4jetts

Albuquerque Visit

2011-02-15T18:04:00.003-07:00

We spent the last 4 days in ABQ and had such a great time visiting friends, eating great food and doing so many fun things! We were greeted by Balloons in the mornings, had a Frontier Roll, went to our old church, oh, just had a fabulous time. It went by too quickly!!

Heidi's 8th Birthday Party

2011-01-30T18:11:00.004-07:00

Heidi had a doll tea party theme for her birthday party this year. She helped me decorate her teapot birthday cake! It was kind of an experiment but we think it turned out really pretty. The girls all made paper fans, played toss the teabag into the teapot, build the tallest sugar cube tower in 2 minutes, and doll musical chairs.

We got Heidi her first American Girl Doll! She loves it. She got a couple of outfits that she and her doll can wear that match - they are SOOOO CUTE! Thanks Karla and Pops! She got another cute AG pajama set and a bed for her dolls.

She is a very happy 8 year old girl!

Aaron's Tumbling Meet, Levelland, TX

2011-01-30T17:59:00.002-07:00

Aaron got 3rd place for his age group (11-12, even though he's only 10!) Level 6. We are proud of him. There will be a meet in Midland in Feb, then Lubbock, TX in March. State is here in Hobbs, Regional's is in Fort Worth, and if he makes it - National's is in San Antonio TX.

Recap!

2011-01-19T07:07:00.002-07:00

It's been so long since I've posted anything. We had a very nice Christmas and New Year. We stayed in Hobbs for Christmas and enjoyed the time with our family. We've had a warm and very dry winter. It's so awfully dry - just terrible.
Our new puppy Greta is growing so much. She is now 4 months old. She is teething and biting and I can't wait until she outgrows that!
Heidi also lost a tooth recently and has another loose one. She has a birthday coming up and I can hardly believe she will be 8! She wants to be an artist when she grows up and we got her some art supplies for Christmas. She really enjoys it! I hope it works out for her.
Aaron is 10 now! Also hard to believe - but he is growing into a fine young man. He is competing now in Tumbling for Gymnastics. It's been good for him. He also still loves Legos and wants to be a Lego designer.
Derreck and I are fine. He works and I am busy homeschooling and chauffeuring. It's all good.

Aaron back-handsprings/tuck

2010-12-02T21:23:00.002-07:00

Happy Halloween and Happy 10th Birthday Aaron!

2010-11-01T16:52:00.002-06:00

Aaron is 10 today! It is so hard to believe! Seems like just yesterday he was only 9. Ha ha! Aaron is a huge Yankees fan and for his birthday we got him a Mickey Mantle NY jersey. He got it early, so he could be Mickey Mantle for Halloween. We had a very fun Halloween weekend with a carnival at a church on Saturday and trick or treating with friends on Sunday night. The kids got tons of candy, of course. Aaron is having his birthday this Friday, his first sleep-over party. He is very excited. We plan to roast hot-dogs and smores and let the kids camp out.

Heidi was Pippi Longstocking for Halloween and a very cute one if I do say so myself. She had a blast and did not want to stop trick-or-treating even though she had tons of candy already! She can't even eat half of it because of nuts! She made Aaron a NY Yankee fleece blanket for his birthday. She did a good job sewing. I can't believe how they are both growing! It's wonderful.

ABQ visit

2010-09-30T14:18:00.003-06:00

We had a blast staying with our good friends. The kids now want their own chickens. I wouldn't mind having fresh eggs, so maybe one day we will.

My Summer Flowers

2010-09-30T14:15:00.002-06:00

I had a nice little flower garden this summer and took a few pics a month or so ago when they were blooming so nicely.

My birthday at the St. James Tea Room

2010-09-14T13:59:00.004-06:00

I gave myself a birthday present this year! A trip to Albuquerque and Tea! Tea was the highlight of my celebration. The new St. James Tea Room is just gorgeous and the food so wonderful, as always. I got to take home a sample of the Sir Philip Sidney Tea, which was just fantastic. Luckily, Peggy gave me more to take home too! Not everyone was able to make it to tea, but I had 2 very dear friends share it with me, as well as Heidi and Krista's girls. I am very blessed to have been able to do this. The trip to ABQ is always too short, I did manage to squeeze in birthday dinner at Ortega's with Lanny and spent one night at the Boyett's and one with Vicky and Sydney, our old neighbors. It is very strange staying right next door to our old home and not going in! But the neighborhood hasn't changed much and it still feels like home being in ABQ. I wonder if someday I will be able to call Albuquerque home again. I hope so. We'll see where God leads us. Only 16 more months on Derreck's contract. We could easily stay here, but I'm up for a change!! I really do miss the mountains, the hiking trails, biking trails, real stores, and fabulous food.

We will miss you Samson

2010-08-20T23:24:00.002-06:00

The best dog ever.
May 1996-Aug 2010

All about Heidi

2010-05-11T06:47:00.002-06:00

Heidi is 7 years old. She is such a free spirit. She is very creative. She loves gymnastics, to dance, drawing and painting, and playing with her dolls. She has a wonderful imagination! She marches to the beat of her own drum. She loves Jesus, and she has a heart for others. She continues to amaze me at how thoughtful she is. We love our Heidi!

Notes about Aaron

2010-05-10T21:27:00.003-06:00

Aaron is 9 years old now. He is very active, very serious, very smart, and my sweet sweet son. He loves gymnastics, reading (on the roof), riding his bike, playing baseball, and Legos. He will finish 3rd grade in a few weeks. He is an adventurer. He loves God, he prays for others, he is growing into a wonderful young man. We love him!

Our Westward Vacation

2010-04-27T20:59:00.004-06:00

Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Glen Canyon Dam, Zion National Park!

Our family spent some time all over and had such a great time. The kids especially liked participating in the Junior Ranger Badge program and earned 4 badges from the National Parks. We loved the beauty of the landscape; the colors, the depth, the awe of God's creation was just amazing. We enjoyed hiking around and being in Nature. The weather, though cold at the Grand Canyon, was very nice and sunny. We particularly had a wonderful time in Zion. It was so warm, but not hot, and so nice to hike all over. We were very blessed to be able to spend so much time in the wonder of our National Parks.

Heidi's Baptizm

2010-03-29T13:35:00.004-06:00

This Sunday Derreck had the privilege of baptizing Heidi! She made her decision to ask Christ into her heart about 6 months ago and decided to get baptized! We are very proud parents.

Roswell, NM

2010-03-05T07:10:00.010-07:00

We have so much fun when we visit Roswell. That is one good thing about Hobbs not having any doctors of specialties - we have to go somewhere else. And even if it is 103 miles away, we make the best of it. We always stop at Target for some shopping and sometimes if I feel like splurging, I might even get a Starbucks!! But it's the aliens that make Roswell so fun. We had a blast in Area 51 and the kids are still talking about it. I know something really crashed there, Derreck says weather balloon, Aaron of course says Aliens, and me - I don't know for sure. One local I talked to said a lot of people think it might have been the Russians. The Red scare was going on then, so who knows. I'm pretty sure there was a gov't cover-up though. You can read newspapers and see pictures at the UFO research center and you know they didn't have photo-shop back then, so certainly the images aren't fake, or are they???!!!

Aaron's Double back-handspring!

2010-01-22T20:52:00.002-07:00

Aaron's gymnastics in Denver City had an exhibition at half-time of a basketball game. Here he is!

Aaron's first shot

2010-01-05T08:27:00.002-07:00

Welcome New Year!

2010-01-05T08:06:00.003-07:00

We had a great holiday season. Christmas was so nice and the kids just had a blast with their new toys. We had a wonderful, but too short! trip to Albuquerque for 4 days after Christmas. It was so good to spend some time with good friends, but sad that we couldn't squeeze everyone in. We did get to eat at Sadies (now on the East side)!! Also, the kids favorite restaurant - Souper Salad. D and I got our favorite wings at the Wing Basket, and I found my new favorite sandwich at Il Vicino! And many people fed us delicious home cooked food too. Thanks!

We had our good friends over on New Years Eve for yummy food and great company. It was the best way to bring in the new year. (though we didn't stay up until midnight!!) And then, Heidi's first tooth finally came out on New Year's Day. It had been really loose for weeks, it just needed a tug from Dad.

D took Aaron hunting Quail hunting over the break. They didn't see any but a few, but Aaron shot a rabbit. I tried to be happy for him, but it was hard. Poor little bunny. Aaron shot his shotgun for the first time. He shot it twice, determined to get over the "kick."

I am praying this year will either bring our country back to it's roots and the constitution or that Christ returns very quickly.

2009-11-29T09:38:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving weekend was very nice. Derreck got off of work around noon, so he and Aaron went to play golf. Heidi and I played "beauty shop" and I curled her hair and she dressed up for a tea party! It was very fun.

We went for a bike ride before the big dinner on Thanksgiving. That was great. I would love to do that much more often. Aaron made the mashed potatoes for the Jett familly get together. Heidi made a chocolate mousse torte that was delicious! I made sweet potatoes. We met at Derreck's oldest brother's house for the rest of the grub.

Friday was decorate for Christmas day! We had so much fun decorating the tree, singing Christmas songs and drinking hot chocolate. Thankfully, a cold front has come in and it feels wintery.

American Heritage Girls

2009-11-22T13:02:00.003-07:00

Heidi is an American Heritage Girl. This Christian scouting program is new to Hobbs. It is small, but it is a great group. They participated in the Veteran's Day Parade and also are sending shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child for Samaritan's Purse. Here are some pictures.

They had a campout and the girls had a great time. Heidi loved it. She has earned the flag badge and outdoor badge. She wants to get the sewing and cake decorating badge. That should be fun and easy!

We wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.

2009-11-16T19:03:00.003-07:00

Heidi is in the "black hole" slide at the McDonald's in Roswell. Way fun!

The Contemporary Art Museum, Roswell New Mexico

Aaron liked this painting best.

The Truth is Out There
(name that show)

We have been going to Roswell every three weeks for allergy treatment for Heidi. We usually go to the little zoo there and then to Target, but this time we went to the Contemporary Art Museum, which was really nice. The works on display are by resident artists from the early 70's until now. Very nice for a small museum.
We also went to the International UFO museum and Research Center. It was actually quite fascinating. I am quite skeptical...of the government. Something certainly happened, but what exactly that is, I am not sure.

The good news is now Heidi has reached maintenance level on the sublingual drops for her allergies, so we will go every 10 weeks now. She is starting to show signs that it is helping. Typical allergy treatment lasts 3-4 years. We are really praying that it helps her, as her allergies are so terrible.

Thanksgiving is just over a week away. We are staying in Hobbs, but hope to meet up with my brother and his family at White Sands.

