To cut or not to cut.

I've commented before about Harrison's hair. It's crazy and long and curly all at the same time. Randy and I keep going back and forth about cutting it. He mentioned buzzing it all off and thought this was a great idea until he pointed out a kid at the mall as an example. He continued to think it was a great idea until we got closer to the kid and realized nope, no gonna work. The buzz hair cut with the long tail...never. Bangs...well, I've never had good luck with bangs myself (warning high school girls-NEVER cut bangs on the day of homecoming, mothers-remove scissors from house if high school girl is freaking out about homecoming hair do) and I cringe thinking bangs could lead into a more girlie look or a mullet. Neither good options. I looked back through some of Harrison's older pics and I do like his shorter style around his first birthday so now I'm getting to a happier place about cutting it. On the other hand, if we continue to grow it the front will be long enough to sweep off his face. The hair covering his eyes is one of the main reasons I want to cut his hair although he doesn't seem to mind one bit. He still reads his books and eats his dinner all without noticing no one else in the room has their hair covering their eyes.
Clearly the hair style issue is mind boggling. So I thought I'd enlist my dear readers' opinions...opine away. To cut or not to cut.


Harrison's current crazy hairstyle on most days














Sportin' a shorter hairstyle



















Slightly longer, curls noticeable in back


















For about 5 minutes following a bath his hair is great.













These curls...why it's sooooo hard for me to cut his hair...these curls.

Rub my b-e-l-l-y

Happy belated St. Patrick's Day!

Interview with a Lily

I got this list of questions from Ann and decided to interview Lily. I left out some questions that I thought were too difficult to ask a 3.5 year old. Lily's responses were funny and shaped around dinner and things on the dinner table.

1.) What makes mom happy?
Lily: Staying in bed
Interpretation: When Lily stays in bed which DOES make me happy

2.) How does your mom make you laugh?
Lily: Hmmm...tapping her chin. Baby!
Interpretation: Apparently I use Harrison to make her laugh.

3.) How old is your mom?
Lily: 3
Interpretation: All moms love it when people ask if the daughter/mother are sisters!

4.) What is your mom's favorite thing to do?
Lily: Cut paper
Interpretation: New hobby is that I draw shapes and she cuts them out

5.) What does your mom do when you're not around?
Lily: Finds me

6.) What is your mom really good at?
Lily: Playing peek-a-boo

7.) What does your mom do for her job?
Lily: Checks on baby

8.) What is your mom's favorite food?
Lily: Oatmeal
Interpretation: Her new favorite and what she was eating when I interviewed her

9.) What do you and your mom do together?
Lily: Have fun, play with toys

10.) Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Lily: Disneyland

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Same questions...different parent

1.) What makes poppa happy?
Lily: Playing with toys, like fishy
Interpretation: My best guess is a stuffed fish was sitting on the table

2.) How does your poppa make you laugh?
Lily: Playing with cups
Interpretation: Not sure about the cup thing...maybe her cup of milk caught her eye

3.) How old is your poppa?
Lily: 5
Interpretation: Yay, he's still older than me!

4.) What is your poppa's favorite thing to do?
Lily: Write
Interpretation: Totally true, he's LOVING to write his current proposal

5.) What does your poppa do when you're not around?
Lily: Plays hide-and-seek
Interpretation: Answers starting to get a bit c-r-a-z-y.

6.) What is your poppa really good at?
Lily: Playing with wings
Me: What is a wing?
Lily: A wing is because you play with a fishy
Interpretation: NO IDEA!

7.) What does your poppa do for his job?
Lily: Works on a computer

8.) What is your poppa's favorite food?
Lily: Oatmeal
Interpretation: Apparently the entire family LOVES oatmeal.

9.) What do you and your poppa do together?
Lily: Play with cans

10.) Where is your poppa's favorite place to go?
Lily: Disneyland

One of THOSE mornings...

Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved to wear the same jean skirt.

