A day at the zoo with five monkeys!

Yesterday we went to the zoo. I have a year membership and seriously if any of you are looking for a really great gift to give someone that just moved into your area it needs to be a zoo membership. Two of my friends and their two kids met us there too.

Micah looking at the prairie dogs. Notice the green iguana in the corner...
This is Micah, Trystan and my Micah. Such a cute picture!

My friend Karyn holding the three of them so they could see yet another iguaua. They are everywhere in the zoo and you wouldn't know it to look at them but these guys can run like the wind! Personally they creap me out.

This is monkey number one, Maddon. He is Micah's little brother and this is his mommy Michelle. While the other kids were running around the fountains he prefered to stick around the snacks and portion them out to the rest of the kids. He was missing his nap.

This is monkey number 2, Elise. She just turned one and was soooo brave running through the fountains. The joy on her face was priceless.

Monkeys three, four and five running around and around and around, racing.

I finally got them all to stand still for a picture and they faced the other direction.

Facing the right direction and straight into the sun....

It was a really fun morning!

Sticks and Fire

Matt woke up from a late nap today and I was itching to get out of the house so I suggested a trip to the beach for a walk. Matt said ok and then asked if we had any hot dogs... so within 20 minutes we were on our way with a cooler full of goodies and charcoal for a fire. What a gorgeous night! I also called my good friend Michelle and she and her two boys joined us. The boys ran around on the sand while we sat and stared at the water taking it all in. Matt had the hot dogs ready by the time we got back up to the grill. We sat, had hot dogs and chips and watched the sun melt into the horizon and the sky turn from light pink to the deepest coral color to a sky of fire. It was so relaxing. Just the night I needed. We are getting better at heading to the beach at a moments notice.

Watch Closely...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Micah Gets Beatrix to Sleep

This was one of those moments where your heart hurts cause you are experiencing something almost too beautiful! I tired several times to get Beatrix to sleep this morning. Micah was sitting on her vibrating chair watching the Rose Bowl Parade and he said, "Will you sit her here by me Mommy?" and I did, a little frustrated truth be told. He put his arm under her and as you can see from the above video promptly fell asleep right next to him.... *sigh* I remember when she was born feeling really sad for her cause she would never get the one on one attention that Micah got, but after today... well he sure never got this kind of attention from an adoring older sibling.

Wish You Were Here?

We went to the beach today! Can you believe it? It was gorgeous out. High of 80, nice breeze the water was chilly to us though at 74 degrees.

Here is a picture of me and Bea. She looked SOOO cute!
Wishing she could play with Micah, maybe?

I think she was wishing for a nap cause I put her in the sling and she instantly fell asleep and stayed like this until we left 2 1/2 hours later. I got some pretty crazy looks with her around my neck like this. Don't know if it was the fact that I had a 10 week old at the beach or that I was wearing her like an accessory.
Matt and Micah building a pretty big sand castle. We also got amazing fish and chips for lunch from our favorite resturant on the beach John G's. Anyone who comes for a visit will get taken there for lunch. You should have seen Matt carrying all of our beach equipment. It was pretty funny. I told him he looked like a pack mule. He said that's what daddy's are for. What a fun day! Wishing you all a Happy New Year for 2009!

The Much Anticipated Christmas Morning

This is what was left for Santa the night before

*the coke was full*
And this is the letter that Santa left Micah. Matt got up at 5:15 cause he couldn't sleep any more. He was too excited. He looked at me and said, "aren't you getting up?" I said nope I'm going to try to sleep until Micah gets up. I know he was disappointed, and truth be told I really didn't sleep much which is how I heard Micah getting up and going into the living room. I heard a little *gasp* and then silence. I called him into my room and he came running in and in a very excited and full of surprise whisper he said, "Mommy, Santa brought me a BIKE!!!" (which he hadn't even asked for)
Micah was the most surprised over this gift! Thanks to some friends of ours son who out grew this wonderful bike, Micah received it Christmas morning and thought it was the BEST thing ever. He waited patiently for the rain to stop and then once it did he rode it all around the back yard and made sure to "park it" just right before coming inside.
Beatrix woke up so happy even though her morning was interupted by an excited brother. She was all smiles for most of it and was very content to lay here and watch all of the action.

