Fun Pics

Playing around with the camera on the new phone and we can do such awesome things with it!! Had to post these because they are so neat. I was taking down the Christmas lights from the deck, and someone started playing with them!!

We will get some Christmas pictures posted soon!

First Haircut!

We took Lauryn in on Monday for her first haircut. No worries, she still has a mullet, therefore still wearing pig tails all the time. We just had her bangs trimmed and the back evened out. We attempted to do it at home, but she ran from the scissors like a crazy toddler. But she did awesome at the salon; she sat great all on her own and didn't even think twice about what was going on. She was more interested at looking at herself in the many mirrors, and imitating all the animals on her cape.

A few pictures from Christmas at Janet's, more cookie decorating, and trying to feed Thor out of the mixer bowl!

We cannot believe it is Christmas in just a few short days! Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and may the Joy of Jesus' birth be in your hearts!

Better pictures soon - decided to by an iPhone4S and use the camera phone instead of fixing our digital camera :-) Maybe I should tell Eric that?!?!? Nah...I'll just let him read it here.

Cookies, Gingerbread Houses, and Lots of Christmas Joy!

We have lots of Christmas Joy in the Gruis household! In addition to preparing to celebrate the Joy of Jesus' birth, we've been partaking in the secular holiday festivities as well. We've enjoyed baking and decorating cookies, building a gingerbread house, making Christmas crafts, enjoying the scenery and concerts at the Arboretum, and of course, decorating and re-decorating the tree and house.

Our conversations have been around Santa vs. St. Nicholas, the true meaning of giving, and how we can keep a year-and-a-half old from eating all the frosting and cookies! Lauryn has been such a joy to entertain these past few weeks, and we can tell she is starting to learning how to focus on a something for more than 90 seconds. She will sit in our lap and read the same book for at least 10min, enjoys feeding, diapering, and entertaining her babies, and most of all, is thrilled to have Thor inside. Sad to say, Odin died the Saturday after Thanksgiving, of what we assume was a stroke. Since then, Thor has become an inside dog again and is incredibly tolerant of Lauryn! Lauryn is his little care taker, and her interactions with him are quite amusing. One of the most hilarious moments was tonight. After asking Lauryn if she needed to go potty, she proceeded to grab her diaper, look at Megan and nod yes, and after Megan confirmed she needed to go potty, she went over and grabbed Thor's "potty parts".... the tears were a result of the laughter on that one.

We can't wait to post pictures of our little entertainer come Christmas Day. We pray for love, peace, and joy to be with you all this Season!

Sorry for the POOR quality of photos; the flash went out on our camera :-(

Happy Thanksgiving...and catching up!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Amongst all the chaos, we have been busy with craft projects, coloring, painting, randomly taking off our clothes (just Lauryn does that!), learning how to turn on the TV when mom and dad are not paying attention, talking a mile-a-minute jibberish (yes, there are some understandable words thrown in there), going sledding for the first time, mastering the art of "being a ham", knowing how to "act cute", and learning so fast we don't know how to keep up!

Lauryn seems to learn something new every day, and there are so many things she does that just make us giggle! The other day, we were talking with Eric's dad and mentioned something about a toothbrush. She found her backpack, found a bag inside the backpack, opened it up (with a little help) and pulled out her toothbrush and wanted to brush her teeth. Things that make us perplexed but make us giggle and proud all at the same time. What melts our heart the most, is when we sit down for dinner, and she bows her head and folds her hands to pray...so adorable! And the Lauryn style "Amen" after the prayer - aaawwwweeeee.

We are excited to pull out the "1001 Things to Spot at Christmas" book and watch her learn and find all the crazy Christmas stuff. We'll make sure to pull out the Baby Jesus book, too!

We hope everyone is able to spend some quality time with family and friends, and be reminded of all the blessings in life!


A fun day at the park with Grandpa & Grandma McMahan

Painting pumpkins for Halloween

Trick-or-Treating with mom & dad

Our little cheerleader...can you guess which pumpkins Lauryn painted?

And yes, she does cheer when football comes on TV, signals for touchtown, and we are trying for 1st down (not much practice with this one as Viking fans).

Hours of entertainment from one of the trick-or-treat bags she got from the neighbors.

Thanksgiving crafts

We'll Miss You Great-Grandma McMahan! See You in Heaven!

It's been a while...things have been busy, and lives are being remembered.

Megan's grandma, Lauryn's great-grandma McMahan, suffered from kidney failure and joined the Heavenly reigns on Friday, November 11, 2011. A day, 11.11.11, will always have a special meaning in our hearts. We will celebrate Lucille's life on at 10:30am, Thursday, Nov 17th at Good Shepherd Church in Owatonna.

Lauryn was able to spend time with great-grandma McMahan a handful of times, and we are so glad they got to meet one another. Lauryn seemed to adore her, and great-grandma adored Lauryn. We were blessed to have her with us for 90 years! She was a woman of strong faith and a heart for others. She will be greatly missed, but we look forward to seeing her in Heaven, soon!

Here's a great pic of the 2 from great-grandma's 90th birthday celebration, and a treasured picture of Lauryn wanting to play with great-grandma's cane. Even the last time we visited, she just couldn't leave that cane alone!!

Pumpkin Picking

On Sunday, we went to a local pumpkin patch before the the Vikes game. We visited "Peter's Pumpins and Carmen's Corn"; it was a cute place and we are all about supporting the local businesses, but at $0.35/pound for the pumkins, we sure did our civic duty.

It was certainly a bit chilly and a lot windy, but Lauryn had a blast running around in the dusty field. She enjoyed trying to pick up every pumpkin that weighed more than she does. She found a few favorites, and we brought those home! We managed to get a decent family pic in our Vikings garb before the 5th loss of the season. One can't ever say we are fair weather fans...Vikings fans through it all. You know, they could have a come back....

Painting with Pudding

So, one night this week...Wednesday..., mommy decided to let some of her stress out by letting Lauryn finger paint with chocolate pudding. Stripping her down to just her diaper and taking the cover off the high chair sounded like a pretty good idea. Mommy would have been quite upset if she hadn't, as the pictures below show. Yes, it seems like the same pudding pictures over and over, but it was such a fun time watching Lauryn let loose with the pudding. We've actually got somewhat of a play-by-play...there were nearly 90 pictures taken ;-) So go make yourself a bowl of chocolate pudding and enjoy! Lauryn says it won't be as cute and comical as this was, but hopefully it tastes better (mommy had the fat free, sugar free kind...erg!)

Autumn Arboretum Awesomeness

Last Sunday afternoon, after the Vikings FINALLY WON, we decided to spend a few hours at the Arboretum. It was awesome checking out the fall colors, working our way through the kiddie maze, being little Ms. Daredvil, sitting, throwing, and picking up every pumpkin, and just enjoying the beauty.