Andrea's World

I finally got my Brown Paper package exchange package

2010-02-09T11:11:00.002-06:00

I am so excited. I finally received my lovely package from the Brown Paper package exchange that I particiapted in during the holidays. If you remember, I had the lovely Thuy of Lollilicious Designs. I forgot to photograph what I received but she did. Here is a link to the goodies I sent her. I kept checking the mail for a package from my partner but I never saw one...that was until last week. I meant to post this sooner but a trip to San Diego thwarted my plans. I received a great Valentines package from Stacey at The Fancy Fritter. I got a bag of yummy chocolates (which I only had 1 of because my 2 kids found it and ate it all in a day), a yard of super cute fabric - which I have plans to make a super cute apron with, some V-day socks and gorgeous pens which have already taken up space in my purse and beside by bed. I just love these exchanges. I love putting together packages for others that have a touch of me and Minnesota and receiving packages from people from other parts of the country. What a great way to connect with those out in the blogosphere.

Shop Local

2009-11-09T10:22:00.003-06:00

Another blog that I read, Amelia Sprout, posted about shopping local and supporting local businesses this holiday season. I can't agree with her more. I am a huge fan of shopping local. One place that I love, and totally heard about from her is Crafty Planet. I fell in love with their fabrics and have taken several sewing classes there. Although I can't seem to stop making tote bags. My favorite things to shop for are kids toys and clothes. And amazingly the locally owned shops also have little things for the moms also. Here are some of my favorites: Kiddywampus, Bebe Babble and Pacifier. I also love to frequent locally owned restaurants. One new favorite of mine is called CupCake. Not only do they have amazing cupcakes, but they also have amazing food. One thing I did this summer was participate, for the 2nd year in a row, in a CSA. I think that has been so far my biggest support of shopping and eating locally. Some other, not necessarily local, but etsy stores that I love are Cakies, Resa Design and Kennedy & Friends.

Brown Paper Package Exchange

2009-10-19T09:54:00.002-05:00

One thing that I absolutely love about the internet is the ability to bring people together. My first experience with this is when my cooking club was formed. We all met online and that was 8 years ago.

Now you can really get personal on the internet, especially around the holidays is to participate in exchanges. Max and Ellie are hosting a holiday gift exchange - the Brown Paper Package exchange. Join me! You have to sign up by October 24th and she has some other rules. All totally reasonable. I did an ornament exhange last year and what I got is one of my favorite ornaments of all of them. So I totally encourage you to sign up if you have never done one before.

A fresh start

2009-10-19T09:44:00.003-05:00

I have been contemplating a overhaul of my blog. I haven't regularily blogged in such a long time and I think it is about time I do. The question is do I revamp this one or do I start fresh. What I do know is that it will be about the things I like, my kids (of course), cooking, sewing, trying to go green with 2 young kids and what I don't like. There is definitely no shortage of my opinion to go around. So next up, decision time.

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-15T09:58:00.000-05:00

Hopscotch Camis GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sugar Cookie Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

2008-12-23T09:13:00.000-06:00

Sugar Cookie Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

A lot of rambling

2008-09-25T09:34:00.004-05:00

Fall is finally here and it is my favorite season of them all. Why you ask??? Well - My birthday for one - my anniversary for two - Halloween for three and both my kids birthdays for four - not necessarily in that order. But I just love everything about fall. Yet it is still warm here. Warm enough to send Harrison to school in shorts but with a jacket for the morning. Am I complaining about this - no - but I do love it when you can wear lightweight sweaters and no jacket....is what i'm saying.

We are coming off a busy weekend and looking straight at another busy one. Last weekend we took Brady in for his annual check up and surprise surprise - that stinky breath of his is all his bad teeth and gingivitis. Well - we will get his mouth fixed up eventually. Then Cliff and I got a sitter for the kids and had an evening to ourselves. What did we do on our big night out??? We went to the MOA. Really. Cliff had to get a watch battery replaced and apparently the only place he can get it done was as the fossil store where the only store was located in the MOA. So off we went for our evening of fun. Much to my surprise it was fun. Going to the mall without the kids was fantastic. We had dinner at Sushi Tango...Yes - Sushi at the mall. But is was some of the most delicious sushi ever! Then we shopped around browsing at whatever we wanted to and then headed to a movie. Saw Burn After Reading. It was a good movie. Completely unpredictable and similiar in feel to Fargo.

Sunday I had the kids to myself all day. Boy that is tiring. Cliff went to the Vikings game with Ken. I took Harrison to his swim class - made Apple Crisp with Harrison and played Soccer with him. By the time Cliff got home I was wiped.

This week was cleaning lady week. I love it when the cleaning lady comes. The house smells and is so clean. I have been trying to keep up with it between each cleaning.

Chessa is on the verge ow walking. She has taken 1-3 tentative steps but hasn't gone much beyond that. She is getting there and will probably be walking by 11 months.

I found out last night that my grandfather, who is 93, just married his 60 something year old girlfriend. No one was there. They just did it and told everyone after. I guess if that makes him happy.

I am still here....

2008-09-15T10:41:00.003-05:00

Just a little more tired and with another kid in tow. Some things have changed yet somethings have not. I has been almost 2 years since I last blogged and to tell you the truth I have no idea why I stopped. I really enjoyed journaling all of Harrison's adventures and activities. As I was re-reading throught my old blog posts I noticed that Crab Feast was one of my last blogs, and guess what. This past weekend was Crab Feast 2008. It was very late in the season to have it but due to scheduling conflicts and mine and Cliff's laziness, we did it in September. And like last year, it rained. Which made for a very stressful 2 hours leading up to the party. We finally decided on moving the party from our yard to the garage. Great Choice!! It was dry and cozy and I didn't feel all spread out or that I had to do "rounds" to see everyone. I was able to sit in one spot - enjoy my crabs and relax.

This summer also marked the summer Harrison really developed as a swimmer. So much so that I signed him up for real lessons. He now goes to Foss Swim School. He has had 2 lessons so far an this Sunday he honest to goodness swam the crawl (or freestyle - how ever you roll). He was perfect. I almost cried...ok I teared up. I was so proud of him. I guess I was channeling Debbie Phelps. His lessons are on Sunday afternoon. Right in the middle of the day, not ideal but so far it is working. We did have to hussle after this last lesson because he had a birthday party at, you guessed it, Pump it Up. We were about a 1/2 hour late but he still had more than enough time to run around with his friends - he was very happy to see some of them because they went off to kindergarten and he is still at Country Day.

Just another busy weekend with tons of plans - somethings just never change!

America’s Next Top Model

2006-10-16T11:08:00.000-05:00

I belong to an organization called Mom Camp. It is an organization where mom’s are to take time out to do things for themselves. Well, at the big mom camp event in November they were asking for applications for models for the Everyday Mom Fashion Show. The ones selected get a makeover, haircut, color, makeup application and clothes. And then they get to model their new look at the first evening of Mom Camp at the fashion show. Well, they chose ME!!! I couldn’t believe it. I absolutely can’t wait. My hair cut and color and makeup will be done on the 29th of October. The only minor sad part is that 2 weeks ago, I cut my hair to a style that I absolutely love. So I hope we can just shape it up a bit and do more with color. I absolutely can’t wait. I hope someone will be there to take pictures for me.

Pumpkin Patch Part 3

2006-10-16T11:07:00.002-05:00

Back to Country Sun Farms on Sunday, this time with Grandma. We did a lot of the same things as last time but this time we went on a hay ride. It was totally worth the $3.50 per person. It lasted about 20 minutes and was just so much fun. Harrison loved it; there were ghosts, skeletons, swamp monsters, other monsters, hidden all over the trail. When the ride was over we went to pick out more pumpkins. This time, Harrison picked out 2 big ones and 2 small ones. I got more squash and a bale of hay and a corn stalk to decorate the house. I absolutely love it on the front of the house. It is hilarious. I have never decorated too much.

Chuck E. Cheese

2006-10-16T11:07:00.001-05:00

This weekend Harrison was invited to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was for a friend of his from Pre-School, Jack. There were 12 parties going on there that day so it was a bit crowded. That didn’t stop any of the 6 guests from having a great time. They started out running around checking out the rides. Then Harrison and the boys discovered the habitrail. At first Harrison was a bit too small to go up into it, but he is very ingenious and figured out how he can leverage the netting to climb up. They ran around until it was time for lunch and cake. It was pizza for all and very yummy cake. I can’t believe how nicely Harrison sat and ate. When lunch was done, it was back to playing. At about 2:00 we turned in our tickets and went home for a much needed nap.

Vikings vs. Detroit

2006-10-16T11:07:00.000-05:00

Shannon and I went to the Vikings game on Sunday. It was totally fun. We got there in plenty of time and didn’t have to rush. The game was pretty exciting. Mostly at the end of the game but we had fun the whole time. I was so excited for my snacks. Usually when we go to games, I have to share a soda with Cliff, and today I got to get one all by myself. How niave I am. The soda’s are absolutely HUGE. It lasted me the whole game. I now know why we share. The next game I am going to is the packer game in a few weeks.

Pumpkin Patch Part 2

2006-10-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we took Harrison to Country Sun Farms where they have a great fall festival. They have giant scarecrows, spiders, pumpkins and a spooky house. Harrison loves the spooky house. He stands there and watches it forever. It isn’t one you can go into but one where they have animated characters doing things. They also have animals that you can feed. They have goats, sheep, cows, turkeys and chickens. Every year when we go, Harrison likes the idea of feeding them, but gets scared and pulls his hand away before they get the food. This year he was right in there feeding them right out of his hand. But he is so stingy with his food. He has a whole handful of corn but he feeds the animals one kernel at a time. It is hilarious. We spent about an hour there and then went to pick out another pumpkin. This time he picked a small one with a painted face. I got some squash. On the way home we stopped at “Old McDonalds” for lunch, Harrison’s favorite place after a hard day at the pumpkin patch.

Aboo’s Visit

2006-10-16T11:04:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago my Mom came to visit and stay with us. She was coming in on Friday night and as typical Northwest, her flight was delayed. Which wouldn’t be so bad but I brought Harrison with me and she was originally due to arrive at 8:00 pm which was already past his bed time but I kept him up for his grandma. When we got there we circled 5 or 6 times and the cutest thing was that Harrison, maybe punchy with tiredness, was super excited to pick her up so when we finally saw her, he just about exploded with excitement. She even sat in the back seat with him.

Before we went to pick her up, Harrison helped me make Yukon Gold Potato Soup for dinner for us and my mom. He put the potato’s in the pot, the cream, and the onions and the chicken soup. And then he stirred it. He was so proud to make soup for his Aboo.

When we got home Harrison showed Aboo all of his new toys and told her about the soup he made for her. We put him to bed and then had dinner.

The next day we all went shopping. We took Harrison to the mall to get some jeans and he just loves playing in the kids area. We ate at the food court, Sbarro, which he loves. Mom and I found a great in between jacket for him but they didn’t have his size at the store so they held it at Southdale for us. After we got home and put Harrison down for a nap we went over to the other mall to pick it up. We also did a bit of shopping for ourselves.

On Sunday mom and I took Harrison to Emma Krumbee’s Pumpkin Patch. Harrison absolutely loves it there. There is a giant mountain of hay that he gets to climb up. We also went on a camel ride. Now that was a hilarious site, me and Harrison on the Camel, Harrison in front of the hump and me behind. Harrison also went on a pony ride, through a maze, down slides, rode trikes and sung and danced his heart out at the kids concert they had going on there. But even the musician taking a break didn’t leave the audience without a show, Harrison got up there and reenacted the Wiggles concert he went to and he brought the house down.

We finally were able to get him away from the stage (I am thinking he takes after his uncle Brad just a bit) and over to eat lunch which he ate but getting him there was a struggle, in his world, there is no time to break for food. When we were done with lunch we went to pick out his pumpkin, some apples and cider and back home.

Aboo was heading out on Monday but not before she visited Harrison at preschool. She spent 2 hours there and had a great time. She read the class some stories, helped at snack time, watched as they made some art and played out side with his class. Where was I during all of this, sitting in the car in the lot in front of the school, getting weird looks from people. Finally at about 2 hours, the director came over to the car to ask what I was doing and as soon as I mentioned Harrison, she knew right away and it wasn’t a problem. But I can imagine what they were thinking.

After the school visit, Mom and I had lunch and then headed to the airport. It was a really nice visit. Harrison was sad to see her leave. He likes it when Aboo visits.

Catch Up

2006-09-26T10:21:00.000-05:00

I can’t believe it has been over 2 months since I wrote. A lot has happened in those 2 months so I will do my best to update everything

August

Brad’s Wedding
The month started off with a bang. We all went back to NY for Brad and Merryl’s wedding. It was so much fun and I think everything went off without a hitch. Merryl looked absolutely gorgeous and so did Brad. Harrison was the ring bearer and to be honest I hoped for the best but fully expected the worst. But I am writing out of order. We arrived on Friday and the wedding was on Sunday. That Friday all the other family arrived as well. Jon, Jill, Hannah and Sophia from California and Wendy, David, Jacob and Lacey from Pennsylvania. The were all staying at a hotel except for us who got to stay at my Mom’s house. That evening we all met up at Ben’s Delicatessen. This was a great place for a large family with tons of young kids to eat. We all had hot dogs, chicken, huge corned beef sandwiches and Knishes. After a great dinner we hung out outside for a while and that is when the fun really started. There was this fountain in front of the restaurant and the kids absolutely loved watching the water. Jacob, Hannah and Harrison really get along well. They were posing for pictures together, laughing and climbing all over their Aboo and Poppy.

The next day was the rehersal dinner. That was fun as well. Brad and Merryl showed a video of their childhood and relationship together. I think it was the beginning of their wedding video. It was so much fun to watch. There were really touching and funny speeches. I was planning on giving a speech at the wedding and although I didn’t have anything written yet, I was planning on telling some classic ‘Brad” stories but unfortunately they were told by several other people so I had to rethink my speech.

Cliff took Harrison back to the house to go to sleep early because I knew he had a big day the next day so I wanted him all rested. I think he was tired, but he was having a great time with Jacob, Hannah and his other cousins that were there.

The wedding day started early. Me and my mom were getting our hair and makeup done at the house, and we had to get Brad up and dressed and off to the temple by 7:00 am. Eddie helped with getting Brad to the temple. Once our hair and makeup were done, me and my mom went to the temple to get dressed. But before I left, I got Harrison bathed and into his tuxcedo, which by the was the cutest thing I have ever seen!! Apparently after I left he was really good. We hired a babysitter to help with him while we were doing wedding stuff. She came to the house and helped Cliff with him so Cliff could get ready in his tux.

At the temple everyone looked stunning, as you would expect. Harrison and Cliff arrived about 45 minutes after me and my mom got there. We had to take pictures and do a rehersal. I feared that Harrison would through tantrums and not listen and that he wouldn’t cooperate for pictures or walking down the aisle. I could not have been more wrong. He smiled big for pictures and walked down the aisle proud and tall. Although unless you had an aisle seat in the pews you didn’t see him walk down the aisle because he is so small. Anyway, Harrison’s role in the wedding was a huge success and exceeded everyone’s expectations.

We took Harrison home ½ way through the cocktail hour and he had a great time back at Aboo’s house playing with his cousins. Back at the Wedding we all had fun. It was great spending time with my cousins. I don’t get to do that often enough. My speech was quite funny, as people told me. It was all off the cuff. I told funny stories about Brad – in the guise of how to help Merryl live with my brother – and of course got sentimental about how I love Merryl and was so happy to have her for a sister (mush mush mush).

We had one more day in NY after the wedding and we spent that day at Merryl’s house for a brunch. It was really nice to decompress with everyone and talk about stories from the wedding before they went on their honeymoon.

Thomas the Tank Engine comes to MN
The weekend after our trip to NY we had tickets to see Thomas who was at the Minnesota Zephyr in Stillwater. “The Real Thomas” as Harrison called it. It was not only a train ride on Thomas but they had all sorts of train related activities for the kids. Storytelling, tattoos, train tables, inflatable bouncy houses, music and character appearances. Harrison didn’t start off in the best of moods. He was in a very mommy state of mind. I had to carry him and be with him. He didn’t want to go in the hay maze by himself, he really didn’t want to do anything by himself. That was until it was our time to go on Thomas. He then perked right up and was super excited. We even got some great pictures of Harrison in front of Thomas. The train ride wasn’t very exciting but Harrison thought it was great. It went really slow up the tracks and then back down the tracks. The whole thing only took about 20 minutes. We did have some friends with us on the train. Barb was there with Tommy and Morgan and Anne was there with Brent and Willie. We also saw Catherine and Jack in the hay maze. So we knew quite a few people. After the train ride we waited in line to meet Sir Topham Hat but it was so disorganized we left but not before we got Harrison this huge ice cream cone. We then went to the gift shop to buy some souvineers and we tried to do some of the things Harrison was too cranky to do before but now he was tired so we just left. We did stop at “Old McDonalds” to get Harrison lunch before we went home. It was a really fun and unique day, even though he was not in a good mood for some of it.

Camp Begins
Also right after we got back from the wedding, Harrison started camp for 2 weeks. This was at the same place where he would be going to Pre-School in September. I was glad that camp was right before the start of Pre-School so he would get used to going. He really liked it. He went swimming, rode ponies, did art projects and played on their outdoor playgrounds every day. He even made some friends that are in his class this year. I had to get used to packing his lunch every day and giving him breakfast in the morning. I didn’t think he would eat so early in the morning because usually he doesn’t eat until 7:30 – 8:00 am and now I was asking him to eat at 6;30-6;45. He adjusted to camp and the new schedule really fast and we were really looking forward to starting school in the fall.

