The Harbin Holla

Thank you, Frances!

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Callie walked all around here this morning pregnant with her favorite giraffe. Wyatt spoke in tongue. He was only willing to meow and use hand gestures. When Brent loaded them up into the wagon to take them and the dogs for a walk, Callie first had to pack up her purse and strap on her princess heels. We joked that God made her out of pink sparkles, princesses, hearts, puppies, and everything else dripping in girliness. Wywy on the other hand was created in a moment of boredom so he was laced with kookiness. My two preciously perfect gifts.

This is a picture of the carefully chosen contents of Callie's purse which were very festive. (Meanwhile, Wyatt was getting her coat and socks... girlfriend already knows how to work the men!)

Anyway, I digress. The purpose of this post is to say THANK YOU to our pal Frances! She sent her Ariel costume to Callie a couple of weeks ago and she was so exited about it that she wore it for several days straight. She looks like kin of that skanky horror Chuckie doll dude with that hot mess of a red wig. She calls the wig, "hairball"... how appropriate is that!?!?

Hugs and kisses Frances and we can't wait to see you next week!

10 Things About Wyatt

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 00:44:00 +0000

1. First and foremost, Wyatt is a helper. He has been that way since he was a baby and I love that it's not changing. He is absolutely the happiest when he is helping you with something.

2. pee = "peep"

3. Wyatt still gets to the brink of passing out when he is upset and starts to cry. He turns blue and falls over and sometimes even starts seizing a little bit. The pediatrician said he would outgrow it by the time he turns 3, but I don't see that happening. In fact, I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that he will get control of it before his 5th birthday.

4. He has the BEST sense of humor. We call him the clingon just because he seriously acts like he's from another planet. He is 5 million steps beyond just being silly. I love it.

5. Wyatt is the first one that I was able to have a real inside joke with. When we were at Disney, one night after hitting the parks hard, he was tired out of his mind. He didn't want to eat dinner and just sat there and wailed. Finally after he calmed down (although the tears were still in his eyes), I asked him if he wanted a bite of my soup and before he even tasted it, he choked out, "Tooooooooo hhhhhhhhot." with the biggest pouty lip on the planet. I couldn't help it and my insensitive self busted out laughing at the little dude and mimicked him right there on the spot. Wyatt belly laughed like you would not believe! Now, every time he gets fussy or pouty at the dinner table, I say, "Toooooo hhhhhhhot!" and the kid dies laughing and forgets about his bad mood. I love that baby.

6. You can tell whenever Wyatt likes something because his reaction is always, "My, my, mine fwaybet!" (My favorite.) It's my favorite thing that he says.

7. If you know me well enough to know my brother, you know that he is the movie quoter of the century. He can hold a full conversation of pure movie quotes and does pretty well with the accents too. In fact, I think that he even wanted to do voice-overs as a career at one point. A few weeks before Thanksgiving, Wyatt turned to me and did an imitation of one of the Arnold Schwarzenegger sounding pigs in the beginning of the movie 'Shrek'. He said, "Play da movie! Yah! Play!" just like the pig says with the same accent. I about fell over. It shocked the crap out of me because I never considered "Likes to quote movies" as a rung on the DNA ladder.

8. elevator = "yoyobater" which really is one of his favorite things in the world. He can't get enough of pushing the buttons and feeling the movement of the thing going up or down. He loves it!

9. Wyatt hates cleaning up. He will do it if there is incentive but he almost always finds a way to weasel out of picking up his toys. He gets excited about throwing trash away and also puts his dirty clothes in the hamper, but don't expect him to acknowledge your request when you ask him to put his toys away.

10. Sometimes he will randomly growl (pretty loudly) in public. It has a tendency to startle passersby. (It's really embarrassing but something I would secretly like to do too.) I get such a kick out of this little dude.

Christmas Tour of Homes

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:58:00 +0000

This is a cute little thing I did a couple years ago. If you want to peek in and see the way other people decorate and celebrate Christmas, then just click on the link above that will take you to a list of homes participating in the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes. I dig it because it's like peeping in strangers' windows. It also gives me good ideas for next year.

