Jones Journal

Jill, this one's for you!

2012-02-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

I came across this site this afternoon when I was searching for photos for class. (I do most of my lectures/notes/presentations/information sharing via powerpoint and I try to link in websites to visit (museums) and show my kids pictures of things we're studying (currently- Spanish missions in NM).)

Anyhoo.... like you really wanted to know my lesson plans for next week...

I found this page and I knew my aunt (sorta, not really) Jill would like to know about it. And anyone else who is interested in scenes from the southwest for that matter. I'm not being exclusive.

Here's the link. Enjoy!

In the news....again :) (Proud Mommy Moment)

2012-01-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

In the news again. I just love having a smallish enough town where the local paper covers the local sports and your child has a chance of getting their picture/name in the paper.

Kisses from Katie

2012-01-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to promote two things today.

The first is a blog by someone I knew growing up. She is a writer now and also has a blog where she reads, and reviews Christian books. If you are looking for something new to read that is Christ-focused, I recommend her blog. There's some great books there.

The other day I randomly clicked on one of the books that she reviewed. I downloaded it on my Nook, and started reading it yesterday. That book has consumed my thoughts for the past 24 hours.

"Jesus wrecked my life."

That was the tag line that hooked me. How can you possibly say that Jesus wrecked your life?

I completely understand now.

It's a book about a young girl who traveled to Uganda on a 1 year commitment....and never left. In the book she talks about how God has used her to make an incredible difference in the lives of the children and families in Uganda...one life at a time.

The book is called "Kisses from Katie" and it's written by Katie Davis. Also, check out her blog!

Big Red

2012-01-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

I know it's blurry, but I still wanted to share this picture. Have a great weekend!

Tracey's picture was in the paper!!

2012-01-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter's first basketball picture in the Silver City paper!! It was a great shot of her driving the ball with her left hand!!

It was the Jan 11 edition of the paper. You go girl!

Sports photography- not my strong suit.

2012-01-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

A new camera makes a huge difference. Looking at pictures by my old camera is almost painful.

Aaron is much better with it than I am. He took the above pic in Santa Fe last week against St. Mike's. I got my first crack at the camera tonight on my own and did...okay.

We still have much to learn with this camera, so good thing there's lots more basketball left this season :)

Oh...they won tonight, by the way. It was a nail biter...winning by only 1 point against Chaparral High School. Tracey played awesome and scored 6 points tonight.

White Christmas

2011-12-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

I snapped this shot from the front porch reeeeally quickly ( I was standing in snow, barefoot). Rarely do we ever get a white Christmas, but this year...we got 8-10 inches of this wonderful white stuff. In fact, it's our second big storm that Silver City has gotten in December. That's pretty rare here. :)

Monster snow man!!!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

I know you might be here looking for Christmas pictures, but you won't find any. Instead, here is a picture from several years ago. I happened across it and thought I would share a shot from the past.

Hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!!!

Dreams do come true.

2011-12-14T22:16:00.001-07:00

My husband has been a 49ers fan ever since he was little. I have been a fan of them for approximately 3 months. Hey, come on...I've only been a fan of football for a few short years. (I grew up in a basketball family, a basketball town, and worshipping at the feet of Michael Jordan. My high school didn't even have football.)

I know some of you may have read my post last year as I walked you through my team-hopping experience and I am supposed to be officially an Eagles fan. But there's not much to cheer for this year and the 49ers are having their most successful year since 2002 (no, I didn't know that factoid on my own, I had to ask Aaron. So don't go getting all impressed or anything). Aaron's enthusiasm and excitement is definitely contagious, so we've all enjoyed cheering for the 9ers this year.

For years I've always told Aaron I would buy him tickets to a game, but he's always wanted to hold off until they're actually good to go watch them. This year he finally got his chance. This past weekend we went to our very first NFL game in Phoenix to watch the 49ers vs. Cardinals. Unfortunately the 9ers came up short, but it didn't matter. It was so much fun to experience an NFL game, especially at this particular stadium. I don't know how other stadiums are but this one has all kinds of restaurants and stores and stuff to see and do (it's kinda like a Downtown Disney type area), and we spent most of our time eating at different places (which you know if you follow me on FB, since I checked in everywhere we ate) and shopping.

(Don't worry, I haven't completely abandoned my basketball roots in support of football. Our weekend started out with a 4 hour drive up to Springerville to watch Tracey's basketball team play in a tournament there (see previous post), then continued with a 5 hour drive down to Phoenix for the game. And in case you were wondering...ended with a 6 hour drive back home. Might I point out to those of you not from these here parts- that none of this driving involved any backtracking whatsoever. We made a giant circle through New Mexico and Arizona.)

Let's hear it for the Lady Colts!!

2011-12-12T21:31:00.000-07:00

I really do need a camera that takes better action shots and zooms better.

Homecoming 2011

2011-12-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lions, Tigers, and Alligators...Oh my!!

2011-11-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

One of the funnest things we did on our vacation was visit the Aransas Wildlife Refuge. It was a little way up the coast from Corpus Christi. Aaron was there on a fire assignment some years ago and has always wanted to return. Since we were in the neighborhood...off we went. :)

We had a great time looking for different types of wildlife. And we certainly saw a few that we don't see here in New Mexico, that's for sure. I saw my first alligator. And then saw 3 more! It was sooo cool!!

Disney Stars on Ice

2011-11-04T22:40:00.000-06:00

On the first day of our vacation I took the little ones to see Disney Stars on Ice, Toy Story 3. I had never seen an ice show and have always wanted to experience one. Maybe I bought the tickets more for myself, than them...nah! The girls enjoyed it, but when I asked them what they liked best... they responded that their favorite part was the very beginning when Mickey & Minnie came out. :)

Sonic??

2011-10-21T22:01:00.001-06:00

I finally changed my background now that our beach vacation has come and gone. I left it up in anticipation of our trip. It was fabulous, in case you were wondering.

First things first. I have been anxious to share this picture with all of you.

This was in some small Texas town somewhere on I-10 between Ft. Stockton and San Antonio.

Never in my life have I ever seen a walk-in, sit-down Sonic with a play area. I didn't know how to order without that little menu outside my car window.

Are you tired? Cuz you've been running thru my mind all day!

2011-10-20T21:24:00.000-06:00

Hello!!

I am still here...just not as often.

As you have probably noticed I now have a job that I actually have to do work for. Say goodbye to the wonderful 2.5 hour lunch breaks and mindless days. Say goodbye to free evenings and weekends.

And hello to grading papers and doing lesson plans. And last minute brainstorms that take 2 hours a night. And trips to the store late at night. (Did you know that you can only buy one package of Sharpie's at a time?)

Oh, don't worry. I absolutely love my job and love my subject and enjoy using my brain again for something more than just preventing my skull from caving in on itself. But it certainly has taken up a lot of my spare time. It's definitely interfering with my internet life.

There are so many things I would love to share with you all, but you'll just have to be patient and wait for me to find the time. I haven't forgotten about you and I hope not all of you have abandoned me.

Please, please don't leave me. *insert puppy dog eyes*

Life is speeding along at warp speed for us. We are still busy with our usual Bible study, Awanas, ballet, and youth night. I somehow manage to squeeze in other hairbrained idears too. Like cramming in a trip to Cruces to shop, and go to the Mesilla Valley Maze, then rush back for the monster truck show here in Silver. Yes, I know I am crazy. For those of you not from these here parts, Las Cruces is a 1.5 hour trip- each way.

Welpers, gotta run. Tracey wants her braided in a bunch of teeny tiny braids.

Au revoir,
me.

Not sure what au revoir means, but it sounded cool.

I Wanna Be....

2011-10-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

....knee deep in the water somewhere...

This weekend we are headed to Corpus Christi, TX for a week long beach vacation. No thrills, no frills, just the beach. Just typing that makes me feel relaxed.

Ahhh......

A Day Made Better

2011-10-05T12:23:00.000-06:00

I saw a great program over on The Meanest Mom's blog.

A way to give back to the teachers in our/your community.

So click on over!!

2011-09-30T12:35:00.000-06:00

Today is the end of Kylee's first week in 1st grade. And she has done fabulous!! She begs me everyday..."Please let me stay in 1st grade".

She adjusted very quickly to the work. They write a lot more and I'm a little concerned just because her writing skills aren't up to snuff. Or at least what I think they should be. We never really practiced on good handwriting. She can definitely write her letters, but they're still...wonky. She got a 102% on her spelling test yesterday and is very excited that 1st graders got to check out 3 books from the library instead of just 1. She is AR testing and they're also did other tests on her to be sure how she fit in academically and she performed better than most of the other 1st graders. She really enjoys doing subtraction as well. Addition she's been doing for quite some time, but subtraction is new.

Adjusting socially has been pretty easy. She already knew a couple of the kids in her class (one from ballet, the other from daycare) so that really helped- seeing familiar faces. Her birthday is in November (she will be 6) so she isn't really that much younger than the rest of her classmates. From the beginning she has always gravitated toward older kids anyway...like at church and stuff. So I am not too worried about the maturity/age factor. Even when she gets older, mainly becuz, like I said, (wow, too many commas...lol) she isn't much younger than the others.

I can tell her little brain is finally getting worked because she is definitely tired in the evenings. Hopefully that will level out when she has had more time to adjust.

We still need to officially go through all the hoops to get her moved up, but it definitely looks like I now have a 1st grader. :)

Thank you everyone for weighing in with your opinions. I have been asking everyone I know what they think, and most people think it's a great move for Kylee.

Guess I'd better post some more 'first day' pictures. LOL. Wait, I don't think I really posted the official first day pics yet. Oh well. I'll get to it at some point.

What is your opinion?

2011-09-23T12:15:00.000-06:00

Many of you know that Kylee is smart. And that I'm not just the typical mom doing the typical bragging on your kid.

Kylee started Kindergarten about 6 weeks ago. Next week she is going to 1st grade. (for a week long trial period)

She is miles ahead of her current classmates. Her teacher has been giving her work that she usually does toward the end of the year. She reads, she takes AR tests and yesterday they STAR tested her at a 0.7 reading level. Which doesn't sound very high, but keep in mind...she's in kinder. She is 5. They don't normally STAR test them until 1st grade.

Anyone out there have any experience with their kids skipping a grade? I know that maturity is a big concern with many kids in this situation, but Kylee is very mature for her age. She has gravitated toward older children since she was really young.

Please give me your thoughts on this.

My thoughts? I think Kylee definitely needs to be challenged. She loves Kinder, but she will soon grow bored with the work once she masters everything. When she is bored, she loses interest in school. That happened last year in preschool.

I guess I am a little surprised because I didn't think this would happen so quickly. I'm a little taken off guard.

So....please share your thoughts.

I'm still here!!

2011-08-31T22:28:00.000-06:00

Wowie...will you look at that. A new post by yours truly. Are pigs flying? Did the sky turn green? What's going on?

I feel horribly guilty for not updating in so long. I always want to update, I just don't really have the time right now. Or anything of substance to contribute to the vast blogosphere.

But I thought that since it was getting late, and I'm tired, and I really need to go to bed...that it would be the perfect time to post something.

Things are going as well as can be around here. I started school 3.5 weeks ago and things are going really good. I'm finally feeling like I'm getting my nose above water and remembering how to teach in a classroom again. One thing I did forget was how painful grading papers was. I guess it's a lot like child birth...after a few days you think to yourself, "now, that wasn't so bad was it?"

