More Family Traditions!

The day after Thanksgiving while all the other people are out shopping our family tradition is to break out all the Christmas decorations. We put up the tree (we have to have artificial because Brian is allergic to the real ones.) and put of the Dept. 56 village and hang the stockings and Gigi's Santas. The girls are both old enough to help decorate the tree this year and they both loved hanging the ornaments on the tree. At first Ellie wanted to take them off and put them back on over and over, but eventually she got the idea. Josie is a pro at this by now and she likes to see all the ornaments and likes to find special places for the ones that are hers. Here's Josie showing Ellie the ropes:
The other traditon that we started last year was letting Josie put the star on the top of the tree. She loves that this is her special job, but once Daddy lifts her up over his head she has a hard time getting the giggles under control to actually get the star on the top of the tree. I suspect that by next year there will have to be a conversation about who gets to put the star up, but we will either take turns every year or maybe the star will have to go up twice!
After a long mornings work the tree was beautiful and the girls were very proud of their masterpiece. The tree is my favorite thing at Christmas time. I love to turn on the lights and turn off every other light in the house and just sit in the room with the tree. Josie and Ellie love this becasue we have a button to push to light the tree instead of having to plug it in. They both learned very quickly how to turn the tree on and off and they love to turn it on every morning.

Thanksgiving and family traditions

Ever since we moved to Arizona we have always had Thanksgiving here. Last year was the first time that we decided to host Thanksgiving and things went so great that we had an even bigger gathering of our Arizona family this year. The total guest list topped out around 20! We are lucky to get to share this special time with Gigi (Great-Grandma Grant) since she lives here 6 months of the year. We also have Grandma's good friend Dorothy who is like an adopted grandma to my girls, I am a firm believer that you can't have too many grandparents! We also had 3 families of the Mortenson family join us and it was a wonderful day. The kids played outside, the boys fried about everything they could think of in the turkey fryer: funnel cakes, snickers, reeses peanut butter cups, and donuts (AKA tubby toast). All the girls shared their favorite Thanksgiving recipes and nobody went home hungry!


One of our family traditions at holidays is to make bread from scratch. My mom learned from her mom, my mom taught me and now Josie has become quite a good helper.
She helps knead the bread and she has become very good at it. So much so that I don't really have to take over when she's done. She is building up her muscles and she doesn't ever seem to get tired! She pulls and pushes and pulls and pushes until I tell her to stop.
Ellie is thinking that maybe next year she will have to get in on this action too. Lucky for me, we have always had to make 2 batches so there can be a bowl for each of them next year and we won't have to fight.
One of Josie's favorite parts of making bread is to watch it rise. Here she is with her bowl over flowing! She asks about every 10 minutes to check on the bread to see if it is getting bigger. I keep trying to tell her that if she waits a little longer she may be able to actually tell the difference in size! Josie loves helping in the kitchen no matter what I am doing. I am so glad that she has really taken to making bread because it was one of my favorite things to do with my mom at the holidays and now it becoming one of her favorite things too. Hopefully one day she can share this tradition with her kids.

Ellie is a super swimmer too!!

Ellie has had to tag along to Josie's swimming lessons all of her life and she is always wanting to get in the pool too. So we decided it was time Ellie finally got to get into the pool and learn to swim like her big sister.

If you know Ellie you know that she is a little on the shy side. It takes her a while to warm up to people and some people, try as they may just can't win her over. Her Daddy is her favorite guy and no other guy has quite measured up yet. (This makes Daddy VERY happy and he hopes it continues well into her teenage years!) So when I found out her teacher was a guy, I was a little skeptical about how well this could possibly go.

It turns out that being in the pool far out weighed the fact that her teacher is a guy. And eventually she really grew to like Jon and now refuses to swim for any other teacher! I guess this is an obstacle that will be tackled later!! Ellie is doing excellent in her swimming lessons and I think we might have another little swimmer on our hands. She has to take a break from swimming because she has accomplished all of the requirement for her level 2 class, but level 3 is not a parent/child class so until she can wait her turn and not jump off the step randomly, she is sidelined from going any farther. Here are some pictures of Ellie's favorite things at swimming:

The Popcorn song!

Hey, There's Jojo!! I want to swim with the big kids!!

Monkey walks

Happy Halloween!!

Well Halloween has come and gone and we sure had a lot of fun! I would love to fill in all the things that we have done since our trip to San Diego, but sadly now that I have some time my hard drive is in Minnesota trying to salvage my pictures! So any way we will start from here and I will vow to be better about backing up my photos and updating my blog!!

One of our favorite family activites has always been carving pumpkins. When Brian and I were in college we would get the fancy carving kits and carve elaborate designs. Well now with two kids we and they don't have as much time or patience and so we settled for 3 funny (not scary, per Josie's request.) pumpkins and one cute little monster.

