See! I said they were talking my ears off!

Well, I tried to interperet the video somewhat for you. The girls got a play kitchen for Christmas but when they opened the box it was in a thousand pieces. Sylvin and I didn't realize it Christmas Eve when we'd wrapped it or he would have put it together. Anyway, they didn't know or want much to do with it when they opened it, but yesterday morning was a different story! They got up and it took they a few looks and a sippy of milk to figure out it was a cool thing that had landed in the living room. After me showing them around their new digs, they took right to making me rice and beans, hotdogs and hot milk for breakfast. They just got the new slippers too from Uncle John and Aunt Angela and had to wear them all over the house yesterday. Won't keep their pants on, but T-shirts and slippers are a must for these two (diapers optional by their standards, not mine!) So enjoy the video and they can talk your ears off for a couple of minutes. Gotta love em though and I do!

Christmas Eve at the Beach

We went to the beach today to partake in the ship's festivities. The ship put on a potluck gathering at one of our favorite beaches. As you can see the MWR has set it up pretty nice. We have these HUGE umbrellas that cover two very large concrete picnic tables on a huge concrete pad with a little water faucet near by to use as needed. We even got rained on at one point and all we did was just scoot in a little to take shelter under the umbrella. No worries! I made some cruzan/caribbean stuffing and pumpkin/curry fritters. The fritters went over very well (thanks to my in laws who are infamously excellent cooks!)
The girls had a blast running around the grass and as you can see, Eve was eating dirt. I guess she thought it was tasty cause I had to tell her a couple of times to quit. Silly girl! I feed them quite regularly.
I can't wait to see their faces tommorrow morning when they see all the present and their new bicycles under the tree. We had so much fun last year opening presents with them, I can only guess it just gets better every year. They still freak when they see Santa Claus, but they rip right into a wrapped box when it's presented!
At any rate, we're all good here. Sylvin's home and we're together and healthy I can't complain. Shopping done, presents wrapped and sent. Still never got Christmas cards out this year. I meant to, but sheesh I'm terrible. There's always next year, Lord willing. That brings me around to the real reason for this yearly celebration. Aside from Santa and presents and being with family....I pray that those who do not know God's love personally be touched by it. I pray that a realtionship form in their hearts with God and that they are saved by His love.

Here's a cool story about the Christmas star I came across.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D81F39F931A15751C1A967958260

Love to you all and have a Merry CHIRSTmas!

CG Christmas Party

Well we ducked the weather, thanks to God. It's been a nice fairly calm weekend around here. We went to the Coast Guard kids' Christmas party (hence the pictures). The girls got to see Santa, they got to decorate cookies, ate pizza and had a good time seeing everyone.



I finally got the tree decorated. It's been up since Thanksgiving with only the lights on. I got all my Christmas decorations out too and up. "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....." Minus the snow of course, but I'm not missing it much. Sylvin actually said he missed how it felt to have super cold hands and shoving them under your shirt to get them warm. See, might be from the Caribbean, but he' a midwest boy at heart!
I've got to get to the post office and send off packages. Not looking forward to those prices! We'll see how it goes. Love you all, have a good week!

WHEW!

That was a close one!!!!!

Tropical Storm

We're having a tropical storm moving in:

At perhaps the most inopportune time for local residents to have to worry about a natural concern, the Guam Office of Homeland Security announced a Tropical Storm Warning for Guam as it tracks a formation to the west of the island. As of 9 Thursday morning, Tropical Depression 27-W was located at 12.6 degrees North Latitude and 147.9 Degrees East Longitude, putting it and approximately 235 miles to the East-Southeast of Guam.

The system is moving West at 20 miles per hour, packing maximum sustained winds of 30 MPH. This motion is expected to progress over the next day, possibly developing into a tropical storm later today.

Damaging winds blowing between 39-74 MPH are expected within 24 hours, inline with the Tropical Storm Warning. Local residents are hereby advised to prepare their homes, stock-up on emergency preparedness kits and monitor KUAM-TV, KUAM Radio and KUAM.com for the latest updates.

