Harrison Happenings

It's times like now when I have a full plate and no time left in my day to devote to blogging that I'm tempted to throw in the towel. And then I read a comment that I have inspired someone to start a personal blog and I'm motivated all over again (Yay Meredith!). Thanks to all of my readers for tuning in and supporting me. It's getting ready to get really exciting in the next few months as I blog about our building process. I hope I can be a resource to others who plan on building in the future. I know the bloggers I follow that have recently built homes have helped inspire me.

Here's what our week/weekend looked like from an iPhone lens. My camera lens has still not turned up since we moved. Am I really going to have to go through every box of storage?? :(

Georgia Grace in her Pa's '77 Camaro. She loves going to the garage with him and "riding" the car and motorcycle. Sixteen years is going to go by way too quickly.

This week was full of pool parties. We were able to make two out of three and she had the best time once she warmed up to the ginormous pool. Lola P was a great swim partner since Mommy had already put her clothes back on!

Another sweet one of GGH with the birthday girl. The grins say it all! 

Two-thirds of us smiling with our eyes open is a win :)

Aiden's birthday party was two nights later and although it was an unseasonably cool July day they still had a lot of fun. She has always been rather fond of Aiden. I think this picture depicts that ;)

Thursday we had a family day just hanging around the house and enjoying the pleasant non-July weather. We went on a family picnic and I captured a sweet moment of Georgia Grace eating her favorite food-corn. This child wants corn with every meal. And for snack. It's a good thing we have so many fresh corn growers in our area, I keep us well stocked.

Friday night was a big night. We met with our architect to pick up our finalized house plans! Two long months of planning, changing, adding, changing back to the original, and adding some more finally yielded the house of our dreams. It's going to be perfectly us. Can't wait to share the details with you soon.

On our way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel to celebrate with some southern comfort food. As we were leaving we had to try out the rocking chairs I took this picture which definitely tells a story. Notice the silhouette of the young man in the background, thus the cause of the dreamy expression. And also note her big toe peeping out of her baby Jacks ha! [baby Jacks from Gymboree but it appears they have been discontinued :(]

Yesterday we worked the church nursery and came home and rocked babies in our own nursery. She loves her "babies" which yesterday included a UK cheerleader doll, a wiener dog beanie baby, a build-a-bear bear and a tub baby. She's the best little mommy.

And then we spent some of the afternoon outside running and playing. I put her in dog ears just to try something different and they were an instant hit. She loved them too. This may be our 'do for the summer :)

Wifi is coming to my Dad's this week so maybe I will blog more regularly or maybe not. Everything else comes first and then if I have a spare 30 minutes I will crank out a post.

Happy Monday friends!

For My Georgia

I really wish I could bottle you up and keep you this age forever. The exhausting infancy stage is over, the learning-to-walk toddler era is behind us and we haven't reached the terrible twos so we're in an easy place right now. Everyday you learn something(s) new and make me the proudest mom. I want to make sure I remember this special time in your life.

On Mondays we go to MND (Monday night dinner) at Grandmomma's house. You are already there since she keeps you on Mondays so Mommy and Daddy just come there to see you and eat supper. You are always the center of attention and I think it's obvious you like the limelight.

On Tuesdays we go run/walk/stroll/chase birds as a family after supper. This is a new tradition we started this spring and we all four look forward to it. Your Mom and Dad both know how important it is to exercise but we don't want to take time away from you at night so you join us!

On Wednesdays you spend the day with Mamaw Carolyn and we go to Mamaw Embry's for supper and to church. You are privileged to get to grow up knowing all four of your great-grandmothers.

On Thursdays we watch out the front door for Daddy to come home from school. Owen is always by your side because he is equally excited to see his favorite person. This is our favorite part of the day! You like seeing the "school bah" and "kids" walking home too.

You are always smiling and waving. Even at your crazy Mom taking a picture of you in the front yard.

On Fridays you paint me beautiful pictures with your preschool friends. Even though you are the youngest you feel like you should get to participate in all of the things they do. And of course they let you and love the days that "Baby Georgia" is there. You have learned so much from them and hit milestones early following their lead.

Our weekends are pretty easy and laid back. We usually sleep-in (8am) on Saturdays and have a fun day at home. Now that summer is almost here you will probably find us at Gammy's pool a lot too.

One of my favorite times of the day is when you first wake up from your nap. You are so cuddly and happy to see me it makes my heart want to explode.

