Ciara's First Date.... kindof....

Ciara-bear and Liam have gotten to be really good friends (she says she's going to marry him when she's 12... because apparently 12 is really really reeeeeeally old) so we let them go to the Harvest Hoe-down Dance together.
And before you ask.... no, it wasn't a Sadie Hawkins dance even though that would be RIGHT UP my daughter's alley!

It was adorable!
They got to dress up. Ciara went for the Ellie Mae Clampet look.
Liam paid for Ciara to get in... and then they went inside and spent most of the night either chasing eachother or running from eachother. Ciara would ask Liam to dance and he would fall down on the floor and spin like a break-dancer.

By the end of the night Bonnie (Liam's mom) and I couldn't stop laughing at them. Before we left we tried to get them to act like they were dancing together for atleast one picture.
Imagine our surprise when this is what we got....

Don't worry Grandpas... no granddaughters were kissed in the making of this picture. They were just giggeling and hiding under their hats because we were making them dance together. And apparently even after all of these years... boys still have cooties! How funny is that?

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Ciara's first Field Trip was to the Venetucci Farms Pumpkin Patch.

It was freezing cold and wet and rained on us the whole time. And I use the term "rained" very loosely. It was more like misty ice falling from the sky. I had planned to take a million cute fall pictures in the Pumpkin Patch... but, as you can see, that didn't happen.

The kids didn't seem to mind the nasty weather and ran all over the place picking out their pumpkins to take home.

Ciara and Emma waiting for the bus

Ciara and Liam goofing off as usual

I love the look on his face in this one! They crack me up!

The whole class...

Fall Carnival

Ciara's school does a Fall Carnival every year as a PTSA Fundraiser.

It was SO MUCH FUN!

When I was in Kindergarten I went to a teeny-tiny little school in East Texas and I remember going to the Carnival with my brother and sister and having a blast. Then we moved to Florida and I never say another school that did them.

Talk about missing out....

We ate hot-dogs (okay... Ciara and Kris ate hot-dogs... I have issues with hot-dogs. Blame it on my 7th grade Anthropology teacher) and popcorn and pretzles. There was clown making balloon animals and a big bounce house. Ciara got her face painted. We played games.

And we gorged ourselves on Cotton Candy!

By the time we got home we were all ready for naptime....

There she is folks! All Cotton-candied up and ready to pass out!

Big-time Kindergarten Girl!

Here are a few from Ciara's first day at Kindergarten.

We moved to Colorado Springs not knowing anything about the neighborhood that we would be living in or the School that Ciara would be going to. By a sheer twist of fate... we totally lucked out! She's going to a fantastic school and she's got an amazing teacher that she absolutely loves!

On her first day at school I realized that my daughter is the exact opposite of me at that age.

I vividly remember being terrified, trying to hide under my mother's skirt and sobbing hysterically when she finally left the classroom the day I started school.
Not Ciara.... she walked right up to that classroom and introduced herself to everyone there. She'd already made a friend by the time the bell rang and they walked into class holding hands... and completely forgetting that they'd left mom standing on the playground.
Mrs. Steen read a story about a teddy-bear going to school for the first time and then it was time to say goodbye. I got a hug and a kiss and when my eyes teared up because my baby is growing up so fast the little smart alec looked at me and said , "Geez mom... you don't have to cry. It's JUST kindergarten!"
No tears... and then she was gone without a second look.

Sometimes her independence and confidence absolutely amaze me! It took me years and years to develop that... and she was born with it... just like her Daddy. I guess we must be doing something right!

Ciara-bear-a-saurus

These were taken in my front yard about a month ago.

She got all dressed up to go take some pictures in the Fall Leaves and then all the neighborhood rug-rats started throwing handfulls of leaves at her.

On the bright-side... it got her laughing and the pictures turned out FABULOUS (wait.... did I just sound like Clair's Wedding Photographer??? "Everybody say SASSY!"). But I didn't get nearly as many shots as I wanted... she ended up pulling leves out of her hair while she chased two little boys down the side-walk with the garden hose.

THAT'S MY GIRL!

The adorable dress is courtesy of Mom and Aunt Gail and their shopping excursion in Kansas. It's one of her favorites and every time she wears it she talk about her Aunt Gail and the day we spent taking pictures down by the Rio Grande. I'm so glad she got the chance to meet her and get to know her.

Picture of the Day... week...month...

I'm starting this Blog for two reasons....

First- We moved to Colorado Springs a few months ago and left all of our Family and Friends back in Albuquerque. I'm hoping this will be a good way for everone back home to get to see what's going on in our lives now that we're not right down the street.
And second-I love the whole Picture of the Day idea. I think it's a great way to get out and practice a little everyday. And, let's face it... since we moved I haven't had nearly as many photoshoots as I'm used to and I'm missing my camera and just a little terrified of getting "rusty". :)

Unfortunately I know me. I'll hit it like gangbusters for awhile... and then life will get in the way and it will more then likely morph from Picture of the Day to Picture of the week... or month.
So... that's where ya'll come in.
I want you to stalk me if I don't post regularly. E-mail... phone calls... myspace... Facebook... show up on my door step (I double-dog-dare-you)... whatever it takes.
I'm askin' for it...
I mean... that's what family is for right? ;)

So... to get things started off here's one that I took the other day at Garden of the Gods just as a storm was moving in. I can't wait to actually get snow... Kris already promised to to go tromping around with me so we could take pictures (I really had to twist his arm on that one)!

On a side note- Can you believe it's mid-November and we don't have snow in COLORADO? There's something seriously wrong here!

I Love you guys! And I miss you!
Check back soon and if I haven't posted... get to stalkin'!

All my Love!