The little girls are doing very well at their schools and are still excited to go each day. Routines are going well, and that's been a huge help to me these last few weeks. (That reminds me, I need to go sign Kylee's reading log...brb)

Tracey decided not to play volleyball this year (gasp) in order to concentrate on keeping her grades up. While I applaud her decision, I am still disappointed to not watch her play vball this season. She is however, going to play next year. And don't worry, she will be playing basketball.

We've all been busy but it's helped my stress level sooooooo much not to have 2 hours of driving time each day. It's amazing how God has really worked in that area.

Aaron is still gone. Maybe he will be home this weekend, but I really don't know for sure. He is somewhere in the wilds of Montana where there is no cell phone service. Or, apparently, service of any kind. I haven't heard from him in....12 days. I am handling the single mom thing pretty well, logistically anyway. I posted on FB last night that I was done with fire season and didn't care if Montana burned to rubble. But my poor attitude affected my sleep last night, and my day today. So, I am trying to change that attitude and just keep on like I have been doing without letting it get to me.

We haven't had fast food for dinner every night...just every other night. LOL. I have tried cooking when I can...we've been gone a lot in the evenings so that sometimes makes it difficult. We all miss healthy cooking... especially Tracey, who was the biggest skeptic. I try my best, but I have been super, duper exhausted since school has started. Yesterday it was all I could do to whip up some instant pancakes.

I know my complaining probably makes things sound terrible. It's not really that bad, I guess I shouldn't write late at night when I'm tired. But things are really going pretty smoothly (oh no, Murphy's Law....quick, I take it back).

Thanks for sticking around, even when I haven't seemed to be here.

The one area I've dropped the ball on is brushing teeth. I don't do it in the morning cuz we don't have time (don't worry, I do brush my teeth). So I try and do it at night, but most of the time forget. Guess that's why my 4 year old has an appt next week for fillings. I have been better since I found out she's got cavities...but not great. While that's not my only flaw...it's one I will admit to publicly! LOL

Night all.

Kindergarten is great.

2011-08-23T19:23:00.000-06:00

Kylee is learning so much in Kindergarten. She came home with this little gem today:

Donald Duck burned his butt,
On his way to Pizza Hut.

Fantastic.

Milestones

2011-08-05T21:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I took my oldest daughter to register for high school. Wow. It's official, she's got an ID and everything. No backing out now. She is excited and ready for high school. And so am I. I think.

At the same time, my middle child is about to begin her educational career as a Kindergartener. She is going to have a teacher that really focuses on challenging them academically, which is exactly what she needs. I am really excited about seeing what she learns in Kinder. Not at all freaked out. Really.

My youngest is going to be starting PreK. New Mexico created a PreK program that wasn't income or developmentally based, therefore my kids are able to attend preschool. She is super excited about getting to go to school. She and Kylee will be at the same school. Am I freaked out? Nope, not really. Just excited for her. Her teacher should be a little worried...lol!

Is your child ready to read?

2011-07-26T20:52:00.001-06:00

I know every parent likes to brag about their kid and thinks they're the smartest thing since Einstein. The dude, not the bagels. And I'm no different. My middle child is extremely smart. Too smart for her own good. I could go on and on about examples of how smart she is but that's not the point of this post.

This summer I have been looking for activities to challenge Kylee. One of the things she loves to do is read. She's been begging to learn to read. There are a zillion sites out there where people have created educational activities to do with your child, no matter the age. I looked at many of them and finally found one that fits our style. It's called The Moffatt Girls and she is a former teacher now stay-at-home mom. She has created a wonderful program that teaches your child sight words and word families. It's called Ready2Read and you know the best thing about it? It's free!!

We are currently doing Unit 4 and Kylee absolutely loves doing her daily activities. She has created a word wall with her new sight words and she also puts up all the other fun activities that she does. My camera is on the blink...(rather, my stupid computer refuses to acknowledge my camera) so I can't upload any pictures of Kylee doing her activities, but on her website Annie has taken pictures of her own daughter completing all the activities so you can see it in action.

I highly recommend you check out this site and download and try the Ready2Read program. You'll love it. And so will your kids.

my lame "ode to summer"

2011-07-24T14:03:00.000-06:00

2 weeks until I go back to work.

*sniff, sniff*

Summer is quickly fading away.

If I was poetic I could write a poem. I would call it "Ode to Summer". Original, no?

I had my first school-mare in 5 years last night. For those of you who don't know...those are nightmares that teachers have about school. Hence, school-mare.

I dreamed that I was taking over a class midyear and my very first day was parent conferences. I had never seen my kids, didn't even have a room yet, and the first parent didn't speak English...she spoke Chinese.

Tacos a la Flambe...a new recipe.

2011-07-13T21:30:00.000-06:00

Last night I made tacos. Now, I know in most of the parts of the country you guys buy Old El Paso brand premade hard taco shells. Not so in New Mexico. Those kinds of taco shells are almost sacriligious, I'm not even sure they sell them in the stores. In these parts, we fry our own shells. Trust me, they're way better. No contest.

So, I was happily frying the tortillas (blue corn torillas, if you want to know) and was being fairly successfull at it. Usually that's Aaron's job, but since he wasn't home yet, the duty fell to me.

Where was I? Oh, right, I was about to stir the beans (not crappy black beans or whatever ya'll eat elsewhere, but good ole refried pinto beans). Anyway, I wasn't paying attention and accidently let the condensation from the lid pour into my pan of hot oil.

I now have flame marks on the hood above the stove.

Jesus is busy

2011-07-12T21:38:00.000-06:00

I overheard this piece of a conversation on the way home this evening:

Kylee: "It makes Jesus sad because you're not sharing."

Krysten: "Jesus is busy doing stuff in the clouds, so he doesn't know."

Happy 4th of July...twice!

2011-07-08T22:30:00.000-06:00

This year we got to celebrate the 4th two different times. Well...I will clarify...we went to 2 different parades. Fireworks were banned in NM this year due to the extreme dry conditions and the number of fires we've had in our area lately.

Not having fireworks is a big deal to us. We LOVE our fireworks around here. It's so much fun, we go to the city fireworks display and then when we come home we sit on the porch and watch everyone around us shoot of their fireworks. We usually have our own display at some point too. Loads and loads of fun. If you live in an area where it's illegal to set off your own fireworks...I am sorry. You are truly missing on out on some good ole fashioned American fun.

Anyway...back to this year.

Where was I?

Oh, right. Parades.

We went to Quemado last week to visit my parents. Quemado had their parade and festivities on Saturday. Their parade was comprised mostly of Forest Service people. But not local, they were all from Montana and Idaho. They did the coolest parade thing I've seen FS do, they had a line of them in their full fire gear walking down the road. Maybe I just really like it because they look just like Aaron.

After the parade they had a small carnival at the school with face painting.

We returned back to Silver for the festivities on Monday. We again went to a parade but the FS was pretty cheesy. Smoky was sitting in a lazboy for goodness sake. Sheesh.

Happy (late) 4th of July everyone!!

Big, exciting news!!

2011-06-22T17:45:00.000-06:00

Things, they are a'changin' in my life.

For the last 11 years I have taught in Lordsburg, NM. Lordsburg is 55 miles away from my house- one way. That makes for veeeeeeeery long days, each and every day.

I am happy to announce that I will no longer have to make that commute 184 days a year!

I accepted a job here in Silver City this week!!!! I will only have to drive about 8 miles to get to work, that is just simply incredible. I can hardly wrap my brain around this dream come true!!

I will be teaching 7th grade New Mexico History at La Plata Middle School. As many of you know, that's my absolute favorite subject to teach and I taught that before I taught PE.

Whew, all those years of filling out applications has finally paid off and I got my dream job. The possibilities of what I will be able to do is limitless. Simple things, like finally being able to make it on time for Tracey's games, or getting home at a decent hour of the day, or saving $300 a month in gas, are going to make a big difference for me.

Toes in the water....

2011-06-14T19:23:00.000-06:00

Deep in the throes of summer I am dreaming of a beach somewhere. I'm not too particular...I'll take any beach right now.

It's been 2 loooooong years since the last time I saw the ocean (not counting last year on Galveston in March when it was super cold).

It's My Birthday and I Can Do What I Want To!!

2011-06-02T23:36:00.001-06:00

I haven't posted any pictures lately because my camera card and my computer have decided to stop speaking to eachother, much like 2nd graders do when they're mad eachother.

I finally ~~remembered~~ was able to find an interpreter to get them to start speaking to eachother. I used my microUSB cord and plugged my camera directly into the computer. Duh!

Voila! There were all my picture for the last 2 months.

So....
....here are some of the major events [that I had my camera] that happened recently.

(sorry I didn't take the time to edit/crop these)

Here is Tracey running the 400 at her last track meet. She ran a 1:12, which was her personal best. She only ran this race maybe 3 times. She hated it, yet couldn't stand to lose. (No, she's not like her mother at all, nope, nope, nope. LOL)

At Kylee's PreK graduation ceremony her class sang a song called "I Am A Fine Musician". Each group of them played different instruments. Kylee played her triangle with style!

This is Kylee with her teacher, Mrs. Huff.

(see all the haze in the background? no, we're no all of a sudden getting pollution...it's smoke from the Horseshoe 2 Fire in Arizona)

T-ball has started. Kylee is soooooo excited about it. She did really good!

Tomorrow night is their final ballet performance of the year. They are performing "Night at the Ballet", which is a combination of various ballets. Krysten and Kylee are in the Little Red Riding Hood group. Aren't they just the cutest things? I took these pictures tonight at the dress rehearsal. I learned really quick that is the best time to get pictures. You can stand really close to the stage since the theater is empty.

Confession Time

2011-05-28T23:26:00.000-06:00

I must confess...

...I haven't finished my bookclub read for May.

I'm only on like page 57 or something totally lame like that.

I've had all stinking month to get it read, but nooooooo, I couldn't make it happen.

I like the book, I just haven't had the time to read it.

I've been juggling a million balls this month, seemingly a new ball each day even, and reading my book seems to be one of the balls that I dropped.

My apologies.

Next month I'll do better.

Promise.

I will even take the time to get this book finished too.

Really.

Ah heck. Now I just realized I need to come up with next month's suggestion.

I'll get back to you on that one.

On a different note, guess who is the first to read a book on my Nook?

Nope, not me.

Yes, if you guessed the person who has also spent a great deal of time checking Facebook on my Nook, then you are absolutely CORRECT!!

Au revoir (whatever the tarnation that means) (but it just popped into my head as the ending to this post) (okay, leaving now.)

(okay, this time I mean it)

(argh! this is why I shouldn't post late at night...I get goofy)

(enough with the parenthesis already)

(my 3 yr old has decided to not stay in her bed and is now sitting on my counter playing horses)

Summer Thinkin'

2011-05-27T17:56:00.000-06:00

Today marks the first official day of my summer break. So far I've spent my day doing great and exciting things like going to the post office and grocery shopping. We did manage to get to the library which for us, is definitely a summer activity.

Tracey's life is now going to be consummed with basketball, basketball, and a little volleyball thrown in for good measure. She has practice-- I mean open gym, every day until July. She is playing in the Jesse Darnell 3-3 tournament this weekend, then possibly going to a basketball team camp in Las Cruces next week. Her schedule makes me tired.

Oh! and speaking of being tired. I am going to start P09X on Monday!

My birthday is coming up next week. Am I the only adult that gets super excited about their birthday and counts down in their head from a month in advance??

Wanna know what I'm getting/have already gotten for my birthday?? Do ya, do ya? Well I'm gonna show you anyway!