This past weekend I washed our bedding and when I pulled out our blanket I let you feel how warm it was. You loved it so I wrapped you up in it like a baby. Before I knew it you were sound asleep, way before your normal naptime.

Back in November I blogged about setting up an email account for Georgia Grace that we can use to send her little tidbits that she will enjoy reading when she is 16. Or maybe she won't but I will be glad we did it :) Here was the most recent email sent to her. Marcus usually doesn't contribute to the blog but I asked if I could post this and he obliged. Of course I cried. Of course.

May 9, 2014

Georgia Grace,

Last night, I took you to the ballpark with me to watch some of my students play baseball.  It was just you and me.  We had a fun time!  You got to see your cousin, Keagen, play 2^nd base and pitcher for his Little League team, the Cardinals.  My favorite part of the night was holding you in my lap and eating sunflower seeds with you.  You were very curious about what I was eating, so I cracked the shell of a seed and let you bite part of the seed inside.  You liked it!  You observed that I was spitting the shells after I cracked them in my mouth, so you started trying to spit as well.  You looked up at me with those darling, big, brown eyes, then leaned over and tried to spit on the ground, just like you saw “Daddy” doing.  It melted my heart.  I loved that you wanted to be like me.

All my love,

Daddy

You had us from the moment we laid eyes on you. We are putty in your hands :) A year and a half new suits you well but no matter how old you get my baby you will always be.

Love,

Mommy

Friday Finale

We've had a good week around here. It felt like a short week so that's always nice. Our little princess has decided her new bedtime is 10:30 so I am a little low on sleep but high on my Georgia Grace! I know I will relish that extra hour with her someday so I'm trying not to complain about it.

Yesterday on my day at home I taught nutrition to the AKK Preschool class. Georgia Grace will be in this class in the fall and as sad as I am to think she's old enough to be in preschool I'm excited about all the things she will be learning and friendships she will form.

I taught MyPlate to the group and it was so much fun! We went over each food group and they colored the portion of MyPlate once we had discussed it. And then they got to try guacamole and it was a crowd favorite! I plan on doing this for them once a month. I am so passionate about nutrition and the younger it is valued the better.

Here's my little MyPlate munchkins! They were proud of themselves and I received a report that they were able to identify every food's food group on their lunch plate except one! I was a proud teacher.

After our MyPlate lesson Georgia Grace and I went to town to run some errands. I had to snap a picture of her #OOTD :) And because I get this question so much---her bows are the 5" grosgrain ribbon with an alligator clip. I just so happened to find them at a flea market for $3 each so I bought one in every color! A solid investment in my opinion. It doesn't get any more southern than big bows!

And just a little hint of what has been taking up my free time lately...

I will share more when I can but it's a super exciting time at the Harrison Homeplace! Stay tuned :)

Cheers to the weekend! See y'all Monday!

Birthdays and Bonnets

We had a pretty great weekend over here full of fun and exciting things. The weather was perfect, our schedules were manageably full and we saw first hand just how smart our sweet Georgia Grace is.

She was ready for a bottle Sunday afternoon and I said "Let's go get a blanket and then we can have it." I told her to pick out her favorite and as she is leading me to her nursery she picks one out from her armoire display just like I told her to. Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church I said, "We need to brush your hair. Where do we do that?" and she walked right into the bathroom. The fact that she has learned the meaning of words and can identify those objects makes me a proud mommy!

However, there was one moment this weekend I was not proud of. Friday started off exciting as Georgia Grace created a masterpiece on Grandmomma's hallway. This is her first (and hopefully last) crayon-on-the-wall incident. I cannot believe my child sometimes! She had never been told to not draw with crayons on the wall so they just sat her down and told her that we do not do that. It wouldn't be fair to punish her for something she didn't know was not acceptable. I hope that does the trick and we do not have a repeat offender!

They were able to get it out with baking soda and a scrubber thank goodness. Those walls are not strangers to crayon marks, I think her Daddy may have made a mark or two...

Saturday we went to a birthday party for our AKK twin friends Kypton and Erica. They had a Super Heroes/Frozen birthday party. It was a big party with mostly 3-5 year olds and Georgia Grace thought she was as big as the rest of them.

The sweet birthday boy and girl! Before Kypton left AKK on Friday he said, "Be sure to bring baby Georgia to my party". Does it get any sweeter than that?!? I'm so glad she gets to grow up with these two sweet kiddos.

