Ringing in the New Year

A little summary of the past few days.... Christmas was beautiful and white (yes, we got snow and icey roads here in DFW just so that we don't miss Omaha too much ;).) We spent Christmas Eve at our friends' house in Lewisville where the kids got to open  early Christmas presents and enjoy a nice dinner. As I was coming down with a cold, our Christmas dinner was very simple yet yummy (smoked ham, sweet potatoe casserole, green beans casserole, bread rolls, fruit cake/chec, and gingerbread cookies), and we gobbled pretty much everything down. Ella loved all her presents (and she got quite a few) and so did we! Thanks mama. tata, family, and all the dear friends that spoiled us with gifts. They were all lovely! Then I got really sick with this cold, thought it was the flu, went in to see a doctor, started some antibiotics, didn't see much improvement, so went back in to see another doctor, and I'm finally a little bit better today. Been pretty much miserable having gotten no sleep two nights in a row but still happy and grateful for my blessings. It turns out that it's my allergies acting up. Hopefully I'll get them under control.

We're so proud of out little Ella, she adjusted so well already to her new school, she is in the pre-kindergarten class, loves her teachers and is working on making new friends. She did confess to me that she misses the Goddard school friends and teachers. That was indeed an awesome place for her.

We love our new hometown, lots to do and see, to connect with. Unfortunately haven't been able to do much of anything due to my being sick but I so look forward to getting out of the house and doing some more exploring. Looking forward to meeting our ward, already got in touch with the bishop and the Relief Society president and they seem really nice, found out we have a returned sister missionary from Romania living in the ward, excited to meet her, a couple of families in the ward living right next door and across the street from us.

In a few hours Romania will be ringing in the New Year in, so I'd better hurry and make my phone calls as the lines will get crazy busy through tomorrow.

Happy New Year everyone!!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Make a Smilebox greeting

First letters!!!!!

Ella wrote for the first time tonight! She wrote the letters that make up her name. She has not done this before so I think this is HUGE!!!!!! Here's some pics to prove it :-) It's true she didn't write them in order and ON THE COVER of the notebook but oh well, she did write her first letters.

Create

I love this video clip. It's so inspiring and motivating to me... Isn't it wonderful that we can create so many beautiful things in so many ways?

See Ella on Santa's List

Ella made Santa's List http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/104533-odrida2009/ - Send your Picture to Santa and See Which List You've Made This Year
SOMETHING FUN TO DO FOR YOUR KIDS! They'll love it.

Let it snow...

It's been snowing in good ol' Omaha for the past 36 hrs continuously and is going keep coming down through tomorrow evening: winter storm/blizzard weather alerts throughout the state... The joys of living in the midwest... However this has been a great place for us with lovely and kind people. We love it as it is our first home. It's that kind of love like your first love... well the comparison may be a bit of a stretch. But honestly I think Omaha will always have a special place in our hearts. Ella loves it and it's home for her. She's a Corn Husker baby who by the way got it in her little head that we should have another baby, maybe a Texas baby...she is actually been telling her preschool teacher and a few other acquaintances that mommy is expecting a baby. Funny kid she is! We're always amazed at the cute things she comes up with!
Back to Omaha, we really liked it all except for the winter weather that I could never get accustomed to, way too cold, way too harsh.

As we're approaching Christmas, I hope I can keep the Spirity of giving, of love, and of peace with me every day until Christmas and afterwards. I'm grateful for loving family and friends, for opportunities, for challenges, for trials, for the power of prayer and the power of obedience that makes us so much better and gets us closer to God. We're had quite a weekend again with some sickness in the house and I know that only sincere prayer and obedience got us back to healthy.

Back to Omaha again... a few things I love about this place:
-amazing summer skies and especially storm skies
-hot summer days (notice the pattern? "summer"....)
-fun and laid back midwestern atmosphere
-hard working people
-Omaha steaks!
-huge state parks
-buildling our first home here
-having our first born here
-having a temple close by (a beautiful temple)
-getting our first  jobs out of college here...
-and boy, almost forgot: MEETING MY HUSBAND-TO-BE HERE! All these "firsts" along with the other things on my little list make this a very special place. Will miss you Omaha...

Christmas

I found this on a friend of a friend's blog... it's sooo sweet. Love the voices of the children telling the amazing story of the 1st Christmas in such beautifully simple words...