Harrison is ONE YEAR OLD!

After all of these posts of Eden, Harry needs a turn. It actually came at a great time because he has been doing some pretty incredible things lately, just in time for his birthday today! I managed to snag some videos of him crawling and standing up. Sorry they aren't edited, I don't have a program to do it in (so you will have to listen to me talking really loudly and extra footage that doesn't really add to it, haha). 

I can't believe our little man is turning one today. The time passes so quickly! One of the things I love most about him is that he is very loving. He is quick to hug and kiss us. Often, he reminds me of my brother, Peter. In several ways actually, but mostly his big blue eyes and long lashes, and the way that he "wallers" all over us. We used to tease Pete because he would lay all over everybody all the time, and Harry is exactly the same way. He loves to be rolling all over us all the time and he is constantly reaching for anyone sitting close to him. He also loves to laugh and smile, with huge dimples. 

He also has a talent for the waterworks - this kid can cry at anything! It doesn't take much for him to start the crocodile tears coming down. Thankfully, I have figured out when it is real and when it is not. :) 

God blessed us greatly by giving Harry to us and he is such a sweet addition to our little family. We all love him dearly and can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him!

A New Take on an Old Fan

So if you have been reading my blog, you know that I hate gold. Well, not gold itself, but the gold fixtures and hardware from our house. I have been slowly removing all traces of it in hopes of one day eliminating all of it! It is taking a while because every time I get one gold thing changed I find a new gold thing I didn't even realize was there. This week I was able to get rid of a big one - the fan in our music room. This is how it looked before (sorry for the strange angle):

And after:

Cue the angels singing! Holy cow, this is an upgrade. I absolutely LOVE the way this turned out. My original plan was to just frost the existing globes in an effort to save money, but then I spotted these white frosted ones for $5.98 at Lowes and couldn't resist. I think they make the whole thing! Took it from dated to modern. The gold parts were just spray painted with my trusty ORB (oil rubbed bronze) Rustoleum spray paint. Although our entire music room is gray, black, and white, the ORB blends because it is so dark and the other hardware in the room (on the doors and such) is also ORB. So far, one of my favorite makeovers in our house!

A Haircut

It seems a lot of my recent posts have been about Eden, but we will do a tribute to Harry here soon. Today Eden and I went on a little mommy/daughter date to get her first real haircut. We had been letting it grow and grow but decided it needed a little shaping up. Here she is before her chop:

Waiting to have her turn:

All ready to go:

The snipping begins! I was so proud of her. Sometimes she can get a little spooked about things, but she was such a big girl. In fact, she seemed to really enjoyed the whole thing!

We went to a Great Clips and they were great with her. They gave her a balloon and a lollipop for being such a good big girl. She was so excited and talked about her haircut the rest of the morning. :) 

(These shots make her hair look a lot shorter than it is, they just cut a little shorter in the front to frame her face and the back is still nice and long). 

A Visit with Meme and Pepe

After our great visit with Jason's sister and her family, we were very excited to spend a few days with Meme and Pepe (Jason's mom and her husband Jim) next! We rarely get to see Jason's side of the family so the last couple of months has been a treat for us. While they were here we took walks, ate great food, played with the kids, and got a little dirt on our hands in our yard (more on that later).

One day for lunch we headed to Lexington, the home of NC bbq. We made a stop at the candy store first, and while the adults were checking out another store on Main Street I took the kids to play in a little grassy area with a gazebo and have a little snack.

Eden dancing in the gazebo:

Harry's foot holding pose (this is coming to be one of his favorites):

My grandparents (Grammy and Grumps) were able to join us for lunch. Here is the whole gang, candy bags and all:

Harry and I even got a little mommy/son time while the others were out at the store one morning - it was nice to have him one-on-one! (Eden and I have a date scheduled this Friday morning for her 1st real haircut, post to come!).

Jim and Millie both have exceptional green thumbs, and since mine is black I asked for their help while they were here with some landscaping ideas. We decided that low maintenance would be best for right now and starting slow is a good idea. The end result was a hydrangea in the back yard:

And two maple trees in the front:

I LOVE them!!!! I am so excited to have something in the yard so it doesn't look so sterile. I have a plan in the works for some pots or planters for the porch, and a nice glider for us oldies (Jason and me) to sit and watch the kiddos play outside. A big THANKS to Meme and Pepe for all of their help in getting us started!

We had a wonderful time of fellowship over the time they were here! It was nice and calm and the kids loved it. It was the first time Harry got to meet them and Eden took advantage of their willingness to read and walk with her. We are blessed with a wonderful family on both sides. :)

The Many Dresses of Eden Rose

Since I forgot to snap a picture of Eden in her Easter dress from Pop and Bossi, we decided to have a little photo shoot this morning. We ended up trying on all of the dresses in her closet that fit! First up is a little brown and pink dress my mom bought her last year:

Really playing up the posing:

Here is her actual Easter dress, sans sweater.