Aaron's 9th Birthday Party

2009-11-01T08:31:00.003-07:00

I still can't believe Aaron is 9 now! Time has gone by fast. He really is growing up and becoming quite the young man. His party was Halloween themed this year and we had so much fun with decorating and making costumes and fun, creepy food. He had lots of good friends come and join in the fun. He got lots of Legos and other fun toys.

After his party we went to eat at the Chinese restaurant (his pick!) and then went trick-or-treating in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. The kids were worn out from the fun busy day and only went about 3 blocks, didn't even have their pumpkins full of candy and were ready to go home. (Yay!!) It was a very fun day for everyone.

Pre Halloween

2009-11-01T08:24:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to post a few pictures of the pumpkins we carved last week. They rotted before Halloween and we had to throw them away. Bummer!! But we got the best part, the yummy seeds!!

Corn Maze field trip

2009-10-12T21:02:00.005-06:00

Our little ragamuffin homeschool group went to Lubbock, TX to the corn maze there. I got some nice shots of the kids and my friend took a nice picture of me and the kids. They set up such a pretty fall backdrop. The weather was nice and cool, so it was a perfect day to be outside.

The children were very excited to go, and ran and ran, and then we got lost inside that maze. It was very fun, except I was getting hungry. Also, some of the younger kids had just had enough, as you can see from their picture!

Comings and Goings

2009-10-04T07:13:00.005-06:00

My 40th birthday came and went. It was very nice. I got some beautiful flowers from my friend Jennifer in ABQ. Thanks so much Jen, it was such a wonderful surprise!! Derreck and I went to dinner at Pacific Rim and I had a fabulous meal, the mashed sweet potatoes were wonderful! I got an iPod and I love it!!!

The kids have been studying Greek history and we had our own Olympics. They made "laurel" wreath crowns. We also made Greek food for dinner. They didn't like the hummus, but it was wonderful, trust me!

Heidi participated in the Cheer Camp for the local kids. She learned a little cheer and the kids will join the cheerleaders next Friday night. She loved it. Her oldest cousin K'Lee is a cheerleader helping Heidi's group.

Heidi is still taking gymnastics and loves it. She is also taking a dance class at the gym. She has a wonderful Christian teacher, Sara Inman, who also teaches all kinds of dance (except belly dance :( ) and I am taking her hip hop class. It is really fun for me. I hope to take some of her other classes too, but now that Derreck has started shift work, it's a little harder to do things like that with the kids in tow.

Aaron is also still doing gym and doing it well. We signed him up for a class in Denver City, TX. It's 30 miles away, but they focus more on tumbling and he is really close to doing a back handspring now. He is still at the gym here, where the coach is good, but frankly, he is getting old and doesn't challenge the kids enough. But Aaron is doing well, especially on high bar and rings. I do so wish we had a better gym closer, he has the potential to do so much more, but unfortunately at this point, not the opportunity.

Derreck has started shift work at the job. They work 1st and 2nd shift only and rotate every 2 weeks. He completed the first 2 weeks of night shift. Tomorrow he will have to get up REALLY early. I do not envy that! But it's all going well. He likes it! and that isn't very common for a lot of people. And a lot of people don't even have jobs anymore, so we are very blessed.

Samson is hanging in there, still doing pretty well for an old dog. I love him so. Our walks are very slow and short now, but he still gets excited to go out. He's such a good dog.

With fall here, our weather hasn't been as hot, not consistantly anyway. It's been in the mid-80's but we still had a couple of 97 degree days (awful!!) and a couple of 65 degree days (wonderful!!). Aaron and I have been riding our bikes to church on Sundays for a couple of months now. It's not usually too hot in the mornings, and today we might even need to wear pants. It's 4 miles, and Aaron does great even on his little bike. I hope one day we'll be able to really bike and mountain bike again without having to drive 300 miles. That would be great fun for the whole family!! Except Heidi needs more practice still. She just doesn't have that drive that Aaron had to learn the bike. She can do it but if she feels the slightest wobbly, she jumps off. We are still working on it, so I need to take her to the paved trail again.

God has been good, He continues to amaze me, refine me, and sanctify me. I am blessed, even when it's hard to see it here in Hobbs. I need to be more like Paul, and be content in want, not only in abundance. It's strange. In ABQ we did not have abundance as far as money, we were always broke and in need, but had abundant life. Here we don't have the money worries, have enough, and yet, I am in serious want for something else - out of this place. I am still in the refining process, apparently, and it is hard to go through.

Visiting Carlsbad Caverns

2009-08-07T16:24:00.004-06:00

Our friends from ABQ came to visit us! We had a great time and it went by too fast. It was so nice to catch up with my good friend Peggy. We went to Carlsbad and the Lea County Fair. I forgot the camera to bring to the fair, so no pics of that fun time. All I can say is, my kids and I do not really like the calf roping. Heidi kept asking if the cow was dead every time they flipped it over. So she and I went and got cotton candy during the roping, because frankly, I did not want to watch either.

The caverns were great. We did the natural entrance instead of taking the elevator down. I am really glad we did, it was so enjoyable and I saw some formations I'd never seen before. Beautiful! The kids all did great even though the rangers told us it was strenuous. I knew they'd be fine!! We also stayed for the Bat Flight. It was so amazing. I still can't believe the number of bats that kept coming out. We stayed and watched them for 45 minutes and they were still coming out when we left. The kids did adopt a bat. They named her Miss Spiral, as the bats all spiraled around as they flew out of the cavern.

Summer Adventures Continue

2009-07-23T08:39:00.002-06:00

Last week the kids and I went to Colorado to see the fam up there. We had planned to go while D was in the Czech, but it didn't quite work out that way. Derreck and the Czech team had a good trip. D said that God used them in a way they didn't plan on, so you know that His way is better than ours. I will let him post about his trip, since he was there!!!
So we went to Colorado. We left here about 10:30, a little later than I'd wanted, but we had an extra special traveler with us - a cute female boxer that we were transporting to her new home in ABQ. She was a good traveler though at first she wanted up front! After our stop in Roswell, she settled in and slept most of the way to ABQ. Her new owner was so excited to meet her. It was really neat to be that small part of it.
We continued on to Bayfield, arriving at 9pm. That was a LONG day, but it turned out fine. We got to go rafting with Dana on Wednesday morning. The water was nice and cold; so, so nice! Of course, Aaron started shivering and shaking. He has no fat on him, so he gets cold so easily. Heidi only hung off the side of the raft, so she didn't get very wet. That was in the nice deep calm spot. We rafted on the town run in Durango. The water was a little low, but we still had a few small rapids, and then of course, Smelter, the last one which the kids LOVED!
We had a nice time, though it was a bit Hot for CO, it still was not nearly as hot as Hobbs!!! We stopped in ABQ for one night on our way back through. We didn't get to see many people (sorry!!!) as we only had a short time. But I sure did enjoy my time with Annie and Katie and Lanny and Karla. Next time we will spend a longer time in ABQ and get to see everyone. That is the hardest part about going to ABQ. I miss everyone so much, I miss living there, I miss the stores we don't have here, and I always run out of time.
Things here at home are fine, though we still have flooring to finish putting down. And baseboard! Oy!! Samson is doing a little better on his new medicine. He walks a little farther and quicker now, so that is nice. But he still slips sometimes. He's a good boy. Derreck's job is going well. They had a company summer picnic which was really fun for the whole family. I am gearing up for school to start soon. I am actually looking forward to it, and Heidi is too. Aaron is going to take some convincing, he is really enjoying his summer off! We do hope to go camping at least once before school starts, but need a hitch on the new truck. So hopefully I can get that done next payday.
That's all for now. God bless!

Summer in Hobbs

2009-06-27T06:35:00.002-06:00

Hello to all our blog followers! It's summer in Hobbs and that means it's 97-100+ degrees now everyday. That is just too hot to be outside much, so we are spending a lot of time indoors now. But...we had a whole bunch of rain last week and these cute little red bugs come out of the ground after heavy rain. They remind me of something Dr. Suess would have created. They are soft and fuzzy and bumpy. I have tried to identify them on some buggy websites, but to no avail. At any rate, they are all gone now. Perhaps they all went back into the ground?

Derreck is leaving for the Czech Republic on Monday. We are excited to see what God has planned for this mission trip. He hasn't left yet, but I am already ready to have him back! There is a group of 7 people from our church going. They are helping in "American Week" for a VBS and also lots of other missiony things. It is another time for those going and those sending them to really trust God for provision. I feel I have a lot of experience in Trusting God blindly. When Derreck first got this job it was all about that for a year and a half. Whew! That is mostly over and we have some real stability in our everyday-ness now. There is something to be said for going through those dark unsure times; it really makes you dependent on God, the only unchanging factor in life. I could go on about how our country is heading into a dark unsure time with all the crap congress is pushing through, but I don't want to depress myself. I only want to encourage myself to trust God. He is sovereign over all of this garbage and somehow it will be used to His glory. Amen. Otherwise, we're toast.

Here is a turtle that D'Linda found. We named her Shelly. She is not the common box turtle often found. We looked up what kind, but I have forgotten. Something like African something or other. Anyway, she burrows, so she is hard to find. She eats grasses and hay, not the usual turtle food. She is one of God's beautiful creatures. Isn't she cute?

2009-06-07T20:52:00.003-06:00

Last week Aaron had golf lessons through the city M-F. There is a nice bike/walking trail along the Lovington highway and I told Heidi she would have bike riding lessons while Aaron had golf lessons. We had a rough couple of days with frustration and a couple of scraped knees, but by Wednesday, Heidi had ridden a little ways by herself! She is now doing great with riding, but still needs a little work on the stopping. I know she'll get it just fine soon. We are all so proud of her!

We have enjoyed our summer so far. I am looking forward to this week, with no where we have to be (except the dentist for me tomorrow!) It is so nice to take a break from routines for a little while. My friend Alicia and I joined up with Derreck's mom and had a big garage sale over the weekend. We all did pretty good with selling. The kids had a lemonade stand. They were little troopers selling lemonade.

Derreck is doing well at work. His duties are job recruiting and hiring for now. They will have a 3rd team by the end of the year. He gets to travel some with that and it's going fine. Derreck will be taking a mission trip to the Czech Republic at the end of June. I am excited but a little nervous too. He and 5 others from our church will be going for 1 week.

Swimming and staying cool are my goals for the summer. I am reading lots of great books: The Bible, The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer, Lord I want to Know You by Kay Arthur, and The Hope Chest: A Legacy of Love. I also plan on ordering the kids' curriculum for the fall soon, and plan on reading a few of their books ahead of time. They have some really good ones for read-a-louds and I am looking forward to it.

Derreck and Aaron went on a Father/Son camping trip with our church 2 weekends ago. They had so much fun. Aaron caught 2 fish, and it was his first time fishing! He was very excited. While the guys were away, we had a Mother/Daughter Tea Party at the church. It was so wonderful and lovely.

