Snowed In

Today there are 3 very unhappy girls snowed in at Papa Mike's and Grandma ReRe's house. We had hoped to make it home to Manhattan to spend New Year's Eve/Chad's birthday with him, but it is snowing too hard in Kansas for us to make it home safely. We did make the best of it. Armed with party supplies, we settled in at Papa & Gradma's for the festivities. We ate and drank well. Watched the ball drop at Times Square. We skyped with Chad, twice. We also created a game so that on every hour we did something fun and crazy to help the time pass. From playing Limbo, to setting goals for the new year. We baked cookies, danced to silly songs, and laughed a lot. Even though it wasn't the way the 3 Lohman girls would have wanted to spend NYE, we still enjoyed ourselves and had a great night.

Sledding

Papa Mike and I finished our work early today to head back to Council Bluffs to go sledding with the girls and Grandma ReRe. Not far from Papa's house is a church with a very big hill. This is "the sledding hill." The girls and Grandma had already visited the sledding hill twice this week and had a ball sledding down as much as they could. When Papa and I saw this hill we couldn't believe that Grandma and the girls actually sledded down this mammoth hill. At the bottom of the hill is a row of trees right before a small stream. If you get enough momentum you could end up in the stream. Wouldn't you know it, the second time Campbell slides down the hill, I am bracing myself and screaming for Campbell to put her feet down because she was just feet away from the trees and stream. I braved the hill myself a couple of times. It was a wild and fun ride!! Papa even took a turn and slid down. It was a treasure to see the girls' delight in showing us what they had been up to and how excited they were that we participated.

Girls Night Out

The girls and I headed out on the town of Council Bluffs tonight for some dinner and shopping. We ate dinner at Panda Express. Next we ventured out in search of birthday party gift bag items. The best part was that right in this one shopping area close to Papa's house there are so many stores. We hit: Hobby Lobby, Dollar Store, Gordman's, Toys R Us, Charming Charlies, and Target. Not only did we find some cool goodies to give to party guests, we enjoyed some Fro-Yo at Orange Leaf.

Demo Work

The girls and I set off for Iowa today. We hope to spend 5 days at Papa Mike and Grandma ReRe's house. The girls will be busy with Grandma while Papa and I travel to Oakland to work on his new project. Papa has purchased a new rental house. We need to do some demo work in this 100 year old house before Dad can hire some work done in it to fix it up and rent it out. It should be a hard week of work, but a fun one too.

Christmas Night

We arrived at Oma & Opa's house on Christmas night. We were going to celebrate with Oma, Opa, Jeremy, and Beth. An evening of food, wine, reminiscing, and laughter. The girls enjoy passing out the gifts. Ace & Jack enjoy sneaking food while we aren't looking. It is always a late night, but so much fun.

Christmas # 2

We set off to Herington for Christmas lunch and gifts at Grandma Debe & Papa Butch's house.

Christmas Day

The girls are awake whispering. They can't contain themselves. It is Christmas morning and they are ready to rush downstairs and find out what gifts Santa has brought them.

Vacation Days

Today is the start of my 16 days off of work! Thanks to weekends & holidays (closed office days) I only have to take 4 vacation days to enjoy those 16 days off. Looking forward to being home with my girls. Enjoying the multiple Christmases we celebrate. Traveling to Iowa to spend time with my dad to help with a big demo project. I can't wait!

Christmas begins

The holidays are here. Christmas is here. Today we traveled out to Herington to celebrate Bailey's 11th birthday. We also are spending the weekend to celebrate Christmas with Kelly, Pat, Bailey, Ryland, Papa Mike and Grandma ReRe. It's going to be a fun filled weekend. Bring on the food, drinks, and laughs.

Snow Day

Wouldn't you know it, the day before the last day of school before Christmas Break, just happens to be a Snow Day. The girls stayed home and played outside with the neighbor kids. They all went sledding and built snowmen. It was a bummer that I had to work. Thanks Ali!

Sublette

We made a long overdue trip out to Western Kansas this weekend to visit our good friends, The Watson's. They live in Sublette. Chad picked the girls up early from school and we headed out around noon. We needed to make it to Sublette in time to watch Taylor's basketball games. Sublette won the game! Taylor started the game and played very well. Our girls cheered her on, they also enjoyed the food from the concession stand. After the girls game, we stayed to watch the boys game. Taylor played in the band during that game. It was a fun Friday night in Hometown USA. We always enjoy just being together, watching tv, catching up on life, and planning for the future get togethers. The four kids keep busy and it is unique to watch how much our two girls admire and look up to Taylor. From how she does her hair to her personalized tennis shoes. After a good ole' lunch at the Cattleman's Cafe, the kids went to play at the Rec Center. Everyone enjoyed their time together, which makes that boring 4 1/2 hour drive so well worth it!

Beauty and the Beast

Chad was able to get 4 tickets to the amazing "Beauty and the Beast" show at McCain auditorium. It was a wonderful and breathtaking performance. Beautiful costumes, amazing singing, so true to the story. While the play ran long and the time was late, all in all the girls held up alright.

KSU Graduation

Today April and Leif will graduate with their degrees from Kansas State University.

Wine Tasting

Tonight was the Nespor's Holiday Wine Tasting. After a year off, we came back with something new. A new logo, new invites, new location, and new caterer. My sister and her husband came over to enjoy the party and brought our girls back to town for us. Cooper, Campbell, and my niece Bailey all helped work the wine tasting, by greeting guests, taking coats, clearing dishes, and refilling food trays. It was a very successful event and we received many compliments.

Weekend with Grandma

My mom offered to have the girls out to spend the weekend at her house. We had some things to accomplish around the house and for the upcoming wine tasting. The girls had a great time. With Christmas just around the corner, the weather cooperated so they enjoyed the Holiday Parade. Grandma also took them bowling. It's always a treat to go to Grandma's house and help take care of the puppies. Thanks mom!

Breaking Dawn Part 2

I missed the opening shows of Breaking Dawn part 2 (just happened to be out of town - in Vegas). But my friend, Michelle, volunteered to go see the movie again with me. She said she didn't mind because the movie was just that good. After seeing it, I'd have to agree with her. Wow!! What a twist! What a good ending to a great series.

Christmas Spectacular

I got 3 tickets from work today to preview the show "Christmas Spectacular" at the Columbian Theater in Wamego for tonight's showing. So the girls and I loaded up and headed off to the show. It was filled with great actors, lots of singing, new and old Christmas songs, and some very talented young kids. It was a fun and different night out for us girls.

Wii Club

Cooper has chosen to participate in an afterschool Math club called the Wii Club for the next 4 weeks. It meets twice a week afterschool. Her Math teacher is really into Math and has gotten a grant to sponsor this club. The kids use the Wii to bowl and also use the Ipad and collect data. They bowl both with their left hand and their right hand. They compare and contrast their scores and the what effects the data. I'm excited Cooper has this opportunity to try something new with lots of technology.

Thanksgiving at our house

We invited family and friends to our house this year for Thanksgiving. The weather was warm and sunny. We had a house full of family and friends. Delicious food was in surplus. We had borrowed Oma & Opa's Wii and rented Just Dance 4. The girls love to help me get ready for a party, so with tables set, decorations made, placecards assigned; it was finally time to eat! Everyone took turns on the Wii dance and we laughed until our sides hurt. We also took one day and went Ice Skating. Papa Mike was the official photographer. It was a very enjoyable holiday. So glad we did it!