22 Week Update

I am 22 weeks pregnant today! Oh my... the time is flying by! I feel fantastic! I always thank God for ANOTHER wonderful pregnancy so far! He supplies extra energy and a positive attitude for me everyday! As with my other pregnancies, I have honestly enjoyed every minute of this pregnancy! I wanted to write out a few things... mostly for my records since I am terrible about writing in my journal anymore!

It seemed like it took a little longer this time before I felt the baby move. In previous pregnancies, I felt the baby move around 15 to 16 weeks. This time, I was almost 18 weeks before I felt that ol' familiar flutter! I have just started feeling the baby kick "on the outside" now. So far, he is shying away from his Daddy and his siblings. They have yet to feel that kick! (Dave tries to feel him every night and usually he will kick as soon as Dave takes his hand off! He's a shy one, I guess!) I just can't get over how busy this little guy seems! He kicks all day long on most days. He also gets the hiccups several times a day.

We have tried to brainstorm and come up with his name, but have still not settled on one yet. We usually have our name picked out by this time, so we are getting a bit anxious! It seems like with the Holiday busyness going on in our home right now, it may not be settled on anytime in the next two weeks. In the meantime, we are keeping our ears and eyes open for that perfect name!

My belly is expanding in leaps and bounds and I love it! I enjoy being able to look down and witness God's new miracle for our family at any time of the day! I also love that Dave LOVES my belly! He can't seem to keep his hands off of it! He is constantly rubbing my belly and talking to our little boy! He tells me constantly how beautiful I am. No wonder we are on our 7th child, I am spoiled rotten!

Most strangers tend to think that I am due "about any day now", so when I tell them that I am due in April, they are usually pretty surprised! I have yet to gain weight at my doctor's appointments! (I'm sure that cutting off my coffee and night-time eating had something to do with that!) I do have an appointment coming up this next week, and I am sure I have had to gained some this month! Which is just fine with me.... carrying this big boy has to catch up with me sometime!


Here's a 22 week belly shot for the record!




I hope you are all enjoying the Holiday season!

18 Week Sonogram Info

We had our 18 week sonogram last Friday and of course, it was full of all kinds of excitement. Dave and I actually let our 3 older kids skip school because it's a tradition that we all go into the sonogram room together. They knew that we would be finding out the sex of the baby, so they were totally pumped! We were fortunate enough to be able to have my Mom and Dad go into the sono room with us as well! My mom has been there with us for every single one of our kid's "revealing".... so it was important to me that she was there! My Dad was totally new at this! It was the first time that he has ever seen a sonogram! Needless to say, he was quite impressed with medical technology!

Our most exciting news was that we found out we are having a BOY!!!!! (I really felt deep down that the baby was a boy from the beginning, but I have definitely been wrong before, so it was really a surprise to me as well!) Obviously, we are THRILLED! We would have loved either boy or girl, but this Mama certainly has a soft spot right now for boys! We seem to be surrounded by little boys in this house, which is just fine with us! One of my best friends just had a sweet baby boy in July and my sister-in-law, Jackie, had a gorgeous baby boy on Nov. 5! And with this little boy coming in April, it will make 4 of our little boys 5 years old and under! How fun is that!?!?!??!!?

Ashton, my oldest son, and the girls, Taelyn and Mariya, were thinking that a girl would be nice. But they have been so awesome and accepting of this little guy! The girls said "Oh well, maybe next time!" They have already moved on to "helping" us come up with names! (Which is going to definitely be a challenge... but one that we are up for!!!!) They are counting down until April! We are all dying to meet him and see who he resembles!

We are so thankful and praise God that the baby looks totally healthy! Everything checked out perfect! The sonogram lady kept saying... "Oh my... look at the size of his feet!" I told her.... "That's a requirement in the Harris family!" He showed off for us like crazy! Moving around, kicking, squirming, putting his arms up over his head, hiccup-ing, and opening and closing his mouth the whole time! It was adorable and the kids TOTALLY picked up on all his little moves! It was just so fun! He weighed about 11 oz, which is a little big at this point, but my babies generally measure that way!

I didn't get a lot of "good" sonogram pictures, but I had to post a couple! We saw so many good views of his face, but we just couldn't get him to stay still long enough for a picture! (I am sure some things will never change!)

She gave me about 7 pictures of his legs and feet!!! Isn't amazing how you can count his little toes in this one? His other leg is behind... kinda like he was jogging?? =)

This is from about his waist down. Look at those long skinny legs! Just like the rest of us!