Pecos River in Carlsbad NM

2009-05-19T17:51:00.003-06:00

While my sister in law and girls were visiting, we decided to go to Carlsbad to swim to escape the heat. Of course, the day we decided to go wasn't nearly as hot as the previous few days, but no matter, we still enjoyed the river very much and the water was refreshing!
There are several playgrounds all along the river in Carlsbad, the kids loved them very much!

All the kiddos under the bridge. There is a beach area for swimming. It's very nice!

Aaron is the jumper!

Heidi loves the freedom of a pfd!

Albuquerque Tax Day Tea Party

2009-04-21T07:02:00.004-06:00

We just happened to be going to Albuquerque for the big CAPE Homeschool convention this past week on April 15th. We joined Lanny in attending the Tea Party. We really had no idea what to expect - how many people, the tone, the format. But it turned out to be one of the most encouraging things I have been part of. Our fellow Americans, side by side, and truly non-partisan except for a handful, with one voice - Enough is enough. No more spending!! The crowd was very peaceful, yet very vocal. Upset not only at the current administration's spending, but the previous one as well. Critics of the Tea Party's, one I heard called anyone who went a racisit and a redneck - they don't have a clue. It's not a democrat or republican thing - it's about protecting the Founding Father's ideas and principles.

There were about 1500 people lining Montgomery from the IRS building near San Mateo until almost Pennsylvania. The people were enthusiastic the drivers were so supportive, honking horns, waving flags, cheering, thumbs up. It was great. We saw so many signs, and I tried to get pics of the really good ones, but of course, I couldn't get them all. A couple of my favorites that I didn't get pics of said:
Spread my work ethic, not my wages!
Don't tax me, Bro! (from the don't taze me bro)
Here are some pics. You can click on them to enlarge them.

There's Pops!

This guy's sign says it best. And note, a quote by Thomas Jefferson.

The beautiful Sandia's in the background. Boy do I miss those mountains.

April ongoings

2009-04-13T11:25:00.003-06:00

The kids all dressed up for Easter.

Easter goodies!

Good thing I didn't need to bake!

The hailstorm.

We are doing well. Derreck has been recruiting for his job. He enjoys it for the most part. The kids and I are gearing up to be done with school for the year. It's all gone great this year. We have got to do a lot of fun things and look forward to the summer off. I am excited to be going to the ABQ homeschool convention this weekend. It's always so re-charging and will get me excited for the fall.
We don't have any major plans for the summer - only to do some camping here and there and still finish up working on the house. We have come a long way on the house. It is a never ending work in progress though.
God has continued to bless us. It is amazing to see His hand at work in our lives.

Bailout explained

2009-04-03T09:43:00.002-06:00

Seder Supper at Vista Pointe

2009-03-22T22:08:00.002-06:00

This evening our church hosted a Sedar Supper with our special guests Dr. Jack Meadow and his wife Alice from Jews for Jesus. It was such a wonderful evening and so interesting to learn the tradition of a passover meal and also to try some new wonderful foods. Aaron was asked to be the "son" at the head table so he got to participate by asking the questions and finding the hidden matzah bread. We were so blessed ot be part of this and are very thankful to have Dr. Meadow at our church.

Check out this Tee Shirt Site

2009-03-11T08:39:00.006-06:00

I found this way cool t-shirt website from one of my other favorite blogs (PioneerWoman) and anyway, it's so cool, all my friends should have a look-see. It's called Wild Olive Tees!

Kitchen progress

2009-02-22T20:16:00.003-07:00

Heidi's Birthday party

2009-02-02T07:37:00.002-07:00

Heidi turns 6! Aaron got her new favorite book series, Junie B Jones.

But her true love is Fancy Nancy! And so she had the fanciest Soiree! All her little friends fancied up and even the boys were good sports and wore a little bow tie.

The Steelers winning touchdown!

2009-02-02T07:27:00.002-07:00

Mad Libs

2009-01-25T18:38:00.005-07:00

Remember these? Well, they are great for teaching the parts of speech. We use them homeschooling. What a fun way to learn. This one I thought was particularly hilarious and had to post it. Hope others enjoy it as much as we did.
(if you need to enlarge it, just click on it)

Going to the City

2009-01-16T06:01:00.002-07:00

I can't wait for today! I'm going to the City today with my friend Alicia and all the kids. Today I am getting a real Starbucks! I can't wait for some yummy flavored latte. Maybe the Pumpkin Spice if they still have that. Or maybe they'll have some Valentine concoction. Or maybe a Cafe Mocha Vodka Valium Latte. At any rate, I'm looking forward to it. And we're going to Target. And a health food store of some sort that I am hoping resembles a Whole Foods to some extent. Time for some more Dagoba Eclipse chocolate bars.

I'll be a real nerd and bring my camera so I can post pictures later.

The Kitchen phase

2009-01-14T07:43:00.003-07:00

Most of you know, we bought this house, then proceeded to gut it in it's entirety. The only rooms that were somewhat untouched were the kids bedrooms. At anyrate, it's come a long way, but still more to go. Our latest phase is the kitchen. We added some more base cabinets. I chose to paint our original ones, since they were really well built and solid and to save on the cost. So we bought unfinished base cabinets at home depot and I painted them to match our existing ones. It sure will be nice to have that extra counters and storage!!! Then we finished laying the floor we bought for the kitchen. Our hope was to salvage the hardwood floors in the dining room and bedrooms, but they are very badly damaged, and they are the only floor - there is no subfloor. So we decided our best bet was to lay the laminate flooring over all of them as well. We originally had enough floor to continue from the living room through the whole kitchen, but decided to go ahead and do the dining room floor and kitchen and see how far we got. So, the kitchen floor is unfinished still, but will be at some point.

The next step though is countertop. We thought about butcher block, how it might go really well with our "farmhouse" type house and an apron front sink. Well, reality set in and butcher block, though very inexpensive, requires a lot of upkeep to keep it nice and the apron front sink would not fit in our existing sink base, so that would need a custom job. At anyrate, we decided against that. So then I wanted soapstone counters. Good luck finding that in Hobbs. So we looked into solid surface. They are very nice and could put a sink in that would be molded in. It was a very nice counter, though really pricey. More than I wanted to spend on basically plastic. Well, we decided to check Home depot again and they have a special on granite for just a wee bit more than the solid surface. Well, why not? So that is our plan now. I would have never ever thought we could afford granite countertops, but it looks like we can. They are supposed to come measure soon.... We all know what that means in Hobbs. I'm trying not to discourage myself. I can't wait for the tops to be installed, so I can actually use the cabinets!!! You can click on pic to enlarge it.

The other things on the to-do list are: finish the floors and add new sink, get baseboard and trim for the house, new front and back door, new floors for bedrooms, new windows. Not necessarily in that order. It's coming along. Maybe it will all be done before we move, unlike our home in ABQ. I'd like to enjoy this house for a couple of years if possible. Who knows God's plans for us, I'll go where He sends me!

One more...

2009-01-14T07:41:00.002-07:00

He's looking a little shy in this picture, but still so cute!!!

Samson again

2009-01-11T20:08:00.002-07:00

My Sweet Samson!

Samson

2008-12-27T21:16:00.003-07:00

Our Samson is now 12 1/2 years old. He's such a good dog. He's so sweet and gentle, and patient even though he's stubborn. He gave us a real scare right before Christmas though. He got into some chocolate and got very very sick. I was sure we were going to lose him, but thank God, he pulled through. He still doesn't know any better though. He's always trying to get into the trash and if he does, he will eat just about anything. You'd think he'd learn from getting sick, but he doesn't. It's so hard to be mad at him though, just look at him! He's my special dog, my good friend, my snuggler, and even though it's hard on him now because of doggie arthritis, he's my walking buddy. More like mosey buddy. I do love him so!

December 27, 2008

2008-12-27T14:55:00.003-07:00

We had a great Christmas. The kids loved their presents.
Aaron, now 8, got his first pocket knife. He is so thrilled to have it. He helped open packages all day with it. He got several books too, but I think his favorite is The Dangerous Book for Boys. He got a super fun card game called There's a Moose in Your House. We all played tonight.

Heidi also enjoyed her presents. Derreck brought her back some tights from the Netherlands. They have the coolest little girl's tights there. She also got a frilly, fancy canopy net for above her bed. She absolutely adores it. She got some Fancy Nancy things too - the dog and the doll.
Derreck got me a beautiful music box from when we were in Schwangau and it plays Eidelweis. I love it. I got the Wii Fit game and we all love that. It's really cool and definitely a good thing for me to get back into exercise. Without dance, I've gotten out of shape.
Derreck got the Tiger Woods golf for the Wii. He loves it. He also got a new pocket knife from his Dad and he loves that too. Like father, like son.
We spent Christmas afternoon with Derreck's family. It was a really nice day. D'Linda steamed crab legs. Everything was delicious!!!

Derreck and I are adding some more base cabinets to our kitchen. They are in and just need some leveling. Then we have to decide on countertop. So soon, I'll have an awesome kitchen! I can't wait until it's all done. It will make a huge difference.

It's been extremely windy here in Hobbs. I guess that's winter here. It could be worse though, so I'll leave it at that.

Today's the Day!

2008-12-05T08:21:00.001-07:00

We go to Midland today to pick up Derreck!! His plane lands 5:23 TX time. We can't wait!

When plans go awry

2008-11-29T16:36:00.001-07:00

Our big Thanksgiving plans and trip to Albuquerque and seeing friends and shopping never happened. It all started with Aaron getting sick last Monday. I was really hoping it would be a 24 hour bug or something mild. Nope. He ran a high fever all week so we had to cancel our trip. We were all sad and disappointed. But I also didn't think he'd be so sick. I could not get his fever to break. By Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, I thought I better take him to see a doctor, this is not going away. Unfortunately no Dr. Office was open on Friday. So we ended up taking him to the ER. That in itself was a nightmare and I don't wish to relive it by writing down any details. After all that he has a virus, but not pneumonia or the flu, so there is that to be thankful for. Unfortunately, sitting in the ER Heidi and I also started running a fever. The good thing is, Heidi usually recovers quickly, while when Aaron gets sick, he normally gets it worse than the rest of us. So hopefully the worst of his and ours is over.

On the good side...6 more days!
I will be glad to have my husband back, especially after all this!!!

Golfing in Scotland!

2008-11-25T12:26:00.005-07:00

When I first found out that the training for my job was going to take place in Europe Glen and I started trying to figure out a way to meet in the UK and play golf at St Andrews. Well, with just 3 weeks before I go home the planning finally worked out. I met Glen in London where we spent 2 full days seeing the sights. We toured Westminster Abbey, Parliment, which is where Big Ben is located,(Look kids there's Big Ben) as well as Tower of London, where Beefeaters have lived for the last 750 years, and of course Buckingham Palace.Then we hopped on a train for Edinburgh Scotland. From there we rented a car and drove to St Andrews. We were scheduled to play 3 rounds of golf in 3 days but the weather had a different plan. Unfortunately we were only able to play 1 round but that 1 round was on the historic "Old Course" of St Andrews! This is the same course that the British Open has been played many times before and will be again in July of 2010. We're talking the birth place of golf! Records show that golf was being played here as early as the 1540's. It was a great day of golf with cold weather and an extremely difficult course but it was a round of golf I will never forget. Now I am getting ready to go home. This was a great trip but the one home will be the best one yet! Take care and God Bless.

