Harris House

I braved the 435 miles that separate us from my family and took Drew and Ellie to Omaha by myself. James was travelling for work, so we headed to Grandma’s house for the week.  We were looking forward to swimming, lots of cousin time and hopefully catching the birth of our newest addition Prise. Unfortunately, Prise did not get my memo to show up while I was there, which was a bummer for me, but even worse for poor Susie who is MORE than ready to get him out!

 Drew and Ellie did great in the car. We stopped at a big truck stop for gas, diapers and lunch and they were the center of the show waving at all the waitresses and eating mashed potatoes with a spoon and ice cream cones.  On the way back, they ate their little PBJ sandwiches in the car like big kids! (tear )  I am very thankful to the inventor of the travel DVD player and to my parents for buying them for Christmas!

 In Omaha, we enjoyed Grandma’s pool and all her toys.  We had a special playdate with the Dodges. John and Laura are 5 year old boy/girl twins that have a special place in their hearts for my boy/girl twins. They are convinced that Drew and Ellie look just like they did at their age and finally had a chance to take a “twin picture”(note the boy/girl twin Dora dolls).

Drew and Ellie are turning into little fish and loving the water.  My mom has a blow up slide and all the kids went down it a million times. Even when I let D & E fall under the water, they came up sputtering and signing “more” “please” “more”.  So fun! 

PS-  PRISE WILLIAM YATES! Born June 25, 2009 11:55 pm 9lbs 9oz 21 inches.  Good job Susie and Congratulations to you, Anth, and Addi. Can’t wait to meet him!

Most of the time we sing and dance along with Praise Baby, The Donut Man, Broadway Kids, Acapella Kids (you get the point),but sometimes you just need a little Lady GaGa to get you moving.  Right Ellie?

Although Ellie and Drew have already been on three lake vacations in their short lives, they got to actually experience the lake for the first time this week. They had their first boat ride on Grandpa’s boat!  We spent 4 days at Lake of the Ozarks and had a fabulous time (except for missing Grandma and Grandpa especially on their first ride!).  Our good friends Chris and Cat and their two boys, Ethan and Owen, joined us for the weekend. It was a great trip and just about as relaxing as a trip can be with 4 kids 2 years old and under.  We started with a boat ride Friday night and dinner on the deck. Starting bright and early (thank you Drew) we packed in the fun from 6 am till midnight on Saturday.  That long day filled with sun and swimming made for a tired crew- mostly the adults, of course. We still managed to stay up till midnight both nights- and enjoyed it- which for all of us is a major accomplishment.  We didn’t get a group picture, and I don’t even have any shots of little Owen- but he was there just taking it all in from his perch up high so he didn’t get his eyes poked out by Ellie or Drew.

One huge highlight was Drew taking his FIRST STEPS by the pool. Here is a short clip of my little waddling turtle.