They did an Easter Egg hunt at the party and my dear friend and hair conoisseur Cindy snapped this picture of us. Georgia Grace found a tootsie roll during the hunt and stuck the whole thing in her mouth! Some of it came out later (on her pretty clean outfit) but you could tell she enjoyed it while it lasted. She gave it her signature #1 sign :) Such a fun party for everyone! Spring birthdays are the best!

After the party we were playing out in our front yard when Ma and Pa drove by and invited us to go with them to Garcia's. We never pass on a trip for Mexican! GGH tore the chorizo dip up as evidenced by her mouth and top :) I think it's her new favorite food. She loves salty and spicy things. Another trait like her Daddy.

Sunday it was just Georgia Grace and me while Daddy was hunting so we got up early and got dressed for church in time to take a few pictures in our Easter bonnet. I wanted to get a few more wears out of it so we jumped the gun and pulled it out a Sunday early.

Be still my heart. I know I am biased but she defines perfect in my book. And I'm hearing more and more comments all the time that she is looking more like her Daddy. I think he's pretty perfect too :)

We were so honored that she was chosen as a Beaufort Bonnet baby! They used a couple of the pictures I took Sunday for an Instagram advertisement celebrating the Masters weekend. I put her in the green smocked golf dress Gammy and Gran Stan bought her before she was even born. It was the perfect Sunday to wear it!

My cousin Kimberlea snapped this of her at church Sunday and I absolutely love it. Candid snapshots of my girl are my favorite. She was the biggest ham ever during the service.

Happy Monday friends!

Weekend & St. Patty's Day

Thanks for all the sweet comments on our new bathroom. We love it more and more everyday. A big thank you to Chris and our talented family members for making it happen for us.

Friday night we went out to eat with our daddy and mommy-to-be friends to catch up on life. I couldn't miss an opportunity to capture a picture of Rachel, Georgia Grace & baby Roman. He will be here in 7 weeks and we are showering his mommy this weekend. I just love this picture so much.

Saturday was a gorgeous day and we haven't had too many of those here lately so we took to the outdoors. I pulled out Georgia's pink jeep from my Papaw. Wouldn't he think she was a dandy seeing her riding in it? She also played in the rocks in our landscaping which would have been fun for hours if I would have allowed it.

And then she learned how to climb up on our bench and stood up to reach for Owen's leash. The bench is now off limits to Georgia Grace and she was all kinds of mad when we broke the news :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day from AKK Preschool!

Look who snuck in the picture this year :) She thinks she is just as big as the rest of them. St. Patrick's Day is a HUGE holiday at AKK because a leprechaun comes every year and wrecks havoc on their school. Green footprints, gold coins, green milk and a note from the leprechaun telling them they didn't catch him this year are some of the usual occurrences. The kids are as excited for this day as they are Halloween and Christmas!

All the sweet leprechauns, including my stubborn one who would not smile for anything :)

Last night we had our traditional Monday night meal at Grandmommas irish style. Corned beef, cabbage, soda bread, corn o'brien, apple & smoked ham salad, green lemonade and irish coffee. It was so delicious!! A great change of pace from our normal foods and seasonings.

After a disappointing weekend of the Cats losing in the SEC Championship game and finding out a house we really wanted was sold to someone else, I was ready for a new week. We are trusting God's plan and purpose for why things happen the way they do and moving on to our plan B (that we did not have ha!). I know this plan will be even better than we could imagine!

“You will make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Psalm 16: 11

Weekend

I think Valentine's Day should be on Friday every year. What a great lead in to the weekend! And it also doesn't throw off the week routine. It sure helped us to start Saturday and Sunday on the right foot.

I have mentioned how bath time hasn't always been our favorite thing but the tides have turned and we have a little fish on our hands. She was having such a good time Thursday night that we let her stay in the tub for about 20 minutes and she was a prune when we got her out. A happy prune I should add :)

February 14th was a big deal for GGH this year because she got to spend the holiday with her AKK friends. They are all so sweet to always include her and her buddy Konnor even got her a special Valentine. They said he couldn't wait for her to get dressed to give it to her and he said, "It's ok because she has hearts on" HA! Love that sweet boy.

Georgia Grace with all her AKK preschool friends. She isn't enrolled in the preschool program yet but since Gram keeps her in the same house as the preschool it's just natural that she wants to be around them. She loves the "kids"!


