The Blacks Blog

Dinner Time for Scarlett

2009-12-06T18:38:00.003-07:00

Scarlett loves her dinner, but only if she can feed herself.

Here are the results........

Where did the food go??????

.....Scarlett's mouth - 40%.........
.....Kitchen floor - 20%............
.....High chair table 20%...........
.....Scarlett's clothing - 20%......

.....Left in the bowl - 0%.........

By the way, the photo was taken on Sunday so Scarlett was wearing her Buffalo Bills outfit!

Getting ready for Christmas

2009-11-28T12:34:00.008-07:00

The day after Thanksgiving is when we go out to find our Christmas Tree. Mackenzie was so excited. It was such a beautiful day and the sun was shining. Kenny loves the fact he can wear a t-shirt outside in late November.

I love Scarlett's little smirk in this photo! She was in such a great mood.

...and loved playing in the back of the van while we got the tree ready to load.

Here we are at the house getting out all the decorations.

Mackenzie surprised us and decorated the tree all by herself! She is so creative!

All the things I'm thankful for....

2009-11-26T20:26:00.017-07:00

Kenny did a great job on the turkey! YUM YUM!

Mackenzie can't let anyone have a picture taken and not be included. Strike a pose!
Kenny and Bob at the Turkey fryer.

Everyone eating dessert!

Scarlett showing off her walking! So happy!

...and taking a break to eat pie with Emily.

Mackenzie loved Nana's cherry pie!

Pretty Baby

Uncle Matt took a break to play dolls with the girls. He was such a good sport.

Who me?

Mackenzie showing off her doll. All dressed up and no where to go.

Scarlett playing with her Nana.

Look at all this pie! Yummy!

I love my Grandpa!

Music City Trip - Day 3

2009-11-19T08:12:00.011-07:00

Day 3 of our trip to Music City, USA......i.e. Nashville, Tennessee......was country music day!

We took a drive to the Grand Ole Opry which, if you didn't know, is the most famous live country music venue in the world.

Unfortunately we couldn't get a tour as they were setting up the venue to get ready for the Radio City Christmas Special which starts next week. :-( But we did get to see the place and the beautiful grounds and of course we able to visit the gift shop!

The beautiful fall colors outside the Grand Ole Opry

and the beautiful girls too....

Choose your tool Cam!

Yee-Haaawwww!

Is there anything more fun than playing with leaves in the Fall??

Then it was back to down town Nashville for a walk along Broadway where all the bars and restaurants have country and honky tonk bands playing in them.

and we even got to see Elvis......he lives!....

and it looks like he like to take kids for ride on his skateboard now?!!???

We then went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Cam was impressed by Webb Pierce's "Silver Dollar Cadillac" complete with walnut paneling inlayed with silver dollars and revolvers for door handles!

Kenny and Scarlett checked out one of the many walls covered in gold and platinum records.

Mr Black and Miss Black Jr with Johnny "The Man in Black" Cash's famous suit

But lots of walking ends up with lots of tired feet....and Dad with a tired back!

We even saw the original Grand Ole Opry which is known as the Ryman Theater and was just round the corner from our hotel

After a late afternoon nap for eveyone we headed out for the evening and went out for a nice Italian meal and a walk along Broadway listening to the music and checking out the cool shops on the way back to our hotel.

Mac even found a way to follow in her Mum's footsteps......maybe she will end up making a career in this town someday????

Kenny even treated himself to his first ever cowboy hat and Scarlett seemed to like it.

When we finally got back to our hotel that night it was time to pack up and be ready for an early flight home the next day......and for the girls this was as much fun as any other part of the trip!!!!

Music City Trip - Day 2

2009-11-18T15:26:00.002-07:00

Day two of our trip to Nashville, TN was Football Day!!!!!

Hopes were high for the chances of a win for the Buffalo Bills as they were playing the Tennessee Titans, but both teams have been struggling somewhat this season.

Kitted out in all the Buffalo Bills gear we headed off on the short walk to the game with beautiful weather and temps in the low 70's.

It was a pretty impressive stadium and our seats were right at the very last row of the upper section on the 50yd line. It gave us a great view but, my goodness, did it get hot up there in the sunshine!

Mac even got to meet one of the Titans cheerleaders and got her picture taken with her!

It was a great day, but the result never ended up going our way with the Bills losing. But that did not dampen our spirits at all.

Music City Trip - Day 1

2009-11-18T14:45:00.003-07:00

Last weekend we took a family trip to Music City, USA.....aka Nashville, Tennessee

Our annual football trip this year took us to see the Buffalo Bills play the Tennessee Titans.

Together with our good friend Don the whole family had a fun packed long weekend in the city which, among other things, is the home of country music.

The weekend began with Don picking us up at the airport and taking us to our fantastic hotel right in the center of downtown Nashville.

Once we got settled we wrapped up cosy and headed out to the watch the NHL hockey game, Nashville Predators vs. Monteal Canadiens. We were sittting in the very front row of the upper deck in the "All U Can Eat" section! So not only did we have a great view we got to stuff our faces with hot dogs, sliders, cheesy nachos and peanuts all night.

We all slept well that night!!

Our trip to Southern NM

2009-10-30T12:52:00.003-06:00

We took a trip in October down to the south of New Mexico.

On our way down we stopped in San Antonio, at a place called "Buckhorn" which had great burgers and apparently has the seventh best burgers in all of the U.S.! Quite the accolade.......but there were good.....eventhough the decor in the place was a bit strange.....(see the photo of Cam and Mac standing in front of a stuffed Mountain Lion!)

We stayed at the Inn of Mountain Gods in Ruidoso. It is a beautiful place and if you ever get a chance it is a fantastic picturesque place to stay. The kids loved it there and we had fun walking round the lake, feeding the ducks, going swimming in the pool and having a delicious steak and lobster dinner in the fancy restaurant.

We went down to Roswell where we visited the UFO museum, which was nice and super cheesy. But I suppose if you do go to Roswell, NM this is a place you have to go. Cam enjoyed it.

Carlsbad National Park was the main place we visited and we walked all the way to the bottom of Carlsbad caverns and really enjoyed it, eventhough Kenny had to carry both the girls for last half mile thru the caverns! The rock formations are just spectacular and the kids liked guessing what each of them looked like.

We stayed at the National Park and had some dinner in the really nice cafe they have there while we waited till sunset. We stayed to watch the bat flight from the caverns that night where nearly half a million bats fly out the cavern mouth and you can sit and watch them all leave. It was quite an amazing experience to see this sight.

Dinner time at Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Cam the Park Ranger

Our last day was spent just enjoying going around Ruidoso and doing a bit of shopping which was fun......esp when Genevieve had won $250 in the 10mins she spent in the casino at our hotel!

Click link below to watch the slide show from our trip

Southern NM Vacation - Oct09

An early morning in the park

2009-08-05T10:29:00.003-06:00

Can anything beat an early morning trip to the park on a beautiful day?
Not much as far as I can imagine.

Mac loves to climb up the monkey bars (saying "oooh, oooh, ooooh" like a monkey) and then going down the "spinny slide"........"really, really fast"

Cam's latest thing is fine tuning his quarterback skills by trying to hit the trash cans in the park at various distances. He is getting pretty good. Maybe he will be the next Troy Aikman..........or more likely Doug Flutie......if his Mum has any say in it.

As for Scarlett and me......we just like to wander round and watch all the goings-on in the park........and before you think it or say anything.....Yes...I was responsible for Scarlett's hair today cos Genevieve was at work.....but I am sure you could have guessed that.......in my defense, it was a bit of a breezy morning.......please ignore the motionless trees behind us in the photos.......it WAS breezy......honest!

