Merry Christmas

We wanted to take a few minutes out of our busy schedules to wish our friends and family a very Merry Christmas. We feel extremely blessed, at this time of year, as we remember Christ's birth and the sacrifice he made for us.

We hope the holiday season finds you healthy and happy. Best wishes throughout the New Year!

xoxo
Karl, Conni, CJay, Conner and Gavin

Just for Fun

I borrowed this idea from a friend of mine from church...thanks Rebecca! I thought it was pretty interesting.

*There are fewer than 1,530 people in the U.S. with the first name Conni.
*There are 232,522 people in the U.S. with the last name Harrison.
*Statistically the 115th most popular last name.
*There are fewer than 337 people in the U.S. with the last name Mackris.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. http://howmanyofme.com">How many have your name?

A Night Out With Grandpa

We had a wonderful dinner tonight with Grandpa Harrison. He is in town for business, which seems to be quite often the past few months. We LOVE it! It is so nice to have family in the area visiting us.

This is an open invitation to anyone who wants to come see this part of the country. We'd love to have you, show you around and lock you in our basement so you can't leave. J/K...we don't have a basement, the first floor bathroom will have to do (picture a roomier version of Harry Potter's pad under the stairs).

What a man, what a mighty good man!!

I'm sure you all know this, especially Karl's siblings, but I wanted to share with you just how wonderful I think my husband is.

We went to bed last night and I wasn't feeling well. I had a doctor's appointment at 9AM scheduled for this morning in downtown D.C. and I was not looking forward to it...not to mention I wasn't completely prepared with my insurance calculations. I slept horrible and woke up feeling worse than I did last night. Karl had originally taken the day off to cover watching our kids and the little boy I babysit for the morning. I ended up canceling the appointment and sleeping on the couch most of the day while Karl:

watched the kids during the day
made breakfast and lunch
got Conner off to school
did my daily chores, which included; vacuuming the house, sweeping/mopping the kitchen, laundry and cleaning 2 bathrooms
took CJay to school to meet with his teacher in my place
picked up dinner from Ruby Tuesdays and
watched our kids again so I could attend Enrichment

He is a wonder! Thank you so much to my father and mother-in-law for raising such a fine husband. Thank you, thank you, thank you Karl for treating me like a queen. I feel so lucky to have you in my life!

Sleeping Beauty

Conner found a sleep mask under his bathroom sink the other day and asked if he could use it. CJay called me into their room right before he went to bed that night and I went in to see what all the fuss was about. There, lying in bed was Conner, fast asleep with the mask on. I had no idea when he asked me to use it that he would ACTUALLY use it. It worked though...he was asleep at a record fast pace that night. I had originally thought that he was just really tired.

The other photo was taken in June 07. At that time, Conner had developed a crazy habit of making a sleeping bag out of his pillow case...with the pillow still inside. Who knows, maybe he will patent the idea when he's older and make millions!

Conner's Birthday

I broke down and decided to post some pictures of Conner on his birthday. He is just so dang cute! His official birthday was October 7, 2008. (He is so photogenic)

Things I Never Thought My Kids Would Say...

This post will be an open ended one that we will add to as time goes by. Karl and I were thinking the other day that our kids say some really funny things (mostly Conner).

This is dedicated to our 3 little men:

1. Karl, CJay and Conner were cleaning off stickers from some old school lockers that were given to us. They were using rubbing alcohol and fingernail polish remover, which we were running low on. From the bathroom I heard Conner say, "Mom, we need to buy some more alcohol because we are out."

Thanksgiving Eatin'

We had a great Thanksgiving day...cooking up a storm and eating. In fact, we didn't get a chance to post yesterday because we were so full that we would have fat fingered any kind of message and then we would have had to translate and it would have been a HUGE mess!
We are finally getting hungry again and I am thinking about all the great food we ate yesterday. We hosted an orphans Thanksgiving dinner at our church with one other family attending.

