Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming...

Harrison had his first swim lesson this weekend!! 

I found a great deal for Parent/Tot Swim Lessons on Groupon and thought it would be a fun way to get Harrison acclimated to the water, since he used to H A T E taking baths. He has since [the time between purchasing the Groupon and actually signing up for and attending classes] grown to like bathing which will hopefully make his lessons that much more enjoyable! 

Mommy was sick, so I couldn't take Harrison in the pool, I had to sit on the sidelines and be team photographer. The pool is heated to a nice warm 91 degrees, which I think made all the difference in him loving his second pool experience versus his first experience over summer at Grandma Natalie's house. Anyway, about the pool temp. -- good for swimmers, bad for the camera [it fogged up], I ended up having to use a camera phone for all these pictures, so pardon the poor grainy quality. I did not bit want to miss out on my little guys first lessons though! 

Here he is with Dad; Daddy is giving him some pointers and Harrison looks a little skeptical about this giant tub.

Here he is with Dad; Daddy is giving him some pointers and Harrison looks a little skeptical about this giant tub.

And guess who little Hare looks like in his pool gear... ?? 

#UncleMark 

 Just so cute in his little speedo! 

Really its a baby swim diaper that the facility makes the kids double up on. Not that twice the padding made a difference because they didn't seem to be absorbent at all, I quickly learned as a felt a warm wet spot on my leg while holding Harrison and waiting for class to start. Oh well. I'm sure they're more concerned about escaped poo than they are a little baby pee. 

Be prepared for picture overload because my little guy is just so darned cute I couldn't put the camera down. Really wish I had some better quality shots. Boo. 

They start out in a small group working on getting the kids comfortable being in the water.
Harrison was the youngest in this particular group, however the class ranges from 4 months to 24 months, so there may be some itty bitty youngins next week! 

 He did not like side to side because the first time he looked down and accidentally dunked his face. He cried much less than this older boy from an earlier class though. Good job baby! 

 Up & Down!
Here comes the dunk... he DID NOT like dunking! I prefer to swoop him, it seems a much less startling way to introduce such a wee little one to going underwater. So we will do that next time. Though he didn't like it, Daddy said he did great and held his breath! 

"The kids in the pool go kick! Kick! Kick!" 

 Once Harrison got a toy, he was a very happy camper! 

Swimming by to see Mommy for a minute. 

...and then there was 'back time'...

Harrison is never a fan of being on his back in water. 

Awe, my little Michael Phelps in training! 

[Minus the pot, of course.]

Tunnel of Love.

Definitely not loving it.

The kids each got some one on one time with the instructor...

 Here she is telling Harrison how H A N D S O M E he is, he loooooves that! 

Nope, still not a fan.

Luckily Daddy can soothe him. 

 Next was Harrison's favorite part-- Motorboat! 

All the kids climb up on a mat and kick, kick, kick to move around the pool. 

He just LOVED being propped it! 

 Harrison really seems to have had a fun time in the pool! 

So I may be using the term, "lessons" quite loosely, but I'd say a half an hour to splash around in a heated pool for a month is money well spent! 

Halloween Carnival!

I have been looking forward to Halloween since Baby was born-- okay, maybe even earlier than that because we got him this great banana costume to go with Daddy's gorilla costume. So cute! 

We got a little jump on the Halloween festivities by taking Harrison to our wards annual Halloween Carnival & Chili Cook-off. Most churches host a "Trunk or Treat" night on Halloween, but for some reason ours decided to celebrate a week early with a carnival; which was just fine by me because that means the fun of Halloween can be spread out for a week or two. It also means, drumroll... more candy!! Haha. Yes, we plan to take Harrison trick or treating even though he is way too young for candy. It's just one of those milestone moments you have to do as a parent. So we'll just take him around to a few neighbors we know and take a few pics just for memory's sake.   

I made Jordan be a circus monkey [gorilla] even though he complained that he was a W I L D gorilla and could not be tamed. I am all about the themed family costume, so I had to have a costume that worked with his and Harrison's and sorry, Mom, but I was not going to be little miss Fay Wray. Too obvious. Instead I went as a Ringleader of the circus, Jordan is my little trained monkey and Harrison is his treat for putting on a good show. Unfortunately as you can see above, we might have picked a rotten banana out of the bunch. Poor little babe did not like being shmooshed into his banana sack. 