A quick drink to cool off and then it is home time!

What a nice start to the day.

New Mexico Fashion Statement

2009-08-02T12:09:00.002-06:00

I've just learned that pink boots go with EVERYTHING! They especially go with shorts in the summer time and they are not hot at all. They are "super cool"! For more fashion tips, please call Mackenzie 24/7 for the latest trends.

I love cupcakes...

2009-08-02T11:52:00.005-06:00

We had our good friend Don over for dinner last night. He was kind enough to bring over cupcakes from our favorite cupcake store. He even brought Mackenzie chocolate cupcakes with pink sprinkle frosting! Mackenzie quickly had lunch today so she could have a cupcake. She wanted 5, but I talked her down to 1! Thank you Don!

Savy was right!

2009-08-01T20:57:00.001-06:00

Kenny's Annual Toga Run

2009-07-30T22:42:00.006-06:00

Every year Kenny's running group from work, takes a run down highway 528 in togas! They run down to McDonalds, order Caesar salad, eat and then run back to Intel. They just do it for kicks and for the looks they get as they run down the street. Not my idea of fun in July New Mexico heat but Kenny loves it!

Keeps ya laughing...

2009-07-30T22:08:00.005-06:00

Okay, I have no pictures for this one but I have to post this while it's still fresh in my mind! Mackenzie is so funny and she cracks me up everyday. I have so many funny stories, but I forget them before Kenny gets home! I love Heather's idea of posting funny stories, so here it goes.

First story: We all decided to go to Mom's church this past Sunday (I don't know why, I just wanted to - before anyone asks me). I was getting the girls all dressed up in their matching white dresses and looking cute. I was putting Mackenzie's dress on and she asked me "Mom, where are we going?" I told her we are going to church with Nana. Mackenzie says:

"Don't be silly Mom, we don't go to church!" (nuff said)

Next story: Mackenzie has really been into the rhyming game lately. While we are driving in the car we practice our rhyming words and we make a game out of it. She is now starting to catch on and it's really fun. This is how the game went in the car today.

Mom: Let's start with tree
Cameron: bee
Mackenzie: three!!! (quite proud of herself)
Cameron: knee
Mom: glee

Mom: Next word is door
Cameron: more
Mackenzie: .... (thinking)
Mom: store
Cameron: core
Mackenzie: hor ................ (long pause) se
Mom: laughing so hard I blew diet coke out of my nose!

Mom: (still laughing) Next word is neat
Cameron: seat
Mackenzie: Pete (nope, don't know where she got that name, but it rhymed)
Mom: treat
Cameron: meat
Mackenzie: Chicken!

I love kids. You have constant entertainment!

At the park with Dad

2009-07-26T22:31:00.004-06:00

Kenny is so great about taking the kids to the park and letting them run off their energy!

Fourth of July Holiday!

2009-07-26T21:34:00.016-06:00

For the July 4th Holiday we had the Missionaries and our neighbors over for a BBQ and some fireworks. What a fun day! Mackenzie was all dressed up and ready to pose for the camera!

It is hard work being a model. I better get my beauty sleep before dinner and fireworks!

Cameron decorated the back wall for the party! What a great chalk drawing Cammy!

Now the firework show!

Giggling baby

2009-07-12T14:34:00.003-06:00

I challenge you to not smile or laugh when watching this video clip.....just not possible!

A giggling Scarlett with crazy hair.....it does it every time for me

Giggling Scarlett.wmv

Lunch in the park

2009-07-08T13:49:00.000-06:00

Well since I have to work Monday thru Friday now I have started my new job instead of working shift work, I am missing hanging out with my family during the day. However my wonderful wife had a great idea recently. She packed up sandwiches, drinks and snacks and picked me up for a surprise lunch with the kids.

We all headed over to Haynes Park across the road from Intel and had a great little lunch date where we ate and played in the park with the whole family on a beautiful sunny day.

I can't think of a better way to spend my lunch hour!

Check out the pics.

Rain Chains and glow in the dark Mini Golf

2009-07-04T11:47:00.010-06:00

Yesterday we went to Osuna Nursery to find some new flowers for our front yard. Mackenzie wasn't interested in walking around looking at plants, but she did find a white butterfly that she chased around the nursery.

Then she found some rain chains and played in the water until she was very wet! This is why I always have the camera in my purse. You never know when there will be a picture opportunity!

Then we went to an indoor play place and also played glow in the dark mini golf. Cameron had a friend with him to play golf too.

Kisses...

2009-07-04T11:42:00.005-06:00

Scarlett is learning to give kisses and it's so cute. Mackenzie loves asking Scarlett for big, sloppy kisses! hehe

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-26T23:38:00.013-06:00

We had a wonderful Father's Day with the family. We had Mom and Dad and my brother Matt over for a BBQ. Here are the kids dancing in the grass. We had the radio on and Mackenzie and Cameron just had to "get their groove on".

Cameron and Kenny did a great job grilling steaks on the BBQ!

Here is Mackenize just being cute.

Genevieve was busy in the kitchen with the side dishes and desserts, but I did come out to say hello and snuggle my Mackenzie.

Here is Kenny with his Father's Day gifts. We got him a cowboy's hat and stool. He wanted a stool he could use in the garage at his work bench or at the BBQ. Can he look any more American????

Mackenzie just loves her Daddy...

And so does Scarlett...

After a fun day in the backyard we let the kids play in the front yard before bedtime. I just love our views from the front Cul-de-Sac. What a great end to a perfect day!

Mommy Mackenzie

2009-06-26T23:34:00.003-06:00

Ok, I just HAD to post these pictures. Every time I nurse Scarlett, Mackenzie gets her baby doll and "feeds" her too. I just loved these pictures of the little Mommy and couldn't help but share them....nuf said.

Just chillin' with the girls...

2009-06-26T23:24:00.004-06:00

I love my time just hanging out with the girls. Mackenzie follows Scarlett every where and just loves being a big sister. I think Scarlett looks so big in her high chair, so I can't help taking loads of pictures of her eating.

Mackenzie hates to be left out of pictues, so she climbed down from her chair to give the camera a big smile.
I just starting learning how to make these bows, so I had to take a picture and show off my first attempt!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

2009-06-20T13:13:00.003-06:00

Here we are ready to go to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Pope Joy Hall. Kenny stayed home with Scarlett, so I could take Cameron and Mackenzie. It was such a fun afternoon. Cameron and Mackenzie have not stopped singing the songs after we saw the musical!

Girls wear purple.

2009-06-17T23:20:00.005-06:00

Mackenzie is so funny about what color clothes she wears now. She thinks that girls can only wear purple and pink because those are "girl colors". It really bothers her that my favorite color is red. She tells me, "Mom, you can't like red because you're not a boy!" She is really good about keeping me in line. She does love purple though and I couldn't resist these matching purple dresses for the girls.

This has to be my favorite picture of the girls so far! Poor Scarlett...oh to be loved so much!
Mackenzie is so funny about taking pictures now. She loves to have her picture taken, but she thinks she always has to "show me something" when she's in front of the camera.

It's Summer Time!!!!

2009-06-17T23:17:00.003-06:00

We always know it's summer time when Grandpa opens the pool for the kids. Scarlett even went in the water and it was COLD! Kenny is so happy he has another "water baby". This is going to be a fun summer!

Mommy's little girls

2009-06-16T17:04:00.007-06:00

I hate the Paparazzi! "Please, no more pictures!"

