So much going on . . .

Well - this is going to be the quick and dirty of what has been going on in our lives as to why I have just now gotten Easter pics posted on the blog. I will expand on some of these subjects later on & post some pictures, some night when it isn't so late, but here is what has been going on in the lives of the Harrell's . . .

April 15: Attended the Hallmark Premier of The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler in support of my great friend Megan Felt - wonderful, red carpet event!!!

April 17: Molly got her first filling at the dentist, Rayleigh got her second filling - both girls did great! Dr. Jill is awesome. I was supposed to get my permanent crown that day (my tooth broke off the Sunday after my D&C), but it didn't fit properly, so Dr. decided to grind down my "nub" a little more and remold it for a different crown. After 10 shots, I still wasn't numb, so we ended up just working on it anyway. I could feel the whole thing and it was awful, but I survived. we remolded the tooth and replaced the temporary crown for another week. Two and a half hours later, and more sore, we left.

April 18: Molly's soccer game got rained out. The girls attended a birthday party at Pizza Hut for one of their classmates and Tyler & I went on a date in Joplin. We went to eat at Club 609 (great place) and then went shopping for "house stuff". It was a really fun date, as we had done our financials the night before and realized that we are only about 3 months away from our goal before we are ready to build!!! Yea! We saw a rainbow on the way to eat dinner as well - beautiful.

April 20: Called Triad surveying company to have our land surveyed to see where we should place our house on our land - wanted to get the building process going. When I called them, I found out that as of April 16, FEMA has placed all of our land in a flood zone. Not possible to build at this point! Can't get a loan to build in flood zone, and even if we could get a loan, it is impossible to build it to code due to septic regulations! Not the best news, but we are going to figure out what our next step is. As of right now, we own 16 acres of flood zone land that isn't worth anything, but we have paid a lot of money for it - how exciting!

April 22: Got a call at noon that the guy was making my crown for my tooth and dropped it - porcelain shattered and so I had to go back to dentist again, remove temporary, make a new mold, and replace the temporary yet again for ANOTHER week! Can you believe it? This tooth is going to be the death of me. Good thing that I have a good dentist, or I would have said forget it a long time ago! Make up soccer game from the 18th was this night. I cancelled and rescheduled my hair appointment that I made a month ago so that I could attend (typical). They played a really tough team this night, but they hung tough. They got beat, but sure had a good time anyway. That night, Molly lost her third tooth - top, middle, right tooth!

April 25: Molly had 4th soccer game of the season - she informed Tyler that she kicked the ball 10 times! They did play really well, and she is getting much more aggressive! That night we celebrated Tyler's 30th Birthday party here at our house with family and a few friends. We had steak tips & grilled chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, corn, Frontenac bread, and a lettuce salad. We also had lots of other appetizers, cake & punch, a margarita fountain, and plenty of frosty beverages! It made for a very fun, memorable evening - we were at it until 3:00am!! That's late for us "old folks"! Grandpa Loyd stayed the night at our house, so I got to cook him some breakfast before he headed home the next morning. That was a really nice treat as well!

April 26: Molly lost her 4th tooth - the other top tooth! She's now completely toothless on the top in the middle!

April 27: The tooth fairy forgot to come to our house last night (oops!!!), so we were busy making all kinds of excuses about the weather for her! Darn tooth fairy! Bet she remembers to come tonight though! I had my make-up hair appointment that afternoon, and then we went to dinner with Tyler's family for his Aunt Julie's birthday. She and Uncle Wayne are home from Virgina, so it is always a pleasure to see them! We had a really nice evening.

April 28: Tucker had his first experience of gymnastics this evening. He walked into the room, walked half-way to his teacher, turned around and looked at me and started crying. He was scared to go out there by himself, so he ended up only doing about one routine during the 45 minute session, and the rest of the time sat on my lap and watched. He has never been shy before, but he sure was this night. Hopefully, next week will go better. After gymnastics, my sister came over and we went and took pictures of her in her graduation gown. She graduates from PSU in two Saturdays - we had a blast doing this. We have way too much fun together! While I was gone, Rayleigh was brushing her teeth and finally lost her 4th tooth! It has been hanging sideways for a month now, but was stuck on one side up in the gums still. She knocked it loose while brushing and Tyler pulled it for her. He is the official "tooth puller" in this house!

April 29: Tyler is officially THIRTY!!

Today, April 30: I FINALLY have a permanent crown on my tooth. It fits beautifully and feels wonderful!! Praise God!!! My luck is bound to turn around from this point! Maybe May is going to bring good things to us this year. March and April pretty much stunk! Nothing would make me happier than to hear some good news on our land now. We have heard some positive feedback on it, but right now, we are just waiting on getting some paperwork from the government - who knows how long that may take! Oh, Molly learned to ride her bike with no training wheels tonight, too!! I got it on video, but I am not smart enough to know how to post that on the blog, so you will just have to use your imaginations. Just close your eyes and picture her on a pink bike with no training wheels, with a pink helmet, mismatched clothes, and pink crocs, pedaling her heart out, aimlessly steering herself down the sidewalk about 50 feet, veering into the grass and falling over because she hasn't quite figured out how to stop without crashing yet! Now you've seen it without the video! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Our next few weeks look just as busy, but it is all fun. If our lives weren't crazy, we wouldn't know what to do with ourselves. I will do my best to elaborate on some of these things in the not-too-distant future and post some pictures along with them. I have pics of most of these events as well! Hope you blog readers are doing well, and that this busy time of year has kept you hoppin' as well! As for now . . . I'm headed to bed - night, night!