Once There Was A Snowman...

Today we got our first real snow in Santa Fe. We had a little skiff last week that was gone by the time I got back from Maxwell. Eva was so excited to see the snow flying that she picked out her warmest fleece pants and jacket, found her snow suit and boots, and asked Daddy to find her gloves. She was so ready to be out in the snow. This is what they did:

Her attention to detail is amazing.

And the final product.

I love that smile.

As a little side note, all that is left of this morning's snow fall is a couple piles of rounded snow, some sticks, rocks, and a carrot :)

Nightmare Before Christmas

So I am too upset with my sister to write about our Halloween. I am just going to post pictures and let you comment, ask questions, figure out EXACTLY who/what we are dressed up like, and where we are. Let the guessing begin :)

Technical Terms

I do have Halloween pics - they will be posted soon-ish. I did want to tell you a funny story and I don't want to wait to upload pictures. So, you'll have to wait for that ;)

Our friends have been potty-training thier boy for a while now. The boy likes to talk about his unit in technical terms. He says things like "My penis worked!" when he successfully pees in the toilet. Well - since we hang out with our friends very often, my girls have heard that word a little too often.

The other night, Eva said to me, "Mom, my penis hurts." (Little girls are not the best at wiping properly and keeping themselves clean - so they often get a little irritated. ) I wasn't exactly sure how to react, so I said, "Eva, only boys have a penis - you don't." I thought that would be enough.
The next day, Eva said the same thing to Daddy. He decided that it wasn't ok for her to use that term - it just isn't right. So he told her the common name for female parts - vagina.

The day after that, we were driving in the car and Eva informed me that "girls don't have a penis, they have a .... a....(she's trying to remember the name) ...a veda." (veeduh)
Bryce and I just laughed - that's good enough. :)

The really fun thing is to think about things that really are named Veda.
My parents live on Veda Lane (hehe). I didn't take the time to remind her what my grandma's name was either.

Quirks? Do I have any? I'm so normal!

So, Share tagged me to do the six quirks thing. I've been thinking about it for days and I still am not sure what all 6 could be. I may have to steal some from others ideas ;)

1. I put this first because I think it's a rare quality. I am very gifted at finding (and buying) super cute skirts for $5. I honestly think I have about 20 skirts or so (although maybe half of them are in Share's closet). When I call Share to tell her I've just purchased a super cute skirt, the first question she asks is if it cost $5 - most of the time it does. I am so gifted.

2. I burp all the time. I have reflux so that explains a lot of it, but seriously. When we first met Karen and Kyle - Kyle had a hard time getting used to my burps. He accepts it now. However, a while back, their 8-year-old son was sitting by me when I burped once. Karen said, "Ben!" (in a totally Mom kind of voice) until she saw the look on my face and apologized for getting after an innocent kid. :)

3. When I get ready, I put one a sock and a shoe and then the other sock and shoe. None of this both socks then both shoes. I like to get one foot completely ready and then the other.

4. I refuse to start a series of books until all of the books are out. I hate waiting because I forget the story and I get mad that it isn't complete. I didn't even crack Harry Potter til we moved here - after Bryce had already read all the books. Even then, I listened to them all on tape while driving all around northern New Mexico. I am thinking I will have to start Twilight sometime soon (once I find the first book on tape;).

5. I have to drink water after eating ice cream. Bryce drinks milk. Crazy. I have to rinse out the milky-ness.

6. So this one I also had to put because it is as true for me as Share. Yes, I quote a million movies daily. More often than not, Pride and Prejudice. Whenever we play the Settlers of Catan card game and I pick up the Church card - I'm always dying to say, "They walked in the direction of..." "The Church." (But I can't do that or it'll give my card away) When we play Pinochle with Karen and Kyle I always want to say, "Hearts, Mr Collins, Hearts." And many, many more.

Feel free to inform me some more of my quirks. I'm always curious to see what others pick up on. I don't think I'll tag anyone, because most people have done it. If any of you feel an inclination, I'd love to read about your quirks. (Do it Karen. I know you've already been working on a list;)

Eva is growing up

Look at my little girl. She definately is growing up. Check out those shoes. Yup, they have little heels. We were looking for shoes for Isobel this summer and Eva had gone around to the other side of the aisle. When she came back she had chosen these cute little girly sandals with heels. We about died! What taste this girl was born with! We didn't buy them that day, but when we went back a couple months later and they were half price, we bought them. She wears them all the time. (This pic was taken one day when we were in the grocery store. She just struck me as such a big girl that I took a picture right there. And yes, she is eating ham. - if you haven't heard it, ask about the Charlotte's Web story.)


This weekend we went up the canyon to see the fall colors. So many Aspens! We ended up riding the chairlift up to the top of the ski basin. On the way up Eva just sat up strait and held on to the bar herself - no help from Daddy. Once we got to the top it was quite cold so she agreed to sit close to me on the way down and snuggle. (Isobel wore the bunny ears on the way up, Eva got them the way down. My purse was a gift for my birthday from my friend, Ligia. Note the fun button on it from Share - it says "An attitude is a terrible thing to waste.")
This was our view on the way down. As we came up the canyon, the trees were brighter than at the top because more leaves were gone. Isn't it beautiful, though?
Come visit us in Santa Fe. My kids are growing too fast and we miss sharing the beautiful fall colors with you. Honestly, I am glad to be here with my family - I only wish all of you were here with us :)

Balloon Fiesta flops

We went with a couple friends to the Balloon fiesta special shapes Glowdeo on Thursday night. When we arrived, some of the balloons (like Sahuaro Grande and Noah's Ark) were up and ready to light up. It was barely dusk so we thought we had time. We were invited as VIP guests with our friends - which meant free food and ice cream. So we ate dinner and while we ate the balloons were occasionally lighting up their flames - but it still didn't seem dark. Then suddenly they were letting the air out and taking down the balloons. Bummer. Oh, well. At least we didn't pay to get in ;) The fireworks show after the balloons were down was AWESOME! We were glad to be there eating ice cream and enjoying the show.



