SNOW!!

It started snowing Thursday afternoon and snowed most of the day yesterday and today. Rio Rancho has measured 14 inches of the white stuff so far! We were supposed to go to Amarillo but it has been snowing on the eastern plains for a few days and I-40 has been closed since Thursday.

mom's front yard


mom's backyard

The snow is beautiful, though, and everyone seems to have re-discovered their inner child. Yesterday, we bundled up and built a big snowman, had a snowball fight and made yummy snow ice cream. Most of the stores and malls are closed because of the snow so we've had no choice but to hang out at mom's house. We went to rent some movies but the shelves at Hastings were practically bare...guess everyone else had the same idea and got there before we did. Oh well!

Jamie tasting the snow.

Julie defending herself in snowball fight.

SNOW

MUCH

FUN!!!

We are actually "stranded" here because I-40 AND I-25 are closed. We're keeping a close eye on the weather and hope to still make it to Amarillo (we're supposed to take Shelby home) next week sometime. Julie is having serious ESPN withdrawal!! This is college bowl game season and mom does not have cable. AAARRRGGGHH!

Jamie the Reindeer

Jamie's teacher took this photo at school and helped him modge-podge it onto tile coasters for each of us as Christmas presents.

Christmas Part 2

December 27, 2006

Gram's house
Albuquerque, NM

We arrived in Albuquerque on Tuesday evening and met Julie's mom and Uncle John & Aunt Jean at Fuddrucker's. Esteban (again, the planner) arranged for all of the cousins to gather at Gram's house on Wednesday for dinner and gifts. Becky & her kids were sick so they weren't able to come but Chick and his brood of boys were there...even Daron with baby Cruz. A good time was had by all. (At least I think so...)




Bill & Esteban...obviously up to something mischevious...


OMG!!! Finally a photo of Aunt
Wanda with her eyes OPEN!!

Christmas Day

We thought about going to Salt Lake City for Christmas but it didn't work out so, we decided to stay in Alamosa for Christmas Day. We will drive to Albuquerque tomorrow to celebrate my mom's birthday and do the Christmas thing at Julie's Gram's house with all of the cousins, etc.
We will then go to Amarillo, TX on Thursday to spend the weekend with Emily & Shelby (and do Christmas #3) before heading back home to Alamosa.

Jamie was really into Christmas and Santa this year and was SO excited to wake up and see that Santa had been to our house. Somehow, I was able to get him to slow down enough to pose for this family photo in front of our lit, but never decorated, Christmas tree before the mayhem began.


Julie (still in PJ's) looking at the scrapbook stickers from Jamie.


So many presents...so little time!


Bill examining his gift of "Colorado"
(a book of comparison photos of Colorado from 1897 and 1997).


Jamie scored big with new Thomas the Tank Engine toys.


Woo Hoo! "Weeder wam" was indeed "Rumor Weed".
Santa guessed right!
WHEW!


One of Jamie's favorite gifts was this Denver Broncos football uniform, complete with helmet. He couldn't wait to put it on and wore it to bed tonight. We'll see if he'll cooperate with clean clothes tomorrow. He also loves building things with Lego's and Jenga blocks, so we gave him this set of building blocks and he had fun building all sorts of different configurations.


Every year, the community of Alamosa sponsors a Christmas dinner so, instead of cooking a big meal, we went to the American Legion hall and enjoyed a nice turkey dinner with several other friends from Alamosa. Santa was there (he must have been exhausted after his big night!) and they had door prizes for the kids. Jamie won a Lite Brite!
(Thanks to Rick, who walked by and placed a winning sticker on Jamie's chair minutes before the drawing!)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

*S*N*O*W*

Wow!! We woke up yesterday to almost a foot of snow! Jamie was so excited, we couldn't wait to get home from school and bundle up to go out to play. Denver and other parts of the state got hammered with snow, though, and the airport has been closed for 2 days, full of stranded travelers trying to get to their Christmas destinations. I'm glad that we've decided to stay here for Christmas.

We dressed warmly in our snow pants and mittens and had fun making snow angels, building a little snowman, eating the snow and digging tunnels. We haven't had snow like this in years and I think I had as much fun playing as Jamie did.

Tis the season to...PARTY!

December 14th was THE day for marathon Christmas parties. We started with Jamie's Christmas party at Shirley's in the afternoon. From there, we made an appearance at the VORP (Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program) Christmas party before dropping Jamie off at a friend's house and heading to the Middle School Faculty Christmas party at Mrs. Rio's.

Jamie & friends eating Christmas cookies

Jamie & friends diving for piñata treats

Julie & Bill laughing with the crazy OMS staff

The Christmas Program

The stars of the show: Tyler, Jamie & Case

These three boys are the only kids in our church congregation so I was impressed when Shirley & Brenda came up with a unique Christmas program that they could do. They carried stars with different numbers of points (each had a significant story) to decorate the small tree. Jamie & Tyler carried the manger to the front of the sanctuary. Case was supposed to bring the "baby Jesus" but had a meltdown instead so Jamie carried the doll and threw it in the manger. Each time the boys brought something to the front, it was somehow a race to see who could get back to the back first. They ended up as the wise men and Case returned for the finale. Kyle & Shioban provided the beautiful music. It was a cute production and creative kudos to Shirley & Brenda for putting together a program that was not just the usual "nativity" scene.