Josie dug right in a helped clean out her pumpkin. She has become such a little scientist asking all kinds of questions about the insides, making lots of observations that the guts were squishy, wet and slimy. She asked about the seeds, and then proceeded to tell us about how farmers plant seeds and they need water and sun and time to grow into pumpkins. She even designed her own pumpkin face which I gladly carved out for her.
Ellie wasn't quite as gung-ho about digging right into a slimy pumpkin so we put in all out on the table for her to explore at her own pace. She touched it a little but was much more into checking out the pumpkins all lit up and ready to go. The monster was her favorite.
This is the first Halloween that Ellie has gone trick-or-treating. Last year if I remember correctly she slept through most of Halloween and barely got to wear her costume. This year she was a very funny little clown. She loved her costume and even though she is not a fan of strangers who want to talk to her in the store and there aren't many people that she would just walk up to and talk to the idea of getting candy pushed all fears aside and she was a very happy little clown running from one door to the next.
Josie has been deciding her own costumes for the past couple of years. This year she wanted to be a princess and she wanted her dress to be pink. So a couple of months ago we started looking for patterns for Grandma Grant. We like to get our requests in early since they have to go the farthest. Josie picked this dress because it has 3 skirts and she is 3! Well she was by far the prettiest princess that I saw all night! The picture almost doesn't do it justice. This is the princess dress girls dream about. The one you just have to spin and twirl in all night long. She got so many compliments on her dress people could not believe that her Grandma made it. Her preschool teacher told Josie to start talking to Grandma about her wedding dress!

Here are the girls all ready to hit the streets!

Our neighborhood is the place to be for trick or treating. We easily had over 100 trick-or-treaters, I ran out of candy by 7:30 and I had bought 10 bags. I had to break into the snack drawer in the pantry and Ellie's loot just to make it until 8:00! I knew we had a lot of kids in our neighborhood, but I had no idea. It was also nice to meet some of our neighbors because nobody ever is outside in the summer, but on Halloween people sit on the porch waiting for the kids and the cul-de-sac at the end out or street had the road blocked the BBQ set up and a regular old party going on! I am already excited for next year.

More of San Diego

After a long day at SeaWorld we went back to the convention center to pick up Papa and have dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Here is Josie filling Papa in on all the things that she saw that day at SeaWorld. The highlights she made sure to tell Papa included: she fed a sea lion, she wants to swim with Shamu when she grows up, and the long list of all the other animals that she saw that day!
For dinner we went down to Seaport Village. It is a beautiful spot by the water that has all kinds of shops and restaurants. We walked for a while and the girls were happy to be out of the stroller and running around. They must of looked like they were having a lot of fun running and climbing on the sculptures in the park because Papa joined right in. Mom and Dad were tired from a long day of pushing around the huge double stroller, so we enjoyed watching the kids have fun.

Papa and two of his best girls.

After we had a great dinner at the Edgewater Grille, Papa had a special surprise for Josie. There was a carousel in the park. Josie loves to ride the carousel, she rides just about everyone she sees. So Josie and Ellie picked out a couple of horses and took a spin! This carousel was hand carved in 1895 and had been moved a handful of times before ending up in it's current home in Seaport Village.

Because of Josie's love of riding carousel's Ellie has, at a young age, become a pro and loves to ride along with her sister. When Josie was Ellie's age she had no interest all in riding, but because of mom and dad's persistence she quickly changed her mind and has been in love with them since just before her second birthday when the local mall got a 2 story carousel. Ellie being our little adventurer has loved them since day one. It also probably helps that she wants to do EVERYTHING that big sister does!

San Diego! - Day 1

This fourth of July weekend we were very lucky to be able to go to San Diego. Brian's dad, Allan, was attending a conference in San Diego and invited us to meet him there. It was impossible to turn down since it was only about a 5 hour drive and we had a place to stay for free! So we headed out on Thursday and got there in time for dinner. As soon as I opened the car door the first words out of Josie's mouth were "Mom, it's cold here." She is an Arizona girl that is for sure. Needless to say even though it was 75 degrees, I was glad I packed the girls sweatshirts and pants. I was very happy that just across the street from out hotel was a Bennigan's! They are hard to find these days. So I insisted that we were going to eat there before we left town, and lucky for me I got to eat there first thing! I miss the Bennigan's food that I lived on for two years while working there so I tried to get in the things I missed most, potato soup and a turkey O'Toole. They were both as good as I remember and it was a fun throw back for us.

Friday morning we had big plans to conquer SeaWorld. We got there bright and early after a quick breakfast at Denny's.