Annual Crab Feast
At the end of August was our annual crab feast that Cliff and I host every summer. We invite about 25 people over and fly in a bushel of crabs from Maryland. It is so much fun and this year was no exception. By now everyone knew how to eat the crabs so I didn’t have to give any lessons. We also got an assortment of brats for those who didn’t eat crabs to enjoy which were very yummy themselves. Many people brought chips and dip and desserts so we had plenty of food for everyone. Harrison was there and got a kick out of seeing the crabs or crabbies as he calls them. He even had a friend over to the house to play with, Abby. I got a babysitter to watch them so we all could enjoy ourselves and not have to run around after the kids. My mouth is watering talking about the crabs…I really can’t wait for next year.

September

Harrison Starts Pre-School
Right after Labor Day Harrison started pre-school. He goes 3 days a week, MWF and he goes to Carol’s the other 2 days. He adjusted pretty fast to this schedule and he even made up a song to sing…which is really just chanting….”Pre-School Carol’s Pre-School Carol’s Pre-School Carol’s” and just keep repeating. He already knows his teacher, Sara, from Camp so that adjustment was pretty easy. We dropped off all of his stuff, school supplies, change of clothes, nap blankets, pictures – at orientation so on the first day we just had his lunch and his bag to bring with us. He hasn’t cried when I drop him off there, just a bit clingy. He even has 2 girlfriends…Betsy and Megan. He talks about Betsy the most. She is another little girl in the Pre-School I program but not in his class. Apparently they all have lunch together and take naps together and do some activities together so he sees her a lot. Megan is older than him and he sees her after school. They had a back to school night last week and Harrison showed off his cubby and his artwork on the walls and even brought us to see the science room. I am so excited that we found this school.

Mom Camp Boot Camp
Last week was the first Mom Camp Boot Camp. It was at the mall of America. We got to choose 2 break out sessions. I choose a cooking one at the California Café and a makeup one at MAC at Nordstroms. I had a blast. I even got to be a makeup model at the MAC breakout. Barb, Janie and Megan came with me to this event. It started off with snacks and a great show with radio personalities from FM107. It was very funny and was held in the routunda. We all then went over to our first break out. Ours was the cooking at California Café. I wasn’t feeling well so I just sat and watched and didn’t taste anything but Barb and Megan both said it was very delicious. We then went to our 2nd breakout at MAC. I volunteered to be a makeup model and usually I think they do my makeup too think and heavy but this time I thought I looked great and I got a lot of compliments. Of course I bought the blush and lipstick, how could I not with all those compliments. After that we all met back at the Rotunda for prize drawings. I didn’t win anything! I was very bummed. I love getting free stuff and winning prizes and I came away with nothing. The next Mom Camp is in November so I hope I will be lucky then.

Vikings Season
Vikings games have started. I haven’t been to any yet. Cliff has used the tickets for the first 2 games. I am going with Barb to the next game against Detroit and I am so excited to go. I want to go to another game with Shannon but I am having a hard time finding a game to go to. I think if Brad doesn’t come in to go to the Jets game, that will be the game I go to. I am trying to find a sitter for the Packer’s game…that one Cliff and I will go to together.

Harrisonisms
Harrison has some funny names for things – especially animals:
Okapi – a horse like animal – he call this a “Rollercuppy” – don’t know where he got that one but we like it
Flamingo – “Wafingo” – This one is hilarious.
Elephant – “Enyo” He doesn’t say this anymore but he did say it when he started talking and we really love it.

The Webcam is up and running

2006-07-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

About 4 months ago...maybe even 5 Mom and Eddie got us a web cam so they can talk to and see Harrison through the computer. Well after ALOT of technical issues and a visit from the Geek Squad, it is now up and running. We had the maiden voyage or I should say the maiden viewing last night. It was great. I actually really liked it. I can't wait for Harrison to use it and see his Aboo and Poppy.

Harrison's first Movie

2006-07-20T11:05:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we took Harrison to see his first movie. Cars. We talked about going for a few days and gave him 4 rules:

1. You have to stay seated in yoru seat.
2. You have to eat popcorn
3. You have to eat your M&M's
4. You have to whisper.

So we talked about Harrison getting his own big popcorn bag and M&M's and Jelly Beans if he followed the rules.

When we got to the theatre it was pretty crowded. I think alot of people had the same idea as I did to get the kids out of the heat. What I found there that I was very pleasantly surprised was that they had booster seats for the kids so we used that and it worked out great.

Harrison sat and watched the previews, ate his popcorn and candy and began enjoying the movie. He would laugh heartedly when the rest of the theatre would laugh and look around at all of the people laughing as well. I think he liked that everyone was laughing at the same time. About an hour into the movie Harrison wanted to go home. It was about 2:10 and there was about another hour left of the movie. We tried to get him to sit and enjoy the rest but he really wanted to leave. So we left and as soon as we got into the car he fell asleep. He was just so tired he didn't want to stay at the movies.

I think for his first movie, he did amazing. He sat quietly during the whole time he was there and enjoyed his snacks and only when he was super tired did he want to leave. It was a very enjoyable experience which exceeded all of my expectations.

Its gonna be a hot one

2006-07-20T10:58:00.000-05:00

On Saturday and Sunday they predicted it was going to hit and even break 100 degrees. So I made plans with Shannon and Abbey on Saturday to go back to the lake. Cliff and Ken (and Larry) were enjoying their Free Food Day Fest. So we installed Abbey's car seat in our car and headed off to the lake. We all had a great time. We quickly found a little spot under an umbrella. We got there at 10:30 am and it was already 90 degrees so we immediately headed into the water. It was gorgeous. You didn't feel hot at all. The kids played in the water until the first life guard breat at noon. They were having a great time walking on their hands in the shallow end and kicking their feet. Harrison and I went out to the "Deep Cold Water" a few times but he was really enjoying pretending he was a "crab".

At noon we broke for lunch and the lifeguard safety break. I think Harrison and Abbey worked up a huge appetite after all of that swimming. We has PB&J sandwiches, chips, carrots, grapes, cheese sticks and juice boxes and water.

After lunch we spend about another 2 hours in the water and finally left the lake at 2:00.

It was a great way to spend the very hot day. Harrison fell asleep in the car almost immediately. I thought I was doomed because usually if he falls asleep in the car he is done for napping during the day. But thank goodness he went right back to sleep when we got home and slept until 4:30.

Cliff came home from his Free Food Fest day at 6:00pm saying he had a great time and found some really interesting places like the Asian Farmers Market/Flea Market and the new market that opened on Lake Street in the old sears building. He said he even tried Goat. ...I like the cheese but I dont' knwoa how I feel about the meet.

The Burt Bacharach of the Toddler Set

2006-07-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

Harrison has begun making up songs lately. Also he just enjoys singing and dancing constantly (I think he gets this from his uncle Brad).

In a previous blog entry I gave you the "Deep Cold Water" song. Here are 2 others:

The Pay (sung to the tune Hi Ho the Dairy-o)

Were going to the pay

Were going to the pay now

Were going to the pay

Pooping

I'm Poopin'

Lake Elmo Park Reserve

2006-07-11T11:03:00.000-05:00

I found the best place to be during the summer. The Lake Elmo Park Reserve. What I love about it is the swimming lake they have. It is a lake with sandy beaches but the water is filtered and chlorinated. It is the best of a pool and a lake/beach. Plus the deepest part is only 6 feet deep so Harrison can walk so far out and it is still only up to his chest. He absolutely loves it. Just like in Otis he likes to run in and out of the water plus Cliff and I spread out and he runs in between us. We also take him deeper and bounce him around which he likes. He even make up a song:

The deep, the deep, the deep cold water

(keep repeating)

It is a great song...especially when he sings it.

We have been to this lake 2x already and I think we are going again on Saturday because it is going to be 100 degrees.

Last weekend we went with the Kunkle's. Shannon wrote about it in her blog..so I am just going to give her kudo's and include her descrption with my additions:

Abby & Harrison had a lot of fun in the water. It was very shallow for most of the way so they could wade out pretty far. They played with beach balls and splashed. Abby (and Harrison) also enjoyed bringing up fistfuls of sand from the bottom. We ate lunch on the beach. Since we didn't pack anything, we got hot dogs & chips from the snack stand. (We did pack lunch and snacks..yummy sandwiches, fruit and pretzles) ... Right after noon there was an emergency in the pond. We were sitting in the water when all of a sudden a man rushed out of the water carrying an unconscious 7-year-old boy. He laid him on the sand and the lifeguard came over. They got the kid breathing again relatively quickly but his eyes were rolling back in his head and he wasn't very responsive. After a short while, the paramedics, cops and an ambulance came and took the kid away. Not sure what happened - apparently a woman saw him go under the water and grabbed him but she also had her own 2 kids with her so her husband or someone else carried him out. The kid's parents were not there, just an older teenage sister and some other siblings. Apparently no one was watching him and the lifeguards didn't see him either. They had us all get out of the pool while while the paramedics gave the boy oxygen and then took him to the hospital. It was pretty scary and I hope the kid is all right.

I can't wait to go back again on Saturday...I invited Shannon and Abby also because I didn't want to go alone because Cliff and Ken had plans to do their "Free Food Day" - FFD for short. They have made a game of trying to get free food...or food samples. They are hitting grocery stores, speciality shops and the MOA. I think they get points for if the food is offered to them or if they ask and it is given to them. I don't know...I hope they have fun and I am glad us girls don't have to participate.

Otis 2006

2006-07-11T09:50:00.000-05:00

In June we spent 10 days in Roslyn (NY) and Otis (MA). The day we arrived at mom's house was absolutely crazy. The Hotchkiss family was all present and accounted for - At the house was: Mom, Eddie, Cliff, Harrison, myself, Wendy, David, Jacob, Lacey, Hilary, Mo, Jon, Jill, Hannah, Sophia, Brad & Merryl (and that is just the immediate family). There was also Cousin Elaine, Sharon, Charles, Eric and Ellen, Ava, Will, Mark, Marsha, Emma, Jonah, Jon and Jill's friends with their son's Jack and Ross, a lady named Judy, and Merryl's parents Laura and Jim. I hope I am not forgetting anyone. If I wasn't clear, there were about 35 people of which 11 were under the age of 5. It was chaos to say the least. Mom and Eddie didn't dissapoint with the food. There were yummy sandwiches, potato latkes, sides and dessert. The kids played upstairs and down stairs. I led the boys in taking turns with the jack in the box. At one point Jon pulled out about 100 water balloons and get the kids to go outside and have a total water balloon fight which was more of a water balloon fight again Jon. I broke a balloon over Harrison's head and he wasn't too happy about that at all but I thought it was funny. (Does that make me a bad mom? I hope not)

I think everyone was gone by about 8:30-9:00pm. Which was really late because Cliff and I were up at 4:00 am for our 7:00 am flight.

The next day was Merryl's Bridal Shower. Cliff, Harrison, Eddie, Brad, David, Jacob and Jon all stayed back at the house. It was a great shower. There were about 60 people there from all aspects of Merryl's life. They played a great Newlywed game where Brad was on video answering questions about Merryl. He was really funny. One of the funniest answers he gave was to what superhero would Merryl say she was most like...and you would think Brad would say Wonder Woman but no, he said Batman...I think that is Brad's favorite superhero. Merryl got some great gifts and we all had a fabulous time.

On Monday we took Cliff and Harrison to get their Tuxedo's. Cliff always looks great in one and Harrison wanted nothing to do with putting on his. But when we finally got it on him (with ton's of bribes) it was too big. They didn't have the smaller size there but they could get it in the next day. We were then off to the mall for lunch and to play.

On Tuesday I had to pick up my dress and that took absolutely forever. They couldn't find the extra fabric I ordered but for some reason it was under Merryl's name so that was causing the confusion. We also went back tot he Tuxedo shop and we got Harrison to try on his tux again and it just needed to be shortened a bit but he did try it on with the promise of 2 "molly pops" (Lolly pops to you and me).

On Wednesday we headed to Otis. It didn't take long for us to get there at all. But we did stop at McDonald's for lunch and the grocery store to stock up for the week. It was still a bit rainey when we got there but by the afternoon it cleared up enough for us to take Harrison over to the lake. He totally dug the lake this year. He was absolutely not afraid of the water like he was last summer. He ran right in, clothes and all - all the way up to his waist. I couldn't believe it. He just loved walking/running in and out and throwing rocks/skipping rocks. We then played in the playground for a while before heading back to the house for dinner and bed time for Harrison.

My favorite spot in the house during the summer is the screened in porch. It is shaded and is always cool and breezy. There are these comfortable chairs in the corners where I just love to sit and read when Harrison is sleeping. In fact I am just yearning to go back just thinking about it.

The rest of our time there got busier and busier. The next day we went to the goat farm to see the goats sleep. Harrison was quite bored so we left after buying some cheese and went back to the playground and lake.

That afternoon Wendy, David, Jacob and Lacey joined us in Otis and Eddie arrived as well. We all had very yummy hamburgers with corn that night.

On Friday Jacob and Harrison began the morning racing each other around the living room/kitchen on big wheels. It was hilarious to watch. Later we all went down to the lake and playground to play. We had lunch there and played in the water almost all afternoon. We then took the boys back for their nap. That night Brad and Merryl joined us and Hilary and Mo came extremely late but for dinner we had a clam bake. We all dined on clams and lobsters...can I just say YUMMM!!!

On Saturday we took the kids to see David Grover in Great Barrington. He is a children's musician and was giving a concert in a park. It was a great show but it was incredibly hot. It was so hot we went back to the house right after to cool down and have lunch. Later that day was the Otis Wood Lands Community Picnic. That was so much fun but of course Harrison started it off in the Lake....in fact he bee-lined for it. We played there for about 45 minutes when somehow I convinced him to get dressed and join the picnic. He didn't want to eat while we were there but played in the playground. He also tried to do the water balloon toss and tried to watch the magic show. I even saw my old neighbors the Epsteins...that was a total blast from the past....I saw Bonnie, Steve and Jaclyn and Jordan. I hadn't seen them in over 20 years. They are all totally grown up.

Sunday was outlet day. I just love outlet day. The outlets in Lee have great stores and Harrison was in an exceptional mood so it made the outing very pleasurable. Everyone went to the outlets except for Eddie. We all had lunch at the food court, which again was great and we all got some great buys...my favorite of all was this huge beach blanket which we have used several times already.

On Monday we packed up and left. Our flight left NY at 3:00 so we drove straight to the airport from Otis. I already miss the the screened in Porch.

My Baby is going to Pre-School

2006-06-09T15:29:00.000-05:00

I just registered Harrison for pre-school. I can't believe it is time for that already. He is such a big boy now I can't stand it. He is going to pre-school at the same place where he is going to camp, at Children's Country Day, so I think he is going to love it. He starts in September and I even got a school supply list. I have to get him a package of glue sticks, 2 boxes of tissues and a box of thick magic markers. I can't wait to take him shopping for the supplies.

Orientation day at Camp

2006-06-09T15:23:00.000-05:00

This summer Harrison will be spending 2 weeks in August at camp, Children's Country Day, and on Thursday we had orientation. We got to go to camp and tour around and see everything and meet his counselors. This was the first time Harrison was ever there. He absolutely loved it. The camp/pre-school has a ton of animals. So the first thing that he did was run over to the goats, then to the donkeys, ducks, chickens, llamas and finally bunnies. We then made our way over to meet his counselors. We met Sandy and Bea. They were both very nice. We then went into the art bus and to the play log cabin which he also loved. I didn't think I would be able to get him out of there.

But I did and we then went over to see the pool. We met the swim counselor and he splashed all of us, so I hope he has a good time in the pool.

He loved Country Day so much. When we were leaving he was crying so hard that he wanted to stay. I am glad that he liked it so much. It will make the adjustment to a new place much easier.

The Alter Ego Harry

2006-06-09T15:21:00.000-05:00

Lately Harrison has been taken to pretending he is either a monster or an alien or a shadow. Now when he pretends to being any of these creatures he makes his voice really low and he says "I'm Monster Harry" or "I'm Alien Harry". It is absolutely hilarious that when he pretends...his name changes to Harry.

Memorial Day Weekend

2006-06-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

We had a relatively busy weekend. But if you ask Harrison what he wanted to do, he will tell you one thing...go to the Farm. Every morning when we woke up I asked him what he wanted to do today. He would think about it for a few seconds and then say "Go to the Farm". On Saturday, I told him that we couldn't go to the farm because we were going to the farmer's market, but there would be fun things for him to see there. Which there was. We wanted to get a hanging basket for our front door. Of course the ones that I liked were like $55. Cliff convinced me that I would probably kill it anyway and we shouldn't spend that much on it. So I found one I really liked for only $17. We also got some basil, mint (which I killed), tortillas and some honey.

On Sunday I asked Harrison what he wanted to do that day and again he thought about it for a few seconds and said "go to the farm". We had other plans that day (I can't remember because it has taken me too long blog this) but we didn't go to the farm.

On Monday I asked him again what he wanted to do and again, he thought about it for a few seconds and said "go to the farm". He is very persistant...and I thought about it ...and said...well yes we can go to the farm. He was so excited. But it was so warm out. It was about 97 degrees on Memorial day but we went anyway. I packed us all lunches and we went to the zoo which has a farm exhibit during the summer. He loved it and I think he got his fill of the farm.

