M&M Christmas

It was a fun and somewhat quiet Christmas this year. A little sad being away from our family and all the usual busy events. But I know in the future I'll want this quiet Christmas back! We felt so blessed however to be together as a family when many we know are seperated serving in Iraq and other places.

M&M loved all their new gifts and were probably a little overwhelmed with it all. Andrew had to work Christmas Eve but we had some family time when he came home. M&M wore these cute little "long-john" PJ's for Christmas...so adorable!



M&M were able to open all the gifts they received in the mail from family and friends, on Christmas Eve. So many thoughtful gifts...thank you everyone!

There was too much going on and they were quite wound-up so taking pictures was a chore. It's always hard to get a picture with both of them and even harder with all the new packages under the tree! But we tried anyway...the one below is as close as we got. At least they're both looking at the camera. Can you tell they're teething?!

I took the picture below, right before Andrew and I went to bed. All the fun surprises that awaited them in the morning!

Christmas morning was fun and they were excited when they saw all the toys. We got some great (and quite lengthy) video that we sent to the Grandparents, of the gift opening extravaganza! They needed lots of help opening gifts and would get stuck on one toy they liked and didn't think it was necessary to open anything else. Michael saw that push car and I don't think he let loose of it all day! Mary Ellen loved it too but she had to get past Michael to get a turn.

The darling outfits they wore on Christmas was a generous birthday gift from our good friends Pinto and Aly. We wanted to wait for a special day so they could wear them for the first time. They looked so cute in them. Thanks y'all!!

Mary Ellen loved her colorful beaded necklace and big Pooh ball. She kept that necklace on all day. There's a matching bracelet that she carries around in her hand where ever she goes!

Thought this was such a sweet picture of Mary Ellen and Andrew! Just that he wore that goofy elf hat cracks me up...anything to make Mary Ellen smile!

The most fun they had all day was when we put Mary Ellen in the seat of the push car and Michael pushed her around the house. He didn't need help either...he did it on his own. He really is very strong! This is probably my favorite picture of the day!

I just had to add this last pictue of Mary Ellen from Christmas night. Again with the necklace and her little green tutu that Dee gave her. So cute...this was another favorite that she'll wear until we take it off. She leaves a trail of tiny glitter from the tutu wherever she goes :-)

It was a fun Christmas and they received more than their share of fun new toys. Thank you all so much for how generous you are with our children. We love you!

Merry Christmas To All!

Merry Christmas from Bahrain 2008

We have had a wonderful year full of blessings! 2008 began with Cece in Florida with her Mother, Andrew here in Bahrain and Michael and Mary Ellen just 3 months old. Cece and the babies were finally able to join Andrew in Bahrain after Easter. What an exhausting and eventful trip over it was! A 22 hour plane ride with twins and a 15 year old cocker spaniel, but we all made it. The babies did great on the plane and slept most of the time. Prissy got “lost” in Dubai and arrived the next day, but we made it! It took a few weeks for Michael and Mary Ellen to get back on their schedule but they adjusted surprisingly well and we were thrilled to all be together!

The summer was HOT and HUMID! We spent most of it inside, at the pool, or at the mall. We live in a nice neighborhood that has beautiful pools and parks. There are lots of other Americans here and we feel fortunate to have made many friends. We were sad to lose Prissy in September but are thankful to have had her for so many wonderful years.

Michael and Mary Ellen turned one in September and we had a big celebration including a visit from Dee (Cece’s Mother). How wonderful for her to make the long journey to come visit!
Andrew continues to fly F16’s with the Bahraini Air Force. He feels fortunate to have had this experience. We are looking forward to the new things God has in store for our family in the upcoming year. For more about our adventures stay tuned to this blog!

As always we hope this finds you in good health and uplifted spirits. We are thankful for our immense blessings this year and will be joyfully celebrating the birth of our Savior. Every moment now seen through our children’s eyes seems even more precious.

Love,
The Thornes
Andrew, Cece, Michael and Mary Ellen



But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:10-12

Breakfast With Santa

It was a beautiful, cool, and sunny Friday for "Breakfast with Santa". The US Ambassador and his wife hosted it at the Ambassador's residence. It is a beautiful and grand home and very well guarded! They are gracious hosts and it was nice to see some Embassy friends that we don't get to see regularly.

We were able to take a family picture in front of the Ambassador's Christmas tree when we first arrived.

We had a nice breakfast and enjoyed the art work at the residence. M&M loved playing with their juice bottles and crawling around on the marble floors. Who needs fancy toys!

Waiting for Santa!

Of course the big event was Santa! Each child got a little gift from him and were able to sit on his lap for pictures and a chat. OK, so M&M don't chat yet, and actually I don't think they had any idea where they were sitting for the first few minutes. Then Mary Ellen looked up at Santa's face and it was all over with!

In Mary Ellen's defense, it was WAY past nap time and she just isn't a happy camper without sleep. And to think it was Michael I was concerned about! He is usually our sensitive one, but he took it all in stride!

All-in-all it was a fun (and exhausting) day! The first of many visits with Santa I'm sure!

Twin Love

I received such great response from this video on my Facebook page that I decided to add it to the blog. Several people suggested that I submit it to the America's Funniest Home Videos show, so I'm working on that.

