Christmas 2007

So how was everyone's Christmas and New Year's?

Ours was superb, as usual! It's always good to see Mom and get together with our family.

The photo at left is ALL of us kids and Mom at my sister Jeny's house for Christmas dinner! From left to right: Steve, me, Jeny, Cal, and Mom.

We arrived in Anaheim the week before Christmas. This was to give us time to shop. And why didn't I shop before I left, you may ask? Well, because Derek still believes in Santa!! Yup, he's 11 and STILL BELIEVES! Believe me, I'm taking advantage of this childhood innocence as long as I can! So, it just wouldn't look right driving to Anaheim with a truckload of presents now, would it? After all, SANTA is the one who BRINGS ALL THE PRESENTS! LOL!

As it was, the present I decided to be from me to Derek -- a new heavy-duty chess bag -- I had ordered online a few days before we left. I asked that it be sent to Mom's house so it would be there for me to wrap. Well, stupid me! I forgot I had a forwarding for me on Mom's address back up to Taos! Rats. So Derek's present from me went back up to Taos about a day before I arrived in Anaheim. And then in Taos, the people at the Post Office (bless their hearts!) figured I was in Anaheim, so sent it back down again! EXCEPT, they sent it back down right before I left back for home, so it arrived at Mom's about 2 days after I left. ::sigh::

Shopping was fun -- got EVERYthing on Derek's list, plus a bunch of stuff for Jake (my oldest son). Derek, Jake and I already had something from each of us for Mom, which we brought with us from Taos. Every year Taos has a Crafts Show Thanksgiving weekend, and I always try to hit it to find something special for Mom. Derek and I both found something unusual for her, while Jake made something for her (Mom still LOVES our handmade stuff!)

While in Anaheim, we made cookies together of course, besides shopping and going to Church together. And I did the usual little helping with things like opening jars for her (she has arthritis in her hands pretty bad), retrieve and then put back stuff from the attic, replace light bulbs, weed the yard, etc. It almost seems like catch-up when I go there; you know, like all the little stuff that has broken or needs to be done, is saved until I get there. It's nice, because then I feel like I'm not just a useless kid crashing at Mom's. And I'm grateful I can still help (I'm not getting any younger, either, you know!).

Oh, boy. Derek has grown since AUGUST. That's what -- 4 months? His suit for Church that I keep at Mom's was waaayyy too small! So we had to buy him a new suit, plus I had to get him new hockey pants and shin guards (they were both new this summer!). I already had to buy him new chest pads in November!

One thing I always like when I go to Mom's is we get to go to Church. And especially around the Feast Days (like Christmas) it's really nice. So we got to go to Church for Christmas, take Communion, and visit with all our "Church Family". I especially enjoy the people who have come from the "Old Country", and can spend hours just listening to their stories!

For New Year's, we went to the river -- that's the Colorado River. We have an old mobile home on the Arizona side that Dad bought in the early '70s. Dad bought the land in the early '60s, and we used to go out there to the desert on weekends, holdiays and summers. Before the mobile home, we used to camp on our lots in our sleeping bags on the ground. Gramma and Granddad used to go with us all the time, too -- which was awesome, because they both knew what all the rocks were and Gramma knew what all the plants were. I'm convinced Jake is a roundhound only because of them! He just adored Granddad, and still talks about him as though he was his hero.

Well, let me tell you about our week at the river. We kind of have a tradition of going out to the river for New Year's to have a bon fire. This is who came:

• The Evensens (my sister Jeny and her husband and 6 girls, along with two of the girls' husbands, 2 grandkids, plus 1 boyfriend);


• Uncle Bill and Aunt Jeanie (Jeanie is Dad's sister);


• 2 of Jeanie's boys and their wives and kids;


• Me, Mom, Derek and Jake

My brothers (Steve and Cal) didn't come out. Bill and Jeanie have their own mobile home. Jeanie's 2 boys each have their own mobiles, too, one of them being Gramma's old mobile that he bought from Mom (and is across the street from our mobile). The Evensen's have their own, also, and all their girls, husbands and grandkids ALL stayed there (!).

We left for the river the Sunday after Christmas after Church. Everyone else was already out there. The day before we got there:

• "The Rookie", or Troy (Jeny's second daughter's husband), just about killed himself riding a quadrunner. He was intensely instructed about the use of it before he got on it, told where to ride, etc. Did he listen? NO. Instead he just went nuts and lit out across a dirt parking lot that had telephone poles laying down marking the perimeter. He struck one of those poles, making his quad fly into the air, throwing him, and both he and the quad flipping end over end in the air several times. Result: a trip to the emergency room where he was told he had a broken elbow, broken wrist, tons of bruises and lacertions.


