesterday. Nothing serious just feeling a little under the weather. I had my Mom announce our home, family, and personal enrichment night for me and pass out handouts. So usually we have about 8 to 10 people come put to our activities. Well if everyone come that signed up to come we should have over 20 people! I know to some that might not sound like a lot but to me...well it has kind of made me nervous! All the goodies and things that I have are for 15 max. So now I(and when I say I, I mean you guys=) get to come up with games that I can give away things as door prizes. You are probably wondering what the picture of the martini glass has to do with anything. Well I have 15 of these and was going to use them so we can feel fancy. Don't worry ladies Momma Judy has already solved this problem. She has some glasses we can use. So what I need from you guys is some ideas!!! Please!!!! I do have one game already. It is a Christmas music quiz. So there is one. The idea of this activity is preholiday fun. We are going to be learning how to make wrapping paper stars.I got the idea from herehttp://familyfun.com

So if anyone has any help? I could use it!

It's Pie Time!!!!

This is the recipe.

This is how you start.Bake for 1 hour.

Momma's little helper.

See the joy it brings!=)

It's all for you honey! Baked with love in every bite! (heehee)

I LOVE ME SOME PIE!

A picture says a thousand words.

So what exactly are these two saying? Humm.....I know...I love this kid!!!=)

Voting.

OK I am a voting jinx! Every time I have gone to vote since I was eighteen, something has gone wrong. They didn't have the right county, or not the right address, blah, blah, blah. So anyway I thought I was in the clear. I changed my address at the DMV the lady asked if I wanted to register to vote, I said"yes." I had to replace my license and the computer asked me if I wanted to register I said, "yes." So this morning I went in to vote thinking there was no problem. Well guess what...you guessed it they didn't have me in their little handy dandy folder. Sigh! They had Nathan, but not me. This is getting really old people! So I still got to vote ( I wasn't leaving until they let me!) Now I have a number to call after the election to see if my vote was counted. Which OK that is kind of cool!=)

What a fun day!

"This room is clean."(I am saying like the little lady off of Poltergeist=) That is what cleaning the girls room felt like! An exorcism! I can not believe all that my girls can stuff in their room! It was crazy but now it is done. Thank heaven!!!!We will see how long this utopia can last. Cross your fingers, knock on wood, and anything else for luck! I will need all the help I can get!

Boo at the Harward House

Today we had planned on going to Boo at the zoo, but unfortunately the rain prevented us from going this morning.So Nathan had the great idea of Boo at the Harward house. What is that you ask. Well let me tell ya.

#1. You have to get on your Halloween costume, and drive to Walmart. OK it can be any store of your choice. While there let the children pick out one snack to have with the family. OK let me explain.Little Nate wanted the whale chicken nuggets. Eliza picked the strawberries. Emma chose the General Tao's chicken, and Noah picked the Halloween cupcakes. Daddy chose the Bagel bites, and some cheesecake, and I chose the Hersey's kisses, pizza, and a bag of apples.(the sticks of butter are for tomm. choir practice.It's a surprise.=) The little pumpkins in the back are for pumpkin pie. It even came with instructions. Cool huh! But that is a another story for another day.

#2. Carve your pumpkin."I didn't know you were going to kill it!"~Linus from It's the great pumpkin Charlie Brown

Luckily for us the rain stopped so we did get to go to Boo at the zoo.Here is Emma and Nate.

Here is Noah and Eliza.Me and Nathan. It's not as easy as it looks.=)They had games with prizes.Face painting, and all kinds of fun stuff.Good times were had by all, but now I am ready for a nap!=)

Jokes of the day

So Nathan called me this morning just a giggling. He had 2 jokes for me so I thought I would give everyone else a giggle too.

Here goes:

~What is blue and smells like red paint?

~blue paint

~What do you call a cow with a twitch?

~Beef jerky

I found this one on the Internet...

One day Gramma sent her grandson Johnny down to the water hole to get some water to cook dinner. As he was dipping the bucket in, he saw two big eyes looking back at him. He dropped the bucket and hightailed it for Gramma's kitchen. "Well now, where's my bucket and where's my water?" Gramma asked him. "I can't get any water from that water hole, Gramma" exclaimed Johnny. "There's a BIG ol' alligator down there!" "Now don't you mind that ol' alligator, Johnny. He's been there for a few years now, and he's never hurt no one. Why, he's probably as scared of you as you are of him!" "Well, Gramma," replied Johnny, "if he's as scared as I am, then that water ain't fit to drink!"

Hope this has made your day a little brighter.

Feel free to leave me any of your jokes, but remember folks let's keep it clean.=)