We spent Thanksgiving here this year rather than traveling to Georgia. We had a delicious meal at Mimi's house with Granny, Pawpaw, Aunt Karen, Uncle Gary, Aunt Lorie and Kiah. I got to spend some good quality time with my mom and Lorie before the meal cooking together while Seth watched the boys outside and Annabelle napped. Nowadays when I am with my mom, I try to soak up all of her wisdom and learn as much as I can from her. I feel like I am making up for all of the time I didn't spend with her in high school learning things like how to cook and such. I was just too busy with my retarded social life during that time period and wasn't interested all the things I regard so highly now. Thankfully I still live close enough for that now....though it is harder to do with three rowdy children in tow. Anyhow, I think I may put roasting a turkey on our menu plan since it really isn't all that complicated and provides a lot of meat for a decent price.

After we ate, we all went outside to enjoy the first fire in the fireplace that Grandaddy built on their new outdoor living patio/deck place. They have been working for a long time on that and it was great to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I can't wait for the hot tub to go in! The fire was lovely and kept us quite warm despite the cold weather.

You can't imagine how much these guys miss each other now that Kiah is in Boone. They are so darn giddy when they get together now that I can hardly stand them. Nah, it is too sweet. Do you remember how wonderful I think siblings can be? I truly believe that my kids will not only have one another for that bond, but will also have cousins in the same manner.

I played some of my songs for everyone (Granny and Pawpaw are my second biggest fans right after Mom and Dad)and then we took our tired children home to get to bed.

I am stuffed and looking forward to our annual post Thanksgiving class at the gym called "Burn the Bird" in the morning. I am only teaching part of it but I get to do kickboxing which is my favorite thing to lead these days.

A New Video of Annabelle

We have had a full week here at the Harrison Abode and I am glad that it is Sunday and I can REST a bit. We started out the week Monday morning with a fun filled visit to the Cobb's house (aka heaven on earth for my boys) where a friend and I gleaned some wise homeschooling advice from Cynthia while the 9 older boys played outside. It was a great time for all and I sure did enjoy being with someone who home schools twice as many kids (5 out of 6 being boys) as me and is still sane and happy. After that I taught 2 classes that evening and then two on Tuesday and Wednesday as well which wore me out. Then we showed our house on Thursday for the first time since it has been listed so I (with a little help from the kids) worked like a madwoman cleaning all day for that. (the buyers wanted "a more conventional neighborhood") Friday I taught the Geography co-op class, which reminds me:

One of the things each teacher (mom) has done for the Geography class is to tell a little about the languages that are spoken in the country they are presenting. For example, the mom who taught about Mexico started the class speaking in fluent Spanish (she used to be a Spanish teacher) and another had some recordings of Chinese. Anyway, when I started our class I told the kids who I was and that we were going to be talking about Africa. This one little boy raised his hand and said completely seriously, "Why are you speaking with such a Southern accent?" He thought it had to do with my presentation and that I was putting on! I laughed a lot (as did the other moms) and told him that I actually always talk like this. He was as embarrassed as a home schooled 7 year old can be (not at all) and we continued on. No, I still think he was confused. I thought it was hilarious!

Seth was out of town for a long weekend for a Builders Golf Tournament and so Lorie and Kiah spent the night with us Friday night. Lorie and I stayed up pretty late talking and I played and sang all of my new stuff on the guitar for her. It was a fun time. Then Saturday I taught class and we spent most of the day at Mimi and Grandaddy's house so the boys could play with Kiah while Lorie worked. Also, I sang and played at church this morning so I spent every spare moment practicing for that this past week.

When Seth walked in the house I said, "Hi honey, I am glad you are home. Annabelle is taking a nap and the boys are in the backyard with Taylor and I really need a nap." So I took one and I feel much better now. Ah, rest.......... Now I need to start something for dinner.


I will leave you with lots of pictures from Lorie's camera:


This one is Caleb at Pigeon Forge on the balcony of the condo waiting to get his hair cut. He is mad as always and I had to tell him that he was not going to Dollywood until he got a haircut. I just love this picture because it is that little scowl that he has a lot of times. OK, maybe I don't love that scowl, but I think I will appreciate capturing this moment years down the road.

The rest are mostly from the weekend that Lorie took the boys to Boone with her. They went to Tweetsie Railroad and must be doing a climbing wall there.

Kiah and Annabelle snuggling on the couch at Mimi's house.

Now, go read Amie's blog and leave her a comment.

Annabelle and Lucie. They are best friends. And it is so sweet. I am quite sure that Annabelle mentions Lucie about 50 times a day. Whatever we are talking about, she always says something about Lucie. I have to convince her over and over that EVERY doll should not be named "Lucie" and Amie had to talk Lucie out of want ing to name her new puppy "Annabelle". Oh and you should see them embrace when they greet one another!



So on those days when I am sad that Annabelle most likely will never have a sister, I think of Lucie and hope they will always love one another this much.



The puppy's name is Sophie Ann......and everyone pray because they are afraid Lanie might be allergic to him.

Three dirty, tired Harrison boys made it home safely this afternoon from a fun filled trip to Bear Creek in south Georgia over the weekend. I finally remembered to pack the camera so they could take some pictures for the blog.


Caleb said his favorite part of the trip was doing wheelies on Amy's 4wheeler. Adam's favorite part was doing wheelies with Uncle Johnny on his 4wheeler. They also told me that they worked really hard to clean out a camper so that Annabelle and I could come down sometime. They did, however, accidentally slip up and mention the mouse nest they found in the cabinets. I think we will hold out a little longer on making the trip.

LOTS OF FISHING



















Katie, Seth's cousin's daughter, (does that mean she is our kids' 3rd cousin?) got her first deer this time. We are pretty excited because our freezer is packed with the meat now. Uncle Jimmy gave the kids an in depth anatomy/biology lesson as they cut the deer up.



Annabelle and I sure did miss them. She is much higher maintenance when they aren't around because she is bored. That and I am always on this mission to get tons of work done when they are gone.

The Pittman Halloween

Here are a couple of pictures of our cousins,Lanie and Lucie, on Halloween. I am always trying to convince my sister, Amie, to let me blog for her but she is too afraid of what I would say. So I will just talk about them on our blog instead. We didn't get to hang out that night because we just didn't want to make another trip to Black Mountain that day, but it sure looks like they had fun. Don't you just love the costumes. I saw Lucie's in TJ MAxx and came very close to getting it for Annabelle. Maybe she can wear it next year!