Christmas Time in Omaha!

Jane and I have been having a lot of fun this past month....Scott.....not so much. He has been studying like CRAZY. I feel like a single mom and it is tough! But Jane and I are having a good time and trying to stay busy, cold weather and all.

Jane experienced her first snow of this year! She was hilarious. She loves looking out at the snow from the window. All day long she'd say, "No! No! No!" (a.k.a snow). So we bundled her up and took her outside. When we plopped her out on the patio she looked like this for about 5 minutes, she did not budge!

Scott and I were laughing so hard! It was so funny! She wasn't a huge fan of it and just wanted to be held. I think she was just chilly....or the fact that she was so bundled she couldn't really move :)I know I have mentioned the botanical gardens next door to us...we love going down there in the summer and walking. During the winter they have a beautiful exhibit in the building with some of the trains from outside, a giant poinsettia tree with over 700 plants. It is in a pond and filled with cranberries, it's beautiful! We love going down there and Jane is obsessed with "choo choo's" right now so she loves it! It's free (normally $7 for everyone else!) so we are taking advantage. We finally talked Scott into taking a 30 minute break from studying yesterday and had him come along to one of our favorite outings right now. They have a big pond of giant goldfish and Jane loves them. She likes to stand up on the ledge like so........in fact she loves them SO much that last time we were there she successfully got in the pond with the fish!

This morning Scott and I did our own little Christmas with Jane since we are going to be in Utah for that day and we loved it. We got Jane a little stroller with a baby and a magnadoodle!

As soon as she saw the baby she said, "Baby! Baby! Baby!" She loves it so much and it is the cutest thing in the world to watch her with it. She picks up the baby and hugs it so tight to her and pats her on the head. Then she will put the doll back in the stroller, push it around, and then repeat the cycle. It is so fun to see her love on her so much. I wonder, where does she learn that? Is it really that innate for girls to be such nurture-ers?!We got her the magnadoodle because she loves coloring. The only problem is, every time she makes a mark on a piece of paper, she thinks she needs a new piece! So she'll make a mark and then she won't draw until she has a clean one! So we thought, genius! We'll get her this! She is still figuring out how to use it though, she's ticked she can't pull the "pen" where she wants it...she doesn't like that it's attached. So she's been carrying it around, wants us to draw on it and has the erasing part down! See her trying to yank the pen in this picture?! 30 dollars later, perfect Christmas! We were just saying how the kids don't need much more than that. Jane has been in heaven all day playing with her 2 new toys and it's perfect. We are going to try and make it a goal to keep presents for the kids simple from the beginning.

We're excited to take off to Utah Tuesday morning....sad we're leaving without Scott. We don't see him much anyways while he's studying for boards and finals and so it will be good to get out and we can't wait to see our family. Jane is going to have so much fun with her cousins. I can't wait for some new scenery! Just for Jane to run around somewhere else besides our house, the Children's museum, the Gardens, and Target will be great! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season!

Scaredyclause

I think she'll change her mind on Xmas morning of how she feels about Santa....We're going through some major stranger danger right now!

Classic though. Had to do it.

Day of Thanks

I took zero pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner. It was delicious and fabulous with our great friends. It was a beautiful day...high 60's actually so we were in heaven being able to walk off all our turkey and full tummies by enjoying the great weather! Jane was more in heaven than all of us....all her days of banging on the door to get out and she FINALLY got out to roam around. Boy was she roaming! She was loving it!

Wow, I am loving this girl so much lately. She is so adorable and fun right now.This made my whole Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful for these two loves of my life. Every Thanksgiving night here in downtown Omaha, they turn the Xmas lights on at 6pm. Don't let me fool you, it's no Temple Square, but it's so fun to see them turn on and really makes it feel like Christmas. We've gone down every year we've been here and last night was so fun because it was so warm! We've always bundled up hard core and been somewhat miserable, gulping down our hot chocolate....but this year we were in heaven with the weather. We hung out forever just listening to all the fun little bands on every street corner playing Christmas songs and letting the kids roam around. I really do love Omaha, it's been such a great place to live.

-Counting down the days till we go to Utah. It's hard having a toddler when it's freezing outside. So grateful for the Children's Museum and Target....our escapes.

-Made Scott's new favorite dinner the other night. It was yummo.

-I really want some of these for Xmas, and this, and these, and this hair.

-I've made a million of these lately. Fun for gifts and they're cute for Jane's out of control hair. Onto a new "first time" craft project.

-Can't decide what to do for neighbor gifts this year....everyone gives out delicious crap and I swear I always gain 10 pounds. Should I switch it up? Can't decide.

