Photos and more

Is it just me or did Christmas come and go so quickly this year? I feel like the past 2 months have just flown by.

We plan to celebrate with Jeremy's parents tomorrow night so our festivities aren't totally over just yet :)

Surprisingly I took all our Christmas decorations and tree down the day after Christmas. I love all the decor so I usually keep everything up longer but I was feeling motivated to take the tree down and put everything away so I went with it :) It's always so much more fun putting the tree up then it is taking it down. Ha!

I took the kids to the health department this morning to get them a couple shots. I always dread going. One because it's no fun to watch your babies get poked and also because sometimes you have to wait awhile and the kids get restless. I had to wait for an hour and a half before we got called back. I guess the nurse said they had cutbacks and instead of 3 nurses working there is now only 1! So, that would explain the forever long wait. Both kids got 2 pokes...both cried but quickly recovered when mom promised them a sucker in the car :)

The kids pediatrician will be happy to see we got more shots. We delay the kids shots and don't give them 10 at once like they would like to do so they are always behind on shots. We just feel a lot more comfortable giving them just a couple at a time. I finally went ahead and got Ethan the MMR vaccine. I have been back and forth on that one for so long. I've done some research but mainly I've prayed about it a lot and just felt peace about getting it today. I prayed over him and that it would only help his body and not harm it. The nurse told me in 7-10 days his body may break out in a rash but that is to be expected. I guess it is the body's way of reacting to the vaccine. I'm glad she told me that so I don't freak out if/when it happens. Anyhow, I was happy when we got back in the van and were on our way home.

Nothing much new to report. We are all well, healthy and blessed! The kids have been enjoying their new toys and it's been fun to watch their eyes light up.

Here are some fun photos from Christmas morning at my parents. Enjoy ♥
Beautiful Tree

Kids looking in their gigantic stocking

Gracelyn holding 2 little baby dolls my parents got her (so cute!)

A fun clock I got that matches our table and wine rack

Opening Presents


Grandma and Gracelyn (I love this photo!)

Daddy & G (Aren't they sweet?)


Ethan emailing on his new "Mac" ♥


Sisters ♥

My little bro and I ♥


And I saved the best for last. My mom's reaction to opening my positive pregnancy test. The pictures are so funny...she looks a bit upset in the first one...but it was pure excitement! Her reaction was, "I KNEW IT!!! I KNEW IT!!! I had a strong feeling yesterday you might make a pregnancy announcement on Christmas. YESSSSS! YESSSS!" And then a little clapping and dancing - HA! She's always my most fun person to tell - she always gives me good reactions! Thanks mom ♥ Don't be mad I posted these funny pictures - lol.




And here's a pic of my cousin Angela and I on Christmas Eve ♥


Love love love all the family time that comes with the Holiday's! What a blessing it is to be with family ♥

As far as our new little one goes, I'm just 4 weeks and 2 days along and feeling great...aside from the sleepiness :) I'm so thrilled to be pregnant again and am gonna enjoy every second of this wonderful blessing!

Hope you all are well and enjoying the life that God has blessed you with!

Momma Keri ♥

Christmas Morning

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas - I know we sure did! It was filled with lots of great memories with my family.

I wanted to share my mom's favorite Christmas gift this year.



That's right folks....Baby Harrison is on the way!!!!

It was such a fun surprise and I couldn't wait to surprise my mom with the news on Christmas morning. I've always wanted to make a pregnancy announcement on Christmas! I'm so thankful this was my year. What a memorable one ♥

Some people have asked me if we were going to wait awhile this time to tell people. Due to losing our last baby. The answer is no. It's just not me. I am way too excited about a new pregnancy/baby to keep quiet. I never regretted announcing my last pregnancy when I did. For me, the support of family and friends meant so much to me and made me feel so loved when we were going through our loss.

I have a lot of peace with this pregnancy. Jeremy and I have prayed over my pregnancy and this new little baby and we believe all will be well. I would love your prayers too ♥

My heart is full of hope. I am so thankful to God for blessing our lives with another pregnancy. Ethan and Gracelyn will love having a little brother or sister this fall.

