My Little Helper

Another thing we will miss after we move from this house, is our laundry chute. Why is it that they don't come standard with homes these days? They really are quite practical, and I take full-advantage of ours. Will is now at the age where he likes to put things (toys, sippy cup, blanket, etc.) in the chute as well.

For the Love of Animals

Yesterday was a gorgeous, very atypical February day here in Omaha. It was in the low 60's and I wanted to take advantage of being outdoors, so I loaded Will in the jogging stroller and we moseyed off to the park. The weather seemed almost too good to be true...it was ;-) Short-lived, and a more realistic temp today...a cool 37 degrees, but at least the sun is shining.

Anyhow,my favorite park to frequent is called Memorial Park. It's actually a memorial for WWII veterans and has acres and acres of grassy hills (to those of you who have never been here, you'd be surprised how hilly Omaha is!). When Will took his first "real" steps this past fall, it was already too cold to play outside. So to say he enjoyed wandering the wide open spaces yesterday is an understatement! And although you're not technically allowed to, people often bring their dogs to this park to roam free. Will had so much fun watching them run around.

Since today was significantly cooler, I knew we wouldn't be able to venture back to the park, so I took Will to the Humane Society this morning...thought it'd be fun to let him get acquainted with some furry little friends :) Unfortunately I didn't realize that they don't open the dog kennels until noon, so we had to settle for cats, rabbits, and rodents.




























...and this was the face that told me it was time to go home :)

I Never Saw it Coming.

My wonderful hubby threw me the most amazing surprise party a couple weekends ago. I never saw it coming, because it was after my birthday, and well, I'm pretty oblivious to that kinda stuff anyway. I was so impressed with Dave - still haven't figured out how he pulled it off successfully.

He told me about a week prior that he asked his mom to watch Will so he and I could go on a date night to celebrate my birthday...sounded great to me! I was also impressed when Dave told me he made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants, called M's Pub...not your typical pub scene...it's more of a trendy french restaurant in The Old Market downtown Omaha. As we were leaving the house, Dave grabbed my camera, which surprised me, because I'm usually the one nagging for a photo opp :) It isn't your average pocket-size camera, either - it's my bulky SLR. I asked him if he wanted to take the small one instead, but he insisted on my camera...and I still never suspected anything!

When we arrived at M's Pub, the host showed us to our table, and I spotted a girlfriend of mine, and thought to myself, "fun to see her - how random that we're both here on a Sunday night!" I know...I'm so naive! So as I was talking to her, I purposely tried to block out the other people at her table because I didn't want to be rude and stare. Then as my eyes slowly started wandering, I noticed more and more of my friends - many of whom didn't know one another. As the girls later told me, my face looked very confused...I was ;-) Until they all blurted out, "SURPRISE!" Then it finally hit me and I was pretty overwhelmed...in a good way, of course.

I was so humbled that so many of my wonderful friends made it a point to be there and make me feel so loved. Even my sister-in-law, Kristin drove 5 hours to be there, and then went home the next morning...thanks for being there, Kris - it meant the world to me! After I got my barrings, Dave said, "have a great time with your girlfriends - I'll see you later."

I was equally overwhelmed with all the thought and effort it took for Dave to pull off this feat! He actually took the time to call each one of these girls individually and invite them, and asked them to be prepared to share ways that I may have touched or impacted their lives. Dave also asked one of my girlfriends to take care of getting centerpieces for the restaurant table, and asked yet another to jump start the "sharing conversation." I was so blessed! We had a lot of laughs, and I shed a few tears, too :)

Although not all the girls knew each other, they quickly got acquainted, and so many told me later how much they enjoyed meeting everyone. It made me proud to have the friends that I do. Dave and I are continually thanking the Lord for the friendships He's blessed us with!

So to those of you who came - thank you for making me feel so loved - I so appreciate you! And Dave, thanks for being so creative and making it happen! Your generosity never ceases to amaze me, and we all had a fabulous time...I love you!

Super Bowl Fun

We're always looking for an excuse to invite friends over to hang out (as if we need an excuse!). Last year we thought it would be fun to invite a "few people" over for the Super Bowl. Well, the "few" quickly turned into a list of 40-some people. We figured most would get multiple invitations to parties, and at best we'd get about 1/2 the turnout. Funny enough, almost everyone made it, so it was pretty crazy - but a great time, nonetheless.

This year we thought we'd keep things a little simpler, so we had 6 friends over and two of Will's buddies ;-) Unfortunately Will caught a cold this weekend, so he was a bit tired, but still ready for action. The "old" guys had a great time watching the game, and all us girls gabbed it up at the kitchen table.









