Leaving on a jet plane!

Best Christmas present ever!

To grandmother's house we go.

Month 30 Archives

Dear Henry-Mia,

Well kiddo, you hit the big 3-0. Not quite over the hill, but they say 30 is the new 18 months. So well see how it goes. Even though you are a little boy, you do take breaks throughout the day to snuggle and hug on Mommy. You raise your voice up high, and say " Mama-mia, ahhh, ahhh, Mama-mia." It cute and I always welcome it back with a little "Henry-mia, ahhh."

The major milestone of the month is that you are now in a big boy bed. You haven't fallen out yet (knock on wood), and you don't crawl out in the mornings until we come and get you (knock harder on wood). I was a little anxious about the transition and again, you've proven that to be needless. You seem to go with the flow with all the changes. From being weened, to sleeping in the top bunk at Gammy's house - you're a rock star.

We took you to your first movie this past month. It was Madagascar 2 - Escape to Africa. It was a pretty good movie, and you loved the popcorn and soda especially. You seemed to be good with being in the theatre, but you did keep asking, "How do we get outta here?" I'm excited you like movies so I have someone to go to the cartoons with me. Your daddy doesn't really like them. Next up, The Tales of Despereaux!

The new phrase of the month: "That's a good idea for me!" For example, we let you open a present yesterday (from auntie Jodi and uncle Butch that we didn't get to last week.), and when you were done you wanted to open more presents from Grandma and Grandpa, and then said "That's a good idea!" Or when you want a sucker, "That's a good idea!"

You're becoming beyond obsessed with horses and zebras. You carry at least 2 horses with you where ever you go, one in each hand. And now its transitioned a bit into reindeer also. 'Tis the season. Now that you can talk, its fun to learn what you're interested in, and to watch your little imagination starting to blossom. You'll play with those horses and be talking to yourself for hours. I'll give you one guess as to what most of your Christmas presents are...

I need to add this little note, so you know what you did. Your great-grandma Nelson fell a few weeks ago and cracked a few vertebrae. She has been in a lot of pain, and was going in for surgery to relieve most of the pain. We stopped to visit her the weekend before the scheduled surgery. While visiting, you were snuggling and hugging and laying out about a million kisses onto her. Well, a few days after that we heard that she no longer has pain in her back and she canceled the surgery. She credits you with the miracle of healing her pain. Believe what you want, but your grandma thinks you're pretty special little one.

We're looking forward to watching you begin to understand what Christmas is about. When I ask you what you want from Santa, you say "Presents!" but you're not anymore specific. We're off to do a lot of traveling in the next three weeks, and I know you'll be great. You always show up and kiss your grandma's just when they need it. I'm just glad you like to watch movies and that we got that portable DVD player. That's a good idea!

Merry Christmas Booger Butt,

Mommy

Snow day eating Mom's cinnamon rolls!

Funny Stuff

I want to make a special announcement. After a bit of a hiatus, one of my favorite blogs is back up and running, Brady's Blog. Take a gander over to the right and give him a little read. It'll be worth your time. Brady is a great writer and his daddy's not too shabby either!

Pandemonium reigns,
HAJ

Higher Education

Thanks to Auntie M, I have a brief recap of activities in SD. The whole reason we went was to celebrate my cousin Jerid graduating from college! We are so proud of him! It was great to see the family while we were there including cute cousin Kyle, and cousin Aaron and fam. I played horsies with my cousin Ethan, until he went outside to nail Jerid with snowballs. Check out this shot!

We had a great time at the graduation. Sorry about sticking my whole hand in the cake, and thanks for the Doritos and orange pop (see orange mustache above). Mom saved the chip clip. Wink!

The sky's the limit,

HAJ

Another White-Knuckler

No one knows for sure why, but when we go on our little trips to SD, two things happen: 1. It blizzards. 2. Mom forgets to take pictures. It happens every time. Unexplainable. So we made it home from the white knuckle drive yesterday, and I'm going to show you the two pictures she did take.

Another mystery of the universe is why my great-auntie Jodi thinks she needs 5 calendars hanging in her kitchen. Here, if you look closely, there are FOUR. And then this one is on the fridge. We all thought it was funny. Not "ha ha" funny, but more weird funny. So we had to take a photo.