Anyway, here is my contribution to the Tour of Homes:

And this is my cyber-caroling portion of the post. (Pretend like you just heard the "belldoor" ring and went to answer it...)

For Anderson and Jake

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:55:00 +0000

His very first rollercoaster ("roader-coster") ride! (We thought of you the whole time, Edgars!) My favorite part is his little baby scream. It's so freaking cute. (Excuse our stupid banter in the beginning. It's pretty typical, but annoying nonetheless.)

There are two things that I keep remembering about our trip that I don't want to forget so I figured I'd make a quick post about them.

Ever since he was able to (possibly before the little dude could even walk), Wyatt crosses his fingers when he is unsure about something. I always know when to go over and reassure him because his fingers will be crossed. It's totally odd but ridiculously endearing. Anyway, the older he gets, the less and less I'm seeing those little fingers cross. Infact, it had been such a long time, that when I saw him doing it while standing in line for the Toy Story ride, I almost welled up with tears at the idea that I might forget something about his baby personality that used to be so commonplace to me. These nuggets are getting so big that even some of their toddler nuances are starting to fade. It's way too sad for me.

My strongest memory of Callie from the trip was her reaction to watching the 3D shows. Girlfriend could not deal. She straight up thought that she was under attack. The first time, I looked over to see if she was enjoying herself as much as we were, and the poor thing was shaking and crying. I felt awful because I didn't even realize what was going on because her screams where drowned out by the laughter in the theater. I finally had to take the glasses away from her. We went to 3 shows hoping she would warm up to the concept, but the poor thing could never grasp that it wasn't real. Bless her little heart.

Animal Kingdom & Gaylord Palms

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:16:00 +0000

We got home from Disney on Friday... just in time for me to be sick as a dog for two days and then to have to get up and rally for another two weeks of being a single mom. I've been doing this alone thing too much and I'm done with it.

Anyway, to backtrack for a second, we went to the Animal Kingdom on Thursday. The kids had been looking forward to seeing giraffes and hippos (their favorite animals) the entire week. They loved every minute of it but my favorite memory of the day was going on a rapids ride and seeing Wyatt and Brent get soaked. Callie and I were sitting on the opposite side and only got a little wet. She wasn't amused by the ride at all and said, "Coggie not like it. Now Coggie all dirty." And she had a look that could kill on her face. Wyatt on the other hand, who was drenched to the bone was screaming, "FUN! FUN! Do it again!?!?" We were dying laughing at the kid.

After that, we went to Gaylord Palms for this thing called ICE. It was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. The whole thing was ice sculptures and you had to wear parkas the whole time because it was minus 9 degrees in there. It was stupid cold to the point where some people's shutters were freezing on their cameras. I had never seen anything like it before and the ice slide was the highlight. The kids loved it but even Brent and I tore down those things like penguins on crack. They gave out hot chocolate at the end too. It was precious.

Cinderella's Castle

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:36:00 +0000

Cinderella's castle dripping in Christmas lights is truly one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. All I wanted was a lawn chair to sit in and stare at this thing for hours. It was gorgeous! With the temperature being this comfortable too, I doubt if we will ever come back any other time of year. Christmas at Disney is beautiful!

We did the Magic Kingdom again yesterday because we only finished half of the park before and there was so much we had never seen. There was a pretty big storm that was lurking around which worked out great because there was such a small crowd and hardly any lines for most of the afternoon. It never rained either so it couldn't have been more perfect for us.

Wyatt's favorite thing yesterday was this crappy paper mickey mouse driver's license they give you when you drive the little gas powered cars around the track. Even though he got to drive the car all by himself (I only pushed the pedal), it did not outshine his new driver's license. He thought he was the coolest dude ever and kept pulling that thing in and out of his pocket for the rest of the day.

Callie was in heaven yesterday because she got to meet the cowgirl from Toy Story 2 (who is second only to the Little Mermaid). She was obsessed. We even had to pull her away because she wouldn't let go.