The Summer Flu

2006-05-24T09:07:00.000-05:00

This weekend Harrison was sick. He was running a fever of over 102 from Friday - Sunday. He really didn't feel well. We took him in to the doctor on Friday and ruled out strep and and ear infection. When his fever didn't go away by Sunday I took him in again and this time the doctor said he had the Summer flu that is going around. Harrison kept complaining that his belly hurt. I thought that he was hungry because he hadn't eaten in a few days but the doctor said it is typical of the flu and it is stomach cramping. I felt so bad for him. On Sunday he was so worn out...he was playing with his trucks when he just decided to put his head down. He didn't even find a place that was comfortable...he just layed down right on the hard wood floors. I moved him over to the rug and gave him a pillow and blanket and that is where he layed for about 2 hours. He then got up and layed down on the couch for the rest of the day. By monday his fever finally broke and he has been much better ever since. I really think this was the sickest he has been ever.

Happy Mother's Day

2006-05-15T09:51:00.000-05:00

My Mother's Day was really nice. When I woke up Cliff and Harrison brought me a light breakfast in bed. He brought some crepes with Nutella and fruit, juice and a yogurt. Knowing we were going out for lunch I only ate 2 crepes and not the yogurt. They also brought me a present...actually Harrison brought me the card and the present. They got me a iPod dock for my car so I can listen to it there. After breakfast we all just hung out up stairs in our room. Harrison was getting a kick out of playing up there. We then made our way downstairs. I showered while Harrison had breakfast.

After we all got dressed we headed out to lunch. Cliff had made reservatins at Bonfire on Grand. 2 years ago we tried to go there but Cliff didn't realize we needed reservations so this time he was making up for it. There was a buffet and it was really yummy. I had eggs benedict, potatoes, some roast beef, crab claws and shrimp, salmon and fruit. I also got a very yummy mimosa but they also had a bloody mary bar and Cliff got that. I got Harrison some bacon, eggs, a croissant, fruit, salmon and a danish. He actually tried everything. He ate almost all of the bacon, some of the eggs, all of the fruit and all of the danish. He tried the croissant and the salmon. He was in a great mood and looked so cute.

On our way home we stopped at the Pottery Barn to look at rugs. We had been wanting a new rug for some time and found one we loved that would look great in our living room. We splurged and got it and set up in the living room. It does look great. Now we just have to keep Brady from peeing on it.

Lights, Camera, Action...WIGGLES!!

2006-05-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

Last week was our road trip to Iowa to see the Wiggles. I had both high expectations and low expectations for the trip. I had truly hoped that Harrison would love the concert and sing and dance right along with them but I also feared that it would be a disaster considering the concert started at 6:30...right at his bed time. Luckily the whole trip absolutely exeeded all of my expectations.

The trip down to Iowa was very funny. Now as a child of the 70's, I remember the road trips with my parents, well the very few that we went on, filled with me and my brother fighting in the back seat and making up games to whittle the time away. Now my road trip of '06 consisted of Harrison watching his DVD player, me watching TV on a portable TV set and Cliff listening to his iPod.

When we finally got to Ames, 3 1/2 hour later at around 2:45 pm...not too bad, we checked into our hotel..The Gateway Ames, and began to get settled into our room. I think Harrison was a bit scared to be in the hotel because he started crying very hard and kept saying "I want to go home". After about 15-20 minutes I was finally able to calm him down and he began to enjoy the room. I brought some of his favorite toys to play with, gave him his binky and blankey and some milk. I also found some shows he likes to watch on PBS so he took his pillow, blankey and binkey and lied down on the floor and watched some tv and settled in quite nicely.

At around 4:00 we decided to venture out of the hotel and first drive by where the Wiggles concert would be held and then find a place for dinner. The concert venue was very close by, just down the block. We then took to driving around Ames to find places to eat. The front desk clerks recommended a place called Hickory Park and we found it pretty easily. It was clearly the best looking place from the outside and was obviously not a chain which is what we didn't want.

Well this was a great recommendation. The food was great, the service was fast (which is what you want when you have a 2 year old) and the food was good. It was a bar-b-que restaurant. Harrison was in a spectacular mood and ate all of his dinner. He even got a malted. He was in heaven. After dinner he found a friend outside of the restaurant and the two of them ran up and down the length of the restaurant for about 1/2 an hour, it was a great thing because he really needed to burn up some energy.

Harrison went to bed pretty easily that night and slept without any problems. The next day was the day of the concert. Since the concert was at 6:30pm, we needed to find something to do during the day. I found a zoo down in Des Moines and we decided to take him there. It was about 45 minutes away but it was well worth the trip. It was called Blank Park Zoo. We saw som many great animals and Harrison was out of his stroller walking most of the afternoon. He did really well and held our hands. We saw Lions, tigers, flamingos (or Wafingos as Harrison calls it), seals, camels and Kangaroos (perfect theme for our concert later). Harrison and I even went on a train ride through the zoo which he loved. Before we left we had to get some more animals for his collection. I think we got 4 of them. Pretty soon we will need to start getting doubles. I think he probably has about 80 animals right now.

After the zoo we came back to the room to take a nap, but my master plan didn't work because Harrison did not nap. He stayed up and then finally fell asleep at 3:30 - 3:45. We needed to leave for dinner by 4:45 so this was going to be a short nap. Luckily he napped for about 1/2 hour on the way to the zoo so he did sleep that day. When we woke him up he was so crabby but he let us get him dressed and out the door without too much fuss. We wanted to go back to Hickoy Park but when we got there the wait was about 25 minutes. Apparently not only were the people who were going to the 6;30 show there but the people who just got out of the 3:00 show there so it was packed. We then went across the street to Applebees and after Harrison got some food into him he perked up back to his normal self and started to get super excited about the concert.

As soon as dinner was over we headed to the concert, which was at about 5:45 which was the perfect time. We stopped at Flowerama (sorry Ken!) to pick up a rose to give to Dorothy. We got to the concert at about 5:55 and found great parking. Harrison wanted to carry his rose himself so I have to say the cutest thing was watching him hold Cliff's hand and carry the rose and walk to the concert. We got inside and amazingly parked in the perfect location because out section was right infront of the doors we came in. We checked out the set and really started to get excited. I left Harrison and Cliff to go buy souvineers (a concert t-shirt, a feathersword and a water bottle) while Cliff took Harrison to get a closer look at the stage. I met up with them very easily and we made our way to our seats. They were amazing seats!! But Harrison would have none of the seats, he wanted to be right on the stage. I even had to "ask" (because I knew he would say no) the security guard if Harrison could go up on the stage to get Harrison to stop fussing about going up there. I put on his harness and as soon as the show started Harrison took me right back to the front of the stage where we stayed the whole show.

It was a super amazing show. Harrison absolutely loved it. They started the show off by coming driving the Big Red Car and singing one of Harrison's favorites "Choo Choo Chugga Chugga Big Red Car". The first thing he said was "That's the REAL Wiggles". He couldn't believe it. He immediately started singing the song and dancing. And as soon as the Wiggles came close he was waiving and saying Hi to them. Amazingly Harrison was really one of the only kids in this open area in front of the stage. I don't know if I have this boy who is very strong willed or what but I couldn't believe in a stadium full of toddlers and pre-schoolers he was the only one. But good for us because I just sat on the floor and held onto the harness "leash" and let him have fun. Murray was the first one to notice Harrison and waived to him and gave him the thumbs up. Harrison immediately turned to me and said "Murray waived at me". It was so cute. Next was Jeff and it got the same reaction. And then Anthony. Greg didn't really acknowledge him, but that was fine.

The best moment was when Dorothy came out, Harrison realized he didn't have his rose. He turned to me and said "I have to get my rose and give it to Dorothy". We then high tailed it back to Cliff and our seats, quickly grabbed the rose and went back to the stage (now remember, I am still holding onto the "leash"...so this is really funny) When we got back to the stage, Harrison, standing on his tippy toes was holding the rose up to Dorothy saying, "Here Dorothy, Here is your rose". It was the cutest thing ever. But she didn't see him but the camera guy there did and I think he got him on camera doing this. I don't know what the footage is used for but it was great. Jeff them came down to collect the roses for Dorothy. Harrison then handed Jeff his rose and gave him a hug. I caught all of this on film. (well actually on digital since no one uses film any more...). Later Captain Feathersword was right in front of Harrison and he froze, he didn't hug him. Now when you ask Harrison who he got to hug...this is his response.."the other boy hugged Captain Feathersword...I hugged Jeff". I think he was really sad not to hug the Captain because right now that is who he likes the best.

At one point they started playing the song "Do the Monkey"...and Harrison was pretending to be the tiger...and Anthony was imitating him...so he and Anthony were interacting together and copying each other being a tiger...it was hilarious.

Harrison absolutely loved the concert. He danced and sang almost every song and he even got to interact with the Wiggles Themselves. He was in Toddler heaven. On our way out to the car he told us that "I had a fantastic time at the concert"....I know he said fantastic....I don't know where he picked that up but he used it correctly.

When we got back to the room at around 8:30 pm he was all keyed up and couldn't fall asleep. He was up until around 9:30 - 10:00. When he finally did fall asleep he had trouble staying asleep and woke up several times. The worst was in the morning. He would semi-wake up crying that his head hurt and then fall right back to sleep. We brought him in bed with us and he slept on and off for another hour - hour and a half. When he got up he was in a great mood and immediately wanted his Wiggles Water bottle.

On our way out of town we stopped back at Hickery Park for lunch because it was so good and Harrison saw his friend's mother again (the one he played with the last time we were there) because she works there and she remembered him and came over. We then headed home at around 1:00 and were home by 4:30.

It was an amazing trip, Harrison was in a great mood the whole time, we were all relaxed and really enjoyed each other and especially enjoyed the Wiggles Concert. I hope they come to MPLS soon!!

Mom Camp Event

2006-05-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday night I went to a Mom Camp event at Nordstroms. This was the most awesome event. We all gathered in one of the back rooms at Nordstroms and there was hors d'voures and drinks. There was about 100 women in all. They then split us up into 5 groups and we then went around to different departments in the store. We had this card and if we did all the tasks on the card they would give us a sticker. Each department was featuring something different. My first stop was Point of View which was the jeans department. They had extra sales associates there to help fit you for the right jean. They also wanted you to try on the new Calvin Klein jeans. At each department you also entered your name in for a raffle that they were doing at the end of the night.

The next department was Women's Active. Here they were featuring the new miracle bathing suit and the Nike Low Rise yoga pant. I tried on a miracle suit and it looked good but I didn't want to spend $130 on a bathing suit right then. I also tried on some terry cloth lounge pants...I liked them but they weren't exactly what I wanted. I entered the contest and moved on to the next department which was lingerie.

At lingerie they wanted you to get a bra fitting and try on something fun. I had already gotten fitted for a bra at a previous Mom Camp but I did try on some PJ's but they weren't soft enough for what I like. So, taking advantage of my time without Harrison, I went across the aisle to the children's department and got Harrison a bunch of t-shirts and some shorts for the summer. I entered my contest and moved to the next department which was accessories.

At accessories they showed us versitle accessories for the season. They demonstrated how to wear scarves and some handbags that are lightweight and small that can fit all of our stuff. They also showed us belts and sunglasses. I loved this department the best, not only because it was handbags but because we were able to win some prizes right on the spot. Of course, being the competitive person that I am and loving to win as much stuff as I can, I answered 2 of their questions and got a Leather Rock bracelet and a Kate Spade note paper.

Our last department was cosmetics. They wanted us to get our foundation matched and try some fragerance. I stopped at Smashbox and had her do my makeup. I ended up getting one of their products called Photo Finish and a lip gloss.

When it was all over we all went back upstairs to the room we started in and had more snacks and awaited the drawings for all of the prizes. My friends and I showed off all of our purchases and were just giddy with excitement over the funness of the whole evening.

Well, I didn't win any of the prizes, but one of my friends did - from the cosmetics group...about $500 worth of products. The grand prize was a night at a hotel but the best prize, which again, I did not win...was from accessories..a Coach purse and Chanel Sunglasses. But we all got to go home with a gift bag which included a gold hat box, a lingerie hanger, lip gloss and a photo album. There was no pressure to by anything and you didn't have to get what they were featuring. It was a super fun evening and this is definitely going to be something I do again and again!!

My little alien

2006-05-05T08:51:00.000-05:00

The other night Harrison came out of the kitchen with the collander on his head. I pretented that he was this alien and I was scared. Then he would show me his face and I would pretend to be alright. I then asked the alien his name because he was scaring me. Harrison thought about it and said "I alien....I alien...I alien Harry". This is the first time he has ever given a name to anything and he chose a form of his own name..which I thought was very interesting. Many times when he brings his animals or toys to me I ask him their name and he just says nothing.

Funny thing Harrison said

2006-05-01T19:08:00.000-05:00

When I picked up Harrison today from day care he told me right away that:

"Katie spit on me, a really big spit"

I tried to get more details about the spitting like why she would do it, since she is 5 or 6 years old and what Harrison did after she spit on him. But nothing. I don't even know if she really spit on him or some spit accidentially came flying at him. Who know, but it was funny anyway.

French Brunch with the Neighbors

2006-05-01T16:28:00.000-05:00

On Sunday our neighbors invited us over for brunch. They had recently returned from a trip to France and wanted to recreate some of their favorites from the trip. They made us yummy crepes and coddled eggs. It was all so yummy. We got to put Nutella and wonderful jams and lemon curd on the crepes. Harrison also had a good time. He played with their dog Charlie and his trains, ate crepes and turned on and off the kitchen light.

The most fun came when we went out in their yard to talk to John our other neighbor. Harrison then got to run around their yard. He was actually racing our neighbor Erika back and forth to the garage. He then got John involved. It was like relay races. He was laughing and falling down and getting wonderfully dirty. I can't wait until our next brunch!

Larry's Wedding

2006-05-01T16:23:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we went to a beautiful wedding of one of Cliff's friends, Larry. It was at the St. Paul College Club. The wedding and reception was both there. We got to see people we hadn't in quite a while but we did end up hanging out mostly with Ken and Shannon. The dinner was very delicious but the dance was really fun. You can tell when they both grew up because they were playing the most fun music from the 80's. Cliff and I really enjoyed dancing to Madonna and doing the Lawnmower and the sprinkler and I got to show off the "headache" dance that was popular with one group of girls that I grew up with.

Abby the babysitter

2006-05-01T16:19:00.000-05:00

On Friday night Cliff and I were invited to his friend Larry's groom's dinner. I had a baby sitter all lined up when she canceled at that last minutes. Much to my surprise, Shannon agreed to watch Harrison while Cliff, Ken and I went to the dinner. Shannon brought Abby over to our house and they all played there. I think Harrison gave Shannon the run around. When they went to play in the basement, he said he had to feed Brady and then proceeded to give Brady 3-4 scoops of dog food before she got him away. When she was changing his diaper he made her take him to the potty and he got on and off about 5 times and then sat in the sink to wash his hands. He didn't let her put on his pijama bottoms and ran around for about 1/2 hour until she got him dressed. But I think they all had a great time...Abby, Harrison and even Shannon. We cannot wait to return the favor and watch Abby.

Farm Babies

2006-05-01T16:14:00.000-05:00

The farm babies are back at the MN Zoo. It was the most beautiful day and we took Harrison over to the zoo to see his favorite animals. He was so excited. He was looking forward to it all week long. He ran from animal to animal and absolutely loved playing on the giant pig outside of the pig building. He also had the opportunity to pet a very baby goat. The most fun he has was running inside this large empty barn. He would just run around and around.

We ran into our friend Barb and her daughter Morgan and Morgan and Harrison ran around together.

A trip to the zoo is never complete without adding to our growing plastic animal collection. This trip we added a snow leopard, a baby tiger and one other that I can't remember right now. I think Harrison now has about a hundred animals. A very fierce collection!

Even more travel

2006-05-01T16:11:00.000-05:00

My 4th and final trip of the month was to San Diego...actually Del Mar. What a beautiful city. This was another work trip but I had about 6 hours to myself and was able to walk on the beach, shop and sit out in the sun. The weather was absolutely beautiful. The hotel was also incredible. We stayed at L'Auberge Del Mar. My room had a balconly with a chaise and a table and chairs. My room also had a chaise and a spa like bathroom. I was able to sit out in the sun long enough to get some color...a nice jump start on the summer.

Travel Continues

2006-05-01T15:57:00.000-05:00

After I returned from New Orleans I spent 5 days in New York on Vacation with Harrison. Traveling with him by myself is always challenging but really fun. He is a great flyer. He knows the routine and doesn't give me too much trouble. Although I always feel bad for the person who sits informs of him because he is absolutely obsessed with playing with the tray. He lets it fall down then puts it up and then down and up. This happens almost constantly throughout the flight. He never sleeps anymore on the plane but I have found my newest savior..sticker coloring books. He really likes playing with the stickers. One of the most exciting things on the flight was that Cynthia Nixon was on our flight. There were also a bunch of high school girls all ooohing and ahhing over her. It was hysterical.

Our time in New York was great. The weather was beautiful. We celebrated Passover while we were there and met Hilary's boyfriend Mo. Harrison was a bit confused because he was expecting to meet Mo from the Doodlebops but the real Mo instantly tried to befriend Harrison and I think it worked. We went to the Long Island Children's Museum and to a park to feed the ducks. Boy did we get swarmed once the other ducks and geese and other birds saw that we had food we were throwing to them. We discovered a great playground at the duck pond...it actually had a locking gate. I loved it.

