Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day!

Greetings!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What a special time of year! We have had a wonderful week of family and friend gatherings. It has been so special to see everyone!

The entire family visited the NICU with plates of cookies and big smiles before Christmas. Last year, only Dan and Jonas could make it (Elsa and Mari were at one of countless doctors' appointments) to visit with the NICU staff. This year was the first time back for the whole family and it was wonderful to see so many nurses, doctors, and other staff members that took great care of Elsa and Jonas. Two of the nurses that were present when Elsa and Jonas were born and stabilized them for their ambulance ride to Tacoma were there and they clearly could remember the time and day the two kids were born. Jonas and Elsa gave them both high fives.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were time for family celebrations, presents, prayers, and lots of laughing. Elsa and Jonas really got the hang of opening packages although Elsa liked to rip of 1 inch squares of paper which dramatically increased the time it took to open presents.

Celebrate!

Greetings!

Christmas Break is here! Dan is home from work for two weeks and the Christmas celebrations have already began.

Celebration #1: Jonas and Elsa had a speech evaluation for development and they did great! They are using more and more words all the time. Two months ago they qualified for lots of support for their speech and fine motor skills because of their performance on a non age adjusted test. This time around, they may not have qualified for support because their scores were so good. Regardless of the scores though, we are just so proud of them!

Celebration #2: We had our three month check-in with our GI specialist and dietitian. Jonas weighs 23 pounds and some change. Elsa weighs 22 pounds and some change. The GI specialist that we saw this week described Elsa again using the term, "Amazing!" Elsa no longer qualifies as a "failure to thrive" baby.

Celebration #3: Jonas and Elsa are still playing with the balloons from their birthday party.

Celebration #4: We are so excited to have time to see family and friends in the upcoming weeks!

Pictures: New Hats; Watching Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Paul through the window; Santa was not well received.

Videos: Hopping!; and Santa w/o boots visits our house.

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Happy Birthday!

Greetings!

The storm warnings were all over the news this past week. Record rainfall expected in Washington. The skies opened and buckets of rain fell this past weekend. The wind kicked up and shook the last remaining leaves off of the trees. Quite a wild weathery weekend but it paled in comparison to the storm of energy that developed at Elsa and Jonas's two year old birthday party!

Cookies, cupcakes, balloons, presents, singing, laughing, (crying), hugs, kisses, tackle hugs, fire trucks (santa came by on his fire truck sled mid-party) tackle kisses, you name it and it was in our house to help celebrate! It was such a joy to have friends and family present to celebrate two years since that snow storm blew in and welcomed Elsa and Jonas into our lives.

Two years ago, a friend told me about Our Lady of Guadalupe Day. It is a day to celebrate tiny miracles and it just so happens to fall on December 12th. Hurray for our tiny miracles (not so tiny anymore)!

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Greetings!

December is here! Christmas is near! We had a quiet week but is it ever really quiet with twins?

Jonas. Jonas has one speed. He runs everywhere. He loves to climb and has discovered that if he climbs on top of the book basket he can then shimmy up to the couch. Once on the couch he can then jump precariously on the edge while laughing hysterically when he is plucked up by a parent. Jonas is also the enforcer. If Elsa takes a towel from the basket and runs off with it; Jonas will track her down and make sure that the towel finds its home. Jonas loves dogs and whenever one walks by our house, is on the TV, or he sees his dog pet pillow he lights up!

Elsa. Elsa is mischievous. She found a way to pull out every wall socket guard and gleefully ran through the house pulling them out faster than we could put them back in. So successful was she at this, we had to resort to purchasing high tech socket guards to circumvent her efforts. Elsa loves to dance and to spin. She will arch her head back as we spin her around and let out joyous laughs and always asks for more! Elsa loves cats and always lets out little meows whenever she hugs her kitty cat stuffed animal.

We have heard from or seen so many friends and family lately--we love it! Best wishes to everyone in the week ahead.

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Snow angels

Greetings!