My mommy and daddy got me the Nook color. I am already in love with it, it's going to be so much fun. More birthday ideas?....maybe B&N giftcards. :)

My grandma gave me her FiestaWare dishes. I've been eyeing them for years and she's finally decided to part with them! Thank you, thank you. They make my cupboard so pretty and festive!

Aaron doesn't know it yet, but he's getting me a pair of Keens. I found some at REI on sale, so those puppies are gonna be on my feet soon! I never buy my own presents, I prefer to be surprised, plus I don't like to be like that. But since he's spent almost 30 days out in the wilderness on the fire and will be coming home on my birthday and will have obviously not gotten a chance to buy me something, I thought I would make things easier on him. :)

Speaking of Aaron, since April 28, he has spent 30 days (well, by the time he comes home next week) on the Miller Fire with only 3 days off. He is ready for a break. I was able to talk to him a few days on the satellite phone, but the connection was horrible. He did tell me he wanted me to plan something fun for us to do cuz he will take 4 days off. I didn't have the heart (or the connection) to explain to him that we won't be able to. The girls' ballet recital is that Friday, right in the middle of the 4 days off.

Well, those are the thoughts swirling around in my head this afternoon.

Oh, another thought. Everyday, all day the helicopters from the fire fly directly over our house on their way to refuel. They are dumping water on the fire, you can see the buckets on a couple of them and then one of them has a snorkel to suck the water up into it's belly.

Anyway, my girls run outside everytime they fly over to see them. It's their little connection to their daddy. I am thinking of writing a message on our roof....Aaron Jones we love u! He isn't in the helicopters, but I know that he has contact with the pilots. Wouldn't that be funny? Maybe just to me.

Never too old to be a princess

2011-05-18T08:59:00.000-06:00

My oldest daughter forgot her backpack at school yesterday.

Today she needed to take clothes for shoot-around basketball practice after school.

Kylee did not have school today.

Tracey willingly and purposefully took Kylee's backpack.

Yes, my 14 year old daughter took a Princess Tiana backpack to school.

I am not complaining.

2011-05-11T21:54:00.000-06:00

Thought I would give you all an update on what's been going on in our life lately.

Let me tell ya, it's been crazy busy around here...which is pretty much normal. But the next few weeks will take crazy to a whole 'nother level.

May is the craziest month at school with so many things going on and my schedule is 3 times worse since I work in 3 different schools. I have a gazillion things at school to make it to.

We have all our regular stuff...Bible study, Awanas, church, youth group, etc. But now add on top of that Kylee's PreK program, Kylee's t-ball practice (which is at an almost impossible time for me to be there on time), Tracey's orthodontist appt (2 hrs away), Tracey's parent conferences, youth fundraiser, ballet, school music program, church music program, and...

...and that's just a few of the things up thru next week.

To top all that off, Krysten got sick, then Kylee, then me. Ugh, and double ugh.

Aaron will be home by Sunday- that's when he hits 14 days and has to have a mandatory day off.

Thank goodness.

Mind you, I'm not complaining. It's been worse.

Right now...I can handle this. So far :o)

Not complaining...just updating.

I will complain about one thing...tire irons. Did you know that GMC tire irons do NOT fit Toyota lug nuts. Yep. That's true. Grrr.

Miller Fire

2011-05-06T12:04:00.000-06:00

I've been playing the single mom gig lately. And I'll be doing it at least through the end of next week. Aaron is working on the Miller Fire.

Fire season is rockin' already and it's not even June yet!

This is the Miller Fire, located north of Silver City near the Cliff Dwellings. Last I heard it was like 12,000 acres or something like that. When Aaron got to it last Friday morning it was 30 acres. Then it blew up to 3000 in less than 2 hours! Right now no one is actually directly fighting it becuz it's in some gnarly country. So they are digging line to prepare to stop it when it reaches the lines. Aaron is in charge of all that part. Or at least that's how I understand it :)

This is not Aaron but it is a pretty accurate picture of what he does.

Teacher Appreciation

2011-05-04T08:56:00.000-06:00

I think I am getting the best teacher appreciation gift ever...a day off.

Of course this day off is cleverly disguised as a sick day.

But you really can't go wrong if it's almost 9am and you're still in your jammies. That, my friends, is a good good day.

Oh, let me clarify, I'm not the one sick. That wouldn't make it a good day at all, not at all. (You need to say that using the voice of Sara from Land Before Time)

Bookclub pick for May

2011-04-30T12:40:00.001-06:00

Attention Kitabu Marafiki members (and anyone else):

Here is our choice to read for May--

Here's the blurb:

From Laura Hillenbrand, the bestselling author of Seabiscuit, comes Unbroken, the inspiring true story of a man who lived through a series of catastrophes almost too incredible to be believed. In evocative, immediate descriptions, Hillenbrand unfurls the story of Louie Zamperini--a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero. During a routine search mission over the Pacific, Louie’s plane crashed into the ocean, and what happened to him over the next three years of his life is a story that will keep you glued to the pages, eagerly awaiting the next turn in the story and fearing it at the same time. You’ll cheer for the man who somehow maintained his selfhood and humanity despite the monumental degradations he suffered, and you’ll want to share this book with everyone you know.

(Cathy, if you can't get it in Australia, let me know...I will send you a copy. Surely that would be cheaper, than international shipping)

Happy Reading!!

Differences.

2011-04-29T08:47:00.000-06:00

Aaron and I both commute to work.

However, on some days his commute is a wee bit different than mine.

Today is one of those days.

What I drove to work in...

What he went to work in.

Happy Easter!!

2011-04-25T08:22:00.000-06:00

Happy Anniversary

2011-04-22T18:06:00.000-06:00

It's been 10 years! hoo hoo

Okay, so maybe this particular anniversary occurred over a month ago...but that's a'ight.

They grew up when I wasn't looking.

2011-04-20T13:30:00.000-06:00

Kindergarten registration AND high school registration in the same week.

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness.

Where did the time go?

I'm having a harder time wrapping my ~~heart~~ head around the whole high school registration thing.

Oy.

Random Photos

2011-04-12T15:06:00.003-06:00

I decided to post 5 random photos from my phone and my itouch. (I carry both because I don't have an iphone. I'm klassy like that. And too cheap to pay for an iphone.)

Also, it appears that my computer is going wonky. I swear when I saved these photos I put them right-side up. Evidently blogger has other ideas.

Work with me huh, and turn your head sideways...or your screen. Whichever works for you.

For Dr. Seuss's birthday, our school ordered a cake from Wal-Mart. Clearly the woman had never heard of Dr. Seuss. She only knew Dr. Svese. What did he write...Green Eggs and Baloney? (ha! I know I spelled it wrong)

This winter Kylee was sledding and had an unfortunate meeting with a catclaw. Catclaws are vicious bushes that are virtually indestructable. Trust me, I've tried. They will be the only things surviving if we ever get nuclear bombed. They have these awful stickers in them that are shaped like cat claws. Falling in one is akin to getting attacked by 59 cats.

Taking this child to the store is always an adventure. She looks so cute and sweet laying on top of the tp and papertowel packages...don't let it fool you.

Man, I'm having all kinds of issues today. I don't have time to figure out how to fix this little centering problem, so just move your head a little to the left...it's already sideways anyways.

Note to self: Don't leave your phone unattended. It may be hijacked by dorky teens who are trying to be 80's rockstars.

Looky here, now who is this handsome dude. Okay, so maybe not handsome, but still a dude. He was in some gift shop in New Orleans. I couldn't resist taking this and sending it to a friend at work who is a HUGE Buffet fan. Fins up!

So there you have it folks.

A peak into the randomness on my phone.

What's in your ~~wallet~~ phone?

April bookclub choice

2011-04-11T11:47:00.000-06:00

"The Secret River", by Kate Grenville is our bookclub's April choice.

Because there are international members to our bookclub, I wanted to choose a book that was on the history/culture of Australia.

My first choice seemed like such a good read and I still want to be able to read it someday...but not to the tune of $33 and an extra $30 for shipping to get it to the States. I could find it all over in bookstores in Australia, unfortunately I couldn't find any here...that were affordable. ($33 for a used paperback book is not my idea of affordable!)

I've also discovered that there are some important issues to be taken into account. Namely availability and affordability. I thought Amazon had everything...apparently not.

I double checked this book, and it's available on Amazon and Kindle, and Barnes and Noble and Nook. Many of my bookclub members have either a Nook or Kindle so it was important that it be available to everyone. I am quite sure also, that this book is probably pretty available in Australia.

If you wish to join, we'd love to have you. We also discuss our books on our online forum. Our book club is named Kitabu Marafiki, it means book friends in Swahili. Why did I pick that? Cuz it sounds cool. :)

Happy reading!!

Happy 14th Birthday to Tracey!!!

2011-04-07T10:30:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday was Tracey's birthday. She wanted to go visit her cousins in Sierra Vista so we loaded up and off we went.

I was so thankful that they had planned a party and were making her cake. I didn't seem to get things together enough to put a party together.

Me thinks that Gina (mi prima, errr...my cousin for you non Spanish speakers- didn't know you'd get a language lesson didja...i'm like the Rosetta Stone, only better !) has watched too many episodes of Cake Boss...

Her dreams were lofty...

her goals were high...

her ideas were grand...

her cake mixes were plentiful...

We dubbed it "The Leaning Tower of Cake"

Happy Birthday, Batman!!

Of course, no trip to Sierra Vista would be complete without sharing pictures of little Zia. Only she ain't so little anymore! She is getting big...growing out of her 0-3 month size clothes. She is 8.5 months old and doing great. No more oxygen tank!!

Go- Go- Go with a smile!

2011-04-05T11:42:00.000-06:00

Sooooo....

Imagine if you will--

Picking up your 14 year old daughter at track practice.

You are excited to spot her running a 400...and doing well!!

Hooray for my progeny!! Such a proud mommy-moment.

But wait--

What is that she is wearing?

What the...? No, it couldn't be.

Why is my dearest first born wearing a Batman cape?

Really? REALLY?

She said it gave her super powers.

( I know I said previously that I don't quote movies...but did anyone catch my catchy title to this post??? Didja, didja? It's from the song way back in the day from one of the original Batman movies...back when I did remember strange and odd facts- when my brain was 13!)

Me: A to Z

2011-03-31T10:07:00.001-06:00

I saw this over at Cleared for Takeoff and thought it'd be fun to re-post.

A. Age: 35, soon to be 36- which my hubby reminds me all. the. time. Brat, he's only 31.

B. Bed size: Queen, which works fine for us. Unless we have midnight visitors to our bed. Them I'm not sure if even a California King would be big enough. Those overnight visitors are not overly pleasant to sleep with. Especially when they turn backward and kick you in the face.

C. Chore you dislike: How do I only pick one? I would probably have to choose dishes. I absolutely DETEST dishes. That's why they pile up. I know, I know- if I did them every night there wouldn't be so many. But there's funner stuff to do in the evening, instead. Yes, we have a dishwasher...it's broken however.

D. Dogs: We have 2 dogs- a black lab named Chica, and a boxer/lab X from the pound named Osa.

E. Essential start to your day: Shower and breakfast. I don't drink coffee, so the shower wakes me up. If I don't eat breakfast then I have blood sugar issues later in the day.

F. Favorite color: blue for sure. I'm also really liking green lately.

G. Gold or silver: I like gold better, but tend to buy silver since it matches more of my clothes. So I guess my answer would have to be both.