This morning started with recurring discussion with Lily about her desire to wear her long jean skirt AGAIN. She wore it yesterday and we wanted her to wear something else. In case you forgot she's 3. Three. This discussion included many "no's," "don't ask again," tears, doors shutting, loud bawling, and angry grunts. This whole drama woke up Harrison who started crying too. Why not? Everyone else is unhappy why shouldn't he be? He wouldn't get out of the crib (although crying) for Randy so I had to get him out. And change is majorly pee soaked and poop filled diaper. Of course smells like roses. Ha. Finally get kids downstairs for breakfast. Forgot to mention at some point Lily put on her Snow White dress and cape (she wears it daily but only at home, that's another post-another day). Start kid's breakfast with multiple requests..."more sugar," "more strawberries," "more grapefruit," "more SUGAR for my STRAWBERRIES." Kiss Randy goodbye. Yell for dog who is missing. Harrison wants to see Randy leave so I run him to my office window, open curtains. Hear Lily request the same, run get her to window with instructions NOT to touch anything since her hands are sticky from strawberries and sugar. Run and grab wipe to clean her. Wave goodbye to Randy, not sure if he even sees us. Lily's not done eating so bring her back to the table and cut up more strawberries. Notice Harrison is quiet, find him standing on window seat. Take him down and get a strong whiff. Change another poopy diaper, this time seriously smells like grapefruit. Start worrying about another diaper rash. No more citrus fruit for the boy. Clean up Lily for a 2nd time. Change Snow White's dress into a skirt, shirt and tights WITHOUT tears! Put shoes on Lily and notice Harrison's shoes are already on (thanks Randy!). Start putting Harrison's coat on Lily, I laugh, she laughs, get her coat. Have Harrison's coat, no Harrison, find him sitting by fireplace looking at books. Sing "If you're happy and you know it..." while putting his coat on (since he was reading Elmo's book with this song). Get Harrison buckled into the van. Let Lily pick out fruit snacks and hear claws scratching on the window (missing dog returned). Let in disobedient dog. Grabbing my coat and I say in a deep but calm voice "WE REALLY HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!"--really wanting to yell but I contain myself. Lily thinks it's funny so she laughs, then I repeat it and she laughs more. That makes me feel better. Almost out the door before she requests a band aid for her finger. Instruct her I will get one but I get to pick it out. Slap on a hello kitty band aid on the invisible booboo. Get Lily buckled into car seat when she starts crying about her OTHER finger and requests Thomas (kid ice pack). Fine, going back into the house for my purse anyway. Grab Thomas and my purse, get into van, apply ice pack and leave the garage. Kids quiet. Turn on music...Mary J. Blige...good upbeat song. Harrison starts dancing. Get 3 minutes from home when I realize we don't have his blanket. Not only does he like his blanket at daycare but NEEDS it, he grabs it when he feels frustrated so I have to get it. Turn around...Lily recognizes this is wrong so asks multiple questions. Get home, run inside to grab blanket. Finally driving to daycare and my conversation with Lily went like this...
Lily talking about something.
I was listening to a commerical but when I realized she asked a question I said "What did you register for?"
Lily: Register??? Hahahaha.
Me: Hahahaha, sorry! What did you ask?
Lily: After we go to the pool this summer, can we go to the beach?
Me: Yes, we're going to the beach.
Lily: We can see sharks and dolphins?
Me: Maybe. We can swim in the swallow water where the sharks can't fit. They like deep water. But we can see lots of animals at Sea World.
Lily: SEA WORLD? I've never been there. Maybe we'll see baby sharks.
Me: Probably.
Lily: Maybe there will be a baby shark but his mommy and daddy have to work so we have to take care of him.
Me: Hmmmm.

Being goofy

MOMMA'S SHOES
















POPPA'S SHOES

Harrison's story time

About a boy

Harrison...

1.) Loves books. When I'm fixing dinner we can always find him quietly sitting by the bookshelf in the living room with a pile of books sprawled around him. He pulls each book out, flips through the pages, studies the pictures, then repeats over and over until all 500 books have been scattered.