Hollywood Studios

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:24:00 +0000

Yesterday we went to Hollywood Studios and there was a bunch of things we got to see that we missed last year. Toy Story Mania is by far and away the coolest ride I have ever been on and creatively, it was done so well. Brent and I also took turns going on the Tower of Terror which was awesome! At some points of the ride, you have no idea whether you are falling up or down.

We stayed late to see the Osbourne Family Festival of lights which was the tackiest light display I have ever seen in my entire life! It "snowed" too which was just little bubbles, but the kids didn't know any better and loved trying to catch the snowflakes. We had a really good time at the park yesterday, but for me it still doesn't come close to touching the Magic Kingdom.

Magic Kingdom

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:47:00 +0000

We hit the Magic Kingdom for almost the whole day yesterday! I can barely move this morning because my entire body hurts. On top of that, the kids partied until the wee hours of the morning in their packnplays which totally burns the candlestick at both ends. Yelp.

We started in Tomorrowland and did a few rides before we found a Buzz Lightyear meet and greet. Brent and I gasped at the same time when we saw him because we knew it was going to rock Wyatt's world. So, we hurried to stand in line and as soon as Wyatt got a clear view of him (even though there were still about 20 people in front of us) he screamed, "HEY BUZZ! RIGHT HERE! IT'S MEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The guy in front of us doubled over laughing with us too. I think that I could have stood there all day long watching little boys meet their super hero. It was so hilarious and sweet!

Later in the day, we got to meet the princesses and Callie was awestruck. We had to keep holding her back because she kept forgetting to wait for her turn. It was so cute. She was both outgoing and shy at the same time and it's all she's talked about ever since.

We let Wyatt run up and hug the princesses too after Callie had a minute by herself. He darted right up to Belle gave her a big hug and said, "I Wywy! I have shoes. They are for kicking. See?" And then demonstrated some very fancy kicking manuvers. When we let him go see Sleeping Beauty, he felt her up. Daddy was proud.

Of course, the best part of the day for Callie was meeting Ariel. When the kids woke up this morning, we heard them in the other room talking so excitedly about meeting Buzz and Ariel. Seriously, it's the cutest age ever for Disney.

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:09:00 +0000

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

We had a really nice Thanksgiving with family and hope that you all did too! I'm overwhelmed and so thankful for all the blessings that God has given us this year (and every year). It was so relaxing just to have everyone together for one of our typical family holidays and for all of us to get fat and happy in unison. My aunt introduced me to her corn pudding which was luscious enough for me to want to post the recipe.

Aunt Yvette's Corn Pudding
1 14 oz. can creamed corn
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 small can whole kernel corn
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
_______________________________________
Mix all the crap together. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Don't forget to butter the casserole dish or it will (quote) "stick to high heaven." :)

Brent and I even attempted to battle the Black Friday crowds together at midnight (huge mistake) and again in the early morning. It was pointless and sketchy. The line for Toys R Us was wrapped around the building 5 people deep so there was no way any amount of money we would save was worth standing in that line. Instead, we pulled into the parking lot of a nearby hotel to access wifi and ordered crap online.

After a few hours of sleep, we were still hoping we would have better luck and headed out again only to return pretty empty handed. Since we were out anyway, we picked up a few things that weren't even on sale. I don't think we'll attempt it at all next year. Regardless, it was kinda nice spending a little bit of time together without the kids... like a pathetic date or something. :)

Yesterday, we took it easy and tried to catch up on some sleep and today, we are enjoying an awesome day of college football and gearing up for vacation! So excited!

Dear Santa,

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:43:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago, I started asking the kids what they wanted Santa to bring them for Christmas. Callie caught on right away and erupted out of the gate with, "A puppy!" (Sorry kid, but hell no.) She went on to list all the characters in the Toy Story movie, added that she wanted a crown and a giraffe which eventually morphed into "lots of giraffes!" The giraffe request was the cutest one because months ago, Callie told me that her favorite little giraffe needed a family.

