My hair

Just had to add a little note because everyone is commenting lately on how long my hair is growing. I cringe with fear anytime Mom says anything about cutting my hair -- I don't want her to cut it EVER. I will allow her to trim my bangs when necessary but when she asks about cutting the rest I say "but Daddy LOVES my long hair!" So Mom has decided to let me grow it in the hopes of having me donate it to Locks of Love -- in which case I need a 10 inch ponytail to cut off. I think we're getting close! But we want it to grow enough that I still have some hair after the cut. Mom talked to me about this about a month ago and asked if I might want to grow my hair really long and then cut some of it to share with a little girl who doesn't have any hair. I thought about it for a minute after saying yes and asked "is she a little girl?" Mom replied that she would probably be about my age or so. And then I asked (in all seriousness) "but does she have a REALLY tiny head so she just needs a little bit of my hair????" I really do love my hair!!!

Homecoming

For starters, just thought we'd share this picture Mom & Dad took of me when I was trying to spell words with my letters in the bathtub. I put these letters together and asked Daddy "what's this spell?" He thought it was funny enough to call Mommy in to see, so they took a picture...(if you can't read it it spells HOTY - yes, it's misspelled, but it's funny)
The big excitement last week was Gettysburg's Homecoming football game. The first picture below is from earlier in the week. Our house isn't too far from the football field and we could hear the whistles and crowd from the JV game while playing on the deck. Mommy came out to check on us and found us pretending to be spectators and cheering right along even though we couldn't see! On Friday, Gettysburg had their homecoming parade and we rode along in the back of the pickup again with Daddy & Justin and threw out candy. We lucked out and were one of the first few cars to go through, so we parked the truck at the end of the route (conveniently located in front of Grandma's house) and watched the rest of the parade with Grandma and the kids from daycare who were there too. It must have been a bit too much fun for me because I came home and got super tired and sick. So we missed the football game, but we hear that we won....




Look how sad I look when I'm sick:


Saturday I woke up and still had a high fever but luckily it broke a little later in the morning so Harrison and I still got to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house for our sleepover while Mom & Dad headed out of town for a wedding. We had a great time as usual and didn't want to go home when the sleepover was over! They took us out for a ride to the farm and we got to throw rocks in the lake, and this time we even got to climb inside a semi and an empty grain bin! Mom & Dad had a great weekend too but they left their camera at home so there are f no pictures of them all dolled up.

Vote for My Daddy!

Well, there are only 44 more days until election day, which means that campaign season is in full swing around our house. The other day, after Mom & Dad got home from work, we went on an "adventure" to drive around and put up yard signs in people's yards. Harrison and I are pretty easy to entertain, apparently! We had a lot of fun and I got out at every stop and helped Daddy put the sign in the ground. We also had a lot of fun just playing with Daddy's signs in the living room while they were getting them put together on the stands - I used them for hopscotch, ice skates, nap mats...



Parade season has started up again too, so us kids are on a constant sugar high yet again. Daddy went to a homecoming parade on Friday and then on Saturday we rode along to a nearby town's Schmeckfest -- a German/Russian festival. They had a parade as part of their festivities -- the best part was that we got to ride in the back of the pickup with Daddy & Justin to help throw out candy. (Mom drove and listened to a pathetic ND game on the radio.... I think she would have rather been riding in back with us!) Harrison was having a blast tossing little handfuls of candy and cheering "yea!" with every throw. I mastered the art of throwing one handed so that I could use my other hand to wave at everyone....I'm getting pretty good at this! Riding in the back was so much fun that Harrison had a bit of a fit when we had to get back into our carseats for the drive back home!