Screwed up,
HAJ

PS - Maybe Auntie M will email me some pic's from the weekend and then I'll post 'em. Hint, hint.

Headin' out on the highway!

Not Quite Ready

This weekend I went to my first big kid birthday party. My friend Ethan turned 6 and I can't believe he invited me! I'll admit, I was out of my league, but I still had fun. Plus, there were girls there, and boy, were there some cute girls there. Did I mention the cute girls?

I was a bit shy at the party. The kids were all eating pizza, and I sat over here by Mom and ate my pizza. Then the kids all got to decorate their own cupcakes and cakes, and I stayed over here and ate the cupcake Mom decorated for me. The kids played games, but I kinda stuck over by Mom. Later I found a Santa hat, and we watched Polar Express. Gotta say that was my favorite part. Then the magician showed up, but guess where I was.

It was a great birthday party, and I'm so glad I got to go. Next year my goal is to stop being the wallflower of the party and start being the LIFE of the party!

Go along for the ride,

HAJ

You Don't Make Friends With Salad

HAJ

PS - Check out 34B Cup to see more hijinx from the Reindeer Run!

Reindeer Run 2008

Let's just file this under "Things Not To Tell Grandma About." On Saturday we loaded up the gang and headed to Lake Harriet for the annual Reindeer Run. Remember last year? Well, there wasn't a blizzard this time, but it was only about 10 degrees with 25mph winds comin' off that lake, and well, let's just say brrrrrrr! I had my trusty Twins blankie to keep me warm, and it really wasn't that bad in the sun. It was fun to just get outside and hang out with our pals. After a strong finish we headed out for Bloody Mary's and chocolate milk, and salad. It was a great day!

I can feel it in my guts,

HAJ

PS - Super Duper shout out to my pal Patrick! Happy Birthday bud! Sorry about not getting together this weekend, but we'll party like its 1999 today at school!

Five Days Down...To My Tummy

I tell ya what, these Christmas traditions just keep getting better and better everyday. The other day I received a package from my Great Grandma Nelson. She sent me an Advent Calendar. Now, this is amazing. It has 25 little doors that you're supposed to open every day in December to count down the days until Christmas. AND THERE'S CHOCOLATE BEHIND EACH DOOR. EACH. DOOR. Honestly, life is good. Oh, and its hard to smile with chocolate in my teeth.

So Hungry He Could Eat The North End Out Of A South Bound Cow,
HAJ

My Dad Used To Be Scared Too

Last night I par-took in another Christmas tradition and watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. I thought it was a great show....until......THE MONSTER! If you look closely between the slats, you can see my dust!

It's all about pride,
HAJ

My Christmas

On Saturday we went through our yearly ritual, and headed out to Goldenman Farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We drove through the frasers, and the pines, and then there it was. Do you see it? It's this one! A beautifully fragrant balsam fir. Daddy broke out the saws-all and went to work to cut 'er down. As you probably predicted, I was not a fan of the saw, and wouldn't get very close to the tree at all. Once we were heading back to the truck, I was a little more cooperative.

We drove the tree over to the teenagers, and they shook the old needles out, and then threw 'er in a bag and brought her to our truck. One the way home, we stopped for a hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music. Mom decorated her up and there she stands. My Christmas. Its not a tree, its my Christmas. Dad says its the best tree we've had yet!

Stickler for the rules,

HAJ

Bon Voyage!

Remember the good times we used to have together? You know, times like this, or this, or even this. Well, sadly and happily those days are over. Check it out....my new boat bed! I even have a life preserver pillow! Grandpa and Daddy took apart my baby crib, and then put together my new big boy bed! I was a little sad about it at first, but now I love my new bed. I love to make Daddy crawl in with me, and then I tuck him in, kiss him on the forehead, and tell him stories about my day. I have slept through the night each night so far, and I don't get out of bed until Mom and Dad say its OK. Something that is really helping me get through the transition, is that Little Baby E is going to be using my crib, and I love that I can pass that down to the little peanut. I just love family tradition.

Proud as a parrot,

HAJ

Does Anyone Have a Rolaids?