Wyatt didn't get it though. I would ask him at least once a day what he wanted from Santa and every time, the kid just changed the subject no matter how hard I pushed it. Twenty attempts later, he still wasn't giving me anything and I wasn't sure whether he just didn't understand the concept, or whether he simply didn't know what he wanted for Christmas.

Finally, I tried a different route and asked him if Santa was going to bring him a present - to which he exclaimed, "OH YES!" So I asked him what kind of present Santa was bringing him and he said, "A blue present! With a big bow!" Cautiously, as to not veer him off his mental track, I asked him what was inside his blue present and he happily exclaimed, "A blue race car!" Victory.

After overhearing our conversation, Callie couldn't contain herself anymore and started excitedly telling us how she wanted a purple present with a purple bow with purple sparkly princess shoes. (Which is now the first thing she rattles off when you ask her what's on her list.) Santa's got it pretty easy at our house this year. I do know, however, that these days are numbered.

Callie's List
A puppy
All the Toy Story characters
Lots of giraffes
A crown
Purple present with purple sparkly princess shoes

Wyatt's List
Blue present with blue race car

Nuggets in November

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Brent is feeling better and the three of us successfully avoided getting it! I told Brent to kinda keep his distance from me and the kids this past week but Wyatt has been chasing him around the house for a few days very worried and asking, "Daddy? All done boogah nose?" (Brent never had a cold, but it's the only thing Wyatt correlates to being sick. Precious, huh!?)

It had been weeks since I uploaded any pictures to my computer which is completely out of character for me. These last few weeks have been about finding balance again and it takes a lot out of you to stand upright when you've been toppled over for such a long time. I'm so excited the holidays are coming up knowing that our family gets a chance to regroup. We have so much to be thankful for.

I snuck into Callie's room late last night to see if she wanted to watch Shrek 3 with me since it was on TV. (First, I tried waking up Wyatt - he was having none of it.) Of course, she was passed out too because it was so late, but I saw this scene at the foot of her bed and thought I might literally melt right there.

She had asked me earlier in the night if she could take some plastic food up to bed with her. I didn't care so I let her. But, when I saw why she had done it, and also saw that she made sure to give each critter their own piece of food, I was completely overwhelmed and fell in love with that curly angel in her crib all over again.

These kids... Light. Up. My. Life.

Trick-or-Treat!

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:25:00 +0000

Back together (kinda)...

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:09:00 +0000

I am truly a procrastinator since Halloween was over two weeks ago and I still haven't posted any pictures of trick-or-treating. The thing is, I officially hit my emotional wall of doneness from this dude being gone for months on end. Seriously, all this going-out-of-town crap started in the spring and has been constant (with the exception of a couple weeks around my cruise) up until now; the freaking middle of November. It was so beyond hard that I could never explain it in words. At times, I found strength in myself I never knew I had. I mean, I definitely don't want to sound ungrateful because he does have a job and we all have our health - but dayum. It's been hard.

Anyway, the last two weeks just seemed impossible to get through. I knew we were near the finish line, but I was digging deep to try and keep it together. I just missed our family being together and missed having someone to help me out with the kids. (Wow... That's the understatement of the century.) Finally, Brent came home for good last Tuesday and all four of us have been fluttering around here in blissful and excited glee. The kids are always pumped when Brent comes home, but almost every day since he's been home, the first thing they come running in to tell me is, "Mommy! Daddy woke me up! Coggie and Wywy so happy!" Wyatt usually follows that sentence up with, "Daddy is my friend!" Little dude.

We took the kids to get H1N1 shots on Friday since we're headed to Disney in a couple weeks. And on Saturday, Brent got sick as hell. I found him laying on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night, and the events that took place from there were only fitting to be on an episode of 'Dirty Jobs' or a straight up Horror Movie. I thought this dude was gonna die. Both of us thought he some how caught the swine flu from the kids vaccination so we quarantined him to our bedroom downstairs and I moved upstairs with the kids and the cats. (CDC says you can pass swine flu to your cats - weird, huh?)