-Scott's in the process of doing a root canal on me. It's awful, I hate it, but I love looking up at his handsome face for 4 hours.

-In the process of switching Jane over to one nap. Everyone said when I go to 1 nap they will be super long. Not the case with Jane. She's only doing an hour and it used to be two 2-hour naps. I'm sort of missing those days but she's so stinking fun and hilarious right now I'm okay with it.

-And last but not least....I'm counting down the days to a blue bird ski day....with some serious powder would be nice. Serious cravings are taking place, gotta get up there while we're visiting.

November Ramblings

Halloween was classic. Jane was great. She got a sucker at her 1st house and it was all she wanted the rest of the night. Chelsea gave her the core of a caramel apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory with the stick and she held that puppy till she went to bed. She just wandered around in her little monkey suit looking at everyone in their costumes. -It's funny how when a holiday is over I'm so ready to move on by the very next day. After Halloween I took down all my decorations, threw out all my candy corns and candy and pumpkins in the trash. I love Thanksgiving. I'm excited for the month to focus on gratitude.

-I made these the other night, they were yummy. Also, these. Scott and I made these pretzel bites for confrence too last month and they were delish. Besides eating up a lot of my time, pinterest is good for my baking skills lately! So many fun things to try.

-Scott's been begging me to make caramel apples since our neighbors brought us one last year. Ali and I finally ate up the challenge. They were delicious, and quite beautiful too! Oreo, butterfinger, peanuts, almonds, cinnamon sugar, yum! Scott was thrilled. -Scott and I just finished what feels like an era to our night life...Friday Night Lights. Yep, we're just that cool. After 76 episodes (it's disgusting to think of all the hours we spent watching!) it has come to an end. We are still trying to adjust and find a new night time hobby.

-I love the mormon.org campaign. This past month they've started playing these awesome videos as commercials on tv here. It catches me off gaurd when I see them while watching Ellen or Rachael Ray. They're fabulous. My recent favorite is this one. I had no idea the lead singer of the Killers was a Mormon. He's darling (yes, I already told Scott how adorable he is). It's exciting to have this happen and to spread the word about what makes me so happy in my life.

-Graduation is coming up so fast. Scott and I have been talking so much about our future and where we want to end up...what our options are. It's such a huge decision and we're really wanting to do the right thing. There's part of us that wants to go back to Utah, there's another part that doesn't. I saw a quote the other day that said, "Have you prayed about it as much as you've talked about it?" Nope, definitely not. What a wonderful reminder. Here we are wanting to find somewhere that will be a great place to raise our family, somewhere Scott can make decent money to pay off our loans and make a comfortable living, somewhere skiing is closely accessible, that has a temple nearby, good schools, good people, etc. Such high expectations and so many options. Time to start praying more.

-I just read the most wonderful book. "All But My Life" by Gerda Weissman Klein. She survived the holocaust and she is so inspiring. I want to name my next little Gerda! I couldn't stop reading, I looked forward to getting on the elliptical each morning so I could read! I highly, highly recommend it.

-My dear friend Chelsea (who I'm going to die when she's not 100 yards away from me anymore) is having twins! I am so excited but in denial that I am moving away from her 6 weeks after these sweet babies are born. Let's just say that this gal has been through a lot and she deserves these little kiddos more than anyone I know.

-Loving the Biggest Loser this season. It's different than ever but I like the contestants, they all seem to get along so well and to just have fun! I love watching it while I work out! I just pretend they're yelling at me and it gets my butt in gear! haha you're laughing but it works!

-Can I just say that the older Jane gets, the more fun she is? I love this girl. She looks so big in this picture. She's not a baby anymore.

Mumzy comes to Omaha!

We LOVE visitors out here! My sweet mom took the time out of her crazy busy life to come spend a couple of days with us. I have been counting down the days for months and months and it finally came! It went by way too fast but we had the best time. The weather was absolutely perfect, we were all healthy, and we slammed in everything we wanted to for her stay. We went on plenty of walks and runs together, ate lots and lots and lots of Red Mango frozen yogurt. We cooked such yummy food here at home (I LOVE my mom's cooking and all her yummy veggies and salads), we never even had the need to go out to lunch or dinner while she was here. Jane loved having her around. It did take some time for her to get used to Mumzy being around. I didn't realize how much of a mama's girl she is until someone unfamiliar came along. It makes me sad that she doesn't know who her grandma is...it's so hard! But they had some good bonding and warmed up quickly :)
We went to Vala's Pumpkin Patch and had the best time:

We rode the tractor way out to the pummpkin patch and we couldn't believe how many pumkins there were! Thousands and thousands and thousands of pumpking and hundreds of acres of land. We finally decided on a pumpkin, covered in warts! We figured ours needed some personality! And it's darling sitting on the porch right now.We are so lucky to have the botanical gardens right next door to us with a FREE seasons pass all year round because of where we live. It is beautiful right now, and even Scott could finally join us for an activity!

