Chris' Family

Chris' family had some photos done last fall, and I wanted to post some of them here -- they are soooo cute!

We got a big, framed print of this one for Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Church Basketball

Grayson and Sam have recently really gotten into playing basketball. Probably because it's the season and all, but this year seems to be different. They actually want to spend time outside practicing in the driveway, even when the temperature is in the 40's. They like to go early to Youth night to practice with friends and groups of them get together at Tyler Nabrotzky's house to 'hang' and play basketball.

 

The priests quorum in our ward, Franklin 3, isn't big enough for our own team (and/or a lot of people out of town), so they let younger kids play for the game gainst Franklin 2. So Sam got to play on Grayson's team! [THAT'S always nice: one game, one trip, one hour, two sons involved. Woo-hoo, Two-fers! Kind of like when their soccer games are at the same time on fields right next to each other!]

 

In this game, they soundly TROUNCED Franklin 2; I think the score was like 45 - 18 or something like that.

 

 

Sam made one of the baskets! And Grayson made a few, got some rebounds and got some foul shots in. It was fun for us to watch!

 

You can tell in the upper right photo above that they were 'thrilled' to pose for a photo together after the game.

MLK Day at Vandy

We got a (great) lazy start to the day today, January 21, 2013. It's Martin Luther King Day, or as I like to call it, Civil Rights Day, so I was off work and the boys were out of school. (Coincidentally, it was also inauguration day, so I purposely left the television off, and didn't get online until now.) 

I started working on one of my New Year's Resolutions: DE-JUNKING. If I recall, this has been a resolution of mine for some time, and it keeps getting moved back to the top of the list periodically, because I keep NOT DOING IT!

So, this morning I started on my bedroom. I had an attitude of: I SHALL CONQUER! I turned on my clock radio, and started cleaning off my nightstand. I put half-read books away, put healthy cookbooks back in the kitchen, back scratching tools in the drawer, dusted off my lamp, threw away some pricetags from last-minute Christmas wrapping, cleaned off, straightened up, and actually used Pledge on a wooden surface! It was so nice to see wood! 

And I was ready to CONQUER the next surface, when I got a phone call...

Andrew was back in the hospital with pneumonia. And the car owned by John & Teresa (who Randi shares a house with) had broken down in Brentwood while Randi was taking John to work, and Randi needed to get back the hospital. 

So Sam and I headed out. We picked up Randi in Brentwood (John was waiting for tow truck) and we headed to Vanderbilt. They still had Andrew in the ER where where he had been since the wee hours of the morning. They had found pneumonia in the lower right lobe of his lung, his oxygen intake was in the low 80's, so they had him on breathing treatments every 2 hours. So they had him on an IV, and a heart monitor, and all that stuff. They were still waiting to admit him and get him into a room.

Smiley patient...

Andrew showed us his IV, and was saying "that red stuff is just my blood."
He was VERY BRAVE!

We visited for awhile, and then Sam was a wonderful uncle, and stayed with Andrew to keep him company while I took Randi to get Cielo and Bryson from day care and take them home. They colored, watched videos, and played on Randi's laptop while we were gone.

We picked up Cielo and Bryson at day care. When I was putting Bryson's coat on, he asked "Are we going to your house, Grammy?" I said, "No, not today." He asked, "Is Pops at your house?" I said, "No, he's at work." He asked, "Is Uncle Chris at your house?" (SMILE) I said, "No, he went in his car and drove far, far away to his house in Nebraska -- and (anticipating his next question) so did Nathalie, Colton, Rogan, and baby Addie." He then asked about Uncle Grayson (who I said was home) and Uncle Sam (who I said was at the hospital with Andrew). Bryson said, "I want to go to the hospital with Andrew!" SO CUTE! Can't believe he'll be three in a couple of weeks.

But alas, we took them home, and just mommy went back to the hospital with Andrew, probably to spend the night with him there again. (sigh)

Steve and I were able to go to the new movie, "Lincoln," starring Daniel Day Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, & Sally Field. It was VERY GOOD, and a good history lesson for me. 

Amazing acting, and from the 'buzzzz' probably earned them some Oscars. So, in honor of that (heh, heh) we stopped on the way home and got Oscar's for dinner -- albeit actually at the request of the boys who did NOT want to go to the movie so stayed home and played on the XBox.

I'm sure they've been wondering where their biggest fans have been...since I think we went there like SIX times while Chris & Nathalie were here -- there's obviously not an Oscar's in Nebraska.

