Christmas at Grandma Patti's

Ready to open presents!

Grandma Patti and Arabella

Bella and her Uncle Mark

Showing off her new Twinkle Toes!

Arabella and her new Cabbage Patch doll named Paige

Christmas with the Franks 2011

Chef Norm making Beef Wellington for Christmas dinner

Wii Bowling Champion! 

Sara and Mike opening presents

It was so fun to watch Arabella open presents this year.  She was so excited about each and every present!

Helping Grandma open her present

AB and her good buddy Strongbow

AB was very helpful making sure everyone 'quickly' opened their presents so it could be her turn again!

Are you sure it's December?

Mother Nature decided to give us a break after last year's brutal winter... so we have been enjoying 50 degree weather for most of December.  Weather nice enough to go on a long bike ride without a coat! 

Santa Express

We took Arabella to Boone to go on the Santa Express (a knock off of the Polar Express... boo on copyright laws.)  She was so excited to go and talked about it for weeks before we actually went.  We checked in and got our tickets, and boarded the train.  Bella was in awe of all the cool things to see around her.  She had never been on a real train before.  While we rode the train to the "North Pole" a woman read a book written for this train ride called "The Santa Express,"  some hot chocolate and cookies were delivered to everyone in their seat, and we all sang Christmas carols (slightly disappointed with the inability of the train staff to remember the words, but we knew the words, so it all worked out!).  Once we got to the "North Pole" Santa boarded the train and came through to say hello to every child!  Arabella was ecstatic because she got to have a jingle bell from Santa's sleigh... just like in The Polar Express!  Overall, it was a great experience for Arabella... she LOVED it!  As an adult, it left a lot to be desired, but I'm glad we took her on it anyway! 

Mommy and Arabella (and a 29 week pregnancy belly... kinda)

Arabella excited about her jingle bell from Santa's sleigh!

Uncle Steve, Arabella, and Grandma Patti

"I believe, so I can hear it ring forever!"

Our Elf on a Shelf

Last year an elf arrived at our house in the mail (thank you Grandma and Grandpa).  We read the book and learned all about the elf (like how NO ONE is allowed to touch the elf for fear of ruining the Christmas magic).  We even got to name our elf... Bella decided K.C. (I was informed recently that her name is spelled K.C. not Casey) was a great name for her elf.  The deal with the Elf on a Shelf is that Santa sends them to keep an eye on children for him.  Every night the elf flies (using Christmas magic of course) back to the North Pole and reports the child's behavior to Santa.  Then each morning when we wake up, the elf is in a new location.  Last year, K.C. just kind of watched from various locations... this year, K.C. was much more mischievous...Every morning (usually between 5:30 and 6... ugh) it was a huge race to find out where K.C. was... Getting up early with her to do this was a huge pain, but it was totally worth it to hear her squeals of delight when K.C. was found.  I hope this is a holiday memory she cherishes always!

On Christmas Eve, Arabella said goodnight to everyone, and then remembered that K.C. would not be there in the morning.  So she went down and told K.C. thank you and that she would miss her.  (so cute!)  K.C. left a note for Arabella on the fireplace mantle next to the empty plate of cookies on Christmas morning.  It said that she would miss Arabella and see her next year... 300ish days to think of new mischievous locations I suppose!

Playing Arabella's Leapster (Tinkerbell game because fairies are tiny like elves)

Riding in the dollhouse car with the Mommy

Eating Bella's Teddy Grahams and drinking milk

Hanging around in the bathroom... Bella thought she liked to look at herself in the mirror!

Hiding in the dragon tree

Sledding down the stairs with our Hallmark friends

Making a snow angel out of sugar... what a mess!  We had quite the experiment and discussion about what the white stuff actually was (love those teaching moments!)

Maybe AB needs to brush her teeth more???  (Hey, it worked... there were no teeth brushing arguments for weeks after this one!)

An early Christmas gift for AB... Froggy's Best Christmas! 

This was my favorite K.C. location because it scared Dave in the morning when he went to get a glass for juice.  HAHAHA!

"Mommy, K.C. was naughty.  She took ALL of your sticky notes and decorated the bathroom with them!  She must not know the rule about your sticky notes!" 

K.C. got into Grandma's yarn and knit herself a little scarf!  How creative!

Digging in the cookie jar!  (Note: Cookie jar is not filled with cookies, but with truffles... later that day, K.C. was fount sitting next to the cookie jar with a truffle wrapper in her lap - Baby brain forgot to take a picture!)

Pretending to be a fighter pilot inside Grandpa's helmet... wearing her scarf of course (it's cold at the North Pole!)

Hanging out on Arabella's bedroom door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

llin' (literally - it's a chilled wine cellar) in Grandpa's Wine Cellar... guess K.C. likes red wines best!

Away in a Manger

Arabella singing "Away in the Manger."  She's pretending to read it from her little notebook.  I love her cute little voice.  She makes my heart melt every time she sings a song. 

