Sneak Peek!

Follow this link for a look at a couple of amazing pictures Whitney took of our family at Thanksgiving! Enjoy!
http://www.scottphotography.org/page5/page5.html

The Many Faces of Harrison and Countdown to Christmas!

Harrison makes so many cute faces (I'm not biased or anything!) during the day. Last week, during bathtime I pulled out my camera and started snapping. I'm sure all moms understand how hard it is to get those moments on camera, but I got some pretty good ones, I think! Harrison loves his baths. He knows that after dinner he gets a bath -- this is a necessity, he's usually covered in food. He starts bouncing in his chair and whining for the tub. I put him down and he speed-crawls right to the tub! He can't wait. He loves to splash and has learned how to pull the plug, so now he's confined to the back of the tub, behind Madeleine. Ha! Enjoy the snapshots--

This is how happy he pretty much is all the time!

Check out those rolls, especially above the knees!

I blogged earlier about Madeleine's excitement about Christmas. She's having a hard time waiting for Santa and wants to open the presents under the tree. I know she won't open them -- we've put the fear in her, but I wanted to do something to help her be more patient. So, I made a sock advent calendar out of baby socks. I'm still looking for some cute number stickers to go on the outside of each sock 1-24; if anyone sees any let me know. Each sock has a little treat inside and she gets one every day. It's becoming a big event in her day & she really looks forward to it! I'm giving it to her after her rest/nap time, so hopefully it will inspire her to do better with resting on her bed! :) It was a fun project for me -- I plan on doing it every year. I guess next year I'll have to put 2 treats inside!

Dinner Conversation

At dinner, we each tell the favorite part of our day. Madeleine's is always the best -- sometimes it actually happened that day & sometimes it happened a few days/weeks ago and sometimes it's something she wants to happen! Tonight our conversation went like this:

Matt: What was the best part of your day, Madeleine?

Madeleine: Playing outside at preschool.

Me: Who did you play with outside?

Madeleine: Aiden. He's my friend.

Long pause

Madeleine: Mommy, which one is Aiden? Did he wear the green shirt?

Haha!

Getting ready for Christmas!!

We are so excited at our house about Christmas this year! Actually, I don't know who is more excited, me or Madeleine! :) I can't wait for Christmas morning to see her face & I know that her joy will spread to Harrison and he'll be all smiles as well. I think this is when Christmas gets really fun again -- when you have children around to be part of it. I love to hear madeleine talk about santa and get excited about getting and giving presents! I love that she wakes up every morning asking if it's christmas yet. I love that she's helping me wrap her presents to others and is very concerned that santa bring something for harrison, too.

Madeleine started asking to put up the tree on Friday so Saturday we put up our christmas tree -- and in record time, too! We have a wonderful pre-lit tree (I love this, since the lights were always my job!) so all we really have to do is fluff and decorate! Madeleine wanted to help with the ornaments, so I made 2 piles -- the breakable (for me) and the plastic (for her). It took her about 3 minutes to put hers on the tree then she started in on mine! :) I was racing to get mine up and hanging them as fast as I could. It took all of 20 minutes for us to finish! I usually like to do this slowly since each ornament is special and has memories with it. This year, it was fun explaining them to her as we unpacked them, she was especially taken with a little glass angel that my mom bought me when I wasn't much older than Madeleine. It's one of my first christmas memories -- going to a christmas open house at a store with my mom and getting to pick out that little ornament and this year Madeleine hung it on the tree. It made me realize that she'll probably have some memories of this christmas that will be with her forever. So, I'm determined to make this year amazing!

Monday morning when she woke up the first thing she said to me was, "mommy, I really really want it to be christmas." How sweet. She also keeps asking for me to tell her the "Santa Story" which is how Santa brings the toys down the chimney, etc. She LOVES the tree and it MUST be lit up as soon as we walk in the door! I noticed this morning that some ornaments were moved around -- guess who! My little elf! Ha!

Here are some pictures of our tree and my little helper. And, yes, she's not wearing any pants -- at least she's got on a shirt! :)

Harrison is 11 Months and Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday Harrison was 11 months old. Just one short month and we'll be gathered around him watching him attempt to blow out that one lone candle on his birthday cake. How can it be that my baby is almost ONE? He's growing by leaps and bounds every day. He's becoming so very independent and yet he still is quite a mommy's boy (can you see the smile on my face?). So, here's the monthly update:

*he still has 8 eight teeth, but it's looking like there's another one on the way -- he's gonna have a steak on his birthday! :)
*he babbles and tries to mimic the tones in our voices

*he LOVES madeleine!

