Respect

this is the Harrison family word for 2013.  i asked chase to think of a word our family can focus on this year and this was his pick.  respect for one another, respect for our children, our children respecting us and each other, respecting others and most importantly respecting our Father.

another thing i plan to focus on this year came to me this morning while running.  this morning run was horrible.  it was SO SO SO humid and there was NO breeze.  usually after the first 2 miles, i get my in my groove and enjoy the rest of my run.  not today.  at about 3.75 miles, with .25 to go, we had to big hills still to cross.  i told chase that this hill ahead was taunting me.  i decided to just focus on the road and not look at what i had ahead.  to which the Lord spoke to me and said, "exactly amber.  focus on what i have right before you, not on the hills in your future.  i will get you through it all, step by step.  keep your eyes on the now, not on the daunting hills."  so i'm focusing on the now.  not on things that may overwhelm me about the future.  (and though this was an awful run and i never felt good running it, it was still our fastest 4 miles yet at 38:40)

more caedmon funnies

on our gatilinburg trip (that was amazing and will hopefully get a post of its own....eventually), caedmon was watching tangled in the car and it had somehow gotten switched to spanish.  caedmon kept saying "mom! they know EVERYTHING in spanish!  all the words!  rapunzel just sang the whole "doing things in the castle" song in spanish!!"

caedmon has been asking his daddy if he can go help him build a building.  tonight chase asked him to to check his schedule, to which he replied "i don't have a schedule! how do i get a schedule?"

my 5 year old

2 days into this whole "having a 5 year old", and this 5 year old in my house has been super sweet!
he's gotten in trouble a few times this year for hitting.  after pretty much getting that under control (thanks to a "no sweets if you cant be sweet" rule that resulted in missing out on the first candy canes of the season), his teacher has been trying to get him to stop making his "mean" face to his classmates.
yesterday, apparently one of his classmates said something to him about making a mean face, to which he replied "i'm working on it!"  so my sweet boy does know that he needs to control those faces!  probably would help if his "mean" face wasn't super cute and didn't make his parents laugh....perhaps thats a parental fail!
c: "mommy, i can't see bubble guppies!"
me: "isn't my face better than bubble guppies?"
c: "yes, but i do like bubble guppies too!"

5 years old!!

Hard to believe my first born is 5!!
We started our celebration Saturday with an avengers party at a local frozen yogurt cafe. It was a blast and was perhaps my favorite party he's had.
Today he woke up before the crack of dawn to find the elves, dizzy and izzy, had decorated his room and the living room with streamers!
We had a laid back day, hanging out at home, fielding birthday calls (to a 5 year old playing with a roomful of new stuff, this was met with "another one?!l)
Tonight we had my family over for Christmas dinner and exchange of presents. The kiddos (ok, us parents too) got way more than needed and had so much fun with all the new stuff!
Tomorrow, we are taking doughnuts to his preschool class, so the birthday festivities will continue for one more day!

thanksgiving 2012

counting, caedmon style

caedmon is big into counting, and all things numbers.
after asking me how to add 15 and 15 on his hands (yikes!), and then counting to 100 on our hands, he asked me "can you count to 20 hundred?"  i said "um, no. that will take forever."  funny kid said "i can!  1 hundred, 2 hundred, 3 hundred, 4 hundred..."   he's a mess.

*as i was typing this, caedmon asked if he could "help".  he wanted to type to 100, but you can see he got tired early ;-)

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pumpkin patch