My due date? Labor Day. Which is a bit humorous to me. I just may be in labor on "labor" day. It seems fitting :) I'm 4 weeks along and can't wait to experience a pregnancy again!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Mine was the best EVER.

Blessed,
Momma Keri ♥

Harrison Christmas ♥

Our first Christmas celebration of the year was this past Saturday at Brian and Kelly's in Macomb. It was so great to be able to see lots of family, eat yummy food and cake and watch the kids play!

I also enjoyed snapping some pictures throughout the night. There's nothing like capturing memories! I started a Christmas scrapbook in 2002 and each year I do a few pages of Christmas pictures. It is so fun to look at and I love adding to it each year.

Here are some photos from Saturday.

Me and Jude (My Mother-In-Law)
Jeremy and his dad
Jill, Nina and Me ♥

Juliet (the newest Harrison member)
Allison and Evelyn (Cousins)
Jer's Grandma and I (She is one funny lady!)
Daddy and the kids ♥
Gorgeous Gracelyn
Adorable Payton (with yellow marker on her face. Ha!)
The kids playing
Ethan putting his arm around Allison...it was so cute and he was so innocent ♥

The yummy cake I brought (compliments of Vg's!)
And then our fam. Jer's parents, our little family and Uncle Mark

Lots of great photos!! It was a great time :)

Now I'm looking forward to this weekend and all the festivities to come! Lots more photos to come soon I'm sure ♥

Much Love,
Momma Keri

18 Month Check-Up

Gracelyn had her 18 month check up today.

She is in the 23% tile for weight and 90% tile for length. Tall and skinny. Our petite little sweetie pie. Doc says she looks great and is on track with everything she should be doing.

Not much else to report - just wanted to share her well visit info and thank God that she is growing healthy and strong! I love her to pieces.

Enjoy your weekend ♥

Momma Keri

Cute Kids!

I have such cute kids. I just snapped this photo of Gracelyn the other day and it is stunning. She is so beautiful. What a perfect little face she has. I just love her.
And here are a couple of her the other day looking oh so cute all dressed up and extra girly :) I adore the one of her and her daddy ♥ It's so precious.

She is getting older and cuter as the days go on. Her and Ethan are little buddies and play and fight everyday - you know, the usual stuff siblings do :) It's so fun having them close in age and watching them grow up together. When Gracelyn was first born she seemed so much smaller than Ethan but now that's she a year and a half - they seem to be doing everything together and it's getting so fun. She's such a hoot.

And Ethan...I'll tell ya what...this little stinker is a funny one. He is so sneaky at such a young age and I just have to laugh because I was sneaky at a really young age too. He thinks he's really sly but doesn't realize I totally have him figured out. The last two mornings he was up and watching a show...Gracelyn was still sleeping so I hopped in the shower real quick. The minute he hears the shower he knows mom is a bit occupied for a few minutes which means it's time to run to the freezer and do this.

Ha! Such a stinker. This is one of the reasons we rarely buy ice cream. It's a constant fight of telling him no which is then followed by a tantrum when he doesn't get ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner. He woke up close to midnight last night whimpering...so I went up there and peeked my head in and he told me he wanted ice cream. Ha - silly boy. I told him no and to go back to sleep and he laid back down and slept the rest of the night.

I wouldn't make such a big deal out of his little ice cream sneaks if he ate better but most days we have to beg and bargain with him to eat for us. Most days he barely eats lunch and sometimes won't eat dinner but wants to snack and eat ice cream. Uhh, I don't think so little man! I've never been huge on sweets with the kids but I am really trying to keep only healthy snacks in the house. We are trying to be more strict with him and not allowing him to snack in between meals because then he has no appetite for lunch and dinner. If the unhealthy snacks aren't available then it makes it much easier for us too. We give him choices so that he can pick which snack he wants...whether it's raisins, nuts, cheese, peppers or healthy popcorn (no butter), etc. but if he sees cookies or raisins I'm pretty sure he's gonna go with the cookies. So anyways, if you are a Grandparent and reading this - please take notes :)

This Saturday is our Christmas celebration with all of the Harrison family which is always so much fun. I am so glad they decided to do it the weekend before Christmas from now on - this means we should be able to make it every year. I can't believe Christmas is only 10 days a way - I still have a few gifts to buy.

