Life as Nebraskans!

Yes, we are alive here in Omaha and things are going great! I have been meaning to post pictures of the things that we are doing but every time Will takes a nap I think of a hundred things that I can finally get done. To start off, we love Omaha so far! I know we haven't experienced a mid-west winter, so ask me again in a couple of months what I think of Omaha then. Just to give you an idea of how wimpy I am, the other night Will was playing outside and I had a sweatshirt on plus my warmest jacket (this was the heaviest jacket I wore the entire time I lived in Phoenix) and I was freezing! Grant came out and warned me I was in for a long winter if I was freezing in 53 degrees. Anyways, Collette has been asking me to post pictures of our house/townhouse that we are living in, so now that I finally got all of our decorations up, I could take pictures to post. This is the front of our house.

I love our location because we are on the end of a row (obviously) and we have trees and shade around us almost the whole day. It is nice too because then Will has the area in the front, on the side of our house (which I actually do hate when he plays there because there is cat poo all over!) and then the back area too. He LOVES it! I don't think I can emphasize that one enough! He is the happiest little boy in the world when we gets to go outside and dig in the dirt, throw sticks and play with his new little friend Corbin.

Next, here is the front entrance. I included this one because now you can see the Halloween subway art that I made this week. I have mixed feelings on it. I love it because I did it for $1 and I like the idea of what I was doing, but it bugs me too when I look at it from far away because it is more obvious that some of the words are crooked! I drives me crazy! But I'm not about to do it again because Halloween is only a week away and it really isn't my favorite holiday!

Here is another picture closer up of it!

Next it goes off to the left into our tiny kitchen! It only has three drawers! This was the hardest room for me to organize because I had to choose which things I would use the most and then the other kitchen stuff I had to put in our storage room downstairs on some shelves in there. Oh well though! I'm actually getting used to it now!

After the entryway, you go into the living room/dining area.

Then this is where we go upstairs. Sorry, these are probably more pictures than most of you really care to see, but since I was going to do this post, I might as well include everything.

Upstairs is where both of the bedrooms are. Here is Will's room. The little train set on the ground was his birthday present from Grant and I. He plays with it nonstop! Before bedtime and naptime I have to put the trains up on the dresser because it is a temptation this little boy cannot resist! The first time he went down for his nap in his toddler bed, it was less than 1 minute after I walked out that I heard the little train going.

Next here is Grant's and my room. Nothing too exciting because I haven't figured out yet how I want to decorate the walls. If anyone has any cute (and cheap) ideas, I would love suggestions!

Back down in the living room, here is a picture where you go downstairs. Also included is another Halloween decoration that I made a couple of weeks ago.

Downstairs is where we have designated as Grant's "office." Even though he likes to keep it nice and organized, it is sometimes impossible because one of Will's favorite games is throwing his balls up and down the stairs. I thought within the first couple of weeks it would get old but apparently not. He loves to throw balls and throwing them up and down stairs makes it that much more fun! Obviously, the basement is another place where the walls need some creative attention! Painted cinder blocks really aren't that attractive!

The only room left that I haven't shown (besides the bathrooms) is the storage room and I'm sorry that room is NOT for show! It is still a work in progress. Maybe someday if I ever get it organized and it looks fantastic, I will post a picture, but more than likely you will never see it unless you come visit! Well, I know that was a lot of pictures but I figured what the heck since I'm posting about it, I might as well include EVERYTHING!

In the last two months since we have been here, we have been to the Omaha zoo a handful of times. I think we have gone almost once a week! I LOVE this zoo though! It is one of the top 5 in the country. I love it because the animals are so active! Everytime I go, I always see some of the animals doing something amazing! Such as, the polar bear swimming in the water right up by the glass for us to see, the gorillas posing again the glass, the little baby gorilla less than 2 ft tall playing with his mom, grandma and grandpa (Will loves gorillas too!), the female lions wrestling with each other than one walking right over to where Will and I are and putting here face right up against the glass so we were just inches away from her! (thank goodness the glass was between us, those females lions are NOT animals I would ever want to mess with!). We love it there! If anyone does visit, you can pretty much be guaranteed and trip to the zoo because so far it hasn't gotten old for Will and I.

This last one, Will is looking at the orangutans! He loves watching them as they are swinging from the netting around their area and on ropes! Sometimes when we are in the parking lots we can here them making their LOUD calls back and forth and he just starts squealing "Monkeys!" and clapping his hands. He gets so excited to see them! Sorry I actually don't have a lot of pictures of us in the zoo with the animals. I will definitely need to do better!

Another thing that we love to do is go to the Children's Museum. They have a room where there are just hundreds of balls and they go all over the room through tunnels and mazes. Will can spend the entire time in that room! It's funny because all of the balls will collect to this place in the middle of the room and periodically an alarm will go off and then the balls will drop down on all of the kids! After the first time, Will just stood there clasping his chubby little hands together looking up at it, as if begging it to do it again! Grant and I were laughing at how adorable he was!

This is Will and his little buddy Clark waiting for the balls to drop again! I thought it was so cute how excited they were!

So life is good here in Omaha! Grant is LOVING law school! Within the last couple of weeks, things have gotten a lot harder and he is really busy, but he is enjoying what he is studying and the challenge it is giving him. I am so proud of him because he wakes up so early to study and works so hard the whole day and then still comes home and is so happy to see Will and me! It amazes both of us that he is over half way done with his first semester! It honestly seems like we just got here!

Will and I are doing great as well! I have loved staying home with Will the last couple of months! There are some nights I go to bed and my legs ache so bad from doing so much from chasing Will around to doing laundry to making dinner and then to chasing Will around some more! He is still having a hard time transitioning to his new nursery, so Sunday's are not our best days, but he makes up for it Monday through Saturday saying cute little expressions he is learning and giggling and laughing at everything! Even when he is in trouble, which sadly I think he got from me! I have always laughed at the worst times! We are enjoying as much time outside right now as we can, since we don't know how much longer it is going to last! Living in Phoenix the last four years, I have forgotten how much I love the fall! There are so many trees around here that the fall is gorgeous! I have to be careful as I am driving because I tend to look around at all the trees changing colors! I love the cool, crisp air too! Cool to me though is now low 70s. We are all doing great and so far enjoying our time in Omaha!