First Week of School Over

Becket is on his third school in the four years, poor guy. Hopefully, this will be a permanent place for the him and the rest of the family. Although no guarantees, I have recently learned of some art minded charter schools that I know he would enjoy, so don't count on my consistency. Here are a few pictures from their first day of school at Canyon View Elementary.

Becket, 3rd grade, Mrs. Jones



Gretchen, 2nd grade, Mrs. Hedin



And Micah will start next week, Kindergarten, Mrs. Armstrong

First Moments of Soccer

Gretchen and Micah have decided to join the jock side and play soccer for the Fall and Spring.  Both were a little weary about it--they don't know the rules, I don't know the rules. Gretchen fortunately gains confidence by the truck loads with each kick and know how.  After the Olympics, you would have thought she had been a gymnast for years! Well, now she is a professional soccer player.

Waterbreak:

Mic: "Gretchen, just get in there and kick the ball down the field as fast as you can."
Gret: "Mo-om? I'm a defender. I'm going to protect the goal. You don't really know how to play this game."

Mouth closed.



Micah is another note. She has a cute way about her when she plays and only in her own Micah fashion. With a brush of her hair or an adjustment of her outfit--she is delightful to watch. Toes are pointed before and after she kicks.  If you're lucky, she might even do an A La Seconde or Efface  as demonstrated below after she performs ONE kick

This is how we're going to be spending our Saturdays.   It will be fun watching these two.

Update on Haiti

I've been worried about Mat ever since I sent him straight into the eye of the hurricane.  His flight was canceled Sunday morning because of the storm, but fortunately he was able to fly out Monday morning and make the most of his time down there.

Here's what he had to say upon arrival:

We finally arrived. Our plane was delayed another 90 minutes on the tarmac for some technical problems, so we ended up getting here around 1:30.  The airport was super busy because no flights had come in or out for a few days and everyone was trying to get back.  Dr. Cadet picked us up and drove us to the church where we met with a young guy who works for the church humanitarian mission here.  They had lunch for us and we planned out what we were going to do.  Because we had arrived late, they sent the patients home and told them to come back tomorrow :(  which was a bummer. So they just took us to the hotel and dropped us off and said we'll see you tomorrow.  We'll head out at 8AM to the hospital, which is supposedly close and have a bunch of patients waiting for us.  We are at Le Plaza Hotel, which is pretty nice all things considered.  Getting here was like driving through a war zone.  Everything is in disrepair.  The roads go from paved to cobbles to dirt to really rocky dirt in the space of a block.  There are people everywhere standing around or in little groups just talking.  You wonder what they are all up to and what they go home to at night.  We walked just down the street from the hotel for a few minutes because it sort of looked like a place tourists might go, but we quickly turned around as we were the only white people and we started getting shouted at for money from groups of guys all sitting around.  I was very hesitant to take photos as I didn't feel safe even pulling out my phone.  The hotel seems very secure, however, with a high wall and gate, so I'll just chill here and be content.  I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.  Hope you guys are doing well and know I love you.

Love, Mat

T-Shirt Making-Enrichment UNAUTHORIZED

I love Colleen! You bet your pretty neck I do. She was so kind to take an evening in St. George to teach us how to expand our creative juices making our own personal T-shirts out of printouts and freezer paper.  That's all I think about now is how I can improve my boring plain T-shirts and make them better. Spunky. Pizazz. A Statement.

I ruined one of my favorite shirts in the washer. Dunno how my T-shirt was the only one ruined out of the batch, but that is the story of me life!  So I enhanced my blue-ink, tie-die into an Indian damask print. It was Colleen's suggestion and we happened to find a nice one on Dannielle's panel in her office. I now can wear my yeller with pride thanks to my dear funny friend and Dannielle's fish tacos to sustain us through the party.

 Dannielle worked on running T-shirts for her church run.

 My orange T-shirt was a simple saying of "meh."in muddy brown.

