It's Christmas time!

I feel a little pressure to update the blog. So, here it goes. These past few months have been busy, but really great. I so loved having my sister and brother in law here with us for 2 weeks...and I miss them terribly. I always have the hardest time in the few weeks after family leaves, but thankfully I had enough distractions this time around to keep my mind off of my Scotland home.

A group of girls from my ward and I started a preschool co-op. There are six of us involved and so far it's going fairly well. The children are beginning to adjust to the structure of it and getting along with each other pretty good for the most part. It's so nice to have a little more one on one with with Peter for a couple of hours twice a week and I actually quite enjoyed preparing for the short lessons when it was my turn to teach. It's reminding me of my teaching days and even though I thought for a minute "aww I kinda miss this", I really don't and I'm much happier at home with the wee ones.

For Thanksgiving this year, we were invited by Ryan's aunt and uncle to come out to Reno,Nevada. Their son, Jake, was getting ready to go on his mission to the West Indies and they thought it would be nice to gather the family for the holiday before he headed into the MTC.

I dreaded the thought of the 10+ hour drive out there, but we broke it up on the way out and stopped in Medford for a night(5 hours away) before tackling the remaining 5 or so hours the following morning. Peter hates his car seat and always has, so he successfully made the trip to Medford miserable for everyone, but thankfully he slept most of the morning/afternoon the following day. We didn't hit any major snowfall which made for a smooth trip all around. We had had to get some things fixed on our trusty old Buick le sebre before we left and a couple of new tires, but she didn't die on us which I consider a small miracle.

It was a really brilliant trip despite the tight sleeping quarters(17 of us under one roof!). The wee ones had loads of people fussing over them which meant I got a lovely break, plus I didn't really have to do much cooking either...always fantastic. On Friday we went wedding dress shopping with Callie. She ordered a really beautiful dress...here's a wee peek. She's going to have a different jacket that Liz will make.

A few photies of Jack...you'd think it was still Halloween at our house and not almost Christmas. Right after Halloween I went out and bought a couple of cheap costumes for him to play with and he has not stopped wearing them. He thinks he's pretty cool, and Peter couldn't agree more.

SPIDERMAN

DASH INCREDIBLE

When we got back from Thanksgiving in Reno we continued with our new tradition of going out and cutting down our own tree. Later that night we decorated it and then had some delicious hot chocolate. The wee ones loved staying up a little later than usual. Jack is really excited about Christmas this year...he has a REALLY long list of toys he wants.

Liz came back to ours after Thanksgiving and has been here with us for a week...she leaves tomorrow and I know it's going to break wee Jack's heart when she goes.

Lastly, just for the record I have to include these photos of Peter. This kid is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear. He walks around with these toys most of the day "making them fly" as shown in the picture below (of course, there is a whooshing sound that accompanies the flying) , and kissing them fairly frequently. It's hysterical.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

The lowdown

I've been ignoring my blog for a wee while due to the fact that my sister, Rachel, and her husband, Fred, are here visiting us. Today Jack had preschool and so they went off to spend the day in Portland, so I thought I'd do a super quick catch up while they're out.

The days always fly in way too fast when we have family come to visit and this time is no exception. It's been great though and we've been able to cram in a ton of stuff over the last 2 weeks. I've kinda felt a little like a tourist myself actually...we've seen and been a few places that I hadn't ventured out to before.

First place we checked out was the Portland Saturday Market. Loads of weird and wonderful people to ogle at there! Oh, and of course there was a ton of delicious smelling food (although, unfortunately what I chose wasn't so delicious.)

It did rain for the majority of the time we walked around perusing, but we live in Oregon...that's what it does here. Can't let it slow you down, and we certainly didn't, since almost everything we did was in the rain.

When we got home we carved some pumpkins and then went to our ward's "trunk or treat". Since it was pouring down with rain we had it in the building. It was completely mobbed! It was fun seeing my wee ones get so excited. Everyone handing out sweeties was to go find a spot to hand out your goodies somewhere in the building. Ryan picked a chair in the foyer outside the chapel. It cracked me up seeing him sitting there giving out sweeties to the trick or treaters.

Jack and Peter both flippin' love lollipops...swell.

Here's a family shot (in which I have a crown on my head) right before they went out trick or treating in our neighbourhood.

Peter couldn't believe his luck...he was in heaven! I'm usually a bit stingy with the sweets.

Out enjoying our crazy neighbourhood decorations! They go all out around here..it's brilliant.

Iron Man laughs in the face of danger! Hahaha.

Halloween was great fun and I think Rachel and Fred enjoyed seeing how mental it is around here at this time of year. We also went along to a pumpkin patch and made our way (amazingly) through the muddiest corn maze EVER!

On Monday(1st), we visited the 'Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum', where the Spruce Goose resides.

It's bloomin' gigantic! Totally worth getting a look at. Ryan didn't go with us as we went during the day, but it's totally worth going back to. The boys thought all the planes were pretty cool.

