This guy turned the big 4-0!
Christopher was still pretty active with his flying and had joined a flying club so he had access to a couple of planes that were cheaper to rent than if he was not in this club. Christopher has been on a big kick lately to save money, so he recently sold his membership and isn't flying.
The Stone Family came and visited with us!
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Christopher and I celebrated our 7th anniversary!
Nathan turned 5 and had a Reptile Animal Party!
And he got to go see Thomas the Train!
Nathan graduated from Preschool and refused to perform in the graduation ceremony :(!
We went to Graeagle for a summer vaction.
We "adopted" three girls for the month of July! We decided last minute to be a host family for three girls through EFF. There was Sabrina from Germany, Victoria from Denmark, and Sara from Spain. We enjoyed having them a lot. We still keep in touch with two of them.
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| We took the girls with us up to Graeagle for the 4th of July |
In line with Christopher's philosophy of trying to save more money he decided that haircuts for the boys would now be done from home. #3 guard was used in this picture, but now #2 is used.
The boys did lots of swimming. Well, Nathan did the swimming and Anderson mostly just played on the steps in the pool. They both completed a swim program that we really enjoyed. Nathan has been swimming really well and Anderson now gets into the water without being afraid (he fell in the pool in April and that scared him away from it)
Andesron started at the preschool that Nathan went to. He seemed to really enjoy it.
We started homeschooling Nathan. We decided that we would do a Waldorf inspired homeschool. With Waldorf schools they don't believe in academics until first grade so we have been doing a lot of storytelling, free play, and crafts!
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| Christopher installed this cool chalkboard for school |
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| He is in Hong Kong here |
Our animals have been a pain in the butt this year! In April Gracie ate half a pound of chocolate and we had to take her into the vet. They made her throw-up and then gave her fluids. This chocolate ended up costing me $350! Then in July she ate a lot of Nutella, but I learned about this trick of giving dogs Hydrogen Peroxide to make them throw-up (look up online to get dosage or call your vet), which worked like a charm and didn't cost us a thing. In August we had to put to sleep our chicken Rosie (see previous blog post). Right after that we took in my cat Bella to the vet and they found a tumor on her paw. They did surgery and it ended up being non-cancerous, but they found another non-cancerous tumor. That meant one more surgery and lots of money! We had bumblefoot surgery done on our chicken Foghorn (see previous post). Then right before we were headed up to Graeagle for an undetermined time two of our chickens came down with a viral infection which caused their eyes to get all puffy. After a trip to the vet, some antibiotics, eye drops, and a two week treatment (thanks to Sandra and a friend) they all seem to be doing fine. Oh, and Gracie ate 1.5 pounds of gingerbread dough with some plastic and a whole tray of cookies I was baking! This dog has a food problem, but she's really cute!
In September we got the news that my dad had cancer. My dad had back and hip pain that was progressively getting worse throughout the year. He saw doctors and they all assumed it was from his spine. He got some cortisone shots that were supposed to help, but those made everything worse. A day or two after the cancer diagnosis they said that it was stage 4 and that it had metastasized to his bone marrow and that he had 3-6 months to live. This was a huge shock and something that completely took me for a loop. I went and spent one week with him in the hospital. During this time the doctor said that he actually had three months or less to live. My dad also had CUP (Cancer of Unknown Primary) Cancer. Since they couldn't find the primary source of it, they really couldn't treat it. All of this news was incredibly heartbreaking for me. Then in October my family came back home to live with my parents to help take care of my dad. I'm so glad that we were homeschooling, I was a stay at-home mom, and Christopher had a flexible job so that we could be here with my dad. I will forever cherish that time I got to spend with him even though he wasn't always "there." My dad passed away on the morning of November 7th. I think of him every day and can't believe that he is gone :(.
Anderson turned THREE! We didn't have much of a celebration because we were up with my parent's house, but I think he didn't mind!
The boys enjoyed some hiking up at the Sierra Buttes
For Thanksgiving we went to the Long Beach Aquarium and then the Queen Mary for their CHILL event.
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| This was an ice sculpture that was in a very very cold area! |
We went to the beach, the Aquarium, and the Zoo a lot this year. We haven't been too sick this year, but at the end we all got these never ending colds and the boys got Pink Eye.
Christopher's company was counting on being bought, but that fell through. Since the company was shutting down in January, Christopher became unemployed mid-December. Both of us aren't feeling too worried about what the future holds for us because he is highly employable. He is also taking this time to enjoy the time off and really think about what he wants to do with his career. We are also seriously talking about moving out of LA. We will see what the new year brings us!
Lastly, for Christmas and New Year we were up in Graeagle! All of the photos are still on my camera, but once I get them off and onto my computer I'll do some more blogging! My mom even watched the boys for us for one night. It was the first night that Christopher and I have had by ourselves, without kids, prior to having Nathan. It was a real treat!
We are hoping that 2014 brings better things for our family. I have a feeling that it is going to be a year about change.
Have a Happy New Year!!!!
Love,
The Aedo Family
