Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Molly and Elley have been getting snacks without asking lately. This is a big no no in our house. The rule is, always ask mommy for a snack. I am getting so tired of them getting into the pantry.

Yesterday, they got into the chocolate chips. I took them away and said to Elley,

"mommy is not going to let you have snacks anymore if you don't start following the rules and ask me."

Elley thought about this for a minute and then said,

"But, will you still let me have breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"

Isn't it almost February?

And I'm just now posting about CHRISTMAS?

Oh well, better late than never.

warning....very long post...with lots of pictures.

With Adam working the 23rd-26th of December, the girls and I headed out of town to spend a few extra days with family we don't get to see very often. Lucky for us, the girls are still young enough to realize the actual date of Christmas. We have very accommodating family members who put off Christmas until the 28th so Daddy could be with us for the special day. That's right, December 25th was just another day. The 28th was not only Daddy's birthday, but also Christmas.

downtown with Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Andrew

Molly and Uncle Andrew became fast friends. Maybe it's because Molly has a potty mouth? Nothing cuter than a 2 year old saying stupid and shut up. Oh yeah, she also says the other "s" word, but in my defence, she's really only trying to say Shrek.










We were so lucky to have Aunt Maggie and Uncle Fernando come for a visit. We had a lot of fun playing in the snow. If you click on the picture you'll be able to see "Maggie's snow baby" a little better. She was suffering from sleep deprivation. Who knew having a snow belly would be so funny. And a little side note, later on that night she gave birth to a Cabbage Patch doll.....Elley's request.

"Elley's snow baby."

Our snowman......or snow-woman. We're still really not sure what it was, although Elley said it was a girl all along.

Christmas dresses. This was taken Sunday the 26th. Santa had still not made a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We did get to pick Daddy up this night though....which to me, was even better than Christmas!

Fernando brought his Xbox, which was a big hit for everyone. He also brought a dance game. Adam and I had a dance off. I'm a better dancer than Adam.....the game said so!

Christmas eve was spent making yummy cookies with Grandma, Aunts and Cousins!

Christmas morning was so much fun. The holidays become so much more when you have kids of your own. Uncle Nate was not a happy camper to be up this morning.

Didn't I say the Xbox was a hit! Look at all those nerds! Can't take my eyes off the game.

Cute, cute girls! Grandma with Jordan, Mara, Sophie, and Hannah. And look, Hannah is smiling!

Our Christmas dinner was amazing, thanks to Nate. Cooking for that many people was no easy task. Nate pulled it off without a sweat!

Right outside Grandma and Grandpa's house is the perfect sledding hill, literally 2 steps from their porch. It's nice to sled, go inside and warm up, and then come right back outside. Elley was a champ when it came to sledding. She hopped right on and never looked back.

Okay, so the guys took a short break from the Xbox to show off some snowboarding skills.

The whole Arnold family was together for a few days. Grandpa and Grandma took us on a sleigh ride in the mountains. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever done, and to be there with our whole family made it even more perfect.

More pictures from the sleigh ride

Here we are, all together!

What an amazing vacation we had. We love our family and wish we had more opportunities to be together like this.

Holy Snipples

I picked Elley up from school yesterday and as we were driving home Elley asked me where I went while she was at school.

Me "I went to Brittney's house for a church meeting."

Elley "was Hunter there?"

Me "yes"

Elley "what was he doing?"

Me "he played the computer and then he made me a drink with his new kitchen he got for Christmas."

Elley "HOLY SNIPPLES! Mom, am I the only one that doesn't have a kitchen?"

Cute Kids!

My brother had a graduation ceremony that we went to the other day. We are so proud of him and all he is doing. I took a few pictures of the kids and I thought I would post a few that I thought were cute!!

Gavin, Elley, Macey and Molly

Molly has seen A Christmas Story one too many times.
But who knows, the kid will lick and put just about anything into her mouth.


Gavin, I think trying to be a super hero

Winter Wonderland

Here are some pictures of a parade we went to before Christmas. It really was a Winter Wonderland. We have fun going to this parade every year and glad that our friend Echo came this year.

Not many people showed up for this parade. It had been snowing all morning and was pretty cold.

She Makes Me Smile

Adam picked up Elley last week from preschool and when I came home from a meeting I was at, Elley ran up to me and said, "mom, I have a surprise for you!"

She was so excited. She brought me this flower and said, "isn't this the most beautiful flower you have ever seen?"

And of course, I would have to agree. It is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen.

She picked it with her teacher while waiting for daddy to pick her up.

She told me that we needed to put it in water because it was going to die in the spring.

Later that week I was making some brownies. I needed some eggs out of the fridge and I asked Elley to grab them. She got them out and then asked if she could help make the brownies. When I told her she could she asked if she could hatch the eggs. I giggled a little and then proceeded to let her crack the eggs into the bowl. After she was done she said, "I'm a good hatcher right mom?"

Oh my little Elley Joyce. I love her so much and all the fun things she says sometimes. I love how her mind works and love to hear the things she comes up with!

Snow Day

A few weeks ago, we had quite a bit of snow fall in our area. 6-8 inches, which doesn't happen very often. Schools were canceled, work was canceled and so we played!

The neighbor kids came over to play with us. We buried both Rachael and Hailey in the snow. Elley thought that this looked like fun but she didn't last very long. We also had snow ball fights and tried to build snow forts.

After awhile, we all got cold, so we went inside and had......not hot chocolate but.....snow cones. I also made cookies and we watched The Grinch.

We had so much fun and hope it snows like this again!!!