Catching up

Wow! We must be boring people! I can't believe that it has been so long since I've been on here.

This past weekend we went pumpkin picking. The kids had a blast and would have spent hours there if we allowed. The patch we picked also had a small petting zoo, playground equipment and hayrack rides. Andrew really liked the animals. He spotted the horses pulling the hayrack ride when we were out in the pumpkin patch and off he went. He still isn't too fast so catching him wasn't an issue. My dad took him over to pet the horses when we had finished with the pumpkin patch but he didn't like them quite as well up close. Go figure! He did really like the bunnies and baby calf in the petting zoo. We're planning a trip to grandma & grandpa's house this weekend so he'll get to see more baby calves.

Lauren found several pumpkins that she thought we needed but we made it home with only 4.

Last night we attended Family Night at Lauren's preschool. It was kinda like a little carnival without the rides. She got to make a door knob thingy (that is a word in my vocabulary) and went treasure hunting and fishing. The Cat in the Hat was the theme of the night and we got a family picture taken with Horton. Lauren made a frame for it and we'll be getting in back on Thursday when she attends school. Tomorrow night we are planning on attending a pumpkin painting party. I sure hope it quits raining by then.

Andrew is developing quite a vocabulary. His first word was dog (that was Lauren's as well). I guess Elliott & I see where we stand on the totem poll! He will get a bowl out of the drawer and say "cracker", meaning he'd like some goldfish. Other things we hear on a daily basis are: go, daddy and cow. He does a very good job of trying to repeat things after us as well. Lauren surprises us each day with things that come out of her mouth as well. I need to start writing her sayings down so I can remember them and share with you all.

The Playground

Lauren & Andrew LOVE the playground. Saturday afternoon we had our sights set on Kenwood Park but it was totally packed when we pulled up. Not to be thwarted in our efforts to swing and slide, we set off for the nearest playground. The school playgrounds are like our very own little secret. . . very rarely is there anyone else but us there!

Check out Andrew's hair after our trip down the slide. STATIC!!!

What's new with us?? Andrew is in love with books. He has been for about a month now. He will follow you are the house with a book and the minute you stop you better be ready to read. Lauren enjoys 'reading' to him so that is a big help. She has several books memorized so she picks those to read to him.

Lauren is in love with preschool. She asks everyday if she can go to school and is really bummed when the weekend comes because it's SO many days until school starts again. I really hope she is this excited to go to school in a few years! :)

Jennifer's Trip

This past weekend, I flew to Denver for a girls weekend. Anne, Dacia & I were celebrating our 30th birthdays. We had a fabulous time. Here you can see us in the basement of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. This is where Steven King wrote The Shining. Almost daily hotel guests are having encounters with ghosts. Unfortunately, during our ghost tour we didn't see anything.

This was my first time leaving Andrew and was a little nervous but he didn't miss a beat without me. That made my trip even more enjoyable! Both the kids were happy to see me pull up on Sunday evening, though.

I did miss an exciting Saturday night in our neighborhood . . . a car crashed into our neighbors house! We live on a corner and people think they can take the curve at 50 +. Well this intoxicated 17 year old tried it at about 70 and didn't make it. My neighbor said she thought a bomb went off when he hit their house. I guess the street was filled with flashing lights for quite a while that night. But I'm not the only one to miss the excitement as Elliott slept through the whole deal. Actually the three closest houses to the crash slept through it but several others were up!

Ugh . . .

This pretty much sums up my day so far . . .

I caught Andrew long enough to change his diaper right before nap. He then promptly stood up and walked across the room, flashed me a smile and proceeded to fill his diaper. Nice . . .

Yesterday morning Lauren woke up with several bumps on her legs that looked like mosquito bites. I doctored them up and sent her off to preschool. When I went back to get her two hours later, her legs were covered in large red splotches. She was itching so I doctored her up again and we went on about our day. After supper last night we noticed the spots were moving to her arms so it was off to a bath. I was a little nervous they were going to spread farther but we put her to bed anyway . . . Elliott checked on her around 3 in the morning and things were looking better.