Boy, am I stuffed! I think I'm still full from all the food. OK, not really, come to find out I don't really like turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. I did eat a bun or two, and had a couple of bites of cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes, but that's about it. I guess I don't get what all the fuss is about.

G & GE came to town for the weekend, and uncle Derek and auntie Chris came over for the holiday. We had a great meal, but everyone turned very lazy after it was done, and no one wanted to play. At least Grandma still had energy, and we watched Polar Express together and drank hot chocolate. With marshmallows! I love the holidays!

The following night we went to Derek and Chris' house for happy hour. I ate 500,000 chocolate kisses and M&M's. In all the fuss, we forgot to take a photo for Bump Watch 2008, but you can kind of see it in this photo, (somebody get her a chair! Mom - STOP eating!) She's 25 weeks along...getting closer!

Be sure to tune in tomorrow to see which milestone I "put to sleep" over the weekend!

HAJ

Everything's Alright

I love it when Molly comes over. Especially on nights that my parents have about had it with me. Then Molly comes over, and everything is all right. She plays with me, and dances with me, and then...before we go to bed...she reads to me and all my friends. She's so much cooler than my parents.

Pull a rabbit out of the hat,

HAJ

Lady's Man

I have a way with the ladies. There's just something about me that they can't resist. Maybe its the way I am so aloof, and don't give them the time of day. You know what they say...you always want what you can't have. My strategy is to just let them be...don't bother them when they're trying to do other things. A woman likes to have her independence, and I respect that. It makes me crazy how they throw it back at me, and try to use the ignore tactic...it just makes me love them even more.

Play like you practice,

HAJ

PS - Hey Emma, I had a great night...call me!

Month 29 Archives

Dear Booger Butt,

There is so much to cover this month. You've become such a little boy, and a great conversationalist. We're having so much fun with you, and especially this time of year. Its been fun to start introducing you to holiday traditions because you're beginning to understand what's going on. Granted you still probably won't remember what we're doing now, but part of me thinks you might have a faded memory somewhere back there.

Let's start with fears. I gotta be honest here little guy, you are nothing if you aren't one big chicken. And its OK, sounds like your dad was a chicken when he was little, so hopefully you'll grow out of it. You're deathly afraid of grocery carts, cars on the street (or anywhere), dogs barking in the distance, deer, and monsters. I can already see your imagination going crazy.

Speaking of grocery carts, you will not ride in one unless its a race car or something like that. At Target you threw yourself to the floor, and cried and cried, until some workers came over and gave a sticker. I was ignoring you and then I explained how you only like race car carts, and they agreed to do what they can to make your dream come true.

Next we'll tackle firsts. You went on your first (really, fourth) real airplane ride this month. It was the first time you've had a clue what was happening. You were so good, and sat there with your snack, and watched your movie, and looked out the window. You didn't seem to mind at all that your mom was having a minor panic attack right next to you. Please, DO NOT catch that from me.

When we were in Texas last week, you ate calamari. It was so funny, but full disclosure, no one spilled the beans that you were eating squid. Plus, who doesn't love anything deep fried with marinara! But, you're new favorite food is salad. Yes, salad. I'm as shocked as anyone. But last week, you wanted to eat some of my salad, and now I make you one every night with dinner and order you one when we go out. You prefer ranch on the side. And you like a few croutons sprinkled about. Awwww, just like Mommy.

Loves, Mama Mia (You've been calling me that lately, and then I can't get ABBA out of my head for the next 2 hours.)

In. The. Building. Giant. Slide.

I don't know how to fully explain where we went to dinner on Saturday night. To put it in actual words, is nearly impossible. Talk about "kid friendly!" So bear with me and grab a cup of coffee. This post is going to be a media blitz of photos and videos. I just think its the only way to fully explain it all. And remember, it all takes place in about 2 hours.

The Texans took us to a restaurant called The Trail Dust, and this place is known for its sirloin and for being so casual, that if you where a tie into the establishment, it gets cut off. So of course Daddy and uncle Addison HAD to wear ties. And they both ended up with them getting cut off.

