THE QUEEN OF QUIRK

if you give a kid a camera...

The girls are always swiping my camera and running off with it. I usually find some gems on there when I get it back.

We went to an apple fest a couple of weeks ago and on our way back to the car, jug of freshly pressed DELICIOUS juice in hand, Norah snapped this and I thought it was really sweet.

photo by Norah 10.09.2011

I love that Colin and I are holding hands and that Lara and I have practically the same jacket on. Too cute.

On a personal note:

Colin and I are counting down the days until the coolest anniversary date. EVER.

On 11.11.11 this year, it's our 11th anniversary and we're throwing a huge party to celebrate. More details on that to come. Also apple fest photos, too. :) Til tomorrow!

our halloween

...was so much fun! In the past we never dressed up with the kiddos but for the past couple of years we have been and it's been so much more fun! I've re-connected with my obsession with costumes and we have so much fun getting into character! :)

Lara was so proud of her Hermione costume. She really looked the part, too! Mia is either a witch or a cat every. single. year. It's too funny. And Norah...Norah is a princess. Naturally. I am a huge dork but, in my defense, I'm not as huge a dork as my husband.

It's pretty awesome to go shopping with the Swedish Chef, though. Especially as he hums and "bork"s the entire time.

I hope you had a fantastically spooky Halloween!

mobile uploads

For some reason, I don't take my camera photos seriously. I love to look at them, but I had never pulled them off of my phone until a few days ago. They're so much fun. I have no idea what I was thinking! I need to get these photos onto some scrap pages but there are so many I'm not sure where to begin.

They're not the best quality so I really need to get creative about using them. How do you use your mobile photos? :)

taking control

I have been so influenced by what I've been reading online the past 4 days. Everyone has a goal and it seems that even when they have multiple goals, they are always capable of boiling them down to one word. I have a very hard time with that. I can't seem to wrap my brain around all the things I want to accomplish unless I can categorize them in some rational fashion.

I think I finally have it now, though.

My word for this year is need.

I want to focus on the things that are essential to my and my family's happiness. Other things, needless things, will be taking a backseat to what I (and thus my family) really needs. Most of the time, though, I just need a good swift kick in the pants.

 

This is a list of some of the things I want to do this year:

*Wake early before the children and exercise. (because I need to take care of myself and have quiet time in the morning so I am not a crazy person)

*Make homemade lunches for my children who have been complaining to me for months about their horrible school lunches.(because I need to take care of their growing little bodies)

*Pare down on my purchases. (because I simply do not need so many things that I can't find anything I'm looking for)

*Eat better and drink less. (because duh)

*Spend more quality time with my children. (because they are growing up too fast and I am missing things)

*Take time out to spend with just Colin. (because after 10 years, we still need to work on making each other a priority.)

 

I am looking forward to what this year brings us. We have some trips planned (back to the states, Morrocco and Tunisia) and we are going through this house, room by room, and paring down. We are only keeping the essentials and trying to live with less. We've already finished the pantry, the kitchen, my office and the linen closet. We have some much bigger rooms to go through, though, and I am excited to get to them.

I hope your new year is filled with hope and love. :) Thanks for stopping by. :)

NM '10: red river

We  decided to take a day trip to Red River, about 30 minutes from Angel Fire. They have a huge Harley rally every year over Memorial Day weekend, but normally it's pretty quiet.

I love the ski valleys during the summer. The lifts are always my favorite part. It's always nice to see the ski towns all green and purdy, too.

That's Colin and Lara and Mia behind me, 2 chairs back.

 

This is Norah with her chocolate goatee and her insanely chapped lips.
 

At the top of the lift, Colin and I had a bit of a misunderstanding. I didn't know we were getting off so I stayed on only to turn around and see him giving me the "What in the world are you doing?" look. Oops.

So, these are his photos from the top of the mountain. :)


 

The ride back down was just as lazy and relaxing as the ride up. However, I didn't realize my feet had fallen asleep so when I hopped down I almost landed on my face. It would have been totally funny if it had happened to someone else. ;)
 

After the lift, we went and got lunch at a malt shop (yes, I love saying that) and walked around Red River for a couple of hours.

Then we took the girls on a little nature hike. 

Colin found a cave and when Mia, Lara and he went in, Norah lost it.

This is her, breaking down because she doesn't want her daddy and sisters to be eaten by bears.

 

After the hike we met up with my dad at Texas Reds, our favorite little steakhouse for some yummy grub. It had been a long day so we headed home and called it a night pretty early. :)

NM '10: valle vidal

Getting back to the vacation posts...

