A Few Not So Ordinary Highlights

Christmas Eve, WWE Wrestling. Check out that choke hold.


Christmas morning. See Mat? See that toy car?


See that toy car ram the kids M & M piles for the next 30 minutes.


Jumped over to Columbus (literally) Christmas Day. We went to see our nearest family, the other Harrises, brother of Mat.


We found Chief Whennapeg there


Along with her sidekick, Bullwinkle.


Bullwinkle later got caught in a game called, "Whack-A-Squirrel"


But, he still had all his teeth


Later that day, we got a package delivered from Grandma, pillowcases! Note: these were mostly used as potato sacks boys vs. girls and entertained them for a good hour


After I tucked the kids in bed, I walked downstairs to this party of Zen. Mat was reading a rock climbing book and learned about stretching. He decided to try it while having a conversation. Tom and Joc, like sheep, followed. Sadly, I later joined too.


Signing off with this disjointed tongue. Happy New Year!

Christmas morning time lapse

Now we just need to find room for all this in the toy closet.

Before You Go

This is what Becket is wishing for this year for Christmas, can you guess? He's very particular and gets stuck on the exact image he saw on a commercial 6mths ago. Wish him luck, i.e. santa luck.



It was a remote control car, if you didn't guess it.


Gretchen is a different story. We recently installed the newest and greatest motivational chart on our fridge--megaphone voice please... The Whine-O-Meter. When she whines it goes down, when she doesn't it goes up. It has done wonders for her great mind, the mind I always knew she had. It also helps that we threatened her that she would not have any fun over the Christmas holiday unless her meter went up.



Birthday was good. Thanks for all of your wishes. Some friends of mine put on an Indian lunch for me and surprised me wearing their saris and gave me a beautiful sari of my very own. That was the highlight of my day (besides Mat's snowy messages, smooches to you too). Gretchen later puked red punch all over my couch and ended Mat and my chance at sushi that night. We went out the next night, I'm okay, your okay. Oh! And thanks for the birthday money mom. I always spend it three different ways. Mat says I can't do that, but every year I do. This year I spent it on our sushi birthday dinner, running shoes, new winter tights and an exercise ball. I think that was four different ways, but who's counting.



Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Hopefully, you can get out and do something you enjoy


Particularly something you REALLY enjoy


As opposed to something you don't enjoy



Merry Christmas from the Harris family.

It's different this year...

I walked outside to find this gleaming at me and smiled. Mat had made this for me with his own two feet, before my morning jog. As I was walking back, I kid you not, the lamp posts on our street all turned on at once! Mind you it's morning, the lamp posts should be turning off, but I think because it was my birthday, they knew. Oh! They knew! I thought quietly to myself, this year is different. Let me explain:

December birthday people between the 20th-31st can only sympathize with me at this point. Wouldn't it be nice to have a birthday in March or September when nothing is going on and you need a party? As a child, I always thought these would be good months to stick my birthday in. In these months, you need an excuse to have some cake instead of getting rid of all the Christmas goodies! So, I constantly have to battle with my one time of year saying, "It's okay, it's a busy time of year for a birthday." I usually resort to wearing a tiara the whole day,dragging my despairing self around, and repeating the story of my birth for anyone who will listen. What's that you say, you didn't hear it?

Briefly, my mom is in the hospital room, right, giving birth. I come out and the doctors panic. I'm blue, not moving, and not breathing. There was no time for a "It's a girl!" cheer. My mother was frightened. 9 mths and I might lose her were her thoughts. The cord was wrapped around my neck four times. FOUR TIMES ! (that's for emphasis when I tell it in person). I was whisked away and placed into the incubator for a few days until I fought my way to live. Ahhh! It always feels good to tell that story. I know you have all missed it.

Anyway, this year I am finally satisfied. I think I don't need my tiara. No pity parties or self wallowing. I'm okay, you're okay. My family goes out of their way each year to make me feel loved and not forgotten. My childhood wounds have heeled. 32, I'm finally grown up!

PS: Mat-I bought a sweater last year from Costco and haven't worn it until today because there was a slight guilt over my splurge. I wore it today because I figured you couldn't be mad at me on my birthday.

Merry Groundhog Day!

I would like to wish everyone a lovely Groundhog Day! It's such a special time of year! It seems that the Harrises are on a bit of mix up for the upcoming holiday and we keep repeating the same routines daily i.e.

Micah:

Mat: "Don't spill your cereal this time. Keep your bowl on the counter."
Micah spills.
Parents clean up milk splatters all over the wall, bar stools, and wood grooves.
Press repeat.

Exception on Saturday, December 12th, she veered off and did this:

Micah: "Dad, say don't spill Micah."
Mat: "Don't spill Micah."
Micah nods her approval and confidently takes her spoon.
Micah spills.
Parents clean up milk splatters all over the wall, bar stools, and wood grooves.

Gretchen:
Dinner is served.
Gretchen: "This smells Awwwful!" We wait for the pause, so that she can plug her nose, then : "I caaaan't breathe. It just doesn't smell very good."
Mic or Mat: "Gretchen stop whining."
Rivers of tears flash flooding down her face, Gretchen wails: "I can't stop whining. I just keep crying, I can't help it! Tears just keep coming out of my eyes! I can't stop."
A very monotone Mic or Mat: "Then no treat."
Gretchen, still plugging her nose: "How many bites do I have to take?"
A very monotone Mic or Mat: "All of it."
Gretchen: "OOOOOHH!" Flash flood warning still in effect.