Ariel the Mermaid Hair

2009-06-16T16:41:00.003-06:00

Mackenzie loves it when I braid her hair after a bath. She calls it her Ariel hair (from the little Mermaid). As you can see her posing here, she is quite proud of her look today! :) This picture is going into the "show her new boyfriend" scrapbook for when she gets older.

More Pics from Mackenzie's birthday

2009-06-16T15:56:00.007-06:00

We had a nice family birthday party for Mackenzie and I forgot to post these cute pictures. She opened a few gifts and blew out candles on her cake. She loves the Schwan's M'nM cake (or as she calls it the LMN cake...she thinks it's like the letter in the ABCs...hehe).

Mac and Scarlett being cute

2009-06-07T16:23:00.006-06:00

This afternoon, Mac was playing "Bumble-Bee" with Scarlett and the two of them were being very cute. Gotta love these moments of sisterly love. Heather...this post is just for Ceilidh! Even thought Scarlett has more hair, she has a bald spot to rival her Dad's! hehe

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Half-Century Men

2009-06-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, Shaun Aries and I rode in the Albuquerque Century, which raises money for the American Diabetes Association. We entered the 50 mile (or half-century) ride since neither of us is quite ready for the full 100 miles yet.

It was a great morning with cool temps and not much wind which made for great riding weather.

I was surprised by the fact that we had a send off from a Scottish bagpipe band at the start and we were also cheered on by the sounds of pipes as we were going up the steepest climb on the course. Apparently there was a large group of 40+ Scottish bike riders who travelled over for this race!

Anyway, Shaun and I had a great ride in which we finished in 2 hours 59 mins, beating our goal of 3hrs!. We both said that we are going to try for the full century next time.

Scarlett - 5months old!

2009-05-24T13:52:00.005-06:00

Cameron's Elementary School Graduation

2009-05-22T16:09:00.007-06:00

Cameron is so excited that school is out for the summer and is looking forward to Middle School next year!

Cameron with his teacher, Mrs. Knutzen

Cameron with his friend Trey

Cameron with his friend Kyler.

Big Girl Food In A Big Girl High Chair!!!

2009-05-22T15:17:00.003-06:00

Scarlett has started to eat big girl food. I can't believe how much bigger she looks in her chair!

....and if you don't feed her fast enough, she'll just eat her chair! hehe

Mackenzie turns 3!

2009-05-22T09:32:00.032-06:00

Mackenzie has always wanted to "Build A Bear". It's a store in the mall that allows you to pick a stuffed animal and then stuff it and dress it to take home. It's super cute for little girls and she took her friend Gabby too. This was Mackenzie's choice for her birthday party. She also wanted to go to Flying Star (her favorite place to eat) and get a Strawberry cake for her birthday.

Ok, we picked our anmial.s Mackenzie is building a monkey and Gabby is building a Kitty Cat.

Now we get to take it to the nice lady to fill it with stuffing.

"Wow! She even let me stand on the button to fill it with stuffing."

Mackenzie picked out a special red satin heart to stuff her monkey with.

The animals are all nice and soft.

Now we have to clean them!

Time to fill out the Birth Certificates! Mackenzie has named her monkey BoBo and Gabby named her Cat Skitts.

The new additional to our family. Welcome BoBo!

Here is Mackenzie after dressing BoBo for the beach. She has a swimsuit and deck chair!

"I love you BoBo!"

Oh, wait! We need goggles for them too!

Here is Gabby's Mom and Dad.

Oh, this is so much fun! Can we make another one??

All ready to go now! I can carry the bags all by myself!

Shopping is hard work, but my Mommy taught me well!

Cameron's 11th Birthday

2009-05-13T18:26:00.004-06:00

Cameron finally reached the ripe old age of 11 this week. So we had some fun on Tuesday to celebrate. Genevieve stayed up late on Tuesday night to make a big plate of cupcakes (with blue and green frosting and footballs and goalpost decorations on them), so Cameron could take them into his class with a load of juice boxes to share with his classmates. He loved them as you can see from his photo below:

He excitedly came home from school and told us all about how he had "Happy Birthday" sang to him 3 times during the day by various different people/groups at school :-)

Once he got home he was dying to open his presents and cards, but had to wait till Mum got home from work. While we were waiting I fired up the grill to get busy preparing his requested birthday dinner......BBQ Bacon Cheeseburgers!

Once Mum finally got home Cam finally got to "attack" his presents. As you can see from the pics below, he loved his gifts (a slip 'n' slide, new water guns, new clothes) and his special card from his Granny in Scotland. Mac also loved being able to share the pressies too......at least until she got too cold!

Cam has also been practising his tricks on the trampoline too......so here is his showreel!

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P.S. Genevieve would not forgive me if I didn't post the pic below in which I had a little "faux pas" while toasting the burger buns and came out with the quote:

"Oh no!.....my buns are on fire"

All in all a great wee fun evening and not a single injury....despite a near miss or two

Cupcakes....MMMMMmmmmmmm!

2009-05-11T22:25:00.003-06:00

Since it is Cameron's birthday tomorrow, we decided to make cupcakes for all the kids in his class at school.

Mackenzie insisted that she help with the baking. This basically meant licking the frosting of the spatula though!

It's a messy job but somebody has to do it I suppose......nice one Mac.......thanks for the help

Take me out to the ballgame!

2009-05-11T21:52:00.002-06:00

Today we spent the afternoon at the ballgame. Our friend Don was kind enough to invite us along to the daytime game at Isotopes park to see them play the New Orleans Zephyrs.

It was a hot (89degF) sunny day. It was crazy busy at the game as it was the School Day matinee game which is where school kids from all over Albuquerque and Central New Mexico come along.
We took Scarlett and Mackenzie along to the game and our friend Stacy joined us with her little girl Gabby (who is Mac's BFF!).
It was Scarlett's first ever baseball game and she enjoyed being outside with lots to see but was soon feeling sleepy after spending a couple of hours in the summer heat.
We all had a fun afternoon which ended with Gabby and Mackenzie running the bases on the field......howevcr, they decided to run the opposite way to the rest of the kids!

Here is Ms Mac taking the quickest route from A to B as she "runs the bases"

Gabby and Mac were all tired out after spending the afternoon in the sun and running the bases.

Woo hoo......early bed tonight

Stacy, Genevieve and girls after a day at the ballpark

Kenny with Scarlett in the best seat in the house!

The "real" Orbit is too scary.....so this almost lifesize bobblehead is as close as the girls like to get to him.

By the way.....the 'Topes won!.......but that didn't seem to matter :-)

Mac and Gabby at the "fountain"

2009-05-07T23:00:00.000-06:00

Across town in the ABQ uptown shopping area there is an area where there is a water "fountain" which has jets of water which shoot into the air from the paved area.

Mac and her BFF, Gabby, had a great time running through the water jets fully clothed. It is so funny to watch them run around until they get cold!

Luckily we brought along some spare dry clothes.

Ellie's birthday party

2009-05-06T22:30:00.000-06:00

Cameron, Mackenzie and Scarlett were all invited to Genevieve's friend's daughter, Ellie's, birthday party last weekend.

It was in a little park on the Westside of town and there were lots of games , hot dogs hamburgers and even a bouncy castle to play in.

They both had a great time, as you can see from the pictures below:

Cam and Mac ready to run the "three-legged" race

"C'mon Mac, focus, I wanna win"

"Hurry, Hurry Mac!"

