HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 Posing for a special THANK YOU message to all the grand aunties and families

 Myla drew a snow man with homemade washeable paint

 How Daddy often gets the girls to get ready for bed

 Charlotte doing what she loves- sucking on her thumb and twirling Myla's hair

Sisters!

Oh What a Year!

2011 seemed to have flown by so quickly. It wasn't until we took time to reflect that we realized just how tough this past year was for us. Most of the challenge came from transitioning to two kids. But what a joy it has been watching both kids grow and getting to know their individual personalities. What a gift it is to teach them new things and see them make their own discoveries.

This year, Gordon I learned that God is truly THE Guardian of our children, and as we learn to parent them, we must remember to always lead them back to Him. The same goes for our marriage. We've had our struggles this year too, but we are thankful that with every conflict, He always brings us back together at the foot of the cross.

Our little chickies have been doing well.

Myla still loves to dance, especially in front of an audience. She likes to make up her own dances. Hip hop and pop are her favorite genres of music…although she's been really into Chaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," and likes to "ice skate dance" to it. She goes to school twice a week. Her teacher calls her the "independent one" in the class (aka doesn't listen to the teacher and does her own thing). This year, she learned how to color and draw faces. She has mastered counting to 20. She still enjoys eating, but mainly plain, dry foods and raw veggies. She will rarely turn down carbs and sweets and LOVES mac and cheese.

First day of school

made a bed for herself and Go Go

loving on mei mei

Had her try color by number. After she completed #1 (yellow), she decided it was pointless to follow the rest and made the other numbers all the same color. Sigh…

Thanks for the super cute wall art, Auntie Joyce!

getting real good at posing

sigh…she's really becoming a little girl

Charlotte just celebrated her 1st Birthday. She has grown up so fast. She's walking with a walker now and cruising a lot. She's a mean crawler and likes to chase Myla around…or is it Myla chasing her around? (It's hard to tell when they're chasing in a circle around the recliner.) She's not a big fan of veggies, but she LOVES meat. She may only have four teeth, but she often eats like an adult. And like most kids, she loves carbs and anything sweet. She loves to laugh. It's easy to make her chuckle. And if you put on the right song with a good strong beat, she'll do a little dance for you. :) Here are a few pics of her first year.

Her first day in the big world.

so round and puffy :)

We had a rough start. She had her days and nights confused and hated sleeping alone.

At times, she would sleep alone in the swing.

7 months

11 months

Auntie Joyce gave her a cute personalized outfit for Christmas.

1 year!

These two little mischiefs were rummaging through the recycling bag.

Cousin Kate celebrates her 1st year too.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, family and friends, for all your care and support this last year. We are grateful for you! We look forward to the new discoveries and growth we'll all experience this year!

Love,

Gordon, Amy, Myla, & Charlotte

We leave you with a few more pics and a video:

pic taken by Myla

also taken by Myla

my chickies

clowning around with Uncle Pat Pat

Christmas present from A-ma and A-gong turned into a house (thanks to Daddy).

Myla and the Little Bumble Bee

Clowning around on photo booth and trying on bee costume…

bzzz…

message for auntie cynthia

July - August Updates

This summer is flying by so quickly! Myla finished her dance classes. She loved it, but I think she still enjoys her freestyle dancing. Today she lined up three chairs and assigned seats for me, Go-Go, and Gordon to sit and watch as she performed.

We have been home a lot mainly bc it's just insanely HOT outside. Being at home has helped Myla make progress with potty training. I am so proud to say we've been having less accidents and more gummy treats!

Charlotte is now seven months old. She sits up pretty well and is so close to crawling. She currently wiggles and swims her way across the floor whenever we put her down to play. She hated cereal when we first started solids, but she has recently discovered fruits, veggies, baby crackers and puffs, and she LOVES them. She has actually become quite a ferocious eater. It's a little scary sometimes how she eats like she's been starving for days. (I promise I feed her regularly.) She's been sleeping pretty well at night (thank GOD!) and continues to be very accommodating whenever she has to skip a nap or two…or more. Sigh…I guess this is what happens to the the second child.

PICTURE TIME!

This is what happens when I leave Charlotte alone with Myla for just a minute.

Big sis finds this very amusing. I love this pic. :)

CHARLOTTE!

She loves her fingers!

The "I'm concerned" look. This is the baby's most popular face.

Love how she laughs so easily…

Charlotte somehow inched her way under the swing and got stuck.

This happens quite often these days.

Charlotte vs. Stuff Animals

Time for another installment of

MYLA's PHOTO GALLERY

~Third Edition~

always likes to take pics of her foot.
her favorite photo subject

love how his head is tilted

self portraits

daddy!

7am: myla, my personal human alarm clock climbs into bed while i'm still asleep.

myla: "i take a picture of mama!!!"

me: "NOooooooooooooooooooo"

These days, Myla often takes a while to fall asleep. She wants to walk out of her room and see what we're doing. So we tell her to stay inside and try to talk to God, talk to her go-go or sing. This particular night she sang and it was quite amusing…

...and giggle and fall