Happy Holidays!

Hello and howdy, friends and family! As Christmas day approaches all the kids can talk about is how excited they are for Santa to come. And here I thought I was teaching them to celebrate Christ's birth. Drat! Better luck next year I guess. We've yet to nail down any particulars but we are going to be baking cookies for Santa and spending time together. Now that we're on our own, we'll have an opportunity to make up our own traditions. I'm pretty excited about that.

The kids were so excited when it started to snow Friday morning. Vash kept asking if that meant Santa was coming that day and Rhyla would just start running around yelling "Yeah! Santa!"

Once the snow started to stick, we headed outside for a look. Rhyla loves her gloves even though their more like claws and leave her with little to no control over her hands.

Vash continues to crack us up. Last week at church, a pretty girl walked by and waved at him. He covers his eyes and says "Oh coconuts, it's my girl!" He was so embarrassed for some reason. It was hilarious.

As the day wore on the snow started to really come down.

These are our Christmas lights by the way. The kids were really proud of me!

We ended up going out side to try and build a snowman once Craig got home. We didn't quite have enough snow yet so Craig started a snowball fight. I was the only one without gloves and the three of them attacked me! The injustice of it all...

The kids have started playing a game where all they do is say "You yucky!" and spit at each other. I don't see the appeal but it's funny as heck to watch.

Since this week was Craig's first week at work, the kids really missed him. As he drove off the first morning I held Rhyla up to the window so she could wave to him. Once he was out of sight, she looks at me and asks "Daddy come home for lunch right?"

Suckiest moment of the week? When Craig got stuck at work for an extra six hours because the only road in and out of the workshop was blocked to put out a neighboring building's fire. 

Best moment of the week? When the kids saw snow for the first time.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! We love our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and thank Heavenly Father for the wonderful gift of His birth and Atonement! We hope you all feel the spirit of compassion and thanksgiving as you count your blessings this holiday season.

The World's Ending! So they tell me...

I'm really not too concerned. The Mayans were men... so I think the "No man knoweth the day" thing has us covered. But just in case, I guess if this ends up being the last blog, I'll try to make it interesting. *Joke*

We didn't take many pictures at our going away party but I couldn't resist this photo opt. Rhyla giving her Nana goodbye loves. 

And this is Vash working on his already impeccable lady skills. It's only too bad that she's his second cousin. LOL. 

We took a few pictures on the way out here, but only in the hotels. Obviously they were feeling a bit cabin crazy. They sure liked sharing a bed though. They were cuddled up quite a few times throughout the night.

Vash loved water while we were traveling. Surprisingly, some states have really delicious water right out of the tap.

Now that we're more settled, the kids love bundling up to go out. Rhyla wanted to wear my scarf and liked it so much that she wore it the whole day.

Went to the mall to do some Christmas shopping and the kids just had to ride the little quarter cars. Rhyla picked the safari car.

Vash wanted to ride the fire engine. He even made his own siren sounds.

Then we let them ride the Christmas train since we'll be missing the one at McKormick park this year.

Since we didn't get our furniture until yesterday, we've been chillaxing on the floor. The kids liked sharing the Lighting McQueen chair. 

We got to go visit Craig's cousin Lisa the other day. And her parents John and Carol, our aunt and uncle, came to bring lunch. It was great to meet them and now we crave the delicious battered fish they brought over all the time. Vash obviously enjoyed a large cupcake while we we there.

They also brought chicken. Rhyla went to town on that drum stick.

I think in about ten years I will end up taking another picture just like this and doing a then and now type of thing. 

Funny stories for the week:

Ask the kids what time it is; I dare you. They'll tell you it's "Sexy clock." (six o'clock) No matter what time it is it's hot in the Smith household, according to Vash and Rhyla. 

Rhyla's newest trick: Whenever we catch her doing something she isn't supposed to be doing (I.E. breaking Christmas ornaments or getting into the trash), she'll literally drop whatever it is and start clapping. Like she's saying "Oh here, I was fixing it. Yey! Don't yell at me..."

Craig has taught Vash a new phrase. I really don't know why, but now Craig likes him to say "Like a man!" in a deep little boy voice. It's funny, I'm just not sure where it originated from.

One day Craig gave Vash a thumbs up and Vash thought that was pretty cool. He tells me: "Did you see mommy! Daddy gave me a *thumbs up*" Yep. Didn't know what to call it so he just did it back.

And Vash got in trouble for kissing a girl in nursery! We had a little talk; now he walks around saying "I want to kiss, but I'm too little."

The other night I gave the kids a bath and we brought the tea set in. Vash and I were pretending to drink, but Rhyla, who's still too little to understand pretend, just sat there and drank the bath water. Things that make you go "Buh...."

Craig and I have jars of pennies. Usually there in a vase that we display but we put them in jars for the trip. Well, Rhyla wanted to stack them up like a tower and when they fell she says: "The pennies are broken!"

I wrapped all the present recently and I coded them with paper: princess paper= Rhyla. Mickey paper=Vash. Rhyla grabbed each princess package and said "For Rhyla" over and over again. Darn cute.

Vash has become such an affectionate little thing. Whenever he gets excited about something he'll say,"For me? Oh thank you, I love it!" And the other night when I made dinner, he said, "Oh mommy! It's my favorite, I love it!" 