Since it was a little chilly, she wore her pink sweater part of the time.

Next up, a lovely white frock, with a very serious, head-down pose:

Next up, two blue dresses to bring out her blue eyes. The one to the left is a dress that was made in Africa and brought back by my best friend, Shawna. To the right is a cute little number I picked up at a consignment sale.

Lastly, another consignment find. Rather artsy-looking. Add in her toe point and it is simply priceless:

And there you have it - our sweet little Eden modeling her heart out for you fine folks. Hope you enjoyed the shots!

Resurrection Sunday and April Birthdays

Our family has a very large amount of birthdays in the month of April, so since we were already getting together for Easter Sunday, we decided to combine it with a huge birthday party for all of the April babies. We went to church that morning, and although we were on nursery duty we were able to stay for the later service since I was playing prelude and offertory. It was a great service! The kiddos were cute in their outfits from Pop and Bossi (my mom and dad), but I didn't get a picture of Eden in her sweet dress (what was I thinking?). I will have to play dress up and snap a few to show later. Harry got a pic in his green plaid shorts a frog shirt though, since he wore it throughout the day. Here is a shot of my two favorite birthday boys:

Eden with her Poppie, enjoying some cake:

(I think she was afraid he would eat her cake if she looked at the camera)

And a group shot of all the April babies (Grammy, Jason, Harry and Kellan):

We were missing Jason's mom and my uncle for the April birthdays, but we still had a nice time celebrating. We had ham, potato and pasta salads, green beans, rolls, cranberry salad, chicken salad cups, cupcakes, coconut cake, and lemon cake. It was GOOD! :)

We are so grateful to have family close by and enjoy these special times. Hope you and yours enjoyed the celebration of our Savior!

The Hunger Games Movie, A Review

I was introduced to the book series, The Hunger Games, by my dear friend Megan. She bought me the first book for my birthday in February and I had read all 3 books in a week's time - they were GREAT! I was very excited to find out that the first movie was set to be released in March. I even pre-bought tickets for the premiere date. Unfortunately, the stomach plague that hit our house put me in the hospital the day of the premiere and we didn't end up getting to go until a week ago.

Overall I thought the movie was acceptable. There is ALWAYS a let-down when you have read the books first and then see the movie. There is no way they can include every minute detail (although I would happily sit through and pay for a movie that held all of the little insignificant parts of my favorite books).

I thought the casting was good, Katniss looked exactly as I pictured her. Initially I thought the actors playing Peeta and Gale should have been reversed, but I think they played their characters well. It helps that they read the books before portraying them (unlike a certain twilight movie I won't mention) so they knew the personalities. I thought even the secondary characters were cast perfectly, such as Prim, Rue, President Snow, Cinna, Haymitch, etc.

They changed some things that I thought did not need to be changed (i.e., how Katniss got the mockingjay pin). And I was very disappointed in how the political plot was hardly even mentioned in the movie. In fact, after talking it over with Jason (who hasn't read the books) he didn't see ANY political innuendos and stated it would have been much better had they explained it better. He also thought that Katniss had genuine feelings for Peeta at the end, which isn't exactly true.

The relationship between Peeta and Katniss was not developed very well, and in my opinion was not convincing at all when it came time for Katniss to play it up for the cameras. I know in the books it was a hard thing for her to do, but I thought it was supposed to at least be convincing for the capitol folks. Maybe it is just because I knew the truth, haha.

The most annoying thing about the movie as an entire piece of work, was that the camera moved so much I couldn't tell what was going on half the time. I hate that! When there are choreographed fight scenes, the audience should be able to see it!

Although this review sounds rather negative, I have seen worse books-to-movies (once again, a certain twilight move I won't mention, haha - in it's defense, the franchise has gotten better as it goes along). I do believe that reading a book and then seeing a movie automatically sets it up for disappointment, so I had that going against it from the beginning. But simply as a movie, I think I would have enjoyed it even if I hadn't known the back story. I am interested to see how the next two books will be done and will definitely see them when those movies come out.

Disclaimer: do NOT take your children to see this, it is very violent and not for young viewers.

I would love to hear other reviews! :D

A Few of My Favorite Things

I was sitting here today talking with Eden, and I realized that she and Harry do some of the cutest things on a day to day basis. Here are some of the most recent, in no particular order:

1. Eden uses the word "not" in place of "don't." When I ask her something her answer is often "I not know." She can say "don't", and we even practice it, but then she rushes through her words and says "not" again. Something she will grow out of, but is so cute. She has also started saying "probably" so now we get a lot of "I probably not know." :)

2. Harry is CRAWLING! All of a sudden last Friday he decided he was going to stop sitting around and just move. Now he is all over the place and our gate is back up at the stairs. And he is into everything. Oh happy day. :)

3. Eden loves to wear dresses now and whenever she puts one on, she spins in place with her arms up and sings "ballerina" over and over while twirling. SO cute and girly, very unlike her mother.

