I used to be an avid scrapbooker. There was a time in my life, just a couple of years back, when I could say that every picture in my house was either in a scrapbook or had been rejected from a scrapbook. I should probably change that to an obsessive or psycho scrapbooker. When the boys were little I would lie in the bed at night dead tired from cleaning, cooking and taking care of them and think to myself, "The house is still messy and I have nothing to show for all my work today." Scrapbooking became that small something that I could say I accomplished. Plus, I really enjoyed it. If I couldn't sleep at night, I would get up and crop. I would sit and journal in them outside while the boys played in yard.

Anyhow, I am over it now. I will still keep up with Annabelle's book for the next year or so and always have a running family album, but as far as Caleb and Adam's books go, I may do a page or two a year.

I am going to blog to supplement the loss. Blogging is so much easier and there is no mess! Plus, everyone can look at the pictures anytime. My favorite part of scrapbooking was showing them to the fam when they were at my house. And the blog won't burn up in a fire. I know that you are probably thinking "it's all gonna burn in the end anyway." ................ but that is not the point.


OK, moving along to happenings at the Harrison house. The coolest thing about living out here in "worst" Asheville is that we get to see hot air balloons flying above our house a couple of times a week. We heard one this morning while we were eating breakfast (you can hear the fire) and ran out to see it. It was so close that we seriously thought it might land in our cul-de-sac. Hot air balloons are huge! Then we could see another one waaaaaay up in the sky towards Mt. Pisgah. The boys wanted to know when we would get to ride in one, and rather than giving them the money excuse, I said we would wait until Annabelle would be old enough to remember it. They were pretty satisfied with that answer.








I will leave you with a couple of videos of Annabelle walking.

Cutie Pie!

You know how everyone thinks that their kids are the cutest kids ever? Well, mine really are. I put Annabelle's hair in pigtails for the first time yesterday and I have decided that she is officially the cutest baby to ever live. And this post is the most annoying post to ever be written......

However, in the words of my mother "pretty is as pretty does". The little tantrums that she has begun to throw aren't too pretty. She has begun to "headbutt" me when she gets upset! Oh and you should see her arch her back and cry when she goes down for a nap. So she isn't as angelic as she may look in these pictures.

There are those dimples!

In other news, I am stoked about the premiere of season four of The Office this Thursday.


Also, I have decided that the you can tell when someone is against homeschooling because they will ask right away "how long do you plan on doing this?" I usually tell them for a week or two.


You know, blogging is sort of like have your own little newspaper column. .......a really boring one. As I clean house during the day, I think to myself, "ooh, what should I write for my editor today? What will my readers want to hear about? " Just kidding. I should think this instead, "what will I not be able to remember about life in a couple of months?" Or tomorrow for that matter. I think it would be awful to have amnesia. The other day I couldn't find my keys and I was trying so hard to "retrace" my steps from the day before but it was totally blank. It was frustrating. In the end, I found them on the back deck. I figure that I probably handed them to Annabelle to play with and she crawled out there with them.

I am just trying to think of things to say while I download some movies that I took with Lorie's camera today. It is a lengthy process.

Today I realized that homeschooling makes the boys enjoy their playtime more. They run out the door to play when we finish and I hardly hear from them for a while after. It is nice. You enjoy something so much more when you have some limitations I suppose.

OK here they are:

The first one is me asking Adam a few questions and the second is Annabelle playing with Lorie's phone. I would put one up with Caleb in it, but he acts really retarded when I film these days. Maybe I will add one of him riding his bike.




Everyone is sound asleep here and so I think I had better get some other things done around here! I borrowed Lorie's camera so I plan on making some movies tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Pictures of the Boys

Lorie's boyfriend, Justin, took these pictures a few weeks ago when he was in town. He is very talented and just has a knack for photography. Enjoy!

I am on a blogging kick. I was thinking about heading off to bed but thought I would write a little something about our weekend. Seth played in a baseball tournament with his brother in Georgia so we tagged along to visit the Harrison side of the family. We always have a great time down there. Caleb and Adam ADORE their cousins, Walker and Amy (Aaron too, but he is only 3 months old) and I like hanging out with Seth's sister, Angie. The kids play so well together and I barely see them most of the time a part from feeding them and getting them off to bed. Caleb and Walker usually pair off and then Amy and Adam play together. It is really sweet. Angie and I cleaned up her upstairs room and I scored some more stuff to use for our homeschooling. Angie has given me loads of curriculum for school. She has clothed my kids as well. Without her pass downs, my kids would be illiterate and naked. ............ As of now they are just illiterate. My point is that Angie is very generous and I appreciate all that she provides for us.