My boys.

















Will was enamored with Jennifer Hudson's rendition of The National Anthem :) I must admit it was one of the best I had ever heard...that girl's got some pipes!!















Obviously an intense moment.
















My girls :)














Wonder who's responsible for this?

Christmas Light Caravan

Our friends Jonathan & Desirae from church had the fabulous idea of going to look at Christmas lights together. A few days prior to Christmas, Dave, Will and I crammed into a car with them and their two boys - yes, carseats included! We made hot cocoa for the kiddos and coffee for the grown-ups :) We also brought a bag full of junk food to enjoy along the way.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera, but Jonathan snapped a couple of the boys with theirs. Samuel & Joseph are twins and just turned 4 in December...in fact, their birthday was the day we looked at lights together. They were all fired up because they were able to watch Star Wars for the first time earlier in the day. I asked them what their favorite part was, and they just went on, and on and on...amazing how a movie that's been around as long as it has, still has the same impact today.

Will loves hanging out with Samuel & Joseph...it's so cute to watch him follow them around their house. I think he feels like a big boy when he's with them :)

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Okay, so as my previous blog title stated, I'm in "catch-up" mode. I'm way behind on updating this blog, so please bear with me as I try to sum up the happenings with us in the Perkins household. I didn't even so much post a re-cap of our Christmas, so here goes. It was great...very relaxing to say the least, as we didn't do any traveling. Of course I missed not being with my side of the family, although I was able to see some of them in Chicago back in mid-December.

It was nice to stay put in Omaha and have others come our direction :) All of Dave's family was here in Omaha over the course of about a week. Thanks to Dave's mom, we had lots and lots of good eats and time to hang out with the fam. When Dave's sister Kristin comes into town, we often spend a few nights out at his parent's house so we can spend more time together. This works out especially well because that way we can all hang out even after Will goes to bed.

Being that Will is the only grandchild so far, he gets quite spoiled with attention AND gifts, to say the least. I've attached a few photos of our Christmas at Dave's parent's house:


















"I don't think there are enough presents under the tree."



















































Watching "I Love Lucy" with Aunt Kristin













Will loves his Daddy.















The next couple photos were taken a few days later, back at our house. Will was having so much fun playing with all of his new toys. I think he caught on pretty quickly this year...Christmas is fun :) I'm sure by next year he'll have even more appreciation for it!



























Will's first "John Deere"

Playing Catch-Up

My sincerest apologies, dear blogger friends, for being so out-of-the-loop over the past month. Seems as though our life has been on fast forward for several weeks; however, we're now currently on pause...at least in one area. As some of you know, we've been on the house hunt for over a year now. We love our current home, but it's not the most "user-friendly" for a growing family...don't read into that too closely - we don't have any news to report ;-)

One thing I've realized I would appreciate more and more is a garage I can actually use. Our current home is a 1950's ranch, and only has a 1-car garage. Unfortunately the vehicle I drive does not fit in the garage, so I have to load Will up outside. This typically wouldn't be a big deal, but we have had an exceptionally bitter cold winter this year, and although it's a luxury, it's one I admit I'd like to have :)

We found a home a few weeks ago we were particularly excited about and felt at peace to make an offer. We got together with our Realtors (also good friends of ours) this past Friday to write up the offer, and ironically enough, we discovered while sorting through old paperwork that our official search started exactly one year ago to date!

We really enjoy the layout and convenience of ranch homes, and the one we made an offer on was also a ranch, but was in need of some major remodeling. With that in mind, we low-balled the offer, figuring it'd get countered, and we'd be in the negotiating process for a while. Turns out they did not accept our final offer. We were a little disappointed, but completely at peace. In some ways, I felt a bit of a relief, just knowing how much work would be in the days/weeks/months ahead. Thankfully we're not in a rush to move...we love our house and are just waiting on the Lord's best in HIS timing.

In all honesty, I will be really sad to move when the time does come. I realize that it would probably happen sooner rather than later, so why delay the inevitable? But this is Dave and my first home together, and of course we have the memories of Will being born (well, not technically, but you know what I mean) in this house. We also love the neighborhood - we have the best neighbors! Many of them have lived here for a long time. In fact, the family that lived in our house previously didn't want to leave this street, but did need more space, so they literally moved about 5 houses down from us.

For sentimental reasons, below are some photos of our current home...I love seeing photos of other people's homes so I can picture where they live. Perhaps some of you would want to post some of your home as well?