The winning team with their prize.......a bubble blower

"Now you can sit there and watch me jump high Cam"

Kickball Sundays

2009-05-02T07:16:00.004-06:00

In Rio Rancho the city runs a kickball program for the kids during the spring and summer and we signed up Cameron for it this year. So on Sunday afternoons we head down to the baseball fields and watch him play. After two weeks of it he is really having a lot of fun and seems to be very good at it. It is great to just see him out there, give it all he has got and really getting into some good physical activities!

In case you don't know what kickball is (like I didn't, but maybe that is the whole being Scottish thing), it is basically baseball but instead of pitching and hitting with a bat, it involves pitching a soccer ball sized ball which is kicked. The rest of the rules are pretty much the same.....anyway...

Mackenzie loves going along too so she can cheer on her brother by continuously shouting "GO CAM!...GO CAM!".
Whether Cameron is on the field or not at the time does not seem to matter to her :-).

As for the rest of us it is a good excuse for us to have a nice afternoon hanging out at the park in the sunshine. As you can see from the pic, Scarlett just loves being outside!

Look at that kick.....that must be at least a double!

Another run for Cam as he crosses home plate!

" Now can I shout "GO CAM!....GO CAM!" ??

"Daaaad, you forgot to bring my pom-poms"

Scarlett sat on Dad's knee.......one of her happiest places to be!

Fun days at home

2009-04-22T21:08:00.002-06:00

Just some more pics

Here are the girls hanging out together on the sofa......in matching outfits of course!

And then it was off round the cul-de-sac on the bike for Miss Mac

The flowers are blooming!

2009-04-21T21:28:00.003-06:00

Needed to post this super cute picture of Scarlett in her fancy flower hat!

The flowers are blooming, so summer must be here!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-15T20:09:00.000-06:00

We had a fun Easter! We had lots of friends and family over for a BBQ and Easter Egg Hunt. We had Mother/Daughter pedicures too.

Presenting....Princess Mackenzie

2009-04-10T17:59:00.000-06:00

Mackenzie went to a birthday party for our neighbor Riley. It was a Princess Birthday party and Mackenzie had so much fun getting dressed up. She even got to wear lip gloss! What a day!

Trip to Santa Fe - Feb 2009

2009-02-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

While my Sister Heather was here from NY, we all went to Santa Fe on the Railrunner. The girls were so cute and had a blast on the "big train". We had a yummy lunch at the Sleeping Dog Tavern, went to the museum and stopped for Icecream too! What a fun day!!!

Bunny liked the train ride too!

You can't see me...

Savy taught Mackenzie to do her trendy "open mouth smile"...say cheese!

Cameron thought this was a cool post box.

Dessert Anyone?

2009-02-16T08:56:00.007-07:00

Mackenzie and Genevieve love to go to Red Lobster together for lunch. Dad doesn't care for seafood, so we like to go when Dad has to work. Mackenzie's favorite part is to ask for Strawberries and Cream for dessert. They always make her a special plate, even though it's not on the menu. So spoiled...and so worth it! How can you say no to this face?

Opening the Christmas Presents 2008

2009-02-03T12:01:00.011-07:00

"Let's go Buffalo!!!" Mackenzie has her very own Buffalo Bills jersey, in pink even! Thanks Nana!!!

This is Mackenzie's new Sesame Street kitchen. She loves to pretend to make food for everyone in the family...all the time. Now she has her own kitchen to play with. Her favorite part of the kitchen is the working microphone on the cash register. If she needs our attention and we won't answer her, she goes to her microphone and says "excuse me mama, I need you."

Cameron looks so handsome in the hat and scarf that Granny in Scotland made for him.

Here's Mackenzie opening her stocking gifts from Santa. She thought this was just great! Wait until she gets downstairs.

Family Christmas Card 2008

2009-01-28T15:40:00.004-07:00

Here is our family Christmas picture. We had every intention of sending this out to everyone, but I finally gave up and posted it to our blog. Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck with Christmas cards next year!

Cameron is our super speller

2008-12-18T12:16:00.004-07:00

Today was the final of the Cielo Azul Elementary School's First Annual Spelling Bee.

One child from each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade classes in the school competed to be in the finals several weeks ago and Cameron made it through from his class qualifier.

In all, 20 kids competed over several rounds, each taking turns to spell words from a list which had been given to them about 4 weeks ago.

Cameron worked hard with Genevieve and I over the last week to learn the word list and was all ready for the competition today.

I think in the end, Genevieve was way more nervous than Cameron was. But as Genevieve's Mum, Jane, said "There is some sort of sweet justice in Genevieve having to go through this" since Genevieve was often involved in these types of things at school as a kid and put her Mum in this very same situation on many occasions! LOL!

Cameron took his time, concentrated and ended up in 3rd place in the whole school!!!!

We are all very proud of him and he is even more proud of himself.

Granny's sweaters

2008-12-17T21:40:00.002-07:00

Kenny's Mum sends lots of beautiful hand-knitted clothes from Scotland.

Here are a few photos of Mackenzie & Scarlett in the latest delivery for the winter.

More Snow!

2008-12-16T21:39:00.001-07:00

We had some decent snowfall yesterday and school was cancelled......so out we all got wrapped up in our snow gear and went to build snowmen and have snowball fights!

As you can see, Cameron took advantage of anyone not being alert or ready to ensure they got well and truely "snowed"

Mac was super cute in her new snow suit which we got last year but she has not had a chance to use yet. She loved it. This is the first year she has been big enough to go out and enjoy the snow and loved every minute. She helped us all build a snowman and kept on fixing him up long after we had all moved on to play other games in the snow.

After about 2hrs outside we were all feeling the cold a bit and headed indoors to warm up. Dayne from next door was with us for the day since his Mum and Dad were working and school was cancelled. Once we all got warmed back up we decided to make and decorate some Christmas cookies. I think as much frosting and sprinkles ended up on or inside the kids than on the cookies, but they all had fun and it only took about an hour to clean up the kitchen after them!

It looks like the schools will be back tomorrow........

...as Cameron says it "Awwwhh Man"

Scarlett has arrived!

2008-12-12T20:48:00.007-07:00

On Wednesday 10th December 2008, the Black family became just a wee bit bigger!

Well, 7lb, 10oz and 21" bigger to be exact, as we welcomed the arrival of:

Miss Scarlett Isobel Black

She was born at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, NM at 04:00. Genevieve and Scarlett are both doing great and the rest of us are just excited about our newest little addition.

Click here for a slide show of all these photos and more

The first snow of winter

2008-12-09T11:15:00.002-07:00

This morning we had the first snow of winter.

Mackenzie was VERY excited and wanted to go out and play as soon as she woke up. We convinced her to wait until she had got some breakfast and had got changed out of her PJ's before she went out though.

There was not much snow, but just enough for her to throw it about and get herself cold in 15-20 minutes that she wanted to come inside and warm up by the fire.

Can't wait till we get a decent snowfall and she can really enjoy it.

A "Deep Fried" Turkey Day

2008-11-29T11:24:00.005-07:00

Thanksgiving has came and went and we got to have our first Thanksgiving dinner of our own since Genevieve's Mum was up in Rochester, NY awaiting the arrival of the next grandbaby.

Kenny got up early and ran in the Thanksgiving Day 10k race in Rio Rancho called the Hobbler Gobbler and set a new personal best of 54 mins 4 secs (on a hilly course in the rain) before heading home to help Genevieve with all the prep for the Thanksgiving day dinner

We planned to do the full big dinner of turkey with all the delicious trimmings (creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, bread rolls, stuffing….all from scratch) made by Genevieve’s fair hand and with assistance of Miss Mac and Cameron.