Take a look at that face!

2008-11-25T07:24:00.005-07:00

I'll be seeing him in person in just 10 days!

We will pick him up in the Midland Airport around 5:30pm. His dinner of choice will be at Red Lobster. We'll then make the 1 hour 45 minute drive home. Samson will be so happy!

For some of the foods Derreck's really missed, I'll be making my Aunt Rosies' pizza, and some other of his favorites - chicken fried steak with smashed potatoes and gravy (thanks Rachel Ray for the perfect recipe!) Also enchiladas, some churizzo (sp) breakfast burritos, and, um, what else do you like Derreck?

Queen of Coffee

2008-11-23T08:16:00.007-07:00

Ok, I love coffee. I love Starbucks too. Even while living in ABQ, or "the 505" as it is sometimes known by, I did not frequent the Starbucks too often because of the cost - money and calories! Then we moved to the booney's, flat-lands, bad-lands, cow-pie land, stinky pump-jack land, whatever your name of choice may be for the lack of civilization and anything remotely"urban" or modern or whatever. So needless to say, whenever I'd visit "the big city" of Roswell or Lubbock I'd have to stop at a Starbucks (and a Target, since they are inside!) and treat myself to a cappuccino or something equally good. I do hate paying $4 or more for such a treat though... Then we lived in the Netherlands for a while. Europeans drink coffee as much as they do beer - so it, like beer is really good and really cheap. So I could get an excellent cappuccino for a mere 2 Euro. Not bad, beer being the same cost, water being the same cost, a coke though would be 2.50 Euro. So now I'm back in Hell, I mean Hobbs, and during the hot, hot, and very hot summer, who cares about coffee or cappuccino or whatever. Unless you like it iced or better yet, a frappuccino! At any rate, I did continue to treat myself to some coffee delight on the rare occasion that I visited another enlightened city. Now speed ahead to the cold mornings and believe it or not, sometimes it's actually cold during the day now. Then note that my coffee maker I got for a wedding gift over 13 years ago and had still been using finally crapped out. So it was time for a new coffee maker. I was going to go for the usual automatic drip coffee maker, since the one I'd had forever really lasted and worked great. Then, while perusing the coffeemakers online, I discovered a little gem. For only $30 I could get my own cappuccino maker. Could it be too good to be true? I read every comment for this machine by Mr. Coffee and every single one of them was positive. So I went for it. I bought the thing. I love the thing. I now can make my very own cappuccino at home! What do you know? I've got the ratio of espresso and steamed milk just right now and it's so delicious. And cheap. And convenient. And easy. Will I still stop at Starbucks (and Target) when entering a big city - I honestly don't know, but probably!

Disclaimer: Hobbs is not Hell, even though I am tempted to think that sometimes. Hobbs has a coffee place, but it is never on my way anywhere, not as good as SB, and just as expensive.

15 Days

2008-11-20T20:11:00.002-07:00

Derreck is going golfing in St. Andrews, Scotland tomorrow. He is thrilled to be there. He and his friend Glen from ABQ have been enjoying England and got to Scotland today. It's been fun to here about all they are seeing and doing. But, in 15 days, we will be reunited! Can't wait!!!

19 days and counting

2008-11-16T07:22:00.002-07:00

Derreck returns to the US on Dec 5th. We can't wait and this time it's for good! We are all ready for him to be home. Only 19 days now. And we both have things going on to make that time go by even faster.

Derreck is taking a trip to England and Scotland with his buddy Glen from ABQ. Odd that they are both working in Europe at the same time (different countries) and can take their vacations. So of course they are going to play golf at St. Andrews. I am sure they will have the best time.

The kids and I are going to ABQ for Thanksgiving. We're going to stay a few days and visit some friends and probably get some shopping done, since there's no where to shop here!! And I am very excited to be visiting our former church too. When we get back to Hobbs, it will only be 5 days until we go pick up Derreck in Midland. Yea!!

I love my family!

2008-11-11T07:18:00.002-07:00

You guys are GREAT!!!

Halloween and Aaron's Birthday

2008-11-11T06:58:00.004-07:00

Since Aaron's birthday is the day after Halloween, it seems that there is always a whole lot going on in preparation and planning for those 2 days. And this year was no different!

We carved our pumpkins and this year Heidi was finally not disgusted by the pumpkin goo. She dug right in and got it out! Yea, I didn't have to do it! They drew their faces on and I cut them out. They did a good job.

Aaron was the grim reaper (he found the mask in PA for $0.50) and Heidi was a pirate, costume donated by Syndey! And I remember when she wore it. Two cute pirate girls!

Aaron wanted a pirate birthday party this year. I still can't believe he is 8 now! I made a treasure map for the kids to follow that led to the treasure chest full of booty! And I got a really cute pirate ship cake idea from the internet. It was EASY and very cute! It got lots of compliments.

We're Baaack!

2008-10-22T07:44:00.003-06:00

We had a wonderful time in Pennsylvania visiting with Derreck and my parents. Fall is the most beautiful time in PA, the leaves were the brightest reds, oranges, yellows, and even some purples. So beautiful, so serene. We did an awful lot in those nearly 3 weeks, and I'll highlight some of it. Really, it was very hard for me to leave - not only did I have to say bye to my parents, whom I love dearly and don't see nearly often enough, but Derreck and I had to separate again. I am in a slump back in Hobbs. But the next time I see D, he'll be home for good! (For now!)

We did so many things - Derreck and I took 4 days and went off on our own. We went to see Beth and her family and spent the night with them. It was a great visit, but too short. He and I then went to a B&B in Rockwood, PA. That was our base - we went and toured Frank Lloyd Wright's Kentuck Knob and Falling Water. WOW! What an amazing architect. I am still in awe of Falling Water. What a magnificent place. It's wonderful that they have made it into a museum so that many people can share it, it's kind of a shame that it is not a home. I'd love to live there!!! We also stopped at the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel and the Memorial Site. Though sad, a very important part of our trip. The Chapel was completed by the 1st anniversary of 9/11, done by private citizens. It was beautiful and honorable. The actual memorial site is just a fence and a big flag out at the crash site. It's supposed to be completed sometime in the future. (?) Both sites were very sobering. We need to remember and not ever forget those heroes.

Another trip we and the kids went to Niagra Falls, Canada. It's so awesome and we went on the Maid of the Mist. I had gone on probably 20 years ago, but don't remember getting so soaked! It is an awesome adventure - getting that close to the Falls. We all loved our time in Niagra Falls.

We then stopped in Buffalo, NY to eat at the Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo Wings. We got the hot sauce, but maybe I've been in NM too long - it was not hot. But still, the wings were good, larger than I'd had, cooked well and the flavor was good, just not hot.

While in Buffalo, we stopped at a Naval Ship Museum. It was awesome. We toured WWII ships and a submarine. The first ship was the USS Sulivans which was smaller, and the second was the USS Arkansas. The sub was the USS Croker. We all enjoyed it.

We went to several fall festivals, one at Peak and Peak, NY and others scattered over NW PA. We bought some wine from a local vineyard - wonderful!

We had a blast with Ashley and Kaitlin, my awesome nieces. It was great getting to see them and really spend some time with them again. We hope they can come for a visit next summer!

And I can't go home without spending time on Lake Erie. There's no place like it to me. We gathered rocks, shells and beach glass for hours. Wandered up and down the shore. Stood and watched the waves. Got wet. Laughed. And of course stopped at Peggy Gray's Candies on the way home.

Brussels and Luxembourg

2008-09-25T10:10:00.005-06:00

I had an opportunity to travel to Brussels Belgium and Luxembourg a few weekends ago. The highlight of the trip was going to be a US WWII Cemetery in Luxembourg where General Patton is buried. It was truely beautiful but the rest of Luxembourg just blew me away. Brussels was an awesome city with lots to see and do. The little statue is called Mannequin Pis, which is Dutch for little man pee. It is one of the most recognizable statues in Belgium. Next morning we started the day at the WWII cemetery. I have now been to three and each one touches me more than the others. From there we went to Luxembourg City. It is a beautiful small town that is built through a valley so you have this canyon that splits the town. Notice the homes is some of the pictures. They are built right up against the rock. The rock actually overlaps the roof in a few places. ( 8th photo. It has a red house in it) We also visited 2 castles while in Lux. One was simply a ruin the other mostly complete but both were amazing. The last place we stopped was the small village of Cleraux. A gorgeous little place where we took pics of the US tank. yet another amazing weekend not soon forgotten. I leave for the Good ol' USA tomorrow bright and early so I will post about that in a few weeks. But for now I bid you all farewell and I hope this post finds you all doing well. Tomorrow I will see my beautiful wife and two wonderful childern in Erie PA. There we will spend two weeks visiting here family. Thanks for reading and may God bless.

Berlin

2008-09-21T04:43:00.006-06:00

Just before I went home in July I had the opportunity to go to Berlin for the weekend. Even as I type this it amazes me how blessed I am to be able to say I went to German city for a quick weekend trip! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get this sort of opportunity. God is good! But I digress. Berlin was another amazing place that I wish I could have spent more time in but but who can complain. The thing that stuck out the most to me was how unimpressive the Berlin wall was. In one of the photos you see a concrete wall with dirt on the other side and another fence where the dirt ends. That was it. During the Cold War, however, the dirt area was a mine field and armed guards awaited you if you made it through that. With all of that the wall was just sort of for show. We had a blast while we were there and I hope you all enjoy the post. Take care and God Bless!

While living in Europe I have become accustomed to seeing public restrooms out on the streets where the people using them are just barely covered enough so you can't see whats going on. But this is pushing it even for Europe. Have a great day!

Better Late Than Never!!!

