Christmas Fun

Holiday Happenings

We have really enjoyed this holiday season. It is so wonderful to live near our family. We are also grateful for all our friends we hear from at this special time of year. We have been busy. Nelson and Alli put up the Christmas tree for us this year. I loved sitting on the couch watching them. ~ Nelson started vacation on the 20th after a chocolate fondue Christmas party in his class room. (Of course, I went!) It has been fun having him home this last week and really fun not having to get up at 6:30 am. :) We had Christmas at the Reedy Grandparents on Friday because they were heading out of town the next day. It was a full house over there with all of Shawna's family together. Saturday night we headed to the Harward Grandparents to spend a couple of days. It was so warm we enjoyed being outside. Alli really wanted to be in her swim suit. After opening gifts we spent several hours building the remote control lego dinosaur Nelson got. It was sooooo cool. We spent Christmas at our house with just the four of us. We spent Christmas day building a roller coaster Nelson got. Alli spent time outside riding her new bike and playing with her friend, Claire. They dressed up like princesses and went for a walk. It has been a joyful Christmas. We are looking forward to the new year and fireworks.

Never Have Dry Hair Again

Well, Alli figured out the secret to everlasting soft, moisturized hair. Yeah, it turns out that you will never have to use conditioner again if you put an entire container of vaseline on your hair. That jar of vaseline has been on her dresser for several months now. Who would of thought . . . not me. So, I went right to the internet for advice. The most promising was the corn starch theory. Supposedly it soaks up the vaseline and then washes out with shampoo. That didn't work, so next came the raw egg. That didn't work either. She was very patient with all the different experiments though she did look at me a little strange when I poured the egg on her head. Next we tried glycerin because I read a bar of glycerin soap worked for some people. I couldn't find soap, but I did find a bottle of glycerin. That with the Prell shampoo didn't work either. Oh, well. That night a friend braided it for her. She has been wearing it that way for three days now. She said she didn't think she was going to that any more. I hope not. Maybe I should move the jar of vaseline off her dresser just in case. (Yes, it is still sitting there.)

Alora's "Photo Shoot" at Mamaw's House

The Best Thanksgiving

I am grateful our family was together for the holiday. I am grateful we are all healthy. I am grateful for all the laughter and love. It has been such a wonderful week. We spent the night out at Shawna's parents' house Wednesday. We woke up early to dad's pancakes, yum. Andrea and her family came over, Grandma Cravatt was there and Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Joe came in from Houston. There was a ton of food being prepared. We had to use three ovens (thankfully Andrea and Grandma live only a couple of miles away from mom.) We brought the Wii over and played it all day on Thursday. How many other people out there played video games with their 74 year old Grandma? We danced and sang and ran and jumped, but most of all we laughed. What a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Halloween Fun

We had lots of fun this Halloween. I love to see the kids dress up in their costumes. Alli wanted to be Dora again for the second year, but after seeing all the choices of costumes at the store she decided on a beautiful Snow Princess outfit. Nelson wanted to be a soldier which thought was very cool. (I think he was just hoping to get to carry a gun, haha.) Our Halloween spread over a few days with activities at church and at home. On the Saturday before Halloween, we participated in the annual "Trunk or Treat" up at church where everyone pulls their cars in backwards and decorates their trunks. The kids then go from trunk to trunk receiving candy. They made quite a haul that night . . . but there was more, much more, to come. On the day before Halloween, we went shopping to gather decorations for our front porch. We had never done this before and waited a little too long to get some things we wanted (like a real black light,) but we made it work. On the day of we started decorating when Nelson got home. I carved the large pumpkin (a hollow foam one from Michael's) and Nelson and Greg hooked up the speakers on the porch for the spooky noises CD. Greg also made smoke come out of the large pumpkin - it was very cool.

Then we hung the spider webs - spiders make it look so easy. At sun down Greg took the kids around the block while I manned the house. Nelson ran from door to door (hitting some a couple of times he later admitted) and Alli did her best to keep up. They both had huge blisters when they got home. The amount of candy they received is staggering. We will be eating it well into next summer (well, probably not the chocolate. :) ) Enjoy the pictures.