 Grace is wearing my yellow T

 Process

 Mat's Acquire T-shirt for all of those who have played the game.

 And the kids kept themselves busy doing their thing.

Mat's in Haiti, I Think

Mat left for Haiti on Saturday to do some service work for a week.  He was supposed to spend Saturday night in Florida and then fly out to Haiti Sunday morning--but Hurricane Isaac has created a few problems hitting both Haiti and Florida.  It's hard sending your husband on a plane knowing that a hurricane is heading to both of the places where he supposed to go. Talk about sending him into the line of fire. Don't forget to wear your helmet!

That's why I had Andrea take a family picture to have and to hold until he returns



And for extra measure, a picture to show just how much we love him and how we SERIOUSLY hope he returns to us safely.



I won't hear from him until Friday--unless he can find wi-fi in some lucky place in Haiti. I wish him so much luck.

Mat's First Day in Primary

Mat recently was called to primary in our church.  He is a teacher for the 11 yr old boys.  Before they separate for classes they have what's called sharing time where they teach all the children at one time some moral or scripture concept.  They were playing pictionary and Mat was helping Micah to draw a strong family.  He suggested that she draw our family with strong arms hoping the rest of the primary would get it.  Micah proceeds to draw this:



Mat seeing the unsightly third leg tried to jump in and help her by making a skirt and telling Micah that was a very nice picture she drew of Mom.



Micah protested with HASTE!  "That's you! Don't you see your privates right there (points to unsaid third leg)! No! I don't want you to make a skirt, that's not Mom--THAT'S YOU!"  Mat hears chuckles in amongst the other teachers.  Hopeless. So there it stayed on the chalkboard, until sharing time was over.



Welcome to Primary!

Gretchen is 7!

Oh Yes! She is 7, so watch out.  She is getting older and smarter as the days go on.  She has a strong presence in our home, most of the days are sunny, currently it is stormy until she cools herself down in her room.  She loves crepes, dazzling things to wear that make her feel pretty, loves to play piano fairy to her younger sister to get her practice, and she loves a day all about her.  We love you dearly Gretchen!







Here's our patio Friday night for a lovely little birthday with Tiff and Case and Grandma and Grandpa. Mat hung up some lights and I hung up some tissue flowers from a wedding we went to a couple of weeks ago.  It was birthday magic.

What a bad picture taker I am or maybe we need more lights? What do you say Mat?

Mamma's on a Health Kick

Watch out!  We're trying to do better after all of our summer party foods.  Don't get me wrong,  Nutella will never leave our house, but I am enforcing a strict vegetable rule on my kids.  It's rather chilly in our house around dinnertime. You've probably tried them--Kale Chips?

break off kale leaves from the stem
spray with olive oil
sprinkle with sea salt
bake at 300 for 25 min or so (keep an eye on them)

I think they are choice salad toppers.  Maybe I can talk Cafe Rio into putting those on instead of the tortilla chip strips. Doubt it.

Ideas for kid lunches?

Tribute To Our Baby Doll

Our Baby Doll (van) has served us well, but I'm afraid she is not doing very well these days. She's a 2002 with 153,000 miles and is very sick. She's getting harder to take care of and with each stretch down the road another light comes on.  I'm torn really when you think about our history.



Check out the eyebrow she grew this summer.  There is no way she'll pass inspection in a year.





She has a sense of humor--like the time she wouldn't start all week when Mat was in Vietnam and then I took her to the mechanic and he could find nothing wrong with her.  I gave her a good kick in the tire for that one! And the day before moving day in West Virginia when she wouldn't start.  I would roll her down the hill in neutral and then slip her into drive to get her started---then she would stall at the top of the hill. Those who have lived in West Virginia all know that those roads are not the roads to stall on.  Also, she made me drive her across country with a box taped on my foot because the motor broke in the seat to scooch me up.