2008-09-16T09:48:00.006-06:00

I am finally getting around to posting about the trip I took while my parents were here back in late June and early July. We spent the first five days they were here in France and Belgium. We started the trip in the most obvious French city. Paris was beautiful and the public transportation is simple to use once you get the hang of it. Thats a good thing because traffic sucks!!! I am certain that the French leave their brains at home when they get behind the wheel so they don't risk damaging it in an accident. That being said it was wonderful. Next we headed for the French coast. We saw Mt St Michel (City in the Sea) It is an abbey that is completely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean during high tide. I believe that the oldest parts are over 1000 years old. What a magnificent place. Then we moved north up the coast to Omah beach and the US WWII cemetery. WOW!!! This will make pride swell up in any American. We must never forget the price that was paid for freedom. When you see the beach and the German bunkers that riddle the hills overlooking the beach you get a glimpse of what those men saw when they landed on the sand. You have to wonder how any of them lived. Then you go to the cemetery and realize just how many didn't. It is a beautiful and somber place. We left there with renewed pride and headed for Antwerpe Belgium. The image of a tower is the church tower in the center of Antwerpe.We spent the next morning there before heading up into the Netherlands for a stop at Valkenburg. The drawing in the photo is of FDR. It was done in a cave in the city of Valkenburg during the end of WWII. American soldiers were liberating the Netherlands and used the caves (guided by locals that were living in the caves at the time) to scout German defenses. One of the GI's sketched the image on the wall. He returned some 20 years later and wrote an inscription under the sketch. All in all an awesome trip that I will not forget. I doubt my parents will either.

My September 11th Birthday

2008-09-11T20:50:00.004-06:00

Today is my 39th birthday. All things considered it was a good birthday. I woke up and turned on the news to watch the memorial speeches. Then Derreck called me this morning to wish me Happy Birthday, just like he did 7 years ago when our country was attacked by terrorists. Today was especially hard for him to be gone, as this day, aside from being my birthday, is a terrible day in our history, but a day to never forget or become complacent about. And on this day 7 years ago he was out of state for work and I home with a 10 month old baby, wondering when we'd see him again, fearful of who knew what else might happen. Now Derreck is in Europe. Our country seems safer now, thoughts of another terrorist attack are not in our forethoughts. And I do know that I will see Derreck in 15 days. It's still hard being apart; I can't help but remember how terrible we all felt, our nation grieving and in shock. I am thankful that since then our country is better prepared and has protected us from other attacks on our soil. One thing that came from the attacks on 9-11 was such a sense of Pride of Country. We were all proud to be Americans. I wish our nation still had that. I do. I am proud of our country. It's a great place to be.

So yesterday my 2 darling children and I were in Walgreens picking up pictures I had printed and they decided to buy me something for my birthday. I gave them their allowance and watched from a slight distance. They really wanted to surprise me, so I really did not look at what they were getting me. This morning I opened a Webkinz from Heidi and a bag of dark chocolates from Aaron. I have the best kids in the world! I named my Webkinz "Liberty", in honor of our country and the freedom we hold so dearly.

My favorite chocolate bar

2008-09-07T09:00:00.003-06:00

Ok, I have been to Europe and have had some GREAT chocolate. Belgium has wonderful chocolate. But, I happen to like dark chocolate. I really didn't find any plain dark chocolate there. Course, I didn't know how to ask for it either. But their chocolate is very good, and very fancy. Wonderful flavor, but other stuff with it. If you are looking for a wonderful, plain, very dark, unadulterated chocolate bar, I have found the Best one ever!

YUM! Look, 87% pure dark chocolate. This is the best thing I ever ate. I want more. I can't get more. I live in small town. I need this chocolate.

Bye Bye Kitty

2008-08-20T20:34:00.009-06:00

D.C. has a new home now. We wanted to keep her, she is so sweet and playful and cuddly. But the allergies got the better of us. Honestly, it was probably the combination of the cat and the cedar tree she played in, but at anyrate, it was so hard for us to hold her and play with her, and then run to wash up. The final decision was made after I had to take Heidi to the ER on Saturday night. She had a severe reaction with her eyes completely red and swollen and hives all over. She said she was breathing ok, but still scared me. We love the kitty too much to keep it but not interact with it, so we found her a nice new home. Another homeschool family took her yesterday. We had some tears over it, but we know it's best for us all. We love you D.C. !!!

Heidi Reads her First words!

2008-08-17T08:42:00.003-06:00

We are a homeschooling family and started our school on August 12th, same as the public school where we live. Heidi is in Kindergarten now and on Friday she read her first words: fun, him, Dan, and sat. We were all so excited! I keep a separate homeschooling blog if anyone cares to read that the web address is www.homeschoolblogger.com/4jetts and you can see what we're learning about. Special preview - we will be mummifying a chicken with our Royalty studies, as we include the Egyptians. You may want to check it out!

Now and Later

2008-08-14T18:33:00.002-06:00

We brought Derreck to the airport on Monday. That was a long, hard day. We so enjoyed our time with him home. None of us were ready for him to go back. But how could we ever be? So this week has had its ups and downs. We started school on Tuesday, to follow the schedule of the public school. I can't believe Heidi started Kindergarten! Where has the time gone? They are both responding well to having school again. It's been really good to have a routine, it keeps their minds off Dad not being here anymore.

But - only 45 days between his flight back to NL and his flight back to the US again. This time the kids and I are flying to PA to see my parents and Derreck is going to fly there and meet us. We will spend some time with the folks, take a trip to Niagra Falls, and Derreck and I plan to go to Washington DC for a few days and leave the kids with their grandparents. Derreck will have to go back to NL for one more stint. He is scheduled to come back to the States the day after Thanksgiving - for good! We really can't wait for that! The plant is on schedule, so there shouldn't be any hold ups for him.

Meanwhile, D.C. is living up to her name. She got stuck in a Cedar tree again! I am tired of rescuing that cat. She is very cute and playful though, so she's easy to love.

Samson, poor guy, he has a torn pad and he licks it incessantly. He still wants to go out for walks though. I decided to take him out tonight even though he was limping. We just went about 400 yards and I had to make him turn around to come back home. He couldn't even put weight on it. It's amazing to see his drive, as a Hound, he is a sniffer. His nose was just working and working. He had to be in pain, but his nose just wanted to keep going. Anyway, he came home, ate, and collapsed on the floor by his food bowl. His age is really starting to show. I am concerned about leaving him for 3 weeks for our trip to PA.

I am learning the conga drums at our church with the worship band. I played my doumbek a couple of weeks ago with them during service. It was so fun for me! I just loved it! Anyway, they have congas there and said to just play them. So I'm practicing during their practice sessions. It's really fun, but I have no idea what I'm doing. They are all very encouraging and tell me to keep coming. I love drumming, I think I have a percussionist's soul, so this is very awesome for me. I just need more practice and some lessons! Make a joyful sound - so there I go!

URGENT!

2008-08-09T06:59:00.005-06:00

Take a close look. Click on the photos.

I received this in the mail the other day from the library. Anyone else see something very wrong about this? Remember, the cost of a stamp is $0.42.

Samson

2008-08-04T09:17:00.002-06:00

For those of you who don't know Samson, he is our beloved Dog. We adopted him when he was around 8-10 weeks old from the Humane Society and he is now 12 years old. He started out as a dog, moved his way quickly into my heart as pet, and then soon after as family member, or if you will, child #1. He is part Rhodesian Ridgeback and English Foxhound. He looks a lot like a Rhodesian, but without the ridge. He is the size of one though, a fairly big dog for those of you who don't know. So we know his time with us is getting shorter. A big part of the decision in the kids and I coming back to Hobbs instead of staying with Derreck the whole time in NL was Samson and his age. Since he is a family member, he gets all the benefits of one - he's spoiled in other words, at least to non-dog people. Real dog people just know. Anyway, we want the last part of his life to continue to be as he has always known it - the Good Life. So we came back in 3 months instead of close to a year.

He was so happy to see us when we got back, though he certainly had aged. He can't get up and down very well any more. It's probably arthritis. He used to be so agile. It's hard to see. Sometimes he slips and falls down and can't get himself back up. It breaks my heart. We are giving him joint medication now, and it is helping some. He also has more and bigger fatty tissue tumors. There is a name for them, but I don't remember it. They are not a problem, but it certainly shows his age. And then there is the fact that he has gone deaf. I did not realize it right away when we got back, but for some reason during the time we were gone he lost his hearing. It makes me sad, but it is a fact of life and he still has a great life. He doesn't bark anymore, because he can't hear anything. Though we enjoy that he's quiet, he can't hear us when we call him. (Not that he came before though!) Poor Samson, we love you buddy, you are the friend who's always there for me, the big furry shoulder to cry on, the one who gets me out of bed in the morning. I love you Samson!!!

Rescue #5

2008-07-27T18:20:00.003-06:00

D.C. did it again! Climbed a different tree and really got stuck this time. It took much greater effort this time, but I did manage to rescue again. Poor dumb thing, but it is really really cute.

Meow

2008-07-27T09:06:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning I woke up and heard meowing. Strange, we don't have a cat. But I kept hearing it and knew there was a cat under the house. How on earth did it get under we did not know. All morning, "Meow!!!" All afternoon, "Meow!!!" I knew we had to get it out or it would die and stink under there. So we pinpointed where it was - in the corner of the house in Aaron's room. He found a fairly large crack between the wall and baseboard and stuck a popsicle stick in that crack, and low and behold, the cat played with it. We stuck some paper in there and again, it played with it. There was a small opening about 4 feet from that corner outside and Derreck said we should throw some yarn in there and see if we could lure it out. Well, that worked! We got it to come out and it is such a cute little white and grey kitten. It promptly ran around the house and right back under it, so now we know how it got in - under the siding through a very small hole. I lured it out again with some cheese. What creature on earth does not like cheese? So I grabbed it and brought it into the house just so I could block up the holes. It was in that moment that I touched it, I was suddenly in love with it! But after only about 15 minutes of it in the house and the little physical contact with it, Heidi and I were itchy and had runny noses. So we made a little bed for it and put it out on the front porch with some food and water. Later I went to check on it and it was stuck in the huge overgrown boxwood bush in front of our house. I managed to get it out again. Then later that night it was stuck in a tree near the front door. In the meantime we were trying to decide on a name for it. Derreck said "D.C" which stands for "Dumb Cat." It seems appropriate, as again this morning, somehow it managed to get back under the house, even with it all blocked off.

Our time with D

2008-07-27T07:12:00.003-06:00

D has been home just over a week now. The jet lag hasn't effected him as much as I thought it would. He's adjusted fairly quickly to the 8 hours behind that he was. So we've been having some really nice family time. First D had the honor to baptize Aaron. It was

so precious and wonderful. None of us will ever forget. Our family and friends came to our church to witness and that was so encouraging! We had everyone over after and had a very nice time and meal.

We went swimming at one of the city pools which was great fun. Especially nice for me was Derreck being in the water too, so I could actually relax some!

We went together to see the free summer movie, "The Waterhorse" which was a cut

e movie and we all liked it.

Thursday we took off on a

whim to Lubbock and ate at our favorite restaurants - Souper Salad for lunch and Red Lobster for dinner. We shopped a little too and had a great time.

I made pizza and had some friends over and played Balderdash. It's been so

nice to have D home again. There's been balance back in our family. I get a little break with the kids, especially putting them to bed at night. We are just loving our time now. The next 2 weeks will go by fast I'm sure, but it won't be as long between our visits this next time. I know we can make it! And next time we plan to meet in PA so we can visit my side of the family. Another adventure awaits!

