A Harstad Christmas

We had a great time celebrating Courtney's first Christmas. We went to my folk's house on Christmas Eve to have dinner and open presents with them. At home we didn't put out any gifts under the tree knowing she would be curious and try to tear the paper (the girl loves to eat paper...maybe I need to put more fiber in her diet?). And boy were we right! She and her cousin Kelsi were crawling through the sea of gifts. Fortunately, Courtney didn't open any, but her cousin decided to take a sneak peek at some.

The elves left a bag of PJ's at Nana and Papa's house for the kids. Apparently Santa wanted them to wear them that night. The boys loved knowing that Santa gave them a gift early.

Courtney and Clay showing off what the elves brought her.

The obligatory Christmas family picture in front of the tree.

Courtney is all smiles waiting to tear into her presents!

Clay and Kelsi sharing a great laugh. I'm sure he's tickling her or something!Brandon and Tyler could hardly contain themselves with all the presents around! According to Tyler, we needed to eat dinner quickly, open presents and GET HOME so Santa would come.

Fast forward to Christmas morning at our house....

Our tree on Christmas morning after Santa made his stop at our house. We must have been really good!

Courtney and me seeing the tree for the first time. It was about 6:30 in the morning!

Clay and Courtney in front of the "fire." It's really the television channel that shows a crackling fire and plays Christmas carols. It's great....no dirty fireplace or spending money on natural gas!

Courtney on Christmas overload.

She didn't know what to play with first. We've since put some away to pull out later. She's doing much better with just a few things out to play with. Actually, she's having more fun with the $1 plastic bucket her finger puppets came in than with anything else! Go figure!

Finally, I have to post this video of Courtney's new "trick" that we taught her. I know, I know...could you brag about your kid anymore? The answer is yes.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas and let's ring in 2009!

The Need For Speed

Yesterday Courtney's cousins came over to play. Boy did we have fun! We made music with some jingle bells I bought. We also played with Courtney's toys, and played Guiter Hero. However, I think Kelsi and Courtney had the most fun of all. We put Courtney in her walker and now that Kelsi is walking she had a ball pushing Courtney up and down the hallway. Here are some pics of their "Thelma and Louise" adventure.

And they're off!

Fast as fast can be, you'll never catch me!

They were both all smiles and giggles.

And we're off...AGAIN!

Just look at that happy face!

The girls did this for some time up and down the hall. Brooke thinks this is what they'll look like in 80 + years cruising the halls of the nursing home!

On a different subject, Clay, Courtney and I all wish you all a Merry Christmas. We hope you all stay safe (especially if you're up north. That means you Baysinger family!).

Happy 1st Birthday, Claire!

Saturday night we headed over to our friend's, the Reed's, house to celebrate Claire's 1st birthday. Claire was supposed to be born 5 days after Courtney, but she decided to come a little early. We had a great evening celebrating her birthday with lots of the Grelle/Reed family. Courtney's other friends, Jamie and Jacey Cobb, were there as well with their parents.

Claire the birthday girl with her mommy, Sarah.

Opening presents was a hit with all the girls. Especially the wrapping paper!

Courtney and me taking a breather from playing in the paper.

Here is Jill and her little one, Jacey. I tried to get a close up of Jacey's sister, Jamie, but boy does that girl move!

We hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for Christmas. We still don't have gifts wrapped. Do I have any volunteers to come help me out?

We Couldn't Wait...

We got our first Christmas present from Courtney yesterday! It was too cute not to post and show everyone. By our reactions you would have thought she gave us a million dollars. I guess if you think about it, this gift is priceless!

Here is the card she gave us. They (the teachers) used her hand to make the wreath.

And here is the gift. They painted Courtney's hand white and then made her hold an ornament. Once it dried, her fingers were turned into little snowmen. How cute is that?!

I wanted to start Courtney on an ornament collection so she'll have some when she is old enough for her own tree. This ornament made it official: every year her mom and dad will be giving her a snowman ornament.

Workin' In An Elementary School

(sung to the tune of Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland)
Children scream, they're not listnin'
When they go, we're not miss'n 'em,
In all of the pain, we try to stay sane,
Workin' in an elementary school.

Christmas comes, they're excited,
Though our nerves they've ignited,
They're off of the walls, they run in the halls,
Workin' in an elementary school.

In the lunchroom we can hear them yellin'
And we know that they are really wound,
someone hits, the other says, "I'm tellin'!"
And that is when our heads begin to pound.

Pretty soon we'll be restin'
'cause our nerves, they've been testin'
We're happy, it's clear, it comes once a year
Christmas in an elementary school!

My friend, Carolyn, wrote it years ago when she taught at Northridge. Isn't it great?

Courtney Meets Santa

Last Tuesday, we braved the cold rain and sleet so Courtney could meet Santa. I'll admit I was a little apprehensive about taking her to meet him. However, she adored meeting him. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't discussing world politics with him, but she didn't scream. WOO HOO! She was more in amazement at who he was and couldn't stop staring at him. Let's hope all future encounters with him go this smoothly! And thanks to North Pole City for using their noggins and giving parents a buzzer to let us know when they're ready for you. No standing in line!

