We finally made it down to Georgia to visit with the Harrison side of our family this past weekend. Uncle Johnny and Seth spent the weekend building a little garage type building for Prather Electric to use as their shop, the kids played tirelessly with their cousins and I just hung around the house and talked "homeschool" with one of my greatest mentors, Aunt Angie, for a few days.

Walker, who is going to be 12 next month, grew about 6 inches since Christmas and his voice changed! In the words of Annabelle (parroting me earlier). "Walkah talks like a MAN!"







We had a birthday party for Amy who turned EIGHT on Thursday. Another very cool family came over and hung out with us. Annabelle and their 2 year old son hit it off and were just about the cutest thing ever to watch. It was making Seth a nervous wreck! Their mom home schools and I loved hearing about her up-and-coming business endeavors she has created. One of the things she does is runs a travel agency that caters to homeschooling families making trips that incorporate educational stuff along the way. Her company takes advantage of off times and discounts for them to make an affordable trip. This summer they are doing "home school cruise" where there are all sorts of activities on the boat itself and the stops include things like the Mayan Ruins and such. How neat is that? Too bad it isn't quite in our "range" of affordable...... maybe we could work in the kitchen as our fair.

Oh well, we are going to do it someday. That is the goal.

































We had a big ol' ragamuffin Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday afternoon. Annabelle just had to wear that headband all day Saturday. She and Aaron did really well finding the eggs.

Nana made Easter baskets for the kids full of all kinds of good stuff!

We went to church on Sunday morning and saw the rest of our family and friends. Then we loaded up three worn out kids and way to much Easter candy and made the drive home. Thankfully no one threw up (though they threatened to a few times) and they all slept a little along the way.

Have I mentioned lately how much I adore our minivan?

But, guess what......Easter is far from over. We still have the Bartlett side to go. We wanted to wait until Aunt Leslie and Paul arrive on THURSDAY!!!!

So stay tuned for lots of funny (a little strange) and entertaining pictures of the Easter bunny (aka "Gran-granny").

Now, I gotta get this house cleaned up and get Adam out of bed!

Caleb is friendly.

That is putting it mildly. I mean, I am almost baffled at how much he loves to be with others. If you speak to that kid and by chance he doesn't respond, he is either not listening (most probable) or just being a jerk (Okay, equally as probable) But, most likely, he will speak to you first because he just loves people. The house next door just sold recently and Caleb was determined to 1. help the non-kid loving, unfriendly neighbors move out and then 2. meet the new neighbors and learn all about them. You should have seen how excited he was to see them out playing int he yard when we got home yesterday evening. Adam seems to follow right along with him too although I am sure he wouldn't be quite as outgoing without Caleb around. This used to be almost annoying to me as we just had to talk and meet everyone we saw at the park or beach or wherever we were hanging out. Now, I am getting used to it and have come to except and know that it is a good thing.

Annabelle, on the other hand, is not necessarily "painfully shy" as some are, but is nothing like her brothers. She is more like me and gets kinda nervo0us talking to people. Having a kid like her makes me more thankful that the boys are so naturally drawn to others. I want her to feel comfortable talking to people (of all ages....not just her own.)

On to something else.....Lorie, Justin and Kiah came into town and stayed with us for the weekend. We had a great time hanging out with them and celebrating Kiah's birthday. It never ceases to amaze me to watch my children with their cousins. They love each other (same for the Harrison side as well) more than you can imagine! It was so cute to listen to them play "dogs" with Kiah on Saturday afternoon.......although the mess they made wasn't so cute. The birthday party was a major hit with everyone since it was at Fun Depot. I have never seen that place so crowded, but it was still tons of fun. Here are a few pictures from Beth:
(I will add more as I collect them from mom and Justin)

the bumper cars were a huge favorite because the kids could actually drive them. It was hilarious to watch Aunt Amie go at it.....she has such a natural talent for driving and maneuvering things like that. Lorie and me on the other hand...... :) We have other talents like climbing walls :)

That night we went to Mimi's house to roast hot dogs over the fireplace for dinner. The kids ran around wild for a while and then we all sat around and told stories by the fire. We even heard a few from Mom and Dad that I hadn't known about. very cool time indeed.



I meant to mention this in a previous post but it keeps slipping my mind. I wanted to give props to my "in-law and in-law to-bes" (fingers crossed on the latter) on their Christmas gifts. I went to a after-Christmas party a couple of weeks ago where we all brought the gifts we weren't so crazy about to "regift" in that nasty-santa/white elephant game. I realised that I truly loved everything I got this Christmas and had nothing to regift. Seriously, I got the best gifts ever this year. Beth, Jonathan's girlfriend gave me an awesome burgundy fleece pullover that I have worn at least every other day. (she buys us all gifts even though she is not supposed to)Seth's sister, Angie gave me a killer scarf that I wear everywhere these days and just happens to coordinate with the fleece. Then to top it all off, Justin drew my name in the sibling swap and made me the coolest iron dinner bell in the entire world. It sure will beat yelling at the top of my lungs for the boys to come home from the neighbors. I can't wait to put it up on our little timber framed porch in our next house as well. The picture just can't do it justice....it is much cooler. and it is handmade.....which is the best ever.

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.

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.