Our Little Socialite

While the big kids are away at camp, we always try and keep the little brothers and sisters busy.  Not only was Cady a Busy Bee while Colton was away, but she was also a Social Butterfly.  A day didn't go by where she didn't see friends!  Part of that was because Alicia invited Cady and Mckynze to join Kaci at the University Methodist Vacation Bible School each morning from 8:45 to noon.  They did a lot of fun crafts, games, learned Bible stories and catch little songs which they sang in an evening program on Thursday that I will talk about later. 

On Monday, after the big kids took off on the bus for camp, Missy and Rawley came and swam with us and hung out at the house for a couple of hours.  On Tuesday after VBS, they joined us for a shopping trip to Sunland Park and the El Paso Outlet Shops, ending with dinner at Taco Cabana.  The two of them had a great time hanging out and they got pretty spoiled, but that's ok! Here they are playing in the photo booth at the outlet mall:

On Wednesday, Cady was invited over to the Hamricks for a sleepover with Mckynze.  Little did Cady know that Sherri and Mckynze had a surprise planned for her - an early birthday celebration because Mckynze won't be here in July for her actual birthday party.  How sweet is that?  They made her a poster, yummy cupcakes, had balloons for her and a gift!  Sherri took this picture with her phone and sent it to me:

 How sweet is that?!?!  We are blessed with such thoughtful and caring friends!  Cady had a great time.  Jackson even joined them for some playtime in their pool and cupcakes so she had fun with two of her best friends that evening! 

On Thursday, I picked up all three girls (Cady, Kaci and Kynz) from VBS and took them to eat at Chic-Fil-A at the mall with Ms. Kathy, Missy and Rawley.  They were so good and had a lot of fun playing with the little guy.  Snapped this pic with my phone of the Ladies' Man surrounded by the girls:

 Then I took them all to the house where they played for about a hour before we went to the Mesilla Park pool to meet Alicia, Missy and Rawley for some pool time.  We love that pool and have so much fun with our friends there.  Thank you so much to Alicia for the invite!

Cady loves jumping off the diving board:

 Here is Rawley with the girls again:

 That evening was the program for the University Methodist VBS.  I was unable to go due to a prior commitment, but Colin went and took pictures of the girls singing their songs for me.  He did a great job and never complained when I asked him to do it!

 He even snapped a shot of the three friends after the performance as I requested:

On Friday, there was one more morning of VBS and then my Cady-Bug and I ate a special lunch together at Subway, by ourselves, before it was time to head to Capitan to see Bubba and bring him home.  As you can see, she really enjoyed herself and kept busy while she was a temporary only child!  It is no wonder she slept until almost 9 am this morning!!

And Away They Go!

Well, the big day finally came and we sent our 3rd through 5th graders off to Fort Lone Tree Bible Camp in Capitan, NM this past Monday.  Colton had been very excited and ready to go for the past couple of weeks!  Here he is with his bags, ready to load them and get on the bus:



 Being his second year to go, it was definitely easier to send him, although we have missed him something fierce!  The fact that he had already experienced it and was looking forward to it, instead of being nervous and anxious about it like last year really helped us all and made for a more relaxing "drop-off experience".  Another thing that helped was that he had a larger group of friends going with him this year.  Last year, his closest friends that went were Mckaela and Jenna and while I am so glad they were all together, they are also girls which means that they can't be together 24/7.  He had no close guy buddies that went.  That changed this year as 3 of his close buddies went along:  Jagger, Reagan and Travis!  Here is a picture of the entire crew before boarding the bus:

 From left to right:  Jenna, Jagger, Mckaela, Reagan, Colton and Travis.  Quite a group!  Love all those kiddos and so thankful that they are part of Colton's life.

Reagan is the youngest of the group and not even part of our church, although his mama grew up in it and his grandparents are still members.  He is the son of one of my very best friends, Missy, and they live in Grady, NM.  They wanted him to go to camp, though, so they sent him with our church and we are so glad they did.  There is one grade and 1.5 years difference between these two, but they are still good friends:

We also had to get a shot of those left behind - the younger siblings!  Below from left to right is Kaci, Jackson, Mckynze, Cady and Carly:

 While some (like Cady and Mckynze) were excited at being "only children" for the week, others (like poor Kaci) were very sad about their older sibling leaving them.  Not quite sure where Jackson and Carly stood - maybe a little of both! The only one missing was little Rawley - Reagan's brother, who wasn't in a picture mood.  All of us parents have been keeping them all as busy as possible this week! In fact, Kaci, Kynz and Cady have been attending another VBS at a different church here in town each morning together and have been enjoying it!  Cady is also going to a sleepover at Mckynze's house tonight and then tomorrow we are getting Kaci for a playdate and then going swimming with her mom and Missy and Rawley.  Missy and I also went shopping in El Paso yesterday and took Cady and Rawley with us, who both got incredibly spoiled! :-)

I know we all look forward to and are ready for Friday to come, though, when we travel up to Capitan for Family Night to see all of our kiddos and bring them home! Can't wait!!

