Papier-Mache Gone Wrong

Yesterday afternoon my Mom and I spent a few hours covering some balloons in papier-mache for an activity for our upcoming family reunion. To aid in the drying process, we put the balloons outside and left them there overnight. This morning, to my dismay, not only had the balloons swelled, cracking the exterior, the balloons popped, and in two cases, actually melted! We are changing our plans, but we couldn't let those balloons go to waste!

A Whole Year!

Today is June 1st. A year ago today we were in the courtroom with the Utah Supreme Court, fighting the Navajo Nation to keep our beautiful children. So what has a year out of court done? Nothing! We have yet to hear from them or know their decision! But what has a year done for our family? Everything! Ella is a beautiful 4 year old with an amazing sense of humor. she is so loving and sweet and always willing to help. Anthony, besides turning 10 (almost 11), has grown about 6 inches and is almost as tall as his mom. He has had an amazing school year, he's a great help around the house and has an incredible sense of humor (just like his dad). We are blessed! Do we want to hear from the court? Of course! Will it change our family? No way! Happy June 1st everyone!

Anthony and Ella, December 2006

Our first meeting with Anthony at the Christmas Box House

Ella and Anthony, 2010

Our Second Home

I have tons of pictures and things to post, but I never seem to get the time. It feels like I've been spending a lot of time away from home.

Two weeks ago Aiden developed a nasty cough and started to wheeze. One evening I went in to check on him and his breathing was horrible. He was really struggling, so Ricardo and I decided he needed to be seen, and off I went to the emergency room at 11:30 at night. It turned out he had croup. We had to spend 3 hours in the er, and Aiden threw up 3 times before we finally made it home. A week later, Luca and Ella developed the same cough, so I headed to our local clinic for the afternoon to get them seen and on medication. It seemed that all of our doctor visits were behind us for a while until yesterday. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, Luca came to my classroom accompanied by two students. He was sobbing, and his companions informed me that he had fallen in p.e., and thet he may have a concussion. I held him in my arms for a few minutes until he'd calmed down, and then asked him what had happened. He said he didn't know, that he couldn't remember. I left him in my room and went to find the p.e. teacher. She told me that he had been run into by another bigger student and had fallen and hit his head. I went back to Luca and could already see a swollen bruise on his forehead from his hairline to his eyebrow. As I talked to him, I learned that not only had he fallen and couldn't remember what had happened, the first thing he did remember was sitting on the steps of the gym stage. He had actually lost consciousness! A quick call to the doctor, and we were off to the emergency room again for a possible MRI! It turned out to be ok, though we are keeping a close watch on him.

I am very grateful for insurance, and great medical personnel, but I wish I hadn't gotten to know them quite so well over the last 2 weeks!

School is in session

1st day of school 2009 - 2010!

Anthony is a 4th grader and Luca is now in 2nd grade!

Ella returned to preschool and Aiden was super excited to join her!
In fact, I think Aiden might have been the only one excited for school (or for pictures) on that first day!

Mini Mariachi

At the end of last school year, Luca's 1st grade class performed the "Bottle Dance" as part of an end of year assembly. I rediscovered these pictures recently and felt they had to be shared. Enjoy!

Ashton Kutcher was right!

I was the lucky recipient of a Nikon "CoolPix" camera for mother's day. The boys, having seen multiple commercials for said camera, knew all of the cool tricks that could be performed. Our favorite, and most requested, is to decorate a picture. Here are a few we are proud of (or rather, the boys find hilarious!).

Luca asked to be a cat. He turned into a devil-cat-thingy. He was happy.

Pirate Anthony

Anthony and cousin Mikel: Pirate meets Elvis

Too Much!

Man can time fly! It's been ages since my last post and I have really debated about whether I should try and catch up or just pick up from here. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see!

We did just get family pictures taken. This is the first time EVER that we have had pictures of all of us together. We are super grateful to Heather McDonald of Heather McDonald Photography for these amazing shots. She and some other photographers here in Utah got together and had a little giveaway where people could nominate families, and we were nominated and chosen! She was so nice and did a great job with a bunch of grumpy, hungry kids!