12.28.2007

Happy New Year!

can it be that Christmas already came and went?? Hope everyone had a great Christmas and I can honestly say ours was one of the BEST ever! Seeing the holidays thru a child's eyes just makes you appreciate it so much more!! Since the girls came down with runny noses Saturday, they got to come with us to the candlelight church service. I think they enjoyed biting on the candles the best, i felt bad for the person who got our candles the next service :) We celebrated with my extended family, my immediate family, Matt's immediate family and two more Christmas's this wkend and next with our out -of-town family!!

Opening stockings Christmas morning!

















































Not quite getting that the bottle is for her baby doll :)












































Our own Mary, Joseph & baby Jesus for the reading of the Christmas story!



































































































Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

12.22.2007

Feliz Navidad!













Merry Christmas!
For each of the families that are not quite complete this year, I pray that your heart will be comforted and that you might have a quiet peace, knowing God loves you and your loved ones.
Let's strive to remember the real reason we celebrate this wonderful holiday!!

12.14.2007

To my sweet husband!!

Happy Birthday baby! Could it be that you're already halfway to 50!!! I'm so thankful I get to share everyday with you!




















12.05.2007

How can you not love snow...

when you are surrounded by this much love for the white stuff :) here is a short vid of the girls' first REAL "no, no, no" (snow!)







If there is still any left we are going to hit the sledding hills this wkend -- might be one of the best wkends ever!! I just can't wait to see them in their snow pants, boots, etc!!

and ok, i saw the requests for belly pics :) keep watching, i'll post that soon!!

12.02.2007

Express Train

We went with Gramma, Grampa and Uncle Dan to ride the choo-choo this weekend, and boy did the girls have FUN! They not only rode once, but twice (spoiled, spoiled :)!














"Look, it's Santa!"















Sitting in the sleigh






























Getting ready to ride the choo-choo!















"yay, that was the BEST!!"



The girls also got to experience SNOW for the first time!! Well, ok it was more like freezing rain, sleet and ice but it didn't bother them! They loved it, and I (for once) am so excited for our first real snow fall!














11.28.2007

B-Day

Happy Birthday Emily/Mom!!!


Love, Daddy & the girls

11.25.2007

long Thanksgiving wkend!

Yay, for 4 and a half day weekends! Our Thanksgiving was wonderful and we were blessed to be able to spend it with almost ALL of our immediate family. I don't think the girls went without attention for longer than 2 seconds, and of course they loved it!

We set up all of our Christmas decorations the girls went crazy! They love the tree (and of course the Dora and Mickey ornaments are their favorites :), the lights, the snowmen ("man"), and the baby Jesus ("Je je sus") in the nativity! We went to go see the lighting of the big Christmas tree, met Santa (twice), went for a horse drawn carriage ride (brought back really good memories from our days in Guat), saw some ice sculpting, and got to squeeze in a Starbucks run :) I'll let the pics show how much fun we had!












































































Wearing their mittens for the first time :)



































We were so, so thankful this year to have our girls home with us forever! It would be impossible to count all our blessings as there are far too many!

11.21.2007

Happy Thanksgiving!


















Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

11.14.2007

"Dada, wooo"

Every morning i go into the girls room to see those sweet faces wide awake and ready to go (half the time they are jumping on their beds :), and almost every morning the first question i get is "dada?", so after telling them time and time again dada was at work, they finally started telling me "dada, woo (work)". They also know that dada takes the choo-choo train to get to work and so finally last night we got to pick him up from the train and they got to see what "riding the choo-choo to work" actually means!














If you look closely you can see the RR crossing sign, lights and gates














"Where's Dada?"





























I can't believe the girls have already passed 1.5 yrs old! They are both talking up a storm, saying new words almost every day! They are so smart and have actually been successful for the last week in potty training!! yay for mom not having to change as many dirty diapers, especially anticipating having 3 babies to change in 6 mos!! At their last doctors appointment Addy (little sis) passed up Gabriella in weight, for the first time in her life!! Addy weighed in at 18lbs and Gabri was a bit over 17.5 lbs! I found it funny that the doctor told us this time they actually made it ON the American growth charts. I think they were in the 3rd percentile, which totally makes me lol!

