the replacement...or not

just a sweet pic of the girls in the jingle bells shirts
they were headed to mother's morning out

so, meet Chloe.
Chloe was supposed to be Lucy's replacement.
Chloe hasn't been home all afternoon.....
we're just not having much luck with this kitty-pet thing.

Tagged

So, I was tagged by my friend Sandy to list 7 of the most random things I can think of to share with you. Of course, I'm supposed to tag other people, but I'll just encourage you that if you're reading this right now, it would be fun for you to do the same on your blog. :-) So, here are 7 random things about me that you may or may not know.

1. I still sleep with my baby blanket. Until after I was married, I slept with the exact same one. It was the best - way better than the replacements I have now. When my mom turned 50, I put it in a shadow box for her because I was afraid that if I kept washing it, it would eventually turn to dust. However, my Nannie had a replacement that I used at her house and Jeff's grandma had one that she gave to me too, so I now have 2 (and Ellie likes to cuddle with one of them).

2. I've always heard that creative people are not organized and organized people are not creative. I must be really creative!!

3. I enjoyed most all of both of my pregnancies. I didn't have trouble sleeping, didn't have morning sickness, didn't gain too much weight...things were just good and I loved being pregnant - and even labor and delivery, although there were a couple of rough hours with Ava, but all in all, I have no bad stories to tell. (all but, stay away from "staydol")

4. I was a cheerleader from 3rd grade until I graduated high school AND I tap danced from the time I was 2 until just a few years ago (although I switched to clogging in high school, but same difference). If I could find an adult tap class or clogging class around here, I'd go in a heartbeat!

5. I have always picked out names for my kids before I was even pregnant and they were both girl names. I've always heard that which ever name is easier to pick out (boy or girl), that's what you'll have. We're not ready for another one yet, but one of these days, I already have another girl name picked out, so we'll see if we can keep that trend going.

6. I love music. I have music playing all the time. I'm not terribly picky about what kind of music, either. When I grow up, I'd love to be a musician! :-) (obviously that is not what God has called me to do and I am terribly happy with what I do for a living right now, but if I were good enough and God wanted me to, I would love to sing and dance and play the piano all day!)

7. I'm addicted to the computer. Probably not a shock. I don't know much about computers, but I love to check blogs, e-mail, facebook...

8. and I'll throw in another one for fun. I absolutely love spending time with friends and family. I would rather be with people than to be alone 99.9% of the time.

:-)

Tubes and Tats

Before church

Mama's girls

What a big girl!
Ava doesn't look like a baby any more...
guess she's really a toddler now?!?

Proud of her tat!

Well, the doctor finally agreed to put tubes in Ava's ears after 6 double ear infections. This last one just about did her in. She had it so bad in both ears that the right one was about to rupture. The dr. gave her a shot of antibiotics, then said for us to come back the next day. Another shot. Then, oral antibiotic. I hate giving her so much medicine! It's really messing with her - especially her little belly. She's not been eating well, not sleeping well, and just not happy like her usual self. Anyway, she's still as cute as can be, just fussy. She also cutting molars, which isn't helping.

Ellie went to a birthday party the other day while I was taking pictures of a little boy's first birthday, and came home with tattoos ALL OVER her body!! It was funny! She's been saying funny things lately, too. She had furry boots on the other day and said, "Mom, my boots are hotting my feet." (Instead of "my boots are making my feet hot"!)

Lucy is officially missing. Guess she's gone.

Please pray for my aunt. And put her on any prayer lists you have or know of. She has a form of cancer that does not have a cure. She's on an experimental medicine, but it doesn't seem to be doing what her body needs it to be doing. Not sure what else to say, just asking for prayer.

LUCY

We love Lucy...I Love Lucy is my favorite show to watch on tv, but we also named our cat Lucy - the one we got Ava for her 1st birthday. Well, we've not seen her since Monday. It makes me sick to think about where she is or what happened, but we're hoping that someone thought it was cold and rainy and let her in the house. We've been all over the neighborhood and have passed out fliers with her picture and our phone numbers, so we're hoping we'll hear something tomorrow. Jeff has to go to Indy for the day, so he's taking all the phone numbers with him to call vets, humane societies, animal control...just to check. We'll keep you posted.

Also, Ava and I have been sick, so that makes me even more emotional. Ava is worse than me, but I didn't get any sleep last night, so that didn't help me to feel better. She seemed to feel a little better after a late nap today, so maybe the worst of it is over.

One more thing, I'm starting to do more and more photography and I love it! I'm so excited - I have two photo shoots booked for this weekend, so I'll post some of my favorites soon.

13 months

The pictures above are Ava at 13 months,
and the pictures below are Ellie at 13 months!

So fun to compare how different they look and how their personalities are different!!

