Tis the Season....

As we get closer to the holiday season, we've been celebrating, learning, dancing and playing. We've had fun this year with our Elf on the Shelf named Prince. He has been watching Madison and Parker to determine if they have been naughty or nice. We try to find him every morning before we go to school. You never know where he will be.

This weekend we had Cerner childrens holiday party. The kids had a morning filled with donating hats and scarfs to children in need, followed a candy cane path for treats, decorate cookies, color, have some more treats, see the Sugar Plum fairy, and met Santa. Madison was so excited, she wants cookies for Christmas and that is what she told Santa..in the very short time she had as her brother wanted nothing to do with Santa. Once they visited Santa, they received dinosaur and monster books, what a hit.

After the party it was cookie time, so Madison made and helped decorate cookies, in her Princess dress no less. It does not matter if it is inside out, backwards, half on or upside down, as long as she is wearing her Princess dress she is in love.

Madison and Parker love to dance, what a great time for Christmas music and a little Brotherly/Sisterly love...

Cerner Kids Photo's

Nebraska at Michigan

Jen and I went to the Nebraska/Michigan game in late November.   We flew out on a Friday and met Jen's cousins Dave and Sue at the airport in Detroit.  They had flown from Omaha and landed a few minutes before us.   We spent Friday night in downtown Plymouth Michigan eating at an Italian restaurant on the square and frequenting a couple of Irish bars.   We ended up spending most of our time at my favorite hangout (when we lived in Plymouth) Doyle's.  There we met up with old friends and neighbors.   It was great hanging out, telling old stories and catching up on the new ones.   We left that night later than we planned, but it was well worth it.

The next day we got up and drove to Ann Arbor to tailgate with another set of friends I've known for a long time.   While it was very cold, they had plenty to eat.  Anytime you can sit around talking college football, that is a great day.   They had a great tailgate setup with TV's and a nice stereo.  

As we headed to the game we notice the lights were out.  AA had a power outage so it felt very old school for the first half.  The game was not what we expected and I know the team could have done better.   As for the stadium itself, I was surprised that the band was micro phoned and played through the speakers.  I also thought the half time show was comically bad.  Michigan did a tribute to viral youtube videos that included showing a video and then playing the song or a song related to the video.   The viral videos they showed included 'Charlie bit my finger', 'two hand dance', 'tralololo' and 'rainbows'.  Michigan has a great band, but this was awful to watch. 

That night we went back to Plymouth to hand out at Doyle's and try to forget about how our team played.   Reflecting it was a great trip.  It was great showing Dave and Sue where we used to live and what made Plymouth so special.   It was great seeing old friends again.  It was great feeling like we were home.   Despite the game, we had a great time.

First trip with the kids has been decided

We've been thinking about taking the kids on a mini vacation to see how they do in a hotel like environment. Outside of grandma's the kids have not stayed the night anyplace else but home. There has been several options we have explored, such as Branson, Table Rock, Lake of the Ozarks and just camping at smithville lake. But we decide a nice trip to Mahoney. We will be renting a cabin (yes, I know... Not quite the hotel experience, but it will be new) in April and spending the weekend enjoying the park and most likely, a trip to the Omaha Zoo. I am very excited to see the kids enjoy the outdoors.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live

On Sunday, we attended Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Kansas City. The kids enjoyed the colorful characters and the dancey dance music. The show started at 5pm and ended around 6:15pm. After the show we had tickets for a meet and greet. This is where we were able to take pictures with the characters, dance with them, listen to stories, play games and have snacks. The kids had a great time. Also, during the show Madison was singing some of the songs. She was saying, "All my friends are different, but we love them just the same." We had a great time and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Darin and I are still recovering as we keep hearing the same songs over and over.