My parents took us camping about 3 hours from where they live. It's called the Valle Vidal and we had such a nice couple of days there, relaxing and hanging out.

Happy to be out of the car, the kids "help" unpack and set up camp.

 

See? All suited up and ready to get going. They've got their own set of priorities.
 

We decided to take the kids to the pond to teach them how to fish. My dad took the kids on the mule by way of the loop road  and Colin, my mom and me followed on foot via the path. We thought we were supposed to go right at the fork, but we were misinformed.

 

We were supposed to go left. But we didn't know that so we walked about a mile and then decided that surely we had gone the wrong way and then we turned around.

My mom and me lagging behind.

 

Ohh look! Pretty mushroom growing out of an even prettier cow patty.
 

When we finally showed up at the pond (over an hour and a half later) my dad had already been fishing with the kiddos for quite a while. 

Think Mia's caught anything yet?

 

This is probably my most favorite photo from the trip.
 

Norah loving every minute of being in charge of her own pole.
 

The girlies with my dad.
 

The girlies with Colin.
 

Lara very pleased with herself at her expert casting. She caught on really quickly.
 

The Doots hanging out with my mom.
 

Love this shot of Oma.
 

The Doots hamming it up, of course.
 

After no luck at the fishing hole, we headed back to camp. Over the fire the adults enjoyed some icy cold beers while the kiddos drank something more to their tastes. We dined on salmon and roasted potatoes. Yum.
 

After 2 nights, though, it was time to say goodbye.

 

Norah and Mia helping PawPaw raise the trailer jack.
 

Bandit, ready to go. After 2 nights of sleeping with us in the tent and being away from his beloved master, he'd had enough. We loved having him with us, though, in case any bears were to have shown up.
 

Mia and Norah trying to pull the stakes out of the tent.
 

Colin having to go over and help, of course.
 

Loading up the mule.
 

Apparently we do not travel light.
 

Saying goodbye to the Valle Vidal.
 

Snapping some shots along the road on the way out of the canyon. I was getting pretty good at doing this through the window and windshield.

 

Ok, this one we stopped the truck for. ;)


So grateful we got to do this. My parents really outdid themselves in showing us a good time. Thanks so much, Mom & Dad!

where does the time go?

Not only is our oldest daughter now 9 years old...I've also completely forgotten to blog about it. What kind of mommy am I?!?!

Lara actually got to have 2 birthdays this year. Since her birthday almost always falls on the long Memorial weekend, we had a small party for her with just us and then she had her first sleepover the following weekend.

 

Her big gift this year was a new bike. She couldn't have been happier. She zoomed around for hours that day. :)

I still can't believe my little Lara is 9 years old. :)

33

Colin turns 33 today. :) We're having some low-key celebrations tonight with the kiddos and then on Friday night I'm taking him for a night out on the town. :)

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. :)

i'm an auntie :)

Well, I've been an aunt for 9 years now, but this is my first time being an auntie on my side of the family. :)

My little (well not so little anymore) brother and his sweet wife had a little girl on Sunday and I am so, so happy for them. They are going to be such wonderfully loving parents.

Introducing little Bella Kye

I can't wait to meet her. :)

gearing up for father's day

I've seen a couple of images floating around blog land for a seriously cool Father's day gift and I knew it was the thing we had to make this year.

Tori over at js.com made this super elven kit for her husband. We are BIG TIME LOTR fans around here so I was happy to see such a geeky twist on this idea.

image from jessicasprague.com

Every Thursday is Hybrid Thursday and it is really inspiring. I just love seeing what the gals come up with!

The original idea was created by Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day! and it is absolute genius.

image from jordanferney.blogspot.com

So, being the super geek that I am, I decided to make my own nerdy version for Colin. We are big fans of Star Trek (I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before!) and that was the theme we went with. It's a UFC ration box packed by 3 very special little cadets for Captain Crowley's long road ahead during the Borg war.





I know everything looks similar and it's definitely not as cool as the previous two, but it is supposed to be a ration box. I wanted it to look a bit uniform and standard issue-ish. :)

We're driving to Legoland in the morning so I'm going to sneak this into the car and we'll surprise him with it on Sunday morning.

This isn't his only gift, though. For his heroic efforts during the Borg invasion, the Klingon high council has bestowed quite an honorable gift upon Captain Crowley. Only the finest warriors are given the Boar Flagon.

Yes I know how freaky it is. What's really scary is how much Colin will love it. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Father's Day on Sunday!