Halloween

We pickeed out pumpkins at TWUMC after Matthew's football game.

The boys love carving pumpkins with Tracy!I HAD SO MUCH FUN MAKING TREATS FOR THE KIDS!!!

SKELETON GHOST AND WEREWOLF
This year the boys were all about making things scary and being boys. What happened to my little boys that dressed up as "Larry Boy". They had fun. Nicholas bought with his own money a scary CD and green light bulb for the porch and they put cobwebs in the bushes. Neither of them wore their masks, so they weren't too scary.

Stephen, Sean, Nicholas, and Matthew

Fall get together with the Bennetts

Jamie worked so hard all day making fun goodies and Bryant made wonderful bar-b-q. We had a great visit. Tammy and Bryan and their two children came over as well. The kids had a blast roasting marshmallows, and watching Scooby Do on the Garage and drinking hot chocolate. Bryant even dressed up in his old Army uniform.

Carving Party at "Aunt" Sue's

Sue throws a wonderful Pumpkin party every year for my old team at Valley Oaks Elem. She has done this for at least the past 10 years. I taught with all these beautiful women my first year out of college.

Sue is so thoughtful and makes this reunion so special!

Tami Clark was the diagnostician when I taught life skills at Valley Oaks.and is a dear friend.

Snow in the fall colors

I love this man!

The boys had a blast sledding!!

Forts behind the condo

I love being a boy mom!!! Their imagination never seems to ceases to amaze me. They add onto these forts every time we come. They have made doors, fire pits, dog house, ovens, storage areas, weapons, fishing poles ..... and it goes on and on.

Nicholas' fort

Matthew and I eating in Nicholas' fort.

Nicholas making a fishing pole

Fishing for trout

Trading food :0)

Nicholas inside his fort

Matthew's fort and his weapons.

Nicholas' dog house

Matthew's oven

Santa Fe

These people are lined up selling jewelry.

The Loretto Chapel

A beautiful church-- can't remember the name????

We had a wonderful day walking around Santa Fe. We ate at ZIA'S for lunch. Nicholas saw it on Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives on food network.

Loretto Chapel -staircase

In 1872 Jean-Baptiste Lamy, the Bishop of the Santa Fe Archdiocese, commissioned the building of a convent chapel to be named Our Lady of Light Chapel, which would be in the care of the Sisters of Loretto. The chapel was designed by French architect Antoine Mouly in the Gothic Revival style, complete with spires, buttresses, and stained glass windows imported from France. Although it was built on a much smaller scale, the chapel bears an obvious resemblance to the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
The architect died suddenly and it was only after much of the chapel was constructed that the builders realized it was lacking any type of stairway to the choir loft. Due to the chapel's small size, a standard staircase would have been too large. Historians have also noted that earlier churches of the period had ladders rather than stairs to the choir loft, but the Sisters obviously did not feel comfortable with that prospect because of the long robes that they wore.
The reputed story continues as follows.
Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was a miraculous occurrence.
The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar [2]. Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs [3]. The wood for the staircase cannot be found anywhere in the region. The stairs had 33 steps,the age of Jesus when he died.
The mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, since there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Loretto offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.

Fall Foliage in New Mexico