Christmas in Britt

Owen on the sledding hill Grandpa made for the boys.

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Lewis took one ride down the hill with Grandpa. He's not very fond of snow.

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Lewis hanging out with Great-Grandma Nelson.

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Carter and Owen had fun at my parents' church Teen Center. There was air hockey, carpetball, ping-pong and pool. Carter is becoming quite the pool shark (his good friend Lucas has a pool table in his basement, so he plays quite a bit.) Here he is getting ready to play with my dad and my brother.
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Owen in his gift fort.

My Brother's Most Recent Project

These are pictures of a volkswagon bug that my brother is painting Paris scenes on for a client in Hawaii. Last year he did one with pictures of classic Hollywood stars for the same client. (If you think these are cool, you should see the nursery for his baby who could arrive anytime now.)

Lewis' New Friends

Lewis may be a little guy, but he has no fear of big dogs. When we are in our backyard, he tries to go visit our next door neighbor's St. Bernard (I think that's the kind of dog it is), and he loves the Labradoodle down the street. This weekend was no different. He went back and forth from my brother's dog Bosley, to my parent's dog Buddy. He would open the gate to Buddy's "room" and just hang out in there with him. He even tried to ride him a couple times. Thankfully, the dogs didn't mind his company too much.

Merry Christmas - A glimpse of our day in pics

"I hope it's a guitar."

That's the cutest frog Carter has ever caught.

Some pointers from daddy.

"I don't know why you bought me those silly puzzles, mom. I am loving this playstation!"

Frigid Temps + Young Boys = Craziness

Thunk...thunk...thunk...thunk...THUD. "That didn't hurt." - This is what I heard the other day as I sat at the dining room table.

"What didn't hurt?" was my response to Carter.

What didn't hurt was a crash landing during a trip down the stairs in the clothes basket. This is what boys do when they have been trapped inside for days on end due to absolutely frigid temperatures. You might wonder what else they do, or maybe you have boys of your own and have a list similar to mine.

1. Remove the mattress off of a bed and use it to jump on, and then lean it on the couch and fling yourself into it at great rates of speed.

2. Make gingerbread cookies. Decorate gingerbread cookies. This is a very nice calm activity until you factor the 19-month-old decorator into the equation.

3. Watch Kung-fu Panda, and then proceed to Kung-Fu each other until both are in tears.

4. Talk your mother into putting up the tent in the living room. Once it's up, fill it to the brim with pillows and couch cushions, and run across the room and flip into it.

By Tuesday morning, my sanity was in serious question, so I did the only thing I could think to do. I took them to The Playground http://www.theplaygroundforkids.com/ in Ankeny where they romped for hours while I chased Lewis and drank coffee with my friend Kerrie, whose sons were also in great need of some energy releasing activity.

The Toddler and His Busy Week

It has been a very long week at the Harms' house for various reasons. I thought I would share a few of Lewis' "accomplishments" that have made the week entertaining/frustrating, depending on which attitude I choose to look at it with.

1. He dumped Owen's apple juice all over the counter, which was full of the boys papers, pencils, markers, etc.

2. He threw away all of his alphabet magnets in the kitchen garbage.

3. He found Corey's razor. Thankfully, I discovered that before he cut himself.

4. When I sat my coffee on the computer desk to run and get my ringing phone, he dumped it out. Thankfully it did not get on the keyboard, but I can still faintly smell hazelnut when I sit to type.

5. He helped me shred chicken for enchiladas and decided to put some in the toaster. I thought I got it all out, but discovered the next morning when I was toasting a pop tart that there was still a little chicken in there. It smelled like my house was burning down.


6. The mother of all Lewis fiascos: Last night he put the puke bowl on his head, twice! It had been dumped and rinsed, but was definitely not clean.

(Owen was the puker. We're waiting patiently for it to hit the rest of the family to complete our week.)

State of Nebraska Citation Rant

While returning home from a lovely Thanksgiving at Corey's folks in Fremont Nebraska (It was lovely except for the puking and diarhea, but we won't go into that), we were pulled over by a police officer. Our curiosity as to why we were pulled over was soon relieved when Officer Lyon told Corey that he failed to use his turning signal while changing lanes. Yes, I know it is a terrible thing to do. They really should pull people over for that more often - a heinous offense!! I can't believe I am married to a guy who would do such a thing.

We waited in the van while the lovely officer went back to his vehicle to write us a ticket. In the meantime, I was just praying Lewis would not wake up in the back seat. I would have been very unhappy with Mr. Lyon if he would have woken up my baby at the beginning of a three hour drive! So, the officer comes back to the van and presents Corey with a ticket for $69, and then proceeds to ask us if we have any illegal substances in the vehicle. I'm so glad we had just put the pot away and had downed the last of the whiskey a mile back. Whew!!! Was this man insane? Did he not see our three children in the backseat? Does anyone ever answer yes to that question anyway? "Why yes, officer, we have a wide variety of illegal substances for you to choose from . And while you are at it, you might as well remove the illegal arms we have loaded in our suitcases in the back."

