Missing the Sunny days of Summer!

As the winter grows colder and colder and I have to have three dozen layers of clothes on to keep me less than warm, I remember the warmth of the summer and the great times Mr. Baer and I are going to have at the pool and making sand castles at the lake.

Summer,
 Will you please rush to get back to us and bring your wonderful sunshine with you?

Kristi & Baer

Neverland

Happy Halloween... and a grand adventure to you! This year Mr. Baer insisted on being Peter Pan for the Halloween season and I was chosen to portray the wonderful Wendy Lady! I asked if I could be Tink and Baer's response was "No! You are too big!" I knew that our costumes would have to be related to flight in some way, due to the fact that my little man is completely obsessed with the thought of flight and space! I have made so many airplanes, rockets and space shuttles that I feel I could practically work for Boeing. I remember once I even made Baer and his little pal, Cole, cardboard airplanes they could hold up with suspenders and fly around in! However, this was my first attempt at a Pan costume, granted we did already have a Robin Hood costume that I spent late nights making last Christmas, that could have served a dual purpose, we just both had bigger plans!

This was our first Halloween in the Four Corners and without Joe, he was planning to be our Captain James Hook, and he was missed, after all what would Neverland be like with Pirates? But we trucked on anyway. I took Baer to the Community Halloween Carnival and he played lots of games and was really impressed by all the wonderful costumes. We even won a cake in our first ever Cake Walk!

On Halloween day, we headed to Durango to Trick or Treat downtown at all the little shops. Half way down the first street, Mr. Baer was exhausted and told me we had enough candy and we should go home! HA! enough candy??? where did this kid come from?

Pteranodon Baer

I found the cutest panel when Mr. Baer and I ventured to town together, we went to the store to purchase binding and of course came out with a whole new bundle of projects. Baer loves Dinosaur Train  on PBS kids and I really don't mind him watching it because I learn a bunch too. :)

The panel consisted of wings, a collar and hood, and with some cutting, sewing, minor adjustments, ripping out and re-sewing, we ended up with the cutest little Pteranodon costume ever! The instructions called for sew-in interfacing for the collar, however, I say YUCK to that! I used super stiff fusible interfacing to make the collar stand and give it a bit of curve. We also replaced the double fold bias tape that was to border the hood with orange and lime green rick rack, just for fun!

Mr. Baer enjoyed jumping off the stairs and landing in the "lake" to swoop up his fish for dinner all night and all morning. Finally, I had to set a timer for 5 minutes so that he would take off his new set of wings and go to bed.

I love making things for a little man who appreciates them so much!

Air Race!

If it has to do with airplanes, you can bet we will be there! I saw a flyer for the Pagosa Springs Air Race and immediately thought of Mr. Baer, wouldn't you?

The air race was held at Stevens Field and opened to the public at 8 am and we were there with coffee in hand. Baer got to meet the pilots and sit in about 5 different homemade racers. He was so pumped. About 35 planes took off and landed right in front of a pretty big crowd, all the while we could hear the pilots conversing with the control tower, very cool! The racers flew a 180 mile course and with the fastest one reaching speeds of 325 miles per hour, and landing within 35 minutes of take-off. We didn't stick around to see the last planes land, but we did enjoy the warm weather and the opportunity to root for our favorite plane, the The Spirit of America piloted by Alan Crawford from Texas.

Peaceful Life

I have finally found the time to sit down and upload and edit photos to share with you all, my family and friends. Once all the boxes were unpacked and everything washed and put away and then re-put away, I sat and started going through old photos and scrapbooks. I used to love scrap-booking, mainly because it was a way to connect with my sista and good friends Emma and Missy. However, since the two girls moved away from Denver and my sister lives so far away, it wasn't really fun to do by myself, so I boxed up every bit of Archivers merchandise I had accumulated and sent it packing to Childress. After looking at the scrapbooks again, I remembered why I started documenting photos and blogging... its fun and calming! yay!

The above photo was taken the day we moved from Denver to the Four Corners area across from the San Juan National Forest, we literally rolled out of the U-Haul and posed. :) We have had so much fun exploring, fishing, hunting, camping and just being, that I'm not sure we have had the chance to miss the hustle and bustle of Denver. *NO wait, I take that back... I DO miss Target, there is definitely a hole in my life that only Target can fill!*

Mr. Baer has enjoyed the little pond on the property almost daily. We catch craw-dads, dragon flies, lizards, and more lizards and of course: FISH! I am so glad that we decided to move to an area where the wildlife he sees in not restricted to the Zoo or stuffed and on display in the museum. Although we thoroughly  enjoyed both places to the fullest, it has been fun to see my little man develop a sense of wilderness about him.

Alive and well....

Hello All! It has been a while since I have updated my few followers in regards to the AMAZING MIZES, but we are alive and doing quite well!
In the past couple of months, we have quit our jobs, moved across the state, found a new home and started a new jobs! So... as you can tell, I have been rather busy. I have loads of photos and stories to share, be patient!

Love,
Kristi Rae

Tape, Boxes and tears

December 15, 2005, Joe and I moved into our first house together, we had moved a bunch before this date, however this was the first place that was ultra special or would be ultra special to me. Throughout our time here, we have patched holes, replaced walls, torn down walls and painted.. oh! How we have painted!

As I boxed up the last bit of Mr. Baer's room yesterday and preceded to vacuum his room, I just sat there and tears began to roll. I thought back to how excited we were for him to arrive and how we meticulously planned his room. We taped off each circle, I took a maternity photo each month with his wall has the back drop and rocked him to sleep every night in that room. I know that a  room is just a room, but some how its not. I felt my tears were justified.

Joe built the cabinets that hang in the kitchen and closed in the garage, he replaced the bathroom three times until I loved it. There is so much of US in this home, seven years of US! The first time we looked at this house, I told Joe "Make it happen." And he did. I will miss riding to the park, library, zoo, grocery store and swimming pool, everything is within a mile of me.

Change is very hard, very hard! We are all very excited about our move, its just going to be hard to say goodbye to a place we have made SO many memories.