Harrison Clan Christmas

On the day after Christmas David, Randy and all the other Harrison clan came to our house. Yes another get together at our house back to back. We did this last year as well. The good news about this year is Chris and I got Doug to agree to go out to lunch. So everyone came over that morning to open presents. They boys had even more fun. Lexi & Gary got Jake a pop gun and he thought that was so funny. He actually did eventually get how to make it pop the correct way. After all gifts were open we headed to Coal Vines. Well we learned Coal Vines is not open for lunch during the week so off we went to Campini in Southlake Town Square. I like that place. If it was not so windy we would have sat on the rooftop. It is really cool up there. After lunch everyone went their own way. We went to the Nestle Store so the boys could get cookies. We went to the fountain so the boys could play. Once we were finally completely blown away by the wind we headed home. Everyone was tired again so Jake did get a nap. This vacation time is so going to screw up his schedule. Oh well. It is what it is. I promise to try and not take so long to post.
Raye

Big Family Picture

Here are all 18 of us.

Christmas Day

The boys actually slept in a little. They did not wake up until about 7:30. William and Jake were really excited. They liked all their toys. Who knows what Ethan and Emily thought as they just kind of sat there and opened their presents without much of a word. I guess I should not have expected more as they are not very grateful children. They have it so easy here it is not even funny. I never even heard a thank you. William and Jake both said that. I guess their mother doesn't beat them down with manners. I am getting off track. That is another post for another time. Anyway. My family got here starting about 12:30. Everyone was here. Mike, Dan and Naela came in from California so I took advantage of the situation and took a big family picture. All 18 of us are in it. We did end up doing individual family pictures as well. Everyone finally left about 7:30. We were pooped. Jake was so tired. He actually fell asleep in my lap. It was awesome. He is not and has never been a snuggly kid like William. He slept long and hard that night. Here are some pictures. I have to split them into two posts as I am limited to the number of pics I can upload in one post.

Mom & Oma

Mike

Mary & her family

Becky & her girls

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was great fun. After Doug got back from his Christmas office lunch he and I went to WalMart to do some last minute things. I know what you are thinking but the one at North Tarrant and Davis/Precinct was and is not that crowded. After dinner we did crafts with the kids. They all four made these puppets and Emily and I did snowflake suncatchers. Jake was so wound up. At one point he "dialed" a phone in his hand, put it up to his ear and "talked" to Santa. He asked Santa if he would be here soon and then he said okay and hung up. It was hilarious. That kid is such a nut. He helped put the cookies out and William did the milk. The video is of Jake putting the cookies down. William went to sleep pretty quick but Jake just laid in his bed. He was singing, or more like chanting, Santa, Santa, Santa. It was great.

The video would not load so here is a picture of him in bed. He put the hat on by himself.

Another Picture

Here is another picture. Paulie was the one that we got the closest. He was right by us when we were at the house.

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

This morning Becky and I went to be apart of Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I don't know if all of you know but they are filming just down from my house. I was really hacked on Monday because it blocked my direct route to and from work. Ok. I am still hacked about that. But I need to be charitable. Anyway. Teri Lyn forwarded me an email that she got from our local March Of Dimes person (Kimberly) that talked about how MOD is going to be apart of this build. The owner had preemie and now she tries to help. I asked Kimberly about dates and joked with her about showing up in my Miracle Munchkins shirt to support the March of Dimes. Low and behold she sent me an email telling me how to be apart of the filming this morning. What we did was film the "Braveheart" walk. Basically the part of the show that has all the people marching up to the house. It was so cold. We had to be there at 6:30. I am still cold. Spec and I left at 9:30 after we completed most of the filming because she was having frozen toe issues. I tried to get shots of the cast but the crew did not want us to take pictures while they were filming. They threatened to pull us out of line. So I snuck the pictures when I could. Teri Lyn and I are going to try and go see the construction progress this weekend. Move the Bus day is Monday but I don't think I will be able to make that. Darn it. That would be fun. Here are some pictures. You will see we looked like stuffed sausages because they made us put the shirts on top of our coats. I was amazed they went on. I will post again with more pictures when I go this weekend.
Take care,
Raye

