Happy Mother's Day

I had a nice Mother's Day today...nothing exciting, just nice & relaxing. Jamie gave me a poem and a picture of flowers that he made at school. I'll have to scan them & post them later. Bill gave me a Starbucks gift card and Ghiradelli Chocolate...coffee & chocolate, can't go wrong with a combo like that! We went to church and then spent a quiet afternoon at home, I even had a nice nap. We went to Chili's for dinner. I am so blessed to be Jamie's mom!!

Walgreen's had a coupon for a free 8 x 10 collage print so I uploaded 20 photos of Jamie that I've taken this year (since January - too bad this child is NEVER photographed!) and ordered one for myself. I thought it turned out pretty cool so, I ordered one for my mom as well. I just sent her an email and told her to go pick up something at the Walgreen's near her house...she had no idea! And, of course, she loved it!

Spring Cleaning

Nothing like a group of ladies coming to your house to motivate you to do some spring cleaning. I'm hosting P.E.O. this month and my house is in serious need of de-cluttering!! Yesterday, I went through all of Jamie's toys, books & videos and this is the pile of stuff I gathered for our next yard sale.

Today, I went through file cabinets and consolidated four drawers into two! It feels good to be getting rid of a lot of accumulated junk that just sits around collecting dust. I'm sad to depart with some of the toys that Jamie loved (Thomas the Tank Engine) but, it's time for me to let go. (He, apparently, let go long ago!)

Frosty's, Day Two

Jamie's class didn't have time to enjoy their soda fountain creations yesterday so, Mrs. Price promised that they could be their own "customers" today. They would get to order off of the menu and enjoy a $1 employee discount. When Jamie got home from school today, I asked him if they got to have their restaurant. He said yes, then explained that Mrs. Price and the class voted on who was the most polite and well mannered kid in the class...that person didn't have to pay for their soda fountain treats at all! Jamie was the one who was selected and enjoyed a Black Cow for free!! YAY Jamie!!

Frosty's Soda Fountain Restaurant

I knew I should've brought my camera to school today!!
I volunteer in Jamie's classroom on Wednesday afternoons. I sometimes get to hang out in the classroom but most of the time, Mrs. Price has projects for me to do (grade papers, run off copies, etc.). When I got to the classroom today, it had been transformed into an old fashioned Soda Shop! I was glad that I did, at least, have my phone because the entire scene was definitely photo worthy.
Jamie, Cortez, Inez, & Lindsy were the "cooks", Parker, Austyn M., Dani, Lisseth, Austin T., Alliyah & Nicole were the "wait staff", Ashley & Diego were the "cashiers", Johnathan & Ezequiel were the "health inspectors/restaurant managers" and Rosa, Danae & Anne were the "bus staff". Another 2nd grade class came in and were the "customers". The menu consisted of Brown Cows (vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup & Coke), Black Cows (vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup & rootbeer), Red Cows (vanilla ice cream, Strawberry syrup & 7UP) and french fries. I cooked the fries in the teacher's lounge so they were fresh & warm. It was SO cute to see everyone acting their part!

They had fun and learned that "working" in a restaurant is not easy!! I ordered a Black Cow from my waiter, Mr. Austin, which was yummy!
I love these creative ways of learning. I don't remember EVER doing anything fun like this when I was in school!

Jamie & Spencer

We met Michelle & Spencer yesterday at Mr. Biggs for bowling. We had fun bowling and Jamie & Spencer had lots of fun hanging out together. They were a little shy at first but it didn't take long for them to warm up to each other. It was raining/snowing outside and not conducive to outside play, which is what they really wanted to do. Michelle offered to take both boys back to her apartment so Bill & I could go to Home Depot and Sam's Club. Figured Jamie would have more fun playing with Spencer and Bill & I were able to get our shopping done without any whining.

Jamie didn't want to leave and Spencer informed us that the apartment next to them was available for us to rent. He even offered to let us have his $25 Visa gift card to help with the rent. So cute! We promised that we'd be sure to come back to Colorado Springs again soon (probably this summer).

Crazy, Busy Day!

