Happy Birthday Dannan and Mieka!!

Now it's 1:00, and it has been a crazy morning. I started downloading pictures for this post at 8:00 this morning while I was getting ready, and thankfully Jan dowloaded the rest for me. But this is the first time I've had time to sit down and work on this post. We had our Stake baptism this morning, and then I found out someone from our ward was being baptized, so I stayed for that. So now, finally, I can get to this blog post for my two darling nieces!

Dannan and Mieka are our youngest girls (so far), and it's so fun they were born on the same day. Since Dannan is older, I will start with pictures of her.

Dannan

Here is a picture of me holding Dannan the day she was born. We were so excited that she had brown hair, and we swore she would have Seth's hazel eyes (her three brothers all have blue eyes like Karla). We were right about the hazel eyes, but she turned out to have beautiful blonde/brown/strawberry hair (depending on the light).

Here she is at 2 months old. Karla was so excited to get her little girl, after three boys. And, even though she looks small here, Dannan is a tough one (she has to be, with three older brothers! : )

Here she is with her dad, (my baby brother Seth. I can still call him my baby brother, even though he's taller than me).

Here she is at Artic Circle with cousin Brayden when she was six months old.

And here she is, a month before her first birthday. Here's where her eyes were starting to turn hazel...

Eating her cake on her first birthday. So cute!

This is also her first birthday party, but I had to put this one in as well. I love her big eyes!

I love this one. Here she is with her mom, looking at cousin Mieka, her birthday buddy, on Christmas Eve 2007.

And here she is again with her mom. Doesn't she look great in pink?

And once again with her mom (lots of cute pictures of Karla!). I love Dannan's expression in this picture.

This one is a little blurry, but I wanted to put it in anyway. This was Thanksgiving last year. She had gotten hurt, and came to cuddle with me on the couch. I think it's so cute!

And here she is with her dad at Grandma Spendlove's funeral this spring. Her hair is just such a beautiful color!

Here she is playing with counsins Jenni and Emma.

This was with me on big brother Ethan's baptism day. She's so darling with her hair all done up!

I love this one--her mom and dad are doing a "Dannan sandwhich" at one of the barbeques this summer. She's having so much fun!

And finally, here she is with cousin Joe-Joe at the Spendlove reunion last month. I love my little Dannan! I'm so grateful for her cute smiles and little hugs--and her fiesty little personality!

Mieka

Now we turn to Mieka, born exactly one year after Dannan....

Here is little Mieka on her birthday, with me and cousin Emma. She was such a sweet, darling little thing!

I love this picture of big sister Annika holding her. They are so cute together, and Annika has always been so protective of her little sister.

Here she is playing with Aunt Janice on Christmas Eve, 2007. I love her little smile!

And here she is with her dad in March of last year, when she was six months old.

In June of last year, when she was nine months old, I got the opporunity to watch Annika and Mieka while I wasn't working. It was so fun. Here she is on one night after I gave her a bath. She looks so cute in her ducky towel!

This is from the same week--she was trying to learn how to crawl, and almost made it. So cute!

Here she is with Aunt Jan and sister Annika right before her 1st birthday.

And here she is with me in December of last year. I love the red bows in her hair, and she has such expressive eyebrows! (She really was happy that day--even though she looks rather solemn in the picture!)

Here she is in January this year--I had to put this in, because it was when she started doing her "Ahoy Matey" smile when she's getting her picture taken. It is so cute!

And here she is with Uncle Dan in March. Her hair is starting to get so long!

And here she is bowling with her mom in April. She looks so darling--what a big girl!

Here she is sitting on her dad's lap eating cake. She just has such cute little expressions!

I love this one of her and grandpa at one of our swimming parties this year. Again, she looks so cute in her ducky towel!

Here's another one of her cheeser smiles. I just can't get over how cute they are!

I love this picture of her reading a book. She actually can't read quite yet, but is so smart that I'm sure she'll pick it up in no time!

And finally, here she is just a few days ago, holding little duckies and with a cute little smile!

So, there you have it, finally--my post for Dannan and Mieka. I know I say this all the time, but I am just so grateful for my neices and nephews. I still ache at times to have my own babies--I know I always will. But I can hardly feel sad when I am surrounded by so many little ones that I love so much, and who give me so much in return. Truly, "my cup runneth over!"