Halloween Soccer Tournament

Nelson competed in his first 3x3 soccer tournament the weekend before Halloween. It was an all day event with his team playing three games throughout the day. Thankfully the weather was perfect, sunny and warm Almost his whole team was there with their families. We have all become such good friends, it makes days like this even better. Nelson's team is pretty good. The only game they ever lost was the first game of his first season. Needless to say, they feel invincible. I think they went into the first game a little over confident, but were quickly humbled. After losing the first game, they went on to win the second and tie the third. The venue had lots of games and activities for the kids to participate in between games. The coaches wanted the boys to rest before each game, but, of course, that didn't happen. Soccer has been such a wonderful experience for Nelson. He has become more sure of himself and he has so much fun playing. We feel very fortunate.

Sweetberry Farm Outing

My sister, Andrea, called and asked if Alli and I wanted to go with her family to the Sweetberry Farm in Marble Falls a few weeks ago. It sounded like a fun outing, so we tagged along. I didn't realize it was an hour and a half away through rolling green hills. Alli had to go "potty" on the way there. Those are words you never want to hear a new potty trainee say when you are out in the middle of no where. We pulled over to the side of the road, but with the talls weeds tickling her toosh . . . no dice. She did make it to the next town, I (and my sister) am very glad to say.





It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. The farm was set up for Halloween with the pumpkins and corn mazes. We went through the kid maze which was good enough for us. The 'big' maze takes an hour or so to get through. I can't imagine being stuck in there with three little kids and a baby. We visited the animal petting area and the kids painted pumpkins. Then we went on a great hay ride.




At the end we all had strawberry popcicles which were wonderful. I think I would like to make it a yearly tradition. It was so much fun. Here are a few pictures . . .

Water Slide Back Yard Fun

The summer heat is winding down, but the kids still want to play in the water in the back yard. They really enjoy putting the water

hose on the trampoline and also down the slide. Last week our neighbor came over to play with them too. This day was especially fun because Greg had just mowed the yard and there were piles of clipped grass to make "pies" out of.

GO COBRAS!!

Well, Nelson is half-way through his third season with the Cobras and things are going great. Nelson has really improved over the last year and we love to watch him play soccer. The Cobras are amazing! I bet the other team looks at the schedule and cringes when they see "Cobras" next to their team name. Out of the last 25 games they have played, they have only lost one game (first game of the first season) and tied a game last season. Okay, thanks for letting me brag a little. :) We feel this is a really special opportunity for Nelson to be part of something so great.

Coach Clay is so encouraging and patient. The boys are used to each other now and are playing more as a team every game. Nelson is very defense minded. At our last game the Cobras were so far ahead that Coach Clay was wanting the other team to score (I don't think they made one goal,) but Nelson wouldn't let one ball get passed. He is like a trained robot. Coach: "Nelson . . . let the other team score." Nelson : "DOES NOT COMPUTE, DOES NOT COMPUTE." :) Here are a few pictures from the last couple of games.

Nelson's First Week of Second Grade

Nelson started Second Grade last week - YIPPEE! So far he loves it. His new teacher is Ms. Kelly Bassett. She is very kind and has a nice classroom. He was a little nervous the first day, but quickly got over it as he got to see many of his friends from last year. He also started his third season of soccer with the Cobras. We are looking forward to another fun year.

Beautiful New Bush

I thought I would share some pictures of the new plant growing in my front flowerbed. I just love Texas with all it's wild beauty - Blue Bonnets, Indian Paintbrushes, Winecups - oh, yes, and poison ivy. What I don't understand is how we can live here for over a year and never have any problems and then all of the sudden out pops a poisonous vine. Thankfully, no one has gotten in it yet. (Now that I say that, I had better get out there and pull it up.)

