Playin in the snow

It finally snowed yesterday- although you can still see our grass.It was super cold - but we made a Hawaiian snowman in a grass skirt anyway.

A Mahley Family Christmas

The week leading up to Christmas was very busy.- We did a lot to prepare- including trying to make some homemade gifts. We started out ok...
But we quickly got covered in craft supplies and made a big mess- so we switching to decorating cookies-Ella really liked the red frosting.

On Christmas eve we headed over to my moms- Before presents we had a great dinner and took a cousin picture. For some reason Ella clapped every time a flash went off :)

And then it was time to open the mountain of presents..

Ella got a bunch of cool stuff- like a Barbie big wheel, a gift card to a music class for kids- but her favorite gift of all was an Elmo doll. He holds a pizza and sings about it- and then the pizza sings- and Ella is in love. She doesn't hug many of her toys- but she will gladly hug this one.

After all the sugar and excitement - there was wrestling. I'm pretty sure the boys won.

Christmas morning at home was really fun- it was the first one that Ella could really participate in.

Santa brought her some good stuff too! She got a little riding toy for in the house- a microphone- bath crayons- and a magnadoodle.

Joe got an xbox- he has been in this position for the last 3 days straight.

I got a bunch of cool Chiropractic books and medical stuff- and a waffle iron with some Bisquick- Ella and I have had more waffles then the average person should have in the last few days.

Oh- and Joe got me a snuggie- its pink for supporting breast cancer- so- I guess that makes it ok? Well the cat loves it- and so does Ella.
Its pretty much like wearing a tent- Really if your snuggie is snug- you are in serious trouble.

We spent Christmas dinner with Joe's family in Knowelsville. Ella and Nathan got a few extra Christmas presents.

Ella got a plate set from Nathan and a crying doll from grandma-

The best part about all the Christmas craziness is that Ella has slept in the last 4 days! Like till almost 8am. We are still ridiculously tired - but 8 am...merry Christmas to me :)

Cookin!

Over the past few weeks we have kept busy. We had a bunch of family in town for Aunt Toni's funeral. It was really sad- but we had a great time reconnecting with each other.

Over the past few days- Ella and I have had a lot of fun making cookies and perogies. Joe even made a bunch of cookies all by himself for his cookie exchange at work. Ella helped in every way possible. She is the only kid I know that will refuse to eat a cookie though- she is really just into the decorating.

We also got back into our old hat bin. Ella wasn't really into the bear hat-

But she was in love with this pink hat. She would wear it for a super long time and dance around the house in it. Its a little small but I told her she looked very pretty in it.

The biggest undertaking of the week was the homemade perogies.

We made 2 kinds- cheese and sauerkraut. We did it super old fashion because we didn't have the molds for the noodles- so just like in the old days- we had to use the lid to the sour cream- it really was the perfect size!

And as usual- Ella helped!