February. Mostly.

I know it's not the end of February yet, but we've only got one more week and I know this will be the only time I have to post.  The month has flown by.  Partly it's because I can't keep track of time with all the literal flying David has done traveling for work, and partly because we have been so super busy!

People keep asking me why I am so busy.  I look at other women with 4 or 5 or 6 kids, women who have jobs and careers outside the home, women who seem to have more on their plate than I do in other ways for sure, and I honestly don't have a good answer as to why I feel so busy.  This is the first time in my life I haven't worked (for a paycheck at least), or been heavily involved in volunteer work, or had little babies or toddlers, or a horse, or had a time-intensive church job, or a house that requires tons of yard work.  But, still my days are filled and full.  I like the full.  I don't always like the filled.

The girls are doing more and more in their individual schedules (more on that later), and we always seem to fill up any free time with some sort of activity or outing.  Now, I'm looking at March with all the birthdays, Grace's upcoming baptism, family visiting, and our normal schedule on top of it, and wondering how it will all come together.  I know it will, and I know it will be great.  But, I also know that I will be the one who has to make it happen the way I want it to be.  I'm a little bit intimidated.  But, I'm also trying to step back and look at the big picture and enjoy it while I'm doing it.  If I wasn't so detail oriented and OCD it would be a lot easier that's for sure.

Well, that was a long introduction to these fluffy pictures of our February outings.  With David's heavy travel, we do try to make the most of the time when he is home.

David went to the Dad lunch at Grace's school.  Here they are "enjoying" their corn dog cafeteria food.

Skiing - David has done A LOT of it.  He has also been mountain biking pretty much as often has he has been skiing.  Winter in NM is grand.  Grace has been skiing 3 times this year.  We went as a family last week with the Merrills and the Howards.  One more time and Grace will be better than I am.  She did all the green and blue runs that I did at Santa Fe.

Grace and her pal Christian on the ski lift.

Pizza, french fries, pizza, french fries:

let's just say skiing Santa Fe was a little more enjoyable than skiing Vermont - look at that sunshine!

Harriet.  sweet Harriet.  She skied for a total of about 5 minutes, I am told by the ski instructors.  I missed it.   But, she sure looks cute in those goggles with her daddy.

THIS is what we spent over $100 for Harriet to do at ski school all day?  Swing in the chair lift swing?  That's some expensive swinging Hattie...  (she's the one on the left.)

Well, whatever they did in ski school, Harriet and her little friend, Maren, sure wore themselves out.

Same weekend.  Next Day.  Another hike, another volcano:

Valentine's Day.  Harriet was SO excited.  She had her Valentines ready 2 weeks early.  She counted down the days on her hands, checked the calendar every day, and could not wait for that party.  I wanted to throw a fit when she came down with a fever the night before.  It was gone by morning, and she rallied and went.  Whew.  Check out this school.  Again - papered from ceiling to floor for the occasion. Her teachers are completely insane.  Harriet with friends Isabella and Marian:

Too much Valentine Party apparently.  Cute little aquarium Valentine box in hand (they are studying oceans right now in school.)

And... over to sister's party.  Remember the elementary school Valentine parties?  Well, they're not what they used to be.  They're not even "Valentine" parties.  Grace's class had a "friendship" party.  At least they got to have a party at all.  Someday, they will probably be gone for good.  I'm just trying to soak up as much of this kind of stuff as I can.  I am keenly aware that these years are short.

Valentines are also not what they used to be.  You should see what you can get in a $2 box these days.  They're pretty cool.  Here are 3D cards with 3 different images in them.

 Grace with friends Abby and Mikayla and little sis coming up too.

I know there were other things in the mix too - but these are the ones that seemed to make it to the camera.  Yesterday, we marked our 1 year anniversary of arriving in New Mexico to live here.  I really can't believe we've been here a whole year.  I still have things I haven't put away since moving.  I still have pictures on the floor of my bedroom with spackled holes in the walls waiting for an appropriate color of paint to go up before I hang them.  The year has just gone by way too fast.  David was commenting about our first year in MA.  Maybe it was because it was more than just moving, but the first time moving away from family that made it seem long.  Maybe it was feeling like I had moved to another planet.  Maybe it was because I was pregnant for most of that year.  I don't know, but that first year felt like a decade passed before it was over.  It felt like we lived in MA for such a very long time, but the time here just slips away before you can blink.  Maybe it has something to do with that sunshine. 

Grandpa Earl turns 80

David's Dad had his 80th birthday on Tuesday, February 1st.   David's brother, Brian, and his son Jeremiah, flew in to Albuquerque for the occasion last Friday.  

We started the weekend with some good hanging out.  The kids all opted to spend Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  This was a first.  I really didn't think they'd stay all night, but sure enough - I woke up Saturday morning to an empty house.  (On a side note - I will make a HORRIBLE empty-nester.  I hate having an empty house.  I hate it when my kids aren't here, especially overnight.  Sure, once in a while I like a few hours to myself, but I start missing them pretty quick, even when they're in school sometimes.)

Our girls really do love their cousins, each and every one.  Whomever they just saw last is their current favorite.  So, if you want to make it to the favorite list - you better visit us!  Grace and Jeremiah spent a lot of hours on the wii and tolerated poor Harriet tagging along. Hattie is the youngest Chapman cousin by quite a bit.

Saturday, well, I spent Saturday morning with the Relief Society at Super Saturday, David and Brian went on some bike rides, and the kiddos got lots more time with Grandma and Grandpa.  Finally, though, we did have the big birthday party.

