Girls Opening Dollhouse

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you all!

We were blessed to have my parents visit over Christmas this year; Mom and Dad arrived on Friday morning and we spent Friday hanging out with the girls.  Friday afternoon I also drove them around Arvada to see where we lived and where Adam worked and the girls went to daycare.

Yesterday we went for lunch and then drove up to Lookout Mountain.  What a twisty curvy road!  Poor dad had to drive Adam in his truck as Adam is recovering from him gall bladder surgery (which was on Wednesday).  When we neared the top, Mom and Dad had their picture taken.

We then went to Buffalo Bill’s gravesite and took a load of pictures of the mountains and area.

Yesterday afternoon we attended Christmas Eve service at our church, Foothills Community, and then came home for a dinner of chili and opening presents (pictures to come… they are on the camera right now!).  The girls played with their new gifts for a few hours and we played Pass the Pigs until bedtime.

This morning the girls opened their new dollhouse and we mainly hung out at the house watching TV today, reading the paper, and watching the girls play.  (And of course tonight we are watching the Packers play!)

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and had a chance to celebrate the birth of our Savior with your family and friends!

Love,
The Draegers

I'm a Zombie!

So... a few weeks ago I was playing with Raven or talking with Raven or something, and she started saying the word "Zombie, zombie, zombie!" over and over again. No idea why... it was not related to the conversation.

Fast forward to this weekend and both girls got crazy giggles out of Raven, unprompted, chasing Julia and saying, "I'm a zombie! I'm a zombie!" One word: HILARIOUS.

I mentioned it to Adam last night and he's like, "What, no WAY!" and decided he needed to capture it on video.

The most funny thing about this? We never taught her this. Raven doesn't watch zombie movies. So while we have a heart for zombies in this house, unless she remembers the Zombie Crawl in October or learned this at school... well, again, HILARIOUS.

Balloons are much easier to catch than balls… and safer in the house too.

Somersaults

Christmas Shopping

I wanted to post the three main places (which have turned into my favorite places to shop) from which I bought Christmas gifts this year… if you are receiving a gift from me, most likely all or part of your gift is coming from one of these three places…

1.  Etsy.  I cannot express to you HOW MUCH I love Etsy.  Sure, occasionally you get a dud, but overall, I have had such a great experience shopping through Etsy.  I love the creativity that pours from that website and the fact that I can find virtually anything that I want, or I can find someone who is willing to make it.

2.  Amazon.  When it comes to the very simple book, CD, or movie or to oddball things, Amazon is the place to get it… and if you’re fortunate, if you spend $25 or more, your shipping is free!  I love it!  The other great thing about Amazon… even if decide I want to purchase it elsewhere, Amazon a.) provides me with reviews of that which I’m looking to purchase and b.) often gives me enough details to be able to find it elsewhere on the web.

3.  Target.  I provided the link to the Target website, but really, Target is where I go when I want to purchase something “in person” or when I want to buy clothing for children.  It has become my standby for purchasing new children’s clothing.  A lot of people have urged me to look to Craigslist for clothing, and while I appreciate that I can buy clothing through Craigslist, especially when it comes to gifts, I love that with Target it is new, has a gift receipt, and that there are Targets everywhere.

As mentioned, I’ve shopped elsewhere… the girls are going to spazz when they see the Loving Family Dollhouse and Accessories that I found on Craigslist last weekend, and there are always shops local to me that I peek at for interesting and different gifts.  But generally, this year the above three have afforded me with creative, interesting, nice-priced, and on-time gifts… that is so important, especially with how insane the holiday season is by itself, let alone when you’re working 50+ hours a week and still trying to acclimate to your surroundings.

Happy Shopping!

Erin

Food

So for as long as I’ve been alive, it is commonly known that (most) women have cravings during pregnancy.  Some are weird (pickles and ice cream – which, by the way, I’ve never actually met a woman who craved pickles and ice cream while pregnant or otherwise) and some are normal, but it seems that typically a woman will crave something.

