I found the memory card. She usually shoves it in the disc opening to the right of the memory card slot and I just tip the hard drive forward and it falls out. After searching the house over, I tipped it up one more time and banged on the top just in case and, low and behold, it fell out. So then we had a little (overdue) "training session" on how Annabelle does not touch the memory card. So far so good and I am going to try to take it out asap and put it back in the camera after using it. All that said, here are a couple of pictures for ya:


Annabelle has taken to wearing the boys' shirts as pajamas lately. She gets a huge kick out of wearing shirts with snakes or bugs on them. She is also wearing one of my headbands in these pictures.

Adam got a army helmet to wear with his Halloween costume next month.

I also forgot to say a bit about last weekend. Seth and the boys were planning to go down to Bear Creek for a work weekend, but ended up going to Nana and Papa's house instead. No one else could make it Bear Creek so they changed routes mid drive. The trip sounded like lots of fun as usual with lots of bike riding, Wii playing, and even some time out on the lake in Uncle Johnny's boat. Annabelle and I were pretty sad to miss out, but I did get a lot of cleaning done while they were away. I scrubbed base boards and bathrooms and tile and hardwood floors. Not as much fun as tubing down in Georgia, but it has to be done. And what a great feeling when it is done!


Anyhow, here we are a week later. Caleb threw up all of last night. I had to get a sub for kickboxing. I hope the others don't get sick.

Thanks for reading. Check out the new video.

If you were Annabelle, where would you put the camera memory card after swiping it from the computer?

That is the question for the day. I have looked everywhere and, though it has no outstanding pictures on it, I am unable to take any new ones right now without that pricey little card! I am dying to change the blurry title picture but really need something recent. So I shall keep looking and you will have to go without the latest images of the Harrisons until it shows up.

Until then, here are a few pictures from the Cheshire Shindig the other night that Amie took for me. It was a delightful evening with good friends, lots of kids, nice weather and a lovely time all around. Thanks so much to all of you that came out. It really meant a lot to me. There were quite a few people that I didn't even get to speak to, so if it was you, I am truly sorry.


I was naturally in heaven as I got to live my dream of being a rock......no.... folk star.

Tim setting up the drum set. He and his wife, Jaime, and little girl, Aubrey came over the next day for dinner. Then he and Seth went fishing while I got hang out with the girls. It was nice to get to know Jaime.....she is really great.

Peter was our fabulous sound guy.

We hope to do it again in October so I will let you know as plans are finalized.

My friend, Kelly, said that they neighborhood folks really liked it and were excited to do it again.

My friends, Jen and Carrie, came over afterward to hang out.

Tea Party

This morning Mimi hosted a sweet tea party for the girl grandchildren. (The boys had other plans.) Kiah and Lorie are in town for the weekend and so Lanie, and Lucie had a sleepover at Mimi's last night with them. Annabelle and I joined the festivities this morning. It was just about the cutest, sweetest thing ever. I wish i had better pictures but my camera lens was jammed, Amie's battery was dead and we couldn't find Mom's. So these were all taken with our phones.





Annabelle insisted on wearing this old bonnet as her hat. She was getting tired and a tiny bit cranky so i didn't push the issue of a more tea-appropriate one.






















Mimi let them put the sprinkles on the little tea cakes and dip the strawberries into the chocolate. Yummy.






Kiah reads on a 5th or 6th grade level! She wanted to read the 100th Psalm to the girls before tea time. I was floored by her abilities and the other little ones were ready for sweets!













We enjoyed using Mimi and Grandaddy's brand new screened in porch for the party. Oh yeah, and Mom let them use her VERY special china. Amie and I were pretty scared of it breaking but she just said, "you can't enjoy it if you don't use it." The girls were very careful.....even Annabelle.

Thank you Mimi for such a lovely memory!

Let me think........ What has been going on here at our house lately? We had our gig at Cheshire Friday and it was super fun and all but I don't want to officially blog about it until I find some pictures from someone. None of the videos turned out for various reasons (one being that it got dark really quickly and you could see anything) so you'll have to wait til next time to see some.




On the kiddo front, we started our Co-op geography class on Friday in Black Mountain. There are almost 20 kids in the class and each mom is taking a week to teach about a different country throughout the semester. Thank the Lord that most of the other moms are there in the class to help out. I don't know how regular teachers can get things done with that many kids. I guess they don't do the same types of things. Anyhow, the boys love it. Annabelle actually sat in on the class too and enjoyed it all herself. We had the class then all ate a picnic lunch in the church yard afterward. There is an art and PE class offered after the Geography but I am pretty sure we are going to skip out on those since Annabelle needs to get home for a nap. Maybe next time around. School here at the house is still going well. The boys are loving this book that is a journal of a Vietnam soilder called My Name is America: The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty. Why is war so interesting to them? I guess cause they are males. That book only makes me pray harder each night that I will never have to send either on of them off to fight in a war one day.

We start each day with our least favorite subject: HANDWRITING! The boys are working through the Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. Someone needs to come up with a series called Handwriting Without Anger for Caleb.