The Bugs

2008-07-21T16:34:00.005-06:00

Here's some pictures of the interesting bugs we've killed in our house. The biggest on is a vinegarone - harmless but scarier than heck! The next biggest is really decomposing, since we've kept it for a few weeks waiting for a camera, but I think it was a baby tarantula and the tiny little red bug is unidentified so far. We've also killed a black widow. No picture of that one. The coin is a quarter for scale. Ahhh!

Tonight's the Night!

2008-07-18T07:35:00.002-06:00

This evening we drive to Midland, TX to pick up our dear Derreck! I have cleaned and straightened as much as I can. The kids worked really hard on getting their rooms clean for Dad. We'll take a nap this afternoon and head out of town around 8pm. D's plane is supposed to land at 10:38pm Texas time, that's one hour later than us. Please pray for no delays and safe trip for all of us.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love you Tomorrow!

2008-07-17T08:24:00.003-06:00

Go on, belt out the song! We're singing it! Derreck will be home tomorrow!

Unfortunately his company changed his flight time, so now instead of arriving in Midland, TX around 6pm, it will be almost 11pm. We were very disappointed as we had plans to eat dinner at Red Lobster near the airport - the closest one to us and it's a special treat for us. Now the kids and I have to take a nap on Friday afternoon so we can be up late to pick him up and still be awake for the almost 2 hour drive home. But at least he'll be home tomorrow. Well, I guess technically it will be Saturday, very very early.

On May 18th Aaron accepted Jesus into his heart. What pure joy as a parent. So we were waiting to have Aaron baptized until Derreck gets home. This Sunday that will happen. I can make the connection with God as He spoke "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased" when Jesus was baptized. Derreck and I are so pleased with Aaron's decision and our hearts are overjoyed. What a wonderful way to welcome Derreck home!

Mean Mom

2008-07-13T07:09:00.004-06:00

When called a "mean mom" I take it as a compliment. When I don't let my kids have a soda, even Sprite, at 10am I'm a mean mom. When I don't let them go to their friends' house after they don't clean up when I told them to, I'm a mean mom. When I say no to the ice-cream man right before dinner, I'm a mean mom. When I make them at least try everything on their plate, I'm a mean mom. When I tell them no tv for whatever reason, I'm a mean mom. When I pull the car over when they are fighting, I'm a mean mom.

I'm not always mean. Sometimes I'm a pushover. Sometimes I let them stay up past their bedtime, after all it is summer. Sometimes I buy them something in the store just to get them to be good. Sometimes I go to back to their bedrooms after they've been tucked in for water, a missing stuffed animal, or an extra hug. Sometimes I tune them out instead of dealing with it when they are bickering. Sometimes I let them watch tv for a long time when I just need a break from them.

This mom is far from perfect. I do a lot of praying not just for the kids, but myself too. I just hope and pray that when they are adults they will look back on their childhood fondly and know how much they were/are loved. And have respect and understanding on all my mistakes as well as the things I did right and with good reason.

Getting Ready!

2008-07-12T08:12:00.002-06:00

Six days now until Derreck is home for his visit! We are really excited. We've got lots done around the house and cleaned up the back yard and just need to straighten up the house. Keeping the kids' room clean will be a challenge!

When D's home he'll bring the camera so I can take some pictures of the house progress to post here. It's coming along nicely I think. There's still lots to do, but we're getting closer! I do hope that we get it done within a year so we can enjoy a finished house unlike our home in ABQ that we scrambled to finish just in time to sell.

My plan for the fall, when the weather is cooler, is to till up the backyard and work on putting in some raised beds and make a nice garden back there ready to plant in the spring. I hope someday that will be a nice haven for me. I'm gathering info on desert friendly plants, trees and flowers. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Six more days!!!

The Ups and Downs

2008-07-05T20:50:00.004-06:00

Life is full of ups and downs. Remember this toy? The magnetic gyro wheel. I had one as a kid. I loved playing with it. Up, down, up, down, etc. Such is life.

Our jeep broke down. I was driving it to get my hair cut from my sister in law at her shop and smoke was pouring out from under the hood. Not Good! Meanwhile I get my hair cut from Julie. She gave me the cutest cut. Very Good!

So I called a family friend who was able to meet me and look at it. We managed to get it to his house and it's a major problem. I already forgot what it was, because it's all garbly-gook when people talk to me about cars, especially whatever is under the hood. Anyway, hopefully we can get that taken care of before dear Derreck comes home in just 13 days now!!!!

Yesterday was the 4th of July. Happy Birthday America! I love you and God bless you! My wonderful friend invited us to camp with her family at a local campground and watch fireworks. She even pulled my camper for me since I was without Jeep. Oddly enough, had I been in NL I would've just put a hitch on my little Corolla and pulled away. They really do that there. I hope Derreck gets some pics of the things the little cars pull. Anyway, we stayed at the campground and it was really nice to be part of another family, since mine is separated. And the other brother and sister in-law came and joined us for fireworks too, so we had a grand family time.

Up, down, up, down, up, down....

It's the Final Countdown

2008-06-28T08:22:00.002-06:00

Anybody else hear Europe's song, The Final Countdown running through their head now? Good, because I hate it when I get a song stuck in my head, and now maybe I'm not alone. When sitting here thinking what will I blog about today, my thoughts turned to Derreck and when he'll be home. 20 days, repeat, 20 days until we see him again. We've been counting down the days since it was a month away. Now 20 days. 10 days might have been more appropriate for my title, but I knew that I would either forget to blog in 10 days or forget my song, hence the title, and it's just so clever. Or is it corny? Forgive my ramblings, Aaron's friend spent the night last night. So the 2 boys and Heidi stayed in the living room up late and then they were up at the crack of dawn this morning. So I'm a little groggy and tired.

Not much has gone on in Hobbs, go figure. It's still hot, hovering around 100 degrees F now. At least it hasn't been 108 like it was all last week. We have had some great rain at night almost every night this past week. Oddly it hasn't really cooled the temp. down much, only added humidity. I'm not complaining, only stating facts. (Phil 2:14)

Today I have to empty out the kiddie pool and refill it so the kids will have something to do in this heat. That's really all that's on the agenda today. Sounds like a good summer! Hope everyone else is too.

There and Back Again

2008-06-23T20:51:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe the kids and I have been back for about 2 months now. We still have 25 day until we see Derreck again and we're counting down the days. It has been really great being home again and back in America. We were not gone so long that we got out of touch with the friends we barely made, so that helped. We miss Derreck terribly, we talk to him nearly everyday, so that is great. Whoever made Skype - we love you! It's such great technology to be able to connect and see each other, best part, all for free! You're the best whoever you are.

So it's really hot here in Hobbs. I can't stand being outside for very long. It has been 100plus degreesF for almost a month straight. It's ridiculous. So I'm working inside the house a lot. We still have lots of fixing up to do and little details now - Still need baseboards!!!! But I have done lots of things already - Derreck be ready to be surprised!

Our good friend and former neighbor Vickie and Sydney braved the heat and came down to see us. Vickie brought her camper and we went to Brantley Lake State Park near Carlsbad. Camping was nice, swimming in the Pecos River was really fun and refreshing and the Caverns were awesome and "cool" as always. But it was so hot when we weren't underground or underwater.

Our summer plans are to swim whenever we can and stay inside when we can't! Ha Ha!! I don't know when our next trip to ABQ will be, unfortunately gas prices are interfering with my fun. So...I'll be continuing to post.

Slide show Schwangau

2008-06-23T20:35:00.001-06:00

Schwangau, Germany

2008-05-19T16:00:00.003-06:00

This post is out of chronological order, but we didn't have time to post about our trip to Schwangau before the kids and I had to come home. It was the most beautiful place and we are so glad we got to spend our last days together in such a wonderful place.

We booked out hotel online so we were a little unsure of how it would really be, but it was great! They served breakfast every morning, a typical German breakfast of meats, cheese and bread, also hard cooked eggs. They also had cereal, juice, milk and great coffee. From our hotel you could see Castle Neuschwanstein and Castle Hohenschwangau. We were walked to them and they were awesome!! So beautiful and elegant and rich. I'm glad King Ludwig was so eccentric! I wish he would've been able to finish Neuschwanstein, I can only imagine what else would've been done.

We also enjoyed being in Bavaria, the food and drink were awesome. We don't know if we were there during a holiday or festival of some sort, but most of the locals were dressed in traditional dress one night and they were playing music at a restaurant we ate at. One guy even played the spoons, very well I might add! It was such a neat experience.

We took a chance and went to Ottobeuren to the Benedictine Abbey. Wow, was it worth it, not really knowing what it was. This was by far the most beautiful building I have ever seen. When we got there it just looked like another big old church. Then we stepped inside - what an awesome and holy place. The details in every single spot from floor to ceiling were so perfect. Breathtaking. That's the only way to describe that church. It is a working monastery so we saw some Monks. The kids liked seeing that. There was also a museum upstairs in part of it, so we saw the history and all kinds of examples of things they made. It was founded in 754, but I think it was about 1200 or so when this church was built. Anyway, awesome!!

So this is obviously a late post - we took this trip first week in May. I'll be catching up on posts and pictures in the next few weeks.

More guy stuff

2008-05-17T05:03:00.010-06:00

Since I am living the life of a bachelor right now I thought I would end my 3 day weekend with more guy stuff. A small town about 15 kilometers from here (about 10 miles) was having a mock motorcycle race with vintage bikes. They blocked off streets in town to make a track and the bikes raced through town. It wasn't a real race but a show of how they used to race. Never the less it was really cool to see the old bikes and to see some of the riders really pushing the bikes limits on the streets. We had really nice weather all weekend so it was a great way to spend the day .

Valkenburg and WWII memorial

2008-05-17T04:37:00.007-06:00

Last weekend was the first weekend in the Netherlands without Kirsten and the kids. We had Monday of for Pinkster day so it was a nice 3 day weekend. Sunday I took a couple of friends back to Valkenburg castle ruins and this time we were able to take the cave tour. The tour was in Dutch but they had english literature so we at least had an idea what was going on. The caves were created by quarrying stone out of the ground for the castle's construction. They were used by knights of the castle to escape when the castle was seized and during battles to get behind the enemy. It was also used during WWII by the Allies to scout German troops when they were taking that area back from the Germans. We actually met a man who was 12 years old at the time. He showed us a photo of American soldiers walking down the street there in Valkenburg. He also told us that he had lived in the cave for 6 days during the battles to take Valkenburg back from the Germans. One of the photos above shows the names of some of the American GIs that were in the caves. After that we went a little farther south to an American military cemetery. What a beautiful place. It gave us a great since of pride and a tiny glimpse at the sacrifices that were made.

There's no place like Home!

2008-05-14T18:44:00.002-06:00

Dorothy said it best!

