This year our handsome and witty Dorian turned NINE years old. For a little guy that was originally given a 3-7 year survivability prognosis, he has happily punched all those life span projections square in the face. As an homage Wynn, we named the jersey on the birthday cake as a little heavenly shoutout to Wynnie. Dorian had a great school year with his home-bound teacher Miss Carolyn. He really listens to her and has flourished under her tutelage. Anyone else just wouldn't be able to handle all his little quirks and demands; she's gone above and beyond to connect and motivate him to learn each and every time she visits. We are so blessed she was assigned to Dori and we pray that never changes.
Dori's birthday party was sports themed.
Dori loves to make supermodel faces with papi.
Hands down, the best halloween costume I've ever made for myself, in honor of the BEST DANG SYRUP IN THE WORLD. Chris was my counterpart with a t-shirt covered in hot-glued waffles. By the end of the night he didn't have any waffles left on his shirt but it was for a good cause. So happy to have once again teamed up with our fun friends and neighbors to raise money for Make-A-Wish North Texas! #TeamButterWorths #Don'tEvenMessWithAuntJemima
Business trip was parlayed into a family trip to watch the Huskers play against the Purdue Boilermakers. I don't even remember if we won or not, all I remember is the huge Purdue drum and the runners that played it. In related news -- Chris is OVERJOYED and OUT OF A STATE OF MAJOR DEPRESSION ever since Scott Frost was named the new head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The motto around here is if Scott Frost and Jesus both walked into a room in Nebraska, people would push poor Jesus aside to talk to Scott Frost. Sacrilegious? Yes. True? Sadly yes. So hopefully this football season I'll have a much more cheerful spouse opposed to the last 10 seasons. Here's hoping!
In other Chris big-daddy-Johnson news, Chris accepted a position at 1st Global this summer. He is back into the world of wealth management with a new twist -- geared at CPA firms. He's been at his new position for nearly a couple of months and has enjoyed meeting his new colleagues and learning from them. Way to go Papi!
Every year we make it to one Husker home game and this year was no exception. Here we are with our favorite crew - the Bargens, the Fitzgeralds, The Allens, and The Amens. We went back again this spring for Chris's 30th High School reunion, too.
Dori always the suave mama's boy. This past year Dorian's health has remained steady (thankful he hasn't needed any hospitalizations or ER visits). But as he's gotten older this year his mood definitely fluctuates. Some days he wants to have fun and hang out with all of us in the family room area, listen to the boys holler and mess around and listen to music with us. Other days he prefers to keep to himself in his room and listen to music without distractions with just his nurse. I can't blame him because honestly I'm the same way. Our sweet boy just needs a little space and now he knows how to command it. Good for you Dori!
Blessed to have visited Nana Cary with my sister this January in Sarasota. Cary was my mom's best friend and she still plays a big role in our lives. We are so thankful for her granddaughter Kristy who takes such wonderful loving care of her. Cary is feisty as ever and always full of life advice -- marriage advice, friendship advice, parenting advice and (dare I say) she doesn't hold out on giving us sex advice. Awkward coming from someone in her mid 90s? Yes. Absolutely Hilarious? Heck yes!
While in Florida we were able to meet up with our prima Amelia that came to Florida to run the Miami marathon all the way from Colombia. We had a blast spending time with her and her son Sebastian (who thought we were all clinically insane) and reconnecting with our cousin Gigi and her family, our tia Silvia (whom my sister was named after and is Gigi's mom) and our cousin Elizabeth that joined from San Antonio.
Spring break was a blast as we spent time in Durango then Telluride with our friends the Mazur family. During this spring break we received the exciting news that Ben and Alex were both admitted to Jesuit College Preparatory High School. We were sweating major bullets, and were excited when the acceptance emails were received. The boys worked really hard on their grades, application essays and entrance exams to be accepted -- so happy tears were shed with relief that it all payed off this school year. Ben kept asking "can you double check and make sure it's not a mistake?"
A huge thank you to our dear friend "Mr. Bryan" for being Ben and Alex's sponsor for their confirmation within the Catholic Church. Ben and Alex spent many weeks going to confirmation classes and retreats and I had a great time being one of the group leaders and getting to know their classmates better. Mr. Bryan has agreed to be their forever morality and decision making guru from here on out so we're excited to have the load taken off our shoulders (ha ha ha!).
If I could have been a little fly on their shoulders, Chris and I would have gotten a kick hearing this conversation between the boys and the Bishop. They were so nervous--- hence Ben chewing his fingers mid conversation.
8th grade Graduation!!! This school year was packed with all kinds of memorable events at St. Rita honoring the 8th graders. Both boys enjoyed playing basketball for the Spartans, Alex played football in the fall, both boys helped with backstage production of the school play "Annie", and they attended all the Junior Assembly (JA) dances throughout the year getting to know other 8th graders attending the Dallas Diocese schools. They had a beautiful 8th grade graduation ceremony at the church and many festivities throughout the spring to commemorate their big next steps into high school. I was a hot crying mess at all these events so I can't imagine how I'll be once they graduate from high school.
Once summer kicked into gear, we celebrated by taking a family vacation to Aruba. What gorgeous white sand beaches, friendly locals and fun tourists that we met that go year after year. Surprisingly, we also met a lot of Colombians that live on the Island. Here the fellas are posing on the Jolly Pirate snorkeling booze cruise we took. Chris and I still can't get over the fact that the boys swim like fish -- they definitely did NOT get that from us. It must skip a generation or two since Chris and I both sink straight to the bottom.
This year has been the year of sprouting growth. Both boys tower over me, but Alex is very close to surpassing Chris (who happens to be 6"4'). Dori and I are officially the shorties and we're okay with that.
Last week we visited my bff's at the lake of the Ozarks with all the boys in the 3 families. Dori was there in spirit. These kids have grown accustomed to this annual "mommy and kids" trip and since the youngest one (Leah) didn't make it this year, we bumped up the adult factor by letting them watch scary movies. Cliff diving, fishing, tubing, tread water tests and card games filled our week with fun and laugher.
We had a mini family reunion over Labor Day. It was so much fun we decided to get organized and have a big family reunion this past 20th of July. This date is very important for Colombians since it's the Colombian Independence Day from Spanish rule. So here we are with our matching shirts -- family came in from San Antonio, San Francisco, Kansas, East Texas, and Wichita Falls (Texas). We video conferenced in some of our aunts/uncles and cousins in Colombia as well. Next year we plan to have it in Florida. Note the cute little baby on the far right -- he's the newest member of the family. His name is Bear and when Dori met him he told him "hey big guy". My heart melted. My sister has turned out to be a cool grandma so I enjoy watching her with lil Bear, her grandson. Chris made up a new game called "Biscut" that all the men played, the kids enjoyed playing in the pool, and we ate enough empanadas and tamales to hold us over until the next loud fun gathering.