My personal fave... his sweet little profile picture....

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! =)

ALMOST Wordless Wednesday!

My sweet little boys turned three last weekend! We've had the flu and bronchitis at our house, so their birthday post has been delayed! It'll be coming soon!

Wordless Wednesday: 13 Weeks Pregnant!

Soccer Season 2009

This soccer season has been so much fun! We have both Ashton and Bryson playing this year.

Ashton has been playing for 6 years and this is the first year that he has played in a new town. He has played defense for the last 5 years, but this year he has played a lot of offense. It has been so fun watching him learn and improve his soccer skills. Personality wise, he is not a real aggressive person, but in the soccer game, he has really surprised us with his determination. He is so fast too! His games are so fun to watch and keep ya on the edge of your seat!

This is his team picture... Ashton is 2nd from the right on the top row, with the blue soccer ball.






This is Bryson's first year! He has wanted to play since he could walk! He sure does have the energy that soccer requires! He seems to be a natural! His main asset is his speed (just like Ashton)! He loves to get the ball and run down to the other end of the field and score! He has scored 6 or 7 goals so far this year! Dave and I coach his team and we have really enjoyed working with this group of kids! They are all first-year players and all but one little boy, is just 4 years old! They have improved 100% since our first practice! His team is a lot of fun to watch as well, but more for entertainment purposes! There are definitely times we score for the other team! One time, one of our players took to ball to a whole different soccer field and scored a goal! Of course, we all cheered him on! =)

This is Bryson's team picture... Bryson is the redhead in the middle and of course, the good-looking coach in the back is my hubby! =)




Aren't they just so cute!!?!?

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. What a perfect way to get some things off our chest and admit some things we "didn't" do this week!


I did NOT resort to PINK Barney "big boy pants" for Nolan when I skipped my laundry day last week. I mean, he is ALL boy and I would never even ASK him to put on girl underwear. He definitely did NOT reply with a huge grin and enjoy wearing them for the rest of the day, even AFTER our "boy" underwear were clean and available.






I did NOT just put up my Fall decorations LAST NIGHT! I put my decorations up EVERY year during the 2nd or 3rd week of September because I absolutely LOVE Fall. 5 out of 8 members of our family have birthdays in the Fall... so we OWN it! That's just how WE roll! I am always right on the ball with Fall!





My husband and I do NOT absolutely love chatting it up with my OB-GYN doctor at my monthly appointments. That would be silly, right? They are just regular routine appointments and his upbeat, positive, fun attitude does NOT just totally make our day! And I did NOT just get overly excited to add my OB-GYN doctor as my "friend" on Facebook. YES, I do think he is one of the coolest people that I know and I would totally entrust my life to him if I ever needed to, but a friend on FACEBOOK??? Wouldn't your Ob-GYN doctor be a bit odd to have as a friend???


I am NOT getting stressed out about the HUNDREDS of odd little jobs that need to be done around the house. Everything from hanging a piece of trim to scraping paint off the windows to adding more shelves in some of the closets. For crying out loud, we totally gutted the kitchen and started from scratch and I didn't stress out then, why would I stress out over LITTLE tiny jobs that SHOULD take a fraction of the time and energy???


After sitting in the car-rider line for 15 minutes, Bryson got an urgent look on his face and said "I've got to go pee NOW!". I slightly panicked because Bryson... whom we call "Firehouse Pete"... waits until the very last second to go to the bathroom and peeing on the tire was NOT an option at this point! Looking around the van, trying to figure out what to do, I was NOT thrilled to find an empty water bottle! I definitely did NOT let Bryson pee in said water bottle and then tightly put the cap on it! I did NOT forget to throw it away as soon as we got home (as I had planned to). The next morning, when the girls got in the van... one of them did NOT ask if it is was a water bottle with one of the lemonade mix-ins. Yuck. Gross. Would NOT do that.


Have a great Monday!

11 Week Check-Up

I am a little over 11 weeks along in my pregnancy and we went for my check-up today! We went hoping that we would get to hear the baby's heartbeat and we did! We actually got more! Dr. Shepherd brought in the little portable sonogram machine and we got to take a peek in there at our little peanut! Notice... I said peanut, NOT peanuts! Yep, it looks like there is ONE baby in there! Although our doctor would not give us any guarantees, he is "pretty sure" that there is only one! We are thankful for what God has given us!

