Snow and tooth fairies!!!

So the past few weeks that we have lived here we've seen a fair amount of snow :) Been a lot of fun. We've made snow angels, snow forts, and have had several snowball fights. Little Joe LOVES the snow...would stay in it all day if I would let him. Garrett is kind of a middle man (no offence that he is the middle child). But he gets cold quickly and wants inside. He will go out there and play with a shovel or kick it around for a few minutes then he's done and would rather watch Joe from inside. Katie has gone outside but she hasn't actually touched the snow yet. That girl is happy as long as someone is loving on her...preferably her Mama LOL.

Another fairy that visited this week was the tooth fairy!!! I think I have been more excited for Joe to lose a tooth than he has. For months I've been asking him if they were loose...nope. Then boom he comes home one day from school and one is sitting sideways in his mouth. I thought Big Joe might like to pull it since he has missed so much of the kids with the deployments. But the kids and I went to the pharmacy and Joe says, "Mama I got it!" and I looked back to see a hole in his mouth! Unfortunately he also dropped it in the truck and a tiny tooth is hard to find in a big truck so the tooth fairy had to visit on the honor system ;). Joe was much more excited when he found a dollar under his pillow the next morning. And don't feel bad for Big Joe since he missed this event too....turns out the whole thing makes him a bit squeamish. Odd.....man who has seen a lot...and I mean A LOT in Iraq did not want to see Joe's missing tooth until the blood spot was gone and it looked like his normal gums. I guess when it's your kiddo it's different. Good thing he wasn't here for the majority of Little Joe's hospital stays and surgeries too then, huh.

So another exciting week in the Harrison home :) Big Joe is busy as usual with work. I have been making and selling a few diaper cakes and also found out one of my favorite e-store's owner is in Joe's unit!! Funny how those things work :). Hope everyone is staying warm!

Everything Changes

Wow..things just feel different. New town, new house, and even a new business!! Things are going well and busy as usual. I have been trying to get doctor appts done and paperwork to enroll Garrett and Katie in hourly care on post and paperwork done for Joe so he can play soccer this spring on post. We had a lot of snow here over the last week. The kids had a ball playing in it :) And I thought it was beautiful to watch.

Big Joe has started teaching his new class which also means I take over the FRG (family readiness group). So now I have about 45 women that I have to help prepare to become commanders' wives. Crazy..I know. Well then I also decided to create a home business of making diaper cakes and other baby items. I have already been able to get a local store to sell them, plus I have an internet store (http://www.bottomsupdiapercakes.webs.com/ if you wanna check it out) and I have signed up for a consignment sale to sell them at. And considering the business has only been up and running about 10 days thingare are going really well! Not really sure why life has gone into hyper drive right now, but I kinda like it :).

Bug has also taken big steps lately...literally! our baby girl is starting to walk. She looks so cute as she can still wear most of her 3-6 month clothing but she is 15 months old. So it's this tiny cute blond bundle toddling around. When she thinks too hard about walking she gets nervous and sits to crawl, but sometime we catch her talking 10-15 steps at a time! Soooo cute.

Welcoming the New :)

A lot has been different in our family lately. First of all, we did not spend Christmas with extended family as we usually do. We decided because we were pinching pennies to keep up with paying for two houses we would stay low key. We attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church, had Christmas morning at the new house and then drove to my Dad's in Tennessee and stayed 2 nights with him. I was really surprised how happy I felt the whole time after my initial disappointment of not seeing more family.

I finally feel settled in the new house. I unpacked and organized feverishly for about 10 days and got it all done. Little Joe seems to enjoy his new school and I am learning my way around town and post.

Big Joe had also been having a lot of work done on the old house. We had a new floor put in the kitchen and hall....which I wish we had had the money to do when we moved there. It's really pretty. And he also had the house repainted...which became a huge argument, but we survived. Then after the stress and worry and lots of prayer about the house in Tennessee...things started to spark. A couple of people came to look at it and were pretty interested...then we got an offer :):):):)!!! And last night, New Year's Eve, things were finally settled and offers were accepted!!!

So it's been busy, surprising, and nice. And even though I am terribly sad to leave my hometown, family, friends, church, beautiful house and barn I am learning that I can be happy just about anywhere as long as my little clan in together :). Our futures are still bright with dreams of country live again but we are welcoming new homes, towns, friends, and much more along the way. :)

Here are some pics of the new house and Christmas :)the new kitchen...one of my two fav rooms in the new place :)

the playroom downstairs...my other fav room which is already put to good use as you can see :)
The boys running in Christmas morning (living room)

Dad and Bug sharing some pecan pie...Dad had to get another piece she ate so much :)
My Dad playing with Nerf guns with the boys...I think he had a little too much fun :)

three kids+three dogs+one horse+trailer trouble=chaos

Well goodbye TN...you will always be home to me. The kids and I moved up to Ft Knox on Saturday. Needless to say the move to Tennessee seemed much easier. Part of that I am sure is because I only had one child at the time. Now with three kids boy oh boy...this is taking way more effort than I thought. Our first stress came with the horse trailer. Joe had moved some of our stuff using it the week before. He had planned on bringing it back and we would take off from the old house Saturday morning. We he called saying the lights weren't working, so he couldn't bring the trailer. I was of course upset because we had to leave the horse until we could fix the lights. Luckily Sunday morning Joe was able to fix them and we returned to Tennessee and got Gunner up here as well.
Then came all of the normal move stuff. Unloading the truck, trying to find my Christmas cards in the sea of boxes so I could get them mailed at a decent time, getting Joe into a new school....you know...mess.
Now of course one of the toilets has broken, we locked ourselves out of the house in 20 degree weather, the kids aren't sleeping well because things are different....again just chaos.
But I have learned a few things. I am so grateful for kind neighbors. I am grateful to be with my husband and not worry about when he is leaving. I am grateful to go to a function on post and I actually know someone. And finally I have learned when you move from the country to the city you need curtains!!! In TN we had blinds and in the bedrooms we had them closed 50% of the time for sleep purposes but the rest of the time I had them open. No one was around..didn't matter if we wanted to have a naked party ;). In the city...yea you need curtains. I feel like I am dodging bullets in the morning to get dressed. hehehe oh well if that's my biggest issue with the house right now not so bad huh?
Still no offers on the TN home. Please say a prayer that it sells or rents....it's causing financial and emotional strain on us.