The kids and I have returned to Hobbs. We have been here one week and a day. The jet lag lasted about 5 days, so we are now feeling normal. We are getting back into our routines - Both kids are back in Gymnastics and Aaron also in swimming. It's been really weird being back. I never even really felt like Hobbs was home, I'm still missing Albuquerque. But, being in the house we bought has been nice. It's nice to have all our own stuff back. I think the kids felt like going into their rooms and seeing all their toys was like Christmas. There's still a bunch of stuff I don't like about Hobbs, but it's nicer than I remember. Most people are very friendly. Maybe it's because we're speaking the same language, they seem very helpful. Who knows.

It's hard to be away from Derreck, but we get to talk everyday and even see each other on Skype. Technology is a wonderful thing. He should be able to come for a visit in a couple of months. We are anxiously awaiting his visit.

Our last week in NL we went to Germany and stayed in Schwangau and saw Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. I will post about that soon. It was absolutely wonderful.

The kids and I are missing the icecream and the cheap flowers. Something easily taken for granted there!

First Sunny and warm weekend!

2008-04-27T12:30:00.005-06:00

It was a wonderful weekend! It was around 70 degrees F and we all loved it! Saturday we went back to Hoge Veluwe to ride the white bikes. It was great! We packed a lunch and spent most of the day there. All in all we figured we rode about 15 km. Aaron was really worn out by the time we finished. But we took plenty of rest stops and enjoyed the environment.

Sunday we went to our church in Almelo. It was a special day for the kids and I, it being our last day there. They prayed over us as the kids and I will be leaving soon and Derreck to remain here. We were very moved. The speaker today was John (didn't catch his last name), a guest from Australia. It was very nice to hear the sermon in English first. Henk, our pastor interpretted the message to Dutch while John spoke. John was very animated and as he spoke Henk would make the same gestures. It was quite comical! But the message was wonderful. God's perfect timing, of course. We were very blessed by the message. It's so awesome to see the work God is doing in the Netherlands.

Other news - we found 3 things that are less expensive here than back home: Ice Cream, Milk, and Beer. There are wonderful ice cream shops all over and Hengelo just happens to be home to award winning ice cream, Van der Poel. We have tried many of their flavors, the best being the cookie caramel, strawberry cheesecake, and another vanilla with nutella in it. Wonderful! The ice cream is less than a Euro a scoop, so for all of us, it's like €4,40. Compare to Baskin Robbins or similar and you can barely get 2 scoops for $4. The milk is sold in a 1.5 liter, roughly a half gallon. The cost is about 85 cents (about 1 US dollar) That's cheap!! We were paying close to $5 a gallon when we left Hobbs. And then there's the beer. You can buy just a bottle or a can, that's about €1-1.50 depending on the brand. But if you buy a 12 pack it's around €6.00 and you get €2 back when you bring the bottles back to the store for recycling. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I know beer is more expensive back home and I know it tastes better too!

Out and about in Hengelo

2008-04-22T12:02:00.004-06:00

This weekend we stayed in town. We enjoyed ourselves walking around seeing different parts of Hengelo that we hadn't seen before. We went swimming at the city pool and the kids loved that.

We went to church and we saw real Gypsies. They sat by us! I didn't know they were gypsies but our English helper told me they were Gypsies. I asked what did she mean? She said you don't have Gypsies in American? What do you mean? I asked again. She said they live in caravans and travel and come and go. No, we don't really have that in America I said. Wow. It was really interesting to learn that. She said when they lived in Belgium the church they went to had lots of Gypsies that would come and go. So interesting. So, the women wore full skirts, lots of layers, sweaters and mimimal jewelry compared to what I think of when I hear Gypsy. They were dark complected and really very pretty. There were 2 guys with them, one was like the grandpa I'd guess, and another guy, younger and light skinned. It was really neat to see.

2008-04-19T00:12:00.002-06:00

I was just informed that the smoking ban has arrived in the Netherlands. There will be no smoking allowed in restaurants as of June 1st. Good news, but too late for me!

More on NL - The bedding is an oddity to the Americans. A complete bed consists of a bottom sheet, which is more like a flannel mattress cover and a comfortor with a cover on it. That's it. No top sheet. And I thought, well maybe that's what they supplied the apartments with, so I looked in the stores for a set of sheets. They don't have them. Just comforter covers.

Bath Towels - way thin and small. Again, thinking it's just what they supplied the apts with. Checked the stores. Very thin towels is really all you can get. You can get bigger ones, like beach towel size, but still way thin.

Cost comparing - Hobbs, NM ramen noodles, $0.12. NL ramen noodles €0,40. Conversion makes that about $0.63. Meal for the 4 of us at McDonald's in US around $17.00, here it's around €21. Conversion makes that about $33.00. Nintendo DS games in US vary, but range from $20-30 new. Here they are €25-35. Conversion on that makes them about $40-55 dollars. Gas - US average is $3.45 a gallon. Here is is €1.50 a litre, roughly $9.00 a gallon. Most of that is tax. Derreck's NL co-worker told him for every litre of gas sold €1 is tax. This is just one reason we don't want socialized medicine in the US, because one of the ways they get the funding for it in NL is from the gas tax. Also every car is taxed based on it's weight. All you big truck owners beware! Diesel cars are taxed more because they are more fuel efficient and don't buy as much gas. The wages are taxed heavily here to provide for medical and retirement. So FYI socialized medicine advocates, it's got to come from somewhere. You think the US economy is bad now.

General Observations NL & USA

2008-04-15T00:49:00.005-06:00

Many of you have asked about what it's like living here in the Netherlands culturally, politically, economically, and socially, etc. So here's my take.
To start, Dutch people are very tall. I'm 5'4" they would say I'm 165 (cm). I would guess the average woman to be 5'10" and man to be 6'4. There are of course many other nationalities here, but you know who is Dutch just by their height. So I think I stand apart just because I'm short.
Bicycles really are the main form of transportation, it's not just a myth. As I've posted before, all ages, all clothing, all weather they ride. It still amazes me.
As you might conclude because of all the bike riding, there are very few overweight people here. In fact, the few you see really stand out because they are so unusual.
I'd guess that 70% of people smoke and from all I've observed they do not seem to have any clue how bad it is for you. In America it is well known how bad smoking and second hand smoke is. Many places are smoke free, and lucky for New Mexicans, there is no longer smoking allowed in any public building. We are especially protective of children and babies around smoke. But not here. In NL you cannot walk anywhere in town without the smell and if you enter a restaurant it's much worse.
80's music dominates the airwaves. In restaurants and stores there is always music playing and it's usually bad 80's music. But at least we understand it.
Print - all in Dutch, everywhere, every billboard, every menu, every everything. In Hobbs where I think the population is 55% Mexican, 40% white, 5% black (rough guess) much of the print is also in Spanish. This has always irritated me, and now that I live in a foreign country it irritates me even more. Especially when I see in Wal-Mart that the main sign is Spanish and the small print under it is in English. I'm sorry, but New Mexico is part of AMERICA, not Mexico! I do my best in the Netherlands to learn to read enough Dutch to understand what I need in stores and restaurants. And if I were to live here longer than 3 months, I'd be making serious effort to learn Dutch. I've also tried speaking it - pronounciation is really hard, and I'm appreciative that most people know enough English that we somehow can communicate. Why do we cater to Spanish speakers? All it does is enable Spanish speakers to never bother to learn English. It keeps them from ever integrating into American society. I could go on, but that's for another time.
What do Dutch think of Americans? Well, this depends, but generally I have found most of them like Americans. The ones that have visited the US all have liked it. Maybe it's because the dollar is in the crapper and they get so much more for their money? Anyway, most of them support Bush and most actually agree with the US in the war on terror. Many of them keep up with our presidential race and are generally concerned for our country. You may or may not know of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders who is known for being outspoken about Muslims taking over the Netherlands. I personally have not seen anyone walking around in a Burka, but there are a lot of Muslims, especially in Amsterdam. I've not been in any of the larger cities to know firsthand. I have not talked to any Dutch about Mr. Wilders, so I don't know their sentiment on that issue.
I think because Hengelo is a relatively small town in NL that the community is not used to seeing so many Americans for so long. There are 22 adults from the company and a bunch of kids. The first group here came in January and they will be here until the end of the year. And because we have become friends, we tend to travel together in groups. So we are at the local grocery store everyday and restaurants and other stores. Some of the locals have asked about us, why we're here, how long, etc. Only one mean fish selling lady at the market openly made some crack comments to us. We don't visit her anymore.
Personal Space: doesn't exist here. They litterally live on top of each other in the cities. Apartments are above every place of business, plus all the apartment buildings. It is very crowed in the cities and they use every space. Derreck and I have theorized that because of this the concept of personal space is non-existant. People will stand right up on you, touching you while in lines, which I am not comfortable with at all. And they mean nothing personal by it. Also, for example at the market there are no lines per se, only mass conglomerations of people each without consideration of anyone else trying to get what they want. Very hard to get used to. It makes me feel way too pushy, but if you don't, you never get in. Driving is similar. Lane changes are quick and close. In America, they way they drive would cause serious road rage.
School - very gov't controlled. As a homeschooler in New Mexico, our laws are very unrestrictive. Here, it is possible to homeschool, only for religious exception and it's hard to be approved. When I've told locals I homeschool in America they really had no concept of what it was at all. Some thought I was a tutor (not even their mom!) Some thought I was a teacher and that the kids were in my classroom - it's just not something they are familiar with at all.
Economically the country is somewhat socialistic. They boast on the fact that the most basic jobs have pay similar to white collar jobs. There isn't the big gap in incomes as in America.
Dirty. Even though the country is so beautiful, the cities are full of grafitti and trash, mostly cigarette butts, but you often see broken beer bottles - anywhere. There aren't really "good" areas and "bad" areas, at least in Hengelo. There are "coffee" and headshops throughout the town. To me, that just shows why it's so dirty. Now they do have workers to clean the streets every week, but the grafitti everywhere just stays. Too bad.
They do have an interesting trash disposal system here though. There are no big dumpsers as we have in the states. It's all underground and a big crane trash truck takes the container from underground to dump in the truck. That is really nice, as it keeps smells away and rodents I'm sure.
I'm sure I'll have more to add to this but for now, this should satisfy the curious.

De Hoge Veluwe/Kröller-Müller Museum

2008-04-14T00:58:00.003-06:00

Sunday - A Fantastic Day! We were tired from our busy day and getting home late on Saturday, so we slept in some and missed church. We decided to go to the National Park - De Hoge and visit the Kröller-Müller Museum which is right in the middle of the forest. Our whole family really admires the work of Vincent Van Gogh and the KM museums has an extensive collection of his work along with some Picasso, Monet, Gaugin, and many more paintings, plus a huge sculpture garden as well. The KM is unlike any other museum I've been to as they allow photography (no flash). So not only did we get to view these great works of art, but we could photograph them also! We truly enjoyed all of the museum. I am totally in love with Van Gogh's work.