We got to see him/her wiggling around. We saw arms and legs kicking all about and being so cute! The baby's heartbeat was around 160. Generally my boys have been around 160 or 170 and my girls were almost always in the 130's. I am feeling like it is a boy and Dave is feeling like it is a girl. Bryson, my almost 5 year old, says that he thinks it's a boy and we should name him "Chinese Harris". Yikes... that might confuse the poor kid! My doctor (who is by the way, one of my favorite people in the world) says he has a feeling it's a girl too! Guess we will have to wait and find out in November! I will be taking a poll before the sonogram!

It was just such a blessing and complete miracle to see our baby! God is so good to us!

Thanks for your prayers! We will keep you updated!

9 weeks and counting....

I am so grateful for awesome friends and family that are so supportive of our pregnancy! Everyone seems to be so happy for us and often check on me to see how I am feeling! And by the way... I am feeling GREAT! Other than having to give up my nighttime eating and my morning cup of coffee (since apparently it did NOT agree with this pregnancy), I have felt so good! Thank you God!

With all of my pregnancies, I seem to have a day where all of a sudden, my belly just pops out! With the last couple pregnancies, it has happened earlier and earlier. Well, this pregnancy is no different! I had a "pop-out day" on Friday for sure! I absolute love watching my belly grow, it is such an amazing miracle! So I decided to take some pics and keep track of my ever-growing Baby belly!

So here's my 9 Week Belly shot....







So the crazy thing is....I had another "pop-out day" today! I think I have doubled in size since these pics were taken! Yikes! Ha! Have to do a new post with pics soon....

Frequently Asked Questions.... TWIN TALK

When we go out to Walmart or anywhere that is in the public eye, we usually get hounded with attention and questions. It usually starts out with "Are these ALL your kids?", then comments about all of the red hair, and then once they figure out we have two sets of twins, the questions really come POURING out! Quite honestly, I can't believe how rude some people are... saying things like "Did you use fertility drugs?" or "Glad it's you and not me!" right in front of my children. BUT most people are very nice and friendly, and usually will compliment us on how well-behaved or cute the children are. Most questions that people ask, I believe, is just out of curiosity and not to be rude. We generally don't mind answering the questions that most people have. Dave and I have joked around about typing up a FAQ Sheet that we can hand out when people start asking questions! We wouldn't really do that... but since many questions are arising now that we are expecting again, I figured I would type up a few questions that usually get asked....


Question 1. Are these really ALL "your" kids?
YES! They are! Neither of us have been married before, neither of us have children with anybody else!

Question #2. What are their ages?
At the present time, 10,8,8,4,2,2....

Question #3. "Do twins run in your family?"
This question can be the most confusing.

~Dave's side has no PREVIOUS twins that we can find when we searched back several generations.
~My side has ONE set of fraternal twins. They are actually my first cousins, that are my age, and I grew up very close with them! Very sweet boys!

THAT being said...Here are some basic twin facts....
~Identical twins are NOT genetic. Identical twins are made up of ONE egg and ONE sperm. Once fertilized the egg splits. There is technically no rhyme or reason for the egg splitting. It just "happens".

~Fraternal twins ARE genetic. It runs on the woman's side. Usually a woman only releases ONE egg per cycle, but a set of fraternal twins takes 2 eggs and 2 sperm.

Our first set of twins was our identical girls. We were told that since they were in separate sacs when in utero, that they could be identical or fraternal. When the placenta was tested at birth, it came back that they were 100% no doubt identical. Since they were identical, we were told that we had NO chance of ever having twins again. At least, not any more of a chance than anyone else... which is about a 3% chance.

Fast forward, about 5 years later, we found out when I was 17 weeks pregnant, that we were carrying another set of twins. These twin boys were "set up" the same way as the girls were, so once again we did not know if they would be identical or fraternal. When they were born and looked SO much alike, we really thought they were identical. When we sent the placenta away for testing, it came back "inconclusive". We COULD have done DNA testing, but we really didn't care if they were identical or fraternal... we love them like crazy no matter what their "label" was. Once they turned about a year old or so, they really started getting their "own look" and we unofficially deemed them fraternal. They don't have the same hair color, which makes it easy to know that they don't have the same exact DNA!


Question #3 1/2. "Do twins run in your family?" PART TWO.....