It is done!!

After 481 days Big Joe returned home last week!!! The kids and I were all super excited. Of course there was a delay with his flight but he made it safely. It was so nice to have him even for a few short days...because he has already reported to Fort Knox :(. Crazy, I know, but he is coming home on weekends and is trying to get as many long weekends as he can. Joe has even managed to fix the escaping donkey situation. He has been working on the mower that needs to be torched and shot but hasbn't had much luck yet.

We went to the pumpkin patch as a family and to the Fall Festival at church and had an awesome time. We got a last minute phone call from a pastor asking if we could bring the horse for pony rides so he went as well. We were so busy I didn't get a chance to take pictures...so I have to dress my kids up this week sometime and take some more.

The kids are super busy....and giving me heart attacks. Instead of a donkey escaping Garrett wandered away from home today while I changed a dirty diaper of Katie's. Scariest 20 minutes of my life. Thankfully, a neighbor found him in the woods with her kids and brought him back to his hysterical mother who just got off the phone with the police. I feel like mother of the year, but was quickly reminded of when my parents left me at church as a child and my uncle who wandered off and fell asleep in a hay trailer and was "missing" for several hours. I just hope we never experience anything like that again.

Other than these "activities" we are getting ready for the move. Still no offers on the house, but Joe has found us a rental at Knox since the on post housing is full....til 2012! We are heading to Gatlinberg this weekend for a family getaway and I am beyond excited about it!!! I'll be sure to post some pics :)

Bug's Birthday

How can this sweet precious thing be a year old already?!?!? I remember going to the doctor (a good friend of mine as well) on October 2nd and as soon as I saw her I burst into tears. I had been so sick for days. After we talked we decided that this baby needed to come and sooner rather than later...because I was 36 weeks along. So she told me to come in the next morning and it would be baby day! I had never had a day to prepare with the boys so this was much less stressful. I made arrangements for the boys and called Joe in Korea. My good friend and Godmother to my kids came and picked me up the morning of Oct 3rd. Checked in and I had been 4cm for a week or so already. My doctor came in and suggested an epidural before things got too uncomfortable. I had always been told I couldn't have one but she thought this doctor could do it and do it well. I LOVED THAT WOMAN!!!! My first epidural and it was awesome!!! Labor moved kind of slowly. My doctor was seeing patients in the clinic but was told to be paged so she could deliver. Around 3:00pm I told Bev, my friend, that things felt like I was ready to deliver and sure enough I was :). After three contractions Katherine Greer entered the world at 3:34pm at 7lbs 4oz and 18 inches long. Probably my easiest labor...little did I know what would happen in the next few days, but we won't go there today. Because Katie was early she had to be observed for 4 hours in special care. Turned out besides having some low blood sugar (on the part of me being so ill) that she was perfect :)...and still is :).

We had a lady bug themed party on Saturday. It was very sweet :) Bug had a good nap and had a blast throughout the entire party :) We loved seeing all the new pink toys come in. And actually it is all any of the kids have played with since then...heheheh.

A Week "Off"

If you live in middle Tennessee you know how much rain we have gotten lately. i think I have added around 8 inches on this place in the past ten days. Crazy I know. Today is the first time I have seen sunshine since last Saturday. Very thankful for it. So because of all this rain I think prospective buys on the house stayed home. But it was actually nice not to clean for 2 hours for people to see the place for 15 minutes.

Things have been actually somewhat boring around here....if that's possible for my life ;). The boys are nutty as ever...still wrestling like dogs.

Did I say wrestle? Well evidently Garretto can get just as dirty as the dogs....man good thing it was a bath night!!

And my head is still spinning realizing that my tiny sweet baby will be a year old this week. CRAZY!!!! I remember this time last year how tired, miserable, and huge I felt. And I just wanted her out. Then the drama after her birth happened and it seems like time has spun out of control since. I miss that sweet lil newborn. But I tell, ya, she is so stinkin cute these days it's hard to want the newborn back. She is taking more and more table food. Probably could really do it all day but some of it is laziness on my part (for example a jar of baby food thrown in the diaper bag is so easy for breakfast at church). She is pulling up on furniture and letting go briefly as to say, "Look Mama, no hands!" And she is taking a sippy cup. I didn't think it would be so difficult to throw away the baby bottle but it is. I figure it'll be ok for them to stay on that shelf til the packers come in a couple of months :) I just love her to pieces.

Bug chowing on some pizza crusts. cracked me up that she was little enough to prop her feet up like that. Stinker!
Sippy cup for the first time...although she's not really happy on whole milk yet. Still prefers Mama cow.
Her hair on the sides is getting much longer and I asked myself one day...hmm wonder if I could make pigtails (or dog ears as my Dad calls them). I thought they were STINKIN cute!

I've also started making preparations for Joe to come home. We have scheduled a party..woohoo! I've gotten some shirts for the kids to wear to the airport (love doing that!) And making appointments to make myself look pretty :). Hopefully I can fill these last few weeks so they will fly.