Jenna's new look

Grammy sent Jenna a care package and
it had two really cute outfits along with a
cool little purse, some funky hair ties
and a soft, sweet teddy bear. Jenna
has asked me to put her hair up in
piggytails every day since she got her package.
She even insisted I wear piggys one day as well.
(sorry, no pics of that one!) One afternoon,
she put on some funky pink and blue sunglasses
and put on her purse (which is filled with lip
gloss and jewelry). She turned to me, put her hand
up and said "no way I am putting a coat over this".




I think we need some neon
legwarmers and an arm full of bangles
to complete the look!


C'mon, this one is just too cute.



John and Angel catching some afternoon zzz's.



Here is an update on the areogarden. This is after
6 weeks. To see how fast it is growing, check out
the earlier posting on Jan 19. You can see how
much it has changed in only a couple of weeks.

Our First Official Snow Day!!!

It was 08:30 when the official announcement came.
NO SCHOOL!!!! Overnight we had some crazy winds
(gusts around 50 mph) along with freezing rain and
snow that left our roads coated in ice. So what do
you do when school is closed due to snow? Head outside
for some snowy fun of course! We don't have the proper
sledding equipment, so we improvised and used cookie
sheets. It took a few tries before the kids got the hang of it.
They would push off from the top of the driveway and
coast out to the road. It turns out that school being closed
due to snow is much more fun than school being closed
due to hurricanes!

HOORAY FOR SNOW DAYS!!!!!



This really shows how much snow fell last night.


Thankfully, no one cracked their head on the driveway.

It's a good thing we live on a slow street because

the sleds worked best on the road. Ian happened

to win this race but I don't think Jenna really

minded. She was already heading back for another
round!

Our sleds made great shields too! Doesn't it

seem like I post a lot of pictures of Ian getting

ready to chuck a snowball at someone?

Ever since Jenna made her angels,

Ian has been dying for his chance to make one.

Finally, my angel got to make an angel.

Snow + 30 mph winds + the desert=mud.

We only had snow in the corners of the "yard" and

as you can see, the drifts had a very pretty

covering of dirt.

Warming up with his new Chargers

sweatshirt blanket from Grammy.

Nice To Meet Ya, Chuck!

We surprised Ian and Jenna with a trip to Chuck E Cheese.
They have been wanting to go since before we left FL.
We only told them we were doing something fun
(well, John said we were dropping them off at the
labor pool) but wouldn't tell them what. As we pulled into
the strip mall, Jenna announced "if we are going to Wal Mart,
well, that just isn't fun at all". And then she figured it out and
shouted "Oh yeah, we are going to Chuck E Cheese. Oh yeah,
oh yeah!". Ian was equally excited saying "No way, are we Mom?
We are REALLY going to Chuck E Cheese?!". To make the
day even more fun we met up with our friends Mel, Kirk and
The Girls (as Jenna refers to them). The Boys (Noah and Lucas)
were spending some time with their dad and weren't able to make it.

It was an awesome day! Thank you to Mel, Kirk, Maryssa and Tori
for helping to make it so special!!


Yahoo, we even got to meet
Chuck E Cheese!


Ian, Jenna and The Girls (Maryssa and Tori)


Mel and Kirk, we have been thankful to be friends
with them as they have really helped with our
transition to NM.


Maryssa, how on earth did you get up there?


Jenna finally made it to the big screen. She had
a blast dancing along with the music videos and
watching herself on the big TVs.


Superstar Tori. I think this picture
matches her super fun personality.


This was one of Jenna's favorite rides.


Ian had the mother load of tickets from playing
Wheel of Fortune. (Ian pronounced it Wheel of
For Tune)


Ian and Maryssa took a break
from playing so I could take
"one more" picture.


Here are Jenna and Tori taking a ride on a
roller coaster. Jenna never minds posing for a
picture!


Everyone was playing hard, until I made them
stop and smile for the camera, again.


