The funeral for my cousin is today and we didn’t get to go. Some of the kids are sick, the weather is bad and the timing just didn’t work out. Instead I’m going through old photos, scanning in some of my polaroids and remembering the good times. These are two of my favorites. Mike’s truck broke down in Albuquerque and we were stuck there with Mia, Mica and Bleu. Can you believe I just had Bleu two months before this picture? I look so skinny! Mia took both of these and I love them. Even though we were stranded with no money, we had a great time working together. Look how happy we were! It is a good reminder to me that life is more about our attitude than what happens to us. Love is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Contentment is a choice.

“Our life is what our thoughts make it.” Marcus Aurelius

Our local museums are hosting the first annual scavenger hunt. I read about it in the paper yesterday. Things like this make me very happy. The kids like to go to museums anyway, but this makes it more exciting.

Here’s how it works: Pick up a map at any of the participating museums or sponsoring businesses, visit and get your map stamped at all six museums, and turn it in for a chance to win prizes valued at $10 to $100. [More]

The six museums are the Las Cruces Museum of Art, the Branigan Cultural Center, the Las Cruces Railroad Museum, the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History, the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Museum and New Mexico State University’s on-campus University Museum. All of them except the Farm & Ranch Museum are free!

I chose to start the kids at the Museum of Natural History because their exhibit ‘Every Body Eats’ ended yesterday. They always have the best activities for kids and I wanted to see it before it was over. Good call, Mom! We had a blast. There were many hands on activities for every age group to enjoy. While Mia was learning about truth in advertising, Echo and Jon were having a race from breakfast to lunch [see photo above]. There was even an interactive display of oobleck.

Thank you Las Cruces for promoting fun, free activities that families can enjoy together. One down, five to go…

Just a few days ago, the school was spotless. When I walked over yesterday with the kids, I was shocked at the mess. All of the plants were covered with toilet paper. Boards, cardboard boxes and other building materials were stacked on the playground equipment and thrown on the ground. Last year, the school bought rubber to put under the jungle gym. It had been carried over to the basketball court in buckets and dumped  out. I’m sure it was just kids messing around, but still. Someone has to clean it up. Today, we went over and the kids worked together to get the school back in shape. School starts on Wednesday and I don’t want the students coming back to a mess.

Thank you kids for a job well done.

crossposted to our trash blog

Mia came home yesterday. Mike and I drove to El Paso to pick her up at the airport. The sun was setting just as we reached the top of the mountain and we stopped to watch it go down. It was so nice to be quiet for a few minutes alone with my husband, enjoying the show that mother nature put on for us. I needed that.

On New Year’s Day, my cousin Ben passed away in his sleep. He was here in Las Cruces visiting his parents. They found him. Can you imagine how devastating that would be? Parents should never have to bury a child, let alone deal with that. He was several years younger than me… I’m thinking maybe 31? He is the first person in *my* immediate family to die unexpectedly and we are all in shock.

The last time I saw Ben was at my grandpa’s funeral. He was playing with my kids and showing them his tree house. He had a wonderful dry sense of humor that always made me laugh. The funeral is on Tuesday in Farmington. School starts on Wednesday. Mike and I are trying to work something out so that we can go. Thank you to everyone who left comments or sent messages on flickr/twitter. It was much appreciated!

New Year’s resolutions? Eh. Not so much. I failed at my 365 self portrait project. Still working on my 100 Strangers project. I’ve *almost* made it through the Alphabet Project. My Daily project is all but abandoned.  I must be a glutton for punishment, because I’m starting a new photo project:  one picture a day for the entire year.  My only goal as far as subject is to try to accurately represent my life and the things I’m going through.

I took some of the kids bowling today and Butterfly won these little puppies in a machine. They reminded me of flickr, so I snapped this picture. That’s Mikal bowling in the background. We had a lot of fun… definitely something to remember! It was Echo’s first time and he spent a lot of time sliding around on the floor.