Banner we all carried

Spec & I - Man were we cold

Spec all bundled up - Still didn't help her feet

Ty talking to the "cowboys"

Ty walking back to the van - He was hard to shoot

Birthdays, Birthdays

Boy this time of year is busy for birthdays. Rachel is on the 1st, Becky, Tanner & Parker are on the 2nd plus Doug's and mine Anniversary is on that day. Goodness. We put up the tree on Sunday but didn't decorate until Monday night. It is so cute. Jake put on his Santa hat and started running around the house saying Ho Ho Ho. I know it is hard to imagine Jake running around the house but the hat was adorable. He is so much more into this than William was or is. He must take after his Mom. The tree has many ornaments near the bottom in the front of the tree. Hazards of the decorators. I would not have it any other way.


Brotherly love

William giving Willy smooches. I understand the irony of the name

Jake snuggling with Chex

Chex & Willy - You can just see Chex's lights on his antlers

Back to Posting - Finally

I have been a slacker with posting. Sorry. A couple of weeks ago we took the boys in the stockyards to take pictures and what not. The boys had a blast. We tried to eat at the Mexican restaurant down there but it was closed temporarily. Never a good sign. We tried to figure out a way to get down to the "Subway" but they had the entrances boarded up. I though about explaining what happened at the other end but thought that was a conversation for another time. Here are some of the pics. Doug has recently got photoshop so he has started playing with these. These are not edited pictures.
Raye

William strikes a pose

Jake finds an acorn

Your Backyard Friends

Last Saturday we went to the Backyardigans Live. Boy that was a beat down. The boys loved it and had so much fun but it was just not a good production. I will say it was better than Diego Live but not near as good as the Wiggles Live. Too bad Jake isn't into the Wiggles. But it still wouldn't be the same without Greg. Hee Hee. Seeing what some of our friends said that took their kids to Backyardigans we were in the same boat. I guess the important thing is the boys had fun. When we were leaving we had to go down some stairs. Jake wouldn't hold my hand and he went flying down the stairs. He went so fast I couldn't catch him. He looked like he was body surfing down the stairs. Thank goodness they were carpeted. I hate to say it was funny but in hindsight it kind of was. What a Mom. Have a great Thursday!!!

Raye

Your backyard friends

Of course Jake has pizza sauce on his face

Everything becomes a weapon

Time to have a snack. Meet you next time.

1st Grade Open House

For some reason I don't remember Open House being so crazy when I was a kid. Maybe because my perspective has changed but I remember Bell Manor having much more room to move around. Mom and Dad may have disagreed. In the main hall at Independence we were shoulder to shoulder and to top it off people would just stop in the middle of the hall. Hello people keep moving. William enjoyed himself though. He took us everywhere. He showed us around his room, down to the cafeteria and gym,back to the Art Room, on to the office and finally in the Library. Note I could not find the principal anywhere. It was a whirlwind. Especially with a two year old tagging along. Mrs. Parmley did a great job. She had the kids make basically a dummy of themselves to sit in their chairs. It was really cute. William pointed out a pilgrim he made that was in a display case outside the Cafeteria. He had to point out that he made it have blue eyes. Just like him. He is such a goof God Bless Him.

Take care,
Raye

"William" at his desk

"William" & William

In the boat in the Art Room

Vote!!!!!