The most amazing thing about this place was...wait for it...THEY HAVE A GIANT SLIDE IN THE BUILDING. In. The. Building. Giant. Slide. You're probably like me, and saying to yourself, "Henry, what exactly do you mean by giant slide? And in the building?" Get a load of this:

And check out Birthday Girl:

They also had a live band with a great dance floor. So I just had to BUST IT with Gammy and Daddy (I'm the little one in the black "cow hat"):

And then I just HAD to BUST IT one more time:

On a side note, I learned something about my cousin Jasper that night. Everyone thinks he's all cute, and sweet, and innocent. LIES! He's a french fry thief and I caught him red handed. Some people's kids.

The evening ended with saying "Hee Haw" for Annie's birthday and a cupcake. This was the greatest birthday day I have ever been apart of. And in case you're wondering we all slept until noon the next day:

So, besides more great food and saying goodbye to Jasper and Annie, that about rounds out my vacation. The airplane ride home was about as basic as can be, even better than the way down. We're heading back to TX in December, so I already to know all the hot spots I want to hit. Thank you so much to Gammy and Grampa Jack for letting us take over for a few days, and sorry, again, about the cabinet and the glasses. You know what I mean.

Love, HAJ

Texas Long Horns

On Saturday was my cousin Annie's 4th birthday! We had THE BEST day! She told me that she loves being four. The day started with Gammy and Grandpa Jack taking all of us kids to the Fort Worth Stockyards for the walking of the long horns. It was awesome. Annie and I got new cowgirl and cowboy (respectively) hats.

Then we all went to see Big Jake, and uncle Addison hopped right on. Then Mommy hopped on. She was so brave, but guess what happened...notice how Jake is rearing back here? He pooped right when Mom got on him, but she didn't seem to mind. Everyone poops.

Afterwards we headed to my favorite restaurant, The Buffalo Butt, where I like to ride on the saddle bar stools. See above photo. I like pretend like I'm a jockey while sitting on the saddle. I just lean down and hang on!

Wait until you see what we did for dinner that night! Oh, and be sure to check out Pumpkin Juice for more photos and recaps.

HAJ

And Theeerrrrreeee Racing

The first thing I wanted to do once we landed, besides eat Chick Fil A, was go swimming! And that's just what I did. Its amazing when you hop in a plane and its 31 degrees, and then you land 2 hours later and its 80 degrees. After swimming, we headed to the horse track and I got to watch the horses race. We ate chicken fried steak, and of course Gammy won a mint. Also, please note new horsie shirt pictured above.

Guess what I had for lunch the next day? Come on, guess! CALAMARI! And I LOVED it. Mom didn't think I would, but I did. See here's proof. So, now that's my new favorite...along with salad with ranch dressing on the side....but that's a whole 'nother story.

More to come,

HAJ

I Earned My Wings

Bear with me. We're home from our trip to Texas, but now we're busy back at work. I wanted to just share this picture with you from our flight there. It was a great flight! I loved it, and got wings from the pilot! Daddy bought me the snack box and I watched my horsie racing movie, and before we knew it, we were warm and toasty in TX!

I will spend the rest of the week updating with all of my adventures. Stay tuned!

Cut the cheese,
HAJ

Tired cowboy home from gammy & grandpas house!

Boy on a saddle!

Boy and some longhorns!

Boy at a seafood restaurant!

Boy at the track.

Boy on a plane!

Pre-Flight Check

I'm in training for my airplane ride later this week. Mom even brought me my in-flight meal. But I hear those meals aren't as good as Mom's PB&J and Cheetos.

All in the same boat,

HAJ

Little Baby E Update

Hey everybody! I'm hoping this Tuesday finds you all well. We're doing great here. Its snowing a bit but nothing crazy. Its time for a new update of my new cousin! Little Baby E is 21 weeks old! He/she is about 1 lb and the heart rate is beating in at 143. Hmmm...what does it all mean? Well, the mama and dada decided not to find out the sex, but thankfully, the doc says the little one is healthy and rockin' and rollin'. Just ask Auntie Chris, her stomach is a rockin' and rollin' too!

The more the merrier,

HAJ

No Jokes About It

As you all know, Mom and I are intellectuals. We love to read li-tra-ture. We're never goofy, and we're always VERY serious. Life is serious business people.