So, we're doing well. Still adjusting a bit but that's to be expected since we're still pretty new out here. Hope everyone has a great week, or end of the world, depending on how things go. Just for funsies: if the world ends, I won't miss: doing dishes.

What won't you miss?

Welcome to Pennsylvania!

Well, we made it. We made it here on Wednesday actually, but we've been so busy that this is the first chance I've had to write and tell you all about it. No pictures this week, because, well, even though we crossed the country (approximately 2100 miles of it) all I saw was the inside of the truck cab. LOL. The kids were real troopers though. Entertained themselves with books, coloring, and a portable DVD player. Oh, and Vash learned that eating silly puddy will actually induce vomiting. All over the back seat in fact. It's ok though; Tuku soaked up the majority of it.
Rhyla got to be adored by people from seven different states. Every restaurant we stopped to eat in along the way had people coming up to the table and telling us what a doll she is. Then the next thing they'd ask was if she and Vash were twins. I probably had to say, "No, they're 19 months apart," about 19 times. But twins do run in my family and even though their exponentially difficult, I wouldn't mind a set someday.
Vash got to ride in the Penske will Craig for a few of the days. He kept saying how excited he was to ride in the big truck. Rhyla just seemed excited to have the back seat to herself where she could enjoy her back pack of goodies without Vash taking everything from her. I found out that she likes the same music I do. I'd plug the flash drive into the truck adapter and she'd konk out listening to the Civil Wars. Then she'd wake up and cry if I turned it off.
I almost got to meet my Aunt Paulene when we stopped for the night in Oklahoma City, but Craig's GPS misled us and we had to cancel. It wasn't the first time. Our first night, it led us almost an hour away from our hotel instead of towards it. And several times since we've been in town it's tried to lead us to the middle of nowhere saying that it's taking us to Wal-Mart. If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was doing it on purpose, trying to kidnap us and become our evil overlord. *JOKE*
We got to stay the night at Craig's cousin Julie's house our last night out. Her kids are about Vash and Rhyla's age, so we're pretty excited to be just a few hours apart. She might even make it down for Rhyla's birthday. (I'm planning on inviting the entire nursery in hopes that we'll make some friends and it'll make up for the lack of family around to celebrate like there usually is.)
So about Pennsylvania, or Pensin-nane-ya as Vash calls it. The first thing I've learned about it, is that you have to pay a toll to go anywhere. We went to Ikea and we had to a pay a toll. We went to Walmart and we had to pay a toll. And it's always at the Turn Pike. Papa warned us about the Pike but I didn't understand that when he said we'd get to know it, he meant that we'd be getting to know a financial threat. *Also a joke... but only sort of* Our town is small but has everything you can imagine here. We live on a hill right by a river and a train runs right along side it through the town. There are trees everywhere and even though their crackly and dead looking now, it's still kind of hauntingly beautiful in a way. Right at the end of our street is an Italian food restaurant that is always packed. Rather serendipitous, seeing as how pasta is my all time favorite food.
The Wal-Marts are different here. The bags are grey instead of white. You can buy boxes of Krispy Kreme doughnuts right out of the aisles. And you can buy anything you can imagine with a Steelers symbol on it. True story. Oh, and all the malls sell coats and boots instead of shorts and flip flops.
It's rained every day since we've been here but I don't mind at all. The kids thought it was an outdoor shower so Vash kept rolling the window of the truck down to try and get a drink. Rhyla is loving all her new clothes and protests putting a coat on because she wants to see the characters on her shirts.
Our little place here is great. Three stories, if you count the basement. I do because it's huge. It's like a garage/laundry room/ storage room thing. Mind blowingly large. The kitchen is smaller than what I had before but it's ok because we stored everything I don't have room for in what we've nicknamed the "Harry Potty Bedroom." That's right. We have a room under the stairs; but it's full of pots and pans instead of a teenage wizard. Some times, I think about just popping my head in there and yelling "Lumos!" though just in case. All the rooms are huge too. The dining room, the living room, and the bedrooms all look so empty because we have no furniture still. (It's getting delivered on Monday. So excited!) We share a front porch with the neighbor and we have a tree in the front drive. We don't have a yard but right up the street is an enormous field where we can take the kids to play.
We've put most everything way. The kitchen and bathrooms are entirely done. Everything else will get done quickly once we have dressers to put stuff in. The living room will be the biggest change since we'll have a new couch and entertainment center to put all our movies and things in. We'll need to get book cases eventually but right now we're just going to keep the books in their boxes, stacked against the wall. That's kind of the same thing right? I can't wait until we get the wall mounting stuff so I can put all our family pictures up and the kids' birthday collages. To me, that's really the finishing touch on making this feel like home.
We went to our new ward's Christmas party tonight so we had a chance to meet some of the people we'll be getting familiar with. Our Bishop used to be in the Marines so... let's just say he's all business. I've talked to him for less than five minutes and I got yipped at twice... I'm mildly terrified of him and that's all I'm going to say. Every one else seemed very nice.
So, that's all for this week. Super excited to start the Smith Family adventures in PA. It's been interesting so far.