We decided to deep fry our turkey instead of roasting and with the help of our friend Don (who has the turkey fryer and was joining us for dinner) the guys all ventured out into the cul-de-sac in the showery rain to fry up the bird.

It went great and we managed to avoid injuries, grease fires, 3rd degree burns etc and ended up with a very crispy, yet moist turkey.

Genevieve's Dad and brother Matt arrived and joined us for dinner too.

We all over ate (as always happens) and watched some football allow things to settle before we attacked the desserts…(yes plural). Genevieve baked furiously during the week and made apple crumble, apple and cherry tart and mini mince pies, which were all served with ice cream or whipped cream…..YUMMY!

All in all a day of feasting and being VERY thankful for all we have!

How 'bout dem Cowboys???

2008-11-24T15:59:00.002-07:00

Christmas came early for me this year when Genevieve and Don surprised me with a gift on the second week of November.

Yes it was a trip to the "Mother Ship"

A one day round trip to fly to Dallas to see the Cowboys play the 49ers in one of the last games ever to be played in Texas Stadium. The Cowboys move to their new stadium next season.

I have been a Dallas Cowboys fan for many years (since I played for the Paisley Panthers as a Cornerback while at university in Scotland and when the Cowboys were at the peak) and yet had never been able to visit Texas Stadium for a game. Even though I have seen them play in Arizona and in Buffalo in previous years I had never been to a home game. So with Genevieve being pregnant and not able to travel this year and our plans to make our annual pilgrimage to an NFL game put on ice, it seemed like it would never happen.

However, unbeknownst to me, Genevieve and Don had been making plans for this trip for months and on Sunday 15th November while getting ready for our usual Sunday ritual of sitting down to watch football, a surprise was sprung. A mixture of shock, disbelief and amazement hit me all at once. After a few seconds I realized that the next Cowboys game I watch would be in Texas Stadium from the 50yd line! I was gobsmacked.

After a long week of waiting (and hoping that Scarlett did not put in an early appearance) the day came. Don and I flew out (first class) on the 6am flight from ABQ and got a cab to the stadium. We arrived about 3 hrs before the game which gave me just about enough time to circle the stadium both outside and in to be able to take it all in. We got to watch all the players arrive, got my "fairwell to Texas Stadium" shirt and took a ton of photos (a few of which are posted below.

I won't bore you with the details of the game but I will say it was great and the Cowboys played well and won (easily). I had an amazing day and flew home that night. Exhausted but exhilarated.

All I can think of now is......how do I try to top that for Genevieve's Christmas gift.....I better get my thinking cap on!

In summary, if you ever give Genevieve a gift, think carefully because......the one she gives you will always be better!

Arrrrrr me hearties! It be Halloween

2008-11-01T10:23:00.000-06:00

Ahoy there me hearties, It be that time o' year again to be dressin' up an' be goin' out huntin' for booty by the Trick or Treat. This year we be goin' wi' the theme o' PIRATES!

So on this fair moonlit night, Cap'n Black hoisted the Jolly Roger and led his band o' buccaneers together with his loyal wench, the fair Genevieve, and navigated the River's Edge area of Rio Rancho. On the voyage we be plundering as many ports as possible to gather all the doubloons and pieces o' eight we could carry from the landlubbers afore the night be closin' in.

After a great grand night o' pilliging and wi' bountiful swag in hand, it were back to Port Jewell fer some fine eatin' and some grog.

Not a night fer the lily-livered among ye.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2008!

2008-10-11T15:14:00.000-06:00

What perfect weather for the balloons this year! Mackenzie was the perfect age and loved all the special shapes! We got there nice and early and had time to eat breakfast before the balloon launch.

We got to take pictures with Steve Stucker, the channel 4 Weather guy! He collects balloon pins and he said his jacket weighs over 25lbs.

We found the Intel balloon too!

There were also some guys walking around the park dressed up as Star Wars characters. Cameron chased them all around the park until he got pics with all of them.

What a fun day!!!

Elephant Man Trip

2008-10-03T16:12:00.002-06:00

In September Kenny completed 2 triathlons including his first Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 26.5 mile bike, 6 mile run), called the Elephant Man Triathlon.

Completing this race was the main goal of Kenny's training all year. The race took place at Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico and of course the whole family (aka Kenny's cheer team) came down also and we spent the weekend there with our good friends Ron & Bridget (who kindly let us stay with them, as always).

Kenny was up early on the Sunday morning and had a great race over a very challenging and hilly course in temps of about 90degF, cheered on by his "fans" and he finished in 3hours 27 mins, which was 3 mins ahead of his goal!

Kenny is an Elephant Man!

Sunday was rounded off by a trip to the beach where we all got to play in the water and Mac got to wear her new swimsuit.

We then headed back to Ron & Bridget's and had a great meal while watching the sunset, which always seems to be beautiful down there.

We stayed until Monday and we spent most of that day out on the lake on Ron & Bridget's boat and Mac got to show off her driving skills.

Cameron got to go kneeboarding again and proved that it is like riding a bike by getting up on the board quickly and looking like a pro after just a few minutes.

Genevieve and Mac took frequent dips into the lake to cool off and Mac gladly jumped in after sitting on deck in the sun for a while. Kenny got to brush up on his waterskiing for a while too.

Below is short slide show with some more pics from our fun weekend:

Click on this link to view slide show full page in its original form or to download any of the pics: Elephant Butte - Sept 08

After working up an appetite out on the water, Ron and Bridget then took us all for the Monday night special at their favorite little taco place where we got a good feed before packing up and making the drive for home.

Every time we go down to the lake we always have so much fun and we always say we should go more often. We love being down there as a family and Ron & Bridget are so hospitable and welcoming. Maybe next year we will go there more often and not let day to day life make excuses for us.

Cameron's First Day of 5th Grade

2008-09-14T18:30:00.000-06:00

Cameron's first day at his new school, Cielo Azul. They built the new school less then a mile from our new house. Cameron just loves the new school and his new teacher, Mrs. Knutzen.

Another hard day at the office?

2008-08-16T10:15:00.004-06:00

Yesterday was a tough day at the office. It was the 6th event in Kenny's department's Olympic teambuilding summer games. It is basically 10 events that run over 10 weeks where 7 different team compete against each other to be top of the medals table and win gold!

So far there has been everything from basketball and volleyball to an Olympics quiz and even a Ms PacMan competition.

Event 6 was Tug o' War ! Below you can watch the video of Kenny and his team in their first round match which the won convincingly (2-0).

Kenny can be seen at the front of the rope for his team.

All good fun! But need to work on that technique now that they are through to the next round.

1....2....3.....HEAVE !!!!

Tug o War

I want to ride my bicycle

2008-08-13T14:30:00.004-06:00

In the words of the song by Queen....
"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike"
"I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like"

So that is exactly what we did today. Kenny, Cameron and Mac went on a bike ride to the park.

Mac gets 10 out 10 on the cuteness scale as usual, esp wearing her brand new doggie helmet

Cam looks like he is too cool for school. But next week the summer vacation is over and he will be off to his new school. Cielo Azul Elementary.....home of the Ravens!

Kenny and Mac on the "Mean Machine".

A serious work out for Kenny in the engine room of the Mean Machine, especially when Mac is sitting back with her juice in her hand shouting "GO FAST DADA!!!!!"

We also got to fly the kites at the park, however Cameron was the only one who had any success in the light winds we had this morning.

Another fun day in the Black household

Mac's Bath time

2008-08-12T21:18:00.003-06:00

Mackenzie, just like her Mum, loves her baths!

Unfortunately for her, Mum was busy tonight, so Dad was on bath duty.

But Dad can be fun too............really!

