Christmas in Nebraska

We spent Christmas in Nebraska this year. It wasn't easy packing all the presents but somehow we made it up there on the Thursday before Christmas and Gracie did great. We even ate lunch in the car and she gulped up her kids Subway sandwich. She loves Subway :) While making a pit stop in Wichita, KS it started snowing.

It was the tiniest snow flakes you've ever seen but still snow.  She's really gotten good at coloring too. Very fun. She took about an hour nap after both of us screaming at her to close her eyes. Phew!

When we finally made it Gracie was thrilled to finally get there! Grandma cooked a spaghetti dinner for us. The next day Kelly and Grandma did some last minute shopping and Gracie, Grandma and I did some shopping too. We did find a pile of leftover snow that Gracie couldn't wait to jump in.

Later that night Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs came down. Gracie and I hadn't seen them since Amber's wedding almost 3 years ago!! The rest of the family was there too on Friday. We headed out for some family pics. The only whole family pic was last from Amber's wedding!  Here's what we got:

We also got  a good one with Grandma and Grandpa with the kids...

The kids played their little hearts out at the park. They were all ready for good naps :) After naps it was time for church. All the kids did great in the service. 2 years ago I had to leave with Gracie b/c it was dark and loud she got so scared and was bawling! One funny thing that happened. She got on my lap during the service at one point and then had some gas while sitting on me. We both got tickled and were trying not to laugh! Then she said "I tooted Mommy. Do you smell it? Do you???" It was hilarious!!

After church we rushed home, had dinner, then got a special surprise......

SANTA CAME!!!!!
The kids thought it was great :) He came with gifts for all the kids and it was fun. I have some videos I'll have to post another time.

The kids opened more presents than you can imagine!! It took over an hour for us to get through them all. They were showered with gifts. After all the gift opening the kids went to bed late and the adults played games. It was fun.

The next day was Christmas and some of the family had to leave to visit other sides of the family. We had a quiet day with the Grandparents. Grandma cooked a good pork roast and we enjoyed the beautiful day outside!

She didn't even wear a coat on Christmas Day in Nebraska! Crazy!! 

Amber came back later that night to tell us good-bye! These monkeys!!

The next day we got up super early and made the long trek home. Gracie was very sad to leave her Grandma! We made it home and were so happy to get home. Home Sweet Home!

Last Days in Nebraska

The last few days in Nebraska we spent playing at Grandma and Grandpa’s. We did some shopping, eating lunch out, and going back to the lake again. Gracie spent most of her time doing this…

GG and I have sorta made a break through with Gracie and wearing dresses. Before we left Texas GG made her bring a dress and she called it a ‘long shirt’. Now Gracie doesn’t mind wearing them and calls them ‘long shirts’. Too funny. She even wanted to wear her frilly pj’s and even slept in the skirt

She mostly loved swimming in her clothes. That made her the happiest!

We hit a Nebraska sports store and all got decked out in fall gear. You can’t see her shirt but it says Little Husker. Her new team shirt!

Gracie loved helping Grandma in the kitchen. One day they made a strawberry shortcake. She loved helping to do the dishes at night. Why does she never offer to help me at home???

The last night there we went back to the lake but to a different side so Gracie could fish. It was scorching hot so she didn’t even want to be in the water much but she did a little fishing. She would NOT wear a hat so we compromised and she wore sunglasses.

 

She was about as patient as she could be. Grandpa and Daddy stayed out with her and finally…..

SHE GOT ONE!!

She was so proud

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa for a good time!!

Water Park & the Lake

Sunday morning Gracie woke up ready to go to church with Grandma. After church and lunch we met up with Easton and Matison to go to the water park. It sure was hot so we were glad to be around the water!

   It was super sunny so all I got was squinty eyes! The kids had a blast though!

After the waterpark we had to say goodbye to Easton and Matison and Auntie Dana. They had to go back home. Gracie was sad to see them go and sure missed them at the house!

The sun and water wore this girl out so she took a good long afternoon nap. When she woke up we headed to a local lake that people live around to visit some of the Gauger’s friends. The lake was really nice and was the clearest lake water I have EVER seen!