So, I frantically called the ER to make sure he didn't have major swineage and they assured me it was probably just a virus. It's ridiculous too because all four of us have already had flu shots this year. Anyway, I have spent every second of the last three days disinfecting the ever living crap out of this house in hopes of keeping that nastiness at bay. So far, so good.

Cross your fingers for us.

Brent's Pumpkin

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:16:00 +0000

I get such a kick out of Brent’s pumpkins every year. It’s like looking at a window into this dude’s core and it makes me laugh and laugh because he has such a happy-go-lucky type of personality. I tried not to peek because I was so looking forward to the surprise, but unfortunately… his artistic skillz had semi improved this year and didn’t provide the doubled over fit of giggles it usually does. I appreciated the "Brentness" in the fact that he did the face upside down (maxing out the depth of his creativity on that one) but the face was a little too talented for me.

The nose though... was signature Brent! I know it looks like a heart, but when I asked him about it, the resemblance hadn't even dawned on him at all! Gotta love him.

Also, it has to be mentioned that Sesame Street turned 40 today! Happy day! Honestly, I thought it had been around a lot longer than that. Kinda felt like a foot up the bootay when I realized I had watched it for the majority of it's existence. Being 30 makes me feel like an antique car. Anyway, here is one of the clips from the good old days in honor of it's burfday!

Halloweeve Pumpkins

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:13:00 +0000

I love carving pumpkins! I look forward to it so much and this year was great because Lauren and her kids came down from Richmond to spend Halloween with us. We threw all the kids outside and let them carve our biggest pumpkin together. Each nugget got to draw a piece of the face and their conglomerated masterpiece couldn't have turned out any cuter. Ellie named it Mix n' Match which was perfectly appropriate.

__________________________________________________________

Furman/Citadel Game

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:34:00 +0000

On Saturday, we took the kids to Charleston and met my folks at the Citadel for the Furman/Citadel football game. We had lunch before the game at the alumni center and Callie and I were definitely in enemy territory since we were dressed in purple from head to toe. Wyatt thought he was so cool, hanging out with the dudes. He even told me to get out of Brent's chair. He wasn't trying to sit near his mommy; he was way too big for that.

Brent got a huge cup of boiled peanuts at the game which fully entertained the kids up until about halftime (when the peanuts ran out). We ended up leaving right after that since they were starting to get cranky from the heat and from having to behave for an extended period of time. They had fun even though they really had no idea what was going on and it was just precious when they cheered and clapped when the crowd did.

And just because it's a good excuse to post them, here are two awesome dips that I love making on gamedays. They are super unhealthy... but fattiness pairs perfectly with cold beer and football, doesn't it?!?! :)

1000 days together!

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:09:00 +0000

When you are a mom of twins, you postpone some milestones for the benefit of your mental health. My kids still sleep in cribs. Why would I voluntarily move them into a big kid bed where they are free to roam their bedroom and get into trouble? I prefer knowing they are safe in their cribs instead of possibly climbing on dressers and swinging from ceiling fans. No thanks times 2!

Same thing with potty training. I have no idea how I'm going to get over that mountain because every time I start to go there, I whimper at the unbearable effort of it all. It's too much. Two butts with various holes that excrete nastiness on my carpet and couches, and I'm responsible for trying to teach them to control those valves? No thanks! These two year olds aren't interested in listening to anything I say, let alone voluntarily doing their thing on the potty when it's so much less effort just to take a dump in their pants. I don't blame them. If it was socially acceptable, I would probably wear diapers all day and pee freely instead of having to stop what I was doing and hustle to the bathroom.

However, this morning the kids woke ME up in my bedroom. Not only did they climb out of their cribs, but they came downstairs unsupervised to get to our room. Lovely. They totally cracked open a new can of worms for me. I keep on trying to pretend like it didn't happen but I guess we'll be moving them into big beds sooner than later. Also, they are too big for diapers. I know this because just one pee will have those things sagging all the way down to their ankles. They don't make diapers for kids with attitude problems. They make them for babies. And, I don't think I have those anymore.

