harris happenings...

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Children's Museum and Visitors!

My sister Milin and her husband Jake came to visit us in April with their cute little boy Tean. It was fun hanging out with Milin. On one of the days we took the little kids to the Lied Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun. While we were driving, Tean would start crying out of the blue. Then, he would stop. This happened several times so I started watching from my rear-view mirror. Broyden would slowly reach his hand out and touch Tean's car seat, which would bring Tean to tears. Broyden seemed fascinated at his ability to do this:) It was fun to watch them wrestle and play.

CUTE TEAN

PRESLYN AND BROYDEN

PRINCESS WITH PIZAZZ!

BROYDEN AND TEAN LOVED THE CAR

FRIENDLY FIREMAN

BIG BUBBLES AND WET TOES!

FEATHER DUCKS

PILOT PRESLYN AND HER CREW

NOT TOO TASTY!

MOON SAND--THE BIGGEST HIT OF THE DAY

CRAFTY TEAN AND HIS CUTE MOMMY

PLAYING HOUSE

SHAPES

THANKS MILIN AND JAKE FOR VISITING! WE HAD A GREAT TIME!

Birthday and Visitors

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

We were lucky to be able to celebrate Aaron's birthday with a visit from Nathan and Daisy (my brother and sister-in-law) and their kids. Demarie and Preslyn had so much fun with their cousins and Broyden was obsessed with holding the baby:)

Lion King

Mommy/daughter date to Lion King. We had a great time!

Nursery Boy

This picture was taken on March 27th, but I haven't got a chance to post it yet! It was his first official day of being in nursery!!!! Broyden loved it and did great. He is holding the picture that he colored, but he kept moving it, so I never got a good view. Isn't he handsome? He sits so good and tries to sing along with the songs. He has started singing parts to "I am a Child of God." I love how he puckers his lips and holds out the word "do----!" Maybe I'll post a video someday:)

Demarie's Doll House

So, for Christmas, the girls got a beautiful doll house, completely furnished (it even came with a piano). Well, this sparked Demarie's imagination, and she immediately went to work creating her own dollhouse! I thought it was pretty creative!

A shelf with a toy box full of toys (there is even an American Girl doll in the toy basket), a window with stick window panes, and a big screen tv mounted to the wall. If you look closely, you can tell that they are watching the Little Mermaid.

A view of the inside. There is a bed with a beautiful paper blanket and cotton ball pillows, a rug, and table and chairs. There are even dishes and yummy food on the table.

Guess which doll house gets played with the most? :)

How to Survive With Your American Girl Doll

If you are reading this post and have not went through the American Girl doll experience with your daughter, be so grateful!!!! Not only are these dolls very expensive, but their outfits and other accessories cost more than what I spend on my own daughter's clothes:)

If you are reading this post and have a daughter that is obsessed with the American Girl doll dream, be so grateful!!!! These dolls are adorable and you can order them to look like your daughter. I have to admit, I get excited when my daughter asks me to help her put on one of the doll's outfits or to comb her hair. I've watched Demarie's imagination go wild with her new friend.

So, if these dolls and all that comes with them are so expensive, how do you live the American Girl doll dream and still survive with money in your wallet? That was the question that I asked myself as I watched my daughter flip through the magazine and ask if she could get this outfit or that. Suddenly, I had a great idea! I have two bags stuffed full of baby clothes in my garage. Would it be possible to alter them and make my own American Girl doll outfits? So, my daughter and I rummaged through the baby clothes and picked a few outfits that didn't look "babyish" (because her doll "is NOT a baby! It is an American Girl doll!")

Here are my finished projects so far:

Every American Girl doll needs a pair of warm pajamas to cuddle up in at night, right? This was my first sewing attempt to make pajamas from a 0-3 month sleep and play outfit. I even managed to whip out some matching warm slippers so that her feet don't get cold (an essential for Las Vegas!). I wish I would have taken a before and after picture of the outfit!

With Spring around the corner, I just knew that Demarie's American girl doll would need a new Easter dress. Here is the before picture of a cute 0-3 month dress that Preslyn wore when she was a baby.

And here is the after picture... a beautiful spring Easter dress! I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to take the dress apart and making it into a completely different dress!

I wish the picture was better, but here is a view from the back. Not sure if you can see the purple flower buttons, but I did have to point them out just to show that I actually made button holes!!! The best part of the whole project: My daughter LOVED it! The second best part of the whole project: It was FREE!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

SEA WORLD VACATION

So, one friday morning in March, I woke Demarie up in a panic! "Demarie, we slept in!!!! You are going to be so late for school!" She popped out of bed and started getting ready as fast as she could. When she was all ready, I looked at the clock and said, "Oh! We are so late! I guess instead of going to school we ought to load up in the van and drive to California to go to Sea World!" Demarie and Preslyn were so surprised and excited! Broyden imitated them jumping up and down cheering too. I guess he figured something exciting was happening! We had packed the van the night before when the kids were in bed, so after breakfast, we headed to California for a fun family adventure!

I would like to say we had an "amazing" time, but as soon as we pulled out we all got sick! In fact, we were all so sick that the following week I was diagnosed with tonsillitis, Demarie got bronchitis, and Broyden had double ear infections and a major cough. Preslyn pretended to be sick because everyone else was and when we were all starting to feel better, she got so sick too! Even Aaron wasn't able to escape it! However, despite the sickness, we did have a GREAT time! Here are a few pics from our quick vacation...

WATCHING SHAMU... SO EXCITING! WHO DOESN"T GET CHOKED UP WATCHING THIS SHOW!!!! IT WAS WORTH IT, JUST TO SEE THE LOOK ON MY CHILDREN'S FACES!

SHAMU AND BABY SHAMU TAKING A MUCH DESERVED BOW!

WAITNG FOR THE SEA LION SHOW

I remember walking past the carnival games at the fun parks growing up and begging my parents to win me a prize. Then. I had a friend in high school that worked at Lagoon and she told me how the games are totally rigged to make it harder to win. So, when we walked past the basketball hoops, I was stunned when Aaron forked out the money for 3 shots to win a stuffed animal. He just couldn't resist the temptation of proving that he was a good shot! We all held our breath, and $15 later, Daddy pulled through with a teddy bear for Demarie and a stuffed Shamu that was as big as Preslyn!