I don't' think that Josie was quite sure what to expect when we told her we were going to SeaWorld. Her friend Tayia that has been playing with us this summer went last summer and was telling Josie all about it in the days leading up to the trip, but I am not sure she had any idea what she would see or do when we got there. Our first stop of the day was to see Shamu. We first stopped to see the Orcas in their tank swimming. Josie and Ellie were both amazed by their size.


We then decided to go get seats for the show. They tell you when you get there to try to arrive at the show 30 mins. prior to the start of the show to get good seats. I don't know how they expect to all of us parents to get our kids to sit and wait for 30 mins., but we survived. We sat in the splash zone thinking that Josie would love it, but when she figured out that she would get wet she wasn't very happy. We got lucky and some how Shamu missed us. Josie loved the show and thought it was so cool when one of the trainers jumped in the tank with Shamu and got to swim with him and do tricks. Josie quickly decided that was what she wanted to do when she grew up. Luckily for her they said to work at SeaWorld you have to love animals and be an excellent swimmer and she has both of those things down. Ellie was also very entertained and gave us lots of oooooh and aaahhhs!
After the Shamu show we hit up the Sesame Street Bay of play. They had rides that both of the girls went on and loved. Here is Josie and Ellie on Elmo's flying fish. They were in a catfish!












One of Josie's favorite experiences was feeding a sea lion! Josie and Daddy bought a tray of fish, which they had to protect from the seagulls. The sea lions barked and waited for the fish to fly. Josie wasn't a fan of the birds so she fed the sea lion through a feeding tube, which she thought was very exciting, she was very proud of herself!






After a long day Ellie conked out in the stroller. We did happen to catch a few more exciting things like watching the dolphins, seeing penguins and polar bears and watching a sea lion show.

Summer time

We are having a busy summer at the Grant house. I am still lucky enough to be staying home with the girls and I got us a little bump in our income by watching my friends Chuck and Julie's two girls, Tayia (6) and Holly (20 months). So, with 4 girls under 7 in the house I have kept busy! The girls are so great together. Josie and Tayia play together really well and have spent lots of time outside, playing with Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop. Last Friday we had a dance party with our Disney sing-a-longs. As you can see everyone really got into it!


Josie and Tayia love to help me in the kitchen this day we made some banana bread and a whole loaf was gone by the time the girls went home, but in all fairness Brian was also home and he loves banana bread.

Other than having the girls with us Monday through Friday we have been spending lots of time at the pool and taking trips to the zoo or the mall to buy clothes for my girls that are both growing like weeds! Ellie is already growing into 24 month clothes that Josie wasn't wearing until after she was 2! My poor sister-in-law Michelle can send Anya's clothes fast enough. If she doesn't slow down we will be in trouble because Anya and Ellie will be wearing the same size at the same time! We used to think Anya might catch Josie, but I think Ellie has a much better shot at catching or passing Anya. There is now only about 6 inches and 7 pounds between Josie and Ellie! That being said we marked another milestone for Josie. She grew into size 4, which for those of you who don't shop for little girls means that she is no longer in the toddler section, but can buy clothes from the big girls sections and stores. I can't believe how big she has gotten!

Ellie is finally off her bottles and formula, that should save us a fortune. She enjoys being a big girl and trying new things. This is her first attempt at corn on the cob and one of Josie too, just for good measure!

Ellie is ONE!!

On April 28th Ellie turned one! It was amazing how fast the time has gone and even more amazing how much she has grown and learned in that year. Rolling, sitting, crawling, walking and now talking. Ellie is walking well now and starting to run, she is doing the best that she can to keep up with big sister. She has a few words that she does well. Mama, Dada, up-up, and woof are the most commonly heard along with an occasional "done" at the dinner table. Josie wants so badly for her to say Jojo, but I am afraid that may be a ways off.

On Saturday May 2nd we had a birthday party for Ellie. Mom made her first effort at a birthday cake, and was pretty happy with the outcome. I was glad that Diane was here to give me a few tips along the way. The guest list was short and I was feeling a little guilty that Josie gets to spend her birthday with her whole family and Ellie doesn't. I guess that is one of the few perks to having a Christmas birthday when you live away from home. Allan and Diane were able to be here, they were also in town for a wedding, lucky for us. Cousins Johnny and Heather and Gigi (Great-grandma Grant) and our AZ family all joined us for Ellie's special day.

Ellie wasn't sure about the frosting end of the cupcake, but once she found the cake she dug right in, this is her Mama in her!

Ellie and her big sister pause for a pic with the decorations.

After a long, busy day every one was ready for bed. After a few Curious George bedtime stories we all had sweet dreams!! Happy Birthday Ellie Bellie!

FIrst Steps

On Tuesday March 3rd, Ellie took her first steps! The first time she made it about 5 or 6 steps before falling down. By the time we got the video set she was pooped from all that walking and only made is a couple of steps, but you get the idea. I can't believe that she is starting to walk already, I am not ready. Josie was so proud of her little sister, we will see what she thinks when she starts chasing her around the house!