• Allison's (Jeny's oldest) little boy, Fox (3 years old), came down with strep throat. Another visit to the ER.

This was the day BEFORE we got there! On New Year's Eve (Monday, the day after we arrived), the wind started up. It got so bad, the community bon fire that was planned was cancelled. We also cancelled ours. Jeanie also was sick by this time, and so were one of her granddaughters. By Wednesday, Jeanie's other granddaughter was sick, and now so was Jeny's other grandchild. All had to go to the ER.

We DID get SOME visiting in, but let me tell you, with everyone sick, we not only wanted to stay away, but everyone was usually sleeping! So Mom and I enjoyed sitting outside watching and feeding all the birds (bird books in hand, of course!), and catching up on conversation. Jake took Derek and the twins (Jeny's) rockhounding and off-roading all day for 2 days. They all LOVED it! Thank goodness for Jake, or the twins would have driven everyone at the Evensens' crazy! They are 14 (15?), and have to do SOMEthing ALL the time.

By Friday, the Evensen clan gave up and started packing up to go home. The final straw was when they woke up that morning, they discovered that Allen (Jeny's husband) had messed up his back during the night -- so bad, that he could barely stand up! So he couldn't drive, which left the driving up to Jeny and Allison (Jeny's oldest). Now, Allison is pregnant again, and she's SUPER sick all the time right now. She says if she's not throwing up, then she has a migraine! But that is all of the people that could drive them all home! The Rookie couldn't drive, either, of course.

On Saturday, we were planning on leaving, so started packing. We found out that Jeanie also gave up and was packing up, too. She was just so darn sick! And one of Jeanie's boys, who had planned to stay another couple of days, also was packing up because their little girl was so sick.

So that was our New Year's week!

Fall Is Here!

Well, here it is Fall already! I can feel it in the air, and some of the trees have started turning. I just love this time of year! That crispness in the air and driving along the roads with flame-colored leaves parting as I drive gives me back that awe that I had when I first moved here and now take for granted.

Along with Fall comes school again. Well, we actually started August 1. "Start" to me means we start whole lessons in math. During the summer we did 2 or 3 division problems a couple of times a week because he didn't get the concept. And he was always writing almost every day in his "personal" journal, and, of course, I made him read daily. And, of course, "daily" is another of those words that is relative. :)

We did a lot of traveling again this summer. We stayed at my mom's house in California and from there traveled up and down the coast. We camped on the beaches, went to the San Diego Zoo, saw San Francisco and Fisherman's Wharf and rode the cable cars. We also saw the Monterey Aquarium (awesome! I highly recommend it!!) and on the way back down saw sea lions and otter in the kelp off the beaches. In all of this Derek learned a lot, of course. It seems simplistic, but it's travel like this that put him ahead in history, geography and science when he was in public school.

Derek now knows how to swim pretty well and is a beginning diver! Hooray! He learned to surf the waves on a boogie board, too. Being raised in California where it seems EVERYbody knows how to swim, I was a little concerned that Derek wasn't a swimmer. Swimming is not an "extra" to maybe learn; it's a REQUIREMENT in my humble opinion!

So now we've started school. Compared to last year, I am much more calm and sure of myself. When we first started we both were questioning whether Derek was learning anything -- or "enough". I guess it's all the busywork that makes one feel the kids are getting lots of learning. In our home school, we don't do "busywork" or even worksheets. Well, worksheets for math every now and then to help with a concept. But other than that, no busywork.

I use the Robinson Curriculum, but with history being taught in the Classical method -- which means history is taught chronologically. And history is basically taught through reading. Derek reads from a book on the book list for 2 hours every day, writes one page in cursive, and does one lesson in math. I have added to his writing this year by having him do a lesson in grammar (about 10 minutes) and have him do a paragraph of copywork for penmanship practice (plus a list of about 4 or 5 words that he has trouble forming). One day a week that copywork is dictation instead. I feel this is another method of helping him to focus to be able to follow directions. He's doing MUCH BETTER at following directions! The copywork is also from poetry and a science text, so he's getting exposed to those (science for basic concepts like how plants pollinate). His penmanship has GREATLY improved since I incorporated those singled-out words for him to practice! I still read to him at night before bedtime, and that includes short-story books on his reading list (like Aesop's), history (Story of the World with the Bible), and learning about the Church.

