Ruidoso for the Weekend

We went to the cabin in Ruidoso this past weekend. It was so much fun to get so many from the family together for a few days. Bradley and Ainsley, and of course my parents drove most of the way with us. Then, we met up with my grandparents from Odessa and aunt, uncle and cousin from Arizona in Ruidoso. Mom made a great stew for us on Saturday night and we all had a good time listening to mom's school stories. Ha. :)

Nanny and Grandaddy

Aunt Tamra, Nanny, Grandaddy, and my daddy

Uncle Jim and my mom

This deer came up about 10 feet from the cabin eating deer corn we had put out. We all had fun watching it. The deer even let us talk and make some noise. Someone ended up making TOO much noise though, cause it walked off after a while. OR it was just full, we won't even know I guess.

Glen and Jude watching the deer, SOOOO quietly.

Nanny and Grandaddy and ALL the great-grandchildren

Bradley, Nanny, Grandaddy, and ME!! I LOVE this picture!!

Jude hopped up on the bar to watch Aunt Tamra make a yummy 7 layer dip minus about 2 (ha ha). It was still WAY good. I think that is all Jude ate for lunch that day. (We could tell on the car ride home) THANKS TAMRA!!!

We celebrated Nanny's 79th birthday which is in a few days. It was fun to surprise her. My mom made the cake and the kids all helped decorate it.

This is my cousin Ryan that all the kids ADORED!! And the next few pictures explain why. He is just SO fun!


Bradley (Bubba) and Ryan took the kids on a hike on Saturday and then on Sunday Glen took Ryan's spot and went. My kids' favorite part of Ruidoso is hiking with Bubba! I might have to go next time to see what EXACTLY they do on these hikes. MMmm.....HHHmmmm.

We are going back for Thanksgiving and we are already looking forward to it! We DID miss our DVD player in the car this time though. Man....those things are great and of course you never know what you have till it's gone, right??

100th post!!!

I cannot believe that I have made it to my 100th post. Time DOES fly! I know alot of people do NOT like to read these, and those people don't have to. :) BUT.....for whoever DOES, here goes....

1. I was born Jennifer Nicole Gaines.

2. My birthday is May 28, 1975.

3. I have one brother who is 3 years older.(Bradley)

4. My brother was REALLY mean to me growing up, but now as adults, I count him as one of my closest friends.

5. We moved a lot when I was growing up.

6. My dad was a coach, nuff said.

7. I always wanted to go on the field with my dad while he was coaching.

8. The only time I got to was as an adult. I STILL loved every minute of it.

9. I wanted to have a son so that he could go on the field with my dad since I never got to.

10. My dad retired from coaching BEFORE I had Jude.

11. That broke my heart!

12. My Sophomore year I went to Permian High School in Odessa.

13. I graduated from Monterey High School in Lubbock.

14. I was a twirler in junior high AND high school. I loved it!

15. I don't talk to anyone from my high school anymore.

16. I met Glen when he was a senior in high school.

17. We married 2 days after he graduated.

18. YES! I robbed the cradle. He is 3 years younger than me.

19. I wonder why God gave me Glen.

20. Most of the time I think Glen is WAY too good for me.

21. My favorite job in the world is being a mom and wife.

22. This was my dad's number in football and Avery's AND Bailey's number on the soccer field.

23. Glen and I've been married for 11 and a half years.

24. My favorite color is black.

25. I love jewelry.

26. I love make-up.

27. MAC make-up is my FAVORITE!!!!

28. One of my favoritest (I made it a word OK?) things to do is going shopping at the MAC counter with my mom.

29. OK. Make that one of my favoritest things in the world to do is shop with my mom ANYWHERE!!! She's my shopping buddy!