Just a swingin'

One of my favorite things about Ava right now is when she walks around swinging her arm(s) - sometimes just one, sometimes both, but I never have my camera around when she does it. I wanted to get it on video so I can always look back and remember what she looked like swingin'. Just makes me feel like she's a happy girl and it's so cute!

JabberJaws

Ellie got the cutest play-doh activities for her birthday from a friend. You make all kinds of ice cream sundaes, cones, and even sprinkles! This picture looks like she's fake smiling big time, but she was pretending to take a bite of the ice cream that she made with her new play-doh toys. One of her new favorite things to do is to write. She asks me how to spell something and just writes away. She can write several names on her own now, even remembering how to spell them. When we travel, Ava watches "Lady and the Tramp" (her favorite and Ellie even enjoys it, so I just leave it in the van) and Ellie takes a tablet and a pen and asks me how to spell words for hours at a time!

When I was growing up, we would take vacations in the Smoky Mountains. While we were there, we would go in to Cherokee, NC, and would always see Indiana dressed in traditional attire. One in particular always looked like he was talking - he was standing outside of his teepee with no one around and just talked...so we nicknamed him JabberJaws and looked for him every year. Well, little Miss Ava has turned in to a Jabber Jaws herself. She just babbles all the time, but with great inflection in her voice, as if she were carrying on a normal conversation! It's so cute and so funny! We usually try to pretend we understand and keep the conversation going! Today, I fixed some homemade tiny pizzas with tostito chips and she ate it up - then licked her plate!!!?!?!?!? Doesn't she look so grown up in this picture??

She went for her one-year check-up and did great! She was a ham and really showed off for the doctor, talking, signing, dancing...and the doctor jumped to the 18 month questions. Ava can do everything but kick a ball at the 18 month level!! The doctor was impressed! (and we were just a little bit proud!) She weighed 23lbs. 13oz. (75th%), 32in. tall(97th%), and her head was in the 95th%. She's a tall girl! She also has a heart murmur. Nothing to worry about for now, just something to watch in the future.

It's a boy!!

My brother and sister-in-law had a baby boy on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 9:01am. They kept it a secret the whole time - we didn't know if it was a boy or a girl and we didn't know name choices. He was 7lbs. 13oz. and very healthy! He was a long time coming, as they have had 2 miscarriages trying to have another Harrison baby. His name is James David Harrison, after my grand-daddy (James) and my sister-in-law's grandfather. They are calling him JD. He is going to be spoiled rotten - the only grandson!!

Tishie

Please pray for my aunt Tishie. Her cancer is active again. I don't know how to explain how I feel about her, except that she is amazing - like an angel! One story Landy, my cousin tells, is that when Tishie was going through chemo and her stem cell transplant from before and was puking her brains out, she would stop and ask Landy if she was comfortable or if she needed anything. That's just Tishie. She puts everyone and everything in front of her. She is so sweet and I spent so much time with her when I was growing up. I know that the power of prayer can move mountains and this cancer is going to take some major moving of mountains, because it's a non-curable form of cancer. That's why it's growing again. We were hoping for many more years with Tishie, though. Please pray that the chemo she is on now, along with the steroids, will strengthen her body, and also pray that she feels good and enjoys life! She's already lost her daughter and her dad to cancer...enough already! Pray for Landy and Danny, and the rest of our family, but especially for Tishie.

more great pics

Ava and Emily watching Hannah and Ellie at dance class at bring a friend night ~
~they both wanted to be in that room with them!

sweet halloween pic of a little girl I work with

even better! (same girl as above)
I had a blast taking her picture!!

what a sweet face - I couldn't help but post this
~a little boy I work with

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Some of the best neighborhood kids!

It was such a pretty day -
the girls had a great time playing while we worked on carving the pumpkins!

A monkey, banana, and 2 trees!

Ellie's pumpkin

Ava's pumpkin

Happy Birthday, Ellie Girl!

My Ellie is 4 today! She is growing in to such a wonderful little girl - no longer a toddler, for sure!!! She can write several names on her own, all of her letters, can spell a few words and names, colors very well, is very obedient, and is a people pleaser! Her birthday party today was a blast - it was Hannah Montana themed and we had a bounce house. When I asked her what her favorite part of her party was, she said it was getting her hair and make-up done. She had so many great friends and family here to celebrate with her! My mom made the girls some beautiful matching pillow-case dresses and hair-bows, but they weren't much in to taking pictures today so we didn't get great ones. The kids all had so much fun, though! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful little girl - I wish she weren't growing up so quickly, but that's life. Jeff checked on our girls sleeping the other night and said to me, "Man, we are blessed with some cute kids!" I agree! They are cute and so loving! What blessings! Happy birthday, big girl! We love you, Ellie Kate!