Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Snowhere but here

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Both fridges are hard to keep closed. Christmas movies are on the tv.......and it's snowing outside.
There's no where I'd rather be for the holidays than with my family, comfortable and close. Everyone gets along. Everyone looks forward to this time.

There's a lot about Pennsylvania I'm not crazy about, but I wouldn't mind spending the last six weeks of every year here. The snow is the missing piece of the holiday puzzle.

I need some hot chocolate....sprinkled with snow flurries.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Superwoman

Jason has been in New York for the past two days and this is going destroy him, but I have a confession to make to him when he returns.

I have not lost all of my hair....the house is in order........the dog isn't starving........and I don't think I want to give the kids away.

I handled everything and maintained my sanity. Now, those of you single parents with 3+ kids are calling me wimpy, but my friends with less than 2 kids might call me Superwoman!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

As the Boys Grow Older.....

There are many things I have and have not experienced as a child growing up that I would like to either share with my boys or experience for the first time with them, so I have compiled a short list of things I want to make sure we experience as a family before the boys are grown and gone........sniff sniff.....
1. Seeing the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center
2. Petting the sting rays and holding star fish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California
3. Swimming with the dolphins at Discovery Cove in Florida
4. Any kind of amusement park at least annually
5. Seeing Niagara Falls
I'm certain I'll come up with more, but these have been on my list for a while. The items in blue I experienced as a child and am eager to see and do again through the eyes of my children.

Friday, November 11, 2005

Baby Fear Factor

This morning, Harrison made an executive decision to join baby fear factor just seconds before I could intervene.
Now, mind you I had just vacuumed the carpets two days ago, so there was very little on the carpet besides toys. Harrison was sitting on the living room floor as I put my shoes on this morning before we headed out for work, day care and school.
I looked over at him just as I caught him putting something in his mouth. Not knowing what it could have been or if it was a choking hazard, I immediately went over to him, put my fingers in his mouth and pulled out.......a live spider! I threw it on the ground, it uncurled its legs from Harrison's monster saliva and ran off. Jason went to grab it with a papertowel as Harrison stood up and looked around for where in the world it could have gone. He wasn't done drowning it in his spit.
Yuck! Big H wins the fear factor award for the day!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Teeth



I promised a more recent picture of Harrison and here is one, bottom teeth and all! He is about 10 months in this picture and while we're on the subject of teeth, I have to share a concern.....his top two front teeth are coming in, but they are really far apart. He's getting widely spaced teeth like JASON! Can anyone reassure me that it's possible when more teeth come in they will push the top two closer together? I'm paranoid he'll have a jack-o-lantern smile for the next 6 years of his life!

Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch



This is Jake at the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch in October 2005. Jake had so much fun wheeling pumpkins around in a wagon and playing in the sandbox, we didn't even leave with a token pumpkin.

I love taking pictures of my boys, although they do not cooperate for me the way they do for a professional, which is why I really like this one. I actually caught Jake smiling, but who could not smile while hugging a big pumpkin?!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

He's cute, ain't he?

This is Harrison (Big H) at 5 months. He hasn't changed much in the past 7 months except he's gotten bigger and he has a few teeth.
Ok, ok, so he's probably changed quite a bit. I'll find a more recent picture.....
"He's cute, ain't he?"
(Pop Quiz - who can tell me what movie that line is from?) Winner gets to be my best friend for a day and believe me there are many perks to that position!

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Babies on Airplanes

It's getting closer and closer and closer to our trip to Pennsylvania to visit my parents at their 3000 square foot house in the BOONIES and my apprehension over taking Big H (Harrison) on a plane is growing by the day.

At 4 years old, Jake has been on dozens of airplanes and we've NEVER had a problem, but Harrison does not sit still, wants to do what he wants when he wants it and will let me know with no restraint when he's unhappy.

Will CPS haul me away because I'm thinking about slipping him some Benadryl during pre-board? Does anyone have any helpful hints on subduing my one year old who wants to do nothing but walk and walk and walk some more? I want HELPFUL hints here, people, not the usual, bring him plenty of toys and snacks....I KNOW that already! Be original ok? I really wish I could check him under the plane like a puppy (no I wouldn't really do that, even if they let me), but honestly as wonderful as Jason is with the boys, he is NO HELP when they're being difficult in confined spaces.

I actually thought about buying Jake and me a first class ticket and leaving Jason and Harrison to battle it out with the herd in Coach. I'll probably regret not doing that.......but I know this won't be our last flight while he's little, so it's always an option in the future......

Back to the Beginning

Ok, so I checked out my neighbor's family blog and I thought to myself, "this is pretty cool and my family is pretty cool, so it would be pretty cool to have my own blog." Now, I'm well aware that I'll probably really be the only person to ever read my blog and that's ok. I'm prepared for that fact.

BUT, JUST IN CASE someone else sees it, probably by accident, I'll try to keep it interesting and more than just boring crap about my kids.

I'm actually pretty sorry I didn't have this thing two years ago, because the drama in my family was definitely worth sharing. Maybe if I get brave enough and hit a case of "typer's block" I will share the saga that was the Lawrence Family Holiday Season 2003. I say "brave enough" because the main character in that saga is crazy. Really she is - she has taken lithium for it. Did I just sound like I'm from the streets? Did that pass for street terminology? I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but I do know she IS CRAZY and would probably drive by my house throwing bricks through my house windows with psycho notes attached to them. So, have I peaked your interest? Another story for another day. I'll share sometime. We're heading into the holiday season (my favorite time of the year) and I would like to keep things upbeat.

I'll try to satisfy your hunger for emotional dirt at a later date.

In the meantime, let me introduce you to the stars of my family. Jason is my husband, a longhorn and the best father in the world to our two sons, Jake and Harrison. Jake is 4, was born hours before 9/11 and based on that fact you might think he was destined for disaster, but he is actually very sweet and sensitive (more like Daddy). Harrison will be 1 in exactly two weeks and he is tough, aggressive, loud and independent (more like Mommy). I am Cori, an aggie and the manager of this brood. I love my family more than anything and although I work full time and go to graduate school, my real priority is to make sure my sons grow up to be honest, hard working, dependable members of society (and get rich so they can let me retire early).

I will upload pictures when I can, but rarely will you ever see pictures of me since 99.99999999% of the time I am holding the camera.

For those of you who made it to the bottom of my post, aren't you now wondering where have I been all of your life? Well, don't wallow in the past, but hold my hand and stay with me through the future. You will be rewarded greatly for basking in my ambiance........