Go Celebrate!

changing her tune

This morning I got up early. I showered and got dressed before my kids even woke up. I put on some jeans (the cool kind) and my new COOL sweatshirt. New sweatshirts are the best because they are still so soft and fuzzy on the inside. Well, Samantha woke up and saw me and said "mom you look cute today". I said, "yes I do". She just giggled and went on her way. A little later Jessika came into my room and said "mom you look cool". I said "I know, I always do". Then she added, "I just want you to know that when I said you didn't look cool, that was just my way of saying I love You". I said " Yep, I know ".

Coolness status has been restored.... for now.

Not so cool

Today I took the 3 youngest kids to the mall. Samantha needed to exchange some sweats she received as a gift from Christmas. Thayne does not let my girls wear pant with words on the bum. So off we went to VS Pink store to exchange them. There was one pair left without words on the bum in her size. So lucky for Sam because we didn't have a receipt and I just wanted an easy exchange. It all worked out and we were out of there.


(not acceptable)

We went through a few more shops. Samantha found something in Aeropostale to buy so we waited for her, and as we were waiting I saw a cute sweatshirt on the clearance rack so I decided to grab it for myself. While I was paying for my sweatshirt the kids waited outside the store. When I walked out of the store Samantha said...

Sam- "mom Jessika said you are not cool"

Me- "huh, I am so cool"

Sam- "she said you are not cool enough to wear things from these stores."

me -shocked "Jessika you don't think I am cool enough to shop here?"

Jessika -"mom it's no big deal, nobody thinks their own mom is cool"

Me - " well you better "

Jessika -" not going to happen"

Now she may have a point about not thinking your own mom is cool but their friends think I am. When we drove up to the mall TJ was already there with some friends just hanging out. We drove by and saw him sitting on a bench with his friends so me being the COOL mom I honked my horn at him. (I think that may be in the rule book of things not to do to your teenage kids but I do it anyways). His friends looked up and saw it was me and they smiled and waved. TJ just sat there looking, no smile no wave. He did catch us in a store alittle while later and they stopped and visited for a few minutes so I must not be that bad. At least I had Wyatt who still didn't mind being at the mall with me. He even slipped his hand in mine and we held hands walking through the mall. So to any parent out there wondering when you lose your coolness with your own kids, I would say between 10-12 if your lucky. I am not giving up, I am determined to get my cool status back.

My Sunday bed

What can I say, I would love to spend every Sunday all day in bed. What a waste of time but I love it. Unfortunately, but I love that we have 8am church because that means even though I have to get up and get out of bed there is still time for me to come home and nap all day.

Yesterday was a crazy Sunday morning. You know when the phone rings before church it is never good news. Our primary chorister was sick. No biggy, between me and my counselors we can wing singing time, but then I was reminded the kids were also singing 2 songs in sacrament. Hmm, still doable! Luckily we had Valeen as a pianist and somehow she always makes everything ok. I had planned a review sharing time with music and it took the whole time so there was no extra music time needed so it all worked out. Whoooooosh!

After church I was ready for a nap. Except we were invited over to a families house for dinner. We really try to avoid these kind of invitations. Not because we don't like people or like going to others homes but we are Sunday homebodies. We liked the family so it was easy to head on over and we had a very yummy meal. Company was good and the kids had fun. They did not have any kids TJ age but he is always happy just being Thayne's sidekick at these kind of social events. After leaving it made me think we need to invite more people over for dinner more. I am sure Thayne doesn't want to read that but it would be fun to hang out more with people on Sunday. We finally left at 3:00 to head home. All my meetings were cancelled, we just had to run Jessika over to a home to help her class. The had an assignment to help with an elderly home sacrament meeting. Our ward does this every week. It was Jessika's class turn so we took her over.

Finally, I got home at 3:45 and went in for a nap. A few hours later Thayne came in to ask what I had planned for dinner and we decided he would BBQ hamburgers. So, I stayed in bed. After making an appearance in the kitchen 10 minutes later to help, it was all taken care of. I just stacked my hamburger and as bad as this sounds to everyone else, it was fabulous for me, Thayne and I went in and ate in bed! Yes we did. It was a fend and eat for yourself kind of night. Loved it.

