How I found the binkies

People are inspired in strange ways. I'm not talking about spiritual inspiration, but more like the way you feel after watching Rocky or The Biggest Loser. I get that kind of inspiration when I read any of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books. I know, it's weird. I also know that they're for children. I can't even lump them into the Adolescent Lit genre that I still justify reading "in case I go back to teaching, I'll know what's out there." Right. Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Lemony Snickett just rock. That's why I read them.


So anyway, in the last week/week and a half, I've read: Little House in the Big Woods, On the Banks of Plum Creek, By the Shores of Silver Lake, The Long Winter, Little Town on the Prairie, and then this morning I read These Happy Golden Years. Laugh if you must, but I can't hide how much I like these books. As a result of reading so much in such a short time, I keep finding myself thinking about how Ma and Pa and Laura would respond in my situation and what they would say about my work ethic and house cleaning habits.


And that brings us to how I have found two lost binkies in the last week. One came when I was doing an extra thorough sweeping (with a store-bought broom, nonetheless--no homemade hickory one for me) and found Harrison had hid one in a never-used trashcan that slides under his little table. My really exciting find came when I was doing a random vacuuming and organizing of my utility closet and found one amongst extra vacuum attachments. If I hadn't been reading Laura Ingalls, I don't think I would have found that till Harrison was well done with the bink.


So thank you, Laura. You are an amazing woman that led an amazing life. I got butterflies when I read about Almonzo proposing to you this morning. You deserve such a man.


Here's a pic of Harrison enjoying the newly-reacquired binkies (note the smokin' hot haircut):

Downtown

Super quick, I just wanted to get this down so I can come back and remember this morning. Harrison and I were playing and wrestling on my bed, and I had the oldies radio station turned on fairly loud. We were hiding in the blankets and sheets and laughing pretty hard. The song "Downtown" was on and whenever the lady would sing it (she sings it a lot in the song) Harrison would yell after her, "Down-Down!" He had this little staccato pause between the syllables. It made me laugh and him too. Afterward, when we were both lying there catching our breath, Harrison would every once in a while giggle and softly say, "Down-Down." I love being a mom.

Dan's shoutout!

This is a great video that reminded me of my youth. Also, this is my first blog update ever. Notice it has nothing to do with my family and Harrison still likes me more than he likes his mom!!!! Just kidding. But seriously, he is a daddy's boy and likes me the most. Just kidding. But seriously......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMR7veI78f8

Does it get any better than this?

I've been feeling more blessed than ever lately with the weather getting so nice. It makes parenting a lot easier somehow; Harrison loves exploring outside and I just look on to make sure he doesn't fall in a ditch or anything. That's right--you can call me SuperMom. (Note that I didn't say a word about making sure he didn't swallow any big rocks...I like to pick my battles.)

So twice last week we went on morning walks with Britt and Hunter down to see the horses. We even brought carrots with us the second time. They were the kind of postcard-perfect kind of walks where you wouldn't change an element of the weather or your surroundings. It was really fun.

I keep getting surprised by how big H-man is. He insisted on standing on the fence on his own and he did a pretty good job. He even managed to give the mule and horse some baby carrots without losing any fingers.

Fortunately, Britt is a much better documenter than me, so I have video and some sweet pics to always remember those mornings.

Kind of like our first Easter

Though Harrison was around 7 months last Easter, he wasn't super AWARE of things yet, if you know what I mean. For that reason, this time around kind of felt like a first for him. As soon as he realized there were yummies in the eggs, we didn't have a problem getting him to walk around the yard looking for eggs. A difficulty did arise once he had one in each hand. He was reluctant to put any in his basket; I guess he didn't trust that he'd get them back. So we didn't end up with too big of a hoard. Which was fine with Momma.

There were too many cute pics to put them in one-by-one, so I'm including a slideshow of our favorites. I'm also throwing in one from last year (also celebrated in Birmingham) so that you can see how much our chunky monkey has slimmed down and grown up. Enjoy!

DEEE-troit BASKET-ball

I can't even begin to tell you about our fantastic Easter until I say a little something about our trip to Detroit. Harrison proved that he can handle flying no problem and we met Mom Gilbert at the airport. How lucky were we to have a grandma willing to give up her spring break to hang out in a hotel with Harrison? (Pretty lucky is right.)

Dan and I got to see the Tigers, Red Wings, and Pistons play. We loved every second of it...except for the humiliating Piston loss. But even that was fun, just to be in the same arena with these guys that I've come to love.

We also did a day trip with Dan's Uncle Fred to the Henry Ford Museum. It was such a fascinating collection of innovation from the beginning of America to the present. Also, it's a Gilbert family rule to go to any IKEA that is within 50 miles of where we are, so you know where we spent several hours. Dan tries to be supportive, but I've never seen him leave an IKEA without being a complete grouch. It is a tad overwhelming, I know, but four hours just doesn't seem like enough.

Harrison had a ball with Grandma. He quickly became a master of pillow-fights and tickle wrestling. He's go looking for with a wicked little grin on his face, looking for trouble. Below you can see him with a treat she indulged him with. That's what grandmas are for, right?