Jessie, Jojo, Teri, and Jeanette making Christmas cookies

The girls were giving me lots of moral support

and sampling everything...

They would help mix things, but I had to make sure that everyone "stirred" things for the same amount of time, or else there were problems.

Jojo - quality control

rolling out sugar cookies with Teri

a full day's work

we made 7 different types of cookies/candies, and passed out 40 plates of Christmas treats to friends and neighbors

Christmas Eve - The big celebration here is at midnight on the 24th. I didn't think they'd make it, but the girls stayed awake until midnight. Here, Jessie's burning sparklers. At midnight, the fireworks were incredible, the night erupting with the sound of firecrackers from every house, and the air full of smoke. Quite an experience. At midnight, hugs all around, and then everyone shares a tamale.

Jojo, enjoying the sparklers. She was singing "twinkle twinkle little star" in Spanish.

Christmas morning - opening presents.

playing with their Christmas presents - they were having a hard time sharing...

on the boat, on the way over to the restaurant for Christmas dinner

Jessie, playing with her toys in the restaurant while we served Christmas dinner - Jojo was taking a much-needed nap.

The 4 cousins sporting their ice cream outfits from Donna and Aaron

Jojo's 2nd birthday party

Jessie taking a swing at the pinata

the girls sporting their alaska outfits from grandma

Jojo helping daddy make bread

the girls and our neighbors playing out on the patio

playing with kitty lenca

jojo playing house with grandpa guillermo

jessie and jojo with their cousins, alejandra and margorie, eating lunch at our house

I haven't updated this since I started it, so I'll start out with putting some random pictures over the past year...The girls eating pizza on the patio.

Drawing with some of our neighbors

Alyssa fell on the steps - here she's showing off her 3 stitches that we put in on our kitchen table.

Jessie washing dishes at the restaurant

Alyssa on her first day at the university (with her dad)

the girls eating their breakfast.