Snow Fun

We have a little bit of snow on the ground...much less than we have had in years past. I am sure that Mother Nature will take no time to bury us soon with the white stuff. Arabella has been wanting to get out and play in the snow, but the weather hasn't cooperated too well. I haven't been feeling too well - I have been fighting a stomach bug and cold - so it has been an effort to really do anything - otherwise we would have been going for walks. Tonight she and Jay went out to shovel the sidewalks and played in the snow a little bit. Even though there wasn't too much of the white stuff on the ground, she still had fun!

Do I Fit??

Auntie Lori gave Arabella a cradle for her dolls for Christmas. She has already made a nice cozy bed for her dolls but before she did that, she had to try it out for herself!

Christmas In Montreal

When we arrived home on Wednesday night, Arabella made a bee line for the Christmas tree, and to her surprise, Santa came here too! (I had put the presents under the tree while she and Jay loaded the taxi for our trip to the airport.)

She was so surprised and excited that there were more presents to open! Once we lugged in the suitcases, we spent time opening presents from family and then some that we didn't bring to Ohio from Santa. She was a happy little girl and enjoyed all of her gifts! She even received a special Curious George ornament and she loved it.

Time Flies

Before we knew it, our time in Ohio was over and it was back to snowy Montreal! We did have a few snow showers while we were in Ohio, but the ground was too warm for it to amount to anything...

Arabella played with Blix before we left. They had fun painting together!

Our luggage filled the foyer as we waited for the taxi to take us to the airport.

We had a fun time in Ohio and enjoyed spending Christmas there. The old saying that time flies when you are having fun in true...our time went by so fast. I think we all enjoyed every minute of our time there, now if only we could figure out how to slow time down!

Merry Christmas

Arabella woke up Christmas morning more excited than I can remember in a long time. She was sure that Santa came to visit at Gramdpa Dennis' and she was right. After a little bit of confusion, she found her stocking and presents that he left for her and her cousins. She was the only one awake...her cousins made their way downstairs after she had opened all her gifts and she was already playing with them. She loved each one and had fun opening her stocking too! I loved seeing the look on her face when she opened something that she had asked Santa for...it was priceless!




Santa and family were very good to her...she is one lucky little girl! After opening Santa's gifts, she opened a few more from family and was very excited to get more owl pj's and a special ornament.


The rest of the day was pretty low key. We had another delicious meal and spent time enjoying the day and our family.



It was hard for me to be away from my side of the family. It makes me realize just how much I love and appreciate the traditions we have and the time we spend together. Family is so very important to me and I miss them when I am not with them on the holidays. We are blessed to be so close and I am thankful for them every day. I hope that this Christmas brought everyone what they desired most. Merry Christmas.

Christmas in Clarksville

This year we spent Christmas in Ohio. Arabella was so excited to get there, she even hid in one of the suitcases while I was packing! The night before we left, we had freezing rain and everything turned to ice...Jay had to run out to pick up a few last minute things and when he got home, he could barely walk up the driveway! It was funny to see him take a step and then slide right backwards! You can kind of see how glassed over everything is in this picture... I was surprised how easily we made it through security and customs and our plane even left on-time considering the weather outside wasn't the greatest.
The runways covered in ice and snow...
Arabella and Ted passing the time on the plane playing on my iPhone!
I took this picture out the plane window, I thought the clouds looked amazing.

After a few delays in DC, we finally made it to Columbus, Ohio. However, after we got all our luggage and the taxi, it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from the airport to Clarksville...it was raining pretty hard and there was a decent amount of traffic in Columbus. We ended up taking a Dublin taxi, which I thought was pretty funny since we used to live in Dublin!
Arabella took no time catching up with her cousins as soon as we arrived. The kids we gone playing before we even said our Hello's!

While Arabella played and Jay caught up with his brothers, I tackled the pile of boxes in our closet... It is so much easier to buy gifts online than to pack them in suitcases!

Jack, Arabella's elf found us in Clarksville! He was there with his cousin, Lucy, who came all the way from California! Those elves sure are sneaky!
And Jack, following last years tradition, left Arabella a note and a gift on Christmas Eve. She was so excited when she saw him!



Arabella enjoyed breakfast with Blix and even learned what a finger bowl is...now that is how she wants to clean for fingers after she eats!

While Arabella's cousins, who were still on California time, slept, Arabella got to open some packages from Uncle Mike, Grammie and Auntie Lori! She loved all the gifts and fun things that everyone sent to her...Thank You!


Before long it was time to take the Christmas family picture...
Then we had a delicious Christmas Eve dinner and then open presents. The kids were so excited and they were not even presents from Santa!


Soon chaos ensued from the pile of presents...





And the aftermath...
Before long it was time to put out the reindeer food,

make sure the stockings were hung,

leave a note, cookies and milk for Santa,


and say goodbye until next year to Jack. Arabella couldn't sleep she was so excited and when I tucked her in, I told her to listen for Santa's sleigh bells. I just love this time with her, it is so special and she is so sweet and in awe of it all. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!