Christmas

Rolling out the dough!

Meltdown #1 of the holiday weekend!

Our 2nd annual Gingerbread House

Christmas Eve at my parents

Skyping with the cousins

Meltdown #2--unfortunately this is the ONLY family pic we have from the entire holiday weekend!

Sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn

Added the last most important piece to the nativity scene--baby Jesus!!

New Christmas jammies

Cookies for Santa

Christmas morning

New DS!

Jack's present that he made for us at preschool

Playing with his new Leapster

He loved his new Spiderman jammies

Ice skating at Con Agra with Uncle Paul

1st time ice skating

Go Karts--so fun!

Despite a few meltdowns by a spunky 7 yr old and a 3 yr old our Christmas was wonderful!! We enjoyed having my brother home for a week and spent lots of time at my parents house with him. This was the first time in the 25 yrs that my sister Chris has been married that that they have not come to Omaha for Christmas so it was a little sad to not have her and her family here or my sister Linda who was with her husband's family in Philadelphia. But despite missing all of them we managed to have a great time and make some new memories! Christmas Eve day the kids and I decorated cookies and we also made our annual Gingerbread House--so much fun! Christmas Eve we went to my parents church for their children's mass and then headed back to their house for appetizers and present opening! We tried skyping with Chris and my nieces during the night but it got a little chaotic with the kids opening presents, etc. But it was fun to see their faces :) We came home and the kids opened their annual new jammies and we put cookies and carrots and reindeer food out for Santa and the reindeer. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and fell into bed! Christmas morning the kids got up and we opened presents from Santa. Ellie was excited to get her DS and Jack was excited to open his Leapster. We had a relaxing morning and Dave made green and red pancakes for breakfast! We headed over to Dave's brother and sis in law for a late lunch and more present opening with his family. Then back to my parents for dinner! The kids did great and were very tired by the end but didn't fall apart too bad! We had fun with my brother for the few remaining days that he was here. We went to the ConAgra ice rink and Jack ice skated for the first time! Ellie is becoming an old pro at it and says she wants to take ice skating lessons--yikes! We also tried to go bowling but it was so crazy busy that we ended up just playing in the arcade and the kids did Go Karts which they loved---kind of crazy for the adults but we made it! Ellie got the game "Sorry" for Christmas so we had fun playing that with Paul a few nights. Brought back lots of memories from playing it as a kid! Overall a great weekend was had by all and new memories were made and traditions were continued. We wished our whole family would have been here but know that next year we will definitely be together! We're enjoying the few remaining lazy days of Christmas vacation before the "rat race"of school begins again next week! Looking forward to New Year's and cheering on the Huskers in their bowl game on Jan 2nd!!!

Holiday Fun

June B. Jones with Emma and Abby

Lauritzen Gardens

Waiting for the train--he could have watched the trains all day!

In front of the poinsetta display

Outside (in mid December!!!)--I can't imagine how pretty this must be when everything is in bloom

Train outside of Laurizen Gardens

Santa at Bass Pro Shops

Gingerbread house display at Mormon Trail Center

We are in full swing Christmas vacation mode around here!! Sleeping in, relaxing, watching way too much TV--oh well. I love it and love having the kids home and nowhere to rush to in the morning :) This weekend we did a few fun holiday activities. Friday night Ellie and I and 2 of her friends went to see Junie B. Jones: Jingle Bells Batman Smells at the Rose Theater. While I admit I am not a huge fan of the Junie B. books the play was hysterical. Ellie has read most of the books and this one was probably one of our favorites. I can do without the bad grammar (and always correct it when I read out loud) but the books are actually favorites of kids this age! The play was really cute--they did a great job with the costumes, actors. On Saturday the kids had their Christmas program at church. Both just sang in it but Ellie got to dress like an angel and Jack had a sheep mask on. It was super cute! (Bummed that I didn't have my camera :( Sunday we decided to venture out to Lauritzen Gardens to see the huge poinsetta tree on display. Oh my goodness---I have never been to the Lauritzen Gardens and can not believe what a little gem in our city this place is--the whole time we were there I kept saying "I had no idea this existed"--I always knew about it but had no idea it was such an awesome place. What a hidden little gem! It might be my new favorite place in Omaha. It was packed because they were offering free admission but we had a great time. The weather was amazing and we were able to walk around outside--I can't imagine what that place looks like in Spring, Summer and Fall with all the blooming, etc. Definitely going back there in the springtime. Jack loved the trains and literally could have sat there all day watching them. I just want to bottle him up at this age---love him so much! Yesterday after we met Dave for lunch, my mom and I took the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops which was the way to go---no line and a free photo :) Then we headed over to the Mormon Trail Center for our yearly visit to see the Gingerbread houses on display. Ellie loves going there and loves seeing the exhibit they have upstairs of the journey the Mormons took to Salt Lake City and their Winter Quarters here. Again---just want to bottle her up at this age (minus the crazy temper tantrums she still has at the age of 7!) We loved seeing all the gingerbread houses! Still have lots of holiday things to do this week---decorate our gingerbread house, make sugar cookies, Happy Birthday Jesus party with Bible study friends, annual cookie exchange with old playgroup friends and don't forget sleeping in, relaxing, watching Christmas shows, etc---what a blessed life I have! And the kids are super excited to see my brother who got in last night from CA! Looking forward to the rest of this week!

Christmas Carol

Leydi with Ellie, Tommy and Schuyler

You can just tell how much Leydi loves kids--she was so good to Ellie--we are going to miss her!

Ellie and Schuyler

On Sunday Dave's mom took Ellie and I and a couple other grandkids to see the Christmas Carol at the Community Playhouse. We went a few years ago but hadn't been since then. The play was good but way too long for the kids. They did great and only got antsy a couple of times. Ellie was so excited because Leydi went with us. Leydi is a woman from Columbia, South America who has been staying with Dave's mom for a few months while she learns English. While Dave's mom hosts a lot of international students, etc in her house this one was special because her and Ellie got pretty close while she was here. Leydi is amazing with kids! She is in her late 20's and has a couple of nieces that you can tell she is very close to because she talked about them a lot. Ellie got to spend some time with Leydi while she was here and we are really going to miss her (she left to go back to Columbia today :( We hope to keep in touch through email and hopefully Leydi will come back to Nebraska to visit sometime. So it was an extra special treat that Leydi went to the Christmas Carol with us as well. We are so lucky that our kids are exposed to so many different cultures through Dave's mom :)

Looking at Christmas Lights

One tradition that we love to do every year is bundle the kids up in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights. I know everyone else does it too--it's just a fun thing to do that I look forward to every holiday season! So Sat night we bathed the kids, got them in their jammies, got some hot chocolate and drove through and looked at lights...so much fun!

The kids wanted to wear their reindeer ears this year--so cute!

Jack hung with us until almost the end until he just couldn't make it any longer! Ellie was holding his hand and I had to snap a pic--they are not always this cute together but sometimes they surprise us!

Western Heritage Museum

One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is go to the Western Heritage Musuem and see the giant Christmas tree. We usually always go on the free day so we don't have to pay admission. It's usually jammed with people but we don't mind! We went on Sunday had a great time. Jack is super into trains right now so he was in heaven. Ellie liked to go through the Nebraska history area and look at the old fashioned way of life! They love to walk through the trains and Jack loved the miniature train that runs on the track. We checked out the tree and then of course have to stop at the soda fountain for ice cream (pretty sure that's the kids favorite part!) I'm glad that we do this together every year. It's such a great place that Omaha has for kids to experience a little bit of history!