30. My mom makes everything OK. Still to this day I want her with me when I get sick.

31. I hope my kids love me like I love my mom.

32. I want to love my kids like my mom loves me.

33. I have allergies and have since I was about 5.

34. Bailey scratches her throat like I scratch mine. It is an awful sound.

35. I am a little stubborn. OK a lot stubborn.

36. I really like purses. They can be bought whether you are having a fat day or not. They ALWAYS fit!!

37. One of my dreams is to ride horses on the beach. Maybe one day!

38. I used to HATE my nose, but now I think it is fine.

39. My hero is my daddy.

40. I have several best friends (Cindy, Mom, Kathy, Anna). They are all different ages, but I consider them all the best of the best!

41. I have one that I call my bestie. (anna) I know it is childish and I don't care.

42. With every pregnancy I wanted to have a boy.

43. I finally got my wish when Jude was born. Woo-hoo!

44. I DO love my girls though. Turns out God DOES know what he is doing!

45. It is making me sad that my girls are getting out of the bow stage. I'm trying to hold on to it as long as I can.

46. Avery has WAY passed that stage. :(

47. Speaking of passing - Avery is going to pass me height wise before too long. IT IS KILLING ME! It is harder to discipline someone that is eye level with you.

48. I really like acrylic nails, but also like the way short nails feel and look on me. AND they are free. :)

49. Yummy smelling candles are some of my favorite things to get as gifts. It is always interesting to see what scent people pick for you.

50. Watching disabled/overweight people or animals on tv, makes me not able to eat. I have to leave the room or just not eat. I have always joked about putting a picture of a really overweight person on my fridge to curb my appetite, but I never have. I know this is WAY abnormal.

51. I hope I don't hurt anyone's feelings by writing some of these things on here.

52. I love to tan. I KNOW I KNOW. It is bad for you.

53. I like to sing to my kids and be silly. I think they like it too.

54. I think Glen is so cute. Even that bald head is cute to me.

55. I hate to do laundry. Not the best thing to hate with 4 kids.

56. Oh yeah, I have 4 kids!!!

57. I do NOT like to wake the kids up in the morning. That is Glen's job.

58. I made something up called "Fun Night" where I spend 15 minutes with one kid per night. They each have their own night and they get to choose something that they want to do with me for 15 minutes at bed time on their night. The usual is nails or make-up, while watching tv of coarse. Sometimes they surprise me and read to me. I LOVE that!!

59. I love to go jogging with my dog Harley. She loves it too.

60. I usually run close to 3 miles.

61. I haven't run in 2 weeks and I am feeling like a loser!!!!

62. Growing up I would get strep a LOT.

63. As an adult, I get it at least once a year.

64. I have 2 nieces. One on my side (Ainsley) and one on Glen's side. (Madalyn) I miss them!

65. I do not have my degree.

66. I haven't needed one yet, but still don't know what I'll do when Jude goes to school.

67. Sometimes I think that I am a laid back mom and at others think that I am VERY strict.

68. I want to be a good mom!!!!

69. I love Rocket Dog shoes.

70. The pediatrician called me a skater the other day because I had Rocket Dogs on and a camo hat. It made me laugh.

71. My life long friend Paige and I had matching life like dolls growing up. Mine was a girl, Tiffany and hers was a boy ,Jason. They really sucked their pacifiers and people REALLY thought that they were real. We had so much fun with those things. I still have mine too.

72. Someone from high school that I didn't know very well asked me if I had a face lift since then. I laughed at that, but didn't quite know what to think. Still thinking on that one.....AND laughing!!!

73. I have come to love the Yankees because Glen loves the Yankees!!

74. I used to ask my dad who he was going for (still do) and whoever he was for, I was for!

75. I have 3 living grandparents.

76. I DO consider Glen's grandparents like my own though. They are very special to me!!

77. I really like teaching the 4's at my Mother's Day Out. I have been doing it for 8 years.

78. I like to have white teeth.

79. I am the reigning champion in the family at the moment for whitest teeth. :) HA HA Bradley!!!

80. I love to take naps!

81. I love to garage sale.

82. I love reality tv.

83. Whoever invented DVR deserves some kind of prize.

84. Long toenails gag me out!

85. I wear glasses/contacts.

86. I have been on 1 cruise and I hope to take my family again one day. They still talk about it and we went a year and a half ago.