We also went and got Harrison's hair cut while we were there. Well, that didn't go so well. Harrison really tried not to cry, which was the cutest thing ever. You could just see it in his face that he was totally holding it in. But he couldn't and the tears and fighting started. I felt so bad for him. I think my mom and brother were a bit traumatized as well. I, at least, knew what to expect. We also got him 3 new pairs of shoes at this great kids shoe store. The selection there was so much better than anywhere else I have been.

We also went to Chuckie Cheese for the first time. What a great place. Harrison had a ball going on all of the rides and running around with a balloon. Surprisingly he didn't throw much of a tantrum when we tried to get him in the high chair to eat lunch. Uncle Brad also won about 700 tickets and was able to win Harrison a Super Friends Semi Truck. Harrison actually likes this...he especially likes pointing out all of the super hero's.

A month of travel

2006-04-11T08:56:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a 2 day trip to New Orleans. I went because there was a meeting there that I wanted to attend for work. I was lucky that I had some extra time before I left the city to walk around. My friends and I did a girlfriends trip there 3 years ago. I was pregnant with Harrison at the time and it was about 100 degrees and humid when we went. Surprisingly I remembered a lot of the places we went to this time around. I tried to relive that trip. It was so much fun just walking down the streets and remembering all of the fun times Ilene, Anna, Lisa and I had while we were there.

On my way into town, my cab driver pointed out all of the hard hit areas. He showed me the spot on the highway where the people where air lifted by helicopter from the SuperDome to the highway to catch the buses to Houston. He also showed me the water lines on the highway. They were atleast 8-9 feet high and in one spot, just under an overpass, it was at least 12 feet high. I just couldn't imagine the water being that high. He told me that where we were, Lake Ponchitrain was 4 miles to the left of us. After the ride in, I was surprised at how much things didn't change in the French Quarter from 3 years ago..Especially after Katrina. The main things that I saw was that not all of the businesses reopened but a majority of them did. The ones that were open many of them had reduced business hours compared to 3 years ago. And the most obvious thing was the garbage collection. It was obvious that it wasn't back to pre-katrina conditions as there were piles of garbage bags on the curbs waiting to be picked up. Another thing I noticed was the souviners. Before the hurricane you could just imagine all of the souviners that were available. Now almost 1/2 of the souviners sold were Hurricane Katrina related. T-shirts, books, mugs..ect.

As I strolled down Bourbon street I stumbled across Rev. Zombie's House of VooDoo. This was where Ilene, Lisa, Anna and I started our Cemetary and VooDoo tour. Now, for some reason pictures of our trip were hard to come by so I took pictures of all of the locations I could find for nostalgia and will send them to the girls. I then walked down to Marie Levau's House of VooDoo. We learned about her on our Cemetary/VooDoo tour. I was working up a bit of an appetite so I made my way to Cafe DuMonde to have come Bignets and coffee. Can I say YUMMMMMM!! I bought Cliff some Cafe DuMonde coffee as a souviner. I then walked around the French Market area to burn of my breakfast of Bignets. I went up to the boardwalk and sat for about an hour and read my book. It was a beautiful day - 80 degrees and no humidity - so unlike the last time I was there. I was so relaxing to just sit and enjoy the weather and the view of the Mississippi. It was now lunch time and I wanted to have lunch at the place Anna, Ilene and Lisa and I had lunch - Charlie Q's. I found it really easily and went in to have a seat. But I didn't stay because I don't know if it was because I was alone or not but no one every came by to serve me so I just left.

Now I had no idea where to go for lunch. So I just wandered the streets of New Orleans where I happened on this restaurant called Oceana. I stopped to look at the menu and one of the waiters lured me in saying the food was really good. It wasn't crowded and looked like an interesting place to eat. As I was sitting at my table looking around at everyone in the restaurant (what else are you supposed to do when you are eating alone), I noticed someone familiar at the bar. It was Johnny Knoxville. This was probably my biggest celebrity sighting ever and I had an unobstructed view of him. Of course I immediately, but very discretely, called Cliff to tell him my exciting news. Let me just say he was less than impressed. He said big deal, he is like a D list celebrity (like Cliff knows who is on what celebrity list). I thought he was at least a B list celebrity if not an A lister (Ok he is no George Clooney or Patrick Dempsey...but who is).

After lunch I made my way back to the hotel where my luggage was waiting and hopped in a cab to go to the airport. It was a fun, quick trip back to the Big Easy. I felt like my friends Anna, Ilene and Lisa were right there with me the whole time- the best part - I didn't have to share the bathroom with them.

Funny thing Harrison said

2006-04-01T10:11:00.000-06:00

The other day Harrison was throwing a major tantrum because we wouldn't let him have his binkey. He was really upset and crying alot. In the middle of crying he asked for some milk. After taking a sip he told us:

"The milk made me feel better."

He is so in touch with his feelings!!

My Nemesis …. (a rant)

2006-03-31T18:39:00.000-06:00

Hello. This is Cliff and I’m your guest columnist for today. Andrea asked me to provide some fodder for her blog so …… welcome to my private hell!

I have a nemesis. Now, I think everyone should have an arch-enemy. We are often defined by the quality of our enemies. Think about it: Achilles vs. Hector/ Superman vs. Luthor/ Bond vs. Blofeld/ U.S. vs. USSR (damn, I miss those guys)/ Batman vs. the Joker/ Red Sox vs. Yankees/ Frazer vs. Ali/ Lohan vs. Duff/ Coyote vs. Roadrunner/ Sonny vs. Cher …. Well, you get the point.

Presently, my nemesis is a mere clerk at the local gas station. I know, I know. You’re thinking that this person as a villain is rather lackluster, not worthy of my attention as the “hero” of this piece”. I’d like to think, however, that with the proper nurturing and encouragement, she could surpass the relatively low-level bureaucratic pettiness of gas-station dictatorship and grasp the brass ring of truly cartoonish, super-villainy!

Here’s the details:

I commute about an hour to work each morning. So, naturally, I have to gas up every other day. My regular stop is this fairly large SuperAmerica in our neighborhood. My nemesis is the 50-something clerk that works there most mornings.

This place has about 24 pumps, some (not all) are pre-pay. The pre-pay pumps are not well-marked at all. Now in the morning I have a routine. Stop for gas; buy a morning paper, coffee, and pastry of some sort; then make the commute. The SuperAmerica fulfills these needs nicely but, unfortunately, I can only pay for gasoline at the pump. As a result, I typically require one of the non-pre-pay pumps.

OK, most of us have probably pulled up to a "pre-pay only" pump by mistake at some point. It happens. However, at this particular establishment ... woe betide anyone who makes the mistake of attempting to prematurely pump gas at a "pre-pay only" pump! The gal that works there will get on the horn and announce to the community just how stupid you are.

Witness:

PUMP 17 IS A PRE-PAY PUMP ONLY! PLEASE INSERT YOUR CREDIT CARD OR MOVE TO ANOTHER PUMP! WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO, YOU MUST HANG THE NOZZLE BACK UP!

This is what those in my neighborhood are greeted with when picking the wrong pump. Now you may be thinking to yourself, "What's the big deal? The pumps are marked. Get it right, Jackass!" Fair point. However, this station changes which pump at which you can pay outside and which one you have to go inside on a weekly basis. For a while they were the ones closest to the street. After that they were the ones in the row furthest south on the lot. At present, I have no idea which is which.

Maybe you still don't know why I hate this place. Well, here's the last straw. No matter what you do. Even if you don't f*** up and pick a pre-pay pump, you have to put up with the following while you clean your windows, get a soda, coffee, newspaper, doughnut, or otherwise jerkoff for 2 minutes before paying your tab:

WAITING FOR PAYMENT ON PUMP 17!

I swear to God! Today I filled up and was on my way inside when I heard the above announcement. Give me a chance to pay my bill, dammit! My car's still parked right next to the pump so it's not like I drove off! Maybe if you spent less time staring out the goddamn window and running the cash-register ... PEOPLE WOULD PAY QUICKER!

Andrea says that the next time this happens I should announce from the back of the line:

WAITING TO PAY FOR PUMP 17!

Next time this happens I’ll try it and see what sort of response I get. If I get applause from the gallery I’ll know that we’re all just anarchists at heart, waiting to strike a blow for justice against the gas station Nazi!

UP YOURS, EVA BRAUN! (And no, I don’t want that f****** “Rewards” card so that you and Alberto Gonzales can track my daily purchases!)

Live from Seattle

2006-03-24T13:08:00.000-06:00

This weekend Harriosn and I are in Seattle visiting my friend and Harrison's god mother, Ilene. Ilene has 2 kids, Jake (5) and Gabby (4) and we are all having an amazing time. Yesterday I had to go to work in Seattle and Ilene watched the kids. They all had an blast. Harrison just loves playing with them. They played outside for 3 hours, they went on the jungle gym in the yard and for a walk in the neighborhood. By noon they were all pooped. When I got home from work they had just finished making cookies. The smells were wonderful. Harrison seemed extremely happy and having an great time.

THe next day we went into Seattle to the Pike Place Fish Market. We had lunch at a great seafood restaurant, Ivars. Can I just say YUM!!! We started with a cup of Clam Chowder and then I had Mussels. Harrison ate everything except his hamburger, chips, bread, cookies, juice and fruit. After lunch we strolled over to the fish market. I absolutely love it there. We looked at all the beautiful flowers and fresh food. Harrison loved watching the guys at the fish mongers throw the fish. We stayed and watched for a while. We also got to pet the police horse and we took pictures at the bronze pig.

Jake absolutely loves comic books and there is a great comic book store so we spent some time in there. But just outside of the store was a life size posterboard of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings..now if you remember Gollum...he was pretty scarry looking but not to my son. He wanted to hang out right in front of him and watch him. It even made noises and that didn't scare him either, he kept making me activate the sound.

Before we left the market I bought some fish to have shipped home, a whole 5-6 lb. salmon. We will smoke alot of it on the smoker grill this summer...YUMMM!!!

I had rented a car to get around while I worked so we all had driven in that car so when we were on our way home (did I mention that Harrison had no nap!! - he slept maybe 40 minutes on the way to Seattle) we got to utilize the DVD player that the car had in the roof. It was amazingly cool. We hit major traffic and it took 2 hours to get home so the kid were very content in the back watching the movies.

That night Ilene and I decided to have some fun and make some CD's. Ronnie had a gazillion songs on his computer...all the top 100 songs from 1950-2002 so we had alot of fun with the 1980's. We were laughing so hard at the songs we listened to back then. It brought back great memories and some memories that Ilene wouldn't let me forget.

On Saturday we all went to the zoo, Point Defiance Zoo. What a great zoo. It wasn't too big but it has great animals. My membership to the Minnesota Zoo gave us reciprocity at this zoo also. So I saved $20...I am such a saver. Harrison had fallen asleep in the car ride to the zoo so we drove around for a while so he could get about 40 minutes of sleep because I knew we weren't going to get another nap in. Our first stop was the Elephants. They were so close up. There were 3 of them standing right where we were. Harrison loved how close he got to them. He didn't want to leave. But our next animal made him forget all about the elephants, we saw the Tapir. Well you might not know abou the Tapir, but it is a great animal, it is big, black and grey and makes a very funny noise and Harrison just loves them. The one at the MN zoo isn't very active and is usually just lying around. The Tapir's we saw at Point Defiance were running after each other and were just amazingly active, they were indoors and outdoors and back indoors again. Harrison had me running all around to see them. We also saw sharks and polar bears and other animals I can't remember. Unlike myself who just always buys lunch at the zoo when I go, Ilene had packed us lunch and we had a wonderful picnic in the zoo.

After the zoo we headed out for ice cream. We went to Cold Stone Creamery. Another big YUM!!! Harrison must have really been tired or out of sorts because usually he finishes all of his ice cream no matter how big the scoop is. This time..he only ate about 1/3 of it. As we were finishing up a bride came into the store, not in her dress but in her veil and all made up and Harrison thought she was a princess and kept waiving at her and saying, Hi Princess!!! It was absolutely adorable.

That night Ilene and I were talking about her friend Tahiti who is a Medium. I got very intrigued and we had her come over to see if she could read me. Alot of what she said seemed to resonate with me. She started off by saying that there is a corner of my house that needs to be built up, now she wouldn't know that I have had water in my basement and that we do need to build up one particular corner. She also said that my foot has been hurting, and in fact I think I have plantar fascitis (sp??) So alot of what she said was really cool.

On Sunday Harrison and I had to say good bye to the Widers, the most amazing hosts ever, and make the long trip back to MN. Harrison and I can't wait until we can go and see them again!

Fears

2006-03-08T10:10:00.000-06:00

Harrison is starting to have fears about different things now. He has always been afraid of the vacuum but now he is talking about other things he is afraid of. The most recent being Puppets. He thinks they are everywhere. According to Harrison there are puppets on his changing table, under his crib, and in the corner of the basement. I am sure I am leaving other locations out but those are the reoccuring ones. Luckily the ones in his room are not keeping him from wanting to go in there or preventing him from sleeping. We try to tell him that there aren't puppets there and we also pretend to throw the puppets away. That helps but they keep coming back.

Funny Little Man

2006-03-08T09:31:00.000-06:00

Harrison has some very funny sayings. First when you ask him to do something, instead of saying I don't want to, he says:

"No, I can't".

He says it in a very matter of fact way..not all whiney.

When he is done playing with something or doesn't want to play with or watch or listen to or talk about something he says:

"I don't like ________"

For example, I asked Harrison what color shirt Jeff from the Wiggles is wearing, he responded with "I don't like Jeff" When anyone who know Harrison knows he absolutely loves the Wiggles. Or when I asked him what noise a Taper makes and he told me "I don't like the Taper" when Tapers were all he talked about for 3 days.

An Amazing Discovery

2006-03-06T15:07:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I discovered an amazing place to take Harrison. It is called the Jackson Street Roundhouse. It is a train museum. But is so amazing for kids. They have many train tables with Thomas train sets on them for the kids to play with. Then they have all of these train cars that you are able to go inside and walk through, or run through if you are chasing a 2 year old. There is even a train bell that the kids can ring. Harrison had an amazing time here and we will definitely be back!

Very funny thing Harrison said

2006-03-06T15:02:00.000-06:00

On Friday night we all went out to dinner at Chianti Grill, formerly Ciatti's. It was close to Harrison's bed time so I was a bit nervous that dinner may be unpleasant. But I was so pleasantly wrong. He was an absolute angel. He colored and ate and really was a delightful little boy.

At some point during the meal I was talking with my mom about someone named Mo, when all of a sudded I hear this little voice next to me say..."Mommy, are you talking about the Doodlebops?" I couldn't believe what I just heard so i asked him to repeat himself and he said it again..."Are you talking about the Doodlebops?" (For those of you who are not regulars to PlayHouse Disney...it is a trio of performers who dress up as characters ....DeeDee Rooney and Mo..and sing and dance). I was so taken back by the fact that he was listening to our conversation and thought we were talking about a character on his show that I told him "Yes, we were talking about the Doodlebops."

Harrison and Aboo's Day of Fun

2006-03-06T14:52:00.000-06:00

On Friday Harrison and Aboo spent the whole day together. Their favorite activity to do together is shopping. Well, that was really when Harrison was younger but now you have to make sure there is something for him to do. So they went to the mall and he played in the play area. He tested her a bit by running out of the area and then back in. They had lunch together and went on some quarter rides and that is where the fun began. Harrison, being the mischevious child that he is, when told it was time to go decided to run through the mall. He totally bolted. He thought it was absolutely hilarious. We have to figure out what will work with him to make sure he stays put. The child tether (a.k.a. leash) may be in his future.

Aboo is coming

2006-03-06T14:49:00.000-06:00

On Thursday my mom, a.k.a Aboo (this is what Harrison calls her) came to visit. She came in several hours early because of bad weather in NY. Which was very lucky for Harrison because soon after he finished lunch, Aboo came and picked him up from day care. He was so happy to see her. He gave her a hug and a kiss and was very excited for the stroller ride home. When they got home they played for a while until it was nap time. By the time I got home, Cliff had begun cooking dinner and Harrison and Aboo were playing.

THE BASEMENT IS DONE!!!

2006-03-01T09:19:00.000-06:00

As you might recall, in October we had some water in our basement after a very heavy rain. It turned out that the walls were wet and we had to remove parts of the drywall and replace it. Well, 4 months later we are done. Cliff did this whole project almost by him self. His dad came to help actully hang the drywall. But he removed the old, moldy dry wall, hung new dry wall, and mudded the joints. I was so impressed. This would have cost us thousands to have someone professionally to do and we did it for less than $200. It took a lot longer but well worth it.

On Saturday, I spent several hours cleaning. I vacumed the basement that had dust and dirt all over. I went through clothes for good will. Moved things around and basically made the house somewhat more organized. I still have a long way to go to get it to where I want it but it was a very good start.

Harrison, for months, has been looking to go play in the basement with longing but he looks down the stairs and then back at me and says "Basements broken". But finally on Saturday, after his nap, I asked him if he wanted to play downstairs. The look on his face was sheer excitment. He practiacally flew down there. And every free moment we are all down there playing. It is great to have the basement/family room back!

Kids Expo

2006-03-01T09:08:00.000-06:00

On Sunday I took Harrison to a Kids Expo which is like a trade show for kids and parents. I had won tickets from sittercity.com so I thought it would be a fun free thing to do. I invited Shannon and Abby to join us since I had extra tickets and becasue Harrison likes hanging out with Abby. It was a fun day but I was a bit underwhelmed by this event. What I did like was the characters that were walking around and the shows that they had going on on the different stages. Harrison loved watching them sing and dance. There were also about 25-30 bouncy houses for the kids to play in. Abby loved them and spent much of her time at the expo jumping. Harrison on the other hand was very tentative and went inside but he didn't want anyone else in there with him. He got mad when other kids would come in and then he really didn't jump ...he just crawled around.

