Dan's 56th

Last Sunday we celebrated Dan's 56th birthday! His actual birthday is on the 28th, but we will be in La Quinta. He will get to golf on his real birthday with a buddy from work who has a house out there also.

It may not look pretty, but this cake was gluten, soy, dairy, and egg free as the doctor has ordered for Mia. And it actually tasted pretty good.

There are always helpers around here on birthdays! 

Really, I get to eat cake? Really?

Happy Birthday to a great guy!

Sledding

We have had a lot of snow this year so far. I think we have had more than all of last year. So when God gives you snow...go sledding!

There is a small hill at the park near us. They are probably going to want a bigger hill soon. But it works for now!

We had lunch when we got back and Mia read the newspaper, seriously.

Busy Thursday

We had a busy day last Thursday. First we did school in the morning. Then I spent about an hour preparing treats for the girls to take to an Elf party and dinner to eat in the car. Mia is on a gluten, dairy, soy, and egg free diet right now so we could not eat most of the food at the party. But we are very pleased with our new pediatrician and we think we are finally seeing some results!

I only took one picture, which was bad, shocker, so I dragged these off the blog of the woman who threw the party. If you read my blog, Liese, thanks!

The timing was perfect. As soon as the movie was finished we headed out to help with Operation Santa Claus.  It was frigid outside, never getting out of the teens all day.

We wrapped our gifts.

Then we swing the car by the back of the grocery store where they load it up with six boxes of food. We then had the privilege of dropping the gifts and groceries off in person at the home of a needy family!

Holiday Stuff

I have not been taking a ton of pictures lately but I do have a few from events I want to remember.

Some days I get a little extra time to get things done as Mia reads to Anna when they wake up.

At Friday school this year Mia has a music class. Last Friday they gave a holiday performance.

Mia had been nervous for weeks leading up to this. It's a little strange. Mia will walk up to a group of strangers at the park and just start talking to them but she gets nervous about performing. Anna, on the other hand, does not talk to any strangers but loved getting up for her Thanksgiving performance and was the loudest one in the group. 

Later Mia said she wasn't nervous once she realized, "It wouldn't have been very good without her singing." Confidence is a good thing.

Last Sunday we went to the Face to Face Christmas party. Guess who was there with his new haircut?

This group of Star Wars characters is so generous to come to every event.

Poor Anna talked and talked about her friend from the picnic in August and then when she saw her she wouldn't say a thing to her.  I remember being exactly like that! Her little friend has a bilateral cleft and is from the same province in China as Anna is.

Here is another cutie with a bilateral cleft.

I think I recognize him!

Please take a picture of me in front of the game I cheated at won!

The whole group! Oil was eating and you can barely see Maks behind another kiddo.

First Week of December

Here is a few things we have been doing lately.  We bought our first coconut! Anna loved the coconut water. I liked it, but watered down. Mia hated it. None of us liked the coconut meat.

We attended a poetry tea party coop.

Mia's birth grandparents came from Vermont for a visit and brought some fun presents!

We attended a Christmas puppet show. This was the stage. The Denver Puppet Theater is quite unique. One lady does everything, takes the tickets,  and does all the puppetry and voices. She also writes all the scripts. They are a little out there sometimes. 

For the first time we went downtown to watch The Parade of Lights. The weather was just cold, but not bitterly cold. So it was time! Since it started at 8:00, we decided to get a hotel room after and spend the night!

The low riders were really fun to watch. I thought it would be very scary to be inside one.

Life is good!

Thanksgiving in La Quinta

It was a great week!

A snapshot of Wednesday. Just relaxin...

Buying a new TV. The bracket "suspiciously" broke on the old one when all the guys lifted it. Dan had put all our old videos on digital format and we all watched them after the kids went to bed. SO. MUCH. FUN.

A table that seat eight adults and a bar that seats five little ones.  Perfect.

Thursday.  It wasn't super warm, but it's Thanksgiving in La Quinta and we are going to be outside, no matter what!

We picked up Thanksgiving dinner from Jensen's Market. It was pretty good, except for the green beans. 

Friday. Christmas!

Friday night. It was Arek's thirtieth birthday. Dan and I were going to take everyone out to dinner. Then we came to our senses. Seven kids six and under???? Two infants??? So...we had the chef come to the house. After bedtime. We decided an 8:30 dinner is a must every get together from now on.

I think I might have told the chef I would pick up some platters. I think I might have forgotten that detail.

Saturday. Home. Cousins. No more words needed.