Happy May Day!
Bill left at 6:00am to take a group from the middle school to a Get Real conference in Pueblo. I had a volleyball match at 8:00am and Jamie had soccer games at 9:00 and 10:00. Found out this morning that they were also supposed to take soccer team photos at 9:40...wow, what a morning!! Turns out the photographer didn't see our 9:00 game on the schedule...d'oh!
My volleyball team won, so we play again next Tuesday. This is the end of season tournament so it's just one game at a time. So far, so good.
Jamie's team won their first soccer game and he scored 3 goals. They lost the second game and Jamie scored 1 goal, with team/individual photos in between. He was so tired afterward!!
I'm having so much fun with my new camera! Today I played with the continuous shooting mode...check out the 5 shot sequence of Jamie scoring one of his goals.

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Pretty cool, huh?

After soccer, Jamie & I headed to Pueblo, where we picked Bill up and then went on to Colorado Springs. We needed a little time away from Alamosa and I needed to do a little shopping that I couldn't do in Alamosa. A few weeks ago I signed Bill up on the Red Robin mailing list and he got a coupon for a free burger for his birthday, so we also needed to do some birthday celebrating!
One thing I was shopping for is a dress to wear to Scott & Corrie's wedding. I figured that I'd have to go to dozens of stores to find a dress I liked that fits the wedding color scheme and that was in my price range. We got to Pueblo about an hour before Bill's conference was scheduled to finish so, our first stop was Kohl's. Bah! I didn't see anything there I liked...period! Then we went to Ross and, viola...a green & pink dress, in my size, that I liked, for less than $20!! SCORE!!

Once in Colorado Springs, we checked into our sweet hotel room at the Hyatt Summerfield Suites...a cool $38 deal I got on Priceline.com. I LOVE Priceline!! The room has a full kitchen, a separate sleeping area, a living room with sofa sleeper and they have a free full breakfast buffet in the morning! Sometimes I think it would be so nice to live so simply...no stuff, no clutter. So, I did the math...$38 per night for 30 days (1 month) is $1140. Factor in the free breakfast (and free evening social hour Mon - Thurs) and daily maid service and I think it would totally be cheaper than our house payment, utilities and groceries. Sounds nice but, I'd probably miss my stuff after a while! (Not the clutter, though!)

We thought about going to a movie but couldn't agree on one so, we just headed to Red Robin for Bill's birthday dinner. He got his free birthday burger (a salmon burger!) and an ice cream sundae, plus an enthusiastic round of "Happy Birthday" sung by the Red Robin staff.

Everyone else is already asleep and I'm not far from it myself...what a crazy, busy, albeit FUN, day! Tomorrow we are meeting up with Michelle & Spencer Hamilton for some bowling. It'll be interesting to see Jamie & Spencer interact...they were bestest buds from birth (Jamie is 9 days older) until Spencer moved away three years ago. I think they've seen each other once since then. Jamie is really excited!

Career Day

Today was Career Day at Jamie's school. The kids were supposed to dress up and Jamie chose to dress up as a counselor!
How freakin' cute is that??

Happy Birthday Bill!

Today is Bill's birthday, he is 52. As I think about it, I am reminded that my high school science teacher (and great friend!) lost his battle with cancer at the age of 51 in 1999. It's weird to think that Phil was younger than Bill when he died and puts a lot of things into perspective for me today. Life is short, tomorrow is never guaranteed, each day is a gift, never let the opportunity pass to tell those you love how you feel! Happy Birthday Bill, I love you!

2nd Grade Spring Program

Jamie's class had their Spring Program tonight. Their class and four other second grade classes combined for tonight's program, the remaining classes will have their performance tomorrow night. I'm glad they split it up because there would have been too many kids up there...it was hard enough to keep track of where Jamie was. The kids all came in singing a song in unison but then each class was split out and did three songs. I think the kids that weren't in the front performing also sang along. Jamie's class sang, played kazoos, danced, and played spoons. Each kid also read a small part. It was entertaining, to say the least!

SSS (Soccer, Science Saturday)

Yesterday, Jamie had his first soccer game of the spring season. The game had barely started and we hadn't even gotten settled into our chairs before Jamie scored the first goal! He scored three goals, total, and also had a couple of assists. The wind was blowing and it was SO cold...Bob Irvin was there and had a device to measure wind chill, it was about 30 degrees with the wind chill. BBRRR!!! The kids were bundled up, though, and running around, so they didn't notice the cold too much. I had fun playing with my camera...I never left my chair and got quite a few nice shots.

