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? 
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.
oops, we did it again! this fostering thing is a great system of supply & demand. so... meet cyrus. he is 8 months old and is gradually adjusting to our family. you can't really tell but, he's a quarter african-american and the rest hispanic.
he's nice and chubby - just how jen likes 'em. we got a call sunday afternoon after having him for only 2 weeks and guess what? his mother signed away her parental rights making him available for adoption! how cow, an adoption dream.
carlos and i are teetering right now. i guess its all happened so fast and we want to make sure that this is the right choice for every person involved in our home and family. we'll definitely keep you all posted.
Cora had dish duty and didn't know where the mixing bowl went. I'm loving her note to dad!
this little cutie had left the vance home after a year with them in foster care. little desi is a pistol and a half. she was such a joy to be around. i know she won't stay with her parents permanently. she'll be bounced around again. it's a very imperfect system but she was loved and safe for a whole year of her life. and that was a blessing.
so i've got this friend...we'll call her diane carpenter to protect her identity. she and i have a mutual friend who we'll call amy lewis. i stopped by amy's house one day in december and noticed her driveway cutely decorated with candy canes. my eyes followed the festive line of red and white and then stopped. the last 3 candy canes were totally destroyed. the line was ruined. pieces of plastic and wood were scattered about. i asked amy, "what the *h* amy?!" she sweetly told me that diane ran them over the other day with her car. i saw an opportunity folks. so i snipped off the killed canes, boxed them up all purdy-like, and gave the gift to diane stating that it "was from my heart".
a few nights later we get a doorbell ditch in the evening. i find broken candy canes, the remainder of amy's dead cane lane and....
this lovely message written in festive candy cane font. i do so enjoy funny friends. thanks amy and diane for the good laugh.
pruetts introduced us to the raw tortillas from costco. freak'n addictive and just so yummy. i found them the other day. i hate you pruetts for the introduction. it'll be a toxic relationship.
to return the favor...i thought i'd introduce you to the peanut butter snicker square (also available at cost co). i hope it proves to be lethal for your waistline davey.
girl movie night. carlos took the boys to a hockey game so we girlified the house. princess and the frog was the movie.
in attendance where cora, perry, desi, kaira, brynlee, emily, lena, madison, natalie, and savannah. it was a lovely evening. most were captivated.
perry and cora even made cute invitations to invite their friends over with. they had a great time cutting and coloring. carlos and i love how wonky perry's invites looked - so cute!
so i saw this idea on a blog and just fell in love with it. a table runner made out of doilies. i enlisted the help of shay and mama because they are crazy thrifters and knew their areas of the country are awesome for other people's crap. this squarish one is my favorite and they found it somewhere in central california.
i went to visit shay in cali (while mama was there) and we hit a consignment shop. i happened to speak with the owner about the project i was working on. she had several doilies throughout the shop to display things on. she ran around the store, collected them all, and gave me about 8 for ten bucks. they were all different shapes, sizes and colors.
now you know my fancy, white trash crafting skills. i tied each doilie together with waxed dental floss. SOOOOO much better than thread because it was sort of stiff and easy to work with. sometimes i am crafting genius.
p.s. yes, my house is always this clean and put together. if you know me, then you know how i roll.
1 package of stickers + 1 4-year old daughter + 1 large canvas =
solution: stickie daddy
this is a weird looking picture of the girls. lena looks like she's 3 years old and cora looks like a freak giant. these two are kinda besties. they are inseparable at school despite lourdes best efforts to keep them apart. ha, ha! they are both sweet, good girls. but don't underestimate their power for evil. i'm quite sure they will "cover" for each other throughout their whole adolescents.
oh, my little divas...how i love you both. perry, you shook your bootie tonite like a hormone-ridden teen at a dance club. i laughed so hard. it felt wonderful. you've got a black gene fo' sho'. cora, you are always so feminine and proper. you want to always be pretty and girlie. i adore that about you. you both are super fun to have around. and you aren't stinky and gross like your brothers. thank you.
look at this darling mug! perry had a field trip at school. amusing because the fire station is like an 1/8 of a mile from her school but they still had to charter a school bus to take them there. perry was in her element.
the firemen gave the kids the grand tour. they climbed all over their truck and got to handle some tools or weapons as perry referred to them. i have not so secret crushes on all firemen. it's pretty ridiculous and intense. carlos wanted to be a firemen when he was younger. um, he would be SO HOT in firemen gear.
the class got to destroy the fire stations work out room.
the men put on their breathing gear and let the kids try them out. the mask creates a powerful suction to the face obviously. the breathing is quite loud and a little freaky to hear.
perry was braver than brave of course. some of my kids are just fearless. is it fearless or just uninhibited? not sure really.
class shot. dear firemen, i really do love you. don't tell my hubs.
Betcha didn't know that I worked at the BYU Creamery for 2 years in college. It was my BEST college job. So fun watching ice cream, cheese, whey, cottage cheese, etc. being made. And all the employees were the funnest group to work with.
I think that's why I wanted to take my chillwrens to the Blue Bell one. It was pretty lame though. Our tour guide blew through our tour. Fortunately, I knew what most of the machines did so I gave the chillwrens my own tour.
It felt a little willie-wonkaish. No indoor photography and some top secret signs posted here and there. Really? It's just ice cream. We aren't launching nuclear warheads.
Our tokens to begin our tour. I wanted to keep them as souvenirs. No deal though.
The tower of ice cream power. We got to sample several flavors. Cristian loved Snickerdoodle. I loved Pumpkin Spiced Praline (or something like that). 
The chillwrens posing with the milk maid. It was a fun little field trip for the kiddies and mommie.
