The longest week EVER!

Danielle giving Samantha a pretend gift. We wore a lot of jammies this week!

Samantha called this a "bib". It made me laugh!!

Most days this little one had 2 baths per day.

She still smiled a lot for us!

Our poor family has had quite a week. It started at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. I'll spare the details but it involved Danielle in a LOT of stomach pain and then emptying the entire contents of her poor tummy over the next 8 hours. She was such a trooper but it was a rough few days for her. Samantha was a doll, playing quietly by herself for a whole 2 days while Danielle was so sick. At one point Danielle was laying on the floor and Samantha came over to her head saying, "Don't worry Danielle". I thought those days were pretty rough.

Unfortunately I found out that the worse was still to come. Thursday afternoon it was Samantha's turn. Ever since last Thursday she has had trouble keeping food down so it's been a rough, rough week. I was able to talk to someone who went through this recently with their toddler and it was over after 8 days. So...today is 7 days and I hope she's on the mend. Meanwhile over the weekend Jeff and I shared in some of the fun (again not to be giving too much info). Thankfully mine was a mild version so I was able to care for the girls. We were very grateful for the food delivered by my parents at various times of the week.

Needless to say I do not have many photos from the week. I took a few with my phone when the girls were feeling ok, but we haven't been anywhere or done much of anything all week. Boy are we going to enjoy feeling better when this is all behind us!

Check Up for Samantha

Today was Samantha's 2 year check up. She did really well considering we woke her up from her nap to get to the appointment on time! We are so thankful that she hasn't seen the doctor since her 15 month check up because she's been so incredibly healthy. What a blessing!

Well, we were thrilled to see our little "skinny-minnie" is up to 25 whole pounds. She is also 35" tall (with shoes on). So, Jeff's thinking he might have both of his girls ending up 5'10". Apparently if you double their height at 2 years that is the height they will end up. We'll see.

Samantha thought the Elmo and Cookie monster bandaids she got after her shots were pretty cool. We are really thankful for our sweet and gentle Nurse Kelly!

Happy 2nd Birthday Samantha!

Well, our second little blessing turned 2 the other day! We had a lot of fun celebrating with her. Danielle came up with the Blues Clues theme a few months ago. They were watching a Blues Birthday episode and Danielle said, "Samantha likes Blues Clues so we should make her a cake that looks like a paw print". So, I took it from there and it turned out great. When Danielle turned 2 she was really into balloons so we got her a bouquet of balloons of her very own. I wanted to keep that tradition and get Samantha her own balloons. They were a hit! She also loved her blue birthday cake, "helped" me frost it, and kept saying "mine?". It was a little overwhelming for her (as it is for all 2 year olds, I think) but she had a really fun time.

Of all the wonderful gifts she received the most popular gift was the Minnie Mouse card that when you opened it up sang "Happy Birthday to You" by Minnie. It was cute the first 15 times! Anyway, thanks Uncle Tim! Also, the beautiful party dress was a gift from Grandma. She loved twirling in it!

Tomorrow is Samantha's 2 year check up so hopefully that goes well. We've been playing doctor to get her prepared. We're also starting to talk "potty training" so hopefully that will be as smooth a transition as most of Samantha's have been.

Danielle's 1st Camera

Our frozen back yard.
Samatha on the toy cell phone.

Me in action!

Samantha hiding under the blanket.

Danielle hiding under the blanket.

Danielle got her first camera for her birthday and I'm finally getting her pictures loaded onto the computer. She's learning about holding the camera still and centering people in the photo.

The quality is best outdoors but she's having a lot of fun indoors, too. I laughed when I saw the one she took of me taking her picture!! Finally there is a picture of me doing what I do most...put my eye up to the camera and say, "say cheese!".

The outdoor pictures are from our chilly walk today. It was a beautiful walk despite the fog and cold. The pine trees all had frost on each little needle and the ground was just frozen snow. At one point I let the girls get out and "ice skate". Danielle loved it and we slid around for awhile. Then Samantha got super cold and tired so we hurried home.

Christmas in So. Cal.

Grandpa & Grandma took us to see this giant gingerbread house inside a restaurant! So cool!

Great-grandparents are a real blessing!

Auntie Jen took us ice skating!

Danielle was thrilled even though we got there and found out it was "pretend ice".

We had a very special visit to Southern California this Christmas. We got to do so many fun things and spend quality time with grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc. I'm posting just a handful of pictures. It's hard to choose from the 275 saved on my computer but you'll get the idea that we had lots of good fun.

The best part was really feeling like Jesus was the focus of our celebrating. After all it IS his birthday!! My heart melted into a giant puddle when I heard Danielle singing (very loud and clear) Silent Night during the Christmas Eve service. There were so many loving moments, laughter, good talks, and adventures...all of which brought us closer to God and eachother.

I would love to write more but there is still quite a bit of unpacking to do. Happy New Year!!!