Mom & Dad think we're pretty fun kids these days. Harrison is finally old enough that the two of us can play together on our own --- of course, this also means that we're old enough to fight too. Mom heard lots of whining and tattling this week as I would shout "Mooooommmmmm....Harrison's bothering me!" or "Mooooommmmmm....Harrison's not sharing today!" Sometimes I take matters into my own hands and Mom loves listening to me scold Harrison -- I even use his full name - only I can't pronounce William very well so I call him Harrison Wilman Brown!!! Meanwhile Harrison is talking up a storm....he's like a little parrot and repeats everything he hears. He's usually talking in full sentences and addresses people by name. It's cute. Harrison also appears to be trying to potty train himself. The past couple days he has been going on the potty and has even told Mom & Dad once or twice that he needed to go. He's pretty proud of himself and so are we!

A good weekend

I am starting to learn my days of the week and I have a lot of things that help me remember what's what. I know that Tuesday is Nette's day (the day I go to daycare....I dread it all weekend long!) and I know that Wednesday is "Grandma's day with the kiddos" (Grandma is my hero and decided to keep us one day a week to save me from daycare!) and I know that Friday is DOUGHNUT DAY! This is probably Harrison's favorite day of the week. He loves running into the bakery and oohing and aahing over all the doughnuts in the case. I've learned to politely say "I would like a sprinkle doughnut, please" whereas Harrison just jabs his finger on the glass saying "this, this, this!!!" The fall weather has been gorgeous and we've been taking lots of walks to enjoy the cool days. We walked to the bakery on Friday and Harrison carried his bag of doughnut holes (I'm pretty sure he ate all 12 that day on the walk home!)


Later that day we decided it would be fun to have a picnic lunch. Mom has decided she likes this idea a lot too -- she doesn't have to clean the kitchen when we are done eating! She thought Harrison looked pretty cute doing yardwork while I lazed about on my blanket...
This is me covering myself with grass trying to get Harrison to "mow me!"

We stayed outside playing on the deck pretty much all day and figured out how to move the storage box over by the window to peek in on Mommy & Daddy when they were getting dinner ready. They got a pretty good laugh out of us -- this is one of their new favorite pictures of Harrison...
Saturday brought lots and lots of rain but we enjoyed getting to put on our raincoats and rainboots and went right outside to play. Harrison doesn't yet understand the mechanics of the umbrella (i.e. that it is supposed to be held over the head) so he cried a little about the rain getting him wet while holding his umbrella down....silly boy....



Sunday was another beautiful day and after church and lunch out with my cousins, Mom & Dad got back to work on the office. Mom is posting this picture for two reasons....one is to show you that Harrison's new favorite way to eat is with toothpicks (we had cocktail weiners at his party that he gobbled up and he was fascinated by the toothpicks and Mom realized that he'll eat a lot more with this newfound utensil!) She also posted the picture because if you look in the background you'll see that Daddy got the new window in and he did a great job! He's really turning into quite the carpenter....Here's the door Mom & Dad stained and hung....
And here is the office!!!!!
They unfortunately don't have a very good "before" picture. Mom kinda started tearing into the room before they really decided to work on it and then they forgot to get a picture. Here's one they took after pulling all the wood paneling and ceiling tiles down just to give you an idea....

They're moving in the furniture and getting it all set up -- we'll post the finished picture soon!

Announcing a new member to the Brown Family....

No....no more human members. But we did finally talk Mom & Dad into a fish. Red is my favorite color, so I picked the "beautiful, red one" and decided to name it after my Aunt Chelle. I sit near the bowl and talk to my fish and make sure it's eating and getting enough rest. Mom & Dad new I'd like having a fish, but I don't think they realized just how much I would love it! (Mom & Dad are a bit worried for the day Chelle goes belly up due to the fact that I love it so much -- I'm a pretty emotional kid about most situations, so everyone is praying that Fishy Chelle stays healthy for a while!)
We've been busy doing about 8 things at a time all week, which didn't leave time for many pictures. Mom survived her first week of CCD with kids in attendance and even found her final volunteer. Dad is working hard because the Governor and about 60 state employees are coming to Gettysburg on Tuesday to put on an event called Capital for a Day. It's a big deal that our town was selected as one of 4 in the state to host it but it means lots and lots of work for Daddy & the city. Pray that all goes smoothly on Tuesday!

