Our Santa Visit!

One Wednesday night we decided to go see Santa at the mall...bad idea. We waited for almost 10 minutes and didn't move. It would have been at least an hour if not more in line so we walked around the mall for a few minutes and Harrison found a Christmas Tree. He loves the big bulbs...they are just like his balls at home. Problem is, these ones would break so we were careful how close he got. He loved it though!
This morning, I made another attempt and took Harrison within minutes of the mall opening. It was about a 15 minute wait. He wasn't too sure when he first sat down...

But he loved playing with Santa's gloves. It was comforting to him and Santa would wiggle them a little bit and it kept him from squirming off his lap.
Even the fingers only lasted so long and we tried to get him to smile and this is what happened! I thought it was cute and wished I would have caught the pruny face before the cry but we were done after this! As soon as I picked him up he was fine again!
Overall, I think it went well and I hope we didn't scar him too much. We will see what next year brings I guess!

Christmas Prep and Snow?!?!?

Last Thursday night we started decorating for Christmas after our decorations came from Utah. Since Jeff's birthday, Harrison has had an obsession with candles. We are trying to teach him not to touch them but don't want him to be scared. It has been interesting but he loves to "blow" them out. He blows and does a good job but just can't blow hard enough to actually get the candle out. Now he is starting to blow out lights that look like a candle too. It cracks us up! Also, on the table is a table runner that I made. I am pretty impressed with myself. It is the first project I have finished in our new house. I am working on about 4 others so we will see how long those take. Decorating the tree. Harrison was more interested in taking the ornaments off the tree...so we had to keep him away.
Even before we got any ornaments on, he wanted the lights. Again, he tried blowing them out. When that didn't work, he just grabbed for them.
Unpacking ornaments. Harrison only broke one ornament, we got that on video!
He thought the balls were for throwing, not for hanging. Daddy is a good teacher though and very patient. He helped HD hang quite a few.
And this is were things get weird...

So when we moved here everyone told me the summers were bad but that winter would be really mild and that was what made up for the summer. Earlier in the week, there was talk of snow coming on Friday. Everyone was making such a big deal about it. I didn't have to go anywhere and Jeff comes home early on Friday so we were excited. We got a good laugh out of the reactions people had to the snow coming. Earlier in the day I went on a walk and the neighbor yelled out, "Be careful, a blizzard is coming!" I had to laugh.
As much as I wanted a mild winter, we did like the snow and Harrison loved it. He cried when we brought him in but he was soaking wet and we didn't want him sick. He was trying to catch the snow...it didn't happen but he and Daddy loved it!
He didn't quite know what to expect, but loved it all. I think our tropical plants in the background is pretty funny. I just hope I wasn't supposed to cover them!
This was as much as we had that stuck but it continued to snow. Our neighbors built a foot tall snowman and were very proud of themselves.
There wasn't a lot of snow, but it was perfect for Harrison. Enough to play but not get buried in! The snow stayed until the next day and we enjoyed a nice evening inside our warm, dry home!

Chuck E Cheese's

On December 2nd we got invited to a birthday party for a cute little girl in our ward. Of course it was at Chuck E Cheese which Jeff and I weren't too excited about taking Harrison to (Jeff declared it ground zero for H1N1!) but we took him and had a good time.
Of course, being a teacher, I had to put him on Clifford! We are reading some Clifford books and he is interested I think...

Who let the littlest drive the bus??? He was in first and wouldn't give up his spot. They didn't mind and we didn't crash so it was all good :)

Here he is in the Jeep that would rock all over the place. He is alone because all the other boys tried it and hated it. As you can see, Harrison loves an adventure.
Rocking all the way back and he is still hanging on and loving the ride.
At the end of the night, he did not want to go but it was past his bedtime and we needed to get him home to disinfect him! Almost a week later, he still isn't sick so we made it!

A Little Fun Art Project (and cheap too!)