Annabelle is talking more and more each day. Can you believe she will be two years old in less than a month!!!!!!? I will try to get a good video up soon for you of all of her jabbering. (she has a lot more to say than the boys ever did!)

Yesterday was a lovely break from motherhood for me. After church Seth was off to his baseball game and the boys went with Grandaddy and Mimi to a Bartlett family gathering in Swannanoa. Annabelle and I were supposed to meet up with them after her nap, but it just so happened that Annabelle set a nap time record and slept for almost four hours in our silent house. The child was so tired! So there I was feeling so odd with little to do on a Sunday afternoon all alone. I read some, and played my guitar, and just rested.... nice and appropriate for a Sunday. Then Grandaddy took Caleb and Adam to a church picnic at Camp Rockmont and extended my break time even longer.

Happy Birthday Aunt Leslie! I did my figuring this morning and came up with her turning 27 although I was so sure it was 28. I am always off a year when I figure her age.
We miss you so come home..........

Sooooo, whatcha doing this Friday, September the 5th?

Well, if you are not busy, I would love for you ALL to come out to our GIG that evening! Yep, our band got another gig thanks to my lovely friend Kelly (you know, the one who makes the sweet jewelry) She lives in Cheshire Village and just so happens to be on the committee that organises neighborhood events and gatherings. Kelly thought it would be fun to have our little family band play out on their ampitheatre some Friday evening for everyone. I was delighted at the idea, of course, and lined up for us to be there with bells on.

Here are the details:


FRIDAY, SEPT. 5TH @ 7:00 PM
bring a blanket, snacks, beverages, and friends
be ready to enjoy some sweet old time country and bluegrass music!
located in the center of Cheshire Village of Route 9 in Black Mountain

Will you come? It would make me ever so happy!

By the way, one of our band's greatest struggles has been to agree upon a name. I never realised what a hard task this would be! Really, try to come up with a name for a band sometime that is catchy, not dorky, not too serious, and not already taken. Oh yes, and seven people have to agree on it too! Anyway, we are the Black Mountain Scramblers for the time being......or at least for the Cheshire gig. I like "scramblin" (like instead of "ramblin" cause we are always scramblin' around to find picks or remember chords and lyrics.....at least I am) So the Scramblin' somethings. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Bull Creek Ranch

We went to Bull Creek Ranch for a fun afternoon of canoeing, swimming and fishing in the pond for my friend, Paul's birthday on Friday. It was a dreamy site with the clearest water I have ever seen in a pond. Caleb and Adam loved every minute of the festivities, and hit it off with Paul's nephew, Marshall.











Annabelle, Kiah, and I watched the action from the deck overlooking the pond and then on the dock too. It was perfect weather and a lovely time!

THE TOOTH FAIRY

We are in the midst of the tooth-loosing stage at our house these days. Caleb has lost all four of his bottom teeth and Adam just lost his first one this evening. I say "lost" in the case of Adam but that doesn't do the removal of the tooth process justice with that little guy. Let me start by explaining the two distinct levels of pain tolerance in my boys. Adam is the toughest of the toughest (besides Lanie who isn't quite right when it comes to pain) and Caleb is just............not very tough. I used to think of a having a high tolerance for pain as a good character quality one possesses, but now I believe it has more to do with physical pain receptors that we each are born with. Does that make sense? So, the ability to bear pain is not only due to the idea of just being emotionally tough and all, but is more due to the fact that pain actually feels differently to some people. I have seen this played out with Caleb and Adam. Caleb painfully teethed for weeks as a baby, while Adam's baby teeth just appeared one day. No warning, just there they were. Then there is the shameful fact that when Adam broke his femur bone at the age of two, we didn't even take him to the doctor until the next morning because he quit crying pretty quickly and we were in Georgia so we waited..... bad parent feeling, for sure when we found out it was actually broken.

ANYWAYS, back to the teeth. Caleb has probably set some sort of record for how long a tooth can be loose and holding on by a strand before it falls out naturally. Adam, on the other hand, had a this tooth that was just barely loose and he yanked and pushed on it .....and had me pull as hard as I could...... and had Seth pull on it........... and had Emily pull on it... until we finally got that darn thing out. ( it did have a permanent tooth growing in well behind it so I thought it would be good to get it out anyhow) He was so excited to finally lose a tooth!

Let me back up and tell you why it is so exciting to loose a tooth around here. It is not because they get a lot of money. It is actually because they have a personal relationship with the tooth fairy herself. Emily (10 yr. old neighbor) has taken it upon herself to put on this whole masquerade of tooth fairy-ness. She writes them notes from the tooth fairy and even calls them every other day or so to tell them about her adventures and how they need to be well-behaved and all. I am astounded at how gullible they are. It almost worries me. And then I think, "wow, if I accomplish teaching them anything in school it will be quite an achievement" OK, I am kidding, they are both pretty darn smart. just gullible.