What he did love was that there was a real pig there. He went up to it and and said hi and then "oinked". Well, the pig actually "oinked" back. He just about died. He was so excited that it actually oinked. He kept trying to get the pig to oink and it did every time. It was hard pulling him away from the pig. There was also pony rides and he loved looking at them but when I asked him if he wanted to ride on one...he was very definite about it...NO!

What I wasn't so thrilled with was the "trade show" part of the expo. I thought there would be more boutique type vendors...people selling kids stuff. But all there was were vacation spots, insurance companies, chiropractors, eye doctors and gyms.

We all did have lunch there. There was a nice food court right inside the expo and Harrison ate really well. He ate a whole bag of potato chips. I swear he is exactly like his dad.

After lunch I wanted to get some chair massages at these chiropractors so that is what I did and we left the expo around 1:30. I am glad the tickets were free.

We love the Zoo

2006-02-21T08:47:00.000-06:00

This weekend at the MN Zoo, the big zoo as Harrison calls it, they had a Tropical Beach Party. I thought since it was about zero degrees out it would be a great outing for me and Harrison since alot of the zoo in indoors. I invited both my mother in law and my friend Linda with her son Henry to join us. We are members of the zoo and we have not used it to its fullest extent but we will in the coming months. When we all got there we first went through the exhibits. The first, and according to Harrison the best, stop was the Lemurs. Harrison loving Madagascar also knows what Lemurs are and loves them. He was so excited. He even started singing the song that the Lemurs sing in the movie "I like to move it, move it....I like to move it, move it." It is hilarious.

I even ventured to let Harrison out of his stroller and walk through the exhibits with me. He held my hand really well and only bolted twice. There was this great tunnel for the kids to go through and we spent about 20 minutes there while Harrison ran from one end to the other repeadedly. When we were done with the land animals we went over to Discovery Bay to see the sharks and dolphins. Harrison told me that he wanted to "see the Dolphins swim in the big water". That is what he called the big tank they were in. He was fascinated by the dolphins...not so much by the sharks even though he has been into watching Shark Tales.

After the dolphins went away we had lunch. They ahve a great food court at the zoo. Both kids ate really well.

There were some fun art activities for the kids going on. Harrison and Henry both made a great sand art picture. Harrison had fun dumping the sand onto the paper.

We then went back to the Lemurs and the dolphins. After that Henry went home to take a nap. Harrison and I went to play in the giant indoor sandbox. They set up this enormous sand box with never ending amounts of sand. they were also giving out shovels and pails to the kids. Harrison was tentative at first to put his feet in the sand but after about 1 minute, he was loving shoveling sand into the pail and Grandma showed him how to make a sand castle out of the sand in the pail.

When we finally left and got into the car Harrison said to me "Mommy, I had good time at the zoo". That is all I can ask for!

Happy Valentines Day

2006-02-21T08:40:00.000-06:00

At Harrison's day care they had a little Valentines party. I don't think Harrison knows what it was all about except that he got to take home a goody bag. I created valentines for all of his friends there. I had found some Madagascar valentines at the grocery store in January and since Harrison loves Madagascar I thought it would be perfect. I also found some great glassine bags with a heart on them in the $1 spot at Target, so I put some candy in the bags with his valentine message. He came home with alot of goodies but his absolute favorite are the valenine Little Debbies. He really likes snack cakes.

At home that night Harrison and I made rice crispy treats together and was really a joint effort. He pulled his chair up to the counter next to the stove and put the marshmallows in the pot, one at a time, and then stirred them, I don't know how he knew to stir them because he did it before I even told him that was the next step. Then I measured the rice crispies and he dumped them into the pot as well and tried to stir again. He liked making them with me, especially because h had a stash of jelly beans on the counter he got to eat while we were cooking.

Very Busy

2006-02-13T13:09:00.000-06:00

It has been a long while since I blogged. I have been really busy and even went away on business to Dallas. I was gone 5 days and Harrison was with Cliff the whole time. For the most part it was uneventful. Harrison was really good while I was gone. Well for the exception of 1 hour on Saturday. He did act up a bit at Gymboree but Cliff handled it perfectly by leaving with him. They did spend the rest of the morning/afternoon at the Como Zoo looking at the animals. Harriosn absolutely loves animals. I came home on Sunday and spend alot of time with the both of them.

Last week I was really just trying to recover from being away. Harrison went to New Horizon's day care for 2 days last week. He really enjoys going there to play with his "friends". But dropping him off is a bit traumatic. He will go there again on Friday because Carol rescheduled her dr. appointment for then. I think Harrison is excited to go back.

This weekend we all had a good time. First the Olympics started. I absolutely love the winter olympics. My favorite things to watch are the Alpine Skiing, Short track speed skaing, Speed Skating, Luge and Skeleton. Again my favorte Short Track Speed Skater - Apolo Anton Ohno is competing. He is just fun to watch and now I have added Bode Miller to my list of favorites. I get so addicted to the Olympics coverage.

On Saturday after Gymboree I took Harrison shopping with me to TJ Maxx. I told him we were going and that he can pick out a new book. Well, when we got there I started looking at clothes and after about 4 minutes Harrison declared that "We are at TJ Maxx and I want to look for a new book!" It was hilarious. So of course I took him over to the books. He picked out 2 new ones - A Curious George book and a Thomas the Tank Engine book. He looked at those while I continued to shop. After that we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. Harrison loved his chicken nuggets meal. What I think he liked the most was the box it came in. He also loved the apple dunkers he got. He got to take the apples and dunk them in caramel. He only ate 2 of his 4 nuggets but he wanted to bring the rest home for later.

In the car on the way home I asked him if he was going to give his nuggets to Daddy or eat them later himself. He then stated in no uncertain terms that "I eat them later...and I eat them in the box NOT on a Plate!! IN THE BOX!" It was hysterical. So that night for dinner, I heated up his nuggets and gave them to him in his box.

On Saturday night we got a sitter and went out to our valentines dinner. We ate at a great neighborhood restaurant...Trattoria DaVinci. I had the best Gnocci ever. I would recommend it to anyone. Cliff got steak and he really enjoyed it as well. After dinner we went to a party for my friend Barb who turned 40. It was a pretty mello party and since we were not feeling to well, we left around 11:00.

On Sunday we went over to the MOA. I had some free tickets for the rides at the amusement park. So we took Harrison there. We first went on the train. He really liked it, after first being a bit scared. But he ended up loving it. He went on it 3-4 more times. I then asked him if he wanted to go on the school bus ride. He of course said yes but I told him we should look at it first and we watched the ride go once around. He then declared that he didn't want to go on rides that went up in the air. He wanted to stay on the ground. So that is what we did. We then made our way over to the Truckin' ride. He loved that and Cliff and I took turns taking him on that one as well.

After the rides I noticed that they were doing auditions for Super Nanny. I lingered around there and of course they came over to us. I started talking to them and they seemed interested in Harrison, mainly because he was so cute. But unfortunately we didn't do anything about it because Cliff doesn't want to be on TV.

We then went to lunch at Johnny Rockets. We all had a great time, especially Harrison who got a vanilla milk shake and was in ice cream heaven. I did get him to eat 1/2 of his hamburger but he really liked the milk shake. Our trip to the mall was a success.

Play Date with Willie

2006-01-23T09:56:00.000-06:00

On Sunday Harrison had a play date with Willie and mommy had a play date with Anne.

Harrison and I made our way all the way out to Chaska to see Willie and Anne. We got a bit lost on our way there but we got there just about 10 minutes late. Not to shabby. I think Harrison thought I was going to leave him there becasue he got all sad but I kept telling him that I was staying and he was just going to play. After a few minutes I think he believed me.

He was very quiet for quite some time after we got there, but he was having a good time. He liked seeing the dogs in their kennels and playing with Willie's train table (not to self - he loves train tables - this is the 2nd one he has played with and he can't keep himself away). We played for about a 1/2 hour and then had lunch. Anne served the boys Hot dogs, green beans and cheese sticks. Harrison actually ate the green beans (I also got some for home and gave it to him for dinner...I couldn't believe it...he usually doesn't like them...). he also ate almost all of his hot dog and cheese stick.

Then the boys had play do time and all Harrison wanted me to do was roll the clay into balls and he would then smell them while Willie had Anne making turtle sculptures.

Then we went up to Willie's room and he had a slide in there. Harrison had a ball going down the slide like a million times. Willie was really good about sharing his toys with Harrison.

All in all it was a great play date and we will defintely make the trip out there again!!

Shoes and Makeup

2006-01-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

Every girl loves shopping for shoes and makeup. Well at least I do and that is what I did on Saturday. After gymboree I took Harrison with me over to Nordstroms. I had some $$ to spend from a gift I returned and I wanted to spend it on Shoes. I had an idea of what I wanted and I thought that Nordstroms would be the place.

We started our shopping by having lunch first. I knew Harrison was hungry and I also knew if I didn't give him lunch first I would never be able to get any shoes. So we had lunch at my favorite place to have lunch with my little man, Nordstrom Cafe. The food is good and they bring it to you so I don't have to balance pushing the stroller and hold a tray of food. I enjoyed a salad with a salmon cake (like a crab cake but with salmon) and Harrison had his standby, hot dog with chips. He ate everything, even the bun.

After lunch I made a bee line to the shoe department. I was looking for a sporty shoe but that was cute-er than a sneaker. I found what I was looking for in a pair of Cole Hahn's - it is a mule like sneaker/shoe...tan, white, green and yellow. I like them and they are very comfortable.

Then I needed more pressed powder and since I was in Nordstroms and they had a Stila counter I thought I would take advantage. Harrison was in a good mood so I went for it. I started talking to the makeup lady and she suggested we play with some eye shadow. I looked at Harrison, gave him another chocolate/mint candy and let the lady try some new colors on me. Harrison even helped pick out the color. I asked him which eye he liked better and he chose the one I liked also. So in addition ot the pressed powder, I got a new shadow.

I really love shopping with Harrison, he is such a good boy, usually.

What will Harrison be?

2006-01-20T15:04:00.000-06:00

What will Harrison be when he gets older is a game that I think most parents play with their kids. Anytime Harrison shows a prelonged interest in anything I assume that is what he is going to be when he gets older. For example, Harrison has a major obsession with doors. Opening and closing them. It doesn't matter what kind of door it is, a front door, an indoor door, the bathroom door or a cabinet door. He loves opening them and then closing them, slamming them and keeping people out. So it is my conclusion that he will be a door man at a very exclusive hotel.

He also loves playing with water, turning on and off the sink and running his hands under them. He loves the hose. (but surprisingly he dosen't like the bath or the pool). So I think he may work with sprinklers.

He loves singing. He sings all the time. We can't get him to stop sometimes. He main song list includes Wiggles tunes. His favorites being "Lights, Camera, Action Wiggles!". and "Choo Choo Chugga Big Red Car". With American Idol on now, I think he could eventually be an"American Idol". Better yet, they should just have an "American Idol - Toddler" version. He would win hands down!!

The long weekend

2006-01-18T08:47:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Harrison and I spend the day together because we wanted to let Cliff rest because he was still sick. I took Harrison to Gymboree and then over to Neiman Marcus to return a sweater. Neiman's is only in downtown MPLS so that is where we went. After we returned the sweater I took Harrison to lunch. I found a food court nearby so we went and had McDonalds. Harrison enjoyed his chicken nuggest but continues to not like fries (YAY!!).

Later that afternoon I went and got some soup and movies for later that night. I knew Cliff would be feeling better and chicken soup would be the best thing. So I rented 40 Year Old Virgin, Wedding Crashers, Must Love Dogs and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I watched Must Love Dogs right way and really liked it. It was very cute. But that night Cliff and I watched 40 Year Old Virgin. We laughed alot.

On Sunday we took Harrison to Eden Prairie Center to play at the indoor playground. He really loved it there. He ran around for 40 minutes straight. It was great. We then had lunch at the mall and ran some errands. I just love that mall. It has everything, the playground is awesome, there is a target, barnes and noble and Old Navy , not to mention all of the other mall stores. It really caters to moms. When we got home and put Harrison down for his nap after successfully preventing him from falling asleep in the car, we watched Wedding Crashers. That was really good also. Very funny. I think it was a good movie for both guys and girls.

Cliff and I both had Monday off. This was the first time ever that I had MLK day off. It was a new holiday for West. So we put Harrison in Day Care and cleaned the house. I also watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I liked it, not as much as the original but it was very entertaining. We also made the first of many donations to good will. We will be back several times in the next few weeks. I am trying to purge everything we don't need.

The sickness

2006-01-18T08:33:00.000-06:00

Last Wednesday night Harrison woke up at around 10:00 pm because he had thrown up all over his bed. I always feel so bad for him when he throws up because I know he just doesn't understand what is happening to him. So we cleaned him up, changed the linens, and I sat with him for 20 minutes. He was really tired so I put him back down to sleep. But 15 minutes later it happened again but this time I heard him make some noises so I ran down and got to him before he threw up in his bed so instead he threw up all over me, and this time it was a lot! I called Cliff down to help. Cliff cleaned up Harrison while I went to clean myself up. We sat with him again for about 20 minutes and then thinking that had to be the last of it set him down to sleep again. Oh but we were so wrong. He threw up again in his bed. I wasn't quick enough this time. But it wasn't as much. He threw up only one more time after this and then it was over. I rocked him to sleep and he slept soundly all night.

I had thought he ate something that didn't agree with him because he was acting fine in the morning and never ran a fever, so I brought him to day care but told her to call me if anything changes. I called at around 11:00 to check in and found out that every kid at daycare had the same thing and that it was just Harrison and Darby there, I told her I would leave at 1:00 and come get him. As I was on my way home Carol called to tell me that Harrison had fallen asleep and I could come get him when he wakes from his nap. At 2:30 she called again to tell me that Darby had just gotten sick and Harrison was awake. I left right away and was there in about 2 minutes. Harrison came over to me and told me that "Darby threw up".

At this time I also was starting not to feel very well but not bad enough to be sick. I just stopped eating. That evening Carol called again to tell me that her and Kenny were sick and that she was closing on Friday because of it. So I stayed home on Friday. Which was a good thing because I was really not feeling well that day. I never actually got sick but I tried and felt horrible. I just layed on the couch and dozed all day.

Yes, Harrison was there with me, but he was the best kid ever! He played quietly all morning lling. I was able to get up and give him breakfast and lunch (although I almost got sick each time) and put him down for his nap. Cliff finally came home and I fell asleep on the couch for a great nap. When I woke up I felt much better.

That night Cliff was up all night throwing up and that lasted into Saturday. This virus moved fast and spread quickly.

I spent Sunday disinfecting everything and washing all of our linens to make sure it was gone.

Chanukah

2006-01-09T13:59:00.000-06:00

Harrison celebrated his third Chanukah. This time he really liked the candles but thought it was his birthday and he tried to blow them out. But he did know the Chanukah song so he got to sing it alot. Our family tradition is to hide the presents so every night harrison would get a different present. He really got into opening the wrapping paper. He got 3 puzzles, a wiggles microphone, a Wiggles colorforms book, a fire engine locking puzzle, Thomas trains and a Wiggles piano. I think he loved his presents. We were even able to get it all home on the airplane and not ship anything.

Children's Museum of Manhattan

2006-01-09T13:47:00.000-06:00

On Monday, Mom, Harrison and I met Hilary in the city. We were going to take Harrison to the Children's Museum of Manhattan. This is the first time Harrison has even been in Manhattan. There is a Wiggles song called "Central Park, New York" which I told him he would see. He seemed really excited about this.

When we got out of the car and onto the sidewalk Harrison's eyes were so wide. He couldn't believe all there was to see. He kept pointing out the Taxis. When we got to the museum he didn't know what he wanted to do first. The first floor was all about Alice in Wonderland. He put balls through shoots and watched them come out the other side. Saw a bunch of doors and and played in this glow in the dark area. On the second floor it was a Dora the Explorer exhibit. He loved this. The funniest part about this floor was this foot bridge. There were foam blocks that kids can assemble to build up the sides of the bridge, but as soon as Harrison walked up the bridge he found he could knock them down. He loved doing that and some of the kids got sad that they had to start over again.

On the third floor was the toddler area. Here he could color, paint, play with puzzles and go down a slide and climb up alot of stairs. He really liked this area. Especially when he got to the top of the stairs, he could put these balls down the pvc tubing and they would spiral down until they got to the bottom. But Harrison couldn't see where they went so he would put them in the tube then try to look in the tube to see where it would go or stick his hand in it to get the ball back. It was great watching him try to figure it out.

After the museum we went to lunch at Arties Deli and met my friend Risa. It was great to see her. Harrison was extremely tired so Lunch wasn't very relaxing. I ate my food really fast and then got up to walk him around. But I got to eat yummy food....Cheese Blintzes, Potato Kinish and a hot dog...yummmm.

New Years Eve

2006-01-09T13:41:00.000-06:00

New Years Eve was very uneventful. We put Harrison to bed at his normal time. Brad and Merryl were coming home from their cruise that night and were going to come over and spend the night. We found out that their flight was later than we thought so we decided to eat dinner without them. We all had lobsters, except Cliff who had crab legs. YUMMMMMM Lobsters! This is my all time favorite food. And I have been having lobsters almost every New years for as long as I can remember.