The video is pretty self-explanatory. Mary Ellen loves jumping in the Johnny-Jump-Up and Michael is trying to make her laugh. Of course, he gets rewarded by a couple bonks on the head, which doesn't seem to faze him in the slightest. Michael is usually the one who is more aggressive, so it's sort of funny to see Mary Ellen exert a little power in the relationship! I do have to be careful when she really gets going in the jumper, because she can hurt him. But they are just so much fun to watch together! They share a definate love for each other that makes us so happy!

LOCK 'N LOAD

OK, those of you that don't know R. Lee "Gunny" Ermey, I'll run down a few credits for you. He is probably best known for Full Metal Jacket but we've also enjoyed him in Saving Silverman, Switchback, Dead Man Walking, Seven, and Leaving Las Vegas. But he has done so much more. He was a Marine drill instructor and a Vietnam vet who started out acting about 25 years ago when he was offered the role in Full Metal Jacket. He now has a History Channel show called Mail Call and Lock 'n Load. Those of you that know Andrew know what a history buff he is, particularly military history, so Gunny is a favorite in our house! He's also the spokesperson for Glock and we own three (this tidbit is Andrew's contribution to the blog)!

Anyway, he was at the Navy Base last weekend so we thought we'd make it a family outing! We had to wait in line for about an hour. Needless-to-say, this was the day we forgot to load the stroller so we had to hold M&M the entire time, ugh!

Here is Andrew and Michael in line waiting to see Gunny. Now as I've mentioned before, twins are attention magnets. This time it attracted Gunny's crew...sound man and camera man. They asked if they could do an interview and get some video of M&M. So who knows where that will end up! We did say "You're watching Gunny TV.com" into the camera. So don't know if this will be for the History channel or Gunny's website. But it was fun and the sound guy just loved M&M, especially Michael who kept grabbing at the sound boom.

The sound guy was nice enough to take some pictures when we were talking with Gunny. M&M just kept satring at him. And Gunny seemed taken with Michael. The last picture is the best...Gunny laughing at Michael grabbing the sound boom! Fun experience and it's so great for Gunny to visit the troops (he said he makes 4 trip a year to the Middle East) most of whom are single and here without family.

His new show Lock n' Load is on the History Channel and he just started working on Toy Story 3. He has been the voice of "Army Sarge" for all the Toy Story movies.

By the Gulf

Since Andrew has had off a few days for the Muslim Eid holiday, we took advantage of our time together. After our visit with "Gunny" at the Navy Base (there will be a future blog about that fun experience) we drove to the water to let M&M look at everything. Now the history of the name of the Gulf here is interesting to me. I've always known it as the Persian Gulf as most Westerners do. But in the Arab world it is emphatically known as the Arabian Gulf. Principally because most of the Middle East considers themselves Arab except Iran...who are Persian. So you can see why most here would think of it as the Arabian Gulf instead. The water is beautiful but the shore very rocky. Unfortunately there is lots of trash along the shore which detracts from how beautiful the view is. Of course "the Gulf" in my heart will always be the Gulf of Mexico...THE most beautiful place on Earth! All these pictures are of Andrew and M&M. I was the photographer.

Christmas Trees and Camels

The Navy Base here had a beautiful tree lighting ceremony this weekend. They had Santa, camel rides, and lots of fun stuff going on to kick off the Christmas season here. There is another big Muslim holiday this time of year so Christmas is pretty much isolated to the Navy Base and certain sections of some stores. It is like a sigh of relief to walk onto the Navy base and get some of that Christmas atmosphere that I crave. The Muslim Eid holiday is also a big celebration for them and they decorate public areas with lots of lights, so I just pretend they're Christmas lights!

Michael and Mary Ellen loved to look at all the decorated trees and lights. They also really loved being that close to the camel!

The poor camel must have been 100 years old. I think it took him 5 minutes to actually lay down like this. But isn't he cool looking? I love all the woven carpets and fringe they have on him.

This was as close as we got to getting M&M to actually look at the camera. Do you blame them? They had the sparkling Christmas tree on one side and the camel on the other!

We found every Christmas tree they had up! M&M just loved looking at them. They're chewing on the candy canes Santa gave them. Yes, I said SANTA! I was a little nervous how they would react to him, especially Michael who tends to be our sensitive one. But it didn't seem to faze them in the slightest! M&M were in the stroller and Santa and Mrs. Claus were walking around handing out candy canes. They took the candy cane and started chewing.

Next week we have "Breakfast with Santa" at the Ambassador's residence, so we'll see how they are when they actually sit on his lap!

Walking, Walking, and More Walking

Remember my wish a couple of posts back for Mary Ellen to start using the walker like Michael? Granted! We took this video a few days after Thanksgiving. We put the Christmas tree up earlier that day and had been playing Christmas music all day so excuse the blaring Pavarotti in the background. Don't go thinking we're too "high brow", it was a compilation Christmas CD. Elvis Presley and Alabama are on the same CD!

Isn't she a complete doll?! She's always smiling and so proud of herself. We have to direct her path a bit where Michael has finally figured out how to get himself out of some corners.

Now if that wasn't enough, the next day....Michael took a few steps on his own!!!!! I was so excited I started yelling and scared everyone to death. He was pushing the walker and wanted to go over to the desk and just started off like it wasn't a thing. Then he realized wait, I can't walk on my own and he just plopped down. Since then he'll take a few steps between Andrew and I on his own. Andrew keeps threatening me not to encourage him to walk while he's at work...he doesn't want to miss it! We need to work on getting it on video or at least a picture.

We're coming up on some big transitions soon and it all just makes me sad and proud at the same time! After Christmas, no more bottles and no more pacifiers....I'll let y'all know how that goes.