All of our friends and family managed to completely fill our house with new toys for Harrison's birthday and that has kept us plenty busy. Our friends the Bleichers sent a great scooter that we keep fighting over. Harrison doesn't really get it, though, he stands up on it and wonders why he isn't going anywhere. So we take turns pushing each other around on it...
We were all very excited (and very nervous) for Notre Dame football to start this weekend. Apparently we had reason to be nervous -- it wasn't a very pretty game, but the Irish pulled off a win. Harrison and I both fell asleep for parts of the game, but it doesn't sound like we missed much. We both were awake for the end and practiced our "touchdown!" arms. We also got to go to Gettysburg's first game of the season Friday night and had a great time. I got to sit in the stands with the big girls because my cousin Erika let me hang out with her. I thought I was pretty special! I even played with the cheerleaders for a while -- but when I yelled out my cheer I screamed "GO IRISH!" Guess we better work on that!

As for the other project for the weekend, see if you notice anything missing in this picture:
Yup....there's a big hole in our new office. Daddy took out the old window and if all goes well today, we'll be installing a new one. Sure hope this works! You can also see in the picture though, that we got the crown molding hung -- we will hopefully be moving the furniture in soon! This home remodeling stuff sure does take a bit longer when you're doing it yourself! Mom & Dad are having fun though and are already making plans for the next room to tackle. Luckily, they've hired someone for the kitchen -- they're not crazy enough to take on that challenge yet!

Back to work...

Birthday Boy

Harrison is TWO!!! And he loved every minute of his birthday. He woke up happy, smiling and jumping up and down in his crib. I ran in to get him and said "guess what buddy? You're TWO!!!" And we sang happy birthday to him. Harrison was most excited to wear his birthday boy t-shirt because it has a fire truck on the front of it. He literally gasped with excitement when Mommy held it up to show him. He couldn't get his pajamas off fast enough!

Daddy had to leave for a little while to work on a big event coming to Gettysburg next week and Mommy needed to occupy us while she worked on getting the house and food ready for the party. So Harrison opened his first present - a new DVD of the movie Cars (we honestly wore out the other copy!). He was thrilled -- the kid is really easy to please! Mom got a few good shots of his facial expressions as he watched the beginning of the movie. Pointing when it turned on and he saw the Cars title screen, smiling with excitement, watching happily and then the crash scene and his amazement when Lightning McQueen leaps through the air and then the applause :)

Harrison loves trucks, so Mom tried to make his cake look like a pickup. She personally decided it was one of her ugliest cakes, but Harrison saw it and screamed TRUCK (in his own inappropriately mispronounced manner!) -- so Mom was proud enough that she made her little boy happy...
Opening presents was definitely my favorite part. Harrison picked Grandma and Grandpa's present first because it was (of course) wrapped in Cars paper. He ripped off pieces of paper and then would walk around the room showing everyone the cars on the paper -- he didn't even seem to care that there was something underneath! So I took charge of the present-opening operation and tore right into them all for him. I was ripping paper so fast and singing Jingle Bells as I did it. This didn't bother Harrison a bit -- he would see each present as I got it opened and showed it to him and he would ooh and aah over it while I got to work on the next. Harrison got A LOT of trucks, tractors, cars, and things with wheels -- and each one got a "Ohhhh WOWWWW!!!" reaction.





Daddy took some video of the cake part of the evening and hopefully we'll get some of that on the computer to share. Harrison became a bit nervous when Mommy lit the candle -- he wasn't too excited initially about his truck being set on fire (those of you who read about the 4th of July and how sad he was when we lit a firecracker that looked like a truck blowing up will understand why he may have had reason to be concerned!). But he overcame his fear and did a great job trying to blow out his candle. He polished off a big piece of cake and even started trying to eat off of other people's plates. He was a happy, happy, happy birthday boy. What fun!