Someone tell these nuggets to stop growing so fast. It makes me cry.
_________________________________________________

My friend Christine tagged me in a blog post and I'm doing it only because I love her. (It was 35 questions but I'm cutting it down to 15 because my attention span is too short.)

1. Where is your cell phone? In the chair next to me
2. Your favorite food? Sushi
3. Your dream last night? I can't remember the details, but I know that Kate Gosselin was in it.
4. Your favorite drink? Caribbean Way from Smoothie King
5. Your dream/goal? To be emotionally close to my kids as long as I'm alive
6. Your fear? Death
7. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy, healthy and together
8. Something that you aren’t? A fan of hunting. If you are hunting for the meat, I understand that, but you better be dirt ass poor and unable to afford food (in which case I would suppose it would be embarrassing to flaunt the fact that you hunt.) If you aren't broke as hell and still hunt, then part of you must get off on killing things and I will never understand that even for a split second.
9. Muffins? Muffin tops are okay, but for me, a muffin is just a few steps above a fruit cake. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat one.
10. Wish list items? Canon Xsi, Ipod, and another cruise
11. Where did you grow up? Midlothian, VA and Alpharetta, GA
12. Last thing you did? put a kid in time-out
13. Your pets? 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 husband, and 5 fish that are all 8 years old!
14. Vehicle? Odyssey
15. Your best friend? Brent

Shelter Cove Fall Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 21:45:00 +0000

On Friday night, we took the kids to a Fall Festival up at Shelter Cove. It was actually better than I expected and the kids got to play with their friend Emma who they both love to pieces.

There was a children's singer guy there who is kind of a local celebrity since he's been around for 20 some years. I think he might even be the same dude that we used to hear when I was a kid when we came to the island for vacation. It was fun. The kids painted pumpkins, petted a kangaroo, and bounced around for awhile with tons of other booger eaters while Brent and I cringed and prayed against H1N1.

Another Pumpkin Patch

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Brent is home. Hell yes. I stayed in bed until 10am with a cup of coffee that I didn't make and watched Real Housewives. It's not much... but for me, an effortless start to the day is like being on vacation.

On Wednesday, my mom and I ventured to another pumpkin patch in Ridgeland with the kids. They absolutely love hayrides and Callie is a pro at cornhole. I'm kinda pumpkined out though. We already have five pumpkins and are off to another patch with some friends this evening. I think my guts might even look like pumpkin innards.

I had intended to get all crafty and let the kids paint their trophies from the pumpkin patch after we got home, but they passed out on the couch before that happened. So, on Thursday we broke out the paint and glitter glue and the twinados went to town creating their festive masterpieces. It was really cute.

Here are the finished projects. They did everything themselves except use the scissors to cut out the wings and paint on the faces. We might have to make this a tradition!

Random Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Brent has been on one of his never-ending business trips again which I am sick to death of... but instead of completely abandoning my blog, I'm just gonna post a bunch of cute random pictures I've taken over the last few weeks. Hope everyone is doing well!

Palmetto Bluff Treehouse

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:55:00 +0000

I've been trying to catch up on some old posts but haven't gotten a chance until now. A couple weeks ago, I dragged my mom out with me and the kids to this tree house in Palmetto Bluff. I wasn't expecting much, but it was so cute!

Wyatt is a total daredevil and is gonna give me a heart attack when he learns to drive. Every chance he got, he made a break for this horribly steep ladder that took you to the very top. He refused to let us help him too. Even climbing up that high to chase after him was making my knees shake. It was such a pretty view from the top.

Before we left, the kids gathered nuts and left them for "Jumpy" squirrel so he would have enough to eat. (Every random squirrel is named Jumpy after the one from Curious George.) I thought it was so precious that they were worried about the squirrel that I had to take a picture. Nuggets after my own heart!

Since then, we've been back with Brent and I think he loved it as much as the kids did!