Hayride

Our church got together for an "old fashioned" hayride. The afternoon & early evening was brisk but not too cold and we loaded up on Pastor Todd's tractor & trailer to go caroling. We loaded up in the back parking lot of the church and then, by the time we reached the front parking lot, had to unload because the trailer had a flat tire.

before the flat tire

It was like watching a professional pit crew as Jimmy and Wes took the tire off and rushed to Chaparral Tire to get it fixed. (A phone call alerted them to the situation and they remained open an extra 1/2 hour for us!) The tire was beyond repair so the good folks at Chaparral, intriqued by our adventure, sold us a used replacement for only $5. So, with four good tires, we loaded up onto the hay bales again and headed west on First Street to Evergreen Nursing Home. We had fun singing carols along the way and waving at people as they drove by.

singing at the nursing home

We went into the nursing home and talked with the people there and shared Christmas carols. We were horribly off tune, even with Julian's guitar, but our music was much appreciated. We made additional stops at the San Luis Care Center and the SLVRMC Hospital. We found ourselves in the OB wing at the hospital and saw a newborn baby held by it's mother as we croaned "Silent Night". It was surreal.


Jamie on a hay bale

Jamie had a great time! He fell asleep on the way to Evergreen but after that, he was trying to sing the carols with us. He got really good at "Jingle Bells" before the night was over. We came back to the church and Sid & Wilma Faye had prepared a chili dinner for us that was yummy! It was fun to focus on singing the carols and to spend time with others who are less fortunate during the holiday season. After dinner, we went to the Cooper's house and to Helen's house (two of the elderly members of our congregation) and shared our off tune carols with them as well.

dear Santa

Santa was at the craft fair in Alamosa last weekend and since we're still trying to figure out what "weeder wam" means, we thought that Jamie might need to remind Santa about what he wanted. We explained that Santa talks to a lot of kids and sometimes it's a good idea to remind him so that he keeps everything straight on his busy night. Jamie thought about it and then agreed. Either that or he just wanted the candy cane. So, we still didn't understand what he asked Santa for, but we're narrowing it down. I actually found a DVD titled "Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed" which I'm hoping is the right thing because I've already ordered it from Barnes & Noble.

Del Norte craft show

It's craft show season and Bill has been busy! He had a craft show on November 18th at our church in Alamosa. He then took a week off for Thanksgiving and then 2 weeks ago had a craft show in South Fork. This past Saturday, he was in Del Norte and next weekend, he's got another one here in Alamosa. He has fun doing the craft shows but we're not getting anything else done on the weekends leading up to Christmas...no wonder we don't have any Christmas decorations up.

These photos were taken of his display in Del Norte. The middle photo also features some of my Stampin' Up! creations. Craft shows don't make us rich but Bill enjoys hanging out with other crafters.

Trimming the Tree

We usually go to the mountains and cut our own Christmas tree but this year our weekends were filled with other activities. Jamie was getting impatient as days passed and we still didn't have our Christmas decorations up. So, we went to the Christmas tree lot at Safeway and bought a huge, beautiful tree. We were excited and motivated to decorate and get into the holiday spirit. Bill brought in all of the boxes from the garage and we got the tree upright in it's stand. We listenend to Christmas CD's. We strung the lights and Bill climbed the ladder to place the angel on the top.

And...that's how it stands to this day...

(This is what happens when you forget to change your camera setting from macro - photo is blurry and discolored.)

It's been a week and we still haven't hung any tree decorations or the outside lights. Bill has been busy with craft shows, I have been sick and life is just passing by way too quickly. Decorating shouldn't be stressful, should it? We really want Jamie to experience the delight of the many Christmas traditions that we both grew up with and feel bad that we've not made it a priority this year. Jamie doesn't seem to be bothered but he is disappointed that we don't have outside lights. It is a beautiful tree, even if it only has lights on it.

Christmas Carnival

We met up with many of our playgroup members for the Christmas Carnival held at the Inn of the Rio Grande in Alamosa. Activities included building gingerbread houses, games, face painting, visiting Santa and posing with the Caton's reindeer for photos. I wanted Jamie to visit Santa so I could hear, again, what it is that he wants for Christmas but he decided that since he'd already talked to Santa (at Centennial Park), we didn't need to wait in the long line. So, we headed for the gingerbread house building area. Sigh! I sure hope we figure this out soon...whatever he has his heart set on sounds like "weeder wam".

Jamie & Spencer building (& tasting) their gingerbread houses

The finished product


Parker, Spencer & Jamie

Jamie with reindeer

Yes, it is December and, yes, we're outside without our jackets.

Happy 90th Gram!!

Julie's Gram turns 90 on December 22nd, so everyone gathered at her house on November 24th to celebrate!! Julie's cousin, Esteban, was in charge of the planning and decorating and everything was picture perfect. (I keep telling him that he should get into the party planning business in LA!) Gram didn't think anyone would come to the party but I think we counted over 100 family members & friends who dropped by. The food was prepared and served by members from her church. Two of her three living children, Charles & Wanda, were there (of course, the one missing was my father...his problem, not ours). Her sister, Bernice and niece, Dana came from Arkansas. Niece, Shari and long time family friend, Willie, came from Arizona as well. All of the grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great-great grandchild, Cruz, were also present. The last time we all got together was at my grandfather's funeral so it was fun to have a reason to celebrate.

The spread - arranged by Esteban

L - R: Charles, Bernice, Willie & Wanda
(Wanda has the unique gift of always having her
eyes closed when I snap a photo.)

Owen & Julie

Gram blowing out her candle...

...and opening her gifts.

Gram was so thrilled to have a birthday party! Since her birthday is so close to Christmas it usually gets overlooked. She was like a little kid with her birthday cake and opening gifts. I watched her when everyone was singing "Happy Birthday" to her and she had such a look of joy in her eyes as she took it all in.

HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY GRAM!!!