Cora's First Performance

Cora was so nervous about her performance tonight. She did a great job and we our so proud of our budding violinist!

Click on the picture for a link to her performance.

Twinkle Twinkle

signs

my boy is changing.

gosh, i hate it. especially because he is my firstborn. that's what i keep telling myself at least.

he is still my sweet child, but i see the metamorphosis happening.

he's increasingly more quiet (if that is possible).
he retreats to his bedroom for long periods of time.
he likes music and listens to it and knows all the current songs.
some girls really annoy him, but SOME don't. (eek)
he is wearing deodorant.
his legs are getting hairier.
he doesn't see the need to shower EVERY day.
he has almost a man's appetite.
i am no longer allowed to hold his hand or kiss him in public. (stab my heart)
he and i are reading the same books for fun.

this is a heart wrenching part of parenthood. i know it is just growing pains for us both, but man does this hurt emotionally. i am happy to see him mature and develop himself. but what happens when he has a girlfriend? oh no, i don't think they are going to stand a chance.

i've got to tame my mama-bear now.

Mustang Owners Car Show

I took these three boys with me today to the Mustang Owners Club of Austin Car Show. I have to admit it was more for me than for them, but I think they enjoyed it. The muscle cars of the 60s and 70s these days just seem to call my name these days - may be directly related my approaching 40. One of these days I may surprise Jen and drive one home instead of my 1997 Volvo.

Cristian's Favorite - Shelby Cobra

Mason's Favorite - because of the doors.

Not sure what Ian's favorite car was, but he just appreciates cars in general.

I didn't really have a favorite, but I definitely gravitate to the 60s mustangs. There were probably 40 of them there. Very Nice!

I am looking forward the Texas Classic Car Show on September 24!

pacos' love of my sister

carlos loves this picture of shay. in fact he uses it on his phone as her i.d. when she calls. i don't even know how she produced such a face but it's here to stay. she actually scares me here. one of her finer moments and i'm sure she's thrilled to be published here.

zoo fieldtrip

i take one large outing with the kids every week and call it "fieldtrip day". the name alone excites them more than the outing i think. this week we drove up to waco to visit the cameron park zoo. we've been a handful of times before and enjoyed it so much that we've bought season passes.

yesterday was a great time with the kids. i so enjoyed the afternoon with them. here are some highlights:

1. the 109 degree weather
2. mason asking to go home after we'd been there for 30 minutes
3. my genius gene striking again - i supplied all 4 kids with spray bottles to spray each other with as we walked everywhere. they kept us cooler and they loved the "toy factor".
4. cristian announcing that he was sweating in places he never knew could sweat on his body.
5. perry screaming because she was scared of the river otters.
6. an almost empty zoo because of the heat.
7. the feeding of the lime green eel before closing time.
8. perry announcing she wanted to "love on those" cute tiny screech owls.
9. cristian being eyed by the alligator like he was the next meal.
10. cora's retelling of an indian legend prompted by our visit to the bison and tepee. she retold the whole story for the following 20 minutes. it was precious.
11. mason's spraying of his armpits and making the loudest armpit farts ever. he and i were both so proud.
12. mason's announcement of his favorite animal at dinner being the "dik dik". it's an actual animal, look it up.
13. the cute brown duck with a bright blue bill.
14. perry's love of the huge rusty orangutan.
15. cristian catching a dragon fly.
16. perry accumulating a collection of 8 river turtles with her spray bottle.
17. cora's spotting of the alligator gar in the pond. they are freaky, ugly fish.


the heat could have made for such a miserable day. but it was the best time i've had with them at the zoo. it was fabulous. i hope they remember these memories that we are making for a lifetime.

dads are great for this....

...all thirty minutes of screaming with joy!

the house

here's our new house - still under construction. we'll be moving in in about 3 weeks and we are ALL so excited about it. we drove by today (as is custom) and noticed that they are working on the sprinklers and sod. yee haw?
here is cristian's private bathroom. he is pretty jazzed about it. i've tried to make it extra special for him since he is entering tweendom. he specifically asked to have his own bedroom which surprised me. it shouldn't though. he is gaining more independece and automy which is good but personally devastating for his mommie. we picked out his bath decor and he's getting a large bed with new bedding to boot.

this is the girls' room. we picked this over the others because of the lovely bay windows. i thought cora would want her own room but she still loves the security of having perry with her at night. hey, i'll take that as long as it lasts.

in case the dishwasher doesn't arrive i've got my spare ready to go. no electricity or batteries required. he looks happy about it now - just wait! the granite isn't something i would have picked out but i can definitely live with it. we actually didn't pick out anything in the house. it was an existing unfinished home. i got to "pick out" the tile from the three choices they gave me. not what i would have chosen either, but it'll do.

ridiculous amounts of cupboard space with i am totally down with. i am excited about having a built in micro and oven next to each other. as usual, these large homes have tiny pantries. i just don't get it. i'll forever love my pantry on john tee. it was ginormous!

