A New Tradition?

Corey thought it would be fun to let the big boys sleep under the Christmas tree the night we put it up. They, of course, thought that was super-cool. Decorating the tree with the help of the three boys posed a few challenges (especially from Lewis, my "un"helper), but it was pretty precious to see them sleeping by the tree light.

Legos and Dr. Seuss

Tell me these Lego creations don't look like something straight out of a Dr. Seuss book. I can't believe Lewis is old enough to play with Legos.

Watching all three boys play together is great fun. Believe it or not, Owen was amazingly patient with Lewis while building this lego house.

Check this out

One of the Harms' favorite people dedicated a blog to my children. Aww, we feel so loved. Check our Mara's blog - Sincerely - and read a bit about my boys. Mara has been watching them for us for a long time. Once upon a time, she watched them while I volunteered at Birthright, stayed and ate supper with us, and then watched them again while we went to Bible Study. We don't have her in our house as often as we used to, but we get her when we can. (I hope you don't mind I added your blog to my list, Mara.)

The First Snow

Lewis liked being out with the boys, but wasn't too interested in touching the snow.

This gigantic snowball later got thrown at their friends' dad.

"Mom, this is the best day ever of the whole month!" That's what Carter said as he sat and ate "snow ice-cream" after playing out in the wet stuff for most of the day with Owen and the neighbor boys.

The Human Tornado Strikes Again

Lewis has decided to try lowering his cholesteral.

"I've been doing a lot of thinking, and the thing is, I love you" - Harry Burns - When Harry Met Sally

I have decided to use quotes from some great movies to help describe how Corey stole my heart a decade ago.

Rick: Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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These pictures are the first ones my folks saw of the guy who would later become their son-in-law. This mud fight was one of the first things we ever did together. A muddy construction lot across from the apartment building (where Corey lived 4 doors down from me) seemed the perfect place to get dirty. We had mud in our teeth, our eyelashes, our ears...and believe it or not, the idea came from my roommate Rachel and I, not Corey.

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Harry Burns: Repeat after me. Pepper. Sally Albright: Pepper. Harry Burns: Pepper. Sally Albright: Pepper. Harry Burns: Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash. Sally Albright: Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash. Harry Burns: But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie

This is just a random movie quote that we still say in our house sometimes. It has nothing to do with the picture, unless you consider that it is a silly quote and we had a silly way of getting to know each other. I convinced Corey that he should be in this drama competition that I was going to be in. I thought it would be a great way to have to hang out with each other. It worked. We spent a lot of time together, and Corey even got his picture in the Iowa State Daily.
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Lucy: Peter once asked me when I fell in love with Jack. And I told him, "It was while you were sleeping."

Technically, I didn't fall in love with Corey while he was sleeping. It was more like, while I could not sleep. I had some major jaw surgery, and this is one of two pictures that I allowed to be taken of me. After this photo, my face swelled like a balloon. OHH, I was not a pretty sight!!! But Corey didn't seem to care and he stayed up with me all night at my parent's house when I was a afraid to fall asleep, because I thought I might die. I had so much trouble breathing that I really did think dying was a possibility. He makes fun of me for it now, but that night, he just listened to me and walked me back and forth through the rooms of the house for hours. How could I not love this guy?
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Buttercup: Westley and I are joined by the bonds of love. And you cannot track that, not with a thousand bloodhounds, and you cannot break it, not with a thousand swords.

One year and two days after our first "official" date, we were married. In two days, it will be ten years ago. Three kids, two apartments, two houses and millions of laughs later, I can honestly say I love him more now than I did then.

You Don't Know What You've Got Til It's Gone

LIQUID GOLD

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Grandma Vickie's tomato juice is on a short list of foods that everyone in our family likes. But something terrible happened last winter. Our supply ran dry. I tried making goulash with store bought tomato juice, and tried making chili with V8, but it never tasted right, and we all lamented the loss of Grandma's tomatoes. Okay, maybe that is a little dramatic, but we love the stuff. Corey says he could drink it straight out of the jar, and Carter and Owen always ask for seconds on goulash and chili if it is made with her tomato juice. Liquid gold it is.

We tried to grow our own tomatoes this year to no avail. I think we got about 10 tomatoes off of our 8 plants. But thanks to my folks fruitful plants, we were able to stuff our freezer full of them, and Grandma and Grandpa came from Fremont this weekend to help us can them. We got 17 quarts and 1 pint, but we're already down to 16 after a wonderful meal of goulash and french bread last night. We'll have to ration the rest out over the next 12 months!!

Bath Time

How could anyone not love this face?!!

Go! Go!

The boys spent a sizeable chunk of time jumping off the cedar chest and onto the futon mattress last night. Lewis would climb up and say "Go Go" and they'd all jump. It was very cute!!

More Peas Please!!

If you look closely at this photo, you will see green blotches in Lewis' hair. He wasn't very interested in eating supper tonight. He even flipped his plate over once, which was lovely. But if we let him down before the rest of us are done he tends to be more troublesome, so he sat, while the rest of us ate. To entertain himself, he decided to pick up his peas one by one and smoosh them in his hair. As you can tell from the picture, he was pretty proud of himself.

Seeking: New Voice

I lost my voice today. I can't make a sound above a whisper. Except for the coughing. That's pretty loud. It is a very strange sort of feeling. I can't remember the last time it happened or if it has ever happened to me before. It is very difficult to scold a toddler in with a voice he can barely hear, and yelling down the cul-de-sac for the boys to come home for supper wasn't happening either. Owen kept asking me why I was whispering, and our little neighbor boy, Logan, looked at me really funny when I started trying to talk to him. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to sound convincingly stern when Lewis dumps coffee grounds all over the floor -tonight he just looked at me with a "Is that all ya got? I'm not scared of that." look.

Let the Tooth Rotting Begin

Oh my goodness - we have soooo much candy!! The big boys are loving it, and Lewis has figured out that it is very yummy. He stands by the kitchen counter saying "ease, ease, ease" over and over. He has also discovered that some candies are better than others and threw his smarties on the floor this morning. He is a Harms boy - he wanted chocolate!

Trick-Or-Treat

Thanks to Grandma Nelson for making the super-cool costumes!

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Boys in the Hood

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Human Woopie Cushion
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Ninja Warrior

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The Cutest Tootsie Roll ever!!

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