Snugglin'

They like to antagonize each other like any brother and sister pair. Lately, there's contact (interpret: hitting, smacking, pinching, punching, hair-pulling, etc.) involved. From both parties. Oftentimes I feel like a referee. And sometimes it doesn't end well. Someone will end up in tears while the other one ends up in time out. In tears. And for some reason, my throat will hurt...

But then they do this...

...and all I can say is, "Awwwwwwwww."

Food for Thought

The girl would eat spaghetti every day if she could. But she's picky about the sauce.

The boy hasn't met a fruit he doesn't like.

Staycation Spring Break

Two words to describe our spring break week: AWE-SOME!

Two more: animals & dirt

Two more: gorgeous weather!

We spent the week at home. We (actually, Mike) got a LOT of work done around the yard and house. He did a LOT of planting. And the kids got REALLY dirty. And it was all F-U-N, FUN!

But we also did a lot of day-tripping. We spent great family time together enjoying near perfect weather. If we ask really nicely and say please, you think we could have one more week?

Brazos Bend State Park

Houston Zoo

Bayou Wildlife Park



If you'd like to see more photos from our fabulous week, check them out on Facebook!

My Kids are Cute!

Who can resist this?

They are GREAT helpers! They bathed themselves AND cleaned Daddy's truck at the same time!

My son has outed me. Perhaps we shop there too much? *winks*

Noah has been working really hard with reading and writing. Usually you only have to show him once and he can spell and recognize the words thereafter. When he doesn't know how to spell something, he'll make it up. The other night he spelled and said, "R, J, I, H, spells lawnmower." How cute is that?! I spelled it the right way for him and he drew the picture.

Cheeseball!

She's a mess. Just a mess!

The Best Christmas Ever 2009!

I think this will be the last post about Christmas 2009. I had so many photos and videos to share I thought it would be best to divide it up. And spreading it out increases the number of posts I make for December - not that I'm into increasing post count or anything. LOL!

We are fortunate enough to live in an area where we can spend hours outside on Christmas day and be reasonably comfortable. And spend hours outside we did!

This is my boy being his naturally handsome self.
Check out the fun human hamster wheel from Grandpa and Grandma Harvey!
Even Daddy got to play!
The funniest part was the static electricity!
Maybe it's because the low, low humidity days are few in these parts, but I'm fascinated by the static hairstyles...
I think it's super cool! And photo-worthy. Blog-worthy even!
Walking down by the creek.
Enjoying the outside and time with Grandpa!
Wrapping Grandpa around her little finger!
Sometimes, I accidentally get some awesome photos. I love, love, love this one of the three Harvey boys!
And finally, I'll leave you with the plasma car fun we had on the Best Christmas Ever!

Oh! One more thing. If you want to see allllll the photos, Snapfish has them. Enjoy!

The Best Christmas Ever Continues!

Can you believe we had to wake them up at 8:00?! I'm not complaining. I'm wondering how many more years I'll have to sleep in on Christmas morning. How many more years will I be more excited than the kidlets? I'm still not sure if the kids or adults had more fun...

The boy is still trying to wake up. Isn't he deliciously sweet?
And don't you just want to nibble up those angel cheeks?
Santa Daddy is making chocolate chip pancakes.
Once they woke up and had breakfast they were ready for the festivities!

Here's the first spin on the new wheels!

I told you it was the best Christmas ever!

The Best Christmas Ever!

When I said it last year I meant it. I'm saying it again this year and I still mean it. It was the best Christmas ever! This year we were lucky enough to have Bud join in the festivities. It was the first Christmas the kids got to spend with a grandparent and did I mention it was the best ever?!

Grandpa arrived the day before Christmas Eve and the bunny was beside herself excited. She basically clung to him every moment she could.
Are these not the sweetest moments ever?
On Christmas Eve we baked and decorated cookies for Santa. Noah was totally into eating the decorations. The bunny was a model of complete concentration until her task was complete.
Noah's cookies:
The bunny's masterpiece:
Look at all the Harveys!
I made the kids sit with the plate of cookies for a photo. I'm sure they would have rather eaten them. But they didn't. They left them for Santa. They're the best kids ever!
Funny thing happened as Mike put the kids to bed. Bud and I went to the craft cave to retrieve the gifts that required assembly. The craft cave is directly above the bedroom. A part got dropped and made a loud THUD! We knew the kids weren't asleep yet. Oops!

Later when Mike emerged, he told us the bunny was very concerned about the noise she heard. Mike told her it was the reindeer landing on the roof! She bought it. WHEW!

On Christmas morning I staged myself in the tree room to capture the kids as they entered. I wasn't expecting this reaction:

Stay tuned for more of the Best Christmas Ever 2009!

Bud, thank you so much for making the drive out here! Your being here was the best gift of all!

Merry Christmas 2009!

So...

...lots of dollars were spent on the perfect gifts this year. Gifts oh so meticulously wrapped in special Princess wrapping for the girl and special Santa wrapping for the boy. Gifts that evoked much enthusiasm and delight from the girl. Gifts that, for the first time ever, the boy unwrapped all on his own. He even had fun in the process! The adults in the room enjoyed every minute, all one hundred twenty of them, as we watched the opening of and playing with the gifts.

