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Harrison performed in the Heartland Community Church Christmas play this year - his first play performance EVER! The play was titled "Toy Time" and the story was about Barbie learning the true meaning of Christmas. At night, after the grumpy store-keeper leaves the shop (played to perfection by Delmar!), the toys come to life and begin talking about Christmas. Harrison's character was a cowboy doll. He started off with one line, but by production time he was up to 3 lines. And, I may be a little biased, but he did a fantastic job!
Emily was also in the play, as an Abby Cadabby doll. She also did a wonderful job singing and dancing with the others. The play was written, directed, and produced by the childrens' pastors and their hard word was apparent in the great job all the kids did. Again, in the interest of confidentiality, I'm not posting pictures of the play; however, we did get some pictures after the play...here are Harrison and Emily in costume:
We also got a shot of Delmar with the kids...and staying in character, he looks very grumpy here:
Harrison missed the cast party the Wednesday following the play as we were on our way to KY for Christmas. In a surprising turn of events, we later learned that the cast voted on several awards (Best Actor/Actress, Most Improved, etc.) and Harrison was voted the Best Actor! Not a bad gig to win an award in your first performance. Now he's saying he wants to be an actor when he grows up...a STAR is BORN!
No, it's not the latest Disney cartoon team...it's Harrison and one of his most favorite people in the world! Lori has been Harrison's babysitter and a great family friend for years now. She's been as involved in his life as we have - and we couldn't be more thankful to have her as part of the family. It's recently come to my attention that as much as she's been around, we have very few pictures of them together. So, we took this picture for Christmas:
In keeping with tradition, Thanksgiving was spent in KY. We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday at my mom's house and then again on Saturday at Chris's parents house. At my mom's, Janey (my big sis), Chris and I worked on the stuffing...and there was of course a need for some supervision as well. Here's me supervising Janey:
Janey's turn supervising Chris:
I'm happy to say it all turned out great!
All of Harrison's cousins were there and they had a great time playing kick ball outside (in the interest of confidentiality, I'm not including any photos of them). We did get a photo op with my mom, brother, and sisters...don't be mistaken - the camera angle only makes us look like giants. We are actually average-sized people!
At Chris's parents, we also got an opportunity to get photos of the entire clan...back row: me, Chris, Dale (Chris's dad), Barb (Chris's mom), Roma (Barb's mom), Joan (Barb's sister), Nikki & Johnny (Chris's cousin and his wife...AND their baby was born just a couple of weeks later - congrats to them!). Front row: Craig, Leslie & Katie (Chris's sister, brother-in-law, and their daughter), Drew, Harrison, and Suzie (Chris's cousin). I'm not sure why we've never done this before, but it's the first time I can remember us getting a picture of all of us together.
Also during the weekend, I got a chance to see some old friends. Here we are at O'Charley's where we met up for a cocktail and conversation. Left to right is: Denise, me, Toni, Debbie, and Janie. It was great to see them again!
We had a busy, but very fun weekend - and it was a great reminder of the many blessings God gives us. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving, too!
On November 7th, I had the opportunity to attend my first-ever scrapbook night. A group of ladies from our church got together from 5:00pm - midnight to share food, fun, and scrapbooking! I took my Cricut, as did Amy, and one other person brought one to share. So, after a short Cricut tutorial we were off and running! And, I should probably add that there were a few of us who didn't actually get out of there until after 1:30am...
It was so great to spend time getting to know these wonderful women. I only wish I'd thought to bring my camera! You will need to check out Amy's blog to see pics of who was there (the link to her blog is on my site - check out "A Day in the Life of the Sandages").
I did take some pictures of the pages I did. I know it's a little hokey, but it was my first time scrapping outside of my remodeled bedroom and I was just a little excited - I never dreamed how many great ideas could come from just chatting with other women who are as passionate about this as I am.So, my first page was my "Cowboy" page...after Harrison's choosing to be a cowboy this year for Halloween, it just seemed to need a page of it's own:
I also chronicled Harrison's various Halloween costumes over the years - this is something I've had in mind to do for quite some time. Instead of creating several pages, I wanted to put all the pictures on one page, just to see him change over the years. I was happy with the result of this one:
We also had a couple of "make and takes" that were brought in by Angela Bowman and Amy. Angela's fall page was fun to put together - and because I knew ahead of time sort of what they were going to be, I was able to bring pictures and complete them that night. Here's the layout that Angela brought - I loved the use of colors that she put together and also got to use some sponging and ink on the embellishments...something I'd never thought to do before!
