Howdy from Cornhusker Country!

After a 6,000-mile trek from Texas to Nebraska to Utah then back to Nebraska to Ohio to Virginia then back to Ohio then back to Nebraska, we're happy to be settled in our new home. We loved getting to visit with so many family members along the way and wish our camera hadn't had a broken lens for most of the trip. A bunch of out of order, blurry pictures from Ephraim's phone and borrowed pictures from other people's blogs will have to suffice!

After our egg hunt and egg dying:

We celebrated the boys' birthdays all along our trip- 3 parties in 3 states! On Max's actual birthday we partied at an indoor playground here in town and then went to Cici's.

The delighted 5-year old. "Can you believe I'm a whole hand???"

Thor helmet

Lego Ninjago

The mustache Ezra won at Cici's...it matched perfectly!

We had a great time in Virginia seeing Ephraim's parents, Hayley, Adam, Ellie, and Seth. The wienie roast was a hit!

The boys had a ball playing outside.

They mastered the marshmallow guns.

Another great birthday celebration! Ezra is 3!

These boys are obsessed with Star Wars.

Proof of our trip to Utah...I really dropped the ball in the picture-taking department! We had a fantastic time with my family and Max still talks about the Star Wars cake Aunt Jamie made him.

Max is enthralled with museums. He had 2 things at the Smithsonian he insisted on seeing: Amelia Earhart's airplane and the Real C3P0. Mission accomplished!

We were lucky enough to get to meet up with my sister Lindsay and her family in DC for a fun day of exploring.

To Max and Ezra's adoring grandparents: I promise to update more frequently! Sorry to have kept you all waiting!

Another year, another ball

Here we are before this year's ball. Many thanks to Charlotte for pictures and babysitting!

Christmas Time

We had a great Christmas, kicked off with our traditional Ruth's Chris steak dinner date. Thank you, Mom and Dad! Here's a shot Max took of us on our way to Austin to eat:

I tried to get some festive Christmas pictures of the boys. Ezra had to be bribed with something chocolatey, half of which is still on his face.

Max is always happy to pose.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with our friends the Durrs. Max and Caroline made a great Mary and Joseph in the nativity and Jack and Ezra were cute shepherds.

The boys are officially obsessed with Star Wars. This 'Bobba Fett' costume is the only thing Max wanted for Christmas. Ezra is sporting his new 'Cad Bane' suit (he's a bad guy on the new Star Wars cartoon, for those of you out of the Star Wars loop). The blue face is a little intense huh?

And now for the crown jewel of Christmas morning: Jedi robes and electronic lightsabers. Thanks to a super crafty friend Georgia, I managed to sew these with only a few minor issues. As you can see, the boys were overjoyed.

Here are the handsome Christmas boys. They get progressively more and more silly as we take more pictures. Thank you for the suits, Grandma and Grandpa Garner!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! Next on the Garner Family agenda: new job, new city, new house....stay tuned!

A Gobbling Good Time

We had a delicious Thanksgiving this year in Texas. Ephraim smoked our turkey and as evidenced by the delighted turkey-leg-eaters pictured below, it was huge hit.

Our spread...(yes, those are paper plates)

Me posing with Ephraim's masterpiece.

On a side note, Ezra is trying to assert his independence which generally ends in major messes. Here he is cooking himself breakfast (notice his resourcefulness in cutting open the package). Not really sure what we're going to do with this little guy. More child-proofing of the house is in order.

My Trick-or-Treaters

Max reprised his classic chicken costume from 2 years ago and Ezra finally settled on a knight after being wishy-washy about costumes all day. They loved trick-or-treating with Grandpa Cory and cousins and they especially enjoyed their Halloween loot.

Everything's Bigger in Texas

Especially the

STATE FAIR OF TEXAS.

We headed up to Dallas last weekend and had a fabulous, jam-packed day of Texan fun.

{Fried food, carnival rides, free samples out the wazoo, free admission to an awesome kid's museum, petting zoo extravaganza, kid-sized pretend farm}

The boys and Big Tex, the famous State Fair icon (Max really didn't like him when he started talking)

Brotherly love

2 Thumbs Up for the chocolate milk!

Ode to the deep fryer...here we see Ephraim with chicken fried bacon, turkey leg, and fried frito pie. Not pictured but also sampled: fried smores, frozen chocolate dipped cheesecake, and the world famous corny dog and jalapeno cheese corny dog. Believe it or not, we skipped a few things: fried butter, fried pizza, fried pb&j, and fried beer.

The boys loved digging for dinosaur fossils and playing dress-up at the museum on the fairgrounds.

There was an elaborate kiddie farm where the boys planted, harvested, and sold their produce, fed their animals and drove their tractors.

Not too shabby for our first-ever State Fair!

Visitors!!!

My sister Jamie, her husband Rich and their 4 kids (along with my Mom) came from Utah to visit back in August. We had a fabulous time with them. Thanks for trekking all the way to Texas you guys! We did so many fun things but here's a short recap:

Logan and Ezra modeled their coordinating Buzz Lightyear jammies, all the rage this season.

Ezra cuddling with Grandma Lillie

A great day at the beach at Padre Island!

We explored the cool Texas Rangers Museum in Waco, complete with a dress-up section and a tribute to Chuck Norris.

Ezra is currently addicted to puzzles so he loved assembling this pistol at the museum... over and over and over again. Notice the look of intense focus..

The big hit with everybody was Rock Band. We had a rockin family home evening.

We had a great week together! Who wants to come visit next???

Way back in the summer...

Right after the 4th of July we took a day-trip to one of our favorite barbecue-and-swimming- spots, Llano. This was back when Ginger the puppy was still tiny. Now she's not. She's huge. And getting more huge every week.

Other July highlights: Max had 8 root canals and 8 crowns put on (yes, I said 8) and my sister and her family and my mom came to visit. We love visitors!!! Pictures to come.

3 Things to Share

1. Max insisted on getting all dressed up for his friend Caroline's tea party birthday (side note: Caroline claims they will be getting married and having 4 kids)

Not entirely sure what's going on with his pose

2. We had a great vacation to Sea World and South Padre Island

3. After 5 years of begging, Ephraim got his way. We got a dog. This is Ginger. So far, so good.

Cap'n Crunch and Kissing Goats

Way back around Memorial Day, Ephraim's parents paid us a visit. We picked blackberries and ate cobbler, ate barbecue, ate at Elvis' favorite Texas drive-in, ate yummy Mexican....anyone sensing a theme here? We need some less-fattening hobbies. Anyway, we had a great time and can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa again!

After picking berries and digging new potatoes, we checked out the goats, donkeys, and horses at the berry farm. Grandma kissed the baby goats and of course, Ezra had to kiss them too.

On June 1 Ephraim was promoted to Captain. It was really nice having his parents here for the occasion. We only wish the ceremony could've been held in the air conditioned building versus the blazing hot parking lot. Grandma and Grandpa told Max he has to call Ephraim 'Captain Dad' now but instead, he's taken to calling him Cap'n Crunch. I suppose that's a little catchier. Thanks for coming to visit Grandma and Grandpa!!! Come back soon!