Speaking of homeschooling, it is going well. I am so blessed because everyone close to me is very supportive of our decision. Angie has been homeschooling now for 5 years and has been a wealth of information and encouragement to me. We sit down for "school" during Annabelle's morning nap, but mainly I am focusing on teaching throughout the day. I like that parenthood makes you view the world so differently. Who knew that I could ever get so excited about dirtbikes or tractors or guns? Seeing the world through the boys' eyes makes me realize how much there is out there to learn.

On the ride home, Seth and I entertained ourselves (when I wasn't turned around tending to Annabelle) by playing name that tune with the radio. Neither of us listen to the radio so we were not very good. I waxed him in the beginning because there are a lot of country stations near Atlanta. I don't really listen to much country but I can recognize voices well. He beat me when it came to classic rock though. We laughed a lot and entertained one another with it. I even got a rap song correct because I recognized it from my aerobics cd. Here is what I took from it all:
1. The Judds are/were so talented in their day. I like them so much and will have get one of my Dad's cds to burn. Did they write their own music? We heard them sing "Have Mercy".
2. If it is a "today's rock" station, a good guess is always "Nickelback"
3. Crosby Stills and Nash is good guess for lots of songs that sound a little familiar but I am not sure about.
4. Most music on the radio makes me want to puke.

Back to the weekend visit. Caleb and Adam cried and cried when we left. We will get back down soon.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of months.

This is our cousin Amy.
We had Caleb's birthday at Uncle Johnny's sister's pool and "tiki bar". Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Larry came down to watch Grayson play on Heath's baseball team in a tournament. Jonathan and Seth played as well. It was so much fun to watch them all on the same team!

They are leading the kids in the "ha, ha" song . Adam was so cute playing the pegs. He was quite serious about it and had some really natural rhythm going on!

We had a "cupcake cake" and swam until late that night.





This is a picture from our Orlando trip in June.

I went back to the choir at church this week. It probably isn't what some would call "my season in life" for this, but I decided to try it anyways. It is really hard for me to leave three kids once a week in the evenings, but I think with a bit of planning, I can pull it off...... planning........ I am am not very good at that. We will see.........
My favorite part about coming to Trinity when I was 12, was hearing the choir every Sunday. I thought they were wonderful. Then I decided to join up about 3 years ago and had such an incredible time with it. The next year was more of a heart struggle to be there and then last year I had Annabelle. It was so great to be back sitting on the front row with the other 2nd sopranos this past Wednesday. I can't read music and I don't have much range in my voice, so I don't really add anything to the sound of the choir. I mainly just try to sing along and not mess anything up at this point. I just really love being in the middle of the beautiful sound of the folks around me.

Guess what!!!!!! We got an offer on our spec house this past Friday! We took it and should close sometime soon! We were set to show both houses that day around 1:00 so I while cleaned the house that morning, I went down my contact list in my phone calling everyone that I knew would pray for the showing to go well. Cell phones are so great for prayer chains. Then I loaded 4 kids (Kiah was with us) into my little Camry took off to a playground for the next hour. Caleb, Kiah and Adam all said the sweetest little prayers as we drove off asking God to please help the folks to like our house and want to buy it. Sure enough, we got a verbal offer within an hour or two.....the first offer in a year! Seth went ahead and countered the offer, and then they countered back, and we accepted. (I am not sure that is the exact "lingo" but you can get the gist). The point is that God answered our prayers! We have prayed all along for this to happen but we never went to this extent. So, it looks like we should be able to sell before our home equity line runs dry! We also should be able to start a personal house soon as well. Isn't that so exciting!



Smell ya later Yarrow Lane House! You have been a pain in our rears!!!!!!
By the way, Annabelle is walking now and can say: Moma, Dada, Adam, Bubba (Caleb), and hot. She also makes dirtbike noises as she plays with her brothers toys. Don't worry, I won't allow her to be a tomboy........I have taught her to put her baby dolls to bed and to feed them in their highchair. :) Just a few more weeks until she turns one!