Busy, busy

Hello, hello. We've been busy the last couple of weeks. Tony's always working hard with full-time school and work, and during his days off we've been trying to have fun family time. Last week we went on a spontaneous trip to the zoo, which ended up being great because there was hardly anyone there. It was chilly out, but we just did the indoor exhibits, and Ruth had a fun time. She's become much more aware of the animals since last time we went to the zoo in the fall, and I think she's getting more out of it. Yesterday we went to the Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at furniture and appliances, and we have our new washer and dryer and dishwasher picked out.

Everything is still good for us to close on our house on Feb. 19th! So last Saturday I took the list of things that needed to get done before we could start packing and divided them up among all the days this week. (Cleaning out dressers, closets and under-the-bed boxes, etc.) And I haven't done ANY of them yet! I need to get on the ball! I don't feel too bad, though, because I've been much, much busier this week than I expected. I was able to do a little shopping for homeowner's insurance and then pick a provider and get all that squared away. That took more time than I thought it would. We also got our taxes filed, which, again, took longer than expected. I've worked out every day this week so far except for Sunday and I'm feeling good. But I'm getting stressed about all the de-cluttering that needs to get done, so I suppose I should quit blogging and get to it!

I'm leaving you with a video of Ruth. She's recently discovered Tony's book light and likes to wear it as a necklace. I was trying to get some video of her wearing her "necklace" and playing "basketball" (thanks for the suggestion, Jenn), but she stopped playing when I started shooting video. Listen for her new favorite word, "silly," at the end. :)

A mid-January Update

Hola, mi amigos.

These past couple of week have been jammed with busy stuff, so I haven't posted in a while.

First of all, Tony's semester at UNO started last week. He is officially a junior, and he started out taking four classes: business management, business statistics, accounting II, and junior-level conversational Spanish. After attending his conversational Spanish class twice, Tony's teacher said she thought the class would be too easy for him and recommended he move up to the senior level class, so he was happy about that. It will save him time and money. However, because the senior-level class is at 1 p.m., Tony has to work a split shift at work on Mondays and Fridays, meaning he works in the morning, goes from work to class, and then goes right back to work and closes the store in the evening. It will only last for a few months, though, so we will survive.

With full-time school combined with full-time work, Tony isn't home as much. He has to work a lot of closing shifts to accommodate his class schedule, so he misses his usual duties of giving Ruthie a bath and reading her bedtime story. Ruth also had a difficult time adjusting to Tony's increased absence and threw a lot of tantrums early on this year. She's starting to get used to the difference now, though, and seems to be handling it much better.

Also, since Tony has to do so much running around with school and work, I've mostly just been at home while Tony has the car during the day. Ruth is getting to the age where she gets bored at home, and I get stir crazy, too, so we are thinking about buying another car within the next month or so. It won't be anything fancy, I'm sure, but it will be nice to have another set of wheels.

Speaking of wheels, we had a lot of car trouble about a week ago. The temperatures here dipped well below freezing and our starter on our car died. It was an expensive fix, but our car is working now, and hopefully we won't have any more car trouble for a while.

I got a membership to the YMCA this month (no joiner's fee in Omaha for the month of January!) so I have been going there a few times a week. I want to get healthier this year and dip below 150. Last week I weighed in at 155 and I weighed the same this week. Hopefully, after a couple more weeks and some improved eating habits, my weight will start to drop. They have drop-in childcare, and Ruth enjoys going there and playing with the other kids while I work out.

We are moving in a month!!! I can't believe it. So far, everything is going well with our loan. Our landlords are sorry to see us go and offered to pay us $100 if we could find anyone who would move in and take good care of their house. So if you know anybody who wants to move into a 2-bedroom house and won't trash it, let me know!!! We have lots to do to get ready for our move, and I'm determined to start packing early this time. I waited until the last minute to pack when we moved from Grand Island to Omaha, and it was a nightmare. I've already made a list of all the stuff that needs to get done, and if I can divvy it out and do a little every day, I'm confident it will all go smoothly.

In other news, Tony and I are taking turns planning date night now, and last night I surprised him and took him to a restaurant called Peru, Mucho Gusto. It's on 77th and L streets, and it's believed to be the only authentic Peruvian restaurant in Omaha. Tony loved being able to eat the same food he had on his mission. It was super delicious, and we will definitely be going back.

Also, I know this is a little random, but Ruth started feeding Jack some Cheerios last week and it was really cute. Here are some pictures:



And here is another pic, this one of Ruth wearing her daddy's boots:



Ruth's latest words/phrases/noises are "please," "sit," "here it is," "yeah," "quack, quack," and "hoot, hoot" (like an owl), and "oooh, oooh" (like a monkey). She also really likes to sing and do the actions to "Twinkle, Twinkle" and "The Itsy, Bitsy Spider." Her speech gets better every day.

Hope you all had a fun weekend! I'll try to update more frequently. :)

-Meredith