Well, hope you all are staying warm and cozy on these cold and snowy Michigan days.

Love,
Momma Keri ♥

18 months already?

Yup. It's true. Our sweet Gracelyn Joy is already a year and a half old. Sigh. I can't believe it. The days of nursing and sleepless nights are gone and I look at her and see a little girl - I see nothing babyish about her. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Ok, I am done with my tantrum.

Although it makes me a little sad to see her grow so fast, I feel so blessed and thankful to God that my kids are healthy, growing and thriving. I know of many kids who are not and that are fighting for their lives - it breaks my heart and keeps me steadfast in prayer.

I just can't believe how fast the kids are growing. People that have grown kids will say to new moms all the time...to enjoy every moment because they go by fast...but when they you are a new mom and nursing every 3 hours and barely sleeping it seems hard to imagine time going by quickly. Ha! But now I totally get it! I can remember my pregnancy with Ethan like it was yesterday and he will be 3 in February - oh my! And little Gracelyn...wasn't she just born like last week? I feel like time is going by faster with each year that passes.

Here's a few pictures of sweet G.

Brand New ♥
One week old ♥
6 Months ♥
One Year ♥
18 months ♥ Can you believe how much hair she's gotten in the past 6 months? Wow!

And here's a sweet video I found of her when she was brand spankin' new! It's super short and she doesn't make a sound - but she' perfect! Oh how I love brand new babies ♥

She has brought so much joy to my life these past 18 months. Having a little girl (or in my case perhaps a bit of a tomboy) is so sweet and fun. I love her spunk. I love her confidence. I love her personality. She's tough and can hold her own in a wrestling match with her brother. It cracks me up - seeing as she's just this little petite thing :)

The kids are doing great. Ethan is talking more and more - which warms my heart so much! He is so smart and very observant and his memory amazes us. He loves the movie "Polar Express" and there's one part in it I don't like and I always skip through it. About 20 seconds before that scene comes he will run over to me with the remote and say "uhh oh uhh oh" because he remembers I always skip through it. Love that boy! He has been getting more snuggly lately too which of course I take advantage of as much as I can ♥ Gracelyn is learning new words, still loves to eat and plays and wrestles with her big brother everyday. I love having kids close in age - it's just special to see them together and do precious things. Ethan will call Gracelyn from the other room to come play with him, he will go over to her, grab her hand and take her somewhere. She will give up a toy sometimes and give it to him if he really wants it. I love how Gracelyn will do something goofy and Ethan just starts cracking up laughing. Oh how I love my babes ♥

Hmm what else is new with us. Jeremy and I got to do dinner, Christmas Shopping and Starbucks the other night together thanks to my mom for babysitting. Thanks mom, we had such a nice time out! We got lots of our shopping done which was great. I can't believe Christmas is only a couple weeks away - so fun! I just love this time of year. I sent my Christmas cards out yesterday (all 115 of them, phew!) and love seeing Christmas cards come in the mail ♥

Papa Ray and Grandma Jude brought over Chinese last night which was so yummy (thank you) and we just hung out and watched the kids play - it's always so nice to visit. Thank you Grandma Jude for buying the kids new boots for the winter to match their coats - they are so great and the kids feet will stay toasty and warm :)

Well, I need to get the kids breakfast and get them ready for a grocery trip to Meijer. I love Meijer. Especially because they give kids a free cookie at the bakery every time you go...which helps during my grocery shop...and then by time they finish it I promise them they get to ride Sandy the pony after we check out. Which is only a penny. Awesome!

Hope you all are enjoying the Holiday season so far!

Love,
Momma Keri ♥

Thankful Thursday

My heart overflows with thankfulness for so many reasons...

Let me catch you up on the past 2 weeks.

