Eden

Eden can be the sweetest, most considerate girl ever.

She can also throw down a major tantrum!

LOVES her blankie and her fingers.  We talk about not sucking on her fingers, but I'm not sure if she'll actually be able to give it up.

Eden is a big fan of nap time and usually asks to go to sleep (or throws a fit, it's hard to say with her.)

She has a very distinct sense of style!  Usually a toleda (leotard) with leggings pulled up to her belly button and snow boots.  She's so cute, she can pull it off though!

Loves to dance around the living room.

Cute three year old lisp and words (umbrella= umbelala, pinata= pidada, ankle= inkle)

Loves dancing and gymnastics.

Copies Milan and really wants to be big like her sister (pretends she can read and has loose teeth.)

Likes to jump off the coffee table and land on dad.

We hear that she is quite the joy at preschool :)

Milan

The latest and greatest about Milan:

She is a great little reader!  She is always practicing and I am sometimes surprised by the words she can sound out. 

She is a big helper with her sisters!  Eden is always asking Milan to help her get dressed.  Cora loves her too, even when she packs her all around the house.

Milan loves to draw, craft, tape signs all over the house, and write sweet notes.

She even delivered breakfast in bed yesterday morning (water, Cheerios, and string cheese...yum!)

Milan has been talking about a birthday sleepover for the past 6 months or so!

Loves gymnastics....working on her handstands!

Miss Taylor says Milan is one of the best drawers in kindergarten.

She thinks 40 degrees is warm and loves to play outside.

Dress-up

It is no secret that dress-up is a huge hit at our house!  Milan usually finds a fancy outfit or at least some accessories when she gets home from school.  Eden wears dress-up almost every single day (to school, the park, the store, everywhere!)  Last weekend, Cora played with the dress-up tote for a while.  We weren't sure what she was up to in the girl's room, but we soon realized that she was meticulously digging out every necklace and decorating herself.  She was very proud of herself!

Unfortunately, those necklaces can make it difficult to crawl.  Cora just resorted to the bear crawl!

We're so lucky to have another princess in our house!

Matchy-matchy

I love dressing the girls in matchy-matchy outfits!  Cora does not love having her picture taken....I love how Eden is holding on as tight as she can so Cora doesn't dive off the couch.  Cora is crazy!  I love these ages!

Dominican Republic- Resort Time

The last days of our trip were AMAZING!!!  Dave and I had so much fun enjoying paradise together!  We went to dinner at this amazing restaurant in Boca Chica and it was probably my favorite time of the whole trip.  We took a little swim just a couple feet away from our table then laid out in the sun for a while.

Hours later, we ordered our dinner.  We shared a humongous lobster and shrimp dish.  It was yummy, but the atmosphere was really the best! 

After dinner, we just relaxed, watched the sunset, and spent time together (which is not something we get to do very often with our crazy little girls!)

 We spent a couple of days at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana.  Dave and I went for walks, did a little shopping, swam a lot, laid out in perfect weather, ate a candlelit dinner at the Brazilian Restaurant, watched a hilarious show, ate lots of ice cream, made fun of the old people in bikinis, and just enjoyed being with each other.  One thing we did not do was take pictures....oh well, I did steal these ones from other people in our group.

Vacations are so worth the money!  Hopefully this one will help Dave get into dental school too :)

Dominican Republic- The Bateys

The next three days of our trip we traveled out to local Bateys (poor sugar cane farming communities) to provide dental work.  The people living in the Bateys are extremely poor, the average farmer makes $1 a day.  Most people live in shacks without flush toilets or electricity.  They usually make enough money to buy food for the day.  Children attend school half day until about 5th grade.  

The organization that we worked with provides micro-loans to the women in the community so that they can have small businesses such as corner markets, clothing stores, or salons.  The associates (the people in the community who utilize these loans) are also offered services, such as dental care.  At each Batey, we gave out 100 tickets to the first people in line.  A lot of those people waited all day until it was their turn for service.  Many of the people had terrible teeth and desperately needed a lot of dental work (that's what chewing on sugar cane all day can do to your teeth.)  It was very humbling to be part of this experience. 

Dave got to do some hands-on dental procedures like filling cavities and extracting teeth.  He really like it so looks like he's on the right career path!

Teeth and blood are not really my thing.  I painted some of the girl's nails while they waited.

 At the second Batey, the nail painting turned into a riot!  I toughened up and started organizing dental instruments (without looking at any of the bloody procedures or listening to any of the screaming going on around me!) 

 This little girl's mom was getting some work done so I got to hang out with her for a little while.  She eventually fell asleep in my arms.

 We spent long days in the Bateys and it felt great to be part of something that was making a difference in these people's lives.  

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.