Breakfast with Santa!

They each had a whole 1 min. on Santa's lap! :)

Here they are watching the Elf show! It went on for about an hour!

Here is Shakespeare's restaurant where we had Breakfast with Santa! It's huge, and truly looks like a castle inside!

Ariana insisted on taking this picture and she told me to give a kiss! She's a bossy little thing!

The girls joined in on the show! Along with some other kids!

Someone at another table took this picture. Our family! I love 'em!

Here are the kids waiting for our food. They were soooo ready!

1. Friends are an absolute blessing and an essential in my life.

2. Good health; it's a blessing.

3. I'm ready for some quality time with my family.

4. My husband's smell is one of my favorite perfumes or aftershaves or smells.

5. The oldest ornament I have is one I can't even think of!

6. Take some snow and christmas lights, mix it all together and you have a festive, beautiful sight!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to snuggling with my kids and relaxing, tomorrow my plans include taking the kids to Breakfast with Santa and Sunday, I want to get a sitter and go shopping with my husband!

Ella's karate metal!

I wanted to share some AWESOME news! Ella received a metal at

karate the other night for being student of the month! This means that the student has displayed a "black belt attitude". Her and Ariana have been in karate for a month now, and they both love it! Ella gets to wear her metal all month at karate and she can keep it at home as well. We are so proud!

Our first real snow!!

Here is Ariana beginning to make a "snow" castle.

Ella our little poser, raking the snow. How cute!

This is what it was doing about 1 hour earlier. Snow squalls like this keep coming through all day. It'll be sunny and beautiful then boom, snow!! Gotta love the lake effect!

This is what we woke up to this morning. You can get a good idea of how much accumulated. We got about 2 inches from this little storm. It started yesterday. And how romantic, snowing on our anniversary!

This was Ella in this morning shoveling the deck. Her sister was at school.

What a hard worker!

First of all I want to say, "Happy Anniversary Honey!" It was my 7 year anniversary yesterday, and you couldn't have asked for more magical weather. Although it didn't look like this yesterday, it was snowing and it quickly began to stick to the grass and rooftops.

Once evening hit, it began to stick more and overnight, it accumulated on the roads. Some schools were delayed , but most were on time. We're used to this stuff around here! :)

The kids loved it, and they all got their fare share of "snow time" today. I let Gabriel go outside immediately after school, which is not the usual schedule. (usually it's rest time, then homework and then play time after). I figured with an 18 degree wind chill, he needed to get out ASAP, because it was not going to get any warmer :)

Besides the snow, I had a great evening with my husband yesterday, and I am so happy to be married to a man like him. We both adore each other, and it's pretty neat to reminisce. What better time than on your anniversary to do that, right?

Well, the snow is over and the day is done, but more cold weather is to come. So far the forecast for Thanksgiving a high near 50. Let's see if that sticks!

Rainy Saturday, Snowy Sunday

So, I have to talk about the weather for a minute. We here in the Western Pennsylvania area are in for a roller coaster ride, starting yesterday. It was by far one of the warmest days we've had in November in a long time. Now, we have a share of indian summers around here, but yesterday it was a couple degrees shy from being 70 degrees! It was so warm and sunny I could hardly believe my senses! Well, we all knew that it would be short lived. The five day forecast says it all, and being the weather fanatic that I am, I saw this coming for a while. :)



Starting this evening, the temperature will go from the 50's to the 30's and the light rain will start to mix with snow. Then, hold on to your mittens, the high tomorrow is set to be a whopping 38 degrees with light snow all day. This will continue into the entire week! I am starting to feel like it's December or January out already! It is typical to see that kind of forecast here in the deep of winter! It's not even Thanksgiving yet. Crazy!



So, I quess the farmer's almanac is right...It is forecasting a numbingly cold and snowy winter here. I am not complaining too much though. I do love the snow, but I dread to get out in it when I start school.