State of Hockey... Right Here in Iowa!

      After years of coaching hockey, Dave finally has a hockey player! Arabella is officially signed up for the Des Moines Youth Hockey Learn to Play Program.  She's had skates for a while, but we got all the rest of her equipment this weekend.  She could not be more excited... and Dave cannot wait to see her out on the ice in all her gear.  We tried it all on today in the living room to make sure it fit... I decided this is the perfect time for a photo session... now we'll never forget the first time she ever put on her hockey equipment!

She seemed very excited about the hockey gloves... not really sure why, but she spent a lot of time just looking at them on her hands... turning her hands over and over and pulling them on and off.

 

The stick was too tall for her, so Dave (being the super smart hockey guy he is) just measured and sawed it off... and here I thought we'd have to get a new stick!

She doesn't actually have a mouth guard yet... but this is her showing me what it would look like if she did.   

 

Clearly some of the equipment is too big for our little peanut... She didn't seem to mind... even after her breezers kept falling down.  The helmet is an extra small and is on it's tightest setting and it's still too big for her... Room to grow I guess!   (This is the point where Dave decided this photo session is getting a bit ridiculous... note the "this is serious hockey business and you're taking pictures" look on his face... Come on Dave... someday you'll be glad I took these (well maybe not this one - haha)!

Once we put the skates on her with all her gear, she found it quite difficult to stand up... either that or she realized how much fun it is to fall down when you're protected by all the padding.  Lots of giggling went on during the *attempts* to get her to stand for pictures.

 

 After Dave sawed off the top of her stick, he taped it up... then told her that we could write her name on the tape so everyone would know it was hers.  He was less than thrilled that she wanted to use pink sharpie... but he was eventually worn down by the cute begging of a four year old girl.  Once that was done, she decided she wanted a heart on her stick... Poor Dave... you don't stand a chance with this kiddo!  She's got you so wrapped around her little finger!

 

I think the heart looks nice.  And it shows her where the front of the stick is.

 

She still can't fit into these 'gently used' skates... and has to wear the adjustable skates we got when she was two... but someday, these will be her skates!

Leighton Family Movie Night

We try to do wholesome, family activities once in a while... tonight, we had Leighton Family Movie Night!  It's not a whole lot different than any other night except we eat pizza in the living room and watch a movie together and usually I come up with some sort of special treat...

Tonight it was frozen pizza, Care Bears gummy snacks, and 101 Dalmatians... which totally made someone's night!

Care Bears Gummy Snacks

She set this up herself

I Can't Hear You!!!!

Lately, Arabella has been doing this...








And as annoying as it is, it is also too cute! I can't help but giggle (usually I am able to turn away so she doesn't see me laughing at her). Just look at that cute face and tell me you could keep a straight face as you tell her it's not respectful to cover your ears when Mommy is talking.

So today she does this and I decide it's time that she learns that I know this trick... I practically invented this trick! So she stands there with her ears plugged and I say, "I know you can hear me." She shakes her head no. "Arabella... I know that covering your ears with your hands does not keep the sound out. I did that when I was a little girl too and I know you can still hear me." She looks at me, tries to hide her smile, and says, "I can't hear you." By now I'm laughing so hard I can't go on with this lesson. So I decide to take her picture instead. Someday, we will both laugh about this.

Know I Know My ABC's

Arabella decided she wanted to make an ABC book. She chose the paper and asked me to fold and staple it. I then wrote the letters at the bottom of the page and she went to town working on it. She sounded the words out all by herself! I was so proud of her. Here is a picture of the G and H pages. I especially like the pink hockey puck and stick.

Homemade Caramel Apples

While we were at the farmer's market, we saw numerous stands with caramel apples... but they were all outrageously expensive (read: four dollars per apple)... so we stopped at HyVee on the way home and bought caramel and apples and made our own!  Homemade is better anyway! 

So Arabella got our her markers and drew a picture of all of us making caramel apples while I washed the apples and put the sticks in them (not an easy task... I may have injured my hand)

 I'm never in pictures... so I made Dave take a picture of Arabella and I unwrapping all the caramels (and eating some)... He was not all about being the photographer, so I only got this ONE picture... not the best, but ya get what ya get.

 So after you wash the apples and put the sticks in, you unwrap all the caramels in a 14 ounce package and put them in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water.

 This job is perfect for a four year old... and she took it seriously and was great quality control!  I got a teeny tiny scrap of wrapper in the pan and boy oh boy was that problem taken care of quickly!

 Heat the caramels on low until they are all melty... then take the apples for a swim! 

When you are done, put them on wax paper
(I sprayed the wax paper with Pam because I really dislike stuff that sticks)
Then chill them until the caramel is hardened

Don't they look so delicious?! (They were!)

Arabella thought the finished product was "oh so yummy" and devoured her entire apple
I was honestly hoping she wouldn't be able to finish it so I could have more...