Wow this is a long post, who knew my day was so busy.

After our easy dinner, we stayed in bed (yes really) and watched the movie August Rush. I had never seen it and got it for Christmas, so we decided to watch it. It was a nice movie, Thayne thought it was kinda cheesy but it was nice to finally see it. After the movie Thayne went around and turned off lights and came back to bed to say, "you do not want to see what the kids have done to the house". I said "no I don't". I rolled over and went to sleep.

Now this was a fantastic day to spend my Sunday in bed. But just so you know there is 2 things to be aware of if you try this at home. 1st- you will get what I call a Sunday Headache for laying around to much. 1 Excedrin will cure this so don't be discouraged. 2nd- you will not be able to sleep at night because you will not be tired. No cure for this unless you fake sick and take NyQuil which I did not, but next time I might.

All in all a great Sunday!

Less Stress

This was definitely a less stress Christmas. I am not sure exactly why but I didn't seem to worry about all the little things. We certainly kept Christmas simple this year and I just loved it. My kids are usually early risers. We have had years where they have gotten us up at 2 am. The last few years have been 4 or 5am. This year was 6:30am, so I feel we are making progress. After opening gifts Thayne and I went back for a morning nap until 9:30. I would have tried to stay in bed longer but I need to get up and make rolls for dinner. Thayne's parents did a ham for Christmas dinner which is always nice. I swear they must have been in the kitchen for 2 days with all the food they had made themselves. It was all fantastic and as always I ate way to much. We just hung out and had fun and left around 8:30pm. It was raining all day so the kids were stuck in the house most of the day. It seems kinda weird that Christmas is already gone and another years has slipped by. I think I may need to take a moment next week and reflect on my favorite parts of this year. I have enjoyed every one's Christmas cards and seeing how all these kids are growing up so fast. I loved all the yummy goodies that were dropped off at our home. I will be requesting some recipes. I tried Paula's rocky road fudge and it didn't set so I did something wrong. HELP PAULA! I did make fudge that was a recipe from Grandma Harris and it turned out so we have enjoyed that. So for another Christmas gone, I will have to say I was not it the most Christmas spirit ever but it was a easy nice Christmas with no complaints. Gotta love that. Enjoy a few photos from our Christmas and I hope you all had a nice Christmas Day too.

Wyatt

Jess

SamTJ
Mimi & Papa's house
The real Harris'
A Very Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2008

The favorite Christmas Eve tradition at our house, is Thayne's cinnamon rolls.

We have family over and we have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. We hang out. Some years we have watched movies, we have reenacted the nativity. My kids think they are to old to reenact the nativity so we did not do it this year. The kids played the candy bar game.

Lauren rolled 5 doubles in a row.

Aunt Stephanie brought bead ornaments for the kids to make.

And I am not mentioning any names, but some people just sat around and talked.

What a fun evening.

The Sunday before Christmas

What I did the Sunday before Christmas 2008

-drove to church at 7am with ice on my window. I was to lazy and cold to scrape it off so I drove looking out a 4 in circle that was clear enough to see out of.

-I actually sang in our ward choir, and even better Sam and Jess sang too.

-I heard TJ singing in sacrament meeting, the second week in a row. Progress is being made.

- I took a 4 hour nap. Is it still called a nap if it is 4 hours?

-I already knew Wyatt had great primary teachers, but when they stopped by to pick him up to take cookies to a boy in primary who just had surgery, I knew they were something special. Did I mention they are men?

-I am making an easy lasagna dinner and then making cookies with the kids.

A decade

Look who just turned....

I just love this kid!

Wyatt has always been such a good natured boy. He is definitely a mama's boy, although he can certainly keep up with dad with hard work. He is such a good friend which makes it easy to understand why he has friends everywhere he goes. He does not like being mean to them, he treats them good and they treat him the same back. I can honestly say he hangs around good kids. Wyatt is such a tender kid and always willing to help. He loves animals, and loves being outdoors. He really is just a great kid.