Then we went outside.

And the biggest hit of the day, the activity that elicited the most giggles and smiles involved none of the aforementioned gifts. Instead, it involved thinking outside the box...

Mike started it:

The boy loved it:

The girl loved it, too:

And the kidlets loved it together:

I'll leave you to enjoy the vids for now and I'll be back soon, tomorrow hopefully, with more about the best Christmas ever!!!

P.S. Sorry for the month-long absence from posting. That crazy little life we live gets in the way!

It's all about the food!

We have had a nonstop, long weekend of Thanksgiving vacation fun!

Tuesday was Noah's last day of school before the weekend and he brought home this drawing. Go ahead and take a guess.
Does this help?
We asked him what he drew and he told us, "turkey." Of course it's a turkey! Don't feel bad if you thought it was a dinosaur. That was our first guess, too.

Mike took Wednesday off to be here for the HVAC dudes installing our new furnaces. The 21 year-old dinosaurs in the attic pretty much fell apart when they were disconnected and left a lovely trail of rust all the way down the stairs. Yuck! But the mess cleaned up easily and now we have safe heat! Just in time for some super-cold (yes, low 40's is super-cold for us) overnight temps. During the home inspection, it was discovered that the furnaces were emitting higher than normal levels of carbon monoxide, but not enough to kill us...yet...Comforting, right? Anyway, we were reluctant to use them at all. We arranged to get the new furnaces after the summer heat was over and before the cold weather started.

Mike also learned how to use the fireplace that day. The bunny loooooooves her new fireplace. She has claimed it as her own. She's the boss of everything! She fell asleep that night, on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket, with her, "baby sister, Jordan."
Thanksgiving morning was busy, yet wonderfully relaxed. The weather was gorgeous and the kids bounced in the bouncy and played outside pretty much all day. I have no photos of that. But I do have photos of what we ate. Because, you know, it's alllll about the food!

Here's the turkey...
...and Mike, the turkey-frying master! You thought I called him a turkey, didn't you? He fried two turkeys so we had plenty to eat, share with friends, and keep for leftovers.

Mike is in charge of the meat and I do the rest. And I have to say, I love, love, love having two ovens! I didn't have to schedule oven time for all the dishes or make anything the day before.

Behind door number one, we have: green bean casserole topped with crumbled bacon and cheese, Pioneer Woman's buttered rosemary rolls, and brown-sugar glazed roasted sweet potatoes.
Behind door number two, we have: sweet potato casserole topped with chopped pecans from our tree that I hand-cracked the night before and a ginormous roaster full of cornbread dressing.
Wanna see those rolls up close? They were deeeeeee-lish!
I also made a pumpkin-pecan cheesecake. Note: it, too, is topped with hand-cracked pecans from our tree.
About that hand-cracking pecan thing...Never. Again. I spent two hours cracking nuts and didn't quite get a cup full of usable bits. I am truly thankful I don't make my living shelling pecans. I'd be fired on the first day. And my fingers and thumbs would be in a world of hurt. But, it was cool to say I did it and it made the sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pecan cheesecake taste better. Right? *winks*

Here's the spread:
Black Friday was spent mostly playing outside again. Did I mention the weather has been gorgeous in the daytime? We did run to Lowe's in the afternoon to get some things for the house, but not for the crazy sales.

Today, Saturday, I FINALLY unpacked the dining room and Mike brought home our Christmas tree. Needless to say, the kids were super excited about it. I'll have photos and more stories later!

Festival of Lights

Wow! What happened to November? I apologize for not keeping up, and I have a million excuses. :-) I'll spare you the details, so let's just jump in to the most recent event.

Yesterday was the Festival of Lights in our little town and we had a family fun day! We like to go every year and as the kids get older and are able to do more things, it's just that much more fun.

Waiting in line for the snow hill.

Aren't they so cute riding together?!


Train ride.

Mommy and her kidlets.

Enjoying the requisite cotton candy and funnel cake.
*Not pictured - the two giant turkey legs. Sorry, didn't want to get the camera greasy. ;-)

After our snack, we went home to get ready to go back and watch the parade. Made a pit stop at Target and the bunny fell asleep in the store.
Of course I took photos!
There was an article in the Sunday paper about the festival. I was mis-quoted and everything! ;-) One of the funniest things about the article was how the reporter described the weather as, cold and blustery. It was about 55 degrees and windy, but the kidlets were warm enough in their hoodies. And the bunny, as we all know, is FOUR not THREE. ;-) Good thing she can't read, yet. She'd be setting that guy straight!

Here is the excerpt from my "interview."

Linda Harvey brought her two children bundled up in jackets. The children took several rides in sleds on the snow hill.

“It’s nice to play in it,” she said. “But it’s nice to not have to live with it.”

Harvey brings her children every year, regarding the festival as a celebratory beginning of the holiday season.

“This is the a kickoff to the season,” she said. “It’s a good family event.”

Harvey said she remembers bringing her daughter, Jordan, 3, to the festival for the first time when Jordan was 3 weeks old.

“It was her first time out” after she was born, Linda Harvey said.

And here's the link to the whole article.

Enjoy!