Then 7 AM rolls around and she is up and itching with more spots all over. So we are off to the doctor. Elliott did volunteer to keep Andrew but I said I could handle the both of them (I'm a Mom . . . shouldn't I be able to do that??). Our conservation at the doctors office . . .

Me: Lauren please don't hog the train table. You can share with Andrew.
Me: Andrew take the train out of your mouth.
Me: Lauren stop wiping your nose on Andrew's shirt.
Me. Andrew don't pick up the pebbles on the floor.
Me: Lauren stop blowing on your brothers belly.
Me: Andrew get down from the chair. You're going to fall on your head.

Whew . . . thankfully we weren't in the lobby long!

It turns out the cold that Lauren is battling has produced some viral infection resulting in the Hives all over her body. The good news - it's not contagious. The bad news - it will take 3-4 weeks for them to travel thru her body and then be gone! Dr. prescribes a syrup to take to help with the itching. It's kinda pricey so she said to check around. After talking with our insurance company, I find out they won't cover it at all but they'll cover another option. So I call the Drs. office back and they agree to the other med and fax it in for me. We go to pick up the meds and are told by the pharmacy that our insurance company is rejecting the new med w/o a request from the doctor and even then it will take 5 days to process. Umm . . . didn't I just get off the phone with the insurance company - YES!! After questioning the pharmacy tech for a few minutes, I just go with option C - Zyrtec off the shelf. Dr. had told me before we left her office that this might be the only option to go with without spending an arm & a leg. Whew (again) . . .

Now it's nap time and I'm suppose to be working on my grocery list for tomorrow morning but I'm surfing instead! :) Oh yeah, did I tell you that it rained on us all morning. Yep, it's been a great day.

Elliott's Trip

Elliott and 5 other Harris family members went on a fishing trip over Labor Day weekend. They traveled to Craig Colorado and met up with some friends from the area. They are very lucky that one of the friends has a professional outfitter in the family to pack them in. Once everyone was all packed up on horseback, they rode 9 miles into the campground. From the reports I've heard everyone had a great time and can't wait for the next trip. While the scenery does look beautiful, for me it doesn't trump sleeping on the ground w/o a hot shower for a week so I'll continue to spend Labor Day weekend in Jewell County. The pictures are courtesy of Adam. And I do have to say that I'm impressed. . .he has some great pictures!

Lauren's Party

So this happened a while ago but I thought you all might like to see a couple pictures any way. . .

Lauren's party was a success! It was a nice day so everyone could mingle inside or outside. That's a big plus for us as our house isn't huge!

Lauren & Andrew have been having a great time trying out all of their new goodies. Lauren has been cooking away and Andrew really enjoys any opportunity to mess up her kitchen. I can only imagine the battles that are to come.

Preschool

Lauren's first day of preschool was on the 21st. We had talked about the big event at great lengths in hopes of preparing her for everything that was going to happen. She was excited for the big day to come. So excited that she got up for the day at 4 AM. No amount of pleading on my part was going to get her back into bed . . .

8:30 finally comes and we all load up . . . still talking about how mommy & Andrew will be coming home so Andrew can take a nap and then we'll be back to pick her up. We go into the school and I help her wash her hands (daily requirement by the teachers) and then she is off to the big rug for some circle time. We tell her we're leaving and we'll see her later and that was it. No tears or anything on her part. Seeing as how this is the first time I have every left her somewhere other than at grandma's house, I was thrilled. We have been told my so many people that she is READY for preschool but she only turned three, six days prior so I was a little nervous. Her teachers have reported that she is quiet but a great listener and follows direction like a champ. I'm sure in a couple more weeks they won't think she is quiet any longer.

In all it was a great day for everyone. I'm so proud of her!