USA Trip

 The girls and I had an absolute blast in the USA over Christmas and New Year. It was their first exposure to real snow and the LOVED it! They would never admit they were cold - it was just too much fun playing outside!

 We were able to spend time with my parents and grandma, as well as many dear friends. It was surreal blending these two sides of my life - having the girls at my grandma's was especially mind-blowing. What a blessing for all of my friends to finally be able to meet my little people though. Now they have a better understanding of what I've been doing with myself for the past 5 years!

The girls are seasoned travelers now too - we've been on 13 planes in the last few months. It's hard to believe that they'd never even gone long distances in a car before this trip. What a vast number of new experiences they've had. It's been challenging, but they have coped incredibly well, all things considered!

 We had a great deal of down-time at my parents' house, which was something we desperately needed. It gave us time to gel as a family, and it allowed me to decompress from the strain of the last few months at the baby home. After about 6 weeks I finally started feeling ready to go back and start working agin. I've been at my new job now for 3 weeks and it is a wonderful working environment. I'm glad I was able to step away between positions so that I haven't brought much of my baggage along for the journey!

The girls' favorite part of our trip was the 2 days we spent with my dad in Disneyland. It was AMAZING - everything is so real to them at this age and they posed so nicely for all the pictures (which was decidedly NOT true for the rest of the vacation)! We will have a wonderful photo wall when we finally get into our new house!!

Thank you so much to all of you who took the time out of your busy schedules (and especially to those of you who drove massive distances!) to come and see us! We really enjoyed spending time with you and the girls have become so much more sociable!