Happy Halloween

I love Halloween...It's just a fun Holiday filled with make-believe, dress-up, candy and spooky fun! I love the change in the seasons, the cooler weather, the harvest of crops, and the beautiful leaves changing color (which has been especially beautiful in Tennessee).

This Halloween I'm feeling pretty good about myself because I actually got some sewing done for the Holiday. Even though my sewing consisted of fabric strewn about the house by three little monkeys with Daniel crawling under the table trying to run the foot pedal for me. All the while Thomas is grabbing my thread at the top of the machine, rolling it across the table, tuning on and off my light, and messing with all of my settings. All Ellie wanted to do was cut (which is one of her favorite activities), so I gave her some scraps and some scissors. She was behaving and doing very well...so well in fact, that she cut up all of her scraps and then moved on to my pieces for my project. But all in all I was happy how everything came out.

I had this little onesie that Ellie and Thomas both wore when they were little, but it was just too small for Daniel. So I cut off the snaps and added some sleeves long sleeves and some length at the bottom for a cute little pumpkin shirt.

Voila! Cute as can be! (at least I think so anyways)

This was his real Halloween costume. Also a Jack-o-lantern.

I also made Ellie costume (with some help from my mom). She wanted to be a honey bee so I sewed this little jumper and used the cutest ribbon for the little stripes. With her t-shirt, leggings, head-band (specially made by Nana) and of course her heels, she looked pretty stinkin' cute!

And of course nothing could be more fitting for Thomas than a little Dragon. We went to the trunk-or-treat Saturday night at the church and played games, bobbed for apples and painted pumpkins. The kids got tons of candy and were on a sugar high for two days straight. Oh... the joys of Halloween.

Neenie & Papa

This past week we had the pleasure of hosting even more guests...Heath's parents flew out to visit. One day we drove to Pulaski, TN to visit the cemetery where Daniel Seal (Heath's Great, Great, Grandfather - Neenie, please correct me if I'm wrong) is buried.

We named our son Daniel after him. It was really special to see where he was buried and to make that connection with ancestors that have gone before us. We had three generations there that day and I hope that it will be a special memory for our little Daniel.

The cemetery was absolutely beautiful! The grounds were lovely, with huge trees casting great shadows across dozens of tombstones. It was a perfect day for strolling through the cemetery.

Heath, Neenie and Papa also drove out to Barnett Mountain. We went to the Zoo, and visited the Parthenon.

For the weekend Melissa and her family came to visit also.
We had a great time visiting, and the kids had a great time playing. They got pumpkins to "decorate" (mostly because I wasn't brave enough to let 5 kids start hacking into pumpkins in my little apartment). We all had a great time and we are truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

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.