Happy new year!

Happy new year from all of us. 

2014 was a great year and we're looking forward to an exciting 2015 with baby2 arriving in a few months!

Celebrating Christmas

This season has been the most fun I've had in a long time because I have Emily's eyes to see everything through!  At the age of three, this is the first year she has understood and is excited about Christmas.  We began by decorating our house, as well as Christmas cookies with my mom and the Harrison ladies!

Emily also had her preschool concert and she actually learned and sang the songs!

On Stage!

Waiting for Santa

We visited Santa - toy catalog in hand - to tell him all of Emily's wishes (mostly Frozen things).  And then we visited him again on Christmas Eve at Macy's downtown Santaland display with cousin William.

The gift exchange with both families was a lot of fun and we're very lucky to have family that we are able to spend time with at the holidays.

We are lucky to have such a happy, healthy little girl and as I look ahead to 2015 I will hope for the same for baby2!

Cheers! 

Emily: 3 years old

How did the last three years pass so quickly?? We all start to notice just how quickly time really does pass as we get older, especially when you have a little person changing so much right in front of you. It doesn't help that she likes to remind me, daily, that she is a big girl and not a baby (which I still insist on calling her).

Since Emily is such a Frozen fan you can probably guess what her party themes were.

Please excuse the giant belly in the background

We love our strong willed little girl more than ever and are looking forward to the year ahead with her!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We had a wonderful time celebrating all that we have to be thankful for with our families this year.

With Thanksgiving 2014 in the books we moved right into Christmas. Friday morning arrived and we were busy setting up the tree, stockings and other decorations.

We are looking forward to a fun month beginning with Emily's birthday celebrations!

Baby 2 update

We were planning on waiting to tell the family all about baby 2 until Thanksgiving but we couldn't wait. According to the ultrasound tech baby has very long legs.  Not that we're surprised with the heights of Patrick and Emily but I found it funny that she could see that already. That aside, baby 2 is very active and healthy, we couldn't ask for  more!

And next spring we will be welcoming a new baby...

GIRL!

We are thrilled with the news and Emily is excited to have someone to be the Anna to her Elsa, or vice versa depending on the day.

Looking ahead to the three day week!

Thankful time of year

We are very thankful to have great friends and be able to share a wonderful meal that Patrick prepares every year.  It was delicious, as always.

We're also thankful for family willing to have sleepovers with Emily so we can enjoy some adult time :)

First snow

The first snow fall that was supposed to produce epic depths only left us with 1-2 inches at most but that didn't curb the enthusiasm that Emily had for it!

Windy City Adventures

This year over MEA we went to visit our Chicago family again. We broke up the drive down with a night in Wisconsin Dells to play in the water. Emily was a little more hesitant with the water slides than she was last year but she was much more interested in exploring the whole water park. We had a great night and will plan on making the stop every year!

The view from our hotel room

Friday morning we were on the road to Chicago. The entire drive was uneventful and we were there by midday. We spent some time visiting and letting the little ones play. For dinner we splurged on Chicago style pizza and it was delicious!  We also celebrated William's 2nd birthday.  He's getting so big and changing every time we see him!

Thankfully we had indoor plans on Saturday because it was a windy, rainy day. We visited the Museum of Science and Industry. There was plenty to keep the kids interested and lots of intriguing exhibits for the adults. We spent all morning there before heading back to put the kids down for naps. The rest of the day (which was not much since the kids napped until 5:00!) was spent hanging out, visiting, playing and enjoying a delicious dinner prepared by Marcus!

Mirror Maze!

Sunday morning came quickly and after waking up, snapping a few pictures of the kids together and grabbing some leftovers for road snacks, we were on our way back to Minneapolis.

We are looking forward to the holidays when we get to see them all again!