[ First Day of School 2013-2014 ]

And here we go again! The first day of school is here.  As always, took pictures of the kids.  It is crazy to see how big they are getting. 

Frankie is a Senior at Timpanogos High School.  He has chosen to take AP classes and concurrent enrollment. 
Funny Story: When Frankie was in 9th grade, Grant and I sat down with him and talked to him a bout his education, his options and goals.  We suggested he start taking AP classes and concurrent enrollment.  At the time, I remember him looking annoyed that we were having this conversation with him.  He even blew off the thought of taking anything but the "normal" classes.  Of course, we felt like he was short changing himself, since he is a very bright student.  But, what do you do?  We just felt like we did our duty by encouraging him and it was up to him to do it. 
Every once in a while, especially when it was time to sign up for classes, we would nudge him to sign up for AP classes.  Every time, we were blown off and regular classes would appear on his schedule.  Last year, at the end of school year, that time came again when he needed to sign up for classes.  He was so excited, he was signing up for AP and concurrent enrollment classes.  We were surprised. So we asked : "what changed your mind?"  This time he looked at us confused.  He said, "I just found out that I can take classes that give me college credit." Both Grant and I looked at each other smirking.  Grant and I couldn't hold back and we told him. "We told you about those a few times and you refused to take them".  Frankie says he does not remember us telling him about that.  I'm not surprised...he blocks half of the stuff we tell him.  Frankie is the type of kid that will try anything.  He is not afraid to do so.  But on the same hand, he doesn't like being told what to do.  If he does anything, it has to be his idea.  So, I guess he just needed to think of it himself.

At the end of the day, we are just glad he thought of it (himself) and enrolled in classes. We are proud of him!

Side note: Last year he took his ACT for the first time and scored a 27.  I feel that is a pretty good score considering is his first attempt.
His plan for college, is to attend UVU and get his associates in 1 year. Although the age has been officially changed by the church, Frankie is planning to go on his mission at 19 as he had originally planned.  When he returns he will apply to a 4 year college and Major in Aeronautical Engineering.

Drew is in 3rd grade, her teacher is Ms. Carlson.  At first she was worried because a classmate from previous years was also in that class.  She has had "bullying" problems with this certain classmate and we were also worried.  We immediately requested a change, but it ended up being that they had already moved that student.  She was also concerned that her friends had mentioned last year that Ms. Carlson was "mean". But as she thought about it she remembered she was just strict to students that didn't listen to her.  So she said, "I always listen to my teacher so she is nice to me" As we went to the open house and met her, it was such a relief that she knew Drew and greeted her with such excitement.  That totally erased any concerns Drew might still have.  So far, she has loved Ms. Carlson.  She even thought of taking her flowers.
Drew's favorite subject is Math.  Yes! I'm a proud mom.  She is also excited to start learning cursive.  I had taught her a little, how to write her name in cursive.  So she is excited to be fluent :)
Drew says she wants to be a mom/dance teacher as well as a make-up artist.

 

 

Cheyenne is 2 1/2 now and doesn't get to go to school yet.  But, we still had fun taking pictures.  She wanted to be part of all the action. 

 

 

But don't worry, just because she's not at school doesn't mean that she didn't learn anything.  On the first day of school, she learned about...

Gravity...

 

Nature...(smelling the flowers)

 

 and P.E.

She's also learning ASL and has speech therapy.  She has been making lots of progress since she finally lets us put her Passy Muir valve (speech valve) on. She sings along to any song.  Mostly from her favorite movies, Spirit and Aristocats.

[ So Many Things...So Little Time ]

How time flies!  I can't believe it's been since May since I did a post.  There has been a lot of things happening in our lives. I apologize in advance for the randomness of this blog.  Just trying to catch up (again).

Frankie turned 16 years old.  I know what you're thinking...I don't think I'm old enough to have a 16 year old either, but I do.  For his birthday we surprised him with a flying lesson.  He loved it so much he decided to pursue a pilot career. 

Since he has become of age, he asked a girl out to the Home Coming Dance.  I'm kicking myself because I ended up with no pictures.  I'm new at this and didn't know what the etiquette was...didn't want to tag along with him to take pictures of him and his date as he picked her up, he wasn't driving so he couldn't come by here for us to take pictures of them.  His friend picked him up and I was able to get one iPhone snap shot of them.  His friend made me feel so awkward and like a crazy mother, but now I'm glad I did since his sister was supposed to take pictures of them and she did BUT her computer FRIED after downloading all the pictures.  I was even told not to pay for the pictures they offer there since they were going to be taken care of for free by Frankie's friend's sister. SO MAD about that! I should've broken all the rules no matter what anyone else thought!

Later on in the summer, I decided to take advantage of my JetBlue benefits and fly out to California to visit my family and attend my brothers graduation from CSUB.  It was just me and the girls.  I was a bit nervous of traveling since this was the first time we've done it with CeCe.  It was tricky, but it worked out.  When we got there Drew kept telling me "California is so different from America" "in America there isn't as much traffic as California" "Uncle Scott, Aiden and Dezi will have to come visit us in America". 
We stayed at my brother's Scott's house and got to know my nephew Aiden pretty well.  He's a smart kid.  He loves loves dinosaurs so much he knows everything and anything about them. 
We all had so much fun swimming, eating snow cones made by Aiden and playing Foose Ball.