I think the best part about getting to the museum is the white bicycles. There are 3 entrances to the park. One is 2km, another 4.5km and another 10km to the museum. At every entrance there are rows and rows of white bicycles which are included in the admission to get into the park. So we were able to ride bicycles through the forest and to the museum. We chose the 4.5 km one and it was just right for us not having ridden in so long. We loved it, Aaron especially. It's such a wonderful way to enjoy the park. Derreck and I think all the Nat'l Parks in the US should be this way. (Edward Abbey readers think Desert Solitaire, and if you've never read it - Read it!) We are definitely going back to the park to ride and bring a picnic lunch. It was such a wonderful day.

Kinderdijk

2008-04-14T00:40:00.002-06:00

After we went to Keukenhof, we drove to a Kinderdijk, villiage of 19 windmills. I had looked on the internet about this place and often when you see photos of many windmills along a canal, this is where they are taken. So we wanted to see it, there is walking path along the canal and a visitors windmill. Also on the website, it stated that the community observes Sunday as a day for rest, religion, etc so please be respectful about choosing to visit on Sunday. So our plan was to go Saturday after the garden. Our first surprise was when we were getting very close our gps told us to turn right and board ferry. We were like, Ferry! What? So we drove our little car on the ferry and went across a river. None of us had ever done that, so it was pretty neat. Then we park and start walking toward Kinderdijk and realize it's not just a bunch of windmills, it's peoples' homes! They actually live in them! We took the tour of the visitor's windmill and saw how it was laid out with living area first floor, cooking area second floor and bedrooms on up. Of course it gets smaller as you get higher, so there's not a whole lot of room. The visitors windmill was not turning - all the others were- but I wondered if it was loud in there at all. At anyrate, it was really cool. I think they should use one as a specialty hotel thing.

Keukenhof

2008-04-13T13:34:00.002-06:00

This Saturday we went to the most beautiful place on earth! (No we didn't come back to Hobbs)

Here's how to view the pictures - click on the purple flower. This will take you to my photo bucket page. You can view each picture individually or, the nice way is to click where it says slideshow in the upper right corner above view album.

I could have spent all day photographing. It was such an amazing place, a piece of heaven right here on earth. Some of the flowers were so perfect they didn't even look real. Some of the colors and textures were so strange, but beautiful. Please enjoy the pictures.

Keukenhof Garden

2008-04-13T13:29:00.001-06:00

Photobucket Album

Burg Bentheim

2008-04-07T13:13:00.004-06:00

This Sunday was a wonderful day. It was sunny! We went to church in the morning, had lunch with another couple Derreck works with, then took one of the new guys, Rob, to Germany with us to see the castle in Bad Bentheim, called Burg Bentheim. It was a real medieval castle. It was built sometime around 1020. Since 1421 it has been relatively the same as what we saw, other than some repairs to restore it to it's original plan. It was fascinating to go through it all. We went on the sentry walk, in the watchtowers, and in the keep. There was so much history! The website where you can get as much info as you care to is http://www.burg-bentheim.de/ and there is a Brittish flag emblem that will translate into English. And if not, just enjoy the pictures!

Duisburger Zoo

2008-04-05T07:22:00.014-06:00

Last Sunday we went to Duisburg Germany and went to the zoo there. It was lovely. Germany seems to have more parks and playgrounds and the kids had a blast at the one in the zoo. We were also able to see some different animals, including a sloth that was just hanging around, not in a cage, warm weather penguins, and the biggest bear we'd ever seen -kodiak, but couldn't get a very good shot of him. We were able to get a giant Coke, but no ice of course. Still it was so nice to get such a big drink! Thirst quenching! It was a very nice day. They also have a dolphin show at this zoo, but everyone was getting tired and it was starting to sprinkle so we decided to head back to Hengelo. It started pouring on the way home. I am still so amazed at the people here on their bikes in the rain! Especially the women! Many of the older people really dress up and they're out there with their high heels, hose and skirts, riding their bikes in the rain. Some use one hand to hold an umbrella, but most don't bother. One of these days I'm going to get a picture of that.

Outdoor art

2008-04-02T16:16:00.004-06:00

The beach at Scheveningen had much for the eye to see other than just the ocean. Here are some interesting images. Remember, you can click on a photo to enlarge it.

Scheveningen

2008-04-02T16:05:00.003-06:00

Saturday we went to the Noord Sea at Scheveningen. We were blessed by a sunny day, though it was windy and cold on the beach. We loved collecting seashells and watching the kite surfers. The pier was nice, as you could walk farther out onto the ocean. The bottom of the pier is enclosed and has shops inside and the top is open air. We climbed to the top of the tower and the view was amazing, though very windy and cold! We also ate at a restaurant on the beach and went to an aquairum. Scheveningen is the beach town of Den Haag, which is the capital city of the Netherlands. We only drove through, but the town is beautiful. It is also a very crowded city. While driving on the motorway, you drive under buildings. It's very strange, but the architecture is really modern and neat. So different from anything I've seen in the States.

The princess and the knight

2008-03-24T13:32:00.003-06:00

Here are a few pictures of Aaron and Heidi wearing the souveniers they got yesterday at the castles. Lots of fun!

Aaron is slaying the dragon and protecting the princess in the last photo.

Pictures continue from Easter

2008-03-24T08:25:00.002-06:00

Easter 2008

2008-03-24T07:53:00.003-06:00

This Easter was very unique for us. It had been snowing and raining for days, and more snow was forcasted, but we were very blessed to have a beautiful sunny day. It was very cold, but very pleasant. We drove south to Kasteel Hoensbroek. It is at the south end of the country, with Belgium and Germany very close. We drove on the Autobaun in Germany. That was the highlight of the trip for Derreck. He got our little car up to 170 kph. That's about 105mph. Not bad for the little car. We saw many Mercedes and BMW's and Audi's fly past us though.

The castle had a special day for kids for Easter. They had actors and plays, music, a jester and more. Aaron got to fight the bad knight with some other boys; he loved that! We were all awed by the jester and the fire. We really enjoyed the day and exploring the castle. Photos were allowed, so I was taking lots of pictures.

After that, we decided to go find a castle ruin close by we'd heard about. That was very awesome too. The size was massive. It was very impressive to see all that it used to be. They had models of how the castle would've been in it's day, pretty amazing. There is a huge underground guided tour of the ruins beneath. We didn't have time to do this, but saw some of the pictures. WOW! I wish we could've all gone. Derreck may go back later. The history is amazing.

Our Easter was a very special day, truly arranged by God. And we are so grateful He is Risen!

New Top Ten List

2008-03-15T13:25:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I've already had my Top Ten about Hobbs, it's time for a new one on the Netherlands. So here's the Fair and Balanced Good and Bad:

Favorite things about living in the Netherlands:

1. I'm in Europe
2. Simple living - it's the way to live!
3. De kaas en brood (Cheese and bread -Yum-O)
4. Castles and Museums
5. Walking everywhere

Least Favorite things about living in the Netherlands:

1. Cigarettes - Way too many people smoke EVERYWHERE! You can't get away from it.
2. Lack of sunshine
3. High cost of living combined with low value of the US dollar
4. Drivers - they are awful!
5. The towels

So there you have it!

Amsterdam

2008-03-15T13:01:00.001-06:00

Amsterdam

2008-03-15T11:58:00.004-06:00

Friday we went to Amsterdam. We had a wonderful time visiting the Rijks Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. I have never seen such awesome works of art in person. It's too hard to even describe the beauty, the massive size and intensity in these works. Aaron's favorite artist at the Rijks was Jan Steen, Heidi loved the dollhouses on display, Derreck was so impressed with Rembrant - as we all were! and I really loved seening the work of Karel du Jardin. I think collectively, our favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh and I can't describe how awesome it was to see his work. Not only did they have a huge collection of his paintings, but also his drawings and Scribbles, as they called them and his letters to Theo, his brother. I've always been fascinated with Van Gogh's style and seeing his work in person, in chronilogical order made so much sense.
We did not get to go into the Anne Frank House, we wanted to, but it is just an existing house with one narrow set of stairs that leads to the room they hid in. People line up to go in and as you might imagine, it is very narrow and takes a long time to get people in and out. So we passed on that this time.

We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe in Amsterdam, as we heard they had real American food and drinks with lots of ice and free refills. Well, the food was pretty good, though not quite "American" but they did have a larger size cup than what is normal for here and did fill it half full of ice. We asked first for Rootbeer, then Lemonade, then Dr. Pepper and shot down on all. So we settled for Pepsi and 7-up.

We took a Canal tour of the city. I hadn't realised how extensive the canal system is in Amsterdam until we took the tour. It was a nice way to see the city (and miss the bad stuff). There are 2500 house boats in Amsterdam, some were very posh, but most were older and rundown a bit. One thing is every single houseboat had at least one plant on the deck. Most had very nice "gardens" on their houseboat.

4jetts

Albuquerque Visit

Heidi's 8th Birthday Party

Aaron's Tumbling Meet, Levelland, TX

Recap!

Aaron back-handsprings/tuck

Happy Halloween and Happy 10th Birthday Aaron!

ABQ visit

My Summer Flowers

My birthday at the St. James Tea Room

We will miss you Samson

All about Heidi

Notes about Aaron

Our Westward Vacation

Heidi's Baptizm

Roswell, NM

Aaron's Double back-handspring!

Aaron's first shot

Welcome New Year!

American Heritage Girls

Aaron's 9th Birthday Party

Pre Halloween

Corn Maze field trip

Comings and Goings

Visiting Carlsbad Caverns

Summer Adventures Continue

Summer in Hobbs

Pecos River in Carlsbad NM

Albuquerque Tax Day Tea Party

April ongoings

Bailout explained

Seder Supper at Vista Pointe

Check out this Tee Shirt Site

Kitchen progress

Heidi's Birthday party

The Steelers winning touchdown!

Mad Libs

Going to the City

The Kitchen phase

One more...

Samson again

Samson

December 27, 2008

Today's the Day!

When plans go awry

Golfing in Scotland!

Take a look at that face!

Queen of Coffee

15 Days

19 days and counting

I love my family!

Halloween and Aaron's Birthday

We're Baaack!

Brussels and Luxembourg

Berlin

Better Late Than Never!!!

My September 11th Birthday

My favorite chocolate bar

Bye Bye Kitty

Heidi Reads her First words!

Now and Later

URGENT!

Samson

Rescue #5

Meow

Our time with D

The Bugs

Tonight's the Night!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love you Tomorrow!

Mean Mom

Getting Ready!

The Ups and Downs

It's the Final Countdown

There and Back Again

More Slideshow from Germany

Slide show Schwangau

Schwangau, Germany

More guy stuff

Valkenburg and WWII memorial

There's no place like Home!