Christmas 2009

Our Christmas was wonderful. It was very laid back - much like the way it was when I was growing up. The weather, however, was NOTHING like when I was growing up. Check out how beautiful Christmas day in Vancouver was:

From Christmas 2009

After sleeping in and showering, we eventually got to the gifts around 11am. First the boys opened their coaster cars which were a HUGE hit. They can hold up to 250lbs, so Mike and I can ride them too!

From Christmas 2009

For their individual gifts, we got Logan the famous animal hospital (I don't know if it's really famous, but it was always a hit at Kathy's house) and he immediately went to work figuring the keys out. Korben got a camera. We were super excited for this gift and then super disappointed when we saw the quality of pictures it took. We have since gotten him a real camera off of cragslist and he loves it dearly. Their final gift was a train set. This was a craigslist find way back in July or something. It took much restraint on my part not to give it to them early, so YAY for Christmas!

From Christmas 2009

For our gifts to each other, Mike and I set a $20 limit. "Simple" has been the theme of our Christmases for the last 4 years. We have done a homemade Christmas, a one couple gift Christmas, a "we got big items in November so aren't doing Christmas" Christmas, and now a $20 limit Christmas. We like it this way. We've done it other ways in the past and I can honestly say that both ways have the same amount of enjoyment. Christmas is Christmas whether you spend $1000 or $20.

Mike got me Bunco (I am SO excited to get a group going) and a Shannon Hale book:

From Christmas 2009

And I got Mike the new Jon Schmidt piano book:

From Christmas 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Christmas Eve 2009

On Christmas Eve we decided to open our gifts from Grandma & Grandpa Fullmer. Each year they send the grandkids books for Christmas. I love this tradition and love knowing that my boys will get books that were specifically picked for them.

The boys were too excited to look at me but you can see that they were very pleased with what they got.

From Christmas 2009

Thank You Grandma & Grandpa!

Boys Yearly Pics 2009

Last Thursday, I woke up and decided it was time to get some updated pictures taken of the boys. In the past, I have stressed too much about what they need to wear, how long it has been since their last haircut, if they have any bruises, and how perfect I want them to look. This year I just decided that we would go in, wear whatever was clean and semi-matched, and would just be happy to have them done.

I have to say that the pictures turned out much better than I had expected. I think being spontaneous about it helped the boys have a fun experience rather than a stressful experience because of a mom worrying too much about perfect photos.

I imagine that someday soon I'll wake up and decide we should get our family picture done too; but until then, you can enjoy the cuteness of the Harrison boys:

Korben Michael Harrison
4 Years Old

From Boys Yearly 2009 Note: This year Korben was great about posing and looking right at the camera. I love those pics, but I also love the one of him ready to run because it shows how fun his personality is - he wasn't running to be a pill, he was running because he was excited to have his picture taken. I also like that you can see his long lanky legs. This picture made me wonder if he was going to be tall like his great grandpas.

Logan Spencer Harrison
2 Years Old

From Boys Yearly 2009 Note: Logan was hard to contain and all of his pictures were taken in between escape attempts. :D I'm not usually a fan of diaper shots, but I love the enthusiasm that was captured in both the sitting and standing pictures-they truly show Logan's zeal for life. I also like how well the standing one shows his Harrison dimple - it looks so much like his Grandma Gloria's and I love that.

The Harrison Boys 2009

From Boys Yearly 2009 Note: I love how the smiles are so fitting in this picture. Logan's is a natural smile because he thinks he's being funny as he tries to escape; Korben's smile isn't his typical one because he was trying to smile and keep his brother sitting down-which you can see in his eyes. What a tribute to the carefree younger brother vs. the responsibility that can already be seen in the older brother. I sure love my little boys!

Christmas Gifts

I saw this Christmas gift idea on a blog I follow and decided it would be a perfect gift for Korben's teacher and bus driver. I don't really know if you are supposed to give gifts to teachers etc. anymore, but these ladies are such wonderful women that I couldn't help but give them something.