The Third Part of Our Summer Vacation

Our last week of our vacation was spent in Oceanside, CA, just north of San Diego. We stayed in a hotel near by and went every day back to Larry and Jackie's house and their beach across the street. What can we say, the Harwards are a beach loving family. We love the sun, the sand, the surf, the sound of the waves crashing in. The breeze that blows through the house is heavenly. We played out in the sand for five days. Greg's parents set up camp for us early each morning. The boys (Nelson and Tiff's kids) got really good at boogie boarding. They could catch and ride almost any wave all the way into shore. (We had to go the second day and get Nelson a rach guard to protect his tummie because the sand and board were eating it up.) Alli loved playing in the sand (as it seems all kids do.) Grandma Judy bought a ton of sand toys to keep her and the boys busy. We had wonderful food every night and enjoyed spending time with our family. The first week of vacation was spent doing lots of things and staying busy and the last week was spent relaxing in the sun. What a great end to the best vacation we have ever had. We even got to spend a little time with some old and dear friends from Utah who live in Oceanside now. ~ We are all in agreement that it couldn't have been any better.

Summer Vacation Side Trip

After leaving Medford, we headed down to Tiffany (Greg's siter) and Eric's house in Sunnyvale, California just outside of San Francisco. Everyone did great in the car again. We arrived on a Friday evening to Tiff's new house. Can I just say I love California. She has seven fruit trees, most of which are citrus, in her backyard. Having fresh squeezed lemon-aid from her back yard was such a treat. Nelson and Alli ran and played with their three cousins, Corban, Luke and Jeremy the whole time we were there. We went to see the two older boys compete in a swim meet at Stanford on Saturday. That evening, Greg, Nelson and Shawna took a quick flight down to San Diego. Alli and her grandparents drove in the "movie car" on Sunday. Those who flew were picked up at the San Diego airport by Greg's Uncle Larry (his mom's brother.) We spent the night at Larry and Jackie's beach house. It is mine (Shawna's) favorite place in the world to be. We all really love it there. They were so kind to us the whole week we were there. We visited the decomissioned aircraft carrier 'The Midway.' It was so neat to see the history behind it. We had never been on something so big before. We really enjoyed seeing what Greg's Grandpa Nelson's carrier may have looked like he flew from during WWII. We borrowed Larry's truck and took Nelson to Disneyland on Monday. It was fun to go back again especially since Nelson was tall enough to ride all the rides. We were lucky enough to not wait in many long lines and we stayed out of the sun most of the day. We had dinner at the Blue Bayou which is a tradition going back to Greg and Shawna's honeymoon. It was a wonderful day. Alli's car ride with Grandma and Grandpa went very well too.

The Second Part of Our Summer Vacation

The second part of our summer vacation road trip/Harward family reunion took us to Medford, Oregon to see Greg's grandparents on his mom's side. Again, the drive went well. We all packed comfortably into Greg's parents' "movie car" (an SUV with a movie player.) We stopped for lunch just outside of Susanville, Nevada in the pine wood forests and had lunch we bought at Bajio before leaving Reno. It is our FAVORITE restaurant ever from Utah and we don't have them in Texas. It was awesome, YUM, YUM! After feeding ourselves, we fed the chipmunks that inhabited the forest surrounding the rest stop. They are the cutest animals ever. They would come right up to us and eat out of our hands. Their little tiny paws would tickle our fingers while they gently ate our offering. It was so much fun. We spent three days at Grandpa Nelson and Grandma Grace's house. (Yes, Nelson is named after Greg's Grandfather and Shawna's Grandfather who are both named Nelson.) We drove go carts one day and went swimming another. On our last day before leaving we went up to the fish hatchery and had lunch while watching the HUGE salmon returning from their time out in the ocean. Afterwards, we rented a four man raft and paddled our way down the Rogue River. It was incredible. Half the way was white water and fast paced fun. The rest was a peaceful float down river. It was 13.5 miles and took us three hours. The weather was fabulous (about 80 degrees.) It was definitey worth going. We had our customary final breakfast at Rooster's cafe and got pictures of the kids with the great grandparents. ~ The first week of our summer vacation was going so well. Everyone was getting along and acting nice. We were seeing beautiful places, doing fun things and visiting our beloved family. Who could ask for more.