The Day After...

The day after Christmas, we enjoyed a relaxed morning around the breakfast table at Mop and Pop's… I always love the few hours we all sit and drink coffee in our pajamas and talk - like the Arnold family has done for years.  We finally peel ourselves away for showers and get dressed for the day… and somebody gets "pretty":  

Talk about primping!!  Avery: "okay, I'm pretty now. Let's go!"

Meanwhile, Silas and Pop build a box at his new tool bench.  My oh my what are we going to do with all these new toys?!  They LOVE their vanity and work bench… and amazingly, each knew exactly what to do/how to play with it after we assembled it (which is always easier said than done:-)...

Of course, bubbles on the patio were in order… who cares if it was 30 degrees!

For a little adventure, we piled into the car and drove about 20 minutes outside of Jackson to the Tennessee Safari Park (HERE)… WELL worth it!  Neatest day trip we've had in a long while!!   The drive-thru safari was amazing… and a little frightening at times!  These animals are FRIENDLY.  They know that cars have food and aren't timid about waltzing right up and demanding some by staring and pecking on the window.  Too funny! 

Mr. Ostrich has his head through the sunroof of the car in front of us! 

Brave Silas feeding the "big birds"!!  And yes, these "big birds" are standing on the ground looking eye to eye with us in my big SUV! 

Double Trouble.

Obviously.  

Methuselah.  Obviously king of the forest……um, pasture. 

This place was so cool.  They had buffalo/bison, elk, llamas, ostriches, camels, kangaroos, deer, giraffe, red river hogs,  bearded pigs, spider monkeys, goats, hyena, and lots of animals I cannot pronounce.  A listing is HERE.  

Anyway, I loved it… so did these two! 

I've got two monkeys too! 

Don't spit! 

What a fun day. 

Christmas Day 2013

Santa came!! 

Silas and Avery were up at the crack of dawn (no surprise!… they get it honestly…Papaw, Mimi, and I were all awake. We had to run in to wake up Bruce so he wouldn't miss the fun:-)… and immediately ran to the plate at the base of the fireplace where we'd deliberately left Santa just the perfect number of cookies and "the big milk" (according to Silas).  They both were talking so fast and said "Mom… he ate the cookies… Mom! he drank the milk!  He came!!".  Priceless.

As expected, the morning was magical with three-year-olds.  I want to do the whole thing again! If we could just freeze them right now…
The tool set...

The Doc McStuffins check-up bag...

The train set (which was Grace's and mine growing up!!)...

And their "bikes with horns"!  This is what Silas has said from the very beginning that he wanted from Santa… "a big bike with a horn"...

After at least 4 hours of playing (before 10am!!), we packed up and headed to Mop and Pop's house in Jackson, TN.  The kids didn't sleep a wink on the way…. they were PUMPED.

When we arrived, the other 25 had no other choice but to go ahead and open presents… why, of course.

And, yes, that's a disco ball.  And karaoke.  That's how we roll at the Arnold house.

Of course, the Warfletts fit right in.  (Thanks, Cille, for coining that descriptive term!)

Princess Avery loves her "my pretty Sophia" vanity...

Again, no caption needed.  Silas' dream day was now complete when he spotted the last of the chocolate cake conveniently in front of his stool. He did politely ask permission…  and hey, what could I say??  (It was only 9pm. and he'd been up since before 6am.  with no nap.  It's the holidays.)

Love.

I think we all eventually fell asleep…might have been the next day, but we savored every blessed second.  

Twas the night (and few days) before Christmas...

The days leading up to Christmas:  packed with last minute shopping (character trait of mine:-), fun parties, wrapping (again, last minute… ), and looking forward to many family get-togethers that happen far too infrequently than we'd like.  The weekend before Christmas, the Koonce-Gore (and Sturdivant, Warf, Shannon) event took place at the Sturdivant's house.  

Love these lovely ladies (including Lady Garnett, our newest addition this year)!