H. Height: 5′ 2”. Yes, I know, I'm vertically challenged. I am reminded of it every. stinking. day. by my loving children.

I. Instruments you play(ed): The stereo is the only instrument that I can play. I am seriously musically challenged. Much to the chagrin of my hubby who was a band nerd in school (band nerds were cool back then, btw). He was the drum major and my oldest daughter played the flute for a few years.

J. Job title: Elementary PE teacher.

K. Kids: Tracey-almost 14 (day after tomorrow), Kylee-5, Krysten-3 (4 in June).

L. Live for ______: God, family. Or at least I try to.

M. Most embarrassing moment: I will just share my most recent embarassing moment. I tend to embarass myself a lot. We walked into Lotaburger and I stopped to talk to some friends. When I got in line, I stood really close to Aaron and prepared to give him my order. Luckily I happened to glance up at him first. It wasn't Aaron! He was standing behind me wondering what the heck I was doing and laughing his fool head off at me. The other guy gave me a really strange look as I leaped back to stand by the real Aaron.

N. Nicknames: My family called me Dayna-wayna when I was little, my grama called me Dayna-mite, my other grama calls me Mijita (pronounced mi-heeta, for all you non spanish speaking types out there), and when I was really little I called myself Nungy.

O. Overnight hospital stays: 3 times, when I had each of my children. Oh yeah, once when I was preggers with Kylee I ended up in the hospital overnight for a UTI. The other hospital visits have been outpatient.

P. Pet peeves: Gum- I don't like seeing it- it totally bugs me when people play with their gum.

Q. Quote from a movie: I watch a lot of movies, yet sadly retain very little. So don't ask me to quote a movie. It's pointless. I hardly even remember the actors.

S. Siblings: None. :( Since I had no siblings and we lived way out in the boonies (no lie, it was 40 miles to the closest town), I thought I was a dog when I was little. They were all I had to play with and I imitated them perfectly.

T. Time you wake up: my alarm goes off at 5:15am, but I don't get up til 5:30. Weekends I can sleep in til 7 or 7:30.

U. University attended: I first went to Adams State College in Alamosa, CO for a year. Then I transferred to Western New Mexico University where I received my Bachelor's. I returned later to WNMU (since I still live in the same town, convenient) and got my Master's from there. You probably want to know what my degrees are- BS in Secondary Education/Movement Science with an endorsement in Social Studies and an Interdisciplinary Master's in History and Technology.

V. Vegetables: Most of them are yummy. I like best squash and zucchini. Fresh sweet corn on the cob....mmm...nothing better!

W. What makes you run late: becuz I cut things to the last minute. I don't leave room for error, and there usually is error. Especially with teens and preschoolers. It drives my husband nuts that I do that. I prefer to be exactly on time, not early.

X. X-rays you’ve had: I can't think of any. Maybe a couple of my knee when I hurt it way back in high school. I've never broken a bone, so I've never needed one. WAIT!! Do dental x-rays count? I've had plenty of those over the years. My daughter on the other hand, has had so many x-rays, MRI, and CT scans that she glows in the dark.

Y. Yummy food you make: Is this a trick question? I don't cook very often and there's a very good reason for that. I don't really cook anything yummy...however, Tracey made super yummy and delicious ribs this past Sunday. Fab-u-lous!

Z. Zoo animal favorites: I like the tigers best. It's also fun to watch the elephants and giraffes. Such unique creatures. When I was little my favorite was the prairie dogs.

P.S. Feel free to “steal” this post and make it your own, just make sure to leave a comment so I can come read yours!

My, how time flies

2011-03-30T09:33:00.000-06:00

This is obviously not a recent picture.

In fact, it was taken about 3 years ago, I believe.

It was, sadly, the only professional family pictures we've ever taken.

Aren't they so cute.

My main purpose of posting this picture was to see if blogger had gotten their act together and decided to allow me to post pictures again. Apparently the answer is yes. As long as I am using my computer at work. The jury is still out on my home computer.

Hasta la pasta!

ARGH!!!

2011-03-27T16:27:00.002-06:00

FRUSTRATED!!!

I am trying to upload more New Orleans pictures but Blogger is having issues.

Can anyone explain what the problem is?

HELP!!!

Small town boy who's made it big!

2011-03-24T21:07:00.000-06:00

Since I have nothing substantial to give to the blog world tonight, I thought I would share a blog about someone who does.

Meet Lucas Jackson. Or Luke, as I know him.

Many times I refer to him as "I know someone who..." He's my 1 or 2 degree separation to the rich and famous, and fabulous/infabulous happenings.

I went to high school with him.

Despite a little tongue-in-cheek humor, in all honesty I think it's pretty doggone awesome that someone from teeny tiny little Quemado has been so successful.

So click on over and read about his latest adventure in the Arctic.

That time of the month.

2011-03-23T12:32:00.000-06:00

Well book club friends, it's getting close to that time of the month.

No, not that time of the month! Sillies.

The time of the month where we get to discuss the book we all (hopefully) read.

If you haven't done so yet, go to Kitabu Marafiki and get yourself all registered up. That's where I'll be hosting the discussion on the book.

I can't wait to see what you have to say about the book!!

I'll be posting our April choice soon...stay tuned!

Cajun. Food. Mmmm...heaven on a plate.

2011-03-20T17:30:00.000-06:00

One of the best things about New Orleans is the food. We absolutely love, love, love Cajun food so it was a wonderful treat to be able to eat it for every. single. meal. We didn't worry too much about calories because we did so much walking that we were able to quickly walk off each meal, lol.

Ever since watching The Frog and the Princess we've wanted some beignets. They are french donuts, basically. But they are a little slice of heaven. Mmmmm....yummy. We ate at a cafe called...Cafe Beignet and listened to a jazz band.

Pier 424 Seafood Market was Aaron's favorite. He had a shrimp boil. They cooked shrimp, potatoes, corn all together in a big ole pot and served it up. The corn was so spicy it had his nose running and eyes watering! I had crawfish cakes and pasta.

We also ate at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. That was a lot of fun, and of course the food was delicious. I ordered grilled shrimp and Aaron had grilled mahi mahi.

...and at a place called Riverfront Restaurant...which was...right near the river. I had jambalaya, I don't remember what Aaron had. :)

La Bayou was located in the heart of Bourbon Street.

My favorite place to eat was on the Steamboat Natchez. We took a river cruise on the only riverboat powered by steam left on the Mississippi. It was a dinner/jazz cruise and they had a cajun buffet dinner. Oh, fabulous. It was 2 hours and the first hour we enjoyed steaming down the river and watching the sights pass by. The second hour we enjoyed our fabulous dinner. After the dinner we returned to the deck in time to see the lights of downtown New Orleans come into view. What a beautiful sight!

Just a teaser...

2011-03-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

No need to adjust your screen, or get a new glasses prescription...the blurriness is due to the *elderly* woman who kindly took our picture with our "new-fangled" camera.

One of the many things we did was take a dinner/jazz cruise along the Mississippi on a steamboat.

What's on my mind

2011-03-11T13:30:00.000-07:00

I, along with just about anyone else in the world with TV or Internet access, have been watching in horror at the devastation in Tokyo after the earthquake and resulting tsunami. The power of water is incredible.

My really good friend lives in Hawaii and I'm guessing she is okay, since she's been updating on facebook. Although, she is ignoring my texts.

****

My high school boys basketball team is RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE playing for the state chamionship. I so wish I could be there to cheer them on! Go Eagles. EKA!!! I could watch the game on the internet but I am too cheap to pay the $6. The last text update I got put them ahead by 6...hopefully they're still ahead.

Playing in the state championship game is a BIG deal where I'm from. A very big deal.

****
Tracey is doing very well as pain goes, but there is a lot of swelling and bruising. Much more than last time, but I'm chalking that up to a different surgeon. (Our regular surgeon resigned 2 weeks ago) Tracey also managed to catch a cold after all this so she's feeling pretty crummy right now. She will be home this weekend, probably Sunday.

****
Only 5 more days!! I can hardly wait til we leave on our mysery trip. I am no closer to guessing the destination, although I am certain it's not California. We had a little "incident" in which I learned I could eliminate that entire state from the list of possible destinations.

****
The fire in Silver City is out and residents were allowed back in their homes on Tuesday night. Aaron was demob'ed from the fire after Wednesday. He's back holding the fort at the office- they actually had another fire this morning in the Mimbres Valley, but it's under control now. It wasn't very big and not near any houses. Definitely a sneak preview of what the summer could hold for us. It could be a very busy fire season and likely won't see Aaron much.

What a day.

2011-03-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

Odalally, odalally, golly what a day.

I first heard about the fire when the secretary told me Highway 90 was closed due to a fire. That is my route home. My other choice (which is 2 hours out of my way) was also closed due to high wind and blowing dust. Now, blowing dust and closed Interstates are pretty common place around her in the spring and early summer. It happens quite regularly.

BUT, 90 is never closed unless it's due to being snowpacked and icy. Not fires.

I quickly checked my voicemail and there was a message from Aaron saying he was going to a fire and I needed to pick up the girls at daycare. Ummmm....okay.

Now we have a problem.

Later on the phone I told Aaron to use his influence to get his wife past the closed road barriers. No such luck. Hmph.

I finally found someone to go pick up my kids and I also made it home since Highway had been reopened.

Ahhh...all is well. At my house. Elsewhere in town...not so good.

The news is showing houses that are engulfed in flames and has reported anywhere from 5-15 houses on fire. The entire area off Ridge Road has been evacuated...many of our friends live out there and are very worried about their houses and property.

Aaron has called me a couple times giving me updates from his end of things. Being wildland and not structural he is working on the opposite side of the ridge from Silver Acres, so he doesn't know what's going on with any structures. He's got a dozer and a crew working on line in that area between Ridge Road and Highway 90.

Like any good firewife and any responsible looky-loo, I stopped and took a few pictures on the way home. Unfortunately, I couldn't zoom very close since I was using my itouch. Aaron also sent me a pic on his phone a little while ago.

White smoke = good.

Black smoke = bad.

Regular fuels such as grass, brush, and trees produce white smoke. Structures produce black smoke due to all the chemicals in the the structures.

Here is the point of origin. This is just past Tyrone, heading up the hill.

No, I didn't hang out my window as I was driving down the road to take this picture...I pulled over.

What a day.

Surgery #3

2011-03-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

As I type this Tracey is at the hospital in Houston consulting with the surgeons. Her surgery is scheduled for tomorrow at 11:00 am, Texas time.

For those of you new to my blog, my oldest daughter has a genetic mutation of the veins in her left arm.

When we finally got a definitive and correct diagnosis from the fine folks at Harvard Medical Center we were referred to a certain doctor who worked at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. There are only a handful of surgeons who specialize in pediatric venous malformations. Last spring we made the trek to Houston to begin the series of surgeries on her arm. She had 2 last spring and is having the 3rd tomorrow.

What is a genetic mutation? In Tracey it causes the vein walls to expand in her arms and the blood to pool, causing pain and swelling. They inject stuff directly into these veins to kill them off. After the first surgery she noticed no difference, but after the 2nd there was remarkable difference...almost immediately. Hopefully we'll have more improvement after this one.

Does it cause problems for her? Not really. We have never restricted her activities due to this. Even though one of her sports is volleyball and the area affected is her left forearm. And forearms are necessary equipment for volleyball. But it doesn't seem to hurt her too much. She occasionally wears her compression sleeve when it bothers her. It also bothers her more when it's cold. The cold restricts blood flow and so there's more pooling in her veins- therefore, more pain. So in winter, obviously, it's worse.

