Post Christmas Cheer

Well, it's been a fun "post-Christmas" week. These two finally got to see each other again and they couldn't have been happier.

K is learning to share all the new toys...she started by sharing the couch with Daddy.

And then finally moved up to sharing with Em.

"Anonina" came over with her mom and had received a face painting kit for Christmas so she painted K's face...

...and made her a tiger. Ironic since tigers are what K runs around the backyard getting rid of. :)

Of course I had to paint her face next.

When we were unpacking, this fell over and the girls climbed in and K declared that it was her "twain" and Emmy started saying, "too too". It was very cute.

We got to hang out with Z too. I know it looks like all this happened on the same day, but that is just because K NEEDS to wear her Ariel dress every single day, so don't worry, we spread everything out. :)

Oh yeah, for all of you who have heard about our crazy 'winter', the rumors are true. It has been warm, beautiful and even very little wind. We have spent the last week outside. We need to get some water soon but I am sure all of the parents of toddlers appreciate it as much as I do!

We got a new soccer/la cross/hockey net and all the parts to go with it.

Emmy seems to think the game is take the ball, run away and say, "mine!". We are learning and actually, she is really good at soccer...I mean as good as a two year old can be.

K who can't throw a ball to save her life is oddly very good at la cross. This was my point of view from the net and you wouldn't believe it but she got 90% of her shots within the area of the net. I am amazed. Of all things!

Em's hair is out of control bad so I call her current phase her "Justin Bieber" look.

We got a quick visit from Alan and Inga but I didn't take any pics except this one...it was fun to just talk since their other boys were with Grandma and our girls were napping. Adult conversation? Uninterrupted? Why yes!

K keeps thinking that if she gets her umbrella out it will start to rain and we can go out in it. I keep telling her it doesn't work that way and each time she gets quite upset about this. Strange child.

Well, I hope that is all that happens for a little while. I have finally started running again (yeah, I haven't started up since the triathlon ended since I got really burned out from that) but now K thinks we are all going for a run. She puts on her running shoes and she runs down the street until she is done then she gets in the stroller and reads until I am done. It is super cute and even makes me want to get out. Emmy, well, she is content to sit and snack and enjoy being outside. We have a good thing going...until it starts to rain again. :)

Oh, as an interesting follow-up to the eye thing, someone who reads my blog put me in contact with a young man who is in a very similar situation as Emily. He can see but he is severely impaired. He is an IT guy who works with computers...yep, there is technology for screen magnification and even braille email and texting. It all costs a lot of money and we will be a mac family but he says it is worth it and we should start saving now. :)

Anyway, we had a great conversation about how to best help Emily through life with very little vision. He also put me in contact with several of his teachers who helped him through and encouraged us to learn Braille now so we can better teach Em when the time rolls around. I have been bucking Braille, convinced she will see well enough to read, but he told me that he can read but it wears him out so fast that Braille is actually easier. So, even if she can see, it will be a great tool for her to move more independently through life. I contacted the Braille Institute here in LA and they have classes for parents for just that purpose. I have signed us up. There was a lot more to that conversation but it was just very empowering to me as I was given practical ways to help Emily and there is nothing like the feeling of having a way to help your kids when you are faced with so many situations you can do nothing about.

Then, the next day, M helped a lady whose car caught on fire and as he was driving her home, they had an interesting conversation (after M identified her accent for her). It turns out that she is Nigerian, lives out in Palm Springs and was wondering why her car burned up. "Now I know, she exclaimed, it was to meet you! I am a prayer warrior, what do you want me to pray about?" So he told her about Emily and she promised to pray for her.

I know it is random and crazy but it all reassures me. If God was going to use the body of Christ to give Emily life, why would I think that was the end of it? Why wouldn't He use his body to continue to guide and bless her life? All of these things are just reminders to me that although we have moved on past her babyhood, God has not forgotten her and He has not left her or us on our own. He is still watching out for her. And He will continue to do it for the rest of her life, with every single issue she has to deal with. Praise God for his compassion and endurance!

God Bless!!

Christmas Two

All right! We spent actual Christmas down here...so what does Christmas in SoCal look like? A beautiful sunny day. :)

The girls and I went down to Nana and Poppy's...having snacks before church.

K running towards me from the church.

When I asked her if I could have a picture, she sat on the ground, crossed her legs and posed for me. All I could think was, "Seriously? Where did you learn that?" :)

Since we were doing presents the next day, we just went for a walk to the park and enjoyed the weather and the company.

