Decorating for Christmas

Since Dainis and I were born, both of our parents started an ornament collection.  We each got a special ornament each Christmas, and we continued this tradition after we were married.  Now that we have kids, we started this tradition with them, starting our first Christmas together.  This year, we decided to decorate our whole tree with all of our special ornaments.  The kids loved seeing ours, and it was special that we could do this together!  I think it gives the kids a great sense of security when they can see what it means to have family traditions and be a special part of our family.

Our family loves Christmas, and we always spend Thanksgiving weekend getting the house all decorated. This year was especially nice because we had very little time to decorate last year, since we moved into our new house only 3 days before Christmas!  Overall, the kids cooperated and were a big help.  Everyone is excited for the holiday season to begin...even our dog Buddy!

 

Thanksgiving Is Here Again!

It is hard to believe it is that time of year again.  A time for cooler weather (or at least in the low 70s), Christmas shopping, decorating for the holidays, baking, and celebrating all of the things we are thankful for. This will be our fifth Thanksgiving we have celebrated together!  The kids did a great job helping to make the Thanksgiving meal.  Angie made my Dad a home-made carrot cake for his birthday.  Ingrid made our favorite seafoam salad. Juan made our traditional  spinach, cheese, and rice casserole.  We enjoyed having Lori's parents over and had a very nice day together.  This was our first Thanksgiving in our new house!

A Boy-Girl Birthday Party

Angie has her first boyfriend.  His name is AJ, and he is a very nice young man.  They are very compatible, and we have become good friends with his family.  We all go to the same church so it is very nice that we have had the chance to really get to know him.

One thing that is very special is that they share the same birthday!  So this year, they celebrated with a joint birthday party.  AJ plays football and so we made his a football theme, and Angie had a girl teenage theme. We had about ten boys and girls over for games, a cook-out, cake, presents, and pinatas. After a few hours, the boys left, and Angie had a sleep over with her girl friends.  Although it was quite busy and a little crazy, the kids had a good time.

Angie's 15th Birthday

Angie celebrated her 15th birthday on November 10th!!!  It is hard to believe that this is the fifth birthday we have celebrated with her!  She is growing up so fast and becoming a beautiful young lady.

Lori's Therapy

Prior to becoming a Mom, Lori's main job was on therapy and getting better.  Over the past few years, the focus has turned to the family.  As the kids are getting older and our health insurance allows more benefits for therapy, Lori started back at SWAN Rehab located in downtown Phoenix.  SWAN is an excellent therapy clinic that focuses on people who have suffered a stroke or brain injury.  Lori was one of the clinic's first patients and has been going there for twelve years now.  She would never be where she is today if it wasn't for this clinic and great therapists.  Along with working hard with the therapists and trying out the newest therapy equipment that is out there, the therapists have decided to try and do something new with her.  It is called serial casting.  Due to the stroke and limited movement Lori has in her left ankle, it won't lift as much as we would like to get a good heel strike when she walks.  The idea of casting is similar to concept of braces. They will place her foot at the correct angle over the next four weeks by putting on a new cast every week. The goal is that at the end of the month her ankle is in a better position to have a better walk.  We hope it works! So for now, Lori gets to see what it feels like to have a walking cast for a month.  She will have to be very careful of balance and although it will prose challenges, if it works it will be worth it.

A Halloween Party!

We decided to plan our first Halloween party for the kids. The kids like to go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood for candy, but we wanted them to have time to enjoy being with their friends.  So we decided to have a party with games, a pinata, and pizza before going around the neighborhood for candy.  We ended up having 13 kids and everyone had a good time!  Juan dressed-up as Spiderman, Ingrid dressed-up like Cleopatra, and Angie dressed up as a cat.