Recap for the past....month?

I hope you are prepared for picture and post overload, b/c you are in for it now...

Mary and Rachel visited a while ago and it was a lot of fun haging out with them. We don't get to really 'hang out' a whole lot, since she is in Sumter and i am in Columbia. Its not all that far away, but between my work schedules and children schedules, its a little hard to actually do anything that does not revolve around family functions. We also met up with Mary's soon to be sister in law to pick out flower girl dresses for the wedding. Rachel would have NOTHING of it. She screamed bloody murder for about 10 minutes in the dressing room, and then we just left.

i guess Mary was demonstrating how Rachel was acting during our David's Bridal trip. (oh, and notice the hideous dresses behind them... hello, tacky Christmas themed wedding!)
And THIS is how we WANTED Rachel to act.

The little Stinker, herself!

After Church on Sundays, Cara and Matt usually have Ward Council. Stephen and I used to just take the kids home with us while they had their meetings. Well, now Stephen has to go to ward council as well.....so I watch the kids at the church if possible. This week, we invaded the portion of the nursery that wasn't in use, and played play dough.

I think she was making a 'lolipop holder'.

I will show this picture to his future girlfriends.

He is 'soooo cute!'

Fruitsnacks are the best!

What's with my nieces and nephews and the 'head tilt' as soon as the camera comes out?

On Valentines day, I made this Candygram for Stephen. It was always a tradition in our house growing up and I wanted to keep it in our family. I would always look forward to getting up on Valentines day and coming to the breakfast table to see my own candygram! (and don't worry...i was a caring spouse and agreed to SHARE the candy with him...haha)

And then....That night, Heather went to the hospital to be induced. So, by Sunday morning i had this new nephew to add to the clan.

We are pretty much awesome.

One of the only times Rachel thought i was funny (usually when i am making a fool out of myself...and she is overly tired. haha)

I think i must have said, "hey Stephen, lets have a baby"

haha...j/k. He was trying to mess up my pictures, as ususal.

Practicing fatherhood...

Speaking of Fatherhood....here's a great little series with MY daddio.

I look at this and say, " Dad, lets try again. You look a little awkward."

take 2:

"ok, now you are just TRYING to be awkward"
Take 3:

ok, now dad is cute...but i look awkward from laughing at him. oh, well.

And i guess looking awkward in pictures is just a family trait...

...that was also passed down through marriage...

We got a little creative to entertain ourselves in that small little hospital room.

Nora 'scissor-hands'

Eli back at home and all cozy.

I think he just realized that his mother was not holding him.

Then a week later.....

Look at all that cute little fuzzy hair! (too bad he did not sleep this well when i was trying to take some pics of him earlier...)

What a cute little old man face!

Don't worry, Eli...you too can have the "Harris nose" one day!This past weekend, Emily came over to spend the night with Stephen and I. We had already signed up to do this 5k walk on Saturday morning, but Emily agreed to just walk it with us.

Well, when Emily came over on Friday night, we ran some errands to prepare for the walk. We had to go pick up our registration out in Lexington, and then pick up a movie that i had reserved at one of those 'redbox' things. So we are at Walmart to pick up this movie (all the while, me being proud of myself for reserving it online, so we wouldn't get there, and it not be available[i had already been to a walmart earlier where it was sold out])

I strut up to the machine with Emily, and immediately touch the 'pick up a movie' button. Then, i started to get confused. There were no buttons for 'pick up a reserved movie'...or anything to that effect. I even read the "HELP" information! (you know i'm getting desperate when i'm contemplating calling their 1-800 number). At this point i'm starting to worry, because i gave out my card numbers online and it had already been deducted from my account. So we walk up to a WalMart associate to ask if they know anything about it.

...of course not...

We go to another worker....and another...until finally this guy who was leaving his shift who offered to walk out to the box with us.

He walks up to the machine, pushes a button (that i swear i must have looked at) and Voi-la, it works and out comes the movie.

So i sheepishly say thanks, and walk out with my movie and about 9/10ths less of my dignity.

I laugh and say, 'well, Emily, i guess you can go home and tell your parents that your TiNa can't even read!"

A little embarrassing, but at least i got the movie. I know Emily LOVES High School Musical, so we rented the newest one to watch with her.

Even Stephen was a good sport, and agreed to sit through it! (although, i think we both make a couple of grimaces at times)

The next morning, we got up bright and early to get to the walk...and it was raining. Not just a litte drizzle, but a torrential DOWNPOUR! But, we had already signed up, and we didn't get a call saying it was canceled, so we trucked on. We had our umbrellas, but that was pretty much pointless.

BUT, we made it. And Emily made it the WHOLE way! We were really proud of her, and i think she was a little proud of herself for walking 3miles!

We only had one complaint from her at the beginning (her side hurt) but as soon as Stephen mentioned playing a game, she was fine.

At the end of the walk, she said, 'That was 3 miles? It didn't even feel like 3 miles!"

Us in all of our rain soaked glory!

Yep, we are pretty proud of ourselves.

Right before we hopped in the car and turned the heat up full blast!

Later that night, we finally got a TV stand that has not gone through the generations of Harris dorm rooms...YAY!

As you can see from this picture, i helped a lot with the construction of this monster piece. I don't think they realized that it would take so much time to put it together (You should have seen the HUGE bag of tiny parts and bolts and screws...it was intimidating! haha)
(also take note that the TV is on ESPN, and the computer is on ESPN website. see? i did help! haha)

and THIS is the final product (horrible picture i know..but i only had a second before we left and it was about 5 inches from the couch...hence the awkward angle)

Also, i must have been VERY tired, becaue they were hammering that all together right beside me on the couch, and I still fell asleep and STAYED asleep until about 1am when Stephen came and brought me to bed.

For FHE this past week, we went to Outback with Cara, Matt and their family. It was great. (with Sis. Bushman giving us the best service EVER...like giving us mounds of bread, for example, and even some to take home! also, every dinner is great when its STEAK and when you are not paying for it.)

Don't worry, Nora. That's how i feel when Matt glares at me too.

haha.. I guess they are related.

"Nora, how do you feel about Daddy?"

...

that's what i thought...

but how do you feel about TiNa??

Yep...also as i suspected!