The Harris Family

A rare (and thankfully short) comment from the father of this family! Ellie is crazy smart and a lovely girl. Mara is growing up and learning more sign language every day. Our pets are as nice as can properly be expected from a pair of unruly animals, and Heather is not only more beautiful than ever, but also more fun than ever to be with.  Our friends are loyal, interesting, and always available.  We have a lot of love in our lives.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and we’ll be spending it with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Izzy.  There are always some interesting people at Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma Izzy, and where else can you get escargot before the Turkey main course?  Ellie will spend the weekend with them, her first time spending the night in the mountains with her pioneer relatives in Mountain Springs!

We’re planning to take a short vacation to Big Bear, CA in a few weeks, where the whole family will spend time with great friends for a romp in the snow.  We’ll also be playing a considerable amount of Guitar Hero and Modern Warfare 2 while the kids are sleeping.  Is it weird to bring your 360 on vacation?

Christmas is coming up, and Grandma Audrey is coming out for the festivities.  I have NO idea what I’m going to get for Heather….I am really coming down to the wire, but she has informed me that I’ve already been considered and it will be awesome.

Life is good!

PS – We can’t wait for Grandma Audrey to get here.

Happy birthday to youuuuu! Happy birthday dear Aleeeeexa! Happy birthday toooo youuuu!!

 

I just can’t believe you are TWO years old already!!! We can’t wait to come celebrate with you tomorrow big girl!

 

The small child and I had a deal the other day… apart from our picture taking deal, which didn’t turn out so well on my end. She would get to ride on the school bus as long as I could give her a ride to and from the designated daytime child holding facility (some call this school) on her very first day.

This would give me plenty of time to get in all those extra last second hugs and kisses and remembers. There are lots of remembers on the first day of school. Remember to keep your shoes tied. Remember to give all the papers I signed to your teacher. Remember there is a water bottle in your backpack if you get thirsty. Remember farts are only funny to daddy.

So this was the day. Day #2 was bus day #1.  She was so excited and I was sooooo NOT! A big metal bus being driven by who knows who coming to take my child away. Ugh.

 

She thought I was taking a picture of her here. But I was really taking a pic of that CUTE little BAYBEE!! Awww look at those cheeks! She was so happy and adorable! Maybe Ellie can ride the bus if I get to see her everyday… mayyybe. I just want to scoop her up! I wish I had a little cute baby.

Oh hey there… I mean… oops… busted!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She looks like Michelle Tanner here to me. Say it with me… “Your in BIG trouble mister!”

 

Oh no! There she goes… she’s off without as much as blowing a goodbye kiss or even a little wave.

Please be careful with my baby Mr bus driver. I’m sorry I called you a “who knows who”. I’m sure you are a very good, nice, safe driving, kind of a guy.

 

Hm, I wonder if he thinks farts are funny too.

It’s happened. The day I have feared since the 2nd day of kindergarten. Another year has gone by. No more little kindergarten playground. No more safe little padded play area. Separate from all the big kid giants that inhabit the rest of the school. Now my kid is the giant. Forced to play on the big playground. Forced to spend all day in the school, forced to eat lunch in a great big scary cafeteria!

Well… maybe not exactly forced. OK she was possibly accepting of the idea… ok ok… shut up she was crazy excited.

This year her teacher (Mrs McMurtrey) seems super nice! Not like other teachers whom in the past I have wanted punch in the back of the head. Ooops did I type that out loud? She seems very warm and cheerful, sweet and patient. Actually the kind of person you might think is a big faker and is making fun of you behind your back when you walk away. The kind you give the side eye to because WHY are they being that nice? Maybe I should punch HER in the back of the head! But I won’t, that’s not nice. And she is an elementary school teacher and THAT is how elementary teachers SHOULD act… in my opinion. They should be nice and warm and sweet. And not tell your child to relay messages to her parent when that matter should stay between teacher and parent. That’s all I’m saying man.

 

Wait what? What was I talking about? Messages… teachers… 1st day of school! That’s right, my bad.

