Again, I'm piling it all on in one post!

To catch you up:
BabyM finally got rid of the diarrhea, gained a few ounces, but got sick again with maybe a cold yesterday and has 103 degree fever this morning. Going back to the doctor.

This is BabyM with a French braid. It doesn't stay b/c her hair is too fine, but cute none the less.

BoyD had a dinosaur birthday party. It was a blast and we had about 20 kids there. Here are some photos of the party:

This is the Dinosaur cake and a photo of my precious and wonderful mom with my precious and wonderful BabyM.


All the kids had a go at the giant Dinosaur pinata. BabyM went first, and then BoyD got a turn.

When the pinata breaks, everyone goes in for the kill. Even the parents go in to score some loot for their kids. It was crazy and a miracle that no one got hurt!

The two games that we played were musical chairs with dinosaur music in Spanish, and an archaeological dig where the kids dug for fossils that I had made from coffee grounds and hidden in the sand box. (the sandbox was BoyD's birthday present from us!)

It was a beautiful day for the party!

This is BoyD (aka the Joker) after drinking some punch. Notice the red streak on his forehead from the top of the cup! And that is the piece of cake that Brandon gave BoyD. It is as big as his head! Needless to say, he didn't finish it all.

It was dino themes all around. We had a stand up dino to take photos by, and every kid wore a dino mask during the party. We had a lot of fun.

My mom came for two weeks and at the beginning we went to panajachel (on lake Atitlan) and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Isn't my mommy a cutie?

The following photo is not staged. He was using the bathroom and Brandon went to check on him, and he was "reading" Parenting Wit and Wisdom, by Barbara Coloroso. Very funny.

We went to this really cool Catholic culture thing here. December 12th was Dia de la Virgen de Guatalupe. Basically a day to celebrate, honor, (to some worship) Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Here in Xela, there is a big mass at the huge catholic church here in the center of town followed by a fair of sorts in the central park. Everybody (mostly catholics) bring their children dressed in typical Mayan dress and there are all kinds of food vendors and trinkets to buy. They also have all of the scenes set up with paintings or statues of the virgin where your kids can pose and you can have your photo taken for 25Q (or about $3.00). It is really fun to see all of the kids all dressed up.

Well, we went and we took the kids in their typical dress and we wanted to share a few of the precious photos. Enjoy


Next, Christmas. Christmas eve, we went to a service at our church where BoyD was a wise man. It was so cute, and I am going to either post a little blog about that later, or get Brandon to. Our tradition is to open one gift on Christmas eve (always pijamas to wear that night). Christmas Eve Day, we made cookies for Santa. YUM!

This is BoyD and Mommy spreading some reindeer food on the front porch (Thanks, Alicia for the idea!), Mommy helping BoyD open his Christmas Eve gift, and Mi-Mi and the kiddos sampling the cookies for Santa.

BoyD checking out what Santa brought and awing over Santa's footprints that he left.

BoyD playing with his little people construction stuff, and BabyM with her new cell phone.

BoyD is ready to ride his tricycle with his new helmet, fight all the "bad guys" with his foam swords, and finally he got to dig into the stocking to see what tiny goodies Santa brought.

All it all this has been an action packed last month. I really plan on blogging more often so that I don't bombard you all with so much info at one time. Oh, and after the Doctor, BabyM lost 2 ounces...really sad about that...but is on another antibiotic for a throat infection. Maybe she'll begin to eat again. Sigh. We still ask for your continued prayers, as she only weights 15lbs, 10ounces and she is 3 days short of a year.