An Evening in the Sandias

One of the nights we were in Albuquerque last week, my mom got us out of the house to go for a "hike" in the Sandia mountains. Sandia means watermelon in Spanish, and the mountains got their name from their often pink coloring. Caleb and Abby had a grand time exploring in the foothills, while my mom and Beaufort the dog walked on the trail. I happened to bring my camera and was relishing in the late afternoon New Mexico light. I could have spent hours taking pictures of various things. However, Abby seemed quite taken with the cacti, and I took mothering her as my main job (rather than getting a picture of each and every plant along the way). She LOVED running down the path. Abby enjoyed the whole experience immensely, and I know her Daddy was proud to hear about a lady calling her "a little hiker". I can tell that Abby will enjoy spending time outside with her daddy a great deal in the future. You can see from the pictures that a good time was had by all.

Four Generations minus me

Pumpkin Patch ABQ

On our fridge....

... and coming May 2011: Baby Capron #3!

My Mom

For those of you who haven't heard, my mom was diagnosed with cancer about a month ago. Today, we started a blog to update friends and family on this journey. Her diagnosis is poor, and we are spending lots of time together as a family. We are also thanking God for the time that we do have now.
Follow along with her story at the blog:
http://www.cyndipace.blogspot.com/

Abby at nearly 20 months

Abby will be 20 months old in just a few days. She is quite the character. At church and around new people, she makes a concerted effort to keep a straight face. She will not smile for just anyone, as some family members noted on our last trip to Albuquerque. Each time, I pick her up in the nursery, the workers comment on how she is calm. At home, this is not the case! She loves to play rough and will laugh a lot if we knock her down. Her new favorite game is to climb on top of a bed and then climb back down. She will do this again and again with an audience. Abby clearly understands everything that is being said. Today in the parking lot at church, Caleb, still strapped in his car seat, said he was cold. I was taking Abby out, and she instantly grabbed his coat from her side of the car and walked around the car to give it to him. She also goes around and brings everyone in the house their shoes when we are about to go somewhere. Abby is continuing to grow her vocabulary and in the last several weeks, she started saying please and thank you. She also says cheese when I take her picture. She is a total girl. She loves putting on lotion or lipstick (that was all Grammy). She continues to take a good afternoon nap and sleeps great at night. She usually seems happy to be put in her bed. What a change from all of our sleeping problems that first year! She a cutie pie!

Caleb at 3 1/2 years old

Caleb is over 3 1/2 years old. He is still a sweet loving boy, but he has started to be a bit more outgoing. The other day he made a roaring noise at some lady at the grocery store, and he said "Hi, precious" to a different lady. He is also more outgoing towards his sister. Yesterday, Abby looked at him in the car and said "no" to which he responded with "yes". The two of them just kept saying yes and no back and forth to each other, and Caleb was quite upset that Abby had said "NO" to him. It was a fight about nothing at all, and I thought it was cute. Caleb is still very into his trains and cars. He used to play by himself very well, but now he wants me to be his playmate. I sit down to play and seem to be doing it all the wrong way. "No Mommy, Percy is not going that way." "No Mommy, that is not what Molly is doing." We are working on not being so bossy! Caleb is doing well with all of his letters and numbers, and he is starting to make some major connections between letter sounds and letters in words. He really enjoys working on them with me. Caleb is learning a verse a week in Awanas. Caleb is still frightened by things easily. Yesterday, he was scared to drink out of a cup that had a gorilla on it. He is very sensitive about what is on TV. Cars and Toy story are just too scary according to him. We have found that he does enjoy Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (unless there is any hint of a scary character on it!). He also wants to make sure he is holding my hand in parking lots at all time. We love our cautious sweet boy!

Cousins at the Park

BU Football