The Nectar

I was leaving the house to run some errands, and had a Sonic cup full of ice in my hand, as well as my purse with the almost broken handle (carrying very gently), my phone, and some dry cleaning, an item to return to the store, and...suffice it to say that my hands were full. I stopped on the way down the garage stairs to pick up a can of my favorite nectar, Diet Dr. Pepper, to pour over my ice. I was barely able to carry everything, let alone open the door and put everything in the van.

So I laid a couple of things on top of the van, and laid the can of DDP (my affectionate name for the nectar) on the outside windshield where there was a bit of an edge to hold it on. I unloaded everything into the van, grabbed all my items I had laid on top --- and lo, and behold, I'm at the stoplight getting on to the interstate and look down, and what do I see...?  I had forgotten the DDP on the front windshield.

The light turned green, and I had no choice but to go ahead and get on the interstate. I was very careful not to change lanes too quickly, hit bumps, turn corners very sharply, or anything, so that the nectar would not be lost -- or scarier yet (YIKES!), go flying into someone else's windshield.

I was grateful to arrive at my destination with "no soft drinks being harmed during the making of this blog post." I'm sure the people in the parking lot were wondering what I was taking a picture of, but I had to document so that you and I would know...the (now) ICE COLD DDP was delivered without harm, and safe for consumption.

WHEW! Close call...on so many levels.

Happy New Year, 2013!

And so, at the Harris House we rounded out the end of 2012 with lots more activity and fun!

Grayson played in the Franklin Stake's "Mormon Invitational Tournament" (MIT) where they invite teams from other faiths to compete in a series of basketball games over a 2-day period. Several of his friends from school played on competitor teams. We were all there to CHEER HIM ON!

In addition to "WOW-ing" us each night by reading the Book of Mormon like a little scholar, Colton shared some of his newly acquired "Suzuki" piano skills with us!

Addie liked to "dance" on the stovetop -- is that anything like "dancing on the table?"

New Year's Eve day, Steve and Chris took out the old ceiling fan in our living room, and installed a new one. It was quite a process! We were very grateful for Chris' young feet & back on that very TALL ladder!

Then Steve, Nathalie, my friend Becky Pinney and I went to the new release, "Les Miserables" starring Hugh Jackman & Russell Crowe. It was GREAT!  Then Becky came over, and we all had finger foods & treats -- put the kids to bed, and sat around playing games (Last Word and MadGab) to RING IN THE NEW YEAR.

Colton read the book "If You Take a Mouse to School" to Becky. She was amazed at his good reading!

On January 2nd, I had to go back to work, and Chris' family went back to Nebraska (sniff!) so we all left the house early that morning.

BACK TO REALITY...lots of great memories made -- can't wait to get everyone together again soon!

Jingle, Jingle

Christmas Day and week brought much fun stuff at the Harris House. As they say, a picture paints a THOUSAND words, so, here goes with a thousand pictures...wait, that is what it means, right?

Addie eating an APPLE -- with 2 teeth!

AND STILL...More to come!

SIX Toddler Reindeer!

We had quite a time trying to "herd reindeer" and get lots of photos of the little ones. We felt pretty fortunate to get the ones we got! 

Many times, "ALL EYES WERE ON ADDIE," because she's just so cute, and she's the littlest, and she's the only girl, and she's adorable, and everybody wants to hold her, and she's learning so many new things, and she had us all wrapped around her little finger, and...

Nathalie made homemade pizza crust and sauce, and we all made our own pizzas on Christmas Eve. Toppings ranged from traditional pepperoni & cheese to non-cheese versions, spinach, olives, peppers, canadian bacon, mushrooms, etc. YUMMY!

Then we corralled the little ones and opened Christmas PJs and REINDEER ANTLERS so we could get ready to "settle our heads for a long winter's nap!"

BEFORE:

DURING: (click link below to watch video)

Six Toddlers Opening Jammies

AFTER: All dressed in their Christmas Jammies (and antlers)!

ELON hoodies instead of PJs this year!

Then we read the Christmas Story in Luke 2, and helped the grandkids put together a little Nativity Set.

 

Then we sang "Silent Night" and had family prayer. And then we put out milk and cookies for Santa on our Santa Plate! Andrew was very concerned that we be sure to put them in the living room NOW, and not when the adults go to bed, because "Santa won't have time to go in the kitchen!"

I didn't get a photo of our yummy chocolate chip cookies ("baked by Andrew and Cielo") we put out for Santa, but here's the plate we used!

Santa Plate