Happy Halloween!
Here are a few of the people we saw today!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
All I Can say...
All I can say is that this Mommy Stuff is a full-time job! I can not...let me repeat myself...I can not imagine...or even want to imagine how that woman on television with eight children...or even that one with 17 children do what they have to do. How do working Mommies do it? How do single Mommies do it? How do Mommies with husbands that don't help them do it? I will say a HUGE thank you to my husband, my Mom & Dad, and LeeLee & Keeven for helping me....and I only have one tiny...little boy!
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Great Pumpkin
We went to see the Great Pumpkin in Durango on Saturday and had the best time…I plan on making this a new family tradition. This is the third year the Durango Railroad Company has held this event. I visited with the man (I forgot his name) who thought of this and donated his land to this event. He was so very nice and said he believes in family & family time. The Great Pumpkin as I am sure you know is from the Peanuts Cartoon. This is right up the Hare Family alley! I have a miniature set of the Great Pumpkin characters (Lucy, Charlie Brown, Sally, Linus, etc.) on my entry table for Halloween…which John loves to play with. We have the video – which we have watched several times…so this event was perfect for us! Randy and I both remember as children watching this show each Halloween and the great memories…we want that for John. Back to the Great Pumpkin experience…we rode on a real train about 20 miles outside of town to a beautiful piece on land with lots of aspens. They had children’s music, apple bobbing, face painting, a pumpkin maze…that led to a pumpkin patch, balloons, bounce houses, hay rides, farm animals, and last but not least…Lucy, Snoopy, & Charlie Brown! We had a great time! John was got really excited when he seen the characters. A new thing John really liked was the hay…it was so funny! We stayed there almost two hours and rode the train back to Durango. Most children had costumes on – a little girl (3years old) who sat in front of us on the train was dressed as FiFi the french poodle…of course John loved that…they played over the seat going and coming! We had a blast and definitely coming next year!
John's on the end...memorized by the music
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Day One
We've made it - we are in Durango, Colorado. It is so beautiful and the trees are in the most amazing colors…I have never seen so many different shades of fall! As we were driving along I would tell Mom to look at this…she would tell Dad to look at that…and Dad would tell me to look over there! John would just hoot and holler – he is having the time of his life with his two favorite “spoilers” with him! He did really well on the drive - 463 miles. Mom and Dad fed him all kinds on snacks, played all sorts of games with his toys, sang songs, and kissed him a about million times – I love it and he did too!
The drive was good…except between Albuquerque, NM and Bloomfield, NM…about 120 miles - it was really dry, it was through an Apache Reservation, and limited stopping places…it wasn’t “bad” just not that pretty…plus…I had to hear the story of “Four Corners” once again…for the 500th time! (Four Corners Story - you know where the 4 states meet…you can put a hand & foot in each state - When I was sixteen we - me, Mom & Dad - came to Colorado for vacation…at a certain point we were trying to decide what to do…while Mom went to the restroom Dad and I mapped us out a plan. Dad and I decided to go to Four Corners…we threw Mom in the backseat and told her WE had made the plan and she was going to like it. Needless to say…SHE didn’t like it. There wasn’t much to see…it was dry…and when we stopped at a store to potty the sign on the front door said you had to spend at least $6.00 to use the restroom. To this day Dad & I hear that story at least five times a year…and it gets worse every time! We laugh every time too! To this day Mom will not let me and Dad look at a map together!) So…that stretch of highway yesterday looked just like Four Corners (we were close to it)…and to beat all…the town slogan in Bloomfield is…”the heart of four corners”!
Once we got to Durango we checked into the hotel and went to eat at Fiesta Mexicana. It was great…massive amounts of food! As we were leaving the Spanish hostess was waving to John…he started waving back and wanted to see her up close….the next thing you know my son had his arms around her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek!! Mom and Dad loved it…it was sort of sweet…but that’s my sugars!!
We are getting ready now to go to our train ride…then we are driving to Colorado Springs. Please be praying for Mom…her arthritis is acting up…I told her we might cut the trip short…and she said absolute not! Until the next post…bye-bye!