Before I start to think about the new year, I’d like to take a moment and remember some of the places that are no longer with us. Construction is in overdrive and all over town the old is making way for the new. Progress, I know. But as I’m enjoying our shiny new city, there are some old spots that I’m going to miss:

• The old Laabs pool. I [heart] the new pool a lot, but it still felt wrong when they filled in the old one.
• The Target Gas station on Solano [photo on left]. It’s one of those signs I always want to stop and photograph and now it’s gone.
• Another favorite spot [photo on right]. I love this fence post. They’ve cleaned up the lot [on Valley], cut down the trees and put it up for sale.
• DQ on Valley. I don’t miss this as much as Echo does. “I want the lips back!’
• The old adobe on the corner of Valley and Picacho. I never stopped to take a picture of the sagging porch in front.
• The old house with the huge lot on University. Am I the only person who wanted to buy it and fix it up?
• The gas station on North Main just south of IGA. I never stopped to take a picture of the painted windows.

I’m sure there are more. Anyone?

So far, the holidays have been fun and crazy and busy and stressful and amazing all at the same time. I don’t think there has been a single day without at least one sick kiddo. I haven’t done laundry in four days. There is a 12 pack of beer in the fridge and we’re out of milk. All the cookies and chocolates are gone and the tape has disappeared. We’ve been singing and laughing and drinking and playing poker and sight seeing… Who knew our life was so exciting?! Until I have time to write a proper post, check out some pictures from this holiday season. I hope yours has been just as magical!

Holiday 2008 on flickr: set | slideshow

A week or so ago, Jon fell in the hallway. His knee was bleeding and he was crying. There was a great deal of discussion about what he fell on and whether or not it was still in his leg. Mike said to leave it alone and it would come out on its own. The next day I could see a bit of glass sparkling in the middle of his scab, but he said it hurt too bad to take it out. This morning he scratched off his scab and this piece of glass was stuck to it. No wonder it hurt so much! Poor Jon.

My brother and three of his kids are here for two weeks. My dad and his wife will be here tomorrow. Happy, happy, happy me. I love Mike’s family, but it isn’t the same as being around mine. My sister is busy with work and I don’t see her as often as I’d like, even though she lives here. My brother lives twelve hours away and it has been a year since he has come to town. I look at my kids and see how easy they are with each other. They fight and laugh and play. They have secrets and shared adventures. I remember that connection with fondness. No matter how much time passes or what turns life takes, my sister and brother and I can still make each other laugh.

“To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other’s hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time.” Clara Ortega

The kids missed the last day of school Friday in order to drive to Santa Fe and accept their award. They won the gold medal in the Governor’s Challenge Pickup Olympics. It was quite an honor and the kids were overwhelmed with the wonder of the capitol. The buildings! The people! The art! Did you know there was snow? Actual snow on the ground! We were a few miles outside of town and Echo pointed out the window, “White Sands! You didn’t tell me we were going to White Sands!” He didn’t believe me that it was snow until we stopped.

Luckily, Mike’s sister Barbie and her family live in Santa Fe so we were able to crash at her house. She and her mother-in-law came to the awards ceremony with her kids and it was so special to have some family there. We walked in and they called us ‘the cleanest family in New Mexico’. LOL… the kids thought that was so funny.  Obviously they haven’t seen the kids’ bedrooms.

After the ceremony, we walked through the plaza and had lunch at La Fonda. We took the kids swimming and hung out all night talking and making pizza. Poor Butterfly was sick the whole time, so that was kind of a bummer. Out of all the things we did, I think the kids were most impressed with breakfast. Barbie gave me strict instructions to post this picture. I was supposed to title this post ’Breakfast With Barbie’, but that doesn’t seem entirely fair since her husband is the one that did the cooking. These waffles were great! Even better than the picture.

Thank you for the hospitality! We had an amazing time. And CONGRATULATIONS to my kids. I am proud of each and every one of you. For more pictures from our trip, click on the link below.

Santa Fe, December 2008on flickr: set | slideshow

crossposted to our trash blog