Beautiful Views

Everywhere I look, there is beauty.

Beautiful landscape and beautiful faces!

Saturday & Sunday mornings hot air balloons are all around.

Some fly directly over our roof.

I can even hear them from inside when the windows are open.

Then there is this face.

And this face.

Whom is currently obsessed with vacuuming.

You won't hear a single complaint from me!

This is the view of the Sandia Mountain Range from our driveway.

Lastly, this face again from underneath the bathroom sink.

She apparently thinks she's funny or something.

Giggles

Something that made my girls giggle:

Rio Rancho, (the city we live in) has so many great parks! Today we went with Noelle's new friend, Savannah, to a park a couple miles from our house. This place was full of all sorts of fun climbing, jumping, swinging and playing toys. But, this slide was the clear winner.

Something that made me giggle:

New appliances!!!

Put this one down in the record books folks, because I can assure you these words won't be uttered again from my mouth.

Doing laundry is kind of fun!

Then, there's this baby, It's big and it's beautiful.

My favorite feature? You can program how much water it dispenses at one time. So, no more overflowing when your little one gets her own drink of water. Or when you completely space out.

Grateful

...That's what I am.

I've been feeling a bit lonesome and completely overwhelmed the last couple of days.
Today was a doozy. Craziness from the minute my feet hit the floor.
So, tonight I am reminding myself of things I am grateful for.

• Anne of Green Gables. You read that right! Julianna gave me the first two books before leaving CA because I have never read them! Can you believe it? I just finished the first and I'm in love with Anne. Oh, how I wished I lived in Avonlea!
• My husband who picked up all the Q-tips that Madeleine left from one end of the house to the other.
• Yummy food. Although, I don't like how it makes my pants feel. :)
• Madeleine's adorable faces. You have to spend time with her to know what I am talking about. See her picture on the left side bar? At random intervals throughout the day she climb on your lap or crouch down in order to make eye contact with you and make versions of that silly face. It's beyond priceless.
• Prayer.
• Forgiveness.
• Children's story books.
• Listening to my husband sing my baby to sleep.
• Sitting down to have dinner as a family. Regardless of the mind numbing craziness that lead up to it.
• Noelle's funny mind. Examples: #1 when I picked her up from her class on Sunday she came out showing me her hand, which had a piece of paper taped to it with the emblem CTR drawn on it. I asked her what CTR meant and she very excitedly exclaimed, "Choose The Directions!" It really means: Choose The Right. #2 She loves to get the water ready for her bath. I was cleaning up after dinner and she ran into the kitchen naked as the day she was born and while patting the top of her head asked, "Can you help me with my belly button?" When she really meant to ask, "Can you help me take my hair out?" She has such a zest for life, I think it gets in the way of her brainwaves.

Nuts-O

That is life for us right now!

Unc came last week and helped us paint the house.
Oh, the craziness!
Driving all over town, making meals on the fly,
naps in the car, wiping noses,
the madness that goes along with house projects.


Friday morning was movers day.
I was up way too early getting things ready,
drove over to the house opened it up for them,
back to the apartment to get Noelle ready for her first ballet class.
Back to Rio Rancho to drop her off and meet up with the movers.

Here she is. Little Ballerina.
My heart could hardly handle it.

I made the mad dash back to the house where this was waiting for me.

I stood there with the world's largest bingo sheet,

marking off each item's number while they hauled my life into our house.

I put these poor guys on hold (again)

and I raced back to get my little ballerina.

Then we broke for lunch. Yum.

Unc was back at the apartment with a napping baby.

What a huge help that was!

I loved spending some time with my girl.

She had the time of her life!

Watching them bring all our 'stuff' out of the crates.

No time was wasted ripping boxes open

and reconnecting with her belongings.

I wasted no time getting the unpacking done.

Yikes.

We worked and worked and then, finally!

Time to pick up Auntie from her late night flight.

We missed her so much all week.

I only took a few pictures of our weekend. :(

Crashed out.

Poor Madeleine coloring on a paper towel

because I couldn't find a coloring book!

Sunday night was our first meal at home.

Good 'ol spaghetti.

Monday evening came and it was time to take them back to the airport.

I wonder how long it will take to get to the point where good-byes don't feel like your insides are being taken out?

We loved every minute of having them here.

We worked, laughed, shopped, and got so very much done.

The house is actually mostly unpacked and live able.

Most of all we just enjoyed seeing each other in person.

We love you Auntie & Unc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lately...

We've been playing at the park...

Counting down the days until Auntie & Unc come visit!