The reason I'm much calmer and more confident this year is because I see that he's on target with math and way above reading level (always was above in reading, but now he's REALLY above reading level!). This summer I was looking at Language Arts texts and books that the kids are reading for his grade level in public school, and oh my gosh! Those texts and books all look so babyish for his age! Really gives me confidence to see that!

Science in public school is a joke to us, as all they do is have baby-type stories about animals and such. We subscribe to Ranger Rick and Discovery Kids where he learns much more about science stuff than he would ever even be exposed to in school. Plus, we travel. I don't understand how kids his age are expected to do science experiments; they don't know enough math yet. Maybe a rock collection or something I can see. But an actual experiment? I think until higher math is learned, all any science experiment can be is a project about observation.

Until next time!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day.... that time of year when all of us mothers should be doing what we want and spending our day being pampered.

Yeah, right!

Well, I DID get to spend my day doing what I wanted -- which was enjoy the beautiful Spring weather by working outside in the yard (yeah, I know, I'm nuts -- I LOVE to weed!!), and to have my kids around me, or at least to hear from them.

I started the morning by opening my cards -- one from Jake that he left for me earlier in the week, and the other from Derek -- richly embelished with his new-found cursive writing and lots of do-dads all over the envelope. Then Kirk in California called a couple of times, wishing me Happy Mother's Day and to make sure I'm okay, and what was I planning to do, etc. etc. So sweet! It's always good to hear from him. Then Derek and I were to leave for Trinidad, Colorado to go to see Jake.

Well, I didn't want to drive up to Trinidad without hearing from Jake in case he had to work -- he's always working, it seems. So I went out into the yard and started working on our forest of weeds -- mainly the sticker ones before they dropped seeds. By 3:00 I decided to leave, hoping to at least catch Jake for dinner. So off we went.

What a day for a drive! Gorgeous, just gorgeous! We go through Eagle's Nest and Cimmaron to go to Trinidad, so the drive is always interesting. And the light always makes things look differently, too, so it always seems like a new drive.

The trees are beginning to get their leaves -- that bright tender yellow-green -- and the grasses and plants alongside of the road were definitely green! The river we follow (what is the name of that, anyway?) is super full! All of our rivers are really full this year! Birds were singing everywhere! We only saw 2 herds of buffalo outside of Cimarron this time. Last time we saw a full 3 herds. And this time we only saw a few antelope. The buffalo and the antelope are all in the Valle Vidal, where they are drilling for gas. That's where Jake is working, uh-huh. Very very controversial. Well, like he says, it's not actually in the Vidal, it's on Ted Turner's ranch. So drilling in the Vidal actually is not happening -- yet.

When we arrived at Jake's place (he has a room in a prospector friend's house), he was just going to bed! He had to be up at 4:00 a.m. The place was littered with new gold pans, lots of gold sand to pan or run through the chute, and rocks. Of course, always rocks!

The latest in rocks is some really great siderite that has absolutely perfect cubes on them! Lots of gold in them, too, according to Jake and his friend Mack. (of course there's always gold in their rocks -- you think they'd bring home rocks withOUT gold?!?). Then I had to do the tour of buckets of new rocks found on their outings. I couldn't even begin to tell you what they are -- they just looked like plain old rocks to me. But I guess these new buckets are for the crusher (Jake has a rock crusher to crush rocks, and then he puts the dirt from these crushed rocks on his shaker table to separate the different metals in the rocks).

We then went to dinner -- Tequila's in Trinidad. EVERYthing else seems to be closed on Sundays in Trinidad! I wanted to go to that little Russian restaurant in the basement of the hotel on Main Street, but it, too, was closed. Bummer. Trinidad is an interesting little town -- almost everything is made out of bricks. Trinidad used to make bricks for just about the whole country, I understand. Brick streets, brick buildings, brick walls -- you name it, it's got bricks. Right next to where Jake works are the old kilns for the bricks. They look like great big beehives made out of -- you guessed it! Bricks!

On the way back home in the dark, it was the usual vigilant drive for elk and deer. Came really close this time to hitting 2 big deer! The elk always seem to know to stay by the side of the road until you pass. But not the deer -- they just dart right out. Well, unless the elk are already in the road when you come up to them. Then it's like driving through a herd of cows -- they kind of part to let you through.

I have such a hard time driving at night any more -- especially on this drive. It's a very windy road going up the east side of the mountains, and then coming back down into Taos. And, of course, there are trees everywhere, so all I can see is that small area to the edge of the trees that my headlights light up. Between my night blindness, the animals, and then the windy roads, it's kind of like a "white knuckle" ride! But oh so beautiful... (did I mention how beautiful the trees look on this road looks when it snows at night? Ahhhh!)