love the curving stairway. the youngsters have already been caught climbing the outside of the railings. REALLY?!! (sigh) my favorite feature of this home is the very grand and open foyer and staircase as you enter the front doors. large foyers make me feel like the house tells a story when you enter.

the lovely foyer. i keep myself awake at night thinking about how to decorate this space. silly isn't it?

covered porch is lovely but i'll never use it. i don't BBQ on my porch nor drink beer. someday we want to build it into another room. the small three windows above it will be a fifth bedroom hopefully within the next year.

melt

here is my beautiful boy. he has been fun this summer. he has had a lot of changes in the past few months. he is really enjoying reading with us these days instead of getting so frustrated by sounding out words. he still loves to rhyme. dr.seuss is his idol. he is experiencing growing pains. his legs ache and he is eating lots of food as of late. he has become such a strong swimmer. he is loving building with several block kits he owns. he loves to manage the car. about every 2 minutes he reports the time to me that he sees on the dash. he is always telling me how much gas the car has and calls out the color of the lights so i can text at the reds. he is still a volatile little personality. he has done well though telling us now that he has been "made angry". it's a step in the right direction. he is obsessed with "technology" and gets very bent when he is denied access. he loves to climb into our bed every morning for a few minutes. he is still our best sleeper and earliest riser. we are working on his volume control. he talks way too loud for each setting. he secretly loves my tickles but fight them everyday.

even though he is such a pickle, there is something that i just can't get enough of about him. i love him so much. he is such an independent, unique personality. he is so strong and overwhelming, but sensitive at the same time. he tries me the hardest sometimes, but i love him to pieces. he is just priceless to me. i cannot imagine him not being in our family. we all need and love who he is.

my genius gene strikes again

point a) i hate the junk linoleum in our craptastic rental. i decided to use the sqares to our advantage. cristian had a good time taping off the hopscotch board per my instructions.
point b) look how freak'n black our little pear-bear is this summer. our daily swims are really paying off, eh?

drew names

sometimes the kiddies fight over who gets to bake with me on sunday afternoons...
that was the case last sunday and cora and cristian got their names drawn for pineapple upside-down cake. we've never made it before.

they did a great job lining up the fruit "just so"

it looked beautiful and was a hit with most of the family

portraits

we had some pics taken of the kiddies a couple months back. my intent was to have one blown up for carlos' office at work for father's day. it'll happen eventually. i love the colors the kids wore and the photographer had some fun poses & props. my babies just aren't babies anymore. sigh.

as usual, i don't make this stuff up. cora & lena asleep with their masks on. we are in so much trouble.

this has been the summer of stir fry. all the kids will eat it...

it's healthy....

it's pretty...

it's quick....

it's been eaten every week for a past two months. yumm-o!

here's what our summer looks like. how i love these little faces!

the Brown Bag in the Brown Home

our annual camping trip began with a visit to our friends, the brown's. they introduced us to a crazy game called the brown bag.

its simple. take a paper grocery bag. cut it down by half from the top. the challenge is to pick up the bag with your mouth. only the bottom of your feet may touch the ground.

after every round you trim off the top of the bag. (we pause here for some comic relief from mace and girl friendship from cora and haley)

it's hilarious to watch the kids contort their bodies to pick up the bag with their mouth.

poor tucker got a little over zealous and ended up with an ice pack on his wallabies after the game!

thank you brown's for the introduction to this fun game! it's been a hit with every crowd we've played it with.

that's "mrs. genius" to you

when shay was delivering kavers she was the vomit queen. with every contraction she'd vomit and dry heave. it was very painful to see my baby sister in that condition. and hard to not console her. that was her husband's place and duty and he was taking it full on. at the foot of her hospital bed was a neat little dispenser of blue vomit bags. they had a cardboard circular ring at the opening and pointed into a sleek bag ready to collect its contents. they were the coolest invention eva!

i say this because cristian has always been our carsick child. this was a small, compact answer to our driving dilemma. i stole like 5 that day. ever since then, whenever i've had to go to the ER i make sure to steal about 5 more. i'm telling you they are awesome. when your child carries around a barf bucket it is large, cumbersome and let's face it the contents sometimes splash outside the bucket. vomiting isn't a clean process.

i ran out of barf bags and shalynn has decided to start birthing children in other states so my stealing practices came to a halt. the perfect storm came around our house about 2 months ago. in my 10 years of parenting it was the first illness bloodbath. the simultaneous infection of all 5 children. they staggered themselves of 2-3 at a time. some with vomit, some with diarrhea. one would mend, return to school, then flip and come down with the opposing aliment. for 2 weeks the house was fluids from both ends. i had to devise a plan.

i thought of how i could make these amazing barf bags....

i found the embroidery rings at hob lob. get the plastic ones so they can be washed by hand if necessary. the wooden ones will soak up stains, smells, etc. ooh, look cute fun colors....


