Snow, Snow and more Snow

After being home for a week we had Mike's office Christmas party at our house on the 18th. Earlier in the week the weatherman forecasted a big snow storm starting Friday and so the party was moved up from 7pm to 1:30pm. I volunteered to make the main dish for the party, I made Cafe Rio pork (Mmmm!) and regular taco meat and all the fixing for the tacos. People came, everything was good, and then it started to snow and everyone got worry because most of them live out of town.

Within 1 1/2 hours the party was over and we were left with a lot of food. Not wanting major leftovers we called up all our neighbors that were within walking distance (because the snow had already made the roads extremely slippery) and had them over for a party to help eat all the food. It was great made food for one party and used it for two!

Enjoying the snow fall while daddy pulled them down the road.

A picture of our street during the snow storm.

The snow began falling Friday at 2pm and continued through the night and all of Saturday. We woke up to a wonderland of snow. Its the most snow that we have seen in one snow storm in a long time, our neighbor measured 16 inches! So what do you do when your neighborhood is covered in snow? Build snowmen and go sledding of course and that's exactly what we did.

We headed to our nearby park to sled, both Natalya and Raquel had lots of fun. We even brought the dogs in the back of the truck to come join in the winter fun. They had lots of fun running through the snow at the park.

Getting ready to go to the park with the dogs.

Sledding with daddy!

Sitting and enjoying watching the sledding, we only have one sled.

She did sled a couple of times and enjoyed it.

Next of course we had to make snowmen! We started out making one snowman, we rolled the bottom and then the middle. But when Mike and I tried to put the middle on the base it was too heavy. We decided to make it into another snowman, a mommy snowman to go along with the daddy snowman. After starting two snowmen Raquel wanted to make herself into a snowman and then we couldn't leave Natalya out, so we ended up making four snowman to represent our family. It has been fun having so much snow to play in for the past week!

Raquel with her snowman

Our family of snowmen!

Haircut, Daddy and New Truck

12/4/09

Once again Raquel got a hold of a pair of scissors and gave herself a new hairdo. This time she had ponytails in and decided to cut them out. When I asked her why she did it, she replied that she wanted to get the hair out of her face. I quickly ran down to the local little hair cutting place to see what they could do with it. The poor little girl was new and had no idea what to do with Raquel's hair luckily her boss was there to help out. Unfortunately it is now more in her face than before because the uneven sides are too short to put up in a braid or pony tail. She was able to model her new hairdo at Leah's birthday party Sat. and at church on Sunday.

Raquel showing off her new haircut after we took her to the hairdresser.

This is what I found on the floor, the pony tail holder was

still in her hair holding it together.

12/7

Natalya had her 12 month visit. She was 21 lbs and 28 1/2 inches long. She still isn't walking but making progress.

12/11

Mike finally made it back to the United States and then home. While in Afghanistan he purchased a 1967 GMC truck on ebay. The truck was located in Georgia, where he was at Fort Benning and so picked it up to drive home on Thurs. After a late start from checking out from Benning and meeting the guy to pick up the truck (which he found out had no heat and the lights wouldn't work properly) he decided he was going to spend the night in Atlanta and drive up the next morning when it was light and maybe a little warmer. We were all a little sad that it would be another day before we would get to see dada, so we all went to bed. At 3:30am Friday I was woken up by the doorbell, and when I opened the door I found a very frozen Mike. He had gotten the lights to work and decided that it wasn't going to be that much colder driving at night and so drove home instead of spending the night in Atlanta. The poor guy was a block of ice, it took him an extra 2-3 hours to get home because he would have to stop every 30-40 minutes at a gas station where he could sit and warm up. We were sure happy to see him, we woke the girls up and they were able to see him and play with him for a little while before heading back to bed. Raquel was super happy to see her dad. It took Natalya a few minutes to warm up to him but now loves to have fun with him just as much as Raquel.

Later Friday morning Mike dressed in his uniform and took Raquel to school and did a little presentation for her class. He told them about what he does in the Army and let them practice doing it too. First he told about how if a soldier gets hurt they have to go and cut off their uniform to see where they are hurt. Mike had an old pair of army pants that he let the kids practice their cutting skills on. Next, he told them they would have to bandage of the soldiers and let the kids practice wrapping each other up with bandages. And finally he told them how if the soldier was really hurt and couldn't walk they would have to carry them. The kids all gathered around the stretcher and helped lift each other practicing. Mike was so good with the kids, he keep their attention and I think they all enjoyed it. Raquel was sure proud of her dad and it showed on her face.

Raquel looking so proud of her dad!

Practicing cutting up a uniform

Playing with Daddy at school

Raquel's teachers made a welcome home sign for Mike

when he came to school.

Taking a ride with dad in his new truck.

The truck

Mike

The most exciting news is that Mike is on his way home. It is taking him a long time but at least he is coming in the right direction. He left his FOB on November 24th taking a flight to Kabul, where he spent time out processing and waiting for a flight to Bagram. He finally made it to Bagram where he was sleeping in a tent on a cot. Finally today he made it to Kuwait after a long night ride in a c-17. A friend he meet while at Fort Benning hooked him up with a friend and Mike gets to be out of a tent and cot and in the nicest bed he has slept in since leaving home. He is scheduled for a flight to Benning on Saturday. If all goes well he could be home late next week!

Birthday Girl!

While in California Natalya had a birthday and turned one. Its amazing how big she is getting! She is getting close to walking, and her little personality is beginning to show. If she wants something she will make sure you know it and will not take no for an answer. She got a new pair of shoes from Gram for her birthday and won't take them off after the first day I put them on. One day when I was dressing her I took off the socks that she was wearing and just put on her shoes. She did not like it one bit and picked up the socks and held them out to me and then held them to her feet. She wanted those socks back on and she got it! We will go for her 12 month visit to the doctors on Monday to see how she is growing. Since we were in California on Natalya's birthday we decided that she needed to have a little party with cake when we returned to Phoenix. So I made her a bunny cake and had some friends over (Juile, Paul, Coleman, Donna & David) to help celebrate. Natalya was super excited that she was able to eat M&M's off her cake and loved eating the cake, unlike Raquel who would hardly touch her cake at her first birthday party. I guess its tradition after 2 kids having their first birthday's in Phoenix we will have to do it for any other kids we have.

Natalya and her pink bunny cake

Enjoying picking M&M's off of the cake.

Mmmm Cake!

After another fun filled week at Gram & Papa's house with cousins (who were amazing entertainers for the girls, Raquel was sad the next day when Charlotte, Claire, Sophie and Henry left, she walked around the house asking where all her people were.), swimming in the pool, shopping, good Thanksgiving food, great movies and picking oranges we headed home to Virginia.

The girls did great on our cross country trip, sleeping on both plane rides, letting me run them through airports and a 2 hour car trip home arriving at 2:15am. Its good to be home and sleep in my own bed for the first time in almost a month.

Picking oranges in a neighbors backyard. We made fresh squeezed oj with them!

Natalya collecting oranges.

Playing at the Phoenix airport waiting for our flight.

Heading home!