Amy's offering was a Christmas layout and it was very cute! I was especially excited about her use of ribbon and clips on the page. It just added a little more dimension to the page. Again, because I'd see the layout prior to going, I brought along some pictures that worked very well with the colors/patterns she brought for us to use:
I think as much as I enjoyed getting 4 pages done in one night, I especially enjoyed looking at the work the other ladies had done. We had such a good time sharing stories about our kids, husbands, family vacations...and more (don't worry, Ladies, your secrets are safe with me - smile). We are talking about continuing to do this once a month and I sure hope we do...it was such a blessing to share with these women! And, as one of my friends has reminded me in the past, God blesses PLAY, too!
For those of you who may not have heard, Chris has taken up a new hobby...he's brewing his own beer. And, for those of you who know him best, it's sort of like the "Mother Ship" is calling him home! What better combination than Chris and beer he has brewed himself! Well, actually, there is more to the story...
This past weekend, we made a family trip to Davenport, IA. How did you choose to go to Davenport, you ask? We ended up there because Chris was entering his beer in a brew contest in Rock Island, IL. Harrison was most excited about the road trip.
While Chris was at the contest, Harrison and I played at the pool. Harrison had a great time playing and actually had me playing volleyball with the beach ball. I got quite a work out:
Chris was only gone a very short time on Saturday evening to the contest and when he called to let me know he was on his way back, he didn't have much to say...I was ready to commiserate with him and tell him it would all be ok. Imagine my surprise when he comes into the pool area with a 3rd place ribbon for his Orange Zest beer. There were 9 entries in his category and about 230 beers submitted overall. Needless to say, we were all very excited.
Oh, and another GREAT addition to the weekend was that Harrison got his first introduction to Zotz! For those of you who may not remember...Zotz is the candy from our past that fizzes when you eat it (watch out for the apple ones - they give you that "sour taste next pain" just below your ear)! Here's a picture of Harrison "getting fizzed", as he called it:
And here's Chris's "Zotz face":
We had a great time just getting away and spending time together. We ate at a lot of our favorite restaurants (Cracker Barrel, Papa John's Pizza, Applebees) and had an awesome breakfast at the hotel. And, because of all my business travel, our hotel room was FREE...who could ask for more???
We all agreed we'd like to go back to the Quad Cities and spend more time there. Because this was a quick trip, we didn't get a chance to really see the sites - but stay tuned...you never know when we'll take off on another road trip again!
Harrison was so excited when he came home from school Friday. He won his election and will be the Media Assistant for the next week at school. (See previous blog titled, "Vote for Harrison". He shared his campaign speech with us and Chris and I were both amazed at how well he speaks - he kept his notes handy, but would glance at them and the rest of the time was speaking to us.
Not only did he win the position, he also was given an award for most creative campaign poster. So, I had to get a picture of him with his winning election certificate and his poster award:
In recognition of the election tomorrow, Harrison's class is having an election to vote students in for school jobs next week. Harrison is running for the Media Assistant job. So, we had great fun tonight making his campaign poster - we even got to use the Cricut AND get a little messy in some glue. His poster turned out great and he's very excited about the election.
Harrison's choice for a Halloween costume this year was a cowboy...please note the resemblance to Howdy Doody. If you don't know who Howdy Doody is, don't tell me - that only means you're too young! By the way, Chris made the belt buckle by printing a picture off the computer, painting it with a silver paint pin and mounting on a piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil. It looked VERY real! The boots were a loan from a friend at work (thanks, Victoria!) and the hat was our most treasured find at a flea market on our trip to Paducah a few weeks ago (see previous blog on that trip for the rest of the story...)
Here are Harrison and Emily - we actually caught up with Emily between Trick or Treating events, so I got a picture of them in our front yard.
I had planned to blog the decorations in the yard along with our trip to the pumpkin patch, but those photos have disappeared. If they ever turn up again, I'll just post the blog a little out of sequence. In the meantime, Harrison and Emily dressed up the yard even more. (For those of you not in the "Elmo scene", Emily's costume is Abby Cadaby, Elmo's best friend.)
A little later we met up with the ever-popular Hannah Montana (Gracie), a beautiful nurse (Ellie), and - just to make sure we were safe - the red Power Ranger (Tommy). Harrison and I did our big Trick or Treating round with them and their parents and we had a GREAT time with LOTS of candy to show for it!!!
Along the way, we met up with Kyla, who just happened to be a cowgirl!
