Oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree....

Someone takes tree decorating very seriously. She was a great helper.

Sassy pants decorating the tree.

This girl cracks me up. She was having a great time decorating our tree (until something better came along)

Ms. Claus.

If you look really close, you can see that Emilie thought there needed
to be about 5 ornaments in one spot. Such a helper :)

Ho. Ho. Ho.

Christmas

Our two snow angels

patiently waiting to open her present

watching all the action

Recent pics of the girls at Alex's work Christmas party. Emilie was petrified of the life sized penguin that could sing and dance. (not surprised as she was terrified of the person dressed up as a snowman last year).
Charlotte received Barbies and Emilie received Rapunzel and her horse from Santa.
More gifts to follow as the girls will have 3 xmas's this year.
The tree has already started to fill up with presents. All we need now is Uncle Wayne and Cousin Yvette to get here.

Mallorca for the Toussaint holiday

Hello Mallorca

We had a wonderful vacation with beautiful weather, wonderful food, and excellent friends.

new friends

The Gamez Girls

all the kids

all the adults

party animals at the mini disco

Starky met us for breakast

morning walk on the beach

appreciating fine art (hotel paintings- weird, but funny)

dancing queen

learning to snorkel

amazing friend. So thankful for meeting my fellow American during the PGCE

vacations are awesome

cuddly bear

wild women. So fun!

hotel pool

Tiger

Butterfly

beach babe

When in Rome....

Charlotte on stage with the cast of the Lion King

last night on holiday

these two can get a little crazy :)

statue competition

Charlotte wanted a certificate for being at the mini club. She didn't realise that you had to win something to get it. Lucky for her she played a game and came in second place. She was thrilled to get her medal from Starky and Stella.

Someone else came in second and won a medal. Very proud (but would not go on stage to receive award for fear of giant starfish)

still wearing their medals at breakfast

view from hotel room on the last morning. A much needed holiday with the girls.

until the next time. Love, the Gamez girls

I just want to stop time with these girls. I want them to grow and learn and see the world...but sometimes I want them to stay little forever. I asked Charlotte if she would stop growing and stay little, but she said no. Time is going so fast!!

We have a cat

Meet Mr. Nelly Pickles.

Happiness

I was asked today why I am so happy in the middle of everything going. I waited to respond as I thought it was such a shock to hear this. And I thought about the question.
Am I happy? Is this what happiness looks like?
I have two children that are in good health and thankfully I found a job. And thankfully I found a nanny to help with taking the girls to school.And thankfully I have met amazing friends that are very willing to help.And thankfully I have family that is really supportive. But am I happy?
 I responded by saying that I have so much heartache, but I would never show my children how much hurt I have inside. My goal is to make sure that they don't feel the same sadness and that for now, they are happy. I pray everyday that it is working and that they are truly happy.  And I hope that one day when asked the question, "Are you happy?" I will be able to say without a doubt that I am. For now, I am happy, but wish some of this pain (anger, bitterness, insert all words along these lines) would go away. Until then, I remain THANKFUL  and HAPPY for all the great things that we do have in our lives.