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