Twins did not PREVIOUSLY run in our family. (the fraternal set of twins that were on my side of the family, genetically would have ran on the female side. I am NOT blood related to my Aunt, she was married to my dad's brother, therefore, I would not have any of her genes passed down to me.)

BUT.... since we have had our twin girls 8 1/2 years ago, my husband's sister had a set of fraternal twins and my brother and his wife had a set of identical twin boys!!! It's crazy, I KNOW!!??!?

Question #4. "Did you use any type of fertility drugs?"
NO. We do just fine on our own!


Question #5. "What are the chances of you having twins again?"
The statistics go like this:
~Once you have ONE set of fraternal twins, you are 70% MORE likely to conceive twins again.
~Oddly enough though, the chances of having 3 sets of any type of twins is VERY rare... only 1 in 500,000.


Question #6. "Were your twins born healthy?"
YES! Praise God! I had wonderful pregnancies and deliveries! I was actually out playing in the snow the day before I had my girls! With my girls, I was induced 2 weeks early, mainly because of my doctor going out of town and because the girls were getting "too big" to wait too much longer. They were both born naturally, weighing 5lbs 9 oz, and 5 lbs 14oz.
I went into labor exactly 4 weeks early with my boys. My doctor decided to proceed with labor (instead of stopping labor) since their lungs seemed to be developed already and they were "big" as well. They were both born naturally, weighing 5 lbs 13 oz, and 6 lbs 11 oz. None of my twins had to go to NICU. I have been truly blessed to have wonderful pregnancies and deliveries with all of my children!


I have some doctor appointments this week. I don't know when we will have our first sonogram. Technically, it's not suppose to be until I am 17 weeks. I am going to try to pull some strings and see if I can get an early sonogram. I just want a healthy baby. Period. If God wants to give me two...I will praise him twofold! Please pray for smooth appointments! I love the peace that comes with seeing/hearing a little perfect heartbeat!

Wordless Wednesday: Praising and Praying...

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I did NOT ask Dave if I could use his dremel on my feet. My heels are definitely NOT rough like sandpaper from being barefoot as much as humanly possible. I have dainty, girly feet that are soft as a baby's butt. (By the way, Dave did NOT deny me of his dremel... in fear that I would burn up the motor.)


When taking our trip to the Indianapolis Zoo this week, we decided to stay on a very tight budget and spend next to no money. It was pretty easy, considering we already have a membership to the Zoo and we packed our own lunch. So when it was dinner time, we definitely did NOT drive right past a McDonald's that had 25 cent chicken nuggets and head straight towards a steakhouse where we spent $60 on our dinner. Noooo.... it would have cost us a mere $10 to eat at the McDonalds, we definitely would NOT have passed up that opportunity!


My 2-year-old definitely did NOT have a 45 minute pout fest one day this week. He would NEVER throw a fit over not getting a third cup of chocolate milk before 9:00 a.m.. He is NOT my most stubborn one of the bunch. My kids are very well behaved. Perfect Angels. He would NEVER do such a thing! His face tells the story of his innocence....

My husband has NOT been showing my kids Weird Al Yankovic videos on YouTube. Those songs are totally ridiculous and we only let our kids watch educational videos. The kids have NOT loved the dumb songs and begged to see more! My 2 year-old has NOT asked me 3 times today if we can "Pleeeeease watch 'Eat It' bideo".

Brown County FAMILY Vacation... Part One

Dave and I usually enjoy Brown County for the peaceful activities that Nashville has to offer. We love the endless shopping, quiet evenings on the porch, meaningful uninterrupted conversations that we have, and being on absolutely no schedule. For those reasons alone, we have NEVER taken the kids down. MOSTLY, because we didn't think the kids would enjoy it. It's such a friendly place, but it's just not a "kid" place. Well, at least we didn't think it was until this summer.

While we were down on our "date" vacation, we made a point to look for specific things that the kids would enjoy. We talked to quite a few people and got their opinions on kid-friendly activities. One thing that was mentioned was The Abe Martin Lodge. It was located in the State Park and had a brand new indoor aquatic area. I thought it sounded great, but didn't get too excited. After all, as you can imagine, we stick to a VERY tight budget. I was sure that this would cost a fortune. But to my surprise, when we got home and I looked it up, it was very reasonable. I loved the fact you could rent family cabins. They family cabins came with 8 wristbands for the water park. I was also thrilled to learn, that our Brown County Visitors Card (which we had purchased for $12) would save us $18 on our cabin. It was 100% worth the money spent and we ALL had a blast! We spent a fraction of what we normally spend on vacations and the kids said that this was the best vacation ever! Here are some pictures of us at the cabin....


