Fact Sheet

I mentioned we went to a barn party Saturday night. (It was fun and the scenery was gorgeous.) But besides the fun and gorgeousness, we discovered two new really interesting facts about JR.

Interesting Fact #1-Winning 2 liter bottles of soda is mind-blowing excitement.

Oh yes. There was a ring toss game (toss the rings over the tops of the soda) and everytime I looked up I'd see JR giddily running toward me holding another 2-liter. I'm sure he would have won more than 3 (not because of his ring toss skills, but out of shear number of times he would have played) had he not had to keep walking back to the car with Harry to put his winnings away. For some reason I missed getting a picture, so I told him today, "JR, let me take a picture of you with your Fanta you won." JR's reply: "But Mom, I won 3 of them, I need them all in the picture."

Interesting Fact #2-JR seems to have overcome his irrational fear of face painting.

Towards the end of the evening he came to us and said, "Can I go get my face painted?" Jason and I looked at each other and said, "Sure!" And low and behold, check out that work of art...Snake on Face!

Farm Town

I was lamenting on Facebook the other day that I'm turning so "organic" I can hardly stand it. Saturday we headed over to a farm in Aztec, New Mexico (about 45 minutes away) to pick our, you guessed it, organic pumpkin.

Apparently, the babies were under the impression the trip was for them to add pictures to their modeling portfolios.



But not one to stand still long enough to model, JR couldn't decide what he liked best.
Was it the corn slide?


The corn maze?

Maybe shooting gourds and corncobs at pumpkin targets?

Could it have been enjoying a cold beverage with his friend Mack?

I'm thinking it was the hay ride. Just look how thrilled and comfortable he looks in this picture! (I promise not two seconds before this picture was taken JR turned to me and said, "Mommy, hold my hand." As you can see I got overly excited about such a request and here's the result.)

I don't know....He looks pretty proud of that pumpkin!

Happy Day!

JR sang at church this morning! Okay, so I'm not sure how much singing he actually did, but there were some awesome dance moves going on. I know some of you might be shocked to learn that we aren't going to a Baptist church, and actually our friends, Mark and Shelly, asked us just last night why we didn't go to First Baptist. Jason and I looked at them with all seriousness and said, "Um, because we couldn't find it." Yes, we live in a teeny-tiny town, and we knew the Baptist church was on 3rd Ave, but the sign is so small you can't read it from the street. And, I mean...that is SO un-Baptist like. I just assumed the church with the itty-bitty sign you can't read must be the Presbyterians or the Episcopalians. Anyway, here's JR and the other River Church kids (they call them River Runners, isn't that cute?) They sang "Happy Day" and "Mighty to Save" (which happens to be my favorite song). You can also see our above mentioned friend, Mark, playing the keyboards. I only have Happy Day posted since the videos are so long (full length for the grandmothers), but at least watch until they start jumping in circles. It's pretty cute!

So Corny

It was a big, busy fall activity day here in Beautiful-Weather-Picture-Post-Card-Gorgeous-Trees-Land. Not only did we hit a pumpkin farm with a corn maze this morning, but we spent the evening at a Barn Party hosted by our church. I'll have details of the days events in upcoming posts, but I just had to post this picture.


That's Kyle. (Not that the dramatics didn't give it way.) And yes, that's corn he's sliding into. I didn't even know "corn slides" existed. This picture just cracks me up...look at that face!

It's Cold and There's Exercising

JR's school had its big fund raiser for the year this morning. And you'll never guess what a school in Durango would do to raise money. Yep, you got it...A fun run! And of course, the fun run was this morning during school, because physical fitness is certainly more important than academics! (But actually, it was a more than fabulous fund raiser...I didn't have to buy any Sally Foster wrapping paper, and I didn't even have to run. The kids do all the running!) My only real problem was we had a little cold front blow through last night. So as I got out of my car at 8:00 AM (with the babies) to watch JR run, my car thermometer read 27. Let me repeat that for emphasis: Twenty Seven! So here are some pics (and, of course, my commentary) from this morning.

The Durango fire dog, Sparky, was there to cheer on the kids.


JR gives the thumbs up that he's ready to run. He also gives the squinty "the sun is in my eyes" and the "I'm cold" shrug of the shoulders. Notice that he's got no sweatshirt for the 27 degrees. (I sent one with him, he's just not wearing it.) In his defense, most of the other kids didn't either. (Thankfully, I only saw 2 in shorts!)


Please use your "Jenny voice" here: "Run, JR, Run!"


And since we live in the fitness capital of the world, you can't just have the kids run around...You've got to give them some obstacles to make it harder!

JR and William. Check out the mountains in the background...Gorgeous day!

I was trying to get a picture with JR and his school and the mountains. It really was crazy sunny this morning, and you know how JR is about taking pictures with the sun in his eyes....

On the Lam

Breaking News! I think I'm on the lam! After reading the Durango police reports and finding out that a car taking up 3 spaces is grounds for a 911 call, I'm pretty sure I've been reported to the cops. We went to the library today and the only space available was the Fuel Efficient Parking. Being the rebel that I am, I parked anyway. It's safe to say that my SUV with a Texas license plate and 5 Jesus fish (2 big, 3 small) was certainly turned in to the authorities. I'm already planning my defense...If they come after me I'm just going to start hollering out, "But we eat organically now! I love bike riders! Wildlife are our friends!" I'll be sure and keep you updated on my hopefully non-inmate status.

Cowboy Up

Today is Cowboy Poetry Day at JR's school so they were supposed to dress in cowboy attire. Thankfully, the same costuming applies for both "Cowboy Day" and "Go Texan Day", so we had it covered. All I had to do was make a trip to the Prop Closet (I don't really have a prop closet. And on a side note, I don't even have my own closet! I have to share a closet with Jason that's smaller than Jason's closet back in Houston. As you can imagine, the closet situation comes up in conversation almost daily. But I digress, any costuming I already have I say it came from the "Prop Closet".) JR wore this same get-up for Go Texan Day back in PreK. Only difference is that this morning he was freezing and had to wear a jacket to the bus stop, where as in Houston, Go Texan clothing usually sweats you down. JR is definitely a good mix of both Jason and me. He was thrilled beyond imagine about wearing the chaps. (He's got my love of a good costume.) But was equally happy about his camo shirt. (I think we all know where that came from.) Plus, when it comes right down to it, shouldn't the native Texan be the most cowboyed-up? I think so, too.


This was JR's attempt at a "cowboy pose" and snarl. LOL! This was also the first and only picture he would let me use the flash (it "hurts his eyes") Which is why the other pictures are so grainy.