Baby Sign Language

I have an email that comes to me each week called Baby Center newsletter (I think that's what its called) Anyway, it's a week by week update on how my baby should or could be developing. It also talks about baby safety, baby sickness, being a mom, just a bunch of stuff. I actually started to get it when I was pregnant. Week by week it talked about the developing baby. Well, every week at the end of the email there is always something funny and I thought this baby sign language was cute. Elley has all of these signs down....especially the "please change my diaper" sign. Hope you all enjoy this as much as I did!!!!

Your baby can learn sign language!

Here's how to say:

• "Please change my diaper": Turn beet red and make straining expression, then smile.
• "I'd like something to eat, please": Cram fist in mouth and suck wildly.
• "I'm tired": Make a series of weeping gestures before closing eyes and lolling head backward.
• "Please pass me that thing up there that I can't reach": Point and grunt, then continue pointing and open mouth into screaming position.
• "No thank you, I think I've had enough": Throw food or object to floor with exaggerated grin.

Winter Wonderland Weekend

Hannah and Mason

Mara and Elley

Bundled up little Elley

Time for bed

Mason, Mara, and Elley

Elley's friend Ava and her mom Erin

Burrrrrrr.......it's cold out here

Last weekend Mason, Hannah, and Mara came over to spend the night with their Aunt Keely. We had such a good time!!!! It was kind of a kick off to the Holiday season. Friday night we stayed up and watched Unaccompanied Minors, which is a movie that takes place during the Christmas break. It's about a bunch of kids that are trying to fly places for their Christmas vacation but a storm quickly blows in and all flights are delayed until further notice. Anyway, it was a cute movie and we had fun watching it.
Then Saturday we all bundled up and went to the Winter Wonderland Parade here in town. We also met Elley's friend Ava and her mom there. It was so cold......we put lots of layers on and took about 5 blankets. It wasn't so bad when we got out of the car and walked to our place, but when we stopped to watch the hour long parade it got a little cold! Elley got a little board toward the end and Mason, Hannah, and Mara were cold but nobody was complaining on the way home when they were eating all the yummy holiday candy they got from the parade. After that we all went to our house and had hot chocolate to warm us up.
We all had a fun weekend!!!!! I love living so close to family giving us so many chances to be together. Thanks for come to visit your Aunt Keely Mason, Hannah, and Mara....I Love You!!!

Helping Daddy

Say cheese

I'm a big girl

Me and my dad

Elley loves to "help" us empty and load the dishwasher. She also loves to help Mommy "fold" the laundry. As soon as the dishwasher is open she crawls as fast as she can just so she can help. And she always knows when it's time to fold the clothes. She will follow me to the laundry room, watch me put all the clothes into the basket, and then follow me over to the couch. She stands holding onto the basket and one by one put all the clothes on the floor. She is just so much fun.

I love Grandpa, he loves me!!!!

Grandpa is teaching me how to walk

Elley just loves her Grandpa. He has been staying with us for the last 4 months and Elley can't get enough of him. Every morning, while she is in her high chair eating breakfast, she'll hear the rattle of Annie's (Grandpa's dog) dog collar and immediately she looks to the stairs and waits for Grandpa to come down. As soon as she hears his voice or sees him at the bottom of the stairs she smiles, laughs and screams all at the same time completely forgetting that shes in the middle of breakfast. Sometimes he had to finish feeding her or she'd never finish eating.

It's amazing the way she lights up at the sight or sound of her Grandpa....she is a Grandpa's girl!

Thankful for.......

Well, at church Adam and I teach the 7-8 year olds and tomorrow we have class presentation. We are talking about being thankful for home and family. I think it will be fun because of the holiday coming up!!!! Its always nice to have a reminder of the things we are thankful for.
Some of our class answers are.....

Our shelter
Our food
Our bedrooms
Our beds
Our families
Our pets
Our food
Our toys
And our clothes

Here are a few things I am thankful for this year

1. The gospel of Jesus Christ...without it, nothing would be possible
2. A great family!!! Not just Adam and Elley but My mom and dad, Brothers, Sister, The best In-laws (and I'm not just saying that), aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews......and on and on.
3.The chance to stay home and raise a family
4. A mother who taught me that the greatest calling in life was being a mother
5 .The chance to be a mom
6. Great friends
7. A new home
8. A good book beside my bed
9. The clothes in my closet
10. Food on my table
11. Cars in the garage
12. Tucker and Tank
13. A husband who works hard
14. A husband who loves me (I can be a hard one to love sometimes)
15. "The Office"
16. A soft bed
17. Disposable diapers (Elley had 4 dirty diapers today)
18. A nice warm shower
19.Thanksgiving dinner
20. Chocolate!!!!!!

Halloween......and My little pumpkin!!!

I love Halloween, probably because #1 it's close to my birthday and #2 it's right in the thick of fall....and I love fall!!! This year we carved pumpkins with Adam's brother, his wife and their kids. We also had "Trunk or Treat" at our church and Halloween night Elley and I stayed home to pass out candy for all the neighborhood kids. I can't wait until next year when Elley can actually go get mommy....I mean herself some candy.

The Tag game

My friend Rebecca "Tagged" me today. The whole point of the game is to list 6 facts/habits about yourself and then "tag" 6 people, ask them to list things about themselves and have them "tag" 6 different people. Since I don't have 6 blogging friends, I guess I don't have anyone to "tag".......well, I could "tag" Rebecca back but she already has listed one hundred facts about herself........106 if you count the whole "tagging" game. I guess it's a good way to get to know your friends!!!! So here it goes, 6 facts/habits about me!!!!