1 gallon freezer bags simply looped through the rings with the rings tightened snugly.

one cute kid fake vomiting/laughing into his vomit bag. these are even better than hospital ones because they are ziploc-able. you remove the ring, seal the contents, and throw away. i keep these bad boys in the car at all times.

for real, it's a gross topic, but i'm a freak'n genius for creating these little numbers! enjoy.

mixed bag

i had some serious doubts about cristian's soccer team when the season started. he is way taller than all the other boys because it's a 3rd/4th grade team. i thought for sure he wouldn't be challenged on the team with such little fellas to work with. then our coach bailed. he suddenly had to relocate to another city for work. it left the team short and without a coach.

a couple of dad's stepped up to fill in for the season. i think most of them are techies and sports are really alien to them. no kidding, last week's game found the coach wearing a shirt in bold letters that read, "STAR WARS". this team is breaking all stereotypical barriers.

the team is doing quite well. especially the tiny little indian boy who plays goalie. he is just so scrappy and tenacious. there are other boys who have soccer in their blood. it's really a fascinating dance of various skill and talent while watching them play. i'm always impressed.

my favorite part of his team though is the diversity. wow, it's a total mixed bag of ethnicity. and to think we are in suburbia in austin texas makes me so, so happy. in fact, there is only one caucasian boy on the team. two, i guess if you count cristian - i never know where to put my kids on the race scale - they're both.

check out these names though - elijah, arsh, jacob, diego, akalish, edgar, mauricio, trunks, and cristian. we've got hispanics, indians, i guess Mediterranean, and caucasian. it seriously is such a beautiful thing for me to see. i love my kids having such experiences.

random

perry stacking the zoo collection on her face. she was really entertained by this. i thought it was pretty cute myself. she loves to ham it up in all things. my mister mace. til the end of time, his eyes will just captivate me. they are big round deep almonds. i just love them. and he is a major eye speaker. he is always communicating with his gorgeous peepers. the kids are spending lots of time outdoors with their scooters, bikes, etc. case in point right?

Over Dosing

This was a weekend, like a perfect storm or something, where everything lined up insanely. This time it all revolved around church. I am so glad it's Monday tomorrow. We started Friday afternoon with a trip to San Antonio for Carlos and I to attend the temple. All the kids were great in the car for there and back. They got to hang with Auntie Noel while we were in the temple. Not bad. Saturday morning brought a double baptism for two of Cora's friends. Cora, Cyrus, and I went along to show our support. Not bad yet. While at the baptism the missionaries call. Of course, I had signed up to feed them that night. I swear I have the worst karma with feeding those boys. It's always when we are stupid busy with something. I start to get a wee bit anxious now. I complain to Carlos when I get home (3 hours later) that this weekend would be hilarious if our home teachers visit us, he needs to give a blessing to someone, and the kids have a talk to give in Primary. His eyes light up. No kidding, while I was gone, Primary called to remind us that Cristian had a talk to give! Heavy sigh. I go about the afternoon. That night I prepare my lesson for Perry's class. I was subbing for a friend. It's on the Holy Ghost. Deep breathes, Jen. Sunday morning Carlos is gone by 6 a.m for his church meetings. I arrive 30 minutes late to sacrament with the kids. Typical. 9 a.m - 5 kids - my sleep schedule = perpectual tardiness. Carlos stays after church for more church work to complete. I get stuff settled at home (somewhat). Carlos leaves again at 7 p.m. for more church meetings. Maybe it wouldn't have been so intense for me, but this was the weekend we were getting the house prepped to put back on the market. Shopping, cleaning, planting, organizing, etc. Thank goodness Carlos' dad stopped by unexpectedly and helped out for several hours on Saturday. Paco and I are tuckered out! Monday brings the realtor, the house will be photographed and put online officially. And then my hubby and I are going out to lunch. It's our 13th anniversary!! Yippee!

the name game

so we had a long drive back from georgia. i'd love to say we got tons of pictures of the vacation, but i actually took not one. typical of me.

the kids were just angels for the 18 hours of driving. i like this older kid thing sometimes.

cora and perry at one point entertained themselves with their coloring books and crayons. cora announced that she'd like to name all her kids after colors. i told her i loved this idea.

she started with her list: teal for a girl, although i like it more for a boy myself. then was fuchsia for a girl, scarlet of course, wisteria, and possibly grey.

mason piped up and announced that he liked cobalt for a boy. how cute is that?! i mean it actually works.

i promoted azure for a boy or girl but there really weren't any takers. i love these sorts of conversations with my babies. they are such bright little munchkins.

i'm intensely curious to see if any of these names will stick.

Little Toot

Here is Cyrus with his new haircut. We cut off about 5 inches everywhere. He instantly went from Polynesian baby to Mexican baby in just a haircut!
He is what I call ridiculously handsome. He isn't cute, just handsome, like a man. He reminds me a lot of Carlos. Stocky, solid with a butt-chin.

Love his glossy black hair and liquid black eyes.

A happy baby in the Cruz home. Us Cruz people take good care of our foster kiddos while they are with us. It is really an honor for each of us to do it.