Update from the home front

Life with the Harrison's has been a little crazy lately...over the past two and a half weeks the boys of the household have endured high fevers, ear infections, sinus infections, hand-foot-and-mouth, multiple doctors visits, immunization shots and two courses of antibiotics. While I have endured little sleep, grumpy children, medication schedules, and lots of cartoons on the couch holding babies. Ellie and I have felt fine, and its a good thing too or else we would have had to call in for backup.

Sometimes I don't mind have a sick child or two because it makes me slow down and give all my attention and love to my kids. I can forget about laundry, dishes and bills to focus on the person in need. But things were getting pretty bad for a while. I've been feeling like a home bound hermit, but I'm hoping now that everyone is well again, life will go on as normal.

We celebrated Heath's birthday at the beginning of the month. We didn't really do anything special... We went shopping and got rid of the kids for birthday lunch at Red Lobster. (yum yum!) Heath did take an extra day off for the Labor Day weekend. We had great visit from Heath's sister Melissa and her family. The men went fishing and Melissa and I took the kids to the Science Museum, which was awesome! The kiddos had a fabulous time and of course didn't want to leave. There was all sorts of fun activities; ambulance, playing doctor, water table, virtual sports, combating the evil germs of the human body, all sorts of simple machine activities and so on...I think we could have spent three whole days there and still had more to see.

On Labor Day Monday we all went to the Zoo (again, my favorite place to go). The kids were loving the petting zoo, and we got to see the new flamingo exhibit.

We are lucky to be close to family and I'm happy that my kids get to make memories with their cousins. They can't wait until next time.

Happy Birthday Thomas!

Thomas turned 2 last month (and I'm just now posting it). We really didn't do anything extraordinary...presents, cake and ice cream and a trip to the zoo. I'm not really sure if Thomas understood that it was his birthday or even what a birthday is, but as always he had fun!

Nana and Grandpa sent him a new life jacket, which he loves. I think he likes to wear it around the apartment more than he does in the water. Neenie and Papa sent some birthday money and he picked out this cool "Outdoor Adventure" animals safari. He drives the Hummer around crashing it into everything, and he gets so upset when I can't make the little man (which he calls Daddy) to sit upright inside the Hummer.

Thank Goodness for Aunt Charlotte!

My sister Charlotte is hard working gal who is working as an RN full-time and going to school at the same time. She had a little break in school and work, so she decided to come and visit for a few days and we had a great time! We swam nearly everyday, which was so nice because it has been so hot and very humid. We went to a Nashville Sounds game. They played the Salt Lake Bees. Heath was hoping that when the Sounds won he'd be able to make fun of Charlotte that our team beat her team...but The Sound lost. We also went to the Zoo and had a great time there as always!

Charlotte was our little life guard while we swam and really, really helped Ellie. Miss Ellie is not the bravest in water and doesn't like to even wash her hair in the tub. She doesn't like water in her ears, eyes or on her face. But with the help of patient Aunt Charlotte, Ellie was swimming all around the pool All-By-Herself!!! She would swim from one end to the other, back and forth - I was so proud of her and she was pretty proud of herself too. We had a great time and can't wait until Charlotte and John come to visit again!

Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head

Believe it or not, the most dangerous game/toy that my children have is Mr. Potato Head. They enjoy playing with Mr. Potato Head, creating silly faces in the designated fashion. But they absolutely love to put the individual pieces into their own faces. They are constantly shoving the near inch and a half protruding end into their eyes, ears and noses. I have found Ellie trying to create a silly face on Thomas by shoving plastic orange ears into his ear canal, and Thomas laughing all the while. Of course, they think their being hilarious and I'm freaking out at the thought of having two deaf, blind children who constantly are getting nose bleeds.

Needless to say, Mr. Potato Head spends a lot of time hidden in the closet and is played with only under strict parent supervision.

