the boy who could eat...

My little friend Harrison is a BIG eater. In this picture he is demolishing a cupcake, but this morning I was getting the kids breakfast and Harrison just kept eating and eating and EATING!

I am in the getting rid of the bottle stage, and I have to say it has proved to be a little trickier than I remember with Gwen. Maybe it is because he eats so much more than she ever has. Today for breakfast he polished off:

almost 2 full pieces of toast (minus the crust)
4 oz. of strawberry yogurt
8 oz. of whole milk
and a cup of cold cereal

That is more than Gwen and I eat combined!!! Yikes I am going to have to get creative to be able to fill him up for meals. At this rate he is going to double the size of those chubby thighs in no time, and he will have earned them by then too. He has never been a little baby in any way so I guess I shouldn't expect any less.

Autumn begins

Since yesterday was the first day of Fall, I was thinking of all the things that I love about the Autumn time.

Cooler temps in the evenings sure do make the Autumn comfortable.

I love the pumpkins and gourds. The colors and the shapes, and carving them with friends is great too.

Oh how I love the seasonal foods that are served in the fall, like butternut squash soup, pumpkin breads, and pies, pies, pies!

I really like when fall fashions come out, I love sweaters, even though it seems silly to buy them while living here in Texas. When I was in high school and college I could hardly wait for the first fall catalogs to come out from my favorite clothing shops.

Warm Apple cider and glazed doughnuts.

Pumpkin patches and being able to play outside with the kids without sweating to death.

Oh and who could forget Halloween candy.

So as for the crisp clean air and the longer hours of darkness I am so ready.

a girls best friend

I have decided that we don't need a pet, who needs a pet when you have a little brother. He eats things off the floor during dinner, steals your snacks, sneeks a drink from your sippy cup when you are not looking, stinks up the house sometimes, takes naps during the day, loves to be outside, oh and the most important...
Ready to play with you whenever you want. It cracks me up to find Gwen and Harrison just off playing something together, they are pretty funny. James has been trying to convince me to get a dog since we got married, but I am thinking that with these kids around we really don't need one.

our latest obsession

Horses, yes Horses. I thought that it was only Gwen that seemed to love and oogle over this animal, but I was mistaken, as Harrison soon showed signs towards liking the horse as well. Grandma and Grandpa Barlow have this little horse that the kids can ride and it makes horse sounds too. Gwen was immediately struck with a need to ride the horse all the time, but then Harrison was also trying to ride it too.
He is almost too big for the horse, but that didn't stop him from having a little ride here and there. Gwen still asks where the horse is, and she sadly has to settle for a ride on mom or dads back instead of the really fun moving horse at grandmas. Oh well, maybe it is just a phase. We also have lots of little horse toys that seem to make an appearance during the church meetings and when it is quiet, one can hear little "neighs" coming from our bench. Gotta love horses.

lucky #7

Yesterday James and I celebrated our anniversary. We have been married now for seven years. Kind of crazy to think that in the last seven years we have moved five times, been through a lot of school,traveled to far off places, switched careers multiple times, and we also have two toddlers to show for it. I don't know what the future will bring but I do know a few things about James:

1. James is a real trooper when it comes to some of the crazy ideas that I have, he is always willing to try my cooking, or watch a lame movie that I think I want to see, he even lets me dress the kids the way I want to, even if he hates what they are wearing. (Gwen's goucho pants.)

2. James is not a negative talker, he is not unkind to people in conversations, I know that sometimes I am sarcastic and rude, but James has a skill with holding his tongue and not talking bad about people, that has yet to wear off on me.

3. James has more self control than I probably would have given him credit for, in the last few months he has lost over 35 pounds despite my bad eating habits, and snacking food that happens to be around the house. He has been so focused and dedicated and I am so proud of him for sticking to his goal.

4. James is a smarty pants. Not only in technology or fix it up stuff, he is very clever and practically unbeatable in most games. If you are willing to play against him, be ready to take a hit to your ego. This is something that I really like that about him though. He has even come to the light on why I must travel great distances to get a good hair cut, now that is a smart man.

Thanks for sticking with me this whole time James, I love you and, I wonder what the next 7 years will bring.

just in time

We made it back to Texas all in one piece, and just in time for a hurricane. I know what you are thinking, how lucky we must be to get our own chance to test out the food storage we have. Well from the news this morning it looks like we will be able to see some of the effects of Hurricane Ike this weekend. I don't know exactly what to think of all of this, since I have never been in range of a hurricane, tornado, flood etc. before. But I guess all we can do is be as prepared as we can. However I am kind of wondering where to draw that line.

I still have some more pictures from our little adventure to see the families, but I will get to those later. I am really glad to be home with James and the kids are happy to have dad around. Gwen keeps slipping up and calling James all the uncles names, and I am pretty sure that a grandma and grandpa have popped out too. So to all of our family members just know that Gwen is still talking about all of you, and I guess that means that she had a really good time.