For his birthday I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. He said pumpkin pie or cheesecake. So I said ok we can do cheesecake, and Thayne said no pumpkin pie. So we got both. We had to make Wyatt happy right? We took him to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and Mimi and Papa met us there. Then we headed back to our house for cake and pie. He got a new bike and a few present from him siblings. He loves his bike. It came just in time since he was invited to a bike party today for a friend. I can't believe I don't have a picture of him with the bike yet but I am sure I will soon enough. I remember getting a new bike for my 10th birthday. It was a red 10 speed bike with all the gears. I remember being so excited. It was a cool bike back in 1980. He was supposed to have a birthday party with his friends, but we have postponed it until after the holidays.

So our youngest in now in double digits. What a fun time in life to enjoy older kids and not have to worry about babies for awhile. I can enjoy holding everyone else babies, since it is alot more fun holding other peoples babies when you don't have one of your own. Now on to the double digit chapter of our lives.

Jinxed

I guess I should be glad it is sock season!

This is my right toe!

(look how pretty it looks and that is after 2 weeks)

This is my left toe!

(not so pretty is it?)

I was doing the one thing that a wife shouldn't be doing, and that is digging through Thayne's tools. I reached for one tool and something else fell and hit my toe. When I picked up the tool I realized it was a small saw. I then looked at my toe that was throbbing at this point and saw that my toe had a huge cut. I thought wow I guess it could have been alot worse, but then it did get worse. As I was cleaning it off I noticed that my nail polish was totally chipped. Now I know why this happened. It has nothing to do with the tool that fell on my foot. It is something that I call jinxing myself. Just yesterday I was looking at my nail polish thinking how nice the polish was looking after 2 weeks. I guess I can't say that again. Now on a positive note, I still have my toe!

BTW

That cut is alot worse that it looks.

whewwwww.

Today has been much better in the teenage department. It seems my oldest has an addiction to something called a

B-I-K-E!

This is finals week and I was worried about one of his grades so I told him no bike until the grade is brought up. That sent him into a melt down mode. I was ruining his only source of fun on this earth at this time in his life. Go figure. Fast forward one day and the grade has already been brought up so today he was able to ride. He didn't even care that it was raining. He is the nicest and happiest kids today. I am not going to complain about his addiction because it could be something alot worse than a bike.

He really is a good kid,

especially when we both get our way. Ü

grrrrrr

I just have one word to say

"TEENAGER!"

So Happy!

I love surprises!

Today I got one of my favorite kind of surprises. Thayne was supposed to be in Kentucky until next Wednesday. Today while I was shopping with Rachel I got a phone call from Thayne and he told me he was heading to the airport to come home for the weekend. Oh that is the most beautiful music to my ears. This means he can help with last minute Christmas shopping and he can help run the kids around and he can go to their piano recital and maybe we can even sneak in a lunch date. OK breathe Heather. I maybe be expecting alittle to much but I am just all giddy having him come home when it was not expected. Well, I better go brush my teeth and brush my hair I can't look like a ragamuffin when he gets here.

I LOVE SURPRISES!

The Husband Tag

I've been tagged by Jody so here we go.


1. Where did I meet my husband? Church

2.How long did you date before getting married? 5 months before his mission, 6 months after.

3 How long have you been married? 17 yrs September

4.What does he do that surprises you? so much. I like the little surprises the best. When he does something thoughtful and doesn't say anything, and a few days later I will come across something he did for me and be surprised.

5.What is your favorite feature of his? his legs.

6.What is his best quality? I also love the patience he has with me and the kids. He is always so easy going.

7.Does he have a nickname for you? Babydoll. If he is looking for me in the house he will yell "Heather Nicole"

8.What is his favorite food? He is a surf and turf kinda guy. Steak being one of his favorites. and he love asparagus, yuk.

9.What is his favorite sport? anything his kids are playing

10. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? go to lunch.

