January 2012

Well, we rang in the new year with just our little family.  Mina got really sick on New Year's Eve so she ended up being up with us at midnight and got to listen to and see fireworks.  The girls were sick on Christmas so they didn't get to wear their dresses until we got back.
It took a while to get back into our regular routines and we finally got Dalia sleeping all through the night again.  Dru got right back to work after a couple of days to unwind and the second week in January he started Airman Leadership School.  He has to go to this class for 5 weeks.  He has to take this class so that he can officially be promoted a little later this year.  It's a regular Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 type schedule complete with homework every night.  It really makes me miss his old Panama schedule.  I'm stuck at home every day.  That's not a terrible thing.  We've been able to have play dates over here and have had friends come over during the day, but I miss having the car and even having Dru home during the day.  Sometimes he gets to come home for lunch which is nice.
We celebrated my birthday on the 19th with our friends the Robersons and the Pfeiffers.  We went to my favorite restaurant out here called Chevy's.  It's a Mexican place with the best chimichangas and corn tomalito. Mmmm.  My mouth is watering thinking about that meal.  The servers at the restaurant came out clapping to sing to me, but I was in the bathroom with Mina.  Haha.  They came back a little later when I had returned.  It was fun.  After dinner we went back to our house to eat the cake Mina and I made earlier that day.  Mina was a good helper and good taste tester.  We made a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing.
We've been trying really hard lately to read scriptures together and to pray each night together.  Sometimes it gets difficult with Dru's schedule, but we can definitely see the blessings when we are faithful.  Mina gets so excited for scripture time each night and she has recently started saying her own prayers in front of us with little help.  I think up until now she has been a little embarrassed to say them with us around because I would sometimes listen outside her door after saying goodnight to hear her saying her own prayers.  It's so sweet.
We've also got Mina back in panties.  Haha.  We took a little break over the Christmas holiday.  We probably shouldn't have, but she got back into the swing of things very quickly.
We experienced a tiny bit of snow on a couple of occasions this month.  Mina gets so excited to see the snow fall.  She always wants to go play in it and eat it and throw snow balls.
Dalia finally started crawling.  She has also been standing while holding onto things and can even stand unassisted for a few short seconds.  She cut 4 of her top teeth over the Christmas break... at the same time!
She started biting like crazy while nursing and much to my relief FINALLY started taking bottles of formula.

We did some more face painting with Mina's friend, Teresa.  These two girls are too cute.

Christmas 2011

We left for Texas December 8th.  We drove straight though and it took about 25 hours.  It was a long drive, but the girls were terrific.  Right away I got busy helping Meagan put together a baby shower for a friend of hers.  It was a lot of fun and probably my most favorite shower I've done so far.
My cousin, Kate, had moved in with my parents from Utah.  I hadn't seen her in over 2 years so it was great to be able to spend so much time with her.
We were back and forth between the Duncan's and Jorgensen's houses constantly during the 3 weeks we were there.  The girls had a little trouble sleeping at a different house each night so we made the decision to sleep at the same house every night.  That made things incredibly easier and less stressful for the girls and especially for me.
We did a lot of shopping and crafting getting ready for Christmas.  The most incredible part about this year was that all of my siblings were able to be in one place at one time.  It's been a few years since this has happened.  And, we finally got to meet my nephew, Larry.  It was so much fun having all of the grand kids together at the same time.  It was loud and messy, but it sure was fun.  My grandparents even made it down to spend a day with us.  I wish we would have had some more time with them, but you can't always get what you want.
We spent Christmas Eve day with the Jorgensens and had a fabulous dinner and gift exchange that night.  It was so fun watching Mina open her gifts.  Dalia didn't quite know what was going on and she was sick, but she enjoyed the noise and the toys.  After things finished up there we headed back the Duncan's house to put the girls to bed.  Dalia ended up waking back up and being awake until about 4 in the morning.  I felt so bad for her.  We were able to have an enjoyable Christmas morning with everyone except Nicole there.  What a mess that place got after opening gifts.  The kids had a blast!  We had a tasty lunch and then relaxed for the rest of the day.
It was a great 3 weeks back home, but we were anxious to get back to our own place and back to our own routine.  We made it back in 22 hours straight through.  Once again, the girls were amazing!

All the grand kids taking a bath.  We never got all 6 in at one time because Jasmine wasn't a big fan of baths at the time.

Opening gifts at the Jorgensen's home.

Opening gifts at the Duncan's home.

Dru and I got my mom and dad custom bobble heads.  They were a big hit.

Cousins watching a movie with each other.

The kids all love Dru.

William got into Meagan's makeup.  Hit did a pretty good job.

Here are some family pictures.  Sadly, Stephane was in Dubai already and Adam and Jessica weren't feeling to well for the big group shot.

Dru took Mina to a really fun pizza/play place.  Dalia was super sick otherwise we would have been there, too.  They met up with most of Dru's family and had a really great time.

Here are some pictures of the gift exchange with Dru's mom's family.  It was a lot of fun, even though Dru and I have the worst luck in that game.  Hehe.

Dru's dad magically put Dalia to sleep.  It was so funny and so cute!

Mina took this picture of me.