More big laughs

Here's another cute video of Annie laughing. Gabby was shaking her birthday balloon and Annie thought it was hysterical. Sorry it's so dark. 

A little bit of Christmas!

Since we were planning on staying in Logan for Christmas, and Darren's parents weren't going to be able to see the girls on Christmas they decided to come up on Tuesday to give them their Christmas presents. Gabby got a few new dress up things (like the Fancy Nancy outfit she has on above), and few other fun toys. Annie also got some fun things. The girls had fun seeing their grandparents and opening a few early Christmas presents. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

3 Years Old!

I can't believe my little girl is three years old already! She turned three on Monday, and unfortunately she was so sick! She and I both came down with the stomach flu on Saturday and she still had it Monday for her birthday. Since we did a birthday party for her in the summer, we didn't really have much planned for her birthday and since I had been sick I really didn't have much planned, but she woke up Monday morning and when she didn't have any presents to open she was so bummed! Darren and I felt so bad that I ended up running to the store to get a couple little presents and some balloons. I guess we won't be doing the summer party thing anymore!

Visiting Santa

Darren and Gabby went on a Daddy-Daughter Date the other day to visit Santa Clause at the mall. Apparently the kids aren't allowed to sit on Santa's lap anymore (for obvious reasons), but she got to sit up next to him on his big chair. She informed him that she wanted a Princess backpack. That's the only thing she has asked for, hopefully Santa will deliver.

Bath Time Fun

Anabelle has been having such a fun time in her baths lately. She splashes and gets me and everything else soaking wet. She had a bath with her big sister for the first time the other night and they had so much fun playing in the water. She just gets cuter and cuter everyday. 

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving down in Salt Lake this year. Gabby got to have fun with her cousin Cloie, and Anabelle got tons of attention. I got to do a little bit of Black Friday shopping which was not fun at all! I went to Walmart at 5 a.m. because there were a couple of sale items I wanted, when I got there the parking lot was totally full. I mean completely. I had to park across the street at the Sam's Club and I had trouble finding a spot there. I couldn't believe how many people were there. But overall it was a great holiday. 

Dance Recital

Gabby had her first dance recital tonight. She's been taking "Creative Movement" classes for the last three months from someone in our ward and tonight was her big show. Her Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Cloie came up from Salt Lake to see her dance. She looked so cute and did such a good job. I was a little worried that she would get up there in front of everyone and get stage fright, but she had no such problem. This is a little video of her dance. Autumn is in front of her for most of it, but it's still cute. 

    

Pierced Ears

Annie got her ears pierced today and she looks adorable! I had to go to the mall to return some shoes for Darren and I decided to just go ahead and do it. She cried for a second when they first did it, but she's been fine since, she doesn't even fuss when I clean them. Gabby was extremely worried for her little sister, she also cried, because Annie was crying. But then she got a sucker so life was good again. 

6 Months!

Annie had her six month appointment today. I can't believe she's six months already! Everything is great, she's 16 lbs. 5 oz. and 25.5 in. She had to get a few immunizations today and also a flu shot. Gabby also got a flu shot and she is being extremely dramatic about it. She was very good during the shot, she didn't even cry. But now she's limping around all over the house and telling me she's too tired to do anything, can you say Drama Queen?! Annie just gets more adorable every day. She's babbling a lot now. She says da-da pretty regularly now, much to Darren's delight, of course she doesn't know what she's saying (even though Darren insists that she does.) She's also starting to be very demanding for attention. If you walk by her and don't acknowledge her she yells at you, not cry, yell! What a cutie. 

Fun in Price

We went to Price yesterday for a big dinner with Darren's extended family. Gabby had fun playing with her cousins, and Annie of course had fun being held by everyone.

Here are the girls playing in the leaves out in front of Great Grandma and Grandpa Arnold's house.

Here they are singing on the stage at the church. (We had the dinner at the church because the family is too big to fit comfortably anywhere else.)

Halloween

Here are some pictures from Halloween. Annie was an adorable cow, and Gabby was the cutest scarecrow ever. 

I took the girls to the mall on the afternoon of Halloween. The stores were doing trick-or-treating and I thought it would be fun for Gabby. We walked around to all the stores and she got a pretty good load of candy just from that. We went home and I let her have a couple of pieces of candy and then I told her no more till after dinner. I put all of her candy in a bowl and put in on the cupboard. She said "Mommy can you just get it down so I can look at it?" So I got it down so she could look at her candy, then she says, "Mommy can I just smell it?" I told her it was fine if she smelled it as long as she didn't eat it, and she took a big old whiff of it. So this is a picture of her smelling her candy. I guess that's second best to eating it. 

This is Gabby with her loot after trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. She was exhausted by the time we were done.

Little Artist

I know this is a little hard to see, but this is Gabby's snowman. I gave her a piece of paper and a pen the other day so that she could draw while I was making a grocery list. She said she was going to draw a snowman and this is what she drew. I know I'm a little biased but I think it's pretty good for two years old. It has eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms and even a little hat!

