Happy Birthday Mom

Lynne B would have been 60 today. Miss you mama.

So easy...

"You know what's easy for me, Mom?"
"What's that, Azalea?"
"It's really easy for me to love dogs."

 

What's not to love?

Halloween in Review

Our new neighborhood is pretty fun when it comes to Halloween. Of course Halloween if pretty fun almost anywhere when you are 4, 7 & 9. But there are some extra efforts around our part of town...

The week before Halloween, Lola and Tigo's elementary school have a a Fall Fiesta. I ended up working most of it, and the kids ran wild with there friends and Elmer trying to keep track of them.


The next day we went to a pumpkin patch in Corrales, a little town on just North on the other side of the river. There was a Corn Maze, and a little petting area, where a minature horse chomped on Azalea's finger (she was NOT happy about it) and a horse drawn carriage around the fields with all the glory around of the mountains and the corn fields and yet another beautiful sunny day in New Mexico.

Did I mention it was another gorgeous day in New Mexico?
It was, as just about everyday here is.

Then after that, we walked to our neighbors house for a neighborhood pumpkin carving party.

Once Halloween arrived Azalea woke up in the morning and said
"Mom today can't be Halloween, it's not dark outside." (it was 7am).

The kids have told me that when you decorate your house for Halloween, you aren't supposed to let anyone see you... another mystery...

We also had a plethora of home-made decorations from some of the left over packing boxes. Only problem was the breif snow storm we had earlier in the week got the cardboard a little soggy... but still pretty fun to create. And the trick or treaters seemed to really like them. This one is a tombstone with a ghost peeking out that Tigo made all himself.

Having Halloween on a Saturday is a hard day's wait. When it's on a school day, they are kept pretty busy. But being around all day, WAITING and WAITING. I did my best to keep them busy, but their thoughts always turned to the party we were going to at 4pm and the trick or treating to follow.

Can you say "sassy"?

We'll they weren't so happy about me making them sit in the sun, for their picture when there was a Halloween party happening just one block away!! What kind of mother am I anyhow?

Boba Fett (Star Wars), Vampire and Scary Vampire.

Did you really think the kids would let the puppies get away with out a costume....?
Coyo was a cow. Complete with udders. He just wouldn't let us take his pic so much.

Zepp was fire dog. He was pretty cute marching around the neighborhood.

Elmer dressed up as a golfer. He's been working on the outfit all year, trying to get it just right...

So I don't have any pictures of the actually Halloween trick or treating. But "my Land!" Kids practically get bussed in from all over the city to come to our neighborhood. Serious trick or treating going on -all ages. It is like Georgetown for kids and parents. Only drunk college students are missing. But just as much craziness. There was a non-stop flow of traffic to our house when we were there. Other wise we waded through the crowds, desperately trying to keep a fine line of balance between not losing any of the kids when there were potty breaks, keeping up with friends, costume adjustments, different rates of running from house to house.

I actually think (know) the kids got a lot less candy this year than in our old neighborhood. Combination of the houses being further apart and all the craziness. I also think going to the party ahead of time wore them out a little and they didn't "work" so hard. :) Just fine with me...

Balloon Fiesta

The International Balloon Fiesta was a couple weeks ago. It is a pretty amazing event. The largest hot air balloon event in the world, and it goes on for a week. Though really you can see at least a few hot air balloons above Albuquerque almost any early morning. The kids have not tired of it yet.

A few days before the fiesta, there was a balloon launch at Lola and Tigo's school. We went down to watch at the break of day. It was soooooo cold. But sooooo cool. We saw the whole thing up close. From rolling out the basket to spreading the balloon, filling it up with air and take off. It is no easy procedure to get everything going.

On the second day of the fiesta we went down to the Balloon Park to watch the mass lift off. How crazy. You can walk around up close to all the balloons. It all seemed to happen pretty fast too. Due to the weather, the day we went, the balloons didn't stay up long, but we did get to see at least a hundred in the sky at once. CRAZY!

Check below for pics.

I flew out of town a few days later for a wedding early one morning. I was lucky enough to be able to see a bunch of the balloons from my airplane window. What a site.

You know, it seems like it has got to use a ton of natural gas to power these things. I really don't know. I'm not sure I want to find out either, it might ruin it for me. So in the mean time. I will still be in awe.

... and kitty makes three.

No wait, that's not how the story is supposed to end. Or begin, or the middle for that matter.

So there must be a memo circulating in the neighborhood to the animals that we are the suckers. Either that or we are the crazy people that can't say no. First we go adopting 2 puppies. One puppy was planned. Have Elmer and I ever done very well with our planning?? Well maybe not, but ultimately we've been able to work through the unplanned fairly well. So we got 2 dogs. Who I will say just had their first vet visit yesterday and it went very well. (Other than the vet tech noting that I was crazy to have 3 small kids, 2 puppies and one... we'll get to that). The vet did seem to think that the pups were younger than what the shelter told us and that they are probably only about 12 weeks old right now. Either the shelter didn't accurately know, or they were trying to adopt out pups that are going to be possibly rather large. Zepp (at possibly 12 weeks) is weighing in at 22lbs. YIKES! Pancho was adopted at 12 weeks and weighed 12lbs, and went on to be about 75lbs.... And Coyo is a little runt, relatively speaking, at almost 9lbs.

