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!