2.) Loves his blue crocheted blanket. His Grandma Kim made it for him a while ago and it's always been in his bed but his recent love for it is now noticeable. He will bring it downstairs and now it goes to daycare. Today he played hide and seek with it while I was buckling Lily into her car seat. Then he reached it across the aisle so Lily could hold it too.

3.) Loves to throw his plate. This occurs about 2-3 times a day. Always at the end of a meal. Yes, I know I should learn but he's so fast.

4.) Has long, hippy hair. We can't decide what to do with it. He has big curls in the back, which I have a hard time cutting off, but his hair is always in his eyes. He doesn't care since he doesn't know any difference. Occasionally he gets called a girl but he's constantly surrounded by princess accessories and still loves trucks so I think he's secure in his boyhood. Not that it would matter if he did chose sparkly tiaras over dump trucks. :)

5.) Loves to stack items from the pantry and fridge. Frequently I find him stacking yogurt containers. Whenever I try to stack blocks he knocks them down immediately. I seriously want to build a magnificent castle but can't get 2 stories high with this boy around.

6.) Loves to watch a video of Lily...it's about a 10 second clip and she says "Momomomonster truck" and he laughs over and over.

7.) Likes his crib and will point to it after reading stories. It's like "Mom, thanks for the kisses and hugs but I'm tired, please let me go to bed."

8.) Puts every kind of toy into his mouth. Whether it be a hard wooden block or the tiniest shoe that belongs to Lily's princess doll, it immediately goes to his mouth. After I warn him and he does it again I take the toy away and he'll put his finger in his mouth...I'm like "Dude, fine with me."

9.) Has a love/dislike relationship with the bath. Sometimes he screams when we get him out sometimes he screams when we put him in.

10.) His favorite hobby is tied to #1 but instead of "reading" books to himself it would be cuddling in our laps and reading a book. His favorites right now are "Trucks Roll!", "Cuddle," "Where the Wild Things Are," "When Momma Comes Home Tonight."

Eating at a restaurant with kids???

Tonight was amazing. We actually enjoyed a family dinner at a restaurant. Seriously.

Want in on the secret to leaving a restaurant telling your 3.5 year old and 1.5 year old "You guys did great! Thanks for behaving SO well!"...it's a pizza joint. Plain and simple. Order one item of food that is so easy to cut up, everyone is happy about, and don't worry about lack of fruits or veggies. Plus the fish tank wowed not only Lily and Harrison but Randy too. He found it very impressive. Me...well it was nice and big, pretty fish, but the eel creeped me out. He would stick his eel head out of the rock and I could see his eel body move about. Too much resemblance to a snake and if you have ever seen me cautiously walk in the grass in summer it's because of those darn garter snakes...they are out to get me.

Anyhow, it was a nice evening. We were also celebrating Lily's last dance class. This time the parents were actually allowed past the double glass doors and inside the classroom. For the past 5 weeks all the parents huddled at those double glass doors watching with funny grins as our babies pointed their toes, jumped around like frogs, and skipped about the room. Today we watched with those same smiles, cameras in hand, with proud feelings about our little girl who looked so much bigger out on the dance floor. Our front row seats were great...until Harrison was completely over sitting still. He wanted to join his big sis but when it was apparent his plans didn't mesh with my plans he let out the huge Harrison cry (the kind that everyone in the BUILDING hears) so I got to watch the rest of Lily's performance from outside the double glass doors. At least I didn't have to elbow out any other moms for my view.

Valentine's Day 2009

A princess without a wand? Not anymore thanks to Valentine's presents!


















Happy Valentine's Day to my baby boy.

















Last year Lily and I made home made Valentine's cards and it was so much fun. In an effort to make it a tradition this year her Valentine's card was a heart card/glow stick with the saying "You make my heart glow!" and Harrison's was a toy dinosaur and card with the saying "You're dino mite." We also decorated cookies for daycare.

More pics

Harrison finding his tongue.


















Lily posing for one picture to satisfy her momma.














Harrison got into the markers and drew himself a nice pink mustache and goatee. I should have known playing quietly is trouble!













