Ellie and Drew love to quote Santa and say  “ho ho ho” whenever they see pictures of Santa.  Tonight, they got to meet him.  They were pretty excited while they waited their turn, saying “ho ho ho” and waving.  They gave him high fives and then proceeded to freak out when I stuck them on his lap. Ha ha ha…. they calmed down after I tortured them long enough to take a picture. Then they gave him another high-five, “knucks”, and happily accepted a lollipop. 

  After Santa, we rode the carousal- Ellie’s favorite. She said “Neigh!” at the top of her lungs the minute we walked into the mall.  James chose the Razorback for Drew’s ride, and Drew smiled the entire ride.  We topped off the night with ice cream and even got sucked into buying a CD of Elmo songs with the kids names personalized in the songs.  It’s just irresistable when your little overall clad, toe head is busting a move at the mall to the voice of his current BFF Elmo.

Merry Christmas!

Drew and Ellie rediscovered the back yard today since it has been cold, and they haven’t been outside in a while. They played together for almost an hour. Nothing like climbing, running, sliding, and digging in church clothes. Ellie’s tights were black and soaked.

Later today our friends came over for dinner.  The highlight was getting spend a couple minutes playing with Otis.  Ellie was a big fan of the kisses and they both were thrilled to feed him little bites of cheese.

Other recent adventures: lights on the fayetteville square, cookie decorating, and raking leaves.

Drew is definitely getting into the holiday spirit.

Despite 75 degree temperatures, Christmas was in full swing in Branson the weekend of November 12th.  We enjoyed Silver Dollar City, shopping and family .  It was a great weekend with the Harris family. We stayed in a beautiful home on Table Rock lake. James and Dawson went fishing both mornings, and Drew and Ellie loved collecting acorns with Grandpa and playing in the leaves with Grandma.

 Saturday we went to Silver Dollar City.  We all enjoyed the lights and festive atmosphere. Drew and Ellie were thrilled to be able to ride two rides. Waiting in line was torture for them, but worth it to experience the thrill of the Happy Frogs and Dancing Caterpillars. So far they are both little adrenaline junkies.

Sunday, we met up with the extended family for brunch at Cracker Barrell.  It was great to catch up with James’ aunts, uncles and cousins and enjoy a little outlet mall shopping. James was in the mood to shop which always makes a day of shopping more fun.

A little music lesson for today.  Ellie is very ready for a nap and her little eyelids are droopy, but she manages to match pitch! (I’m so proud)  Drew is a little musician and loves to sing, dance, and play the drums.  They love this song, because it is full of their favorite words:  hello, goodbye, oh no,and  go, go, go!

This week The Beatles, next week, ????? Any suggestions?

For the record….. Ellie are Drew are both really into playing “be be” (baby) and giving me that bottle to pretend to feed them and rock them. She’s not really drinking out of a bottle- she’d much rather have a Diet Coke with Lime (kidding).  They have also found pacifiers recently and use those to play baby. Too bad she wanted nothing to do with them when I was trying to get her to take one.

Happy Halloween!

Drew and Ellie were 17 months on October 8th. I was busy lounging in the sun that day, so here is a recap of their skilz….

Ellie:  loves to make animals sounds (see video), learned and loves the word “NO”, gives hugs to everyone all day long, has all of her teeth, walks on her tip toes, and loves the “choo choo” and “dog dog” book.

Drew:  wakes up laughing, loves to throw balls, talks non-stop- the latest attempt is “marshmallow”, still loves his “nigh- night” Frogger and sucks two fingers on his left hand,  and loves to put on shoes, pass out shoes, and put away shoes in the basket.

James and I spent 7 glorious days relaxing  here with four of our best friends.  We dropped the kids off in Omaha and headed to the beach. We spent the week lounging in pools, reading in the sun, and enjoying amazing service.  Each day we woke up whenever we wanted (!!!) and headed to breakfast (smoked salmon, french toast, Mimosa…) and then found a spot by a pool to chill.  We would meet up with our friends mid morning to continue relaxing and reading.  After a few hours of lounging, we would grab lunch at one of the many restaurant options and then hit the pools again.   In the late afternoon, we would all split up with a plan to reunite for dinner. James and I loved the beach at that time of day- it was not too hot and so beautiful. We even got in on a game of sand volleyball 4 on 4  and won!

  One highlight was our first adventure in SCUBA diving. A scuba instructor brought gear to the poolside, and we all gave it a try. James, Dusty, and I all signed up for a class. We learned how to use the equipment in the pool which was quite nerve wracking.  James and Dusty calmed their fears with a visit to Salvador at the swim up bar…..then we hit the ocean.  It was awesome. Once we hit the water, I wasn’t nervous at all!  We all loved all of  it- the tropical fish, the calm of the under water world, and the flow of James bright red locks under water. Ha! 

 It was such a relaxing week and the perfect combination of alone time and fun time with friends.  We are in love with our resort and are trying to devise a plan to get there multiple times a year!  The food was excellent (lobster, pico de gallo, guacamole, all you can eat sushi….) and the service was incredible.  It was pretty great to just lay on a raft and have Lorenzo (our favorite pool waiter) bring me a frosty Mudslide to sip in the sun. I finished two novels, and one afternoon James took a two hour nap by the pool.  We had fun challenging each other to hand stand contests and seeing how long we could hold our breath under water. Of course, the Grunnagles kicked everyone’s butts in those events. 

 Drew and Ellie spent the week at Grandma and Grandpa Janzen’s house and apparently didn’t even miss us.  They had a blast and came home so much bigger and with a whole new fall wardrobe.   They know all the actions to several cute little songs and really bonded with their Grandma and Grandpa. We are so thankful to my parents for keeping them.

A few shots from life around the Harris house…..