Walk like an Egyptian,

HAJ

Reese Peese Cup

My first Reese Peanut Butter cup! I'll never eat a Nutter Butter again!

NLJ

I'm Too Big

Mom thinks I can't hear her, but she always makes fun of me because I I haven't quite figured out that I can't fit inside my garbage truck and my tractor. I walk my hands up the sides of the trucks, and then I put my fingers through the windows, and I grab the steering wheel and drive. Sometimes both at the same time. I can sit there and "drive" my trucks forever if you let me. Or of course, unless my horsie racing movie is on TV.

Dry as a popcorn fart,

HAJ

Christmas Comes a Titch Early

It was! It was! It was Santa's reindeer! They brought me a present and everything! Check out my new cool dinosaur lounge chair/recliner. Actually, its an early present from Gammy. She's so on top of things. Thank you Gammy and Gpa Jack! I just love my chair, and I love to watch my horsie racing moving while I sit in my chair. Can't wait to see you next week!

We've got to give 110%,

HAJ

Is That Comet Or Cupid, Donner or Blitzen...

Check what was in my back yard the other day. I'm not even kidding. Here's proof: You can see my basketball hoop, then back there is the deer. It even has horns. OK, not huge horns, but there's horns. Here's a shot of it by the Buddha. Here's the shot where I thought it was going to charge me and crash through the sliding glass door and kill us all. So we hid in the bathtub until it left.

I don't know for sure, I'm guessing,
HAJ

Bump Watch 20 Weeks

Hope you all had a great Halloween! This is the punkin that Gma E and I carved last weekend, pretty cool huh? Gma likes smiling punkins. I like punkins the say RAAAARRR!

Well, believe it or not, we're half way there to get to meet my new cousin! Auntie Chris has hit 20 weeks! She's just getting into maternity clothes, and you can sure see a bit of a bump in there. If we're lucky, we might get to see some more up close and personal photos after her ultra-sound the end of this week. Let's keep our fingers crossed! All are doing well though, and we're so excited to meet him/her/he/she/we/us/it.

Fits like wallpaper on a wall,

HAJ

Not So Much Treating

My first Halloween, trick or treating all by myself. Well, Mom and Dad came with me, and I even recruited Ethan to play the big brother role, and teach me the tricks of the trade. The first house we went to, I was a little shy but very happy to take the candy and say thank you. The next house I didn't even want to walk up to the door. The next one I walked to the door, but I didn't want to carry my candy bucket anymore. Seems like Ethan didn't have time to wait for me, he was very busy. About the time I noticed this, and then one of the other neighbor kids scared me, I was DONE. Back in the house, shoes off, coat off, didn't want any candy (in fact left my candy bucket at the neighbors), and was watching a movie. The "adults" were outside having a good old fashioned garage party (since it was 60 degrees). Mom wants you to check out Wayne's costume, he's the one in white.

So, I ended up with about 4 pieces of candy, which is fine for me. Maybe next year I'll get what all the fuss is about, but for now I'd rather watch a horsey racing movie than have to walk around the neighborhood begging for candy and being scared out of my wits.

Too close for comfort,
HAJ

Tricking and Treating

Happy Halloween all! Look at me! I'm an Old Time Golfer! Did you see my hat? I can't wait to get out there and get me some CANDY! I'm not really sure what this is all about, but Mom is pretty sure it'll only take a house or two to get me going. Do you think I look like Payne Stewart? Have a great day everyone, and I hope you all gain at least 5lbs in sugary sweetness.

Be the first with the most all of the time,

HAJ

Halloween Treats, That Look a Bit Trickey

We made Halloween cookies for me to take to school. As I said when Daddy told me that I was bringing these treats for the kids, "They're gonna love it!" We made witches, pumpkins, cats, and a haunted house from these cut outs that Brookie got for me. First we made the dough and cut out the shapes. Then popped them in the oven. We frosted them with all kinds of different colors. After that, and here's the cool part, these are special 3-D cookies that stand up when they're assembled. Some stood up perfectly, while others...not so much. They were a big hit and a lot of work. Good thing Halloween only comes once a year...but here comes Thanksgiving. I gotta go ask Mom if we can do turkey cookies next!

