Tiffany Harper

The Wedding of the Year

Forgive me once again for not post all last week. I was busily preparing myself for Sheena and Jeremy's wedding.

And it finally arrived on September 20, 2009. Our closest family and friends gathered together for this much anticipated event. Sheena and Jeremy have been together for 11 years. All of us were thinking as Sheen walked down the aisle......at last! Jeremy had tears as Sheena, who looked absolutely radiant, walked down the aisle. There was not a dry eye in the house!

Dan was the officiant, I was the matron of honor and Madi was the flower girl. We had the unique opportunity to be apart Sheen and Jer's day. Madi loved being the flower girl and wearing her beautiful dress.

Below are just a few photos Dan and I captured with my phone. We apologize for the quality as my digital camera has disappeared. And my phone only let's me post a few photos at a time.

Blessings,

Tiff

The last days of summer

This past weekend we just spent time together. Time in the pool, time indoors relaxing and even some time at fun places like the LA County Fair.

Summer has come to and end for most of us. It is back to the days of school, homework and other activities that we enjoy reprieve from during the days of summer. How much I enjoyed the time I spent with my little family. God has been so faithful in showing me all that He has given me and teaching me what it truly means to enjoy what you have.

I hope you all had a wonderful Labor day. I know I did.

Tiff

Fashion Show For A Good Cause

*Update: here is the website for the organization Shoes That Fit http://www.shoesthatfit.org Hi all! Tonight at the Shoppes in Chino Hills I am participating in a fashion show. My hair and makeup will be done by my über talented sister Sheena Rush. Her work has been featured on E's The Girls Next Door, Latino Futuro Magazine and more. You can check out her website at http://www.sheenarush.com. She is seriously amazing and I am not just saying that because she is my sister! The fashion show will also benefit the organization Shoes That Fit, which basically raises money to buy shoes and school supplies for those in need. I absolutely love being apart of something that helps to benefit others and it was one of the biggest reasons why I agreed to be a model. Because you all know I just had a baby! So if you are in Southern California, then come over to Chino Hills and show your support! Blessings, Tiff

Making the most of the day

Nothing like spending part of Saturday afternoon at the park.

Lunch with Grand Burger goodness.

Sean napping

Madi playing on the playground with Daddy.

Life is perfect.

How are you spending your Saturday?

Tiff

Because I have nothing so say

I thought you would enjoy pics of my adorable son who is smiling so much lately. And also of my daughter who acted very diva-ish and told me NO PICTURES.

And somewhere not too far away I hear my parents laughing and muttering some nonsense about the apple not falling too far from the tree.

Hmmmph.

Tiff

So far 28 is looking good

My birthday flew by on Tuesday but oh man I have to say that it was probably one of the best yet. Every year that I am given I realize just how fortunate I am to have people in my life who genuinly love and care for me.

Tonight Dan and I went out for a date night to celebrate my birthday. We headed out to Jpe's Crab Shack in Newport Beach and chowed down on some delicious crab. However, I am secretly plotting revenge on my husband as he went and told them that we were celebrating my birthday. They had me run around the restaurant dressed like a shark as they sang happy birthday. Not exactly my finest moment. Ha! Don't EVER let your friends do that to you. ;)

I do need ideas however from all of you on how to get him back. And I will get him back.

Be afraid Dan. Be very afraid.

I got some wonderful things for my birthday, but I do believe hubby really came through. He got me a gift card for a massage and said I could take a whole Saturday (8 hours) to do whatever I want to without the kids. Oh yeah. Calling up the gals for sure!

He did good on the gift department. I am still getting him back though. ;)

Have a great night.

Tiff

P.S. The other two pics are of Madi and Sean. I am in awe of how big they are getting.

Mommy & Madi Day

Today I decided to take Madi out for some good old fashion shopping. So I gave Dan the baby and off the two of us went to the Shoppes at Chino Hills. First stop was into Forever21 because let's just face it, my wardrobe needed a little r&r and since my birthday is next week Dan said I could get a few things. So there we are walking around the store and I am picking items that I am contemplating trying on when Madi says:

"I have to go potty."

Dangit! I have an armload of clothes and I know Madi will NOT be able to hold it so I hand the clothes to a sales girl and rush to the restroom. Thank God it wasn't that far. We made it inside the stall and I am literally laying down the toilet cover when All of a sudden.....Madi goes on the floor and in her underwear. We were right next to the toilet for crying out loud!!!!!

I know I will laugh about this one day. I know I will laugh about this one day. I.... You get the point. Ha! Who knew potty training would provide so many entertaining stories to tell. At least she verbalized that she needed to go. That is the important part! So I did make sure to applaud her for that.

But the toilet was right there.......

Moving on. So I didn't go back to Forever immediately. Instead we took a detour and stopped by the Sanrio store (Hello Kitty) and I bought Madi a stuffed Hello Kitty doll. Then we headed back to Forever and I purchased some cute clothes for date night and lounging around. I also bought a cute pair of sandals from Reflections (they are having a huge sale right now) to wear with a couple of my outfits.