11. When did you first kiss? After our 3rd date, I kissed him.

12.Do you have any children? 2 boys, 2 girls

13.Does he have any hidden talents? of course, let's keep them hidden

14.How old is he? 42

15.What is his favorite music? Classic Rock and Country.

16.What do you admire about him? He is honest. That he can fix anything, I call him McGyver. Also that he never complains.

17.What is his favorite color? I would say red or blue, but really I am guessing.

18.Will he read this? Yes from Kentucky.

19.Who said "I love you" First? Hmmmm, I don't remember maybe me.

IOk I tag, Rachel, Megan, Julia

Oh December

I think I can
I think I can
I think I can

The next few week I am going to be the little engine that could. I am not going to let myself feel overwhelmed with last minute Christmas stuff, Wyatts birthday, and primary prep for next year. I am going to be able to get everything done with a smile on my face and a pep in my step. OK who am I kidding, I am stresser, always have been and probably always will be. I am going to try to stress and be happy about it! I thought it would be good to make a list and when I did, STRESS! So I put the list away and went back to denial. Ahhhh much better!

thanks everyone

Thanks for your opinions for my Christmas card picture. It looks like #7 was the clear favorite, which really was the luckiest picture ever to get. The sun was almost gone, Wyatt was totally crying right before that picture and it was the last picture of the night so everyone was grouchy. I told them this is the last picture and I don't want to see anyone crying in it and everyone better be happy. SNAP! That was the picture I got. LUCKY! So thanks for taking time to help me out. I am still deciding between a couple but it may end up being #7. You'll find out soon enough. Ü

Help!

For some crazy reason I decided to attempt taking pictures of my kids yesterday. What was I thinking. There was laughing and crying and me almost yelling. Why do I think I can do these things by myself. Because my kids are older and it should be easy, right? One would think. Well, I have some that may work for a Christmas card, but I have looked at them toooooo long to even know if they are good or not. I may have to attempt a second photo shoot.

I am asking your help to vote on which one if any are ok to actually send to people. I mean, I guess you are all looking at them anyways, but I am sending them to people who don't read my blog too. So I value your opinions so be honest and don't think you will hurt my feeling if you don't like any of them, I can handle it. I hope I can handle it. Well let's try it out and see if I can handle it.

Vote here!

my Christmas tip

I am going to share with you a Christmas decorating tip that I have used in my house here in Arizona. I don't think it would have worked in my California house but maybe.


Ok don't judge my garland! I am really going to take the nesters adivise and spruce it up to make it look nicer, but this picture is just to give you an idea of what you can do. OK!

Ok so you are probably thinking "so what she put garland around her shelfy thingy", right. Well that is not the tip so just relax. Ü

Here is the tip, look closely!

Is that close enough? The rounded walls in my house are metal. So that means I put my garland up with magnets. I got my handy dandy hot glue gun out and glued magnets on the garland and viola NO HOLES and the garland stays up. I used about 3-4 magnets per garland. Just put one on each end and two spread out in the middle. Now to make sure you do it right you really need to get the magnets from Home Depot, they are alot stronger than the ones at Micheal's and a pack of 10 magnets are only like $3. I just love magnets. So good luck decorating, and maybe if I make my garland prettier I will show you a picture.

seeing stars

Do you want to know what I have been up to the last few days?

THIS!

I have cut and sanded 100 stars for our ward Christmas party. Now, cutting was not the hard part since I used the laser to cut them. The sanding was a *&^#* (pain). I think the tip of my thumb got sanded more than the stars. I am secretly hoping that there will be plenty left so I can paint them and hang them on my Christmas tree.

hunting pics

When I finally got ahold of the boys camera to see what gems they brought home for me to see, I was wishing I had gone just to be the photographer. I guess Wyatt got ahold of the camera and the majority of the pictures looked like this.

I kinda expected some of these kind of pictures, but really how many pictures of a dirty hand can one person take. Luckily for me I also found a few keepers in the bunch.

I was told they really did alot of hiking, but if I go by the pictures I saw I would say they hunted and slept in the car.