There are about 20 family cabins nestled deep in the woods in a little cabin "neighborhood". They are about 1/2 mile to the lodge and water area.

There are 2 bedrooms upstairs in the loft. One with a king size bed and one with a queen size bed. The kids loved picking which room they wanted and they enjoyed being able to look down at the living room area. The living room had 2 sofas with queen pull-out beds.

Off the back of the cabin is a large deck that overlooks the woods.

This picture was taken right outside of the Lodge area on our way to dinner...
(BTW.... we do color coordinate the kids. It's so much easier to keep track of everyone if they are all in the same color!)

Of course, being in the State Park, there is so much to see! There were BEAUTIFUL breathtaking views. It was amazing and I am sure the kids have never seen anything like it before. We had to stop and pose for a few pics....

We were only about 2 miles from Nashville, which is where we usually stay. There are so many shops and places to eat. We stopped by to visit with the fine people at the Cornerstone Inn, our "usual" place to stay. They have been wanting us to bring the kids in for quite some time. They seemed to really enjoy meeting them "in person". We tried to take the kids' picture outside of the Inn, but the sun was in their eyes...

They loved exploring though...

This is a picture of the guy that plays his guitar and sings. He will usually sit at the main corner in the middle of town. He seems to be a nice gentleman and has definitely got talent! We always enjoy sitting and listening to him.

Of course, having many train-lovers in the house, we had to take the 25 minute grand tour of the city. It is on a tractor/"train" and takes you around to see all Nashville. The kids LOVED it! Here we are waiting for the "train"...

Daddy and Taelyn...

Bryson and Ashton...

"All aboard"...

Dave and Bryson...

Nolan and Mariya...

Mama and Ashton...

Up next... our water park pictures....

Wordless Wednesday: Closet Fun

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I absolutely did NOT let my 2 1/2 year old stand half naked and pee on the van tire in the middle of Menard's parking lot. If he had to go potty, I would have taken him back into the store and used the restroom in the privacy of his own stall.

I definitely did NOT justify us eating out after church yesterday because a nearby restaurant had a "Kids eat free" day. We did not have that planned in our budget and it would have been silly to take money out of our savings to eat out. That is so not necessary when we have a house full of groceries.

When we woke up to my 4-year-old peeing in the bathtub in the middle of the night last night, we definitely did NOT just let him finish and tell ourselves we would clean it up in the morning. As I already said, our bathroom manners are top notch and that would be totally disgusting.


In the last couple weeks, a lot of the work we have been doing has been on the outside of the house. We've worked on landscaping, painting, house repairs, fixing windows, etc. While we were working on the house, I definitely did NOT catch my kids playing with slugs and then continue to allow it. I can not stand slugs, they totally gross me out! I would never see them building a "Slug Resort" and actually think it was kinda cute. The fact that they were staying entertained for hours on end was NOT enough to convince me to let them play with these nasty little creatures.



Last but not least, I did NOT open up my back door about 15 times Friday evening just to gaze at our new deck. I have waaaay better ways to spend my time. I have 6 kids that need my attention, I would never stand and stare at inanimate objects!

Have a great Monday!!!

Small Town, USA

As most of you know, our family has recently moved back to the small town that I grew up in. We previously lived in Danville for almost 11 years. We went from living in a town with about 34,000 people to living in a town with about 3,600 people.

My husband was born and raised in Danville. My kids were also born and raised in Danville. It's all they have ever known. None of them had a clue that living in a small town would be any different. Since moving here 2 months ago, they have been pleasantly surprised with the advantages.

I absolutely love the small town life! It feels good to be back to my roots! Here are some of MY favorite perks to small town life:


12. We live only a half mile from my mom and dad.

11. You can see the stars so clearly at night. It is amazing how bright they seem when you take away the city lights.

10. We are within walking distance to our church. The church that I have attended since I was 3 years old.

9. We are within walking distance to the grade school.

8. We got to know our neighbors pretty quickly. Of course, it's the type of thing where everybody knows everybody. One set of neighbors are the parents of a lady who goes to our church. The other neighbor is the lady that watches my cousin's kids. The other set of neighbors are friends with my Grandma and Grandpa. And the other neighbor is actually a girl that my husband grew up with. It's funny, because even though we had good neighbors in Danville, we never really got to know them (except for my BFF Shanda and her family). I have talked SOOO much more to our neighbors here than I ever did to our neighbors in Danville.