Brad and Merryl finally arrived at 12:15. Too bad they had to ring in the new year in a cab on the way home from the airport.

We spent the next day with them. It was nice to spend time with them. Harrison was excited to go downstairs in the morning and wake them up. We had to wait until 10:30am. You really can't tell a 2 year old to wait, but somehow we managed. But when he got to see them, he was so happy.

Hilary, my grandfather and his girlfriend, Adele, came over in the afternoon. Popper and Harrison played for a while in the basement. Well, actually, Harrison would bring Popper all of this play food and Popper pretened to eat it. It was quite sweet.

That night Hilary and I went to see Memoirs of a Geisha....amazing movie.

Visiting Norman

2006-01-09T13:28:00.000-06:00

Our next day in Otis we were supposed to Ski again. But Cliff and I, being extremely old, or at least feeling extremely old and sore from the day before decided against it. We, instead, went to the Norman Rockwell museum. We told Harrison we were going to visit Norman. He got excited to see Norman and wasn't at all disappointed that Norman was a picture and not the man himself. When we walked into the museum there was a giant model train set with a train going around the track. Well, if you have, or had a 2 year old boy, this is the best thing ever! He absolutely loved watching the train go around and wanted to touch it so bad. I did let him touch the track but not the train. It was very difficult pulling him away from the train. But I tried to get him excited to see Norman. He eventually did get excited and really liked looking at the self portrait of Norman Rockwell.

They were having an exhibit if paintings done from pictures from the National Geographic. It was really cool. Harrison loved looking at the pictures of the bugs and dinosaurs. But nothing compared to looking at pictures of the Mayan Indians. He absolutely loved the pictures of the men with the feather headdresses on. We had to keep coming back to those pictures.

After seeing Norman we headed to Friendlys for lunch. This is a great kids place to eat. Harrison got his usual, hot dog and apple sauce and he ate it all. But the best part of Friendlys is that the meals come with ice cream, so Harrison was super excited when the waitress brought his icecream. He ate the whole thing.

The day before, mom and Eddie took Harrison shopping at the outlets. While they were there Harrison got a set of Jay Jay the Jet Planes. He loves these planes. They are like Thomas the Tank Engine, but airplanes. So that night when we went to dinner they became our savior. We all went to the Dakota. This is another great restaurant. They have all of these stuffed (real) animals around and a lobster tank. When you walk in the first thing you see is a giant black bear. Harrison loved this. He ran up to it and gave it a hug. Then he found a smaller wood carved bear that he wouldn't leave alone. At dinner there were deer and elk and other animals stuffed and on the walls so Harrison really enjoyed looking at them. All the while playing with his airplanes. We didn't get home until 9:30 pm, it was a very late night for Harrison.

Skiing

2006-01-06T08:48:00.000-06:00

After we arrived in NY we went back to Mom's house for lunch. At around 1;00 we left for the 3 hour drive up to Otis (in the Birkshires). The drive was nice, I was very tired and so was Harrison so we both slept. I also had uploaded a book to my iPod so I was listening to that on the way up there as well (The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella (author of Confessions of a Shopaholic)). We didn't do much that afternoon. We made dinner and just relaxed.

The next day Cliff and I went skiing at a small hill right in Otis called Otis Ridge. It has been quite a while since I had been skiing, 6 years to be exact. For Cliff it was about 2-3 years. But the last time I was skiing I had injured myself, tore my ACL in my knee. It was very painful and I had months of physical therapy afterward. So I was a bit nervous to ski again. My plan was to take a few runs down the bunny hill to get my self warmed up and then go up the chair lift to the green hills. So after we rented skiis and bought our lift tickets we headed out.

When I approached the bunny hill, there was this incline up to the tow rope. Well, I was having a hard time just getting up to the tow rope, I kept sliding back down the incline. There was a huge line of kids behind me, so I let them go ahead while I attempted to awkwardkly make my way up the incline. By the time I got up there I was going to wait until there was a break in the rush of kids, but that wasn't coming any time soon, so I inserted myself in the line and got my self set up to grab the tow rope. I reached for it...and then fell. My ski came off when I did so I was able to get up fast. I then decided I was going to bad this idea and go right for the chair lift.

I couldn't have been more wrong. I got on to the chair lift with no problems. Easy peasy. But as we approached where we needed to get off, I started to panic. It looked like a steep srop off to go down once you got off of the lift. Well Cliff got off with no problems and I hesitated a bit too long and didn't get off. I was now about 4 feet off the ground and the operator stopped the lift. Thank goodness there wasn't many people skiing that day. The lift operator came over and told me I couldn't go down the lift that I had to get off. He told me to jump. I looked at him like he was out of his mind. I told him I absolutely couldn't jump, and if I was going to he had to take off my skiis. He took them off and I still felt I couldn't do it without breaking my leg. So he told me he would lift me off. I again looked at him like he had 7 heads. I told he I was too heavy. He chuckled and said he was a big guy and to just slide into him. I didn't think I could do it but I trusted him and slowly began to slide off of the lift. He did in fact lift me off and place me safely on the ground. I thanked him profusely and appologized like a gazillion times. Cliff, meanwhile, was totally speachless, he couldn't believe I didn't get off.

Well that little experience didn't boost my confidence. I was very anxious and skiied very slowly looking for the green hill. Half way there I went to move my hair out of my eyes and my pole hit my eye and my contact lens popped out and I lost it. So now I am extremely anxious and half blind. It was a spectacular day so far. Well, I finally made it down the mountain. I didn't hurt myself, but I wasn't going to go up that chair lift again.

I waited for Cliff at the bottom of the hill while he took some runs. After about 40 minutes he wanted to get something to eat. We went into the chalet and realized we only had $3 and they didn't take cards, so we shared a sprite and rested. The rest of the afternoon I mastered the bunny hill and became more confident in my skiing.

I need to try it again, hopefully at a place where I feel more comfortable.

Our Holiday Trip to NY

2006-01-05T15:36:00.000-06:00

As travel goes, flying on a holiday week/weekend has never been a problem. I have been flying for thanksgiving and/or christmas for years. My trick, take the earliest flight in the morning. Generally there is no lines, you sail through secruity and there is usually no delays. So that is what we did for our trip to New York on the 26th. We left the house at 5:30 am for our 7:00am flight. We should have gotten to the airport by 6:00am and had an hour to check our luggage and go through security and head to our gate. Normally that all takes all of 15-20 minutes. Well I knew we were in for it when we pulled into the airport, the line to go up to the departures drop off was very long. I kept looking at my watch and panic started creeping in. Oh my god...we are really cutting this close. But it is so early. Could everyone have figured out my holiday travel system? Well the cab driver asked if we wanted to bypass the departures and be dropped off at arrivals. He thought becasue we had so much stuff we wouldn't want to do it, but we have a system and thougth it was a great idea. So we got dropped off very quickly at arrivals and made our way upstairs to check our luggage. Inside was evenworse, the lines to use the e-check in were huge, and I mean huge and so were the security lines. I knew we couldn't wait on both lines and make our flight.

Being the New Yorker I am, I snaked my way through the crowd and went outside to the curb side check in...and zoomed passed 2 or 3 of them before I found one with hardly a line. One lady thought I cut her in line, but there were 2 lines and my line moved faster. I just ignored her because we were late and we had to get out of there. Luckily our luggage wasn't too heavy and checking our luggage only took about 15 minutes. So now it is about 6:20 and our flight leaves at 7:00...so we do the same thing we did for our luggage for security...we ran through the airport looking for the shortest security line and found it. We were in line for about 10-15 minutes. So at 6:30 we were finally headed to our gate.

Our gate, normally on the G concourse...was on the B concourse. I have never been to the B concourse but it is very far away. We first took the monorail as far as we could, then we went down an elevator and back up another elevator and walked forever. We finally got to the gate assigned at 6;45 and notice the gates changed. Luckily it was just a few gates down and not on another concourse. When we got to our real gate we noticed that the flight was delayed a few minutes so we had time to catch our breaths. I was planning on getting breakfast at the airport because we usually have time to do so. So we didn't do that and I didn't bring anyting but snacks for Harrison. I am the worst mom. So for breakfast he had fruit snacks, raisins, cookies and milk.

When we got on the plane, I was so excited because we were in row 11. I thought finally the front of the plane. Normally they stick us in the last row.... If you weren't aware, the back of the plane is commonly called "the family section"...translation....the place where we stick the babies. But boy was I mistaken....row 11 was the last row in the plane and it was 2 seats on each side, so Cliff got to sit accross the isle from us. The flight it self was very smooth. I was a bit apprehensive because the size of the plane, I thought I would get sick, but luckily I didn't.

The fun didn't end there. When we landed in NY, there was no jetway. It was like we landed in the Caribbean. We actually got off the plan on the tarmac. We walked down the stairs and were outside right next to the plane. Normally, no biggie. But try doing this unexpectedly, Carrying a 2 year old, your winter coats, purse, a lunch sack and your carry on bag. I had a feeling I was going to fall down the stairs. I saw there was a airline worker at the bottom of the stairs helping people, so I gave him all my stuff and walked down only with Harrison. Cliff had to menouver with the car seat. Harrison was absolutely stunned that he was so close to an actual airplane. His eyes were huge and he screamed..."that airplane" and pointed to our plane.

We were very happy to finally be in NY.

Vikings Game

2005-12-23T13:52:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, I went to the Vikings game with my friend Barb. She is also a very big Vikings fan. It was very cold that day! I think it was like 7 degrees. Because of that we decided to try and find close parking. Once we decided on the lot we wanted to park in the excitement began. The machine to pay for parking wasn't working so we had to pay the attendant, after we paid the attendant we went to another attendant to get a receipt to put in the car. For some reason during all of this, I gave Barb her ticket to the game. She put it in her back pocket. (this is important later in the story). Then Barb was digging for her keys, put the receipt in the car and we were on our way. We were already late so we didn't have to fight the crowds to get in. When we got to our gate, Barb couldn't find her ticket. She thinks it fell out of her back pocket when she was digging in there to get her keys to put the receipt in. Well, luckily there is a place at the stadium you can go if you forgot or lost your ticket. Unfortunately, it was outside...and apparently we weren't the only ones in this predicament. We waited for about 1/2 hour and then finally got a replacment ticket and went into the game.

When we got up to our seats, surprise, surprise...there was someone sitting in my seat. I told him that it was my seat and my season ticket. At first he said no, it was his season ticket. Fortunately, a familiar season ticket holder behind me had 2 extra seats he wasn't using and let us sit there. Normally I would have let it drop right there, but not today, not after Barb paid $50 to get a replacement ticket. I asked to see his ticket. Low and behold, there was my account numer on his ticket. I proceeded to tell him that he had my ticket and he then told me he bought it from the guy next to him. Anyway, I then proceeded to security and told them what happened. They went and got the guy and we all went back to the office where we got our replacement ticket. There a police officer greeted us and I told him what happened. He told me to go back and enjoy the game and they would handle it from there.

IT WAS SO EXCITING. By the time I got back to my seat it was the middle of the 2nd quarter. But it was very fun nonetheless...considering they lost the game.

Our Holiday Tradition

2005-12-23T08:48:00.000-06:00

Every year Marshall Fields, formerly Dayton's, puts on a themed display. One year it was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Snow White, 12 days of Christmas.... This year it was Cindarella. It is a free display in the auditorium of the downtown store on the 8th floor. I am trying it think of a way to describe...it is like mechanical puppets, in a very elaborate and beautiful setting. This presentation had 15 different "scenes". You wind your way through it as the story is told on plaques next to each scene and in a playbill you are handed when you enter.

This year Cliff, Harrison and I went on Saturday December 17th and Ken, Shannon and Abbey (A.K.A. Kenny, Abby's Mom, and That Abbey - according to Harrison). We met them at the Marshall Fields store. Usually when we go we head right up to the 8th floor no problem. The line is sometimes long but always on the 8th floor. This year, the line began on the 5th floor. I couldn't believe it. Luckily we had Harrison in a stroller because we got to go up a special way and before alot of other people (and you all know how much I love cutting lines). When we got up to the 8th floor the line was all the way too the back. All in all, it took about 30-45 minutes for us to get to the entrance to the display.

It was very crowded right at the beginning. I took Harrison out of his stroller and held him so he could see the displays. He got very scared of those moving "puppets" in the display. He kept saying, I'm scared. I kept telling him it was ok and that it was puppets. We make it through the display very quickly...probably in about 5 minutes. I thought it was a good one this year, a bit girly, but good. Right when you get out of the display is the line to see Santa Claus.

Harrison loves Santa right now. He likes to see him whereever we can. So of course, we all got on the line to see Santa. That line was very short in comparrison to the display line and years past. We only waited about 5-10 minutes. Harrison sat on Santa's lap and we got a really good picture. He didn't cry and but he didn't smile either. When I picked him up, he had a big smile and waived his hand furiously and said "BYE BYE SANTA".

After visiting Santa we went up to have lunch in the Skyroom. It is a great place for families. It is like a food court, so you don't have to worry if your kids are loud. Harrison and Abbey had a great time together. They kept playing games like Peek A Boo to make each other laugh.

After lunch we all headed down to look at christmas ornaments. Every year Cliff and I pick out a family ornament and put the date on the bottom. This year we picked out Cindarella's Carriage. It is frosted glass and really pretty. We also looked at nutcrackers, of course, for the nutcracker obsessed Harrison. We ended up getting him 2 smaller ones.

We had a great time and I just love this annual tradition.

Knitting Part 2

2005-12-14T09:55:00.000-06:00

My last knitting class was on Monday. I think it got the hang of knitting and purling. At some point in the middle of the week I was just stumped on how to purl, but I figured it out and now I totally have it down. I am working on a scarf. It started with 20 stitches and now I am up to 64. I don't know how I added more than 3X the amount of the original stitches but I did. My teachers didn't know either, only that it probably happened when I was learining to purl. I also learned how to do ribbing and how to cast on and bind off. Let the projects begin!

Hungry Hungry Baby

2005-12-14T09:53:00.000-06:00

Recently Harrison has been eating so much more than he usually does. I just couldn't figure out why. Finally I realized what was going on. We switched him from Whole milk to skim. He was used to getting so many more calories from Milk he is just making up the difference. I am now going to try different foods now that he is so much hungrier.

Very Busy Saturday

2005-12-14T09:21:00.000-06:00

Saturday was an incredibly busy day. Way more busy than we have been in quite some time. I knew we were going to leave the house by 11:00 am so I purposely took the morning to lounge around and not rush to do anything. We all stayed in our pajamas as long as we could.

We left the house around 11:00 am to go to my Company's Children's Holiday party. But before we got there I made a pit stop at TJ Maxx to pick up some christmas presents. It was right on the way to my office so it wasn't too much of a hassle. Harrison fell asleep in the car on our way so when we got to the store Cliff stayed in the car while Harrison slept. We finally got to my office at around 12;15 and Harrison immediately woke up. He was a bit groggy and cranky. But I had told him we were going to see Santa Claus. Now Harrison has been talking about Santa for a few days now. He seems to really like him. But when I ask him what Santa does, he tells me he bits his finger. If you spend any time with Harrison you will learn that everyone bites his finger. It is like the boy who cried wolf. If someone really bit his finger or bit him anywhere for that matter, I wouldn't believe it because he tells me that everyone bites his finger. Anyway, we got there and immediately went to pick up his gift. The kids that are from the ages of 0-2 got a Duplo Block Helipcopter...it was a helicopter filled with Duplo Blocks. It is a really nice toy, but we have a ton of duplo blocks already. The gift for the kids ages 3-6 got a pop up tent and the kids 7-10 got a Magic set. It is really wonderful that they get anything. We then decided to head over to see Santa. Last year the line was incredibly long so we wanted to get that over with right away. Luckily when we got there the line wasn't too bad. We did wait for about 20 minutes. Harrison was still cranky and wanted me to hold him the whole time. I think I ended up with a strained muscle in my back because of it. I was not optomistic on Harrison responding to santa very well based on his mood. But when we got there he sat on his lap and didn't cry. He didn't smile or try to squirm away, but he didn't smile for the camera. In fact he was rubbing his nose the whole time.

After Santa we went back to the cafeteria to have lunch. On our way they had roaming characters so we saw a snowman and a teddy bear and a dog. Harrison didn't want to get too close but he liked seeing them. They were serving cookies and ice cream. I knew this from last year and brought Harrison a lunchable. He actually ate the turkey and cheese even though he also had ice cream and a cookie in front of him. It is great to know that he is making the right food choices. When we were done with lunch I showed Cliff and Harrison my new desk. It was very exciting (can you sense my sarcasm).

After we left the Children's holiday Party we parted ways with Cliff who went home and Harrison and I went to Sean Appold's birthday party. He was turning 3 and had a Thomas themed party. This was right up Harrison's ally because he is just starting to really like Thomas. They had their basement filled with Sean's toys and all of the kids played down there until it was time for lunch. Harrison wasn't too hungry but the snacker that he is he had some chips and pretzles and juice. They also served chicken nuggets and pizza rolls. When it was time to open the presents Sean was mobbed by the kids. I don't think Sean touched all of his presents as the other kids swarmed him. Harrison on the other hand took the opportunity to find the balloons and march around with them. It was quite cute but I didn't get to see much of the present opening because I was chasing after Harrison. We left soon after that.

After we got home, I had about 1/2 hour to rest before I had to get ready for our evening's parties. We got home at around 5:15 and at 5:45 I got in the shower and dressed. Our baby sitter arrived at 6;30 and we were off to our first party.

