10 Years Ago

I cannot believe that it has really been ten years! Holy crap! Today Lonnie and I are celebrating our ten year anniversary. I watched our wedding video the other day and I must say that I am so glad that we have that. So much has changed, besides the obvious. Being able to see my grandmother, who has since passed on, was so great. Seeing how young everyone, especially our siblings and cousins were was fun. I am so grateful for Lonnie and all that he does for me and our family. To say that our life is a bit stressful is putting it nicely. He is sooo patient with me and loves me unconditionally. I truly couldn't ask for more. I am priveleged to be his eternal companion!

Such Questions Already

So as you know we adopted our children and they are Hispanic.  Michelle has always seemed to be aware that her skin color is quite darker than others.  She has been known to try and wash the brown off in the tub.  We obviously have explained to her that she is beautiful and that this is how Heavenly Father has created her.  Well, lately she has been trying to figure out who belongs to who.  She's asked questions like "Who is your mommy?" or "Who's mommy is Grandma?"...you get the idea.  We have always been very open with our children that they are adopted and when asked have told them that I am not their tummy mommy.  Michelle has been having quite the questions in regards to her other mom.  We have spent much time talking about their birth mother and why they aren't with her.  One thing that Lonnie and I never want to do is to lie to them about what happened.  Although, going into what really happened with a 6 year old I don't feel is appropriate either.  So we just say that their mommy loved them but made some bad choices, was sick and was not able to take care of herself or them.  Needless to say, we knew that we would have to talk about this issue with the children but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be this soon.  Although through it all I am still so thankful that I can look my children in the eye and tell them that their mother did love them.  There are so many children that have been or are in the system that this is not the case.  I know that some of you who read our blog have adopted yourselves.  Any suggestions and/or ideas on what you do in these situations?

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

As is everyone else, we are getting all ready for Christmas over here!  It is so much fun and this is by far my most favorite time of year.  All of the decorations inside the house are done...except for the tree!  Last year we decided to throw it away after I was getting shocked a lot.  Needless to say, we have not bought one yet and are thinking of having a real Christmas Tree this year.  We will see!  Anyhow, here are some of my favorites around our home!

A Few Family Pictures

We met up with my sister in law this evening to snap a few photos of the family! To check out more of her work click here! Thanks Jenni and I can't wait to hopefully capture a few for you soon!

Lost Tooth and a Beautiful Finish

Michelle lost her first tooth today and the one right next to it is now loose! I guess that the tooth fairy has her first job in our house tonight! Also, I am proud to say that I finished the Book of Mormon today! I was so sad to see it end. It truly was a great experience and I loved reading the stories of amazing faith.

Are YOU Prepared For This?

Here is a very interesting article. Please feel free to share. Especially with those you love.

http://inflation.us/foodpriceprojections.html

A Day That I Wish Never Happened

Yesterday at 5:00 am I woke up to an uneasy stomach. I vomited once and went back to bed. About 30 minutes later I felt like I was going to vomit again. Luckily, I didn't. Instead I sipped on a little bit of water and ate 2 ritz crackers. Well within 10 minutes those came up too. I had a fever and was aching and had a headache, but I couldn't take anything as I couldn't even hold water down. Once Lonnie came home he took care of the children and I was just lying around. I tried again to sip on some water and had maybe a tablespoon of Jello. Luckily, Lonnie's mom and sister were able to come over and watch the children so Lonnie could go to sleep. I think he said he went to bed at about 10:00 right after giving me a blessing. By this time I am feeling absolutely horrible and still vomiting like I have never done before in my life. At about 11:00 I went into our room and I could not control myself with all of the aches, having difficulty breathing, and just not comfortable whatsoever. After about 5 minutes my body seemed to stop. My breathing slowed way down, I all of a sudden was not achy. It was at that time that my hands were going numb, cramping up, and turning purple. This by far was the scariest moment of my life, I felt so helpless. Lonnie called 911 and they were in the process of sending out the fire department. I barely moved my left foot and I was in excruciating pain. I was freaking everybody out by how loud I was screaming. Apparently I was hyperventilating, which made my hands worse. Also, I was dehydrated to make matters worse. Well the medics came and everything checked out normal. I was able to slow down by breathing and I decided that I did not need to go by ambulance, but that Lonnie would just take me in. So we get to the hospital and I am starting to get uncomfortable again. My stomach was starting to ache and the aches and headache were back. My breathing became bad again and I was hyperventilating. My fingers and hands began to cramp up again and man did it hurt. I have never had that happen before and it is painful and freaky. After about 2 hours I finally got to see a doctor. They ran blood work and nothing came up. So they are thinking that I have some type of virus. The doctor stated that with a lot of hand washing and just being really careful it should not be contagious. I am praying that no one gets this. Today I am just feeling like I normally do when I am not feeling well. Not eating a lot but able to keep liquids and small amounts of food down, which I am so grateful for. I am just taking it easy today and will hopefully continue to get better.

