Tagged!

I got "tagged" by Lisa to answer a few questions about myself and pass it along. This is pretty fun, but man it took me a lot more time than it should have!

3 JOYS
* cheesy tex-mex
* listening to Samantha and Jack laugh
* reading, especially in a quiet house

3 FEARS
* cockroaches
* public restrooms
* screwing up my kids

3 GOALS
* organize our digital photo collection and make a few photo albums
* convince Samantha that she wants to be potty trained
* have a vegetable garden

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS / COLLECTIONS
* etsy
* house hunting (yes still)
* children's books by Clare Newberry. I happened to grab Herbert the Lion at the library the other day and fell in love with it. Jack is too young, Samantha liked it, but it's still on the long side for her and Sam said "kind of weird" (it was written in 1931). I don't really know why I'm so attached to it, but now I'm starting to check out all of her children's books (for myself).

3 SURPRISES ABOUT ME:
* I'm kind of germaphobic but, 2 out of the last 3 occupations I had involved analyzing human waste. Hmmm, maybe I should be saying "Because 2 out of my last 3 occupations involved analyzing human waste, I am germaphobic." Come to think of it I still kind of do that in my current occupation.
* I don't really like watching movies anymore (I know, poor Sam). I've probably only watched 3 movies in the last 3 years. Maybe I have ADD for TV?
*I played the trombone for a while in middle school. (is that surprising? probably not)


I don't know that anyone will do this (you should!), but I tag... Roxane or Jody, Candi and Gretchen (for when you get that blog up and running :)

A little help around the house

Jack really likes to help me vacuum lately. It's amazing how he can anticipate my every move and position himself directly in front of the vacuum.



He even likes to vacuum in front of my vacuum (just in case I miss something).

You'd think with all of this help I could clean the whole house in no time at all!

A Play Date with God

Samantha and I had our first experience with Vacation Bible School last week. It was a lot of fun but also a little exhausting. I was a helper in her class of twelve 2-3 year olds. For those of you not recently familiar with 2-3 year olds, by the end of the first morning we were using a rope "train" to transport between activities and keep the kids from impulsively scattering in all directions.

The theme this year was "Son Harvest." Everything was farm-related, which lent well to a lot of great pre-school activities. There was a baby animal petting zoo one day. Other activities included everyone making real butter and strawberry jelly (this was smashed strawberries with sugar, but still tasted great) and little bread- bird feeders. (We hung Samantha's bird feeders up in the backyard and Scout has been circling underneath them ever since. I think she ate one last night. Her or a large grackle).

The week ended with a concert including all children in attendance at VBS (I think about 200). Everyone was supposed to sing and perform hand motions to the songs they learned during the week. I wish I had video of the little pre-schoolers standing there in a trance while the teachers performed our songs for their parents.

I'm proud to say that Samantha got the "take-home message." The other night we were saying our prayers when Samantha stated

"Mama, I love God." "Do you think maybe He can come over and play tomorrow?"

Samantha's homemade ball of butter

The Color Purple

My favorite plants in our yard right now are these Purple Coneflowers, Echinacea purpurea. Yes that Echinacea. Someone with more initiative than myself could grind these guys up and make tea.

I like them because they are thriving with the most minimal amount of care you can imagine. They like to be dry and hot, so they're perfectly happy right now. I started with 2 plants about 5 years ago and now have a 13 foot stretch in my flower bed covered with Coneflowers. They bloom for about 3 months (June-August) and are great cut flowers.

Lately I've been considering allowing our St. Augustine to die and have Purple Coneflowers naturalize over our entire backyard. It would be environmentally friendly, but I think the kids would miss the lawn.

Happy Vatertag!

For Sam. A wonderful father who loves his children more than anything. But would still rather be spending the day with a wagon full of beer and sausage. Maybe next year.
We love you!

"Mama, are we at the mountains now?"

We've just returned from our first Peck family trip to Pagosa Springs, CO. A small mountain town that I used to vacation in with my family growing up. In the past, we would rent a cabin several miles outside of town. This year, with our kids so young, we decided to stay in a little house right by main street, within walking distance to almost everything.

Well worth the 15 hour car trips- we had a wonderful time! Thankfully my parents went with us, which meant extra help with the kids and a little more time for Sam and I to relax.

Some of the highlights of the trip:
The weather- 70's during the day and 40's at night!
Being able to walk across the street to a choice of awesome outdoor cafes for lunch or dinner.
Watching Samantha catch her first fish.
Soaking in the hot springs and getting a hot rock massage (http://www.pagosahotsprings.com/pools/pools.htm).
Driving up to the continental divide and playing in snow (just 20 miles away)

Here's some of our favorite pictures. There's a lot, but be thankful because about 100 exist on our camera alone!

Out around the yellow house and neighborhood:

It's spring in Colorado. It was still snowing the week before we were there.

Ba, Pa and Samantha relaxing on the porch

looking across the river to the Hot Springs Spa and Resort

Fishing at Echo Lake:

Samantha and the Shrek fishing pole.

Samantha's first fish! She caught it all by herself on that little pole!

Ba and Jack

Continental Divide near Wolf Creek Pass:

Jack wasn't all that impressed with the cold.

Sam and Samantha walking off into the snow.

A quick stop on the way home in one of my favorite cities, Santa Fe, for a little shopping and lunch:

Jack thought this little fat Buddha was his new best friend. He sat with him for over 5 minutes. (and I guess tried to feed him his finger?)

Samantha tried on a few hats.