Watch Out, Picasso!

Ry's art teacher, Mr. English chose one piece of artwork from each grade at the school, and guess which artist's piece he chose to represent 1st grade!!?
Our RYAN!  The same kid who in preschool during art time would sit under the table!  He's come a long way, baby!
He was super excited (as were we!) to be invited to a reception to view his art at the Edwardsville Arts Center gallery tonight.  They gave him a special tag to wear so that he could answer any questions people had about his piece.
I overheard him telling someone that he worked for a long time on this piece, which had the Disney Cruise Ship and Batman/Mickey featured.  In fact, he said, "Yeah, it took me years to finish!"
Awesome job, Ry guy!

E = 6 mos!

Our sweet baby E is 6 months old today!
Seems impossible!

Emerson, you bring so much joy to our family!
Your smile is contagious.
Like your brother and your daddy, you smile even with your eyes!

You are full of sweetness!

You love to play...especially with this diamond ring Gram/Papa gave you for Christmas!

You are also super inquisitive...
...your brother and sister give you lots to look at and think about! 

Kindergarten Registration

My "first" baby girl starts kindergarten next year.
Gasp!
The days sure go slow (sometimes!), but the years so so fast!

Jul was SO EXCITED.
She wants to start TOMORROW!

Rolling Over!

Life as we know it has changed...Emerson is rolling!
All.
Over.
The.
Place!

1st Lake Trip of 2012

Amy and Jeff had the fantastic idea of heading to the lake this weekend to take advantage of the unseasonably warm temps we've had lately.  We couldn't resist joining them!
Emerson enjoyed her first boat ride...it put her right to sleep!

Juls is so excited she asks if she can get in.  Uncle Jeff confirms the temp of the water is still in the upper 50's, so we nix that idea!

Uncle Jeff chillaxin.

Daddy and Juls navigating.

Our new captain Ryan!

The guys and kids later went fishing, shopped for candy treats at the gas station, and took a 2 mile hike, and Amy and I got some mega shopping done with Emerson...our second outlet mall visit in 2 days.  You can never go enough, right?! A super fun + relaxing weekend!

Papa Visit

The kids participated in the Awana Sparks-a-Rama today in Highland.
Since it is rare we make it to Highland these days, we took the opportunity to run to my dad's gravesite.
Ry and Julia thought it was very important to add some "flowers" (weeds) by his headstone.

Catching A Leprechaun

If you want to catch a leprechaun, you need to build a trap.

Apparently leprechauns are mischievous (says Ryan), and the "rules" are meant to be broken.

And since they can't fly, you will need to build a ladder to entice them up to your "pot of gold"...
Ours consists of $6 Ryan had in his wallet, and the $20 he talked his sister out of, although her first response was "No! I'm saving mine for Disney!" after Daddy said leprechauns are tricky and he didn't want to risk any of his cash for this mission. Ryan is quite the persuader!

So the kids are banking on the fact our tricky leprechaun will climb to the top, and fall through the "fake" floor where they will capture him.

Exciting times here, I tell ya! =)

Upward Bound Basketball

Tonight was the Upward Bound Basketball Award Ceremony.
The boys were given bags for their efforts this season.  Ry told us he was really hoping for a medal or trophy. =)
Julia (5), Andrew (3), Ryan (7) Polar Bear Team, Jake (5) Kangaroo Team.

Happy Birthday Daddy and Juls

Aunt Stacy + The Girls!

Aunt Stacy crossed the river today to come see us and celebrate Julia and Jeff's birthdays a little late. We had a great morning cheering for Ryan's basketball game, and then a yumm-o lunch at Cleveland Heath (my new favorite restaurant!), and then she came back to our house for a bit.  Of course, we made her get in on our Bananagram game action too... =)

Thanks for coming, Stacy! It's always fun to see you!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Harrison!

Today we celebrated Grandma Harrison's birthday with a little party at her assisted living home.  Ry is always super wonderful and warm to her.  He loves to push her around in her wheel chair. You would think this might raise her blood pressure to a dangerous level, but fortunately, our 7 year old little guy is pretty careful with her!
(Left to right: Mandy Fossland, Debbie Harrison Waterhouse, Smanatha Fossland, Tom Harrison, Arlene Harrison, Teresa Harrison, Ryan Harriss, Sandy Harrison Conway, Jeff Harriss, Erica Harriss, Julia Harriss).