Camelback Ranch

On Saturday February 28th we had the opportunity to go and check out what has been keeping Brian so busy for the past few months. he has been working out in Glendale on the new spring training facility for the Chicago White Sox and LA Dodgers, Camelback Ranch. On Saturday they invited the families of the people who had worked so hard to make this project happen to check it out and help them do a mock opening. It was a lot of fun and a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful day, as it was 80 and sunny.

While we were there they were putting on the finishing touches. painting the foul lines, and checking to make sure everything was ready for the big opening game on Sunday. The park looked great and we got enjoy free food and check out thing that the public will probably never see like the Chicago White Sox suite at the park.

Josie enjoyed being able to run around and be outside since she had been so sick for the past couple of weeks that she had been in the house for a long time. The fresh air did us all good.

Ellie found a fun place to play on top of a portable beer stand. She hung on to those taps and danced and danced. She was so cute that someone from the Dodgers who was taking video for the website stopped and got her on camera. She can now bee seen on Dodgers.com!

You can check Ellie out here:

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200902283963761

She doesn't appear until about the 3 min. mark and then again at the very end, but if you watch the whole thing you can get a good view of the park!

7 Falls and Gopher Hockey - Colorado Springs Part 2

On Saturday before the game we needed to find something to do. Since this is our first family vacation we wanted to get in as much as possible. (by vacation I mean trip somewhere other than to Minnesota) We debated to go Pike's Peak since the Grant family has something weird about going to the top of tall things. Mom vetoed that idea after we found out it was another 2+ hours in the car with girls who did not need more time in the car. So it sticking with the idea of tall things we went to 7 Falls.

This is a view of the water fall from an observation deck about 1/2 as tall as the falls. We got to the top by riding in an elevator that is inside of the mountain and Josie thought that was so cool, until we got to the top. Josie is not a big fan of being at the top of tall things, I guess she gets that from me. I am not afraid of heights, I just don't have the desire to go to the top of tall things. Josie on the other had is afraid of heights. She wanted nothing to do with going near the rail of the observation deck and was not really a fan of being held close to the edge either.

Once we got back down to the bottom of the falls Josie enjoyed the snow and ice and really got a kick out of seeing the fish under the ice.

Later that evening it was time for hockey! This was Ellie's first gopher hockey game, and Josie first game in enemy territory. Being as we had children with us we were saved from the ridicule I am sure we have endured had we been on our own. The only questionable comments I received was from some guy in a UND jersey. I know what you are thinking, a UND jersey at a CC/Gopher game?!?! What can I say he was a UND fan, he was probably so drunk he was lost and didn't know where he was!

Ellie loved the hockey game. She cheered and clapped along with the crowd. Now we just have to teach her who the good guys are! Josie much prefers being at the game to watching it on TV as well. (I guess maybe she is my kid after all!) We were not lucky enough to see our team win a game, but we did see some good hockey so all in all it was worth the trip.



Our little hockey fans!!

Garden of the Gods

This February we made a trip to Colorado Springs to catch some gopher hockey before the end of the season. We bravely packed up the girls and climbed into the mini-van for a mini-vacation. Which as most of you know was well deserved for everyone after the hours that Brian had been putting in at work for the last two months! The car ride went surprisingly well, Mom was very nervous to have two little girls in the car for 12+ hours in a day. So we loaded up the car and got on the road about 2am so we could get as much of the driving under our belt while the kids slept as we could. We stopped to eat and a couple of extras including a emergency breathing treatment for Josie after a little too much running around at the rest stop. We got to Colorado around 6pm and settled in for a fun weekend. While we were in Colorado we got to take in a few sights and had lots of family fun!


Our first stop was at The Garden of the Gods, beautiful, natural red rock formations.

Josie is very adventurous and was having so much fun jumping off any rock that she could climb. We had a couple of minor bumps and bruises when we were done, but nothing we couldn't handle.

Josie was very impressed by her Daddy climbing a big rock, but was a little nervous watching him try to get down, we all were a little nervous I should say!

Even Ellie got in on the rock climbing fun. It was a little chilly for her liking but she was a trooper and had a lot of fun.

Our day at the park

We found a new park by our house this week that has baby swings for Ellie. I was very excited because this at least give Ellie a chance to get out of the stroller and do something when we go to the park! Ellie loved swinging and playing in the grass. She tired her best to keep up with her big sister, but Josie still ran circles around her, literally. Josie loved the new playground too, it was more her size and she could use all of the equipment by herself without any help from Mom. I think that was her favorite part. Ellie got her first taste of sand a grass, it was going to happen eventually, right?!?! I got a feel for crawling in the grass and rolling down hills. Good times were had by all!






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