Meet Lucky

Mommy had heard about Elf on the Shelf from her cousin Melissa and her blogging about it last year. It comes with a book and a little Elf. The book tells the story of the Elf who is Santa's spy. He comes to watch over boys and girls and reports to Santa every night while they sleep. He finds a new hiding spot every time he comes back. They are not to touch him, his magic will disappear but need to find him every morning. He came with no name and that is the first part of the game.... to name him. We decided on Lucky and he has been a huge hit. Cailey finds him every morning and constantly reminds us not to touch him. She also is overheard telling Reece how "he goes to Santa's house while we sleep so we have to be good." Cailey was also so excited to show Daddy she found him and show him off to Shannon today. Such a cute holiday tradition.

Decorating outside for the Christmas season

It was freezing and the wind was blowing and it was about 50 degrees, if not colder. We helped Daddy get the ones up on the hooks, then came inside to fix dinner while Daddy finished outside. Granny was here taking pictures, the girls mostly ran around, and Mommy handed Daddy the lights.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Brooklyn came over to play with the girls today. Mommy and Shannon started on the copy of the Pottery Barn signs for Reece's room. They look good so far!

2. Reece had a rash all over her back and front. It appeared the day after thanksgiving and is gone now (thanks to Altabax, the pediatrician calls it neosporin on crack). Dr. Cohen said that its probably something viral and if it didn't run its course in 7 days to bring her in. It is gone now but that girl has the most sensitive skin. It still rough to the touch but no raised red spots that were there before.

3. The outside and most of the inside of our house is decorated for Christmas. We just need to get a tree in a couple of weeks and we will be all set for Christmas!

4. We went black friday shopping and managed to complete most of the Christmas shopping on that one day. Thank goodness for good deals and good kids who were very good being dragged from store to store.

5. Our family is anxiously awaiting the birth of our first niece! Cheyenne Nicole is due December 17th but Aunt Stacy is full term now and it could be any day. We can't wait!

6. We finally have a repair guy/gal from Sears coming out next week to look at our new dishwasher. It washes normally, only in the normal cycle. Any other cycle, hot water wash, steam dry...anything other than just the normal button pushed and it doesn't use the soap or leaves a very thick residue all over everything. NOT normal and we need to get it fixed before the warranty is up.

7. Uncle Brandon is coming out the week before Christmas! We are excited to see him, and the rest of the family, for Christmas at Grandma's on Saturday the 18th.

8. The weather here this winter is already unseasonably cold! Yesterday, we went for library story/class time at about 10 in the morning and it was only 45 degrees out. So cold for this time of year in southern California. Then when Kevin got up to go to work yesterday it was 28 degrees outside. Looks like its going to be a cold winter that us So Cal people are not used to!

9. We are having brunch here on Christmas day for our immediate family. Nice to spend it with those close and stay at home.... <3

10. My original two posts could not be done because blogger is having an issue uploading pictures. It keeps telling me internal server error.... so you get this instead. :)

The Van Arsdall (Hammer, Turek, Mohr) Thanksmas

The saturday after thanksgiving and black friday, the Van Arsdall side of the family got together at Papa's house for Thanksmas. We decided while ago that getting together twice during the holiday season to celebrate Thanksgiving and then a short while later Christmas was just too much with all the busy schedules to collaborate and the distance to drive. Thus, Thanksmas was born. A day between the two holidays that we take to celebrate both with Turkey, Christmas trees and family. This year the girls horded the bowl of pretzels when all the cookies were moved out of their reach.

Watching Cheyenne being welcomed into the family properly by Katrina

See....?

Aunt Stacy brought this dog for the girls to play with. He dances all over the place when you set him down but Reece loved him and wanted to carry him. When you did this, his head whipped around in circles or he shook his booty, depending on where you were holding him.

She didn't mind one bit.

Another big thing at Thanksmas is the craft. Every year Aunt Terry puts together a craft and brings all the materials for us to make it. This year was reindeer. Mommy especially loves this tradition because each year we add a homemade decoration to our house.

The girls just wanted to play outside while we put together the reindeer out on the patio.

Our completed one. He lights up and his nose blinks. He is so cute.

After craft time, its dinner time....

and then present time. The girls get gifts and all the adults participate in a gift exchange/steal.

We had so much fun this year. Everyone missed Daddy, who was in Glamis like he is every weekend after Thanksgiving every year. The next big family event (besides the birth of our niece), Katrina and Jake get married!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!

Happy (Late) Thanksgiving!!! Our lives were very busy the past week. Mommy worked non stop until Thanksgiving, including Thanksgiving day. We stayed at Grandmas from Tuesday until Thursday (Thanksgiving). On Thanksgiving, Daddy came out to Grandmas and spent the morning and the day with Mommy's side of the family. Mommy came over for her lunch period and got to see the family. After that, Daddy took the girls to his aunts house and they all got to spend some time with that side of the family. The next day, Daddy left for Glamis and the girls shopped their little hearts out. We got most of the gifts bought on Black Friday. All in all, Mommy is glad things are going to slow down for a little bit, until just before Christmas. Uncle Brandon will be here for 4 or 5 days the week prior to Christmas and we are definitely looking forward to that.

Enjoying the fall colors

After days of being sick, the girls and I wanted to get out. We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. Along the street that comes into our house, the trees and ivy covering the walls have leaves that are turning colors. Cailey decided we should collect leaves and we got some with beautiful reds, yellows, and browns. It was a nice, fun way to spend some time together, but just a little too much wind.

Brownies for Daddy

Our Daddy loves brownies and they love to make them.......I think because they want to lick the spoons....

Sizing up

On monday night, I cleaned out and put away Reece's size 12 month clothes. She is currently wearing a size 18 month and rarely a 24 month so we packed up all the 12 month clothes, and pulled out all the 24 month clothes because thats where we will be next. I can not believe that she is 21 months old already! In a month, she will be the age Cailey was when she was born. While going through the closet and drawers the girls kept themselves busy with some hats they found in the back of a drawer.