1. I love to watch the T.V. show "The Office". It is by far the best show on T.V. All week long I quote lines from that weeks episode.....It keeps me laughing the whole week. I have a lot of favorite episodes but my all time favorite is "The Injury" where Michael cooks his foot on the George Foreman Grill. The funnest line....when Michael says to Pam "Do I Pam? Am I a little fussy? Well, I'm sitting here with a bloody stump of a foot." Anyway, you get the point, I love "The Office".

2. I never went to Kindergarten! I don't really know why...something about being super good at preschool so just went right off to !st grade. Then 2nd grade came along and my parents thought socially and educationally I might be better off staying in my own grade, so I went to 2nd grade twice. Sure I might be to smart for Kindergarten but what would happen when I got to high school.

3. My mother is from England. The summer before I left for my mission we took a trip there for 2 weeks. We had so much fun seeing family, seeing the sights, eating English food, and spending time together. It was 2 weeks jam packed of things to do. I had a great time getting to know family I don't get to see very often and learning about a place that is so far away but so close to our hearts. I loved being there with my mom hearing her stories, listening to her laugh and having her share something with me that is priceless. She is an incredible woman, someone I try to be like but know that she is just one of a kind. I know she is watching over me and one day she will wrap me in her arms again and tell me how much she loves me...and I will do the same.

4. I teach primary at church and I love it. Adam and I teach the 7-8 year olds. they can be a hand full sometimes but for the most part they are a great class. We just had the primary program last week and they were amazing.

5. I still have some mission clothes in my closet. I don't really wear them but keep them because I might need them some day .

6. And last....I love a good bargain. Most weekends in the summer you can find me at local garage/yard sales. This is something I must of picked up from my mom. She couldn't pass up a garage sale ever and in middle school and high school it was the most embarrassing thing in the world. Now look at me....I'm dragging my own kid to garage sales!!!!

Well, that's it.....those are the best 6 things I could come up with, But here are a few more that I think should be mentioned.......

I have the best husband
I have the best daughter
I love to snowboard
I love to read
I love the snow
I love all the seasons but my favorite is fall...maybe winter, I can't decide
I will never have a fake Christmas tree....hopefully
I said I would never become a blogger
My favorite color is purple
I love ice cream
I love milk
I love my family
I miss my mom
and I miss my mom!!!!!

Okay, enough for now!!!!!! Thanks for reading!!!!

Look mom, I'm a big girl!

I can't believe how big little Elley is getting. She is starting to stand by herself and she even climbed up the stairs the other day. Adam and I were both there but now it's time to get the baby gate out in case she gets brave. She is just so much fun and we love her to pieces. She is my little pumpkin!!!!

I wish Elley would snuggle me more!!!

I just wanted to post this picture because it doesn't happen very often. Elley is not the snuggle type. In fact, she doesn't like to sleep anywhere but in her bed with her binky and blanket.....(which make Sundays very hard)! I wish I could just hold her while she was sleeping and rock her. On the other hand......I'm glad she like to sleep in her crib and I'm glad she doesn't fuss when I put her down.......but if only I could just snuggle her once in awhile.

And all this time I thought she looked just like Dad

Pictures from our vaction

Here are the pictures from the mini family get together

A few weeks ago My dad, Elley and I went to northern Idaho for a mini family get together. We stayed with my brother Shaune and his family and met my other brother Craig with his family at Silverwood & Bolder Beach theme park for a day of fun!!! It was a short little trip over the weekend but I was scared to death. Elley has never been in a car longer that 2 hours and that was not the most pleasant 2 hours I must say. Plus Adam had to work so I didn't have him to depend on. It was a 7 hour trip....well, 8 if you count the stop for lunch but I must say that I was sure proud of Elley. She could go for about 4 hours before we had to stop and get out. And on the way there, I noticed her first tooth coming in but thank goodness it didn't seem to bother her. We made it there and back with no major break downs, I was so proud of her......it was a long trip even for me.

We sure had fun seen the family and going on the rides. Here are some pictures of Elley with her cousins, her Grandpa and some of the rides.

Our life right now

So here's a quick update and some pictures of our life right now. Adam,Elley and I just recently moved. We miss Washington so much.....that's where both Adam and I were born and raised. It's been an adjustment but we're getting there. Washington will always be home for us and maybe down the road we'll get back there. Today someone came to our door and asked if we needed our sprinklers blown out......this whole sprinkler thing is new to me, I come from a state where grass is never brown..... in Washington you have no choice when it comes to a sprinklers systems, you get one "weather" you like it or not.....no pun intended. Okay, so back on track. Adam and I moved here for a job. My brother works for the sheriff's department here and encouraged Adam to apply. And long story short Adam got the job. He now loves what he does and that makes me very happy.

We have one daughter and her name is Lesley Jocye after my mom who I love and miss very much. That's a whole other posts that maybe one day I'll go into. Anyway, we call our little girl Elley and she is the best thing that has ever happened to us. She is almost 9 months old and keeps us on our toes. She is crawling all over the place and is into everything. We love her and think she is the cutest baby in the world......but what parent wouldn't think that.

We also have two dogs, Tank and Tucker. They use to get a lot of attention but when Elley came along they knew life would never be the same.

This will have to do for now. Hopefully this is good enough and hopefully everyone is ready for the drama soap opera life of the Arnold's ........ha, our life is anything but that.....it fun to say though.

What am I doing

Okay, so I can't believe I'm doing this. I said I would never get sucked into the crazy world of blogging but here I am......thanks to my friend Becca. It's nice to keep up on her life and see fun pictures of her family. Then I started to read some of her friends blogs and it looks like so much fun. I don't know how good I will be or how often I will "post" but I thought I would give it a try. Here it goes........The life of the Arnold's.