Of course I put off making these till Thursday night around 9:30pm - the night before Korben's last day of school. I didn't want to make a huge shopping trip out of it, so Mike ran to Safeway just to get the bottles while I rounded up items in our home to use as bottle fillers. Although I didn't follow the pattern exactly (I didn't have confetti so substituted tissue paper, and I cut the hole too high so had to cover the top), I think they turned out rather cute. The best part, is that they only cost me $3 in soda since I had everything else. Woohoo!

So if you are needing an inexpensive but cute gift to give this week, here's a fun one:

From Things I love (Note: Filled with candy, B&B soap, and an assortment of hot chocolate) After I finished this post I decided to make these for the women I visit teach. I used confetti this time rather than tissue paper and I think they turned out cute too. So here's some made just a little differently.

Things I Love:

* The Great Northwest
Where else can you go to a tree farm 5 minutes from your house, hand pick an 8ft tree, cut it, shake it and bale it, all for $35??? It is a tad bigger than we thought it would be in the corner (apparently we overestimated how big our living room is) - but it is welcoming, it smells great, and for some reason it makes the feeling in our home just a bit different-calmer somehow...or maybe it just calms ME. Whatever it is, I LOVE having a real tree up for Christmas.

From Things I love

* The Christmas Story/Nativity
When I was 16, Mom and I were shopping and she came across a Nativity that she fell in love with. It was beautiful. It was also expensive. Since I knew Mom would never spend the money on herself, I decided that I would buy it and see if each of my siblings would chip in to help pay for it. Some did, some didn't and I haven't really thought about it until this year.

You see, Mom decided that she is going to get rid of most of the Nativities she has collected over the years. She also decided that since I paid for it, this particular Nativity would be mine. I was able to pick it up over Thanksgiving and am now able to display it in our home. Unfortunately, the only safe place to put it isn't big enough for all the pieces. But isn't it just beautiful? You can see it immediately when you walk in the front door and it reminds me daily of what Christmas is actually all about.

From Things I love

* Family Stockings
Another thing I was able to pick up while visiting Mom was Logan's stocking. I'm not talking about a store bought manufactured sock. No, no...I'm talking about a beautiful cross-stitched creation made especially for Logan by his Grandma. The family stockings started with MY extremely talented Grandmother, who made these for her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren until she wasn't able to make them any longer. And when that happened, her children and grandchildren continued the tradition. So my kids get the same privilege that I had, of having a special stocking made just for them. It is quite a big deal to me and something that I love - having a complete family of home-made stockings on my mantle.

From Things I love

* My 2 Year Old Escape Artist
I think Logan is under the impression that the grass is ALWAYS greener. I'm not joking when I say that at least half of Logan's day consists of him trying to escape in some way or another. Where does he want to go? I have no idea. But already at the young age of two he just KNOWS there is something better out there...wherever "there" is. This is Logan's latest attempt at freedom:

From Things I love

* Korben's Potty Progress
Maybe it is because I had prepared myself for the worst, but this potty training thing has been WAY easier than I thought it would be. Korben currently wears underwear all day and a pull-up at night with minimal accidents! Once he passed the first hurdle of actually sitting on the potty, he has been stellar. He still has a hard time telling us when he needs to go, so we have to do the asking, but it is rare that we have to push him to do it...we ask, and he runs to the potty. I have not had to change a diaper on him since we were in Utah over Thanksgiving. HALLELUJAH!! Using a potty chart worked really well for him. He got a set of WALL*E books when he completed it and is now just content to keep adding stickers each time he goes. He has transitioned so nicely and given me so much hope this past month that I have been on cloud nine.

*My Technologically Brilliant Husband
Yesterday, Mike surprised me with a little something to make my days easier. Not only is the man a genius, but he the sweetest guy I have ever met. Seriously ladies, I'm pretty sure I scored the best husband out there.

First you need to know that Korben's bus comes between 11:20 and 11:35 each day. So we are talking about a 15 minute time window in which I stress everyday that I'm going to miss the bus. In the past, I have not heard the bus simply because I was doing dishes, or because we were playing music, or we were upstairs, brushing teeth, you name it. So lately, I have been sitting in an absolutely silent house, not leaving the front entry just to make sure we don't miss the bus.