Why am I not there? She's old enuf to go on her own. Heehee. Not really, her dad took her this time.

Will she have more? We don't know. We'll have to wait to see what the doctor says tomorrow.

If you have any more questions, just leave a comment and I will answer them as best as I can. I will also be giving updates on FB as I get them from her dad.

Keep her in your prayers tomorrow.

Cousins

2011-03-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the best picture we could get. Our subjects were less than cooperative. :)

I love surprises.

2011-03-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Our anniversary is coming up this St. Patrick's Day. It will be our 10th anniversary and I can hardly wait. You know why? Other than the obvious.

Aaron is planning a trip with a surprise destination for our anniversary. I've known about the trip for a few months now, but definitely not the destination.

It came out when I asked him what he wanted to do for our anniversary. He said we would probably just find a babysitter and go to the Buckhorn (nice restaurant here) for dinner.

As you can imagine I was outraged. "What? For our 10th anniversary that's all you want to do? Can't we at least go somewhere overnight?" I was getting pretty irate by this point. Thinking the nerve of this man to make lightly of a milestone anniversary.

I then told him if he wasn't gonna plan anything, then I was. At this point he finally gave in and told me that he'd been planning a trip for months.

"What? You are? Oh goody!" (definite attitude adjustment on my part)

Perfect. I love trips and I love surprises. A wonderful combination.

Now that the date is getting closer I am starting to obsess about the destination. He has given me a few clues; I know that we are going either east or west and that it's to a city. I know that he picked a location that I would like, but not necessarily him.

I have a million other questions but I have not voiced them because I don't really want to figure it out. I want to be able to keep dreaming/guessing.

I do know that it's not skiing, because he told me that when we were discussing what to pack. We would have to go north to go skiing anyway.

But that's all I know. I have several guesses running around in my head but nothing I am sure of. Going west means probably either San Diego or LA. I'm thinking more San Diego.

Going east means places like San Antonio, Corpus Christi, or anywhere along the gulf. He also said we can get there in a day. So by driving we couldn't really go much farther east. Vearing up towards Dallas and into Oklahoma is probably out since who wants to go to Oklahoma anyway? Dallas? I don't think so.

Also, there's the possibility of going east or west to an airport. There's one in either direction: El Paso or Tucson. From there we could obviously fly anywhere we wanted. Well...maybe not out of the country since neither of us have passports.

If we were to fly my thoughts are leaning toward either New York City or New Orleans. Possibly somewhere in Florida.

It's driving me craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazy not being able to guess!!!! I am even dreaming about it. Two nights ago I dreamed we went to Syndey, Australia and last night I dreamed it was Washington DC. I know it's not Sydney and I doubt it's DC.

Don't worry, I will let everyone know as soon as I find out. We leave March 15.

March Madness

2011-02-25T23:06:00.000-07:00

March is going to be a busy month for us.

Kylee won't be attending school for the next 3 weeks. Why? Well, next week all the PreK classes have to move. Not just to another part of the school, but to another school entirely, which technically is in another town. Albeit, like 3 miles away. They will soon be starting the renovations on Kylee's school and during that time, then entire school will be housed at Bayard Elementary...which is obviously... in Bayard. The PreK building has asbestos that they have to remove before renovations can begin. So, that means that next week PreK is cancelled while the teachers pack up and move. Then the following week it's Kylee's (and Tracey's) Spring Break. Then after that is my Spring break and the girls will be with my parents at the ranch (more on that later).

In 2 weeks (during her spring break) Tracey will be having her 3rd surgery on her arm. It will be exactly like the first one where they injected glue (which is considerably more painful than the foam). I will talk more about her surgery in a later post.

Then it's my spring break (WOO HOO!!) It's our 10 year anniversary on the 17th (yes, St. Patrick's Day :)) and my hubby is planning a trip to a surprise destination. I am so excited about that I can hardly stand it. I looooooove, loooooove surprises!! The girls will be at the ranch while we go....where it is we are going.

That about covers March. Oh yeah, and track practice starts the week after Tracey's spring break. She should be ready to run, despite having surgery.

Plus, I am happy to get my bookclub up and going for March!

Book Club Suggestions

2011-02-24T13:31:00.001-07:00

Okay fellow book club friends-

Here are some books I thought looked interesting. Vote for which you would like to read. For those of you who are not used to commenting on blogs, just sign in as Anonymous and make your comment. Easy peasy.

After each image, I have included the brief synopsis of each book.

Also, I am looking at creating an online discussion forum where we can discuss the books and trying to come up with a name. I FBed everyone my suggestions. If you have any other name suggestions, please let me know.

In the late 1970s, Larry Ott and Silas "32" Jones were boyhood pals, Larry the child of white, lower middle-class parents and Silas the son of a poor, single black mother. Their worlds were as different as night and day, yet, for a few months, the boys stepped outside of their circumstance and shared a special bond.

But then tragedy struck: on a date, Larry took a girl to a drive-in movie, and she was never heard from again. She was never found and there was no confession, but all eyes rested on Larry. The incident shook the county—and perhaps Silas most of all. He and Larry's friendship was broken, and then Silas left.
Over twenty years have passed. Larry, a mechanic, lives a solitary existence, never able to rise above the whispers of suspicion. Silas has returned to town as a constable. He and Larry have no reason to cross paths until another girl disappears and Larry is blamed, again. And now, two men who once called each other friend are forced to confront the past they've buried and ignored for decades.

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten year-old girl, is brutally arrested with her family by the French police in the Vel’ d’Hiv’ roundup, but not before she locks her younger brother in a cupboard in the family's apartment, thinking that she will be back within a few hours.

Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France's past. Through her contemporary investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl's ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel d'Hiv', to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah's past, she begins to question her own place in France, and to reevaluate her marriage and her life.

One beautiful summer afternoon, from her bedroom window on the second floor, Jody Linder is unnerved to see her three uncles parking their pickups in front of her parents’ house—or what she calls her parents’ house, even though Jay and Laurie Jo Linder have been gone almost all of Jody’s life. “What is this fearsome thing I see?” the young high school English teacher whispers, mimicking Shakespeare. Polished boots, pressed jeans, fresh white shirts, Stetsons—her uncles’ suspiciously clean visiting clothes are a disturbing sign.

The three bring shocking news: The man convicted of murdering Jody’s father is being released from prison and returning to the small town of Rose, Kansas. It has been twenty-six years since that stormy night when, as baby Jody lay asleep in her crib, her father was shot and killed and her mother disappeared, presumed dead. Neither the protective embrace of Jody’s uncles nor the safe haven of her grandparents’ ranch could erase the pain caused by Billy Crosby on that catastrophic night.

Now Billy Crosby has been granted a new trial, thanks in large part to the efforts of his son, Collin, a lawyer who has spent most of his life trying to prove his father’s innocence. As Jody lives only a few doors down from the Crosbys, she knows that sooner or later she’ll come face-to-face with the man who she believes destroyed her family.

What she doesn’t expect are the heated exchanges with Collin. Having grown up practically side by side in this very small town, Jody and Collin have had a long history of carefully avoiding each other’s eyes. Now Jody discovers that underneath their antagonism is a shared sense of loss that no one else could possibly understand. As she revisits old wounds, startling revelations compel her to uncover the dangerous truth about her family’s tragic past.

Join Our Book Club!!

2011-02-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

In a previous post I mentioned about my friend and I having a bookclub. I have had more interest in the book club so I've decided I would formally invite lots of my long-distance friends to join the bookclub (Jill....).

I know we all can't get together and discuss our books. I know in this day and age we have Skype and such (which I must confess, I've never used), but I think time would be a big factor in coordinating getting together. Several of the bookclub members live on different continents. (Yes, Mum-me, I am considering you a member!!)

I had an idea for some book suggestions. Since we all live in vastly different locations, both geographically and culturally, I thought it would be fun to pick a book(s) that reflect our local culture. That way we could all learn about eachother's culture/country. (golly, I sure do sound like a teacher...guess that's why I am one. lol)

So, if you're on facebook, friend me if you haven't already (Dayna Hubbell Jones) or email me at wildfirewife317 at hotmail dot com.

Beach Photo

2011-02-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

I hope you guys like my new blog title photo. It was taken 3 years ago when we were in Florida for my cousin's wedding. The 2 girls in it are Tracey (right) and her cousin Cheyenne (left). The wedding was on the beach at sunset, so it was the perfect backdrop for wedding photos.

Welcome to the randomness of my brain.

2011-02-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, here are some random thoughts. Don't say I didn't warn you.

*We did super good this year and got our taxes done and e-filed about 2 weeks ago. Then we heard back from them and they had been rejected because the employer ID number was wrong. We double and triple checked it and it's correct. So, what does the fabulous IRS advise to do? SNAIL MAIL them in! That's right, we had to pay (again!) to do them and print them out to send them in the old fashioned way. That means we won't get our refund for 7-10 weeks. Not happy about that, but we'll survive.

*I have decided to commit to doing P90X this summer. I really don't have the kind of time right now that it needs so I will wait til school's out this summer. I am really looking forward to working out hard.

*Aaron ate his first salad last night. Yep, you read that right. FYI- Aaron is my husband, who is almost 31 years old.

*My house is a perpetual disaster...I think I need a maid. If I had the money I would pay for one, just to at least do my dishes and laundry. And vacuum.

* My friend Pami and I have started a book club. She's the better bookclub member. She's actually read the books. I took 2 months to get a copy of "Water for Elephants". I was too cheap to buy the book, the public library didn't have it, but luckily I carpool with the high school librarian who ordered it and loaned it to me :) Our book club has strict guidelines (HA!) to join. Our requirement is that you must live very far away from each other. heeheee. At least that's how we justified it. You see, I live in New Mexico and she lives just a few miles away in Hawaii. Anyone else like to join? Illinois? Australia? Georgia? You know who you are ;) Any book suggestions?

* I love to collect magnets. I'm not sure how many of them I have, but I do know that only about half of them fit on my fridge. I am working on getting pictures to share with you. I gather magnets from all the places I visit and I also shamelessly ask anyone I know who is going somewhere to bring me back a magnet. I've collect many foreign magnets from places like Denmark, Guam, Australia, New Zealand, Morocco, and some unpronouncable town in South America to name a few.

* Next weekend we are going to Albuquerque to celebrate my niece's 2nd birthday!! Such a beautiful, miraculous, tough little girl.

* I love full moons. Must be my inner werewolf. Go Team Jacob!!

Goodnight ya'll.

This blog post is going to be titleless because I can't think of a good title.

2011-02-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

I have a problem.

I really need to learn to blog what's on my mind, not what's in my camera. Everytime I check my blog (which is ALL the time, because I'm always logging on to read other blogs), I feel totally guilty because I know I need to write something, but I don't. I keep thinking that since I don't have any pictures to share, then I don't have anything to share at all.

Well, pthhht to that. So I will start writing more of what's on my mind.

I know you guys all want to read my random thoughts, right? RIGHT?

Humor me.

State of Emergency

2011-02-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

What a week it's been!! Below 0 temperatures are not normal for us down here in the Southwestern deserty areas of New Mexico. Although we can get pretty cold since we are close to the mountains.

However, this week brought the coldest temps to Silver City that I've ever seen. All over the state we were setting record lows. When we got the big snowstorm over New Years it was 0 degrees, but this past Thursday was even colder than that. It was 10 below zero (F)!!!