The drive was good…except between Albuquerque, NM and Bloomfield, NM…about 120 miles - it was really dry, it was through an Apache Reservation, and limited stopping places…it wasn’t “bad” just not that pretty…plus…I had to hear the story of “Four Corners” once again…for the 500th time! (Four Corners Story - you know where the 4 states meet…you can put a hand & foot in each state - When I was sixteen we - me, Mom & Dad - came to Colorado for vacation…at a certain point we were trying to decide what to do…while Mom went to the restroom Dad and I mapped us out a plan. Dad and I decided to go to Four Corners…we threw Mom in the backseat and told her WE had made the plan and she was going to like it. Needless to say…SHE didn’t like it. There wasn’t much to see…it was dry…and when we stopped at a store to potty the sign on the front door said you had to spend at least $6.00 to use the restroom. To this day Dad & I hear that story at least five times a year…and it gets worse every time! We laugh every time too! To this day Mom will not let me and Dad look at a map together!) So…that stretch of highway yesterday looked just like Four Corners (we were close to it)…and to beat all…the town slogan in Bloomfield is…”the heart of four corners”!
Once we got to Durango we checked into the hotel and went to eat at Fiesta Mexicana. It was great…massive amounts of food! As we were leaving the Spanish hostess was waving to John…he started waving back and wanted to see her up close….the next thing you know my son had his arms around her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek!! Mom and Dad loved it…it was sort of sweet…but that’s my sugars!!
We are getting ready now to go to our train ride…then we are driving to Colorado Springs. Please be praying for Mom…her arthritis is acting up…I told her we might cut the trip short…and she said absolute not! Until the next post…bye-bye!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Colorado...Here We Come!!
So...me, John, and the folks are heading off to Colorado for a few fun filled days!
Our first stop is in Durango for a train ride to a pumpkin patch.
Last but not least we are going to Denver for some more shopping at the Park meadows Mal, dinner at Casa Bonita, and a trip through the Rockies to see the fall foliage.
Our first stop is in Durango for a train ride to a pumpkin patch.Then to Colorado Springs for some shopping at Castle Rock.
Last but not least we are going to Denver for some more shopping at the Park meadows Mal, dinner at Casa Bonita, and a trip through the Rockies to see the fall foliage.Keep checking in...hopefully I will have a few minutes to blog about our experiences!
Oh...one more thing!! Randy and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary today! It is amazing how time flies! I had a great anniversary - I got a cool new tiny video camera...I hope I can figure out how to post some video here! I love you honey-bunny!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The Eyes of Texas
What a GREAT day for college football! It's cloudy and raining...one of those days you definitely don't want to get out! We have had some popcorn, and cola, and candy, and naps! The most exciting game was Texas Longhorns! The WERE ranked #5 and they just defeated their biggest rival...the #1 Oklahoma Sooners! It was a fun...and intense game! The Mountaineers also won and Texas Tech (#7) is beating Nebraska - sorry Lisa! If Tech wins they should move up in the BCS ratings along with UT!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Cure of Crime...
I got this e-mail today...it is long but a good message.
It came from Lubbock's Home & Family magazine.
The Cure of Crime is not the Electric Chair, it is the High Chair
Jonna Byars, PhD.
In his book, All Men are Brothers, Mahatma Gandhi said the following about instilling values in early childhood:
"We labor under a sort of superstition that the child has nothing to learn during the first five years of his life. On the contrary, the fact is that the child never learns in later life what it does in its first five years. The education of the child begins with conception".
Mother Teresa expressed similar sentiments when she received her Nobel Prize and was asked, "what can be done to promote world peace?" She replied, "go home and love your children." The importance of the first few years of a child's life cannot be overestimated. It is during these years that the foundation is laid for a child's ethics, morality, and value system.
There are times at home that I think my children could not be more defiant, rude, and unruly. I begin to envision them doing jail time as a teenager and wonder where I taught them wrong. Then I see them interact with others and take solace in the fact that they are (usually)back to their kind, loving selves. In trying to make sense of this, I consider the fact that kids who are happy and mentally healthy are more likely to misbehave with their parents than they are with lesser known people. This is because of the safety they feel with their parents. My children are secure in our relationship. They know I am not going anywhere.
A child learns to like himself and the world when he has been given approval and love the first five years of his life. When children like themselves, they are kind and have no desire to make others feel bad. When children feel good about themselves, it does not feel good to make others feel bad. I am sure you have noticed this same tendency with adults too.
If a child has not been given approval and love, they do not like themselves and therefore cannot like others and be kind to others. In extreme cases, children who are neglected or abused often fail to acquire this basic sense of trust and belonging that influences how they behave when they are older. They can be callous because no one has ever shown them enough of the caring and approval to put in their system. Children come to expect the world to be the way they have experienced it--whether that means cold and forbidding or warm and loving.
