Sophia Joy!

We have a new niece, Sophia Joy Holgrimson!  She is the tiniest little thing with all this dark hair!  She looks like her big sisters, Meghan & Abby except for her hair!  Marissa LOVED holding her and Brody kept patting her head and saying baby, baby, baby.......

Here's a few pics from the hospital visit today! 

Valentines Day 2012!

This year since Valentine's Day landed on a night where Marissa has Cubbies at church we did some celebrating over the weekend!  Saturday night, Tony & I were able to get away on a date night.  It's been over two months since we have been without the kids so it was long overdue!  We had dinner at Redstone in Minnetonka and then I really wanted to go to skating so we headed over to the skating rink in Coon Rapids.  It was a super fun night.  The last time we went skating we had Marissa and my nephews with so this was a different experience.  We actually got to skate!  HA!  Here's a couple pictures from our night out!

Classic Self Portrait

Skating.....

My eyes have the red-eye effect....grrrr!

On Sunday, we did some shopping and furniture delivering to my cousin who just moved into her first apartment.  Brody fell asleep during all the festivities with his new sunglasses on.  HE LOVES SUNGLASSES and he actually keeps them on!  HA!

Tired boy!

Then last night, Marissa requested that we do a "fancy" dinner for Valentines Day and since we couldn't do it tonight we agreed that Monday night would work best!  She helped me prepare dinner, got dressed up, set the table and picked the itinerary for the evening.  We ate a lovely dinner, played a family game together and then opened presents!  It was a fun 4FAMILY night! 

Family Dinner

14th VALENTINES DAY TOGETHER!

Me and my little man!

Best Buddies!

The girls!

GAME TIME!

Marissa SO badly wanted to give him a duckie for Valentine's Day!

Brody playing with his new present.  ZIG!

Marissa's reaction to her presents!

Marissa also got to celebrate at school yesterday with a Valentine's party.  She did an awesome job opening each Valentine and sounding the names out to see who gave her what!  She got lots of goodies and hasn't even asked for the candy!  GOOD KID!

Valentines Party!  Everything is always Marissa H.....the H is very important to her!

All in all, we had a great few days celebrating Valentine's day!  Now a couple of other random pictures I found on my phone to end this post.

Marissa is really growing up and asking to help do things.  The other day she wanted to help wash dishes.  Who am I to deny her that chore?  She was so happy and proud!

Helper Girl!

One last picture.....on Thursday, Marissa got her father/daughter dance costume....OOOO....is she SO happy and excited!  It's going to be SO fun to watch them at the recital!

Father/Daughter Dance Costume

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! 

19 MONTHS OLD!

Yesterday marked Brody's 19-month birthday which I thought it deserved a post!  He has really made some big changes this month!  He has become quite the independant little boy!  The biggest changes this month are his talking abilities!  He really says everything now and communicates really well!  He copies what other people say so he is picking up on words very quickly!  It makes it so much nicer that he can tell me what he needs!  One night, while watching Wheel of Fortune (our nightly routine), we heard Brody copying every letter that was called.  So I thought why not teach him to spell his name.  Sure enough, he CAN DO IT! It's very cute! 

Another big stride is he is doing so well at potty training!  I never thought he would be ready this early but he is a pro at it!  He even told us at the restaurant we were at this weekend!  We took him to the potty and sure enough he went!  HOORAY!  He is SO great at telling us!  Of course, he is very proud of his accomplishments!  This may or may not last but it sure is great now! 

He is growing up so quickly!  He still loves balls, trucks, cars and stuffed puppies (real ones not so much)!  He is such a typical boy and I love seeing how different he is than Marissa.  He still adores her and wants to do everything she is! 

Happy 19-month birthday to my precious little man!

Living life....

I don't have anything really great to blog about today but I found a few pictures from the last week that I thought I would post! 

Last Thursday, Marissa got her costumes for her dance recital in May.  She was so super excited to try them on!  Pictures are in the next few weeks and she even gets to take a picture with her daddy since he is going to be doing the father/daughter dance with her.  She LOVED the dresses which makes it all worth it to see her excitement!

We've been spending lots of time enjoying the warmer weather.  The kids like to explore in the yard and play on their bikes, take walks around the neighborhood and just enjoy the fresh air!  Brody insists on wearing sunglasses so poor kid always gets stuck with girl ones!  I need to get him a pair of his own soon! 

To finish up this picture post....this happened yesterday.  Both kids wanted a kiss and it was so cute!  Couldn't help but snap a picture!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party!!!

Marissa and I had a fun afternoon at the "Mad Hatters Tea Room" in Anoka.  We went to afternoon tea with our friends Betsy & Emma!  We indulged in some delicious and dainty food & tea!  The girls enjoyed TWO pots of little girl tea (Pink Lemonade) and I think Marissa ate about 15 sugar cubes!  The sugar rush definitely caught up with her!  They even got to make a wish in the wishing well!  What a fun, girly afternoon with great friends!  Here's a few pics from our day!

Me and my daughter the ever lovely, Rapunzel!

Marissa and Emma in their princess dresses

Waiting patiently for our table...

Group pic

Our delicious food!

When we got home Marissa wanted to take a picture....I thought Brody looked cute so I thought I would include in the post :)