Our Thanksgiving vacation came a little early this year thanks to a foot of snow that fell last Monday. We have been hunkered down this past week enjoying our mini-Christmas break before we get to our real Christmas break in a few weeks. Jonas and Elsa loved the concept of snow. They pointed to it while it fell from the sky and were clamoring to go outside from the moment they got up. Everything went great until they took their mittens off and realized that snow is really cold! Both broke into tears and had to be consoled...they quickly recovered!

We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving and are still full! Our Christmas tree is up and Jonas loves pointing at his star ornament while Elsa made sure to put her snowflake ornament up really high!

Elsa's eyes continue to heal and get a little bit better every day.

Pictures: Piano duet (duel); Elsa in the elements; the yellow jacket crew; family photo; snow angel B; snow pics! Videos: snow and piano!

God Bless,

Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Let it snow...let it snow...let it snow!

Greetings!

The camera has been found! Enjoy the pictures. Elsa and Jonas are enjoying their first snow days that they can actually play in the snow. Since it snowed on their birthday two years ago, the snow always reminds us of Elsa and Jonas's early arrival. Jonas and Elsa wait at the front door whenever we say, "let's look at the snow". They love it!

This past week we had a chance to catch up with an old friend. Elsa and Jonas had another baby, Ian, in between them for a bit that also had a rough start. He made it up to the ICN at the same time as Elsa and so his mom spent lots of time sitting next to Mari. He is doing really well now and they got to say hi to Ian at a musical that we attended. It was great to see him again and to see how many miracles Tacoma General can provide!

There are an assortment of pictures/videos from the past week: lots of trying on glasses, some snow views from highchairs, tiger costumes one more time; videos of glasses and boxes!

God Bless and Enjoy the Snow!

Dan & Mari & Elsa & Jonas

Surgery part two

Greetings!
Elsa had her second cataract surgery this past week and did great! It was a really long day but she was a trooper and put up with a lot. The next day at the doctor's office, the doctor presented Elsa with her own little Big Bird toy that she had grown to love over the many visits to his office. He had promised to give her one after all the surgeries were done and sure enough he had it waiting (and one for Jonas too).

We are currently the midst of a sea of eye drops--a couple still each day for her right eye and a ton for her left eye. All is going well though and her eyes continue to heal.

We celebrated thanksgiving yesterday and have so much to be thankful for. We will be especially thankful for when we find the camera so we can post some new pictures from this past week!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

New Glasses!

Greetings!
Elsa is the proud new owner of pink glasses! We picked them up last night and she is gradually getting used to them. She got a ton of compliments about them at church this morning. The glasses will get a new lens after her upcoming surgery is done but for now they help her with her one eye that has an artificial lens.

Jonas wanted to wear the pink sunglasses we have when he saw that Elsa had glasses. It was quite a sight and very kind of him to support her by also donning a pair of glasses.

Jonas and Elsa were big lute fans and went to the PLU football game yesterday. It was a loud fun time and they took it all in. They also tried popcorn for the first time ever. They weren't really sold on it but they were both adventuresome and tried it.

We are looking forward, as much as one can, to having the surgery done with in the upcoming week and getting onto the road to recovery. We sure do appreciate all the prayers and kind words over the past two years!

God Bless,
Mari & Dan & Elsa & Jonas

Many hairs cut...no ears...

Greetings!

Jonas and Elsa had a great post-Halloween sugar rush. They kindly shared much of their candy with Mari and Dan but still got to nibble on a piece or two. Next year's costumes have been purchased after a fun trip to the mall in Auburn. Elsa and Jonas played on the playground and had a blast.

In other big news...Jonas "You can call me Fabio no more" received his first hair cut. He is sporting a sharp new hairdo and is rather proud of it.

Elsa's eye continues to heal nicely and the doctor is ready to do the second eye. We will have that surgery in the next two weeks and have lots of time to recover over the Thanksgiving holiday. Elsa also ordered her first pair of glasses...Dora the explorer and they are pink! She is going to look great!

Jonas and Elsa did great today at church and even ventured into the daycare room for a minute or two to check out the toys.

With the sunny warm days fading fast...it was almost 60 and sunny today...we took advantage and went for a nice long walk.

Lots of pictures to take a look at...please enjoy!

Thanks for your continued prayers for healing and growing!

God Bless,

Mari & Elsa & Dan & Jonas