Most mornings I wake up to hearing little feet coming down the stairs. A couple minutes later Ethan walks into our room with his green blanket dragging behind him - ready to start the day. I miss my kids when they sleep. Is that weird? I just love them so much and feel so thankful to be their mommy. Most days I still can't believe they are mine. I am so blessed. They bring so much joy to my life and make me smile and laugh so much. Being a mom is just the best gift ever. Being a wife is pretty great too :)

Here are two adorable pictures of Gracelyn I took the other day. I just thought she looked beyond cute and had to snap a few pics. Could this girl be any prettier? She's adorable from the front and back ♥

I don't have any new ones of Ethan just yet - he is a bit harder to photograph these days. I promise to post some cute ones soon :)

I'm also thankful for friendship. In the past few years I have really met some amazing Godly women who I really love and cherish. I've never had tons of close, good girlfriends in my life but these past few years have been filled with many and I'm so thankful for good friends. One of my very best friends Brooke turned 30 last month and we went out to celebrate at PF Changs. Yum! Here's a pic of all of us who went and celebrated ♥ It was such a fun night full of joy and laughter...and cake....and starbucks too ♥

I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband who I love and can't wait to see each day when he gets home from work. I'm thankful he is such a hard worker and provides for us. His business was just on the news this past week as their company is growing and it's so exciting. In a economy where so many companies are not doing well, God has given his company favor and I'm excited for 2011 - it's gonna be a good year! If you haven't seen Jer's 2 seconds of fame - check it out! He is so handsome ♥

I'm thankful for family. We are surrounded by amazing family on all sides and that is such a blessing to me. So many do not have family or healthy relationships with them so I'm very grateful to have so many we love and adore. We went to Bair Lake for Thanksgiving with the Petke's and it was so nice to see everyone. Sadly we ended up leaving very late at night due to Gracelyn having a rough night and not sleeping. Our time was cut short but we knew it was best for us to be home.

I'm thankful for my Christmas tree :) I love, love, love Christmas time and our tree is so pretty! I'm so excited for all the fun festivities this month brings and I'm really looking forward to watching my kids enjoy Christmas more this year. I think they will both have fun opening presents and getting new toys and clothes. I can't wait! Here's a pic of our tree (although it's missing lots of ornaments due to the kids taking them off, breaking them, etc) but I still think it's beautiful! Here's a picture of my adorable ornament from last year - thanks to my sweet mother in law who buys us a fun ornament each year! I love them and they are so sentimental for me.

So...a friend of mine commented on some photos of mine and jokingly asked when I was taking her kids pictures for their Christmas card. I told her I would love too - although I'm totally not a professional and am self taught for the most part - but also free :) She was really excited and so was I. I felt a little nervous only because I wanted her to be happy with the photo and seeing as I don't totally know what I'm doing I was a bit anxious. She had this super cute idea of dressing her kids up to portray the manger scene. Her oldest son was a shepherd, middle son was Joseph and then her daughter as Mary...and then a baby doll for baby Jesus :) I suggested to take the pics by a barn with some hay to add to the look. Oh my word - the photo turned out AMAZING! I thought they turned out nice once looking at them when I got home but once I edited the photo - wow - the picture is absolutely priceless. It captures such a sweet story. I will share the photo with you soon but I want to wait until she sends out her Christmas cards first so I don't spoil it for anyone who may receive one. Can't wait to show you this photo!

I'm thankful for health. Sometimes you forget how blessed you are to be healthy when you are feeling crummy. I woke up this morning with horrible stomach pains. I forsure thought I was going to throw up - I haven't felt that bad in probably a decade. I came out of our room and laid on the couch for 2 hours - just waiting to run to the bathroom - but never did. Jer woke up around 7:15 and I told him I was feeling really icky. He stayed home from work today because I knew there was no way I could take care of the kids. I started feeling much better by 9ish though. Thank you Jesus. I was praying and so was Jer. Then around 1ish Jer started having the same stomach issues. We are pretty confident we got sick from chinese food last night. That's the only thing we can think of - we know it's not the flu. We are both feeling much better tonight. Not 100% but close to it. I'm just so thankful that other than minor sicknesses here and there we have healthy bodies. So many people do not.

I'm so thankful to God for so many amazing blessings in my life.

Stay Blessed,
Momma Keri ♥