4. Eden asks me "what are you doing?" about 500 times a day.

5. Harry has said his first word: uh-oh. He also says "good job." :)

6. Eden loves to help us - whether doing dishes, working with the drill, cleaning, baking - the girl wants to be involved. She loves to be our little helper!

7. Harry will eat ANYthing. Seriously. He ate dog food this morning.

8. Thanks to her cousins' help, Eden can now go up and down the stairs by herself. Getting to be such a big girl!

9. Harry has the sweetest smile I have ever seen. He laughs and grins at everything, and I think I would give him anything when he flashes those dimples. He loves to laugh, just like Eden, and when they start laughing together it threatens to be my undoing - it is a precious sound.

10. Both Harry and Eden genuinely seem to love each other. Eden can't stand for Harry to cry and even offers her favorite toys when he is upset. Harry has to be right next to Eden as much as possible, and if they are watching TV together he climbs all over her just so he can be close to her. She doesn't seem to mind it, either.

It is amazing the joy that these kids bring to us - their love for each other is so sweet to watch. God has truly blessed us! If my body could handle it, I'm afraid I might be tempted to have 10. :D

Just a Little Bit of Frosting

I'm not sure why, but when I was trying to think of a title for this post I kept thinking about the movie "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and the scene where they were talking about women using jewelry as "frosting." Well, I frosted some doorknobs this week! :) Not with jewelry, of course, but I definitely gave them a little upgrade. When we moved in, all of the doorknobs, hinges, and overall hardware in the house was gold. I REALLY do not like gold. It was on the list to replace all of these things, when I realized I could spray paint them. Spray paint is awesome! It worked like a charm. Here is what I used:

Super easy to use and had directions on the can. So a little spraying action and I took our knobs from this:

To this:

This isn't the same door in both shots, but you can see the difference in the gold hardware:

versus the sprayed hardware:

MUCH better! I am in the process of doing all the doors, but have only finished a few. I also have plans to spray our existing ceiling fan in the music room which has gold on it (better than buying a new one!). Overall I am really happy with how it turned out, although a few spots got a little knicked when Jason was putting the doors back on the hinges. Didn't bother me all that much though since I know we can touch them up easily and they will get everyday wear and tear anyway. An easy and cheap fix!

Stay tuned this week for posts on Resurrection Sunday, April birthdays, and a Hunger Games movie review. :)

A Visit with the Adamsons

Be prepared for picture overload! We made sure to document our long-anticipated visit with Jason's sister and her family. It had been over four years since we had been together! Jen is married to Scott, and they have 4 kids: Will (8), Jamie (6), and Aaron and Gracie (4 year old twins).

After being in the car ALL day, Jen's kids were most definitely ready for some play time. Eden's room was a big hit, and here they are after first arriving in NC:

As you can see, Eden wasn't quite sure what to make of these cousins who invaded her room:

But it didn't take long for that to wear off - soon they were all playing together as if they always had. Here they are all playing the first night (minus Harry, who had to go to bed) with Jason:

The dogs were thrilled that we had company, as they got more attention than ever from the new little people in the house:

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite shots from the week:

(I was SO glad to have Jason home for a whole week!)

I'm not sure what Scott was showing them on his phone, but Will, Jamie and Harry thought it was hilarious!

Eden having a blast at the park in the tunnel. :)

Harry seemed to enjoy himself too. Check out all the attention he got!

(with cousin Aaron)

(with cousin Gracie)

(with Uncle Scott)

(with Auntie Jen)

Although we were struck with a stomach virus (ended up getting 8 out of 11 of us, including Jason's dad), we had such a good time visiting together. We had all sorts of plans like the zoo but ended up mostly hanging around the house, with the occasional visit to a park or playground. All of the kids love to be outside, so it was a hit with them.

Here is Aaron after climbing the wall:

Grace found a few new friends and they sat around to chat:

Handsome Harry had fun with his foot:

Will and Jason (we think they favor each other):

Jamie braving the climbing wall:

Eden went down this slide about 500 times:

The boys being silly (Will carrying Aaron, and Jamie doing a nice upside-down trick):

The kids played hard during the day, and at night when they were all tucked in, the adults got on their domino game:

This was the last picture we took on the last night, all of the kids (minus Harry who was in bed and Gracie who was resting after her round with the stomach bug):

All in all it was a wonderful week! We loved having the kids together and being able to visit with our family. Can't wait for Christmas when we get to do it all over again!