The menu included: 20 lb Turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes/gravy, green bean casserole, sausage/apple and cranberry stuffing, regular stuffing, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce and 3 pies (pumpkin, cherry and peach). I believe that was everything.

We had a great time, but really missed spending time with our families. We wish everyone well at this time of year and hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day.

ps. We didn't take any pictures of anything this year...I guess we were just too busy or holding out until we get Karl's birthday camera.

Another Birthday?

Yes, November is a very busy month for us when it comes to family milestones. Karl and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on the 10th, Gavin's birthday was last Friday and Karl's birthday is today.
We've had a great time spending the day together as a family. Karl and I got to sleep in a little, which was much appreciated. We went to IHOP in Leesburg and drove through town looking at the homes for sale. We were just pre-approved for a home loan yesterday and we are so excited to get going on the search! At noon it was finally time for some birthday shopping. This year Karl insisted on getting presents that were geared towards the family. (that is how wonderful he is) So "he" got a new digital camera, 2 copies of the Lich King and some CD's. I'm also in the process of making him a birthday pie.
I got a little scared today when we stopped for some fountain drinks at Burger King and I surprised Karl by blowing the wrapper off my straw right into his face and it hit just below his eye. Normally this is a trick of Karl's so I got him really good with his own medicine. As I was profusely apologizing and laughing (quietly on the inside) he said, "I am crying tears of blood and you are laughing at me and haven't even said you're sorry." Then...here's the part that was scary...he told me that he was going to "tell" on me by blogging about it. I knew at that moment that our blog was our virtual parents.
On a serious note, I want to publicly wish him a very Happy Birthday and let him know how much he is loved and appreciated at home. He is so many things and we are so lucky to have him as our dad/husband!


Thanksgiving is tomorrow and we have so much to be thankful for.

The Cutest Things

Kids are so amazing! They do and say the funniest things. I was sitting at the kitchen table before dinner tonight and I was going over a recipe for peach pie. (I'm going to attempt to make one for Karl's birthday tomorrow.) I looked up and Gavin was walking into the kitchen with CJay and Conner's gameboy chargers and ear phones hanging from his neck. He was smiling from ear to ear and thought he was so funny. I see now that he's got his father's sense of humor. I took some pictures that I will have to post later.
He is getting quite the personality and I enjoy just watching him toddle around the house "fixing" things like he was on the job. I absolutely love our kids!

Gavin is 2!!!

At this time 2 years ago, I was at the hospital in labor with Gavin. I was so happy in that moment, even through all the pain.
Now I know him as a little man and he is such a sweet spirit in our home. It is so fun to get to know his personality and I feel blessed that Heavenly Father sent him to our family.
We were able to spend most of the day yesterday with Grandpa Harrison while he was in town and we had a great time at the mall shopping for Gavin's presents. I've wrapped them up, picked up his cake, and he's taking a nap before his older brothers get home.
We are going to Chuck E. Cheese for a couple of hours this afternoon. (Yes, it isn't just for Gavin today...Karl needs his fun too.) All the boys have a great time when we go there. We are just enjoying the day.

First with a photo!

Not that our marriage is a competition, but I REALLY wanted to be first with a photo. So, here you can see my desk. Notice the non-corporate approved external HD hiding under the monitor (it's a green circle). I am such a non-conformist. Also, note the lovely picture of my wife.

Remember when Mom used to send us to sit in the corner? Guess where my cube is!!

Also, I would have a really nice view out the window, if only it weren't blocked by my soul-sucking cubicle wall.

If you are into odd things in the above picture, on the very left you can see a smoke grenade canister used as a pen holder, and behind it one of the very first cable modems in production. It has a steel case with heat-sink fins, and it weighs about 12 pounds. It is behind and to the left of the phone.

New at This

After many months of wanting to start a blog and seeing the cute page of a friends, I've decided to start one for the Harrisons in Virginia. Hopefully it will be a better way to keep our family and friends updated with our whereabouts, howabouts and way cute pictures!

Enjoy