We had to pack in the zoo too of course...We had to squeeze in one last Red Mango run on the way to dropping my mom off at the airport! My mom was smart....I'm pretty sure that Jane will remember and love anyone who will share their yogurt with her. It's her favorite treat too :) So they left on a good note!Mom, THANK YOU for coming. It means the world to have you come out. Can't wait to see you in December! xoxo

14 months

Well for heaven sakes, time is flying! Little miss Jane is 14 months.

Just a few interesting things about Jane as of late:
-She is getting much better at eating....finally. Still battle with the vegetables but she's golden on the fruits and dairy products (oh, and sugar....notice how she's guilty of stealing candy corn in the pic above?). Also, thank heavens for ranch (which Scott and I both despise) but it helps her get her protein and meats.
-She is all over the place with walking....but yet to crawl or attempt to climb up the stairs (which is super convenient for me right now).
-Intrigued by everything around her....has to stop and look and study everything closely.
-Chatterbox. Just the last few days she is repeating so much of what I'm saying, it's crazy! Her favorite words are doggie, baby, uh oh, no (yikes!), buddy, bubble, mama, dadda, wa-wa (water), baba (bottle), apple, up, mine (yikes again!), go-go (red mango), yummo, peas (please).
-DANCING queen! This girl has got the moves, whether it's a commercial or music playing she gets going to the beat. It's our favorite.
-Still constipated (still throwin' in some milk of magnesia or mineral oil in her milk).
-Jane bangs on the door all day to get out if we're inside. Winter is going to be killer.
-Her favorite thing of all is books. She reads them to herself or loves to have them read to her. We read lots and lots of books, but they have to have flaps to lift or textures to touch, otherwise she's bored.
-Finally learning to love cuddling (hallelujah)! We are loving it.
-She has to show you everything she has. If she has something she'll hold it up high in the air until you acknowledge it and say, "Oh do you have a ___? Cool!" Then she'll rest.
-7 teeth, 8th just broke through.
-Just got full on pigtails on Sunday for the first time, SO cute!!! But I have to bribe her majorly, she hates when I try and do her hair. It's a daily battle.
-When Jane cries or throws a fit, all you have to do is pick her up, redirect her to something else and say the word, "look!" and she's done! We are so grateful for that word.
-Hates when I take pictures of her. She used to be such a pro, now it's hurry and bolt!
-Sass-a-frass! This girl is learning what she wants and is not afraid to be a little pistol...but most of the time the sweetest thing and such a bundle of joy. Love that gal.
Like I said, pictures are hard to come by lately, hence the not looking at the camera!
And the pigtail documentation:

Fall Festivities

Lately we have been up to lots of "Fall" activities. The weather has been absolutely perfect and the leaves are changing so quickly before our eyes! We are taking major advantage of the outdoors before we live through the dreaded winter. I am starting to have anxiety about this winter since Jane and I are outside playing probably (no lie) 5 hours a day or more. She bangs on the door whenever we're inside just wanting to get out. It's gonna be a rough one.

Lots of pics in this post. We have this amazing place here called Vala's pumpkin patch, but it's not really like a pumpkin patch...more like a "harvest party/pumpkin" patch on steroids. There are tons of activities, tractor rides, pig races, petting zoo, live bands playing, a giant pit of corn kernals to play in, ginormous bubbles to jump on the size of a football field, playgrounds, campfires, tricycle races, you name it! I went with my best bud Al and her two little boys. We had a great time!I'm pretty sure Jane thinks Owen and Anders are her big brothers...they are so sweet with Jane.

This isn't a great picture of Jane but this was her very favorite thing...this giant bin of corn kernals. She was in heaven! (although she's really looking like she's miserable)Another place we hit up was Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. This is where Arbor Day was started and this place was so neat. It was a huge apple orchard, corn maze, tons of outdoor activities, a HUGE treehouse, tractor rides, etc. We had a great time here too!Like I said, we're outside basically all day except for nap time! Jane is running all over the place and it is so much fun. She loves running through the leaves and hearing them crunch under her feet. She's still always got something in her hand whether it's leaves, a stick, a rock, stealing someone's pumpkins of their porch, or right now she's obsessed with balls. She loves to throw it and then go pick it up. We are happy campers :) I love our little family, our little home, and our little life. Couldn't ask for much more.