I know, I know, it’s been awhile 

Who would have thought that I wouldn’t have enough time to update a simple blog? It’s been six months since I have updated. Things are going around the Harden house. I decided to join weight watchers in February and have lost over 20lbs. GO ME! John, who isn’t really counting his points, is down 18lbs. Men, I swear. It just falls right off of them.

March 22^nd we welcomed a new edition into our family. Casey had a little baby boy Travis Hunter and he is precious. She is adjusting to her new role as a mom. I still can’t believe I am typing that. WOW!

Madelyn is growing like a weed. Actually I measured her the other day and since January she has grown 2”. She is now about 38” tall, still about 32lbs and a full on chatter box. She blows me away with the things she remembers. She still talks about her birthday party in December like it was yesterday. She just brings up random things and it’s simply amazing. She had her first dance recital last month and let me just say that was the cutest thing EVER. She did great. She might have missed some steps, but didn’t miss a beat singing the songs. You could see her little mouth moving from a distance. It was pretty funny.

So there is a quick update. I will post more soon.

Just a quick update

Oh where to start it has been so long since I lasted posted.

For one, can you believe it is 2012!!! I can't. Wow, these years are really starting to fly by.

On the Madelyn front

She is officially three years old!!! I cannot believe it. She still amazes us every day. She is an incredibly intelligent, full of energy, lovable little girl. She is constantly telling us she loves us and gives hugs and kisses! I love it! She had her birthday party at pump it up this year and had a blast.

At three years old she is…

Potty trained

Can count to 20

Can count to 5 in Spanish

Knows her ABC’s

Knows her colors

Knows all her shapes, including hexagon, octagon, oval and cube J

Can spell her name

Recognizes certain letters and is starting to say a word and then asks what it starts with. She tells us that she starts with “M” all the time. It’s cute.

Just life in General

Life is starting to slowly settle down. I am still not sure that I recognize this as my life yet, but am working on it. We made it through the holidays and this is the first year, in I don’t know how long that I did not go to Corpus. Some days I have to remind myself that it is not a dream and that my dad died! I can’t even say that, it sounds so foul.

The 15^th my grandmother has been gone a year and yesterday, the  16^th it has was  seven months for my dad and tomorrow the 18^th marks a full year that I have not seen him. Just can’t imagine going through the rest of my life never seeing him again, never hearing him say “Hello Amy-Lou” or even his famous “What’s up buttercup”. I miss him so much! Life does go on, there is now a before and after in my life. What life was once before and what life is now. One step at a time, right?

That’s it for now… I am sure there will be lots more to come.

Mr. Pumpkin Head

This year we decided to do something a little different. Instead of carving a pumkin, we made a Mr. Pumpkin Head. It was Madelyn's choice to have a Mr and not a Mrs. He turned out really cute. Daddy and Maddy did a great job. The absolute best part...NO CLEAN UP :)

We now have a Mr. & Mrs. Kevin Sahadi

Well the wedding was a success. Mika looked beautiful and it was such a sweet ceremony. You could feel the presence of their love take over the room. If any little girl has even envisioned how they would want their groom to look at them on their wedding day, Kevin was it! He was so sweet.

We honored my dad all night long.   All of the men in the wedding and some close friends and family wore fish hooks on their jackets. On the first chair, on the front row we had a picture of my dad and a candle burning. The candle burned all night long. Also, the photographer surprised Mika with a little charm that had a picture of my dad that she could wrap around her boutique. The first song of the night was dedicated to my dad as well. Mika took bridal pictures and one of the pictures she was holding a picture of my dad. It was very sweet.



Picture of the chair during setting up. (Bows are not on the chair yet)





Before the wedding started. Notice the fish hook :)



Our little flower girl Madelyn was so good during the wedding. There were two flower girls and Madelyn followed behind Katelyn. Well Madelyn was walking and stopped to pick up the flowers Katelyn had thrown, Ashlee explained to her that the flowers were suppose to be on the floor, so Madelyn just dumped all of her pedals right then and there. Too cute! We put some little drawing boards on the chairs where the little ones would sit and it was perfect. It gave them something to do during the ceremony.  From what I heard on the way out Madelyn danced down the aisle and it did not stop there. This little girl danced the entire night, non-stop. She did not and would not leave the dance floor. Finally around eleven or so we slowly watched Madelyn lay down on the dance floor and go to sleep. John grabbed her and she was out!

So now it is over and we don’t know what to do with ourselves. This will be the first weekend in over a month that I will be home and have nothing to do. It is much needed.

Am I coming or going....who knows.

Sorry I haven’t posted in awhile. Life has been CRAZY to say the least. I cannot believe that we are less than two weeks to the wedding. I have gone to Corpus twice so far this month and will be leaving again next week. I am exhausted, but feel like we are getting things accomplished.

Mika’s bridal shower and bachelorette party were a success. We had a blast. Mika had a great turn out of people that love her and support her and Kevin. She ended up with lots of goodies too. I would say that with everything that has been thrown at us in the last 3 months, it was nice to have a weekend that was on a positive side. We all held up really well.

Decorations

Such a sweet gift. Kevin's mom gave her a box of baby/childhood pics of Kevin

Sisters

Mother and Daughter

Mom and all her girls

I pray that Mika is able to maintain the same attitude and will be able to have some sense of peace on her wedding day. It will be a happy/sad day. We are going to honor my dad and all of the men are going to wear fish hooks on their tuxedo jackets. We will also have a candle that burns the entire night in memory of him.

Last weekend we met with the funeral home regarding a headstone for my dad. We all found one we love and are going to get that process started soon. My sweet grandfather made a cross for my dad and had a little plaque made for it. We went Friday and placed it at my dad’s grave. It was so sad to see my grandfather dig a hole to place that cross. We are so happy that there is now something out there to mark his spot though.

Well that is pretty much the update here. We officially have a roof going up on my dad’s house right now and I just received the approval from my insurance for a new roof, fence and a window! J

One more thing, thank goodness for awesome grandparents. Last week while I was in Corpus taking care of some of the Estate process, John's parents, aka Granny and PawPaw, watched Madelyn for me so I could run errands.  So THANK YOU so much Granny and PawPaw. We love you!

Releasing balloons

Our tradition on Emma's birthday/anniversary is to send up balloons and eat cake. So last night we did and Madelyn did much better this year. Last year she did not want to let go of the balloon. This year, no problem. Afterwards, we went in for cupcakes. So we passed them out and are getting ready to eat and Madelyn says "Momma, Emma's not here". Oh... talk about breaking your heart. I told her that she was up in heaven with Papa Mike. We have been talking allot about Papa lately and when asked she will say that  he is "up in the sky with Jesus", those are her words. So she accepted that and went on to eat. Needless to say, Kim and I sat there with tear filled eyes and ate our cupcakes. :(

Here is our picture from yesterday. We had a hard time getting one, between batteries going out in the camera to a two year old not wanting cooperate.

Five years

Five years ago today John and I held an angel in our arms. Five years ago today changed our lives forever and not a day has gone by in five years that I have not thought about our angel. Five years ago today we did the hardest thing we ever had to do and that is saying our goodbyes to our angel. Emma Lucille you are remembered today and always and Mommy and Daddy love you so much. I know that she is up in heaven with our family and the day she was born my father never left her side and I know in my heart he is with her again today.

Every year John and I release balloons and also buy a cake or cupcakes or something for her.



1st Birthday/Anniversary



2nd Birthday/Anniversary

3rd Birthday/Anniversary



I have the fourth picture, but it is on my home computer.

Until we meet again my angel. Love you to the moon and back!