 

So I had this deal worked out with the small child. She gets to wear what she wants… have her hair the way she wants… eat what she wants before school… hang out with her friends before class. And in return mama gets to take some pictures. No complaining, look and me and pretend not to be so revolted by the camera your face looks like it is going to melt right off. Sounds easy enough right?

 

Well at least I held up my end of the deal. She picked her clothes. She wanted to wear her hair down, I wasn’t allowed to touch her with any hairbands or clips. And after a nice breakfast of honey nut cheerios we were out the door.

 

But it was toooooo briiiiiiight to smile for any pictures. She squinted and glared and rolled around in agony until I put down the camera so she could run off to the playground.

 

Hurrrrry up moooom!! My face… it’s… starting to… melllllt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew I should have insisted on that ponytail…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At least marble obliged me.

Oh hi senorita pouty puss!

 

So I had to do what any good mom would do.

 

 

 

Stand back and pretend to not be taking pictures. Yeah! And then when she least expects it. WHAM sneak attack!

 

Hey what was that clicking sound? Quick hide the camera!

 

I even sneak attacked the teacher. I know she probably would have posed for a picture had I asked. But I always feel bad. Maybe it’s because I don’t like people taking pictures of me. And no matter how I try to pose or get ready I always hate the way I look. And then if it’s not my picture how am I ever going to see if it turned out well? I’ll have to wonder forever. So I think it’s much more humane to sneak attack and for them to never know it happened.

 

So that was pretty much the first day of school. Except for one minor incident involving a backpack she thought was lost, but turned out to be right next to her the whole time. A small freak out and a few tears when she was rushed into line and she couldn’t see mom and didn’t know where the backpack had gone. But we quickly straightened it out, tears were dried and we headed on confident in our day…

 

Well… she was confident. Mommy was left a scared, broken heaving mess of emotions and tears as her baby walked away. What am I going to do without her all day?

 

Hey… mom… uhh… why are staring at me like that?

 

Don’t ever leave me Marble.

I have bad luck at the park. I always forget to do those simple things like… wear shoes that don’t let sand in them. And bring water… and well … not go to the park because it kills my back.

I’m so forgetful.

But what are you going to do? Kids love the park. They can sit in the grass at the park.

Aww look at my bayyybee!

Sometimes when I look at pictures of her she looks so much like her dad I just want to scribble all over the photo “Hi! I look just like my Dad!”

Kinda like that.

I’m not even going to tell you how much she looks like her dad when she does this.

–[Dad's note] WHATEVER. WAAHAHHHHHHHHHHH

Poor Ellimon. Always trying to help out… Marble just doesn’t appreciate her.

But back to the fun stuff…

Ahahaa… I amuse myself. OK… but really I’ll stop doing that.

Look! It’s Marble’s first time on the slide! What a good big sister she has.

Ohhh! That was FUN!

See?

No really… that was my last time, I’m totally serious. I mean… well. Probably.

The point is. Even if it hurts your back there is nothing better than seeing the look on their faces when they climb to the top of the jungle gym, or slide down the slide holding eachother or swing on their first swing.

I mean.. I think that’s the point. Unless there is another point that I’m missing. But I’m pretty sure that’s it.

See this face? I’ve learned something about this face. This face means I am going to cry and you have 3 seconds to change my mind.

Uh-oh… this doesn’t look good. I think we are losing her. Tickle her toes… tickle her toes…

It’s not working… Quick! Try peek-a-boo! It’s our only hope!!!

Whew, that was a close one. Well done peeps.

Let’s pack it up and head on home.

I didn’t save any of E-beans old clothes, toys, or baby gear because she is so much older than Marble. We’ve moved 4 times since she was born and with each trip we got rid of more and more of her baby things.

 

When Marmar binks came along we basically had to start from scratch. HOWEVER! I love howevers… However I do have a box of baby things from when Ellie was a wee little lass. Things I’ve saved because I’m a sentimental sap. And that includes a lot of her special outfits. Things I dressed her in and loved so much I couldn’t bare to part with. Looking through this box I am surprised at how many outfits I couldn’t bare to part with. There’s a LOT. Let’s put it this way. I pulled out all her keep sake outfits and I won’t have to do laundry for Marble again for a couple weeks….