 

 

 

In addition to visiting with our family and friends in Bakersfield and San Diego, we made a stop at the Santa Monica Beach.  Although it was windy and a bit chilly, the girls and I had a blast.

At the beginning of August we finally got into our new home. 

It has been amazing to have.  Lots of room, a backyard and awesome neighbors.  We were very worried about the transition would do to our kids, but all have adjusted well.  Drew was out playing with 5 little girls (or more) her age on the day we were moving.  We were felt so welcome it has felt like we have lived here forever.  Everything about it has felt right.  Our bishop is great! He and his wife, who is in nursery, both know Sign Language.  We live right across the street from some old friends.  Next door to two Chilean families, each with 7 year old girls for Drew to play with.

On the first day of school, we were invited to the neighborhood breakfast.  All the kids in our complex ride the bus together to Lindon Elementary and so on the first day of school everyone gathers at the neighborhood park and has breakfast and all the parents see their kids off to school together.  It was so nice to have been invited and to meet lots of other neighbors and their kids.  Now, if only Drew went to the same school as them.  The bus stops right in front of our house and although I love Rocky Mountain, sometimes I wish I didn't have to drive her there.

In between houses, we had the privilege to stay at my-in laws.  It was pretty easy.  We, as many would, worried that we would get sick of each other. But if you ask me it worked out great.  It helps to have pretty easy going in-laws.  Thanks Bob and Doreen!

We have made lots of progress with CeCe.  Most recently, she had her first reconstructive surgery.  She had lots of things done, but the main part was her lips reconstruction and the removal of the "tags" next to her ear.  (I miss those).  The surgery was a total of 6 hours.  Nerve racking! But as each doctor would finish they would come out and report and update us. 

From the first day, she jumped right up and was wanting to drink out of a bottle, which I thought would be the last thing she would want since they worked  on her lips.  She has been amazing! Now that the stitches had mostly fallen out and swelling has gone down, we have seen the improvement in her speech and eating.  Here are some before and after pictures.

(Right) After...

Playing...

She has began to realize that she can now put her lips together or shape them to make different sounds.  The other day (Oct. 26) she covered her trach with her little pointer finger (which allows her talk) and said "Mama" and "Dadda" she also attempted to say Frankie but came out "CaCa" and then Pax "Pa" and most impressive, when I asked her to say "Drew", she signed her name!
Yeah! she has also made lots of progress in using her sign language.  We have all been working hard at it, since we know that will be her way of communicating with us. Lately, she has become more frustrated with not being able to tell us what she wants or needs to the point were she begins pulling at her trach or banging her head (her way to throw a tantrum) that we have decided to up the lessons and try our hardest to always sign, even when we're not speaking to her.  It's been kind of fun. 

Here is some of her ASL vocabulary:
(click HERE to learn the signs yourself)

Dog/Pax
Mom
Dad
Grandma
Grandpa
Drew
Dora (Spelled)
A,B,C (and a few others)
Spider
Star
Baby
Bear
Music/Sing
More
Again
Food
Eat
Candy
Butterfly
Boat
Book
Want
Bird
Duck
Hello/GoodBye
Thank You
Fish

(CeCe Signing Baby)

Kids On The Move (the agency that has provided us with resources for CeCe's development) had a little fishing activity.  So we took the whole family.  The Vegas Clarks were here and we all had a good time.  We are so grateful to them and everything they provide for CeCe.

Drew is now in 2nd grade and we were lucky to get the request for Mr. Ridge approved.  As many of you know she has had a really hard time with change and separation for a few years and we knew that having Mr. Ridge would help her deal with things better.  There has been a noticeable change.  She now can go over to her friends houses, spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and just recently asked to go back to dance!
Just this past Sunday, she performed her first singing solo ever at church.  She did amazing.  Honestly, if they would've asked her last year, there is no way she would've even considered it.

Frankie is in 11th grade now.  That means, after this year he's only got one more year and with the new set up, he is off to his mission. He is in Acapella and Chamber which are some of the best choirs in Utah High Schools.  I have been pleased that he has embraced his talent.  Most recently, we went to one of his concerts and as always he doesn't fail to make me proud.  He is amazing at what he does.  I have high hopes for him and his singing.  I'm hoping for a scholarship and even The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Our Jet Blue benefits have kicked in a little.  In addition to our girls trip to California, Grant was able to hop on a plane on the spare of the moment and fly to Boston and hang out with his brother who was there on a business trip.  It was awesome. We have never been able to take any kind of trips, let alone spontaneous ones! 

JetBlue has also brought my sister Scarlet back to the U.S. from Puerto Rico closer to our family.  She is living with us now and it has been great to have her around.  She is great help, especially with CeCe. It has been so nice to have her closer to all of us.

{ Christmas Concerts - 2011 }

This year, Frankie made it to Timpanogos High School A Capella Choir. He is a 1st tenor and as always loves it.  We have seen them perform twice this year.  I'm trying to convince him to sing during sacrament either by himself or with his guy friends who are also in the choir.  We'll see if he ever does.

Drew has began her singing career by singing at the school Christmas Sing. 

Her class sang "I want Hippopotamus for Christmas"