I've been with the boys to the zoo quite a few times this year and it seriously never gets old. I'm definitely thinking of getting a pass for our family after winters over. We got so lucky this particular day. It actually DIDN'T rain...miracle of miracles. And all the animals were out enjoying the weather, it was brilliant.

This is Pete's kissy face. It's so funny and he pretty much does it on command. He likes the lime light that one.

This past Saturday we went out to Multnomah Falls. It was FANTASTIC. A definite must-see. We hiked up to that bridge you can see in the above picture and then a wee bit past that to get another view of the Gorge. Pretty incredible. Can't wait till my parents come back for a visit and we can take them there.

Peter got the best deal. We borrowed this cool baby carrier from my friend for the trip and Pete enjoyed chillin' out in that for the hike....poor Ryan's back was breaking by the time we got back to the bottom though.

I'll post some more later...

Halloween Costumes

Before we went to Scotland in September I was in TJ Maxx (or TK Maxx to those of you in Scotland) one day and found these ace costumes for a pretty great price. Jack had been asking me for months if he could be a tiger. Well, how perfect, there was his outfit...and when I saw the wee lion one it was hard to resist getting that for Pete! They seemed thrilled. When we got home Jack could not wait to get his costume on....after running around the house roaring and showing off his tail for approximately 5 minutes he demanded the costume off and said it was "too big"? What the devil? It fits, what are you talking about?!

I put the costumes away (as it was only the end of August at this point) and convinced myself that when I pulled them back out in October Jack would be thrilled once again with the tiger outfit.

On the flight back from Scotland 'Iron Man 2' was showing on the plane. Jack didn't have headphones to listen, but did he need them?....NO! He was hooked, completely mesmerized. He was Iron Man's new #1 fan. A couple of days later we were in Target. As we strolled down the newly set-up Halloween aisle Jack's eyes fell upon a new love.

In that moment I knew it was "bye bye" to the handsomest tiger and cutest wee lion I ever did see. I took as many photos as I could that afternoon, forcing them to wear the costumes against their wishes...teehee.

The following day Iron Man and Superman came to the Harris home...and they've been "protecting us" (according to Jack) ever since.

This was my favourite night while I was home. We've never all been together like this before and I loved every minute of it.

Starting from the left: Margaret (my sister in-law, married to John), John (my brother just younger than me), Me (oldest kid), Martha (engaged to my brother, Daniel), Daniel (brother #3, 5th kid), Alisa (my sister-in-law, married to Euan), Euan (brother #2, 3rd kid).

Front: Ryan (mine), Fred (my brother-in-law, married to Rachel), Rachel (sister #1, 4th kid).

We ate chinese food, the boys played computer games, the ladies had a blether, and it was all just lovely.

Family photos 2010

Last year I won a giveaway photo shoot through the blog: kateandjessphotos.blogspot.com. I know this mother/daughter photography team from our previous ward in Wilsonville, here in Oregon. I was super excited to get some family photos taken, but really nervous that the wee ones wouldn't co-operate. Well, Jack lived up to my expectations and was fairly miserable for the entire shoot. BUT miraculously the pictures turned out lovely anyway...even the ones in which he's pouting and being difficult he looks very sweet...lucky for him! Ha. Here's a few of my favs:

I really LOVE how they turned out.

Loch Lomond

Rachel, Fred, Ryan, Neal (he ditched school), and I headed out to Loch Lomond on a fairly pretty and warm day. We went through the tourist shop for a wee look and I ended up buying some tablet, fudge, and macaroon to bring back to a few people (For some reason this is underlined and acts as a link to a photo of some delish ice cream we had at Nardini's in Largs. I have no idea how this happened, but at least you get a wee peak at the yummy ice cream).

Then we sat and ate our wee picnic lunch whilst staring at this beautiful view.

I don't think I actually took a minute to look at what the story was with this bell, but Neal got great enjoyment out of spinning it as hard as he could till it turned the whole way around.

We walked around a tiny portion of the shores for a few pics, but then headed off to the outrageously overpriced Sea Life Center. Fred went in ahead and got us set up with a wee deal that got each of us in for cheaper, but really it still wasn't worth what we paid. I thought the sharks they advertised were going to be massive....yeah, they were pathetic and small.

In the wee shop after going through the Sea Life Center the boys thought it'd be great fun to dress up as pirates.

I felt kinda bad that we'd gone without the wee ones since this would have been something they'd have actually enjoyed, but we hadn't planned on going, it was total spur of the moment. So, I bought Jack (who was not feeling great due to a cold that had triggered his asthma) a Hammerhead Shark. He's obsessed with Sharks so he was content with that. Peter got this freebe hat. Pete actually loves to put things on his head...and not necessarily hats.

Machina

Miss Catriona Mitchell.

We've been best friends since we were 11yrs old.

I can't tell you how much I love her.

We laugh so hard when we're together.

I miss her all the time.

It just wasn't long enough.