It Did Say "Washable" on the Box....

For those of you who worried about Daddy having sole control of us kiddos all weekend, have no fear -- we had a great weekend and even built a snowman that has been commented on by about 10 people in town already. Thanks Daddy for giving Mommy a weekend away and for being so much fun! On the other hand, Mom seems to have lost her mind -- she let us go a bit wild tonight while working on our art project. Things quickly went overboard and this was the end result:

There was easily as much paint on us as there was on the roll of paper in front of us! Once it got started, Mom just let it go....figuring it would wash off in the bath. Luckily, Harrison stuck to the lighter colors and it came off with no problem. I on the other hand look a little bit like I got punched in the face. Most of it came off, but there's still a bit of a blue tint to my cheeks....hopefully that will finish rubbing off tomorrow!

Senator Corey W Brown -- it sounds so nice!

I thought I would start this post with a little look at our weather out here in the great state of South Dakota -- it's been blizzarding all week. You'll notice we almost couldn't see our neighbor's house! Luckily, we're due for some warmer temperatures next week! And even more lucky is that Daddy safely made it down to Pierre yesterday for the start of the legislative session!They didn't tell us kids where they were going, but today Mommy and Grandma drove through the weather too and went to see Daddy get sworn in as State Senator. Mom is still just beaming with pride. Daddy looked pretty sharp and it sounds like he had a great first day on the job!
These are our District 23 Legislators. On the left is Rep. Charlie B Hoffman (if anyone is watching Countdown to the Crown on TLC or plans to watch Miss America -- his daughter is Miss South Dakota!). To daddy's right is Rep. Justin Cronin, also from Gettysburg and a friend of daddy's. Great group of guys who will do a fantastic job! Daddy tells me I can come visit one day and I'm allowed to sit with him on the Senate floor (this is an honor....even Mommy isn't allowed -- just us kiddos!)
Here's Daddy and Justin....
Mommy and Daddy
Daddy with his desk and nameplate
It's official....he's now Senator Corey Brown. Make us proud Daddy! (oh wait, we already are!).

Meanwhile, back home, us kids are working hard. I decided this week after mommy and I finished our baking that I wanted to help mommy with the mopping. She was happy to teach me! Harrison decided he ought to help out too and grabbed my toy vacuum -- mom can't wait until he's big enough to run the real one if he's that eager to help too!

Happy New Year!

We had so much fun on our trip to DC to see everyone! We're happy to be home, but we really miss our cousins! We actually got the entire clan of Pops and Gams' kids together all at the same time. We set the timer on the camera and actually got a fairly good picture of all of us too!
We took a drive downtown to see the National Christmas tree. It was a bit cold out and poor Abbey looked so cute trying to keep her hands in the pockets of her coat! Luckily, she and I had fun running around to get her warmed up. Harrison spent pretty much the whole time clinging onto the fence surrounding the tree and trying to figure out how to "get in" so he could play with the model trains that had circling the tree!
After our sightseeing, we headed out to meet Bobby for dinner at Chuck E Cheese. We celebrated his second birthday with him there last year and decided to make it an annual event (albeit a few weeks early this year!). We had a great time running around, playing games and dancing on camera! Needless to say after such a big day, it was home to bed for lots of rest!
We headed down to Pops and Gams' beach house for a few days to celebrate New Years. Mom loved waking up to sunrises over the ocean and the sound of the waves. We had a great time spending a few days together with everyone under one roof. We did try to do a nice dinner out one night, but there are no pictures of that because it was completely nuts!

We left the beach and drove a little further south to visit some friends in Virginia Beach and play with their two little boys. Again, a bit nutty, so there aren't a lot of pictures, but we sure had fun!
We spent the last day just playing and visiting and then headed home for a very long trip home (our first flight out of Minneapolis got canceled, so we learned how to entertain ourselves in the airport for TEN hours! Mom and Dad were grateful for moving walkways, toy stores, kids play areas, and the DVD players they got us for Christmas!)
Thank you Pops, Gams, Amy, Scott, Abbey, Jen, Kevin and Bobby! We had so much fun and can't wait to come back again soon!!!!

Merry Christmas

Christmas seems like eons ago already. We crammed as much in as possible and loved every minute of it. We were a bit late getting our tree up and since we were leaving town the day after Christmas, we left the ornaments in their boxes and decorated with candy canes. Harrison and I set a goal of eating them all by Christmas and we got pretty darn close!
Christmas Eve we went to mass and then over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner with them, our cousins, and Great Grandma and Grandpa.
We got to open lots of presents and then headed over to my cousin Mikenna's house to celebrate with them a little bit and meet our newest cousin - Boston James. Here he is with his Grandma Judy. I thought he was the cutest thing ever!
While we were at Mikenna's you'll never guess who stopped by on his way to deliver toys! SANTA!!! To say I was thrilled is a huge understatement. He brought me another new baby doll and I just kept giving him hugs and sitting on his lap. I was thrilled! Harrison willingly walked up to Santa when he called out his name to give him his present and then proceeded to quickly grab his present from Santa and walk away -- no greetings, no hugs, no thank you! Mikenna's mommy helped us make some reindeer food and we headed home to sprinkle it on the lawn and get the plate of cookies ready for Santa.
Christmas morning we woke up to find that Santa had definitely been by again and brought even more presents! We got the lion and tiger cubs we've been asking for every single time the commercial comes on TV and an art easel. We got lots and lots of presents from family and friends. Everytime we handed a present to Harrison he would say "there's a car in there!" before he even opened it. Luckily, he was right most of the time! As you can see from the picture, all the gifts and excitement definitely wore him out!We played with our toys for a while and Mom and Dad got some packing done and then it was over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas, Part 4. Amazingly, there were still even more presents to be opened!!! Grandma and Grandpa got Harrison a big tire full of little cars -- definitely one of the highlights of Harrison's lifetime :) We had a yummy supper with them and then headed home to get some sleep before our big trip to DC the next day!