Christmas 2014

December was a blur. With trips to Philadelphia and Des Moines, two Christmas tree hunts, multiple visits to see Santa, along with the usual holiday hub bub, the lead up to Christmas Day was hectic. Mom Mom & Pop Pop made the long, difficult journey to Omaha to spend with Christmas with us and the boys loved having them around for a week. There was cookie baking, game playing and lots and lots of trains. The boys seemed to love all of their gifts and it was fun to see the slow and methodical way Kyle went about opening his presents to the speedy process Justin took. By the time the boys finished opening, and Pop Pop finished putting together, their new toys, it was after 10am when the adults finally got around to exchanging gifts.

In addition to opening gifts, we made a trip to the Children's Museum (thanks Uncle Adam for the membership!), Air & Space Museum (Dad loved seeing all of the old planes from his Air Force days), and to Des Moines to see Andrea, Nate, Kevin & Katie. After exchanging gifts with them, we headed to the Ramada Inn with an indoor water park where the kids had a blast playing in the pool and going down the slides. Kyle was a little under the weather so he didn't get to enjoy it much but Justin kept himself busy by going down the slide at least 50 times over two days.

With the weather turning bitterly cold (more on that later), there hasn't been much outdoor time but the boys did get one sled ride courtesy of Mom Mom. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day were pretty quiet and then it was back to a regular schedule this past Monday. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a great start to 2015!

Santa!

Santa came to the party at our office last week. The boys both LOVE him this year - which is a nice change! Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  Dick and Sue arrived last night and we're looking forward to spending some time with them!

Daddy & Justin in Philly

Justin and I made our annual trip to Philadelphia a few weeks ago so I could keep my streak of attending at least one Eagles home game per year going (30 years!!!). The Eagles lost but we still had a great time visiting family. My best friend Adam came over and we finally got to meet, his now fiancee, Tish.

On Sunday, we headed out for the annual Xmas tree hunt prior to the game. It was great to get together with the Leicester clan (minus Kim, Jimmy & Isla) and select that perfect Xmas tree.

The Eagles lost to the Seahawks but it was still great being at the game with my Dad, almost 30 years to the day since my first game.

On Monday, we took Justin and my nephew Ethan to Adventure Aquarium in Camden. The highlight were the hippos.

After spending one extra night because of flight delays, Justin and I headed back to Omaha. It didn't take long for Justin to take a nap.

Until next time!!

Thanksgiving in Iowa!

We made our first drive to Eastern Iowa to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family! It wasn't too bad of a drive with the boys - though Kyle does hate to be in the car seat for that long. It was wonderful to be able to pack up the car and drive on over. Both boys thoroughly enjoyed their cousins, aunts and uncles and of course Grandma and Grampa.

Hayden invited me to be his "VIP" at school on Wednesday. It was fun to see him in his classroom. His teacher seems really great! Grandma went too and was Lily's VIP.

Justin, Hayden and Lily in the snow

Helping wash the lawn mower to put it away for the winter

Building a little snowman before the snow melted

Helping Grandpa in the shop

Tara kept ALL of the kids on Saturday night and they helped her decorate her Christmas tree. Of course they kids had a blast!

Cousins!

While Tara watched all the kids...we hung out in garages and had some cockails

Snow!!

We have had our first real Midwest snow! Justin loves it- Kyle isn't so sure!

Kyle is 2!

Hard to believe that this ornery little boy is only 2! He's talking constantly and is all over the place. It is great to see him and Justin together and they are really good for each other. He pushes Justin to try things he wouldn't normally try - and Justin is great at keeping Kyle mostly out of the danger zone (at least yelling for Mommy when needed!).

He is amusing because he is pretty fearless when it comes to most things but does get scared of some things- like the man in a gorilla costume on Halloween. He gets this little look and says "I don't like it" whenever he is around something he considers scary.  I wish I could record that face and phrase!

He loves trucks, tractors, trains, etc. - just like his brother. He's a little less in to construction equipment than Justin was (and still is) but loves trucks- and loves combines! 

We had a fun birthday. Andrea, Nate, Kevin and Katie joined us for a birthday brunch this morning and we went to visit the big trains at a park this afternoon.

Justin loves a good cake baking! He wanted it to have M&M's and Sprinkles!

Kevin was such a nice helper :)

At Kenfick Park

Mom Mom & Pop Pop's First Visit To Omaha!!

Mom Mom & Pop Pop Prinz came to visit us over the weekend. Despite Justin catching a stomach bug (which luckily only lasted about 24 hours) we had a great time! It was nice out all weekend so we spent a lot of time outside - at the farm on Justin's field trip, at the park, raking leaves and walking around Old Market. And of course we went to the tractor store. We're looking forward to them coming back for Christmas, hopefully with Lori, Ethan and Kenny.