We went to Science Saturday after the soccer game. They had already done an experiment and were inputting data into a computer when we got there, so Jamie jumped right in and started working with Tory. Their data and graph showed that the heavier an object was, the closer the pivot point (to move the object) should be to the object. They used their information to lift objects and people with a beam and pipe fulcrum.

We ended with noise...everyone was told to find some kind of noise making object in the room and we were divided into three groups. The kids took turns being "conductors" and leading the different groups in the noise making. Next week is the final Science Saturday of the semester. I have my city league volleyball tournament, Jamie has 2 soccer games AND Bill will be out of town, so I don't think we'll be able to go. Dr. Emmons expressed concern that the program may not be renewed for next year. He has to make a presentation to the board this week and isn't feeling overly optimistic. I sure hope it gets renewed, in one form or another, because it has been a great experience for Jamie!

Technology...Can't Live With It, Can't Live Without It!

I had serious computer "issues" yesterday. My anti-virus program did an automatic update and I lost my ability to connect to my home wireless network with my laptop. I thought I was losing my mind but did a Google search and determined that it was a legitimate issue with the most recent McAfee update. Grrrr! It was initially an easy fix as I was able to do a system restore back to before the update occurred. Then...well, let's just say I should've left well enough alone... I (correctly) figured that the updates would be downloaded again and I'd soon be in the same situation so I decided to uninstall McAfee completely and install a different anti-virus program. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, I don't know what happened but after uninstalling McAfee, I was not able to connect to the internet at all...not even directly with a cable to the router. My knowledge of such things is minimal, at best, and I was so frustrated by this point that I just broke down in tears!! As a last resort, I tried one more system restore which was, thankfully, somewhat successful. My computer is functioning and able to access the home network and internet but, I don't know what my anti-virus status is. The McAfee icon is back on my desktop but doesn't open and I have a huge warning flag that says my computer is not protected. I assume that my files have been corrupted so I've tried going to the McAfee website to download the program again. I keep getting an error message that either there is a problem with my internet connection OR the McAfee download server is unavailable. My internet connection appears to be working and if there are others like me who have experienced this problem with recent updates, I can see where their server could be unavailable. So, I am treading lightly and hoping that my computer doesn't get attacked. I know that I used to function just fine without a computer and the internet but, I just can't imagine it!!

Pentax K-x is here!!!

I had serious doubts that an order placed yesterday afternoon at Amazon.com could really be shipped in one day to little ol' Alamosa, but UPS delivered it at about 6:00pm!! I already love it! I have much to learn about digital SLR but am excited about the possibilities. I went to our library today to find books about digital SLR's. They didn't have anything and only a few on digital photography in general. I'm disappointed and will probably try to find more relevant books on eBay or Half.com.
Here are a few experimental shots I took tonight. These are all shot without using the flash! That's the great thing about digital..I can experiment to my hearts desire!

Today was the 9Health Fair in Monte Vista. I volunteer every year as a phlebotomist and draw blood for the health screens. It is such a great deal for people to get lab work done, I know that I take advantage of it every year.
It was cold & windy today with snow all around us...one lady I drew this morning came from the Zapata area and she said they had 6 inches of new snow. Bad weather and cloudy conditions canceled the Planetarium viewing for tonight. I don't know if Jamie will have soccer tomorrow, who knows what the criteria for canceling is with our Parks & Rec department! I'm really not looking forward to sitting in the cold and rain/snow but, I do want to experiment with my camera and shoot some soccer action shots.

New Camera is on it's way!!

So, I did it! Amazon has the Pentax K-x on sale for under $700 and I just ordered it. Signed up for Amazon Prime trial so I could get next day shipping for $3.99...we'll see if the camera actually arrives tomorrow like the website states. I had to choose the Black model as it was the only one that came bundled with the two lenses (18-55mm and 55-300mm). I'm so excited!! Jamie's school program is on Monday night so I'm looking forward to using it for that. And, of course, for the wedding over Memorial Day weekend. I also purchased a 3 year extended warranty. I usually don't purchase the extended warranty but after the experience with my last camera, it might come in handy. Hope I don't have to use it but, it'll pay for itself if I have problems within 3 years.

More from the Pool

Here are few more pictures from yesterday's fun day at the pool. These were taken with my cell phone, which actually has more mega-pixels than my very first digital camera did. Gotta love technology!!

If you look closely (and know what you're looking for), you can see the Sand Dunes in the background, behind the diving board.