We walked around for a half hour and then Madi decided she wanted to go home. It was really hot outside but she did amazing. I love shopping with this little girl. She is a lot of fun and believe it or not loves to put her own outfits together. She is extremely fashionable. I love that about her.

On the way home I grabbed a frappucino for myself and then it was back into mommy mode. The break was just what I needed and it was so much fun to just hang out with my baby girl like I used to. I know she has missed the one on one interaction since Sean has arrived. So I think at least once a week I will need to make sure just do outings with her, even it just means going grocery shopping or running errands. I don't ever want her to feel as if she is no longer loved or important to me just because she has a new sibling.

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend!!

Tiff

Movie night

Tonight the four of us are hanging out past our bedtime and watching Beauty and the Beast together. Actually, one of them is sleeping (Sean) and the other is saying she is tired. But I think she is doing her best to stay up to watch.

And she is also telling me that I need to stop reciting the lines to the movie. LOL. I have seen it a few times. Probably one of my favorite movies as a little girl. Growing up my sister's and I loved for the next Disney movie that would come out in the theaters. Our mom would make us some snacks, sneak then away in her purse (popcorn, hotdogs, candy and coke.....oh joy!) and we would catch the matinée showing. I have such awesome memories of the movies. I can't wait to take Madi and Sean to the movies in the future.

For right now I think we will enjoy the free pleasures of DVD's and VHS. :)

What were some of your favorite movies as a kid? Did you go to the theater a lot as a kid? And did you sneak in food? That was the best part!! LOL!

Tiff

My first time out with 2 kids....alone

On Sunday evenings our college group, Illuminate, meets together at 6pm. Every other week Dan has a meeting with his leadership to go over some last minute details of the service. Since Sean is already 2 weeks old, we really wanted our group to meet him. Unfortunately I was going to have to go in early with Dan to church, drop him off then find something to do with my two kiddos for the next 4 hours.

I literally cried and prayed to God for strength. I wasn't necessarily afraid of Sean acting up. It was Madi. She is a 3 year old terror right now.

So I dropped Dan off and I headed over to Target so that we could walk around and then grab some snacks afterwards. Of course I accidentally walked by the aisle marked DANGER (aka Barbie) and I hoped Madi wouldn't see it.

No such luck.

Sure enough she veered right in and picked out the doll she wanted me to buy. I told her no, Daddy said we couldn't buy anything. I told her we could stay for 5 more minutes and then we had to go get a snack and I would need to feed Sean.

Oh my gosh she threw the biggest fit I have ever seen in my life. And why do children feel the need to throw tantrums, big ugly tantrums, in public? Do they purposely want to embarrass us?

So here I am holding hands with a screaming toddler, carrying brother in my carrier and praying no one calls the cops on me thinking that I am stealing an innocent child.

Even after we sat in the snack bar and I offered to buy her a snack to calm her down she was still screaming at me. People were staring at me and giving me dirty looks. I wanted to cry!!!!

After 20 minutes she finally calmed down. But oh my gosh never again. Oh and Target....you really should provide maps for mothers so that we don't have these kinds of episodes in your stores. LOL!

Where has your child thrown their biggest tantrum?

Tiff

P.S. I so should have taken a picture of Madi during her tantrum but I didn't think of that at the time. Heeeee!

An amazing day!

First, I want to start off this post by wishing my sister Sheena a very wonderful 27th birthday. She is my Irish twin as we are only 10 1/2 months apart in age. And even more exciting is the fact that in just a few months she will be Mrs. Jeremy Roark. I am so excited and thrilled to be apart of that day.

Well, no BBH just yet, although I am experiencing more braxton hicks contractions lately which is a good sign. I am slowly finishing off my to do list before his arrival. He basically has everything he needs when he gets here. I am just extremely anxious to see his sweet face.

Today, my MIL, Madi and my neice AD headed out to the Rainforest Cafe for lunch at the Ontario Hills mall. Madi loved it. She really enjoyed seeing all of the animals and watching them come alive at different times throughout our lunch. At least, she liked the animals. When it began to thunder she wasn't too thrilled. LOL! She doesn't really like noise or fire or anything that seems scary. But she does like animals! And speaking of animals her gramie bought her a stuffed snake to take home. Madi picked out the snake. I would have much preferred a cute koala bear or something. Oh and the snake's name is Lena. You can ask Dan about that one.

Then we headed home and the girls and I went swimming while Mama Harper purchased some caramel frappucinos for us. So delicious! Then we watched Finding Nemo (which I had never seen before. Adorable movie!) and Mama Harper and I made apple dumplings. Again absolutely delicious.

Now Madi and I are tucked in bed. She passed out rather quickly as she did not have a nap today (a meltdown did occur although Praise Jesus it was minor) and I am just blogging from my phone. Tomorrow should be another fun filled day Lord willing.

I pray you all had a great day as well! Good night!

Tiff~