sma

Sam has been working on writing her name!

a couple Sydney videos

Sydney says she is two-


This is what Sydney sounds like ALL OF THE TIME-

40

Jon and I went to Vegas on Sunday and spent 2 glorious nights at 'the hotel' at Mandalay Bay. Monday was the big four oh for me. I cant believe I am 40! We had a great time. We ate at Jons favorite Chinese place 'the joyful house' the first night. we ordered to much food but it was soo good! On my birthday we went to '9' at the Palms. We have been wanting to go there since before Sam was born. On the food network they use to have a show that spotlighted great restaurants and this was one of them. They had this cold seafood platter that was to die for! So tasty!! We ordered to much again but we did our best to eat it all! We did some gambling too. It was not my lucky trip but at least Jon didnt lose as much as me. My favorite game has always been roulette (when I was 29 I won over 1500 playing black & 29) but this time none of my numbers came up and when I bet black it was 0-green! We came home with money still in our pockets, well Jons wallet! We had a suite at the hotel. So the first night we ended up getting a movie and going back to the room. I know what a lame way to spend a night in Vegas but we dont get the chance that often to just kick back without a kid or three making some sort of noise...and I am 40! plus the suite was AWESOME! When we went to the car on my birthday morning we found out we were robbed. Someone stole the stereo navigation system out of the Tahoe again! So we had to spend an hour with the Mandalay secruity filling out a report and then they sent us to the LVPD to fill out a report there too. Not the best way to start out my birthday but I didnt let it get me down we had a great day and an super evening.

Kim sent me these delicious chocolate covered strawberries! Yummy!!

skates

Sam tried out her new skates this afternoon outside. She is getting the hang of it but still has some practicing to do.

Christmas morning

The kids slept in until a little after 8 this morning (well Syd woke up at 5:45 and walked to the couch to watch a little bit of sprout and promptly fell asleep!) When Sam woke up she yelled "it's Christmas morning!" and then the presents were opened...and boy did they get lots and lots and lots of presents!

Papa had his trusty knife and was the king of opening all the boxes.


Syd got a little overwhelmed of the whole thing and stopped opening presents after awhile. She still has one more to open but refuses...its kinda funny!

Namy and Papa really enjoyed watching the mayhem.

They got the girls a new kitchen from Namy and Papa!

Even though it was cold (55*) and rained off and on all day the girls still played with their new water table.

Samantha got new skates which Courtney thought were a lot of fun...especially skating naked!

all the garbage!

most of it goes into the recycling though!

Merry Christmas everyone!

prime rib

Jon made a beautiful prime rib today. He found a recipe on Foodnetwork.com and it turned out perfectly! Since I'm not a red meat eater he made me Cornish game hen that was super tasty too!

He got tired of bending down to look at the prime rib cooking he got the mirror and spent a good amount of time watching it cook!!

We also had yummy garlic mashed potatoes (made by Jill,) corn souffle (made by Namy,) green bean casserole (Jon,) steamed carrots and broccoli, sauteed assortment of mushrooms and cranberry jello salad (made by Jill,) (it was a really good jello salad but Sam is not a big fan of cranberries and her first bite was a cranberry and she says in her sweet little voice "Mom, this is crappy) What a great day.

Jesus is the reason for the season! We should always celebrate the birth of our Lord!

Santa came

Since we dont have a fireplace here in the desert we had to let Santa come through the back door. He left a loot of stuff! Our tree is set up in the the dining room, we thought that would be a better place for the kids not to bug it all the time which they did anyways so all the presents are under the tv instead.

pretty girls

Uncle Lance sent the twins beautiful white dresses and scarves and Sam a fancy white outfit. They wore them to church. They looked exceptionaly cute! It was the first time we have tried to take them to the actual church service. I usually put them in the childcare. They were doing handbells and Jon thought they would like them. They lasted about 30 minutes before I took them to childcare. Courtney kept yelling "more more" after each song while Sydney kept walking back and forth from our seats to Jim and Jill who were sitting in front of us! They were not going to make it through the sermon! Sam was doing great coloring in the little book that the church offers the kids but she wanted to go to childcare becaus one of her classmates was in there. It was a great evening!

princess dresses

Jim and Jill gave the girls more princess dresses...always a big hit in this household!

cookie decorating

here's the picture I promised

Arizona Celebration of Lights

Last night we went to Arizona Celebration of Lights. A very impressive light show display with over 7 million lights, 2 miles long. The girls thought it was great fun because they got to help daddy drive the car.

making cookies w Namy & Papa

the girls had fun making cookie shapes with Namy and Papa yesterday afternoon...they will be frosting them today (pictures to come of the frosting part)

checkups

The twins went to see Dr. Amjadi yesterday for their 2 year check up. She thinks they are doing great (and she also thinks they are really cute) I told the doc that they got little doctor kits for their birthday and she thought was so neat. She went and made little bags full of stuff to put in it, gloves, tongue sticks, lotions, band aids...etc...such a nice dr we have. She checked their iron levels for anemia and she likes to see the number around 12, Courtney was 11 and Syd was 11.9 so she recommends the flintstones chewables and a diet rich in iron. (Dark leafy veggies and of course red meat-which they hardly ever eat since I dont eat it. Jons happy now an excuse to throw a steak on the barbie)

here are there stats:

Sydney

26.4 lbs (50%)
35.5 inches tall (90%)
47.5 cm head (50%)

Courtney
23.4 lbs (10%)
34 inches tall (50%)
45.5 cm head (8%)

the birthday party

Today we celebrated the twins 2nd birthday. We got a bounce house had pizzey (thats what the girls call it) and a tasty cake from Costco!

Jessica and Sam playing crack the egg


too fun!


Who can jump higher!?!

Courtney and mommy

at 5:30 when the Christmas lights on the house go on, the circuit breaker blew and down came the castle which the big kids thought was cool. Courtney was still in there and she got a little freaked!

every party needs a hat!

Dr. kits from the Laguardias

Sam got into the Dr. glasses

Namy and Papa showed up while the girls were opening their presents

Sydney and Sam were very excited


but Courtney was busy with her new bowling game from the Bagleys.
Namy made all the girls (even me) a very fun gingerbread apron.



the girls really loved the cake

Courtney liked the ice cream the best!

Namy and Papa got the girls these really cool baby doll strollers. They pushed the barbies that Jim and Jill got them, they also got them really cute princess outfits (Syds wearing hers). Sam was a little jealous of the strollers but all and all she did really great. Its hard when your that age and its your sisters birthday!

We all had a great day. They grew so much over this past year just think off all the fun things that are going to happen over the next year...talking talking and more talking!