Happy New Year!

We decided to spend New Year's Eve at the Lake House… during the holidays, we really didn't get much time to play at Mimi and Papaw's house, and wanted to seize the opportunity to stay at one of our favorite places  - the lake house!  Silas and Avery were excited and loved the fireworks.  

Sparklers!! 

We enjoyed twirling and whirling with the entire box of giant sparklers before Papaw shot the big fireworks.

It was a cold night, but we bundled up!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  We must make this an annual tradition.

And, Papaw cooked THIS.  Steak and mushrooms, mom's potatoes, salad and cabbage.  Delish!

I won't mention that all four Warfs were fast asleep before 11pm.  Oops.

We enjoyed the relaxing beautiful morning on the porch and went for another adventure:  feed our friends' longhorns. Yes, they have 4 longhorn cows as pets!   No kidding - when they saw us walking toward the fence, they began galloping toward us - and I swear they were smiling!

I think this one is Archie.

And Rebel and I can't remember the baby's name…

They love their "nuggets", as Avery called them.  They are sweet, but you have to watch those WIDE horns!

Hellllooooooooooooo there.   (Avery continues to insist that these aren't cows.  Those are mooooooose.  Those have horns.  Well, okay.)

Such fun!  We'll have to visit them again soon.  These longhorns are about half grown… 

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!