It's Report Card Time

Both Rachel and Anna received their report cards from school.

Rachel's summary read: "Rachel continues to excel in all areas. She is motivated and excited about learning. She is a super reader and loves to tell me about what she is reading. Keep practicing counting coins, bills to $20, and fair trades. Rachel is a wonderful role model. I can count on her to set a good example for others with academics and behavior. It is a joy to have Rachel in the class!"

Anna's summary read: "Anna continues to make good progress in Kindergarten. I am pleased that she is willing to try sounding words out in her reading and writing. She knows all 30 sight words well and reads 1st grade level books. She is very creative and enjoys making things when we have free time. Keep encouraging her at home."

We are so proud of our little ones. Congrats to Rachel and Anna.

Flower Girls

Lauren, our cousin, is getting married in June. She asked Rachel and Anna to be flower girls in her wedding. We went today to let them try on dresses.

It was an awful day to go. For one, it's Spring....the place was packed with soon-to-be brides prepping for summer weddings. And, even worse....it's prom time around here. The place was packed with teens shopping for their perfect prom dress.

The dress Anna and Rachel have on is the style of dress they'll be wearing except the color will be ivory instead of white and the sash will be green. The girls are so excited.

Of course, Jeff wasn't looking so well after he began to think of his girls shopping for their own wedding dress in the future.

Got My Hair Whacked

Was in the mood....decided to get it cut short. Rachel and Anna opted for short do this time too.

Work has been hectic and it appears I'll be in Marietta for most of the next 2 weeks.

Albuquerque, NM

I had a quick business trip to Albuquerque this week. I flew out on Monday and flew home today. I arrived early enough on Monday to do a little bit of site seeing with a coworker who was there with me.

I had printed some information on Jemez Falls and we planned to hike to that. But, I had not looked at the weather forecast and I didn't realize that there was still so much snow around. Also, the trails were poorly marked so we spent a good bit of time driving around trying to find the trail head and then the trail itself was poorly marked. Since it was late in the day, the trail was covered in snow and ice, and it was pretty doggone cold, we didn't make it to Jemez Falls. But, we did find Soda Dam. We happened to drive by it while we were looking for the Jemez Falls trail head.

We finally found a trail head that linked to the Jemez Falls trail and we attempted to hike a short ways on it before determining that it was getting too late to continue. That, coupled with the fact, that the trail was covered in snow and ice made me give up the hunt for the Falls.

We stopped in Jemez Springs for dinner. If you blinked your eyes, you would miss the town. We found a little hole in the wall looking joint called "Los Ojos." We were joking as we walked in about wondering if they would serve "our kind" there. When we walked in, everyone sitting at the bar stopped what they were doing and stared at us. When the waitress walked up to take our order, the first thing she said was, "you aren't from around here are you?" I think what we found most humorous was a guy standing at the bar holding a toddler. I leaned over to my coworker and asked him if he had ever seen the movie, "Sweet Home Alabama." He had because he immediately said the quote from the movie, "Look at you, you have a baby... In a bar." We had both thought the same thing. I will admit that the food and service was excellent. I highly recommend eating here and trying the green chili sauce.

We returned to the hotel and then attended the meeting on Tuesday. We finished with business around 4:15 so that left a little daylight to head to Sandia Peak Tramway. We were able to get to the top before sunset. It was pretty cold on top though....in the low 20s with a wind chill in the teens. We couldn't hike because the snow was pretty heavy still. I made a snow angel and then was ready for a hot drink so we made a pit stop at the High Finance restaurant and got a drink and a appetizer before heading back down to get a full meal somewhere in town.

It was painful getting up this morning. I had a 6:20 flight back to Atlanta. The time zone change and the daylight savings time change pretty much hosed up my internal body clock. I'm about to go to sleep as I type this.

I had a great time on this trip just because it offered something different to do after work was done. I only wish Jeff and the girls could've come with me.

High Falls State Park

The weather forecast was awesome for the weekend so we planned a quick trip to High Falls State Park.

I think the thing that struck us most about this visit was the water level at the falls. I don't recall it ever being so high ever. It made the falls beautiful but it limited our ability to navigate on the rocks at the waters edge. Rachel took a tumble while hiking but after she stopped her theatrical routine, she got along quite well with a skinned knee. I think hiking is a great way for children to learn to be aware of their surroundings and to learn from it. I think she'll continue to remember to watch where she is walking when on a trail from here on out.

It was a nice and relaxing weekend...something we all needed. I'll be packing tonight for a quick trip to Albuquerque, NM. It's been nice having such a long break from work travel lately. I haven't had to go anywhere since the middle of January.

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

Snow Day in Georgia

Rachel and Christian (our neighbor)

Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery.~~Bill Watterson

We had our first snow fall in our home town since the girls were born. They were so excited to see the first few flakes fall today. The snow fall became heavier and easily covered the ground. Children from all around the neighborhood were outside enjoying it: building snow men and having snowball fights.

It wasn't long before they were cold and wet and in need of something warm. I made homemade hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies. The kids were warm and cozy in no time at all.

The snow started to stop and it quickly melted but it started snowing again a few hours later. We know it too will be short lived.