Sammy and Julia love to play together..every time we see them I think we for sure need to set up some playdates!! =)

February Mish-Mash

Oops..almost the end of February, and I find myself with a bunch of random February pics...I think I'm fired as the family blogger!  We've been busy playing Bananagrams (it's fiercely competitive around here!), trying to keep up laundry with a family of five and a baby who never stops spitting up, watching "our show" - Bones, Julia and Jeff's birthdays, Valentine's Day, cleaning out closets, and tons of craft projects (Jul has been in the mood..this girl is sooo ready for kindergarten!!)

Daddy and the munchkins dip some strawberries in chocolate to give away (after we eat some, of course!) to the kid's teachers. Ry also made some for his bus driver, because he figured she doesn't get  many Valentines.

The kids are sooo loved.  Aunt Kathy always seems to remember them on holidays and sends "fun mail" for them to get excited about!

Julia is excited because her class is on stage at school.

Future rock stars...Julia is far right, and one of her best girlfriends, Emma is to her left.

The February mail is so much fun! A package arrives from Gram and Papa also! (The sweet heart jammies + bib Em has on in the first pic of this post were in there!)

And more random February pics..Julia has been wearing the hat Gram made for her several months ago.  She also made one for Emerson, so it seemed like a natural photo opp..sweet spoiled sisters!!

Julia bug!

Don't you just want to snuggle up to this cuddly bunch?
Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Rub A Dub Dub

...three cute kids in the tub!

Mean Green Machine + First Solids!

My kids LOVE the Naked Green Machine Smoothie.  I LOVE that (although high in natural sugar), they are eating LOTS of green things! And it's so fresh, no preservatives, yada yada yada!  We recently found these for the awesome price of $4.99/bottle at Costco, but I have always thought this expensive habit (usually $9.99/bottle at our local Dierburgs) seemed like something we could recreate fairly easily.  So tonight, using some fresh (and frozen) goodness we had on hand, we made these amazing smoothies out of:
1 kiwi
1 banana
2 cups Stoneyfield Organic Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt
A few handfuls of fresh spinach leaves
A few handfuls of broccoli
Handful of frozen red grapes
Handful of frozen strawberries

I thought Ry was going to protest the spinach, because in "real life" he doesn't usually choose to eat this.  I had the Naked juice bottle we had finished up earlier to show him the picture of that so he would know I wasn't trying to pull a fast one on him or anything. For some strange reason, proof wasn't even necessary. He got to press the "on" button and that was excitement enough for him.  The kids LOVED it.  I am super excited to know that I now have a way to get these greens into him also.  So tonight, our family "drank" our dinner...kinda weird, actually. Truthfully, I was hungry about an hour later and had to heat up an egg sandwich.  Maybe we'll try and add some nuts or protein powder next time...

THIS is what it looked like.  Nasty, actually!! I think had the kids not been in on the making it process, they NEVER would have tried it. I sure wouldn't have!

...and while I'm having a "foodie" post, we must share pics that I snapped tonight of Emerson tasting her first "solid" foods...rice cereal with DHA.  She was NOT a fan.

While I realize it's a terrible picture of the kids, for the sake of the "first food" mumbo jumbo, and because I know this will NEVER make it to actual print and in the baby book (poor poor third child!), here it is! Juls looks sad because she is.  Right before this, I told her she had to go to her room for 5 minutes for screaming.
Again. 
Hopefully, that's just a phase!

Emerson's First Park Trip

Krista called this morning to see what we had on the schedule for today since the weather is so wonderful...fortunately, it just consisted of "surviving" since the last 48 hours have been pretty rough.  Baby Em had her 4 month immunizations on Monday, and it's been a rough go since then. Night #1 I think we both slept maybe 3 hours.  Poor thing spiked a 101.8 temperature which naturally about sent me over the edge of sanity. (Or maybe I am already off!?)  I for sure got my arm workout yesterday, as I held and bounced her little 12lbs for HOURS...the slightest movement sent her over the edge and the rest of the time she lay in my arms just moaning.  Needless to say, by the time Jeff got home from work to relieve me, I picked up the phone in desperation to try and book an emergency massage for my aching arms and neck!  Last night I found her at 2am laying in a pool of sweat (darn waterproof crib mattresses!), but she was back to feeling "normal" again. Phew!  So, today I jumped at the opportunity to get us all a little natural vitamin D and sweet baby a change of scenery! She's still a little fussy, but I'm not complaining!!!
Baby Colin and Julia share a sweet moment before he gets his first whiz down the slide, which he LOVED!

It ended up being a family affair when the greats joined us at the park to see the kids!