Strep happens

Julie and Jamie just returned from the doctor this afternoon. Julie has a sinus infection and Jamie has either strep and/or an ear infection. The doctor didn't do a strep test on Jamie because he said that he was going to prescribe antibiotics anyway.

Jamie's friends, Justin & Ryan A., tested positive for strep yesterday. Today, as we were leaving the doctor's office, another friend of Jamie’s (Ryan H.) was there with a sore throat and throwing up…another one bites the dust! (All four were at playgroup together last Friday.)

So, Julie & Jamie are armed with antibiotics and will be hanging out at home for a couple of days.

Julie's FIRST Stampin' Up! workshop

Emily and Rhonda co-hosted Julie's first ever Stampin' Up!® workshop in Red River, NM. They rounded up seven of their stamping and scrapbooking friends and we had a great time!

Julie demonstrated the use of lots of different Stampin' Up!® products and everyone had the opportunity to make four different projects. The workshop was a huge success with over $700 in sales. Emily & Rhonda earned five free stamp sets and $95 worth of free merchandise!

Jamie was excited to go to Red River also, as he was able to visit his cousin, Shelby, and his friend, Cade. Jamie and Cade played with their "Thomas The Tank Engine" toys while the grown-ups played with the stamping and scrapbooking toys. A good time was had by all!

Computer kid

Jamie has taken a recent interest in the computer. Our library has a nice section of computers for kids with fun games and we also have a few fun games at home. He especially likes Mr. Potato Head and likes playing the dot-to-dot game. He is learning to maneuver the mouse very well. Sure wish we could find that cool "Thomas The Tank Engine" computer game that Jamie got for Christmas. Oh well...

Moon over Mt. Blanca

This is a beautiful shot of the moon rising over Mt. Blanca. This is our view to the east from our front door. The sad thing about this photo is the LACK of snowpack in the Sangre de Cristo's in mid February.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Julie's cousin, Jan, sent Jamie these adorable stuffed animals for Valentine's Day. Jamie loves them! He calls them his "snuggly bears" and has wanted to sleep with them several times...an honor usually bestowed upon his train collection.
Jamie's preschool/daycare had a Valentine's Day party and although it was on a day that Jamie is not usually at preschool, he and Julie went to spend the afternoon. Shirley & the other kids had baked cookies in the morning so we all got to decorate and then eat yummy sugar cookies. Harvey came in with a bag of Hersey's kisses for everyone, scoring MAJOR points!!

(Katrina & Jamie)

Jamie had fun with the frosting and sprinkles and especially enjoyed eating his cookie.

After the cookies, the kids exchanged their valentine's. The sugar rush kicked in by then and all of the kids were ready to PLAY!!!

(Dante, Roman, Cruz & Jamie)

SLV fly-over

A co-worker of Bill's is a pilot and has an airplane. He invited us to go up and fly over the San Luis Valley. It was a clear and calm morning, a perfect day to catch some air.
We took off from the Alamosa air field and headed south and east, then turned back north and flew next to Mt. Blanca and over the Sand Dunes before flying over Alamosa and back to the air field. It is interesting to fly over the San Luis Valley and see the geography...mountains, rivers, ponds, crop circles, etc. Jamie thought it was really cool and had fun playing with the headset. Next time, we'll take his car seat which will lift him up so that he'll be able to see better out of the window.

Mt. Blanca

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Alamosa from the air and Rio Grande River

SNOW!!!

We finally received enough snow to cover the ground and Jamie could not wait to get outside and play in it. His truck made a great snow plow and we scraped up enough of the white stuff to make this little snowman. Everything was melted by the end of the day but we had lots of fun and the photos to prove that we actually did
have snow.

Rose Bowl

On January 4, we were decked out in our USC gear, cheering enthusiastically for the Trojans to win their third national championship! We had fun and it was a good game, but the victory went to Texas.

Cousins

This is a nice photo of Julie's cousins, Esteban & Chick, taken while Esteban was visiting from Los Angeles over the Christmas holiday.

Christmas 2005 - Part II

Jamie looking at Gram's Christmas tree

(MUCHAS GRACIAS to Esteban for capturing these Christmas memories...)

Christmas morning at Gram's house was fun. Most everyone that was there had a bad cold or the flu. Esteban made a drugstore run and everyone sat around, half asleep, sipping hot Thera-flu. We muddled our way through, though, and the kids all had a great time opening and playing with their new things. It was fun to celebrate Christmas with family this year.

Gram & Chuck

Gram & Shelby

Wanda & Austin

Shelby & Esteban

Shelby & Owen

Owen & Julie

Jamie hamming it up for Esteban's camera!

Shelby & Jamie

Julie, Bill, Jamie, Cody & Ryan



Brian, Cody, Sharon & Ryan

Chuck, Melissa & Everett

Tyler, Daron & Chick



Jamie & Bill

Jamie, Bill, Tyler, Daron (in back) and Ryan playing with his new PlayStation

Christmas 2005 - Part I

WOW!!! I can't believe it's February already! Guess it's a good time to update our blog and post Christmas photos.


We went to Albuquerque for Christmas and spent the holidays with Julie's family. Bill's sister, Bonnie, was in Albuquerque with friends and we were glad to be able to visit with her also. On Christmas Eve, we went to Julie's uncle's house for enchiladas and posolé and other goodies. We also drove around and saw lots of beautiful lights and luminarias.

This is Julie's grandmother's house on Christmas Eve. Shelby helped her set up the luminarias (farolitos) that afternoon. They don't show up in the photo very well but the entire cul-de-sac was lined with them and it was beautiful!

