What does a bee sit on?

Harrison has been published!!! The kids and their grandpa have an ongoing battle for the best joke. It's an event at every family dinner. We all gear up for it before dinner and come with our best jokes to contribute. Every now and then we'll also come home to our answering machine beeping with a riddle from grandpa, and then we have to come up with the answer and call and leave it on his answering machine. It's tons of fun, and the kids get so excited to find out the answer to the joke left for them. Harrison and grandpa had this joke between them, and Harrison submitted it to the website jokesbykids.com. Go there, enter Harrison in the search, and scroll down to his joke to get the punchline!!!

Christmas night at Grandma Barbara's

After braving the 18"+ of snow that had fallen all night Christmas Eve and all Christmas day, we made it to Grandma Barbara's. All the Swedish Christmas foods were there. Abigail loves the salmon and herring. Harrison will only eat the meatballs. But, Leah was brave and had some of the herring, which she liked if we covered it in sour cream. After dinner we had presents. Abigail opened a new case for her CDs along with a new CD of princess music, and two webkinz dogs. Harrison got a nerf gun and a bunch of Ben 10 toys. Leah was so excited to get Hello Kitty makeup, a cute new shirt, and notepad to write in. Hudson's cousins helped him open up a truck that shakes when you pull its tow line and new clothes. The drive home was completely treacherous, and I asked John-Erik to pull over at least 10 times. But, thankfully, we made it almost home before getting stuck in the snow. We just had to turn onto our street, but that is where the snow was just too much for us. We got stuck and had to take a few passes before we were able to slide into the driveway that John-Erik had shoveled two times already that day (but you couldn't tell because it continued to snow after he did). All in all, it was a really good day, aside from it being a white Christmas. People who like snow on Christmas are crazy and should be put away.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning started off at 8:30 when Abigail came into mom and dad's room to let us know that Santa had come. We were able to stall her for 30 more minutes and then let her wake up her brothers and sister (it had been a very late night on Christmas Eve, so we didn't have the early morning we had expected). Everybody got exactly what they had wished for. Abigail got her real microphone and a video camera. Harrison about passed out when he opened up his Nintendo DS. Leah was very excited to get a baby set with a swing, stroller, and other baby things. Hudson just crawled around everyone, looking at all the new toys he could chew on. Harrison helped him open up his new monkey ball and walker toy. The stockings were stuffed with treats and other toys that the kids were excited to discover. We had a very happy, relaxed morning, which is what John-Erik and Robyn had put on their letter to Santa.

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Papa's

Christmas Eve is Grandma and Papa's. We had a great dinner with almost everyone. We were just missing aunt Tanya (aka Ping Pong). We did get to call and wish Ping Pong a Merry Christmas at work, though. The kids were spoiled rotten, as usual. The three bigun's got new scooters, along with a truckload of other treasures. Hudson has his first toolbox with his name on it. All the bigger boys in the family got matching hoodies that zip up over their faces to turn them into robots. I don't think Harrison will be able to wear it to school for awhile, since I doubt he'll be able to resist the temptation to become a robot during class. As much as I like his teacher, I think she would frown on that. Leah was the first to find the pickle in the Christmas tree, and then Harrison found the next one. The prize for that is a gift card to McDonalds. That means that I get to have a few lunches once they go back to school. Only kidding, Bo. I'll let them have some of my french fries.

The Girlies Dance Recital

The girls had their Christmas Dance Recital on December 20th. They did great!! Abigail is an old pro at dancing on the stage, and did it ever show. She was shining up there. Her song was "Little Saint Nick" by the Beach Boys. It was Leah's first time and she was very nervous. She was kind of grumpy before it started and just kept looking for "Miss Tracy" to see when she was supposed to start. But, once she was up on the stage and in place, she took off. Her song was "Jingle Bells". She did wonderfully for her first time in front of an audience. Afterwards, she was asking when she got to do it again. They both love the attention, and the fact that they get to use mom's makeup. But, don't they look sweet?

Our Visit With Santa

We saw Santa today at our ward breakfast. Leah was scared to death. She did not want to go sit with him, and started to cry. But, her big brother and sister came to her rescue and convinced her to sit on a chair next to him, as long as they held her hands. You can see the death grip she has on them in the pictures. Hudson was fine with him, and just kept staring at his big beard. Abigail asked for salt water fish tanks (which are "too hard" for him to bring, darn it). Harrison asked for more chapter books. Leah asked for 5 ponies and some accesories for them. We also brought along some toys to help Santa give to other kids. The kids love to be Santa's helpers.

Leah Boo

Leah's 3rd Birthday

Leah Boo is now 3 years old. It's hard to believe it has gone this fast. It was just a blink ago that she was our tiny baby coming home from the hospital in the worst snowstorm of the season. She is now our little fashionista, changing her clothes so many times that I had to put a lock on her closet doors. She loves dance, shoes, purses, and anything pretty in her hair. Her favorite color is magenta and she wants everything to reflect that. She adores her big sister and wants to do anything Abigail does. For her birthday, she wanted hot dogs for dinner with purple juice and a white cake with sprinkles. Her presents included a Hannah Montana dress up outfit, Magenta from Blues Clues, pretend food, a play dish set with little tiny real silverware, an Abby Cadaby Lego's set, and (her favorite) a barbie purse that includes sunglasses, a phone, and a key chain. She also received her very own pink Christmas tree from her aunt Bo, which Leah thinks is "beautiful". She still sucks on her finger all the time, and we are not that interested in breaking her of it. Anything to try to keep our little girl little. I am so glad her birthday is later in the year, so I still have one more year with her at home with me before preschool. She is so funny, caring, and sweet, and we are so glad to have her in our family.

LEAH'S TOP 3's

3 Favorite Things: Baby dolls, dance class, her right index finger
3 Scariest Things: Pools, Halloween things, EVERYTHING else
3 Favorite Things To Do: Read books, read books, read books
3 Favorite Songs: "Face Down" - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
"Doorbell" - White Stripes
"Brown Eyed Girl" - Van Morrison
(she's a rocker at heart)
3 Favorite Places to Go: Grandma and Papa's, Ikea, Abigail and Harrison's school
3 Favorite Shows: Superwhy, Blues Clues, Doodlebops

Hudson

Hudson is crawling!

Hudson officially started crawling just before Thanksgiving. He still gets his little legs caught up under him sometimes, but he is gaining speed fast!!

Here is our bunch of monkeys. Completely even score. Two girls, two boys. Two blue eyes, two brown eyes.

Introducing our Blog!!

Here is our new family blog. I hope to be able to keep up with this, and update it as often as possible. Our family is growing so quickly, and ever changing. We'll use this to keep everyone updated!!