The last six months of 2009 - It's about time - I know!

In July Mike's sister Melanie came to visit us from Arizona. She has four boys so we had a total of six little boys under our roof for a few days! Here they are getting ready to set fireworks off for the 4th of July.

We decided to have sidewalks poured in the front of our house and on the south and north sides.

We thought this would help with all the mud we have up here in the mountains. And in July we had a lot of mud from all the rain. Well, I can tell you it did help a little but now I have to sweep more sidewalks!


July was also a time for the boys to play outside until it got dark, eat ice cream on the back porch and chase horny toads in our garden.

Mike had to go to Canada in July so I talked my Mom into driving up to Colorado with me and the boys to see our dear friend Barbara and her family. We always have a great time there. It is a home away from home. Eric just fell in love with Avey ( Barbara's grand daughter) and wouldn't leave her alone! On the way back from Colorado it was my Mom's birthday so we decided to stop and eat at a nice restaurant instead of McDonald's. I can't remember the name of the place but it was in Trinidad and it was Italian and it was really good.

August was a busy month. We had to get the boys ready for school to start! They both went to the dentist, before school check-ups and my favorite - buying new school supplies. Who doesn't love a new box of crayons? Isaac was excited and nervous. Here where we live kindergartner's have to go to school all day. No more half days for them. It took me some time - actually, I still don't know if I am used to him being gone all day. The house is so quiet with him gone all day.

Eric was so excited to go to preschool! He wasn't that nervous because he had gone with me all last year when I would pick Isaac up from the same preschool. He already knew the teacher's and the set up of the classroom so he was ready. He goes twice a week and really likes it.

Here is the stuff I received from a pen-pal who lives in Canada. I signed up to be in a pen-pal swap and it was lots of fun. Turns out we both love aprons and cooking for our families. We sent each other just about the same things!

My Mom decided she was going to have a quilt show the last day in August. She wanted to have a quilt show with all the quilts she has made over the years. We contacted everyone we could remember her giving a quilt to and had them mail it or bring it to the show. We hung everything outside on the back porch, created a program and even had people vote on their favorites. It was really neat to see all the quilts she has made. We always tease her because she waits to last minute to finish a project so a lot of her quilts are UFOs - UnFinished Objects.

September brought more rain and more fun in the mud for the boys. Don't people pay lots of money for a mud bath these days to improve their skin?!

My little mud babies

On September 5 Isaac lost his first tooth. It had been hanging on for dear life for a while and he didn't want to pull it out. Then one night while he was sleeping it fell out. We found it hiding in his blankets. That night we tucked his tooth into a special glow in the dark tooth holder and placed it under his pillow. In the morning when he woke up he found money the Tooth Fairy had left him. He was so excited!

Barbara and Bob also came to visit us in September. Barbara is an amazing quilter and every time she comes to visit or we go to Colorado to visit her I get inspired to make great things. Then she leaves or I come home and all the inspiration leaves with her. I wish she lived closer so she could light a fire under me everyday! I would have tons of fun things made.

In October I did manage to make this quilt for my dear friend Lindsay. She and her family are so special and they have been through a very rough year. They moved away and I wanted her to have something to remind her of her friends in NM. (PS- I am happy to report that Lindsay and her family have moved back to NM and we are very happy about it!)

October 11 Isaac turned 6! Here he is celebrating with his buddies playing putt-putt. Why I thought taking five little boys to play putt-putt was a good idea is beyond me! Those are clubs in their hands for gosh sakes!!! And yes, one little boy did end up with a very small injury to the head. What was I thinking?

After putt-putt everyone came back to our house to open gifts and eat cake and pizza. Batman was the theme for the party this year - I had to talk him out of Stars Wars which was last years party. I think when he turns seven I may have to cave and have another Star Wars party.

This is the cake I made for the family party. I just printed the batman symbol off the Internet and used it as a template on the cake. Isaac loved it. He loves anything all boy. He is just growing to fast for me. I like the ages my boys are at right now and I don't want it to change.

In November Mike had to go to Berkley for work and this time I went with him. We went a little early and got to spend some time in San Francisco. I was not planning on going on this trip so I was not that prepared to go. I decided go a few days before we left.

San Francisco was fun and I really liked the trolley ride. It was just cold and rainy and windy and there we tons of people everywhere. I am happy I went but I don't need to go back anytime soon.


This is the view Mike has from the labs he does testing at in Berkley. It was very pretty and I really enjoyed seeing all the sights. I think I would have liked it more if I was a young single college student studying political science! Berkley really is a major college town with thousands of students strutting their stuff all over the place.

Once we were back home it was time to get the boys from my Mom and Dad and start decorating for Christmas. They always have a fun time putting ornaments on the tree and setting up the Christmas village and other fun decorations.

On December 1st my Mom came over to give the boys new Christmas quilts she had made them. She wanted them to have Christmas quilts on their beds so they could have the Christmas spirit with them all the time. They both got one and they used them well after Christmas was over.

Going on the Polar Express train ride in Durango, Colorado has become a little tradition for our little family. This year Isaac was given the first gift of Christmas by Santa because he answered correctly to the question asked by Santa, "What is the first gift of Christmas?" The answer is a bell. He was very proud of himself.

This year we even sprung for the first class seats. I have to say it was a little nicer but I'm not sure it was really worth the extra cost. We will have to see what we do for next year.


This is the advent calendar that my sister and I used when we were growing up. My Mom made it over 30 years ago and it is still holding strong!

The boys made sure Santa had lots of cookies and cold milk waiting for him. Thanks to my Mom there were cookies. She did all the baking for us this year.


Christmas morning there was a letter from Santa waiting for the boys by the empty plate of cookies and tons of gifts under the tree. Legos and board games were the popular gifts this year. Mike did just about all the shopping for us on-line this year because I was not able to get out. I was expecting our third little baby due the Fourth of July and lost him right before Christmas. We were heart broken and I took it really hard this time which may explain why I have not been up to posting about everything that is going on in our little world. I kinda checked out for awhile and have slowly started to come back to the living. Besides me being out of it our little Eric had to be taken to the urgent care on Christmas Eve because he had a fever of 105. He tested positive for strep throat and so he and I spent Christmas day on the sofa sleeping while the rest of the family tried to keep things as normal as possible. Life is good but sometimes there are curve balls thrown at you that you just don't expect. Hopefully I can get back to blogging because there are lots of fun and exciting things going on with us!