Today is probably one of the most historically significant days in this country I have witnessed. The course of history changes today one way or the other. How exciting we have the opportunity to participate. I hope everyone gets out and votes today or has early voted. Always remember that the only vote wasted is the one not cast. And if you don't vote you can't bitch. Hee Hee. Even the boys have gotten into. William had mock elections at his school. They created voter registration cards and everything. Shayla has also done a great job talking to the young ones. She has a little election corner set up in the playroom. Jake can even say who the candidates are when he sees their picture. The other night when we watch the Obama special he said his name and this morning he saw John McCain on GMA and said his name. What cracked me up about this morning is he also said Republican when he said McCain's name. Mom I am sure you are proud. But he is getting raised in a much more liberal household than we were so don't get too excited. ;-) I hope everyone has a great day and get out and VOTE!!!!!!
Raye

Go Chuck!

Hey. Everyone has ambition

Ok. I am sitting here looking at these pictures about to publish and something just hit me. Could their shirts be a little more like what is going on right now? I so did not mean for that but wow. And I am not talking about good vs evil..........

It's Okay Mom, It's Not Real

Halloween was so much fun this year. Jake is finally old enough to really get into it. He kept beating me down asking for Trick or Treat as soon as I picked him up from Shayla's. William did great. There is one house where the dad dresses up in the skeleton thing and comes out of the shadows of the doorway to hand out the candy. Before William would not go near that house. This time he walked right up. Good for him. Granted it was not real dark yet. Lots of houses on our street went all out. I was taking pictures of this one house while Doug and the kids walked across the street. Apparently Doug had to explain some things were not real to Jake. That became the phrase of the night for Jake. As I crossed the street to join them Jake tells me "It's Okay Mom, It's Not Real". He can be so cute some times. I stress sometimes. Today I came in from the garage to find him using the tile floor in the kitchen as a chalk board. Unlike when he took a metal flashlight to the rear quarter panel of my truck he got his but busted. Ok back to Halloween. After we got done we were eating pizza and enjoying the night. Emily and William took over candy duty from Ethan. Jake wanted to help so we told Emily and William to let him. After he passed out his first candy he came running back to us yelling he did it and asking for a High Five. Again so cute. But keep in mind the car and the floor. Hope everyone had a great time!

Take care,
Raye

Random lights

Jake in his hand me down costume

The crazy trio

Houston Day 2

This morning was much better. Jake's breathing gets better each treatment and we are now down to only two a day. I think tomorrow will be one and then we should be done. Thank god. I need to make an entry on that experience by itself. Jake again was dry all day and even went number 2 in the potty. We had breakfast at Starbucks in the lobby and off we went to the Aquarium. I kept telling Doug that it looked familiar. Sure enough when we were at lunch we saw it was the same company that did the Denver Aquarium. How appropriate as it is a year ago this weekend we were in Denver. The boys loved the Aquarium. We did the exhibit and they had so much fun. This place has a white tiger exhibit. Go figure. An Aquarium with tigers. We ate lunch at the restaurant there. It has North America's tallest tank. They had rides for the kids so we got the all day pass. That worked out great as the boys got to ride things over and over. We rode the train that went through a shark exhibit, the Ferris Wheel, Merry Go Round and the Lighthouse Dive. The dive is one of those rides that bounces you up and down. Jake thought that was fantastic. He kept wanting to ride it over and over. Thanks to the passes they rode it tons. He and William would laugh and then scream. Jake is just fearless. At some point over the last week Jake has stopped calling William Bubee. He calls him simply William. It is adorable. We had dinner across the street at Fox Sports Grill and it was really good. Pricey but good. Tomorrow for breakfast it is on with the Beignets. I found a place up the street that touts to have them as good as Cafe du Monde. I guess we will see. It is back home tomorrow for Doug and the boys. I will be here another night as I am seeing customers on Monday. When I get home I will post all the pics from the trip. They are really cute. I even let some of the shots Doug took of me from behind stay and not get deleted. LOL!
TTYL,
Raye