Is there anything more fun than making strange hair styles or bubble beards in the bath?

But what do you do when your cool hairstyle becomes a flop?

Just get more bubbles and keep on smiling!

But then just as your having fun Dad says it is time to get out.......Uh-Oh!!!!

When does Mama get home?

Angry Face & Sea Lion Impressions

2008-08-09T17:40:00.003-06:00

There is no end to the talents of our Mackie Moo as can be seen in this recent video clip taken in a restaurant while on vacation in San Francisco where she shows us some of her "talents"

In the beginning she shows us her "Angry Face" (which it seems she can never do for long without laughing and shaking her head) and then as the clip progresses we get to see her impression of a Sea Lion (we had just seen them from the pier and Mackenzie seemed to really love them).

You will also notice in the clip how well she takes direction on her performance!

I am sure stardom can wait for a few years yet.........but not as far as she is concerned

Our California Vacation

2008-08-08T15:13:00.000-06:00

The Blacks are back from vacation!

Genevieve had to go over to Folsom, CA on Intel business for a few days so we decided to make this into a family vacation trip. We all had a great 10days over in California and manage to cram in far to many things to mention here in one short blog post.

Some of the highlights included:

Getting to visit family (Grandma (several times!) and Todd & Dee)
Day trip to San Francisco (WOW....way cool, to many things to list)
Going on a WWII amphibious vehicle tour of San Francisco (Cameron even got to drive it)
Visiting the Jelly Belly jelly bean factory (no other comment needed except yummy)
Swimming in the American River (beautiful but cold water)
Going to Fairytale Land in Sacramento (Mackenzie loved it)
Folsom Zoo Sancuary visit (cute little zoo where all the animals were rescued from labs, horrible owners/breeders etc)
Snooks Candy Store visit in Old Folsom (handmade chocolates to die for!)
California Railroad Museum (tons to see and do, Cameron loved seeing all the fancy sleeping cars but Mac was disappointed that the trains did not have a swimming pool, LOL)
Wandering round Old Sacramento (visiting cool old stores and eating too much saltwater taffy!)
Going swimming almost every day (I think Cameron and Mackenzie are almost part fish by now!)
Cameron jumping off a 12 ft springboard at Folsom Aquatic Center (Go Cam!)
Eating at ton of great places (the 7lb weight gain I made on the trip will be testament to this)
etc
etc

Just too many things to go on about to be honest.

I think one of my longest lasting memories of the trip will also be one of the simplest ones. Every time we returned to our hotel room and opened the door Mackenzie walked in and said "Mmmmm, nice. I like it". i.e. basically mimicking Genevieve's comment that she made when we arrived on the first day.

Below I have added a slide show with a load of pics from our vacation which you can watch. You can also view the pics separately and download them by clicking on the photo of Mac in the plane ready for the trip

Enjoy the show:

California Vacation - Jul/Aug 08

TOGA....TOGA......TOGA.....

2008-07-23T16:03:00.002-06:00

Each year Kenny and load of guys from work do what they call

"The Toga Run"

Kenny is 3rd from right in the photo above

Basically it consists of the group of guys he runs with at work getting dressed up in full togas and running down the main street in Rio Rancho to one of the local eating establishments (this year McD's) and eating Caesar salads (of course) and then running back to work.

No real reason for it.

Just a bit of fun.

They got plenty of honks and cheers from passing motorists this year (including one person who stopped to take a picture??!!!???Weird?) and for some strange reason the got more honks when running towards the oncoming traffic than away from it. (I suppose they just looked better from the front than the back?)

Our zoo trip

2008-07-03T17:56:00.012-06:00

It has been a busy week or so in the Black house so we decided to make some time for us all as a family to do something fun together. So yesterday Genevieve took the day off work, I was already scheduled to be off and we headed to the Rio Grande Zoo.

This was Mac's first time at the zoo since she really understood what the animals were and she loved it.

A fun day was had by all......and I can assure you that we all slept well that night!

Below are some photos from our day out

Zoo Trip - July08

Get on yer bike

2008-06-20T16:49:00.003-06:00

Since getting his new bike in April (and getting spoiled rotten by his loving wife!), Kenny has became quite fanatical about cycling.

He has even been riding to work a lot (see photos of him on his ride and the views he passes while doing this) This is both helping him get fit and train for his triathlons and also saving a few bucks on gas.

However due to the ever present need to buy more gear for the bike (which is NEEDED according to Kenny) the savings in gas money are quickly overridden (pardon the pun)....see him in his fancy new cycling shirt below for example!

So much for the ever increasing price at the pump......in our house it is the ever increasing price at the pedal that is more concerning....LOL

Mackenzie's first Haircut

2008-05-14T17:19:00.007-06:00

Okay, here we go. I'm a bit nervous Julie, so be gentle please!

Sooooooo pretty!

Almost Done!

All Done! Thank you Julie! Kiss-Kiss

Xmas Party with Kenny's work folks!

2008-01-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

On Dec 16 we had Kenny's dept over for a Christmas Party. It was so much fun. There was lots of food for everyone and fun and games for the kids. Our neighbor, Darcy, dressed up as Santa for all the kids. He was so great at it and even had Kenny as his side-kick Shrek Elf! Mackenzie wasn't sure about Santa at first, but then was ok once she recognized the voice! HAHA

Lunch Day! WOOHOO!

2007-12-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Well today is Wednesday and for those of you who don't know, this is Genevieve and I's day for lunch together.
Every other Wednesday we both have to be at work. While this is disappointing because the kids are not able to be with us :-( It is also great beacuse the kids do not have to be with us :-) Cam is at school and Miss Mac is at the babysitter. So this gives us the chance to have a bit of time for US!

Usually we take it in turns to decide where we want to go, unless one of us is particularly craving a certain place. Although it may not seem like a big event to most folks, I am sure those of you reading this who have kids, esp younger ones, will know only too well why we get excited about this.
We get to have a nice lunch without 101 questions about everything that is going on in the restaurant and about the food (compliments of our inquisitive 9 year-old) or continuous squawks of "more" from Mac who will insist that she is still hungry despite having eaten a meal which could satisfy the appetite of a compulsive eater.

So today we went to the Flying Star Cafe (one of our regular favs) cos they do FANTASTIC desserts (Me: French Silk Pie, Genevieve: Raspberry Blackout Cake as usual :-p) and enjoyed our peaceful lunch before going and doing a little bit of xmas shopping.

Well I say xmas shopping but as many of you who know anything about Genevieve will know that "we" are VERY organized and that "our" xmas shopping is completed (in reality Genevieve probably had 95% of her gifts bought before the clocks went back but I only finished this week!).

However this year Genevieve is volunteering at the Children's Winter Carnival at Intel next Monday. This is where kids in the local community who may have recently lost a loved one, are from financially needy homes or in foster care get to come on site and have a fun day of crafts, games and get to meet Santa.

Each of the kids is "sponsored" by an Intel employee. Each sponsor gets some information about one of the kids and buys them a few things to make their Christmas a little bit more enjoyable. They also volunteer their time to go with them around the carnival with them and help give them a really fun time. Genevieve found out she is sponsoring a 10 year old girl so we went shopping to provide a few toys and some nice cute clothes to help her have a nicer Christmas. I thought it was a lovely idea, esp at this time of year, where we can all get caught up in the gift buying frenzy and take for granted all of the wonderful things that our families and kids have and others may not. I am very proud of my wife in many ways and this is just another of the reasons!

Now what are you doing to makes someone else's Christmas a little bit more special this year?

The Cold Weather Has Arrived. Mac is Ready!