So anyway, I sat down to pay bills today, and I see that it says in bold type do not send cash through the mail and NO CHECKS ACCEPTED. What options does that leave? So I went to the website, and found that I can pay online with a credit card. That's fine, I thought. I'll just do that. So I typed in all the info and as I clicked the button to pay, I noticed that they charged me a $2.25 convenience fee for paying with a credit card over the website.

It is very convenient for them to offer no other options, and then charge extra money for the one option I have aside from getting $69 in cash and driving to Nebraska to pay in person. If it ever happens again, I think I'll go to the bank and get $69 worth of pennies and drive it on over to the Washington County Courthouse myself.

Carter at Church Christmas Program

Lewis Says Hello

Grace Christmas Program

Here are some pictures from our Christmas program at church. Lewis was adorable up on stage!!

I was so proud of my shy guy for saying his line in front of a crowded room.

Owen was disappointed that he only got to be in a small part of the program and then had to sit with us.

Turkey Cookies

The boys made sugar cookies into turkeys while we were in Fremont at Grandma and Grandpa Harms' house for Thanksgiving. Lewis especially liked Aunt Erica and even climbed on her lap during Thanksgiving dinner.

Cute Quote

We watched Prince Caspian as a family the other night. Carter and Owen sat with Corey and I on the couch, buried under a bunch of blankets with a space heater nearby. Iowa basements are wonderful in the summer and cold in the winter! Lewis watched for about 20 minutes and then decided he had had enough of C.S. Lewis for one night. He started running around, bouncing off of furniture and trying to dive bomb our little tent of blankets. After a considerable amount of time watching this silliness, Owen said, "Dad, when Lewis grows up, he's gonna be a silly daddy like you." It was very cute!

All I Want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth. Yeah, right. I challenge you to find me a kid who wants teeth for Christmas. They've been falling out left and right around the Harms house, and for those of you who have read my Christmas letter, the lost tooth number is grossly inaccurate. Last night, the tooth fairy had to use a tweezers to dig some cashola out of a glass piggy bank to put under this seven-year-old's pillow.

Five Fat Turkeys

The Lyrics

Five fat turkeys are we

We Slept all night in a tree

When the cook came around, we couldn't be found

And that's why we're here you see!

Owen's "Winter" Concert was tonight. The little girl next to him is the lone girl of playing age in the neighborhood. She doesn't live on our street, (I'm pretty sure there is some kind of unwritten rule against little girls living on our street) but she lives close. Afterwards he said he thought the concert was really short. He was right. At Ballard West, they have three concerts in one night, and more are scheduled for tomorrow. There's a pretty strict schedule of getting people in and out of there.

I Think I'll Call it Christmas

The following is my current column for the local paper. I have gotten the itch to write again, and usually do a column when I feel compelled about a specific thought or topic. Anyway, I had a couple people ask to see it, so here it is.

The first flakes of the year have already fallen from the skies, and stores are filled with enough glitter, lights and music to tempt the senses of even the biggest scrooge.

This over-commercialized, material world we live in flaunts itself best this time of year. With enticing advertisements for toys and diamond jewelry. With super-sales to convince us to buy things we don’t even really want. With awe-inspiring outdoor light displays and about as many variations of artificial Christmas trees as there are flavors of Jelly Bellies. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the lights as much as anyone else. And I have twice succumbed to frantically searching for the one toy that everyone wants, but is impossible to find. But, I get so tired of the focus on the material. And I am saddened by the loss of focus on the spiritual.

To so many, Christmas is a time of buying presents, decorating the tree, eating lots of food and checking things off of a long list of parties, events and family get-togethers. Nothing is wrong with those things in and of themselves. But if that’s all there is to it, I think it’s kind of like having a big birthday bash and not inviting the guest of honor.

I’m not telling anyone they have to celebrate like my family does, but at our house, the guest of honor is not only welcomed, but revered.

As we decorate the evergreen tree, we will be reminded of the everlasting love that God has lavished on us.

When we place the star on the top, we will think about the star that led three wise men to Baby Jesus 2000 years ago.

When I get my decorations out from the basement storage room, I will set aside a manger scene for my boys to arrange on the nightstand in their room, and take that opportunity to remind them that the baby represented there is the reason we celebrate, and that he is the greatest gift of all.

My boys will excitedly try to guess what is in each of their carefully wrapped presents, but they will first choose gifts to be sent to children on the other side of the world through Operation Christmas Child.

They may get a gift or two from “Santa” and will probably watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on TV, but they will always be taught that the jolly old man is not what this holiday is all about.

And when I go the Christmas Eve church service, I will not just be singing Christmas songs; I will be worshiping my Savior. And if I see you and wish you well on December 25th, instead of saying Happy Holiday, I think I’ll call it Christmas.