Week of Fun, Family, and Friends

The week of Thanksgiving was full of fun, family, and friends.  That Monday James had his first Thanksgiving program at school. In the past I have been the only one who could ever go to his performances. Well for his first program in NC I think we made up for that! Both Grandmas were able to come, his Dad got off work for it, of course Harrison and I, and Tricia and Grayson were able to make it as well! I think he may have had the biggest cheering section of all. 

After everyone finished clapping Harrison yelled out, "Yay!!!" and started clapping again. It was hilarious.

I was so happy to finally get to meet and spend some time with Grayson!

Harrison's teacher saw him and brought him a snack bag to keep him quiet. She obviously knows him well. 

That evening we went downtown to the river and to dinner. 

Friends for over 20 years!

The kids really did okay for the most part at dinner. You never know what you are getting into when you go out to
eat with kiddos. 

Later that week we had some more special visitors. The Cox family along with the Church family came to visit and have dinner with us. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the whole group (probably because my children were acting absolutely crazy) but at least I got one of Marianne and Harrison. 

It was so fun and special to get to spend time with such wonderful people. We love having visitors! 

James at 4

There is something about having a four year old that makes me a little sad.  Four seems so grown up, definitely not a baby or a toddler anymore.  He has complete conversations with us and is losing the funny way of saying things that he used to have.  He is learning and growing and time seems to be moving faster and faster.  Though we are saying good bye to some stages there are some major perks of him growing older as well, and I'm so thankful for each age and stage of his life.

James you are FOUR! You love to tell people your age and when your birthday is, even strangers that you have just met. You are incredibly sweet and loving.  You say the sweetest things to your dad and I.  Things like, "I just love you so much Mom" and " Daddy you are my best friend" and "I need Harrison to be with me because I love him so much." You are silly and love to laugh. Yes you are stubborn and have your moments but for the most part you are well behaved and willing to please.

James you love to learn.  Some days I cannot keep up with your brain. You love to ask questions and I can almost see you processing information.  You can add and subtract both in your head, on your fingers, and on paper.  You know all of the planets and can tell me information about each one.  You can tell time to the hour and half hour. You know all sorts of random facts and have an incredible memory.  I love to see how you take what you learn and apply it in your play time. For instance recently your dad told you how when space ships take off part of the space ship falls back to earth while the rest goes to outer space. The next day you used Legos to build a space ship and was showing me how after blast off it breaks into two piece, one to go on up and the other to come back to Earth.  You love to draw and make pictures or cards for people, especially for your dad.  You love to read books and would listen to me read all day if I would let you.

Some of your favorite toys are Legos, Hot Wheels and blocks (anything that involves building). You love to play outside, especially basketball and football. You are not a great eater in terms of healthy variety but you sure eat a lot. The other day for breakfast you had two servings of whole wheat pancakes, yogurt, applesauce, and then cheese cubes. An hour later you said, "Mom I'm still hungry. I need a little snack."

For the most part you are a wonderful big brother.  Sometimes you have a hard time sharing and often you want whatever your brother is playing with.  You are quick to help Harrison and you always want him to be with you.  If I separate you from him (because you are annoying him) you always tell me, "I need my Harrison. He is my brother!"

James your daddy and I are so proud of you.  Whenever I think of you I always think of the word joy.  You bring so much joy to our family.  Since you were born I have been challenged in more ways than I thought possible but have been blessed beyond measure. I am humbled and grateful that God chose me to be your mom. I love you sweet boy!

Working on a present for Daddy to take to his office

Cool outfit choice! 

Working on some math

Building and creating 

These boys love their daddy

A card for Mom 

Harrison 17 Months

Harrison oh Harrison, are there any words to describe you?  You are busy and funny and full of energy.  You are into everything, trying to talk more, and are very frustrated when you can't communicate what you want or when you don't get what you want. You love you dance.  When music comes on you start breaking it down and it is hilarious. You love to read, to play outside (especially with your beep beep- cozy coup), draw with crayons, read books, and pretend to cook on your grill.  Some of your current favorite books are Brown Bear Brown Bear, Moo Baa La La La, and Trucks. When I am reading to James you will swat away his book and shove your way into my lap to try to get me to read your story. You also love cars, trucks, and trains (choo choos as you call them).  You love James and he also drives you crazy.  You are very good at swatting him away.  Recently you have learned to say his name. "Dames" is what you call him.  When you miss him you call "Dames Dames" all over the house until you find him. They said you were asking for him at preschool.  Harrison you are the youngest child in the whole preschool but you seem to enjoy it.  Your teachers gave you the nickname "chubby bubby" and EVERYONE calls you that. Even the little kids in your class call you chubby bubby! We still call you Harrison, H, and Hutchy. I'm slightly embarrassed to write that you love Bubble Guppies. Your brother had never even watched tv at this age whereas you stand in front of it and say "bubble bubble" over and over. I guess that's one of the perks of being the younger brother.

Every day you say more words and I can't even begin to name all of the ones you know.  You will attempt to say most anything. Two of those in recent memory is when you said trick or treat on Halloween and when you said Georgia the day we met her.

You are still an early riser and get us going bright and early each day.  We switched you to one nap when you started school and while the transition was painful you now seem to handle it well and sleep anywhere from 1 1/2 to 3 hours (except for those really rough days where it's a 30 minute nap day) Normally we pick up James from school and then you both have rest time right after lunch.

You hate getting dressed (because you are such a wiggle worm), you hate being away from your Mama, and we are going on 18 months of hating the car seat. Sweet child- you have been in that thing every day of your life. It is time to get over it because we are tired of the crying in the car! :)

Harrison your dad and I think you are going to give us a run for our money. Here is an example. The other day you climbed up on the chair. I said, "Harrison sit down. Sit down!" You slowly stood up, looked at me, started dancing, and just died laughing that you were doing the opposite of what I told you!

Have you ever seen a child love lemons so much? 

Listening to James read a story

When H got in this car he looked at me and said, "bye!" Gave me a vision of 12 years down the road when James has his license! 

When you get up before 5...

This is what happens!

For the record I know that Harrison is WAY too big and old to be in that thing but it is the only way I can run get dressed in the morning real fast and know he is safe. 

Still eats inedible things

Why eat blueberries out of the bowl when it's so much more fun to pour them on the ground and then eat them?

Sure, it's cool to sit inside the entertainment center 

We have officially started throwing tantrums 

Go Pirates! 

Trick or Treat!

We had a fun time trick or treating in our new neighborhood and getting to meet some more of our neighbors. I will say that Halloween in NC just can't quite compete with Halloween in LA but it was nice to have a low key experience.  My parents decided to come see the kids and go trick or treating with us. We ended up just doing our street and then we put the kids to bed, got a babysitter, and all the adults went out for a late dinner which was great! 

This was a costume from when I was little. H LOVED wearing it!

Does the kid ever wear shoes???

Nana and Pop stopped by on the way to the beach!

Pop had his hands full  

Our firefighter and golfer 

Always got to do the family selfie

Shortly after this he threw the pumpkins down the stairs. 

James was really not into having his picture taken 

I bought these pumpkin flashlights from Target. They only lasted about 5 minutes before breaking. 

Nene dressed up as a cowgirl

Snack time before we headed out

James was super excited 

Harrison was a little confused 

The highlight of the night was helping a neighbor light their pumpkins. 

H kept saying "Whoo!" and laughing out loud