Home is where the heart is,

HAJ

Christmas Comes Early

Don't you just hate it when I leave for the weekend and don't tell you? I just pack up my garbage truck, my baseball bat, and my farm animals and hit the road. I spent the weekend visiting G&G E in South Dakota. It was an amazing weekend, and possibly a preview of what's to come. I sat down and watched Polar Express with Gma and I think a bit of the holiday spirit started rubbing off on Gpa.

For example, see that yellow dump truck behind me? He took me to the toy store (see new jacket) and I got to pick out anything I wanted. Then when we got home, Gpa brought out this tractor. AND before I could get bored of that, he brought out this train set. Although, I know Gpa, and he loves trains, so I think he loves this as much as me! Mom told Gpa he should have saved those things for Christmas, and he said, "What are you talking about? Its not Christmas!" Gotta love Gpa.

Saturday-night special,

HAJ

2nd Boggy-versary

Happy 2nd Bloggy-versary to me! Can you believe I've been telling you about my life almost everyday for two years now? I thought I'd celebrate by revisiting a few of my favorite photos from the past year.

Remember when my cousins came to visit this summer? And when Patrick and I went riding on a train. How about the mini-JUGGS reunion? I loved the day when my gammy and grandpa Jack took me to the track. Or when my grandma and grandpa took me to the golf course for lunch. There was also the week up nort', and the bocce ball tournament. I better throw one in there with Mommy, or she'll be mad.

Thanks for hangin' with me, and I'm looking forward to see what this year will bring!

Stand on your own two feet,

HAJ

Secret Messes

I made my first secret mess the other day. You know one of those messes that kids make when the parents aren't looking, and they come upon a scene like this. And then, as their brains are trying to compute what happened they see this. They're finally putting things together when they look in here. And then soon after notice this. Which leads to a little investigation and they found it here. They should be thankful it was relatively easy to clean up. Now, where did I see that chocolate syrup?

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

HAJ

Fall Classic

Month 28 Archives

Dear Henry,

Happy 28th months! To be honest and true, I never thought we'd make it this far. I don't know why, I just didn't. I got all wrapped up in you being a baby, and never considered that you might grow up, feed yourself, and have a conversation with me.

There's so much to tell you about this month, so the list might be all over the place as many of these don't relate to each other. You know what? I'm just going to go with bullet points. They're easy to read and easy to change the subject.

• I can't believe it, but you told Daddy about our dirty little secret. You know, how I give you a sucker when I pick you up from Nini's house? One day Daddy picked you up, and you asked for a sucker and told him that Mommy has suckers. Honey, these are things you gotta keep to yourself or we could all be up a creek one day.
• Which brings me to your brutal honesty. I just love how you don't know about lying yet. You come and get me every time you make a mess or spill or break something. "Mommy, come wook what I did. Mommy, I bwoke dat." If you tell me about it, I don't get mad. Maybe that will cut down on the lying for the future.
• Lately, and this is mostly my fault, you don't want to come eat dinner with us at the table like a proper family. We, as an improper family, enjoy eating in front of the TV, mostly on Sundays. So when Monday's roll around, you want to eat in front of the TV. But we don't allow it, so you end up in time out. After 2 minutes, you're thrilled about eating dinner at the table. Its a crazy ritual that I hope ends soon.
• You love babies. You hug, kiss, feed, and want to carry and hold the new baby at Nini's house. She said she's not ever seen a boy your age be so loving to a baby. If you're trying to hint at something.....get over it.
• When you first meet someone who you aren't familiar with, you get shy. Which is fine. But if they try to talk to you, you holler at them. This is not cool. For example, auntie Jodi was trying to make friendly conversation with you about your truck, and you yelled "YOU DON'T HAVE IT!" and then you made the stink face. Its going to be really hard to make friends if you keep that one up. So stop it.
• And probably your new favorite thing in the universe is watching the movie Racing Stripes. "I wanna watch horsie racing!" You'll watch it 100 times in a row if we'd allow it. Which we don't. We're heading to TX in the next few weeks....just you wait to see what we have planned for you.

