I MAY be a little behind

Always trying to catch up. . .Here are some of the highlights from May.

Elizabeth's 1st Dentist appointment. She did great!

Harrison is an old pro. He's been to the dentist several times this year. . .takes after his mother.

Our friends had a Cinco de Mayo party. We dressed up (notice the penciled in eyebrows and black lip liner -- please excuse the blatant stereotyping).

The kids ready to do the pinata. Notice Elizabeth's authentic Mexican dress. That was my sister Laura's when she was little. I had a matching red one that we lost at the beach.

Youngest to oldest. Harrison is a little out-numbered in this crowd. He doesn't seem to mind, and I'm sure he'll appreciate being friends with all these cute girls more and more over the years!

Enjoying the loot!

Harrison wanted Popsicles for his class as an early birthday treat, since he would not be in school for his summer birthday. He loved the girls in his class. He would call them "my girls." "My girls really like it when. . ." So funny. The one in the grey shirt was definitely his favorite. We've met her at the park and free movies several times this summer. It gives me hope that he is drawn to such a sweet, calm girl.

Spring Soccer came and went.

I went through a garage sale phase and found Elizabeth some really cute clothes.

Harrison went on a field trip to the farm.
Harrison graduated from Kindergarten (This was his undergrad Kindergarten. He'll be receiving a Masters Degree in Kindergarten next year.)

We loved Mrs. Leisemeyer and Mrs. Kozmata!

What a big, handsome boy!

Mina hosted an ice cream celebration for all the LDS kindergartners who go to the school. 3 are missing and 4 from our ward go to another school. That's 15 total. This gives me great anxiety, because there are only about 6 who will be in Kindergarten with him next year and only two of them at the same school. Once again, Harrison with all the ladies!

Elizabeth at Miss Julie's end of year Dance Review.

Harrison couldn't resist participating a little. Suddenly this picture following all the pictures of him with all the girls makes me a little uncomfortable. I assure you, he is full of testosterone and aggression, loves making gassing noises with various parts of his body, and is very much all boy.

I liked her hair.

Some documentation of the Karate Kid obsession. He started labeling all of his school papers as Harrison Laruso (For those non-Karate Kid experts, that's the main character, Daniel-San's, last name). He told me that he was going to marry a girl with the last name Laruso so that could be his new last name. He was a little disappointed when I explained that's not how it works.

I also found "Miyagi's" in random places. As in Mr. Miyagi.

I will continue to try to catch up. I think I can, I think I can. . .

Beach Week (Cop Out Edition)

Kat(e) has beat me to posting about the beach, yet again. Just like the last two years, I will put a link to her blog. Unlike the last two years, I will end up doing my own post at some point. Hopefully I won't just cop out and call this good. Until then. . .
http://familyharrison.blogspot.com/2010/08/harrison-beach-week-2010.html

Thanks, Kat(e)!

Halfway to a Year!?!

Where have the last six months gone? My little guy is half a year old. Crazy. Here's a little review of the last 6 months. (Sorry the lighting is so bad on some of these -- I was trying to not use the flash and then realized that unless you have a good camera and great natural light you really ought to stick with the flash!)

The older he gets, the more he can do, so the more poses I do. Hence, the 6 month picture overload!

And just to drive the point home that he's really growing up fast, Johnny busted out an army crawl on Saturday. Life will never be the same again! Here's a video. Try not to get a neck cramp while watching it!

Johnny has been such a sweet addition to our family. By far the easiest transition (zero to one was hardest for me). He is such a smiley guy. He is definitely the most vocal of our kids -- he strikes up "conversations" all the time and makes all manner of noises. He gets a little upset when no one is paying attention to him (mostly between his afternoon nap and bedtime, when I'm busy doing dinner and what not). The kids just adore him and love to make him laugh. I can't get enough of kissing his squishy cheeks and staring at his darling face. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Love that kid.

Harrison Family Beach Portraits

I promise we've done more than just go to the beach this summer. I have several yet-to-be-written posts to prove it. Until then, we spent the last week with these people, some of my favorites in the whole world.

My family in Sandbridge, Virginia. This was our sixth Harrison Family Beach Vacation and it did not disappoint.

When babies are added to the family, we do family pictures. First two rounds of babies we stressed over buying matching outfits, hired professional photographers, and didn't really love the pictures. We've added three baby boys to the family this year, so it was time for pictures again. This time we told all the girls to bring a white skirt and some solid shirts, meant to tell all of the guys to bring khaki pants (oops! -- they all had some except Trav, oh well) and white shirts, and then we threw it all together the morning of. We used the timer on Kate's camera with a tripod and were quite happy with the results. I think we'll go the lower stress/no cost route from now on.

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids.

Our Family.

My older brother, Matt and his wife Wendy, with their kids, Gwen, Emi, and Blake.

My younger brother, Travis, with his wife, Kate and their baby, Beau.

The core Harrison Family.

These two cuties in their matching shirts (okay, so we still did some matching!). We gave the baby boys mobster nicknames. "Johnny Two Fingers" (said with mob accent "Two Fingas") -- earned his name for obvious reasons. And "Little Beau Blue." Little because he's HUGE (he's just one month older than Johnny, but outwieghs him by 3 pounds and probably as many inches). Blue because of his big blue eyes. Not pictured is "Blake the Snake," which just sounded like a good ganster name.

Little Beau Blue liked to kiss/maul Johnny Two Fingas every chance he got. Two Fingas was unphased.

I'm going to catch up on the rest of the summer and then actually blog the beach trip for the first time ever. I say I'm going to every year, but I really mean it this time.