Doug & William on the Carousel

Me & Jake on the carousel

The shark at the end of the Shark Express

The boys laughing on the Lighthouse ride

Me telling Doug to just stop taking my pic. The others are almost all deleted

Houston Day 1

We got her last night to the hotel about 8. The boys did great on the way down. Much better than I thought. I was still worried about Jake but his breathing is almost completely back to normal. He had a rough night but is great today. We got up and moving early. We got breakfast in a not so good part of Houston and headed to the Johnson Space Center. We got there right after they opened. We did not get to do the tram ride as these buses full or tourists keep the line too long to stand in with two small children. But that was ok. I will say I was a little underwhelmed. The exhibits were not much in ways of exhibits. The boys did have fun in the kids area. They played and got some energy spent. Our hotel is right across the street from the Galleria so we are going to check that out tonight. We can just walk across the street. Jake is for all intents and purposes is potty trained. Knock on wood. Except for a little accident during his breathing treatment about 30 minutes ago he has not gone in his pull up since Monday. He has been wearing underwear under his pull up. Of course as soon as he and I make a big ceremony about throwing away his last pull up he has an accident. Oh well. I will take it anyway. At least he will go in a public bathroom. That makes things much easier. I will post tomorrow and let everyone know how tomorrow goes.
Take care,
Raye

View from our hotel room - The J W Marriott

Doug sitting in the space chair thing

Kisses in the shuttle mock up

Jake, William and I in the Apollo capsule

Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. We took a picnic dinner and ate by the pond. The lone three ducks in the pond were so happy we were there. We walked around and looked at the pumpkins. They had bounce houses, hay mazes and all other kinds of stuff. Ethan didn't want to go so we left his happy butt at the house. We will go back when we have more time as we went later in the day and didn't have tons of time.

William and Me - Notice he is a true snaggletooth. He lost the other one!!

Jake and Me - I actually started rolling in the hay with him after this . It will take awhile to get the straw out of my top.

Emily, William and Me - I know don't faint I am in a casual pic with Emily

October 15th - Remembering Our Babies

In 1988 President Reagan signed proclamation declaring October Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. In 2001 the House of Representatives signed a similar proclamation and from 2001-2006 many states followed. Texas is included in those states. Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. So tonight at 7pm Doug and I will light a candle and remember Ryan and Parker. Not that we don't think about Ryan every day of our lives but there is some comfort knowing possibly a group around the world will be doing the same thing. So if you think about stop and say a little prayer of remembrance for Ryan and for those that knew him little Parker. And you might want to throw in their Mom and Dad too help us out a little. If you would like additional information on this check out www.october15th.com. This whole thing was spearheaded by a parent who wanted the world to understand the facts.
Much Love,
Raye

Snaggletooth

William lost his one of his front teeth last night. I knew a couple of weeks ago something was happening. His outside (lateral) incisors were really starting to move apart and causing a pretty good size gap. You can see in the picture on the side the tooth is still there how much things have moved apart. I wiggled the two front (central) incisors and low and behold they were both loose. After many nights of wiggling Doug pulled it last night. He was freaked out but happy to put it in his pillow. He is truly on his way to being a snaggletooth. He is even doing the whole lisping thing. Too funny. The other is pretty loose as well and should be coming out shortly. Sorry for the food particles in his mouth in the pic. He was eating breakfast when I took the picture. Since I am the Mom of the Year he is eating Pop Tarts for breakfast. Go Me! Breakfast of champions right there.

Trendsetter

I was just sitting here watching John & Kate Plus 8 and I noticed her shirt. It was my mood swing shirt I got last year at Paige's. And then at their next episode she was wearing my Mom cubed shirt. Granted hers said 8 but I got mine two years ago when I got the boys their big brother little brother shirts. I have Mom cubed and soccer mom. I love the shirts. I got them at Couture Moms. Courtney got one too. Even Doug and Bryan got one. You should see people's faces when they see Doug wear a Dad to the 5th power. It is humorous. But I must say I was first. The pics are from Ethan Hohnadel's birthday party at Johnson Road park the weekend before last. We had two parties that weekend. Very Busy. But we had fun playing at the park that day even though it was hot.
Take care,
Raye