Once he realized the camera was on him he hammed it up! 

This little boy LOVES the camera. [Gee, who do you think he gets that from?]

Our friends, Kelsea and Jarrett brought their little girl who is just a few months older than Harrison. I never see this cutie without a big smile on her face!

They were both adorable little pieces of fruit, totally on accident.  

LITTLE STRAWBERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE!

Sadly, I look a little more like Michael Jackson than a do an actual woman. 

Cute little family.

Baby Girl had to leave early because she goes to bed like 2 hours before Harrison [ j e a l o u s ! ] We stuck around a little longer, but Harrison soon had a meltdown and ended up down to pants only, so we wrapped our little monster up and walked on home. It was a fun evening, but a little hard managing a baby at such a big event with little kids running around in costume everywhere. Next year will be more fun for Harrison as he'll be walking around and able to participate in the little kid games. 

Happy Fall! 

The Ghost of Halloween Past

Our Ward Halloween Carnival is tonight and I am so excited to dress up for our first Halloween as a family! [We have matching costumes which I don't want to spoil yet, so stay tuned.] Our new friends, Kelsea, Jarrett and little Paisley are joining us in the fun, but have been having a hard time finding costumes and in her frustration she exclaimed, "I hate dressing up!" 

Hold the phone... SAY WHAT!!? 

No friend of mine can hate dressing up!

Dressing up is my one true love. 

So with Halloween fast approaching I thought it would be fitting to post the costumes of Halloween past. As well as a few from the olden days where we just dressed up for the love of dressing up...

  Most recently the whole family got our cow on for 

Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. 

Honey Boo Boo along side pregnant Snooki and Hipster Pin-up Girl.

 Ooh, check out our Capitol Couture! 

Indians at Jordan's Mission Reunion. 

I don't just wear sweaters to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party... 

...I wear whole jumpsuits! 

 Yeeeeeeah, that's my older brother I'm backing it up into. The family that costumes together... umm..? Yeah I don't know where I'm going with that one. 

Lets just say my family is close and we have no shame. 

Bet you didn't see this one coming after that Slutty Santa costume did'j'ya? 

 And then there was the year I was... whatever THIS is.

 Futuristic Punky Brewster?? 

Nerd Power. 

Once, when going to the carnival, I dressed as a tourist and then I ran into this girl who was wearing the same shirt, but not ironically. She was FOR REAL. 

And received the laying on of hands by this bear. 

[Mormons will get this.]

Then there's my ALL-TIME FAVORITE, 

Michael Phelps!! 

[complete with man-nugget]

Lesbians at Gay Pride Parade in Providence. 

Is dressing like a lesbian a thing? 

Compton Cookout. 

 Those were the days, huh, Tabby!?

Okay this wasn't actually a costume, but Al Qeada deserves an honorary mention. 

 My brother and I made a cover band once. 

The fact that our electric guitars aren't plugged in might have been why we 

didn't end up booking too many shows. 

 If there's anyone who shares my affinity for dressing up, 

it's my cousins, Ashley and Sarah. 

Amy Winehouse. Before she died. 

I really wanted to paint myself BLUE, but blue tights had to do.
[Notice how pissed Kelly is in the background because I'm stomping the Doctors chance at winning the bank costume contest.]

In the end it came down to a battle between Smurfette and Marge Simpson 

and you know I took the trophy! 

A scouting uniform has never looked so good! 

 My infamous White Trash Birthday Bash.

 

Cleavage, tattoos, hickeys, karaoke and beer-- can't go wrong there. 

Then there were the times we used to dress up for the 

Midnight Cult Classic Movies at the dollar cinema... 

Super Troopers.

 Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

None of us had ever seen it, so we just dressed like street walkers 

and hoped for the best! 

As you can see it started young.

Cheers to many more years of transformations! 

...and getting my little one [and future additional little ones] involved in the fun!

And that's all she wrote!