Dr. Harrison, future veterinarian













Lily stashed her purse inside the fridge in an effort to keep Harrison from getting into it.

"Warm" snow day

My sweet little boy.












Lily sleeping in her snow fort.














Picture of our long driveway...not so much fun during the winter (for Randy!). Yes, that little speck is Harrison. He waited for me to come get him.













This was the world's happiest little boy ever. He cried "Poppa" for 5 minutes after his ride was over.












Lily was a good helper and helped steer.

Paint project

Harrison hasn't done much painting yet, mostly handprint projects of mine. This time he had control (with supervision).












Lily is the craft professional. Very serious about the pony.













Oh no...starting to experiment.













If Harrison didn't get in trouble...why not??












And the project comes to an end...

Our first snowman

Update

Randy is back from Boston...another work trip. He was away for 4 nights which forces me to get creative to keep kids happy and entertained. One night I brought in a huge box left over from our move and the kids crawled in and out of it while I fixed dinner-score! Last night I brought in the playskool car (normally used in summer outdoors) and Harrison's new big wheel (definitely can't pedal it but likes to sit on it). Although they couldn't agree on who got to drive the car it still entertained them enough for me to get dinner and clean up. Lovely.

Last night Lily said to me "I'm going to dream about Cinderella, you dream about Poppa." And she must have dreamt about Cinderella because in the middle of the night she started shouting "Don't take my dress" and was pretty upset, still sleeping nonetheless, but calmed when I told her she could keep her dress on. :)

Harrison has mastered the word "No!" He copies his friend, Ella, from daycare and draws out the "Oooooooo." He also says in a deep voice so it's actually funny to hear. He's getting much better verbally but still using his signs. I think teaching him signs helped with his frustration at daycare...not having the verbal skills to communicate his distaste of someone taking his toy or invading his space. He is hitting now (so NOT okay!) but he is remorseful (when caught!) and will sign "sorry" and hug the victim.

When are finally getting our house in order. We're having a lot of company next weekend so that is our motivation. Joy, Bobby and the kids and Randy's folks along with our nephew Hunter will be visiting. It will be a house full of kids, from toddlers to teens, so never a dull moment I'm sure. Randy and I have painted 3 rooms (2 still need a 2nd coat), finally found curtains we liked (so missing my diverse home stores in CO!!), and now we need to find a dining room table and maybe a headboard/footboard for our bed. That's our plan for this weekend so fingers crossed we can find something!

Videos!

We've been working with Harrison to say Lily's name for a few weeks now. He can say "Ella" which is his friend from daycare but couldn't get his "l's" together to say Lily. Now he can...


Here is Lily the ballerina...

Our little ballerina

Lily has been requesting to take a dance class for months now. Yesterday was her first ballet and tap class. She listened to her dance teacher, Loren, and followed along so well. We didn't participate like gymnastics but we could see through the glass doors. I'm sure the parents are distractions as noticed by quite a few of the girls running back and forth to their parents. Lily stayed by the teacher and one time she waved in our direction. She's such a big girl!

Trucks and Tractors

This boy loves tractors and trucks. We went to a book store and he screamed in sheer delight when he saw a truck book. Seriously he screamed.





This video is the 2nd time we saw the books. After briefly seeing the books for the first time and witnessing the screaming reaction, we had to take a little girl to the bathroom. I knew to have my camera ready when we went back to the books.

Day in the life

Riding the carousel.
Lily gets this reward after being good for the week. Being good usually means falling asleep by herself for nap and bedtime and taking baths without complaint. This was Harrison's first time riding...he was a little unsure of the whole situation.













Harrison styling Lily's hair. We frequently use the Spongebob chair as the barber chair when fixing hair in the mornings. Harrison loves to get his hair sprayed and combed but always messes it up right when I'm done. And smiles.

Travel pictures

Last week my conference was in Washington D.C. Randy met me downtown one evening and we did a brief driving tour followed by a visit to the Lincoln Memorial. There was a lot of construction going on to prep for inauguration. Actually the Lincoln Memorial was the stage for the pre inauguration concert.

