January odds and ends

Where did January go?? We had so many exciting things happening, I lost track of time! So here are a few of the highlights to keep you posted on our busy month.

I ran another half marathon this year -- in Phoenix this time. Two friends and I met in Phoenix for a girls weekend and to participate in the Rock and Roll half marathon. There were some injuries (not to me, thank goodness!) that didn't let the running part pan out like we had planned, but the rest of the weekend was great. It was so much fun to get the chance to hang out with faraway friends and not be distracted by those little things like kids...husbands...jobs...

Of course we were so busy having fun, that we forgot to take any pictures! This is literally the only one I got. Mary wasn't able to participate in the run because of an unexpected foot surgery, so we celebrated early with a few Marathon beers instead. :)



The next weekend two of our favorite people came to visit -- Amber and Justin! Amber will always have a special place in our hearts and home after living with us a few years ago and we always love the chance to hang out. She has quite the fan club here in Houston, so we invited a few of those people over while they were here to catch up...they hadn't been in town since Will was born!



There are a few more kids added to the party now -- wow how things have changed since Am lived with us. :)



Not quite everything is different though...Todd and Justin are still up to their late night mischief. This trip it came in the form of tabletop football. Yep, the game every middle school boy learns to play. And apparently secretly still wants to play as grown men -- just with the addition of some adult beverages at their side. :)



Then the last weekend of January we had the opportunity for Nebraska winter, take two. We flew up to Nebraska for a quick weekend for a very important person and event -- Mom graduated from college! It was very special to get to share this experience with mom. And, as an added bonus, we got to see quite a few of the people that we missed during the holidays due to the storms.

Here's the graduate!



Whew! What a month!

Christmas -- continued

The final hours of our Christmas break are coming to a close and it's time to get back in the swing of things around here -- and none too soon if you ask me! But before we move out of the holiday season, here are a few more updates from the rest of our trip and festivities.

There was more snow! And more, and more, and they got hit with even more after we left. It was quite a sight. It did warm up enough to go and play a little more before we left.

Here's Jess showing us the massive pile/drift at the end of her street. We of course climbed it when we got there -- Todd had never seen so much snow!



A cute pic of my Texas boys -- I don't think they knew what to think, but they are still smiling!



On Monday we were able to get out and meet our friends Andy and Nicole for dinner -- yeah! They have twins that are just a few months older than Will, so it's always an interesting dinner with three toddlers. They were all very well behaved considering we were attempting to contain them at the table. And we always have to try and get a picture together...



Once we got back to town Todd and I put a call in to Santa's people and let them know Will was home. Santa brought a little something by while Will was at Miss Wanda's house on Wednesday. We'll try and get some video of his skills up for you to see -- don't reserve your basketball tickets quite yet...I think he got ALL of his parents skills at the game. :(





Then of course we had to watch the Nebraska game! Here are my guys sporting their jerseys -- Will now has one compliments of Grandpa. :)



On New Year's Day we got together with the Tones crew to celebrate once everyone was in town and available. As always, the challenge of the evening was to try and get a pic of the boys together -- hah! Although we did get a little closer...



Here they are trying out their new (adorable!) rocking chairs from Nana and Grandpa...



Apparently Uncle Craig had the inside track on Will and what he wanted this year -- here he is sporting his new Astros shirt he insisted on putting on immediately along with his fancy new toolbelt (complete with safety goggles). Nice work Craig!



And here is the true story of the evening -- empty toddler chairs. They were much to busy chasing each other, the dog, or anyone else that would get in the action. Whew!

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!