One of Matt's presents was a picture frame with a side for imprinting hand prints into clay. Micah and Beatrix are forever frozen for a moment of time. He said he loved it...

Micah opened his stocking last and found all kinds of treasures. This being one of them, a magnifying glass. He has been asking for one for a long time. He also got a car from the movie Cars which he has also been asking for at least a month. He has been very interested in whales lately and so I got him a plastic/rubber whale. This was the present that won the most attention award. He played with it all day and took two baths today because, "whales really belong in the water, mommy!"

Micah opened Beatrix's last present, jammies from Auntie Maranda and Uncle Caleb. What a fun morning. I will post some pictures of my presents soon. I got some really wonderful things from Matt. After we were finished opening presents I made a Christmas breakfest of eggs, sausage and scones. Following the breakfest while we were still sitting at the table enjoying tea and watching Micah feed his whale and his new car "cause they need to eat too" he looked at Matt kind of puzzled and said, "Daddy how did Santa get my bike in his bag?" Matt looked from Micah to me and all he could say for a bit was "Wow, what good questions you ask." You sure can't put anything past this kid!

Christmas Eve

Making sugar cookies for Santa.

How exciting!

"These cookies are gonna be sooo de-icous, Mommy!"

Making cookies in our underware, I mean in Micah's underware. :) We were not thinking ahead and gave Micah a bath and put his jammies on. Yeah, they came off as soon as I remembered how very messy making cookies with a three year old is!
He cut them out himself and with the extra dough made Santa a worm.

*see upper left corner* "Cause he likes worms"
Matt got Beatrix to sleep as Micah and I were frosting the cookies.
Nothing like frosting cookies for Santa in your underware!
She didn't stay asleep long. Bea Bea wanting in on the action.
"How much spinkles can I put on Mommy?"
After everything was wrapped and ready for Micah in the morning. Matt and I watched The Nativity Story after the kids were in bed...It left us speechless and in awe of THE Christmas Miracle!

We Wish You a Merry Christmas...

This is our third Christmas in South Florida! Christmas is such a special time, isn't it? A time to enjoy family and friends and a time to enjoy giving and recieving gifts. I have really been trying to be intentional this year in thinking about the biggest gift that was given to us two thousand and eight years ago. God, in the form of an infant! I am especially blown away by this fact this year as I hold my own little infant. I was talking to Matt about it recently and was telling him how I feel like people tend to skip over this fact, even at Christmas, his birthday. I think the realisation that God did come in the form of a helpless and dependent infant is a little hard to grasp... As I look at Beatrix laying on our bed unable to eat alone, change her own diaper, really even move I wonder WHY God choose to come in that form, to us ??? I have not reached anything profound I just find it amazing that the God of our universe humbled himself and came that way. As a mother, I find this one of the most relatable characteristics of God. He allowed himself to be taken care of by a human family... WOW!

This year as I try to explain the meaning of Christmas to a three year old, I have found myself re-examining what I think the meaning of Christmas is. It is very easy in West Palm Beach to get caught up in all we DO NOT have, so this year I am trying to dwell on all we DO HAVE! I am so thankful for my husband who is kind, compassionate, giving, patient with me, on a quest for true justice and never EVER stops learning new things. I am thankful for my little man, Micah who is adventurous, a knowledge seeker, kind, tenderhearted, an amazing friend and forgives me every day and is eager to always "start over". I am thankful for Beatrix a new light in our home who smiles, coos, and is so beautiful to look at and brings such comfort to hold. I am thankful for our home that is warm when it needs to be and cool when it needs to be. I am thankful for our car that runs and takes us to new and familiar places. I am thankful for friends who accept me just as I am and are patient with my post-pregnancy emotions! I am thankful most of all for Jesus, born as a b a b y. I picture Mary and Joseph looking at this new little wonder nursing and crying and cooing and he looking to them in utter dependence all the while they held the promise in their hearts that somehow, yet unknown to them, He their baby was going to save them.

I hope you take a few moments to really ponder the fact that "Unto us a Child was born!" Yes he was a man, yes he died for us the ultimate sacrifice, but first and foremost "Unto us a Son was given."