You might recognize her Valentine's outfit this year. It's one of her Christmas dresses from 2012 and 2013. I am not ashamed but proud to say we used one dress for three holidays! And It's very possible you may see this again this December as well. That's why I love dresses that can be worn as tops!

Friday night Marcus and I went to eat out at Rafferty's while my mom kept baby girl. Here she is laying on their bed eating fish! She rules the roost if you had any doubts.

My mother-in-law had us over for steaks Saturday night so it was another weekend of hanging up the apron. I'm going to forget how to cook but no complaints here. Sister sledge acting like a silly goose!

And probably the highlight of the weekend-our first ponytail!! At first she wasn't sure about mommy pulling on her hair but once it was up she wore it proudly. It is off the charts adorable! It gives her a whole new look. And yes she does look older :((

Happy Monday!

A List For Friday

I've got lots of random things I want to blog about so I feel like a good list is suited for today's post. We've had an unconventional week with Marcus having five snow days and my normal work hours being skewed to be safe in the snow. Unconventional and altered schedules calls for an end of the week list to organize my thoughts.

1. Hard Drive-this is something I've been needing to do for a long time. We've been flirting with disaster having no backup for our files/pictures besides our work computers, social media, and blogger. I bought this hard drive after seeking expert advice from our IT Director at my hospital. I was clueless as to what I needed so I'm thankful she told me exactly what to get and all I had to do was click "Add To Cart". I guess this is what my weekend will look like...

2. Molars. We noticed on Tuesday that Georgia Grace's lower first molars (both sides) were in. I thought that it was odd that these came before her canines but it appears normal teeth development is first molars before canines. And I thought she was young but she's right on schedule! These are teeth #9 and #10. She has handled teething like a champ from day one. She has never drooled, ran a fever, acted cranky. Teething has been a breeze with this child.   

3. Frozen. I told Marcus that if we had known this winter was going to be so cold we would have saved our trip to Jackson Hole (I'm sure my dad is glad we didn't) for a milder winter and headed some place tropical! I've got beach fever. I'm trying not to complain because I really do love snow. Maybe this next round that comes through this weekend will be the last of it.

4. Sesame Street Live. We are taking Georgia Grace to her first live show in May to see Sesame Street Live. I'm really excited about it! I realize she is not in the Sesame Street generation but she has watched it some and loves Big Bird so I hope it's a big hit. We are going with my good mommy friend Abby and Georgia's boyfriend Ace. Their first official date-with their mommies :) Maybe they will let us tag along when they are 16 too!

5. Big Girl. This week Georgia Grace has spent more time with her AKK friends while being home with daddy. They go up there during the day and she plays and does activities with them. She even got to eat lunch at the table and paint a picture with her new buddy Eliza. She definitely feels like she's a part of the preschool group now. And I feel like she is gettng too big too quick! Sigh.

6. Pediasure. We had our 15 month check-up last week and our pediatrician recommended starting GGH on Pediasure to promote weight gain. Being a dietitian I thought we were probably headed in this direction since her growth curve has not stayed on the upward trend. She was a rather big baby and remained near the 50th percentile until she became mobile. Dr. Lee said she's never going to be a "75th/75th" child because she's just petite but he would like to see her a little bigger so supplementing it is. I'm really good with this decision and so far she has accepted it well. I'm thankful that our baby is healthy and that this is something we can remedy. She will be thankful for her great metabolism someday :) 

5. Snowy Thursdays At Home. Yesterday we dug out of the snow (it's not that deep but when neither vehicle is a 4WD it doesn't take much) for some mexican food. It's going to take more than snowmageddon to keep us from Garcia's ha! It hit the spot.

Speaking of digging out of the snow, this is what I tweeted Wednesday afternoon after three days of white knuckle driving in rough road conditions. I had a wreck three years ago this month due to snow so I am a little gun shy. The husband said, "Let's get a new SUV!". I said, "Let's get some beach front property!". Guess we will stick it out since we can't agree LOL!

  

I got to enjoy my own snow day with my snow baby in our winter wonderland. Before her tubes we literally ran to put her in the vehicle and ran to take her inside because we were so scared she would get another ear infection. Now I feel more secure about letting her enjoy the outdoors. We still bundle up and make quick trips but I'm so happy we can do these things now! I think she is happy about it too.

More snow is in the forecast for tonight, tomorrow and next week. We're having ourselves a good old-fashioned winter. TGIF!