Little Claras

These are photos from Solana and Lucia's winter dance recital (which was toy themed--so of course there was some Nutcracker ;]!). They were so cute and pretty!

Hoppin' Halloween

Me & Mini-Me (aka my student teacher, Eric);
we dressed up as each other for Halloween.

Nick & Mini-Pumpkin

Me & My Mini Hip-Hop Sneakers
(Boys size 4)

Birthday Girls

Birthday bouquet from my mom and dad--who were in Spain
(buying me Flamenco shoes, fans, castanets, etc. :])!

SARA TURNED 30; LUCIA TURNED 3!

(We decorated the gazebo--fancy, eh?)

Bryan-David finally burst the pinata--
and broke one of the wooden golf clubs!

Daddy's Girl

Begonia LOVES her daddy.

Begonia had 2 separate surgeries to fix each knee.
Here she sports the second cast (the first one was pink :])!
She recovered so quickly (and each knee takes 12 weeks to heal)
and is now bouncing from couch to couch!
We are so grateful that she is healthy!

A Harry Potter Homecoming

As a teacher, Sara loves participating in dress-up days; for Rocky's Harry Potter themed Homecoming, Sara especially enjoyed Glasses Day, Luna Lovegood Day and House Day (for the last, Sara wore professorial black and make-up to represent all the house colors: red, blue, yellow and green).

No More Marachino

Nick finally said good-bye to his very first car: a 1994 Subaru Impreza Sara named "Marachino." It faithfully ferried Nick through high school, college and the first two years of graduate school (and Sara's mom while we were in RI!). Nick's parents generously offered us their 1996 Oldsmobile (it's like driving a couch!) when Marachino misbehaved. But Marachino will be missed and remembered! Nick now cruises Fort Collins in what was originally Nick's grandparents' car--we have named her "Audrey Jo" in their honor, and she's a beaut!

The Last of Summer

We spent a long weekend at the end of Summer with Nick's family at Matt's cabin along the Anthracite River near Crested Butte. We ate delicious meals (including yummy homemade ice cream), took lovely walks/hikes (Maggie was determined to see a bear!), caught small fish (it was Nick's first time fly fishing!) and visited picturesque Crested Butte together!