Have yourselves a Merry Little Christmas. May it be filled with childlike wonder!

With Love and Blessings for 2009,

The Hot (mildly cooler) Harrison House

**ps-there are 5 new posts that I have posted today. so keep on looking... :)

A visit to Old Grandpa and Old Grandma's house

Monday morning we left early for our first family road trip. We drove to Orlando to see Matt's granparents and what Micah fondly calls Old Grandpa and Old Grandma. A tradition started by Matt and his siblings for their great grandparents. It took us about 4 hours to get there mostly because of a few stops along the way. We had an amazing lunch that Grandma made which I find remarkable since these two are over 85! Then we presented them with their Christmas present and Grandma surprised us by having presents for us too.

The first one that was given to Micah was this fun Christmas hat.

The second one was a Christmas puppy. Micah opened one for Beatrix too.
This is Old Grandma opening ours to her. We got her a picture frame that has room for three pictures. I put some of the wonderful pics that my friend Karyn took of our family when Beatrix was born. She loved them!

Grandma holding a sleeping Bea.

After everyone took "naps" and Micah watched the video that I brought for him to watch during quiet time, Micah and I went on a walk around their neighborhood looking for aligators in the pond and throwing rocks in the water. Then when we got back to the house Grandpa came out and we picked oranges from the trees in his back yard.

It was really special to watch. Here grandpa is holding a branch lower so that micah could reach them. We peeled one right then and there and I am not kidding they were the sweetest oranges I have ever had. He gave us two bags of oranges, a bag of tangerines, a bag of ruby red grapefruit and a bag of pinecones that Micah collected. We are going to cover some of them in peanut butter and seeds for our birds.

Here he is with some of the fruits of our labor. It was much chillier in Orlando then what we are used to in South Florida. It was a chilly 42 degrees when we left that night!

Micah was very well behaved and had a lot of fun with them, even though they admitted that his soft voice was hard for them to hear. They loved watching him play with his toys.

Old Grandma and Micah snuggling together watching Little Einsteins. Micah was trying very hard to explain it all to her. It was a wonderful trip and Matt and I left with a renewed desire to try to get up to see them more! It was great for them and us too.

Two Months

Little Miss Bea Bea is two months old already!

We are getting smiles galore!! She weighed 10 lbs 2 oz at our last appointment.

She has been giving me at least a 5 hour time slot at night.

Wow, does that make me feel like a new woman!
This is her little worried look, "Mom, I'm not so sure about this".
Starting to coo and "talk" to us.

I am only showing you this picture so you can see how similar Micah and Beatrix are. Though she is a little bit more chunk, she is still super strong and is already trying to roll over. She can hold her head up and is trying to scoot.

How wonderfully different to have a baby in the house again. Micah is so in love with her and it is the sweetest thing to see. "I just wanna snuggle her mommy!"

I am so thankful for these two little munkins! Though my days can feel exausting....well, look at them. How can you not love them?

Knock Knock

Micah - Knock Knock

Mommy - what?

Micah - No you say "Who's there?"

Mommy - oh, who's there?

Micah - orange

Mommy - orange who

Micah - orange ya glad to see me?

fits of laughter follow.

will my son become a stand up comic?

i think so!

Micah's Best Friend Micah

This is Micah's best friend. His name just happens to be Micah as well. Somehow they manage to make it work. Last week he and his mommy and little brother came to our house to play. It proceeded to rain all morning. So finally after going around in circles inside we threw some swimsuits on them and sent them out to play. They had a BLAST!

December Birthdays

December is a whirl wind of busyness in general and then you add on birthdays and it becomes all out craziness! So happy birthday to these loved ones. We wish we could be closer to help you celebrate, you!

My Grandma Jacobson December 1st

My brother Jared December 14th

My lovely Mom Patty December 16th

My Father in law Brian December 18th

My Nephew Easton December 25th

My Sister in law Stephanie December 28th

My Sister in Law Vera December 31st

Love to all of you and Happy birthday!!!

and just because he is my nephew here is a picture of Easton!

We love you buddy and happy happy birthday!