*he loves all food -- cheese, yogurt, hamburgers (yep, he'll eat them), grilled cheese, turkey, fries, etc.

*his new favorite toy is a $1 ball I just bought him

*he puts everything in his mouth!

*he says "dada" "mama" and "bye-bye"

*he can wave and blow kisses (when he feels like it)

*he's still my Mr. Dimples!

*and........he took his first independent steps on tuesday! Madeleine was there to see it & greeted Matt at the door that evening, shouting "harrison can walk, harrison can walk!" We have yet to see this happen again, but it won't be long, I'm sure!

Here are some pictures of Harrison on Thanksgiving.....

We had such a fun Thanksgiving! All of my dad's family came to LR to spend the holiday with us -- that meant that there were 13 adults, 6 children (plus one on the way) and 2 dogs! WOW! It was crazy fun! Madeleine is completely exhausted -- she had such fun playing with her cousins and she is just worn out now.
Wednesday we went down and Whitney took our family pictures. They are awesome! We designed a christmas card that's going to be perfect, too. I ordered so many pictures -- it's rare that we get good pictures of BOTH of my kids. We went to this outside location and took some of them in bare feet and fancy clothes and they are gorgeous! I'll post a link later, if I can. Then Thursday we went back for the big FEAST! We had so much food -- turkey, ham, mashed potatos, sweet pot. casserole, veggies, rolls, salad, dressing, and more -- and I won't even start on the desserts we had, except to say that Whitney makes the BEST mounds candy ever! :)

Here's a pic of the feast!
We timed the meal so some of the kids were napping & we could eat a little slower and visit more. Here's madeleine enjoying her "dinner" after her nap. Yes, that's a hot dog!


After dinner, it's always naptime. Here's Harrison and Grandad napping together.
After dinner and naps the kids put on a "show" for us, which in our family = church! Yep, they conducted an entire church service, complete with prayers, communion and even a collection! It was hilarious! Madeleine was a little unsure, most of this is new to her, but we all laughed so hard! Then it was time for more pictures. Here's one I took of the kids with my parents.

All in all, it was exactly what thanksgiving should be: fun, food, and family. I have more to be thankful for than I have space on this blog, but here are a few of my tops:

*my little family: matt, madeleine and harrison. i have a wonderful husband and 2 healthy babies

*my parents are both healthy & live nearby and enjoy their grandchildren and my sister is close and loves my children as well

*matt's family is well and lives close

*we have a warm home on these coming cold winter months

*i am able to stay home and take care of my children, which is what i want to do

*we have friends and a church where we can worship

*matt has a good job and loves what he does

*my children are sweet and are growing up to love the Lord

*we have so many people who love us!

As you can see......my cup runneth over.

My Sweet Husband

Okay girls, get ready to "ohhh" and "ahhh" ........

Yesterday Matt came home a little later than usual. I really didn't think much about it since he often runs back by the school on his way home or has paperwork to fill out. When he came home, instead of coming in the back door, he rang the doorbell -- hmmm? Madeleine and I rushed to answer it & there stood Matt holding 2 beautiful bouquets of flowers! A huge bouquet of Stargazer Lilies (my favorite) for me and a smaller bouquet of daisies for Madeleine! He said they were "just because" flowers -- and thanked me for all the things I do for our family.

Aren't they gorgeous!

Madeleine's daisies. She was completely thrilled with them and kept moving them from room to room all night! She kept telling him, "Daddy, I just love my flowers -- they're so pretty." It made her day!
I have to say that I have the sweetest, most thoughtful husband. He's got A LOT on his mind and on his plate right now (masters classes, national boards, etc) and he works so hard for us & still finds time to bring me flowers when I've had a hard week! I am incredibly blessed.

Ballgame with Daddy

One of Madeleine's favorite things to do with her Daddy is to go to the ballgame. This is something they try to do whenever there's a home game at the junior high. She loves the cheerleaders and watching the girls play basketball! I'm friends with the dance team sponsor, and she gave Madeleine a shirt that the dance team wears -- the cheerleader sponsor also gave us some pom-poms. So, here she is dressed up and ready to go to the game with her Daddy. She loves to sit next to him and yell "GO PANTHERS" and wave her pom-poms in the air! Here she's practicing for the game. She told Matt that she wants to play basketball "someday" but that soccer is her favorite (and she's actually a really good soccer player -- how many 3 yr olds can run and kick and get the ball in the air!).



One more thing......Harrison is about to walk! He's standing alone ALL THE TIME and getting really frustrated that he can't walk. He'll shuffle his feet and lunge to us, but won't actually take a "real" step. It's only a matter of days now.....