Wow!

Has it really been since May that I've blogged?!?! I never would have thought I'd be busier as a stay-at-home-mom than when I worked a full time job. But, I'm absolutely loving it!

Well, let's see...what have we been up to?

June
We had remnants of a hurricane blow through which made for a beautiful mountain scene.And my children did things like this:

July
We experience our first Presidio parade for the Fourth of July with our friend Bailey
And the boys got a new bunk bed.

And we visited the Botanical Garden in Fort Davis where we enjoyed cooler temps and RAIN!

We played silly games.

And watched a show put on by Oaxacan dancers.

We enjoyed tasty Mexican frozen treats.

And discovered scary 2 1/2" bugs like this:
August
By August we were in desperate need of a break from the heat.

Our friend captured a Western Banded Gecko

and a Greater Earless Lizard.
Note: He was earless before his head was shot off...but aren't his markings beautiful!September

Upon missing the launch of the hot air balloons in Alpine Labor day weekend, we caught the Marfa Lights Festival.

And Will celebrated his fourth birthday. First with a SpongeBob party with his friends.

then a party at Chuck E Cheese and cupcakes at his Nana's

(where he matched his Poppi)The boys and I spent the last half of September and the first half of October with the family. Although we missed Ben, we enjoyed the cooler temperatures and grass and picnics in the park.October
We visited the great grand parents and continued our sillinessand played with our cousins

Then came Halloween!

November
We had a nice Thanksgiving with friends
We found some leaves to play in

and it finally cooled down enough (mid 70s by day/low 30s by night) that when the sprinklers at the station were left on all night, this happened:

December
I made costumes for the boys and a few of their friends. They created a Nativity scene on the Border Patrol Family float in the Christmas parade. Then we saw Santa (played by a good friend) in the park at the tree lighting ceremony. (I have to admit, for a small town they really try hard!)

We went to Fort Davis to a nature preserve and cut down a Christmas tree, decorated said tree and house and celebrated at the BP Christmas Party where Santa made another appearance.

Please note the hand-on-hip pose that Will now does for pictures. Too cute!

Whew! I guess that catches us up for now. And as the new year approaches, I resolve to enjoy my time with my children and blog about it when I can :) Hopefully more often than I have been!

Love to all and a very merry Christmas!

The Mother of all Re-caps

So, it's definitely been a while since we've caught up. But hey, we've been busy uprooting our lives and resettling down and mashing our family back together.

(I'm also posting things a little differently to get you all caught up. We'll start with the older thing first. As you read through the following blog postings, you'll be working toward the more recent happenings.)

Here's what we did before we left:

February 23:
It snowed (about 5 flakes).

(hit the play button)

February 27:
We went to some birthday parties with our best buddies.
Jack was there too.
March:
We sat in our favorite spot...
Continued potty training...Crashed out...Did some reading...
Learned a new trick...
Goofed around...
Went to see and hid from a really big dog...Read some more...
and perfected the new trick...
Then we went to see the dinosaurs!

They moved, they screeched, the terrified! Screaming children everywhere. The movement and screeching was intermittent, so you never knew when the terror would begin again. I assured Will "it will get better, let's just get past the scary ones. OH look, petrified poop!" No such luck. The fang toothed creatures lurked around every corner. Just as Ben thought he had found an area of refuge by a "rock wall", a T-Rex head loomed out just above Will's head. More children screaming, other parents looking giving pitiful/dirty looks. We don't like dinosaurs as much as we used to.

April:
We loved...We dyed Easter eggs...

The Easter bunny came...

We hunted eggs...

We had farewell fun with our friends...

We packed up the house...

We had a moving away party at daycare...

We said goodbye to our favorite Father Jimmy...

and took some unhappy pictures in the bluebonnets.

Then, we moved!

Toothless

No, the Tooth Fairy won't be needing to make any appearances yet. Will just loved the movie "How to Train a Dragon" and the night fury dragon named Toothless. I happened to find this hooded towel to give to Will as a housewarming gift. It quickly became a "costume" and has accompanied us on a few trips to the grocery store. Although I usually manage to talk him into leaving it in the car ;).

This is where we live

So, we've relocated to Presidio. It's in the high Chihuahuan desert of Texas. It's west, way west. And south, WAY south. And hot. We've already seen 106. One evening my car's temperature reading was 112, but luckily after a drive to the post office it cooled to 99. But it's really beautiful here. Well, not so much the town itself. It's dusty and run down and the community is very poor (median income is $19K). But the surrounding mountains are breathtaking. The pictures hardly capture what you see in person!

These photos were taken driving west of Presidio.

These photos were captured driving east of Presidio towards Lajitas and Terlingua.

Surprise! It's another boy!

Will and Jack would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family.

Charlie
a border collie mix puppy

A boy and his dog

Another boy and his dog

Calling all SAHMs

Calling all stay-at-home moms.

I'm beginning my career as a full time stay at home mommy next week. I can't tell you how excited I am! I've been working full time, 3 days at the office and 2 days from home, since Will was born. But now the time has (finally) come to relocate and reunite this family. So I will, with mixed emotions, embark on this new and exciting journey.

Now, here's where you ladies come in. I am by nature, to the very core of my cells, a planner. Even if I don't follow the plan, I need to know that I have one. I would so very much appreciate it if any of you would share your at-home expertise. The first month of my stay-at-home mommyness will be consumed with cleaning, packing, moving, and unpacking. But after that...then what? What are your daily routines, cleaning schedules, fun and educational activities? I could especially use "at home" activity ideas since we'll be living in an very remote area where we'll have to make our own fun. I have in my mind all of these things that I think will need to be done and things I'd like to do, but I don't know how practical any of it really is. We've been without a daddy in our house since June and aside from a set bedtime, for mother's sanity, anything resembling a routine has flown out the window. So, I'm looking for anything that can help bring structure back into our lives for fear I'll lose my head or turn into a slob that never gets anything done.

Entertaining any and all suggestions and thanks for your help!

Stick 'em up!