As far as craft out on the water, a High Surf Advisory and a Small Craft Advisory are in effect for Guam until further notice.

I posted an image above. It doesn't look too terrible. Hopefully it won't really organize itself before it passes over us.
Me and the girls went last minute grocery shopping anyway. To stock up on some things and to get some water, batteries, fill the car just in case. Then I came home to clean up the yard. Sylvin's yet to come home and tie things down so they won't become flying projectiles! They trimmed the coconut tree a couple of months ago and took the ripe coconuts down then, so I'm glad they won't be falling out of the tree right over the door. It's already raining cats and dogs and man is it windy. I'm not too nervous, I married a boy scout and lucky for me he's home! Hopefully it won't knock the power out and I'll be back online tomorrow after it passes. If not, all joking aside, please pray for all of Guam resident's safety and that we won't encounter any damage. I'm sure we're all going to be fine. God just reminding us that he's in charge and we should have waited on the Christmas decorations outside! hahahaha!
Love to you all.

Pics to go w/blog below

At the Park

My little girls are growing before my very eyes. We went to the park this afternoon and there were a couple of other sets of parents down there. We usually run into them down there so it usually ends up a big happy hour just without the 2 for 1 drinks! Anyway, one of the moms had said "Geeze! I think they've grown in the last two weeks!" I put on a pair of PJ pants and both look like they've got capri pants on. I haven't yet measured them for the month but I'm positive they've shot up some. Look at the picture up top with Sy standing next to Sylvin at the swing. Wow. Their little baby faces are no more as well......Alright I'm back, just had to go get some kleenex to dry my eyes.
I hope and pray that they love me and we will always have a good Jacquie/Alice relationship. Jacquie and her mom were so close, I loved my mom very much but I can't remember now us being as close as Jacquie and Alice. I hope they will come to me with their problems, for advice and tell me of their triumphs or defeats. You've only got one chance to do this right and unfortunately you don't know if you did a good job until they're way past grown and then there's no chance to fix anything.
I'm coming upon the time again when I'm planning on calling their birthmom. I'm nervous and anxious to talk to her all in the same breath. We're on good terms. I guess? I only talk to her twice a year and send pictures then and on request. I haven't heard from the BM front since spring, so I'm assuming all is well. I suppose I'll let you know.
Check out Evie's lettuce mustache. We were eating the other night and their both crazy for salad, some dressing was on Eve's upper lip and she went to take a handful of lettuce into her mouth and one leaf got stuck to her lip. She immediately cracked a huge smile and said "Momma-me! MUSTACHE!" She was cracking herself and us all up. They both seem to have a real sense of humor. No kid of mine won't, I'll see to that! hahahaha.
Love you all and have a good rest of the week. Better work on being nice or else Santa won't come to see you.
Smooches from us all.

Turkey Day 08

We had a good Thanksgiving. The love mashed potatoes and gravy, and like turkey too, however I think they're getting sick of the left overs.
Thank God my Sugarlips was home and the girls are healthy, happy little sweetie pies! I'm so glad we were all able to be together as together as my little family could be thousands of miles away from the rest of our families. But it could have been WAY worse! The rest of the weekend was spent here around the house. We did some yard work and moved some of the girls toys around in the yard. They got a new slide a couple of weeks ago and now it's like Disney Land outside our front door! I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they see Santa Claus brought them little bikes with training wheels for Christmas.
*Disclaimer*****if you've got a weak stomache you might want to skip this part*****
Tonight I made home made from scratch spaghetti and real meatballs! It was good and I'm a damn good cook if I say so myself! I even suprised me. Anyway, after telling the girls to eat their meatballs at dinner they proceeded to the bathroom for their nightly bath. Sylvin was in there with them during their baths, I was in our room and listening to them talking and playing in there. I hear Sylvin say "Meatball?" cause Sy is persistently saying it and then Sylvin says, "Meatball? That's not a meatball, that's a booger!" I about died laughing! They say the darnest things huh? Hope you all are stuffed and happy and had a good time being together with the ones you love most. Have a good rest of the week!
Now I'm working on diggin out the Christmas stuff. Gotta get my 40 dollar tree up again this year.