We Got Spirit!

 Last Saturday the kids and I rushed over to Onate High School to see my niece Brooke compete in a Cheerleading competition.  I've watched Brooke most of her childhood sporting around Cheerleading outfits for the bulldog games and she used to do little cheers for all of us, and practice her jumps on the trampoline.  So to see her as a Freshman doing so well was really special.  It was my first time to see her do her thing this year and we were all very impressed.  My pictures are horrible so I apologize for the blurriness, but you get the idea. 

Happy Birthday Cameron!

It's lucky number 7! Cameron was King for the week (and boy did he act like one.) in honor of his birthday.  I don't know how many times I heard Cameron tell everyone "I can do whatever I want cuz it's MY birthday!"  I tried to let it slide as much as possible to make his day pleasant, but there were a few times I had to remind him about reality.  Cameron lost his other front tooth and has enjoyed the complexities of eating because of that.

We had a party with the family at the pool here in town and had a good time.  I made him a chess board cake this year because he LOVES chess and we also got him an XBOX kinect which really got him excited.  But, of all of the fancy gifts and activities that we did, Cameron is still just a toy car loving boy.  He's had probably the most fun with his race car set.  We sure love Cameron; his zest for life and desire to entertain us. (Even though it verges on the edge of annoying at times) :)  He keeps things interesting at home and really desires deep down to be the best he can be.  He told me that since he's 7 now that he should probably do a little more to be responsible.  (In his toothless voice)  He's so sweet.  We love you cameron!

Mountain Get-a-way!

We spent Valentines Day and a couple days after in Ruidoso and the weather was wonderful!  The boys and I got to spend the day up on the slopes while Karen and Cody watched the girls for me. THANK YOU!! 

At one point Jesse and I were heading down the mountain by ourselves and after he did a few tricks on his snowboard and making it look so easy, we realized we had the whole mountain to ourselves!  It was a school day that day and so things were quiet.  Very nice.  The past three times I've hit the mountain I've tried snowboarding, but this time I wanted to get back to skiing and forgot how much I LOVE skiing!  My confidence was up and so I hit a blue trail (which actually should've been a black)  I was all by myself and wondering how I was going to get done this trail alive!  So, I slid sideways as much as possible and then a more experienced skiier stopped and talked me into going for it.  So, I did and survived luckily.  Needless to say it was last time I went down that one. :)

Bryce did really well on the snowboard for his second time.  I think all of the skateboarding has helped him sooo much!  At the end of the day he tried a ramp and I'm so mad at myself for not taking a picture, but Jesse and I were really proud of the kids for trying so hard.  At the end of the day I've concluded that skiing is much gentler on the body than skateboarding. :)

One afternoon we took a stroll down to the lake and were suprised to find it frozen solid! Jesse stepped out onto the ice and I was ready to take a picture of his tanking into the water, but after realizing how solid it was we were all on the ice playing around.  

Abe's checking to see just how deep the ice is.  I'm pretending to be an ice skater and not succeeding. ha!

Glad that's over!

The kids stock pile of snow balls.  Bella & I were too cold to stick around for the battle.

 So, last week the kids were out of school from Wed. through Friday.  Wed. the roads were so bad.  The kids and I wanted to head to the store, but mid way I turned around because the roads were so icy that I had to drive 10 miles an hour and plus, I kept seeing shards of tail light glass on the road and figured I'd better get back home. We only received snow on Tuesday night, but the temperature never reached about 20 degrees for a few days.  I know that's nothing compared to some, but when the weather has been in the 50's all winter long, it's a bit of a shock.  So, El Paso Electric experienced power failure and we had blackouts all over the place.  Schools and government buildings were closed because of the blackout and so the kids enjoyed some time off. 

On Sat. I came home from jogging and noticed that our snow was melting and decided that we should make a snow man while we still could.  Claire and I thought it would be fun to transform our snowman into different characters from the boys costume box. We had a good laugh.

THE FASTEST MELTING SNOWMAN IN THE WEST!

                                LUUKE!  Use the force! Bella was the only one small enough
                                             to hide behind the snowman to hold the props. :)

 

Here's to all of the Boy Scouts of America!  Claire's trying to make a fire and looks pretty happy about it. :)

                                              

SUPERMAN! Bella's not so sure.

                                        HI-YA!                                                         Beaverly Hills Ninja!

                                                            Our Tribute to Shawn White

                Claire's been watching Annie lately and wanted to see what she would look like as a red head. :)

                                                           These pics just make me smile.

          ON GUARD!

It's a good thing we made our snowmen when we did because it wasn't an hour later that I looked out the window and our snowman was toppled over.  So sad.