This one is our favorite. We've titled it, "Yes, Courtney, there really is a Santa Claus."

All smiles. Mommy couldn't be happier!

Now back to business - wrapping presents.

Courtney is 10 Months Old and First Christmas

I'm stunned. How can my little one already be 10 months old? How is this possible? I can still remember being pregnant and feeling like a whale around this time last year. A lot can happen in a year! Courtney is all over the place. She loves to crawl, but is really watching her cousin, Kelsi, walk. I've caught her a few times trying to balance herself. It's really only a matter of time! As of right now she has 5 teeth and we're waiting on the last front tooth to come. Again...only a matter of time.

We've now mastered waving bye, bopping up and down when we say, "Dance, Courtney!" and just yesterday she started clapping. Clay and I are officially "those parents" that show off Courtney's 3 tricks like she's a show pony. As if a kid has never done these before.

Without further ado....our little 10 month old! We snapped this picture after we got home from meeting Santa. She adored him!

Last Sunday we had a progressive dinner with my 4th grade team. I am so blessed to work with a group of women that have the same values as me AND get my sick sense of humor. Who could ask for more? Anywho...we had a fun time going from house to house. Here are a few snapshots:

Me and Courtney at the Summers' house:

One of the other teachers has a little girl, Katie Beth, that was born exactly 24 hours after Courtney. We were pregnant last year together and it's a delight going through first time Mommyhood with Melissa! Here are some pics of the two girls playing. Unfortunately, they're going to endure their mom's dressing them up alike for occasions. Why? Because we can...and we will!

They loved playing at the activity table together!

And finally, we caught her reading. We took a picture since this might be the only time she willingly reads without us making her! Her Grammie made her a Christmas soft book for her to read. She loves to crawl over to the fireplace, pull it down and look at the pictures.

We hope ya'll are enjoying your holidays. It's been a blur for us so far. Two parties down and 2 more to go! Now...if I could just finish up our Christmas shopping.

What Parents Don't Know....

Picture it....school on a Monday morning. I'm walking out of the office during my planning time when I encounter some of my former students. Now I usually see them at least once a day. They either come by to see me in the morning or I see them in the hall during a break. I have to admit, it's nice that they still want to talk to me! And truth be told, I actually look forward to seeing them everyday. But shhh...don't tell them.

Anyway, back to the story. Here is my conversation with a former student in the hallway this morning. Once again, the names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.

Me: Lucy did you have a good weekend?

Lucy: Yeah....but my mom got sick.

Me: I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope she's feeling better.

Lucy: She is. She just drank too much wine at a Christmas party.

Me: Ohhh????

Lucy: Well, it was my dad's company Christmas party so she kinda had to do it, you know?

Me: Mmmhmmmm.

So all you parents out there, consider yourself warned!

Thanksgiving...Harstad Style

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We're finally slowing down (at least for tonight) so no better time like the present to show off what we did during our holiday. We headed down to Georgetown, TX (near Austin) to spend time with Clay's family. We've driven the 6 hour drive before, but Courtney wasn't so mobile then. Now that she's crawling all over, she did not like being confined to her car seat for that long. So we broke it up and made our first stop at the OK-TX border.

Her and Daddy had a ball "scaring" one another.

Mugging for the camera.

Now here's the deal. On Thanksgiving we had a wonderful time. Lots of yummy food and being surrounded by family. What could be better? Well, a child that wasn't sick would have been nice. Courtney got the stomach bug and was throwing up all day. Sadly, we didn't snap one picture that day. However, after getting some rest and taking it easy the next day we got a few snapshots.

Hanging out with Papa T.

And checking out Papa T's new Christmas decoration for the front yard with Grammie...a Christmas tree with music and synchronized lights courtesy of Aunt Cara. I think "Mr. Christmas" has reached his limit!

We headed home on Saturday just in time to celebrate our niece's 1st birthday. Kelsi had so much fun being the birthday princess!

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving just like we did! Now...on with the holidays!

Daddy's Famous and Other Stuff

I know most if you, if not all of you watched the Texas Tech v. OU game last Saturday. We had high hopes for a fantastic game, but as we all know it didn't turn out that way. However, Clay and his friend, Matt, went down to Norman early (and by early 6AM!) to be on ESPN's Gameday. Luckily for 5 seconds they were on TV! When they got home we rewatched it (because we tape EVERYTHING that has to do with Tech) and were able to catch a glimpse of the two knuckleheads.

In case you don't know, that's Clay on the left and Matt on the right. They loved pausing it and just staring at themselves. Here they are again:

They were pretty excited in case you couldn't tell from their expressions. At least it was worth the trip down there to be on national television.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Courtney. She's loving her little playtable that we got from Clay's co-worker, Paige. She can stand there playing on it for at least 20 minutes. However, now she's into moving it around like a walker. On Saturday she pushed it around the living room while giving Mr. Hippo a ride over to the other toys.

