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