Anyhow, my dad and Valeri were visiting last week. It was Tigo's birthday on the 27th and well... how could they stay away. So on the night of his birthday while we wer all sitting outside having our good times a little Ginger cat appears in our nice big Cottonwood tree. And to make a long story short, he hasn't left yet.

He slept on our back porch by the door and cried all night... for 3 days. Eventually I broke down and bought it some food because it seems like a young cat and I didn't want it to start killing the birds. (Although we have a nice falcon in our backyard who might be more likely to eat the cat instead.) I know, I know the biggest mistake you can make. But it is so sweet with the kids. Not scared of the puppies, who chase, play and wrestle with it. And it just purrs and purrs. This cat, who I though was a girl, had to belong to someone. It was too friendly to be a stray. But we've sent out neighborhood emails and knocked on doors and no one will claim him.

Then last night, Elmer had a "closer look" at the cat. And it seems that "He" is still "in tact". Not fixed. Which is pretty much a sure fire sign that he's a stray and doesn't belong to anyone. So while we planned on adopting the dog(s), that was for love and companion and to make our family grow. We also did it at a shelter to save a puppy life, and well all those other moral reasons. New Mexico also apparently has the highest animal euthanasia rate in the country. So how can I go sending a little kitty to the shelter when the kids love it and the puppies love it. But I'm a dog person. Not a cat person. And no matter what any child of mine says, ultimately I do all the care-taking. So for now, it has no name. As I don't want anyone getting anymore attached than it is. And I don't want more vet bills... and we already know he needs to get fixed before the lady cats find out how smooth he is.

But unfortunately it seems we have the 2 sweet puppies and kitty makes three.

The spread

Here are some pics of our very colorful home. Both in spirits and in paint. As of right now, all the colors were here when we moved in. We chose not to paint first. As first of all, we were way to anxious to move into our own home again. And also as we will like do a little kitchen and master bed/bath remodel and that is where the paint is needed the most! Enjoy!

Below is a pic of the front of the house. Hard to see it, but you get the general idea. Needs some nice desert landscaping out from and it will be a gem. Has some hanging peppers over the front porch.


Below is the Living Room which is pretty much the room you come into when you walk through the front door. It looks out over the front yard.


This is our Master bedroom. Its an awful shade of turquoise, with a torquoise rug and a little turquoise bath. And a very purple accent wall.

Here's where the real fun is! Purple, purple purple cabinets. This is the color purple you would use when explaining to a preschooler for the first time, what purple is. With primary red backsplash and the vibrant orange trim at the top. There was a huge white table with the matching white formica counters, but we downsized a little and put our own table in the middle. We have a nice little dining room also, but I'm not sure where that pic went. The kitchen looks out over the sun room to the right.
This is the sunroom that Azalea is standing in. It is also the "playroom". The window to the left is the office. You can sit at the computer and look out onto the kids and then into the back yard through the wall of windows to the right. The door to the right is the kitchen, the door straight ahead is the "family room" but it's really Elmer's room.


This is Elmer's room. For watching golf and sports. Yes wood paneling. Oddly it actually doesn't look to bad in reality. Or maybe I don't think so because I've been looking at all the crazy paint colors. We are need of new couches. Badly.


Here's the girls room. Lola's on top, Azalea's on bottom. Can't see so good, but it's green and pink. Actually very cute. Lola wants to paint it purple. But I'm afraid we've reached our purple quota for this house for now... And the pic of Tigo's room is missing, but it's super cute also, and lots of room for legos!!



Here is our awesome backyard. The part closest to the house is grassy and covered for most of the day by cottonwood trees. There is a small wall the divides the yard in half. Behind it, there is a playset that was left by the previous owners, and the basketball court, that we have put a trampoline on half of, and a former chicken coop and lots and lots of room for gardening after we revitalize the well. Also fruit trees. Yummy!! From the back there is a nice view of the mountains, but you can really only see it when you are playing basketball.

Ridiculous

This guy is Zepp. He's the bigger of the two. Weighed about 15-16 lbs last week when we got him. He chews a little more, so I think he might be just a little older. But still around 11 weeks. So soft and sweet. He follows me everywhere. But when he's tired he hides under the couch so the kids can't get him. Like now.

This little guy with Lola is Coyo. (As in rhyming with Yo-yo and but short for Coyote) We thought he looked like a little coyote pup and he ate a lizard with in moments of arriving in our backyard. He weighed about 5-6lbs upon his arrival and is probably about 10 weeks now. The kids sometimes favor him, mostly because he is easier to pick up. They are trying to train him to be a lap dog. Oh brother....

And different litters. So they are adopted brothers. Both mutts.