My department had a christmas party at my boss's house. We got there at around 7:30. There was alot of good food and drinks. It was nice to socialize with everyone and to meet everyone's spouses. We stayed for about 2 hours when we left for party #2.

At around 9:30 we arrived at Betty's house for her Holiday Open House. It was really fun. Betty puts on a good party. I think she could be the working woman's Martha Stewart. Most of my friends from work were there, Betty, of course - It was her house, Erin, Anne, Barb A, Barb L, Jodie and Megan. There were others from work plus some of Betty's husband's friends and neighbors. By 11:30 I was exhaused and needed to go home and sleep.

We got home at 12:00 and I crashed hard. It was a very busy but very fun day!

Knitting

2005-12-06T16:03:00.000-06:00

Last night I took a beginning knitting class. I tried to learn once before and really didn't do very well at all. I feel that I am very uncoordinated so this will limit my ability. So I was nervous going into the class that I wouldn't be able to do it. But low and behold, I was and I was doing it pretty good. I learned to knit and purl. I even came home and worked on it some more for about an hour. I hope tonight when I practice I remember how to do it.

I think I am making a scarf but there are places where it is not so pretty. So I have branded my knitting and will go to market with a line of knitted scarves called "The Ugly Scarf". It will be knitted with beautiful yarn and with love, and it may not be perfect but it will do the job. I know everyone will want one of their own.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2005-12-06T15:59:00.000-06:00

This morning we woke up to another chilly morning. Not only was it -4 degrees outside, but it was only 60 degrees in the house. We couldn't believe it. The furnace was blowing cold air. It seemed like just a few weeks ago when we had furnace trouble and were bundling up. Oh wait, it was just a few weeks ago. Well I called immediately and luckly someone came out to the house this morning. Apparently a fuse blew in the furnace. Now we are all toasty and warm.

Why you have children

2005-12-06T15:54:00.000-06:00

This morning I woke up to Harrison right next to me in bed. He is never in our bed so I was surprised to see him there. Apparently Cliff went down to him when he was calling out for his binky (yes, he is 2 and we haven't broken him of this habit, in fact it is getting worse). Harrison wanted to get up but Cliff still wanted to be in bed so he brought Harrison upstairs to our bed. Harrison was just inches from my face when he touched me and said "that mommy". Of course I woke up to his chilly hands on my face. He then proceeded to be as cute as he can be, just lying down in our bed. Then out of nowhere it happened, the reason you have kids. Harrison rolled over, took my face in both of his hands and said, I quote, "LOVE MOMMY" and then kissed me. I just about melted. I asked Cliff if he heard this just to make sure I wasn't dreaming, and sure enough, he had. If that isn't reason alone to have kids, I don't know what else is.

Cliff's Office Party

2005-12-05T16:13:00.000-06:00

On Friday night we went out for Cliff's office holiday party. We all met for dinner in Minneapolis at a restaurant called Eli's. It was a very good restaurant. Small but very good food. Every year we do a gift exchange where each couple brings one good and one gag gift and then we play the dice game for the gifts and every year there is some big competition for some choice items. This year was the Bob Marley t-shirt w/CD. David and Cliff were really fighting for it. There was a knitting kit also which I really wanted considering I am taking a knitting class tonight. I got so excited that I was taking the knitting from someone that I spilled a glass of red wine all over myself. Luckily the only thing that really got ruined was a white tshirt I had on.

Later that evening we went to see the show Triple Espresso. It was very funny and I would totally recommend it. I think we all enjoyed ourselved this year. It is always fun to do dinner and an activity and still not get home terribly late.

Thanksgiving

2005-12-05T15:58:00.000-06:00

Thursday
The large thanksgiving that wasn't. At first it was going to be like 26 people and then they started dropping like flies. I think we finally ended up with 13. It was a good number of people. we all were able to fit around 1 table, a bit squishy, but we fit. The boys, Jacob and Harrison were in their high chairs watching he Wiggles and eating dinner. The food was very yummy. Harrison and Jacob got along very well during their time together. They really enjoyed chasing each other back and forth around the house. Brad and Merryl joined us for dessert, they spent the dinner part with Merryls family.

Friday
Visiting with Anna, Lisa, Kate and Chris.
Friday night Hilary, Cliff, Wendy and David and I went to see the movie Walk the Line. It was an amazing movie. I think both Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix should win awards.

Saturday
Cliff and I went into the city during the day. We started our day at Zabars. I don't think we could go into Manhattan and not got to Zabars. Then we took the 2 train to Grand Central Terminal. We spent most of the day there. We toured the train museum, looked around at the terminal, went to the holiday fair, visited the Fresh Market and had lunch at the Oyster Bar. It was a great day. We then took a short cab ride over to Rockefeller Center and saw the tree and the window displays at Saks Fifth Avenue. If you have never seen the window displays there it is very similiar to the Dayton's display on the 8th floor but on a much smaller scale.

We left Harrison with my Mom and Eddie. They visited the children's museum. If Harrison wasn't sick, I think he would have had a great time. Hopefully when we come back in December, we can all go and he won't be sick.

That night Cliff and I went to see Brad and Merryl's apartment. They have a nice apartment and filled with movie stuff. Definitely Brad's apartment. We then went to see Harry Potter. That was also a great movie. I had read the book and this was my favorite of the books so the movie did not dissapoint.

Sunday
On Sunday, Harrison joined me and my Mom to get a manicure. No, Harrison didn't get his nails done but he did like putting his hands under the dryer. He was very good while we were there. He played nicely and didn't get into trouble like I thought he would.

That afternoon Brad and Merryl came over to hang out. We watched movies and played with Harrison. Thankfully we ordered Chinese and didn't have leftover turkey again.

Monday
We left for the airport. It was a good and chock full trip to NY. We will be coming back on 12/26 for a 9 day stay.

My Friends

2005-12-05T15:39:00.000-06:00

While we were in NY I got a chance to see my friends Anna and Lisa. It was such a treat. Anna lives in Los Angeles so I don't get to see her very often. In fact, She now has a baby and this was the first time I was going to see her. We planned on going to New Jersey to see Anna where her parents now live. I kept calling it Whitestone, but they actually live near Fort Lee, just over the George Washington Bridge. Lisa had asked us to pick her up on our way there. The thing is, I have never driven in NYC. This was a big deal for me. But I mustered up all my courage, made sure I had very tight directions, packed Harrison and Cliff up in the car and headed to the big apple. Well I think I did really good driving into the city. I didn't get lost at all and felt I held my own with all of the cabs and other cars weaving in and out.

Lisa was waiting for us on the corner of 70th and West End. It was a really easy pick up. Harrison took to Lisa almost immediately. At first he was looking at her rather suspiciously but as soon as I put on the Wiggles, his toes started tapping and they bonded.

We got to Anna's about a 1/2 hour later than we wanted but we were fornature to run into Anna's brother and sister-in-law and niece in the parking lot. Her niece, Emma, is absolutely gorgeous. We then went up to the apartment to see Anna. Anna, Chris and Kate were there and so was Anna's Mom and Dad. It has been so long since I have seen her parents. I have such good memories of Anna's family. They were the ones who introduced me to Christmas. I remember one christmas in particular they were thinking of not putting up a tree and I had mentioned that I had never decorated one so they did it for me and that night Anna, her brother and I went shopping for lights and ornaments and we went to their house and decorated it. Another memory is the many times I would go over to her house and her mom would feed me Korean food. And I mean literally feed me. I would sit in their kitchen with my mouth open and she would feed me. She was an amazing cook. I particularly loved Chop Chei and this hamburger wrapped in egg dish that she made. Anna's brother and I used to fight like we were brother and sister. I really loved spending time over there.

When we got up to the apartment, Harrison wasnt' shy at all. They had some toys out that Emma was playing with so Harrison went over and was playing with the toys with Anna's dad while we all got a chance to catch up. I got to meet and hold Kate. She is absolutely delicious. Such a good baby. I bounced her around a bit too much and she spit up some of her lunch on my lap. But I was used to that so I didn't mind at all.

After about 20 minutes, we left to go out to lunch. We found and italian restaruant and had alot of fun there. Harrison was in a great mood and didn't fuss much at all. He also ate his noodles very well. Kate was also a pleasure to eat out with. We laughed and ate good food.

Boy I wish we all lived closer. I need to see these girls more often!!! It was a great visit, but definitely way too short.

IN NY

2005-11-23T16:14:00.000-06:00

I am now in NY. We flew out this morning. Normally a flight from Minnesota would take 2 hours but today it took a whopping 4 hours. We got on the plane on time and things were looking good. But boy was I mistaken. When they closed the doors the pilot got on the "microphone", as Harrison called it, and told us there was an hour and 40 minute delay in NY so we were going to stay in MN on the runway until we were cleared. Well 20 minutes later they got on the microphone again and told us the gate agent had a message for us and we had to go back to the gate. The gate agent then got on the plane and had a nice chat with the pilot who finally told us we were going to stay at the gate for 40 more minutes and we could get off the plane and walk around if we wanted. Well almost 2 hours after our original departure time we finally took off. The kicker is they pushed back from the gate on schedule so that will make this flight an "on time" flight. Crazy!

Growth Spurt

2005-11-23T16:10:00.000-06:00

On Monday Harrison had his 2 year well baby dr. appointment. Well he gained 6 lbs and grew 4 inches in 6 months. I couldn't believe it. He is now in the 50th percentile for weight and the 30th percentile for height. To put it in perspective, at his 18th month appointment he was in the 15th percentile for weight and the 10th percentile for height. I feel so proud like I did something to make this growth spurt happen. But I know I had nothing to do with it, but it still feels good.

Funny thing Harrison said today

2005-11-16T09:13:00.000-06:00

"WHOA, What Happened?"

This was when he looked out the window this morning and saw the snow on the ground.

Today is Harrison's Birthday

2005-11-16T09:07:00.000-06:00

My baby tuned 2 today!!! I can't believe how fast time has flown by. This has been the most incredible 2 years of my life. He has brought so much joy, happiness and fun to our lives. Harrison is so intelligent, curious, active, pensive, analytical and cute. He has developed into an amazing little boy.

So for his birthday I made him funfetti cup cakes to bring with him to daycare. He loves cupcakes. Well, he loves the frosting on the cupcakes. He woke up in a great mood, so I hope it stays that way.

I think he is also getting his 2 yr. molars. He has been drooling alot and waking up at night wimpering, not really waking up but wimpering in his sleep and when I go to him there are all these drool spots on his bed.

Happy Birthday my little boy!

The day after

2005-11-14T10:51:00.000-06:00

The day after Harrison's party he still thought he was going to another party. He kept saying "go to birthday party". We told him that his party was yesterday and that it was over. We did take him to the mall to play on the indoor play area and he like that. But I think he was still tired from the day before because he was very slow to go run and play.

Harrison's Birthday Party

2005-11-14T10:35:00.000-06:00

On Saturday we had Harrison's 2nd birthday party. We held it at the Eagles Nest indoor playground. The day started like all of our other Saturdays. I think Harrison understands weekends and how long they are because when he got up he told me he was going to Gymboree. I told him not this week, because he was the birthday boy today and we were having a party. He got pretty excited. After playing for a while and having breakfast, We gave Harrison a bath and got him dressed for his big day. Stone colored cargo pants and a Navy long sleeved polo shirt. he looked adorable. The food arrived right on time. I had it catered by the Lunds and Byerly's catering service, Simple to Grand (www.simpletogrand.com). As usual they did an amazing job.

I ordered the kids hot dog meals for the kids which came with, hot dogs (of course), buns, chips, string cheese, fruit cubes, jello cups and pickles. For the adults I ordered a meat and cheese platter and bread to make sandwiches. All of the food was yummy.

We had to stop at Byerlys on our way to the party to pick up the birthday cake. The theme for his party was the Wiggles. So the cake was a Wiggles cake. It came out great! We had Wiggles plates, napkins, table cloth, balloons and the goody bags were filled with a Wiggles Coloring Book, Crayons, a Wiggles CD, Wiggles fruit snacks, Wiggles tambourine and Wiggles stickers. It was Wiggles everywhere.

The party started at 11:30. We got to the Eagles Nest at 11:10 hoping we could set up the room. But they told us we couldn't get into the room until 11:30 unless we paid extra. So that is what I did. I just wanted to get set up before everyone got there. I waited with Harrison while Cliff brought in all of our supplies. That took much longer than I expected. But at 11:25 our guests started to arrive. Abby was first. After they put their stuff down, Shannon took Abby and Harrison to play while I waited to greet more guests, give them their wrist bands and tell them where the room was.

By 12:00 everyone arrived and was playing and having a good time. There was 13 kids total: Abby, Greta, Wilson, Lillian, Willie, Henry, Morgan, Tommy, Sydney, Ericka, Darby, Jason Christopher & Harrison. At 12:30 we all went back to the room for lunch. An amazing thing happened, all of the kids sat and waited for their parents to bring them their lunch and then ate quietly. Harrison was the only one who got up occasionally. But everyone ate and was pretty happy. We then had the Wiggles Cake and sang Happy Birthday to Harrison. At first he just sat there. I was surprised because he knows all of the words to the song and was singing it earlier but this time he was quiet. Then in the middle he got up and ran to me. I, at the time, was video taping the hole thing so you can hear everything, but when I picked him up (or "Pick you up" as Harrison would say) the video was of nothing. But it was all very fun and he blew out his candle.

After everyone ate cake, we opened the presents. Harrison got some great ones. He got a train puzzle that makes noise, an Elmo book, a christmas book that lights up, a big fire engine (which was the hit among all of the boys), a tractor, a car racing set, a car spiral speed racer, clothes, a Mr. Potato Head and a Bob the Builder vehicle, Lofty.

After we cleaned up, because we had to be out of the room by 1:30, everyone headed back to play. That is when I got to sit down and watch because everything was done.

We had a great time and so did all of our guests.

Picture Results

2005-11-14T10:29:00.000-06:00

We got to pick up the pictures from Harrison's photo sesson on Friday. WOW...they came out amazing! I couldn't believe it. Each one of them. He is so photogenic. There is one that I absolutely love. It is just him, walking toward the camera with the sweetest smile on his face. There are also ones with bubbles that I love and pictures with his fire truck. The family pictures didn't come out very well. THere may be one that I like. But there are a bunch of Harrison and Cliff that came out amazing. Really touching moments that were captured on film. Not to sound like a commercial, but if you want to check out this photographer....her website it www.photomoss.com. Shelly is the photographer and we just loved her!!

Picture Day

2005-11-07T10:53:00.000-06:00

On Sunday we had Harrison's 2nd year pictures taken. We had them taken by a photographer called Shelly Mosman. Harrison liked her immediately. When we got to her studio loft, there was a kids table with toy animals and crayons and paper to color on. He was a bit obsessed with the table but we were able to lure him over to take some pictures in the light with bubbles. We tried to get some family pictures taken but Harrison was not having any of that. I think we did get one good one, and that is all we need. We then decided to go to the park and take some pictures outside. We brought his fire engine so we got some pictures of Harrison on that. I got him to stay there by singing "Big Red Car" by the Wiggles. If you aren't familiar with this song, just stop by my house at around 7 pm and you can hear a concert by Harrison of all of his favorite songs, including "Big Red Car". We should get the pictures back by the weekend. I cannot wait to see them.

Cliff and Harrison's day

2005-11-07T10:50:00.000-06:00

While I was shopping Cliff and Harrison had a day together. Cliff started out by taking Harrison to gymboree. He said they had a good time and that Harrison was in a good mood throughout the class. They then went over to the new Kowalski's grocery store that opened up next to Gymboree. They had alot of samples so Harrison had alot of snacks. But their day wasn't over, Cliff then took him over to the Como Zoo. Harrison got to see all of the animals. Cliff even got him some new ones for his collection, an elephant, a hippo and a wolf. When I got home Harrison wanted to show me his "new animals". I think they had a great day together.

Winter Market

2005-11-07T10:47:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I met my friends for a day of shopping at the Winter Market. I look forward to this event every year. It is a boutique sale put on by the Junior League of Minneapolis. They have vendors from all over come and sell their stuff. I get a really good jump start on my holiday shopping. Usually every year they have 1 or 2 types of items that I go crazy for and this year was jewelry and cashmere scarves. The prices were so good I got alot of people taken care of off of my list.

There were 7 of us who went and it was really funny how we all split up into pairs for most of it. I guess 7 is too many to stay together. But I had a great time and can't wait for next year.

3rd Hair Cut

2005-11-07T10:45:00.000-06:00

On Friday, I took Harrison to get his 3rd hair cut. This is always such a traumatic experience for both him and me. He seemed like he was going to be ok, but I couldn't be that lucky. He was hysterically crying. But the good thing was that he didn't stuggle like he had done in the other 2 times. So at least it is getting a small bit better.

Play date with Greta

2005-11-07T10:34:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday I stayed home with Harrison because Carol had the day off. My friend Cari is a stay at home mom so we made plans to get the kids together. We started the day by going to my insurance guy to sign some papers. We were switching our car insurance to the company that carries our homeowners insurance. We got a very good rate, less that what we currently pay for way more coverage. Harrison, surprisingly, had a very good time there. They had paper and crayons for him to color and a flamingo for him to look at. Once the papers were signed we were off to see Cari and Greta and Wilson. I kept telling him we wer having a play date with Greta. He has never met her but by the time we got there he was so excited. He was a bit shy at first, but then he felt right at home. Greta showed him her toys and Harrison immediately took to a small Dora doll and a small Grover doll. He carried that around with him the whole time we were there. They chased each other around the house. Then when we were getting ready to go to the mall, he spontaneously gave Greta about 20 hugs. She was laughing, he was laughing and Cari and I were laughing. I think Harrison has a crush on her. She is a blond little girl, so that fits within his girl crush profile. (When he was a baby there was this beautiful blond girl on his Baby Bach video that he got so excited to see).