Big Laughs

Here's a video of Annie laughing, we've gotten little giggles out of her before but this is the first time we've heard any big laughs. All Darren was doing was clapping and for some reason she thought it was hilarious. She was tired though, you know how every thing's funnier when your tired. There's a lot of back ground noise in the video because Gabby was taking a bath. 

4 Months!

Look at those cheeks!

Annie had her four month doctor's appointment on Monday. She's up to 14 lbs. and 24 inches and she's healthy as can be. She had to get three immunizations and Gabby was in the room with me when they gave them too her. The nurse gave Gabby a sucker when they were done. Annie gets shots and Gabby gets a sucker, how fair is that.  I've started feeding her cereal, at first she wasn't too sure about it but now I think she's decided she likes it. I think she's starting to need something besides formula because she sucks down 8 oz. at every feeding like its nothing. We've also discovered that she loves being naked. It doesn't matter how cranky she is, if I take off her clothes to give her a bath she's all smiles, but then as soon as I put her diaper back on she starts to cry.

Fun at the Fair

Gabby and Cloie working hard on the farm

Gabby and Cloie screaming on the car ride

Gabby on the pony ride

Gabby went to the Utah State Fair with her grandparents and her cousin this past Saturday and she had a blast. She got to pretend she was working on a farm, planting seeds, picking vegetables and taking them to the market. She went on three rides, a helicopter ride, a car ride and a pony ride. All of which I'm sure she would not have done had Cloie not been with her. They have so much fun playing together! She ate ice-cream and licorice and came home exhausted. I wish I could have been there!

Party Time!

This is Annie hanging out in the back of our Subaru.

She was such a good girl all day. 

This is Gabby opening her presents, it took her forever!

she was very methodical, tearing off one piece of paper at a time. 

Gabby blowing out her candles. She's actually just pretending to

blow them out because the wind kept blowing

out the match before I could light the candles.

Gabby playing on the beach with her cousins and her Grandpa

Since Gabby's birthday is December 22 we have, for the past two years, thrown her a birthday party in the summer instead of doing one right before Christmas. We do this because we don't want her birthday to get too mixed up with Christmas, and also because its easier on our bank account when we don't have to buy Christmas presents for everyone plus birthday presents for Gabby. This year we had her party at Bear Lake. It was so much fun! 

Hot Air Balloon Festival

My dad and brother were in town last weekend and my dad owns a condo down in Eden (its a little town up Ogden Canyon). They were having there annual hot air balloon festival so we went down to check it out. They had craft booths set up and fun things for the kids, Gabby had fun on the little train ride they had going. It was fun to get to spend some time with my family. 

Funny Story!

So tonight Darren and I and the kids went to Smith's just to grab a couple things and we let Gabby push one of those little kids carts. We were over  by the pop and juice and we turned our back on her for one second and when we turned back she was loading her little cart up with beer and margarita mix! It was pretty funny. 

Potty Trained!

Gabby is finally potty trained! I wanted to try to get her potty trained before the new baby came along, but obviously that didn't happen. Then after the baby came I was too busy, but I finally decided it was time and she's been doing great!. The other day I had to go to Old Navy and Walmart, and I debated before we left, do I put a pull-up on her, or let her wear her big girl underwear? I decided to risk it. She went potty before we left and she did fine at Old Navy, then the second we pulled into the Walmart parking lot I hear "I need to go potty." So I rush the kids out of the car we run into Walmart, and of course the closest women's bathroom is closed for cleaning,but she's still holding it so we run to the back of the store to the other bathroom. I'm running with my cart, dodging in and out of people we finally make it to the bathroom (which by the way was totally disgusting). I was afraid she would refuse to sit on the toilet because she was used to her little potty, but she did with no problem! Yay! I'm back to just one kid in diapers!

New Baby

Okay, I'm finally posting pictures of our new baby! Her name is Anabelle Marie Arnold (Annie for short) and she was born on May 11. She was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19.5 in. She has tons of dark hair and we think she looks very much like Gabby did when she was born, which means I'll have the two cutest girls in the whole world! Gabby loves her baby sister. She always wants to "pet" her, as she calls it, and loves to give her hugs and kisses. 

Last Day

We wanted to make sure that we did something fun with Gabby for her last day as an only child. She loves picnics at the park so on Saturday we packed a lunch with some of her favorite things and took her to Willow Park. After she had had her fill of the swings (thats pretty much the only thing she ever wants to do at the park.) We walked over to the Willow Park Zoo. Lucky for us they were having a fund raiser and promoting some of their new animals, and they had free balloons and ice cream, two of Gabby's favorite things. I think she had a pretty good day!. 

Counting Down

Exactly 20 days until my due date! My doctor has already said she'll induce me a week early, so it'll probably be Monday the 12th. That's 15 days! The question is can I stand it that long? I am so ready to have this baby. As for a name....you'll know when we know.