7. I feel comfortable letting the kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk out in front of our house.

6. The evenings (and actually, the daytimes as well) are generally very quiet.

5. My Grandma and Grandpa (whom I adore) drop by every now and then and bring us goodies from their garden.

4. Even though we are in a small town, we still have a McDonalds and a Subway!

3. If I need a last minute item from the grocery store, Dave can get there and back in about 8 minutes.

2. We can visit our newly renovated park and there usually isn't more than 2 other kids that we have to share it with!

Last, but not least, is my boyz favorite small town perk:

1. Just about any given time of the day, you can find a John Deere tractor driving down the road. The farmer is usually nice enough to give a wave to the kiddos and it just thrills them!


Here are a couple of my favorite recent small town stories...

One time, Dave went to pick up the pizza that we had ordered. When he got there, he realized that they didn't take debit cards. He came home literally shocked after they told him to go ahead and take home the pizza and he could bring back the money when we were done eating. I can still remember the look on his face! Ha!



Yesterday, Ashton and I went to the video store to rent some movies. As we were leaving, the cashier girl was talking to us and being friendly. As soon as Ashton and I got outside the door, Ashton says, "Man, I feel really sorry for that nice girl." I asked him, "Why do you feel sorry for her?" He said, "Because everyone must have just quit and left her there! She was the only worker in the store!" I said, "Welcome to small-town life, Ash!"

For the Love of Brown County.....

Brown County (specifically Nashville, IN) is a place that is near and dear to me and my husband. Almost 11 years ago, we went there for the first time.... on our honeymoon. We fell in love with the place and the people instantly. Since then, we have been back several times to visit. In June of every year, we go on our "annual overnight date". My parents, Dave's parents, and one of my best friends, Kara, usually will divide up the kids and keep them. If you haven't been down there, it's hard to explain how different it really is. You must go yourself... I guarantee you will relax and enjoy every minute!

Here are a few of MY favorite things about our trip.....

THE SCENIC DRIVE...

It's about 2 1/2 hours from our house. We usually take the back roads and the scenery is gorgeous. As you get closer to Brown County, the more rolling hills and endless treetop views you will find!

I LOVE being in the car with my husband. I LOVE the fact that we get to have a 2-hour conversation WITHOUT being interuppted by "Hey Mom..."


THE RELAXATION TIME...
We usually stay at the same Inn everytime we go. It sits right on one of the main streets in the middle of town and everything is within walking distance. The people at the Inn are almost like family to us now. There is a nice balcony with rocking chairs where we love to sit and relax. Sometimes Dave plays his guitar and we enjoy the quiet evening air.






THE QUALITY TIME...
There is so much to do there. We love just being on our own time-frame and enjoying each other. Sometimes we sit and watch the people. Sometimes we take the town tour for the ump-teenth time. Sometimes we just goof off!






THE MIDNIGHT WALK...
Every year, we take our midnight walk. Let me tell you, at midnight, this little town is fast asleep. You can hear a pin drop! It's so nice to walk past all of the closed little shops that were once hustling and bustling thoughout the day. We plan out our route for the next day by discussing where we are going to eat, see if any new stores have opened, and do a little "window" shopping.





THE QUAINT SHOPS...
Brown County is chalk-full of adorable shops! We have certain shops that can expect our business every year. We have come to know a lot of the people and look forward to seeing them each year! Each shop has it's own individual personality.

This year we found a couple "new" shops that were tucked back in some "nooks and crannies". These were 2 of the "new" ones that we really enjoyed this year....



This is a 2-story building that is packed with several different shops, including one of my absolute favorite shops.... Kiss The Cook. It has everything that you could possibly want for your kitchen!


I escpecially love the shops with primitive decorations and antiques.



This is Dave's favorite stop! J Bob's Hot Sauce Shop! He stocks up for the year with many of his hard-to-find hot sauces!



This little Cafe opened up last year and we tried it out because of it's unique eclectic style. The chicken salad is awesome and the smoothies will keep you coming back!



They have live music every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday! The bands are generally country or Bluegrass. We enjoyed the Peyton Brothers Band while we were there this year.




It's just a different world down there... and we LOVE it!


Coming up NEXT..... a post about the FIRST Harris FAMILY Brown County vacation!!!!