What to do??

Well, since Mikayla is sick and can't go to preschool, we have been trying to stay busy. Fortunately since they have been so blessed by family and friends, there are lots of things for them to do. And of course, Delilah takes care of Caitlin!

Mikayla playing with her paper doll princesses

Delilah taking Caitlin for a spin in the jeep

Girls enjoying some hot chocolate while watching a movie

Delilah with her baby, named Melody after Little Mermaid

Mikayla with her baby, named Sasha after her friend's play dog's name.

Happy 5th Birthday Mikayla and Delilah!

Our precious babies, born as micropremies, turned 5!! I can't believe it!! So to celebrate this wonderful day, we headed down to Disneyland. Since we have annual passes, they received a $60 merchandise credit instead of a free admission pass - so each went crazy and got a doll, a sweater, lollipops, and miniature princess doll set. The first day, we took only the big girls and Caitlin stayed at the hotel with Aunt Emily. On Friday, we took Caitlin and she had a blast on the carousel, seeing the characters, and dancing at Playhouse Disney Live! We saw our friends, Scott, Laura, Abby and Megan, and Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell. The girls went swimming, ate at restaurants (their favorite to do!!), went to Disneyland and saw friends - they had a BLAST!! However, our last night at the hotel was less than desired. Our connecting room neighbors decided to smoke pot for several hours - as it seeped into our room and gave us headaches, coughing, and tummy aches. The hotel did nothing until Mike called again and insisted the smell was from the room next door. Security came up, kicked them out, fined them $300 AND had the nerve to apologize to them for the inconvenience - but never once did they apologize to us or offer to move us. Now, 5 days later, we have one very sick child - Mikayla that has bronchitis. The doctor said that the smoke very likely inflamed the situation. On top of that, the man was not in trouble because he had a medical license - but I don't think the giggly girl with him did. Oh well - the hotel and the parent company will hear from us just so they know! I am just thankful to God that we did have a fun time for the girls 5th birthday and very thankful for everything He has done for our little miracles.

This Is A Disaster!!!

Those are Mikayla's infamous words on Christmas morning.  While opening her presents, she was very appreciative and showed a lot of gratefulness and excitement to her gifts.  She would say things like "Oh this is soooo cute!"  "I LOVE this doll" "These clothes are sooo beautiful". 

Mikayla was opening her gifts a little quicker than Delilah - so when she got to a very large gift that said to Mikayla and Delilah (and please keep in mind this gift was more so picked out with Delilah in mind), Mikayla started tearing open the wrapping paper.  When she finally got it all off, she looked and saw Hot Wheels City - Triple Pack.  She looked at the picture and said in a serious voice, "This IS a disaster!!" I looked at her and said, "What did you say?" and she repeated it.  "This IS a disaster!!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  She said it was a toy for boys.  However, when it finally got taken out of the box and put together, she was so excited and played with it, nonstop, for over an hour.  And I must say - the two dozen plus matchbox and hot wheel cars they have didn't slow her down either!!!  (Pretty funny - to already love to play with cars - and yet the city for the cars is a disaster).

That is Mikayla - the one in the blue, focused very intently on playing!

Happy 1st Birthday Caitlin!

We had a low-key first birthday for Caitlin. She soaked in the excitement with all the visitors -Ms. Fran and Ms. Diane, the Newsom family and the James family. Caitlin woke up from her nap around 1 pm and was ready for all the fun. Everyone came at 2:15, ate a little food, let the kids bounce for a while and then around 3:30, we gave her the cake and sang Happy Birthday. While the adults and kids ate the cake, a dvd was played that showed a six minute glimpse of Caitlin's life in her first year. Caitlin went down for her nap at 5 pm.  She couldn't hang on any longer!

We were so happy that our friends were able to celebrate this special day with us and we know there are many more out there that wished they could have been here -- and we missed you!

Chillin' after Christmas

After Christmas, we just spent some quality time around the house letting the girls play with their new toys and the adults playing some Wii Mario Kart (of course the girls tried too!)  We braved the cold air on Monday, the 29th, to go up to the snow.

Caitlin doing her Ellen dance (for those who watch Ellen show)

Mikayla playing Wii with Daddy - racing against Delilah (she says she is too little to do it by herself)

Delilah and Terris.  Delilah has tried by herself and she did complete one lap before the others finished three!

Terris and Caitlin (Terris getting Caitlin used to people in scrubs for her one-year appointment)

Caitlin playing on Popcorns bed

So no place is safe anymore from Caitlin. She crawls and climbs onto everything by herself.  The girls used to have a hiding place behind a chair in the play room where they would play with "chokeable" toys...but she has now climbed over the ottoman to get back there.  So guess I will be getting a big playyard for the girls to play in!!

Caitlin climbing into the girls' princess chair...

and standing up in it her own self!

On Monday, we headed up to the snow.  The plan was to go to a sno-park.  However, as we were exiting the freeway, there was a very long wait just to get into the parking lot.  So Michael headed on to the next exit which was a gas station and a restaraunt that was closed.  The parking lot was full of sledding families but as we were pulling in, two cars were pulling out leaving us a very comfortable parallel parking spot!!  Only problem with going to just anywhere... we saw this un-used field of snow and Michael said 'hey let's go over there'.  As we were walking thinking "wow - we are going to be the first ones over there - wonder why no one else has gone over there" I looked down in the snow.  I asked Michael to punch his hand down far into the snow - and he did - and he hit WATER!!  Needless to say, we headed back to the crowded hills of sledders.  Hiking up one of the hills, Mikayla slipped and hit her cheek on a hard mound of snow.  I think you might have heard her scream from wherever you were on Monday afternoon!

Caitlin relaxing in the snow.

Neitra and Caitlin - the two not sledding!

Our family shot in the snow

Finally - a picture of me with Neitra - and the snowman! (and yes, I am ducking down!)