2007-12-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

Well the cold weather has finally arrived in NM.

Today it is rainy and cold outside.

As you can see from the pic below, Miss Mac is all ready for this change and is wrapped up in her nice woolly sweater (as knitted by her Granny in Scotland) and is ready for some cold weather.

They say there will be snow here tonight but we will just have to wait and see.

Have you thought about your grave??

2007-11-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or does the event promoted at the one of the local senior centers here in town seem a little bit sick? See photo. I mean, I am sure they are all aware that they are closer to the grave than their teenage years but to rub it in like this by holding a talk on graves????

Does the beginning of the presentation go something like this?:

"Good afternoon and welcome, I know you are all thinking about your impending inevitable life event, but have you been wondering about how you can leave your mark on this mortal earth after you're gone?. Well wonder no longer......today we are going to review some of the famous and unusual graves from around the world to give you some inspiration so that you can make you own intentions clear to your loved ones! In addition our very own memorial co-ordinator will be in available after this event to help you look at your options and assist you in the final (sorry, poor choice of word) decision making process (for a small fee of course)."

Anyway after passing this sign for few days I had to get a
photo of it. This then prompted the conversation between Genevieve and I about graves. We said that if we were to be buried maybe we should get matching headstones ....... however, my suggestion of the gravestones being both the same as below was not thought to be a winner....... I don't know why........Hmmmm?

A busy week.....as usual.

2007-11-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well another week (or so) goes by in Black household and it has been a busy one as usual. Both Genevieve and I have had a hectic week at work but at least it always comes to an end. Good news is that Genevieve now has a full week off work for Thanksgiving and it is also my long week end off so I don't return to work till Thursday (Thanksgiving Day). Woo hoo! :-) So we get to spend some well earned time off together this week.

As for Mackenzie and Cameron, both are doing well. Mackenzie just seems to be running about, talking and generally getting into everything more and more each day....but she is so cute how can you get upset. As for Cameron, he is doing well at school and got another 100% in his weekly spelling test (obviously getting his brains from his parents....I'll let you the reader decide which one!). Cameron helped to make a pizza for dinner the other night from scratch and it was delicious (no doubt who he gets the cooking skills from....I'll give you a hint......it is not me!)

This week's big event for me was Horrorfest 2007.....(scary movie festival check out this link for details of the movies). Each year movie company "After Dark" releases 8 horror movies that did not get widespread releases for a 10 day period only. There was a good mix of movies last year and the line up this year looked good too. Last year I went to see a couple of the movies and thoroughly enjoyed them. This year I have managed to squeeze in 3 films so far this week (and may try and go to another tonight). So far I managed to see Tooth and Nail, The Deaths of Ian Stone and Borderland. Will see if I can get along to see Mulberry Street tonight.........but only if my lack of sleep this week does not catch up on me today. Since these movies are shown at a regular multiplex cinema, they are showing a lot of them at unusual times and I have been home long after midnight on a couple occasion this week trying to see the one I want, so sleep has been at a minimum for me this week due to this, but obviously I deserve no sympathy becasue it all self induced

Last night Genevieve had a load of girls over to the house for a Pampered Chef party in the house. (NB: For those more ignorant of what this is, or more commonly known
as "men", Pampered Chef is a line of fancy cooking accessories and
paraphenalia which is sold only thru party plan type sales. Check out this link
for more details). She made some nice food for everyone who came, including a Crab Rangoon dip which was delicious (this was of course according to others, since I did not try it as I am not a seafood lover). From what I heard it seemed to go well and all in all it was a fun evening. I must also admit it was nice for me to come home after a long day at work and "help" clear the other leftover food (using my over active appetite of course LOL!) which was also very tasty and included a fantastic pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting that tasted even better than it looked......and that is saying something cos it looked awesome!

Well that is about it. Just looking forward to a nice (and hopefully more relaxing) week ahead. Tomorrow we are having the family over for dinner at our house, since it is Jane's (Genevieve's mum) birthday week and we want her to have e nice break from Sunday cooking and enjoy her birthday celebration. I am going to see a band on Monday night called "Suicidal Tendencies" (check out the link). (they are a skate punk band who were big in the 80's and 90's when I was a proper skateboarder) Hopefully they will be up to par and not some old crusties just trotting out some old songs just for the money....but we will see. Obviously on Thursday it is Thanksgiving, and we are all looking forward to a delicious Thanksgiving meal over at the Jewell's residence and eventhough I am working that day, I will be making sure I get over there on my break to get a nice turkey dinner too.(Mmmmmm!)

Genevieve's "Birthweekend"

2007-11-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

I know it is a little bit late posting this but as I said before, I am gonna try and keep this blog updated so here goes.....albeit a bit late.

So the weekend of Friday 2nd November thru Sunday 4th November of this year was Genevieve's "birthweekend". No that is not a typo.....it is a new word which I had to create to describe the 3 days of festivities that we enjoyed to celebrate Genevieve's "birthday" on the 2nd Nov. Of course we could never disclose the age of a lady, but suffice to say that she will always be significantly younger than her hubby and leave it at that.

Birthweekend - Day 1 (aka "Birthday Classic")

It started early on the morning of Friday the 2nd when Genevieve had to get up for work (Yeah I agree, what a bummer to have to work on your birthday.....In my opinion they should pass a law where everyone gets their birthday off work/school each year.....that would be cool.....write to your representative now!). Anyway, after getting up and opening the cards and pressies with Cameron and Mackenzie (since I was already at work before the birthday girl awoke), Genevieve went thru her work day morning routine. On arriving at work she was greeted by her office being decorated with balloons, streamers, glitter confetti and a big Happy Birthday banner. Which I think got her birthday off to a good start and got a big smile, if not even a tear or two. I had sneaked over to her office cubicle the day before and basically went as crazy as I could with decorations and it seemed to get exactly the reaction I was hoping for. :-) That evening, Genevieve was under strict instructions not go over to the Pengelly's house (our next door neighbors. We had planned to go over for a birthday dinner, but Genevieve was unaware of the surprises planned. I managed to get away from work early and headed next door to get ready. Rachelle (from next door) and I had planned to decorate the place with pink balloons and streamers all over the place and set to work. Rachelle had also got a load of Disney princess stuff to decorate the place too which was pretty funny. Once dinner time arrived I escorted the birthday girl to the neighbors house where upon she was greeted by about 10 adults and kids in Disney princess party hats shouting "surprise". The look on her face was priceless (and may be posted on this blog as soon as I get a copy of the pic).

We all then dined on lovely meal of nice steaks and Alaskan king crab legs followed by a homemade chocolate brithday cake (Mmmmm!). After dinner we got all the kids off to bed and played Pictionary (one of Genevieve's brithday presents). We played boys against girls and I was paired up with Darcy (Rachelle's husband) and Genevieve partnered with Rachelle. The girls well and truely beat us (at least 3 times just to be sure). I think Darcy and I's talents obviously lie elsewhere.....but not sure where. Well after several hours of this and a number of hands of Euchre (a 4 player card game) it was well into day two of the "Birthweekend" and bed time came around.