So, to all of my family that read my blog and are stuck in a "No snow zone", come on up here if you want a taste of some winter. Just look for the "Snow zone straight ahead" sign ;)

1. Please feel free to give me a cup of coffee!

2. When I see my pumpkin candle I can't help sniffing it occasionally.

3. My favorite thing to cook is something sweet so I can lick the spoon!

4. Some Christmas music, some snow falling and a little decorating is something I can't get enough of.

5. That's the thing I love most about the holiday season!.

6. People that are rude and down right mean always makes me think to myself, what the heck?

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching a movie with the kiddos (movie night!), tomorrow my plans include cleaning a little and going to work and Sunday, I want to sleep in _____!

1. Do think it’s okay to bring your own snacks into the movie theater? Why or why not?

I think it is o.k. as long as it's just a little something to nibble on. So I say yes, as long as it's not over doing it! :)

2. If someone were following you, would you:A. Attempt to lose them.B. Turn around and confront them, asking them what in the heck were they doing??C. Nothing.D. Something else (do tell!)

I would find the closest business and go there, or I would go to the nearest person and ask for help.

Tell us about a time when you thought someone was following you. (Don’t we all have those stories? I do!)

I haven't had that experience yet, thank goodness! I have come in contact with many creeps though ;)

3. What is your highest level of education? What were/are your thoughts about school? Would you ever consider going back to school? If so, for what? If not, why not?

I have taken a year's worth of classes at a local community college, and I am going to have my LPN certification by next February.

I don't really like school, but i am willing to go through it to get what I want. I struggled in high school and I have to work really hard now to get the grade I want. I am very determined to get my LPN license!

Ariana's birthday party!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Here are some pictures of the Halloween festivities around the Jones house! We cleaned out the pumpkin yesterday and I carved it later on. I don't have a picture of that though! Then we all went trick-or-treating at 6pm yesterday. They had a ball and all loved their costumes! Ella was a queen, Ariana was a princess and Gabriel was the red power ranger. We were out for over an hour, and it was 39 F outside! BRRRRRRRR! They had a blast and daddy was able to join us half-way through the night. (he had to work yesterday)

So, enjoy the pics and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Ariana's Birthday!

Here is our friend Deidre with Ariana on the way back from the airport. She's holding a little puppy that we bought for her at Claire's. It says princess on it! And she was a princess for Halloween! She actually carried it around at her Halloween party yesterday.

Here she is at the play area in the mall.

This a picture of her and daddy right after they sang her Happy Birthday. She was still upset, and her ice cream ended up melting. :(

This was at the restaurant before she got upset. They are having a daddy and daughter moment!

Ariana running around the yard during the snow! You can't see it, but it's there!

This is when the snow first started , around 8:30 am. It was a lot at once! The picture doesn't show it as well!

Here she is when she first went outside. Doesn't she even look cold! You can see the snow sticking to the deck. That's all it did though.

Ariana's birthday was this past Wednesday, October 29th. It was such a special day and little, as well as big things, made it that way. First of all, the day started out with her waking up to snow. There was a light snow shower around the area, and it seemed to start right after she woke up. So after her brother and sister were off at school, Ariana put her coat on and went outside! She was catching flakes in her mouth, and it looked like the wind was about to blow her away!

Later on , Rob and I took her to a family restuarant around here that's very popular. She was specifically asking to go to Eat n Park. It's like a Denny's but better. Any way, we ate some lunch and then the waitress brought Ariana her free cookie they get after a meal. She ate that up. Then, a group of waitresses came around to our table and sang her Happy Birthday and then gave her a cup of ice cream with a huge candle stuck in it. Instead of being thrilled over this, she curled up in her daddy's chest and started to cry! They left her alone, and our waitress felt so bad! So they all left, and about a minute after that, Ariana threw up in Rob's hand. I took her to the restroom and she had a little more to get out, and then she was fine. We think that with a full belly and her getting worked up just upset her stomach. She was fine after that, and our waitress brought her a box of cookies and 2 quarters to help her feel better. They were so nice and so hospitable. I think I'm going to send her a card for all of her help.

So after the restaurant, we took her to the mall to play in the play area they have there. It is a perfect place to take kids when the weather outside is not so great. She had a ball with that.

We also had a surprise visitor come in that day. My friend Deidre from Florida flew in to visit for a couple of days. Ariana loved that, and the attention!

So here are a few pics from "her" day. Enjoy!