Silly faces

Here are a few pictures of the girls pulling silly faces. They were to funny not to share.

3 casts and counting

As you know Aniela is in a cast because of a broken ankle and man had it been an adventure. We started out with the purple one which lasted almost a week. (She thought that Areya's bath looked like fun and decided to join her.)

Then was Pink and again lasted about a week. This time she was sick and had a BM which ran down her leg and into her cast. Really gross!

The third one she picked was light blue and lasted a little longer (10 days) but got wet while Damian was giving her a bath.

So on our next appointment (Monday) if her ankle is not healed enough (crossing our fingers it is better) she will have to get another one.

January has not been very kind to us. Not only did we both fall down the stairs but last week Aniela chocked on a corn chip and almost died. She started to gag and then turn purple and I had to do the Heimlich maneuver on her. It was so scary! I am so glad that I was home because Damian has not clue how to the Heimlich or CPR. After all was over and the kids were in bed I went though the basics with him. Let's hope he'll never have to use them.

We're praying that February goes smoother.

House update

We found out that the house that we like is a short sell. It will still be 2 months until the bank has foreclosed on it. We could buy the house right now but they won't take any thing less then the asking price and we were hoping to get it for less. (Due to the fact that the banks are not willing to loan much money right now.)

Here is a link to a site that explains what a short sell is for any of you that don't fully understand it: http://www.shortsellhouse.com/

Anyway we decided that we are going to keep looking and see what else there is out there. If we don't find anything we will probably try to get approved for the full asking price on this one. http://www.redfin.com/IL/Gilberts/555-Welch-St-60136/home/16910681

Wish us luck, we are going to need it.

Keeping the monkeys busy

With Aniela's leg being broken I have been trying to come up with sit still actives. We made cookies and pasta necklaces. We also made a rainbow art activity that uses Karo syrup and food coloring. The girls had had fun and it helped keep them busy. We have also been doing a lot of puzzles and coloring but those only last so long.



If any one has some sit still activity ideas will you let me know. 4 - 6 weeks is a long time for a toddler not to be able to run around and I need all the ideas I can get.

Areya's Sleepover

Areya got to go to her first friend sleep over. The day Aniela and I feel down the stairs Areya was at the Smith's house playing. On our way home from the hospital we stopped to get Areya but she was having so much fun that she was still not ready to leave. Amy and I talked it over and thought it would be easier for me to take care of Aniela if she stayed. Thank you again Amy for your help.

Areya and the Smith kids had so much fun together, all they could talk about was when they get to do it again. Here are a few pictures Amy sent me.

"The Fall"

On Friday last week I had a Primary Presidency meeting in the morning, so I packed up the girls and headed to Amy's house. Amy Smith has 5 kids, Lisa Smith has 3 1/2 kids, Sandi Rubow has 3 kids and I have 2 kid, so with just us 4 in the Presidency there are 13 1/2 kids. Anyway the kids all got to play together while we were having our meeting and loved it!

When it was time to leave Areya and Kirsti (Amy's 4 year old) were having so much fun that they were not ready to give in so I let Areya stay and play while I took Aniela home for a nap. After her nap I was holding her as we went down stairs, when I lost my footing and down we went. We ended up falling down 5 or 6 stairs. I landed on Aniela's leg and she was screaming, I was extremely light headed and almost passed out so I handed her off to Ida (lucky for us she was home) and tried to clear my head. After holding Aniela for a little and not being able to calm her down I tried letting her stand on her leg, she screamed even louder and would not put any pressure on it, so I told Ida that we needed to go to the hospital. My head was still spinning at this point so Ida agreed to drive us, by the time she got Aniela loaded in the car I was feeling better and was able to drive us.

I called Amy and let her know what was going on and then headed to the hospital. After a short wait they did a x-ray of her ankle and it was broken in two places. They gave her meds put a brace on it and sent us home. It was to swollen to put a cast on that day so we were scheduled to go in Monday for a follow up.

This is Aniela after we got home.

She has been doing pretty well. After the first few days of meds and lots of loves she was ready to play. On Monday we took her in for the follow up, the doctor said that she would need a cast but that it should heal fast without any other problems, which is great news. They let her pick the color of her cast and as the nurse was saying the colors Aniela said purple. I was so surprised, I had no clue she knew how to say that. Aniela did great, she did not cry or move the whole time, the doctor and nurse were amazed that she just sat there.

The cast goes all the way up to the middle of her thigh. She will have to have it on for 4-6 weeks. We go back in on Monday for another x-ray to see how it is healing.

As you can imagine bath time can be pretty tricky with a cast. We had to cover it with trash bags and tape it to her leg, then prop it up. She has been taking all her baths in the kitchen sink.

I also painted her toe nails purple to match.

As for me, I got a few bumps & bruises and messed up my back & neck again. I guess that means a few more trips to the Chiropractor.

I just wanted to say thank you so much to Amy and Lisa who have been wonderful to help us out. I am so grateful to both of you for every thing you have done for us, it really means a lot. THANK YOU!!!

Happy 2009!

This year for New Years we just stayed home and hung out as a family. Damian got home from work at 9:00 p.m. so we waited for him to get home before we got out the snacks. When I was growing up the tradition was to eat lot and lots of junk food and play games. Damian is not much of a game player but loves to eat (what boy doesn't?) so we had plenty of yummy snacks to enjoy.

The girls were on a sugar high and had no problem staying up. I think they would have stayed up all night if we would have let them. As for me, I was not feeling well and would have been more then happy to go to bed at 10.

Here is Damian, Ida and the girls watching the ball drop in New York (one hour ahead of us).

Here we are after the New Year. I was woken up by Damian kissing me and the girls screaming. (I had fallen to sleep on the sofa watching tv)