Oh and Harrison is walking all over the place these days, that was a fun surprise for James to see. Soon he will be fast enough to chase Gwen down, then the word wild will really describe our days.

cooking with Gwen

James' parents have basically transformed their entire downstairs into a wonderland for the kids to play in. They have this little kitchen that is made just like a real one, only without the water and electric bills. It has little plates, cups, silverware, and cookware too.
Harrison is waiting at the little table for Gwen to bring him some "mac and cheese and chocolate milk".
Gwen is really proud of her cutting skills, willing to show them off to anyone that will watch.
Sometimes they pulled an iron chef tag team and actually were willing to share the kitchen with each other. I wonder when they are going to be ready to start making real dinners?

a little outdoor fun

We celebrated Harrison's 11 month mark since we will not have our family around when he turns one. He devoured the cupcake, and left only the chocolate smeared on his face as a reminder of it.
taking a picnic is so much fun. Especially on really nice summer days.
Gwen is wearing grandmas hat to shade her from the sun.
Here grandpa is showing Gwen how to scale a giant rock...
Gwen added her own personal Olympic finish when she reached the top. The outdoors offer such endless opportunities for adventure. Its a good thing that we have grandparents to make it so much fun.

Hello Mt. Pleasant

We arrived in Mt. Pleasant to spend some time with James' family, and Gwen has loved the yard and the trampoline. She is pretty sure that it is the best thing around.

Harrison has also enjoyed the outdoors, watching Gwen do tricks on the trampoline, and sitting in the grass.
Gwen also discovered a little dog entrance into the house. Atticus' home. She climbed up the little stairs and sat at the dog door, and James' dad went into the house and pushed the dog door open, she was a little nervous that the door was moving on its own, but not for long, soon she was sticking her head through only to quickly crawl all the way inside. My camera was being really lame and so I missed her going in, but just imagine her going through the door for a Dachshund. Pretty crazy. The weather is so nice here and so we have been taking advantage of the outdoors minus the icky humidity. We took a walk around town, and went and saw a new memorial that they added here. It has been really nice and fun.

DINO-mite

My mom took us to the dinosaur park in Ogden. It was really fun and Gwen had a blast. Here she is showing us her dinosaur walk and growl.
Here are a few of the models that they had in the museum part.
Then the outdoor part was the best. We walked around and learned about the different kinds, and of course we talked about their teeth and some of them had little arms that Gwen really liked.
I'm gonna get you. Run Gwen run.
I am pretty sure that we passed a sign that said not to touch them, but uh what can you do when Grandma aids in the crime? Oh yeah take a picture of it.
Then it was off to the playground part. I think that Gwen would have liked to be born on a farm, she thinks that she can ride any animal like a horse.
Can you see those teeth? I love them. And it doesn't hurt that he is pretty happy here too.
Last but not least, the slide!! She rocketed right out of the bottom and landed right on her butt. However that did not stop her from enjoying this and the other slides around there. What a fun little park this was. I am so glad that I got to go there with my mom. Thanks mom.

picture catch up

On Monday night we had dinner at Kelly's house and Cooper and Gwen seem to be one of a kind. The like the same games, books, songs, dance moves, and seat at the counter.
On Tuesday we fed the ducks at Willow Park...and Gwen wanted them to eat right out of her hands. A little tricky with a fence in the way.

Then we hit the playground...all I can say was fun fun fun and a really big red slide. I went down this one with both Gwen and Harrison, when we got to the bottom all of our hair was sticking up, so Kelly ran and grabbed my camera to snap a little proof that we made it down with all three of us.
Today we went to the park right by my parents house with my brother and his little family. Gwen seems to have no fear of the slide anymore, so here are a few pictures of her taking the plunge.


And my dad, who just had surgery on his hand is taking a turn with Harrison on the swings. He wouldn't let go of that little orange ball.
After the park we all headed to one of my favorite places to eat here, Firehouse pizza! Harrison was so excited to shove some pizza in his face. Then after my parents got home from their meetings we all went to get some Aggie ice cream, Mmmm I do love ice cream. Harrison fell asleep in the car on the way up there, so Gwen was more than happy to not have to share with anyone.

forcast says tears

While all of my siblings were in town we hit the local outdoor pool for a little swim. Now normally this would have been Gwen's scene, but the last few days have been a little rough on her. So while Harrison hit the water with my sister Lisa,
and all of the other cousins swam like the fishes...
Gwen cried and cried on the side lines...
until my brother Spencer was finally able to coax her into the pool, saving the day.
On Sunday we were all together again and we had our family photos, and we had a terrible repeat of the pool. But this time there was no coaxing Gwen into the photos, she just cried and cried. So I know that we pretty much ruined that photo for my six other siblings. Sorry everyone. But true to Gwen form after the pictures were taken she was off to the park to play in the sand,
with no tears. I guess that she just needed some alone time to process all the events of the last few days.
I guess I should have known that family pictures were going to be tricky, maybe next time I will make sure that they have naps first. On a really funny note my brother took some video of Gwen screaming while they were doing just the kids photo, and I will have to see if he can send it to me. I guess that everyone else was laughing at the situation as I was trying to calm her down. Then this morning Gwen woke up and I was getting Harrison ready to eat and she dropped something and yelled, "Oh for goodness sakes". I didn't even know that she knew that phrase. It was pretty funny.