Annabelle Sweetness

My mission today was to get a cute video of Annabelle saying some of her new words. This proved to be much more difficult than I expected because as soon as she sees the camera, she wants to come sit in my lap and look at the pictures on the back. This was as well as I could manage for now.



She is sitting in my lap during this one so you have to just listen. You may have to pause my awesome music so you can hear the videos though.



It is so wonderful now that she is well and happy. I had almost forgotten what a jolly gal she can be.




Enjoy!

I always have heard that tattoos are addictive, but I didn't realize it was true for temporary ones as well. The guys figured out how to put them on themselves and got a bit carried away during our flu time. Don't their little eyes look sickly in this picture?



We celebrated our health on Sunday by going to the Waynesville pool with Em and Tay again. It was lots of fun! I just sat and read magazines the whole time........what a pleasure!

We are FINALLY well! It really seems like we were out of commission for longer than two weeks, but that was about it. Seth got sick 2 weeks ago yesterday and we all followed a few days after one another. Spring is on the way and I will be so happy to get out of this house and into some fresh air. We got a bit stir crazy during our quarantined time, so we were delighted to meet Jonathan, Beth, Moma, Daddy, Lorie, and Kiah out at the Fiddlin' Pigs Barbeque place on Saturday evening. That place is something else! They have a bluegrass band with square dances and cloggers on the weekends. I just love cloggers! They are so cute. I wish the boys would learn but I don't see that happening......EVER. Unlike their mother, Caleb and Adam have NO desire to perform (maybe if it was some sort of dirtbike stunt) They had a good time watching Kiah, Annabelle, and me dance from the sidelines. I didn't take my camera or I would post pictures. I have got to be more prepared!

The other night Jonathan told me about these adopted triplets on his baseball team at North Greenville and how he wished so badly that Mom and Dad had been the ones to adopt them. I agreed with him and lamented over the fact that I only had one brother for a while that night. This has lead me to ponder the idea of siblings for the last couple of days. More specifically, I have been thinking about how much I love siblings. I wish I had some more. I wish I had a couple more older brothers and a couple of younger ones too.....and some more sisters......Sisters are wonderful. But mainly I just wish for more brothers. Instead of all of this idle talk, I would like to formally thank my mother (and dad too) for having lots of kids so I could have my siblings.

However, this makes me feel so disappointed in myself for only having three kids. I always wanted 4 or 5, but it is just so much harder than I had imagined. Also, and more importantly, I am tired of being pregnant. I am tired of having c-sections. (though the doctor gave me the go-ahead for more) So, maybe we will adopt in a few years, but that always seems like it would be expensive.

My moma always says, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." We are suffering through the 2 week flu bug, and I can't seem to think of anything nice to say, so I just changed my layout instead.

We are in survival mode.

I will post when/if I ever feel better.

Well, folks, we are celebrating Valentines Day this year with a crappy case of the flu in the Harrison abode. Yep, the boys have a virus that should "make them feel really bad for 3-5 days, but they won't be back to normal for at least 10 days, if not 2 weeks". That was the diagnosis from the doctor yesterday. I am trying to stay positive and look at the brighter side of this: I did get a lot of cleaning done yesterday since the boys stayed on the couch bed the entire day. We also got a ton of Botany done. I had the boys cornered so we read our chapter and discussed pollination. I have never enjoyed science too much, but I actually found this interesting....... Those are the only good things I can come up with right off hand. Of course there is that Annabelle and I seem to be fine thus far and hopefully won't catch this. If she doesn't get it, she will prove to have one of the higher immune systems of anyone I know. On a few occasions I have made a mad dash across the living room to snatch the boys' cups from her. Also as I was brushing my teeth yesterday, I looked down to see that she somehow got a hold of Seth's toothbrush and was doing the same with it, and Saturday morning (right before Seth realized he might have a fever) he said she was all but making out with him as they wrestled around in the bed.

By the way, this all started while I was at the womens retreat. (which was wonderful- the message definitely hit home and I had a great time with everyone there and...especially my dear Moma-I got to have her all to myself that night) Meanwhile, Seth spent Saturday morning crawling from the bed to the bathroom to puke until I arrived around 2:00. While I was praying that they would have a peaceful morning at home, Annabelle was banging the lid of the toilet on Seth's head as he vomited his guts out. The boys kinda took care of themselves along with some help from our neighbor, Taylor. I think God did answer my prayer because at least no one got hurt (aside from Seth's head).




Was that what we could call TMI (in the words of Micheal Scott) "too much information" ?


