Christmas Morning

Well, Santa definitely made a sotp at our house this year! And he brought presents for Grandma Pam, Grandpa Mike, Aunt Susu, and Great-Grandma Dolly...which was great because they Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house!

 

Santa gobbled up the cookies Ellie decorated and left out for him. But as Ellie noticed, he ate them really fast because he left quite a mess! Santa again left a nice note for Ellie thanking her for being a good girl this past year and to continue to do so.

Everyone got loaded down with presents from Santa, especially Ellie who was super excited about her Sleeping Beauty and Prince Philip dolls.

Remember that note Santa left...

And what did we find when we went outside?

Santa also brought some dishes and play food to to outside in the house. Ellie took no time getting the hosue set up and ready for a party! She spent all morning outside with the house. She was obviously very happy with the big Santa present!

After playing in the house for a while and eating some breakfast, we all piled into cars and headed up to Santa Barbara for Christmas Dinner. This year, the entire VB family, including Cousin Jim, was together up in SB which was nice. Ellie bonded with Cousin Jim and had a lot of fun with him.

 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Christmas Eve 2012

Happy Holidays Everyone! We had a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve started with Ellie super excited that we were getting some visitors. Grandpa Mike, Grandma Pam, Aunt Susu, and Great-Grandma Dolly were coming to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning with us. Ellie spent quite a bit of time waiting in the window and watching for everyone.

 

Once everyone arrived, the party started! We did some serious cookie decorating which everyone got really into. Ellie always surprises me with her focus and intensity. Of course, she's still a little girl who thinks I don't see her sneaking handfuls of sprinkles and eating them.

 

 

For dinner, I made pizza dough and everyone got to make their own pizzas. A selection of toppings and a personal sized pizza made for fun and a yummy dinner.

 

 

Ellie and Aunt Susu planned to have a sleep over on Christmas Eve. Ellie and Susie set up sleeping bags in her playroom. Ellie was super excited to have her first sleepover, even though it was at her house.

 

Of couse, we all knew what Christmas Eve was all about and what everyone was waiting for...

PRESENTS!

 

and wrapping paper...

 

Ellie knew that she needed to put on her jammies, brush her teeth and go to bed so that Santa could come to our house. We did follow Santa a little bit on the NORAD site and when she saw that Santa had already been to Boston to leave presents for her friends and was on his way to Chicago to leave presents for her cousins...she ran to brush her teeth!

But before she went to seleep, we had to put the last magnet on her Advent Calendar (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Harrer!). She really was all smiles all night and went to bed

 

Once Ellie went to sleep, Santa did come to our house. Of course, Santa has billions of children he has to visit and doesn't always have time to set-up the larger toys he leaves for children. This happened at our house and Nick, my parents, and I found ourselves putting together a playhouse for Ellie.

 

Happy Holidays Everyone!

 

Ellio the Elf

On December 1, 2012 we got a visitor to our household...Ellio the Elf. Ellio found our house thanks to some help from Grandma and Grandpa Harrer (Thanks!) He came with a book that explained why he came to visit us. He was here to watch Ellie's behavior and report to Santa. Each night, after Ellie fell asleep, he would go visit Santa and then return to our house before Ellie woke up. Ellio would find a fun little hiding spot each morning.

On Christmas Eve, Ellio had finished his duty and tenure at our house and returned to the North Pole until next year. Ellie was very excited to look for him each morning.


Ellio only had good reports to give to Santa. Of course he was en route to the North Pole when Ellie would pull her not wanting to sleep and waking up at 4am routines...but that's okay. She has been a great kid this year despite all the stressers we have created like moving across the country, starting her in a new school, keeping her away from some of her most cherished toys as they stayed in storage until we had a house, and everything else that has gone on. She's been quite a trooper this year.

Celebrating Christmas in Illinois

Yes.. I'm finally getting around to it: a post about Ellie's and my trip out to Chicagoland last week. It was a very busy, but very fun visit. Here are some of the highlights:

Our vacation began with Ellie and I getting reacquainted with some REAL cold. We were greeted by temperatures in the 30's and low 40's. Certainly not that cold for a Midwestern winter, but a far cry from the SoCal 60's and 70's we've gotten used to. Ellie's hat and mittens (from Grandma Pam) got a good workout at a couple playgrounds.



While inside in McHenry Ellie enjoyed decorating sugar cookies with Grandma Harrer. She was a big fan of sprinkles, using up almost all of my mom's supply to make some cookies she was really proud of.


Probably the part of the trip Ellie had been looking forward to the most was spending time with her cousin Tristan. The two really hit it off. Ellie loves little kids and was very good playing with him...


...and even helping out at dinner time. Tristan, meanwhile, thought just about everything Ellie did was hilarious. There were many laughs and giggles all around.


We also were lucky to catch up with some old friends. We spent an evening visiting with some of our good U of I pals Beau, Desiree, and their son Alex. The kids enjoyed identical meals of hot dogs, tater tots, and ice cream. The only differences: Ellie had mint & chip to Alex's vanilla with sprinkles -- mommy would be proud -- and that mustard bottle in front of Ellie is no ruse. She loves the stuff.. which makes me proud. Alex went with ketchup only on his dog.


The next day it was off to Palatine to visit with Ellie's great grandma Kost. Ellie showed off how well she can write her name (first, middle, and last)...


...then got caught up in a tickle fight with Great Grandma.


After that it was Christmas party time! It was awesome to see all the family members who came by.. and Ellie had a lot of fun running wild with her other cousins, William and Caroline. I couldn't help but be reminded of running wild myself with the kids' mom and uncle at Harrer Christmas parties when I was a young 'un.


Our whirlwind tour of northern Illinois then took us to the southwest 'burbs and a visit with my good friends Matt and Molly.. and their kids Zack...


...and Zoe. Once again Ellie showed how good she is with littler kids, helping Zoe get her little shoe back on a couple times, holding her on the couch, and even offering to give her her bottle. That turned out to be a bit much mechanically for Ellie to handle, but the will was there. She and Zack seemed to click pretty quickly, too. They spent a lot of time playing Princess and Dragon.. and Ellie even enlisted me as her "prince" to save her from Dragon Zack.. who was really good at breathing fire.


Then it was presents time! Ellie especially loves her new skirt from William and Caroline.. and a dancing mat game from Grandma and Grandpa... although we also had a lot of fun watching Grandpa take a whirl on the dance floor.





We then spent some more time down in Naperville with Aunt Cindy, Uncle Mike, and Cousin Tristan. Ellie enjoyed her time at the DuPage Children's Museum, which features the wind tunnel below.


We also made a lunch stop at Lou Malnati's, of course. I was able to grab a bite from all the important places while home: Lou's for deep dish, Portillo's for a Chicago-style hot dog, Steak 'n Shake for pretty much everything, as well as a couple McHenry institutions.. Village Squire for gyros and saganaki (Ellie had fun there because the restaurant is decorated in great detail as a castle) and Fox Hole for a more traditional, but also delicious take on pizza.


We had so much stuff to take home that we had to borrow one of Grandma and Grandpa's suitcases. Ellie did a great job helping me lug it around.. and kept reminding me: "Daddy, we have to give this back to Grandma and Grandpa. We're just borrowing it. Don't forget, okay?"


I won't. Thanks for a great trip, all!

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