Dominican Republic- Sanoa Island

 A couple of months ago I was at my weekly ortho apt, when our good friend/dentist/orthodontist invited Dave and I to join him on a humanitarian dental trip to the Dominican Republic....I totally wanted to go the minute that he started talking about it.  I have always loved to travel....uninterrupted time with Dave in a beautiful country was just icing on the cake!  Dave was pretty excited when we talked about it and somehow everything fell into place so that we could go. 

We spent a full day of traveling (driving, red-eye flight, layovers) but it was totally worth it!  The first day in the DR we went to Sanoa Island and it was pretty much perfect!  

Here's Dave and I about to board the boat. 

We stopped at this shallow area for a little swim and found some sea stars.

 We spent the day on the island swimming, laying out, and eating lunch.

 The journey back was on this Catamaran Boat....we got to sit up front on the netting, watch the sea go by under the boat, relax, and chat with our group.

March

March was a busy month for us!  I started a part-time photography business and it is already pretty busy!  I love doing pictures, but I still need to find the right balance so that I am not too busy or distracted for these pretty girls!  

Milan and Eden loved learning about Dr. Suess's birthday and celebrating his birthday at school.  They also wanted to model their cute hat at home!

I got to hang out with these cute ladies at home and just goof around.  

We were also very very fortunate that Dave and I got to go on vacation to the Dominican Republic while the girls got to hang out with grandma and grandpa.  Our trip was amazing and of course I have lots of pictures so that will be a separate post. 

When we got back, we rewarded the girls for good behavior with a trip to Disney on Ice!  Milan spent a lot of time deciding if the characters on the ice are real.....she was a little disappointed that Tinkerbell did not actually fly, but decided that everything else was real.  Disney on Ice was a great show and I was so happy to take the girls!  (Cora would have been a disaster on the bleachers so she got to hang out with daddy.)  

Easter morning!  The girls were so excited about the Easter Bunny hiding eggs around our house that it took them a while to notice their baskets on the table.  Milan and Eden worked together to find all the eggs then scoped out their baskets with floating Barbies and candy.  

The girls in their cute coordinating Easter outfits!

 This crazy little girl has been getting into EVERYTHING!!!

She learned to climb the stairs while we were gone.

 We started letting her eat with a fork and she is so proud of herself!

 Whenever she hears that the dishwasher is open, she crawls as fast as her little legs will take her.  If she gets the chance, she will climb right in!

Tonight, she walked behind her walker toy for the first time!  She loved it so much that kept doing it back and forth.  She has been walking along furniture and walls for about two weeks now.  I don't think it will be too long before she is running right behind her sisters!

February

Valentine's Day was of course the highlight of the entire month!  First thing, the girls got pick out their favorite Valentine's at the store.  Milan picked out Barbie Valentines with removable tattoos....she wrote all her classmates name on them as soon as we got home.  Eden picked out Hello Kitty cards and mini notebooks for her preschool friends.

On Valentine's Day, Milan and Eden were super excited to wake up and find new Polly Pocket sets and candy waiting for them.  The fun continued when Cora and I got to help out at both of the class parties.  

 Eden got to tag along to Milan's class party too and loved being a big kid just like her sister!  Milan was super excited to show Eden the ropes!  (Ms. Taylor recently told me that Milan talks about Eden all the time at kindergarten....that just made me feel all warm and fuzzy!)

Of course, we also had some snow in Feburary.

 Milan had her Route 66 concert at the University of Wyoming campus.  I spent a lot of time out in the halls with some very tired little girls, but I did get to see Milan's whole performance and of course she did awesome!

Milan has been asking me to take her ice skating all winter so she tagged along with me and the Young Women.  The ice walkers were great and Milan had a blast!  She skated by herself, played with her friend Jack, and whenever she crossed the ice she didn't even look around her so I'm sure she was nearly run over several times.  Most of the time, I skated behind her and pushed her walker....we got going pretty fast and it was really fun!

Milan's girl scout troop was asked to carry the flags for the African activity.  After the flag ceremony, she stayed to play African games, eat African food, and listen to a special guest speaker from Africa.

Cora and I get to hang out all day!  I love to sit on the floor and play in the morning while the girls are at school.  She loves to crawl around, explore, and put everything in her mouth.  She sure is a busy little girl!

 I love this little expression!

This is Cora's favorite place to play!  There's just something about tearing all those cookies off the cookie sheet that she loves!

Moving right along.....

Ever since Cora learned to crawl, there is no stopping her!  She has been "pushing" herself up to a standing position and yesterday she even did a couple of shuffles along the stairs.  Her favorite place to practice her new skills is the bathtub, which is a little scary!

She loves to play with her big sisters!  They love playing with her too, but they have learned they need to go to higher ground whenever they don't want to be disturbed. 

Cora is no longer nursing.  With a little prompting from me, she eats solid foods at every meal and snack time and drinks milk from a sippy cup.  She wasn't a big fan of the bottle, so we just skipped it!

Cora also loves to dance (rock) to music, especially the musical farmhouse on the fridge.  She is learning to fall asleep on her own after drinking a sippy cup.  She still wakes up once at night (usually around 3 am.)  Her two bottom teeth just broke through on February 10.

Eden

Back before I had kids, I had big plans about how I was going to parent.  I was pretty sure that my girls would be dressed cute with stylish hair every day.  Well, Eden totally disagrees with that ideal!  She insists on wearing dress up every day.   And, well, I just don't care enough to fight her on it.  So, Eden wears her pink taleda (leotard) or Minnie Mouse Costume everywhere we go.  The other day, Mrs. Wrhel, Eden's preschool teacher told me she was glad to see that Eden has a distinct little personality.  Me too.  I sure love this little character!

 Oh, and for the hair, Eden usually wants a Jetta (ponytail- named after Jetta on Clifford who wears a ponytail, obviously.)

At the end of January, Eden's preschool did a program about Snowflakes.  Eden bravely went on stage, then stood there without singing a single word.  It was so cute!

Eden's first time writing her name!

 

 Last week, Eden and I went on a date to the Slade School Carnival.  She used her tickets to play a couple of games, buy pop at the food court, and get a bunny face on her cheek!  It was a great time with this little lady!

During the day, these two little girls get to hang out.  Eden is still a little strong with Cora (i.e. lays her full body on top of Cora who of course can't move.)  Eden really loves Cora and they have some fun times.  

P.S. Eden is wearing jeans in this picture, but of course her "taleda" is on underneath so she could still be pretty!

9 1/2 Months

My good friend, Larin, wanted some product pictures for her fake cake/cupcake business.  I had the perfect little models for this project!  Here's little miss Cora at 9 1/2 months....

Eden and her friend Finley had a great time picking out their own dress-up clothes and playing tea party!