Cabin fever?

You think we've been inside too long??

SnOmaha!

No dreaming of a white Christmas necessary! We made the trip to Omaha (thankfully by plane this time) for Christmas. We got into town just in time -- if you consider getting here before the blizzard in time. :) The quote of the week from the always prophetic Bill Berens -- "Snow my God 2009!"

We came to town with grand plans of seeing friends, family, and hanging out in Omaha while enjoying the possibility of some free babysitting. Well...we are enjoying family -- Dad and Jess since that's who we are staying with. Mom finally made it out today so we got to see her, but most of our friends and rest of our family are stranded or snowed in and there really isn't much need for babysitters when we can't get out of the neighborhood! But Will doesn't seem to mind -- he's loving every minute of Grandpa and has found plenty to keep him busy.

Who needs to go anywhere? Good thing we still have power -- plenty of opportunities for some Elmo watching and rocking!



Luckily the storm started on Christmas Eve and it wasn't too bad yet so we were still able to get to Uncle Bob's house for the Berens family celebration. We had our trusty former UPS driver at the wheel and let him get us there and back safely. :) It was so great to see everyone and get caught up on what has been going on here. We don't get to see any of you nearly enough!

No Berens celebration would be complete without Gram Mona! Don't let them fool ya...they set down their drinks for the photo op. ;)



I tried all night to get a picture of Charlie and Will together -- this was as good as it got. They seemed to have a pretty good time -- Charlie was great about letting Will follow him around.



Christmas morning! Still snowing...



Having a little birthday breakfast -- Happy Birthday Jesus!



That was about as far as the Christmas celebrations went on actual Christmas. Mom couldn't get here -- even though she only lives 15 minutes away -- so we delayed all presents and Christmas dinner until Saturday. Luckily Will still doesn't really know what's up, so he was perfectly content playing and enjoying the day with all gifts still under the tree. I think this was the last time we'll be able to pull that off...

But for now, some time with AJ was good enough for him! This is what Christmas is really about it anyway, right?



Some cookies and milk with Grandpa before bed...



Day after Christmas -- still snowing --

It was still snowing on Saturday, but streets were starting to get plowed so Mom decided to brave it to come over. I think the pull of seeing her grandson while he is in town overtook any logical thinking at this point! :) You still aren't allowed to park in the street and Jess's driveway was blocked so I went out to shovel...I thought I moved away from this stuff!



Mom got here safe and sound and we had a great time opening presents. Will was pretty into it at first, handing out packages to everyone and opening up his (and anyone else's that would let him) but got a little sidetracked after a while. He kept wanting to stop and play with whatever he opened rather than open another package. Then of course, there was the wrapping paper -- who knew it could be so much fun!



Finally! All the packages were opened and Will got to spend a little quality time on Grandma's lap with a good book...



It actually warmed up (by that I mean it was in the 20s...) and the wind died down so we decided to take Will out to try and play in the snow. We didn't get very far. Will is perplexed by the weather -- he wants to be outside, but he doesn't love the idea of gloves and hats. And he can't quite get his mind wrapped around the snow. Why is is stuck on my shoes? Why does it hurt my hand? Make it stop blowing in my face!!

My favorite part of this picture is Todd in the background. See how he's scoping out the door? I think he's planning his getaway!



Not the trip we planned, but a great one nonetheless. It is still snowing...but we don't have anywhere to be until Tuesday. Merry Christmas everyone!

Santa

The Christmas season wouldn't be complete without a trip to see Santa! We were pretty sure that Will was not going to be willing to sit on Santa's lap, and we weren't wrong. We went to one of the nurseries that is near our house that was doing cookies with Santa so we could visit him rather than a "quick, take a picture!" plop on the lap at the mall or somewhere else. He was very interested in talking to Santa, showing off his shoes, checking out the cookies, etc, but not so much the idea of actually sitting with him. So we compromised by using the cute John Deere tractor and just wheeled up near Santa so we could have a photo op.

