The Draz Fam

It was billed as the second annual Draz guys New Year’s Eve celebration. Dad took food orders from Drew and Ry and made a special trip to the store. Food was prepared and then the guys settled in for an evening of talk and TV. There was great anticipation of watching the ball drop in Times Square. Although I was not officially invited to the event, I wandered out a few minutes before the ball dropped.

Yup, Ryan was sound asleep. Drew, however, was wide awake and was convinced that Ry needed to be awake to see the ball drop. He insisted that his dad wake Ry for the big event. Dad did his best:

Finally the moment arrived:

Drew made it two years in a row. He was officially awake to ring in the New Year. (Thank goodness for the time zone difference!) The image below was taken at exactly 12:00–New York time, that is.

I had selected a quote to use at the end of this post. However, the one I selected can’t even begin to compare with Drew’s words: “Nana, it was a great 2009.”
Yes, Drew, it was. Here’s hoping and praying that 2010 will be an even better year for you.
Nana Barb

Karli owned several American Girl dolls before she was even born. You see, Jen and I are both fascinated with history and each American Girl doll comes with a story reflecting life during some historical period. As we sheepishly bought a couple of the dolls over a year ago, we were informed that it happens all the time. We weren’t sure whether Karli would even be interested in dolls. After all, she is being raised with two brothers and her two cousins are boys. However, it was love at first sight. A few days before Karli’s birthday we joined Anna and Claire for lunch at the official American Girl doll store at MOA. Because it is a busy time of year, service was a bit slow. We were worried that Karli would get tired of sitting. No problem! She loved every single minute of the outing. She sat in her high chair, right next to the special chair provided for her doll, and beamed and “talked” for the entire two hours we were there. I think we may have to make this outing an annual event!