And our yearly staircase picture of the motley crew… the growing staircase!  I know Mamaw and Papaw are smiling down from Heaven at this picture.  What a fun crew!!

With Christmas Day falling in the middle of the week this year, I feel like it snuck up on us… Christmas Eve, we all went to our candlelight service at FBCJ, then headed over to the Sturdivant house for dinner.  The kids were beyond excited… (and so were their parents).  This year is the first time Silas and Avery have really understood the whole "santa" thing as well as the main thing - Jesus' birthday!  We sang happy birthday to Jesus, enjoyed His cake Eleanor made (more sugar…. oh lawdy, they'll never go to sleep!)… and had to get a picture in their new Christmas PJs from Mimi and Papaw.

Love this pic that sums it all up.  No caption needed.

Just can't stand it!!

Only 4 more days….. they can't stand it!!

This morning, they woke up extra early about 6am… and this is where I found them… staring at the presents under the tree…

Christmas Programs!!

Tis the season for sweet preschool choir programs!  Here are Silas and Avery in their Mother's Day Out Christmas program… my sweet little shepherds!

And here they are in the FBC Jackson 3 year old preschool choir… all the ladies and Silas.  He is starting to embrace the idea.

There's nothing better than sweet three-year-old voices singing!

Cookies with Santa

Every year as we were growing up in Grenada, my mom planned a cookies with Santa party at our house.  Our friends would come over for snacks and Santa would arrive at the front door… He would read us a story, talk about his toy factory and reindeer and we would all take turns sitting in his lap to tell him exactly what we wanted that year.  I vividly remember this and the deep thought put into what I was going to tell him (after I said that I'd been really good that year!).  

Bruce and I have talked about doing this at our house… and one day Grace was talking about it too… she suggested the Cabot Lodge as a venue. Perfect!  We were so excited about carrying on this tradition of our childhood… (thanks, Mom!)

So we invited all our friends, made cookies, and awaited the special guest… 

The kids didn't know what to think, but were super excited!  Keep in mind, at least for the Warfletts (as penned by our friend Cille:-), the right jolly old elf has not been so merry in past years.  I could tell Silas was mustering up the courage to come face to face with his toy-maker.  After all, Fred (our Elf on a Shelf) as been reporting back to Santa every night on their behavior;)  

Lo and behold, the doors open and we hear jingle bells with every step of Santa's big boots.  The kids all beamed as he made his way with a loud, "Ho, Ho, Ho" to his bench in front of the tree.  Not less than expected, Miss Avery was first in line:

And Silas can't let her "out-do" him in anything … so he took a deep breath and stepped closer…

And was so proud!!

Friends for life.

This picture sums up the morning. About 50 kids got a chance to explain exactly what they wanted this year… So much fun!!

We can't wait 'til next year's party!!   And thank you, Cabot Lodge North for graciously allowing us to party in your lobby!!  Click here to "Like" them on Facebook!

And one last pick… sneaky fingers!! 

Dinner in Grenada

We loved having Granny and Granpa (the Warfs) here all week for Thanksgiving (pics to come soon)! Silas and Avery had a blast showing them the ropes in "my house" and "my room" and "my toys".  Post coming soon.

After a great week, we sped up to Grenada for dinner with Papaw and Mimi.  While Mimi was getting the meal ready, Silas got a construction lesson from Papaw, Lincoln Log extraordinaire!  Silas was soooo proud of their cabin "with a roof and a door and a biiiig window" until Avery waltzed over and kicked it over with her foot (on purpose)… crazy girl.  Not to worry, they quickly built another one.

I believe this little one will really like to play!!

He decided to take his jacket off and give Mimi a lesson…

We always enjoy a ride on the Polaris - looking for ducks, big ducks (geese), deer, little birds (in the trees), and 'all the animals'!

His favorite part: chocolate pie.    No caption needed.  Except that I must add he is humming his "I am Happy" song as he takes this bite.

Every Sunday morning, Silas wants to go with me to band sound check - and bring his guitar.  He sometimes sits with the other guitar guys and sometimes sits solo…