Not so sure what to think...



Uh, no thanks Mom!



This one's for all our John Deere fans...



A little cruise with Daddy - I just thought this one was sweet.



All in all, it was a great day with beautiful weather. Something tells me that the next post you see may be a different story...great days, but the weather?? We are in Nebraska for Christmas...

Old Town Bethlehem

Some of you may remember that this time last year we had a very important person in our house -- baby Jesus! For one weekend in December our church is transformed into Old Town Bethlehem and last year we were asked to be the holy family (check out the posts from December 08 to refresh your memory and have a good laugh!).

Because we were confined to the manger last year we decided to go back this year and check out the rest of town. There were all kinds of things to look at and Will had a blast running through "town." I thought all the costumes and dim lights would intimidate him, but I was definitely wrong! He was hard to keep up with -- running up to people to show them his shoes, sampling the pomegranate, petting the animals, he was everywhere!

Collecting some shillings on the way in...



Will and Elyse loved the animals! They should be fun to take to the rodeo this year!



We may have to work on the taking food from strangers thing...not so shy right now!



Next stop ... visit with Santa! Gotta make the rounds...:)

Snow!

Now this post may seem a little silly to those of you in the North who have been snowed in for the last three days because of your blizzard, but hey, this is the best we can do! In hindsight I really should have taken pictures while I was at work because there was WAY more snow during the day, but by the time Will and I got home to play in it there wasn't as much in our yard. Oh well, it was still plenty for our taste! :)

Houston had one of those rare moments a week ago -- there was snow on the ground! Snow of any kind of measure had not fallen here for about 5 years, so it was pretty exciting for all the kids and native Houstonians. Those of us that fled that kind of weather when we moved here were less impressed and more concerned that we would have to share the road with the inexperienced Southern drivers. But all survived and it really was a beautiful day. Even better was the fact that it was gone quickly with no slush, ice, or other residual snow nastiness!

Will tried to play in the snow a little, but then his hands got cold and he got a little confused. He kept looking at me and saying "ahhh! cold! ahhh!" because his hands hurt from the snow...but then I tried to get him to go in or wear mittens and he would say "no, no..."



So we went back to what we understand -- sand! Even in the snow he tries to go to the beach -- that's my boy!

Fence building!

We have a fence! Yes, I realize this is WAY overdue, but better late than never, right? Over the week of Thanksgiving (and our week off of school) Todd decided it would be a good time to get our hurricane damaged fence fixed. And as a bonus -- the dads helped! My dad came down for the week and Todd's dad came over a few days to help out. The guys did a great job and worked really hard. Will was quite the little helper too - he spent pretty much the entire day following them around. Here he is doing his part to help...

Supervising...you sure you're doing this right grandpa?



Brought my hammer too Dad!



Cutting a little wood at my workbench...




Whew! This is hard work!



But I'll stop for a photo op -- Cheese!



And then of course there had to be some guy time at the end of a hard day...



The week was great - we got a fence (yeah!) and Will got some with "g'pa" -- who taught him all kinds of fun tricks that we are still enjoying around here. And there's just a few weeks until the "Wills" get to hang out again...yeah!

Dear Coach Pelini...

Nice game Saturday! My mom was worried for a little while, but I had faith all along. I was a little distracted because I was at my girlfriend's birthday party, but I managed to keep up.

I am actually writing to let you know that I am right on track to be a Husker! I just went to the doctor for my 18 month checkup. I am now 32 inches and almost that many pounds! Now my parents and the doctor seem to think that being at the top of the growth chart is reason to watch my milk intake and portions, but they don't understand. Miss Wanda and I have been following a stringent training program that includes heavy milk drinking and pot roast lunches. She even practices three-point stances with me when we play football in the living room -- she's the best!

Everything else is going well too -- I am hitting all my milestones right on track, and even some a little early. Now I don't have to go back to the doctor until my birthday. I'm all grown up -- the doctor said no more "baby" check ups!

Good luck with the rest of the season -- maybe I'll see you at the Big 12!