GVegas & Apple Picking

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:19:00 +0000

On Thursday evening, we loaded up the kiddies and took off to Greenville for some apple picking. We got up early and stopped by Furman on the way up to the mountains.

There is something so surreal about taking your kids back to the place you went to school. If those walls could talk! There is such a mental disconnect to walk around campus, reconnecting with who you were at that time, and reminiscing about those crazy years while holding your child's hand. It's unreal.

I had so much fun in college that I could cry. I miss those days terribly and remember just how purple my blood runs each time I get an opportunity to go back. I would love it if one or both of the kids ended up going there too. That would be awesome!

After that, we headed into the North Carolina mountains to Sky Top Orchard. It was precious and definitely worth the trip! This orchard was adorable and had so many different varies of apples to pick. We spent the first half hour downing these incredible cinnamon and sugar dusted Apple Cider Doughnuts that were still hot from the fryer. They are my new favorite thing!

The leaves were just starting to turn and the mountains were beautiful. The kids must have downed 3 or 4 apples each (although they took bites out of dozens). Wyatt got the biggest kick out of seeing Brent jump up and grab the higher apples. That kid has the best belly laugh!

Neither of them wanted to go home which I loved! All of us were sticky and dirty by the time we left with our way too many bags of apples. There were a bunch of bees flying around which we had to be careful about and kind of overwhelmed us at times so we were ready to go. I think that it was the first of hopefully many annual apple picking trips to come! So fun.

On the way back we stopped at my favorite old school Mexican restaurant dump that I quite possibly spent more time at during those college years than studying. It's as gross and corroded as I remember yet I still LOVE every inch of that joint.

For Zip and B.

It was such a fun overnight getaway! We're going to be eating apples for forever though! :)

Baby Teefs

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:04:00 +0000

My monkey is not a baby anymore after tonight. He's gonna be a big boy in the morning. Sniff Sniff.

We took the kids to the dentist for their very first checkup today. I couldn't believe that they were old enough to go and especially with my dental track record, it's my sworn duty to keep these kids ahead of the game with perfect pearly whites.

The dentist office was cool. It's a pediatric dentist and it was all swamp themed with tv's on the ceiling so the kids can watch disney movies while getting cleaned. They've come a long way from the midevil crap they had when I was a kid. Callie was very scared but only whimpered a couple times before calming down and letting the lady clean her teeth. She did awesome.

Wyatt, on the other hand, was a sack full of nerves and tears and took lots of comforting and calming him down to get him to open wide. Both kids did great though. Neither of them have cavities. However, the dentist did get onto me about letting Wyatt use a binky. It was something we have been postponing forever, but because that binky comforted him in the NICU when I couldn't be there, I felt like I didn't have the right to even think of taking it away from him. It broke my heart just imagining how lost he would be without it. I knew the day was coming; I just wasn't ready for it.

So, I sniped the ends off of his binkies tonight when he wasn't looking. It killed me. And the poor dude took full responsibility for them being broken too when he finally realized it. "Broken binky, Mommy! Wywy did it." He cried a little when we put him down, but I gave him a little toy truck to sleep with that he had picked out of the toy chest at the dentist office earlier today. He usually doesn't let intruders into his crib and he was definitely reluctant at first, but *cross our fingers* he's already asleep. We'll see how the rest of the night goes.

Wish us luck!

Poppell Farms

noreply@blogger.com (Brent and Heather Harbin) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:08:00 +0000

Over the weekend, we went to a pumpkin patch. It was in Jesup, GA which was out in the middle of nowhere and so sketchy that, at points, I debated on whether or not to turn around and go home. It was straight up like Deliverance and the GPS navigated us through crazy backwoods dirt roads to get us there. I thought all four of us would all be scalped and squeezed into moonshine by some three-toothed slackjaw fo' sho!

Turns out, the pumpkin patch was actually really cute and pretty busy. Infact, it was cute enough for me to want to go back next year despite the 1.5 hour drive. I kid you not though, as we rolled up, blasting out of the sound system was a twangy country music song called "I'd like to check you for ticks!"

Hee Haw ya'll!