Arroyo Sledding, Anyone?

In New Mexico, "arroyos" are constructed of cement to channel the infrequent but violent rainfall we get every so often to prevent flooding. They are narrow with steep sides, and are found all over the place here! There is an arroyo near our home, and on either side of the arroyo is a city-maintained grassy field and walking path that runs parallel with the arroyo. Last Saturday on our way home from playing soccer in the grassy field we stopped to notice the snow left on the south wall of the arroyo. The north side had melted away completely. Kaitlyn crouched down anticipating to run down the side of the arroyo, but because of the snow, started to slide a little. Jared thought this looked fun and plopped right down on his bum and slid right down the side of the arroyo. Pretty soon all the kids were "arroyo sledding"--no sled needed! We couldn't believe how fast they were sliding down. It was fun, at the expense of worn-out pants! I'm sure New Mexico officials would not be thrilled at our new found use of the arroyo. At school, the kids are taught not to play in arroyos, because when water is flowing they are quite dangerous.

Sledding in sandals is the way we do it in New Mexico!!

Soccer Mania

Saturday Scott took the kids on a bike ride, and then we went to the grassy field close to our home to play soccer. The kids love to play soccer, and Jared is especially fun to watch. He clenches his mouth and makes a "tough man" face as he intently kicks the ball around. He loves to score a goal! Soccer practice starts again next week for the girls and when I mentioned this and asked the girls if they were excited Jared was the first to pipe up, "Yeah! I can't wait!" He loves to get out on the field and kick the ball and shoot it in the goal when the girls are having their breaks.

Happy 5th Birthday Brynn!

Brynn's birthday was on Thursday. On Saturday we had a "craft" party with 8 little girls! We decorated foam tiara magnets, made stepping-stones, and decorated little canvas bags with ribbon, felt shapes and small pom-poms. It was a dream come true for Brynn and Kaitlyn--non-stop crafting for two hours! Scott and I were tired afterwards.

As you can see, Brynn's birthday cake was nothing fancy (but better tasting than any
"cute" cake we've had lately). I made a Texas Chocolate cake and decorated her name and flowers on it with M&M's the night before her party. The next day when the girls saw the cake they were so excited, and thought the M&M decor was the greatest! I smiled at their excitement and felt grateful that they didn't need an expensive cake decorated with the latest character or even an elaborately decorated homemade cake to be happy.
Children can be happy with the simpiliest things, and sometimes we parents make it harder on ourselves than we need to--or create un-needed expectations in our kids. When Kaitlyn turned two we had a big "ladybug" birthday party. I spent hours making a ladybug cake and individual ladybug cupcakes. They were cute as can be, took forever, and since I had to use so much red food coloring--tasted horrible!

You Know You Live In Albuquerque If . . .

You get a "snow day" off from school for this much snow!

Last Monday we woke up to a dusting of snow, and no school! The kids had a blast playing in the dust. They insisted on decking out in all their snow gear despite the absence of much snow. They surprised me by staying in the backyard for longer than it took to suit them all up!

We really do love the mild winter of Albuquerque. It's fun to still have some warm enough days to ride bikes and go hiking.

Hiking Emergency Survival

Last Saturday was a warmer, sunny day so we took advantage of the nice weather and went hiking in the Sandia Mountains near our home. We never have any particular destination. Scott usually just drives around toward the mountains, and when we find a good spot to park our van close to the mountain we get out and start walking. We all love it!

One of the most entertaining parts of an excursion like this one, is the preparations made by the girls. They run around the house, filling Ziploc bags with cereal, pretzels, crackers--whatever they can find that seems to fit nicely in their bag. Then they fill several bottles of water. My favorite though is the bag filled with band-aids, and on Saturday I overheard Kaitlyn asking Brynn if she had the tweezers. When I asked what the tweezers were for they looked at me incredulously--as if I didn't know they were one of the most essential elements of emergency survival in the desert--to pick out cactus needles should they embed themselves in any part of the body! You see, the first hike we went on after we moved here Brynn fell directly on top of a cactus. Ouch! She has never forgotten it, and now is terrified it might happen again. Therefore, the need for tweezers.

Scott wanted Brynn to stand uncomfortably close (as you can tell from Brynn's concerned smile) to this large cactus.

Ellie's too young to fear cactus needles, but I'm sure her sisters will teach her quickly!

What's for Dinner?!?!

One of the hardest things for me is figuring out what we’re going to eat for dinner every night. I mean, really, do we have to eat every day?! I tried to convince Scott that maybe we could adopt the lifestyle of my sister and brother-in-law—I’m not really sure what they eat, but I know they don’t spend a lot of time making anything. Scott didn’t buy in to it, but he did buy some mini-tacos at Costco for us to eat one night. I was at a birthday party with the kids so he got home from work and heated them up in the oven. That night he said he didn’t feel too good—“his dinner had made him feel like a single guy again.” I cracked up! One night of something not “home cooked” and he thought he was going to die. I told him he was spoiled and he agreed.