We all then headed to Eden Prairie Center to play in their indoor playground. WOW...they have an AMAZING playground in that mall. Harrison loved it. He was running around and sliding and playing and having a great time. Greta was a bit slow to get started. We played there for about 40 minutes. Then we went to have lunch at the food court. Total Chaos. Try to get 3 kids and 2 mommies lunch and fed....that was crazy. I got Harrison his usual, Noodles with cheese from Sbarro. Then I found a table for all of us and then found 2 high chairs, while Cari got her kids lunch. I then went and got my lunch after which Cari got hers. We then all tried to eat. Although it was hectic, we had a very good time.

We said our goodbyes after lunch and when we got back to the car Harrison said to me, "Mom, good time. Good time with Greta." I said to him, yeah, mommy had a good time also.

Cookies

2005-10-31T13:29:00.000-06:00

Last night Harrison and I made cookies together. It was absolutely so much fun. He helped me put all of the ingredients into the bowl. Then we got 2 mixing spoons and sat on the floor and mixed the dough. He had a great time doing that and feeling the dough in his hands. Then we pounded the dough with our fists and made halloween cut outs. Harrison loved the moon the best. He even helped me push the cookie cutters down. But he didn't want to put the cookie on the sheet, he thought that was for the actual cutters. When were down to the final cookies to be made he wanted to make one big ball cookie. I told him that we either had to make several smaller ones or make them into cut outs. He didn't like either of those choices so I just decided to make the smaller balls. Sometimes he is so funny...he took one of the cookie balls and was holding it up to his face and blowing on it with his nose. (I know kind of gross, but these were his cookies) and I asked him if he was making a "boogy cookie". Well that brought on so much laughter, I thougth he was going to fall down holding his belly he was laughing so hard. He kept saying "Boogy cookie" all night. He loved it.

When the cookies came out of the oven and were ready to eat I made 4 different colored frosting, Orange, Pink, Green and Grey. I called Harrison in to help decorate. He loved this part. I showed him how to spread the frosting on the cookies. He did one cookie and then decided he was just going to stand there and eat the frosting off of the cookies and the spreaders. He was having a blast. I also had colored sugar to sprinkle on the cookies as well (as if the frosting wasn't sweet enough). He liked it when I put the sugar on the cookies.

It was so much fun to make cookies with Harrison, I think we will make more again very soon!

Another day at the Mall

2005-10-31T13:23:00.000-06:00

It was raining on Sunday and Cliff needed time to do some work so I took Harrison over to the mall to play at their indoor playground. He loves it there. To our surprise and happiness, Ken, Shannon and Abby had the same idea and were there also. Abby and Harrison played a bit together but mostly Harrison just ran around himself. He loves to climb on things and slide down slides. Ken, Shannon and Abby invited Harrison and I to join them for lunch. We went to Ruby Tuesdays. Harrison was such a good boy sitting next to Abby. For the most part they shared crayons and didn't fight at all. Harrison ate his whole lunch and even grabbed one of Abby's fries and ate half of it and then gave her the rest. I think he loved the surprise of seeing them there. At the end of lunch Harrison and Abby had a very fun game of Peek A Boo going on that even involved the hostess. They were both completely hysterically laughing. It was fun to watch.

Later that day, Shannon and I went to a craft fair in Roseville. They had alot of nice vendors. I was looking for some birthday and christmas presents and got a few taken care of. It was nice to be out with just girls.

New Shoes

2005-10-31T13:14:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I took Harrison to go get his feet measured because I thought his shoes were a bit too small. We went over to the Mall of America. I like the Nordstrom shoe department. They have really good children's shoe sizers. I also needed to return a pair of sandals he never wore. When we got there he was so excited to go shopping. I don't know why but he was. Then when we were picking out his sneakers, he kept saying "New Shoes". He was really good and stood still when the sales lady was sizing his feet. He even wore his new shoes home. I also got him a pair of retro looking sneakers also. I wasn't surprised to find out that his foot grew a whold 1/2 size but when up a full shoe size. He is now a size 6 shoe. Such a big boy!!

Out in the cold

2005-10-31T12:53:00.000-06:00

Last week it got a bit chilly in Minnesota so we went to put our heat on. We tried setting the thermostat to 70 degrees and put it on auto which is supposed to go on until it hit 70 and then just maintain it. But that wasn't working. So we tried the fan feature. That didn't work either. So I suggested to Cliff that we change the filter. He agreed so we took the filter out and it started to work so I was very much encouraged, especially because I was the one who figured out what to do. But when I fired that baby up...cold air...that is right, it was blowing cold air. I was so upset. So the next day I called to schedule a time when someone could come and fix it.
When we first moved in to the house we signed up for a appliance maintenance program and boy has that paid off. If you don't belong to one, I highly recommend it. Well each day until the repair guy could come it got colder and colder in our house. Each morning we would wake up and the house would be 5 degrees cooler than the day before. On Thrusday night It was the coldest. It was 60 degrees in the house when I got home from work and about 58 degrees when we went to bed. I was so worried about Harrison because he kicks off his blankets during the night. So I put on his regular pajamas with socks and dug out his old fleece feety pajamas from the too small bin...and Squeezed him in ther. He was this huge pajama sausage. But I felt much better that he had to be much warmer then if I didn't squeeze him in there.

Well on Friday they came and fixed the furnace and we are now warm and toasty.

12 hour rule

2005-10-26T12:36:00.000-05:00

Last night I was cutting some squash for dinner. I wanted to roast it. Well, if you have never cut open a squash, it is very difficult. Well Although I though I was being careful, I cut my hand. Pretty deep. It didn't bleed much which scared me a bit but we decided because it wasn't bleeding that I would be fine and I just kept cleaning it. Well this morning, I thought I would go to the doctor because it didn't seem like it could heal because it was kind of open and the location of it. When I got there I found out I needed stitches - 5 of them actually. I also found out that I may not have been able to get them because they don't stitch wounds up after 12 hours because bacteria can get in the cut. But because I took such good care of it, they stitched me up anyway. Moral of the story: (1) be VERY careful when cutting squash and use a dish towel on the knife for leverage (2) if you are cut, go get it looked at right away.

Zoo Boo

2005-10-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

On Sunday after the Vikings game we took Harrison over to Como Park's Zoo Boo. We went with Ken, Shannon and Abby. Harrison got to wear his costume. He was a dragon. The same as last year. It still fit so I might as well get another years use out of it. Harrison was a bit cranky because he just woke up from his nap when we went, so we pushed him around in the stroller. It was a crisp evening but not to bad. Instead of candy they gave out crayons, markers, stuffed animals, cereal, yogurt drink, pencils, stickers ect. Harrison liked seeing all of the volunteers dressed up as the different animals. He even got to climb on a real fire engine.

One of the cutest things he did was introduce Abby to the animals. He would say Hi to the animals and then point to Abby and say "That Abby". He really likes playing with her.

Pumpkins again!

2005-10-26T12:26:00.000-05:00

On Saturday after our weekly Gymboree class, I took Harrison over to Country Sun farms to look at the pumpkins. They have animals and giant, and I mean giant paper mache scarecrows, spider and pumpkin. They were each like 20 feet tall. THey also had plenty of places for photo opportunities for the parents. But Harrison is at the age where he won't sit still for picture. But i think I got some good ones anyway. He was running around everywhere. He only slowed down to look at the animals or the scarecrow.

One of the animals was a calf and he went to it and was looking at him and softly started singing Old MacDonald. I wasn't that close to him because I was trying to take pictures, but I heard this and so did the woman standing next to him. We both just melted. The woman commented about how cute he was and that is when he got shy.

Before we left we picked out a few more small pumpkins and some gords and squash.

My Birthday Day

2005-10-21T09:35:00.000-05:00

My birthday day was a great day. I had lots of hugs and kisses from Cliff and Harrison as soon as I woke up. Harrison even told me that it was my birthday. He has such a good memory. When I got to work my 2 friends, Erin and Erica were waiting for me with cupcakes and presents. I just love coming into work to find my friends and cupcakes and friends. Erin made the cupcakes. They were chocolate with Chocolate frosting. Erin also got me a very soft and cozy scarf. Erica got me an adorable plaque that read "Shopping is not a hobby, it's an occupation" and a Born to shop candle. I think she knows me too well. Anne left me the most beautiful flowers. It had gerbera daisies, an hydranga and some other really cute orange flower all in a tall red vase. It was so beautiful and she arranged it all herself. I just loved it! Barb brought me candy for my candy dish...which I have to say was very empty for a very long time. And Betty came down later and got me an autographed book which looks really good and some cozy socks. I can't wait to sit down and read it.

My friends also called, Anna and Risa left me voice mail messages because I wasn't at my desk. Eddie called first thing in the morning. My Mom called later in the morning and so did Merryl. My Aunt Carol called that evening as well. It was great to talk to her.

When I got home there were 2 flower packages waiting for me. My Mom and Merryl both sent me flowers. They were both very beautiful. Merryl's were a bunch of sunflowers. My mom's were roses and some type of yellow flower. I just loved the both.

Cliff also got me flowers (it was a very flowery day - I now have 4 bouquets at home and 1 at work) and a perfume set. Cliff also cooked me a scrumptious dinner of Salmon with an apple horseradish glaze, Asparagus and a Potato. For dessert he picked up some Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream...yum!!

It was a GREAT Birthday!!

On Being 35

2005-10-20T09:58:00.000-05:00

So today I turned 35. I have been dreading this birthday for some time. I think after you turn 35 you are officially not young. I don't want to say old because I don't feel old, but I don't feel young either. At 35 there are more risks when you get pregnant, which I still want to do at least 1 more time. On any questionaire you now move brackets...no longer can you choose the 25-34 range...you are now in the 35-44 range....look at that range...the 40's are included in there. Now it is not like I am going to lie about my age because I still get a kick out of telling people how old I am because I don't look or fell like I am 35. I feel bad for those people who actually look older than their age...those 35 year olds who actually look about 45, now that would be hard. So I come to this birthday with the knowledge that I will have to do more tests when I get pregnant, that I have to choose another age range on forms, that I will make a noise when I get up from a chair and that I should and will stop watching the Real World on MTV because I have to face it, I am not their target audience.

Pumpkin Picking

2005-10-17T11:17:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we took Harrison to Emma Krumbee's in Belle Plaine MN. They were having a scarecrow festival and had a bunch of things that I thought Harrison would love to do. It took about an hour to get there and Harrison and I played a game as to see how many signs for it we could find. He loved doing that. When we got there, Harrison was so excited. For a week he kept want to go to the "Pumpkin Patch". He even said it when he woke up in the morning.

After we paid, the first thing we did was climb the big mound of hay. Harrison loved it. He climbed it several times. He also loved just throwing the hay up in the air. We then decided to walk toward all of the scarecrows. Harrison loves those also. I have a scarecrow decoration in the house so he know what they are and likes pointing them out. But all of a sudden he wanted to go on a pony ride. So we turned around and went to the ponies. He was all excited and I even had him pick out which one he wanted to ride. Well that was where the fun ended. He wanted nothing to do with riding the pony. He screamed and clung to me with such force. So we took him off and just watched the other kids go around.

After that he climbed on the tractors and went to see the camel. We then walked over to the goats where he tried to feed them, but he desire not to have the animals touch him got in the way, so he had Cliff do it instead with him very close by.

We then saw a play ground area that has wooden cars and a house and a bridge. He loved climbing and running around this area. The area is supposed to be for riding these John Deere trikes but there were other little kids just running around. We then discovered the big slide. So we went up this mountain and Harrison fearlessly went down this huge slide. He loved it and did it about 6 more times. Cliff would wait for him at the bottom and walk him to the entrance and Harrison would walk up the hill to me at the top who make sure he didn't cut the line and waited his turn.

After the slide we decided to have lunch. The restaurant at Emma Krumbee's was so croweded, they had a 1/2 hour wait just to put your name on the list. It was crazy. But they also had a cafe inside the general store where we got hot dogs and brats. We also got ice cream for Harrison as a treat.

After lunch was over we went to buy our apples and pumpkins and then head home. Harrison loved picking out pumpkins. He is really into pumpkins right now. On the car trip down, he told us he wanted 2 pumpkins, so we got him 2. One really big one (28 lbs.) and a smaller one (7 lbs). He also picked out 3 pumpkin gords. Those he absolutly loves because he can carry those around with him. In fact he held them in the car, held them while we told stories that night, and brough them with him to day care this morning.

I think next weekend I am going to see if we could go to another pumpkin patch to try and get some more good pictures!

Grandma and Uncle Erik come for dinner

2005-10-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

On Thursday we didn't go to swim lessons. Instead, Grandma and Uncle Erik came for dinner. Cliff's mom had a meeting in St. Paul on friday morning so instead of waking up super early and driving from Rochester, she stayed with us. We also invited Erik over for dinner. They both haven't seen Harrison for a while, especially Erik. Harrison just loves Erik. While he was eating dinner, he kept wanting Erik to stay in the kitchen with him while he ate so he kept screaming "Uncle Erik, come here!"

Cliff's mom tried to bring dinner with her. She brought this yummy soup from the city market in Rochester, Tomato Basil soup. We all love it. But as she took it out of the car one of the containers fell and spilled all over the curb. So there wasn't enough for dinner. I had already planned on making Risotto for dinner so I just made that.

We also tried to give Harrison a bath, but for some reason the tub kept leaking water, so he got a sponge bath.

In the morning, Harrison was so excited to see that Grandma was still there.

Our Anniversary

2005-10-17T10:53:00.000-05:00

On Saturday Cliff and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It was a very fun day. It started off the same as usual. Harrison and I went to gymboree and played there. We came home and had lunch and played some more. He really likes playing out in the front yard. He has taken to running up and down our walk way and then wanting to go see the "other beagle". It is another beagle that lives just 2 houses away. Her name is Gracie but Harrison just calles her "the other beagle". He also discovered how to open the gate on our fence. So we spent about 40 minutes opening and closing the gate. If you haven't figured it out, Harrison has a small obsession with doors...he just loves to open and close them. Cliff and I seperately went out and shopped for gifts for each other. Cliff got me an under the sink water purifier. It doesn't sound very romantic but I constantly complain that I don't like the taste of our water so I thought it was very thoughtful. Me on the other hand went out and got Cliff a new outfit. I got him a new pair of jeans (those darker kind - that look a bit dirty), and 2 shirts to layer on top of each other. I think he liked them. One of the shirst was an orange button down and the other one was brown with orange in it. He wore the whole thing out to dinner that night.

Later in the day a white van pulled up in front of our house and I thought it was a repair man of some sort, but I didn't know why we needed one. So I asked "What is he doing here?" Cliff said he was delivering something, I think flowers. I thougth maybe Cliff sent them, but it was actually from Brad and Merryl. It was a beautiful bouquet and it was really nice of them to think of us.

That evening Mallette came to watch Harrison while we went out. I think finally Harrison is getting used to her because he didn't cling to me as much and almost immediately started showing off for her. Cliff and I were able to get out of the house with out any problems.

We went to dinner at Zander Cafe in Saint Paul. It was a really good dinner. I loved the atmosphere there. It felt like an uptown restaurant right in Saint Paul. We started off with appetizers. I had a portobella mushroom appetizer that had field greens and goat cheese. It was very yummy. Cliff had this beet appetizer. It was amazing. It was roasted beets in an orange liquor reduction with blue cheese on top. I absolutely loved his appetizer. Then I had the boulibasse as a main dish and Cliff had a bison filet. Both were very yummy. We then shared Creme Brulee.

After dinner we went to a movie and Cliff let me pick so I chose a ultra girlie movie...In Her Shoes. I absolutely loved it. I had just finished reading the book so everything was really fresh in my mind. There was a bunch of parts left out, but I still loved the movie.

It was a great evening out and a very good anniversary.

Busy Saturday

2005-10-10T09:44:00.000-05:00

Our Saturday started out like all of our Saturdays do...we went to Gymboree in the morning. And instead of running errands and going to lunch afterward, we went home because Abby was coming over to play for a few hours. Harrison was so excited to play with Abby. I really think that he loves playing with her. As soon as we got home he kept running to the window to see if "Abby here?" When she finally came he was so excited. They first showed each other their bellys. Then Harrison wanted to go through Abby's back pack to see what she brought. She had a book in there so we all read the book a few times. It was great having the two of them sitting next to me. Then they decided they wanted to play ring around the rosey. Boy did they have fun. Especially Harrison. He kept wanting to play and running and grabbing Abbys hands to play. Then Harrison wanted to make Abby laugh, so he would stand inbetween the front door and the storm door and close the front door almost all the way and then throw it open. They both laughed at this for over a 1/2 hour. Finally at 1:30, I put Harrison down for a nap and Abby and I made pumpkin apple bread. Abby helped me stirr all of the ingredients and helped me put the eggs in, one at a time, and helped me pour the liquids into the bowl. She was a great helper and the bread tastes yummy.

Swimming #2

2005-10-10T09:17:00.000-05:00

On Thursday was our 2nd swim lesson. And I am very happy to say that Harrison did not cry at all during our lesson. That is not to say he enjoyed it either. He wanted to play more then he wanted to do the lesson. He absolutly didn't want to float on his back and he drank more of the water than he blew bubbles. But I am just glad he wasn't crying the whole time.