How Can This Be

Today in the car Michelle kept asking me if I would be mad at her if her tooth got broken. I assured her that I wouldn't and kind of let it go. Tonight after dinner she came up and started wiggling one of her bottom teeth. Yuck! It looked so weird. I had to call my mom to make sure that she is at the right age for this and sadly she is. She is sitting up in her bed waiting for her tooth to fall out. Why must they grow up so fast?

Ready to Run

So it has been three weeks since surgery and the stitches were taken out today. For whatever reason this kind of stuff really grosses me out. Anyhow, this week I can do a few things that I haven't been able to do in several weeks. First up...I can wash my foot on Saturday! Secondly, I have to get off of crutches this week and next week will be out of the massive boot! Wahoooooo!! Although, I'm still hesitant to do anything with it. I guess this is normal. Things are going just fine and hopefully will continue to. I came back home on Thursday and it's been crazy, but what else is new? This week is just like any other with a doctor's appointment today; therapy, school, and pest control tomorrow; school and housecleaner coming Thursday; and school and dog grooming appointment on Friday. I'll tell ya there is never a dull moment. Also, I am so hating this heat. It is a bit ridiculous! I am sooo ready to run to another state. I have been looking at what Utah has to offer and there are some positives but there are also so negatives. I'm sure it will never happen, but hey I can dream!

A Terrible Day

Today is an extrememly tough day for all those who have someone or know someone in law enforcement. I cannot believe what this world is coming to and how plain evil and cold people can be. I cannot even imagine what I would do if something like this ever happened to Lonnie. We know so many families of officers. Please pray for the family and for those that are working the case that they may find those who committed such a horendous act of murder. Lonnie knew the gentleman as he taught him a class in the academy. So I'm sure that we will be attending his funeral. It's the least we can do to show our respect. On a positive note, there was some justice today for Officer Cortez and his family. I personally knew his wife and he was a major influence on Lonnie joining the force. Again, please remember these families in your prayers and thank an officer for his or her hard work. Because these men and women truly never know if that day of "work" will be their last. May we come to realize who the real heros out there are.

All is well

What can I say? I love these kiddos so much! Althought there is something wrong with this picture! Surgery was this morning and things went very well. All along the doctor said to think skinny because the skinner my ankle was going into surgery the quicker the healing time would be. And today he made it huge! Oh well it's all for a good cause I suppose. He is an amazing doctor and I am very grateful that I was in his hands. So I will be chilling at my parents house for the next two weeks. This will be interesting. Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughts. I had a very uneasy feeling prior to today. I have been praying for comfort in knowing that everything would be just fine, and it was. Thanks again!