They had a huge sand pit so Gracie just played away in the sand.

Sorry Grandma! I loved this shot

 

Gracie spent a little time in the water. She wasn’t liking the water that much, she just preferred the sand bar.

They had a dock that Kelly kept jumping off into the lake. Gracie followed him over there once. He asked her to jump off and she said “no!” I did not think she’d do it either. She’s done the diving board but that was nothing compared to this. Obvisoulsy she was really intrigued by it. Kelly told her she didn’t have to but she said she just wanted to. He counted to 3 and she jumped off! I never would have thought she’d do it and of coarse my camera was away from me but this is the dock she jumped off the end by the spring board!

She was one proud girl but did NOT want to do it again

We were proud of her too!!

Kansas/Nebraska

We left last week and headed to Kansas City. Kelly has several friends that live there that he never gets to see so we decided to do something different this year!

all set to go! We only had about a 7 hour drive so it wasn’t bad.

lunch stop in Tulsa, Ok

That night we played with friends. All of Kelly’s friends in KC have kids so they all came over. The kids played really well together. I never took out my camera so no group pics. One point the kids played hide and seek. I found Gracie and one of the boys (age 5) had locked themselves in the bathroom. They had a great spot but I made them come out!!

It was pretty hot in KC but they had a fun swing set that Gracie loved.

Gracie was exhausted when we got back in the car to drive to Nebraska. We had planned on driving up to Omaha to spend the day with more friends but the road from KC to Omaha was closed due to flooding. What a nightmare. We had to backtrack and go pretty far West and ended up having a 7 hour car trip when it should have only taken 3 1/2. We couldn’t even go to Omaha so went straight to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. At least she slept a little bit on this day but it was a LONNNNG day!

Gracie was super excited to finally be at Grandma and Grandpa’s house! We ordered pizza for dinner and Gracie jumped on Grandpa’s Harley

Easton and Matison came into town for the night so I took advantage and had a cousin’s pic at the park.

This was after some playing of coarse so they were all hot and sweaty. It was super muggy and HOT!

The kids acting like the weather was just perfect meanwhile Grandma and I were sweating to death!!

I was like chopped liver. Neither one of these kids would let me push them on the swings. They only wanted Grandma so she was running from swing to swing to swing!

All kids had a nice bath when we got home

In Nebraska

We're in Nebraska! Gracie is having a great time. We've been gone since last week and coming home tomorrow. I have a lot of pictures to load and get posted so stay tuned.

This little on is sure getting spoiled by her Grandma and loving every second of it :)

Last Day in Nebraska

We spent our last day in Nebraska busy, busy with family and play time. After our park visit Gracie took a LOOONNNGGG nap and it was so nice After she woke up we did a little shopping then came back to make Christmas cookies. Gracie was all excited to do the sprinkles. That’s all she talked about!

 

We brought up Christmas presents for everyone and Grandma loved her Snuggie!!

Gracie and Auntie Amber. She and Uncle Mitch came in from South Dakota! Gracie was loving the bubble wrap. The kids went to down stomping on all the bubbles!

We ended up letting the kids unwrap a few presents too. Gracie went to down opening gifts. She wanted everything we got Mati (of coarse) and then went crazy when Easton and Mati got her this adorable hippo tent!!

 

Gracie invited all her babies and cousins in her tent right away!!

She was in heaven unwrapping gifts. She got princess books, a fun Dora guitar, a sweet music box, and her hippo tent. The whole way home she kept saying “you bring’d my tent Mommy? Is my tent in the car Mommy?” As soon as she stepped foot in our house she said she wanted her tent out!

Gracie did a great job on the way too to Texas. She screamed a few times that she wanted to go home but I just screamed right back at her (that we wanted to go home too!) That long drive can make you go a little stir crazy. We ate lunch in the car to save time but we stopped for a little ice cream Gracie read lots of books.

And she was beyond thrilled that I let her wear her pj’s in the car! Her feet were frozen though. The girl would not keep on her socks! When we stopped once I even let her sit in the front seat for a minute.

She loved that!!  But it only lasted a few minutes then it was back to the car seat in the back.

We had a great visit to Nebraska!!