Mom, Dad, and girls spent their first Christmas together at home. Santa (being the smart fella he is), knew just where to find those two little girls and left them lots of goodies. Gramma and GDad are coming for a visit later today so I'm sure the girls will have lots of fun showing off their new toys!

Mom took these pictures this morning so I (Mimi) thought you might enjoy seeing them too.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
From Tara, Dirk, Hope, and Faith
(and Mimi too)


The girls tried another visit to Santa but found they didn't like him any better the second time around :)



Faith & Mom enjoying a Christmas party at Ruth's House


and Hope & Kabrynna had a great time at the party too!



Uncle Tommy came for a visit and the girls had fun opening gifts (they've really gotten this present thing down now!!)


Faith


Both of the girls got Dora watches and lots of other stuff too :)

During the Thanksgiving holidays we had fun teaching the girls some American traditions like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (although they would prefer to do the hand motions while you sing) and "Ring Around the Rosie". We got some cute pictures and video and I (Mimi) thought you might get a kick out of watching them getting to be little "American Girls". Notice how Hope thinks Dad needs to be more involved in the video :). To see pictures of playing "Ring Around the Rosie" with Mimi and group click here

Hope you enjoy~

Seems Hope couldn't get enough of that Birthday Cake! and notice she' gotten way over the OCD thing, no napkins for this girl, she's discovered licking your fingers works great and you don't miss any of that great icing either!

Thanks Aunt Laurie for sharing another great video!

More Birthday Party Pictures!

Aunt Laurie took a great little Birthday video of the girls having cake. What's really funny is Hope is the one who is really getting into it and she's NOT our sweet eater, however Faith who usually likes most anything sweet doesn't seem to be too interested -- perhaps she's just too anxious to move on to opening presents :)

Notice how both of the girls are very concerned about continually wiping their face and hands, both of them want their face and hands cleaned at all times -- do we have a little OCD going on here? We'll just say they like to be very neat, like all proper little girls should be;)

Again, you may want to turn down the music on the MP3 player to hear the video, hope you enjoy!

Twin's 2nd Birthday Party -

Mom and Dad had a small Birthday Party for the girls this past Saturday. They waited until Grandma, GDad, Aunt Laurie, Aunt 'Chelle and Cousins Cody and Bailey were able to get to Seminole. It looks like they had lots of fun - Mom made a really cute cake and the girls had lots of help from Kabrina, Cousin Baily and Aunt 'Chelle opening presents. Mimi wishes she could have gone but had to stay in NYC :(

We'll just have to enjoy the party through pictures!

Dad helps blow out the candles

Yum, I'm liking this birthday cake thing!

and presents too?


Hope gets help from Kabrina~


Faith gets help from Aunt 'Chell & Cousin Bailey~





Let me see if I can do that -

All I want for Christmas-----

is a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP (says Mom)

The girls don't seem to have trouble sleeping (especially Faith), just not in their beds and never all night long. Seems Faith could POSSIBLY do it (she has on occasion) but when Hope wakes up and cries, Faith wakes up too! Mom has tried a variety of schemes, but not much has worked -- until last night. Stuffed animals went in the cribs for snuggling and seems the night light must have burned out during the night and next thing Mom knew it was morning and they (and she) had slept the night through!!! Her new plan -- stuffed animals and no night light and hoping for two in a row.

"Here's to sleeping girls!" and here are some cute ones!

Hope's First Night with Mom & Dad

Faith's First Night with Mom & Dad

Hope - "All this sightseeing is really tiring,

I just want to go home to Texas!"

First Night Home ~ Faith -"This stuff is really

cool but I'm sooo tired!"

Napping at Aunt Karen's

Snuggling with Mom (Faith)

Sleeping in Dad's Chair

Asleep with GDad (Faith)

Sweet Sleeping Girls

Mom loves her girls sooo much --

especially when they've slept all night!

Living in New York City during the Christmas season can be very exciting. This past weekend I (The Mimi) had the opportunity to see the lighted Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, check out the department stores’ great window displays, and even see the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. The weather was quite cold, feeling very wintry and reminding me that Christmas is really just around the corner.

This started me thinking about whether the twins had ever experienced Christmas. Their first Christmas they would have only been just a bit over three weeks old and just recently left by their birth Mother. They were likely already with their foster parents but would have been too young to remember any Christmas celebration had it occurred. Last Christmas, at just a year old, they were also probably too young to have any such memories. So, do they celebrate Christmas in China?

Since Christmas is a Christian holiday honoring the birth of Christ and as the vast majority of the Chinese people are not Christian, is seems safe to assume that Christmas is not a major holiday. However a Google search :) indicates there are signs of Christmas all over China, especially the major cities, including decorating their houses with Christmas trees, cooking and eating special food, and spending time with family and friends.

Christians in China celebrate by lighting their houses with beautiful paper lanterns and decorating their Christmas trees, which they call “Trees of Light”, with paper chains, paper flowers, and paper lanterns. Chinese children hang muslin stockings and await a visit from Santa, whom they call Dun Che Lao Ren (dwyn-chuh-lau-oh-run) which means, “Christmas Old Man.”

Interestingly, while Christians make up only approximately one percent of the Chinese population, almost two-thirds of the world’s Christmas trees and decorations are made in southern China. In factories staffed predominantly with Buddhist workers who scarcely have any idea of the meaning of Christmas, the Santas, lights and tinsel that mark the West’s biggest festival are churned out at a relentless pace.

So while I suppose we will never know if this will be Hope and Faith’s first Christmas celebration, it will certainly be a memorable one and their first with their forever family. The tree is up (decorated, most likely with decorations from China), the lights have been strung on the house, there’s a great yard decoration of tree and Christmas angels, “the stockings are hung by the chimney with care” and as you know they’ve already had a visit to Santa! Mom says that while they like to look at the tree they don’t touch, not even the presents under it – what’s up with that! We’ve got to get these girls trained properly!! Where's Aunt Karen when we need her?

This will certainly be a memorable Christmas for all of us ~ a time to remember Christmases past with love and fond memories and look forward to new beginnings and making great new memories.

The twins with their first Christmas tree

These are pictures I took this past weekend here in New York City and thought I'd share them with you.

Christmas in Rockefeller Center

Saks Fifth Avenue

Radio City Christmas Spectacular
(and no, I wasn’t suppose to be taking pictures
but I didn’t use my flash :)