Wow, this post has taken too much time because I wanted to make a video link of Micheal moments. There were some really good ones. Wow, funny stuff. If you need a good laugh, click on my links......the second one is the best......if you have that type of humor.........if don't like the office, don't bother watching.....there you go guys TMI. last one


Lastly, I will leave you with pictures from Kiah's sixth birthday party on Sunday. Lorie told me that she hates when I post without pictures. I won't take that as she is bored with what I have written, but instead as a compliment to my lovely pictures. So here they are: It was cowgirl themed.

The kids played in the tent from Mimi and Granddaddy.

Kiah was very appreciative of her gifts. She loved her ring from Aunt Carolyn.

Annabelle showed the others her favorite seat in a timber frame home.

New Bloggers and sickness

I am pretty excited right now because my friend, Tracy, just started a blog. This is good news for the blog world because, let me tell you, she will have some good stories to tell. She has a five year old little girl named Riley (who is sweet as can be) and two twin 3 year old boys (who will provide all of the entertaining stories) The twins, Grayson and Garett, remind me so much of Caleb and Adam when they were that age. They are what some would call "all boy" and others might call "wild". Tracy is such a great mother for them because she is very laid back and lets them be boys.....dirt, fights, four wheelers, bikes and all of that stuff. They love being with my boys. Obviously, my boys gravitate towards Riley a bit more (cause she is older and cute or something) but they love hanging out with the McCurry family as a whole! So, hopefully Tracy won't mind me telling y'all to check her blog once in while. It should be great!







OK, I wrote that yesterday.......today things are not as great here at the house. Adam and Caleb both have fevers. Adam has a horrible cough and sore throat while Caleb threw up most of the night. We are heading to the doctor this afternoon. Maybe they will give us some miracle cure and this will be over tomorrow.

Seth had this on Saturday and still doesn't feel too great, though he has managed to work everyday. He is one of those really tough sick guys. You know what I mean?

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I jumped the gun with yesterday's post. How could I have known what was in store for today? (I should have known) I needed to practice music for the womens retreat so I put Annabelle down for an early nap, gave the boys an umbrella, and set up to sing in the garage. I know you are thinking, "Are you crazy? You sent your boys out in the rain to play!" First of all, I am crazy and second of all, I wasn't thinking too clearly. I thought they needed a good ten minutes or so outside so they could get the wiggles out before we sat down for school. (but their wiggles are never out)
ANYWHO!!!!!!!

This is what I found when I turned the corner to check on them!




It's all good, though. They are happily in the shower as I type, getting cleaner than they have been in a while.

It could be way worse, I tell ya. When they were 2 and 3, they pooped in the middle of Adam's room and smeared it all over the walls and floor. I can never be as mad as I was at them that day!

Picture Post

There is a good chance we are referred to by our neighbors as the "Clampett Family". My kids rarely wear shoes or shirts, we play very loud music on many occasions, and I find myself screaming for the boys from the porch at least once or twice a day. Then there have been the times with the firetrucks and the list could go on but I won't overly embarrass Seth............ I just tell everyone that we try to keep it exciting around Justice Ridge.

Anyways, speaking of no shoes, Caleb and Adam were ecstatic about the warm weather today. I agreed to no shoes, but this is what I found a few minutes later:



























Yes, they are wearing swimming trunks. We can't get to the summer clothes right now and they HAD to have some shorts! Caleb looks like he might be cold by the way he is standing, but I assure you that he was just fine, and, in fact, he asked me repeatedly if they could play in the sprinkler! He is always hot.







In other news, Lorie gave Jonathan a sweet haircut the other day that I think just suits him:

And we had a fun music gathering last Friday:

And the boys are getting haircuts tomorrow. Maybe I could convince them to get mohawks like Uncle Jonathan. That would be the cutest thing ever!

Super Bowl

Did everyone enjoy the Super bowl last night? Actually, I didn't watch it, except for the halftime show and the final 24 seconds of the game. I enjoyed that thoroughly. Tom Petty was my favorite halftime show ever. Can that dude write a good song or what???!! Also, I was happy that the Giants won because it is always good to see an underdog do well, but mainly because I think those Manning boys are just about as likable as two guys can get. Can you imagine how their Mom felt last night? Pretty proud, I would assume! I didn't even watch the commercials, though I assume they were pretty good considering I could hear Seth laughing obnoxiously (and I say that affectionately) at them all the way upstairs.

You know, it is not as if I hate sports or anything and you might be surprised at my knowledge of the rules and all. I always enjoy watching them when I sit down and just do it, though I get VERY worked up about the game and tend to cry if my team loses. In fact, I still hate the Steelers because they beat the Colts in the AFC championship in 1996 or something. I am too 'passionate' to watch sports......or too much of a crybaby.