How does this approval and love come packaged? It is with unconditional positive regard. It is loving the child no matter what they do or say. Never withdrawing the safety they feel with you. In essence, it is seeing the child through God's eyes. This does not mean you do not discipline and correct their behavior. It simply means you show them, guide them, and model moral behavior. And this starts when the child is born.
In the end, the true test of a child's character is what appears when Mom or Dad are not around. A secure and loved child will display kindness, respect, and humanity (most of the time). They learned these as a very young child. It is who the child is. With a lot of love and patience, your child will grow up to feel happy and blessed - and want to help others rather than hurt them. And that is something to be proud of.
The Cure of Crime is not the Electric Chair, it is the High Chair
Jonna Byars, PhD.
In his book, All Men are Brothers, Mahatma Gandhi said the following about instilling values in early childhood:
"We labor under a sort of superstition that the child has nothing to learn during the first five years of his life. On the contrary, the fact is that the child never learns in later life what it does in its first five years. The education of the child begins with conception".
Mother Teresa expressed similar sentiments when she received her Nobel Prize and was asked, "what can be done to promote world peace?" She replied, "go home and love your children." The importance of the first few years of a child's life cannot be overestimated. It is during these years that the foundation is laid for a child's ethics, morality, and value system.
There are times at home that I think my children could not be more defiant, rude, and unruly. I begin to envision them doing jail time as a teenager and wonder where I taught them wrong. Then I see them interact with others and take solace in the fact that they are (usually)back to their kind, loving selves. In trying to make sense of this, I consider the fact that kids who are happy and mentally healthy are more likely to misbehave with their parents than they are with lesser known people. This is because of the safety they feel with their parents. My children are secure in our relationship. They know I am not going anywhere.
A child learns to like himself and the world when he has been given approval and love the first five years of his life. When children like themselves, they are kind and have no desire to make others feel bad. When children feel good about themselves, it does not feel good to make others feel bad. I am sure you have noticed this same tendency with adults too.
If a child has not been given approval and love, they do not like themselves and therefore cannot like others and be kind to others. In extreme cases, children who are neglected or abused often fail to acquire this basic sense of trust and belonging that influences how they behave when they are older. They can be callous because no one has ever shown them enough of the caring and approval to put in their system. Children come to expect the world to be the way they have experienced it--whether that means cold and forbidding or warm and loving.
How does this approval and love come packaged? It is with unconditional positive regard. It is loving the child no matter what they do or say. Never withdrawing the safety they feel with you. In essence, it is seeing the child through God's eyes. This does not mean you do not discipline and correct their behavior. It simply means you show them, guide them, and model moral behavior. And this starts when the child is born.
In the end, the true test of a child's character is what appears when Mom or Dad are not around. A secure and loved child will display kindness, respect, and humanity (most of the time). They learned these as a very young child. It is who the child is. With a lot of love and patience, your child will grow up to feel happy and blessed - and want to help others rather than hurt them. And that is something to be proud of.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Yoga...
Since Linda (my sister-in-law) retired from school she has been trying a bunch of new and interesting things...like recycling, yoga, going green, taking great photos, hiking 
up a mountain with a llama...on...and on... Her "crunchy-ness" is starting to rub off on me...I am starting to recycle, eating more natural/organic foods, I purchased bags to use at the grocery store, and loving yoga! I have been going to yoga for a month with Linda and Christi (my other s-i-l)...and I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE IT! It is the most relaxing and tranquil activity I have ever done! I encourage you to check it out! I have noticed that I am starting to get toned and I can do stretches that I couldn't do a month ago. I will admit ...one of the best parts of yoga is going with Linda. We do some moves that are so funky and almost impossible to do...we laugh at each other. Any other time when I would workout or do aerobics I would dread going to class...not with yoga - I can't wait to get there! If you get a chance to try yoga - try it!
up a mountain with a llama...on...and on... Her "crunchy-ness" is starting to rub off on me...I am starting to recycle, eating more natural/organic foods, I purchased bags to use at the grocery store, and loving yoga! I have been going to yoga for a month with Linda and Christi (my other s-i-l)...and I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE IT! It is the most relaxing and tranquil activity I have ever done! I encourage you to check it out! I have noticed that I am starting to get toned and I can do stretches that I couldn't do a month ago. I will admit ...one of the best parts of yoga is going with Linda. We do some moves that are so funky and almost impossible to do...we laugh at each other. Any other time when I would workout or do aerobics I would dread going to class...not with yoga - I can't wait to get there! If you get a chance to try yoga - try it!
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