Happy Easter!

With life being so busy lately, it seems like Easter kind of crept up on us. But Easter was an amazing day. We did so many things and loved every minute of it. It is one of those days when relaxation met fun met family time. I can't complain!
Saturday night, Harrison laid out his basket and eggs for the Easter bunny to fill. And then Sunday morning he woke up to quite a treat!

We prepped him about the candy but he was still more excited about his new Woody and Buzz toys.
Then he remembered the candy and it was hard to get him to stop eating.

Then it was time for church. We had a great time with some wonderful lessons and talks. It really puts this whole season back into perspective. What a blessing Christ's Resurrection is in each one of our lives!

After church (and naps) we colored our Easter Eggs. This is Harrison's first year really participating and he loved every minute of it. I think he dyed all his eggs orange. Unless the orange was full and we could talk him into a different color.



Notice the shirt change...he had a little run in with the coloring while standing on the chair. Oops!
My strong boys with their egg muscles.
Then came dinner and the traditional eating of the Jello Eggs. I HATE Jello...too many hospital stays where Jello was one of the only things I could eat. Anyway, once a year I make an exception and make Jello Eggs. We have special molds from my mom and it is fun to do. So, then every year we eat Jello Eggs.

Then we found some time in the evening to take our Harrison's new game and have our first really board game experience with him. He loved it and did really well. It probably helped that he won (luck of the cards) and it didn't take very long. He wanted to just play with the pieces for a while, but we did make it through a whole game. He also figured out pretty fast that he wanted the cards with 2 colors and not just 1.
All in all we had a great Easter. We relaxed, talked with family, spent the day together, continued some Easter traditions and most importantly we were able to remember just what Easter is all about. I am so thankful for Christ and his Atonement and Resurrection. It gives me such peace and hope in my life! Hope everyone else also had a great Easter!

Quarantine and Camping

Since about mid-February Harrison has not been in great health. I took him to the Dr. because he was congested, had a runny nose, a horrible cough and at times was pulling on his ears. Well, chalk it all up to allergies. I never had allergies until I was pregnant with Harrison, so I had little sympathy for Jeff's seasonal allergies. Now I have to deal with Harrison's as well! It has not been fun, but we are getting past them.
I don't want to be the mom who overreacts so we have had a few nights with little sleep and a cranky baby when the symptoms are at their worst. Then last week, we woke up with a slightly swollen and goopy (sp?) eye. That was it, I was taking him back to the Dr. Sure enough, all the other symptoms are still allergies, but now he had pink eye. So, we got his medication and went on house arrest. We canceled and turned down plans and stayed home for the next 2 days.
Still smiley even with pink eye.
We built a big train track and raced all our trains and cars.
We watched a lot of TV and stayed in PJs for most of the day.
Then we were done! We didn't want to be trapped and Harrison was sleeping and acting like himself again, so we decided to take our first family camping trip. Pre-Harrison, we camped a lot and enjoyed it. We even did a week long backpacking/canoe trip across the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Canada. Well, since Harrison was born, I have had a fear of crying all night in a tent (among other fears) so we haven't gone. Well, our ward had a camp out so we thought it would be the perfect time to try. It was close to home and we would have friends (with kids as well) to share the experience with.
Harrison loved everything about camping.
Collecting nature...
Blowing bubbles. Jeff drew quite a crowd of little boys. All the little girls went somewhere else, but the boys played full contact bubble popping.

Exploring new things.
Hiking on trails. He had his arm out in front of him for the first part of our walk and kept saying something that I did not understand.

Then I saw this lovely sign that said "venomous snakes in park" and we stayed close to the trail.
Exploring a huge bridge.
Throwing rocks in the water. We were supposed to go fishing, but TX has not gotten much rain so the creek was really low. Guess we will save fishing for next time and stick to throwing rocks and sticks in the water.
Climbing "mountains".
Enjoying the campfire. Again, not a lot of rain so there was a burn ban while we were there. Our brickettes would have to substitute, but a fire is a fire I guess.
And it was still fun to roast S'mores.
Although, I didn't get any pictures of us that night, Harrison did really well. We finally brought him to bed about 10:30 and he passed out pretty quick. After only a few times of calming him down and then he would sit straight up and say "What's that. I hear something!" It would be kids or crickets. We would tell him and he would lay down. Then repeat a few more times. It went really well though.
The next morning, it was cooler. Harrison helped take down the tent and we enjoyed a nice breakfast and some more rock throwing.
It was a lot of fun and we are already trying to plan another camping trip in the next month. Hopefully we have good weather again and that we will have just as much fun as this trip!

2 1/2! ALREADY!!??

My baby is 2 1/2 today! Where does the time go?! I know I am always saying that, but I still don’t have the answer. We spent some time last night looking at his baby book and he called himself “little Harrison”. Then he pointed to himself and said, this is me. Still trying to figure this one out I guess. Anyway, I don’t even think I can describe all the ways this wonderful angel has been a blessing to me personally, to our family and to Jeff and my’s relationship. I look at our life before and see that place where Harrison just fits right in.