Well, now that we are almost unpacked, we are trying to decide where we want to hang pictures. We painted our room white with a gray accent wall (you can look at the posts of our house to see) but didn't really think we had any artwork that matched. Since we are trying to not spend too much money, I decided to do an art project with Harrison. I got 2 art canvases n a 16x20 size and some black paint. Then I just striped Harrison down to his diaper and poured the paint on his hand. He loved the feel of it and I just put his hand on the canvas and let him do whatever. They turned out pretty good.
Here we are getting started. He doesn't know what to do with it at first...
He actually was more messy during the cleanup then during the project. I didn't plan that part well enough.

He loved playing in the water but it didn't clean him up so we ended up in the bathtub after this.

These are the finished drying product. We are still waiting to hang them because I am not sure which direction I want them to face. I think they turned out great and the whole thing cost less then $8! Not bad for 2 original paintings!

Fall Festivities

I can't believe November is already here! We had a fun October and amid all the unpacking and moving, we still managed to have some fun Fall activities. Here are some highlights!

We hope everyone else is also having a wonderful fall and I am already getting ready for Christmas. I can't wait!

Harrison and I made and decorated some sugar cookies.
Harrison had more fun eating the frosting then frosting the cookies. The beater kept him busy while I decorated.

Our finished pumpkin decorating.

Harrison enjoyed playing with the pumpkin (I think we tested how many times we could drop a pumpkin and not have it break!) and thought it was a ball. It never broke!

He saw the face on Daddy's pumpkin and decided to kiss it. We have been working on waving at people and giving mom and dad kisses.

Our attempt at decorating...he just ended up with blue marker on him instead of on the pumpkin.

We went trunk or treating and brought our own little frog!

Our cute and always busy frog

He loves to press his face against the Lego top. Sometimes it is a game, other times he just likes to do it to get us to laugh. It always works.

Our New House!!!

So, warning-there are lots of pictures! I posted even more on Facebook but they take a while to upload here so check out Facebook if you want to see more!

So anyway, we closed on our house the end of September and moved in in October. Jeff has been repainting and that is a continuing job, but most of the house is finished. Some of the pictures are messy but at least everyone can get an idea of where we are. We love our house and feel so blessed to be in a place that we can have such a wonderful house!

The front from the street.
The backyard and patio

Another view of the backyard

Our master bedroom. This is after we painted. Now we just need to get some pictures up on the walls.

Harrison's room. The door goes to his closet.

3rd bedroom-right now it is just for dumping stuff as we move in and has not been repainted yet. The closet is a walkin so I will be using it for all my crafting stuff.

2nd bathroom-not yet painted

Utility room-I LOVE my new W/D!!!

Master bath vanity and door to the walk in closet-another favorite!

The rest of the master bath. Door goes to the toilet and we have a seperate tub and shower.

Eating area and door on the left goes to the patio

Kitchen

Family room-the door in the back goes to the master bedroom

Study-still needs to be repainted so we haven't moved in anything yet. It is in the front right as you walk in the front door.

Dining room which we use as Harrison's play area.

Front entry way-white door leads to the 2 car garage (love that too!) and to the other side the hallway leads to the other 2 bedrooms, 2nd bath and Utility room.

1 year old and wiser too...

I can't believe my baby is 1. Where has the time gone. I have learned so much about love and laughing this past year. I couldn't imagine a better baby.
Harrison has taught me:
You can still smile even after getting woken up in the middle of the night
Never leave home without a pacifier, and put at least 4 in the bed at night
Rear facing carseats get boring because you can't see anything
There is nothing that love from mom (or baby) can't fix
You can learn to walk too young
Yelling is always fun, especially at church

The lessons go on and on. As much as I know Harrison has grown and changed this last year, I feel like I have grown so much as a mom. I love everyday that I get to spend with him and am so grateful that I can stay home with him each day and watch him grow.

Here are some fun pictures from his party at Grandma and Grandpa Willerth's house.

Waiting for his birthday cake. It was chocolate and chocolate and shaped like a football.
Digging right in...could he make more of a mess?

I should have known, he doesn't eat his normal food without making a mess!

After a bath, he looks much better!

He loved his presents but didn't want to sit on my lap to open them. He was more interested in visiting with everyone watching.

Playing the music for all his guests.

Ready to party!