Cruise Booking

 I'm slowly working on a full on blog post about our cruise.  Because it was so fun, and because I've finally made a photo book about it, I'm sharing that until the other post is up.

Here it is!

A Martin Luther King Jr. day letter

I'm kinda awful.  It wasn't until last week when we were on vacation (I'm sure I'll post about that in May or June), that I did not do my traditional Christmas and/or New Years Message from our family.  It just so happens that today is a holiday so I guess I'm still writing a holiday letter.

We had an awesome year in 2012.  Most dramatically we have seen Sam transform from a baby into a toddler and have seen Jack mature into a typical little boy losing any remnants of toddlerhood.  I have continued to enjoy by job and have become much more confident as an attorney.  I continue to be grateful that Joy is such a great attorney to work for, and that she is so generous with her time teaching me along the way.

Jess has continued at Nelnet as a Business Analysis and although I'm still not sure technically what that means, he shows me really cool things that he's learned how to do on the computer.  He really enjoys and appreciates his boss as well. He has continued to do triathlons and races throughout the year and is already signed up for a few this year as well.  I love that the boys get to see him being active, it is a great example.  

Jack has been involved in a whirlwind of activities including dance, track club, swimming lessons, Sunday School, and being a great kid at Trinity.  He has had an amazing year with Kathy and Peggy as his teachers.  He's learned to write his name, he can count above 50 and he remembers EVERYTHING.  He is into batman, mario, and transformers, loves to be a helper to both me and Jess.  He is a great teacher for Sam, sometimes too good of a teacher.  I find myself saying "monkey see, monkey do" as Jack jumps off one thing or another.  He has the sweetest voice and is really an all around great kid. 

Sam has been so fun to watch this year as he has transformed into a big boy.  His vocabulary exploded this fall, especially around Christmas.  He loves to sing along and to give holiday greetings.  He has also developed a very fun personality complete with dancing along to a very stupid Saturday Night Live skit.  It is amazing to see the transformation in his personality as the year has progressed.  We have had great teachers for him at Trinity as well and are SOOOOO excited that he is in Kayla and Amy's room where Jack started at Trinity.  We developed such a strong love for Trinity because of those two and are so excited for Sam to get to share in that opportunity.  He has even been involved in swim lessons this year too.  His favorite activity is following his big brother and copying what he's doing.  He also loves Little Bear, just like his Butz cousins and big brother have.  He continues to be a bit of a mamma's boy, but is warming up to others.  There isn't much baby left in him.  He's ready for his birthday; I'm ready for him to be potty trained.

We've had an amazing year as a family, which was filled with lots of fun.  We bought a camper, spent several (but not enough) weekends at the cabin, went on a Cruise, saw the Black Keys, and tried to make our everyday lives exciting too.  We have been blessed with good health, and great people in our lives.  We are so thankful that God has provided us with what we need and allowed us to live such an enjoyable life this year.  Blessings to you all on this historic day. 

Nonnie's Visit

 Nonnie came to Nebraska to visit in September.  Pershings drove to Arizona and drove Nonnie back to Nebraska.  We spent the afternoon at Pershings house in Hastings spending time with Nonnie. 

 Jack was THRILLED to see Nonnie and gave her a huge hug when we got there.  Sam...was not so outgoing.  I tried my hardest to get him to say Nonnie and he kind of gave in at the end, but whooo. 

Steph came over to say hi for just a minute, and we ended our visit with a trip to the Barrel Bar. (To all of my Hastings area family:  This is my favorite Hastings supper at a restaurant).  I loaded the boys into mom and dad's car and I headed back to Lincoln.   This was the beginning of a great week for the boys in Holdrege and for Jess and I on our cruise. 

Catching Up Again

I'm not going to lie, I'm not entirely committed to this blog anymore (as evidenced by my sporadic posts and this being the second "catch up" post in about 18 months).

I do enjoy looking back and having a narrative to my photos that helps me remember some of the things that I may have otherwise forgotten.  And, I know how much I enjoy it when a blogger I follow has a new post, so Mom (since I'm sure you're the only one still interested), I'm making sure you've seen the following posts.

I have posted several times over the spring/summer, but usually date them on or about the time of the events that I'm writing about and have moved one or two posts around so to recap, since March, I've posted the following posts:

Going Swimming

Fall Behind (I think I posted this out of order... but don't remember)

Birthdays X3 (I think I posted this out of order)

Happy Holidays

More Swimming

Mr. & Mrs. Osborn

Marchety March

Camping in March 

Spring Flung

June Bugs

The Strawberries Taste Like Strawberries

The Green Machine has Just Arrived!

Happy 4th of July!

Trinity Time!

She Works Hard for the Money

Weekend Together

Trinity Time!

I've mentioned these two things before: it was hot as Hades this summer, and we LOVE the boy's school!!  So on an incredibly Hot Sunday (that sure narrows it down) we decided that we still needed to play at a park.  We knew Trinity would be both shady and not busy. 

We were right, we had the whole place to ourselves and the shade that we expected.  It was lots of fun to get to see how both boys play on "their" playground.  I think they enjoyed having the relaxed rules that come about when there are only two kiddos on the playground. 

Thanks Trinity, WE LOVE YOU!

She work's hard for the money.

We had Jill take our pictures again (actually just the boys this time) and as the title of the post indicates, SHE IS ONE HECKOFA HARD WORKER!

It was HOT!  I don't know if you remember this summer, but in Lincoln we had about 1/4 in. of rain between the first of June and the end of August (not scientific, but if you look it up, I'm not far off).  So it was HOT, not like 88 degrees, more like 102 degrees the evening we were taking these pictures. 

And then there's Sam... who was very cute so long as his back was to the camera.  It took some major coaxing and tricking to get pictures of him smiling. 

Thankfully Jack had no shortage of smiles; unfortunately, when he smiles so big, I think it pinches something in his ears that makes him not be able to hear my directions. 

(There was a lot of this)

But she really was able to capture both boys as they really are.  Sam is either subdued or crazy; Jack is always sweet but sometimes ornery. 

She also really captured how Sam is trying to become a big boy... just like his brother.

It was a lot of fun working with Jill again, even if it was a million degrees.

As I was driving away (sweating) all I could think of was Agador Sparticus (Hank Azaria) singing "she works hard for the money" in the Birdcage admiring how hard Jill worked to get these shots!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/JSwim-Photography/106081292831900
http://jswimphoto.weebly.com
http://jswimphoto.blogspot.com

If you are unfortunate enough not to know the scene in the Birdcage, I've included it below...and if you love the movie as much as I do, you're welcome!

** The first 20 seconds is the "hard for the money" part, but I've included the longer Agador Sparticus montage becuase it is just too funny!  ***They do say the "f-word" as the clip goes on so be aware of that!! 

Happy 4th of July!!

No, really, I mean Happy 4th of July!

The boys had their Nebraska  4th of July parade at school the 3rd of July.  

As you can see above, Sam hated it!

Jack loved it and keeps calling it the Nebraska parade.

For the weekend after the 4th, we headed to the cabin. 

It was a super special time at the cabin because the Egger girls were there!!!

The guys did a huge fish fry since they'd just got back from Canada.

It was a pretty sweet weekend.