winter wonderland

it's a winter wonderland for belle, my sister, & all the kids on the block.

it snowed starting sunday morning & stopped monday morning.

i woke up early on sunday so aris & i can shop & prepare for the storm.

i literally had 5 pull ups & one serving of milk left. so i really really needed to get up.

i got home and the snow started. perfect.

monday morning:about 2 feet of snow everywhere.

belle was so excited. always looking outside.

our neighbors came to the rescue.

we only have shovels.

they have the cool plow thing. & took my brother's car out of the snow.

& made our driveway & walkway bigger.awesome!then belle got on her sled and we pulled her around as fast as we could.

she wanted out. i was pulling her out & didn't realize she was strapped in.

my crazy sister was laughing & aware she was strapped in. while i was pulling her out like a crazy woman.

my dad....so over the shoveling. getting old.

belle's hat is big. cause it belongs to aris! haha

her favorite hat is missing. so she wore aris's.

belle finally came in cause her gloves fell off & her hands were cold.

then everyone followed & ate.

& the next day. belle got her snow gear again & was begging to make a snowman.

"Pweease? Pweease? snowman!"

ok off we go.

it's hard to say no to that "Pweeease??"

& in the backyard we have a little hill of snow.

the strong winds formed it. which is cool.

we attempted to let belle slide down with her sled.

she liked it the first time...but not so much the second time.

she enjoyed climbing up the hill more than sliding down.

haha..that face!

then we finally worked on our snowman.

yeeeeheyy!!

it. was. hard. work.

cause we made each ball separately & stacked it on top of each other.

but the second ball was SO HEAVY! me & my sister couldn't lift it.

then belle was getting impatient.

so i brought her in.

then my sister rolled those things up our "hill" so she can use all the snow up there to form a ramp of snow by the bottom ball to roll up the second one on top.

she was real committed to that snowman. haha!

karen saw the pictures & she said, "i hate that the meter thing is right next to it!"

"the fact that the snowman is finished is great & i don't care what it's next to!"

we were tired.

we came inside, got warm, & watched tv.

next thing i know, belle fell asleep.

this blizzard was like last year's.

but i don't know which was more fun.

most likely this year cause we have that crazy snowman!

christmas

my birthday & christmas has quickly came & gone.

i tend to do last minute shopping on my birthday every year.

& that's what happened again.
i had a day of shopping, lunch with binh (thanks binh!!), & 2 trips to target...

my mom & grandma were cooking up a storm for dinner & christmas.

nothing beats their food.

we ate & were in a food coma until we went to midnight mass.

after midnight mass, we opened presents.

& belle had been eyeing binh's big box for her.

i had to hide it in the closet cause she attempted to open it a couple of times.

& when it was time....she went so wild.

it was a treasure chest with disney princess outfits with a crown, slippers & fake jewelry.

she was SO HAPPY. quickly took off her clothes & got dressed.

(THANKS BINH!)

she kept posing for the camera & it was the funniest thing ever.

she rarely does that. but i guess princess gowns can do that to you.

we went to bed around 2am & woke up at noon on Christmas day.

Christmases are usually lazy days.

we spent the day eating & watched the knicks game, despicable me, & eclipse.

these tap shoes was part of my christmas gift for belle.

my mom originally wanted to get her ballet shoes but they didn't have her size.

but i saw these tap shoes in her size & i knew she'd love it.

cause she likes to wear my heels cause of the sound it makes...

so i was sure she'd enjoy the taps these shoes make.

i was right :)

& as we all know...it snowed like crazy on sunday.

belle was able to play & go crazy in the snow the next day when it finally stopped.

but that deserves its own post tomorrow.

hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

4 more days

Christmas is 4 days away! i'm not prepared but what the hey.

last week we went to a Christmas party & it was so nice to see a couple of my good friends!

belle, her bff mia. & mia's brother, lukas.

I only caught their heads... but they're so cute.

mia kept making them kiss & she was pretty proud.

mia: I made Belle & Lukas kiss!!

me: oh really? do you want belle to be your sister in law or something??

mia: yeah. i want belle to be my sis cause mikayla (her sister) is mean.

Oh my goodness...I laughed so hard!

& belle got puzzles from "santa."

but i think her helpers enjoyed it more. they put it together in probably a minute.

seriously.

at home...

Lenee gave me this baby ornament on belle's first christmas. love it!

& the other day belle & i got crafty.

we got this cute idea from a blog favorite.

i painted belle's hand & slowly print it on an ornament.

you're suppose to do this on those huge ornament balls, but belle's hand is small enough for a normal sized ball.

after it dried, i drew faces of snowmen on her fingers.

you're suppose to have 5 snowmen...but belle was not slow & gentle printing her hand so her 2 fingers got mushed together & made one fat snowman.

which makes...4 snowmen instead.

it was pretty funny!

i'm hoping we could do this every year. i'm curious to see how big her hand grows next year.

i imagined her with a cute picture of her proudly displaying our masterpiece.

but she already broke 3 ornaments & i am not about to risk this one after our hard work. haha!

:)