More catching up....

Pure Joy!

Storytime with Mrs. Claus

Telling Santa everything he wants!  (He talked Santa's ear off!)

Friends at the Live Nativity.

ICE at the Gaylord...theme this year, you guessed it - Charlie Brown!

This picture is just because!  Why not?!

Catch up before we go go...

I should be packing, but I have been a slacker on this blog and thought I'd try to get a few pictures up as I procrastinate a bit longer!

First, the Gingerbread House....Harrison could not wait to make it.  He especially loved eating the candy!

A small tribute to our dear friend Jim...

Our dear family friend is visiting St. Louis this Thanksgiving from Vancouver, Canada.  Bummer, we are going to Houston this year and will miss him.  I had Harrison help me with a little "Hello" to send to him.  We miss you Jim.  Wish we could be there in person to give you  hugs and kisses!  Love you!

ABCD....Showman....

Harrison loves to sing or talk into my phone and then watch himself on video.  He cracks himself up!  (I think he takes after his Grandma Beano in that aspect!!)

Boo!

Harrison had a great time in October with all of the Halloween parties and fun times.  He loved trying to scare us, although he isn't very good at it!

Happy Halloween....

Crazy busy life full of fun right now....this is all you get for now!  Hope to update more later. :)

They grow up way too fast...

We were at the park with Carson this afternoon and Harrison decided he wanted to climb this HUGE boulder!  He did it with a little spotting from his nervous mother and then scooted to the other side where I could barely reach him to grab him and help him down.  He did it once and then wanted to go right back up there to announce to everyone within earshot at the park that he climbed on top of the rock!

Safari Adventure...

We had a great adventure down to Glen Rose, TX, to the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.  We went with my other adventurous friend, Lindsay, with her sweet kiddos, Christian and Bella - we love them! What a day we had!  We drove through and fed virtually every kind of deer and antelope, a vulture, some bison, rhinos, ostrich, cheetahs, zebra, and our favorite, the giraffes, who we fed by hand.  The kids LOVED it!



Back from St. Louis....

We had a great trip to St. Louis, filled with many adventures and visits with family and friends.  Here are some of the highlights!

We started with a trip down to the Keim's Farm.  (Probably, one of Harrison's favorite moments!) He got to ride on Uncle Doug's bulldozer and operate the scoop - pretty darn cool!  Harrison thought he was hot stuff!

My sweet neice, Avani!!  She is adorable!  Oh, I can't believe it will be 3 months before we see her again.



Steve with his new set up for cooking up some meat at the lake!  He has officially joined Uncle Greg's Annual Native American cooking demonstration! 



Here is the result - a big hit - yummy ribs!

 

A little beach time....

Most of the the great grandkids....we were missing a few who had already left the lake.

                                    
                                      

Koenen Family Photo!

And to top it all off - another favorite of Harrison's - his first professional baseball game to,

of course, the St. Louis Cardinals!

Our legs are getting longer....

Harrison's legs are finally long enough to reach the pedals on his big wheels.  He can't make any sharp turns yet or his foot will slip off, but this was a big milestone!! (We took this video to send to Daddy in Minnesota so he could see our new achievement!)

Our first dentist visit....

Harrison had his first dentist visit and got a clean bill of health!!  He did great and even stopped talking when she needed him to open his mouth!

Of course, who wouldn't do well with a TV in the ceiling above you!  Wow, how things have changed!

Even posing with the dentist and her assistant!

HOT AIR BALLOONS!

So, if you know me very well, you know that I LOVE hot air balloons!  We had a very fun weekend last weekend with Haylee's party and the hot air balloon festival.  We went with Carson and Ms. Danielle to the Friday night festival with balloon glow and the early Sunday morning balloon race.  Harrison and Carson loved it as much as I did I think!  There were quite a few favorites....I really tried to narrow it down!!

The balloon race starting as we drove there....

This one was so close to us that we all waved to the guy riding in the balloon and could see him waving down to us!!

Haylee's Birthday Party!

So I took a few pictures on my camera from Haylee's birthday party.  Kristin and Tommy had a bounce house and the kids loved it for a little while....that is until they were too hot.  I wonder why they got hot it was only 105 degrees outside or something!!  They had fun in spite of being hot.  I'm sure Kristin will put more pictures from the party on her blog soon!

Harrison and Haylee's friend, Abby, posed for this adorable picture.  Haylee didn't want to join in this moment!

Harrison and Abby calling for Haylee to come in and jump...

Haylee finally joins in the fun and Harrison is eager to play with her...

Paradise Pond Birthday Party

Okay, so Kristin and I are having issues getting pictures to my computer of Harrison's party so just click on "The Ray Family" to see the pictures she posted on her blog of Harrison's party.  It was a big hit!  We might just do it again there next year! 

Butterfly Gardens with Taylor....

I was going to put some pictures from Harrison's Paradise Pond-Friend Birthday party, but we'll get to those later.  We have had a busy week without Daddy home!!  Check out our friend's blog (Nathan, Katie, and Taylor) on the sidebar for some cute pictures of Harrison with his little friend Taylor!  They were so cute walking around the butterfly gardens together!  Look for pictures from our Hot Air Balloon Festival outing with Carson in the next day or so as well!!  Fun, fun, fun!

Harrison's Third Birthday

Here is a great video Bret did as a synopsis of Harrison's birthday party.  Annie and Bret always help us capture the sweetest moments!  Below are a few snapshots, including the cake I made that Harrison LOVED!  He didn't really care about eating it, he just wanted to make the trucks dig in the cake!  True three year old!  He thrives off the energy when everyone is visiting.  He loved having his Gramma Achoo, Grandpa Gary, JoAnn, Aunt Elaine, Uncle Mark, and Annie and Bret there, along with Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Mary Ann and Uncle Phil!

Handy Manny....

My parents and Grandma gave Harrison this tool bench for his birthday.  They had it shipped down here and he got to see it and play with it for the first time today! More birthday pics to come in the next few weeks...

Sweet Baby Girl...

I know this isn't Harrison....but it was just too cute not to post!  It is my sweet, niece and goddaughter, Avani, who is 4 months old.  I love this age where they are babbling - it is ADORABLE! Hope the swing doesn't give you motion sickness...

Happy Birthday Harrison & Bryton!

A little catch up on some videos...

The Fergusons came to Dallas to visit and Bryton just turned one. Since Harrison's birthday was coming up too, we just sang to both of them! It was really sweet to see their faces light up as we sang to them, especially when Bryton realized we were singing to him!

Another cute video of the boys in action...