School Days

Here they are on the first day of school!
What? School has only been out what 27 days? Yes, I am behind!

Isabel had an amazing year! She did so well academically! I am so proud of her! She made all her goals and doubled her reading goal! Way to go Isabel! She works hard and loves learning and I am soooooo happy about that!

Early on this year, she was having some identity issues. I spoke with, the one and only, Ms. Gelwix, and told her about these issues. Ms. Gelwix was completely amazing (and I do not use this term lightly)with Isabel and teaching her how important she is and how her culture is important to her and she should "embrace" her culture and identity especially, growing back her curls...She would always tell Isabel how special and lucky she was and beautiful and smart and everything in between, all the time.
She also incorporated so much African American culture (and other cultures, she was not one sided by any means :)) into her classroom and assignments. I told you, AMAZING! I know she did it anyway, but she made sure to do it longer or more often for Isabel's sake (at least I think so). It made a HUGE difference! I mean, I had been telling her all those things for years! However, I am the mom and you know how they are about the "mom", "You have to say that, your my mom!" It always means more coming from an outsider. So here's to you Ms. Gelwix! We think you are truly unique and the best Third Grade Teacher in the world!!! Kudos for helping my girl "love and embrace" who she is!


Ms. Gelwix loves art, so Isabel did a portrait of her for Christmas! I think it turned out remarkable well! She loved it!

Here they are on the last day of school! What a fabulous year!

Tithing

Lately, Zaquel has been quite the money finder. It seems as everywhere we go, he finds money. Most of it is in coin form, but on two occasions he has found a 1 dollar bill.

As we were putting the second one in his bank, I said, "Zaquel, you need to pay tithing on this and your other dollar."

"He says how much is tithing?" Even though we have had many, many Family Home Evenings about this, and we will obviously still need to do more, he still has to ask...:)

"It is one tenth of what your income or what money you make or find in your case."

Zaquel said, "Well, who do I give it to?"

Me: "The Bishop will take care of it for Heavenly Father."

Zaquel: "What is Heavenly Father going to give me if I do it?"

Me:"He has already blessed us so much with what we have, our house, our jobs, our cars, the whole earth and everything and he promises to protect us!"

Zaquel: "Well, if he isn't going give me anything new like a DS game or movie then I am not paying it!"

Oh, boy. I am sure in time he will understand! The concept is a little abstract for a 5 year old!

Summer Fun!

We have actually had some decent "Summer" like weather around here! This is great considering it is nearing the end of June and with the Summer Solstice happening just yesterday...it called for some big fun at our house!





We got this for the kids for Christmas and they have been so excited to use it! KSL is the best for gifts like this!!











Briel even got in for a bit. It was too much for her and we got her her own little pool.




She DID NOT want her picture taken. I did it anyway...it makes for a great "date one" later on! :)

Here's to a lot more days like these!

Not so "Memorial" Week...

The week before Memorial Day...we were here AGAIN! Remember, we were at Primary Children's Medical Center back in 2008 before Briel was born because Zaquel had celuitis in his eye!

So, back to our recent trip...The Wednesday before Memorial Day, Zaquel was having a difficult time breathing. I called the Pediatrician in the morning and tried to make an appointment. I was told that he takes Wednesdays off during the Summer months. Of course! So, I had him sleep a bit because he was awake most of the night coughing and not breathing right. So I checked on him and he was barely breathing and he was struggling so desperately so I decided to take him to PCMC. Marcos came home and helped me thank goodness because by now, he was coughing so hard he was vomiting! So we got there and they took him in quickly and assessed him and gave him a major breathing treatment. Apparently, he was so severe, they had to give him a lot of medicine within one treatment and it took a long time for it to finish. Then, it was a waiting game. They had to wait and see if the treatment worked before we could get the "all clear" to go.

Well, he was still struggling to breathe after 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours. Then, they wanted to watch him for 24 hours. Then he was admitted for another day, then another day. Finally, on Saturday afternoon, he was given permission to go home! It took him so long to get better because he had RSV for big kids (that is what they compared it to)and he had to have oxygen everyday and night. He couldn't leave until he could breathe on room air at night.

He was actually diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection which triggered a SEVERE asthma attack. I actually had my friend who is a respiratory therapist give him a breathing treatment earlier because I knew he was sick and his inhaler just was not working. Alas, we made the right choice in taking him to PCMC. The Doctors knew my pediatrician and they said he would have sent us here anyway because he was so sick. They actually saved us a co-pay...;)

We want to give a shout-out to all Zaquel's nurses and doctors who took care of him (notice, I said nurses first). They were so amazing! It was so nice to have a marvelous facility so close to us. We are so thankful for this! We are so glad Zaquel is doing so well now! We now have a nebulizer thanks to our lovely sister-in-law, Amy. So, hopefully, we can give him a treatment when he has some early symptoms of an attack so we don't have to have him hospitalized again!


One of the highlights (if you can call it that) was choosing whatever he wanted to eat for each meal!

I came in one morning to relieve Marcos and there was a half eaten cheeseburger on his plate. I asked if he had breakfast and Marcos said the cheeseburger WAS his breakfast. The differences between moms and dads...*SIGH*



I had to bring the girls up on Friday ALL DAY because Marcos had a training for work. Zaquel was so excited to see someone other than me and the nurses!


For being confined to one room for a day, the kids were actually pretty good. There was the time the team of 6 doctors came in to check on him and update me and the kids started fighting over the spots to sit on the bed. It was really embarrassing! One of the doctors couldn't contain herself and she started laughing at the whole situation. I mean geez, talk about wrong place and wrong time!


He was very excited to see his sisters! Briel even gave up her glasses for this photo!


Because of his infection, Zaquel was not able to go to the playroom. He was well equipped with a playstation in his room and loads of games courtesy of the hospital. So, when he was able to leave, he RAN to the "Spiderman" statue in the hallway and posed for a few pictures.


This picture shows how great he feels and how is truly back to his old self!


Of course the "web pose".

We are so glad he is back!

More from my Son

At breakfast last weekend, Zaquel had some toast with his cereal. I asked him to clean-up his bowl and toast crust. You know the kids can never eat that crust, it must have koodies or something! ;) He took his bowl to the sink and left his crust on the counter. I said, You need to come and get your crust crumbs!" He asked "Why?" and I told him that when he becomes a missionary, he will be living on his own and I won't be there to clean-up after him and he needs to learn how to do it now so he can do it then. He smiled at me with those dimpled cheeks and replied, "Mom, I am still young, there is plenty of time to learn that stuff later." Then he left the kitchen along with his crumbs still on the counter. What do you say to a response like that? Just laugh and agree!

At lunch time last week, Zaquel asked if we could go out to eat for lunch. I told him I didn't have any money for that right now. He said, "You don't need money mom, just your credit card!" Oh boy! So we went to lunch that day and used my debit card, not my credit card and had a great time! We've got to enjoy life not just endure it! :)