Turns out I was especially sentimental around the 3-6 month size range of outfits.

 

Now before I show these pictures I feel the need to share some information I discovered with you. I got into photography around the time Elliepants was a year old. Before then I was just a point and shoot maniac. I took tons of snapshots and they were actually very decent. I love my old photos from when she was a baby. 5 years later with all this photography knowledge under my belt you would think that my point and shoot photos would also benefit and be even better than the olden days. You would think that wouldn’t you…

 

Well somehow it just isn’t how it worked. Blame the camera… blame my lack of patience… blame whatever you’d like. My photos suck with my current p&s cam. You have officially been warned. Now let’s see some old/new pics of my girls wearing the same outfits.

 

This one is very special. This onesie says “Little Sprout”. My dear friend gave this to me back in the day and since my maiden name/ nick name was Sprout I just loved it to pieces.

First we have Marby in it and the next Photo is little Ellie belly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note how Ellie’s is close up and I shot until I got a great expression, shirt in full detail and nice and clear. For Mara’s she is stuck on my unmade bed, hair all messy and was happy just to have taken the picture.

 

Next we have the beloved bear outfit. Will and I LOVED this outfit. It was one of our favorites. Once again. A beautiful picture of E, taken at the pumpkin patch. We planned the whole outing to get a nice picture of her in her sweet bear outfit. M didn’t even get pants in her photo.

 

This outfit I loved so much! So simple and sweet. What a pretty picture of my Ellie… and Mara… well at least it is a picture of her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last but not least. A squooshed up sweet little happy Belko bear and then a fussy faced frazzled Markypost. Maybe Marbar just didn’t like the outfit…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are so many many more, maybe I’ll concentrate on making it a point to take a nice photo of Marble to compare. And even though the quality may differ I just can’t get over the feeling of my new little baby wearing my big baby’s old clothes. How come no one ever told me about the bizarre feeling you get from it? Maybe it’s my sentimental sappiness.

It is a well known fact that I looooooove me some birthday parties. I start planning way in advance and just love a good theme!
I don’t think I have ever been as excited about a theme as I am about the one we have planned for Marble’s 1st birthday. What’s that? She’s only 6 months old? Told ya I plan in advance!

You’ll just have to wait until December to find out what I have planned though…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Did You think I could keep my mouth shut until December? Forget that nonsense!!

What theme would be more perfect for our Maronster than…. MONSTERS!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that is all I can say at the moment. You’ll just have to join us in December to see the whole shebang!

All five butterflies hatched and we were feeding them sugar water when Mr sprinkles decided to play with the flittering little buggies.

He got his claw stuck in the net and when Ellie rushed over to get him away the tent came crashing down and one of the butterflies was crushed under the sugar water container. One of the butterflies was successfully mauled by the Sprinkle and the other three got a little sticky and a ripped wing.

 

Oh gosh Ellie was devastated. Genuinely aching over her little friends tragedy. She was inconsolable for quite some time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The three remaining butterflies I thought might have a chance. We couldn’t trust them in the house anymore because no matter what room we moved them to the cat was hunting them down. So we went outside and let them free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All three tried so hard to fly away. I think they were just too damaged. They died after a couple of minutes of jumping around.

One is left. She’s a feisty little critter. And although her wing is pretty messed up she was determined to fly away. But she couldn’t get anywhere with her bad wing so we put her back in her tent.

 

Hopefully she likes sugar water and oranges. We’ll do our best to keep Mr Sprinkles at bay.

 

 

Ellie says her name is Olivia and she will protect her.

Please forgive the abundance of cruddy camera phone pics lately. I am due to get a nice camera here pretty soon but until that is fully funded I’ve been using my camera phone.

Yes it pains me.

Yesterday we went to our friends Adam and Kristy’s daughter Riley’s birthday party and Adam was kind enough to play in the pool with little fishy Marble. Mommy and daddy did not have proper swimming atire and poor baby looooves the water.

No good pics, just these phone ones… I should start putting up some video until I get my cam!