Ward Bonfire on the Beach

Our ward had an activity on Carmel Beach.  I was really excited about this one because my mom would be here and I'd get to show off how awesome it is where we live a bit.  Dru and the girls got to help get the fire going and we soon got to cooking our dinners and s'mores.  Dalia absolutely loves to get her feet in the water.  She kept begging me to take her over to the water, but being 39 weeks pregnant, I wasn't feeling up to standing in the frigid water.  When Dru finally took a break from helping out he took her to the water for a bit.  I asked him to not let her pants get wet because it would get cold when the sun set.  Of course, she got wet and just wanted to sit on grandma's lap the rest of the night.  Mina took off with her friends once they all arrived and we didn't see her much other than her running back and forth and when she wanted to roast marshmallows.  My mom thought it was pretty cool to enjoy a fire on the beach and had a good time as well.

Air Force Ball and Dru's Graduation

I asked Dru if we were going to go to the Air Force Ball this year and he said we'd only go if our friends, the Pfeifers, were going.  I'm glad they had decided to go because I actually really like going to these functions.  It's fun to get dressed up and go on a formal date.  I tried to find a dress in my closet that would work with my gigantic 37 week pregnant belly, but I couldn't find anything.  I decided to check out Ross and the first dress I picked up to try on was the one I bought.  It was 17 dollars.  Woohoo!  I don't like spending a lot of money and it's a dress I can wear when not pregnant, too.  

Our friends, Sam and Michelle, offered a free night of babysitting as a birthday gift to me back in January and we finally took them up on it this night.  The girls LOVE them and Mina watched for them at the window almost all day.  Nick and Angela met us at our house and we rode to the ball together.  There was a delicious cheese bar set up which we gladly helped ourselves to.  Ha.  I was starving.  We met some new people who sat at the same table as us and the dinner was delicious.  Dessert was delicious, too.  It was the first year where I actually knew somebody else there.  Dru likes to socialize and say hi to everyone he knows so it was nice to have Angela there to keep me company.  We couldn't understand the speakers very well and after the the final speaker, who started his speech late, was still going on after almost an hour, we decided to take off when he finished and miss out on anything else in the program.  It was getting late.  We had a great time.

Dru finished up the Intermediate Chinese course towards the end of September and was one of two students who ended up being a distinguished graduate.  He scored very well on the DLPT.  I just don't know how he does it.  He's a very intelligent person and I hope our kids pick that up from him.  He amazes us all the time.

It was very hot in the room the graduation ceremony was held.  I was dying.  I had to fan myself the entire time.  The girls were mostly good.  Dalia embarrassed me once.  Here's what I shared on facebook that day:

 "I tried so hard to get Dalia to whisper when she wanted to talk and she did well overall... until she farted. I knew what was coming. In her normal loud voice, she said, "I fart again!" And silly me, in the heat of the moment, I just told her to whisper, forgetting that she'll repeat it over and over again, and louder each time, until I say, "oh, you farted?" It took her saying it 3 times in that quiet room before I got it right. I almost broke into one of those uncontrollable laughing fits, but somehow managed to control myself. I looked at Dru and could see him chuckling under his breath, too. Ahhh, Dalia. She's lucky she's so cute."

The girls were so cute at the end and wanted to get up and shake Daddy's hand just like everyone else in the room were doing.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of all of us together, but oh well.

Primary Colors

Mina had been asking what colors it takes to make other colors.  I remembered seeing this little experiment on Pinterest and thought she would enjoy it.  We learned all about the primary colors and that those 3 colors can make every other color.  We dyed some water in 3 different cups blue, yellow and red.  We put twisted paper towels in each cup and put the other end of the paper towel in an adjacent cup.  We watched as the colors climbed the towels and combined, producing a new color.  Mina actually got a bit impatient so we helped the colors climb by sticking our fingers in the water and dabbing them higher up on the towels.  She did enjoy the experiment and learned from it.  She was excited to tell Dru all about it when he got home.

The girls wanted to paint their nails later, so we did.  Dalia was such a pain, though.  I painted 2 of her toenails before she told me she didn't want them painted and made me take them off.  So I took off the paint.  Then she decided she did want them painted, so I painted them all.  2 coats of polish and one coat of glitter.  I started on her fingernails.  I got 2 nails done and she wanted it off.  I took it off and then she decided she wanted them painted after all.  I painted them.  2 coats of polish and a coat of glitter.  When I finished and told her how to hold her hands for them to dry, not 5 minutes later she wanted all the polish off.  Off of her finger nails and toe nails.  I told her I wasn't going to take them off because I just knew she would want it right back on.  She cried, and cried... and cried!  She must have cried for at least a half hour about wanting all the nail polish off.  I didn't take it off.  It was a lot of work.  She liked them later on.

I love moments like this, when they just get a long and love each other.

Swimming and Other Daddy Times

We love going to the pool at our rec center.  It's a very short walk away.  We don't go nearly as often as we should, but that's mostly my fault.  The girls always ask to go and I always have one reason or another to not.  This day we went and had the whole place to ourselves.  Dru usually goes to work out and then meets us in the kiddy pool.  Then we all make our way to the big pool where the girls love to jump in into our arms.  Dalia calls the pool the "cool."  She's gotten braver and braver each time we've gone and can actually walk around and play by herself in the little pool now.  It's nice to not have to be right beside her every second we're there.  Mina is also getting braver each time and will dunk her face all the way under the water.  Now, if we could just teach them to swim on there own.

Some friends from church who were moving were getting rid of this awesome bike trailer.  We gladly took it and the girls absolutely love it.  It's quite a workout for Dru.  Our neighborhood has some nice hills.

The girls love reading books and will drop almost anything they're doing to read with us.

Dru and Dalia share a love for avacados.  Dalia asks for them almost everyday and it's so cute to watch them scoop out and eat them with wheat thin crackers.  Although, Dalia doesn't really eat the crackers so we might as well just give her a spoon.

We also love that Dru gets to come home for lunch everyday.  It's nice to see him.

Occasionally, I get a picture of myself with one or both of them.  I was laying down not feeling well and Dalia came and squeezed in next to me to lay there.  It was really sweet.

Brownies and Cupcakes

We were making brownies for dessert one night and Dalia has never gotten to lick the batter out of the bowl before.  I gave each of the girls a spatula and let them go to town.  They loved it.  Dalia did, however, stop halfway through to eat some peaches.  She's so funny.  She would almost always rather eat fresh fruits or veggies than the sugary sweets.  Not Mina, though.  She always prefers the sugary sweets.

One night we went the the farmer's market with some friends and they got their little boy a cupcake from one of the stands.  Mina really wanted one, but we really didn't want to spend so much money on one little cupcake so I told her we would make some the next morning at home and she could decorate them herself.  She was so excited about it.  So was Dalia.  Mina took her time decorating, but Dalia just sprinkled one color on and got busy eating.