White Christmas

Lobster Tails and Cajun Shrimp, might have to do this more often!


JD reading the kids "The Night Before Christmas"


Grant opening one of his many presents (he actually opened this one earlier in the week, so technically, he's re-opening it :)

Grant checking out his new powered truck.

Ava opening up yet another thing of chapstick.

A boy can never have too much Husker gear!

Yeah, Ava finally got her pink Barbie jeep!!

Or, should I say, yeah, Grant finally got his pink Barbie jeep! (He's been sitting in this thing all day, good thing he doesn't know his colors yet! )

Ava showing Grant how it works.

Grant's Christmas "Shiner" As if the weather wasn't bad enough, Grant had to pull a chair over on top of him, but luckily, it missed his eye and we didn't have to go the emergency room. (Reminds me of when JD was his age and ended up in the emergency room on Christmas Eve due to a severe allergic reaction to penicillin)

This year's Christmas was quite interesting. 12 inches of snow, no Midnight Mass and lastly, no Sutton. Even though we were in Omaha this year for Christmas, we all made the very best of it, and had a great time. Matt and I splurged and made lobster tails, while JD had some great Cajun shrimp. (We thought about prime rib again, but after my last fiasco with it, we decided against it) Grant and Ava were happy with leftovers (they haven't gotten into the whole seafood thing, unless you call eating with your mouth open "seefood :) JD read the kiddos a Christmas story before opening presents, and then of course, we all watched "A Christmas Story" (You'll shoot your eye out, kid) before heading off to bed in hopes of St. Nick, and even though we had our fire place on, he somehow managed to still get down! The kids must have been "awfully" good because Santa didn't skimp out on presents this year :) Ava got her pink Barbie Jeep, along with a week's supply of chapstick (we usually give a package of chapstick about a week in our house before Grant finds it and eats it:) and Grant got a drawing easel, complete with edible chalk (okay, it's obviously not edible, but Grant somehow managed to eat part of it, so now we have to hide the chalk along with the chapstick; lucky for us, he hasn't seen the playdough yet :) and JD got pants (Oh joy, Santa really knew what was on the top of JD's list this year) and a CD. For the last 3 months I felt like I was listening to Ralphe from "A Christmas Story" hearing Ava talk about her pink barbie jeep and she finally got it, but ironically, she's been enjoying Grant's drawing board, and Grant has literally spent the whole day just sitting in the jeep, he's really going to go nuts when he finds out it actually moves :) Hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, and as Ava would say "Happy Birthday Jesus"

Merry Christmas

~~~MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!~~~

If Only Nebraska Had This Good of Aim

Well, I went outside to take pictures of Grant's first snowman, and ended up going inside right away to wipe the snow off of my face and camera!! :) Oh, if only NE (or Lee) anyways could throw this good!

Great video, even greater throw by Matt! :)

Snow Day!!

This last week, the kids enjoyed piles and piles, of snow, and JD enjoyed not having to go to school for 3 days!! :) I'm always dreaming of a white Christmas, and this year, we got it. JD and Ava enjoyed sledding and Grant enjoyed just being outside (this was the first time that he actually got to play in the snow and he absolutely loved it ;) Matt took the kids to Zorinsky to sled down the dam head, and JD learned how to snowboard. He didn't do too bad for his first time. :) It was fun playing out in the snow, but shoveling it, well that's another story!

Grant showing off his new coat and getting ready to play in the snow for the first time!


Ava had to put on her "lip gloss" before she could go out in the snow! Look at those sparkly lips :)


Grant enjoying a ride on the sled.


Hold on tight Ava!!


Cute video of Grant enjoying another ride on the sled. Ava trying really, really hard to pull him :)

Big 12 Championship Game

Justun got to experience yet another Big 12 Game, which was held in Dallas Texas on Dec. 5th. He and his dad did some site seeing, and watched one nail-biter of a game. It was quite a bit warmer than the one they went to in 2006 (that year, they had to wear snow suits) and the new stadium was a little more updated :) The had near front row seats at the Cowboys new stadium and got to watch an awesome game. Well, it was awesome until the last second, literally. It was a great fight by the Huskers, and now we'll just have to tear up Arizona at the Holiday Bowl. Go Big Suh, errr, I mean Go Big RED!!

Getting ready to watch the big game. (Smile guys, we haven't lost yet :)


Huskers ready to tear up Texas (or McCoy, anyways) after the "Tunnel Walk"


Go Bo!!


Henery kicking the game-winning (so we thought) kick!!

Fantastic Fall

It's hard to believe how the weather has changed in just a few weeks, we went from warm fall-like weather, to blizzard conditions. Oh well, you have to love this good ole' unpredictable Nebraska weather! :)

Baggin up the leaves and enjoying the mild temps.


JD getting some "air".


Notice how Ava magically disappeared when there was work to do.
(Her motto "All play, no work!")


Video of Ava getting buried in the leaves!

Mommy's Little Helper

Getting ready to bake the cupcakes.

Putting some yummy green frosting on them

(green was the only color we had left, otherwise it would have been pink, of course)

"Sprinkle Time"

Baking cookies.

Making some paper ornaments.

Ava after putting on Mommy's lipstick (not too bad for her first try :)

Ava has turned out to be quite the mini-me. She loves to help me out (although, sometimes she's more of a mess than a help, but that's okay:) and she has gotten into the habit of doing everything that I do. She has been very busy making things lately, and mommy has been very busy cleaning up her messes, but she is indeed a very creative little girl! :)

A fun video of Ava and Grant after making cupcakes.