Ahhh! But she has taken us everywhere; MJ's in Harrisburg, lunch dates at UNC Chapel Hill, Roanoake and Ocracoke in Outer Banks, Brian's wedding in New York, Brian's house and Mat's test in Boston, the Honeycrisp apple orchards of Minneapolis, the beach in SC, the tree house in Georgia, the dim sum happy hour in DC, Amelia Island in FL, the high points of SC, GA, TN, the Biltmore, the rainstorms of Topeka,KS, Amish Country, Aspen, and Utah.



Anytime you spill water on Baby Doll's carpet it stink for days.  You have to leave the doors open to air her out.  I've given up on scraping out what is in between the floor boards--it's hopeless. But, you love her. She has been a good little car to haul us around in our dirty baby years and all of our gear that goes with us.  We wish your parts well.

Take care baby doll. Brings a tear to my eye.

Love,
The Harris Family

PS

Next on our list is Mat's mountain bike. I guess when you've been married this long you start to replace things. Anyone have a million? He's had this since we were in undergrad and the gears are now busted.  I think he should get one with a basket.  What do you think?

Penta Pitch

Mat and I grabbed Pentapitch, well, quadra pitch Saturday because the last pitch was really difficult and entirely scary. It was trad climbing, which Mat had done before, but I had never tried.  It was fun and wished I would have grabbed a picture of Mat placing the trad.

Gotta Love Steve Jobs

With all of Steve's fortune and hard work, he was kind enough to offer a free summer camp for anyone 8yrs and older to learn how to film and edit a movie. Becket enjoyed it, he had a cool Jamaican buddy taking care of him, a T-shirt, and a disc to take home. It was Mon and Tuesday 9-10:30 and then Saturday to watch the films. The girls didn't mind playing on the Ipads while I browsed in Crate and Barrel.

1920's Wedding= Beautiful

Mat's cousin Lee found a terrific gal to marry and she decided to have a 1920's inspired ceremony.  Mat's mom hosted it in her beautiful, blooming backyard.  We all dressed up and have a lovely time! Sometimes it's a pain to get all dressed up (mostly for men), but it's wonderful when you see everyone in costume.  I should have grabbed a picture of the bride and bridesmaids, but I was at the kid table and otherwise occupied:)

Sound of Music

Thanks to a little bird, we scored free tickets to the Sound of Music at Hale Theater! We happen to have all of the songs memorized so the pre-show began with Micah and Gretchen singing in the bathroom.  Women would chuckle as they passed them on the way out.  Sing at the top of your lungs, you're cute and young, why not.  I didn't sing, I'm not so cute nor young.  The kids loved the round theater.  They couldn't believe they could get a real fountain on the stage. 

Hershey Reunion

Sorry if you missed it and I am now rubbing it in for a 2nd time.  It was good to see these people after some time.  I think it was their kids that had me in awe! We picnicked, chatted, and all tried to wrangle our kids up when it was time to go.  Thanks Em for getting us together.

Dinner out with Aunties!

I have an exotic Aunt from Mexico, Southern Texas, and 2 from Northern Utah.  We all got together for Auntie Mexico's Birthday.  It's always a treat catching up with these guys, we just need more time! Happy birthday Kris, hope to see you in Cancun someday.

8/8/98

Happy Anniversary to our 14 yrs of H's (Harris, hardships, happiness, health,)

Year after year, I have glimpses and connections as to why Mat and I were supposed to be together. Usually Mat (with exception of when he is eating cereal over my shoulder) is the only person I want to hang out with anymore. And boy! Is he ever patient with me. 

I love you Mat and I promise not plan that lame of date in two years:) I plan the even year anniversaries and he plans the odd years in case you were wondering. I happened to get the even year that falls right in the middle of the week already making it hard to celebrate. We ate dinner, we bought some wart remover, and we looked for a bike light replacement. Then we came home and watched the Olympics.  It's a good thing you still love me!