An Early Christmas Present!

Hi, Ya'll!



We decided that we had better get this one posted or we would have to change the title of this one. Well, here it is--Sharon's early Christmas present. It is a Sony camera that is really cool. The front panel slides down to take a picture. When it slides down, it automatically turns on. It has 10.7 megapixels, and 4 gigabytes of space for all of the pictures. It doesn't even need a memory card.

A really nice feature is that we can put it on "smile" function, and it will take the picture when it detects a smile. We had more fun the night of the Negrete visit. Sharon would just hold the camera up and the camera took some of the silliest pictures of the nieces and nephews.

Another great thing to point out is that it has a touch screen with a little stylus attached. It is smarter than we really know, but it has been fun to try to figure out some of the features.

Nichole helped Sharon try to figure out just how it works. She showed her several things about the camera. (After all she is much younger, and she is technologically savvy!)

Well, enough about the camera. We will get a chance to use it more when we have Thanksgiving dinner. Last year, we cooked at Ellen's, and this year, we will cook at Sharon's. It is just going to be Sharon and Paul and Ellen and Joe.

We know it will be time to drag out all of the Christmas decorations soon. Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner? Ellen sent Nichole back to Copenhagen with gifts for her and Michael. (Can't open them yet, Michael!) She also has sent all the gifts to St. Louis to her sister and nephews. Hmmm, what will she need to buy on Black Friday???

We are looking forward to a short week at school.

Until next time. . . . . .

The Negrete Family

Hi, Ya'll!

Wow! What a week we had with Nichole visiting from Copenhagen. Ellen took a couple of days off from school while she was here. It was great fun to have time to spend with Nichole during the day. On Wednesday evening, the Negrete clan all came over to the house. There were twenty of us. When the Negretes get together, there is much laughter and silliness that goes on. One of the most important places in the house is the kitchen. We had all the food in there!

This is Margaret and Scott. They are the body building gurus of the family. (They are also doctors!)

Mary and Monica are admiring Mary's first great grandson! Monica is the proud mom!

Benjamin is now 7 months old. He is such a good little guy!

Mary and Maria were enjoying a little snack.

Nichole and her three nieces were inseparable the whole evening!

Of course the BIG brothers demanded a little time too!

Here are the six of them in birth order. Joe may be the youngest, but he is the tallest!!

Three cousins, all Coronado T-birds, had six weeks' finals the next day! They did not want to go home and study.

Thursday was Nichole's last evening home. Ellen fixed dinner that evening. It was great to see Joe more than usual, too!

The week passed all too quickly. Hopefully, we will be together again before too much time passes! Thanks to Sharon, we have all of these pictures to share. She was behind a camera most of the evening. Wait until you see her newest piece of technology!

Until next time. . . . . .

Twice As Nice!

Hi, Ya'll!!

First, we must congratulate the Coronado T-Birds for their win over the Franklin Cougars! Although Polk is a feeder school for Franklin and we know many of their players, we are Thunderbirds at heart, and always will be. Our children went to Coronado and we both have many happy memories of our time there. We were involved in Booster Clubs for CHS Orchestra and Band.

Since Coronado and Franklin are neighboring schools, there is a rivalry that will always exist. A few years ago, the game was moved from the high school to the Sun Bowl. The stands at the high school could not hold all the fans, so they had to find a larger venue. What better place than the Sun Bowl?!

We made it to Albuquerque without any problems. It was a beautiful drive up here. We are staying at our favorite place, The Residence Inn North. We arrived early and the General Manager checked us in. She welcomed us and then said, "Ladies, I'm in a good mood today. I'm going to upgrade your room selection." We usually stay in a Studio Suite. We figured she was going to give us a One Bedroom Suite. Here is a picture of the bedroom.

This picture looks similar to the one above, but it is in the second bedroom! She gave us a two bedroom suite!! We were stunned. Not only do we have two bedrooms, it also means two bathrooms!

The kitchen has a stove/oven, rather than just a cooktop.

To top it off, there is a lovely fireplace in the corner of the sitting room. It is just perfect for the chilly weather up here. Did we mention that we have three televisions, three phones, one large dining table with four chairs, a separate computer table with wireless access, and (the best part) SIX wine glasses???? We love Residence Inns!!

We will spend most of the day at ABQ Uptown. It will be nice to not be in a hurry to get anywhere or to do the normal Saturday activities such as grocery shopping, cleaning house, etc.

Of course this evening will find us back at the hotel watching the Texas Tech game. Too bad we didn't bring the TT flag with us. We could have run it up the flag pole out front! :o) Maybe next time!

Until next time. . . . .

Flying High!

Hi Ya'll!

Most of you probably know that we are NOT night owls. Every now and then an occasion comes along that keeps us upright later into the evening. Yesterday was one of those special times. Nichole was flying in from Copenhagen and her plane was landing at 8:30P.M. We ate a light dinner and then headed over to the airport.

Two planes landed about the same time and they were coming down opposite escalators! Sharon was stationed at one of them and Ellen was on the lookout at the other. Nichole came down the one where Sharon was waiting, but it didn't take Ellen long to make her way over to where they were!
When Sharon said smile, Nichole immediately gave the guns up sign!! The Tech vs UT game is still a hot topic around here.

This is the flag in the main lobby of the airport. We have many people in the military who arrive here and this is a huge "Welcome Home" symbol.

We stayed up much later than our normal bedtime, but had a great time just talking and sharing. Joe came over for a little while. He got off work later than expected, so instead of going to the airport with us, he went home to take a little nap. Nichole brought a wonderful little surprise for us to share when she got here. Hand carried all the way from Denmark were fresh Danish rolls. Oh my, they WERE wonderful. We polished those off in record time.

We are not sure if this picture really does justice to the tasty little treat, but there were not even crumbs left by the time we finished.

Nichole is going to be busy with her friends and Joe this weekend, so we did not cancel our little trip to Albuquerque. We'll be leaving tomorrow, but will return on Sunday.

Nichole was in the air at 33,000 feet for many hours, but her mom was flying just as high because both of her "little ones" are at home!

Until next time. . . . . .

Our Flowers' Winter Home!

Hi Ya'll!

It seems our blogging has become a weekly post rather than day to day happenings. We often think and say to each other "We need to post that", but then we don't get around to it. We shall try to be better, but we are not making any promises.

Our temperatures are finally beginning to cool down a bit, but the highs have still been in the 70's. It's not quite cold enough to put our greenhouse to use, but it is ready whenever Mother Nature wants to send some cold weather our way. Here are some pictures of us getting the greenhouse all put up.

Here is Sharon and her trusty little hammer putting a stake in the ground.

This is looking in through the front door. What you see is the back door!!

Ellen is 5'6", so you can see how tall the house is! We think it was like putting up a tent, but since Ellen has never gone camping in her whole life, and Sharon went camping in an RV, we don't know that from first hand experience!

Here's our "handylady" hard at work! Sharon always thinks that Ellen doesn't get her best side. This one really shows how thin her hair is getting. By the way, she really shouldn't be on her knees, but Ellen can't keep her off of them when the need arises.

It's all up and ready to use! Sharon has already installed the shelves and be sure that there is a thermometer inside.

So that is the story of our little greenhouse. We should have a few more things to share over this next week or so. Nichole is arriving from Denmark on Wednesday evening. She is coming for her 10-year reunion from Coronado High School. We can't believe it is 10 years already!! It will be great to have her home.

Until next time....... . . . . . . . . .