We registered Emma for soccer last week and while we were in Alamogordo, Steven surprised her with new running shorts and pink shin guards! She is ready to play!

MAY GOD LET US BORROW HER FOR MANY YEARS TO COME...

I can't believe that Grace has blessed us with her presence for a month now already. Just like her sister, she has been a wonderful baby. She is very content; the only time we really hear her cry is when she wants to eat! I am fortunate to be able to take some time off work and stay home with her...to be with her during some of her most precious moments. She is smiling at me every now and then...real smiles...not just gas smiles! The transition for Emma to being the only child to now a big sister and starting a new school has been great. Emma is a real trooper!

So during Grace's first month here with us:

*She has slept

*She has eaten every two hours...on the dot!

*She has made some pretty messy diapers

*She has met her sister Emma, some of her cousins..Sydney, Thomas,

Monique, Levi ( Megan and Kyle came too early!!)

*She made her first road trip to Alamogordo to visit her Grandma Burns.

*She weighed in at 9 pounds 7 ounces when she was two weeks!

This past weekend we ventured out of Socorro and made a quick trip to Alamogordo. We met up with my older sister Kelly and her kids, Sydney and Thomas, at my mom's house. The kids enjoyed seeing each other and playing. Emma kept them very busy with her favorite pretend games....honey and sweetie, doggies, and whatever else they would play with her! They also made it to an indoor jumping place where they all had indoors. It is always nice visiting my mom in Alamo, even though we do not do it enough. It is nice to be in my old home again!

I thought that Emma's first day of PreKinder was hard, but the first day she took Public Transportation was even harder! I cried as soon as she drove off....my little girl is really growing up. She was really wanting to take the bus to school so I made a phone call and she now rides the bus everyday in the morning and afternoon. The bus picks her up right in front of our house. She says she made a new friend on the bus, a girl that she sits with. She wants her to now come play at our house! Yesterday she told Steven and I that there is a boy on the bus that just stares at her and smiles the whole way to school. She says she will try to smile at him today! Oh, the best part, she told Steven he better run those boys off!

Boy Lotion....

This morning before taking Emma to school, I got a phone call from a friend whose son is in Emma's class. Her son has been bothered that Emma is not talking or playing with him at school, so he asked his mom " do you think that if I wear my boy lotion that smells really good she will talk to me?" How cute is that? So, at breakfast the only spot for Emma to sit was right next to this boy. She gave me the embarrassed, I can't sit by him look. But she did. We commented on how someone smelled good and we asked another little girl if she was wearing perfume or lotion, as she was saying no, the little boy said..."oh that is me do you like it? It is my boy lotion". He was so happy and had the biggest smile on his face! At the end of the day when I picked Emma up, they hugged bye. She told me "I didn't play with him, but at least I talked to him." I didn't think it would start so soon!

Pictures of Gracie and her family!

Steven and I walked Emma into her new Pre-Kinder class on Monday, which was heart breaking to say the least. We were very excited for her, but at the same time, sad that she is getting older. Before we left the house, I drew a heart inside her hand like the Walmart commercial so when she was at school she could open her hand and see the heart and know that we love her. It was so cute because the teacher had the kids go to the bathroom to wash their hands after breakfast and she said "mom, I don't want to wash my hands because my heart will come off". I wanted to cry! At the end of the day, she said she had a good time... the following two days she has had a difference of opinion about school, but it will just take time!

Not sure why it is posting this way....sorry!

I did it! I passed my professional development dossier! Woo Hoo! I just got a 33.3% raise in salary! Who rocks? I ROCK!

If you recall, this thing was due on July 1st at 5:00 pm. Results were posted online yesterday at 5:00 pm but the server went down because of the high traffic and I had to wait till this morning. I actually started this 90 page put-you-to-sleep document during the 2006-2007 school year while I was still in Las Cruces. It has taken me a while but I am now done and can relax a little and breathe a big sigh of relief.

Thank you to Lindsey who was a big help and very understanding while I was rushing to finish it up. Her and Emma would go swimming all afternoon and to parks in the evening just to give me time alone to work on it. All that while being 8 months pregnant and uncomfortable as heck. I really appreciate you.

Red River XC Camp 2009

I just returned from XC camp in Red River, NM. We spent three days and two nights there and Socorro was well represented with 15 runners. Although this was the 19th annual camp, it was the first time Socorro has ever attended but it won't be our last. Two other schools attended as well and we had a total of 44 runners ready to finish off summer training and transition to the season.

Some highlights of the trip included running through Tent Rocks National Park near Cochiti Pueblo. The trail there is only about 3 miles for the loop but it was certainly a fun trail to run and had some very pretty views of Cochiti Lake and the surrounding mountains when you made it to the top. There were several hikers along the way but I doubt that trail gets run on much.

In Red River we rented seven townhouses for all the kids. There was a fishing pond on one side of us and an ice cold stream on the other. The first time I saw that stream I knew I would make my way into it after a good hard run. I even convinced two of my runners to do it with me and it was FREEZING! We went numb after about a minute then it wasn't so bad. I'm positive it helped our legs feel better and made us feel a little more hardcore.

The hardcore run that made us decide to sit in that stream was a 10.7 miler that started at 8,667 ft and reached 10,374 ft at the halfway point. It was basically up and up and up. The kids did great and I think I had seven boys complete the run in its entirety, no walking.

We have finished summer training and my kids are off until later this week when things become "official". We had a successful summer and we are so far ahead of where we were last year at this time when we were not even sure we would have a team. I think the kids are beginning to realize that they are capable of competing this season with other schools and are valuing the training I have them doing. Not only that but I see them becoming a team.