The Noriega Family

I forgot to get these pictures up before our trip.  After our lovely three feet of snow we had some fun sledding.  There is a great hill at one of the elementary schools and all the girls, including me, enjoyed the slopes.  Natalia is bold and loved the runs that had little jumps in them.  Estelle and Sienna loved to go together.  It was a great way to enjoy the snow.  School was canceled all week so we had lots of post snow fun.  

 

Church was also cenceled, so we did church at home on Sunday morning.  The girls were adorable and really got into home-church.  They each had their baby and they all wanted to bear testimony and give lessons.  Plus they loved going to church in their pajamas. 

I think we ended up with 30-35 inches of snow.  No one should have this much snow at one time, but the girls were so excited and have loved every minute of it.  It started snowing Friday afternoon.  School was canceled in anticipation for the storm.  By Saturday morning we already had two feet.  We did some shoveling in the morning while the girls played in the snow.  It snowed for the rest of the day and we got about another eight inches. 

By Sunday morning the snow had ceased and the sun came out, but everything was shut down.  There was no way we were going anywhere.  We didn't see a snow plow until late Sunday night.  Hector and I shoveled for six hours on Sunday; I can feel the muscles in my back and arms and that I don't normally use.  The girls played in the snow for those six hours straight.  They all have chap lips and cheeks now.  

You learn a lot about your neighbors when it snows.  I love that the snow forces us out of our homes into a cooperative working environment.  Most neighbors pitch in and get the work done.  We help each other out and are happy to do so.  There are a few who stay inside and watch everyone else do their work, one guy even came out and took pictures of us shoveling behind his car.  

There was so much snow you really could not see our van.  That is the van behind Estelle.  

We got another 8-10 inches of snow after these pictures were taken of the back of the cars. 

Estelle kept getting stuck because she would take a step and sink to her waste.  

We told the girls for a week that we had a surprise for them.  They were anxiously anticipating.  I made a fun string maze in the house, just like Anna had in Frozen Fever to get her birthday gifts, but our girls were looking for clues.  They had fun following the string and getting clues.  Natalia figured it out on the second to last clue, but Sienna and Estelle needed Natalia's help.  

The solved the mystery and discovered we are taking them to Disney World in a couple of weeks.  They are so excited and we have been having fun watching Disney movies, listening to Disney songs and reading all the Disney books we have.  They have been asking all kinds of questions and dreaming of a great week to come.  None of us have been before, so we are all looking forward to our trip.

Yup, my kids are awesome!  Natalia got a tea set for Christmas and Sienna got super heroes.  The combination of the two is, I am sure, how the manufactures intended for them to be played.  I love their imaginations.  The Hulk really enjoyed his tea!

We spent New Years' Eve with friends at their cabin in West Virginia; it was loads of fun.  It was freezing outside (no snow for sledding) but the kids still played outside.  They tried sparklers, we did a countdown with all the kids, they thought it was awesome and then we put them to bed early.  We played tons of games, with the adults and kids.  The Adults stayed up late every night.  I got sick moments after we rang in the new year and got an early start on my 2016 weight loss goals as I hovered over the toilet puking, but other than that it was a really fun few days.  

On the way home Sienna gets this excited look and starts telling us how she has this really great idea.  "What if there was this thing that was shaped like a candy cane that you could put lake water or milk or hot cocoa in and it had a button that you could press and it would shoot at people."  Oh Sienna, we love you.