The Golden Nuggets had their individual and team photos taken before their game today. Two girls are missing from the team photo.
The season is still young enough that I don't know the names of all of the kids yet. I am still NOT convinced that the big kid, Chris, is a first or second grader.
Dawndee is the coach...the irony is that I coached her when she played volleyball as a freshman in high school (15 years ago).
Jamie and his team, The Golden Nuggets, had their first pee-wee league basketball game this morning. It was great fun! I took a few photos but they just don't capture the experience as well as video. Jamie did make a basket in today's game but, of course, I didn't have the camera rolling at that time. The kids are so cute as they continue to learn the finer skills of dribbling, running AND dribbling, passing and shooting. I guess the concept of offense and defense comes much later!
It's all about having fun and Jamie sure managed to do that!
So, today is the first day of December and it has been raining off and on all day and has melted all of our snow. It was 40ยบ last night at 11:00 and it was pouring down rain. The moisture is needed and much welcomed, however, be it rain or snow. Believe what you want about Global Warming but it is just NOT supposed to rain in December in Alamosa!
Bill has been busy with craft shows every weekend since November 9th and will continue through December 15th. This one is at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Alamosa. Jamie loves going to the craft shows...he gets paid 50 cents to help set up and take down. He also gets lots of free stuff from other vendors, he's learning how to work the "cute" factor.
This is a photo of the moon rising over the Sangre de Cristo mountains, taken from my front porch.
Awesome!
The Christmas tree has taken it's place in the living room and it's starting to look like Christmas at our house. We actually put decorations on it this year and also have other Christmas treasures displayed throughout the house. The house smells wonderful...nothing like the smell of fresh cut pine!
Jamie couldn't wait to get started...he kept asking, "what can I do to help?".
(I love this photo and how the sunlight coming in through the window highlights Jamie's hands!)
Wow!!! We woke up this morning to almost 3 inches of snow on the ground. Jamie couldn't wait to get out and play. He wanted to build a snowman but 
the snow wasn't wet enough so he just made snow angels and played with his construction trucks. We're decorating the Christmas tree today and this snow is perfect for getting us into the holiday spirit.
I took a chance that Jamie's Thanksgiving Feast started at 10am and actually got myself up and ready and out of the house in time to stop at Safeway and buy groceries for our own Thanksgiving dinner. I finished at the grocery store earlier than expected and headed over to Polston at about 9:45am...just in time to catch Mrs. Rodriguez' class parading through the halls dressed in their "native american" attire.
Each child made their own costume, complete with headband & feathers and necklace. So adorable! They also made pilgrim outfits but I never saw them actually wearing those.
After the parade, they posed for a group photo and then listened to Mrs. Rodriguez read a story about the first Thanksgiving.
I was glad that I got there early because they took off their costumes and packed them away in their backpacks before the feast began. If I had
arrived at 10:00, I would've missed it!
Then it was time for the feast, which included blueberry muffins, kettlecorn, raisins & nuts, cornbread and beans with dried corn. I've been impressed with Mrs. Rodriguez' parties because they are healthy...no junk food. She has a rule that everyone has to at least try a little bit of everything.
The room was decorated with different Thanksgiving themes and, of course, the kids had their art on one wall. Each masterpiece was accompanied by a feather where each child wrote something they were thankful for. Jamie wrote that he is thankful for his daddy. That's OK...when he's a professional football or baseball player and he gets some camera time, I know that he'll be saying, "hi mom!"
Jamie also received a cool ribbon for perfect attendance.
Once the train lights came on, everyone walked to Centennial Park where Santa and his elves were awaiting the children. There are also vendors with burritos and hot chocolate awaiting the adults.Everyone loves a good parade and on Veteran's Day in Alamosa, this is the place to be. We arrived almost an hour before start time to stake claim on our spot and then Bill went to Milagro's for the java.
It was so adorable to see these four boys (Parker, Justin, Jamie & little Ryan) all standing still with their hands over their hearts. The boys were getting restless as we waited for the parade to start at 11:11...they wanted the candy! Five local marching bands actually participated in this parade, an oddity for an Alamosa parade.
As the car with the World War II 
and Korean War veterans passed by, Coleen made the comment that our kids may never know a veteran that fought for something more important than oil. How sad! (No disrespect meant toward veterans and soldiers who are currently fighting...they are doing their job and can't help that their commander in chief is an idiot.)
I took advantage of the after Halloween sale at Wal-Mart and bought costumes to add to the collection. These two were a huge hit!!
Jamie had his first ever basketball practice yesterday. The league is actually for kids in 1st through 6th grades but said that we could sign Jamie up, even though he's only in kindergarten. He seemed a little overwhelmed and intimidated because there were so many kids and most of them were older. He knew a couple of the kids, though, and it helped that his friend, Justin, was also there. 
Jamie & the other younger kids had a difficult time trying to keep up with the older kids. They randomly split the kids up into six different groups and they rotated through six different skill stations, including shooting, lay-ups, dribbling, passing, free throws & defense.
Once league play begins and the teams are divided by age, the younger kids will play on
a lower hoop (I think they said it was 7 foot), which will give them a better chance of hitting something when they shoot.
It didn't look like Jamie was having fun but it's all he can talk about now. He's so excited...he's having a hard time waiting until next Saturday for the next practice. 
We went last
night and bought basketball shoes and a
youth size basketball. I raised his little Fisher-Price hoop up to the six-foot notch and he's having a great time!
Every year the Chemistry Department at Adams State College puts on a "magic show". This is the first year that we've gone and it was fun. The students did different experiments...lots of changing colors and small explosions. Afterwards, everyone went to the Chemistry lab to play.
This experiment required an audience volunteer.
Hunter was the chosen one.
I don't know who these guys are but, aren't they the perfect picture of "mad" scientists?
This was the finale, accompaniment on banjo and all.
They made a pretty rainbow of colors in the beakers.
Jamie & Parker in the Chemistry Lab.
Their task was to draw what they thought a chemist looked like.
Parker drew someone wearing a rainbow wig and Jamie drew someone lighting balloons on fire.
The highlight of the Chemistry Lab tour was the making of the slime.
Jamie & Daniel are having fun mixing the solutions together.
Here's Parker (and big Ryan in the background) mixing their own slime.
Waiting in line for glitter to be added to the slime.
Ahhh...the final touch...GLITTER!
The anti-climactic making of the soap bubbles.
All in all, a great way to spend a Friday afternoon. We met up with Justin, little Ryan, William, Melody, Miriam, big Ryan, Kamryn and Elena...it was a big ole' playgroup!