It was so cold Thursday and Friday mornings that we had ice on the INSIDE of our windows.

We were very blessed during this time because we rely primarily on wood heat for our house. Our little woodstove is great and keeps our house nice and cozy. We also have 2 infrared heaters that we use as supplemental heat when we need it.

However, others is Silver City and around New Mexico weren't so lucky. New Mexico had a natural gas and power shortage this past week when the temps dipped so low. Here in Silver City about 300 people lost their natural gas due to no pressure in the lines.

Schools have been closed for 3 days, one for weather and the other 2 days for not having any gas for heat. Our governor declared NM to be in a state of emergency and urged all schools to close. (Of course my school didn't cancel :(

On Thursday the high during the day was around 20 degrees and we had water when we got up that morning, but by that afternoon one of our pipes had frozen and burst. It froze during the DAY!!! Isn't that just crazy? Luckily Aaron was able to get it fixed pretty easily and it wasn't a critical line, it was just the pipe that goes to the yard water.

*******
In other news: Ole Punxsatawny Phil did not see his shadow, so winter shall soon be over. :)

District Champs!!!

2011-01-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the La Plata Lady Broncos for winning the District Tournament!!!!!

You guys played awesome and I can't wait to watch you play at Silver High next year!!!

2011-01-18T09:25:00.001-07:00

The Nutcracker performance was a resounding success! I have lots of pictures that I will share later as soon as I can find the time to upload them.

My darling little Krysten mouse made the front page of our local newspaper.

Check it out! Here's the full article, complete with their names :)
On the right hand side, click on 'Back Issues' and select 1/14/11. You'll find the article there.

Krysten is the mouse on the far right.

You can see Kylee's head way in the back behind the big mouse.

The Nutcracker

2011-01-12T21:28:00.001-07:00

Everyone is invited to come see the Conservatory of Dance present:

The Nutcracker

School performance is Thursday morning at 10am. All seats are sold out, but many, many of our local schools are attending!

Public performance will be Friday night at 7pm at the Fine Arts Center Theater. Tickets are $5.00.

Both Kylee and Krysten will be performing in the ballet.

Winter Fun

2011-01-07T12:33:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous snow storm during the Christmas break. Well, I guess fabulous depends on how you look at it. It wasn't too fab when I was out driving in it. But when you're home by the fire, drinking hot cocoa and watching it snow...then it's fabulous!

At my house we got about 8 inches, plus another 1.5 inches the next day.

Aaron and Kylee spent a lot of time outside playing in the snow while I stayed inside with Krysten. It was her turn to be sick :( Aaron and Kylee built an igloo that was big enuf for Kylee to climb inside of! Part of it is still in our yard a week later.

One of Aaron's traditions with the girls is to go outside in your barefoot in the snow and see who can stay the longest. Usually Tracey is the one up for the challenge but she wasn't here so he got the little ones to try it. Krysten was NOT happy with it, but Kylee enjoyed it...briefly. I even went outside too, but I cheated since I had snowboots on. But I was wearing shorts so that should count for partial points right?

A Free Ride

2010-12-25T16:06:00.001-07:00

Freddie is a wonderful horse for our little girls.

The other day the girls and Aaron wanted to walk from the gate to the house, which is about 1/2 mile. I went on ahead to the ranch in the pickup. I was mildly concerned if the walk would be too much for Kylee since she had been so sick for so many days, but they needed to run off some energy so I didn't worry too much about it. If they did get tired, Daddy was there to carry them.

A few minutes later I looked out the window, and realized there was nothing to worry about. Both little girls were riding Freddie bareback without a bridle or anything. Freddie was just following Aaron on up to the house. So the girls got a free ride and Aaron and Freddie got a nice little walk :)

Good Morning!!!

2010-12-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Good morning from the Ranch.

Merry Christmas ya'll!!!

2010-12-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

I'm home with Kylee since she's really sick. Aaron and Krysten went ahead to the ranch this morning and hopefully we'll head up tomorrow. We are planning on being there thru Christmas.

I have cleaned and done tons of laundry. I even did dishes. I am running out of things to do. I know, I still need to wrap presents and get packed for the week, but I seem to be procrastinating...dunno why.

I keep checking Facebook about every 15 minutes. Not much exciting happens during those 15 minutes. I'm even too lazy to facestalk people. I also keep checking my blog, but no one has posted anything new in the last 15 minutes.

I guess that means that it's my turn to post something.

One of the things I enjoy about Christmas time is receiving all the Christmas letters and pictures from all our friends and family. I love reading the letters and looking at the pictures and seeing how everyone has grown/changed in the last year. I love hear about what people have been up to- even if I already knew what they were up to.

Most years I even send out my own version of a Christmas letter, sometimes a picture. I even had my picture all picked out that I was going to send out this year. I knew it as soon as I snapped the picture 6 months ago. It was a gorgeous picture of my 3 girls.

The lousy economy has now even hit my Christmas picture. Blame it on Obama, why not?!! So, in the interest in saving money this year, I have decided to send virtual Christmas greetings.

Our year has been an insanely busy one. Anyone that reads my blog, or follows me on Facebook can attest to that. We joke that if it weren't for our cell phones, Aaron and I would never get to talk to eachother. We are extremely busy with our activities and the girls' activities. And no, I don't want to get into a philosophical discussion on whether or not we are too busy. We'll save that for another day.

Tracey is halfway thru her 8th grade year (don't remind me that high school is just around the corner). She's involved in sports- volleyball and basketball. She's also active with our church's youth group called Surge. She can't wait until she gets her license and we even let her drive to the neighbor's house. Hey! Don't freak out- it's a dirt road. So that makes it okay. Don't argue. :) She had 2 surgeries on her arm this past spring, and she now needs to return for another in March. Please keep praying for healing on her arm.

Kylee is going to PreK this year and absolutely loves it. She really loves school and I hope she will continue to be challenged. She started out at the Montessori School and really excelled there, but we put her in PreK in the fall because, well, because it's free! Anyone that has ever met her knows she has a huge personality...I don't think she's ever met a stranger. This summer we saw some new places and she really remembers them and talks about them. Abraham Lincoln I think will forever be in her mind, and she knows lots about him too. Elvis is also a fascination for her, not his music- but his house.

Krysten is fabulous. Her curls and those blue eyes are gonna be heartbreakers soon. She is so mischevious. She draws on everything. Just last night I caught her drawing on the laundry basket with a sharpie she'd found somewhere. She is going to daycare and really enjoys it there. It is right across the street from Kylee's school, so Kylee is there part time as well. Her and Kylee have also started ballet. Kylee loves it, but I'm thinking hiphop would be more Krysten's style!

Despite my best efforts, I am still down in Lordsburg. I am still teaching PE. Enough about that. I am also still teaching in AWANA's. I've been doing it for about 7 years. Krysten and Kylee have also started Cubbies and they have lots of fun.

(Now, I know if you're not around here you might not realize this BUT- Kylee goes to school in the Cobre school district, Tracey goes to the Silver school district, and I am in the Lordsburg district. Three different districts? Three different schedules? And you wonder why my life is crazy!)

Aaron is still fighting fire with the forest service, although I think he's discovered a direction he really enjoys- teaching. He really enjoys leading the fire trainings that fire fighters are required to attend. He has a passion for it, so I know he'll do great. He and I also have a small group Bible study that we lead in our church. I really love our small group and we have so much fun.

Tracey, Krysten, and Kylee at the Covered Bridge park in Zumbrota, Minnesota.

Merry Christmas!

from the Jones family,

Aaron, Dayna, Tracey, Kylee, and Krysten

My Journey Through the NFL

2010-12-15T10:44:00.001-07:00

"Who's your favorite NFL team?"

That is probably the most asked question of a PE teacher. Maybe any teacher for that matter. Older students seem obsessed with wanting to know who you cheer for on the weekends.

For years my usual answer was "I don't have one." This response was usually met with puzzled looks. "I don't really care for football." That was met with even more puzzled looks. Almost anti-American.

My dear hubby is a big football fan.  Thanks to ESPN, NBC, and the NFL channel football is on in our house 24/7. I have picked up some football knowledge through osmosis. Aaron was very patient in explaining the game to me and now that I understand a small smidgen of it, I kinda enjoy it.

So I decided I would pick a football team to become a fan of. (Now I know all you die-hard football fans out there would shudder at that so you might want to skip the rest of this.)

I began a very lengthy elimination process.

I evaluated teams based on stats, records, playoff potential, and quarterback ratings.

NOT!!

I evaluated teams based on a rigorous process of comparing team colors and team names.   My hubby told me to eliminate the Cowboys and the Packers. So in the interest of saving my marriage, I immediately crossed those off my list. Wasn't difficult.

I didn't like the stripey helmets, so the Bengals got scratched. I refuse to wear blue and orange (blech!) so bye-bye Broncos. Some mascots just didn't do it for me...the Browns? Come on. That doesn't exactly strike fear in you. I also refused to cheer from any team from Texas. I don't like Mike Ditka so there went the Bears (but Urlacher is from NM, so that posed a bit of a conflict for me.)

And so on. You get the idea.

Finally I had only a few teams left on the list.   Since we had just been to Tampa, FL I felt a connection with their team. Plus, pirates are kinda cool.

*insert drum roll please*

I chose the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Now I had an answer. All were happy. For awhile.

Problem was, I never watched a game, couldn't name a single player on the team and sometimes I even forgot I was supposed to be cheering for them.

So the next season I picked a new team. I am ashamed to admit I jumped on the bandwagon and became a Saints fan. Not ashamed to be a Saints fan, only ashamed of the bandwagon jumping.

Rejoicing in the land. I even knew who the quarterback was.

The next season I forgot to cheer for them. I also felt no connection with anyone. So I again began my search for another team.

*insert another drum roll*

I have chosen a new team. This team was even one of my finalists in my original quest.

I really like Michael Vick. His team was also one of my original finalist teams, mainly due to him. Then he had a bit of a difficulty. We won't go into that now.

But he's back!!!

So by combining my original finalist teams...you get...

Be proud. I can name their quarterback, I actually watch their games (which is probably an important thing to do as a fan), they are the conference rivals of the Cowboys (and I'm a total Cowboys hater), their colors aren't bad, and there is a distinct possibility that I might even have the chance to go to a live game. You see, they play the 49ers (which is Aaron's team).

My quest to find a football team has finally ended in Philadelphia.

Thank you for coming with me on this tumultuous and confusing journey :)

Tis the season...

2010-12-06T08:37:00.001-07:00

...basketball season.
Basketball is definitely Tracey's favorite sport. She's been playing basketball since she was in 1st grade and every year we've watched her grow up, develop her skills, and enjoy the game. It's been a great journey watching her mature to the point she is now.

She is an 8th grader this year so it's the last season before moving up to the high school. Yikes, I don't even want to think about that...the fact that my first born will be in high school in less than a year...oy.

As some of you know, she changed schools last year and now attends La Plata here in Silver City. Before that she rode down with me to Lordsburg, all the way from Kinder thru 6th grade. It was an easy transition for her and for us. It's so much easier having her attend the school in the same town we live in, especially now that she's busy with extracurricular activites.

I've learned a few things now that I'm the parent of a player instead of just the player. It is way more nerve-wracking being the parent. Holy cow! They've had some close games and I think I've been a basketcase inside. (I try not be one of those outwardly dramatic parents). It's so exciting to watch your child make great plays and score points.