So, of course that was the perfect photo op:
We also ran into Lilly, who was the perfect Dorothy Gale. I definitely would have followed her down the yellow brick road - too cute!
We had a wonderful time with our friends - hope you all had a Happy Halloween, too!
So, I'm sitting quietly reading a book when Harrison walks up and holds out his hand - yes, ANOTHER tooth gone! That's 2 teeth in 4 days. I'm hoping the rest of them take their time. As excited as I was about the first one, the second tooth just reminds me that he's growing up so quickly!
Here's a picture of the growing hole in his mouth...
Some of you may have noticed my weight counter on the right side of my blog...I've been "chipping away" at the pounds, especially since mid-June. I have had a struggle with my weight for many years, but it wasn't until I added God to the equation that I started seeing success. My prayer life has included many requests for God to keep me from the temptation of snacking...yes, I'm addicted to junk food! But, through the power of prayer, Weight Watchers, and my dear friend, Amy, I am seeing success.
Here I am last year at almost my peak weight:
And, here I am today - as of today, I have officially lost 30.2 pounds with still another 1.8 pounds to go to reach my end goal.
I have never had this kind of success before, but I know the difference is my support system - Chris cooking healthier meals, Amy being my "point-counting best friend" and God's power in my life. So, maybe I'm bragging a little...but I hope you will excuse me this once!
On October 3rd, 2008, Harrison lost his first tooth!!!! He was at the YMCA for "Parents' Night Out" (a wonderful offering from the Y that kids think is for them, but we really know who's benefiting there!). During snack time, Harrison pulled his tooth...we knew it was loose and has been for some time, but I was so surprised that it came out. Thankfully, Becky, a wonderful worker at the Y, held on to the tooth for us (thank you, Becky!) and we were able to leave it for the tooth fairy. Also, I just happened to have the camera with me and got a picture of him before we left the Y:
And, here he is with his "tooth bag" from the tooth fairy...along with the Tooth Fairy's official license!
Congratulations, Harrison - you are officially a "big boy" now!!!
We spent the last weekend in September in Paducah, KY as guests of John and Kathy Stubblefield, friends of ours from church. The Sandages went as well, so we were a party of 8...6 adults and 2 kids. Yes, the adults were outnumbered! (smile)
Amy and I went down in their van with Emily and Harrison. Here are Harrison and Emily just as we were pulling out of the driveway...they did great on the road, although it's safe to say they were this happy the WHOLE trip:
John and Kathy have a trailer out in the woods of rural KY - it was AWESOME!!! It was great to be out in the boonies for a few days! Delmar and Chris were "initiated" by John right away. Note the "gold" chains - a first-timers tradition with John for any man who stays at their cabin. The guys had to wear these all weekend long!
Harrison also had his first experience sleeping in the top bunk of a bunk bed - he LOVED it!
Friday night was spent on the deck, just winding down from the drive and spending some time together. There were LOTS of laughs, as usual. (For a peek of Delmar's party wear, see blog titled "Some Day My Prince Will Come". Please note we have John to thank for this...)
On Saturday, we went to an outdoor flea market and Harrison found a cowboy hat - it will be perfect for his costume in our church play (Harrison's role is the toy cowboy...rumor has it he will be patterning Howdy Doody).
After the flea market we went to a barbecue festival in downtown Paducah. I tried to stick with the diet by eating chicken, but the food smelled delicious! Harrison went on a pony ride and Chris got in touch with his "inner Jamaican, Mon!"
We drove past the Kentucky Dam and Chris got this picture:
Saturday night we went to "Patti's 1880 Settlement" for dinner. The food was fantastic, but the atmosphere was even better. We took several pictures there. Here are just a few:The boys 
The girls
The butterfly chair (a big hit):
Delmar, Chris, and "Dad" (aka John)
A family photo that turned out very well if I do say so myself!
Sunday morning we went as John's and Kathy's guests to their church, The Potter's Hands. It was a wonderful service and everyone was so welcoming. Harrison had a fantastic time at kids church and said he can't wait to go back to church there again.
All in all, it was a wonderful weekend full of lots of fun and fellowship. The only "bad" thing that happened was Harrison's first bee sting - right before we left to drive the 4 1/2 hours home! Fortunately, he showed no reaction to it, other than the trauma of the "bee attack".
We really enjoyed our "KY Vacation" and hope we will get to do it again sometime.
Much thanks and blessings to John and Kathy for being the best vacation hosts EVER!!!