In case your looking behind her, yes, that's Clay and Matt on TV. Did I mention how many times we had to rewatch their 5 seconds of fame?

Reaching her final destination and channeling Gene Simmons all at the same time. What a multi-tasker!

Be rest assured, Mr. Hippo arrived safely too.

Later that night I started putting our Christmas stuff up. I realize that it's not Thanksgiving yet, but since we're going out of town I needed to get it done. Otherwise we'd never get it done! So we got our big Santa out and let Courtney meet "him" for the first time.

Their first encounter went great! Let's hope the real one at the mall goes just as smoothly!

Courtney is 9 Months Old!

Alright so Courtney turned 9 months old nearly 2 weeks ago, but better late than never, right? At her last appointment, she was 19 lbs and 26 inches long.

We are having a ball with her these days! She is crawling around like crazy and seems to be my little shadow as I walk around the house. She's also pulling up on everything. And by everything I mean, tables, chairs, ottomans, your legs, couches. Well, you get the point. She loves to giggle and share smiles. She's even mastering Mama, Dada, and Nana. Courtney even recognizes Holly, our dog, and now she says Da when she sees her. So cute!

Without further ado....our little ladybug!

Next up...Thanksgiving, Texas style!

It's All Goode!

The Goode family came over recently to hang out. We did the usual - Greg and Clay watched football, discussed football, and drank beer. Kelly and I tried to get some scrapbooking done, but somehow our two little ones made their way over to us thanks to their dad's...who were watching football.

When the Goode's first arrived they were in full time "clean-up the baby's mess" mode. Morgan decided that spitting up ALL over her and the car seat was a fabulous idea. Her parent's didn't think so. Lucky for them we had a washing machine for the clothes and a hose out in the backyard. Here's a picture of Greg with his clean-up face on. Doesn't he look ecstatic? He said he wasn't smiling for any sort of picture. But if you look closely, you can see a hint of him thinking it's sort of humorous. What do you think?

After clean-up, we were down to business. I would say that we took pictures of us scrapbooking, but wouldn't that look kind of weird? However, Courtney wanted to be part of the action and what better way than to hang out under the table.

Morgan made her way over the table too. Morgan was born this past July and is just a doll. She LOVES to give away her award winning smile.

Kelly and I finally gave up on scrapbooking and decided to play with the girls instead. Courtney loved showing Morgan the ropes on how to play like a champ. She even let Morgan hang out in the Exersaucer, however, she had to show her all the cool stuff on it. Morgan was a great listener while Courtney talked (a.k.a. squeeling).

My favorite quote of the night comes from Kelly as she's sitting on the floor holding Morgan. "Courtney are you sucking on Morgan's toe?" That would be a yes. We're working to correct that!

A Very Special Day

Yesterday was a big day for the Harstad's (and the Wilson's and the Farmer's too!). Courtney and her cousin, Kelsi, were baptized. It was so nice to have them both go through it together. They definately share a special bond. It was so cute during the ceremony when Courtney reached over to Kelsi and held her hand. It made for an "Awww...." moment. Here are some pictures from our special evening. Another thing that made it special was that Courtney wore the same outfit that me and her Aunt Brooke (and Courtney's Godmother) wore for our baptisms. The dress was a gift from my Godmother, Cheryl, so it made it feel that she was there in spirit with us.

Pastor Henke blessing the girls.

A family picture

I'd post more but our batteries died on us during all the picture taking. But you get the jist of what went on. At least I hope you do.

Afterwards, we all headed over to Brooke and Joel's house for a celebration dinner. It was a lot of fun to spend time with family and close family friends. Here are me, Brooke and the girls just before we stripped them out of their pretty clothes and into something more comfortable.

And it wouldn't be complete if I didn't give a shout out to Miss Laura. She lost her first front tooth last night (courtesy of the family tooth puller..my mom). She was so excited to have the tooth fairy come last night. Here's a snapshot of the lucky lady!

See. I told you yesterday was a special day! Next up....Courtney turns 9 month's old!

Halloween Part II and Celebrating Tech's Victory over Texas

Since Courtney was grumpy on Halloween, we had to scale back the picture taking we had planned that night. Today she is in a much better mood so we got her dressed up in her costume again and snapped away! An added bonus is that we wore the costume twice!

She's all smile next to our sign out front supporting our two favorite teams!

Speaking of winning. Did you catch the Tech v. Texas game last night? We sure did and Clay was thrilled with the outcome. Courtney woke up due to her teething so we let her come out in the living room and watch the final seconds of the game. If her daddy is happy, she's happy too!

Here they are just as Tech won.

Time to celebrate!

One happy Tech fan!

We'll how the house holds up next Saturday when we become a house divided for 4 hours!