Merry Christmas

As I sit here to type, I am at a loss for words. I can't even explain how wonderful Christmas was with Harrison and our family this year. To say he loves Christmas is an understatement. I would say Harrison had the perfect day! I don't think the boy made a fuss, pout, cry, etc. all day!! One word can best describe Harrison's Christmas... WOW! You see, Harrison recently learned the word, WOW, and this is what we heard all day. It was so cute to see the excitement in his eyes and hear him repeat, WOW, over and over again. I hope I always remember the happiness we had on this day because the pictures and words I type don't begin to do it justice. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful sweet baby boy and family to share the holidays with. Here are some pics from our day.

Santa brought tons of goodies!

Including a workbench - I love the way his legs are crossed.

A Lego table - he must have sat at this table for an hour playing.

A motorized four wheeler - we were shocked that he figured out how to work it, minus the steering part.

So proud of himself!

and lots of goodies in our stockings!

After Harrison played with his Santa gifts for awhile, it was time to open all of the other presents.

Harrison still needed a little help from Mommy and Daddy this year, I bet that will be different by next year.

Every year my Mom says she is cutting back on the gifts, but I swear each year is bigger than the last. I wish I had a picture of all the presents. We must have opened gifts for an hour. Between my Mom, his Aunt Penny, and his Great Aunt Susan - Harrison racked up. I think we might have to buy a bigger house for all of the toys! Here are a few of the things Harrison got.

Look closely at his mouth and you can see how excited he is. I'm sure he was saying, "WOW!"

I think this picture sums up Harrison's reaction to all of his presents perfectly! Oh to be a kid again!

All in all, we had an amazing day! We took some pictures

Played a lot

Took a little snooze

and best of all hung out with the fam! My grandmother, Mamie, in the middle is 99! We are so lucky to get to celebrate with her!

Where's Harrison

When it came time to decorating for Christmas, I wasn't sure if it would even be possible with our wild man on the loose. I was for sure he would pull everything off of the tree or worse. Well to my surprise, Harrison was surprisingly good with the Christmas tree. Instead of pulling ornaments off of the tree, the tree became Harrison's hide-out spot. Whenever it would get really quiet, you knew you could find Harrison under the tree. Grandma even reported losing Harrison one day, only to find him under the tree.

Unfortunately for us, Harrison's antics under the tree became more aggressive the closer we got to Christmas. Instead of simply hiding under the tree, Harrison learned how to plug-in and un-plug the Christmas tree. As you can imagine the idea of my 17 month old playing with an electrical outlet, was not something I was comfortable with.

You can see the mischievous look in his eyes!!

There he goes

Notice where his finger is in this shot ... and NO, I didn't notice it when I was taking the picture or Yes, I would have stopped.

 If I sit real still no one will see me!

Luckily for us, it is just about time to take down the tree. The Christmas tree isn't Harrison's only hiding spot.

Hiding has become a game to him. He will stand very quiet for a LONG time waiting on someone to find him. He will even stand in a dark closet with the door closed, and just wait. I have to give him props on his patience. Here are a few of his favorite hiding spots.

In closets

and behind the curtains... can you spot him - hahaha!

I just had to post these last two photos, I love the way they capture his mischievous ways. I always know if it is quiet that he is into something.

Busted!

Halloween - Take Three

By the time Halloween actually arrived, we were a little Halloween'ed out... I mean this was our third time in our costume! We met our neighbors, Ann Revere and William, across the street to trick or treat. Harrison was a little hesitant at first. Maybe it was because he was hungry or maybe it was because he was sick of playing "dress up."

But after a quick snack, he was good to go!

When he found out Halloween meant getting candy for FREE... he got really excited!

And off we went for Harrison's very first Trick or Treating experience. He didn't last long, and he totally didn't understand the concept, but he still had fun!

Halloween - Take Two

Ryan and I have a yearly "Pumpkin Carving Party" at our house each Halloween. No one can remember for sure, but we think we started this tradition about six years ago. Over the years, less and less people have actually carved pumpkins. This year, the focus was definitely not on carving pumpkins, but on taking pictures of these cuties!!!

Emily "Flower" - 18 Months

Harrison "Puppy" - 16 Months

Bryley "Pumpkin" - 2 Months

JJ "Skeleton" - 10 Months

The little lovebirds. And yes, Emily found it fun to sit in the Bumbo - haha!!

Our Little Family

I love Harrison's expression in this one! I feel like it totally captures his personality.

We ended the night with some Smores. Well... Amber, Ryan, Emily, Harrison, and I did at least. And of course, Harrison was the only baby actually interested in the fire, which just adds to what I always say "He is ALL boy!"

Halloween - Take One

So it's not quite Halloween (obviously I'm late posting this one), but since the temperature is supposed to go from the 80's to the 50's overnight I decided this might be the last nice day to get pictures of Harrison in his costume. Also considering that the first time I put Harrison's costume on him he screamed bloody murder, I thought it might not be a bad idea to try it on again and see how he reacted. Well to my surprise, he actually did really well. Harrison is not a fan of hats so my Mom and I had to do quite a bit of distracting to keep him from ripping it off his head immediately.

We started off by distracting him with his wagon.

Which led to him sitting in his wagon

Which led to him laughing at Bradie

Which led to Grandma pulling him around the yard. 

If Mom and I let our guard down for even a minute, this would happen...

Luckily, Mom and I did enough distracting to manage to get these. I would say... Harrison makes one cute puppy!! 

It looks like we timed it just right, cause as soon as we took the costume off... this happened. What can I say, I can't believe I even managed to paint the face of a 15 month old.