Go Big Red!!
Will

Go Big Red!

This past weekend Jess came down and we went to Waco for the Nebraska game. It was so much fun! Our friend Becky went to Baylor, so it was a great excuse for all of us to road trip and get away. As you can see below, apparently not all of the Baylor fans are as loyal as Becky -- the stadium was almost all RED!



Waco didn't know what they were doing when they set up a tailgate right by the stadium...this wasn't here last time we came so we took full advantage this year. There was food and drinks before, during, and after the game. Again, there wasn't much of a Baylor showing -- so we had to take a picture of Becky -- the lone girl in green!



The game was early on Saturday so we drove back right after and picked Will up from his fun-filled trip to Nana's. It worked out well because then Jess had a chance to hang out with him on Sunday before she had to leave. They looked pretty cute in their matching shirts -- too bad it didn't help Green Bay.



We tried all day to get a good pic of the two of them -- of course the little guy was having none of that! They did have a great time at the park though! Will went up the stairs and down the slide for a solid half hour.



The weather was awesome, the game was great, and the company was wonderful. Who's going to be next??? :)

Trunk treats

This Sunday we stayed after church to attempt to take pumpkin patch pictures. We've been going to do it all month but it seems like something always happened, or the rain came through, or etc....

Remember our attempt at the pjs pics on Saturday? Here it is reincarnated in the pumpkin patch. Still not sitting together...I swear they play with each other!



This was the best I could do -- Will walking away from us! It's still kinda cute...



Then we went BACK to church a few hours later for trunk treats. Trunk treats is a big trick or treating party in the parking lot of the church where people hand out candy from the trunk of their cars. It's a lot of fun because you get to see all the kids costumes and they can run around and play rather than just hoarding candy and moving on. This year there was a band too -- which turned out to be the hit of the night!

Here's Herbie Husker, making his debut of the season! He kept the hat on ALL night -- in fact, he got a little upset because it wouldn't fit on his head in his car seat on the way home. There were people at the church from Nebraska and they kept asking if they could take pictures of him -- and he just smiled and kept playing "go ball" all night. Did I mention that the ball plays the fight song when it hits the ground? Nice touch I thought. :)



We couldn't help but take the picture on the horse -- it was just too easy of a set up!



Here he is checking out the band -- we really couldn't tear him away! I just thought this was sweet -- and such a rare, still moment!

It's finally fall!

It's finally fall in Houston! It seems like it has taken forever to get here, but we've had some good weather this week that actually feels like a season change. We had the opportunity to enjoy it a little bit this weekend...

Saturday morning we went to a Breast Cancer Ride/Walk with people from Killough -- which is where Todd and I used to work. It was a great morning! The night before everyone got together and tie-dyed shirts to wear Saturday morning -- Will's Aunt Fun did his for him. :)

Here is a rare family shot -- we really need to get more of these! Of course we probably should have tried to get one when he didn't have cheeks full of doughnut holes...



Just checking the tire pressure for the riders...



Finally! Someone who understands! Let's play ball!



We bought Will the cowboy hat for Halloween this year (please stay tuned for costume pics) and thought we would leave it out for him to test out in the week prior to having to wear it. Of course he has worn it all around the house -- which means he probably won't put it on for the costume, right? But doesn't he look great in it? :)



Playing a little football with Chris -- it was SO nice outside!



Here's Will with his girlfriend, Elyse, and Chris. It was a rare moment -- everyone was still! We had to catch it on camera!



And then there was the attempt at the cute "look, we have matching pajamas" pictures. Nana Sue bought Will and Elyse matching pjs for Halloween and we wanted some pictures of the two of them together in them. Easier said than done...



They act like brother and sister already -- ahhh!



Wait Elyse - the picture...



Forget it, we're outta here...



Nope...gotta go!



Here I come Will, look out!



Let's blow this joint! Sorry moms, no pics tonight!




This is just the beginning of a busy week -- stay tuned for much more!