Can you see him? His head is just barely visible.












Randy and Jenni and Abe
















I love this picture with the sun setting on the Washington Monument.

















Psst...he's that way.

Away from home

Randy and I both traveled east for work. We flew together but stayed separately due to my conference and his work, which was about 30 miles apart. My conference was in Washington D.C. and my hotel was in a great area...including a nice view of the Washington Monument. Randy was able to visit me one night and we took a car tour of the city. I've been here before during my junior year in high school, but my focus was boys and not necessarily the National Young Leaders Conference I was supposed to be focused on. :) It's Melissa's fault...she came with me. :) Just joking.

Now...I'm sitting in Randy's hotel...in the Greenbelt...with nothing to do. But blog. Randy is working...I'm going to do some work soon because I have nothing else to do. I don't want to nap...I don't want to read my book...everything I say I'll do when I have free time I don't want to do. Why? I wish I knew!

I miss my kids. I've gotten to listen to Harrison breath and make a few noises on the phone twice and talked with Lily every day. The first few days it was a very quick conversation, usually something like this "hi momma, I played with grandma, bye!!" Last night we actually talked for 5 full minutes until she was in the middle of talking and become quiet...after 20 seconds I asked her if she was watching a movie and she said "yes." She's just like her father. :)

It's so different hearing Lily talk on the phone. Her voice sounds like a little girl. I've told her a few times over the past few months that I don't want her to grow up and she tells me she wants to. I guess I better blog more about the new things Lily and Harrison do each day so I will always remember them.

Tomorrow we get to see the kids. It was been the longest time away from them. They have been very happy staying with both grandparents which makes me feel good. I am beyond excited, though, to hold them in my arms and give them the biggest, tightest hug. I love you Lily and Harrison!

3 going on 30

Christmas 2008

We had a lovely Christmas eve and day spent at our house. We opened one present Christmas Eve, which was pajamas for the whole family. We changed into our new pajamas, cuddled together, and Randy read the Night Before Christmas. Lily put out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. The next morning, as we all walked down the stairs, she gasped as she looked at the Christmas tree and the wonderful gifts Santa brought us. We had a nice morning opening our gifts, playing with the new toys and games, and enjoying a nice breakfast. We later remembered to check the stockings and found more goodies to play with. It truly was a peaceful and enjoyable day.

The day after Christmas we travelled to visit both of our families. We had 2 more celebrations and the kids received more gifts then they knew what to do with. Unfortunately we all got hit with the stomach bug and the kids had the worst of it. Lily was sick every 3 days for over a week and Harrison's projectile vomiting only occurred once but he was still under the weather for a few more days.

We are now healthy (fingers crossed) and back to daycare and work. We had been home together as a family for 2 weeks and it was wonderful. It was hard at times to work with kids around but Randy and I tried to tag team when we could. It was nice to spend so much time with the kids and now that they are back in daycare it's been a little rough being away from them during the day. It definitely makes 4:30PM much more exciting when I leave to pick them up.

Photos from Christmas 2008...

Santa brought Lily a Show White dress and shoes (which she loved!)



















Harrison got a remote control car which he loved and feared at the same time
















I love the look on Harrison's face when he noticed Santa's cookies were gone...















It didn't take long for him to eat up the few crumbs Santa left behind.















Lily loves to take photos like her momma















Harrison had to make sure his toys were durable



















Lily helping Harrison unwrap his presents

















Playing with all the new toys















The family photo 2008

Happy Holidays from our house to yours

Randy did buy a new camera and gave it to me early.
He's a great man...I'm very grateful for my wonderful husband and beautiful kids. I've taken over a hundred pictures and a handful of video (much bigger memory in my new camera!!!) but it's Christmas eve and time to spend with family...but here is a little present for my readers...

If my darling husband is really buying my Christmas present today...
If my darling husband is buying me a pretty new camera...
If my darling husband will give my present to me early...

I'll actually blog with pictures!

He's pulling in the driveway right now...