December 2011

Emma helped decorate my tree this year:

 

 

Liam at 6 1/2 months:

 

Harris Family December 2011

 

So. . .I set my timer on my camera and tried to get a family shot by myself. If you look at Damian in these pictures, you'll see why it started getting too frustrating. It's been a couple of months and I still can't laugh about it. . .but maybe you can! :)

Genesis Christmas Party

 

Isaiah told Santa he wanted a robot (he got an educational robot).

 

Emma said she wanted a stick horse (probably like the one she enjoyed in Louisiana). She was thrilled with her dolls, nerf gun, etc.

 

Gehrig wanted a spy kit (Santa didn't figure out exactly what that meant, but he was happy with his lego kits, nerf gun, etc.).

 

Damian said he wanted a gun (he got a large nerf gun--so did his siblings so that they could play together).

 

Liam just looked terrified, until. . .

 

he saw his Mama! :)

 

 

Our little Christmas Joy!

 

 

Emma is the doting big sister!

 

 

Ward Christmas Party: We enjoyed a nice breakfast with our ward family.

 

Live nativity. . .

 

 

 

Piano Quartet: Every Tuesday these sisters and I practiced on two pianos for our FHE Christmas Recital. (Jen, Loa & Nyla) A fun way to use my piano skills! :)

Liam at 7 months--He's perfecting the army crawl and sporting one tooth!

The Neighborhood Christmas Tree: We tried to make the best of this neighborhood tradition by stringing popcorn while reading Christmas stories. You're supposed to add a decoration and then secretly drop it off on somebody else (I found someone who actually wanted it nearby!).

Random Happenings

I got an annual family zoo pass for joining a credit union a couple of months ago. We were finally able to use the pass and even got Lou to go with us. We went on an overcast day this October towards the end of the day. It was perfect! The animals were more active than I've ever seen them. We only ran into about 5 different families the whole time we were there! I love the tiger in the background!

 

PUMPKIN WALK at the BENSON GRIST MILL

 

The kids performed some Halloween songs with a few fellow K12 classmates. We had another great outing together with everybody behaving quite well! It was fun for them to see all the displays, do free crafts, look at the booths, collect candy from the candy cannon, etc.

 

Emma loving up her little brother!

 

MAGICAL SCIENTIST Show at the Magna Library
Lou joined us for this event last Monday for FHE. The kids had a great time. Gehrig and Damian were each able to help with part of the show.

 

 

Liam's first solid foods. . .we just tried this last night (October 22nd--5 months old). Gehrig got it on video. The kids all had to be there for it! You can tell how much they love their little brother! And how much he didn't love the experience! I think he's going to be my hardest to teach. He's not happy about it at all, but he seemed to need it. . .ugghh. . .now it gets complicated! :)

 

 

Liam sleeps in Emma's room now. At first, she would bring him in to me at night (getting him up with the slightest bit of noise). I had to convince her that I would hear him so that she didn't get him up unnecessarily. She's such a good little Mamma. Anyway. . .he usually wakes up for the day around 7. I often find her reading to him and keeping him happy until I'm ready to face the day! I love how he's holding onto her.

 

 

Damian cleverly built the conference center during General Conference. Can you see the organist off to the side? We LOVED Conference! My family always looks forward to conference weekend. I got more out of it this time than ever before with children!

 

 

Random August 2011 Pictures

Emma graduated from her online preschool class, Rusty & Rosy. She and I both loved this program. I really think it helped her with her reading. She's an amazing little reader (I hate to admit it, for Gehrig's sake, but I think she's an even earlier reader than he was--when I look at old home videos). She LOVES to read and can read just about anything, even scriptures. The other day she told me she read the first two pages of Harry Potter (not my idea of a good read for her at age 5 1/2). It just tickles me to hear her read. She's so good at figuring out what she's reading. She sounds hard words out and figures them out even when they don't follow the rules by realizing the context that the word is in! I just LOVE beginning readers!

 

I think Emma put this cute little toy in Liam's arms before he went to sleep. I love how he has his arm around it. So cute!

 

Liam at 3 months old. He is such a joy to our family. Nobody has tired of him. I have all kinds of help with him.

 

Emma is absolutely AMAZING with him. She is always staging pictures with him and asking me to take them (you'll probably see several more like this as I finally get caught up on my blogging.).

 

He woke up with a frohawk (is that what you call it) one day, so I put gel in his hair to cement it and take a picture, but his hair is so soft and curly, as soon as I put the gel in, it curled right up again. Oh well. Isn't he a doll?

 

More Pictures of Liam

We're in love with this little guy!

 

 

I have a picture of each of my children at the exact same age in this pose. Unfortunately, Liam woke up with a swollen eye (I have no idea why) and it really messed us up with this photo shoot. Poor kid. . .

 

As amazingly good natured as he is, Liam can really let us know if something isn't right. . .