Williamson Co. Fair

The Williamson County Fair was this weekend and since Tractor Supply Co. sponsors the fair, TSC employees got tickets and wristbands for Saturday. Ellie had been looking forward to attending the fair for the entire week and every day she would ask, "Is today the Ferris?" (She was confused by the Fair and the Farris wheel)

They had a little farm exhibit where the kids got little baskets and aprons and got to pretend they were little farmers. Each station had a little farm related activity for the kids, they began by bagging some corn to feed the animals. Then they fed the chickens and gathered eggs. Even though the chickens were fake Ellie was quite cautious, due to previous chicken encounters.

There were apples to pick, gardens to plant and harvest, sheep to sheer and cows to milk. When they had their baskets full of harvested goods they sold them at the Country Store. Then they were able to spend their "farm money" for a treat. It was a really fun little activity and the kids were loving it.

The rides were great fun. At first Ellie and Thomas were so excited to go on them, but they wanted Heath or I to ride with them. Well, since neither of us could fit into the miniature motor boats or flying bumble bees Heath convinced Ellie to ride the "Sizzler." This was a double spinner looking thing that went pretty fast. I just knew they would start it up and Ellie (the very child who got car sick just driving to the fair) would throw up on Heath or she would be screaming and crying so frantically that they would have to stop so she could get off. Surprisingly, she LOVED it and wanted to go again.

The kids quickly warmed up to the idea of the rides and wanted to try all of them - even to the point where Thomas threw a giant fit because he couldn't ride the exciting rides with Dad.

The animals were great too, Thomas and Ellie wanted to pet everything. We loved every minute, despite the heat, and can't wait until next year.

6 Month Update

With all the events of summer life, entertaining company, and just real life responsibilities I was kind of oblivious to Daniels half-birthday. (Shows what kind of mother I am) He is now 6 months old and loving life. He has just jumped in size and weight gain. He's thick around the middle and very dense. Daniel is sporting 5 pearly white teeth and loves to chomp down on anything he can get his hands on or any of his siblings curious little fingers. He also grinds his teeth all the time and just the sound of it makes my skin crawl. He still had those beautiful, big blue eyes like his daddy and I'm praying that they will stay blue.

He's quite the little Rolly-polly and can't hold still for a minute. It is truly amazing to me how STRONG he is - again something that he inherited from Heath, not me. He's got a grip like a bear and just getting him dressed is a workout.

All I know is that I'm in for crazy times ahead...Daniel loves to watch his siblings. He will laugh when they laugh, smile when Ellie sings to him and is pretty content to be around when they are having fun. But the thing that scares me is the way he watches Thomas. Daniel will just watch with his curious, inquiring eyes and his mischievous smile. I just know that he's taking it all in and memorizing every one of Thomas' moves.

All in all Daniel is a happy, loving little baby and a special part of our family.

Yet Another Fabulous Weekend

We were lucky enough to have Nicole and Heather come and visit us this weekend. Nicole took a little trip to visit Heather in Council Bluffs, Iowa before she headed off to college. So the two of them drove down on friday to spend some time with us. We of course had to visit the Zoo on Saturday. Heather and Nicole both love the Zoo as much as I do so we had a great time.

The kids played in the Jungle Gym and the water.

Nicole also came bearing gifts for the kids from my grandmother. I guess Grandma had these little tropical outfits from one of her last missions. Ellie and Thomas LOVED them and didn't want to take them off. Nicole, Heather and I though they looked cute as could be and that it was a great Grandma Smith gift. And Heath just sat there shaking his head. Overall it was pretty hillarious to watch those two run around in their matching attire.

We also took a little trip to Downtown Nashville to check out the sites. It rained on us, as it has done every other time we've gone Downtown. But we still had fun and the girls found some fund souvenirs.

I was so glad that they came, it was really great to see them both and to visit about life and family. I just cant't believe that Heather has been married for almost a year and that Nicole will soon be heading to BYU-Idaho - how old I feel. I love them both and I'm so blessed to have them in my life and call them my sisters.