Please Don't Judge Me

So I have been a member of the Church for just over twenty seven years now and I have a confession.  I have never read the Book of Mormon.  I am proud to say that I am less than 200 pages from erasing this embarrassing truth!  Anyhow, that's not really the point of this post.  I am constantly amazed at how many of the stories and warnings that are given in the scriptures still pertain to today.  Why do we not get it?  It is literally written in black and white.  That is one of the many beauties of the Gospel...things are so black and white and so plain and simple.  Recently I was reading Alma 60.  Wow!  What an eye opening chapter that is.  Do you see some resemblance in today's world?  If not, go read it again! :)  I am just so grateful that I have the truth literally in my hands.  I am grateful for the knowledge and testimonies that I have.  I am grateful for a loving and forgiving Heavenly Father who still cares for me and wants me to succeed despite the dumb choices I have made.  I love reading the scriptures and am so grateful for the prophets of old who took time to write them so that we could/would learn from their trials.  

Oh Joy....

So just about two weeks ago I was up at the church playing some volleyball.  Well, I went for a ball and my left ankle decided not to follow.  It really didn't even hurt but what scared the crap out of me was the undeniable tearing sound I heard.  It all happened on a Tuesday and the next day Saige and Gage had appointments with their eye doctor.  I knew something was wrong when I couldn't even walk down the stairs or simply walk for that matter.  So after the appointment and therapy for Mason I headed over to urgent care.  They took x-rays and found nothing and recommended I follow up with an ortho.  Well we already had a trip to Sea World planned for that weekend and you know stubborn old me I was not going to miss it.  So we went!  I saw a podiatrist last week and on his x-rays he found a fracture and was worried about a tear to the ligament.  So off to get an MRI I went.  I had a follow-up appointment this afternoon and I have torn two out of the three ligaments in my ankle.  So, needless to say surgery will be here sometime in the near future followed by several weeks of rest and therapy.  When asked how long of a recovery we are looking at I was given 2 weeks of no weight bearing in the boot, followed by 4 weeks in the boot, then to a soft cast and still on crutches.  Next comes 9-12 sessions of therapy.  All in all no jogging even for at least 6 months.  

If you haven't guessed by now life has been rough here for the last couple of weeks.  All that I can say is that we would not be making it if it weren't for the help of my mom, dad, and sister. My sister has practically been living here, when she can, and my parents have been filling in for her.  Don't get me wrong, I love having them over and being able to spend time with them, but not under these circumstances.  I feel so helpless.  And to make matters worse, as you all know, we, or maybe I should say, I am homeschooling.  Considering I cannot get around very well it all has been quite challenging lately.  

Just for the record, people are not very nice and/or polite at all to people with crutches or in a wheelchair for that matter!  It has been an eye opening experience for sure.  

Homeschool Blog

I have decided that we will keep all of our homeschooling information on a separate blog.  The name of our homeschool is officially AZ Sunshine Academy and you can check it out here.  So if you are interested feel free to check in on us.  I also put a link over to the side.  

Sharing Time

Well, I feel like I haven't blogged in a long time.  So much has been going on lately and our days are so full now that it has been hard to keep up with this "blog world".  Oh well.  Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately.  School, school and did I mention school?  All things considered things are going really well.  I was even able to make 2 dinners, 4 loaves of bread, brownies, do a couple loads of laundry, and bathed all four kiddos!  It was nice to finally feel productive!   

First up, I have to take a moment and brag about Michelle.  You see I had the children starting on the BOB Books but I have come to realize that they are starting to guess on words and not sound them out.  Not at all what I wanted.  So we have switched to some sight words and more common words that they can sound out.  I showed these words to her Friday and she was able to sound them all out on her own!  I could not believe it.  Luckily Lonnie was home and he too got to join in on this celebration....to see her beaming with such pride was awesome!  None of these words are her sight words, because those ones she cannot sound out and are thus sentenced to the red pocket chart because they don't follow the rules!  :)

Here is little Miss Saige doing one of her favorite things....reading!  Yes, I know the books behind her are a mess, but hey everyone has to pick their battles and frankly if they want their books messy who cares?

Love this one of Michelle and Gage!  Getting some loves after working hard on a puzzle together!

Mason working independently on his 100 piece puzzle, which I might add he does all by himself!