It really is cute and quite helpful. The tooth fairy tells them to make sure and remember to wear their shoes to the gym, do their handwriting assignment, and brush their teeth well.

I had better go and put Adam's money under his pillow. I forgot one time with Caleb. It was OK because I just snuck up that morning and switched it out. I'll bet you never knew that the tooth fairy can come during breakfast!

Seth took the boys down to Bear Creek (La Grange, GA) for a weekend of fishing, biking, fourwheeling, and scouting for the upcoming hunting season. They had a wonderful time with Papa and Uncle Heath. Seth says that Adam has a real talent for fishing. He is not just patient but has that little unexplainable something that makes him quite the little fisherman. He loves it. This is one of the many fish he caught:







That left Annabelle and me home for a little girls weekend. I, of course, had grand plans for all that I would get accomplished, but in the end realised that Annabelle is the one who deters me the most from my daily tasks. I did do quite a bit of housework and paperwork done so I settled for that. On Friday, Lorie did my hair so I could check that off my list of things to do as well. Then Saturday I spent mainly organising all of the homeschool stuff for the upcoming school year. We started yesterday with our handwriting, reading, and math. It went well and I am actually pretty excited about the year. I like how as the boys get older, they are so much easier to teach.......like something connects in their brains so that they just understand concepts.


It is good to get a little time away from those guys once in a while so we can really miss them and enjoy them more when they come home.

On Sunday, Annabelle and I went to Mimi's birthday party:


























Oh yeah, Kiah and I made Mimi's birthday cake together Saturday and then she spent the afternoon planning a fashion show with my 10 year old neighbors, Emily and Gentry.


You know, maybe I got more done than I had originally thought.......









These are a few pictures of Annabelle's favorite activity lately...."playing beans" Basically she just plays in the backyard filling plates and buckets with gravel and serving them to the boys or me as "beans". It is pretty darn cute. The other picture is Caleb and his homemade spear. he loves to attach pointy rocks on the end of sticks to make some sort of weapon.

Wow, with a little rest, my outlook on everything changes so dramatically! Thanks to everyone for the sweet, uplifting comments about my previous post. You are all so wonderful.
















So, back to the Harrison Household happenings. Right now the kids are running full speed up and down the hallway while pretending to be on dirt bikes. When they get to the bonus room they pull off amazing stunts and tricks for the imaginary onlookers. Annabelle is right there with them running as fast as her little legs will carry her. I am getting a kick out of listening to them. Adam did a flip off of his desk in the playroom earlier today and landed flat on his back on the floor. It didn't seem to phase him and I had to stop him from trying again. That kid has no fear.

These pictures are from earlier last week when we decided to take an adventure out in Bent Creek for the afternoon. My ten year old neighbor, Emily, came along with us and we all walked the bike trail out to the little swimming pond near the campgrounds there. It was pretty cool though we were all really worn out from it all. Can you believe how OLD Caleb looks in this picture?



Emily has been hanging out with us a lot lately which is truly a blessing for me since she is so helpful with the kids. She is a real sweetie and Annabelle loves her so much.
We are going to go into a depression when she has to go back to school at the end of the month.











I ran in the Sourwood 5K this morning and enjoyed running a race at my "home stadium". It was sweet to know all of the volunteers cheering us along the way. I also liked that the route backtracked so that we could hive five or wave at the other runners as we all passed. Cheshire worked the event out quite ingeniously in that they were lots of age categories for the winners (5 year increments for male and female runners 1st 2nd and 3rd places) and therefore LOTS of awards. I came in second in my division and went home with a lovely jar of Sourwood honey. Better than that, I beat my personal time from the other races by a little. Even better than that, while everyone waited for them to tally the results, someone suggested that I sing a song........and so I did. I sang a little a capella version of Sweet Dreams by Patsy Cline. Do you think I am so weird?

Sadly I have no pictures from the race though I might find a few at the gym later this week or online.















I added a pretty cute little video of the kids at the pool too so feel free to check it out.

I am totally overwhelmed by life right now.


So I thought I would blog.


I just really go through times in the week when I feel way in over my head.


selling our house
homeschooling the boys
dealing with the onset of "terrible twos" with Annabelle
bookkeeping for Harrison Homes
designing the next house plans
teaching classes
keeping this enormous house clean.....in SHOWING condition no less!
cooking decent meals


I will get over this. In the meantime, I will just take it one step at a time. right?

I learned a very valuable lesson this week.
Never drive down the DO NOT ENTER/ One Way streets in Montreat......especially if your license has been expired for 3 months.

Yep, I got pulled over on Monday but got off with just a warning ticket which I considered very fortunate. The next day I bit the bullet and went down to the DMV to get a new license. It wasn't all that bad though because it only took about an hour. Sure, I would have loved to have been the gal sitting in there waiting and merely reading a magazine rather than the one with three fidgeting kids to entertain, but we made it happen and I should be good for the next eight years now. (or until my license gets lost in the unorganised mess of a life I live)

I will make it a point to post again as soon as I feel cheerful.