After the fireworks, we walked around the park - it's like a fair. Tons of junk food and stoopidneers to buy. I did end up buying kettle corn - just can't say "no" to that! We had our friends take a couple pics of us - aren't we cute?



Friday night we stayed over at G and KT's house so we could get up super early for the fiesta Saturday morning. We made ultra tasty breakfast burritos and played fun games. We got up around 5ish Saturday morning, got the burritos hot, packed the car, dressed the kids warm, and drove to the bus stop. It was a bit cold and windy, but we were praying it would stop. We arrived at the park and there were a few trucks with balloons kinda waiting for the go-ahead to start filling balloons. We were excited. Long story short - it was too windy and the balloons never got filled up or went into the air. (Note to self: next year buy tickets for Thursday so if the weather is no good, you can get a rain check for Friday or Saturday. If you just get tickets for the last day and it's a dud - too stinkin bad.) Special thanks to the Creamland dairy crew who got out their huge black and white tarp (the one that goes under the balloon so it's not on the ground) and let the kids play under it in the wind. It was the highlight.



The balloons are so fun to see, that it's a big bummer to miss them. Last year was great, Katie has pics of us there last year if you wanna check her blog. All in all, the kettle corn was worth it!

My 28th Birthday

I am so spoiled. Growing up I rarely was - even though I am the youngest. My sister's birthday is in August just before school - so she had fun birthdays. Then my parents would have to come up with all the funds for all six of us to get school clothes and pay fees and all that jazz. So when it got to my birthday (just a couple weeks after school started) - it isn't suprising that funds were low. I used to care but thanks to years and experience, I don't anymore. HOWEVER, I do like to celebrate as much as possible now ;)

This year was an exception. As I am sure most of you who read this have already heard the story, I'll try not to go into too much detail (however you are welcome to email me for more details or leave comments for me to answer - I love those things ;).

My birthday was on Sunday this year so I intended to do much celebrating on the days leading up to the big 2-8. Thursday night was spent celebrating with my little family. With these advancing years I forget exactly what we did - but it was fun. On Friday, Bryce picked me up from work early and told me he needed to run some errands. We had planned on Katie and kids coming on Saturday and it had been discussed that Lily and Isobel trade bikes - Isobel's is too big and Lily's is too small. However, Bryce had to fix the tire first. So he told me he needed to pick up a pump to fix the tire. I had been teasing him all week about getting me this bike I had tried out and loved. We had decided we didn't have the money and so I was teasing him about getting it for me anyway;) So, I suggested we go to MY bike shop to get a pump. When we arrived at the store Isobel tried to lead me to where my bike last was. I tried to explain that I was sure they put it away and I looked for pumps. I couldn't see Bryce - but then I saw him following a salesman out to the bikes. The man took my bike down and said "We'll just have a final tune up and you can take it home." I was shocked - dead - stunned - amazed. What I said was, "when did you do that?" Bryce tends to forget to purchase things for me for my birthday til the last minute. Meaning, the day of my birthday. So this year I started dropping subtle reminders for about a month and a half. I suggested a CD that I wanted (She and Him) but then I ended up buying it because they finally got a copy in and I knew how much Bryce loves shopping. Then I was dying for a haircut and he thought about paying for me to go to a nice place but I got impatient and went to Great Clips. When I would ask him if he had gotten me anything, he would just say, "you already got the two ideas I had, sorry." I was sure he might not do anything this year since I had messed up his plans. I thought he might at least get me a gift card. Well, the bike blew me away. Sure it's my birthday AND Christmas - but I was thrilled. So excited, in fact, that I rode the bike home (sans helmet) and in a skirt no less. Loved it!

(This is me on my bike today - Isobel took the picture.)

Friday night Bryce and I went on a date. We went to dinner and then to the Georgia O'Keefe museum - they had an exhibit of her work with Ansel Adams that I had been dying to see (and it's free Friday nights!). It was great. Our friends met up with us for the museum and we went for ice cream after.

Saturday night was girls' night. Bryce and Kyle had all of our kids and Katie's at the Sheffer house - we truly have excellent husbands. I invited a bunch of friends over. We had a yummy spinach salad, cheese fondue, and chocolate fountain. Yummo! (And yes, the meal was inspired by Zupas) I didn't have concrete plans. I just intended to eat yummy food and sit around and visit. We had supplies to make cards if people wanted and a friend brought supplies to make necklaces. Well, after eating and visiting, we decided to make necklaces. We ate ice cream cake from BR with nutty coconut ice cream - my favorite. (Isobel decided on the decorations of the cake - the color and words.) Afterwards we went to pick up the kids and look at Cake Wrecks. I am sure we went to bed eventually. It was a great party.

(Did I mention that I made a super fun mix CD for me to sing along to during the party?)

(Is this a cake wreck? I did pay for it and it does kinda say "Mdmmy")

(Thanks Karen for taking the pics of the party and for being a great friend!)

Happy Birthday to me! It is fun getting older if only for a reason to go on a date and have a party.