Birthweekend - Day 2 (aka Birthday 2 "The Birthday Strikes Back" )

Well the highlight of Saturday's festivities was the evening. Our good friend Don, with whom we always spend time with esp on each of our birthday's, had something good planned. Genevieve had a babysitter for Cam and Mac and got dressed up in our "fancy" clothes and headed out for a more sophisticated evening. We picked up Don and to begin the evening headed to the Gruet Steak house ( the old Monte Vista Fire Station) on Central in Albuquerque. Check out the menu at this link. Anyway we had nice bottle of Gruet Brut with a delicious cheese plate to start. We followed this with the delicious steaks (10oz Filet Mignon for Don and I with the birthday (day 2) girl having stuffed roast tenderloin with wild mushrooms and garlic spinach together with a coldwater Australian lobster tail) and we all shared a nice bottle of Gruet red wine.......(Jeez...I am drooling on the keyboard as I type and just think about it again.) . The meal was rounded out with 3 great desserts, one of which included the obligatory birthday candle of course!

The evening the proceeded to Popejoy Hall to see the musical based on Billy Joel's songs called "Movin' Out" (see wiki link for more details) since Genevieve is a fan of Billy Joel's music and piano skills. We all enjoyed watching the show and the dancing which accompanied it and played out the stories told by the songs was amazing, and even I have to admit (not being a Billy Joel fan and preferring punk to piano) the show was great and good fun. This was despite the fact I could not join in with the singing of every song word for word like Don and Genevieve both seemed to be able to do, I have to admit my foot was tapping rhythmically all the way through it.

Birthweekend - Day 3 (aka Birthday 3 "Return of the Birthday")

By the time Sunday came around we were both starting to feel the wear of the festivites on us and were glad to enjoy a (little) bit of a lie in bed to start the day. As 11:00am approached folks started arriving for the "football birthday" day. We invited friends to come over and watch the Bills (of Buffalo of course), have some pizza and hang out. Quite a few folks showed up (even including one of my old friends from Ireland who was in town that weekend) and we had nice relaxing enjoyable afternoon watching the football. Even the Buffalo Bills helped the birthday celebrations along by providing a runaway 33-21 win over the Cinncinati Bengals.

After the football we headed over to the Jewell residence for sunday dinner and as is the tradition, the birthday person get to decide what is for dinner that week. I have to say that Genevieve made a fine choice by selecting chile with a raspberry trifle for dessert. (Have you noticed a theme for enjoying good food all through this weekend yet????....hard to miss eh?).

This rounded of the final day of the "Birthweekend" and with full tummy's we all headed home to sleep off the overindulgence before the work week arrived again.

New "Blak" Website

2007-11-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well I know this blog is supposed to be about the NM Blacks but I promised Calum (Kenny's brother) that I would post a link to his all new website for his small design business which he has just put online.
Go check it out and see some of his very cool artwork. Of course he would love it if you would pass it on if you know of anyone who is looking for some cool funky design work!
He is based in Scotland but can work on anything remotely (gotta love this whole internet thing eh?)

Here is the link:
www.blakltd.com

K

Blacks are back on the blog

2007-11-06T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well it has been just over 6 months since I set up this blog. Full of good intentions to update regularly with loads of info and pics and well...........it never happened :-(

So after much jostling by folks to make more of an effort and go update it regularly I am giving it another try, so we'll see how it goes this time.

Halloween 2007
Well last week was Halloween (everyone say "Oooooohhhhhh!!!") and we all dressed up as usual. This year the cast of characters was as follows:

Mackenzie - Pumpkin (just too cute.....and no need for any carving or candles)

Cameron & Mufasa - Superboy & Superdog (....to the rescue!)

Genevieve - Prison inmate (Wanted for pumpkin theft!)

Kenny - Freddy Kruger (Mommy can't help you now!)

We headed down to the Jewell residence together with the Pengelly's (our next door neighbors) and began our trick or treat trip round the River's Edge neighborhood. It was a cool night but we all had a lot of fun and the kids got a good haul of candy. Mackenzie was a bit weary of approaching the houses to begin with but once we had been to a couple of them and she understood that candy was going to come her way simply by going to the door and looking cute, she soon understood....LOL!

Anyway after a good while out in the cool air we headed back to Dave and Jane's and all tucked into some delicious soup..........and the kids started to make a dent in their candy mountains. Maybe they will be able to eat it all before next halloween. But only if Mum and Dad can help them of course !

A Trip To McCalls's Pumpkin Patch - Oct 2007

2007-10-22T21:31:00.000-06:00

Today we took a trip to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. We went with a bunch of our friends. It was a very cold and windy day, but we all had a blast. We went looking for pumpkins and ate a yummy lunch. The kids fed the animals and played around the farm.

Here's the gang!

On the way to find a pumpkin!

Mackenzie found a pumpkin she wanted to take home (of course...she wanted to take them all home, even the ones that were brown and mushy! )

Cameron quickly found a pumpkin that he liked. Not too big...since we told him he had to carry his own pumpkin back to the van!

We found some yummy corn on the cob. We were going to try a bite of Kenny's corn, but it didn't even make it back to the table. We sent him right back to go and get an ear of corn for each of us!

"Look Mom, a chair just my size!"

"Okay Mom, I'm ready to go home now"

Trip to New York - Oct 2007

2007-10-19T20:40:00.000-06:00

You can see the spray from Niagara Falls behind us. What perfect weather for seeing the sites around New York!

One of the main reasons for our trip to NY....going to the Buffalo_Dallas NFL game. The "Mother Ship" was calling me home. Poor Buffalo ended up losing by only a point. I wasn't sure Kenny (decked out in his Cowboys jersey) was going to make it back to the car in one piece. Sorry...no pictures of Cowboys gear on this blog...only Bills lovers here!

We also went to a hockey game while we were in town. GO SABRES!!!!!!!!!!

Here we all are at the Anchor Bar - Home of the orginal Buffalo Wing! Unlike Heather (according to her blog they only claim to)...I think they did originate here!

Cameron thought the suicide wings were a bit warm!

Savy was in charge of the register at the museum. She made sure everyone paid for their groceries before we left the store. It looks like Savy might have over charged Cameron.

Miss Mac loved shopping at the "Kids Wegmens" at the Strong museum of Play in Rochester. Mackenzie carefully picked out 7 boxes of mashed potatoes and 4 cloves of garlic (even though there were strict instructions to only have 5 items in her cart). She follows directions as well as her Mother.

The family in front of the famous Charlie the Butcher in Buffalo, NY. He is most famous for his Beef on Weck! YUMMY, YUMMY!

Here we are on the Maid of the Mist boat ride at Niagra Falls. Mackenzie thought being sprayed with water was GREAT. She started to stick out her tounge and catch the water in her mouth!

Our new house

2007-05-01T16:33:00.000-06:00

Well today was the day we go our first official walkthrough of the new house we are building in the Northern Meadows area of Rio Rancho.

The house is being built by Raylee Homes and it is a model called "The Trap". Let's hope that the name is not an ominous premonition.
The house is about 2600 sq ft, 2-storey detached house in a cul-de sac.. It has 4 bedrooms 2.5 bathrooms and we have chosen lots of nice upgrades so it is going to be nice once it is completed. It is the first house in the street to be built so we are sitting with dirt all around us as the moment. Hopefully that won't last too long.

We have had a number of frustrations with the process so far, so it nice to see that we are getting closer to finishing. We heard today that the house should be ready for move in late in June or early July.

The house has now got all the framing completed, all the electrical cable install and plumbing is also now done so we had to check that everything was as we had planned. We are glad to be able to say that all is well so far so it is on to completion now. The next steps are the sheetrock (drywall) of the inside followed by the stucco outside. Once this is done the interior finish and exterior work such as front landscaping driveway etc. get going simultaneously.

Let's hope that all go smoothly from now on !

Here we go!

2007-04-30T12:45:00.000-06:00

Since everyone else is doing it, let's give it a go.

Hopefully this will be a fun record of the memories of our family for all to enjoy

K