I’m not different, and I’ve never really documented before that which I’ve craved and it changes throughout pregnancy, but what else do you do while watching a movie with your hub other than blog, so I figured I’d list out a few for you…

- Grapes… I had this while pregnant with Julia too, and once ate $25 worth of grapes in a week before I realized how expensive they were.

- Juice – Lemonade especially, but juice, juice, juice.  I bought my first gallon of orange juice in… 10 years?… this last week.

- Corn flakes – I bought them for a dish I was making and since, have enjoyed nice crispy (or soggy) corn flakes in nice, cold milk.

- Easy Cheese – that stuff is so nasty and so tasty.

Did I mention grapes?

That’s really about it… and nothing weird.

Erin

Move Over, Toyota

Well, after testing driving and almost test driving, we’re fairly certain we’ve narrowed down our Next Vehicle choices to the Honda Odyssey and Kia Sedona.  We don’t plan to purchase until early next year, but we figured now was as good a time as any to test drive.

Yes, for those that wondered, we did test drive the Sienna.  Gotta say that while it’s nice, due to their popularity and sales, it seems that they are able to put any price they want on it to get you the options you want… and… well, Honda and Kia are more “fair” that way.

Have I mentioned, by the way, how much I dislike test driving/shopping for vehicles?  So thankful that I had family members in the business… ‘cause shopping for vehicles alone is painful, but with kids… wow… that is pain beyond reason.  Ha!

Erin

Happy Birthday, Julia! (Video)

Happy 4th Birthday, Julia!

It’s hard to believe, but my baby girl is FOUR YEARS OLD today!  She’s certainly no longer a baby… and she’s been a big sister for over two years… and there is a new baby on the way!

Julia told us a few months ago that she would like a “Hello My Kitty” birthday, and so I planned to give her a Hello Kitty cake and sent Hello Kitty favors to school yesterday for her classmates.  Last night we picked up Julia’s cake, and apparently it was all she could think about from 5 PM on, because this morning, right around 7:15 AM, she came into our room and said, “Can we eat cake now?”

So, bright and early this morning, we sang Happy Birthday, blew out candles, and ate cake for breakfast.  (Mommy says, “YUM!”)

(Video in a follow-up post…)

Julia enjoyed showing people all day that she is now FOUR!  Yay!

Later today we celebrated Julia’s birthday again at a Thanksgiving dinner with church friends and their family.  We sang happy birthday again to Julia and their son, AJ, who will be 8 on Saturday.

When we came home, we opened Julia’s presents (or rather, Julia opened her presents while Raven sat on Daddy’s lap and wailed because she wasn’t allowed to open Julia’s presents).  Here are a few pictures of her opening gifts:

It’s amazing how much kids change in a year.  This time last year, Julia was still in Pull-Ups… now she has been potty-trained since late January.  She’s grown full into size 4 clothing and size 8 shoes… and her hair keeps on growing!  She continues to lose that ‘baby chunk’ and her face and body have thinned out to where she looks like a little girl now… so much more so than she did two years ago and even a year ago.

She is still our “tender-hearted” one, and she cries at the drop of a hat, whether it’s being scolded, losing her favorite toy, having to try new food, or being beat up on by her sister.  But I noticed something else about Julia as well… when it’s absolutely necessary, she exhibits courage and bravery.  This especially shines through when something happens to Raven – she immediately overcomes any fear or consternation she has and hops to the task.  Sure, it needs to be pretty important – trying new food like lime pear Jell-O, for example, isn’t going to make that list.  But she cares… she loves… and she protects.  It’s amazing to watch her take care of her sister despite their differences (and arguments)… it’s amazing to watch her step up and exhibit courage even when you know she fears.

All in all, I’m pretty amazed and we are so blessed with our darling daughter, Julia.  I am so thankful to have her in our lives, and I’m so thankful that she’s the “big sister” in our family.

Erin