Some of my favorite saying of his are:

“Oh Nut!” for “Oh Nuts” –and I’m not sure where it came from. Jeff and I don’t even say that. “Oh Balonge”-another funny one.

“Love you too Mommy (or Daddy)”-even when he is the first one saying it.

“Hold you Mommy”-when he wants to be held.

The way he talks really high when talking about things that are little.

Hearing him sing his ABCs.

“No Mommy workout”-as if I need to be any less motivated.

“Daddy all wet”- after Jeff comes back from a workout.

He is always getting his p’s and t’s mixed up so for mat he says “map” and a favorite show called Super Why is “Suter Why”

“Hey Mommy!” really loudly and once he has my attention, he finishes whatever he wanted to say normally.

“Daddy food beepin’”

“Library”- he rolls his R’s so it sounds funny when he says it. “Umbrellia”-again rolling his R’s. And "Slippery" -another rolling R word.

His whole prayer at night. He is so cute and most of the time I understand it all.

“Was that?”-Yes, we have started the what’s that phase.

My list goes on and I’m sure I am forgetting a ton because I always find myself saying “That is the funniest thing ever!” about everything he does.

Harrison is growing normal and right on track. A little short, but we can’t be too surprised. He still has his blond hair and blue eyes. He knows his ABC’s (all but 3 letters he recognizes) his numbers from 1 to about 15 (although he sometimes counts them out of order) and he is finally catching on to colors. I was worried, but now he is getting them! He also knows quite a few shapes and even identifies a pentagon and trapizoid.

He loves to be outside playing, blowing bubbles, running, going on walks, collecting things, swinging, sliding, playing in sand, swimming or playing in the water, reading, watching movies or shows, playing Mario or Wii bowling and of course being Mommy’s shadow.

He has some good friends and loves to play trains, cars, any kind of ball, puzzles, tag or hide-and-go-seek. He is really full of energy and wears me out every day. Thank goodness for nap time! We have also started exploring with potty training and every once and a while we will spend a day in "unnawears". He does well when he wants and when he insists on wearing a diaper, I learned my lesson!

I really cannot say enough about my little boy! I'm not even sure I should call him my baby anymore. Most of the time I call him my Bubba! Out of love of course. He makes me laugh and is truly the sunshine of his mom and dad's lives!

Here he is sporting his new "Super Shapes". It is a shape belt from Team Umizoomi, a show he really likes. I think that and his puzzle is how he has learned so many shapes.

Love you Bubba and can't wait for the next 2 1/2 years to be as much (or more) fun!

Miss You "Diwan"!

So in January, my little sister Dillan came to live with us. She was on break from school and looking for a job. Not having any luck at home, I convinced her that there were a lot of opportunities in TX. So, she came and within 2 days of being here, she not only found a job, but took a job that was close to our house, so no commute or anything.
Well, I can't believe how fast 3 months goes, because she left yesterday to go back home and then school starts again for her at BYU-I later this month. While she has been here, we have had a lot of fun. It is so nice having family close by and a live-in sister is fun too. She was there to have adult conversation with and helped with cooking, cleaning and watching Harrison. I'm still not sure I am going to adjust quickly to her being gone. But we enjoyed the time we had her and can't wait to see her again. Harrison is still asking where "Diwan" is. He will continue to wait for her to come back I guess.
So, to show Dillan a little more of Houston, I decided to take her downtown to a couple of the parks. We started out at Discovery Green and spent some time walking around and playing there.
(We didn't read the sign about climbing on the art until after Harrison was down)
These are cool sound things and you could hear people in the other one across the way. Harrison was trying to show how strong he was.
Harrison and I talked with Dillan and Richie.

Not only did Dillan find a job while she was here, she also found a boyfriend. Richie is a great guy (and since Harrison seems to have a thing for men, he took right to him as well). This is at Herrman Park.
After Discovery Green, we went to Herrman Park. Climbing tree branches.It was hard to get a picture of the front of Harrison because he was always about 20 ft. ahead of us. Wanting to see the next thing. We enjoyed a nice stroll through the park though.

Longing for a train ride.
Discussing ducks with mommy.
Richie helped him see how to feed the animals. Normally he goes running after them so they run away.
Then he tried out his new lesson and it worked really well.
Then we had to run after the birds in the park.
It was a really fun day! I know I will always remember and be grateful for the time that Dillan was here with our family. Maybe next time she needs a job, she can come back again. For now, we will treasure the memories and the time together and wish Dillan the best of luck out at school! We love you Dill (or "Diwan"-as Harrison likes to call her!)

For Fun!

I know I just did a long post, but I really was excited about these pictures. My sister has been living with us for these last few months and offered to take some pictures of Harrison and me since I am usually the one taking the pictures and quite frankly on a normal day, I don't always feel ready to smile for a picture. So, last Sunday, I was ready as was my wonderful sister Dillan and we even got Harrison to cooperate. I had about 25 that I picked, but just wanted to share a few.








Then I got a few of just him (I am getting ready to do his 2 1/2 year pictures soon). I just love this smiley little guy!