Press Repeat.

Becket:

Mic: "Where does your backpack go?"
Becket: "Oh, sorry."
Wait 10 minutes.
Mic: "Where does your backpack go?"
Becket: "Oh, I was just _________________ (Fill in blank with a poor excuse)"
Wait 10 minutes.
Mic: "Where does your backpack go?"
Backpack is placed on mudroom table.
Mic: "Where does your coat go?"
Becket: (well, you get where this is going--hit repeat)

Coming out of the Funk!

It's Christmas and Christmas is busy. Too busy. I long for the days when we were sick and we just had to say "H1N1 perhaps?" and we could throw our responsibilities out the window. No callings, no grocery shopping, and no other obligations. I felt caught up on everything and I even found time for myself. I know, how selfish!

After the Christmas rush, I wanted to lock myself in my room and stare into the abyss. My motivation had been zapped. In fact, I sat on the couch for three hours the other night doing absolutely nothing. I have to do this routinely so I can stabilize my balance. You can call it my kind of detox from an overstimulating world. Just like I have to NOT shower for a few days, so that I can truly appreciate getting ready again and not stinking. So, off with the rebellion to my responsibilities and off with my bag lady appearance (as Mat calls it). I'm back, rejuvenated, and out of rehab.

Because it's Christmas!

Something New

It's that time of year when I (Micki) crave M&M's at 10AM, make too much hot chocolate and loads of baked goods just because it snowed, listen to the annoying Christmas puppetry the kids play over and over, and bust out my hideous, yet cozy, furry socks, to keep my toes from turning to ice and to keep the bake good crumbs off my heels.

BUT, this year, we stumbled upon something different. New places make you explore!

It was the lighting ceremony at Woodburn Hall, a historic college building on the WVU campus. The air was crisp and perfect. Santa and his elves passed out candy canes to the kids. Micah had to be coaxed into staying for a picture, as all my children have at this age.



Before the lighting we enjoyed carolers and dancing from the kids.



Then we watched the big white button get pushed and then this happened:



Just kidding--just some of Mat's experimental photography. This is more realistic of how it really looked:


Hot cocoa and cookies were served for free in the student lounge. Mat swears it was the best hot chocolate he had ever had and I was happy because it was free. I like my freebies, my kids will even tell you that.

I'm glad I drug my can downtown to witness this-- I didn't think a little lighting ceremony could be that perfect!

You Awre My Thunthine

Wait for the carefully timed final chord.

Mat Takes Care

Mat takes care of a lot of things around here.

He takes care of his mom's pedicures:



....until it wasn't good enough, so he got out his loops to make it perfect:



He takes care of our eyes:





He takes care of the dishes (while whistling):



He takes care of his body (with a little sweat and tears):



He takes care of the kids (even if it is by being whipped by the helicopter string):


My husband, the one who takes care of things.

A Great Thanksgiving

We had a very busy Thanksgiving with friends and family. It started with a tradition our friends, the Manwarings, introduced to us. We met up at the local rail-trail and had a 5K run with several friends including the the Weeds, Walkers, Manwarings and Mitchells along with Tom and Jocelyn Harris. We had prizes for best times, best dressed, sweatiest runner and so on. It was a good way to start the day.



Kelli made medals for all the kids



Our townhouse is right next to a new hotel, which is separated from us by a huge 30 foot wall. We always thought it would be fun to set up a rope and let the kids climb it with a harness on. Needless to say, they were all excited as we set up the ropes, but once they got on the wall they either chickened out or said they were too cold to do it. So we harnessed up and had races climbing to the top. Micki was the first person to scale the wall, Jocelyn the first pregnant person to scale the wall and Tom the fastest person at 17 seconds.







We had worked up a good appetite by this time and the turkey was ready to be eaten. We all settled in for the usual Thanksgiving fare, but this year everything just tasted a little better than usual.









We let dinner settle in then indulged in pies in all their varieties.



Then it was on to an old Adams family tradition - Indian Leg Wrestling. Even the little babies got in on the action.







By this time the kids were worn out and we sent them to bed. We finished off the night with a nice game of Acquire and called it a night. It was a good time had by all.

Alternative Christmas Music Compilation 2009

We have compiled our yearly mix of off the radar Christmas music and have it here for your downloading pleasure, just in time to be added to your media player of choice for post-Thanksgiving revelry. This year we have a mix of mostly original songs by different indie and alternative artists with a few remakes of older songs and a few older forgotten songs that need to be revived. You can download the zip file of all the songs by clicking here. Here is a sample of a few of the songs:


If you missed out on our Christmas mix from last year, you can download it here. We guarantee you won't be disappointed.

A Saturday in Pittsburgh

Mat's parents came in for the holiday, so we took a little jaunt up to Pittsburgh, PA.




The deal was, that if we went to the Botanical Garden first:







Then, the kids could play at the Science Museum and touch anything they wanted:

Basketball shooting machine robot. Humans had their own hoop next door. Robots 62% accuracy and the humans were 15%. Step it up Humans!



Air hockey against a robot anyone?


Flight simulation=bad hair, especially for the one taking the picture


Time for work!


Work complete! Great job getting the job done (all wet).


I ended up buying memberships to both, Mat will get his pictures at the gardens, the kids will play with science, and I will be happy getting out of the norm. Everyone wins.
We hit Costco on the way home so we could prepare for our Thanksgiving Feast this week. We were pooped, but had a lot of fun.