Then we went to look at lights before bed.

The next day, J+K came and M was on his weekend, so we had Christmas...

These are all very much out of order so please bear with me while I go through this! Most of the pics are just the kids playing or opening presents...I will explain the rest. :)

These two took a while to start playing, but when they did, it was really cute! This is them on the couch, alternating yelling, while we ate desert. :)

These three are fixing the sprinkler head that broke.

The reason there aren't very many pics of J is because he ended up like this...he missed his nap and left us in the evening at some point. Kids sleeping is always cute.

I did get a couple of him before he fell asleep though.

Only included this cause I always get a kick out of how small our girls are...B is one and a half...heavier and almost as tall. :)

We will just call this the faces of B...cutie pie!

The next morning we opened the gift from Uncle M and Auntie G...she is stoked guys! Em likes it too, when she is allowed on. :)

So, after two weeks, we have finally finished having Christmas. It was a ton of fun and we really enjoyed all the time with both sides of the family!! I hope your celebration of Christ's birth was as wonderful as ours! God Bless!

Christmas from Disneyland

All I want for Christmas is Disneyland...at least that's what April thought BEFORE we got there and realized how many other people had the same idea!! :)

Ok, so there were a million people, but seriously, watching the girls' reactions to everything was priceless!

Emmy is still scared of all the characters...

K was wearing her Ariel dress that day so she was pretty stoked that Ariel was the princess she got to meet. She told Ariel all about it!  Yes, I know, her outfit is ridiculous!  It was cold and I refused to let her go without warm clothes on and she refused to leave without her princess dress on, and below you have our compromise.

Oops, this is out of order but right when we got into the park K just kept pointing around and saying, "Oooh, wook at how pwetty!"

While we were at the castle of princesses, we watched a show, learned how to dance and even danced WITH the princesses! This is spinning a ribbon around a pole.

K found Aurora, or in K language, "Me!!" (she thinks she is Aurora or Aurora is a representation of her, whichever way you want to look at it). She came back and told me she held her hand, but I honestly didn't believe her until I saw this picture that April had taken! :)

K was very upset when I told her we had to leave so I told her I would take a pic of her sad face and we would come back later...

In Mickey land, there are a lot of toys!

She's in there, driving, but you almost lose her in all the colors going on!

K's favorite spot...

After it was all done, we asked her who her favorite was and she said goofy, cause he danced with her...it was really cute!

Waiting for the parade, K got to interact with some older girls and they were showing off their dresses so K thought that was what she was supposed to do...show you her dress.

The girls loved the parade! I thought it was going to be too boring for them, but K sat and waved at all the characters and both girls just watched the entire time...utterly entertained.

K got tired and needed to take 'bear' with her, even on the rides, but when I asked her why she needed him, she said, "Bear is scared. I need to keep him safe." So when she put him in her seat belt, I had to snap, even if it meant a giant shadow on the side! :)

While I took K on dumbo, April took Em on the carousel.

LOL!  This makes me laugh!

She kept calling Dumbo Eva...an elephant gimmick used to convince kids to take their medicine and the name she has given to the elephant in Curious George Two...and no less than three kids felt the need to correct her while we waited in line.

Main street at night...

This is April's favorite picture...it makes her laugh. We call it the real story of Disneyland. Waiting in line is not the easiest thing on children and by the time we were past their bedtime, they just wanted to be held. I was holding both of them when I lost the grip, right when April snapped a photo. Ha! The truth comes out!

Emmy just kept climbing on whoever was in charge of her at the time...our little monkey...two!

It was so windy that they couldn't do the fireworks, so they made some extra snow...yeah, those are my California girls.

And when the day ended, there was peace at last!

So the final tally is that Disneyland at this age is awesome, super exciting, exhausting and stressful! We had several fatigue meltdowns and simply the lack of understanding about why it takes an hour to 'wait my turn', but I am pretty sure it was a giant hit. Why? At all three meals today, K prayed that God would keep the princesses safe so we can go back to Disneyland and see them. As only K can say it, "Peas(please) be wiff(with) the fincesses(princesses) and keep them safe so they don't have owies and we can go back to Disneyland and see them."

April decided that we all need to take a lesson from kids...let the little things in life bring us joy and GET EXCITED about life!! Seeing the world through their eyes is one of the greatest joys of parenting! God Bless!!