Next week I make it to that 2nd trimester, and we did find out I have my 20 wk ultrasound (when we find out if our new baby is a boy or girl) the first week of January! So, that will be a fun way to start off 2008! Yesterday at my 12 wk appointment I got to hear the baby's heartbeat (again) and it truly was amazing. I still don't think it has truly hit us yet, that another little life will be joining our family in less than half a year!

Oh, and who thinks it's ok to start Christmas stuff? ok, ok, i know it's still early and Thanksgiving isn't even over yet, but truly I want to stretch and enjoy Christmas this year like never before. Last year our Christmas was hard and pretty sad. I didn't even put up any lights, trees or decor last year.














This was my husband's attempt at a tree on Christmas morning! We had been praying since May that our little girls would be home for the holidays last year and it was sad to know they were thousands of miles away.

This year I've already been playing the Christmas music, and have the decor down and ready to unpack! Christmas cards are done and ready to be dropped in the mail, I've already been thinking thru where we can put our trees to keep them out of the way of little hands, and shopping is coming along. Matt and I are wanting to start new family traditions this year and want to incorporate baby Jesus' birthday for our little girls to try and understand! So, am I in trouble? Is it ok to just stretch Christmas a bit longer this year? :D



















Matt and I last Christmas (missing our sweet girls).

11.04.2007

Trick or Treat

Sorry, I'm late.. where in the world did October go? Here are our two little trick or treaters this year. Both costumes reminded me of Guatemala, so I decided I'd go for it. They really didn't go trick or treating besides to Nana & Papa's and Grandma's & Grandpa's.. but those costumes might just be big enough to fit them in next year too :)





















































Side note : the best part was probably when they wanted that candy soooo bad they chewed a hole thru the wrapper and tried to suck that chocolate out :)

10.22.2007

More pumpkins!

This past wkend we went to the BIG pumpkin farm and wow, did those girlys have FUN!!! The weather was beautiful and some of our family got to join us too!















As soon as they saw the big pumpkins, they just wanted to hug them :)















(Literally) Running as fast as those little legs will go to DORA!!















They were both hugging and kissing those wooden cutouts (they're just so sweet :)




















"oh no" she does this for everything!! i can drop a paper clip and she'll say "oh no" and cover her mouth for the following 3 minutes (too cute!!)




















Riding on Daddy's shoulders















Another attempt at a family shot (sigh)















Trying to pick up the big pumpkin :)















Look at that face!















They loved to use the gourds as phones

Ok, so here is a Gabri and Addy update! They both go to see the doctor for a ckup this week (a little early for their 18 mos appointment). We are both guessing they are close to 18-19 lbs. I would LOVE for them to have hit that 20 lb mark, but they are just so petite and short, I don't think we're quite there yet (oh well :) I still can't get over just how much they grow and change every single day! They are both so, so smart. They love puzzles (addy can do a few on her own), dancing (finally got the booty shakin' thing down :), books and talking! Gabriella's new thing is the jack-in-the-box, she could sit there all day and wind that thing! They are both talking a ton, and i'd say are speaking around 20 words each. Cracker and wook (work, for "where is daddy at?") are the new ones this week :) They both take one LONG afternoon nap (usually 3-3.5 hrs) and they love, love, love food. Naaak, (for snack) is one of their favorite words. They also love "ah wa wa" (cross between agua and water :). They are running everywhere and when we tell them about Mommy's baby in her belly, they both put their finger to their mouth to say "shhh", I guess they're assuming the baby is sleeping! I cannot go to the grocery store without someone coming up to me and complimenting the girls -- just today a lady at Aldi told me they look like they belong in a movie (lol). I can't help going on and on, but for the sake of the blog I'll stop :) These girls are truly blessings straight from GOD, and not one day goes by that I cannot shake my head... how awesome that I get to be their mommy!!