Another great month Baby Bear. We've got a lot of exciting things coming up with travel and the holidays. Its going to be so interesting to see you on an airplane now that you kind of know what's going on, and to see you with Santa. You're already starting to talk about him and you like to go look at the Christmas decorations at Target (already). Watching you awaken and become aware of your surroundings is such a blast, I don't want to miss a thing.

Loves, Mama

Child Labor

Over the weekend Mom violated child labor laws and hired Andrew and Ethan from next door to rake the yard. They were raking their own yard, so she offered them a pretty penny to come and work on ours. Works out pretty good for me...so far.

I'm fine as frog's hair,
HAJ

I Heart Palmer

I love Palmer. He's my best pal. We always have so much fun when we're together. He likes to sit by me on the couch. And I don't mind it one bit. I just snuggle right on in, and try to enjoy his company. Because if there's anything I'm good it, its sharing.

Honest as the day is long,
HAJ

Has He Converted?

The final stop on our trip included a stop in the beautiful New Ulm, MN to see my great gpa and gma W. They just moved into new digs, and Gpa rides around in a SCOOTER. I know. So I really liked that, and then I started telling Gpa about how I like baseball, and how I like the Twins and all that. Well, what I'm about to show you is very rare and may be worth a serious amount of ching one day. My gpa...the HUGEST Yankee fan EVER....in a Twins hat. Shhh, don't tell him I showed you. He swore me to secrecy. I'm sure the Yankee gods are not happy.

Slicker than snot on a doorknob,
HAJ

Hugs All Around

When we were in SD, we stayed with my great auntie Jodi and uncle Butch. Although I like to refer to him as "auntie Butch", and he seems cool with that. My great gma and gpa J came over for a visit too, along with my cousin Jerid and his cute girlfriend Ashley. Here's a glimpse into how we spend out time during our visits. Exciting stuff huh? Whenever we go see them, (or anyone for that matter), my parents always make me go around the room and say good bye to everyone and give them a hug. I pretend I'm shy, but deep down I love this ritual. See.....here's Jodi, and here's Jerid, and my favorite is Ashley.

Thanks again to the SD clan for putting up with us for the weekend! We just love visiting you guys and get ready because we'll be back before ya know it!

Keeping on top of things,
HAJ

Dreams Do Come True

I kinda left ya hangin' didn't I? Sorry about that. We went on your bi-annual world tour of South Dakota, and well, maybe someday they'll come into the 2000's and get Internet access. Maybe.

Take a look at that picture up there people! HOG HEAVEN! Daddy took me out to my uncle Severt's farm and I not only got to ride the tractor, I DROVE the tractor too. Severt has a fancy GPS system on the tractor and it pretty much drives itself, so Daddy and Severt chit chatted, and I DROVE. And when I say tractor, I mean TRACTOR. Check this out! The tires are taller than my dad. (And we all know how my dad's nickname is Stretch.) It was so exciting, that I actually fell asleep on the way back to the city. Mark it in my top 3 best days ever.

Stay tuned for more updates from another great weekend in SD.

Cry uncle,

HAJ

Auntie Chris' Birthday

Happy Birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday auntie Chriiiiiiiissss! Happy birthday to you!

Love, HAJ (Was I ever that small?)

Gobble Gobble

Have you guys heard of those turkey fryers that you fill with something like 3 gallons of oil and then put it on your deck, and then in about an hour or so your house bursts into flames? But the kicker with those is, the turkey that comes out of them is so moist and yummy and deliciouso, that its almost worth burning your house down. Well, I think we found ourselves a happy medium. This weekend we bought what's called the Big Easy. Its an oil-less turkey fryer, and uses infrared technology to cook yer bird. Its way more healthy, and gives you super moist meat. Here's what she looks like. Here's the bird when you first put it in the pot. Then Mom lost track and forgot to take more pictures, but trust me, it looked like this when we pulled it out only about 90 minutes later. Then we shredded it, popped it in the crock pot with some spices, broth, and the drippings from cooking it. It was excellent! Let us know when you wanna stop by and we'll infrared one right up for ya!

Duck soup,

HAJ