Kirk and John had as much fun as the kids. Here
they are racing cars. Boys will be boys, I guess.


Kirk was wishing John would stop hogging all the
good games. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

My first birthday in NM was a
wonderfully fun day! We grilled
steaks for dinner, opened gifts and
had quite a bit of fun! Grilling the
steaks was an adventure because
the winds were blowing and it
was 18 degrees outside. I had on
a hat, gloves and my coat when
I needed to check the meat. It was
worth braving the cold because the
steaks were so yummy! John bought
me the craziest pajamas (and the
warmest). He also got me a meat
thermometer, collapsible vases
and a veggie chopper. Ian picked
out a body pillow for me and Jenna
picked out a foot massager. After
we opened gifts, the kids were dying
to try on my new funny pjs. It
was a wonderful day!

This has nothing to do with my

birthday but I wanted to share it.

John bought me an Aerogarden

for Christmas. We planted the herbs

about 3 weeks ago and already they

are growing like crazy. I will post

another picture in a few weeks

so you can see the progress. When

we are done with the herbs, we are

going to get the salsa garden seed

kit!

Odds-N-Ends, And Jenna's Shiner

We had on our gear, did our trash talking and
settled in for what we were sure was the Bucs
beating the Giants in the first round of the
playoffs. Then the second quarter started and
we knew we were in trouble. Oh well, there is
always next year.




After our heartbreaking loss to the NY Giants,
we needed some comfort food. I thought a
little snowman stew would do the trick. I guess
making snowmen out of mashed potatoes makes
them taste better because we ate the entire pot.
Even Jenna gobbled hers up!


Jenna and Ian were playing yesterday and Jenna
got caught in the face by Ian's foot. She is now
proudly sporting her very princess like black eye.


The storm that hit the West Coast last weekend
has made its way to Rio Rancho. (thankfully it isn't
nearly as intense as it was for them!) It snowed over-
night and then started up again this morning.
We probably have 1.5 inches so far! The kids never
get clothes on as fast as they do when the snow
is coming down!!

The Lemons Family Visit

Once we got through Christmas our next big
event was having Angie, Greg, Isaac and Spencer
come out for a visit. They got here on
December 29 and left on January 2. We played
and played and played. It was wonderful to see
the boys (and Angie and Greg). We spent one day
on the hiking trails of the Cibola National Park,
we went to the botanical garden's light display and
we watched a ton of football. For New Year's
Eve, we made a big ole spread to snack on
through out the night. And then the real party
started. OK, not really. After the kids went to bed,
we hung out on the couch watching Mythbusters
until midnight. We MADE Angie and Greg stay up
until the new year. We had so much fun with
them and miss them already!! We love you!!



Nothing says New Year's Eve like food, food and
more food!

Proof that we really stayed up until midnight.

This is also proof that there is a little of mom in

me because I always have weatherbug.com open

on the laptop so I can see how cold it is outside.

We made Angie and Greg stay up until midnight.

We were all a bunch of wild and crazy party animals,

Well, maybe not.

We tried to take the tram up to the top of

Sandia Peak. Unfortunately the winds were too

strong and it was shut down. Since the kiddos

were totally pumped about spending the day

on the mountain and making snowballs, we

played on the trails at the bottom of the mountain.

It was pretty cold and really windy so we only

hiked for about 30 minutes or so.

There was still some snow on the ground so

we were able to make a few snowballs!

We made it back to the bottom!

We think Greg really is a super hero!

The kids had a movie night where they

watched Elf from their sleeping bags. They

ended up sleeping there all night.

Angie LOVED Jenna's new ice cream maker.

While they were here we made mint chocolate

chip and chocolate with brownie chunks.

YUUUMMMM!!!!!

Aunt Angie was horsin' around with the kids.

One evening we went to the Botanical Garden's

River of Lights display. Despite it being VERY

chilly, alright it was down right cold, we all had a

great time. There were light displays every where

and in all types of themes. Afterwards, we went to

Little Anita's in Old Town for dinner.