I LOVE these next two photos!  You never know what you are going to see around our house and here is the proof!  Yes that is Gage with his night shirt on and a pink TuTu!  Gotta love it!

Oh man!  Mom caught me on camera!!! :)

This next one melts my heart.  Mason has always been so loving and gentle with his younger brother.  We truly are blessed to have such amazing children in our home.

My beautiful Saige Michael.

Another one of Gage.  He always is squinting in photos...so annoying!  But he's still cute.

The next couple of photos are of the children digging for dinosaurs.  This stinkin' toy we bought at Marshall's and it was such a waste and so frustrating for them.  They were supposed to dig for fossils.  The sand was so tough.  We even got out the electric knife and had problems.  So, needless to say, it has gone with the garbage man.

I am so fortunate to be able to be surrounded by such pure love and joy everyday!  Don't get me wrong we have our moments, and even days but it is all so worth it.  I still get a bit overwhelmed when I think about this homeschooling journey we have taken, but I have seen so much progress with each child and to be there when they are learning and to see it "click" with them is priceless.  I love the fact that we can start each day with a family prayer, work on songs for the Primary Program, and just learn together everyday.  Even when we aren't officially at school there are so many learning opportunities all around.  Here's to another fun couple of weeks of learning!

Just Because

I can NEVER get a good picture of Saige.  Mission accomplished!  

School Has Started

This past weekend Lonnie and I attended a homeschooling conference and it was great!  There was plenty of information and curriculum galore.  Our official school year started yesterday and we are doing school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  We have chosen to do a workbox system and each child has 10 boxes to complete each day.  It is taking about 3-4 hours, which is not bad at all.  I took some pictures today (just for you Michelle) and thought that I would share just exactly what we are doing.

First up, here is the main curriculum we are using.  As you can see it's a mix.  I've had the A to Z book for several years and there is some amazing stuff in there!  Each letter has a unit on math, science, social studies, fine motor, music and arts.  We are using Saxon Math, BOB books to read along with sight words and phonics.  For handwriting we are using Explode the Code, Handwriting without Tears, and journals.  

These are their credit cards that they get to earn money on to choose a reward with a certain game.  When we play it I will share it too.

These are prompts that go in their workboxes, which I will share soon.

Here is all of the work, aside from class work and reading, that Michelle did today.

Here is an example of a journal.  I loved this idea that a great friend shared with me and this has been the children's favorite so far.  They have to draw a story on top and then tell me about it.  For now I am having them trace the story.  Next they will copy what I have written and finally they will write it on their own.  This is such a perfect example of Mason's work.  You never know what you are going to get.  He was upset because I wouldn't let him turn the page of his journal and when I asked him what he drew a picture of this is what I got so he wrote it!
Here's Mason's journal from yesterday!  Much better work!
Here is Michelle's journal!

This is what I am using do display their artwork.  It is so simple...a 12x12 scrapbook paper with a clothespin.  

Here are the workboxes.  Each child has their own row.  The numbers start out on the left and when they have competed a workbox they move the letter to the right.  

Here is Mason working on his Handwriting without Tears workbook.

Another simple idea...alphabet mat and children have to match up magnetic letters. 

Gage usually plays with toys while we are doing school, but hey they are numbers at least!

Michelle could look a little bit happier.  She is very focused and is doing so well!

Here is Saige working hard to put her basket back the right way!

Alphabet mat in action with Mason.

Numbers mat in action with Gage (he even got it right!). 

Michelle working on cutting out her kitten for her patterns worksheet.

And the best part of today..... shaving cream!  They loved it and we are discussing our 5 senses this month for our theme.  After going on a "field trip" around the house and backyard touching different things we came back in the classroom and got busy. 











So far our school year is off to a great start.  I've already had to do some rearranging of some things in the classroom but no big deal.  I love watching them learn and there is no feeling like when they get it!  Thanks for looking!  

PS - We are still working on coming up with our official name!