Celebrated my birthday!

These were the only pictures we took. :(

Marin, Auntie, & Unc sent me these Shari's Berries & Cupcakes.

My, Oh, My!!! They were YUMMY!

My birthday was very low-key.

Aaron got up with the girls and let me stay in bed.

(A little girl snuck away and snuggled me in bed,

that was quite all right!)

He took them out while I got to stay home and

lounge for a couple of hours.

It was heaven.

When they came back to pick me up,

they had gotten my car detailed.

I was thrilled! It was in baaaaaaaaad shape.

The rest of the day was spent running errands for the house, etc.

We had plans to Here for dinner. But the kids were done. So, we got some soup from the deli down the street and ate it on the couch while we watched New Moon. Finally!

Getting static hair while playing on inside toys.

Making Mommy crazy because after she lotioned, diapered

and dressed her for the day, she jumped right back in!

There is more to share! And I will.

There have been lots of requests for more pictures of the house

and I will do that....I promise!

Who Am I?

Noelle: "Who am I?"

Mommy: "I don't know."

Noelle: "Snow White waiting for her kiss."

Mommy: "Oh no."

Some St. Patty's Day Highlights

After a breakfast of green pancakes and green scrambled eggs, we got ready to head out for the day. As I was drying my hair Noelle came in and announced she had dressed herself for the day.

After we were finished (for real) we headed out.

It was a gorgeous day.

This little girl cracks me up, 95% of the time

her tongue is hanging out of her mouth.

(That comes from my side of the family.)

After we ran our errands and had lunch,

I had to take care of a situation.

A Jelly Belly thief!

She made sure to get my attention before she ran off with her loot.

She ultimately decided hiding by the couch would be best.


Then she brought them out for the whole family to share.

Daddy got home early and decided to

take us on a walk to get smoothies.
We went to Keva Juice (like Jamba.) Good times.


This is a partial mountain view from our apartment.
The whole thing is breathtaking.


Noelle has been begging to go to the 'hot pool' since we got here but it's been under repair.
We checked it out on our way home and it was hot so we ran back upstairs and suited up.
No pictures of all the fun. :(

Comical moment: Last summer when she would jump into the pool I taught her to say "Cow-a-bunga!" When we walked into the pool area she said, "I don't see any stairs into the cold pool, I guess you can only do Cow-la-bunga!" So stinkin' funny.

After baths, we put Madeleine to bed, and let Noelle stay up. We ditched the corned beef & cabbage in the crock pot. Instead, we ate Golden Grahams and & microwave popcorn on our bed while we watched Biggest Loser (i.e. Pounds) on my laptop. Noelle fell asleep half-way through and Daddy scooped her up and took her to bed. I love her life.

New Mexico

I posted most of these on Facebook, sorry but it's faster!

But here they are again with a little more info.

Family Night @ Chuck E. Cheese's. Can you believe we have NEVER taken Noelle there?

Fun was certainly had by all, but Madeleine had the most out of anyone.

She loved all of it, the noise, the lights, the people.

Watching the snow fall.

We took the train to Santa Fe, just for the fun of it, it's only about 50 miles.

Little Hot Chocolate mouth.

She could not wait for that train to come.

Beautiful church.


We had lunch at this organic Cafe called Pasqual's.

The Kale salad was almost like a religious experience.

Yum. Yum. Extra Yum.

Now onto the house...

This is in the kitchen looking to the left. Dining area.

Yes, you do in fact see: DOUBLE OVENS!

My requirement for moving was that I would get a fantastic kitchen (i.e. lots of counter space with NO GROUT, lots of cupboards, and double ovens. I think my requirement was met.) But now that so many loved ones are so far, who am I going to make wonderful food for? :(

Looking from the door to the backyard into great room/kitchen. Straight back is the front door. When walking through the front door directly to the right are french doors into the office.

Looking from kitchen into great room. The kitchen sinks is also made out of Corian, isn't that great? When you are cutting produce you can just slide it right into the sink.

Master is to the right, two girls rooms & their bathroom to the left.

Fireplace. Now we have a mantle to hang our stockings.

Girls Bathroom...double sinks! How many arguments will be avoided?

Sunday Morning Wake-Up

First of all, before we get started,

what do you notice about this picture?

Yesterday was yucky daylight savings. Boo! So we let Daddy sleep in for a little while. Then the girls couldn't stand it anymore, they went in and gave him a proper wake up call with all kinds of hugs & kisses. If you're going to get woken up, this has got to be the best way to do it.

They even gave each other hugs & kisses. I love them so much!