Southwest NM District 4-H Contests 2012

I guess I can really say that I have now come full-circle in the NM 4-H program.  I grew up in it, participating in the Rio Mimbres 4-H Club in Grant County, worked as a 4-H Agent in Doña Ana County, and am now the proud Mama of a Desert Clover 4-H member in Doña Ana County!  That's over 17 years combined and it has been a great ride, however, I am more excited about the future and watching Colton and Cady grow up in such a spectacular youth program! 

These past few days have been busy for us as we have driven between here and Deming for the Southwest District 4-H Contests.  Colton qualified earlier in the spring, by placing 2nd in the County Shooting Sports Contest for Novices (9-11 year olds).  He was so excited for District, but when Wednesday morning came, he was soooo nervous!  We arrived in Deming, out at the shooting range a little before 10 that morning.  We were relieved to find out he was in the first relay and would start shooting at 10:45.  It was so HOT out there already!



He shot 3 rounds of 5 arrows from both 10 yards and 15 yards.  Here he is waiting for his target to be scored after one round:

Pulling his arrows:

He reminds me so much of my Dad, his Papa Jimmy!!

It worked out that Jimmie was shooting Rifle later, so he could watch Colton shoot and Colton could watch him.  Jimmie stood out in the hot sun, along with Colin and watched the entire competition. 

Love this picture of Colton telling Colin what his score was the final round:

We knew he didn't shoot as well as he did at County, but he did great and we were proud of him!  He was just glad to have it done.  After that, he could relax and watch Jimmie shoot his rifle:

Jimmie shot well, too!  Very proud of our boys!

 By that time, it was after 1 and we were hot, thirsty and hungry!  To Irma's, a great Mexican food restaurant in Deming, we all went! It was so nice and cool in there and the food is wonderful! It is Colin's favorite place to eat in Deming and he was happy and relieved to find out that Chaddy (Jimmie's Mom) loves it too.

That evening, Luna County 4-H hosted a fun social for all the participants and their families at the aquatic center.  Michael and Sherri, who had Cady with them, drove up and met us (Mckaela's contest wasn't until Thursday).  There were hamburgers and hotdogs and the kids had an amazing time playing on the water slide, in the fountains, jumping off the diving board and just hanging around in the pool. 

The little sisters had fun, too:

Since Colton didn't have any contests the next morning, we went ahead and drove home that night.  Sherri brought Kynz to us Thursday morning so I could take the girls to Ballet Camp, then she and Mckaela went back to Deming for the Horticulture (Plant ID) contest.  After picking the girls up from camp, we all headed back to Deming to meet Chaddy, Jimmie, Sherri and Mckaela at the awards ceremony to find out how our kids and all of the Desert Clover and Doña Ana kids did at District Contests.

Here are Bobby, Jimmie and Colton waiting for the awards to begin:

Colton and Mckaela:

 One of the first awards presented was for Horticulture and Mckaela got High Point Novice Individual!  Here she is getting her medal:

 Jimmie rocked his Ag Demonstration on Gardening and got 2nd place:

 They only announce the top 5 individuals for each contest, and we were a little disappointed Colton didn't get called, but were super happy when his team was called for High Point Novice Team!!  Here he is getting his medal:

All three got something and we are so very proud of them and all their hard work!  Doña Ana County and Desert Clover 4-H club in particular, did an outstanding job! 

A couple of pictures of the 3 buds and their awards:

 What a great experience it was and we learned so much!  Next year, Colton wants to try his hand at several contests and try to qualify in more than one.  I am good with that and am excited to help him in any way I can! 

Yay for 4-H!

Hard Workin' Daddy

Yesterday, Colton and I got a little treat while we were in Deming for District 4-H Contests - we got to go on a little "ride-along" with Colin and watch him as he worked!  Colton's archery contest was at 10, and Colin was able to come to watch him shoot because he had two farms to appraise in the area.  After watching Colton shoot, he went and met with a farmer, then came back to the shoot as Jimmie was finishing up his rifle shoot.  We all went to lunch together, and then Colton and I had time to kill before the 4-H social that evening, so we hopped in with Colin to go out to the farms.  It was not only nice to keep him company and kill some time, but it was fun to see some of the things he does while he's out at the farms and ranches!

I saw parts around Deming I had never been to before and the scenery was beautiful:

 

 We saw wheat, alfalfa and chile fields.

Some of the things Colin does while he's out on an inspection include getting serial numbers off of wells:

 Taking a lot of pictures:

 Doing a lot of driving:

 Doing a lot of gps and map checking because the farmland and dirt roads can all look very similar:

 We had a great time spending time with him.  We know he is a hard worker and it was nice to see him in action! He even treated us to milkshakes as a treat for going along and keeping him company!