Thursday, June 19, 2008

It's summertime in the desert...

time to setup the beloved pool and cool off! It's been in the 100's here the past few days.

Yesterday it was 106 degrees when I was heading home from work at 4:45pm. Sheesh...that is just too damn hot!

Here's a couple pictures of our 3 handsome boys cooling off after a long day...
Even the 2nd picture (approx 8pm) was very warm out... UGH!

See the moon above the mountains?



Come see us and we'll share the sweaty heat and cool, crisp, pool water!

Thursday, June 12, 2008

June 11th

On June11th, 2008, Matthew Craig Stevens turned 6 years old. To celebrate the momentus occasion, Grandma Beth cooked spaghetti (at Matthew's request) and we all gathered to have dinner, cake and ice cream.

In the midst of the iron man toys, games, and books I realized that my 5 year old was gone forever. 6 will be a wonderful age and first grade will bring so many new adventures... but I will sorely miss and remember fondly the Kindergarten days.

The youngest child is much like the oldest... With the oldest, everything is new and different. You savor each milestone and document everything. With the youngest, you know it's your last chance to enjoy these amazing childhood years... so again, you savor each milestone and document everything.

Let me tell you a little bit about Matthew Craig Stevens....for posterity reasons of course!

Matthew Craig Stevens, 6 years old, 41" tall, 33.8 lbs.
Matthew currently is playing coach pitch little league, which he enjoys and is quite good at. He is an excellent batter and plays a mean 2nd base! His first love; however, would be soccer. Matthew loves to run and is very fast. He typically outruns the taller kids on his teams and at school. So given this, soccer is his favorite sport. He is very coordinated and is good at soccer.

Matthew is an avid reader who is reading at about a second grade level. He loves books, especially scary ones or ones about bugs and creepy, gross things. Matthew loves movies (especially seeing them in the "feetier" or "theetier").

If you ask Matthew today what he wants to be when he grows up he will tell you "an inventor". "Why?", you would probably ask next.... "So I can invent an Ironman suit." Hello, WHY ELSE?

Matthew loves to hang out with his older brothers and do everything they do. He is sad when Nathaniel isn't with us. He adores Nathaniel and whenever possible, he dresses exactly like him (or as close as he can get his own wardrobe to match).

Matthew's best friend; however, is his Grandpa. They play, laugh, and crack each other up. What a lucky little boy.

Isreal is a friend who Matthew loves to be with. They play all day without issue. They stick up for each other with brotherly force and like the same things.

Some other friends Matthew likes to be around are Morgan (and her sisters), Jaedyn (who lives 2 doors down from Grandpa & Grandma), Frankie (his best friend at Chaparral Elementary), Rey and Ernesto (also friends at Chaparral).

Matthew misses his cousin Ben. Matthew and Ben if they lived closer I'm sure would be as close to brothers as 2 boys could be. One month apart in age, they are 2 peas in a pod. Not exactly the same in any respect, but just different enough to compliment each other. Matthew talks about Ben on a daily basis like he just saw him yesterday!

I'm sure I will think about more things to tell you about Matthew Craig Stevens, but for now I will take a break. It's summertime and he's busy working on his First Grade workbook. Gotta keep the mind sharp, so I am summerschoolin'!

I will post birthday party pictures this weekend after the Chuck E. Cheese party on Saturday.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Movin' on...


For those of you who don't know yet...

Craig recently accepted a promotion within Michelin. He will be working with their mine group as a Mine Account Manager. It's a great move for him and the job will be one I'm sure he will enjoy.
To keep the family together and close (our middle son lives in Las Cruces with his mom), Craig has turned down numerous (many, many) offers from the company to move up. Being the ONLY Michelin employee in the state of NM, there are no other options for moving up here. Moving up and being promoted means moving. Craig is loved within the Michelin community and very highly regarded in his trade. The last offer/request was to the Sacramento/Reno area, we turned that one down. Craigs boss did tell him this time, though, that this position was an excellent one for him and he was highly recommended for it.

He started his new position on June 1 and will be living full time in Wyoming August 1st. As of now, the plan is for the rest of us, Me, Michael, Matthew and Mom to stay in New Mexico until Michael graduates from High School. It will be hard and I am not sure how things will shake out in the end....we shall see.

Here are a few pictures we took in Wyoming when we were there in May. We actually got snowed in for 2 extra days! Can you believe that...in MAY!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=bzci2ff.9vo6xc5n&x=0&y=o1zyny&localeid=en_US

We loved it though. It is a beautiful place and will be a great adventure... I'll follow you anywhere baby!