We stayed at Julie's mom's house in Rio Rancho with Emily & Shelby and had fun watching Shelby and Jamie tear through their presents on Christmas morning. Julie came down with the cold/flu on Christmas Eve and felt horrible on Christmas Day...you know she wasn't feeling good when she turned the camera duty over to Bill!

Shelby and Jamie scattering "reindeer food" in the driveway on Christmas Eve.

Jamie & Grandma Betty on Christmas morning. He opened one package on Christmas Eve...Thomas PJ's.

Christmas morning - Bill & Jamie

Christmas morning - Shelby with Hilary poster.

Christmas morning - Jamie ripping through the paper!

Julie bought this Thomas computer game last July and was so excited to give it to Jamie for Christmas. He was excited to open it and we took this very nice photo of it. Good thing we have this photo because the Thomas game hasn't been seen since...must have been gathered up with the trash. Bummer!

Christmas morning - Bill and his new Denver Broncos fleece. Julie bought this on eBay from someone in Kansas City. (A true fan will recognize the irony of this.)

Emily & Julie being Christmas couch potatoes. Julie was actually wishing she was in bed!

HIPPY Christmas Party

Jamie has been involved this semester with the HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youth) Program, offered through Alamosa County. The program promotes school readiness and early literacy through parent involvement and utilizes the parent as the child's first teacher. It is a great program and seems to have good long term correlation with school success. The curriculum at age 3 is mostly reading, comprehension and role play which has supplemented and reinforced what we have already been doing.

The annual HIPPY Christmas party was held on December 20th at Polston Elementary School. There were lots of kids, submarine sandwiches and hotdogs, Christmas music, Christmas candy and Santa Claus...with PRESENTS!! Jamie had asked Santa earlier for a 'super fast toy' and, as fate would have it, his gift from Santa was a racing motorcycle toy. He was so impressed that Santa remembered his request and said that it was "just what I wanted". Today, someone asked Jamie if Santa was going to bring him a present and his jubilant reply was, "he already did"!

FCC Christmas Pageant

The children in our church presented the Christmas Story during last Sunday morning's worship service.
(Yes, Bill & Brenda are also considered "children".)
Jamie was one of the wise men and he brought his gift of gold to the newborn King.

Cast members
Mary: Brenda
Joseph: Bill
Angels: Demi & Amy
Shepherds: Tyler, Case & Spencer
Wise Men/Three Kings: Mason, Aaron & Jamie

Christmas 2005 letter

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed. Our hearts go out this holiday season to all of those who have been touched by the tragedy and disaster of hurricanes, earthquakes and war. We are certainly blessed to have our home and to know that our families are safe. We will not ever again take these things for granted.

The Brooks’ household has had a fairly uneventful year. We continue to be inspired by Jamie who, at 3 years old, fills our hearts with pride and love. He is growing and learning and becoming his own little self. He is a creative and energetic boy with a caring heart. This past year he has kept busy with gymnastics, Musikgarten, swimming lessons, Vacation Bible School, story time at the public library, playgroup and Awana. He has also started going to daycare/preschool 2 mornings per week. His favorite toy continues to be ANYTHING trains, especially Thomas the Tank Engine. His other favorite toys include construction trucks and race cars and he loves to work jigsaw puzzles. His best friend is Spencer. (Spencer has recently moved to Farmington, NM and Jamie is having a hard time understanding why Spencer doesn’t go to Awana anymore.) Other friends include Ryan, Ashley, Parker, Ryan, Aaron, Justin and Ryan. (Yes, there are three Ryan’s!) He loves baseball, soccer and football and we are looking forward to the upcoming summer when he will be old enough to participate in city leagues, if he so chooses. He also loves to sing (favorite song is “Old McDonald Had a Barn”), have stories read to him (his favorite books are “Racer Dogs” and “I Stink”) and watch videos (favorite videos are “Thomas the Tank Engine”, “Dora The Explorer” and “Bob The Builder”). He is also learning to master the potty, FINALLY!

We were able to take a couple of family trips this past year. We did Spring Break in Arizona and went to a Rockies game, the zoo and found the Maricopa Live Steamers Railroader Club where we got to ride miniature trains for an entire afternoon. We spent Father’s Day in Durango with Thomas the Tank Engine. In July, we spent a few days with Bill’s family in Salt Lake City and, then a week at our timeshare in Las Vegas, NV. It was too hot to really enjoy the time we spent in Las Vegas, but we did have fun riding the monorail and playing at Circus, Circus. In the future, we will be sure to not visit Las Vegas during the summer months. In October, we went to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM.

Bill’s job as school counselor moved him from the high school to the middle school this year, which has been a welcome change. He is really enjoying his work with this age group and also enjoys not having to deal with registration, scholarships and college prep and graduation. He misses the students at the high school but continues to be the SEADS (Students Educating Against Drugs and Suicide) sponsor. For fun, Bill finds time to work in his shop on his scrollsaw, play Scrabble, play volleyball, play bass guitar in church and serve as church elder. This year, he is especially proud to be a Denver Broncos fan as they are having a great season!

Julie continues to enjoy her job as SAHM. Her symptoms with CFIDS and Fibromyalgia restrict her activity but she does manage to find some free time for scrapbooking, weekly Bible study, mom’s group and cruising. (She is a Cruiser wanna-be and the designated co-pilot to Emily’s P.T. Cruiser. She & Emily attended several P.T. Cruiser events this past year.) She also continues to play recreational volleyball and will become a home demonstrator for Stampin’ Up!© in January.

We will spend Christmas with Julie’s family in Albuquerque. We pray that you will also have the opportunity to share the joy of the season with those you love. We thank you for the love you have shown to us in the past year; it is the greatest of all gifts.

Love,
Bill, Julie & Jamie