I remember after all my games when I was in school my dad and I would rehash the game play-by-play. We would discuss mistakes and celebrate the successes together. I had forgotten the fun of doing that. Now, Tracey and I talk about her games afterward.

Recently, my parents came down to see one of Tracey's games. Usually they leave immediately afterward to go back to Quemado, but this time they decided to spend the night. I know my dad was pleased as punch because once again he got to rehash the game, this time with his granddaughter, just like he and I used to do. I know Tracey enoyed getting to talk with him about it. I know I enjoyed all of us talking about the game, it was lots of fun and brought back lots of memories.

** I was waiting til I downloaded more pics to post this, but it's been so long since I've posted, I thought I'd share it anyway. Enjoy**

My newest hobby

2010-11-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have become fascinated with hair bows. I luuuurve to get them and put them in my girls' hair. Lucky for me they like hair bows too.

I bought my first ones at a craft fair last year. The girls' loved them. I've even looked them up on Etsy and was dangerously close to ordering some. But I held back since I was feeling broke at the time.

I went to the craft fair again this year. And bought more bows.

Then I had a brilliant idea.

Surely I can make own bows, right? Right.

So I've been looking all over the Internet for instructions and found some great ones here.

This afternoon I decided to try my luck at making some. It was definitely a first-timer bow and I've got a lot of practicing to do. I also made a fancy hair-tie with ribbons for Tracey to wear for her games but didn't get a picture of that yet.

I learned that I need a bigger variety of ribbon (hint, hint...good Christmas idea) and more colors. The colors I bought are Tracey's school colors and were intended to make something the girls could wear to her games.

Tracey also made some bows and blogged about it here.

I will try and get more pictures and share them with you guys. Hopefully we'll see some improvement *grin*.

Unlocked

2010-11-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Karen Kingsbury's latest book "Unlocked". Wow.

I have read most of her books and I love, love, absolutely love the entire Baxter family series...all 14 of them, starting with Redemption. I've also read most of her stand-alone books as well. I would recommend everyone read these books, every last one of them. They are that great.

She is a Christian author who writes books about struggles and issues that real Christians deal with and also includes stories of those who discover the Lord. It's impossible for me to read any of her books without crying, sometimes so much that I can't see the pages. You can always tell if I read all night because the next day my eyes are all puffy from so much crying. lol

Unlocked is about a boy who has autism and he finds his way out of his locked world via music and connecting with his childhood friend. But autism isn't the only 'locked' issue in the book, she also deals with students unlocking the beauty within themselves and seeing it in others.

I would love it if anybody reading this picked up one of her books and read it. Even if it's not "Unlocked". However, I think Unlocked is one of her best books.

If you do, please let me know. Or if you are a fan, I would love to hear from you. What's your favorite?

New friends and old friends

2010-11-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

Recently one of my best friends from college came to this area for a visit. Since college she's lived in California, Ohio, and now back to Arizona, where she's from. So we really haven't gotten to see eachother in many years.

I had never met her children, and she'd never met mine so it was fun to see them make friends and play together. I guess that's a sign of what stage we are in life- when you can't wait for your kids to get to meet eachother and then hope that they become close friends and grow up together just as their parents did.

Krysten was sick so I only had Kylee with me, but that didn't seem to matter to anyone.

What a bunch of goofy kids :)

Mandy and Dayna

2010.

Ky-Ky turns 5

2010-11-14T21:47:00.000-07:00

Happy 5th Birthday, Kylee

Proof we need a bigger house.

And, there were at least 7-8 people were missing from this photo.

Zia Lucia Craciunescu

2010-11-10T22:20:00.002-07:00

***UPDATE: Zia is home!!!!!*** (Friday, Nov 12)

My bloggy friends, meet Zia Lucia Craciunescu!!!

Isn't she just so fabulous? Here she is with her mama, Gina and one of her sisters, Denali.

And here she is again with her most wonderful, fantabulous cousin! I was so excited to get to hold her. She is still in the NICU but they are able to take her to a 'family room'. All my girls got to see her, so that was extra special for them.

As soon as she starts growing faster and doing better with her breathing she will be able to come home.

She is almost 43 weeks old now. Or 3 weeks old. Or 14 weeks old.

Daddy's little girl.

For those of you who don't know, Zia was delivered via C-section at 30 weeks. She wasn't growing because the umbilical cord wasn't working right. She was less than 2 pounds when she was born! Like many preemies, she's had some rough times but she's doing much better now. Please continue to pray for her.

Halloween

2010-11-09T22:10:00.001-07:00

The Friday before Halloween was the day when everyone was allowed to wear their costumes to school. But there was a caveat...it had to be a book character- to coincide with the Read-A-Thon. At the eleventh hour (literally) I decided to go as Skippyjon Jones. For anyone who is unfamiliar with Skippyjon Jones, I recommend reading one of his books. They are HILARIOUS! They are about a siamese cat who wants to be a chihuahua. Skippito is his alter-ego.

Anyway, here is my Skippito costume. Yes, I made it all.

On Saturday we drove to Tucson to see Zia. (more on her later). That night we went to Trunk or Treat at Grama Lucy's church. It was lots of fun and the girls got lots of candy of course. BTW, this was the SECOND Trunk or Treat we had attended in as many days.

I totally loved my costume!! I even was asked to pose for several pictures by complete strangers!

Minnie Mouse

A purple butterfly.

Phantom of the Opera

What a motley crew we make. The musketeer is my cousin Denali.

I suffer from the syndrome of wanting to do as many things as possible at all times. I love being busy and having things to do. Unfortunately, then I stress over it all. My Halloween weekend was no exception.

Friday- #1 6:00pm Trunk or Treat at the girls' daycare.

#2 7:00pm Surprise birthday party for a close friend's daughter. I was in charge of getting her other

3 kids to the party on time. Notice the time crunch. Insert stresser.

Saturday- #3 8:00am (actuality-9:30am) drive to Tucson to visit Zia and the rest of Gina's family. Then

drive to Sierra Vista.

#4 6:00pm Trunk or Treat

10:00pm - depart Sierra Vista to drive home (3 hour drive)

Sunday- #5 9:00am Sunday School and Church (honestly, I skipped SS so I could sleep)

#6 4:00pm Costume parade

#7 5:00pm insert a wee bit of trick or treating

#8 6:00pm - game night at friend's house.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday- sleep. Decompress. Swear I will never do 3 days of Halloween again. Remind me of this next year, please.

Invisibility.

2010-11-04T21:29:00.000-06:00

One of the blogs I read is called Attack of the Redneck Mommy. She is sentimental, sarcastic, hilarious, and sometimes even a bit crude. She has 3 children, one of which is medically fragile. He has a whole host of medical problems of which I am not going to list here. She recently blogged about his 'superpower' of invisiblity. It is completely heartwrenching.

Please, please read it for yourself.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T14:41:00.000-06:00

My crazy, hectic, insanely busy life.

2010-11-02T13:16:00.001-06:00

I have lots of pictures that I want to post. I have lots of stuff I want to share with you guys. But I don't have lots of time to get it all done.

My Halloween weekend was super hectic and I'm trying to recover from all the missed sleep. So, instead of blogging last night, I made myself go to bed at a decent hour. No guarantees about blogging tonight either.

Plus, I've got to get my house cleaned up and in presentable shape for company becuz it's Kylee's 5th birthday this weekend. And no, I don't know exactly what I'm gonna do...that's why no one's been invited yet. But don't worry, whenever I get my act together, you'll hear about it. For those of you that know me, know that I am the queen of last minute preparations. So this shouldn't come as a surprise at all.

So don't abandon me yet, I promise I will try and find the time soon to let you know all about our Halloween adventures.

I will tell you this....

...I got to see and hold baby Zia this weekend!!! Definitely the highlight of my weekend and yes, I do have pictures of that!!!!

Snowmen are NOT supposed to come before Halloween.

2010-10-26T13:43:00.000-06:00

Recently my husband spent a considerable amount of time in the mountains of Colorado near Boulder. During this time he experienced the seasons abruptly shifting from Indian summer to frigid winter. It snowed 2-3 times on them while they were gone. Each time he called home, or sent me pix of the snow; I made sure to tell him about how it was in the 80's here and that I was enjoying my shorts and t-shirts. I'm nothing if not supportive, right?

Here is a picture of how they spent one afternoon when it snowed too much to get to the work site. In case you don't understand, Mr. Snowman here is decked out in complete woodcutting gear.

Mizzou finally beats Oklahoma!! woot woot!!

2010-10-23T22:14:00.001-06:00

Pumpkin Pickin'

2010-10-20T10:31:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I took the girls to pick pumpkins in Las Cruces at the Mesilla Valley Maze. If you live in this area you definitely need to take a trip there in the Fall.

You get to take a hayride out to the fields where you can choose your own pumpkins. There are all kinds of sizes and colors of pumpkins and gourds. This part is the girls' favorite part of the whole day. Their rule is that if you pick it, you carry it. Great words of wisdom. I repeated this mantra to my girls. And they followed it...for about 3.6 seconds.

They picked fairly small pumpkins that were easily carried. However, freshly picked pumpkins have stickers on the stems. Their delicate little hands weren't havin' none of that sticker bizness!! So guess who got to carry their pumpkins.

Not the hayride driver, that's fo' sho'.

Not only did they pick out their own pumpkins, they each found little baby pumpkins that they wanted. Plus, I found a cool white one (maybe a gourd, who cares) and of course, we got Tracey a good sized one.

I'm sure I looked like a pumpkin sized idiot for carting around 4 pumpkins. The girls so graciously carried their baby ones.

There's lots of other stuff to do beside pumpkins. There's a super cool maze that they create in their corn field but I haven't ventured into it yet. I'm still waiting till I am fairly confident I won't have to carry the two girls out after they drop from exhaustion from all the walking.

There are some HUGE slides to keep kids happy. There's also plenty of games to pay-to-play but sshhh! my kids don't know that yet.

We had lots of fun and are already looking forward to next year.

Introducing..."the world according to me"

2010-10-16T21:01:00.000-06:00

I would like to introduce all of my readers to a new blog that is listed on my "blogstalking" list.

The author of this blog is none other than.....my oldest daughter, Tracey!!!

So go on over and take a gander at the world according to me.

Claude Monet reincarnated

2010-10-15T22:15:00.002-06:00

Krysten Monet (emphasis on the Monet) would like to give you a tour of ~~her canvas~~ our house.

Look Mom, crayon on the TV!
(along with a myriad of other...stuff)

"I thought it was wotion."

(foundation poured on the carpet. let's not even mention how much

she had smeared all over her entire body. or how difficult large amounts of makeup

is to wash off the entire body. did i mention entire? just checking)

Front door greetings.

White was just so....plain.

Tracey's mirror does a lot of sweating...therefore the need for deodorant applied liberally.

A love note to greet me each time I turn on the light in my bedroom.

Tables are not just for eating, you know.

In case burglars climbing through our windows need a little...crayon therapy.

Thank you for joining Krysten on this tour of our house.

If she ever comes to your house...

...be afraid. Be very afraid.

I only hope that she will give me credit for ~~not killing her~~ supporting her when she becomes a famous painter.

2010 Lady Broncos- volleyball

2010-10-13T22:27:00.001-06:00

Tracey's 8th grade volleyball season has come to a close. They had a great season this year, ending with a winning record and greatly improved skills.

Later, I have realized that 'ohmygosh' I will be watching her play at the high school next year!!! Wow, where has the time gone?

The girls and their daddy.

Kudos to them for spending hours at the gym watching their big sister play.