Which brings me back to the man of the hour. Mike knew the whole bus situation was stressing me out, so what did he do? He set up a webcam that looks out our front window, that is connected to our front computer, that then communicates with the computer behind our tv, which in turn puts on the tv a full size view of the road in front of my house. Whew! So now, I can be as loud as I want, I can vacuum, I can do dishes, I can play music...really I can do anything I want and just occasionally glance up to see if the bus is outside or not. No more running to the door every time I hear an engine, no more sitting, twiddling my thumbs while I think of all the things I could be doing but am not doing...no more stress.

See, I told you...best husband in the world.

From Things I love

"We Don't Pee On WALL-E"

Me: Korben who is this on your underwear?

K: WALL-E

Me: Do we pee on WALL-E?

K: No, we don't pee on WALL-E

Me: That's right. Where do we pee?

K: We pee in the toilet.

Me: Correct.
Me: Korben who is this? (repeat for 7 other pairs of new underwear)

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It is time. The potty training has started. Even though he is 4, I have been fine letting Korben focus on other things - let's face it, working on his speech, conversation and fine motor skills has been much more important that having my little dude potty trained. And I actually didn't intend to start until next summer when he wasn't focusing on school. However, a few days ago we were shopping and Korben came across some Disney and spiderman underwear and just had to have them. Of course I hesitated, since every time I even mention using the toilet I hear a loud "NO!", but this time when I explained what getting underwear meant, he said, "OK mommy." This was progress - so I bought the cute underwear.

So far this is how it has gone:

DAY 1:

We put his underwear on and he was super excited. However, when we mentioned the potty he got upset and asked for a mickey diaper. We wondered if maybe we had gotten a little too excited and decided to wait a little longer.

DAY 2:

* He woke up, saw his underwear and asked to wear it. Even though we had decided that maybe he wasn't ready I figured it couldn't hurt, so let him wear it until he had to go to school.

* When he got home from school the first thing he asked for was his spiderman underwear. A few hours later he had his first accident in them. He definitely didn't like the wet feeling of cotton (which hopefully will work in our favor) - and asked for a different pair.

*After cleaning him up, I had him sit on the toilet for about an hour with no results.

*I decided before bedtime we would give it one more go. This is when we had the conversation about not peeing on our favorite character underwear. This time I was also prepared with capri-sun's, books, and an iron will :D

After 45 minutes....SUCCESS!!!! WOOHOO!!!

DAY 3:

*My back is aching like crazy from sitting on a hard floor holding up books for so long. TOTALLY WORTH IT!

*I'll be picking up some pull-ups this afternoon since he was bummed last night that he had to put a diaper on before bed.

* I've picked out a cute potty chart and we are going to start a reward system.

* Now I just have to wait and see if the success of yesterday will continue today.

Wish us luck!

Logan's 2nd BDay

Last Sunday my baby boy turned 2! Yup, he made it - through no effort of his own to keep himself safe I might add. We have a little Evil Knievel under our roof and I think every birthday is going to be a celebration of him simply surviving.

Logan's stages so far:

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

LOGAN SPENCER HARRISON
2 Years Old

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

Two of my favorite things about Logan right now are:
1) His enthusiasm for life and how he is always on the go. Every morning he wakes up, comes into our room and says, "Mommy, downstairs (and with great enthusiasm followed by running) Let's Go!"

2)His sense of humor. Currently his favorite thing to do is close his eyes so that he can barely see under his lashes and say, "I can't see". He pretends that he can't see and starts running into things on purpose chanting, "I can't see, I can't see". :D

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Since Logan was born on Nov. 1st, he gets the great pleasure of ending the Halloween celebrations with a party of his own. We didn't really do anything big because, well, he is 2 and doesn't know a birthday from any other day. So, we invited our best friends over, opened gifts, and ate some cupcakes. Possibly a little lame for a birthday party, but until he cares, we are going to keep it simple.

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

The funny of the night was when we sang happy birthday to him. He got so excited that he accidentally smashed his hand into one of the cupcakes. This was absolutely DEVASTATING to him as you can see:

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

After the drama was over and he had calmed down, he had fun being silly with his best friend Cyrus. These two are about a month apart in age and are two peas in a pod. It's common knowledge among our friends that when you get the two of these little dudes together there is bound to be trouble...but what cute little trouble makers they are...

From Logan's 2nd Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!