87. I love my dimples, but they are turning into wrinkles. BUMMER!

88. My iPod is one of my favorite things.

89. It makes me SO sad to see my kids grow up. I cry about it every once in a while.

90. I can't imagine my life without my kids.

91. My kids are my buddies.

92. I wish I could have another child, but Glen said no.

93. He said no to having number 4 (Jude), but I talked him into it.

94. There is no talking him into it this time, unless we go back to the doctor. *wink wink*

95. Getting my hair done is something I look forward to the minute I walk out of the salon.

96. I already have some Christmas shopping done.

97. I love hot baths in the winter time.

99. If I could go anywhere for vacation, I would go to the beach.

100. This hasn't been as hard as I though it would be. It was kind of fun.

OK guys. I am sure after writing all that that very few will make it to the end, but it was fun anyway.

Halloween 2007

The crew

I have had several people get onto me for not posting in a while, so I thought with a big event like Halloween passing by there would be little chance of getting by without at least one post. Of course now I have pictures for PLENTY of posts. I'll just wrap them up into one though.

We went to Trunk or Treat this year at our church. It was fun and the kids had a blast going around getting LOADS of candy out of peoples trunks. You can really rack up some candy going to those things!

Jude aka Cowboy
(He posed like that ON HIS OWN!! I LOVE this picture!!)


Parker aka Farmer
She LOVED being a farmer and told me last night that next year she wants to be a farmer again!! I love that she liked being something different than anybody else.


Bailey aka Batgirl
Bailey was going to be a Jack in the box, but decided at the last minute to be batgirl. She liked that we matched at the small group party later that night.


Avery aka Baby and her BFF Bethany aka tennis player
Ave was going to be something different too, but decided on a baby for comfort reasons I think.


THEN we came home so Glen and I could get dressed up in OUR gear for our Halloween party with our small group. I was Batman and Glen was the cutest Elvis EVER!!

We had so much fun seeing everyones costumes. We really have a creative small group that LOVES to dress up. Batman and Elvis was about as good as Glen and I get!


This week Glen's uncle Rick came over to carve a pumpkin with the kids. They love getting to share that with him.

Uncle Rick is one of those fun uncles that the kids just gravitate towards. He gets the kids ice cream every Sunday after lunch and is just always fun to be around. He has carved pumpkins several years with the kids and thought they might have outgrown it, but Avery made sure that he knew that they were NOT too old for carving. :) We love Uncle Rick!!


Bailey was the only one that wanted to get her hands dirty, so she got the job of helping Uncle Rick get all the guts out.

Last night we went Trick or Treating which is really just driving to all of our family and friends houses. It took about 2 and a half hours, but it was fun. We have so much candy, it is ridiculous. I have got to find something to do with it all - BESIDES eat it!

I love this picture of the kids Trick or Treating last night. They just are SO cute!!


Last but not least this is my class today at our Fall Festival (yes it was a day late) We have 9 boys and 2 girls so Cindy and I dressed as Batman and Robin so that they would think we were cool. Cindy was a great Robin and played the part well. She would even remind me that she was Robin today, NOT Ms. Cindy. It was just a blast to be a big kid and not care who was watching you. Of course anytime I am dressed up, I get a little character driven. :) I had fun spreading my cape all day when I walked down the hall and speaking "Bat talk" to the kids.

The kids had a BLAST with us all day. They did however tell me that I CANNOT be Batman because I am a girl, so they changed my character to Batgirl. I had one little boy ONLY refer to me as Batgirl all day. He came out of the bathroom and said," Batgirl, can you help me with my pants." It was TOO cute!

Cindy and I spent an hour and a half last night decorating our doorway to be the enterance to the Bat Cave.

There was a contest for teachers costumes and WE WON FIRST PLACE!!! We get our prizes on Tuesday! We were so excited. This is my second year to win first place, so we have a lot to live up to next year. Ha.