Memorial Day camping

Christmas Day 2012

Christmas Day came and went in a flurry of wrapping paper and tinsel.

The girls were spoiled rotten and it was great.

Paloma admiring the tree and salivating over the presents.
She did manage to wait patiently until after breakfast before opening anything. 

Imogen liked the wrapping paper, of course. 

Paloma with a look of intent (and her new magnatiles). 

Princess Paloma (thanks Aunt Cathy). 

Paloma and Cathy, intent on playing games.
[Paloma loves her new computer.]

Serious business... 

The girls 'playing' together...

By the way, did anyone notice the legs on this little girl?
When did she get so grown up???

HAPI 2012

Here we are again - it's Christmas 2012.

Wow! How did we get here so fast?!

First of all, there was Thanksgiving with Granddaddy in Taos (while Grandmommy was getting used to her new knees in Santa Fe).

Paloma is an avid reader, and Granddaddy was happy to oblige.

In the meantime, Imme was eating (again). 

 It was a lovely, simple Thanksgiving, with plenty of time for just hanging out.

Imogen likes hanging out. 

Back in Albuquerque, we decided to take a stroll down to the river to see the last of the autumn colours...

At our favourite spot near the Rio Grande Nature Center. 

... and do a spot of baking...

Paloma decided to put a thumbprint in every little ball that she rolled in coconut. Yum! 

... and do some more hanging out...

Imogen loves hanging out! She's pretty good at pulling herself up to stand, and she likes shuffling around on the edge of the furniture. 

 ... and elk hunting. Howard went with Mike and Lee down to the Gila: Mike got his elk on the first day and Howard got his on the second. (Lee didn't draw a tag, but was happy to be the scout/meat-hauler.) We have a full freezer and a couple of happy meat-eaters. (I think Paloma has already declared herself to be vegetarian. We'll see if it sticks.) (Imme had her first taste of elk meat and seemed to like it! Howard is over the moon!!)

Houghton Canyon in the Gila Wilderness.
(How do YOU pronounce 'Houghton'?)

Merry Christmas everyone! We're off to Taos tomorrow - let's hope that they have plenty of snow for our White Christmas!!

... and it was a very Merry Christmas!

We had a truly wonderful Christmas break in Taos. The Brandenburgs are fabulous hosts and spoiled us for four days straight with lots of great food (tamales and posole for Christmas Eve is Howard's favourite meal of the year), lots of fun and lots of play. 

Here are a few highlights...

Waiting for Christmas...

Exploring Great-Grandmommy Frances' beads with Grandaddy. 

O! Christmas Tree!

Playing games with Cathy. 

I suspect that Paloma is going to be a video game player too...
[She really enjoyed swinging the controls around and 'walking' off cliffs.]

Tuckered out...
[And sleeping in a big girl bed!]

 A hike near John's Bridge...

Arroyo Hondo, just upstream from John Dunn Bridge - brrrrrrr....

Howard bouldering on John's Wall. 

A quick walk down to the bridge.
[It was 20F and we didn't last long.]

 Christmas Day...

Checking out everyone's stockings
[that magically appeared during the night - thanks Santa!]. 

Hmmm... I wonder which present to open next?

A new beanie for Paloma!

Fascinated by technology...
[Both of them, methinks!]

A new beanie for Howard!

Paloma, hard at work, cleaning up after the morning of gift-giving. 

 After Christmas...

Reading some new books on Christmas night.

Drawing and working through puzzles with Grandmommy.
[A great gift from Bill McHargue - thanks!]

And now...


Howard just left for a few days to go deer-hunting in the Capitan Mountains. Paloma, BITO, Semilla and I plan on celebrating the new year by going to bed early and waking up to a brand new year!

Happy 2012, everybody!

Excuse me Sir, how old are you?

Happy Happy Birthday Dad!

You are a spectacular dad, a cool dude, and a really sweet Granddaddy...(are there that many "d"s in Granddaddy?!?! Crikey! (That's what Ayesha would say). 

We are all wishing you a Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

Paloma practiced this song several times and wanted 

to sing you the alphabet song too (we were rather 

impressed because we have not heard her sing the 

alphabet song yet either). However, she must have been 

a little camera shy because this is all you get.

Love WHB, ASB, PLB, BITO, and Semilla.

catching up #3

Last weekend was a four-day weekend for Thanksgiving. 

We headed up to Taos for a couple of days of eating, feasting and relaxing. 

Oh, and watching the game on tv...

Football with Grandaddy. 

 ...and finding all of the animals in the house to snuggle...

Paloma in cuddly heaven. 

...and keeping Semilla happy...

Our handsome dog, wishing she was outside chasing a ball. 

...and keeping everything organised...

The redistribution of snuggly animals. 

...and we get to do it all again in a month for Christmas! Hooray for eating and feasting and relaxing!

a weekend in Taos

Before the Great Birthday, we had a weekend in Taos. It was Howard's last chance to go grouse hunting in the mountains.

The drive up was horrible. It rained and rained and rained and we were so glad when we made it there! We have vowed never to drive to Taos in a rainstorm again.

The storm also brought snow (later that night). It made the drive up the mountain impossible, so we didn't get to see any grouse.

Still, we made the best of the situation and stopped off for a walk in the snow. We built a snowman and had a snowball fight. I think Paloma was a little shocked by the flying snowballs at first, but soon got into the swing of things.

And, of course, Semilla enjoyed being in the Great Outdoors and playing in the snow. And the river.

Betty

We went to Taos a couple of weeks ago. We had a lovely time, hanging out with the Brandenburgs and the Shrivers and enjoying the early spring weather. 

We headed back down to the Rio Pueblo. 

Sunshine! But chilly water. 

 Semilla really enjoyed splashing about in the river.

See her there in the corner? Emerging out of the grass?

 After a swim in the river, nothing feels better than rolling in the grass...

... or a picnic in the sun.

We came home with a new member for the Brandenburdett household. Her name is Betty. Paloma took a liking to her straight away, and wanted to be with her for the whole car-ride back to Albuquerque.

Paloma and Betty snuggled up in the car-seat.

Betty was given to Paloma by Howard's Aunt Libby, who has had Betty since she was a little girl (although she called her Kissy Doll).

She still has her original shoes!

 Betty is getting to know everyone in the family.

Semilla looks pretty relaxed with Betty. 

Ever since Betty came home, I have had a song stuck in my head. 

[It was only after I found this video that I realised I was singing the wrong words anyway.]