A Morales Minute

The night finally came. The open house and dedication of Jaime's new elementary school. He prepared lots and long hours getting this baby ready for tonight. The dedication was held tonight at 5. My honey up there! The podiums are always made for taller people. :) The ribbon cutting. Then we walked around the school checking things out. They let kids work on the 3D computers  and Smart Tables. I love these. They're pretty cool. This plaque is on the wall near the main doors of the school. Jaime will forever be in the history of this school. What an accomplishment. He works so very hard and long. All he does is definitely noticed and he's been treated well and given so many opportunities for things that we never had thoughts of. I do get bummed when he has multiple late nights in a week. His stress can seep in to me and I seem to wear down when he's gone so much too. He keeps saying things will be slowing down after this ...

Pumpking Carving FHE Jaime had another late night for work. I went ahead and got the kids started. By the time Jaime got home they were just about done. I didn't want them to start carving at 7:30. It'd be too late of a night.  They did most of it themselves but I did get in there and help some with all of them. Lindsey and Aidan decided to do a big pumpkin together. I was secretly happy about that. One less pumpkin for me to do.  Tyler drew the face he wanted on paper and I did my best to cut out just how he drew it. It ended up looking like a happy pumpkin with a cute crooked smile. The bump in the eye just makes it look like the pumpkin's happy.  Lindsey and Aidan found a pattern to make a screaming castle. Do you see it? Screaming? Lindsey cut it out all by herself. Looks pretty awesome to me. Olivia...she likes to be different. :D I love it. 

When Jaime and I went away for my birthday Bel took the kids to Grandview to stay with Martin and Diana. On the way there they drove through a fire right next to the freeway. It was started by a VW Bug that caught on fire and sparks were blown by the wind to the dried brush and it spread fast. There was so much smoke they couldn't see a thing. Bel couldn't see anything but the lights of the car in front of her. She was afraid to stop and be hit by someone behind her who couldn't see her. She was smart and drove on the rumble strip so she knew where the road was until they got though the smoke. The kids could see the flames so close to them it really spooked them. It turned out it was good Bel kept on going. Other cars slowed down and couldn't see and ended up crashing in to each other. The road was closed for a long time. When Tyler was in school one day he drew this picture. It's Bel's black Ford Edge driving by the fire on the side of the ro...

We went to go visit Bel and Chris on Saturday to meet their new puppy. But first! Lindsey in this beautiful Italian mask. Bel bought it while she and Chris were on their trip to Italy. She brought two smaller masks for the girls as well. Meet Luna. A tiny little 3 pound puppy. I love her coloring.  Everyone took their turn holding her. She's so cute!  Jaime enjoyed playing with her as well. Jaime is a dog person. He loves dogs. He'd like one but he doesn't want to have to deal with the upkeep of one either. I mean...I've got 4 kids I have to clean up after already.  This little pup is a baby! She's only 7 weeks. She sleeps every two hours. Wakes Bel up in the night so Bel can let her out to go to the bathroom. It was fun to listen to Bel and Chris talk about how tired they were having to care for her throughout the nights and have to clean up after her messes. I just laughed. Chris joined me and said, "Yeah you don't hav...

Field trip number 2 was the day after Tyler's. Friday I rode with some other mom's out to the Mammoth Dig site here in Tri-cities. I had no idea there was a 4,399 year old Columbian Mammoth fossil being dug up right here in our area. It was only a 30 minute drive (following the bus) to get there.  Everyone had to walk down the hill on the zig zag trail down to the dig.  We were shown how they sift through the dirt and search for pieces of bone, rock, animal fossils.  We were shown different things they had found. Any granite that they have found isn't from here. It came in icebergs from the Spokane area that floated here during a large flood.  We were shown different layers of earth in the hillside. We could see different flood lines. The mammoth fossils. They still have a lot to dig up...if it's all there. These are the humerus bones and the scapula (at the upper left of the pic). They have also found some rib bones....

With all four kids in school all day, every day, I decided I wanted to go on all their field trips they had this year. The first one of the year was on Thursday October 15th for Tyler's kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch.  The boys in the group I was over were so cute...and talkative! However being social seems to be something that a lot of the kids in the Two-way Dual Language program seem to have in common.  It was such a beautiful day! Tyler walked all over looking for the "perfect" pumpkin. I kept pointing out different ones but it just wasn't what he had in mind. Until he came across a stumpy pinkish pumpkin. He was so excited for his pumpkin. It is a perfect and unique pumpkin. Tyler was so sweet the entire trip. He would hug and kiss me and tell me he loved me over and over. He had no problem showing he was a momma's boy in front of his friends. It didn't seem to bother the other kids either. They thought I was a...

Jaime, Aidan, Tyler, and I registered to run the Maya Angelou Color Run on Saturday the 10th. We took the girls and their friends, Sophia and Emily, to come join in the fun at the carnival after the run.  Waiting for the run to begin! Tyler and other runners stretching before the run.  Tyler was my running partner and Aidan was Jaime's. Tyler did a great job. He stopped a couple times but when he was ready to go again he took off like a rocket.  My colorful runners! After the run we headed to the carnival for some fun games and activities. Aidan on the inflatable obstacle course. Petting the bunnies! Lindsey doing a physically fit relay.  Up the hill with the weight ball! Olivia and her balloon parrot.  Emily and Olivia with their balloons. Aidan tried a bean bag toss with silly glasses that distort your vision. So this is what Tyler would look ...