Perez Party of Five: Oct 24, 2008

This is Carissa experiencing a comical punishment. Those of you who know me, know that I discipline my children with logical consequences. What you are seeing is Carissa wearing homemade blinders. She was having a hard time staying focused on her chores and homework, so I helped her out a bit. You can see that she's not too happy, but it actually worked. I just had to take a picture of it.

At the Fall Festival, they had an area to make your own scarecrow. Trae was hanging out with friends for the day, so he didn't get to help us create Wilma. He had to meet her when he got home and he wasn't too impressed, but he was a little jealous.

We went to the Fall Festival on post and had a little fun. Everything was free. Now that's my kind of fun!! Carissa did the bungy run and it was quite hilarious to watch her run as far as she could and then get snapped backwards.

Fishing on Ft. Rucker during fall break wasn't so successful. We couldn't go fishing until I got out of class which put us in the hot afternoon sun. It was 89 degrees that day, which doesn't make for great fishing. We had fun anyway and fished at 3 of the 5 lakes on Rucker.

I worked very hard to get a picture of this butterfly, so I hope you enjoy my effort. I had forgotten how beautiful the south is. It's hard to notice when you move here in the summer, but now that fall has come around, I'm really enjoying my surroundings. We came from a very dusty, windy, and dry El Paso full of jack rabbits, dove, oryx, and stray dogs to a beautiful lush, green, Alabama full of armadillos, opposums, turtles, butterflies, and brilliantly colored cardnials and blue jays. Ft. Rucker is a quiet little post and the people are so friendly. Most of the locals, sound just like Forest Gump. It's good to be here.

October 2009

Once upon a time there was community of cotton farmers. Then one day a nasty little bug called a boll weevil decided to ruin everyone's cotton crops (probably a curse from all the days of slavery). Anyway, people had to figure out what to do and how to grow something that the boll weevil couldn't destroy, so some genius decided to plant peanuts. Apparently, peanuts are pretty hardy and the boll weevil didn't care too much for them, so peanuts became the new cash crop in southern Alabama. The boll weevil is worshipped in these parts. He's a pretty famous little guy. There is a Boll Weevil Circle, which is a main road through town; there is a fountain on Main Street in the middle of downtown with someone holding a boll weevil up in the air, and the mascot for Enterprise-Ozark Community College is the Boll Weevil. You should see that guy dressed up in a boll weevil costume, it is a sight to see. An annual Peanut Festival is also celebrated in honor of the thriving peanut industry. The boll weevil is an ugly little booger, but he sure saved the day in a round about way!!

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Easter

Easter egg dying went to a whole new level this year. As our kids get older the magic starts to fade away, so we have to be creative. This year the kids had 3 eggs to dye. One would think that dying 3 eggs would go by really fast. Well, not with our kids. They dyed and redyed their eggs trying to make the perfect colors. It took them almost an hour to dye their 3 eggs. The funny part is that the next day, Carissa cried when Jose ate one of her eggs. I guess the magic never really goes away after all.

Lilly May

Here is the newest member of our family. Her name is Lily. We rescued her from Save-A-Pet, with PetSmart. She is a goofy dog that is definately a product of over-breeding. She is part beagle and part terrier. She has an extra toe on each hind leg and a huge underbite, which makes her the worst water drinker in the world. She has the worst smelling farts you'll ever smell, but she is the sweetest thing you'll ever see. Thanks to the Dog Whisperer and my creative genius side, she is housebroken and quite the little lady. We love our Lilly and she has made herself at home. Angel even likes her now. They are like peas and carrots.