However, I LOVE to watch my loved ones play sports. TV sports take up too much time. I think an hour ballgame would be sufficient.

Sorry Dad and Jimmy....and Jonathan and Heath.....and all of you other sports fans......I could go on and on........
Happy Monday morning y'all!

I just finished up reading Little House in the Big Woods to the boys for their bedtime story. Aunt Angie loaned us the book a while back and we started it earlier this month. Caleb and Adam enjoyed it more than I even expected, but I am quite sure that I took more pleasure in reading it to them. What a great book! I have always had a sort of "love affair" with the old days anyways, wishing that I had lived back then. However, I probably would have died in childbirth, so I will take the days of the C-section over that. In fact, I was born as a C-section because I was overdue and breach, so that would have wiped out me, Mom, and my younger siblings too. OK, OK, but I still love stories about the pioneer days. They were so darn crafty! It was great to explain to the kids how if they owned it, they probably made themselves. If they ate it, they grew it or shot it themselves......and that you can get maple syrup from trees and that they made their own soap......and that they had to grow wheat, grind it and make it into bread....and that they only got mittens and a piece of candy for Christmas---but they were so thrilled with them.......and how the only music they had ever heard was Pa's fiddle.........and how they had never been to town until Laura was six years old.....and on and on..... Oh my, should I have warned you about the spoilers in this post?

Reading stories has definitely been one of my favorite pastimes with my children. It is a little frustrating to me that they are all fidgety and squirmy (the nature of most boys) and rarely seem like they are listening. I quiz them as we go to make sure they have a bit of comprehension going on, and they always amaze me because they really are understanding and listening to the story. Tonight Kiah spent the night and it was just splendid to have a still, little child hanging onto every word I read. I could have started from the beginning and read to her all night long, but Caleb was having his nightly emotional breakdown and had to be firmly dealt with.

I'll just make this a "schooling" post because I need to write a bit about the Botany class last Friday. Adam loved it. I loved it. Caleb........hated it for the first hour and then loved it for the second hour. He was very nervous about it and for him, nervousness shows itself as anger. he was so MAD about going to class! He sat in his chair with the worst attitude at first. Then his friend, Gray, came over and talked to him a little which changed his attitude. In short, I am really excited about the class. We are going to do all sorts of projects together. We made a light box and are in the process of growing some herbs and flowers in it. I am secretly afraid that ours won't grow. I have a really bad track record with house plants. I don't suppose we would fail the class.......but I am sure that the boys would let everyone know if ours die or something. I'll keep you posted.








OK, I wrote all of that a couple of nights ago but didn't want to post it until I got a cute picture of the light box. Now it is Friday and I have a bit of time this morning, because school got canceled due to ice, thereby canceling my aerobics class. I am not letting it spoil my morning by trying to get a lot done before we head out to Botany and then later to our weekly band gathering.

Well, to be truthful, I haven't gotten anything extra done yet. I'll do that after I blog. It is just not spoiling my morning because I am generally in a very good mood in the mornings and things don't bother me so much at this hour.

I would like to say that some of my winter blues have been remedied by two new articles of clothing. I got a sweet ski jacket on sale at TJ Maxx the other day and a pair of flannel pjs at Old Navy a couple of weeks ago. I decided that one of the reasons I hate winter is due to the fact that I am always cold. No more will I be cold at night or outside with my cozy coat and pajamas. It really has made the days and nights better. Nana got Caleb this corny movie about snowboarding that he has watched every day this week. It gets him all pumped up about snowboarding and so then he spends the majority of his day boarding down the mulch hill out front. Guess where Annabelle wants to be. Right there with him, so I bundle us up and we spend the afternoon and morning outside in the coldness. He is getting really good at it all and asks daily when we are going to go snowboarding for real. I tell him very soon. I haven't been skiing in 8 years! Do you think it is like riding a bike and you don't ever forget how. I hope. We will see soon because we are planning on taking the boys in the next week or so. I have decided to try snowboarding since I will be on the bunny slope most of the time with them anyways. Plus, snowboarding is just much cooler and I definitely want to be cool. Seth and I have gotten very excited about the idea of our family going out west one day on a snowboarding trip together. We have even talked about getting some weekday family passes to a nearby resort next year. One of the better aspects of being homeschooled and self-employed is the freedom to go places during the week. Now we just need some money...............




Here are videos of the boys going down the mulch hill. Caleb's snowboarding is harder than it may look to you in this. He has gotten where he catches a bit of air on the jump now. I will have to get a video of that too.