I actually like cooking, I have just fallen into the rut of fixing the same several meals over and over. When I started looking through my recipes I found meal ideas I had forgotten for some reason. So how do you like my solution? I’ve never planned my meals—always too hard I thought. Now with my handy calendar I have every meal I could find that we liked and even have “leftovers” and “New Recipes” so I can plan making new things. Everything is attached with velcro so I can move it around and around and around. Now we don’t have to eat crockpot Italian chicken every night! I probably will plan week-to-week since (if you know me well) you know I despise paying full price for anything—especially at the grocery store! I will plan my meals on Tues. night since I get the grocery store ads on Tues. Maybe I can even start going to the grocery store once a week! I hope it works!

To Blog or Not to Blog?

I have been shamed by people I didn't even know looked at my blog. I knew things were bad when I got an email from my mom that told me to read the comments and post some new things. As if! I'm not sure why getting into this whole blogging thing has been so hard for me. I think it comes down to this: I don't take pictures. It's not that I don't want to, or don't like to but let me paint a picture of my life.

It is a day off of school so I decide with some of my friends to go to the Rio Grande Nature Center in downtown Albuquerque. The kids wake up. I drag myself out of bed after spending another sleepless night walking back and forth between Jared's bed, my bed, then Ellie's bed, then Jared's bed, then Ellie's again, and at 5:30am I go back to my last half an hour of sleep in my own bed--just in time for Jared to come bounding in at 6:00am! You would think at 2 1/2 years old he would sleep through the night...but really he's probably done that three times in his whole life. He's really concerned about monsters right now, but I don't think that's why he is waking up--he's confident he could attack and kill any monster in his way. I think it's because he has a security "lovey" or what you will, that many kids have, only his is attached to me--my hair!! Since he was a baby he would hold my hair and rub it in is face and he continues to do it. I tried giving him a doll with hair to sleep with (of course to Scott's chagrin), I tried giving him a really cool soft alligatior stuffed animal. He has a million blankets he could sleep with but nothing seems to work. So now I'm considering buying a wig or something to give to him. Any other suggestions? (And I'm not shaving my head just to teach him a lesson!)

But back to my day-the kids wake up I corral them from here to there-get dressed, brush teeth, make bed (because anyone who makes their bed everyday in January gets to go get a Keva juice--like a Jamba). Then we get breakfast--lately the favorite is oatmeal. Then I change Ellie and nurse her. I start to make lunches for our outing and what do you know--everyone wants to help! So I start giving "jobs" to everyone, but "some" people don't like what I've given them and think the "other" person has the better job and cry whine blah blah! Then, to break things up Jared needs to go to the bathroom. He is still newly trained and needs a watchful eye when he goes--otherwise I can be very sorry (like the time he accidentally got poop on the toilet seat so he tried to clean it up himself and then starting swishing the toilet brush in the toilet full of poop! Somehow he was covered in it as well. Yes, I was grossed out at the mess!) So I get back to making lunches (washing hands of course). This continues the whole morning. I pack a diaper bag with lots of wipes and of course extra clothes for Jared "just in case." Finally it's time to put shoes on and coats on. Kaitlyn can't find her shoe. Jared doesn't want to wear the shoes I'm putting on him. He's freaking out because his sock is not on right (I don't understand what is not right about his socks, but we go through this everyday). Brynn has been standing around watching the whole fiasco with her coat on but is now getting hot so starts to take off her coat and get settled back on the couch. We finally get in the van. I run in the house for the keys and can't find them (a major downfall of mine--I loose my keys often which I think is a biproduct of all I'm talking about right now!) I finally find them and off we go--Ellie starts to get fussy on the way there because it's time to feed her. We make it to the Nature Center--I feed Ellie in the car while the kids jump around in the back and Jared pushes every button up front as he is being an astronuat. We get out and I unload everything--lunch, diaper bag, stroller, extra blanket to sit on for lunch, and extra water. It's a beautiful day and the kids are having a great time and they have all stripped off their coats and handed them to me. My stroller was already bogged down and now I can barely push it. Ellie starts to get fussy--it's her naptime and she would prefer to be in her bed at naptime. So, with one hand I push my stroller full of stuff (I look like a homeless lady pushing around everything I own) and with the other hand I hold Ellie. Just then, Jared needs to go to the bathroom. So, we find as private of a place as we can in the vast open field and I try to help him (he think's going to the bathroom outside is the greatest thing in the world). Then it is lunchtime and I help everyone get what I have packed, nurse Ellie, and then clean everyone up. Then we start to head back toward the car--Jared is tired by now and so I hold Jared in one arm, Ellie in the other and have Kaitlyn push the stroller.

It is all very fun. I am not complaining--I enjoy myself and the kids, but I ask you--when am I supposed to take pictures? My hands are constantly full of kids and their stuff and the thought of bringing along one more thing--my camera--makes me shudder!

I actually do have some pictures of the Nature Center though, because luckily I am blessed to have a friend who loves picture taking and is never without her camera. She takes pictures for everyone and them emails them to us! It is wonderful. So, I have pictures of everything we've done with her and gratefully she's with us on most of our fun outings. So I will post a few pictures of the kids at the Nature Center. And I guess I will post pictures of the other things we do with her. And maybe I'll get into this whole blogging thing. But, isn't it kind of cute just to have Ellie's birth announcement on it. I think it looks pretty good myself!