Horsin' Around

2010-10-11T11:38:00.001-06:00

My girls dearly love to ride horses when they come to the ranch. All 3 of them. From the time Tracey was little she would ride Freddie. Freddie is like part of the family. My dad raised him from a colt, I can even remember the mare he's out of. My dad started him as a cutting horse back in the 80's. Later, when I was a teenager he gave him to me as my horse to ride. Once Tracey got big enough my dad then told Tracey that Freddie belonged to her. Freddie is 30 years old now and he's really starting to show his age. Now the little girls get to ride Freddie when they come to the ranch.

Tracey now gets to ride Red. She's pretty happy with that. Papa even told her yesterday that Red could be her horse. So she was pretty stoked about that. Grama is now wondering just who she's gonna ride.

Grama Maggie and Papa Rick with all their grandkiddos and their horses.

The Ranch

2010-10-10T15:49:00.000-06:00

When it's time to visit the ranch the girls are so excited they can hardly sit still for the entire trip. They've been looking forward to this trip all week.

Kylee is finally old enough to handle a very important job. The gate opener. Any driver knows that it's fabulous to have someone else open the gates for you. Kylee was so excited to get to do it and she did it all by herself.

Here is the view of the house/shop from the gate down below.

Stay tuned for more pictures of the girls' adventures on the ranch.

Summer: How I Miss Thee

2010-10-09T19:41:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year.

Time to put away the bathing suits, shorts, and flip flops.

Time to unpack the warmer clothes. Dig out the jackets.

We had a great time this summer.

Summer oh how I miss you.

Lazy days of summer.

Fun filled days of summer.

Oh how I miss you.

These photos were taken on Labor Day weekend. The last unofficial weekend of the summer.

We went to Bill Evans Lake and lazed around.

Aaron took the girls out in the kayak, I read a book, and Tracey slept.

Ode to Summer Rains

2010-10-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

Oh green grass,
oh how I miss you.

The rain this summer turned our normally brown landscape into a lush, green landscape. The landscape of which to rival the greenery that I saw this summer as I traveled through America's Heartland.

See Jill! It can get green here.

Briefly.

How Well Does He Know Me?

2010-10-06T13:07:00.001-06:00

Katie, over at Cleared For Takeoff did this little game over on her blog. I thought it would be fun to do my version here. I asked Aaron these questions and he was supposed to respond according to how he thought I would answer.

Here goes:

1. She's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?
      Food Network
He's pretty much right on this one. I watch the Food Network all the time. When Dora's not on of course.

2. You're out to eat, what kind of dressing does she get on her salad?
     Italian, but it's different all the time.
He's spot on with this one. I do order different dressings. Usually it's Italian.

3. What's one food she doesn't like?
     biscuits and gravy
While it's true I don't care for biscuits and gravy (although sometimes I will eat them), my answer would have been eggs.

4. You go out to eat and have a drink, what does she order?
    Pina colada
If I had an alcoholic drink of choice that would be it. Regular drink though it's UNSWEET iced tea 100% of the time.

5. What shirt size does she have?
       Medium
He's right when it comes to t-shirts. Regular shirts I have to go with a large though.

6. What shoe size does she have?
      7 or 7.5, somewhere around there.
Yuppers.

7. What's her favorite type of sandwich?
         Philly cheese steak
He's right on that one, although I was thinking more in terms of a regular sandwich- in which case it would be a roastbeef/swiss sandwich.

8. What would she eat everyday if she could?
     Jalisco's. smothered red burrito
True dat, true dat. Jalisco's is a Mexican restaurant in town...but I'd take a smothered red burrito from just about anywhere.

9. What is her favorite cereal?
     Raisin Bran Crunch
That's what I eat every morning :)

10. What would she never wear?
         After much consternation he finally chose "stripper clothes" as his answer.
Not what I would've picked, but true enough. I would never wear stripper clothes.

11. What is her favorite sports team?
        the Bulls
Huh? Maybe 20 years ago. Where has he been with all the discussions we've had lately over which football teams? But in his defense, I'm not a die-hard fan of anyone. I would really much like to be a UNM Lobo fan but they are too horrible to claim to be a fan of (Jill, take your coach back!) I vascillate between cheering for the Buccaneers, Saints, and just 2 days ago decided I would become a 49ers fan with him. This topic is worthy of it's own blog post.

12. What is something she does that you wish she wouldn't do.
      Vacuum when he's watching TV.
He hates that. For some reason that's when I feel the urge to clean and cleaning's not done until you vacuum, right?

13. What is her heritage?
         Spanish. How detailed do you want?
There's pretty much no way he could've gotten this wrong. It's true. I am half Hispanic. I can trace my family roots clear back to 1598 when the Spanish explorers sent the first groups of settlers to the area now known as New Mexico but way back then still belonged to Spain.   I could provide lots of details. Lots and lots. But no need to bore you. So he's spot on with this one.

14. You bake her a cake, what kind of cake?
     white cake
Yep, pretty much. I don't like chocolate cake. He really would've been able to answer anything but chocolate.

15. Did she play sports in high school?
       yep
Again, pretty easy one. I played volleyball, basketball and track.

16. What could she spend hours doing?
         Facebooking
While that is absolutely true, my answer would have been reading.

17. What is the unique talent that she has?
          bossy. hahaha
He must've been getting annoyed by this point.

18. What is her type of coffee.
          none
I don't drink coffee, neither of us do.

Answering these types of questions is something that he DOES NOT like to do so I really appreciate him humoring me. Also, keep in mind that I was asking him these questions over the phone as he was traveling to Boulder, CO with 3 other men in the truck.

My Progress So Far....

2010-10-05T22:31:00.000-06:00

Anyone curious about my workout progress?

I know you're just dying to know how I'm doing.

I have been exercising since July. During the summer I was going to the gym most every day. I would go before Aaron left for work and that schedule worked great...until school started. After school started I struggled to find the time to exercise. I had to be creative in how and when I got my workout in. I now only get a workout in about 2-3 times per week. Here are some of the various things I've been doing.

This summer I paid for a membership. At the gym I did the treadmill, the elliptical, and weights-mainly working on my arms and shoulders. I've seen results...my arms aren't nearly as flabby as they used to be.

After school started I paid for a membership at the gym in Lordsburg (yes, there's one there- can you believe it?) There I started riding the treadmill but for some reason the belt on their machines heats up and burns my feet, making it highly unpleasant after about .5 mile. So I started putting in lots of miles on the stationary bike. I also kept up with my arm weights.

I also have a collection of videos. Most of them are Biggest Loser videos (mainly cuz they're cheap at Walmart) and I switch between them.

I borrowed a Kettlebell from a friend and plan on doing that during lunch at work. Gotta be honest...haven't started that yet.

For the month of October I am trying to commit to the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. ( I have done it twice...and yes I realize today is the 5th) It's one of the videos I've been switching thru, but I'm gonna try and stick it out all month. Last night I started on Level 2.

Nutrition wise I haven't really changed much except for less sweets and portion control. I am trying to not eat so much fast food either. But completely eliminating it is darn near impossible with the schedule that my family maintains. I also haven't changed what we eat at home because...well, because I live in a house full of picky eaters. Healthy veggies doesn't fly with certain members of my familia.

Okay, now here are the results:

I don't really know. Sorry. I was a total loser and never remembered to measure myself before I started working out. I can tell you my arms are firmer, my legs are in better shape, I'm losing my saddlebags, and my muffin top is reduced from a baker's dozen to about a half dozen muffins. I can keep my clothes buttoned all day, but haven't gone down a size yet.

Initially I gained 4 pounds (super, super discouraging- but I'm sure it was due to a little bit of muscle that I was building. at least, that's what I'm telling myself!!) But now I'm back down to my original weight.

Grrrrr...I so want to see pounds being lost. That's so frustrating. I do know that I would see an increase in results if I totally changed the way we eat.... we'll get there. Sloooooooooooooooooooooowly.

Help!!!

2010-09-29T12:23:00.000-06:00

Okay guys.

I need your help.

I am wanting some suggestions as to what books to read.

So please, please leave me a comment with your suggestions. (You can use the 'anonymous' option, just sign your name on your comment).

I would appreciate it sooooooooooooo much.

**smoochies**

Moon over the Kneeling Nun

2010-09-24T08:26:00.000-06:00

Aren't these pictures great?

I know lots of you aren't familiar with the sights around Silver City, NM. The ridge and then that little sliver of rock that you can see is the famous (in these parts, anyway) Kneeling Nun. There's a legend about the Kneeling Nun. Read about it here. The wierd looking stuff in front of the Kneeling Nun is part of the tailings pile from the Santa Rita Copper Mine. It's one of the largest open pit copper mines in the world. (You might remember the picture that I had on my blog for such a long time of the sunrise over the Kneeling Nun.)

This is the view from our front porch.

Last night I was lucky to catch the moon as it rose over the Kneeling Nun. Isn't it fabulous??

On my own again.

2010-09-19T17:45:00.000-06:00

Just letting ya'll know...

Aaron will be gone starting tomorrow, for the entire week. He's not returning until next Sunday.

He is making his bazillionth trip to the top of Baldy. But this time it's for a new and exciting (for him) reason.

There is a cabin up there where one of the lookouts live during the summer. This cabin is an old, historic cabin. And now it needs work.

Last time he went (during the Week From Hell) they cut down trees for logs. There are quite a few rotten logs on the cabin that need to be replaced and this time, they are going to remove all those rotten logs and replace them with the new logs.

He's very excited about this trip.

I'm not. Oh, sure I don't mind what he's doing...but that's not the point.

My confidence in managing on my own is a bit shaken after my last experience.

My plate this week is not nearly as full as it was during that particular week, but you never know what catastrophies may befall our family.

A Bright Spot

2010-09-15T22:37:00.000-06:00

On any given normal day I leave my house before 7am and don't return until after 6pm. Several times a week we don't return until after 8pm. So what I'm trying to say is I'm not around much during the day.

During my Week of Hell I was home during the day and noticed something I had never seen before - at our house, anyway.

Morning glories!!!

It was a pleasant surprise to see these flowers that were blooming wild. They were all twisted up in the catclaw that grows out of control around here.

Thank you Lord, for that bright spot in my otherwise dismal week.

Mad Skills

2010-09-13T22:10:00.000-06:00

Curious about my new picture?

Impressed with my mad photography skills?

Well, sorry to disappoint my fans but 'twernt my mad skills, but my dear hubs mad skills.

How many times can I say mad skills? I bet a few times more.

This summer we went to the Albuquerque Aquarium and the Botanical Gardens. I have been obsessed with photographing flowers lately so the Botanical Gardens were a great place to feed my latest obsession. In the Botanical Gardens is a Butterfly Pavilion section. There are tons and tons of different types of butterflies in there and Aaron took as many pictures as he could.

So...photo credit goes to Aaron.

But...Photoshop credit goes to me. I added the text. See? I got mad skills too!

Beauty and the Beast

2010-09-11T21:30:00.000-06:00

My girls, especially Krysten, just absolutely love Beauty and the Beast. I paid big bucks to get a used copy of the DVD on Amazon (since it's in the mysterious Disney vault), and they watched it over and over and over and over.

This summer the broadway production of Beauty and the Beast came to Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque. The girls and I attended it. It was FABULOUS and totally worth the cost of the tickets. If it comes to a city near you and your kids like Belle, the I highly recommend taking them to see this performance.

This is from my favorite scene in the movie. I love the part where all the dishes sing "Be Our Guest."