Grandma hosted.  We had a really nice dinner and Grandpa's favorite - a chocolate birthday cake.

David looked up lots of info on 1931 - the year Grandpa was born.  It is amazing the things that were going on then, and that it's been 80 years since:

1931 saw the doubling of unemployment to 16.3% , and everybody realized that the stock market crash of 1929 was having far reaching effects . The US government started making some progress on the mob and a notable success was the conviction of Al Capone on tax fraud charges in 1931 which got him an 11 year prison sentence in Alcatraz. Many car manufacturers also went out of business as people did not have money to buy new cars. One of the few successes was the completion of the Empire State building , and in Las Vegas the small local community made the decision to legalize gambling . Nature even conspired to make things worse by causing a serious drought in the Midwest which in turn made food more expensive and turned some area's into dust bowls.  
"Star Spangled Banner" officially becomes US national anthem


How Much things cost in 1931
Average Cost of new house: $6,790.00 
Average wages per year: $1,850.00 
Cost of a gallon of Gas: 10 cents 
Average Cost for house rent: $18.00 per month 
A loaf of Bread: 8 cents 
A LB of Hamburger Meat: 11 cents 
Alarm Clock: $3.50 
New Car Average Price: $640.00


Brian asked Earl to name the top 5 events in his life other than births, deaths, and marriages.  I really don't know or remember most details, although I've heard the stories before.  Maybe David can fill in a little here?  Earl named 3 spiritual experiences when he was given specific instructions to get out of a serious problem at the time.  One of them, I know, is when David was 7 years old - they lost him in Yellowstone National Park - really, really, lost him.  Again, I forget all the details, and I know if I write something it won't be quite right.   But, they prayed and Earl was able to find David by looking where he was inspired to look, somewhere he never would have looked.  His 4th was meeting the prophet of the church at the time, President Kimball.  He didn't give us a 5th.  The brothers took over the conversation - just a bit.  


Grandma's tradition for birthdays has always been to play games after dinner and then choose prizes from her "prize basket."  She is pretty smooth with that prize basket.  There's always something fun in there for the kids that she knows they would like.  There's always something nice for the women.  And, quite often, there's something in there that she really wants to get rid of, and really hopes you'll take.  Either that, or there's something she really thinks you ought to take because she put it in there for you - specifically.  She's pretty funny about her suggestions.  Her prizes have ranged from a can of mandarin oranges, to new socks, gorgeous hand-made bookmarks, cute pads of paper, candy, books, pencils, well, I really couldn't list them all.  When we were poor newlyweds, she often had essential household items in there - I think she's even had toilet paper.   


By the way - you cannot win a game against a Chapman.  They have played too many games for too long.  You'll never beat them.  If you do, they don't like it either.


Sunday, we wrapped up the party with a hike after church.  Most of us had never hiked the volcanoes by our house, so we headed out to check out one of them.  It was a short, 1 hour hike, that was easy for everyone from tiny-legged Hattie, to old doggies - Velvet and Shadow, to out-of-shape Mommy, to Grandpa.   It was a good bang for the buck, with spectacular views of Albuquerque.  

Happy Birthday Earl.  We love you.

"Snow" Days

hmmmm... I thought that when we left New England, we were also leaving behind things like "snow days."   This is our front yard today - does it really look like we needed to cancel school out there?

Call me crazy, but moving to the desert where it snows like a total of 1.5 inches a year, I thought we would be set.  I guess I forgot the part where we live in a place that cold and snowy weather are not normal, so when it DOES happen, people are entirely unprepared and unaccustomed.

It DID snow, what, 3 days ago?  The roads WERE icy for about a half a day.  See the pretty snow on the mountains!  David is excited since the ski season was looking pretty desperate last weekend:

But, it's Thursday afternoon and we haven't been to school, and lots of people haven't been to work since Monday!  The Air Force Base has opened late and closed early.  The museums (ie - indoor outing options for restless kids) have all been closed.   All the kids lessons were canceled (except ballet on Wed am.)  I think it was God's way of saying "stay inside w/your family for a few days and get to know them."  

So, even though the snow hasn't really been an issue, it has been COLD - the coldest in half a century according to the news.  It just doesn't get this cold in ABQ apparently, so houses aren't built with that in mind. Pipes are run on outer walls, sprinkling systems don't get turned off for the winter, and things just aren't insulated to withstand -9 temps with wind-chills in the -20's.  And, apparently, school buses don't start, which is why school has been canceled. again.

Today, half of my friends in the neighborhood are without heat because either their heaters have broken, or because of rolling "blackouts" from the gas company - there's not enough natural gas to run this many furnaces 24/7!  We also know several people with frozen and broken pipes.   Nope, this sunny desert is not cut out for this weather.

So, what have we been doing for 3 days inside?  Many playdates.  We spent Tues and Wed inviting friends over to soften the sibling rivalry.  But, by today, I was kind of play-dated-out.  So, home together we are.  I think it's kind of funny that Grace is so negative about going to school, but what does she do when she's home all day?  Read, make about 18 giant drawings of planets and outer space, do science experiments, and make paper airplanes.  Remind me which of those things you don't do at school?

The TV has hardly been on at all - maybe one movie and an hour of wii yesterday.   (Oh, but I would really love to go sink down on the couch in front of the fire with my OWN movie...)

If you want a great website for super cool paper airplanes:  www.amazingpaperairplanes.com

We've also been using The Dangerous Book for Boys and 175 Science Experiments to Amuse and Amaze Your Yriends.

School.  Tomorrow.  Please?